Chapter 9 (1/2)
I will release this project faster.
Chapter 9: Northern Luna Office
Cui Ming commented, ”Later on, the female protagonist and many of the other heroines live together with the male lead happily ever after.”
North Luna glanced at Cui Ming, opened the book to the last few pages, read for a while, and then closed the book. ”Did you read this book before?”
”No.”
”Then how do you know the ending?” North Luna was surprised.
Cui Ming replied, ”The letters are so small, the book is so thick, and the paper is so thin. If there is only one woman, the author can't write this much.”
What Ding Ze used was memory; what Cui Ming used was speculation.
”What do you think of this book?”
Cui Ming took the book and opened it up to the last page. After glancing at the price, he said, ”The author died many years ago, n.o.body owns the copyright, and after a comprehensive a.n.a.lysis of the paper and the printing, I think the price is too expensive.”
”…”
North Luna was unable to respond. She asked, ”What kind of books do you like to read?”
Cui Ming replied, ”Military books, as well as mystery novels.”
”What do you pay attention to?”
”Pirated books are vague, have a lot of wrong words, and are cheap. Although the price of genuine books are more expensive, the printing and the paper is better, and the most important part is that genuine books in libraries often have discount promotions, so that the actual price is not much more expensive than the pirated ones. Also, if all People read pirated books, then there will be no books, that's why from the beginning to the end I stole… bought genuine books.”
North Luna didn't want to talk with Cui Ming anymore, and looked at Ding Ze. ”What about you?”
”I do not buy books. I only borrow books. I have no other choice but to read a book in under an hour.”
North Luna again didn't want to talk about this anymore, instead she asked Cui Ming what kind of views and opinions he had after reading that many military and detective books, and why he even read this kind of novels. Cui Ming babbled on and on, and changed the topic for Ding Ze. Ding Ze got encouraged by Cui Ming, and they discussed about buying books, lending books, the price of books…
Having eaten good food, North Luna leaned backwards and closed her eyes for a break. Ding Ze went back to his seat, before lying across three chairs and taking out a lit cigarette, enjoying the happiness tobacco brought with it. North Luna casually said, ”Ding Ze, Aura can only defend against external attacks, it can't stop the growth of internal cancer cells.”
Ding Ze smiled, as if he'd discard the cigarette into the rubbish bin. Half an hour later, he squinted his eyes and peered at the sleeping North Luna and Cui Ming, before he collected cigarette and continued to smoke. Don't smokers know smoking was harmful? No, they all knew. But ”When in the smoking world, you can’t do as you like.”(1)
…
The next morning, the train station first stopped in the Dawn City, and the three got off the train. North Luna went into a coin phone booth to make a phone call, talking for around 3 minutes. She hung up on the phone, and the three hailed a taxi. Ding Ze said toward the driver, ”Fort Street.”
In a poor remote area of Dawn City was Fort Street, where Northern Luna Office office was located. Northern Luna Office was inside a desolate two-story building. The offices on first floor were open-styled, and a lot of people were at work here. Outside around the building was an iron-supported staircase leading to the second floor. The second floor had a conference room, a reception hall, four manager offices, and lastly also a general manager office.
This was contrary to Cui Ming’s expectations. In Cui Ming’s imagination, there were only two people in Northern Luna Office, North Luna and Ding Ze. Cui Ming ascended the iron staircase to the second floor along with the others, and whispered, curious, ”Are they cultivators?”