Chapter 504 - 241: Library Visit (6,800 words)_3

Xu Yun raised an eyebrow slightly.

Take a look.

As expected of a librarian, the perspective is indeed different.

This was the second person to greet him today besides Wheat.

Moreover, the surname Hefes is uncommon, and combined with this person’s profession, judging from this...

If he guessed right, he might be the founder of the Hafos Bookstore in Cambridge Town?

The reason why Xu Yun had an impression of the Hafos Bookstore was first because it is one of the oldest bookstores in Cambridge Town, very famous.

Shao Xunmei even collaborated with Xu Zhimo and Xu Beihong in this bookstore, calling it the ’Haifa Bookstore’.

Secondly...

It was because of an article.

That’s right.

It was time to critique Yi Lin again.

Back when Xu Yun was in high school, he once read an article in Yi Lin.

It was called ’Book Stalls in Cambridge’.

The book claimed.

From the late 19th century to the 1940s, that is, between 1900-1940.

At the bookstall of the University of Cambridge, people could always see a man with a cigar in his mouth, sporting a little moustache, smiling.

He was the owner of the bookstall, Mr. Tai Wei.

Mr. Tai Wei’s bookstall had been set up in Cambridge for over 40 years; because of its low prices and wide variety, many professors and students frequented this bookstall.

Most notably, the economist Keynes, who was a close friend of Tai Wei, even helped him during lectures to promote his books.

During Tai Wei’s lifetime, the school even held a grand luncheon for him, where faculty and students revered him as an honored guest.

Thanking him for providing "eternal and great knowledge".

The article concluded with a sigh.

A nation that knows how to respect little people can produce outstanding figures, followed by a series of self-reflections.

But Xu Yun only found out after arriving in Cambridge.

Although Tai Wei was not entirely fictional like Alex Daouti, the true reason was completely different from what the article said.

This so-called ’Mr. Tai Wei’ was actually named Gustav David, also known as David or Dai Wei.

The name Tai Wei had a strong flavor of early translation—indeed, the first to mention him was Shao Xunmei mentioned earlier.

But Shao Xunmei only mentioned his name; the rest of the content was all added by the author of the article ’Book Stalls in Cambridge’.

The David Bookstore indeed contributed a lot of books to Cambridge. In 2022, about a thousand books in the Cambridge Library were originally purchased from the David Bookstore, but this owner was by no means a small character.

Gustav David was a French bookseller who moved to Cambridge, born in 1860, the timing is correct.

However, he did not have a moustache, and due to tuberculosis, he did not smoke cigars either—a photo can be seen right at the entrance of the David Bookstore, looking a bit like Dirac without a moustache.

So there was a discrepancy with the article in terms of persona.

Moreover, he was no little person:

Gustav David was a descendant of French nobility, and when he first arrived in Cambridge, he immediately donated 5,000 Pounds to Christ College.

In terms of purchasing power conversion mentioned earlier, that would be about four million now.

Additionally, the ’Complete Works of Shakespeare’ Shao Xunmei bought for 3.5 Pounds was 20% higher than the popular price back then, so the price was not cheap at all.

His initial business was that of a broker, selling translated works published in Gaul and the Netherlands through his family channels.

At a time when online shopping didn’t exist, this solved many reading needs of Cambridge students, which is why many Cambridge students frequented his store.

He also specifically sold manuscripts of University of Cambridge graduate students, each with the author’s signature, providing considerable extra income for those co-authors.

So it was this that caused students to hold banquets, ’revere him as an honored guest’, and ’thank him for providing eternal and great knowledge’.

As for his connection with Keynes, it was because the bookstore was located diagonally opposite the gate of Keis College.

Furthermore, Keynes complained about David Bookstore’s price markups in ’The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money’.

Since Keynes could only continue his university studies relying on scholarships in mathematics and classical literature, living like a poor online writer during his student days, he naturally had an extreme dislike for such a price-marking bookseller.

Yet, in the end, miraculously, Keynes and David became close friends.

Such a perfectly standard businessman, equivalent to a billionaire by today’s standard, solidly upper class.

But he turned into a respected little person in some people’s narratives.

And in the end, they wanted us to reflect on ourselves too—how do you even reason with that?

Precisely because of this, Xu Yun had a fresh memory of the Hafos Bookstore mentioned by Shao Xunmei. (Note: Due to some well-known reasons, some new friends are directly subscribing to the latest Chapters. I wonder if everyone can accept this kind of myth debunking and science popularization? Feel free to leave comments, I will consider adjusting accordingly.)

Afterward, Xu Yun and Wheat politely declined Hefes’s offer to guide and introduce them, and they walked towards the borrowing area along the corridor.

At this moment, Wheat had not yet been exposed to electromagnetism, so he prepared to borrow books in his field, which was mathematics.

After bringing Wheat to the mathematics section.

Xu Yun temporarily parted ways and turned in another direction.

Squeak—

Arriving at the edge of the section, Xu Yun effortlessly pushed open a wooden door, holding onto the cold iron railing of the suspended ladder as he ascended to the upper floor.

Nowadays, the number of students at the University of Cambridge is not large, and the empty corridors appear very quiet.

The sound of shoes hitting the metal stairs is thus even more piercing, vaguely giving a sense of adventure.

The upper floor is even more deserted, with light grudgingly filtering through dense bookshelves, carrying a strong musty odor of paper.

Xu Yun walked along, reading the signs, hoping to find the section he wanted.

In this era without catalog codes to search for, finding a book is not an easy task.

More than ten minutes later.

Xu Yun stopped under a sign.

Bending down, he began to search the shelves earnestly:

"From Ordinary to Great: William Gilbert"....

"Pawn to King: King Bahubali"...

"Against Heaven’s Will: Rebirth as Robert Hooke"...

"Millennium Celebrities: The Complete Book of Northern European Figures"...

"Can the Book Title Not Have a Colon: History of European Literary Development".....

"Sir Newton and My Mother: A Few Affairs"...

A few minutes passed.

Xu Yun’s eyes suddenly lit up.

He reached out his hand and took out a fairly well-preserved book from the shelf:

"1650-1830: Two Hundred Years of Transition in the History of Science".

...