Many customers lingered, some even squatting in front of a bookstall to read for free.

Above the alley was the only light source: a high-wattage bulb without a lampshade. It was probably a hundred watts, illuminating the entire alley brightly.

Grace Sullivan mingled with the sparse crowd, eagerly rushing to the first bookstall to scan the selection.

She was experienced; bookstalls often hid the racy books rather than placing them in the most conspicuous spots.

But she could always pinpoint the hiding places of these little booklets at lightning speed.

William Clark paid her no mind, slowly browsing the thick dictionaries on the bookstall by himself.

He was only halfway through the first stall when Grace Sullivan had already moved on to the third.

William Clark wasn’t in a hurry either. After scanning the stall and not finding any dictionaries for the Gulein language, he moved on to the second stall.

He remembered this stall should have them too—various translation dictionaries. Although pirated, they could save a lot of money.

Going through stall after stall, soon, at the fourth stall, in front of a bookseller sitting on the ground, William Clark found a Gulein language dictionary.

“How much is this?” William Clark squatted down and pulled the dictionary out from a pile of messy old books.

“Fifteen, no bargaining,” the stall owner said quickly, wearing square glasses and a gray cloth mask, clearly not wanting his face recognized.

“The print is blurry, the quality’s not great. I’ll take one for five,” William Clark bargained.

“Can’t do five. Ten at the lowest. You look like a regular, you should know the going rate here,” the stall owner replied swiftly.

“Ten…” William Clark shook his head, pretending to stand up and leave.

“Alright, alright, five it is,” the stall owner agreed decisively.

“Here.” William Clark quickly fished out some change from his pocket, counted out a five-yuan note, and handed it over.

After paying, he picked up the book and flipped through it.

The print in this dictionary was clear, the reprint was decent, and it was about as thick as a brick.

For pirated books like this, the price was usually at least twenty, since the official version would cost over forty.

The reason it was so cheap was mainly because the book was so niche—a Gulein language dictionary had very few buyers.

Among the hundreds of books at the stall, there was only this one copy.

And crucially, the corners of the dictionary were badly worn, and the whole book was unusually loose, as if it might fall apart at any moment.

“Doesn’t matter, as long as it’s usable.”

Whenever William Clark recalled that passage he’d recorded, he couldn’t wait to get back and translate it. Five yuan was just a little more than his daily pocket money—he could save a bit elsewhere. Although it hurt a little, if he stitched the book up by hand, it might even appreciate in value.

Soon, Grace Sullivan also came over, looking mysterious, carrying a bag of books.

“How’d it go?” she asked in a low voice.

“Bought a dictionary.” William Clark lifted the book in his hand. The red-covered, white-edged dictionary stood in stark contrast to the racy booklets in Grace Sullivan’s bag.

“What’s with you…” Grace Sullivan stared at William Clark with a twisted expression, as if she was meeting him for the first time.

“Nothing, let’s go back and rest.” William Clark said calmly.

“You really play the part!” Grace Sullivan pouted. But she knew William Clark’s temperament—he was always like this. That was one of the reasons she liked to bring William Clark along as cover.

“Alright, I picked out three books. We’ll split them evenly—four yuan each, three books for twelve, just give me six,” Grace Sullivan whispered.

“I don’t have any money,” William Clark said, speechless. He used to be willing to buy them to rent out to others and make a little money.

After all, most students at school weren’t willing to spend several yuan on a book, and these kinds of books were just for a quick read—if you actually bought one, it was hard to hide.

So renting them out for a few cents was the best way. No need to hide the books yourself, and it cost less. Plus, the booklets were short and got boring quickly, so you could swap for others.

Another reason Grace Sullivan brought William Clark along was because, as a girl, it wasn’t convenient for her to rent to others. So she needed William Clark to act as the lender.

“If you’re not putting in money, then this time for outside rentals…” Grace Sullivan hesitated.

“You can rent to girls,” William Clark said calmly.

“…It’s way easier to make money from boys!” Grace Sullivan was a bit exasperated. William Clark used to cooperate, so why the sudden change?

“You can resell them. I’ve got things to do lately, no time for this,” William Clark really didn’t want to keep renting out books.

If it were normal books, fine, but renting out racy booklets was just too low-class.

“It’s several yuan a day, you really don’t want to do it anymore?” Grace Sullivan was speechless.

“Don’t want to.” William Clark shook his head. “You’re a girl, it’s not good for you to do this either. Better stop for now. If word gets out, it’ll hurt your reputation.”

“That’s what you’re here for, to cover for me,” Grace Sullivan said helplessly.

“I can help you pass the books to Henry Cooper,” William Clark suggested.

Henry Cooper was a student from another class who also rented out books, including the booklets. If they bought them and sent them over, he’d definitely be happy, and it would save them the trouble of picking them out themselves.

“Alright…” Grace Sullivan was still a bit reluctant.

Seeing her like this, William Clark knew she wasn’t willing to give up and probably wouldn’t listen to him.