Matthew Wakefield arrived in London almost an hour ago.

Now he has come to a shop on the north side of Diagon Alley.

At this moment, he was undergoing an "interview".

A less formal and not so serious “interview”…

But for Matthew, this experience was still quite important. So he seemed quite serious.

On the sofa in front of him was a thin man sitting, with a little bald face, and the remaining little hair was brown. He was wearing a light blue robe and looked a little dusty.

Matthew only knew that this man's surname was "Shafik".

In addition, he is the manager of Lihen Bookstore, the largest bookstore in Diagon Alley.

...

"Name?" Shafik asked tiredly after glanced at the boy in front of him.

"Matthew Wakefield." Matthew replied quickly.

"Gender...oh, it should be a male..." Shafik seemed to be talking to himself: "What about the age?"

"I will be thirteen in more than two months." Matthew continued.

"I'm a little young..." Shafik looked at Matthew carefully and muttered: "I'm not strong either. I'm very doubtful if I can move the bookcase..."

"I have a letter of introduction from Professor Rozier..." Matthew took out a heavy parchment envelope from his pocket.

There is a shield heraldry on the back of the envelope, and the capital letter "H" is surrounded by four animals, lions, eagles, badgers and snakes.

Every Hogwarts student who is unwilling to spend the summer vacation at a friend's house and is "homeless" (usually Muggle-born students) will receive an introduction letter written by the vice principal to ensure that they can find a "job" in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley during the summer vacation.

Faced with this letter, the manager of Lihen Bookstore obviously did not dare to be too lazy. He quickly took the letter, then carefully opened it, and began to take it seriously.

One minute later—

"You are actually the first place in the whole grade?" He raised his head and looked at Matthew in surprise.

"That's right!" Matthew nodded without any modesty.

"In addition to studying, we should make more friends..." Shafik put down the letter from Hogwarts and said earnestly.

Generally speaking, only those children who are more introverted and have no friends choose to go to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade to find a job during the summer vacation... Students from normal Muggle origins are more willing to spend the summer vacation at their friends' houses; and most wizard families also welcome such guests.

Matthew didn't explain anything, just nodded: "Okay, I understand, thank you!"

"Then Mr. Wakefield, you're hired!" Shafik picked up the quill, took out another piece of parchment paper, started writing in very sloppy handwriting, and said to himself:

"The recruitment period starts from now until August 31st... During this period, Lihen Bookstore will bear all the expenses of food and accommodation... At the same time, you have to be responsible for some fragmented work... Every week, 2 Gallons and 9 Sikes are wages..."

"Two Gallons?" Matthew couldn't help but frowned.

He is not the kind of child who really doesn't understand the world.

He knew very well that even the lowest weekly salary of adult wizards in the wizarding world was above ten gallons.

And this gentleman Shafik, who looked pretty kind, directly paid himself less than one-quarter of his weekly salary!

Sure enough, squeezing child labor is considered a "fine tradition" passed down by the British Empire for hundreds of years...

Even the wizarding world is no exception.

...

Obviously, Matthew Wickfell could not accept this salary.

He cleared his throat and said seriously: "Mr. Shafik, I think I'm worth a higher price!"

This sentence surprised the manager of Lihen Bookstore.

In the past few years, he had recruited many Hogwarts students and worked as temporary workers in the bookstore during the summer... This was the first time he had met such a "greedy" little guy, and he was only in the first grade.

If it weren't for Ms. Rozier's recommendation letter being on his desk, he might have gotten angry and drove the little guy away from his bookstore.

"Mr. Wakefield," he said patiently: "You are too young, and the two Garon Basik is already very expensive... If you go to other bookstores, they will definitely not give it..."

"I can settle the score." Matthew spoke calmly, interrupting Mr. Shafik's words.

"Hmm?" Shafik was stunned for a moment, and suddenly looked even more surprised: "Aren't you kidding?"

Matthew just spread his hands and did not answer.

"Okay... Then I'll test you..." The manager of Lihen Bookstore took out a account book from the drawer and asked slowly:

"A book of Magic Potions and Potions is worth 2 Gallons, 6 Sicos, 11 Naths... A book of Magic Theory is worth 3 Gallons, 16 Sicos, 22 Naths... And a book of "Prophecy Unpredictable: Refusing Oneself from Frightening" is worth 5 Gallons, 3 Sicos, 6 Naths... So how much does it cost to add up together?"

Matthew replied almost without thinking: "There are 10 Gallons, 25 Sikes, 39 Nats...that is, 11 gold Gallons, 9 silver Sikes, 10 copper Nats."

(Note: The exchange rate in the wizarding world is 1 gold galon = 17 silver xike, 1 silver xike = 29 copper nits.)

"So fast? Don't make up a number to lie to me!" Mr. Shafik looked at Matthew with some suspicion, then took out a piece of discarded manuscript paper, and while recording, he turned his fingers to calculate.

After almost two or three minutes...

"Oh, Merlin's beard..." Mr. Shafik raised his head incredible: "Child, how did you calculate it?"

"Did you forget, sir, I am the first in the whole grade?" Matthew replied calmly.

As expected, the wizards' mathematical abilities are generally extremely poor, and the strange settlement ratio of gold, silver and copper makes it extremely difficult for them to remember the accounts...

"Oh, look at my memory." The manager of Lihen Bookstore laughed and said, "How about this, Mr. Wakefield, I've doubled my salary before; but every night, you have to help me settle the account book for the day..."

"It's very tiring to settle accounts..." Matthew looked a little embarrassed.

"Why..." Mr. Shafik gritted his teeth, hesitated for a long time and finally spoke: "Double it again!"

Quadrupled, it would be a weekly salary of 10 Gallons and 2 Siko, which is slightly higher than the minimum salary of an adult wizard.

Matthew wasn't too greedy either, he nodded:

"Okay, then that's it, sir."
Chapter completed!