Red Mansion Reader

Chapter 72

The time came to the end of October. After finishing "Painted Skin Ghost" that day, Chen Heng wrote on and off for ten days before he was able to come up with two articles "Eastern Zhejiang" and "Ghost in the River".

It's not because of the large number of words in these two articles, the total sum is only a few thousand words.It was purely because Chen Heng took his spare time to write intermittently, sneaking in from his busy schedule.

The former story was told to him by the big brother in Zhejiang, while the latter was thought up by him looking at the dim night on the waterway to and from Yangzhou and Suzhou.

As soon as these two articles were completed, Jiang Yuanbai and others took them to read them first, and they all praised them after reading them.Only Qian Dayou expressed a little regret: "I thought it would be as treacherous as "Painted Skin Ghost", and I always feel a little pity."

Xue Biao smiled and explained for Chen Heng: "The three stories are different. They may be tortuous or strange or embarrassing. I think Brother Heng wants to throw stones to ask the way and explore the bottom of the library."

"Oh? There is such a thing?" Jiang Yuanbai picked up the draft in his hand suspiciously, flipped through it repeatedly in disbelief, but still couldn't understand it.

Chen Heng and Xue Biao looked at each other and smiled, and he asked each other again: "In your opinion, these articles of mine can be taken to the library?"

Everyone said in unison: "Go, go now, we will go with you."

Today was Xiumu, the noon was sunny and bright, the four of them tidied up a bit, walked out of the academy side by side, and rushed to the library talking and laughing all the way.When Hu Yuan saw the four of them coming together, he thought it was a big deal, and hurriedly led the group of people into the house.

After Chen Heng explained his purpose, Hu Yuan nodded. Although he was surprised that the other party wrote so quickly, he still asked first: "Brother Chen, can you let me see what you wrote first?"

This is what should be done, and Chen Heng will naturally not refuse.After handing over the three stories to the other party, Hu Yuan leaned on the counter and read them.

His eyebrows were sometimes furrowed and sometimes stretched. While suppressing the excitement in their hearts, everyone was also curious about how Chen Heng's article would be evaluated.

After finally waiting for Hu Yuan to finish reading, the old man closed his eyes and raised his hand to smooth his chest. After spending a while to calm down, he said happily to Chen Heng,
"Brother Chen, it's well written. Since Qian Xiyan, it's hard for such a masterpiece to appear in a storybook like Zhiguai." He rubbed his hands a little excitedly, carefully placed the manuscript paper on the desk, and pressed it down with a black heart wooden ruler.

Seeing this situation, Chen Heng couldn't help but smiled with Xue Biao.Hu Yuan said about Qian Xiyan, both of them knew the origin of this person.

Zhiguai novels started in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that they really entered the room and aroused the enthusiasm and romance of the Tang people at that time.But once the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty was over, the momentum of ghost novels also plummeted to the bottom.

The strange novels that reappeared from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are devoid of interest and tasteless.There were so many great writers in the Song Dynasty, but few were interested in it.It wasn't until the previous dynasty that relying on Qian Xiyan from Wu County, Gusu, he used a copy of "Yuan Garden" to gain some limelight.

People in the former dynasty praised him as "the body of the earth and the wood, and the writing of the dragon and the tiger". Just this evaluation shows the excellence of "Yuanyuan".If everything goes well, maybe Qian Xiyan can lead the novels of strange monsters to a new peak.

But life is full of ifs. After the impoverished Qian Xiyan finished "Yuan Yuan", he was looking forward to relying on it to improve his life.

A depressed old man with countless regrets, who has been dead for ten years, relied on a monkey that jumped out of a stone, and held a golden cudgel to fight all the way from Huaguoshan to Nantianmen, overwhelming the world's literary world. No one dared to speak up.

"Yuan Garden" is not bad, but "Journey to the West" is written too well. If the former is compared to the bright stars in the night, then the latter is the bright sun in the morning light. When it appears, the stars recede and sweep across the universe.

Since his debut work came across such a masterpiece, Qian Xiyan's ending naturally needless to say, he can only die in poverty with regrets in his heart.

Xue Biao was very happy to get such an evaluation for his friend, but Hu Yuan was puzzled and said: "Brother Chen, have you finished writing it? If there are more later, you might as well take them all out, and I can directly make decisions on behalf of uncle."

This really hits Chen Heng's difficulty. There are four to five hundred stories in Strange Tales from a Liaozhai Studio. Unless he doesn't read and write for several years without eating or drinking, he will definitely not be able to produce the whole story.

But this time he came, he had his own plans in mind.After all, he is different from the ancients, and he has a lot of ghost ideas in his mind.He pulled Hu Yuan to his side and told him his thoughts one by one.

After Hu Yuan listened to it, he was dubious and said: "Then I will try it first, if it is useful. Our library will only charge half of the profit of these three articles. I only hope that when Brother Chen writes the following masterpieces, he will think of our Huji library first."

Seeing this, Chen Heng had a reason not to agree, and quickly bowed to thank him.

After agreeing on the follow-up, Chen Heng left the library with his classmates.Only Hu Yuan was left alone, and the shop assistants were recruited, and they began to be busy with the things Chen Heng explained.

In the evening of that day, seven or eight storytellers who had long been friends were invited by Hu Yuan to the library.

When the storytellers saw that they were all acquaintances, they knew that Hu Yuan must have received a new work, and invited them to comment.Everyone eats this bowl of rice, so naturally they hope to encounter more masterpieces, and they inevitably start to look forward to it during the conversation.

After about a cup of tea, Hu Yuan led a few assistants in, and distributed seven or eight sheets of white paper that had just been transcribed to the storyteller.

"Gentlemen, please take a look first." Hu Yuan picked up the tea with a relaxed expression, he was very confident in Chen Heng's story.

What Hu Yuan showed them was the first chapter "Painted Skin Ghost", and all the storytellers naturally knew good and bad, and this one alone can tell the writer's imagination and writing skills.

"Young master, what's next?" Someone asked about the following article.

"It's really a peerless and good article, and the ghosts and monsters are going to feel proud again." Some people were full of praise, and even picked up the paper and held it in front of their noses. They said that the article would smell like ink, and I don't know if he smelled it.

"Everyone, don't worry." Hu Yuan raised his hand and said with a smile, "Mr. Yuan He has explained that his articles are published every seven days..."

Hu Yuan told Chen Heng's plan slowly, but everyone had doubts after listening to it. They had been telling stories for most of their lives, and when they had seen such a method, they couldn't help showing doubts on their faces, "Young master, is this really feasible?"

Hu Yuan smiled softly and comforted them: "Anyway, we only pay for these few pieces of paper, and our library will bear the wages of a few of you. Such an article is worth a try."

Everyone thought it was the same, and they couldn't suffer from left and right, so they all agreed to follow his orders tomorrow.

After noon on the second day, the number of guests in Fuyuan Tea House gradually increased. People in the Yong Dynasty, as long as they were not fond of gambling and eating flowers and wine, had limited entertainment after all.

It is definitely a good thing to take some time every day to meet a few fellows who love to listen to books, order a pot of tea in the teahouse, and spend some money for a plate of watermelon seeds, listening to storytelling and story books for an afternoon.

The storyteller in this building is surnamed He, and his name is Youshan.About fifty years old, he was an old boy in the period of the Supreme Emperor.He Youshan had bad luck. When he was young, he encountered two major changes in the examination room. He worked hard all his life and was still a child who was not good at learning.In the end, they can only be reduced to relying on storytelling to maintain their own livelihood.

Today he will start with a section of "The Romance of the West Chamber", and after about half an hour, he will change to "Heroes, Blood, Iron and Heart". After this section is finished, he will immediately change to "Journey to the West".

This is to take care of the preferences of the tea drinkers, after all, he doesn't know which book the guests who come every day like to listen to.If there is only one article from the beginning to the end, it is easy to bore the guests.Unless someone is willing to pay a lot of money to book a venue to listen to him, he can still do it.

After finishing the story about the Daughter Kingdom in Journey to the West, He Youshan drank a cup of tea, picked up a wooden board and slammed it on the table, and raised his head and said, "By the way, three days ago, a strange man came to our Yangzhou City. He called himself Yuanhe, dressed in white, and his age was unknown. Passers-by forgot about it..."

The tea guests in the hall cheered up one after another, it means they got a new script again.Everyone looked up and looked sideways, curious about the new story, and looked at He Youshan attentively.

Seeing that everyone's attention had been attracted, He Youshan was very satisfied in his heart, but he never stopped talking, "I saw that Mr. Yuanhe walked into the Huji Bookstore staggeringly, and the young owner of the bookstore asked him: Is there something wrong with the visit, sir?"

"Mr. Yuanhe replied to him: I was under a tree in the mountain yesterday and heard some strange things from a wild fox. Entrusted by him, I will tell you about these strange things today."

"Shaodong Hu's family can't help being curious: why did you give it to me. Mr. Yuan He told him again: You saved its life when you were young, and it asked me to repay you..."

There is such a thing?The people in the teahouse couldn't help talking in low voices. Some people said that there was really a bookstore called Hu Ji in the east of the city, and some people said that they seemed to have seen such a person a few days ago, but they really couldn't remember it.

At this time, He Youshan has slowly started to talk about the content of "Painted Skin Ghost". His voice is already deep, but with a little use of storytelling skills, he is really eloquent and witty.

The tea drinkers were first attracted by the beginning of Wang Sheng’s encounter with a girl in distress, and then following He Youshan’s description, it seemed that they really saw a female ghost with a green face and fangs, holding a human skin in front of them, which made people tremble with fear just thinking about it.

Coincidentally, He Youshan had learned some ventriloquist skills, the sunset outside was fading, and the sky was getting darker. He shrank his mouth and flicked his tongue, imitating the shrill sound of the cold wind knocking on the window, which made everyone tremble.I can't help secretly hating this Wang Sheng's eyesight and blindness, he didn't listen to Fa's wife's persuasive advice, and lured ghosts into the door with his words on the head.

But when the tea guests heard that Wang Sheng was betrayed by a female ghost and died at home, they couldn't help feeling sad.Their moods fluctuated with the storyteller's narration, until finally the Taoist wielded his sword to eliminate evil spirits, and the beggar survived the king's life with his skillful hands.

All the talents clapped their hands in unison and called "Yes".

All of a sudden, in the huge city of Yangzhou, there were seven or eight teahouses roaring, attracting tourists on the street to stop and watch.

He Youshan, who was speaking heartily, picked up some tea to moisten his tongue, just waiting for the reaction of the tea drinker.He would go back and tell Hu Yuan about these things at night.

"Sir, sir, what's the story behind?"

"Yes, why don't you continue talking."

Everyone was enjoying listening to it, some got up and told Xiao Er to continue serving tea, some just sat there, wondering what they were thinking.

He Youshan smiled slightly, and raised his finger to the outside of the building, "Mr. Yuanhe left behind a strange book called "Strange Tales from a Liaozhai Studio". This book will only publish a story every seven days. Before the time comes, the back is all blank paper."

"If you want to ask for proof, you can go to the Hu Ji Bookstore in the east of the city to inquire about it."

As soon as the storyteller finished speaking, someone got up immediately, walked downstairs quickly, and went straight to Hu Ji's library.But when he arrived at the door of the library, there were already many tea customers around here, and they blocked Hu Yuan in the middle of the door.

"Is there really a wild fox repaying his favor, and a stranger in white, Mr. Yuanhe?"

Before Hu Yuan could answer, someone in the crowd choked, "Why not? I saw a white-clothed scholar on the street a few days ago, but I couldn't remember his appearance. I think he must be Mr. Yuan He."

"Please don't get excited, everyone, and don't scare my neighbors." Hu Yuan was really overjoyed. He didn't expect Chen Heng's idea to be so useful and attract so many guests to the library.

"Shopkeeper, just tell me, do you have Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio in your library?"

Some were clever, guessing that this was a game made by the library, but they couldn't keep the story attractive, so they asked directly.

Hu Yuan didn't hold back, and pointed to the stand beside him, and wrote: "The fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the coming year, Tales from a Liaozhai Studio."

Only then did everyone understand that if they wanted to buy books, they would have to wait until next year.Thinking that it is only the end of October, everyone can't help feeling a little discouraged.Many people left, but there were still people who grabbed Hu Yuan and wanted to see the authentic copy left by Mr. Yuan He.

Hu Yuan persuaded each other to leave one by one because of his good words.

　Hahahahahaha, thank you everyone, I am going to Sanjiang.I didn't expect that we would have today, so let's get a little excited.By the way: book friend group number: 670332809
　　Thanks thanks.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)