The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 10 Embroidery Portrait Commentary

A month and a half after its release, "The Scholars" has become very popular in Fujian. Many literati in the market even argue over whether the characters in the novel are good or bad.

However, the influence of this book ends here for the time being. After all, the speed of information dissemination in this era is not fast, and novels are the least valued among all books. People who really care about current affairs will also buy some volumes and poetry collections when they want to buy books. Such things are generally looked down upon.

And just when "The Scholars" was gradually becoming popular, Gao Yin finally entered Fujian.

Gao Yin was extremely domineering on his way into Fujian. All the local officials along the way were flattering and even ordered the people to kneel down to greet him. The ceremony and ceremony were as royal as any. This kind of pomp instantly silenced all the Fujian merchants and gentry who still had illusions about the Wanli Emperor.

Everyone finally understood that the Linqing Civil War did not have any impact on today's society at all. The previous heated discussions were all the self-impressions of the scholars.

At the same time, Shuangfengtang Bookstore was located in Jianyang, Fujian.

When Wang Wenlong came here again, all the bookshop employees he saw along the way rushed to say hello to him.

Two months after the publication of "The Scholars", [-] copies were sold out in one go. To everyone's surprise, Wang Jianyang's name has gradually become popular in Fujian and Zhejiang.

"The Scholars" is already the best-selling novel at Shuangfengtang this year.

Wang Wenlong walked into Yu Xiangdou's study, and a middle-aged man dressed as a Confucian scholar stood up with a smile.

Yu Xiangdou introduced Wang Wenlong: "This is Mr. Li Guangjin Li."

Wang Wenlong quickly bowed his hands in greeting.

Li Guangjin, courtesy name Zongqian, known as "Mr. Zhongyi", was born in Jinjiang.His father Li Ren was the head of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Li Guangjin was also a child prodigy since he was a child. He was admitted as a scholar at the age of 19 and ranked first in the Fujian Provincial Examination in the 13th year of Wanli. However, he went to Beijing for the examination many times and returned without success.

Li Guangjin simply gave up the imperial examination and concentrated on writing books. As an academic master who had won the first place in the provincial examination, Li Guangjin's vision for literary criticism was far beyond that of other scholars at this time. He alone wrote forty or fifty kinds of books. On average, it is equivalent to publishing two imperial examination guides every year.

Once Li's new book is on the market, students rush to buy it, and he can support a bookstore by himself.

Li Guangjin came from a well-known family. Although he turned to book publishing for profit, he still engaged in the elegant business of ink scrolls, so people at this time did not equate him with a merchant in terms of style.

Li Guangjin himself also had three locks of long beard, was dressed as a Confucian scholar, had a gaunt face, and looked like a scholar with a rather immortal air.

He greeted Wang Wenlong with a smile, and then praised him and said: "I'm glad to meet you. Mr. Wang doesn't know something. Even in Jinjiang, your name, Wang Jianyang, is still mentioned everywhere. The masterpiece "The Scholars" is really written. It’s amazing.”

"It's just a novel for entertainment." Wang Wenlong quickly modestly said.

The two complimented each other for a while before Li Guangjin said what was going on today:

"Now Yu Xiandi Shuangfeng Hall's "The Scholars" has been sold out, and booksellers from all over the country are still asking for it. Many merchants hate that they have not bought the book, and they all want Shuangfeng Hall to print it."

Yu Xiangdou said with a smile on the side: "Originally, the volume of The Scholars and Foreign History printed by our Shuangfeng Hall was sold for two taels of silver, but recently it has been sold to three taels of silver and is still in short supply."

"As soon as the book boat leaves Jianshui Chaoguan, the price of each volume of "The Scholars" will be increased by three yuan immediately."

Wang Wenlong did not feel complacent about Yu Xiangdou's praise, but asked with a smile: "I wonder how you two plan to add the seal?"

Yu Xiangdou explained to Wang Wenlong: "We plan to cooperate with Mr. Li to publish a portrait commentary version of The Scholars."

Wang Wenlong was a little surprised when he heard this.

Books of this era were all printed with woodblocks. On average, one woodblock board could only print two thousand copies of the pages before they became worn out and had to be reengraved.

Shuangfengtang has recruited a large number of skilled printing workers to control the quality of book printing, using an ink formula with special characteristics to reduce corrosiveness, and the wood used for the woodblock printing is relatively sophisticated, so it can meet the standard of printing three thousand books in one set.

But after this edition was printed, the handwriting was indelible, and if you wanted to print another edition, you could only re-engrave it.

And what they call the portrait review version of the novel requires an artist, as well as a stereotype worker who specializes in engraving and depicting portraits.

And unlike text stereotypes, which can be chiseled out and slightly trimmed, embroidery stereotypes are difficult to repair once damaged, and the lines of the embroidery are thin, so the service life of the stereotypes is much shorter.

Therefore, the average cost of printing an embroidered novel is more than [-]% higher than that of an ordinary novel.

Moreover, Yu Xiangdou and the others also want to publish a review book.Although the price of reviewing this novel is more expensive, the cost is also higher. After all, so many words of comments and comments have to be engraved. If it cannot be sold, the loss will be huge.

Wang Wenlong knew that "The Scholars" would one day publish a commentary version of the portraits, but he did not expect that Yu Xiangdou and Li Guangjin would be so courageous. They immediately decided to invest in the first edition of "The Scholars" as soon as the sales results came out.

Li Guangjin looked at Wang Wenlong and said with a smile: "We called Mr. Wang here this time. We want to ask him if he also wants to invest in some stocks?"

Wang Wenlong immediately understood what the two people meant.

He sold the manuscript to Shuangfeng Hall, and the copyright has been owned by Shuangfeng Hall. The previous agreement was that no matter how many times Shuangfeng Hall reprints it, it has nothing to do with him.

After Li Guangjin discussed with Yu Xiangdou, he planned to let him take a share in this embroidery book, which was equivalent to giving him money in disguise.

Writers are really precious these days. As long as they can win over an outstanding writer, this investment is very cost-effective for Shuangfengtang and Li Guangjin.

Wang Wenlong knew that "The Scholars" was an epoch-making work, not to mention that with Yu Xiangdou and Li Guangjin joining forces, the business would probably not suffer losses this time, so he immediately smiled and said: "In this case, I will also participate."

After several people discussed it, Wang Wenlong offered 50 taels, accounting for [-]% of the shares.This price has given him a huge advantage.

"The Scholars" with more than 50 words, plus commentaries and embroidery, will cost 300 taels of silver just for the rigid salary, plus printing costs and the reputation of Shuangfengtang and Li Guangjin for sales. If someone else invests 50 taels of silver. Even half of the shares cannot be exchanged.

After discussing the business, Yu Xiangdou proposed to invite Wang Wenlong and Li Guangjin to dinner, and also invited Deng Zhimo.

The four of them came to the streets of Jianyang County to find a clean shop. As soon as they started eating and drinking, they heard a burst of noise coming from the hotel lobby.

A table was overturned by a few mischievous characters.

The first person had a large plaster on his face. He stepped on the bench and slapped a poster on the counter:

"Now it has been found that all the salt used in your store is illegal, and a lot of taxes have been evaded. Do you admit your guilt?"

The owner of the hotel said with a bitter look on his face: "Sir, the salt in my store is all official salt, there is no salt of unknown origin."

With a wink from the head, the gangster under him suddenly slapped the waiter in the shop next to him on the face.

Half of the waiter's face was swollen after being beaten, and he fell to the ground with a surprised look on his face.

Peishi said arrogantly: "My master can taste the official salt and private salt in one bite. Nowadays, the salt used in our store is obviously private salt, but the boss doesn't know it. It's probably the waiter in the store who is doing it."

Several of his accomplices next to him shouted: "Yes, take everyone to the Yamen for interrogation!"

The boss was so frightened that he knew they had the guts to arrest people and bring them to the county government office. He knew that these people were lawless and there was nothing he could do against them.

The hotel owner quickly begged: "Please ask some gentlemen to be accommodating."

As he spoke, he took out money from the drawer and stuffed it into the hands of several people.

This group of thugs just stretched out their hands and waited for him to put money in. After the amount was almost the same, the leader stuffed the article into his collar and staggered towards the next store.

The boss shook the silver plate and sighed. His profit for less than half a month had been extorted by these rogues.

Seeing them leaving, the diners in the store immediately started talking.

"I know these guys. Have you seen the leader, Wang Qi? He was just a petty thief back then."

"Did you see that plaster on that guy's face? It's just a big gold seal covering it."

"Oh, a prisoner with a tattooed face back then is shaking now... what a world..."

"Bah, these scoundrels will be punished sooner or later!"

(End of this chapter)