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

Chapter 18 Trap yourself in
Wang Wenlong whispered: "I wonder if my father-in-law noticed that when Li Dan came back today, there was a small sedan accompanying him, and there was a young woman sitting in the sedan."

Gao Yin thought about it and nodded: "Well, it seems so."

Wang Wenlong said: "I heard their conversation, that woman is a Japanese!"

"What?"

Gao Yin looked at Wang Wenlong in surprise: "Li Dan has a Japanese woman with him? Are you sure you read that right?"

"It's absolutely true!" Wang Wenlong said: "There are many Japanese people who believe in the Catholicism of the Franji people and go to the sunset to study with those missionaries. I have seen a lot of them since I was a child. I will definitely not hear it wrong. The woman said It’s Japanese language.”

"Since that woman can ride in a sedan chair and is called a lady, she must be Li Dan's daughter, or at least a relative. Such a person cannot escape. If we can catch her, it will naturally prove that Li Dan is a Japanese traitor. "

Gao Yin was instantly overjoyed, "It turns out that Li Dan has a Japanese woman with him. It's not easy to catch him!"

Wang Wenlong said in disbelief: "My father-in-law, why don't you send someone to raid Li Dan's house immediately?"

Wang Wenlong didn't have a good impression of Gao Yin or Li Dan. These two were dog-eat-dog, and Wang Wenlong didn't feel any psychological burden if anyone got hurt.

But Gao Yin shook his head: "Go and get the person directly. What if you can't catch him? Even if you get it, I'm sure the woman can speak Chinese. How can you get the evidence that he communicated with the Japanese? It's inappropriate, it's inappropriate. ."

Gao Yin thought for a moment and then glanced at Wang Wenlong: "You know the situation overseas and understand the Japanese language. Why don't I ask you to find out the news about his family and then serve as a personal witness."

Wang Wenlong never thought that this matter could be related to him, and sweat broke out on his forehead instantly.

"Father-in-law, how did I know about such things? Besides, I have to help my father-in-law rehearse "The Peony Pavilion"

"Leave this matter to you! As long as you get the evidence of Li Dan's crime, it will be a great achievement. You have to take it seriously and don't fool around!"

Wang Wenlong stood stunned on the spot. He really wanted to give himself a big mouth on the spot. Why did he give Gao Yin such a bad idea?

……

"Slow down, slow down, bring it in."

"Put this stone farther out so it looks better."

"Oh, please be careful about this. If you break my father-in-law's treasure, I won't be able to afford the compensation even if I sell you!"

There was a lot of excitement in Gao Yin's mansion. The day after he went to blackmail Li Dan, the Li family sent gifts prepared for Gao Yin and the "Holy Lord".

Lin Shiqing started working from early in the morning, instructing Gao Yin's personal followers to place the various treasures sent by Li Dan in Gao Yin's mansion according to Feng Shui and beauty.

Lin Shiqing wants to do this and that. He holds a copy of "Eight Houses of Mirrors" in his hand and directs three strong men to turn a 1.5-meter-high red coral tree from the east to the west. Not satisfied, he asked them to move back to the east, and then move the ivory carvings inlaid with gold back to the west.

The house was noisy and quiet.

Gao Yin went out early today to do business. He had to supervise the tax collection work in Fujian. He had three houses in Zhangquan and Fuzhou. He spent more than two months of the year traveling to various places. To collect taxes, we also need to remotely control the mineral taxes and river taxes of other states and counties in Fujian.And he even hired a group of accountants to help him audit his accounts.

In order to make more money, this guy worked hard, but his lack of great virtue was unforgettable among the people.

Wang Wenlong was too lazy to get involved in Lin Shiqing's affairs. Since Gao Yin went out to do errands, he went back to the house to rest after eating early in the morning, closed the door and thought about what he should do next.

He really didn't want to stay in Gao Yin's house any longer.At this time, he heard a few knocks on the door. When he opened the door, he saw Li Bagin standing outside the door with a smile.

Before Gao Yin left, he told Wang Wenlong that he could go out freely. He probably wanted him to seduce the daughter of Li Dan's family, and also sent Li Bajin as his follower.Although I didn't escape the devil's cave, I had some freedom of movement, which was a good thing.

However, Wang Wenlong didn't dare to believe Gao Yin too much. He called Li Bagin and asked several questions. After asking Li Bagin clearly that he was doing things for him, Gao Yin didn't give any additional instructions or let him do too much supervision. Wang Wenlong was relieved.

Thinking about it, if Gao Yin wanted to send someone to supervise him, he probably wouldn't send someone like Li Bajin.
Without Gao Yin's instructions, Wang Wenlong couldn't use the sedan and carriage in his house, but it didn't matter. He could hire a sedan at the door and it was convenient to go anywhere.

Seeing Wang Wenlong, he called for the bearer.

Li Bajin rushed to take out a large ingot, and then took out a handful of copper coins to help Wang Wenlong pay.

Wang Wenlong saw that there were at least ten taels of gold ingot, which was equivalent to the annual income of ordinary people in this time and space. Gao Yin was quite generous, but he didn't know how much he had made, and he probably didn't care about the money at all.

After hiring a sedan chair, Wang Wenlong went straight to Shufang Street in Fuzhou Prefecture. He walked in with a decent man and said to the waiter:

"Do you know the bookseller from Jianyang? Bring me a message..."

When Wang Wenlong came to the bookstore again the next day, he saw Li Guangjin standing inside with a smile.

Wang Wenlong was overjoyed, "Why did Mr. Li come to Fuzhou?"

Li Guangjin glanced at Li Bajin who was next to Wang Wenlong, took Wang Wenlong's hand and said, "How are brother Wang Xian these days?"

Wang Wenlong laughed loudly: "I don't have to worry about eating and drinking. I even take care of the house, but it's not easy to move around at will."

Li Guangjin nodded. He had already left Jianyang on the day Yu Xiangdou and Deng Zhimo went to find Wang Wenlong. He didn't get the news until a few days later. By then, Wang Wenlong had been sent to Gaoyinfuli.

Li Guangjin felt quite regretful, feeling that if he had been in Jianyang at that time, he could have helped Wang Wenlong, and those people would not have dared to use violence in front of him.

"It's okay if I don't embarrass you."

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "Has the embroidered portrait of The Scholars been engraved?"

Unexpectedly, he didn't expect to see Li Guangjin today, so Wang Wenlong quickly asked the question he was most concerned about.

Now that he is living under someone else's roof, he always feels that his life is unstable. Only having money can give him some confidence.

It was still very profitable to sell novels at this time. A novel cost 3000 to 3000 taels of silver. A bookstore like Yu Xiangdou's would sell more than [-] copies at a moment. If they could all be sold, the profit would be at least [-] to [-] taels of silver.

Of course, you can only earn money by writing novels, and it is very difficult to increase your reputation.

In the early years of Ming Dynasty, writing novels was basically a criminal activity. Even if you didn't get caught, you would lose face by speaking out.

During the Xuande period, Li Changqi was a second-rank official. Just because he wrote a novel "The Story of the Cutting Lamp", after his death, he was unable to enter the Rural Xian Temple because he had bad moral character for writing the novel.

By the Wanli period, discrimination against novel writers had been greatly reduced, and a large number of authors began to be willing to write novels under their real names. However, society as a whole regarded novel writers as just people seeking money and profit.

So Wang Wenlong thought that his next step should be to write some more serious works. Although he may not be able to earn enough money, it can help him gain fame.As long as he is famous enough, if he encounters someone like Gao Yin and wants to force him to do something, he will at least have the ability to resist.

(End of this chapter)