Linxia

Chapter 125, Completed

The next day, Fang Lin was on his day off. In order to relieve his fatigue, relax and also to let Fang's father, mother and Tian Xuan get their minds off the Xin family's affairs, the family went to see a play.

At Yishun Teahouse, the play this morning was "Wu Song Fighting the Tiger". In the afternoon, I went to listen to Liu Mazi's storytelling, and he was talking about the chapter "Yang Zhi Selling a Knife".

Whether it is Yishun Teahouse's "Wu Song Fighting the Tiger" or Liu Mazi's storytelling "Yang Zhi Selling a Knife", in essence they both mean to ride on the popularity of "Water Margin", but the effect is extremely good, and all of them are extremely popular.

Watching plays and listening to books, the noisy and lively atmosphere in the world was washed away, and the family's worries were all gone. They all became happy. They had lunch outside and returned to Xixiang Hutong in the evening.

I was a little tired after a day of playing, so I had a quick dinner and went to bed to rest.

Fang Lin wrote half a chapter of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" tonight, and then lay down, thinking about the exciting scenes of watching plays and listening to books during the day.

'With the emergence of capitalism, some people got rich first and indulged in extravagance, such as the Yang Juren banquet and the Lantern Festival at Bieshan, which entered the so-called "golden age". Materially, they were extremely abundant, but spiritual needs had not kept up. Therefore, new dramas such as "Romance of the West Chamber", "Du Shiniang's Wrath and the Sinking of the Treasure Box", and "Wu Song Fighting the Tiger" are now sought after by thousands of people; Liu Mazi's storytelling is so popular.'

In the tide of the times, these people may know the fact of their success but not the reason, but Fang Lin is sober and summarizes the objective law: "It is easy to go with the flow and difficult to go against the flow. It is indeed more effective to go with the flow. Therefore, it is most appropriate for me to choose a bookstore as my first real industry."

'Now, his connections are enough to support a bookstore. He has the connections with Dong Zugao's family. If he can get Prefect Pu, there will be no doubts. He also has Xu Kuo Lao and he can have a say in some gangsters. That's about it.'

Fang Lin just wanted to open a bookstore, not to monopolize the market with huge profits, so these backgrounds were enough.

'What I need to do now is to wait, wait for the Water Margin craze to pass, wait for the hungry readers to finish writing Romance of the Three Kingdoms, wait for the money to be saved for the next two months.'

……

After the break, I returned to Xuan Mo Zhai.

Fang Lin, Huang Di and Chai Yiwei, the three shop assistants, clearly felt that because there was no "Water Margin" for sale in the store, business was slower than usual.

Every morning and evening, when Fang Lin went out for a walk, he often heard passers-by talking about "Water Margin". Even illiterate people could hear a thing or two about it from dramas and storytelling. "Water Margin" undoubtedly became a hot topic in the headlines of Huai'an Prefecture.

As time went by, things started to change. The city was flooded with copies of "Water Margin", and booksellers who were also selling "Water Margin" began to roll up their books.

How to roll it?

One is the article, which adds "京雕", "新刻", "京本" before the title of the book to attract readers, but when they buy it and take a look, the contents are still the same.

The second is the inscription. For example, the Shuxiang Pavilion version of "Water Margin" has a inscription saying, 'This book has been printed for several editions, all of which are fake. I purchased ancient copies and invited famous teachers to check and proofread it. There are phonetic notes for difficult characters, textual research for allusions, and supplements for omissions.' This means that all other versions are fake, and mine is the authentic one. It has been reviewed by famous people, and there are interpretations, phonetic notes, explanations, and supplements in the text. My version is unique.

The third is illustrations. Some booksellers have a unique idea and include illustrations in books, which further lowers the threshold for reading, so that ordinary people with limited literacy can also read them.

But no matter what tricks they use, they are all tampering with "Water Margin" itself. Obviously, the shortage of book sources has become a trend!

The market is hungry, and of course some people see business opportunities and want to come up with new popular novels to fill the market, but time is short and the fastest they can come up with is short stories. Now that popular novels have just been opened up, these short stories are naturally immature and are worse than "Water Margin", which has increased readers' urgent need for high-quality popular novels.

During this period, Fang Lin calmed down and wrote the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He did not change his habit of going to the school and teahouse for walks in the morning and evening.

Until this day.

Fang Lin finally finished writing the first part of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, from the first chapter "The three heroes swore brotherhood at the Peach Garden Banquet, and the heroes made their first contribution in the battle against the Yellow Turbans", to the thirtieth chapter "Prince Yuanchu was defeated in the battle of Guandu, and Meng De was robbed of Wuchao and his grain was burned".

'The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has 120 chapters and 1 million words, so it's just right to divide it into four parts. There is no copyright protection now, so this is also a way to reduce losses. The quality of the first part will ferment, and the word of mouth will spread, which will add some fame to me. When the next three parts are released, I will definitely be able to tap into the potential. ''Well, there is one more thing. I don't know if my wording is appropriate. I need to find someone to polish it. If others are not sure, I have to ask Brother Dong for this matter. '

……

The next day, Fang Lin asked for a day off and went to see Dong Zugao to explain his purpose: "Brother Dong is preparing for the exam, I am sorry to bother you, but I really don't feel comfortable leaving this matter to someone else."

"Brother Fang, you are too polite. It's not a big deal. To be honest, although I am taking an exam, I can't read and write all day. I also need to rest and look at the manuscript. It's a combination of work and rest."

Dong Zugao said as he flipped through the book and made revisions. Since it was a popular novel, there was no need to quote too many classics. Fang Lin also completed the book with a very high degree of completion, and he only changed a few words and sentences. It was complete after just one reading.

"Brother Fang is a great writer. This book is well written. It is not inferior to "Water Margin". In my opinion, it is even better... But, the end... Why is there no more at the end? Oh, I said it was for Brother Fang to polish and revise, but I was fascinated by it."

He spoke incoherently and was quite excited, and asserted: "If the quality of the rest of this book remains the same, Brother Fang will be remembered in history with this book!"

"Brother Dong, how about we sign a joint letter?"

Fang Lin did not wait for Dong Zugao to refuse, and said, "Brother Dong, you have polished and revised the manuscript for me. To be honest, it is not considered as fraud, and there is no need to feel bad about it. This is also to use Brother Dong's reputation to sell books."

"What kind of reputation do I have? Brother Fang is flattering me."

The two of them pushed and shoved each other.

Finally, Dong Zugao said, "If Brother Fang really wants to do this, just mention me in the book and do some polishing."

Leaving one's name in history is one of the highest pursuits of writers. He couldn't refuse after all. He felt that he owed a favor to Lord Fang Lin, and therefore he felt more like the master. He suggested: "Unlike "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is still written by Brother Fang, so there is no need for the introduction and introductory words. However, for the preface, Brother Fang should ask a person of high moral character to write it, such as... Prefect Pu!"

"This is a great idea!" Fang Lin smiled and clapped his hands after hearing it.

He also thought that asking Prefect Pu to write a preface at this time might seem like a bother and a favor to him, but when Romance of the Three Kingdoms became widely circulated in the future and even went down in history, Prefect Pu would be grateful for the favor.

This is also the way of human interaction.

……

Here, Magistrate Pu received the results of the other party's investigation from his advisor today.

He said that he invited Fang Lin to his house for dinner at any time. Having made such a promise, he naturally had to do some research to see what kind of person Fang Lin was, and then decide on his subsequent attitude, whether to repay the favor and leave it at that, or to get closer to him.

In peaceful times, the government was extremely powerful. Once the order was given, Fang Lin's entire body was quickly investigated, and basically nothing was left out from the journey from Xiaohe Village to Huai'an City.

"So many?" Prefect Pu originally thought that there were not many worth recording, but he didn't expect that there were so many.

"Yes, I think it is necessary to let the adults see these. I have to say that Fang Lin is a character!" Master Peng exclaimed.

"Oh? There are not many people who can earn such an evaluation from you. I really need to take a good look at it." Prefect Pu stroked his beard and smiled, flipping through the book.

……

(End of this chapter)