Linxia

Chapter 134, Hot

The hot sales on the first day made Fang Lin, Tian Xuan, and the shop assistants Huang Di, Chai Yiwei, Liu Hongwen, and Geng Shi all exhausted, but they were tired and excited. After dinner that night, they talked for a while and fell asleep in a daze.

Early the next morning, there was a knock on the door.

Fang Lin was used to getting up early. When he heard the sound, he opened the door and found seven or eight elementary school children.

"Is this the place that sells Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Is it open now?"

"Yes, we took a detour here. Can we sell books now?"

"We all want Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

……

These primary school children were like a group of early-rising little birds, chattering in unison, lively and active. They stared at us pitifully, their eyes full of expectation.

Fang Lin looked at them and felt that if he said he would not sell them, he would be like a villain, committing a heinous crime, and these little guys could cry in front of him.

"It's not open yet, but I can get it for you first." He thought about it, then asked worriedly, "Do your parents know that I'm buying novels?"

"Uncle, you are so stupid. How could we let our parents know about this? The three of us pooled our pocket money and bought it together."

"My parents know. I begged them for a long time yesterday before they gave me the money. But it was too late and they wouldn't let me out. Otherwise, I would have come here to buy it last night."

"Hey, you couldn't buy it yesterday. I came here after school yesterday and saw so many people. We are too small to squeeze in. Boss, we came here early this morning and haven't even eaten yet. Please have pity on us and sell it to us!"

……

What else could Fang Lin say? He also remembered that he used to forget about food and sleep when reading novels, so he went to get them books.

These little school children received the books and paid for them. They were all very happy, as if they had obtained some treasure.

"I can see it the fastest, let me see it first!"

"Why? The three of us pooled our money together. So, tear the book open and we'll take turns reading it."

"What are you guys still talking about? Run! We got here, but we took a detour. We're going to be late!"

……

Then, we saw these elementary school children shouting "Ahhh" and running away under the rising sun.

Fang Lin looked at this scene, smiled and shook his head.

A group of young customers in the morning kicked off the busy day for Xuan Mo Zhai.

Today's business was booming, as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" continued to gain popularity and word of mouth spread. The store was packed as soon as it opened, and soon customers were crowding out of the store. It was no less popular than yesterday, no, it was even more popular than yesterday. It was a bustling place.

In fact, it has gradually become a bit distorted. There are too many customers who want "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". After other customers bought "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", they wanted to pick up something else. Someone behind them cursed and others followed suit. It was a unanimous condemnation. Later on, basically everyone just ordered a copy of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and left. The main focus was on efficiency.

Under such circumstances, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" sold very fast, like a constant flow of water. It was restocked every short time and replenished again not long after it was restocked.

The estimated one-day quantity was sold out in one hour, and the estimated three-day quantity was sold out in just one morning!
Fang Lin discovered that even his stockpile of one thousand and two taels of silver might not be enough to sustain the business!
……

During lunch.

"To be honest, today is easier than yesterday." Huang Di joked, "Today's customers are pushing us so hard that we can't sell anything else except Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so it's easier to settle accounts."

Forced by the situation, Xuan Mo Zhai could only sell "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" for the time being, so they changed the model. Fang Lin, Huang Di, Chai Yiwei, Liu Hongwen and Geng Shi each sold a stack of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and charged money for the books. The price of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was fixed. With this fool-proof model, even illiterate Huang Di, Chai Yiwei and Geng Shi could participate and take charge.

It's time to eat. Fang Lin, Huang Di, Chai Yiwei and Liu Hongwen are inside. Geng Shi, who has already eaten, is guarding a line outside to provide temporary support.

"Isn't it? This way I can pay the bill." Chai Yiwei said.

"This situation is really unheard of."

Liu Hongwen sighed with a smile that the bustling atmosphere in the store in the past two days helped him get out of the shadow of being cheated by Hong Yingheng.

He didn't have any thoughts about the good business of Xuan Mo Zhai. After all, he witnessed with his own eyes that the customers all wanted "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". He naturally knew that Xuan Mo Zhai was able to come back to life because of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". If "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was gone, he would probably have only one in ten business left.

"Before, because of my arrogance, I had high expectations but low skills. After what happened to Hong Yingheng, I have calmed down now. The more I get to know Fang Lin, the more I admire him."

Liu Hongwen thought to himself, and sighed again: "It is also thanks to you, Fang Lin, that you have foresight and stockpiled a lot of goods, which can maintain the hot situation."

"I know we have stockpiled a lot of goods, but looking at the situation today... Linzi, are what we have stockpiled enough?" Huang Di asked.

"I probably would have said enough before, but now, I can't guarantee that."

As Fang Lin spoke, he felt a sense of absurdity in his heart. He thought he was well prepared and could reap a heavy harvest, but the reality was that the leeks kept coming over in waves and he could not reap them all. He simply could not reap them all.

He also analyzed the reasons: "Water Margin came out first, which made the market relatively mature. I got the timing right and entered the market when readers were most hungry for good popular novels. Coupled with the high quality of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it had such a breakthrough effect."

"Come on, eat more." At this time, Tian Xuan came over and added rice and vegetables to them. The dishes were full of oil.

"That's enough, that's enough, no more."

"Sorry for the trouble. I don't need it anymore."

"The food is so good every day, it's like Chinese New Year."

……

"Well, you guys can order your own food. I can't help with anything in the store. I can only make sure everyone eats and drinks well." Tian Xuan said with a smile.

She understood a simple truth: only when you are full can you have the strength to work. She was too stingy and it affected the business of the store. She was picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons.

At this time, there was another commotion outside. "Why is there only one train left? Open two more trains to sell, there are so many of us!"

"Yeah, I heard there were five trains in the morning, but only one left at lunch time."

"What are you going to eat? The boss is going to come out and make money!"

……

"Okay, I'll go out and help Brother Geng." Fang Lin put down the bowl and prepared to get up.

"No, you and Huang Di just came in. I'm done eating, I'll go out!" Liu Hongwen said.

"I'm fine too." Chai Yiwei also stood up.

……

The two men went out and opened two more trains, and only then did they calm down the group of impatient and hungry customers.

……

It was still very popular in the afternoon. Because we changed the model and only sold "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" for the time being, the delivery efficiency was greatly accelerated. Correspondingly, the speed of revenue coming in per unit time was also greatly increased.

However, Fang Lin also had worries - his worries in the morning had become a reality. If he continued to sell like this, he might not be able to hold on until the next batch of printing and delivery, and the stockpiled copies of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" would not be enough.

Seeing the situation this morning, he saw the big picture and immediately asked someone to contact Feng Qingji to print more copies of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". However, the crazy stockpiling last month had already caused Feng Qingji's printing workshop to be overloaded. The workers have been on holiday for the past two days. After receiving the news today, Feng Qingji had to urgently recall the workers.

It's not that Fang Lin is inflexible and doesn't look for other printing houses. There are reasons for this. One is the issue of trust, which involves the confidentiality of the manuscript. Another issue is that carving plates also takes time. Feng Qingji Printing House has the previous master plate, but other printing houses do not. Re-carving the plate may not be faster than pirating.

Speaking of piracy, the crackdown on piracy by Prefect Pu last month shocked many people and made many booksellers hesitate. In addition, it takes time to carve pirated plates, print, transport, promote and sell them...

This resulted in a brief gap before the pirated version came out. For a period of time, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was so hard to come by that one had to resort to favors to get a copy. For example, Dong Zugao, unable to resist the requests of his classmates, went through the back door several times to get the book.

It would be fine if you mentioned Dong Zugao, but what's even more outrageous is that Xu Kuo, who can't even read, also came three times to get things, saying he was picking up goods for his friends. What do you think those gang members read?

Fang Lin also asked and got a ridiculous answer. It was unknown where Xu Kuolao's friends heard some content from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and were particularly fond of Guan Erye in the book. They bought "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and wanted to worship him... It was simply outrageous!

You see, gang members are all buying Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The market has gone completely crazy. When the market goes crazy, what the hell is rationality?

The entire city of Huai'an was swept by a "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" trend. In the streets and alleys, teahouses and taverns, men, women, young and old, dignitaries, and peddlers, everyone was talking about the Three Kingdoms, as if you would be out of date if you didn't know about it.

In this environment, not only the literate, but also the illiterate, as long as they have spare money, will follow the trend and buy a copy - if you can't read, you can ask someone to read it! If all else fails, you can buy a copy as a family heirloom!

The hot demand and scarce supply made Xuan Mo Zhai crowded with people. Many people wanted to buy a copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms but couldn't get it. They were willing to pay a high price to buy it. Then, scalpers were forced out by the market. However, it must be said that scalpers are hated in every era. In this era, there is no rule that "fighting back means fighting". The martial virtue is abundant, and other book buyers will not indulge scalpers. As a result, more than ten fights broke out outside Xuan Mo Zhai in just a few days.

Prefect Pu was paying attention to this place and had specially arranged ten yamen runners to come and maintain order.

Fang Lin therefore adjusted the sales model, limiting the purchase to one book per person, but this did not eliminate the problem of people who had already bought a book going back to queue up.

He had only seen one person before, and he had seen him seven or eight times in one morning. When he stared at the other person with strange eyes, this smart man even said, "I am the younger brother of that person just now."

Because of the popularity of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, many hilarious farces were indeed caused.

……

As the saying goes, when one person succeeds, the whole family will prosper. Xuan Mo Zhai is very popular. Not only the nearby shops, but also several nearby streets have benefited from it. The business has obviously improved a lot recently.

However, two streets away in Shuxiang Pavilion, the Hong brothers were not happy because the sales of their copy of "Popular Romance of the Song Dynasty Restoration" were not ideal.

I thought that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Popular Romance of the Song Dynasty Restoration" would be released on the same day, thinking that they could be combined to create hype. It was a beautiful idea, but the quality of the two books was too different. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a phenomenal work, and one book absorbed all the heat and discussion. Countless readers would rather read it over and over again than buy a copy of "Popular Romance of the Song Dynasty Restoration".

Hong Yingheng figured this out later. He had also read Romance of the Three Kingdoms and knew the quality of the work. In a hurry, he made a stupid move: lowering the price.

This price cut ruins things!

Readers who shouldn't buy the novels still won't buy them - do readers who can afford popular novels lack money? No! What they lack is high-quality popular novels. The Popular Romance of the Restoration of the Song Dynasty is not even worthy of competing with The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It really pales in comparison with The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Readers who have already bought "The Popular Romance of the Restoration of the Song Dynasty" now see that you have reduced the price. Well, I am losing money, right? Return it!
In fact, returning the goods would be fine, but the Hong brothers have also seen the most heartbreaking scene. The customer returned the goods in a rage and went straight to Xuan Mo Zhai to grab "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" when he left the house.

This made the Hong brothers feel so angry that they almost gritted their teeth, especially when they saw Xuan Mo Zhai's business was booming day by day while their own business was languishing, and they finally lost their patience.

"Brother, we can't go on like this." Hong Yingdou said.

"So what? You have also read Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The quality of our Popular Romance of Daxing and Zhongxing is really not as good as it. It's not war's fault!" Hong Yingheng sighed.

"Brother, our "Popular Romance of Daxing Zhongxing" cannot beat "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but we can also do business with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"!" Hong Yingdou's meaning was very clear, if you can't beat it, just join it.

"You mean, making a pirated version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms? But, I heard that the background of Xuan Mo Zhai is Prefect Pu..." Hong Yingheng was a cautious person and spoke hesitantly.

"Brother, the Water Margin published by the Imperial Examination Yuan and the Imperial College of Yingtian Prefecture is not so overbearing as to stop other booksellers from printing it. If Water Margin can be pirated, why can't Romance of the Three Kingdoms be pirated? So what about Prefect Pu? The court currently has no explicit laws, so you can do whatever is not prohibited by law."

"This is still different. The author of "Water Margin" was from the end of the Yuan Dynasty and has long passed away. However, Fang Lin, who wrote "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", is still alive and well!" Hong Yingheng shook his head.

"Brother, Fang Lin is eating meat, can't we just have some soup? Brother, if you are worried, why don't we get other booksellers to join us?"

Seeing that Hong Yingheng's attitude had softened, Hong Yingdou said again: "Brother, think about the losses our store has suffered in recent days!"

"Okay!" Hong Yingheng gritted his teeth and finally agreed.

……

Not only the Hong brothers, but other booksellers in Huai'an City are also ready to make a move. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" has been very popular recently, and the huge profits have long made them greedy. Now someone has made a connection, and they have tacitly united and started to follow suit and pirate on a large scale.

……

(End of this chapter)