Linxia

Chapter 192, Journey to the West

Time passed quickly, and soon the cold winter was over and the Spring Festival was approaching.

Last year, Fang Lin's family lived in Xiaohe Village; the year before, Fang Lin worked in Xuanmo Zhai, took a ten-day annual leave, and received generous New Year gifts from the shopkeeper Liu; this year, it is his turn to give people holidays and distribute New Year gifts.

Fang Lin was generous in preparing abundant New Year's goods for the employees at the main Xuan Mo Zhai store and its two branches.

The weaving workshop even held an annual meeting similar to that in the previous life. Not only were fixed New Year's goods distributed, but there were also rewards for outstanding employees. For example, my cousin Ren Xiuer received a second-class reward of three taels of silver.

In addition, there are some fun activities, such as a raffle for a customized turntable.

The prizes were not fancy or flashy; they were chickens, ducks, fish, bacon, eggs, as well as basins, bowls, jars, teacups, spoons, etc. printed with the factory name "Diyiliangpin Weaving Workshop".

Finally, there is a certain amount of defective cloth as a benefit.

Workers of this era have never seen such a scene before. It's not just a show, it's really good for you. It goes without saying that Fang Lin's reputation has risen to a higher level. Even the party leader who often plays the good guy has been "whitewashed" because of this specific implementation, and his reputation among the workers has reversed.

The workers in the factory also took the initiative to brag about this move. The workers from Gu, Ma, Shao and Duan were so envious that they drooled and wanted to go to work.

In other words, Fang Lin's side is temporarily fully staffed and there is no shortage of people. If he really wants to poach people at this time, he might be able to poach most of the workers from the four factories of Gu, Ma, Shao and Duan.

Gu, Ma, Shao, and Duan were reluctant to say anything. After all, it was the annual New Year's Day, and they gave some gifts to the workers. What's wrong with that? You are stingy, so why not let them be generous?
In order to stabilize people's hearts, they had to follow suit and rolled up the money. However, perhaps because of their stingy nature, they were reluctant to give it away, or perhaps they were afraid of whetting the workers' appetites, so they reduced the benefits. The workers naturally knew what was going on and did not care much about the relationship. The four families were really in a thankless position.

Not only the workers, the high welfare of Fang Lin's factory was also spread throughout the city, which was a disguised "advertisement" to let everyone in the city know about Boss Fang's generosity. When Fang Lin returned to the alley, many people in the alley asked about it.

Even though the common people in the city may not want to or be able to work in Fang Lin's workshop for the time being after hearing about this, they are all deeply impressed. In the future, when they want to buy cloth or want to work in a factory, Fang Lin's "First Quality Weaving Workshop" will definitely be their first choice.

It can be said that the money spent on the welfare of factory workers is more than worth it compared to the various invisible benefits it has brought.

……

Gu family.

"That Assistant Chief Fang... is going too far. He previously maliciously raised the wages, and this time, he gave those peasants so many benefits. He simply doesn't know where he is sitting!" Gu Shiyu said angrily.

"This person is indeed a little ungrateful." Gu Tongren frowned deeply and decided to make trouble for Fang Lin. He suddenly asked, "I heard that our Fang Qianshi and a young man from Yingtian have an appointment to fight for the next novel?"

"That's true. The man's name is Zhang Yide, the third son of Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Rites. He is good at novels about gods and demons... Dad, what do you want?" Gu Shiyu said, his eyes lighting up.

"Take away the distributor's license for his next book, open a bookstore in the city, and give us here something to do. If his next novel fails, I think he will be more at peace and won't bother running a shop to cause trouble for us."

Because Fang Lin is the president of the Huai'an Popular Fiction Guild, all the booksellers in the city don't want to offend Fang Lin. They also know how powerful Fang Lin is, and tacitly agree not to bid for the qualification to distribute Zhang Yide's new book. Now that the Gu family has opened a bookstore and brought in Zhang Yide's books, it is obvious that they want to disgust Fang Lin.

However, ever since Fang Lin opened the factory, the conflict with the Gu family has been exposed, and both sides have made their intentions clear, so there is no need to worry about the means within these rules.

……

Just when the Gu family was plotting to open a bookstore and wanted to use Zhang Yide's new book to compete with Fang Lin, Fang Lin's "Journey to the West" and "Investiture of the Gods" were completed in this cold winter and sent to the capital through official channels.

……

After the twelfth lunar month comes the New Year, with lion dances, bench dragons, turtle mountain lanterns... in such a lively and bustling atmosphere, brilliant fireworks explode.

The fourteenth year of Hongtai came to an end.

……

After the Chinese New Year, time flies.

When spring thunder roared and all things came to life, in the Jianghuai area, the news that Fang Lin's new work would be released suddenly spread like wildfire, attracting the attention of countless people and raising their expectations.

This was naturally Zhang Yide trying to build momentum for Fang Lin. Today he would release a new book, most likely a novel about gods and demons, and tomorrow he would promote a book about a duel with himself...

The other party was jumping up and down, barking wildly, but Fang Lin's reaction was... no reaction! He was calm and indifferent, looking down on the other party, not saying a word, as if he was just watching the other party jumping around quietly, and he was immediately sure of who was better than him.

That day, Hong Yingheng came again and said, "President Fang, there has been a lot of noise recently, saying that your new book will be published and you will compete with Zhang Yide in a book competition. It seems that Zhang Yide is behind this. This person probably wants to whet the appetite of readers. If the president's new book does not meet the expectations of readers in the future, there may be a backlash..."

"Is it flattery?"

Fang Lin didn't care. He felt that he could bear such expectations and praise, or rather, the book "Journey to the West" could bear it.

"Don't worry about it. I would also like to thank this person for promoting me." He said calmly.

Seeing Fang Lin so confident, Hong Yingheng felt relieved. After all, Fang Lin's victory over Zhang Yide meant the victory of the Huai'an Popular Fiction Guild over the Yingtian Popular Fiction Guild, which was related to his own interests. "By the way, I also received a message that Zhang Yide was probably guilty and wanted to release his new work in advance, ten days or half a month earlier than the president's new book."

In fact, Zhang Yide was indeed guilty - he jumped up and down, while Fang Lin was like an old monk in meditation. Just watching him jumping around, he felt like a clown. But the matter was done, and there was no way back. He had no choice but to go ahead and release the book ten days and half a month in advance, in order to build up its reputation in advance and create an advantage over Fang Lin's new work.

"It's okay. What's wrong with giving him ten days? It also prevents others from saying that I bullied him and won unfairly." Fang Lin remained calm.

His mentality now is probably similar to that of Tathagata Buddha, who looks at Monkey King jumping around in his palm and doesn't want to pay any attention to him unless he does something excessive, like peeing in his hand.

"Chairman Fang's courage and broad-mindedness are indeed incomparable to that young boy..."

As Hong Yingheng was speaking, he suddenly realized that Fang Lin was also young. But strangely, every time he faced Fang Lin, he felt as if he was facing a wise elder. "President Fang, there is one last thing. None of the booksellers in Huai'an City will take over the distribution of Zhang Yide's new book. However, the Gu family recently opened a bookstore in the city, named 'Jingxuanzhai', which may take over this matter..."

In fact, the bookstore opened by the Gu family was just opposite Fang Lin's Guangfu Xie Street branch, and its name was "Jingxuanzhai". Xuanmozhai, Jingxuanzhai, the meaning was self-evident. However, the other party still kept some sense, at least it was called "Jingxuanzhai" instead of "Poxuanzhai", and it was just opposite the branch, not the main store.

"I know about this. The Gu family's newly opened bookstore is right across from one of my branches."

Fang Lin actually admired the courage of the Gu family. How dare they do that? "It seems that the lesson is not profound enough. Last time, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" faced "Romance of the Song Dynasty". This time, let's use "Journey to the West" to establish our power again!"

After Hong Yingheng said this, he saw that Fang Lin was calm and everything was under control, so he felt confident and said goodbye and left.

Not long after this person left, a letter arrived from the capital through official channels.

Fang Lin opened it and found that it was written by Emperor Hong Tai. He expressed his approval of "Journey to the West" and praised the book's ingenious and bizarre language, plot, and character settings. There was a tendency of a fanatical fan in his words, but it was because of his reserve as an emperor that he did not express it too explicitly. In the end, he even asked for the second part.

As for The Investiture of the Gods, he did not mention it, but Emperor Hongtai had read Journey to the West and immediately wrote a letter to him. By the way, in the letter, Emperor Hongtai also modestly asked if anyone had written a preface for Journey to the West. If not, he would write a preface himself, which was already attached to the letter.

What could Fang Lin say in the face of Emperor Hongtai's arrogance? It must be that there is no such thing, even if there is.

When writing the preface to Journey to the West, Emperor Hong Tai did not use his real name, but his nickname "Lion Cat General". The reason was that although he was an emperor, he was also subject to constraints. If he really wrote the preface in the name of the emperor without disguising it, the censors would swarm in like flies smelling fishy smell, buzzing in his ears and saying that it was inappropriate. Emperor Hong Tai was not afraid, but he was annoyed, and was even more worried that it would affect Fang Lin and affect his writing of the book.

Emperor Hongtai's nickname was the Lion-Cat General. This name came from a cat. Before he fell in love with the cat 'Shuangmei', his favorite cat was called 'Lion Cat'.

This cat is different from Frost Eyebrow. If Frost Eyebrow is the representative of gentleness, then Lion Cat is the representative of domineering. It is rather wild and looks like a lion. It has a pair of large and extremely bright eyes and a circle of hair on its neck. Like a male lion, it walks majestically and proudly, with a kind of unparalleled momentum and domineering aura.

Emperor Hongtai was very fond of the "Lion Cat". When the Lion Cat died, he sent someone to write a poem for it, praising it with the words "Turning a Lion into a Dragon". He also built a tomb for it called "Qionglong Tomb".

To get back to the topic, Emperor Hongtai named it this, which shows how much he values ​​and loves "Journey to the West".

"Your Majesty has personally approved that the possible political risks in Journey to the West are no longer a problem. It's time to release it and establish a monument to this mythological novel!" Fang Lin thought to himself.

……

The next day, the first part of "Journey to the West" was put up for sale. It was said that the invited booksellers from Jianghuai areas read the sample books and were all shocked. They competed fiercely to sell the book at a sky-high price.

After this news came out, the pre-sale of "Journey to the West" became more and more popular, and it was truly highly anticipated by everyone.

Time passed day by day, and on the second day of February, the first part of "Journey to the West" was finally officially on sale!
……

Early in the morning of that day, before daybreak, there was a knock on the shop door. When the door was opened, it turned out to be the kid Xu Xianwen.

"Brother Fang, I know you are busy today, so there is no need to trouble you to send someone to deliver the book. I'll come and pick up... the book?" Xu Xianwen poked his head in, rubbing his hands and looking left and right.

"You are really good at talking, are you afraid of causing me trouble? You just can't wait!"

Fang Lin pointed at the guy with a smile. He was going to send someone to deliver the Xu family's books later, but he didn't expect Xu Xianwen to be impatient and come to get them so early.

He asked the clerk to fetch the books and asked the boy, "Aren't you going to school today?"

"No need to go. Today is a holiday. Actually, this is related to you, Brother Fang. The teacher said that your new book is on sale today. I guess we can't concentrate on studying in school, so we might as well take a day off." Xu Xianwen replied, staring at the back of the waiter who was getting the book.

Just after a few words were spoken here, noisy voices were heard outside. They were all customers coming to pick up books.

Xu Xianwen politely declined Fang Lin's invitation to stay for dinner, and went out with his servants carrying the books. When they went out, they unexpectedly ran into Master Yu.

"Well, the teacher gave us a day off today, probably not only because he saw that we couldn't concentrate on studying in the school, but also because he wanted to read books." He complained in his heart.

Here, Master Yu came early to pick up the books, but he didn't expect that there were already a lot of people outside Xuan Mo Zhai. He was pushed to the side and his hat was squeezed off.

Xu Xianwen went over to pick up the hat, returned it to Master Yu, greeted him, and gave him a copy of "Journey to the West". Master Yu wanted to give him money, but this guy refused to take it and ran away.

"This boy has a good character."

As a teacher, he should treat everyone equally, but everyone has their own length. Because of what happened today, Master Yu looked at the book in his hand and decided to pay more attention to Xu Xianwen in the future, such as asking questions in class, checking homework, and requiring stricter requirements. Only in this way can he live up to the gift of the book!
……

On Guangfu Street, the branch store owned by Liu Hongwen was very busy early in the morning, with people coming to pick up books, filling the store.

On the other hand, across the street, the Gu family's newly opened bookstore, Jingxuanzhai, was deserted.

Gu Shimin was from a branch of the Gu family and the owner of Jingxuanzhai. He looked at the opposite side with envy and jealousy, as many people tried various tricks to get books.

Some people just threw money outside the door, and while others were picking up the money, they went straight in to pick up the books.

"I don't know which family this fool is from!" Gu Shimin looked down on him and thought he was crazy: "It's just a book, what's the big deal?"

Then, a man came over leading a big wolf dog. Others cursed him for being uncultured but made way for him.

This scene of demons dancing wildly was an eye-opener for Gu Shimin.

After a while, Gu Shimin saw the man walking the dog happily coming out with twenty books in his arms, and called out to him, "Brother, please stay. May I know your name?"

"No need to mention my surname Huang, you can call me Huang Erlang." Actually, this Huang Erlang is a scalper. Now he is in a good mood when talking about books and is willing to talk to the other party.

"Brother, do you like Mr. Fang's novels?"

“Isn’t it?” Every time Fang Lin released a new book, it was a great time for scalpers like Huang Erlang to make a fortune, but it was not the same for other people’s books.

By the way, all the scalpers in Huai'an City really wanted to tie up Fang Lin, lock him in a small dark room, and make him write one chapter a day. He would not be allowed to eat or sleep until he finished. In this way, there would be thirty chapters in a month, which could be a book, and twelve books in a year. Wouldn't that be great?
——Yes, one chapter a day is the limit of these scalpers' imagination. In their opinion, one chapter a day is the limit for people. What about two or three chapters a day? Impossible! It's impossible!
"It seems that you are interested in novels about gods and demons, so you must have heard of the author Zhang Yide. I have his new work, The Legend of the Arhat Who Subdues Dragons and Tigers, in my store. Why don't you come in and buy a copy?"

"Zhang Yide?"

"Correct."

"Never heard of it." Huang Erlang shook his head in confusion.

If you are someone who likes novels about gods and demons, you may have heard of Zhang Yide. However, he is a scalper. In the world of reselling popular novels, I’m sorry, except Fang Lin, everyone else is trash.

"You haven't heard of it? How could you not have heard of it? Let me tell you, Zhang Yide is a well-known author of fantasy novels, and his new book 'The Legend of the Arhat Conquering Dragons and Subduing Tigers' is even more interesting. You won't suffer a loss or be fooled if you buy it." Gu Shimin tried his best to sell it.

Huang Erlang was annoyed by the entanglement and pointed forward: "Look!"

Gu Shimin looked and saw the wolfhound on a lead pulling Huang Erlang, paddling forward with its four paws, trying hard to pull Huang Erlang away. He felt strange. What did this have to do with buying books?
At this time, Huang Erlang's voice came from afar: "Did you see that? What is "The Legend of Arhat Conquering Dragons and Tigers"? Even dogs don't care!"

Gu Shimin felt greatly insulted and his face turned red, but when he came to his senses, Huang Erlang had already left, leaving only a pile of steaming feces on the spot.

……

(End of this chapter)