Linxia

Chapter 193, Feast

"WTF!"

Gu Shimin spat at the pile of dog shit and turned around to go back, but after thinking for a moment, he changed his step and prepared to find a copy of "Journey to the West" to criticize it.

He has read Fang Lin's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and admits that it is a good book, but he does not like historical epic themes very much and prefers mythological novels.

Gu Shimin stepped forward and stopped a man: "Brother, I want the book you have in your hand. I'll pay twice the price."

"Double?" The man sneered, gave Gu Shimin a contemptuous look, and turned away.

He is Fang Lin's loyal fan, almost fanatical. He has been waiting for Fang Lin's new book for many days and placed an order in advance. He came to pick up the book early this morning and couldn't wait any longer.

So, let alone twice, even three times, four times, five times... well, that won’t work.

"You are a fool who doesn't know how to make money. Bah!"

Gu Shimin was very generous in his heart, but he still forced a smile, stopped another person, paused, and raised the price again: "Brother, let's make a deal, can you give me the copy of Journey to the West in your hand? I will pay three times the price."

"Three times?" The man looked at Gu Shimin with a strange look as if he was a fool.

——Today, even if you buy books from scalpers, the price is only 70% to 80% higher than the original price. If the other party offers three times the price, you can make more than twice the money by trading the books yourself.

Gu Shimin thought of his previous failure and saw the look in this person's eyes. He was stimulated and, under misunderstanding, his brain was hot: "Five times!"

"Five times is five times!" The man was ready to agree, but he didn't expect that the man would raise the price temporarily. With a caring look in his eyes, he agreed immediately and earned four times the money with tears in his eyes. Because he earned so much, he didn't even look for scalpers, but directly pulled another customer and bought a book at twice the price.

When Gu Shimin saw this scene, he felt insulted again. He returned to the store with a blank expression, holding the copy of "Journey to the West" in his hand.

He opened the book and read it with a critical attitude. In the first chapter, "Spiritual roots breed and flow out, the mind cultivates and the great way is born", a monkey jumped out of a stone. He felt curious in his heart, but he sneered: "How ridiculous! In this "Journey to the West", the protagonist can't be a monkey, right?"

Reading on, it continues with 'Comprehending the true and wonderful principles of Bodhi, eliminating demons and returning to the original spirit'. The monkey becomes a disciple and learns skills. Patriarch Bodhi knocks on the monkey's head three times and asks the monkey to come back in the middle of the night. He then teaches the art of immortality, as well as the 72 Earthly Transformations, which are ever-changing, the Somersault Cloud, and a somersault that takes you a great distance... Looking at the monkey's adventures in the book, I really wish I could take his place.

Then, in the third chapter, 'All the mountains and seas bow down, and the nine underworlds and ten categories are all wiped out', the Dragon Palace is disturbed, and the Dinghai Shenzhen is taken; the underworld is in chaos, and the Book of Life and Death is destroyed... It is lawless and exciting, and the wonderful scenes in the book are amazing.

At this time, a customer came in and said, "Boss, do you have Zhang Yide's new book, The Legend of the Arhat Who Conquers Dragons and Subdues Tigers? Give me a copy!"

Shi Min was so excited that he said subconsciously, "What's this 'The Legend of the Arhat Conquering the Dragon and the Tiger'? No one cares! I tell you, this 'Journey to the West' is more exciting..."

guest:? ? ?
I know that "Journey to the West" may be good, and I also know that you may be a loyal fan of Mr. Fang, but you are too loyal. As the owner of a bookstore, you even curse the books you sell when you get angry?
"I trust the shopkeeper." Because of this, the customer originally wanted to wait and see if the other party would turn into a fantasy novel "Journey to the West", but now he had confidence and turned around to go to the opposite door.

——Although there is no pre-order, you can pay some extra money and buy it from someone who mentioned the book!

Gu Shimin looked at the other person's back as he left, and then he realized what he had done. He wanted to cry but had no tears, and slapped his mouth: "What a sin!"

……

Here, Hong Yingheng and Zhong Zongdian, together, mentioned the booked version of "Journey to the West", and as usual, they prepared to go to the nearby teahouse they often visited.

On the way, I heard people talking.

"Brother, do you read novels about gods and demons?"

"I am a scholar, and I do not speak of strange things."

"Oh, what a pity! Fang Qianshi's new book is a novel about gods and demons..."

"Written by Fang Chenshi? We have to go and take a look!"

……

Hong Yingheng and Zhong Zongdian found it funny but were also shocked. Fang Lin had truly made himself a golden brand through the four parts of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"!
When I arrived at the teahouse, the owner was holding a copy of Journey to the West and was about to read it - yes, there was no storyteller, he read it himself.

Zhong Zongdian was a familiar customer in the store. He joked, "Boss, you are so stingy that you can't even afford to hire a storyteller?"

"How can you be reluctant to invite a storyteller?"

The teahouse owner had an indescribable expression on his face: "Last time when Lord Fang was reading the Three Kingdoms Parts 3 and 4, the storytellers in the city were beaten by the customers... This time, I went to invite storytellers in advance, but when they heard it was Lord Fang's book, they all refused to accept it, for fear of being beaten again... Alas, I am forcing the issue!"

After hearing this, Hong Yingheng and Zhong Zongdian looked at each other and burst into laughter.

……

A small and happy home.

Shi Wenjun came up with two copies of Journey to the West and shared with Gu Yuyan in a funny way: "Sister Yuyan, we have launched a new model here. When guests come today, we will not talk about love and romance. We will just read Mr. Fang's new book to them one-on-one."

"This new model is more based on Mr. Fang's novels, and Mr. Fang should be given a share of the profits." Gu Yuyan's elbows were so outward-looking that they went astray.

The two girls chatted and laughed, sat down opposite each other, opened their books, and became quiet, entering that bizarre world of gods and demons.

……

The first good weaving workshop.

At Fang Lin's weaving workshop, workers get their meals during lunch time. Because of the subsidy of three taels of silver, it is still relatively affordable and is still talked about with great relish by the workers in the workshop.

However, the repetitive work in the weaving workshop was indeed very draining. In the past, the workers were always listless during lunch, chatting listlessly.

Today was different. A storyteller was invited to read Fang Lin’s new book "Journey to the West". The workers were so fascinated by the story that there was no sound in the entire cafeteria.

Even the lady who was cooking leaned her head out of the window and listened attentively.

The party leader saw this and nodded with satisfaction. This was naturally the idea he came up with.

He noticed that the workers were mentally exhausted, and was thinking about how to inject vitality into them so that they would work harder and make more money for the factory. He thought of the government's method of telling stories about the Three Kingdoms to the disaster victims to entertain and relax them and divert their attention, so he came up with this idea.

Most of these workers were disaster victims, and they were very receptive to old tricks. The popular novel given to them to read was naturally Fang Lin’s new book, Journey to the West.

"This is killing two birds with one stone. It not only solves the problem, but also flatters the boss," the party leader thought to himself.

——If Fang Lin were here, he would give him a thumbs up. People like him really deserve to make progress!

Here, the storyteller read a chapter, and then the meal time was over. The workers got up and left, still discussing excitedly.

“There are actually monkeys that can jump out of rocks?”

"That stone monkey is so brave that he actually dared to jump into the waterfall."

"There is also a water curtain like a waterfall in our village. I wonder if there is a water curtain cave inside. I will try jumping there next time I go back."

……

When the workers went to work, the party leader waved to the storyteller: "Come here! Come here!"

"Party leader?"

"You keep reading."

The party leader also thought it was very exciting and naturally wanted to continue listening.

To be honest, he can read, but reading by himself is not as comfortable as listening to someone reading. Just like him, a frequent visitor to a brothel, he knows how to move himself, which is far less comfortable than letting someone move by himself. This guy listened and gradually became fascinated, and sighed in his heart: "As expected of the boss, this book is well written!"

In the afternoon, a junior manager from the factory came in hurriedly.

The party leader was a little unhappy about being interrupted, frowned and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Director Party, this afternoon, our subordinates made a lot of mistakes, and there are many more defective products than usual."

"what happened?"

"The young steward looked at the party leader carefully and said: Maybe he read a novel at noon, and they talked a lot while working, so this distraction..."

"This is ridiculous. Aren't these people afraid of having their money deducted?"

"Lord Fang's novel is so brilliant that they couldn't help themselves after listening to it!" the steward whispered in defense.

'It's bad, the flattery hit the horse's leg!'

The party leader thought to himself that this was bad, and after thinking for a while, he said, "Well, you go and tell them that if they make too many mistakes, I won't read Journey to the West to them tonight."

"This is a good idea." The young steward flattered.

Wait until this little steward passes by.

The party leader also looked proud, and looked at the storyteller: "Continue playing the music, continue dancing... No, I mean, you continue reading."

He then remembered that he was not in a brothel, and his mouth started to slurp. However, no matter how big the matter was today, it would not affect him from finishing listening to the book, he said!
……

Government office.

Prefect Pu went to court. As he was busy today, Fang Lin had no time to read his new book "Journey to the West", so he took it back home, intending to read it to relax.

Halfway through, the sedan chair made a bang as a clear shout of "Here, eat my Qiankun Circle" was heard.

When Prefect Pu came down, two pale-faced children came over to apologize. It turned out that the noise just now was caused by a child who had removed the iron hoop outside the wooden basin and threw it, hitting the sedan chair.

Because the two children did not run away and were quite responsible, he was kind to them, forgave them and asked them the reason.

"It's Journey to the West. I'm Nezha and he's the Monkey King!"

"Yes, Journey to the West. We listened to it outside the teahouse. It was very interesting. The monkey that jumped out of the stone could transform into 72 different forms, and could use the somersault cloud. With one somersault, he could travel a great distance!"

"What monkey? That's the Great Sage Equaling Heaven! He eats peaches and steals elixirs. Even 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals can't defeat him!"

……

The two kids spoke one sentence each, competing with each other, and they seemed to be talking at the same time, like a group of little ducks quacking in your ears.

Prefect Pu shook his head in amusement and let them go play. He watched the two children shouting "Take a stick from me, Sun!" and "Look at me, I have three heads and six arms" as one chased the other and ran away.

He sat back in the sedan chair and looked at the copy of Journey to the West he brought back, and felt more expectant.

……

The main store of Xuan Mo Zhai.

"Boss, I feel that Journey to the West is more popular than Romance of the Three Kingdoms!" Huang Di said.

Ever since Fang Lin became an official, he never called him by his name again. He always addressed him as "Sir", "Boss" or "Manager".

"To some extent, that's true." Fang Lin knew that compared to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West" also had unique advantages. It truly covered all age groups and was suitable for all ages.

"Many guests asked about the character cards of Journey to the West. I said I didn't have them yet, but they insisted on booking them," Chai Yiwei also said.

"It depends on the progress of Miss Wenjun and Miss Yuyan. I'm afraid we'll have to wait for some time."

Fang Lin chatted with them for a while, told the kitchen to prepare an extra meal tonight so that they could eat and drink well, then went out to prepare to go back. He missed his daughter Qiuqiu a little after not seeing her for a day.

After he left, Huang Di, Chai Yiwei, Liu Hongwen and Geng Shi all ate voraciously for dinner.

"Brother Liu, wait a minute, as usual, you will read our new book Journey to the West to us!"

"Yes, I was thinking about it while selling books today!"

"In fact, our boss is very tolerant. As long as it does not affect the main business, there is no need to avoid it too much. It's just that I feel that our boss has become more majestic after becoming an official."

……

The guys in the store ate quickly and went into the house early to enjoy another spiritual feast.

……

Here, Fang Lin left Xuan Mo Zhai. The moon was high in the sky and lanterns were hung on the streets. As he passed by, he saw people reading Journey to the West in many teahouses and pubs in the city, with varying degrees of progress. Here, the Monkey King had just become an apprentice and was learning skills; over there, Wukong had already made a big fuss in heaven; in another place, Monkey King had already left the Five Finger Mountain and was on his way to become an apprentice.

Passing by a street corner, there were many people gathered here, and cheers broke out from time to time.

It turned out to be a monkey show, with a monkey going through a ring of fire under the command of the monkey trainer.

The people watching were talking a lot.

"Okay! I guess the stone monkey that jumped out of the stone in Journey to the West looks like this?"

"How can he be compared with the Great Sage? How can the Great Sage be so cowardly? He is at best just a monkey from the Flower-Fruit Mountain."

"Yes, the Great Sage can perform seventy-two transformations and the somersault cloud. Can he do that? This is the voice of a child."

……

Fang Lin understood after listening. Because of the popularity of his "Journey to the West", the monkey trainer also attracted a wave of traffic. The audience watching the monkey show felt as if they were watching the Monkey King perform, and they felt a special kind of joy in their hearts.

"But that's only for now. Later, when more derivative works of the Journey to the West fireworks show appear, the traffic will be greatly diverted," he thought to himself.

At this time, the monkey was probably very tired from performing for a long time. The monkey trainer saw that the monkey did not move, so he whipped it, making the monkey jump around in panic.

"The Great Sage is so pitiful, mother, let's buy him!" a child cried.

"This one is not good. Let's buy a better one tomorrow." A woman nearby said awkwardly, looking at the eyes of the people around her.

"No, I want this one!" The child fell to the ground and rolled around.

"I think you want to turn the tables!"

The woman was looked at strangely by everyone and felt really embarrassed. She looked gloomy, as if the palm of Tathagata Buddha had slapped her son down and she twisted her son's ear and carried him away.

When Fang Lin saw this scene, he shook his head in amusement, stepped forward to give the monkey some tips and let it rest. Before the onlookers recognized him and gathered around him, he turned around and walked into the dimly lit area.

……

(End of this chapter)