From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

"The rolling Yangtze River flows eastward, the waves wash away heroes, and success and failure are in vain. The green mountains remain, and the sunset is red several times."

"The white-haired fisherman and woodcutter on the river bank are used to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze, and are happy to meet each other with a pot of muddy wine. So many things in ancient and modern times are all talked about in jokes."

The old shopkeeper's voice trembled, and he excitedly recited this "Linjiangxian", and every wrinkle on his face was twisting.

He swallowed his saliva and said excitedly: "This poem alone is enough to be passed down through the ages and shock the world."

"This is just the preface of a novel, it's really amazing!"

He looked at Zhou Yuan and said: "What is your name, sir? Did you bring the manuscript?"

Zhou Yuan said: "I am Yuan Yi Zhenren, a Taoist priest of Baiyun Temple. Of course I brought the manuscript, otherwise how can I talk to you."

A stack of manuscripts was handed over, and the old shopkeeper took it carefully and read it carefully.

"As the general trend of the world goes, unity will eventually lead to division, and division will eventually lead to unity."

"At the end of the Zhou Dynasty, the seven kingdoms were in conflict and merged into Qin..."

The beginning of the story showed the grandeur and ups and downs of history. The old shopkeeper was immediately fascinated and kept looking back. He was immediately attracted by the magnificent plots, as if the complete historical picture scroll was all displayed in front of him.

He was eager to read and kept looking back. When he saw the key moment, it was gone.

He raised his head quickly and glared, "What's behind it? Show me now!"

Zhou Yuan laughed and said, "You're rushing me to finish my work. Don't forget that I'm here to talk business. Old shopkeeper, tell me the price!"

The old shopkeeper was silent for a moment before saying, "No one has ever written like this before. People like biographies and chivalrous novels. How can history be written as a romance?"

"Your book is good, but no one has ever written or read this kind of subject matter before."

"We at Mo Yun Zhai value talent. We can buy out this book for fifty taels of silver."

Zhou Yuan stood up and said, "I'd better go to Ting Yu Xuan next door to have a look."

This old man is pretending in front of me. What's the matter with no one reading it? When your father was playing with this, you didn't even know where you were.

"Wait!"

The old shopkeeper waved his hand, refilled his tea, and smiled faintly: "Master Yuan Yi is a monk, and he may not know the market. Fifty taels of silver is already a very high price in the industry."

"It is precisely because we know the goods that we give so much!"

Zhou Yuan certainly did his homework in advance. Fifty taels of silver is a very high price for some small engraving workshops.

But for a large engraving workshop like Mo Yun Zhai, it can't even reach the median. The general transaction price here is around 100 taels of silver.

What is the concept of 100 taels of silver? It is enough for an ordinary family in Yunzhou City to live comfortably for a year.

But for Zhou Yuan, this amount of money is not enough to fill the gap between his teeth.

Zhou Yuan said slowly: "Shopkeeper, you have to be sincere when you talk about business. I am not a stupid Taoist who only practices Taoism in the mountains. I know a lot of scholars in the city."

The old shopkeeper nodded and said: "Yes, yes, this book is naturally excellent. With this poem, it is worth a hundred taels of silver. In order to express the sincerity of our Moyunzhai, we are willing to give one hundred and twenty taels of silver."

Zhou Yuan was in no mood to talk nonsense with him, and said directly: "One thousand taels of silver, plus a 40% commission."

This sentence almost scared the old shopkeeper's heart. He trembled and said: "You... Master Yuan Yi, are you kidding? One thousand taels of silver, do you know how many books we have to sell to recover the cost!"

According to the paper and printing costs of this era, the cost of a 30-page book is seven taels of silver.

This is a very scary number, which means that the price of a book will basically exceed ten taels, and the poor can't afford it at all.

So only those who have some money at home can buy books. The poor can't even read, so they can only listen to storytellers.

One thousand taels of silver, you need to sell one hundred copies.

In fact, one hundred copies is the approximate sales volume of a book these days. Unless it is a hot-selling book, it will not exceed this number.

All the profits of Mo Yun Zhai from selling a book are only a few hundred taels of silver.

Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "Shopkeeper, do you have no confidence in my book or in Mo Yun Zhai?"

"One thousand taels of silver is not my goal at all. I just want to see Mo Yun Zhai's sincerity. The 40% commission of the profit is what I really want."

The shopkeeper said coldly, "Does Master Yuan Yi really think that doing business is so easy? Humph! One thousand taels of silver! We can buy out ten books, not to mention the commission."

Zhou Yuan said, "How about this, shopkeeper, you spread this copy of "Linjiangxian" and say that it is the preface of a new novel and accept pre-orders."

"I can guarantee that within three days, you will receive at least 500 pre-orders."

"FiveA hundred copies are enough for you to make a profit of several thousand taels of silver. "

The shopkeeper snorted: "Five hundred copies? Do you know that there are only a few thousand families in Yunzhou who can afford books?"

"There are only a few thousand families, and five hundred families buy your books? What do you think you wrote is a treasure!"

Zhou Yuan put away the manuscript paper and smiled faintly: "I will come again in three days. But then, I want three thousand taels. "

He stood up and strode out of Mo Yun Zhai.

To be honest, Zhou Yuan was confident. A truly good novel was a rare commodity in this era.

It was no problem to sell tens of thousands of copies of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Although the price would be reduced as sales increased, Mo Yun Zhai could at least earn tens of thousands of taels of silver from this book.

This meant that this was their total profit for several years.

And I, for that matter, had earned my first pot of gold.

Three days, I still needed some patience, so I could arrange other things.

When Zhou Yuan returned home, he said directly: "Zi Yuan, go and call Ming Rui from the kitchen and tell him to follow me and not go to the kitchen anymore."

Zi Yuan seemed to be in a very ordinary mood. She just said "Oh" and went to call him.

Zhou Yuan was not idle either. He took out a pen and paper and drew a detailed picture.

Ming Rui was only sixteen years old and had been working as a dough stick in the kitchen of Zhao's mansion. It was said that he had good knife skills and some knowledge of cooking. It was most appropriate for him to handle this matter.

"Son-in-law! "

Mingrui was a little embarrassed, and he bowed and nodded when he saw Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan narrowed his eyes and said, "Mingrui, you are sixteen years old, hasn't your family found you a wife?"

Mingrui scratched his head and said, "Son-in-law, my family is poor and can't afford to marry a wife."

Zhou Yuan said, "Follow me in the future, I guarantee you will have money to marry a wife. Now go and do something for me."

Mingrui knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Son-in-law, just tell me if you have anything to do. Mingrui will definitely go through fire and water!"

Opportunities in life are rare, and Mingrui is not stupid. He knows that he has encountered an opportunity.

Zhou Yuan handed him the painting and narrowed his eyes and said, "This is a wild fragrant mushroom in Wuyi Mountain, which can also be called fragrant mushroom. I want you to set off immediately and go to Wuyi Mountain to purchase this thing. It costs fifty kilograms."

"The natives over there should be able to recognize what it is when they see this painting."

Mingrui was confused: "Wu, Wuyi Mountain? This…”

Zhou Yuan said calmly: “From Yunzhou to Wuyi Mountain, it is about 700 miles, 1,400 miles round trip, I will give you ten days.”

“If you can bring the things back, I will let you eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks in the future.”

Mingrui gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: “Don’t worry, son-in-law, Mingrui will bring the mushrooms back even if he risks his life!”

Zhou Yuan nodded and smiled: “Pack up your things, I will prepare money for you.”

Forced to do nothing, Zhou Yuan could only find Zhao Jianjia again and ask for money.

This was bound to be blamed, but it didn’t matter. After the matter was done, she would naturally come to apologize obediently.