I am the villain in the book

Chapter 61: Spring Depth Bookstore Opens

This impeachment storm was like a typhoon, coming on fiercely but leaving quickly.

In the days that followed, the matter seemed as if it had never happened. Whether they were on the side of the Liu family or the Wei family, all those involved collectively remained silent.

Although everyone kept their mouths shut, they also knew that this was likely just the beginning.

The capital returned to its usual calm, or rather, it had always been so calm.

Taking advantage of this tranquility, Wei Changtian spent a few days with a very regular routine.

In the morning, he fought in the arena; in the afternoon, he practiced the Tianluo Fist and Guichen Saber with Xu Qingwan; at dusk, he practiced calligraphy; and in the evening, he continued to tell the story of the Monkey King.

Oh, and occasionally he would go and spar with Yang Liushi.

After all, Xiao Feng had asked Yang Liushi to seduce him, so he had to put on a show.

To show that he had been successfully “seduced,” Wei Changtian swaggered every time he went to Phoenix Habitat, and doing so not only meant enduring the jealous gazes of others, but also inevitably meant that Lu Jingyao would hear some rumors.

Wei Changtian never denied this, which angered Lu Jingyao to the point where she was sulking almost every day.

And so it came to be August 28th, and finally two noteworthy things happened.

First, Li Kan was promoted to Minister of the Dali Temple, and the system rewarded him with 100 points. Wei Changtian cleared his balance and successfully bought the second protagonist's signature golden finger—"Demon Capture."

Second, the Spring Depth Bookstore officially opened for business today.

In the study, Lu Jingyao sat opposite Wei Changtian, excitedly reporting today's "grand occasion."

"Li Yang even invited the chief of the Yunyan Poetry Society, and many scholars went to watch the excitement. Later, they even gathered together to compose poems..."

This Yunyan Poetry Society was quite famous in the capital, gathering many literati and poets.

However, in Wei Changtian's opinion, the function of all literary organizations was limited to exchanging information about which brothel's girls were good, and it did not help to improve one's cultural cultivation at all.

He looked at the chattering Lu Jingyao and said helplessly, "What's the use of having so many people go? The key is how well the books are selling?"

"Of course they're selling well!"

Lu Jingyao said excitedly, "The first printing of five hundred copies of 'Journey to the West' sold out, and those collector's edition poetry collections also sold several hundred copies..."

"Indeed not bad."

Wei Changtian nodded.

Since it was a bookstore, he certainly couldn't just sell one book. He still had to prepare some famous poetry collections, essays, and other books to sell.

Anyway, there was no concept of copyright protection in this era, and besides, most of the authors of these books had already passed away, so why not take advantage of it?

It's just that other bookstores also sold this kind of book, so in order to improve the differentiation of the Spring Depth Bookstore, Wei Changtian pondered for a while and finally came up with the concept of "collector's edition."

Books don't necessarily have to be read, they can also be collected!

As soon as this novel concept was introduced, Li Yang was amazed and immediately put it into action, producing a batch of collector's edition books.

The cost was ten times that of ordinary books, the price was dozens of times that of ordinary books, and the profit was hundreds of times that of ordinary books.

Even so, they still sold hundreds of copies. Wei Changtian could only sigh that people in any era could not escape the clutches of products that taxed their intelligence.

"Oh, right, I also brought you back a collector's edition of 'Journey to the West'!"

On the other side, Lu Jingyao suddenly remembered this important matter as she was talking, and immediately got up and ran back to her room, soon returning with an embroidered silk bag.

The bag was entirely woven from silk satin, embroidered with elegant cloud patterns, with only four small characters arranged vertically in the center—Spring Depth Bookstore.

Wei Changtian was greatly surprised to take the bag, never expecting that Li Yang could take the word "luxury" to such an extent.

Although the concept of the collector's edition was his own, he had always thought that in this era, it would be luxurious enough to give the book a slightly harder cover...

It seems that he, a fake rich second generation, still has a long way to go in the area of "spending money"!

Wei Changtian sighed for a while, reached out and pulled open the cloth strip at the top of the bag, and gently shook out the contents.

An exquisitely beautiful "Journey to the West" with a cover illustration.

A small wooden box, neatly stacked with a deck of playing cards inside.

A neatly folded playing card instruction manual, which detailed the rules of five games including "Fighting the Devil," "Deceptive Golden Flower," and "Hoeing the Land."

Everything was printed with the "Spring Depth Bookstore" logo, and besides that, there was also a small silver swallow in the bag.

It was only the size of a thumb, but the carving was lifelike.

"What's this thing?"

Wei Changtian played with the silver swallow and asked casually.

"This is the token of the Spring Depth Poetry Society."

Lu Jingyao explained, "Only those who buy the collector's edition of 'Journey to the West' will receive this item as a gift, and with this item, they are considered to have joined the Spring Depth Poetry Society."

"Spring Depth Poetry Society? When was this created?" Wei Changtian looked blank.

"Giggle, it's a method that Li Yang just came up with a few days ago."

Lu Jingyao covered her mouth and smiled: "He spent a lot of money to invite several talented women from the capital, as well as many popular courtesans, to the poetry society. Many young masters bought the book today without even thinking when they heard about this."

"? ? ?"

Good heavens, I'm directly saying good heavens!

VIP membership system is out? And it's also moonlighting as a pimp, bah, high-end dating?

I'm afraid it will soon become a large-scale business social platform!

Li Yang, aren't you really a time-traveler?

Wei Changtian was dumbfounded, but Lu Jingyao, seeing him like this, thought he was yearning for the poetry society, so she quickly snatched the silver swallow away, muttering in her mouth.

"You're not allowed to go, that's not a good place..."

"..."

Wei Changtian's mind was still on the bookstore, and he didn't care that the silver swallow was snatched away. After a long while, he asked a key question.

"How much does this set sell for?"

"Fifty taels of silver." Lu Jingyao held out a small palm.

"Fi-Fifty taels?"

Wei Changtian was instantly stunned: "Will anyone really spend fifty taels to buy this thing? ? ?"

Lu Jingyao affirmed: "Of course, didn't I just say that many young masters bought it."

"..."

Wei Changtian opened his mouth, then asked about the price of the "simplified version" of Journey to the West, and then roughly estimated today's profits.

Aside from the early investment in venue and equipment, the net profit is about two or three thousand taels...

Although it's the opening day, isn't this... a bit too much!

If Journey to the West and playing cards really become popular in the future...

The more Wei Changtian thought about it, the happier he became, thinking that it was time to take out that thing!

He threw the collector's edition of Journey to the West aside, raised his head and asked Lu Jingyao with a smile: "Do you want to play a game that's more interesting than playing cards?"

"Ah, ah?"

Lu Jingyao's face turned red, and she lowered her head and murmured: "Wh-What is it..."

Wei Changtian didn't see her reaction, and said smugly:

"Mahjong!"