I became famous for writing ridiculous stories in ancient times

After deciding to go to the city the next day, the three of them went to bed early.

When they got on the village ox cart and entered the city, the people here had just finished breakfast.

Zhou carried a package and waited outside the door of Kaiyuan Bookstore with Fu Rong. She said to Fu Wenyu: "Wenyu, there are too many people inside, mother and Rong'er will not go in, wait for you here."

Fu Wenyu did not force it, pointing to the tea stall opposite and said: "Then mother, you and sister go over there and sit for a while, I guess I won't come out until later."

He brought all the existing 20,000 manuscripts today. Kaiyuan Bookstore is one of the bookstores in the city that collects manuscripts. In addition to bargaining with the people in the bookstore and trying to sell the first storybook at a high price, Fu Wenyu also planned to take this opportunity to learn about other people's works, so he would not come out so quickly.

After settling the two people, Fu Wenyu walked inside.

Ancient bookstores are different from modern ones. The most important point is that books in ancient times are very expensive, so the books in the bookstores are not placed outside for people to browse, but are neatly stacked behind the counter. If anyone wants to buy, they can ask the shop assistants to take them out.

Moreover, the bookstores not only have the Four Books and Five Classics, which are used for the imperial examinations, but also calligraphy and paintings, poetry collections, pens, inkstones, and so on. Of course, there are also various story books and tabloids that Fu Wenyu is more concerned about now.

Fu Wenyu, with the idea of ​​knowing oneself and knowing the enemy, asked Zhang Er, a familiar clerk, to bring him the two best-selling books. After a brief look, he found that one was a story about a poor scholar and a rich lady, and the other was a strange story novel.

The book of the poor scholar was written by a man named Sun Xiucai.

In the story book, the protagonist attracted the rich lady to marry him with a few crooked poems, and then one of them read books, the other did embroidery and sold the dowry to support her husband's imperial examination. In the end, the protagonist passed the imperial examination and became the top scholar, while the rich lady died of dystocia. In the end, the sad protagonist wrote a few more poems and won the favor of the princess and became her husband.

Fu Wenyu: "..."

What a crappy book, I will return it to Zhang Er decisively.

Another book, "The Woodcutter" written by Mr. Sanliu, is quite interesting. It tells the story of a woodcutter who went up the mountain to chop wood in a foggy day. As a result, he met a monster in the mountain. The monster wanted to eat him, but he wanted to go home safely, so the woodcutter and the monster started a series of battles of wits and courage.

Fu Wenyu likes this book very much.

Although the battle description in it is not as exciting as that in later generations, the plot is reasonable and logical, and the author's writing style is also humorous and interesting, which makes people very curious about what will happen next.

What surprised him even more was that there were many illustrations in the work "The Woodcutter", especially several classic fighting scenes, which were painted very vividly.

Seeing that he was absorbed in reading, Zhang Er, the bookshop clerk, smiled and asked, "Wenyu, do you want to buy a storybook too?" Because Fu Wenyu had never bought a storybook before, he asked this question.

Fu Wenyu returned the book and explained, "Brother Zhang Er, I'm not here to buy a book. I wrote a storybook these days and want to show it to the shopkeeper."

Zhang Er exclaimed, "Storybook?"

He put the two storybooks returned by Fu Wenyu on the shelf behind him, and then said, "Then you came at an unfortunate time. My uncle hasn't come today."

"Why don't you show it to me first?"

Zhang Er smiled proudly, "I have been helping my uncle to run the shop for seven or eight years. I have read all the storybooks in the store. I can tell at a glance whether my uncle will like your storybook."

"Thank you very much." Fu Wenyu handed over the paper.

Zhang Er didn't care when he first took it, because his uncle has always been fair and caring for readers, so the bookshop has always had good business.

Storybooks were one of them. Every month, they would receive some storybooks delivered to their door.

The good ones would naturally be favored by his uncle, who would have them printed and sold in the bookshop. If they sold well, some would be sent to the county and other prefectures. The not-so-good ones would be put on consignment in the store, and the writers would copy them and send them every month, or the bookshop would ask someone to copy them.

Zhang Er thought that Fu Wenyu's would be the latter, because he had never heard that Fu Wenyu could write storybooks before, but his father who had passed away had written one, but the response was mediocre.

But he didn't expect that he couldn't stop reading it once he opened it.

When he read that the Wang family often did good deeds, and that Old Lady Wang, Mr. Wang and Mrs. Wang donated bridges and roads and sent rice, flour and cloth to the Orphanage all year round, he sighed.

"This Wang family is really a kind family."

When he read that Aunt Zhang in the family took advantage of Old Lady Wang's illness and Mr. Wang's absence to conspire with the midwife to exchange children, he slapped his thigh and cursed.

"How can this be absurd? How can there be such a wicked person!"

When he read that Wang Fugui grew crooked due to the doting of his elders, he shook his head and sighed, "The old saying is true, a loving mother often spoils her son."

When he read about Zhang Gousheng's miserable life, he was furious and stood up, "Too, too hateful, the Zhang family is so hateful, how could they treat Gousheng like this??!"

When he read that Zhang Gousheng was out of danger, he laughed again, "Good, well done!"

While Zhang Er was reading with great interest, Fu Wenyu was not idle either. He asked Zhang Er to find a few old tabloids.

What he paid most attention to was the 'Liuzhou tabloids' printed in this city.

Fu Wenyu looked at them carefully and found that they were the same as he remembered. Except for some poems, articles, and street anecdotes, there was no other new content. The only special thing was that the one in his hand was probably printed after the provincial examination, and it had an introduction to the newly promoted juren.

As for other places, they are similar.

On the other side, Zhang Er still felt unsatisfied after reading all of Fu Wenyu's stories.

He put down the paper and asked impatiently: "Wenyu, what happened next?"

Fu Wenyu looked at his reaction and was already determined about the future of this storybook "True or False Young Master". After hearing his words, he smiled and replied: "It's not finished yet."

"Brother Zhang Er, what do you think of this storybook?"

"Well written!"

Zhang Er gave a thumbs up without hesitation, "Wenyu, I dare not say that your storybook is the best one I have read, but I am sure my uncle will buy it!"

Fu Wenyu was delighted, but before he could speak, a voice came from behind him, "What storybook is so good that you, a picky bastard, can boast about it?"

It turned out that Manager Zhang had arrived.

Without waiting for Fu Wenyu to greet him, Zhang Er shouted, "Uncle, you're here."

"Come and take a look. Wenyu has written a very nice storybook. It's better than the one Sun Xiucai brought last time. Uncle, you must take a look. You won't regret it!"

"Really? Then I have to take a good look."

Shopkeeper Zhang smiled and motioned Fu Wenyu to follow him.

After entering the house, Shopkeeper Zhang put the paper Fu Wenyu handed over aside, and then said, "Wenyu, I heard about your father's affairs. Please be patient. Otherwise, your father will not be at peace in the underworld."

Fu Wenyu was stunned for a moment before answering, "Thank you for your concern, shopkeeper."

Shopkeeper Zhang hummed, and then opened Fu Wenyu's storybook.

At the beginning, he actually thought that he would buy this storybook no matter how it was written, thinking that it would be a good deed every day. He had known Fu Qingshan, a scholar, for many years. He used to come to the bookstore to copy books. He also felt very sorry for the other party's death.

Of course, kindness can only be done once.

If Fu Wenyu's storybook is not good, then the price he gives is not high, and if Fu Wenyu brings a storybook of the same level in the future, he can only let the other party consign it, and will not buy it.

But I didn't expect that I was amazed at the first sight.

To be fair, this storybook written by Fu Wenyu is not the best he has ever seen. But the content is novel, and the beginning leaves a big suspense, which makes people curious about the fate of Wang Fugui and Zhang Gousheng.

Another thing that makes Zhang Zhang's eyes light up is that this storybook written by Fu Wenyu does not like to show off his knowledge like some old scholars. Instead, it is full of plain language and uses few allusions. It is easy for people to immerse themselves in it when reading it. It is very suitable for those who can read but do not read much.

In Zhang Zhang's eyes, such a storybook will not worry about sales.

So Zhang nodded, "Yes."

He thought about it and smiled at Fu Wenyu and said, "Your father and I have known each other for many years. You don't have to call me shopkeeper in a strange way. Well, just call me Uncle Zhang. Wenyu, I was worried about your future livelihood just now, but now I don't have to worry about it."

Since there were so many people on the other side, Fu Wenyu naturally called him "Uncle Zhang".

Zhang exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then asked thoughtfully, "Well, how do you want to write this story later?"

Fu Wenyu understood that Zhang, the ancient editor, was worried that he would break the plot later, so he sat up straight and explained in detail: "Now I have finished the first part, and the second part is Wang Fugui accidentally killed someone..."

He roughly talked about the plot in the outline, such as Wang Fugui killing, the chaos in the Wang family, Zhang Ma's advice, Zhang Gousheng coming to the Wang family, Wang Yuanwai's suspicion, investigating the truth, the confrontation between the two sides, and the blood test.

Fu Wenyu did not write this story out of thin air, but combined the current social background and the particularity of the "real and fake young master" plot to create it reasonably. In this way, the story is not only novel, but also does not violate social cognition. It is reasonable and good-looking.

As for the ending of the story, of course, it is to punish evil and promote good.

The Zhang family, including Wang Fugui, deserved their crimes. Wang Fugui, who killed people, was dragged to the vegetable market and beheaded, and Wang Yuanwai, who often did good deeds, also recognized his own son.

Finally, Fu Wenyu also arranged for Zhang Gousheng, who changed his name to Wang Yishan, to pass the imperial examination after years of hard study and become a great official praised by everyone.

This can also be regarded as his selfish desire, hoping that good will be rewarded and evil will be punished in the world.

Shopkeeper Zhang had no objection to this ending, but he said: "I heard your plan, Wenyu, and I am afraid there will be more than 70,000 or 80,000 words later, but in this case, this story is too long."

Fu Wenyu was stunned and put on a listening posture.

Then he learned from Shopkeeper Zhang that the storybooks on the market nowadays are all 30,000 to 50,000 words, and the thickness of a book is bound into a collection. The book "The Woodcutter" he just flipped through belongs to this type, with a total of more than 40,000 words.

Such storybooks are not expensive, which makes it convenient for people to buy, and because of the small number of words, the overall cost of engraving is relatively low, and the bookstore can quickly recover its investment.

But according to the length of Fu Wenyu's "The True and False Young Master", after all the books are written, I am afraid that three or four copies will be printed, but in this way, the whole set of books will cost more than 100 wen. Many literate people are willing to spend dozens of wen to buy a storybook, but few can spend one or two hundred wen to buy a set, so it is difficult to sell a storybook that is too long.

Shopkeeper Zhang wanted to ask my nephew to write a shorter one, but then he thought that if Fu Wenyu's book was too short, the story would not be finished, after all, he used plain language.

So he was embarrassed.

Fu Wenyu really didn't expect that the problem could be that the article was too long.

Is a 100,000-word article long?

It's not long!

If he had a computer, he could finish writing 100,000 words in a week. And when a 100,000-word short story is published, readers will surely praise it for being short, and no one will complain about its length.

100,000 words, this is the result after he took into account the underdeveloped printing technology in ancient times and compressed it again and again. Otherwise, he could have added some content to this story and written it to 300,000 words!

So the two looked at each other.

Should they cut the outline?