Chapter 32
After finishing writing Li Cha, Li Lei's younger brother, the fragrance of tea overflows, Fu Wenyu nodded with satisfaction.
People like Li Cha who have their own "green tea" setting are good at provoking conflicts and promoting the development of the plot. Once this character is added, the subsequent plot will become bloody.
Li Lei at this time, whether he was dissatisfied with Li Cha's false accusation and rushed in to confront him, only to be beaten down by the experienced Li Cha; or he endured it silently and walked away without explaining the misunderstanding to Mr. Li; or something else Instead of doing anything, they directly brought in the jade stone that was half the height of a man and blinded their eyes...
Either choice is fine.
In this way, there are contradictions, conflicts, and the first stage of insecurity.
But it's late now, and tomorrow is the time when the hardcover version of the book "The True and False Young Master" goes on sale, so Fu Wenyu put down his pen, blew out the candles and went to bed.
Early the next morning, after Fu Wenyu had eaten, he came to Kaiyuan Bookstore with a stack of paper.
Shopkeeper Zhang and Zhang Er have arrived.
Perhaps it was because it was the first time that a storybook with such a high price was publicly sold, so shopkeeper Zhang's expression was a little nervous. He relaxed after seeing Fu Wenyu.
"Wen Yu, you're here."
"Uncle Zhang, Second Brother Zhang." Fu Wenyu greeted them, and then his eyes fell on the stack of boxes that were very familiar to him in the most conspicuous place of the bookstore, and he counted them subconsciously.
'one two three……'
Fu Wenyu exclaimed and asked curiously: "Uncle Zhang, didn't you say that seventeen sets have been ordered and only three are left? I think there are nearly thirty sets here. Could it be that the ones ordered by the guests have not been delivered yet?" go?"
It shouldn't be.
He went out after breakfast. Usually at this time, Liuzhou tabloids would have been delivered to various places. According to shopkeeper Zhang's way of doing things, the time when he delivers the hardcover version to customers cannot be too far away from the Liuzhou tabloid.
"That's it."
Shopkeeper Zhang smiled and said: "Wen Yu, this is another good news."
"We prepared twenty sets before, but on the morning when the Liuzhou tabloid printed the reservation time for the first time, twelve sets were ordered. Adding to the five sets previously ordered, only three sets were left. This is still It didn’t end, and people came to make reservations one after another in the afternoon and in the following days.”
“One generous customer even ordered ten sets!”
"Said to give it away."
"Hahaha," he said proudly: "So, a total of thirty-five sets of this hardcover version worth ten taels of silver have been ordered so far. Including the eight sets requested by the owner, the total is forty-three sets."
"I thought it would be better to collect them all, so I prepared fifty sets."
"If it sells well, we can print it again."
Fu Wenyu took a breath of cold air.
One set costs ten taels of silver, and fifty sets equals five hundred taels! Even if you don't count the seven sets that haven't been sold yet, there are still four hundred and thirty taels. After deducting the cost of 30 taels per set, I earned 301 taels. What is the concept of 301 taels? If you use it sparingly, you won't be able to spend it all in a lifetime!
Even if he could only share half of it according to the agreement, that would still be one hundred and fifty taels.
Thinking of this, he hurriedly said: "Uncle Zhang, we can't print anymore!"
Because he was worried that after shopkeeper Zhang saw so much money, he would print hardcover editions like crazy, leading to hoarding or price cuts, which would affect the experience of those distinguished guests, so Fu Wenyu took the time to persuade.
"Although they are very profitable, selling one copy is equivalent to a hundred ordinary copies. But there are only so many people who are rich and willing to pay. If you print too many copies, you won't be able to sell them."
"And since it is something carefully made, how can everyone have it?"
Seeing shopkeeper Zhang's thoughtful expression, Fu Wenyu continued: "If we print too many this time and let the guests feel that they can buy at any time as long as they have money, then they will not want to buy in the future. After all, everyone How can they reflect their nobility? But if we only print fifty sets, no matter who comes, if they are sold out, they will be gone. Then the next time we print other story books, they will rush for them without anyone urging them. purchase."
“What you bought back then was face, something that others didn’t have!”
Shopkeeper Zhang's eyes lit up, "What you said is very similar to what my boss said before."
"Yes, that's indeed the truth."
The more he thought about it, the more he felt it was right, and he couldn't help but sigh: "Before you came, I was thinking that if the remaining seven copies were sold out, then I would print ten more copies, and if they were sold out, I would print them again."
"As long as you only print ten copies at a time, you won't lose much. After all, as long as you keep things like books well, they won't get damaged even after ten or eight years, let alone three to five years."
"But now, it won't be printed."
Shopkeeper Zhang patted the pile of boxes beside him and said, "Fifty copies are just right. Just sell them out when they are sold out." After all, the bookstore is in a long-term business. Rather than printing too many copies and ruining the reputation, it is better to make money with less. good.
Fu Wenyu breathed a sigh of relief.
When he said it just now, he was worried that shopkeeper Zhang would not listen to his advice.
After all, you can earn seven taels by selling one set, and the profit is still very generous. After he got acquainted with Zhang Er recently, he heard the other person mention a few things, that is, bookstores like Kaiyuan Bookstore in the center of the city are not very profitable. On a good day, I can only earn a hundred or dozens of taels a month, and on a bad day, I can even earn a few dozen taels.
It's not as good as other shops in the Tang family.
So he was worried that shopkeeper Zhang wouldn't be able to withstand the temptation.
He treated the hardcover books as luxury goods. If he printed them carelessly and ruined the market, it would be very detrimental to the sales of other books in the future.
Now that the two have reached an agreement, it couldn't be better.
In the following time, Zhang asked Fu Wenyu to sign his name on the newly printed hardcover editions, and then asked the clerk to deliver them to the guests one by one, leaving only seven unsold books on the table.
In the interval between signing, Fu Wenyu also learned that not only the hardcover editions were unexpected, but also the ordinary editions were sold more than expected. In the end, according to statistics, the ordinary editions sold in Liuzhou City and those to be sent to other provincial branches in the next few days, a total of 1,900 sets were sold!
The printing house prints during the day and binds them at night, and has barely produced 2,000 sets so far.
Zhang, the shopkeeper, made a prompt decision and decided to add another 600 sets.
This time Fu Wenyu did not stop it, because if 600 sets were distributed to different places, each store would probably only have dozens of sets. Even if they could not be sold recently, they could still be sold after a little more time.
And it didn't matter if they could not be sold, as long as they were printed, he would get the money.
So Fu Wenyu was very happy that day.
Some of his readers were also happy.
Liu Changmiao was one of them.
Although the Liu family was not a wealthy family in Liuzhou, because Liu Juren passed the Juren exam, and the eldest son of the Liu family passed the Xiucai exam at a very young age, the family had a lot of face in Liuzhou. Not to mention that their family had been farming and studying for generations, and they were considered a "scholarly family" in the eyes of the world, so they were not short of money.
Now Liu Juren and the eldest son of the Liu family were studying in the capital. In addition to Mrs. Liu and Mrs. Liu, there was only Liu Changmiao, so he had everything he wanted.
Recently, he had only suffered a setback in the storybook.
After he rushed out of the teahouse that day, he wanted to go to Kaiyuan Bookstore to question Fu Wenyu immediately, but he suddenly calmed down halfway and went back home.
But he was always worried.
Is Wang Fugui Wang Yuanwai's biological son?
If so, he decided not to read Fu Wenyu's storybook again. If not, he was curious about the truth. That 'Mr. Bao' said that if they were father and son, their blood would definitely be able to mix.
Did the Zhang family use some tricks?
While he was nervous, the servant ran in with a tabloid and an exquisite wooden box.
"Master, Master--"
The servant shouted excitedly: "It's delivered, it's delivered, the storybook you ordered is delivered!"
Liu Changmiao stood up suddenly, "Give it to me!"
He wanted to see what the truth was!
The Liuzhou tabloid and the wooden box were placed on the table at the same time. If it were normal, Liu Changmiao would definitely pick up the Liuzhou tabloid first and read the new issue of the storybook, but today he didn't even look at the tabloid, and even thought it was in the way, so he swept it away.
"Open it quickly!"
The servant opened the wooden box with a swift movement, and then the two saw a book, a few small scrolls, and exquisitely made bookmarks in the wooden box. These bookmarks were in the shape of flowers, people, and animals. Some of the bookmarks were in a style that even Liu Changmiao, who had a large collection of books at home, had never seen before, and they were very novel.
But he didn't care about these.
As soon as he saw the book, he immediately picked it up and flipped through it.
"Blood test, blood test..." "Got it!"
After seeing the familiar words, he immediately stopped and stared at it eagerly. As he read, his expression became unhappy, "Twins? Impossible, it was clearly written before that it was Nanny Zhang who switched the baby, how could it be twins?"
But after thinking about it, twins are better than illegitimate sons, so Liu Changmiao breathed a sigh of relief and continued reading. Then he saw Mrs. Wang kneeling down to Nanny Zhang, begging sadly, just to confirm who was her biological son.
Liu Changmiao stared at the words and pursed his lips.
Then he saw Nanny Zhang mention the "red mole on the sole of the foot", saying that when Mrs. Wang's biological son was just born, there was a red mole on the sole of his foot. Then Mrs. Wang was overjoyed and said, "Yes, yes, there is a red mole, I saw it with my own eyes at that time, it was as red as blood. '
At this time, he had not realized the seriousness of the matter, but subconsciously felt that something was wrong. Because during the time when Liuzhou tabloids were not sold, he had read it repeatedly. The saying of red moles on the soles of the feet did exist, but it was only mentioned at the beginning, and there was no more afterwards.
He wanted to go back and read it, but he was really eager to read the following content, so he decided to read the latter part first and then come back after finishing it.
Then he saw that everyone in the book took off the shoes of Wang Fugui and Zhang Gousheng. Wang Fugui's shoes were made of silk and satin. Not only did they match his clothes, but there were also exquisite patterns embroidered on the uppers. There were no obvious signs of wear on the soles. They were obviously a new pair of shoes. But the owner of this pair of shoes first beat someone to death, and then was imprisoned and frightened, so now the shoes are as miserable as their owner.
And Zhang Gousheng was wearing a pair of old shoes.
The uppers were made of several pieces of cloth of similar colors, and there was a patch on the toe. It was obvious that he had worn it for too long and the toes had worn through the uppers. The soles were even worse. They were worn down by too much walking and only a thin layer was left.
But this pair of shoes was very clean. Apart from the necessary dust, there was no grass clippings, no mud, and no obvious stains. It was obvious that the owner took good care of them and would not walk on muddy roads.
When Wang Yuanwai saw the pair of shoes, tears suddenly welled up in his eyes.
"Child, child..."
"Good boy, you have suffered..."
Liu Changmiao outside the book also had sore eyes.
He murmured: "The Zhang family is so abominable. The book says that Zhang Gou Sheng has never worn a pair of good shoes since he was a child. He asked his wife for advice and made these shoes by tearing up his old clothes."
In Liu Changmiao's view, washing and making shoes is something only women do. So after the plot of Zhang Gou Sheng doing laundry, cooking, and mending shoes and clothes appeared in the book, he and many classmates who had also read the story severely cursed the Zhang family.
Just like the Zhang family never gave Zhang Gou Sheng a name, but still called him "Gou Sheng" and "Gou Sheng". This was an insult to Zhang Gou Sheng!
The indignant Liu Changmiao glanced around and saw the two people who had taken off their shoes. Wang Fugui had a red mole on the sole of his foot, but Zhang Gou had none!
Zhang Goucheng has no red moles! ! !
Liu Changmiao: "...?"
Liu Changmiao: "...!!!"
His eyes widened suddenly and he shouted in disbelief: "Impossible, impossible! Wang Fugui is obviously not Wang Yuanwai's son, obviously not!"
The one with the red mole on the sole of his foot was Wang Fugui. Mrs. Wang gave birth to a child with a red mole on the sole of her foot. So what would it be like for Grandma Zhang? Or was it really like what Granny Zhang said in the book, and she changed back later?
Is it possible?
Liu Changmiao felt something was wrong!
While Liu Changmiao was reading, his servant was not idle either.
The young man knew that his young master was upset, so he felt relieved when he saw him looking at him and no longer muttering words like "bastard", and curiously asked: "Young master, what happened next? What did it say in the storybook? Ah, why do their blood fuse together?"
"Did the Zhang family cause trouble?!"
Liu Changmiao came to his senses, waved his hand and said: "Don't argue, don't argue, I haven't finished reading yet."
Liu Changmiao, who was excited by the reading, didn't want to communicate with anyone. He lowered his head and continued to read. From time to time, he would pat his thigh or the table, suddenly realizing.
"So that's it!"
"Let me tell you, how can a vicious person like Wang Fugui be the biological son of Yuan Wang?"
"So this is how red moles come from."
"No wonder……"
Liu Changmiao sighed, "Zhang Goucheng is so pitiful..."
The boy who was listening next to him began to scratch his head and became a little restless.
At this moment, the corner of his eye suddenly glanced at the tabloid on the ground, which surprised him so much that he picked it up immediately. There is also new content in Liuzhou tabloids today!
It's not much, but it's better than nothing.
So he also lowered his head and looked up.
Looking at it, he took a breath!
Because today's Liuzhou tabloid not only wrote about the follow-up to "Blood Recognition", but also the first half of "Red Mole". The ending happened to be stuck after taking off his shoes. A red mole appeared on the sole of Wang Fugui's foot, and Zhang Gou There is nothing left in this picture!
Boy: "...!!"
He subconsciously turned his head and looked at the book in his young master's hand that cost ten taels of silver to buy. He actually had the urge to take out the money he had saved and buy one too!
No, no, I need ten taels of silver.
He tried his best to control himself and kept thinking in his mind:
‘It’s too expensive, I can’t buy it! I can’t buy it! ’
——‘But we can see it in advance. ’
‘It’s not expensive, it takes most of your savings! ’
——‘But we can see it in advance. ’
‘If you can’t afford the expensive ones, buy the cheap ones. You can also watch the cheap ones. ’
——‘But the expensive ones can be seen in advance. ’
Just as the boy was debating whether to spend his savings and rush to Kaiyuan Bookshop to buy a copy, he suddenly heard the young master laughing.
"Hahahahaha..."
"happy!"
"The Zhang family is so hateful, this is what they should end up with!"
"Master Bao is an upright official!"
The young master has finished reading!
After realizing this, the young man immediately became excited and asked impatiently: "Master, have you finished reading?"
"Can I give it to the little one to take a look at?" He rubbed his hands and asked eagerly: "The little one is really curious. The content printed in the tabloid today is that Wang Fugui has a red mole on the sole of his foot, and Zhang Goucheng No."
"Could it be that what the old lady said was true? She later secretly changed it back. Wang Fugui is Mr. Wang's biological son, and we all wronged her?"
Liu Changmiao, who had already read the entire ending, sneered, feeling a superior emotion of "I know the truth" in her heart, "It's fake, you were all deceived by her!"
"This hateful old nanny, when she knew that Mrs. Wang was about to give birth, she actually sent a message back and asked her daughter-in-law to drink a potion to induce labor, and then she gave birth to Wang Fugui instead of Mr. Wang!"
"Then Wang Fugui was brought to Wang's house. She saw a red mole on the sole of Wang Fugui's foot, so after Mrs. Wang gave birth to Zhang Goucheng, she secretly used blood to put a red dot on the sole of Zhang Goucheng's foot!"
"This is how I deceived Mrs. Wang!"
The boy was shocked, "It's actually like this!"
Seeing the dumbfounded expression on the boy's face, Liu Changmiao said proudly: "It's all thanks to that 'Master Bao'. If he hadn't known everything, it would have been impossible for Wang Yuanwai and Zhang Gou Sheng to recognize each other."
"The Zhang family is very vicious. In order for the son-exchange strategy to succeed, they not only changed people, but also plugged the 'red mole' loophole. Wang Fugui's biological mother even endured not seeing her biological son for more than ten years. , I’m just worried that someone will see through it if something goes wrong.”
"If it weren't for Mr. Bao, the Zhang family would have succeeded!"
The boy was dumbfounded, "Master Bao is so awesome!"
"No!" Liu Changmiao looked proud, as if he knew a secret.
After the young man was shocked, he hurriedly came to Liu Changmiao's side and smiled flatteringly: "Master, I am also very curious about the content behind it. Can you give me this book to read?"
"Take it and take it. I guarantee that after reading it, you will admire Master Bao as much as I do." Liu Changmiao waved his hand, but reminded him, "You have to be careful not to break it. I also plan to give it to Sun." Big head and the others looked at it, and they were shocked, but they didn’t buy any of them!”
The boy nodded repeatedly, "Yes, Master."
He took it carefully and opened it to read.
However, not everyone happens to have someone close to them who bought the hardcover version, so there are only a few people who receive the same treatment as this boy. Most of them are confused by the content in Liuzhou tabloids today.
They didn't care to read the other two news stories, but focused on today's plot of "The True and False Young Master".
First, the blood of three people fused, and then there was a red mole on the sole of the foot. Could it be that what Nanny Zhang said was true, that she wanted to change it but failed?
Someone disagreed and pointed to a certain part of the tabloid and said: "No way, look, look, here it says that the corners of Grandma Zhang's mouth turned up when no one was paying attention. How can this not be fishy?"
"I don't believe it!"
"But there is fusion of blood and red moles as evidence." Someone retorted to him, "This is what Mrs. Wang saw with her own eyes. She kowtowed to her servants in order to find her son. Could it be that what she said was wrong? ”
"It's impossible..."
"Yes, yes, the child is not changed when it is first born. Things at that time are the most real and clear."
"The blood has fused, and there is a red mole on the sole of Wang Fugui's foot, so Wang Fugui is Wang Yuan's biological son."
"But Zhang Gou's remaining blood has also melted!"
"Then how to explain it?!"
Everyone: "..."
Yes, how to explain it? It doesn’t make sense. I can’t figure it out.
Finally, the person who spoke first slammed the table and said harshly: "I don't believe it!"
"There must be something fishy here!"
He said excitedly: "It's only ten taels of silver. The guy at the bookstore said that as long as you order the 'hardcover edition', you can get it today. I was reluctant to spend this money before, so I thought it would be better to buy it." I gave it to Ru Niang, so I only ordered the ordinary one. Now it seems that the money is spent sooner, so I will buy it now!"
"I want to see who is Wang Yuanwai's biological son! I don't believe Wang Fugui!"
As soon as he said this, a bunch of people immediately cheered: "Brother You is a sensible person!"
"Let's go together."
"Brother You, we have been friends for many years. After buying it, can you let me have a look?"
"Let's go and have a look."
"Brother You, wait for me!"
"Brother You, I have a carriage at home. Come up and I'll give you a ride. As long as you lend me the book to read after you buy it. Hehehe, it's not that I don't want to part with it, but ten taels of silver is too expensive. If I buy it, The wife of the family is about to make a fuss."
"Hahaha……"
"Go, go, go!"