Chapter 43
Shopkeeper Zhang came back half an hour later, and at that time Zhang Er had just sent away the sixth wave of customers who came to inquire.
He should have gotten the news, so he laughed out loud when he saw Fu Wenyu, "Wenyu, come here, I just got a piece of news..."
Fu Wenyu asked: "But what about Chen County Wang Po?"
"Hey, do you know that too?"
Shopkeeper Zhang was surprised, then walked into the house, motioning to Fu Wenyu and said as he walked: "Yes, I was called by my boss just now when I was in the printing room. He said that about five days ago, a woman named Wang from Chen County, I found that there seemed to be jade in the big stone for pressing pickles at home, so I sent it to a jade shop to inquire."
"In the end, a piece of jade with good quality was actually cut out, and the jade shop bought it from her for 500 taels. Later, after the news spread in Chen County, many people also ran out to look for stones."
"Uncle Zhang, do you know any other news about Mrs. Wang?"
Fu Wenyu asked in confusion, "How did she discover that there was jade in the stone?" According to what he had learned in Jubao Tower some time ago, it should be difficult to find it without tools.
Shopkeeper Zhang really knew about this, so he said: "Come to think of it, your words have done a good job this time..."
Next, according to shopkeeper Zhang's narration, Fu Wenyu learned the whole story.
This grandma of Chen County usually lives with her granddaughter.
Now that her granddaughter has grown up, she has arranged a marriage for her. Originally, the two families had already made an agreement, and the two young people were interested in each other and were just waiting to find a date to get married. But one day when Wang Po went out to sell pickles, she slipped and broke her leg, so she had to lie on the bed and let her granddaughter take care of her.
The marriage was naturally postponed, but fortunately, the in-laws didn't have any objections, and they often asked their son to visit, send some food, and help with some heavy work, etc. At this time, Mrs. Wang felt guilty for causing her granddaughter to suffer, but at the same time she was satisfied with her own judgment. She felt that the in-laws she had chosen were really good. After she left, her granddaughter would not be slighted in her in-laws' family.
But within two days, the granddaughter said that she would not get married and would stay at home to serve Wang Po. From now on, they would live behind closed doors because they did not want grandma to be left alone.
Wang Po immediately became very angry.
"You said you won't get married if you don't want to?"
Grandma Wang banged her cane, pointed at a girl who was washing clothes in the yard, and said, "Do you know what a good family the Sun family is? Their home is close to the grocery store on the street, and there is also a grocery store in the countryside. In those areas, there is no hunger at all times, food is available, and several new sets of clothes can be made for the family every year.”
"What's rare is that your future mother-in-law is still reasonable. Sun Dalang and you are what people call childhood sweethearts. You don't want such a good marriage. Do you want to marry a god?!"
The girl didn't answer. She wrung out some clothes in the tub, hung them up to dry, then turned to Grandma Wang and said, "How about we have noodles for dinner?"
Wang Po was furious for a while, "Eat, eat, eat, what else can I eat when I'm full of anger!"
The girl wiped the water droplets on her hands on the hem of her clothes and walked into the kitchen, "Then let's eat noodles. Boil them until they're good. Cut some pickles to accompany them."
After a while, Mrs. Wang shouted inside, "You need to add vinegar, garlic and sesame oil to the noodles, otherwise they won't taste good. Also, the pickles need to be taken from the jar outside. The jar inside hasn't been pickled yet. Eat it." It doesn’t smell good.”
The girl in the kitchen sighed, indicating that she understood.
Then when she finished kneading the dough and came out to get the pickles, she found that in addition to the grandmother sitting on the chair in the yard, there was also a tall, naive boy.
The girl grimaced, "...What are you doing here?"
The young man looked at her expression, a little at a loss, "I, I will help you work."
When Mrs. Wang saw her future grandson-in-law, she smiled so hard that she couldn't see her eyes. She urged, "Girl, cook some more noodles and add more sesame oil. Sir, you'll have dinner here and go back after you're done."
The young man said hurriedly: "I ate it at home."
Before Wang Po could speak again, he saw the girl walking towards the big vat in the corner. Knowing that she wanted to get pickles, he quickly followed her and said diligently, "I'll get it. Let me get this important one."
A large stone is placed on top of the large jar in which Mrs. Wang holds pickles. This is to increase the weight of the lid and prevent the pickle jar from exposing any gaps, so as to prevent the pickles inside from losing their flavor when exposed to the wind.
The stone is big and heavy, so I have to be careful when moving it.
But today, the girl was angry, and the boy was rushing to do the work, so one said, "I'll move," "I'll move," and the other said, "I don't want you to move," and "You go home quickly." During the fight, one of them missed the piece. The big stone fell and made a clanging sound!
Wang Po was startled, half-propelled her body and asked urgently: "What's wrong? What's wrong? What happened? Niu'er, Dalang, are you two okay?"
The two people on the other side who were also shocked shook their heads together, "It's okay, it's just that the stone broke."
Wang Po was relieved to see that the two of them were okay.
"If a stone falls, just throw it away. I picked up that stone from the roadside outside the city a few years ago. I thought it was just the right size, so I brought it back. I will wait until my legs are healed before I can pick up another piece. "
The young man was not stupid and spoke at this time, "Grandma Wang, don't bother, I will pick up a piece and bring it back tomorrow."
So after the girl finished picking out the pickles she wanted from the jar and closed the lid, the boy bent down and picked up a small piece of stone that had just been broken. He was going to put it on top for a while and then replace it with a new stone tomorrow. . But when his eyes touched the crack in the stone, he suddenly let out a cry.
"...Why is it red in here?"
The girl turned back and glanced casually, "What's red? Hey, why is there something red in this stone? It's not all red, just that small piece. Is the stone also bad?"
The grandfather and grandson were a little confused, but the young man's eyes lit up.
"Jade! Could it be Jade?"
"I passed by a teahouse a while ago and heard the storyteller inside tell a story about a man who broke open the rocks in his house and found jade inside."
"It turns out that jade is hidden inside the stone. Do you think the thing inside is jade?"
The grandfather and grandson looked at each other, and then their eyes fell on the stone.
The red color above is crystal clear.
After hearing the cause and effect, Fu Wenyu had to sigh that this incident was too coincidental, a complete coincidence to the extreme.
When he was studying jade knowledge at Jubao Pavilion, he heard the masters say that because of the lack of information, not everyone knew that jade was cut from the stone, and even ordinary people had never seen a piece of jade in their lives.
Although they don't think that jade grows on trees like fruits, a small number of people think that they should break apart the mud and soil like digging coal, and they find pieces of jade.
So this is such a coincidence.
Shopkeeper Zhang also thought it was a coincidence. He took a sip of tea and said, "That's what happened. This time, the news came from the boss's shop in Chen County, saying that people in Chen County are now looking for jade everywhere."
"I don't know if I can find the second piece."
"The boss just said that Wang Po picked up stones on the roadside. If he can find the second and third stones, then maybe a certain mountain in Chen County is a rare jade mountain. So he has just ordered the old master of Jubaolou to I brought people there. If there is a Yushan in Chen County, it will be a great blessing for us in Liuzhou."
But it's not a big joy for me.
Fu Wenyu thought bitterly.
He calmed down and told shopkeeper Zhang that someone came to see him, "Uncle Zhang, six waves of people came to me before you came back. Without exception, they all wanted to see if I could talk. This comes true.”
Shopkeeper Zhang was surprised, "...make the words come true?"
"Yes," Fu Wenyu smiled bitterly, "Today, my family and I were having dinner at Fugui Restaurant, and someone came in and said that a piece of jade was cut out of the stone at Mrs. Wang's house in Chen County. Then while talking, they mentioned "The Eye of God" "Legend", saying that this incident is exactly the same as what happened to Mr. Li in "Legend of the Divine Eye".
"They are all picked stones, and jade is cut out of them."
"Then they remembered Wang Yuanwai in the storybook of "The True and False Master" and our Tang Yuanwai in Liuzhou City. They found that their experiences were very similar, so they said that the storybook came true."
Shopkeeper Zhang opened his mouth in surprise, "This..."
Did the story come true?
This conclusion was beyond his expectation.
Fu Wenyu sighed, "This is not over yet. In fact, the incident with Wang Po is not the only anomaly in this story."
He told the story of 'Brother You', and then said: "In this 'Brother You' family, there happen to be two people who speak very much like 'Li Cha'. And one of them, 'cousin', usually There is a concubine sister who likes to squeeze on 'Brother You'."
"What happened to Youjia just happened not long ago, and few people know about it. But if word spreads, she will be another 'Wang Po'."
"Although we all know that the affairs of Tang Yuan's wife's family and the affairs of Mrs. Wang's family existed before I wrote it. It doesn't matter whether I write it or not. What happened is irreversible. And what happened to You's family is just a coincidence. After all, I just wrote a character who likes to stir up dissension. Who would have thought that there could be two such people in the Youjia family?"
Fu Wenyu held out three fingers, "But as the saying goes, 'No more than three things can happen'."
"The affairs of Tang Yuan's wife's family, the affairs of Mrs. Wang's family, plus the affairs of You's family, that is to say, there are three things that really happened in the two stories I am writing now."
Shopkeeper Zhang murmured, "Including Youjia, there are indeed three pieces."
Fu Wenyu said with a serious expression, "So I'm worried that if you don't guide me, then everyone will pass it on to me and I will pass it on to you. In a few days, the whole Liuzhou will be like what happened to the Tang family before. What I wrote will be spread all over the country." If it comes true, it will be very, very bad for me.”
"Especially the Wang Po thing."
"Everyone wants to get rich."
Fu Wenyu did not hide his worried expression, "The people will not care so much at that time. They will only think that Mrs. Wang has made a fortune by relying on the words written by Fu Wenyu. Then I will also find Fu Wenyu and ask him to write about me and make a fortune." If I don’t get rich this year, I will get rich next year, so I’m a little worried.”
"I'm worried that I will be forced to do so in the future, and even lose my fortune and life. After all, scholars want to gain fame, rich people want to be richer, officials want to be promoted, and after being promoted, they want to live a long life."
"And human desires are endless and endless."
Shopkeeper Zhang nodded slowly, "...You are right."
He is much older, so he naturally knows the principle of "three people become a tiger".
If Fu Wenyu really spread the reputation that "what he wrote can come true", what awaits him is definitely not a lot of money, but he will disappear from the world one day without a sound.
Because by then, even he will not be able to help but ask Wenyu to help write articles.
Write one article, two articles, three articles...
At this moment, the idea that he just thought of on the road, taking the opportunity to promote the idea that Wang Po found the jade after listening to the story of "The Legend of the Divine Eye" like he did last time when selling the story of "The True and False Young Master", quietly dissipated.
Shopkeeper Zhang turned to seriously think about how to solve this problem.
But after a while, he still couldn't think of a good solution, so he said in embarrassment: "Then Wenyu, are you going to deny this matter now and say that Wang Po's finding of the jade has nothing to do with you?"
"Of course not."
Fu Wenyu refused flatly, which was beyond Zhang's expectation. "If Wang Po's incident happened in Liuzhou City, we would still have a chance to deny it, but unfortunately she is in Chen County. And so many days have passed, and it has spread all over Chen County, right? I'm afraid it has spread to other places."
"It's too late for us to deny it now."
Zhang looked at his determined expression and asked curiously: "Then what are you going to do?"
"Admit it."
Fu Wenyu said the solution he had thought of, "We must not only admit it, but also publicize it. Tell everyone that the reason why Wang Po found that the stone in her home was jade was because she saw or heard my story, otherwise she will be with That piece of jade, and the five hundred taels of silver, were lost. "
The more Zhang listened, the more confused he became. "But Wenyu, didn't you say that?"
"You can't let people think that what you wrote can come true. But if you admit it, wouldn't it make everyone more determined and think that what you wrote can come true?"
"Wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?"
"But I can write ten, a hundred, or even a thousand stories!"
Fu Wenyu described his plan. "Three things come true in two stories, and five things come true in a hundred stories. Then no one will pay attention to the latter, and the so-called 'come true' will become a coincidence."
"Of course, with such a tight time, I definitely can't write so many stories in just a few days. So I thought of a way, that is to help people write wishes!"
Zhang repeated hesitantly, "... Help people write wishes?"
He knew every word, but why did he understand less and less the more he listened?
Fu Wenyu looked at Zhang's blank expression and explained in detail: "Yes, my method is to help people write wishes, and then print them in Liuzhou tabloids."
"In order to avoid everyone coming to me to write, we can set a wish of one sentence for one hundred coins, and a wish of one thousand words for a short story for one tael of silver. Ten thousand words for ten taels, thirty thousand words for thirty taels, fifty thousand words for one hundred taels, and one hundred thousand words for five hundred taels!"
"If everyone can use money, let me write the story he wants."
"Then I'll be safe!"
After all, if you can't afford to write five hundred taels, you can write one hundred coins.
A wish of one sentence, such as 'someone picked up one thousand taels on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year', only needs one hundred coins. And once money is involved, many people will wake up and think seriously about whether it is worth it, and think about whether the 'story becomes true' is false, so as to stop 'following the crowd' and have their own judgment.
After all, if you hide things, others will have the desire to explore, and if you are open and honest, people will not be surprised.
When the first wave of wishing is over, people will find that not everything can come true, and they will definitely not come to him again, after all, it is a waste of money to come to him.
At that time, it will be three successful things compared to one hundred failed things, or even three to one thousand, three to ten thousand. In this way, will the first numerator "three" still be so conspicuous?
Definitely not.
In order to prevent some people from taking him to the small black room to write articles, he can also bundle the "Liuzhou Tabloid" when promoting it, saying that only wishes published in the "Liuzhou Tabloid" will come true. After all, the first two stories were printed in the Liuzhou Tabloid, and this premise is reasonable.
Of course, in order to prevent any accidents, the idea of "storybooks come true" can be used when promoting it, but when someone really comes to him to write a "wish", it must be emphasized that the "storybooks come true" is a coincidence, and the wishes written may not be realized, and those who are extreme and spend all their savings just to write a wish to make a fortune must also be firmly rejected.
In short, treat this matter as a coincidence and a fun thing.
Shopkeeper Zhang: "..."
He looked at the confident Fu Wenyu with a strange look, and his mood was very complicated.
How could it be like this?