Scholar and old attack

After busying with the marriage, Jiang Jingyuan was finally able to open the bookstore. Yang Wanshu had already tidied up the bookstore according to Jiang Jingyuan's instructions, and waited for Jiang Jingyuan to pick an auspicious day to open the bookstore.

May 27th is the appropriate day for the opening, and this day was chosen. Jiang Jingyuan went to the firecracker shop, bought a few yuan of firecrackers and came back.

The sound of crackling firecrackers resounded throughout the street, making the whole street crowded to watch the excitement, and instantly surrounded the front of the bookstore's store.

Some farmers and peasant women saw that the bookstore opened a store and left without interest, but a small number of scholars in long gowns remained.

There are quite a lot of scholars in Wutong County. There are two or three schools in the county, but this bookstore is the only one. This bookstore has been closed for more than a month. For more than a month, they have borrowed other people's books to transcribe. Copy over.

This will see the opening of the bookstore, and I am overjoyed. The copied books are not as exquisite as the books printed by the bookstore.

"It can be regarded as waiting for the bookstore to open. If it doesn't open again, my father will send me to Datong to study. There is no comfort at home when I am away." A young man dressed as a scholar, pouted.

The other person beside him was also full of complaints, "I'm almost exhausted copying this month, and I can't find a place to buy books."

"That's right, my husband gave us a problem a few days ago. He asked us to buy a collection of poems to read. The bookstores are closed and we don't know where to buy them. Let friends in Datong bring books. They may not be able to buy them these days. Will come to Wutong County."

Hearing these complaints, Jiang Jingyuan smiled slightly. It seems that today's opening has been settled.

Before that, he was more or less worried. If the bookstore did not succeed, he would have to find another way to make money. Currently, his only property is this bookstore.

"A Yuan, today's business will definitely be very good." Xu Shuizhou also danced happily beside him.

"En." Jiang Jingyuan nodded heavily, his eyes soft.

Yang Wanshu also changed into new clothes today, and went out to greet the guests, "Everyone, our Jiang's Bookstore opens today, and anyone who purchases more than [-] Wen will have a chance to draw a prize."

Yang Wanshu pointed to a red wooden box at the door. There were various prizes beside the wooden box, including pastries, books, pens, inks, papers and inkstones, etc.

"There is such a good thing, as long as I have five hundred coins, I can draw once. If I buy a tael of silver, can I draw twice?"

A bystander asked, the former bookstore paid attention to the atmosphere of reading, and dismissed such philistine things.

But Jiang Jingyuan didn't think so. If he couldn't bring profits to the bookstore, no matter how much literary spirit he had, he wouldn't be able to support the people in the bookstore.

He started business to make money, not to do charity.

Of course, doing charity can increase the income of the bookstore, and he is also willing to do it.

"This lord is right. You can draw twice if you have enough one tael of silver. There is no limit to this. As long as you have enough, you can smoke. In addition, because the store has just opened, the owner said that all the people on the second floor Books are available for free.”

Yang Wanshu's words shocked all the scholars again. The books on the second floor can be read at will without charge, so the bookstore can't lose money.

With the principle of taking advantage of what is cheap and not taking advantage of nothing, they will also go into the bookstore today to have a look.

"Jing Yuan, if you do this, it will cost you a little money." Chen Hongmei was a little worried. She didn't know that Jiang Jingyuan got this bookstore for nothing, and she thought he had spent a lot of money on the bookstore, so she was a little worried.

"Cousin, don't worry, everything is within my plan." Jiang Jingyuan teased Jiang Chunya with a smile.

Chen Hongmei was working with him, and Chunya, the girl, had no one to take her with her at home, so she brought her along with her. Fortunately, the girl was quite obedient, holding a book with pictures, and reading it with gusto.

"That's good." Chen Hongmei was a woman who didn't know anything about the business world, and seeing that Jiang Jingyuan was confident, she stopped asking.

After Yang Wanshu finished his introduction, those scholars rushed in, looking a bit like they were going to a restaurant to beat the shopkeeper.

Most of them went to the second floor, only a small number of people wandered in the store, and the recruited guys went up to introduce them to customers with winks, ensuring that customers would not find the books they wanted.

After most of the people came in, there were only two or three people dressed as maids left outside the store, looking at the store with some hesitation, it seemed that they should be sent by the ladies of Wutong County.

The bookstore is full of men, and they can't come in.

The folk customs of the Ming Dynasty were cheerful, and women could show their faces, but there were still a few people who could accept it, and most of them still followed the old idea of ​​women staying at home.

Chen Hongmei greeted her with winking eyes, "The young ladies are here to buy books."

These maidservants looked at each other, breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said, "We are all here to buy scripts for our lady, I don't know if your bookstore has them."

"Of course there are." Chen Hongmei said with a smile, "A batch of new scripts happened to be printed a few days ago, and it's just a coincidence that a few of you came here."

Chen Hongmei led the maids into the private room and gave them the script.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Jingyuan smiled and said to Tan Jingyuan, "No, your business is here."

Earlier, Jiang Jingyuan and Xu Shuizhou were busy with their marriage and delayed the opening of the store, which happened to allow Tan Jingyuan to write out the script. After Jiang Jingyuan read it and found that there was no problem, he asked someone to print [-] copies first.

Tan Jingyuan looked at the three maids and shook his head, sighed, "[-] copies were printed, and only three copies were sold, which is not enough money for pen and ink."

"It's just opened, and you are unknown. You are lucky to be able to sell these few copies. When their master reads it and thinks it is good, and it spreads in the circle, it will not be too late to make money at that time."

Jiang Jingyuan comforted Tan Jingyuan with kind words, knowing that his family was poor and anxious to make money, but he couldn't eat hot tofu in a hurry.

"That's right, I was impatient." Tan Jingyuan sat on the counter with a pen in his hand, writing and drawing, but he was still making an outline for the next book.

"You just like writing story books so much." Xu Shuizhou grabbed a handful of melon seeds, peeled them one by one, put them in a small plate in front of him, and handed it to Jiang Jingyuan when the plate was full.

Seeing his movements, Tan Jingyuan only felt a toothache. He was already 25 and hadn't married yet, but the two little guys in front of him were still affectionate in front of him, and they were not considerate of the elderly at all.

"I can't say I like it, but I can't lift my shoulders or hands. It's God's eyes to be admitted to a scholar. I have to find a livelihood to support myself. At present, it's okay to write scripts like this. I can write letters to people." Just luck."

Tan Jingyuan's mentality is quite optimistic. Ever since his adoptive parents passed away, he has lost the desire to study. Fortunately, many years of studying have also taught him a skill, writing a story book and helping others write letters. Mix up the days.

But every time he sees an abandoned baby in the mountains or on the side of the road, he always feels compassion in his heart. As there are more and more younger sisters in the family, the burden on him becomes heavier and heavier.

Sometimes he also thought about not picking up an abandoned baby next time, but every time his conscience couldn't bear it, if his adoptive parents hadn't picked him up from the ravine to raise him, where would he be today? , I am afraid that it has been taken away by wolves long ago.

Such a poor and meager life until today, long past the age of marriage, which family's girl or brother would be willing to marry into a family like him...

"Don't be discouraged, there will always be a bright future. This time, the script is very good. Someone will come back to buy it within three days." Jiang Jingyuan comforted Tan Jingyuan while eating the melon seeds that Xu Shuizhou had peeled.

The book "The Pretty Bookboy of the Rich Man" was edited by Jiang Jingyuan, and the ending was extremely sadistic. In the end, the rich man couldn't resist his mother's persecution, and married the daughter of the right family. On the wedding night, the bookboy sat alone in the woodshed with a glass of poisoned wine took his own life.

This kind of theme has a great impact on the daughters who stay in the boudoir all the year round. Now the stories of gifted scholars and beautiful ladies on the market are all complete in the end. After reading it, they will forget it. It is heartbreaking, and I will remember it for a long time.

For Tan Jingyuan, who is not even half famous, this is the best opportunity to open up sales.

In addition, Tan Jingyuan's writing is good, and the sad atmosphere of the whole story is rendered very well. Even Xu Shuizhou couldn't help crying after reading it, and strongly urged Jiang Jingyuan and Tan Jingyuan to change the ending.

Because of the lack of fame, the price of a book is not high, the same as the price of a thousand-character text, 360 texts, a total of [-] texts for three books, [-] to [-] points, Jiang Jingyuan gave Tan Jingyuan [-] texts without saying a word.

Holding the 360 ​​Wen coins, Tan Jingyuan smiled, "This can finally solve the embarrassment of having no rice to cook at home, and the little housekeeper at home can also relax."

"In this way, it's a good deal to sell three books a day." Xu Shuizhou was a little envious, writing a story book, as long as it was sold, he would get money, which was much easier than the exhausting fishing and selling he used to .

Tan Jingyuan nodded, "This is also your generosity. If you want to change the bookstore, you can give me a penny of one tael at most."

Someone here bought a book worth [-] wen, and got a chance to draw a lottery. As a result, he was so lucky that he got a Langhao pen. This pen was worth two taels of silver, which was much more expensive than the book.

Yang Wanshu exchanged it for him without saying a word. When others saw that it was really possible to exchange it, they rushed to buy books one by one.

On the first day of opening, the business of the bookstore was quite good. There were people coming and going, Yang Wanshu’s calculations never stopped, and he kept several pages in the ledger. When Xu Shuizhou settled the accounts at closing time, he collected a full 20 taels of silver today.

Aside from the cost, there can also be a profit of ten taels of silver.

"A Yuan, you've made a fortune. Ten taels a day, isn't it 300 taels a month?" Xu Shuizhou had an abacus in one hand and a writing brush in the other, his eyes were all radiant.

Jiang Jingyuan nodded his forehead, and said pettingly, "How can you do such a calculation? The reason for such a profit is that the bookstore has not opened for a month, and there are many scholars who need it, and there are many books left in front of this bookstore. , we can make a small fortune, but from tomorrow on, we won’t have such good luck.”

Xu Shuizhou's eyes dimmed all of a sudden, and then lit up again, "It doesn't matter, even if you don't make as much money as today, as long as you don't lose money, you can make money. At least we have enough to live on."

"En." Jiang Jingyuan touched Xu Shuizhou's head, and picked out a suitable set of books for himself in the bookstore.

He has finished his family and career, and the next step is to take the imperial examination. Fortunately, there is still more than a year to go, and it is too late. Even if he fails to pass the exam, he can wait another three years. This is not urgent.

Picking a good book, Chen Hongmei's husband, Jiang Daming, just came back from fishing to pick up Chen Hongmei's mother and son. The four of them went back to Jiang Yu Village together, and they didn't feel lonely.

------

Three days later, as expected by Jiang Jingyuan, the book "The Pretty Book Boy of the Rich Man" made many daughters in deep boudoirs cry so hard that their eyes were still red and swollen when they came together the next day. They all lamented for that little book boy.

Desperately wanting to vent her anger, Qian Jin wanted to tear up the book, but when she really started, she was a little reluctant, and in the end she had to ask someone to invite her little sister.

How can such a good book not be shared with my little sisters? I must let my little sisters cry like myself, and I will be reconciled. Crying alone is boring, and crying in a group is interesting.

From the third day onwards, more than ten copies of the book "The Pretty Bookboy of the Rich Man" were sold every day. Tan Jingyuan came to collect the money every day. Even if he knew that the money was placed with Jiang Jingyuan, Jiang Jingyuan would not I was greedy for his ink, but he still couldn't help coming to pick it up, wondering how many copies were sold today.

Although the book "The Pretty Book Boy of the Rich Man" sold well, the bookstore's business plummeted from the second day onwards, and the daily cost was only two or three taels of silver.

The popularity of the first day is completely gone, but more people come to the attic to read books every day. After all, Wutong County is a small and remote county with few rich people. Splurge to buy books.

Then again, if you don’t read a lot, how can you pass the Juren or even a Jinshi exam? The method taught by Mr. Xuetang has long been outdated. It was okay to use it for the imperial examination ten years ago, but it is not enough to spare now. At most, it can only promote people to be admitted to the scholar, and if they go on, they can only spend money.

Good teachers have already gone to other wealthy counties, and some rich scholars from their families also went to other counties to study, and most of the remaining ones either had poor grades or were poor in their families.

Most of the books in the attic are miscellaneous books, but there are a lot of annotations mixed in them. If you take a little effort to write down these annotations, you can also enrich your knowledge to a certain extent.

Of course, everyone admired and respected Jiang Jingyuan as the master, and they wouldn't have this opportunity if it wasn't for Jiang Jingyuan.

Occasionally, when I have money, I will buy a book I need in the store.

Life was so uneventful. When Jiang Jingyuan was free, he would read books at the counter of the bookstore with Xu Shuizhou and learn to write stereotyped essays. Jiang Jingyuan, who was always calm and composed, was worried about writing stereotyped essays. His hair was about to fall out.

The Four Books and Five Classics are all good, I learned more or less in school, and now I am reviewing and reciting them at the same time, so there is no big problem, except for stereotyped essays... Jiang Jingyuan scratched his head and scratched his head just for the opening chapters.

Every time Jiang Jingyuan was worried, he wanted to pull Zhu Xi out and beat him up. Who told the Ming Dynasty to write stereotyped essays with the same views as him.

Now Jiang Jingyuan has to force himself to write an stereotyped essay every day. Although the writing is not good, it should be regarded as a quiz. Think about it when he was in the third year of high school, didn't he do the same thing...?

He doesn't seem to have taken the college entrance examination... He was sent directly to the university to study.

Because of heart disease, he had to ask for leave for three or two days to go to school. The Jiang family had assigned him a tutor, so even when he was not going to study, he could still take classes at home.

He went to school purely to experience campus life, so as not to make him lose touch with society...

Forget it and think about what those people do, let's write stereotyped essays honestly.

Jiang Jingyuan frowned when he thought of the Jiang family, shook his head, dismissed these irrelevant memories, and continued to write his stereotyped essay with his head hooked.

Just when Jiang Jingyuan was halfway through writing, he heard a noise from outside the store, causing his hands to tremble, and the ink on the brush was smeared, staining his paper with a large amount of ink.

Jiang Jingyuan put down his pen, wiped his hands with a cloth, and went out to see what was going on.

I saw three or two wealthy daughters with scarves on their heads, leading a group of maids and servants standing in front of the bookstore and yelling. Yang Wanshu explained anxiously, and Xu Shuizhou also helped to comfort him.

"What happened?" Jiang Jingyuan asked Xu Shuizhou, stepping forward.

Xu Shuizhou waved his hand and said, "It's not because of Tan Jingyuan's book. They came here and asked to change the ending. Did A Yuan affect your reading? Go in quickly, just take a rest, we will be fine soon."

Xu Shuizhou frowned, such a trivial matter should not disturb Jiang Jingyuan's study.

"It's not good to let them make noise in front of the bookstore, it will affect the business, not to mention there are some students upstairs who are studying, it's not good to disturb them, you'd better lead them into the private room to talk."

Jiang Jingyuan glanced at the noisy front of the door. If the quarrel continues like this, it may not be able to have an end, and it will affect the business, especially when Jiang Jingyuan saw several people dressed in long gowns who originally wanted to come in. Seeing the front of the door This posture has slipped away, and I feel even more inappropriate in my heart.

"Alright." Xu Shuizhou nodded, walked out, said a few words to the woman in the lead, welcomed her into the door, and went to the private room to have a private conversation.

"You must be the owner of this bookstore." A tall woman said preemptively as soon as she entered the door.

Xu Shuizhou nodded in response, and replied without any panic, "Yes, Miss Gao, I also understand what you are doing, but all the scriptures have been printed out, and it is not easy to change the ending."

"Then I bought all the printed books, and it won't work. If you let this yellow beam change the ending, it will be fine." Since reading this book, Ms. Gao has been feeling depressed in her heart. The little sister came to ask the store to change this sad ending.

Xu Shuizhou smiled, and replied generously, "Miss Gao, we have printed a thousand copies in total. If you want to buy them, you need to pay 300 taels of silver. In addition, you have to pay Huang Liang's finishing fee of 100 taels, and bring some money to our shop. loss of reputation..."

Xu Shuizhou opened his mouth and said a lot of money, which directly confused Miss Gao.

Although her family is well-known in Wutong County, her annual income is only 200 taels of silver, and her small private treasury is only 100 taels of silver. Thinking of the shopkeeper asking for seven or eight hundred silver, she couldn't even get it out after selling it.

It was a little embarrassing for a while.

Xu Shuizhou was a little bit complacent. Sure enough, this kind of daughter from a deep boudoir is the easiest to fool, "Miss Gao, if you think it's okay, we will sign a contract now, pay the money with one hand and hand in the book with the other. After three days, we promise to get what you want. The ending book is for sale in this shop."

Miss Gao stopped talking in a daze, the arrogant arrogance just now disappeared without a trace, and she became a little at a loss.

The little sisters she brought stopped talking, and they couldn't afford so much money...

Of course, Xu Shuizhou will not be so stupid as to offend the customers who deliver to the door. These girls will be the purchasing power of their store in the future. As long as they operate well, they will bring a steady stream of profits to the store in the future.

"Of course, this matter is still up for discussion. Huang Liang will release a new book next month, which is the second part of "The Pretty Book Boy of the Rich Man". The ending is much better, but the store is still pressing the first book. It's not sold out yet, I see that the families of the young ladies are all running huge businesses, and they must know a lot of little sisters."

Xu Shuizhou quickly threw it down a step to the ladies.

"That's natural." Miss Gao looked smug. Their family is in the clothing business. Rich families in the entire county of Wutong County have custom-made clothes at their home, and they know countless wives and misses.

"As long as Ms. Gao can help us promote this book, the books squeezed by our store can be sold out. Not only can I get a manuscript written by Huang Liang, but I can also customize a story book for Ms. Gao."

Xu Shuizhou's mind was spinning quickly. This kind of free labor delivered to the door is not in vain. It only needs a small price to pay. As long as it can make the bookstore famous, a few manuscripts are nothing.

There is also a customized storybook, Tan Jingyuan has to write it anyway, so it's fine to ask him to change the protagonist with a personality similar to Miss Gao's.

When Miss Gao heard that she could get Huang Liang's manuscript, her face was excited, and when she heard that she could customize a script for her, her whole face flushed. Fortunately, she was wearing a veil so no one could see it.

It's just that her hands that kept twisting the handkerchief betrayed her just as restlessly.

The little sisters sitting next to her couldn't help but agree for her. Anyway, it doesn't take much effort. You just need to say something in front of those ladies and wives, and you can get the exclusive storybook.

What kind of lady doesn't have a spring, especially a girl like them who is about to get married. All she thinks about all day long is what her future husband will look like.

"Okay, it's a deal, and then you are not allowed to play tricks." Miss Gao hesitated for a while, lest Xu Shuizhou think that she was impatient, and then agreed.

Xu Shuizhou was a little amused, and held back his smile, "Don't worry, if you sign a contract, besides, my shop is here, so where can I go?"

"That's right." Miss Gao seemed relieved.

Jiang Jingyuan watched Xu Shuizhou fooling others in silence the whole time, and after sending the ladies out, Jiang Jingyuan gave Xu Shuizhou an admiring look.

"That's right, entrusting you to take care of the bookstore is indeed very skillful. It seems that this bookstore is going to be brought back to life in your hands." Jiang Jingyuan handed over the entire bookstore to Xu Shuizhou on the second day after the bookstore opened, so as to save Xu Shuizhou from running every day go fishing.

There are many risks on the river, if you don't pay attention, the boat will capsize. If there is no one nearby, it will be a death sentence. Jiang Jingyuan is also reluctant to let Xu Shuizhou be so tired all day, so he might as well find something safe for him to do.

Xu Shuizhou blinked, and rubbed Jiang Jingyuan's arm, "Ah Yuan also thinks what I did is good, he must be an adult."

"That's right, Ah Zhou is stronger than adults." Jiang Jingyuan touched Xu Shuizhou's head, thinking to himself, when will Ah Zhou grow taller, until he reached his chest, and looked up at him. .

Xu Shuizhou smiled, and murmured, "Then, when will we be able to reunite the house? I have read a lot of books recently, and my skills are very powerful."

"Cough cough cough..." Jiang Jingyuan was almost drowned by his own saliva, and hurriedly asked, "What book?"

"Just, Chun, Gong, Tu." Xu Shuizhou lowered his head, blushing.

The author has something to say: Hahaha, Tiantian is super awesome today, adding more.

The main reason is that I was scared. A group of younger brothers and sisters who love to watch ghost movies and snake movies came back during the holidays. They played them at home when they had nothing to do, but I was most afraid of ghosts and snakes.

But it’s not good for everyone not to watch together, so I had to bite the bullet and accompany, every time I hugged a pillow to cover my eyes, but this group of people who have no eyesight shouted at critical moments, "Sister, the wonderful thing is coming, watch it soon. "

I was thinking about something wonderful, when I raised my head, Emma made a grimace...! ! !

With my eyes open, I didn't fall asleep all night, and got up to write...