"The Four Great Classic Novels and other Ming and Qing novels have the greatest influence, can best enhance my literary reputation and make the most money, but first, there are too many words, second, I need to cultivate the market, and third, there are things in them that I have never come across, and I need to buy some related books to cover them up. Therefore, at present, it is most suitable to publish those medium-length and short Tang legends, which are seamless in terms of time. After the Tang legends have cultivated some readers, I will write those long masterpieces. Later, I can write the history of later generations into novels, so it will be much more convenient to use poetry and allusions."
After much deliberation, Fang Yun decided to target "The Story of Yingying", the most influential Tang Dynasty legendary novel. The famous Yuan Dynasty opera "The West Chamber" was adapted from this novel. This novel has extremely high historical and literary status. Once it comes out, it will definitely cause a sensation in the current Shengyuan Continent.
Jin Shengtan, a famous writer and literary critic in the Qing Dynasty, once listed the "Six Talented Books", and compared "Romance of the West Chamber" with "Water Margin", "Records of the Grand Historian" and Du Fu's regulated verse.
"However, the original text of "The Story of Yingying" is too short, with only more than 3,000 words. It cannot be published as a book and cannot be sold at a good price. The ending of this short story is tragic, and the story does not suit the tastes of readers in Shengyuan Continent today."
"The adapted version of 'Romance of the West Chamber' has a happy ending. Since 'Romance of the West Chamber' has the greatest influence and its story is stronger than 'Story of Yingying', 'Romance of the West Chamber' should be the main focus. However, anything that is not suitable for Shengyuan Continent cannot be retained." Fang Yun thought.
So Fang Yun began to look for novels or Yuan opera related to "The Story of Yingying" and "The West Chamber" in the world of strange books, and then slowly pieced together a new novel by himself.
The full text of "Romance of the West Chamber" has more than 50,000 words, but it is a Yuan Dynasty opera after all, so a lot of words had to be deleted when it was written as a novel.
At that time, books only had 160 words on each side and 320 words on each page. Fang Yun decided to compress the number to about 30,000 words, making up 100 pages, which was considered a novel in that era.
After an hour of busy work, Fang Yun took the essence of books such as "The Story of Yingying" and "The West Chamber", removed or changed the elements that were not in line with the Shengyuan Continent, and thus wrote a new "The West Chamber".
This story is similar to but also different from the original "Romance of the West Chamber". It tells the story of a government official girl, Cui Yingying, who was forced to be promised to the son of the Left Prime Minister in order to save her father. But before the marriage, she met a poor scholar from a humble family, and the two fell in love. Later, the poor scholar passed the imperial examination and became the top scholar. He competed with the son of the Left Prime Minister in a battle poem, and finally won and married Cui Yingying.
"The story of a loser taking down a tall, rich and handsome man and seducing a fair, rich and beautiful woman is indeed a timeless theme in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad. Should I write a costume version of "Titanic"? Forget it."
Fang Yun couldn't help but chuckle.
A new copy of "Romance of the West Chamber" was included in the world of strange books, and then Fang Yun began to grind ink and write.
Fang Yun named the poor scholar in "The West Chamber" "Fang Zhiyun", Cui Yingying's name remained unchanged, but the son of the left prime minister was changed to "Liu Zizheng". When he thought of Liu Zicheng's expression when he saw this book, he wanted to laugh.
In this way, without Fang Yun's excessive explanation, everyone would speculate: Fang Yun must have been oppressed and humiliated by Liu Zicheng, and he was filled with resentment, so he wrote this strange book based on his own experience.
The whole book is in the world of strange books. Fang Yun doesn’t have to think at all and just keeps writing on paper.
Books of this era did not have punctuation marks. Fang Yun added commas, periods, and colons for the first time in his book, but did not add other punctuation marks. In addition, it was divided into paragraphs to make the reading experience better.
"With a moving storyline and amazing punctuation, I don't believe this book won't be a hit! The Confucians here are much smarter than the ancients on Earth. Once they find that this kind of punctuation is more convenient than sentence reading, they will definitely use it quickly, especially the military, because punctuation can minimize misunderstandings and ambiguities, and avoid problems with military orders. The novel doesn't have much talent, but this book should at least be a hit! Once it's circulated for a long time, it will definitely be a hit. However, I have to keep the original manuscript well this time."
Fang Yun wrote quickly and before he knew it, it was night. He ate dinner in a hurry, asked Yang Yuhuan to save him a midnight snack, and then continued writing.
It was dark, but he had good night vision and the night had no effect on him at all, so he continued writing furiously.
Fang Daniu went to sleep before him, and the little fox never woke up.
Late at night, Fang Yun continued writing after having a midnight snack until dawn. He wrote for a total of twelve hours. His arms ached and he went to bed only when he could no longer write.
After only three hours of sleep, he got up, had breakfast and continued writing.
Nearing noon, the room was filled with the aroma of food. Fang Yun rubbed his sore wrists and stopped writing to take a rest.
Writing calligraphy all the time is very tiring. If he hadn't been nourishing his body and eating well these days, he would have been sick from exhaustion.
"Hmm..."
Fang Yun looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the little fox in the bamboo basket had woken up. It was looking at Fang Yun with its dark eyes, looking innocent, cute and silly.
The little fox sniffed and sniffed continuously, then turned its head towards the door. A fragrance wafted in from outside.
Fang Yun smiled slightly and said, "You're awake? You're not awake because you're hungry, are you?"
The little fox immediately looked shy and lowered his head slightly, too embarrassed to look at Fang Yun.
Fang Yun was surprised. Could it be that this little fox could understand human language
"Come on, I'll hold you in my arms while you eat." Fang Yun said as he walked over.
But the little fox struggled to run, but its limbs felt like they were stepping on cotton and it had no strength at all. In the end, it could only curl up its body and look at Fang Yun with fear and pleading eyes, as if saying don't hurt it.
Fang Yun slowly stretched out his hand and placed it in front of it without touching it.
The little fox felt that Fang Yun had no ill intentions, and the fear in his eyes disappeared, but there was still a pleading look in his eyes.
"If I had hurt you, you would have died outside the city long ago. How could you be alive now?" Fang Yun said.
The little fox immediately looked thoughtful, and the pleading look on his face gradually faded.
Fang Yun reached out and touched its head, and it looked reluctant yet helpless.
"Let's go." Fang Yun reached out and hugged it.
The little fox didn't like being held by Fang Yun and struggled hard, but it was too small and Fang Yun could stop it with just one hand.
"If you move again, I'll throw you out of the city and let the monsters chasing you eat you."
The little fox's body trembled violently, and it stopped struggling. It looked up at Fang Yun pitifully, with tears in its eyes.
"If you are obedient, I will keep you here. When your injury is healed, it's up to you to leave or stay. How about it?" Fang Yun asked.
The little fox nodded subconsciously.
Fang Yun smiled and asked, "Can you understand what we humans say?"
The little fox was stunned for a moment, its bright dark eyes turned slightly, and then it shook its head firmly, as if to say that it didn't understand.
Fang Yun was amused by the silly fox and laughed out loud.
The little fox looked confused, as if asking, "Why don't you believe me even though I'm shaking my head?"
"I'll call you little stupid fox from now on." Fang Yun said with a smile.
But the little fox's face changed immediately, and he shouted angrily twice, objecting to the name.
"You didn't tell me your name, who can I blame? You stupid little fox."
The little fox was anxious and called out quickly: "Nu Nu! Nu Nu!"
"Your name is Nunu?" Fang Yun was surprised that a fox could come up with such a name, but it sounded nice too.
The little fox immediately nodded happily, and a little proud.
"Nu Nu, let's have dinner together."
Nunu immediately nodded vigorously, his eyes unusually bright.
Fang Yong held Nunu with his left hand and tried to open the door with his right hand, but Nunu suddenly cried out softly.
Fang Yun looked down and saw that Nunu was shy again. The snow-white hair on her face seemed to turn a little pink, and she covered her face with her two little paws.
Fang Yun couldn't understand why Nunu was shy. He took two steps and found that his left hand was warm, as if it was supporting Nunu's belly.
"Is she shy because of this?" Fang Yun immediately moved his fingers and rubbed its belly.
“Oh oh…” Nunu’s voice sounded shy, anxious, and a little aggrieved.
Fang Yun coughed lightly, stopped teasing Nu Nu, and walked towards the main house.
The styles of ordinary houses at that time were basically the same. The houses were divided into east wing and west wing, and both wing rooms had earthen kangs.
The main house is between the two wing rooms. There are two stoves near the main door, which can be used for cooking and heating in winter. The dining table and other items are placed at the innermost part of the main house, which is considered a living room and dining room, and is relatively small.
Fang Yun guessed that this fox was not an ordinary animal fox, but a monster. However, since the holy temple of Dayuan Mansion did not suppress it, it proved that it was harmless, so he could rest assured to take it to eat.
Yang Yuhuan was very happy to see the little fox wake up. She said, "You stayed up late last night and kept writing this morning. I was afraid you didn't have enough to eat, so I specially stewed an extra chicken. You've become a student and your appetite has increased. I'm not sure."
Nunu looked at Yang Yuhuan curiously, then looked around the main room with a hint of caution in her eyes.
"Thank you, Sister Yuhuan." Fang Yun said.
"Why should I thank my family?" Yang Yuhuan said.
When Nunu saw the casserole containing two chickens, his eyes lit up and his sight seemed to be glued to it.
"Let's eat together. Aunt Jiang, prepare a small bowl for Nunu. It will only be used by her from now on." Fang Yun said.
"good."
Fang Yun put Nunu on the ground and placed an empty small bowl in front of it.
Nunu sat obediently in front of the small bowl, looking up at Fang Yun like a little child, but there seemed to be a trace of saliva at the corner of his mouth.
The four people sat down one after another. Yang Yuhuan put a chicken drumstick into Fang Yun's bowl and said, "All four chicken drumsticks are for you."
Although Fang Yun's status has changed, he does not look down on Jiang Pozi and Fang Daniu. In his eyes, the two are still relatives and neighbors. In the future, the two may not dare to eat at the same table with him, but since they are at the same table now, he will treat them as guests.
"One chicken leg for each person, just the right amount. Sister Yuhuan, you divide it." Fang Yun said.
"Okay." Yang Yuhuan shared the chicken legs with the other two people.
"The young master is such a kind person." Mrs. Jiang couldn't stop smiling.
"Hehe." Fang Daniu smiled foolishly.
Neither of them dared to eat too much meat yesterday. They only took a few bites with their chopsticks and kept eating the vegetables.
Ji County is a poor county after all. Although there is enough food, meat is still a luxury.