"Oh?" Fang Yun stuck his head out of the car window. More than 20 carriages followed behind, all of which were the carriages of the scholars who were attending the poetry gathering.
"Maybe it's on the way. Don't worry about them. Just send Brother He home first." Fang Yun said.
He Yutang said hurriedly: "My home is far from here, I can just walk back when I get to your house."
"How about this, take me home first, and then let Daniu take you home."
"Okay." He Yutang said.
The sound of horse hooves hitting the ground made a clattering sound as we entered the city and the car slowed down.
Suddenly, a hawking voice came from the front of the carriage.
"After reading The West Chamber, you will be able to talk about love, and after reading The Pillow, you will become a great scholar! The 2nd-grade Saint-pre-sage Tongsheng Fang Yun has published a book! Come and buy it. If you buy The West Chamber, we will sell The Holy Way and Literary Newspaper at the original price!"
He Yutang heard it clearly, turned his head and looked at Fang Yun, and said angrily: "How can someone sell books under your name? How can you call yourself a great scholar? It's outrageous! Let's get off the car and send them to the authorities. This is too outrageous."
"Well! That book was indeed written by me. Now many booksellers in the city are cooperating with my bookstore." Fang Yun said.
"This..." He Yutang was dumbfounded. He couldn't understand why a student with a bright future would use such arrogant words to promote himself.
"Studying costs a lot of money. I can't just sit there and do nothing, so I wrote two popular novels to sell. This slogan was thought up by me. Oh, spread the word, or advertising in short." Fang Yun said.
He Yutang was silent for a moment, then asked, "Will it affect your studies?"
"No, I only write these popular novels when I am practicing calligraphy." Fang Yun said.
"That's good. If it's really written by you, I'll buy a copy too."
Fang Yun said: "If you want to read it, I will bring the book to the clan school tomorrow."
"Confucius said: It is not the lack of books that is worrying, but the inequality of distribution. If you give it to me, what will other gentlemen think? If it is because of me that they ask you to give so many books to others, that is not good. How about this, I buy your book and you write a quote for me." He Yutang.
Fang Yun thought, this is just a book signing, so he said, "Okay."
"Then... the advertising slogan was also thought up by you, right? Others are not as bold as you." It seemed like a very ordinary thing to Fang Yun, but it was shocking to He Yutang.
"If you spread the word, it will surely make a splash."
"What if someone uses these to publicize and attack your literary reputation?" He Yutang slowly accepted Fang Yun's statement.
"I am the owner of the bookstore, and the business is run by my colleagues. I am the only one who is suspected of not investigating. How can you harm my literary reputation?"
"makes sense."
As the carriage approached the cart, He Yutang saw the slogan on it, which included the words "Master Li, the Sword-Eyebrowed Scholar, invites you to read in advance next month's "Sacred Way" and the divine article "The Pillow Book". He was so scared that his face turned pale.
"Fang, Fang Yun, did you really get Master Jianmei's consent to do this?"
"No, but I'm sure Lord Li won't care."
"You are really not afraid of death. You are braver than the Demon King." He Yutang shook his head helplessly.
The carriage passing behind also heard the bookseller's shouting and even saw the name "Yun" above the sign.
Yan Yue said contemptuously: "You and Liu Zicheng both overestimate Fang Yun. Look at his methods, they are only slightly better than those of a mean person. Who sells books this way? I think he is afraid of poverty. He finally gained a reputation as a writer but he is trying to catch more fish in a dry pond. It is difficult for him to achieve great things."
Guan Yaoyuan looked at the bookseller's cart and nodded, "No wonder he is a poor kid from a small county. He has many cheap tricks to attract attention. If I publish a book, I will go directly to the stewards of the three major booksellers. Then 30% of the bookstores in Dayuan Prefecture will promote my book. With this sales method, I can only make a few hundred taels of silver a year at most. What can I do with it? Let the driver watch and follow closely, don't lose me."
Yan Yue stuck his head out and said, "Fang Yun's carriage is right in front of us. We can't lose it."
Fang Yun's carriage turned many corners and stopped at the door. Fang Yun got off the carriage and said to He Yutang, "Goodbye, Brother He."
"Goodbye." He Yutang had just finished speaking when he noticed that Fang Yun turned his head and looked in the direction they came from, with a somewhat cold expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" He Yutang got off the car and saw a lot of carriages crowded at the entrance of the alley. The people in the carriages got off and walked towards here.
Walking in front was Guan Yaoyuan, the organizer of the poetry conference, with a kind smile on his face, as if nothing had just happened. The people behind him looked unhappy.
Behind these people were many scholars from the prefectural academy, including Gao Minghong from Ji County. He shouted, "Fang Yun, we were originally planning to leave, but Guan Yaoyuan and his men's carriages were following you, and they might be trying to harm you, so we followed them."
Guan Yaoyuan complained immediately: "You really misunderstood me. I came here to apologize to Fang Yun again. Fang Yun, don't worry, I will immediately publicize your talent when I go back today! I will pay for 10,000 copies of your "Dielianhua Chunjing" and distribute them to scholars. Do you believe me now?"
Fang Yun was unmoved and said, "Brother Guan, you are too polite. I will publish a collection of poems soon, so I won't bother you. My house is simple and I don't have any wine or drinks, so I won't invite you in."
While Fang Yun was speaking, he saw other people appear at the entrance of the alley. Among them was a horse barbarian who was fully armored. He was extremely tall and held a huge axe that was a full ten feet long in one hand. His eyes were like two large copper bells.
There was a tall man standing in front of the horse barbarian, but he only reached the horse barbarian's chest. The man was wearing a black robe, had a plump figure, a kind face, and looked at this place with a smile.
Guan Yaoyuan said: "Alas, you still don't believe me, well, time will tell. I'll take my leave now."
Yan Yue, who was standing by, said angrily, "Fang Yun, even if you are a top-ranking saint, you are still a student after all. Guan Yaoyuan has been so servile, why are you still being so unreasonable? Do you look down on the scholars of our Academy of Literature? Do you despise our gentry and the Yingshe?"
"Yan Yue, you can fart casually but you can't say anything casually. You and Guan Yaoyuan are playing the good cop and the bad cop respectively, don't you think we can see it?" Fang Yun hated Yan Yue so much.
Guan Yaoyuan hurriedly pulled Yan Yue and said, "Stop talking, let's go. Fang Yun, we'll talk later. I was wrong this time, and I will definitely drink with you and apologize next time."
Yan Yue immediately shouted, "Fang Yun, you despicable and shameless villain, I will write a poem for you today! Listen carefully: You have nothing but shamelessness, you can only talk and act like a hero, I don't know if you are a child bride, or a daughter-in-law raising a boy!"
Everyone present was stunned. Yan Yue's words were too vicious. If this poem were to be circulated and someone exaggerated it, Fang Yun would inevitably be portrayed as an incompetent hypocrite who only cared about himself and ignored the life and death of his child bride. As long as Fang Yun was labeled as ungrateful and a womanizer, he would be despised no matter how famous he was in the future.
"Asshole!" Guan Yaoyuan slapped Yan Yue in the face, causing Yan Yue to retreat back and hit the wall.
"You..." Yan Yue seemed to be afraid of Guan Yaoyuan, and lowered his head without saying anything.
Guan Yaoyuan immediately said to Fang Yun, "Fang Yun, I never thought things would turn out like this. I know you are from a poor family, and even the carriage and travel expenses to Dayuan Mansion were given by others. Although you are a little poor, although you live in a simple place, and even sell books in a way that even scholars disdain to make money, I believe you have backbone."
Everyone could hear that the real purpose had been exposed. Guan Yaoyuan was openly attacking Fang Yun.
Without waiting for Fang Yun to speak, the slightly fat man outside the alley shouted, "Who said that is a method that scholars disdain? We, Xuanting Bookstore, have decided to purchase the entire set of book-selling methods from Fang Shuangjia, paying five thousand taels of silver at a time. In addition, we are willing to pay another five thousand taels of silver to purchase the book-selling rights of The Romance of the Western Chamber in Shengyuan Continent. If Fang Shuangjia is willing to sign a document to let our Xuanting Bookstore sell all his future works, we can give him an extra half of the income! Now, who said that Fang Yun was relying on a child bride?"
Everyone turned to look at that man.
All those present were scholars from the prefectural academy, who often met celebrities from the prefecture, and almost all of them knew this man.
"Manager Tang!" All the scholars bowed and saluted, showing great respect.
Guan Yaoyuan and Yan Yue also bowed to the manager Tang in fear.
Xuanting Bookstore is one of the three largest bookstores in Shengyuan Continent, occupying more than 20% of the market share in Shengyuan Continent. Its shareholders are many semi-saints, and Chen Guanhai is one of them. Therefore, Xuanting Bookstore is also the largest bookstore in Jingguo, occupying 50% of Jingguo's book market.
Xuanting Bookstore has a supreme host in each state, whose position is the chief shopkeeper.
The largest bookseller in a state is nothing, but if there are multiple semi-saint families behind it, even the governor or the governor of the state would not want to offend him.
Manager Tang looked at Yan Yue and asked, "Do you remember your name is Yan Yue? I've met your father. Do you look down on Fang Yun? Very good, I'll give you half a quarter of an hour. If you can't come up with 10,000 taels of silver within half a quarter of an hour, I'll smash your mouth! Then I'll give you three days. If you can't earn 10,000 taels of silver by yourself, I'll break your legs! Old Ma, keep an eye on him. If he can't write a good book like The Romance of the West Chamber in three days, chop off both of his legs!"
"Yeah." The horse barbarian agreed and stared at Yan Yue.
Yan Yue leaned against the wall, his face pale. He didn't expect that he failed to humiliate Fang Yun, but was humiliated instead, and even faced unknown punishment. He had heard a lot about Manager Tang. Someone described Manager Tang in eight words: cruel and ruthless, making a fortune every day.
Yan Yue was filled with despair.
"It's over. Since he knows my father, he must know that I come from a prominent family. But he dared to chop my legs even so, which means Fang Yun can help him make a lot of money. He is willing to give Fang Yun 10,000, so he is confident that he can make 20,000 or even more from Fang Yun. Will my father turn against Xuanting Bookstore for me? Impossible!"
Guan Yaoyuan stepped forward and said respectfully, "I am Guan Yaoyuan. My uncle is a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Personnel in the capital and a disciple of the left prime minister. This matter is a misunderstanding. I hope that Manager Tang will give Yan Yue a chance."
"You want to stop me?" said the shopkeeper Tang grimly.
"No..." Before Guan Yaoyuan could finish his words, the horse barbarian who was several feet away suddenly opened his mouth and spat.
The saliva actually made a sharp and piercing sound as it flew towards Guan Yaoyuan. Before Guan Yaoyuan could react, the saliva hit his forehead.
Guan Yaoyuan screamed, his body flew backwards and fell heavily to the ground. His forehead was blurred and he gritted his teeth in pain and sat up with great effort.
"Pretty handsome." Someone said this, and everyone looked at the horse barbarian who was spitting at people.