Build the Traveler Alliance from scratch - #620 - Chapter 619 Strange novel
“Lanke?”
“”Shu Yi Ji”?”
After hearing what Shopkeeper Ye said, the students were really curious.
Immediately, someone took out the money and bought the book. The students came over, but were blocked by the man vigilantly. Apparently he didn’t want to share the book with others.
The students were angry, but they could only buy books with their own money.
“found it!”
Suddenly someone exclaimed. After taking a closer look, he nodded thoughtfully.
“So that’s the story…I understand!”
In the backyard of the bookstore, Fan Sizhe suddenly realized what he saw when he saw this scene.
“It turned out to be business expansion!”
Fan Sizhe’s face was full of excitement and he lowered his voice and spoke next to Fan Xian.
Fan Xian smiled slightly but did not respond verbally.
Beside him, Li Hongcheng, the crown prince of Prince Jing, also asked his guards to buy a copy of “Shu Yi Ji” and just read it quietly.
When he saw Lan Ke’s story, he couldn’t help but marveled: “So this is what Lan Ke means. No wonder those four words have a profound artistic conception. It seems like time is passing by and the years are changing.”
Fan Sizhe was very curious when he heard that and said quickly: “What do you mean? Let me see.”
Li Hongcheng said with a smile: “This story tells that in ancient times, a woodcutter surnamed Wang went into the mountains to cut firewood one day. On the way, he met two immortals playing chess. He stopped and watched. After the chess game was over, the woodcutter went to get the wood. The ax that was left by the stream turned out to have a rotten handle.”
Fan Sizhe was fascinated by what he heard and couldn’t help but ask: “Then what?”
Li Hongcheng continued: “Then the woodcutter left the mountains and returned to his hometown. He found that his hometown was also undergoing a vicissitudes of life. The woodcutter asked someone and found out the truth.”
Fan Sizhe said quickly: “What’s the truth?”
Li Hongcheng said with emotion: “He watched chess for a moment, but hundreds of years have passed in the outside world!”
Fan Sizhe wondered: “How could this be so?”
Fan Xian smiled and said, “Because the woodcutter accidentally entered the immortal world, and one day in the immortal world lasts a hundred years in the human world.”
Fan Sizhe was fascinated: “There is such a saying, it’s really interesting… Wait, that’s not right. Since one day in the fairy world lasts a hundred years in the human world, the woodcutter only watched chess for a moment, and the human world only lasted a few years at most. How could it be hundreds?” Year?”
Seeing Fan Sizhe lifting his head, Fan Xian said with black lines on his head: “I said you have three thousand hairs, is it really three thousand?”
Fan Sizhe understood what he meant, but still laughed and said, “Then I have to count first…”
Fan Xian rolled his eyes at him, and then said softly: “The woodcutter is returning, his ax is broken by the wind, only the stone bridge is still there, still shining red.”
Li Hongcheng’s eyes lit up, he cupped his hands and said: “Brother Fan’s poetry is amazing, I admire you.”
After speaking, he smiled and handed the “Shu Yi Ji” in his hand to the guard.
“Interesting, interesting. I didn’t expect that there would be an unexpected surprise when I came here today.”
“Brother Fan, do you have any similar stories?”
Fan Xian smiled and said: “Of course there is. There is also a copy of “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” here. His Royal Highness can take it back to the mansion and keep it for entertainment.”
After sending away Li Hongcheng, Prince Jing’s son, Fan Xian looked at the students in the bookstore who were either flipping through books or copying handwriting. He smiled slightly, turned around and walked into the discussion room in the backyard.
Fan Sizhe hurriedly followed in his footsteps, and after entering the door, he said excitedly: “Brother, when did you write another book, why didn’t you tell me in advance, so I could promote and advertise for you!”
Fan Xian glanced at him, shook his head and said, “I didn’t write this book.”
Fan Sizhe curled his lips: “Okay, okay, if you say no, then it’s not, but you have to tell us, are we the only ones who can sell this book?”
Fan Xian smiled and said, “Of course.”
Fan Sizhe then smiled: “That’s good, just wait a minute while I go outside to see how the book sells and whether it can be compared with our signature Red Mansion.”
After saying that, Fan Sizhe walked out the door excitedly.
…
…
That night, Fan Xian got the account book from Shopkeeper Ye.
It has to be said that in this era when entertainment activities are extremely scarce, novels such as “Shu Yi Ji” and “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” can indeed attract the attention of the vast majority of people.
In just one day, the sales volume of these two idle books was more than three times that of Red Mansion!
After all, the latter still has a certain reading threshold, while the former is more like those popular folklore.
Even people who are illiterate can listen to the story with gusto as long as someone helps them read it.
Of course, literary works like “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” are by no means as simple as fantasy novels.
The so-called “writing about ghosts and monsters is superior to others, and stabbing greed and cruelty to the very core” refers to Pu Songling, the author of “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio”.
But Fan Xian did not sell this book to criticize current ills, but to promote the legends of gods and ghosts in the book so that the people of Qing Kingdom would have a certain concept of gods and ghosts.
Therefore, Fan Xian deliberately deleted many metaphors with great literary value and only focused on describing magic and strange things.
It is precisely because of this that the Eighth Office of the Control Yuan, which is responsible for managing book publishing, was able to release this book.
Of course, “Shu Yi Ji” and “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio” are just the beginning of Fan Xian’s plan.
His real trump card is actually another chapter-length novel about gods and demons that has not yet been released – “Journey to the West”!
However, this novel is adapted from the story of Xuanzang’s Buddhist pilgrimage, and the Buddhism involved in it does not exist in this world.
Therefore, Fan Xian still needs to make slight modifications to make the dynasties in the story closer to reality, and by the way, use this book to introduce the two families of Buddhism and Taoism… and the heaven hanging high above the nine heavens!
…
…
Imperial Palace, Imperial Study Room.
Emperor Qing frowned slightly and looked carefully at the handwriting he was copying.
After looking at it for a while, he threw the scroll aside and glanced at Hou Gonggong: “You said that the words ‘Lanke Bookstore’ are extremely magical and cannot be described by ordinary people. Is this… is it true?”
Eunuch Hou said respectfully: “It’s absolutely true. This old slave has seen it with his own eyes. There is absolutely nothing false about it.”
Emperor Qing frowned and glanced at the scroll: “But this is what I saw…”
Eunuch Hou felt ashamed and said: “This old slave’s writing skills are shallow and not as good as that of the master. If your majesty is interested, you can summon Mr. Xiao Fan to the palace overnight and ask him to show you the plaque.”
Emperor Qing seemed to be moved, but after thinking for a moment, he still shook his head.
“Fan Xian’s bookstore has just opened. It’s a bit inappropriate for me to place a plaque on him at this time. It’s better that you accompany me out of the palace in a while, and I’ll go and see it myself!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Eunuch Hou saluted respectfully. The reason why he spoke like this was actually for Fan Xian’s benefit.
If he hadn’t said that, given Emperor Qing’s character, he might have asked Fan Xian to send him the plaque.
Emperor Qing signaled his father-in-law to take away the copied handwriting, and then picked up the “Shu Yi Ji”.
“The story is extremely interesting, but writing this kind of fantasy novel is somewhat derelict.”
After saying that, Emperor Qing shook his head and commented: “It’s not as far as the Red Mansion!”
Eunuch Hou waited respectfully beside him, pretending not to hear.
But Emperor Qing obviously had no intention of letting him go: “Eunuch Hou, what are you thinking about the Fan family? Fan Xian opened a bookstore by himself in public, and Fan Jian also handed me a booklet twice, saying that he was resigning and returning home. …”
Eunuch Hou felt nervous and said respectfully: “Maybe… maybe he is tired of the strife in the officialdom.”
Emperor Qing shook his head and said calmly: “If the Fan family really plans to withdraw from the court and live in peace with the world, then the first thing Fan Xian must do is to cancel his marriage to Wan’er, but I don’t care. No way he meant it.”
Eunuch Hou said quickly: “This old slave is stupid and I really can’t figure out why the two Lord Fans are like this.”
Emperor Qing glanced at him, shook his head, and stopped talking.
Not long after, he suddenly spoke again: “Where is the Northern Qi envoy?”
Eunuch Hou said respectfully: “We have entered the border of our Qing Kingdom. It is estimated that we will be able to enter Beijing in half a month.”
Emperor Qing nodded and said calmly: “In the past few days, Prime Minister Lin has recommended Fan Xian to take on important responsibilities several times. It happened that there was an assassination on Niulan Street. He is a person involved, so let him go to Honglu Temple and be the deputy receptionist!”
Eunuch Hou bowed his hands respectfully and slowly exited the imperial study.
…
…
Another day later, Fan Xian drove to the Overwatch Council again.
At this time, all the officials in the courtyard knew this Fanti Si.
Every official he met along the way would basically salute and say hello to Fan Xian.
Fan Xian responded to them one by one with a smile, and then met Chen Pingping under the leadership of Wang Qinian.
After retreating from everyone, Fan Xian couldn’t wait to ask: “How’s the news going?”
Chen Pingping glanced at him and smiled: “Are you anxious?”
Fan Xian thought for a while, shook his head and said, “There’s no rush. My actions also need some time to ferment.”
Chen Pingping said with a smile: “Then just wait… I have already lit the fire, but when it will spread into a big fire depends on the actions of the eldest princess.”
“The eldest princess?”
Fan Xian was stunned for a moment. Even if he had seen the future plot, he still couldn’t figure out what this matter had to do with the eldest princess.
Chen Pingping smiled and asked softly: “Have you met Zhu Ge, the host of the first department?”
Fan Xian nodded: “I’ve seen it before.”
Chen Pingping smiled and said: “Then you should also know about his secret refuge with the eldest princess.”
Fan Xian finally reacted, nodded and said, “I do know.”
Chen Pingping stood up from the wheelchair, stretched, then walked to the clusters of wild flowers with her hands behind her back, and said leisurely with her back to Fan Xian.
“To spread the news directly through the Overwatch Council, the traces are too heavy.”
“So, I secretly revealed the news that you are a descendant of the Ye family to Zhuge. The eldest princess is so eager to get rid of you, so she will naturally get the news from him.”
With that said, Chen Pingping turned around, looked at Fan Xian and said calmly: “You should know that when the whole city hunted your mother, it was on the charge of Ye’s rebellion. Later, the emperor and I returned to Beijing, although we Your mother took revenge, but in name, the emperor did not rehabilitate the Ye family. Instead, he spared no effort to erase the traces left by your mother over the years.”
“Therefore, in the eyes of the eldest princess who doesn’t know the truth, Ye is still guilty of treason.”
“Now, seeing that your wedding with Wan’er is approaching, the eldest princess is powerless to stop it.”
“At this moment, she suddenly got the news that you are Ye Qingmei’s son. What do you think… what will she do?”