"How are you doing, Mr. Xiao?" An old man over fifty years old walked out of the inner door. He was wearing a dark jacquard robe and had a beard on his lips. He bowed his hands and welcomed the guests with a smile.
Xiao Zhengning turned around and returned the greeting, "Okay, everything is okay. How is Shopkeeper Lu doing well recently?"
"Thanks to Mr. Xiao, everything goes well." Shopkeeper Lu's face was kind, and he looked more like a Confucian in his old age. "Master Xiao is a busy man. Why are you here looking for me in the store today?"
"For it." Pointing to the manuscript on the table.
Shopkeeper Lu stroked his beard and smiled, strode to the counter, looked down and saw that it was a manuscript called "Feng Shen", he looked up at Xiao Zhengning.
"Master Xiao, was this book written by you?"
"It can't be said. Shopkeeper Lu can read a few pages. I came here with the intention of cooperating with shopkeeper Lu. Shopkeeper Lu will test whether we can cooperate." Xiao Zhengning raised his hand in invitation.
Minghua looked up at the conversation between the two. After listening to it for a while, it was quite boring. They were just being polite. She simply went to the bookshelf next to her to get a book that was within reach. Who told her that she was short, so she could only get it? The book was positioned parallel to her height.
Shopkeeper Lu briefly flipped through a chapter or two and was also drawn into the story.
Xiao Zhengning smiled and said, "What do you think, Shopkeeper Lu?"
"Ah...well, a good book." Shopkeeper Lu was lost for a moment, then nodded in agreement with the book, "I wonder who wrote this book? It doesn't look like Master Xiao's writing style."
"It's my little girl." He turned to look at the little girl holding a book in front of the bookshelf.
Shopkeeper Lu followed his line of sight and was surprised, "It's actually Qing Yuan?! It's not like that! The layout of this book is very big. Qing Yuan is at most seven years old this year. How could she write such a layout?"
The story of apotheosis of gods connects the way of heaven and saints from the top to the various aspects of people's livelihood from the bottom.
"The manuscript was written word for word by my daughter, and it is indeed her notes. So far, only you, me and my daughter know the manuscript of this book. Shopkeeper Lu knows who I am and will never fool anyone with this kind of thing. You see The writing style is plain and simple, and she is not afraid of Shopkeeper Lu’s jokes. My daughter has only been studying for a few months, so naturally she can only write such a style of writing."
"Really, people should not be judged by their appearance!" Shopkeeper Lu couldn't put it down for "Fengshen", even if it was written in vernacular; perhaps, this book could become the ancestor of vernacular Chinese scripts.
A pioneer.
Xiao Zhengning also thinks this way, everything in the world exists and is reasonable; his daughter can write in vernacular, and has written a grand script, which is quite attractive. He thinks it is beautiful, and others should be able to accept it.
If my daughter is exposed in the future, she will not encounter too many verbal attacks from literati; after all, how good can a child under six years old ask others to write? Isn't that forcing someone to do something difficult? No one would be embarrassed to be serious with a child.
Otherwise, he would not have dared to take out the book.
"Minghua."
Minghua looked at the sound and saw that it was her father. She returned the study to its original position and walked forward, "Dad, please call me."
"Well, this is Shopkeeper Lu." Xiao Zhengning introduced the two of them, "Shopkeeper Lu, this is my little girl Minghua."
Minghua, who has a long body and a short stature, bowed her head, but with a sense of honesty, she said, "Mr. Lu is well."
"How are you, Miss Xiao?" He tried his best to soften his eyebrows so as not to scare the little girl. He raised his eyelids and said to Xiao Zhengning: "My daughter was taught well and polite, but she sent her to school? Her Majesty the Queen strongly advocates that women should take the imperial examination. ;This is a good opportunity.”
"She has entered school and is the first batch of female students in the county school." She is also the first female student in the county school.
Shopkeeper Lu was full of praise, "Okay, okay! The little girl is very smart. You and your wife are blessed. The manuscript is very good, but it can only last for two months. The daughter is too young." , can it keep up with the speed of release? The original purpose of the story is to be fresh and fast. It is not beautiful if it is too fresh."
Xiao Zhengning did not answer, but lowered his head and asked his daughter, "Minghua, can you do it?"
"Yes." Minghua replied decisively and said in a coquettish voice: "Shopkeeper Lu, I can write half a chapter in one day. If I use more time to write, I will definitely be able to keep up with the release schedule."
"Okay!" Shopkeeper Lu nodded happily, "Let's go in, have a cup of tea, sign a document, and talk about the value of the manuscript, please."
The three of them entered the inner door one after another, and a corridor hut opened inside, with black cotton curtains hanging inside. They opened the curtain and walked into the hut. Although the hut was small, it was well-equipped. There is a set of tables and chairs, tea sets, small stoves, tea cups, pens, inks, paper and inkstones.
Shopkeeper Lu picked up the teapot on the small stove, poured a cup for each of them, and then sat down opposite the father and daughter.
"Master Xiao, look, should you draft the document, or should I?"
"Shopkeeper Lu will draft it." Xiao Zhengning asked with one hand.
Shopkeeper Lu agreed with a smile, and brought the four treasures of the study to sharpen ink and pick up a pen to write. In a moment, he wrote a simple document. He showed it to Xiao Zhengning first, and after making sure it was correct, he made three copies. Shopkeeper Lu took one copy and returned the other to him. Xiao Zhengning kept it and took one copy to the county government for filing.
Otherwise, the document will be invalid.
"This is my first time publishing a book manuscript. Do you think you should choose long-term dividends or calculate it based on the 50 words and 100 words of the manuscript?"
Xiao Zhengning originally wanted to use 100 words and 50 pens to calculate, but when he was about to speak, his sleeve was pulled by someone. He looked down and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Dad, I want to share the dividends."
Quite surprised, I took a deep look at my daughter; the manuscript was written by my daughter, so if you want to get dividends, you should pay dividends. She raised her eyes and looked at Shopkeeper Lu, and asked, "How to calculate the dividends?"
"If you pay dividends, you can share 20% of the profits." Shopkeeper Lu stretched out his hand and made a gesture.
Xiao Zhengning didn't know how much it would sell for, and he couldn't estimate whether 20% would be more or less.
Minghua secretly wrote four on the palm of her father's hand.
Xiao Zhengning glanced at his daughter from the corner of his eyes and said immediately, "Twenty percent is too little, four percent; excluding labor costs, it's four to six cents, six for you and four for us."
"It's too high." Shopkeeper Lu shook his head lightly and continued to negotiate the price, "Master Xiao, you know it is quite difficult to maintain this bookstore of mine. Let's each take a step back. Can 30% be enough? After the books come out, we have to hire people to sell them outside. of."
"You can't fool me. Once the book "Fengshen" is released, there may be a window period, but this period will not be too long; once someone buys it, it will definitely be passed on to ten people and hundreds of people. If you don't see it, Given the potential of this book, I wouldn’t dare to publish my daughter’s manuscript for sale.” Cooperation with today’s people is called cooperation, but in fact there are still many people who do not follow common sense.
Picking out the words in the document will lead to big losses, and he also valued Shopkeeper Lu's kindness; even a blind man could see the potential of this book, and Shopkeeper Lu would not kill the goose that lays the goose to lay the egg. Just these four or six points felt like a loss.
Shopkeeper Lu shook his head and laughed, and gave Xiao Zhengning a few nods, "You, you, you are still so eloquent; OK, whatever you want will make you successful, but in the future, if you have thousands of dollars or if you have manuscripts, you have to give priority to cooperating with our book studio, maybe? "
