The beginning of summer in May.
The sun is shining brightly.
There has been a significant increase in the number of merchants visiting Jixian County.
As the war in the north spread, the wealthy states and counties in the south resumed trade with Youzhou.
In addition to the medicinal materials and cloth business, small items with local characteristics appear in Ji County.
The price of green plums has been a little high recently, and green plums from all counties are being bought and sold in Ji County.
I heard that the new sour plum soup produced in Jixian County is very famous and has excellent sales, attracting various stores to imitate it.
For a time, it became popular among the people of Jixian County to drink sour plum soup in the hot summer.
Although there are many vendors who imitate sour plum soup, no one can imitate the taste of Qu's sister's.
The four characters "little sister of the Qu family" have become an iconic sign.
A group of Qingmei farmers entered the city, followed by a carriage transporting books, which was inconspicuous among the dense flow of people.
Qingmei stopped in front of the sour plum soup shop owned by the younger sister of the Qu family, while the carriage carrying books moved forward towards Xiangyang Street.
On Xiangyang Street, the skin of chickens and ducks exposed to the sun gave off a foul odor, which aroused great disgust among the merchants on Xiangyang Street.
When everyone saw this, they wished they could burn this house with fire. Just because of this house, the whole street was unable to do business.
The Oriental girl stayed in the store and couldn't sleep all day long. She finally solved the book ban movement in the city. She thought she could continue business as usual, but she encountered Miss Chen's target.
The smell next door is so bad that even if Wang Xiaohua lectures every day, business is far worse than before.
For several days, not a single meal was sold in the store.
This made Dongfang Bai really uncomfortable, and what was even more annoying was that because she had been guarding the shop all day long, she could no longer smell the stench next door. This situation was ironic.
Just after noon, Bai Song came leisurely.
Dongfang Bai couldn't hold it in for a few days, so he hurriedly asked: "Mr. Bai, you have been preparing for a long time. How do you solve the problem next door? Is there any way?"
"We've been waiting for so many days, why only one or two days in front of us?" Bai Song answered easily. It could be seen that Dongfang Bai's expression was really ugly, so he kindly comforted him, "Don't worry, the bookstore next door can't hold on for a few more days."
Seeing Bai Song being so confident, Dongfang Bai felt a little relieved and pointed to the other side: "How can we solve the stench next door?"
"Why do we need to solve this matter?"
"What's the meaning?"
"Miss Chen's move may seem clever, but it actually caused public outrage. This stench affects more than just our family. There are so many merchants on Xiangyang Street, and there are always people who are not afraid of trouble when they are pushed into a hurry. We just need to Just wait, someone will teach her a lesson for us."
"Yeah?"
Dongfang Bai had doubts on his face, but as soon as he finished speaking, shouts came from outside.
"Fire! Fire!"
The two hurriedly ran out and saw that the house next door had caught fire for some reason.
Three old women who were butchering poultry desperately went to water the fire to put out the fire. While fetching water, they shouted for help from the people around them.
Normally, someone would definitely help put out the fire, but for this family, everyone around them was indifferent. Seeing their panic, they felt a little gloating.
Bai Song also looked at it with a smile, and turned around and asked Dongfang Bai: "Did you see it? This is not called not reporting that the time has not come yet."
While they were talking, a carriage was heard on the main street of Xiangyang Street.
…
At this moment, in the bookstore next door, Chen Xirong had just heard the news that his servant had brought him back from abroad.
Chen Xirong threw down the account book and stared at the messenger in shock: "What did you say? I didn't see the Three Kingdoms in other counties?"
The servant nodded in agreement, saying that he had visited several counties and had never heard of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
In ancient times, news was transmitted very slowly. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms was popular in Jixian County, but not many people outside Jixian County had heard of it.
Chen Xirong realized that something was wrong and grabbed the servant's collar: "After hearing this news, why didn't you report it earlier?"
The servant was very aggrieved: "Miss, you said that time is tight and you need to confirm the location of the new store as soon as possible, so..."
"How many shops have you rented?"
"Thirteen rooms in total..."
"How much did it cost?"
"Together with the deposit, we spent a total of more than 1,700 taels of silver."
Chen Xirong's pretty face turned pale, she let go of the servant and took a few steps back, sitting back in her seat in a daze.
At this time, another person came to report that there was a fire in the house next door and that someone needed to put out the fire.
Chen Xirong didn't care about this, so he just told the man to get out and think of a solution, while he continued to think about what might happen.
By this time, Chen Xirong already felt that he had been trapped by a traitor.
No one in other counties is selling Three Kingdoms, which proves that the information from the Lin family in Mang County is wrong.
What is the other party's purpose?
Could it be that the other party just spent nearly two thousand taels of silver to lure him to build a channel for selling Romance of the Three Kingdoms outside?
These two thousand taels of silver do not mean that there is no gain. Even if the Lin family does not plan to sell the Three Kingdoms abroad, her Chen family can still run this business. Based on recent observations, Chen Xirong believes that this book of Three Kingdoms can be found anywhere in the Tang Dynasty. market.
"Miss, there is a carriage from the Lin family in Mang County parked outside."
At this time, someone said something, which immediately brought Chen Xirong back to reality.
Chen Xirong was shocked. The Lin family's carriage, which had never appeared in Jixian County, suddenly appeared here?
After a moment of pause, Chen Xirong quickly chased after him and saw an unmanned carriage parked in the middle of Xiangyang Street.
When Chen Xirong came out, Bai Song's voice immediately came from beside him.
"Ms. Chen, how are you doing recently?"
Seeing Bai Song, Chen Xirong immediately frowned.
Chen Xirong did not speak, but Bai Song walked to the carriage with a smile: "The goods in this carriage are just a small gift for Miss Chen. Please accept it."
"Stop pretending! What's the trick?"
"Sincerely give Miss Chen something good, why should you be so hostile?"
Bai Song opened the car curtain. No one was sitting inside, but he took out a book from inside.
Chen Xirong didn't notice anything strange about the book until she held it in her hand and immediately felt something different.
Although this book also has the cover of the Three Kingdoms printed on it, it obviously feels much lighter and more delicate to the touch than other books seen in the world.
Bai Song smiled: "With Miss Chen's intelligence, she must know what the difference is, right?"
Chen Xirong didn't say anything and turned over a few pages.
Looking at the paper inside again, the difference is even greater.
The paper used in this book is completely different from what is seen in the world.
The paper is lighter, whiter in color, finer in texture, and as smooth as a woman's skin.
There is very little smearing of the ink on the paper, the writing is clearer, and smaller fonts can be printed.
This is not a trivial matter. The ability to print smaller fonts at the same size proves that a book with the same number of words requires less paper, which can save a lot of costs.
This book was replaced with the previous paper and could only record the contents of one chapter. But with the new paper, it could record the contents of two chapters.
Chen Xirong was very surprised. He had never seen such high-quality paper before. He frowned and looked at Bai Song: "How did you get it?"
"Hey, I was forced to have no choice. The price of paper raw materials in Youzhou is so high. If you make paper and sell it, you will lose money. You can only find another way and use other papermaking technology. Miss Chen has the advantage of Shangxian Bookstore, so she should not be familiar with paper. Stranger, today is the day for Miss Chen to ask the staff, let’s see how the new paper Bai made is like?”
"The paper is good, but the process must be complicated and the raw materials are precious..."
"Ms. Chen, would you not be surprised if I said that this kind of paper is made from bamboo grown all over the mountains and plains?"
"What?!" Chen Xirong finally couldn't stand it any longer, and his face changed drastically, "This... is it made of bamboo? Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!"
Bai Song was very happy to see the other party's surprised expression and smiled: "I came here today to show Miss Chen. This cart of Romance of the Three Kingdoms books will be used as a meeting gift for Miss Chen. If you need the bamboo paper below, I can Contact us at any time, the price will definitely be cheaper than the current leather and hemp paper.”
After saying that, Bai Song stopped staying and turned back to his restaurant.
Under the scorching sun, the fire next door was finally put out, but most of the house was burned down. Several old women were scorched and black, and they didn't know how to report it. They could only curse in the courtyard, saying that the people around them were inhumane, but no one came. help.
Within the same day.
There are more than a dozen book stalls selling books in Ji County. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, printed on the latest bamboo paper, only sells for forty yuan per copy.
The paper of the book is of high quality, the printing is clear, and the price is even cheaper.
Once the book was published, it caused an uproar throughout the county.
The main reason is not the common people, but the merchants who have hoarded paper raw materials.
The appearance of bamboo paper immediately alerted them.
This kind of paper is better than the original paper and the price is cheaper.
Bark and other items that have been hyped up so much are soon being eager to take action.
If one person wants to take action, others will follow suit.
The bark falls apart after two days.
At this moment, Chen Xirong woke up from his shock.
In order to hoard raw materials, the Chen family spent more than five thousand taels of silver.
The price of bark, hay, and cane is now one day. The price is falling like a free fall. In less than two days, it will return to the original price, and then it will be even lower. It is estimated that it will be thrown into the stove as firewood in the future.
The more than five thousand taels of silver will probably be wasted.
…
Three more days passed.
"Bai Song! Come out!"
A sudden sound appeared in Bai Song's backyard alley.
Xiaocui opened the door and looked at the woman outside without showing any signs of weakness: "Who are you? What are you yelling about?"
"I am Chen Xirong, the eldest lady of the Chen family, call your master out!"
Xiaocui was also frightened when she heard that it was Miss Chen's family. She didn't understand how the dignified Miss Chen's family could appear at her door in person.
But she didn't think much about it. Just as she was about to go back and call her uncle, she saw her uncle and the young lady walking out side by side.
When Chen Xirong saw Bai Song's face full of anger, he ignored Xiao Cui and barged in directly.
"Hey, hey, what are you doing?!"
Xiaocui wanted to stop him, but Bai Song smiled and raised his hand to interrupt him.
"It's okay, Miss Chen and I are friends."
