Lu Hongzhuo was slightly surprised by the reaction of these scholars. He did not expect such a situation to happen.
But there was no worry or anger as Xu Chengyue thought. The expression on his face was more like speechless and choked. Other than that, he was quite calm and composed.
Did she miss something? The bookstore relies on these scholars for its livelihood, so how can he, the owner, be calmer than her?
His too bland performance gave Xu Chengyue a sense of absurdity, as if the emperor was not in a hurry and the eunuch was.
Maybe it was because her expression was very obvious. After understanding it, Lu Hongzhuo smiled and said, "Ms. Xu, wait a minute. I'm going to get something. You'll understand when you see it."
Lu Hongzhuo turned around and went to the front counter, and soon came back with two account books in his hand. He flipped one of the account books somewhere and handed it to Xu Chengyue.
Xu Chengyue took it in confusion. She didn't quite understand what he meant, but she still read it.
I saw that what was recorded in the account was the cost and income of some articles and books.
What is unusual is that these expenses are not proportional to the cost, and a large part of the profits are shared with the writers of the articles. The bookstore is completely a loss-making business that cannot make ends meet.
Xu Chengyue finally understood that he still had the nerve to threaten people!
She was quite speechless in her heart, sighing that she was making such a fuss, it was not worth her special trip.
After she finished reading, Lu Hongzhuo handed her another account book.
"I already understand, no need to read anymore." Xu Chengyue said.
"This book is different. Madam Xu, let's take a look first." Lu Hongzhuo did not retract his outstretched arm, but still maintained the action of extending it.
Xu Chengyue took it as instructed and looked through it again.
What is recorded in this account book is the record after the sale of her books. Every expenditure and profit is clearly written.
Xu Chengyue knew about the profit, after all, it was related to her share, but there were also profits from other books, some of which looked very familiar, as they had appeared in the account book that she just looked at.
However, what surprised her was that in this account book, the profits of these books had increased several times, and they finally made a profit and no longer lost money.
"Ms. Xu, don't be surprised. Those profits are all brought by you." Lu Hongzhuo explained.
"The bookstores did not make a profit on those articles before, not only because they sold less, but also because they gave profits to those who read. The bookstores relied on them to make money, and they wanted to use this to make the bookstores have a better reputation and reduce their dislike of profit-seeking businessmen. , has a good reputation among the officials."
Xu Chengyue fully understands that in sales, one must please the target customers.
"But the arrival of Madam Xu has completely broken this point. Not only have those articles become profitable, but the situation in which bookstores rely on readers to make money has also been changed. Now our bookstore does not rely on them to make money at all. If Madam Xu had appeared in "The Miracle Doctor and the Poisonous Concubine" "Every time I come here when a new book is on sale, I can see that most of the book buyers are not readers."
Xu Chengyue suddenly realized, no wonder he was so calm.
Lu Hongzhuo heard his father analyze the reasons. First, the people who had enough money before did not have the need to study. The Bible and sages were of no use to them. They did not want to pass the imperial examination to become a great minister and honor their ancestors.
The second is that ordinary people cannot understand the book without a previous teacher.
Mrs. Xu's book completely breaks these two points. People like her book and naturally want to buy it. Needless to say, those who have a little spare money - this book is priced at a low price and is affordable.
Those who don’t have much money will share it with friends and take turns buying so that everyone can watch.
This was something Lu's father had never seen before. He never thought that bookstores would one day be able to make money from ordinary people, without having to flatter those noble scholars.
To be honest, he was not willing to deal with those people. The class of scholars, farmers, industry and merchants could not be broken. No matter how rich the merchants were, they were always inferior to others. In addition, those scholars were accustomed to being aloof, with eyes on the top of their heads, and often looked down on others.
Seeing Xu Chengyue lost in thought after being surprised, Lu Hongzhuo was a little proud.
From the first time I met Mrs. Xu, she didn't act like an ordinary young lady. She was always calm and calm, not surprised by favors or insults, and she was quite knowledgeable. Maybe she wasn't proficient in poetry and books, but her views on some things were often surprising. He was amazed, repeatedly overturning his impression of women.
She rarely had such obvious mood swings as today.
Xu Chengyue breathed a sigh of relief when she understood the meaning of this.
Another thought came to my mind as I turned around.
Why are these scholars so confident and confident?
Because they have loud voices, ordinary people have no channel to speak out and can only listen to what they say. If they gather together, even the government will be a little wary.
If there is a disagreement like this, we can only let them do what they do, and it is difficult to distinguish between rationale and reason.
If they didn't have a mass base, they might have lost their reputation among the scholars because of this incident, and there would be no room for improvement.
On the other hand, can they have their own channel to speak out and control public opinion?
I don’t ask for much repercussions, I just ask that when something like this happens again, I don’t want to be completely passive.
"Lu Langjun, I have an idea. We can control public opinion ourselves."
As soon as these words came out, Lu Hongzhuo was so shocked that he almost knocked over the hot tea in his hand.
His original pride disappeared in an instant, his eyes widened, and the folds of his double eyelids disappeared, turning him into a single eyelid.
This, this, this, this is such a rebellious idea!
He always looked like a fool because he couldn't keep up with Mrs. Xu's ideas.
Public opinion is related to the politics at the top. Don't ordinary people like them think they die quickly enough when they encounter something?
Lu Hongzhuo trembled.
"Where are you thinking? I'm not trying to rebel." Xu Chengyue twitched the corner of her mouth.
Lu Hongzhuo couldn't hear the word "rebellion". If he hadn't been concerned about the defense of men and women, he would have wanted to go over and cover her mouth.
"Oh, don't be so nervous. It's the equivalent of a newspaper, but it's not for court officials, and it doesn't print major political events. It can print things about people's livelihood, interesting anecdotes from rumors, articles contributed by literati, and interpretations of some things related to the people's livelihood. Government orders related to the common people at the bottom, and even gossip about aristocratic families..."
In the Tang Dynasty, no one was punished for words, and the secrets of the court and the wealthy families were always a topic of conversation for the common people.
Xu Chengyue explained the role of newspapers.
Lu Hongzhuo slowly relaxed his frown and his eyes became brighter and brighter.
"You can do one report every day, one report every two days, or even longer..."
"Ms. Xu is a great talent!" Lu Hongzhuo said this for no one knows how many times.
He did not realize that his vocabulary was extremely poor, and his hands trembled slightly with excitement.
As the owner of a bookstore, no one knows what this means better than him.
public opinion? No, it's not just about public opinion.
This feeling cannot be described in words. Lu Hongzhuo felt that he was standing at the forefront of social change, and the entire Tang Dynasty would undergo unimaginable changes as a result.
It takes a long time for a newspaper to become a success.
The two had no experience in running a newspaper, and they each had their own things to do.
Xu Chengyue has his own novel to write, and Lu Hongzhuo also has to manage various matters in the bookstore. Neither of them can spare time to do this.
So they plan to hire people.
Xu Chengyue also has her own ideas on recruiting people.
"I hope women will be given priority." Xu Chengyue suggested.
"Why? I think there should be more men studying and it would be easier to find them." Lu Hongzhuo asked doubtfully. He was not biased against women, he simply thought men were more convenient.
"Men who study can easily find work no matter what, but women are different. There are very few errands for them to do. This is also a bit of my selfishness. Besides, there must be a little capable scholar who is not willing to come here to work and make money. Of course It is better to recruit women. But I am not asking for favoritism, I just want to give priority to women under the same conditions." Xu Chengyue explained.
It was not difficult, Lu Hongzhuo decisively agreed.
Recruiting people is not something that can be completed overnight. Lu Hongzhuo posted a notice outside the store, and Xu Chengyue also promoted it in his book, just waiting for the applicants to come to the door.
.
"Madam, I'm very sorry, our store only recruits gentlemen."
Xue Zhenrui walked out of the wine shop in despair amidst the doctor's apology.
This was the thirty-second store she had asked about today, and she still got the same answer as many previous stores.
Why is it so difficult to find a job?
She said that she had been studying since she was a child, and she never slacked off for a day. Although her knowledge was not excellent, she was definitely capable of it, and accounting was no problem.
However, most of the store owners didn't check her out and rejected her when they saw that she was a woman.
She was dejected, her shoulders were slumped, and she no longer cared about her appearance.
It's the last day.
Xue Zhenrui is a rare only daughter nowadays. She lives in Xiuxianfang, Luoyang City. Her family has a small income, which can support her to study since childhood. Ye Niang also loves her only daughter. From the two characters "Zhen" and "Rui" in her name, You can tell.
However, when she got older, she was still urged to get married. She didn't want to get married. Ye Niang couldn't bear to let her go, but she agreed.
But what makes the three people disagree is that Ye Niang wants to recruit a wife for her, so that there is a young man in the family who can support the family and not be bullied by others.
Xue Zhenrui did not agree. The current social atmosphere looked down on the son-in-law. Those who were willing to marry were all crooked melons and cracked dates. Otherwise, they had the intention of being extinct. She had always been arrogant and arrogant. No matter how she liked him, she would rather serve her for the rest of her life. Yeah mother.
Ye Niang asked her if she had no husband and no ability to survive, what would she do if they passed away in the future.
She couldn't hear this, and after a big quarrel with Ye Niang, she swore that if she could find a job to support herself within five days, they would "not force her to get married again."
Seeing that the curfew is coming soon, there is not much time left.
Could it be that she really had no choice but to find an honest man and make do with her life?
This assumption made Xue Zhenrui shiver violently, and waves of coldness came from the back of his head.
Walking to the next street, there was a recruitment notice posted on the door of a bookstore.
Xue Zhenrui didn't want to go in. This kind of store is the most rigid and the result would be the same. It would be a waste of rejection.
