"As for the ten chapters that have been written, I will immediately ask the printing bookstore to print them and publish them as a book as soon as possible. We will publish a book every fifteen days for a period of fifteen days until the county magistrate has finished writing..."
"Wait." Kong Fang shouted to stop.
"Sir, do you mean ten chapters in one volume?"
"Yes." Mr. Luo said matter-of-factly. He patted the manuscript of "Journey to the West" on the desk.
"Ten chapters are just right to be bound into one volume."
Kong Fang swallowed his saliva and said, "Sir, do you plan to sell this book for just one tael of silver?"
Mr. Luo looked at Kong Fang with a strange expression. What happened to the county magistrate?
Do you think the book is too cheap?
"Your Majesty, one book and one or two coins are enough. This is the price."
Kong Fang felt that his mind was buzzing, and he calculated a set of numbers mechanically. The entire "Journey to the West" has one hundred chapters. According to Mr. Luo's dismantling method, it can be divided into ten books.
One book sells for one tael of silver, and ten copies equals ten taels of silver. If one book sells one hundred thousand copies, ten copies equals one million copies. One million copies multiplied by one tael equals how much silver?
Tell me quickly, how much silver is it equal to?
Old Man Luo, what a literary person you are?
You are simply a profiteer!
However, I like it.
Kong Fang couldn't suppress his emotions, his hands and feet were trembling with excitement, and his brain was nervously calculating another account. He has read all four major classics, among which "A Dream of Red Mansions" is as familiar as "Journey to the West".
There are also Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng's masterpieces, which he can also "write", as well as "The Romance of the West Chamber", "La Traviata", "Romeo and Juliet", "The Ordinary World"...
He opened a list of books. If nothing unexpected happened, he could become the richest man in the Daxing Dynasty just by "writing" books and selling them.
For a moment, he really wanted to hang up the seal and "write" the book behind closed doors.
Fortunately, his sanity is still there. No matter how prosperous a freelance career is, it is not as good as an iron rice bowl; no matter how great a scholar and poet is, he is not as good as a magistrate.
Power, whether in the previous life or in the Daxing Dynasty, was supreme.
Take Mr. Luo as an example. If Kong Fang was just a scholar who could write books, he would never be respectful to Kong Fang. It would be a great favor to express his appreciation in his capacity.
He didn't even dare to split "Journey to the West" and still offer one or two copies.
He once heard that Yunque had written a book called "Auspicious Auspiciousness" which was pure nonsense, and actually sold it for thirty taels of silver a copy. Could it be that the people in Qinghe don’t know the goods?
Of course not, it's because they are too knowledgeable.
Of course, what he recognized was not the value of "Auspicious Auspiciousness", but the value of Skylark itself.
If Yunque had no official status, even using the book "Auspicious Auspiciousness" as toilet paper would be stained with ink.
As for the "Hush Poem", it will not be an honor, but an insult to elegance.
"Okay, everything is up to you." Kong Fang poured a cup of tea to force himself to calm down, and decided to let "Journey to the West" test the water first. As for other books, we will talk about it later.
The two then drew up some regulations regarding publishing and profit sharing.
After everything was done, Mr. Luo was about to leave. Kong Fang suddenly remembered Dou Tong and his daughter and his failed star-making plan, and asked:
"Sir, do you know Dou Tong?"
"It's Dou Tong who sells and sings in various teahouses with his daughter."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Luo's eyes darkened, "We are both from Qinghe, how can we not know each other. The Dou family was originally a famous family in Qinghe County, with heirlooms of poetry and calligraphy. Unfortunately, he offended the villain Zhu Dachang, and eventually his family was ruined."
He was slightly confused, "The county magistrate asked him what he was doing? Did he ask you to reverse the case?"
Kong Fang didn't hide anything, telling the whole story about how he met Dou Tong and his daughter, as well as his plan to create a star. Mr. Luo tapped his forehead, remembering that he had heard Fang Shibo say this.
I also heard that if the ex-teacher Yunque hadn't interfered with it, the county magistrate's star-making plan would have been successful.
Mr. Luo could not bear to face the plight of his old friend. He never went to the teahouse to listen to Dou Tong and his daughter singing, and only occasionally helped them secretly.
Hearing that Mr. Luo knew Dou Tong, Kong was willing to gossip about the whole story of Dou Tong's case. There is his case file in the county government archives, but it was written by Zhu Dachang, so its credibility is almost zero.
Mr. Luo pondered for a moment and then said: "The Dou family has lived in Qinghe County for a long time and passed down the family through poetry and calligraphy. Our ancestors once went to the Imperial Academy. Of course, this is a matter of the previous dynasty."
"In the Daxing Dynasty, the Dou family began to gradually decline. By Dou Tong's generation, the Dou family had been reduced to ordinary squires. Although the family was well off, they had completely lost their voice in Qinghe."
"Especially in the eyes of those new rich people, the Dou family is a thing of the past. Of course, this is just because of the changing world and the sophistication of people, and it does not harm the foundation of the Dou family."
"Dou Tong is a talented person, but he is straightforward and aloof. He regards Zhu Dachang and his like as ferocious beasts. His words and deeds eventually offended Zhu Dachang. Since ancient times, people have not fought with officials. Once the two fight, how can a commoner end well?"
"When Wu Dachang gathered in Xiao Litou Mountain, he committed evil crimes, looted, burned and killed, which aroused the anger of the people and the villagers angrily accused Zhu Dachang of not doing anything and condoning banditry."
"Zhu Dachang was forced to go into the mountain to suppress the bandits under pressure, but he only circled around Litou Mountain for a few times before withdrawing his troops. He did not dare to go up the mountain to suppress the bandits. Later, someone 'reported' that Dou Tongtong was the bandit, which caused the government's suppression of bandits to fail. "
"In a rage, Zhu Dachang personally led people to arrest Dou Tong's family and confiscated their property. Except for his father and daughter, the whole family was detained in Qinghe County and made a living as a singer all their lives. The rest of the dozen or so people were sent to the frontier fortress."
"The frontier fortress is far away and the road is bumpy. More than a dozen members of the Dou family were already destined to die before they reached the frontier fortress. Of course, there are also rumors that Zhu Dachang ordered the murders."
"As for the facts, only the parties involved know it."
The more Kong Fang listened, the more frightened he became. He comes from a highly civilized past life. The tragedy of Dou Tong's family only happened in costume films and television works, and could not exist in reality.
"Collaborating with bandits is a serious crime. Zhu Dachang and his gang have turned the Dou Tong case into a solid case. It will be even harder to overturn the case. Although Zhu Dachang is dead, he is not the only one who has benefited from this case."
"So the county magistrate should not easily accept Dou Tong's request to reverse the case. Because with your current foundation, not only is there no hope of overturning the case, but you may also be implicated."
Out of love for his talent, Mr. Luo couldn't help but give some advice.
Kong Fang understood Mr. Luo's kindness and nodded. Then he took Kong Yiji to his Chengshu and told Mr. Luo about his conversation with Dou Tong.
Mr. Luo nodded after hearing this, "This is Dou Tong's temperament."
"I admire his character and the talents of his father and daughter, so I will continue my star-making project. Sir, in the eyes of the world, singers are low-born, and singing is a low-level behavior."
"But I don't think so. Singing is an art, and the singer is practicing art. He is a worker like all of us."
“They are also purveyors of beauty and kindness.”
