CH 42

"Oh?" Fang Yun leaned out of the carriage window. Over twenty carriages followed behind, all filled with scholars from the literary society.

"They're probably just going the same way. Don't worry about them. Let's first take He Xiong back home," Fang Yun said.

He Yunong hurriedly replied, "My home is far from here. I can just walk back once we reach your home."

"Alright, let's do that. I'll go home first, and then Da Niu can take you home," Fang Yun said.

"Okay," He Yunong agreed.

The sound of horse hooves echoed as they entered the city, slowing down the carriage's speed. Suddenly, a cry for selling books came from the front.

"Read The Romance of the Western Chamber to learn about love, and read Dream Record of the Pillow to become a Great Scholar! Child Scholar Fang Yun, who has passed the Imperial Examinations and is now a Saint, is selling books! Come and buy! If you buy The Romance of the Western Chamber, you can also buy The Path of the Saints and Wen Bao at the original price!"

He Yunong listened carefully and turned to Fang Yun, angrily saying, "How can someone sell books under your name? And calling themselves a Great Scholar? This is outrageous! Let's get off the carriage and report them to the authorities."

"Ahem! I did write those books. Many book vendors in the city are cooperating with my bookstore," Fang Yun said.

He Yunong was stunned. He couldn't understand why a Child Scholar with such a promising future would use such arrogant words to promote himself.

"Studying requires a lot of money. I can't just sit around and wait for money to come to me, so I wrote two popular novels to sell. The advertising slogan was my idea. Oh, spreading the word, or advertising for short," Fang Yun explained.

After a moment of silence, He Yunong asked, "Won't this affect your studies?"

"No, I only write these popular novels when I practice calligraphy," Fang Yun said.

"That's good. If it really is your writing, I'll buy a copy tomorrow," He Yunong said.

"If you want to read it, I can bring the book to the clan school tomorrow," Fang Yun said.

"Sage Confucius said, 'Do not be concerned about the lack of people with knowledge, but rather about the unequal distribution of knowledge.' If you give me a book, what will other scholars think? It's not good if they think I made you deliver so many books to others. How about this? I'll buy your book, and you can write a warning phrase for me," He Yunong suggested.

Fang Yun thought this was just a book signing and agreed, "Okay."

"And the advertising slogan, was that your idea too? Others aren't as bold as you," He Yunong said, still shocked.

"Well, spreading the word, of course it has to be impressive," Fang Yun said.

"What if someone uses your advertising to attack your literary reputation?" He Yunong slowly began to accept Fang Yun's explanation.

"I'm just the owner of the bookstore. My employees handle everything. I can't be blamed for not checking, can I?" Fang Yun said.

"You have a point," He Yunong agreed.

As the carriage approached a small pushcart, He Yunong saw the advertising slogan, "Grand Academician Li Jianmei invites you to preview next month's The Path of the Saints and the divine text Dream Record of the Pillow," and his face turned pale.

"F-Fang Yun, did Grand Academician Li Jianmei really approve of what you're doing?" He Yunong asked."No, but I believe Lord Li wouldn't mind," Fang Yun replied.

"You're really not afraid of death, your courage is bigger than the Demon King's," He Yunong shook his head helplessly.

As a carriage passed by, they heard the book vendor's cries and even saw Fang Yun's name on the sign.

Yan Yue sneered, "You and Liu Zicheng overestimated Fang Yun. Look at his methods, they're only a bit better than those of a lowly person. Who sells books like this? I bet he's so poor that he's fishing in a dried-up pond after gaining some literary fame. He won't be able to achieve greatness."

Guan Yaoyuan looked at the book vendor's cart and nodded, "No wonder he's from a small county town and a poor scholar. His despicable methods of pleasing the crowd are not few. If I were to publish a book, I would go directly to the stewards of the three major booksellers. By then, thirty percent of the bookstores in the Dazhong Prefecture would promote my book. With this kind of sales strategy, he can only earn a few hundred taels of silver at most in a year. What can he do with that? Let the coachman take a look and follow closely, don't lose him."

Yan Yue leaned out to look and said, "Fang Yun's carriage is just ahead, we won't lose him."

Fang Yun's carriage turned left and right before stopping at his doorstep. Fang Yun got off the carriage and said to He Yunong, "Goodbye, Brother He."

"Goodbye," He Yunong had just finished speaking when he saw Fang Yun turn his head and look in the direction they came from, his face turning cold.

"What's wrong?" He Yunong got off the carriage and saw a lot of carriages crowded at the alley mouth, and the people inside were getting off and walking towards them.

Leading the way was the organizer of the poetry competition, Guan Yaoyuan, who had a friendly smile on his face as if nothing had happened. The people behind him, however, looked unhappy.

Behind these people were many accomplished scholars from the Prefecture's literary academy, including Gao Minghong from Jixian County, who shouted, "Fang Yun, we were about to leave, but Guan Yaoyuan and his carriage have been following you. They might be up to no good, so we followed."

Guan Yaoyuan immediately complained, "You've really misunderstood me. I came here to apologize to Fang Yun again. Fang Yun, don't worry, I'll promote your talent as soon as I get back today! I'll use my own money to print ten thousand copies of your poem, 'Butterfly Love in Spring,' and distribute them to readers. Do you believe me now?"

Fang Yun remained unmoved and said, "Brother Guan is too kind, but I'll publish my own collection of poems soon. You don't have to bother, Brother Guan. My house is simple, and I haven't prepared any drinks or snacks, so I won't invite you all in."

As Fang Yun spoke, he saw other people appearing at the alley mouth, including a tall man in armor with a giant axe in one hand and eyes like two big bronze bells.

Standing in front of the armored man was a tall man in a black robe, but he only reached the armored man's chest. The man had a rich figure and a friendly face, and he smiled at them.

Guan Yaoyuan said, "Sigh, you still don't trust me. It's okay, time will tell. I'll take my leave now."On the side, Yan Yue angrily said, "Fang Yun, even though you are a Double Armor Saint, you are still just a Child Scholar. Guan Yaoyuan has already lowered himself to such an extent, why do you still insist on being unreasonable? Do you really look down on the Accomplished Scholars of our academy? Do you really despise our clans and societies?"

"Yan Yue, you can fart as much as you want, but you can't talk nonsense. You and Guan Yaoyuan are playing good cop, bad cop. Do you think we can't see through it?" Fang Yun was disgusted with Yan Yue.

Guan Yaoyuan quickly pulled Yan Yue and said, "You should keep quiet. Let's go, Fang Yun. We'll talk later. I was wrong this time. I'll apologize and drink with you next time."

Yan Yue immediately shouted, "Fang Yun, you despicable and shameless person! I'll write a poem for you today! Listen carefully: You have no shame living in poverty, only using your tongue to show off as a hero. You don't know if you're a Child Bride or a bride raising a Child Scholar!"

Everyone present was stunned. Yan Yue's words were too vicious. If this poem were to spread, and someone added fuel to the fire, Fang Yun would definitely become a hypocrite who only cared about himself and not the Child Bride. As long as he was labeled as ungrateful and fickle, no matter how famous he became in literature, he would be despised by others.

"You bastard!" Guan Yaoyuan slapped Yan Yue in the face, causing him to retreat and hit the wall.

"You..." Yan Yue seemed to be afraid of Guan Yaoyuan and lowered his head without saying a word.

Guan Yaoyuan immediately said to Fang Yun, "I didn't expect things to turn out like this. I know you're from a poor family, and even the carriage and travel expenses to come to the Holy Origin Prefecture were given by others. Although you're a bit poor and live in a simple place, and even sell books in a way that scholars look down upon just to make money, I believe you have integrity."

Everyone could hear that this was a veiled criticism of Fang Yun.

Before Fang Yun could speak, a slightly chubby man outside the alley shouted, "Who said that selling books in that way is something scholars look down upon? Our Xuanting Bookstore has decided to purchase the entire set of selling techniques from Fang Shuangjia for 5,000 taels of silver. In addition, we're willing to pay another 5,000 taels of silver to acquire the selling rights for 'The West Chamber' on the Holy Origin Mainland. If Fang Shuangjia is willing to sign a document to sell all his works through our Xuanting Bookstore, we can give him an additional 50% of the income! Now, who says Fang Yun relies on the Child Bride?"

Everyone was shocked. Even if Yan Yue and Guan Yaoyuan's families were aristocratic, they could only earn seven to eight thousand taels a year at most. Fang Yun could sell a set of selling techniques and a book selling right for ten thousand taels? Could it be that Fang Yun had hired someone to help him show off?

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

Everyone looked closely at the man.

All the Accomplished Scholars of the Prefecture Academy were present, and they often saw the celebrities of the prefecture city. They almost all knew this man.

"Boss Tang!" All the Accomplished Scholars bowed respectfully.Guan Yaoyuan and Yan Yue also bowed to Tang Dazhang with fear and trepidation.

Xuanting Bookstore is one of the three largest bookstores in the Holy Origin Continent, occupying more than 20% of the market share. Its shareholders include many Semi-Saints, and Chen Guanhai is one of them. Therefore, Xuanting Bookstore is also the largest bookstore in the Jing Kingdom, accounting for 50% of the book market in the Jing Kingdom.

Xuanting Bookstore has a highest leader in each state, whose job is the store manager.

Being the biggest bookseller in a state is nothing, but if there are several prominent families of Semi-Saints behind it, even the governor or the state lord would not dare to offend them.

Gao Minghong looked at Yan Yue with glee and said, "Didn't you insult us as poor scholars? Didn't you say that Fang Yun couldn't make money? With Tang Dazhang here, what else can you say? The right to sell books can be sold for 5,000 taels of silver, and this book can sell for at least 200,000 taels of silver."

Yan Yue felt panicked. Liu Zicheng taught him to attack Fang Yun for being lazy and unable to make money, but he didn't expect that Fang Yun alone could earn more than the entire Yan family. If this matter spreads, the crooked poem will not only fail to harm Fang Yun's literary reputation but also make more people interested in his novels.

Tang Dazhang looked at Yan Yue and asked, "Your name is Yan Yue, right? I have met your father. You look down on Fang Yun? Very well, I'll give you half an hour. If you can't come up with 10,000 taels of silver in half an hour, I'll smash your mouth! Then I'll give you three days. If you can't earn 10,000 taels of silver on your own, I'll break your legs! Lao Ma, keep an eye on him. If he can't write a good book like 'The Romance of the Western Chamber' in three days, chop off his legs!"

"Okay." The horse barbarian agreed, staring at Yan Yue.

Yan Yue leaned against the wall, pale. He didn't expect to fail to humiliate Fang Yun and be humiliated instead, even facing unknown punishment. He had heard many things about Tang Dazhang, and some people used eight words to describe him as ruthless and wealthy.

Yan Yue felt hopeless.

"It's over. Since he knows my father, he must know that I come from a prominent family. But even so, he dares to threaten me with leg-breaking. It shows that Fang Yun can help him make a lot of money. He is willing to give Fang Yun 10,000 taels of silver, which means he has the confidence to earn 20,000 taels or even more from Fang Yun. Will my father turn against Xuanting Bookstore for me? Impossible! He threatened a talented scholar just to please a child scholar! How much does he value Fang Yun?"

Guan Yaoyuan stepped forward and respectfully said, "I am Guan Yaoyuan, and my uncle is a fifth-grade official in the Ministry of Personnel in the capital. He is a student of the Left Chancellor. This is a misunderstanding, and I hope Tang Dazhang can give Yan Yue a chance."

"Do you want to stop me?" Tang Dazhang said coldly.

"No..." Guan Yaoyuan hadn't finished speaking when the horse barbarian, several yards away, suddenly spat out a mouthful of saliva.The saliva made a sharp piercing sound as it flew towards Guan Yaoyuan. Before he could react, it hit his forehead.

Guan Yaoyuan screamed in pain, his body flew backwards and heavily fell to the ground. His forehead was a bloody mess, and he gritted his teeth in agony as he struggled to sit up.

"Pretty cool." Someone said, and everyone looked towards the Ma barbarian who had injured someone with his saliva.