Chapter Fifty-Three: A Good Deal

  Quanzhou's number one courtesan, Huānzī, was now holding a volume of "Di Renjie", carefully savoring it.

  In the main room of Ziyunzhai, a single lamp shone brightly. A beautiful woman with raven-black hair hanging down to her shoulders and wrists as white as snow sat with her head lowered, reading a book. From time to time, she would raise an eyebrow and smile, or furrow her brow in worry. The two little maids by her side were doing needlework while watching her, and couldn't help but whisper to each other.

  "Miss Rouge is really beautiful."

  "Yes, especially recently, Miss Rouge's smile is really beautiful. In the past, Master Sun praised her for smiling like a spring flower, but we know that Miss's smile was practiced in front of the mirror day after day. I think today she finally smiled genuinely."

  There is inevitably a sense of regret in these words.

  Although they are peerless beauties, unfortunately they have fallen into the world of dust. Over the years, they have grown accustomed to the smiles brought by cosmetics, but who knows whether the famous courtesans of Quanzhou are secretly crying in their hearts.

  Rouge didn't pay attention to the two little maids' giggles, holding a book and reading a chapter called "Tears of Beauty". The story also had a famous courtesan who fell in love with a young scholar. They were deeply in love but couldn't be together because of their different social status. The scholar went to Beijing for the imperial examination and became a top scorer, but was forced by an evil minister to marry his daughter. The courtesan missed her loved one and also rushed to Beijing, where she sang at a wine shop and reunited with the scholar. When they were drunk, she inadvertently poured out her heart, and the scholar learned of her true feelings. He wanted to refuse the marriage and be with the courtesan instead. However, the courtesan was worried about his future and refused, eventually jumping into a lake and drowning herself.

  Rouge read to this place, her eyes were filled with tears. As for how the clever and eerie protagonist solved a string of murder cases, analyzed the complex and intriguing relationships behind the case, it was nothing compared to the background story that moved her.

  "One glance can conquer a city, another can conquer a country. Alas, who knows the difference between conquering a city and a country? A beauty like this is hard to come by again... The rouge sighed softly, 'Mr. Tianzhi's words are indeed good, but which famous courtesan can truly meet such a romantic? If one day I too can find someone who understands me, even if it means dying for him, I'd die with a smile.'"

  Mr. Tianzhi's reputation is getting bigger and bigger, famous in Quanzhou City.

  Even Wang Yi and Gao Ming, who were far away in Yizhou, had heard something about it.

  However, what Yang Yunqiu lacked most now was money, not fame. She worked hard at home writing books to make a living, and soon finished all the content, a total of six volumes, which sold very quickly.

  He still felt it was not enough, so he came up with even more ideas for the owner of that bookstore. For example, to have more people go to tea houses and restaurants to promote it, or to print high-quality commemorative editions using cowhide paper as covers, inlaid with gold foil at the four corners, and then have Yang Yunqiu, this heavenly knowledgeable Mr. himself, personally create the illustrations.

  Such high-quality books were printed in a limited edition of 100 sets, with each set priced at 500 taels of silver.

  The shopkeeper heard this and was almost frightened to death, refusing again and again. Yang Yinquiu had no choice but to speak bluntly, saying that she would use her own share of the money to print it, and if it sold well, the money would all be hers. Only then did he agree.

  The shopkeeper, whose heart was not bad, couldn't help but advise him several times: "Young master, although Quanzhou is rich and prosperous, it's unlikely that someone will specifically go to buy expensive books. Besides, 500 taels of silver is too much."

  He is really worried, indeed a good person.

  Of course, if the shopkeeper was a bad person, Yang Yunqiu would not cooperate with him. If he cooperated with a bad person, it would indirectly help those who were deeply sinful and also affect himself. Now that Yang Yunqiu considered cultivation as the most important thing in the world, he naturally wouldn't do anything that would be detrimental to his cultivation.

  No matter what the shopkeeper said, Yang Yunqiu insisted on his own way, and he had no choice.

  Unexpectedly, the book was printed according to Yang Yunqiu's idea and sold quite well. Although it was a bit slow, there were people buying it every day, and some even bought several sets at once.

  Only a hundred sets, bought for a short time, and they were all sold out. After selling out, there were still many people coming to ask for purchase, knowing that there was no more, couldn't help but feel disappointed.

  Of course, it can be sold. Yang Yunqiu had done the survey and had a number in mind. These Quanzhou young masters were willing to spend thousands of dollars for a famous courtesan, and last year two young masters even spent more than 1,000 taels of silver on jewelry as gifts to win the favor of a certain courtesan.

  For ordinary people, ten or eight years of hard-earned money is just a month's spending in their eyes.

  The shopkeeper's eyeballs almost fell off, and he suddenly regarded the 12-year-old Yang Yuna as a god, even wanting to continue printing, of course, was vetoed by Yang Yuna.

  The commemorative edition is supposed to be scarce, so it can show its preciousness. If it becomes a common version that can be found everywhere, how can it sell for a high price? Fortunately, the shopkeeper was only inexperienced and couldn't think of this way to make money in the future. He wasn't stupid himself. After listening to his explanation, he understood and although he felt regretful, he didn't dare to interfere arbitrarily.

  Money flowed like water, the shopkeeper's eyes were dazzled, but Yang Yunqiu turned his hand over and scattered the earned silver coins to buy all kinds of pearls and jade.

  Everything was entrusted to the owner of this bookstore for help with purchasing, he didn't like trouble, so he simply didn't bother, besides, the owner's face was more familiar than his, whatever he chose, let him go buy, it was easier to get cheaper things.

  Most of them still buy rough stones.

  The various rubies and sapphires of the Yin dynasty were very cheap, because the processing techniques were not high, the gemstones were dusty, and did not have a particularly bright color. People were not used to wearing gemstone jewelry, so jade was much more expensive.

  Yang Yunqiu bought a little today, and some tomorrow, before long, she had actually accumulated two large boxes, which were placed in the bedroom, scaring Er Ya into trembling with fear, every day not even daring to open the curtains, for fear of losing something belonging to her own young master.

  It's that shopkeeper now, who listens to Yang Yunque's words and follows his plans. Because he sees that Yang likes to buy stones, he also buys some back home, making Yang laugh and cry at the same time.

  The silver earned is almost the same, after checking, there are still 30,000 taels left, and it continues to earn steadily. The Yin dynasty is not inferior to later generations. Here, books have been sold for a long time, some books have been sold for two or three years, and in other places, they are still considered new books. Who let the traffic be inconvenient, and the circulation of books is not fast enough? After the heat of Quanzhou passes, the heat of other places should come too. Although it's inevitable to have pirated copies, truly discerning people mostly still prefer to buy genuine products.

  Yang Yunqiu also personally drew illustrations, wrote and painted, covered with Mr. Tianzhi's seal, attached to some books as gifts, of course, whether or not you can buy such special books depends on luck.

  The effect of this move is not yet apparent, and later even book fans wanted to get a book with Mr. Tianzhi's illustrations, they thought about buying all the books in the bookstore, but were suppressed by other book fans, so it didn't work out, and instead became a high-priced purchase. The problem is that whoever gets this rare version doesn't want to sell it, for a time it was only heard of but not seen, all being collected by book fans in their bookcases as something to show off and treasure.

  Even the famous courtesan, Huāzhī, was willing to pay a high price for a portrait of the famous courtesan āwù and the scholar Dǒng Chéng painted by Tiān Zhī. The painting itself was relatively simple, not as elaborate as other paintings, but Huāzhī fell in love with one sentence spoken by āwù: "I owe you this life, I promise you the next."

  So, it's got to be had no matter what.

  A rouge remark, attracted the city's dandy young masters and wealthy young ladies to ask for paintings, but unexpectedly, the one who got the painting was a literary and artistic girl, and also a merchant's daughter passing by Quanzhou, who didn't stay in Quanzhou for long, where could they find her?

  Yang Yunqiu finally got enough framework, letting those rich young masters pay a thousand taels of silver for the painting fee. He carefully painted an illustration with bright colors, using his own mixed pigments and 3D painting techniques. From a certain angle, the characters looked vividly lifelike.

  Everyone who has seen the painting says it is indeed worth a thousand pieces of gold.

  For a time, Mr. Tianzhi's great name was known to many famous writers and scholars who had already made a name for themselves; in the past they could have looked down on those who wrote storytelling scripts, but now they also couldn't help but show him a few more points of respect.

  Who is Mr. Tianzhi, only the owner of the bookshop knows until now, his mouth is very strict, no matter who asks him in a roundabout way, he won't open his mouth, everyone only knows that Mr. Tianzhi is very young, so young that it's unthinkable, as for other things, they can't be found out at all.

  Yang Yunqiu didn't care about the commotion outside, he specially took out a commemorative edition of "Di Renjie", with all the illustrations intact, and sent it to Sun Zhifu's subordinate, a literary teacher.

  The scribe's surname was Mi, a trusted aide of Magistrate Sun. He had a gentle disposition and got along well with people. His former master, Sun Zhao Ming, was also the son of Magistrate Sun, so he had always been polite to him. Whenever they met, they would exchange greetings, although they didn't have a close relationship, they were acquainted.

  Master Mi received an invitation from Sun Zhaoming, which was quite unexpected. In his impression, that young master who had never entered the Sun's house before was introverted and didn't like to socialize with others. However, he still accepted the invitation. Master Mi's greatest skill was that he never easily offended anyone.

  Unexpectedly, as soon as they met, he was startled, Sun Zhaoming's change was too great, and when he looked at the complete set of books handed over by others, he was even more surprised.

  Finally, Master Mi stumbled out of the wine house with a book in his arms, only to suddenly wake up and shake his head with a bitter smile: "It turns out that this is the capable person who can pretend to be a pig to eat a tiger! The governor should let him recognize his ancestors and return to his roots."

  A twelve-year-old boy, with a few words, unexpectedly fooled this old cunning official, and he willingly agreed to help the boy buy a piece of land on Wen Mountain, which was truly rare.

  After looking at it for a long time and thinking about it, Mi Shiye finally couldn't bear to buy "Di Renjie", but found that he still thought the deal was actually very cost-effective.