The next day, Tang Ji sent Jiang Ran and Jiu'er to Yuexian Tower as usual, and then went to Ji Ran's Bookstore.
The waiters and maids in the bookstore rubbed their sleepy eyes and were shocked when they saw the man in Tsing Yi standing in the building. It was the first time for them to see the shopkeeper come to the store so early, but they didn't think much about it and adjusted themselves.
Everyone gets busy.
"Move this cabinet over there, and then put it in this direction. Yes, just put it like this." Tang Ji directed a few strong men to merge the two cabinets at the door together and clear out the contents above.
thing.
Then, he walked to the checkout counter, touched his chin, looked down at the "Journey to the West" posters hanging on both sides, reached out and took off one of them, and walked straight to the second floor.
Yao Jin saw his series of strange movements and quickly chased after him: "Shopkeeper, what are you going to do?"
"Change the poster picture. By the way, if Li Yu comes here, ask him to find me upstairs." Tang Ji stood on the stairs and replied a few words, turned around and trotted towards the second floor.
Yao Jin agreed with his hand, but when he raised his head, he was no longer there. He glanced upstairs in confusion, finally shook his head and went about his own business.
In the private room on the second floor that was not open to the public, Tang Ji walked to the easel in three steps and began to prepare painting tools, while his mind was looking through the memories of his previous life.
Soon, pictures appeared in his mind. He selected the one that was closest to the current aesthetic, fixed the drawing paper with copper nails, and started drawing.
...
Most of the morning passed quickly. Tang Ji stood up from his chair, rubbed his eyebrows, looked at the two paintings in front of him, nodded with satisfaction, stretched out his hand and stroked it twice, making sure that the ink was completely dry, and then
They took them down.
After a while, he walked out of the room and found that there were already many guests in other boxes. He met two belated scholars who greeted him and immediately returned the greeting.
Walking down the stairs, I happened to bump into Li Yu who was about to go upstairs: "Why didn't you come here until now?"
Li Yu covered his mouth and yawned, complaining: "I'm not a buddy, of course I can come over whenever I want!"
Tang Ji was too lazy to pay attention to him. A few days ago, this guy asked him to find some errands for him to do, but within a few days he started to be lazy and walked towards the counter.
Li Yu followed closely, eyebrows slightly raised, and asked: "What do you want from me?"
Tang Ji handed the two new posters to the waiter standing at the counter, pointed at the counter and the cabinet at the entrance respectively, and ordered: "One on each side, don't make a mistake."
"Yes!" The guy nodded repeatedly and reached out to take it.
Li Yu leaned over curiously, and saw that the first thing that caught his eye on the rice paper was a heroic man standing on the hillside, drawing a bow. Every detail of his appearance was handled just right, as if he was alive. The background behind him was a circle.
On the same day, the painting was specially painted in vermilion, with the back of a large eagle in the upper right corner, and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" written in five large characters below the figure.
He touched the back of his head and asked doubtfully: "Didn't you say that "Red Mansions" will be released first?"
Tang Ji pursed his lips. The book "Dream of Red Mansions" criticized too many feudal bad habits. If it were written now, it would definitely be banned by the government. The author might also be unlucky, so he decided to start the female video with Yuan music.
For good.
Seeing that Tang Ji didn't reply, Li Yu reached out and grabbed another poster.
The waiter was afraid that the rice paper would be torn, so he quickly let go.
This picture is much simpler. There is only a cup that looks like a teapot. The background is Jiran Bookstore. The bold font below reads "Jiran Bookstore's First He Reading Cup", and below it are rows of
Small print.
After Li Yu patiently read it, he was pleasantly surprised and said: "It's interesting that he reads the cup!"
Tang Ji glanced at him angrily, snatched the poster back and handed it to the waiter.
He had the idea of holding an essay competition before, and originally wanted to wait until the complete volume of "Journey to the West" was sold before starting planning, but since he made an agreement with Li Daniu yesterday, he simply released all the big moves he could.
Tang Ji shook his head to recover his thoughts, looked at Li Yu who was giggling, and said: "The demand in the bookstore currently exceeds supply, and I plan to increase the scale of printing."
Li Yu nodded. He also saw how good the business of the bookstore was. He would be a fool if he didn't make money. He replied: "Okay, then let's just make the printing process independent. I have a villa nearby that is vacant."
It’s been a long time, but now it’s just ready to be used.”
In this way, the two people still had a tacit understanding, hit it off immediately, and planned to formulate a construction plan for the printing plant in the afternoon.
After everything was arranged, Tang Ji turned around and walked upstairs.
"Tang Ji, what are you doing?" Li Yu asked after him.
Tang Ji did not stop and said as he walked: "I don't plan to write "A Dream of Red Mansions" for the time being, but the female channel cannot be idle. Let's write "The Peony Pavilion" first."
Hearing that he planned to write a new book, Li Yu raised the corner of his mouth, ordered the waiter to prepare some tea and cakes, and quickly chased him upstairs: "You are so smart. You wrote a new book so quickly, why don't you teach me?
Let me go to his cup reading, and if I can win the first prize, I can also leave you with a lot of money."
Tang Ji, who had just reached the second floor, stopped and turned around to take a look. This guy doesn't learn anything every day. If he has time to teach him, he might as well write more books and earn back the money he used to hold events. He curled his lips.
: "Cut~"
"Hey, hey, what's that expression on your face?" Li Yu pinched his waist with both hands and walked up with some dissatisfaction.
Soon after, the waiter had put up the two posters. Some idle rich men noticed the posters in front of the counter and started talking about them.
"The Legend of the Condor Heroes? It feels like it will be great to watch!"
"Damn, I haven't finished reading "Journey to the West" yet, and a new book has been released. I spent all my money this month on buying books. I hope this book won't be so good!"
"It's ridiculous. A book is only five taels of silver. If you can't even afford this small amount of money, then stop pretending to be a rich kid. It's so shameful. When this book on Condor comes out, I will be the first to buy it!"
"..."
Listening to the banter between these rich people, the poor students leaning against the bookshelf shook their heads, but the current society is like this, the rich get rich, the poor get poor, and everyone just wants to change their destiny by taking the imperial examination in high school one day.
At this moment, a young scholar in gray clothes shouted: "Ji Ran Bookstore, his reading cup essay competition will last for five months. High-quality books will be signed by the bookstore for sale, and the profit will be divided into 50%."
Hearing the sound, many scholars standing nearby quickly gathered around. After the people standing in the front row read the small words under the poster, everyone showed surprise.
"The first prize is five hundred taels of silver. There are also different rewards for the second to tenth place. You can improve your writing skills and earn money at the same time. This event is great, I want to participate."
"Hmph, how can we, the scholars, bend down for the sake of dotted silver!"
"Excuse me, please. I've just had an idea recently. I just want to write the story into a book. What's the problem? My family is poor. If I can be signed by a bookstore, I can pay for my trip to Beijing to take the exam!"
"No, no, no, I'm just joking. Brother, please come forward and teach me how to write this novel."
"Shopkeeper Yao, where is shopkeeper Yao? Come on, tell me what's going on with him reading the cup!"
"..."
Yao Jin, who was standing behind the counter, heard everyone's calls and walked over with a smile on his face, recounting everything he learned from Tang Ji.
"I just need to hand over the finished manuscript to you?" a scholar asked.
Yao Jin nodded: "Yes, we will ask literati to review it. Books that meet the conditions will be placed in the display area later, so that you can check whether your books have been eliminated. Also, the contents of your books are not public.
, the final ranking will be conducted five months later.”
After listening to his explanation, many people were eager to give it a try. One person excitedly shouted: "I will go home and write a book now!"
"You are stupid. You spent ten cents on it. Of course you have to finish the book before going home!" another person reminded.
"Yes, yes, I'll read the book first and then write when I get home in the evening!" the man replied and walked back to the bookshelf.
In this way, many interested scholars kept this matter in their hearts and planned to go back and think about it carefully and try to write a masterpiece like "Journey to the West".