Chapter 5: The Development Plan of the Novel
Qing’an County.
Qing’an County is just a remote county town of the Heavenly Saint Dynasty, which belongs to Tong Province. The city is not big, but the population is quite large.
Early this morning, Lu Si asked Zhou Yu to watch Inn while he left.
Outside the inn, the streets are bustling with people. The stalls could be seen everywhere, all around, people were shouting and selling, which made people feel a sense of novelty.
This was impossible to see in Lu Si’s previous life anyway.
However, as the weather turns cold, it is already winter, and pedestrians on the street are also hurrying.
Lu Si has been here for half a month, and this kind of situation has been seen a lot, and the curiosity in my heart has faded a lot.
Turning across the street, Lu Si stopped in front of a bookstore and walked straight in.
There are two people sitting on the counter: one is a guy, and the other is a shopkeeper.
“Shopkeeper, is my book ready?”
Lu Si said indifferently.
Seeing the person coming, the shopkeeper immediately came out with a big smile on his face and greeted him: “Isn’t this Young Master Lu? Your book has already been printed. Young Master Lu is really a genius. Out of the ‘movable type printing, what a young talent!”
Lu Si smiled coldly in his heart, but he still remembered the Shopkeeper Liu’s cold face when he came to this bookstore last time. If he hadn’t thrown away movable type printing, how could this Shopkeeper Liu be so enthusiastic?
“I’ve said it all; I didn’t write that book, so don’t let your imagination go wild and make random guesses.” Lu Si glanced at him.
“Yes, yes, it was not written by Young Master Lu.” Shopkeeper Liu nodded repeatedly.
He turned around and took a book from the shelf and handed it to Lu Si. It was a printed copy of ‘Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain’.
Lu Si took a look; the handwriting was clear, and the typesetting was done according to his instructions, and it looked pretty good.
After all, this may be related to his future novel development plan, so he can’t help but pay attention to it.
When Lu Si discovered the way to obtain popularity, he knew that if he wanted to spread the novel, he had to rely on books.
So I found this Shopkeeper Liu, and asked him to print books.
It’s just that there is no movable type printing in the world today, and books are all copied by people, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the cost of copying a book is even higher.
Naturally, this was not what Lu Si wanted. He had no choice but to use movable type.
This thing is relatively simple, and almost everyone in the country understands the principle.
The result was naturally that the Shopkeeper Liu was astonished by Lu Si and directly chose to cooperate.
In fact, this thing can be turned into a business, but Lu Si is too lazy to do it. Besides, this thing is easy to imitate, and it may be learned by someone someday. He doesn’t have the heart to care about it.
“Not bad. How many copies can be printed a day now?” Lu Si closed the book and asked.
“If you work hard, it’s not difficult to print hundreds of copies a day.”
Shopkeeper Liu said something and then his face turned bitter, “It’s just that Young Master Lu’s book is good-looking, but no one buys it.”
“No one bought it?”
Lu Si frowned. After thinking about it, I understand.
Nowadays, there are very few people who buy books, and most of them are poems. No one really pays attention to such “shocking” novels.
“There is no rush for the book. Someone will buy it in the future.” Lu Si said
No one buys books now. First, they don’t approve of this kind of novel. Second, the reputation isn’t there yet. When his storytelling attracts more and more people’s attention, the book will naturally sell.
“How much do you charge?” Lu Si asked
“How about a price of 200 wen?” Shopkeeper Liu replied.
“Two hundred wen? It’s a bit expensive.” Lu Si frowned.
How much is a silver tael, and this Shopkeeper Liu sells them for 200 wen. Who would be willing to spend 200 wen to buy a novel?
“This is already very cheap. You must know that in the past, a book cost at least two silver taels to start with.”
Shopkeeper Liu complained.
“Don’t think I don’t know. With movable-type printing, you can print as many books as you want. At most fifty wen, you still have to make money, or I will find someone else.”
Lu Si didn’t know what he was thinking, so he directly lowered the price, and he still hoped to improve his progress by selling books.
“Fifty wen?”
Shopkeeper Liu shouted: “This is impossible! At least 150 wen; otherwise, I won’t even be able to provide the paper.”
Lu Si turned around and left.
“Aiya, Young Master Lu, don’t leave; one hundred wen is the maximum! You have to make me some money too!”
Shopkeeper Liu stomped and shouted.
Lu Si turned around and said, “If you promise earlier, you will get it.”
One hundred wen is just one hundred wen. After all, it is nothing compared to the previous life, and the paper here is also ridiculously expensive. One hundred wen is probably his limit.
“Then it’s settled like this: the book sold, the profit is 70% and 30% of the profit. Don’t think about it; I will find you when the time comes.”
Lu Si coldly said
“How dare I touch Young Master Lu’s money?”
Shopkeeper Liu hurriedly apologized and took out the paper with heartache.
The two signed their names, and the matter was considered settled.
“Don’t put on a bitter face. Letting you sell books will naturally benefit you. Don’t worry, the novel will sell well in a few days.”
Lu Si gave him a reassurance; he can be said to have full confidence in the novel.
“Then it’s Young Master Lu’s auspicious words.” Shopkeeper Liu said with a smile.
After solving the book matter, Lu Si was somewhat relaxed.
He has been working on this book for several days, and now it is finally finished. After all, it is related to the system, and he cannot tolerate any mistakes, so he must be more cautious.
After leaving the bookstore, Lu Si was not in a hurry to return to the inn.
Instead, he wandered around.
“Young Master Lu, did you come out so early today?”
“Young Master Lu, would you like to sit down? Chunxiang has been looking forward to you for a long time.”
“Look, Chunxiang is shy!”
Passing by the brothel/restaurant, many people in small groups greeted him.
A gorgeous woman upstairs next to her leaned against the window curtains and smiled coquettishly, causing the girl in the jade-green long skirt to blush and bow her head. Her big, bright, and intelligent eyes kept looking at Lu Si below.
Lu Si raised his head and smiled back; the shy girl ran in as if fleeing.
A few girls around giggled and couldn’t help molesting with words.
Whether it is at this time or in the past or in ancient times, a scholar is always unavoidable to make people look high.
Even though the Heavenly Saint Dynasty is now established, the literature is weak and martial arts are rampant, and even though Lu Si has not achieved any fame, he was born with a good complexion, which makes him quite popular with women.
In addition, the recent storytelling in Inn has also made Lu Si famous, which naturally attracts attention.
If he hadn’t been sickly since he was a child and kept himself clean, I’m afraid he would have had a few romantic encounters.
Of course, Lu Si did not despise these girls because of their profession.
In this era of chastity, who would choose to humiliate himself if she had no choice?
It’s just that they were sold into brothel since childhood or were members of demoted to officials’ families, and they have been reduced to dust since then, and they can’t get rid of it.
Compared with the self-willed depravity of his past life, these women are really much better.
At least, this was not their original intention.
Lu Si looked back, leaving with a smile on the corner of his mouth.