Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 479: Urgently Seeking Help After Being Tricked
"I worked so hard to revise the lyrics for the Twelve Rains, letting them practice their posture, breathing, and stage steps, and turned them from the top stars of Tingyu Cottage into celebrities that everyone in Beijing pays attention to. Now, someone has actually written this "Jinling Yan" into a book and printed it out to sell? And suddenly distributed it all over the city? This is too much of a disrespect for me, Lu Sanlang! This is simply a provocation and a slap in the face!"
In San San Bookstore, Lu Sanlang was raging like a raging rage. Under his spit, the managers dared not utter a word, and the "official" writers dared not to speak even more.
Because just now, Lu Sanlang scolded them. The reason was simple. The legend of "Jinling Yan" that was given to them to write had been revised several times, but none of them could satisfy Lu Sanlang. In the words of Fatty Lu, they always wrote too many erotic stories, and always liked to make up for the lack of plot with sex scenes!
At this moment, Lu Sanlang, with a livid face, picked up the first volume of "Jinling Yan" that he had just bought and slapped it on the table twice: "Look at the writing style and the plot. You guys started earlier than them, right? Now you have been beaten to the lead by this guy who I don't know who he is. Isn't it shameful? Are you worthy of the high salary I give you!"
The scholars who wanted to escape into the small dark room after being scolded by Lu Sanlang hung their heads. Only one of them muttered quietly, "That's because the lines written by Twelve Rain were too simple and not very good. Although I don't know which rival wrote the first volume of Jinling Yan, it must have been written by a powerful person. The writing is excellent and the plot is exquisite. I don't know how much money was spent."
"I just spent a lot of money!" But when he heard what the scholar said next, Lu Sanlang was immediately furious.
"Sir, the play you staged was originally called Peach Blossom Fan, but later because it was purely fictitious, the Lin'an of the Southern Song Dynasty was changed to Jinling, and the dynasty was changed from the Southern Song Dynasty to the vague Jinling. But it is a story about the Song Dynasty, there is no doubt about it."
"Now, this "Jinling Yan" is even more explicit. It describes vividly it describes a few singing girls as strong-willed. What do you think? Can we spread it out and say that this is a satire on those civil and military ministers of our dynasty?"
"Stupid! So stupid! If this gets out of hand, the Twelve Rains from Tingyu Cottage will also be swept into the fold. Can they still perform this play?"
Lu Sanlang suddenly became furious again. He knew from the beginning that the so-called civil and military officials ruining the country, and singing girls saving the country was a false proposition. When Zhang Shou told him this story at that time, he hinted that he should mix the stories of the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties together, and also graft the story of Han Shizhong and Liang Hongyu on top. In short, he could make it as vague as he wanted.
So gradually, "Peach Blossom Fan" became "Jinling Yan". At this moment, he quickly considered whether there was a conspiracy behind this matter, but the more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and the more he thought about it, the more unwilling he became, and in the end he couldn't help but slammed the table heavily.
"I don't care about all this nonsense. I just want to know which guy stole the fruit of my hard work..."
At this moment, he suddenly heard a weak voice: "Sir, we sold two volumes of legends a few days ago. One is "Dielianhua", which tells the story of Zhang Tao and Zhu Qing falling in love at first sight and finally becoming a fairy couple after going through many twists and turns. The other is "The disciple surpasses the master", which tells the story of a domineering old father who favors his second son but achieves nothing. The third son counterattacks and becomes the top scholar, making the old father feel ashamed. I wonder if..."
The thin scholar who was speaking saw Lu Sanlang suddenly looking over, and his voice immediately became even lower: "Maybe your teacher and your father found out, so..."
"Don't let your imagination run wild!" Lu Sanlang's face changed. Although he stopped the man immediately, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He still said stubbornly, "It's just a legend that was printed a few hundred copies each for idle people to kill time. My father and Mr. Xiao are busy with their work. How can they have time to read this? Besides, they have never printed books before. There is no reason for them to suddenly steal my business."
Other bookshops all used woodblocks, so they could only print outdated things like the Four Books and the Five Classics. As for movable type, there were limited typesetters, so they could only accept some eight-part essays that people would definitely buy. But he spent money to employ a group of typesetters from the beginning, so even if he only printed dozens or hundreds of copies of a book, he could publish it. If it sold well, he would continue it, and if it didn't, he would cut it short.
Therefore, he didn't believe that Lu Wan and Zhang Shou would go to the trouble of arguing with him over two volumes of nonsense legends.
Therefore, after refuting this absurd speculation, Lu Sanlang sternly ordered several writers to go back and retreat, and to write a better draft than the "Jinling Yan" he was working on as soon as possible. After several people became dejected, he gave a death order to the shopkeepers and their clerks, requiring them to dig out the mastermind behind the scenes no matter what means were used.
His omnipresent subordinates were indeed highly efficient. Before 3 p.m., the confirmed news had been delivered to him. This volume of "Jinling Yan" was signed by a single author Tang Ming, who won the first place in the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination.
However, knowing that this person who had offended Zhang Shou like Xie Wanquan also went to public school was not the most shocking thing for Lu Sanlang.
What surprised him the most was that the class involved in printing the book was a special typeset class set up by the public school after the class division, and it was said that the teacher, Old Man Yan, personally carved the wooden movable type, and the other students were responsible for the typeset rotation. In short, it was said that it only took a few days from the manuscript to the publication!
And Old Man Yan is from Zhang Yuan! He who thinks he is smart was fooled by his father and teacher!
Although he had sworn in front of the hired writers that his father and teacher would never have the time to play such a trick with him, now that it was proven, Lu Sanlang was completely discouraged. He was not afraid of offending his father, since he had been generous to his father more than once or twice since he was a child. And he was not afraid of offending Zhang Shou, because Zhu Ying liked that volume of "Dielianhua" very much.
But the problem now is that he has offended both his father and teacher at the same time, and these two people have actually joined forces. What can he do?
So, the frightened little fat boy thought about it and decided to go find a savior. He heard that Zhu Ying went to visit the home of Minister Liu of the Ministry of Industry this afternoon, and it was obvious that she was going to see his fiancée, so he shamelessly went to the Liu residence to send a letter to ask for a meeting. As a result, when this visiting card was sent in, the Liu residence, where the host, Minister Liu, was not at home, was naturally in chaos.
Mrs. Liu was surprised that her future son-in-law showed up suddenly, and Liu Qing was even more surprised that her fiancé came to visit her like this. As for learning that the fat boy not only shamelessly asked to see his future mother-in-law and fiancée, but also asked to see her, although Zhu Ying was completely confused, she finally urged Mrs. Liu to go out and meet them.
Although this was completely against the rules, a lot of rules had already been broken when the marriage between Lu Sanlang and Liu Qing was finalized. In addition, when Mrs. Liu visited the Lu family, she had seen the fat boy several times, so she had no choice but to agree.
When she saw the fat and somewhat imposing young man walking into the room with great momentum - the mother-in-law always likes her son-in-law more and more the more she looks at him - so after he bowed and raised his hand to signal her to sit aside, she heard her son-in-law make a request that caught her off guard.
"Aunt, I have something urgent to ask you, can you please send everyone away?"
Accustomed to hearing Lu Sanlang's address to get closer, Mrs. Liu was just stunned for a moment. Seeing that only Zhu Ying was sitting beside her, and her daughter had long since hidden behind the screen, she thought for a moment and finally asked her trusted mother to take the maids down, and specifically told them to stay away. Anyway, with Zhu Ying, whose fighting power far exceeded that of the little fat man, she didn't have to worry about Lu Sanlang having any evil thoughts.
But the servants had just left for a while when she saw Lu Sanlang kneeling down, hugging her knees with his hands, and then burst into tears: "Aunt, you and Sister Qing must save me! I have offended my father and the young master, and they have joined forces to dig a bottomless pit for me!"
Behind the screen, Liu Qing cursed the damned little fat boy in her heart because of the word "Sister Qing", while Madam Liu was shocked to hear that Lu Sanlang had offended both his father and teacher at the same time. As for Zhu Ying... She stared at Lu Sanlang with wide eyes, then frowned and asked, "Lu Sanpang, stop playing the victim! Why would Ah Shou team up with your father to cheat you when he is fine?"
When Lu Sanlang saw that Madam Liu did not refuse his flattery, he was immediately delighted, and Zhu Ying did not frown immediately, but looked at him with a hint of teasing. Knowing that they were not angry, he was overjoyed and had to tell her everything about how Lu Wan and Zhang Shou had joined forces, how they each performed their duties, and how they secretly printed a volume of "Jinling Yan" and smuggled it all over the city to steal his business.
Seeing that Madam Liu was in a state of confusion, and Zhu Ying had a look of derision on her face, he said pitifully, "One book is a small matter, but if my father and the young master join forces, it will be a big deal. After thinking about it, it must be because some of my writers who are not afraid of trouble secretly wrote two books that alluded to them, so they were mad."
"But God have mercy on me, I didn't know anything about it!" The little fat boy cried out in injustice, and then stole a glance at Zhu Ying and said, "I only found out later that 'Butterfly Loves Flowers' was about the young master and my mistress, and 'The disciple surpasses the master' was about me and my father!"
At this moment, Zhu Ying was completely sure that the fat boy was talking nonsense. However, Lu Sanlang called her "Little Master's Wife" loudly in front of Liu Qing. Because of his shamelessness and the book "Dielianhua" that she had read before, which was so sweet and cute that it made her blush, the eldest lady decided that if what the fat boy said was true, she would go back and persuade Zhang Shou to let him go.
Liu Qing, who was behind the screen, finally couldn't help but show up and said angrily, "Lu Sanpang, how dare you say that! The book "The disciple surpasses the master" printed in your bookstore portrays your father as an old stubborn man, and you don't allow your father to teach you a lesson?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt two pairs of eyes suddenly fall on her face. When she saw that it was her mother, Madam Liu, she couldn't help but secretly say "bad luck".
Not only did she secretly read those legendary books, she also confessed it in front of her own mother!
Mrs. Liu was both angry and amused at this moment. She was amused because the way her future son-in-law angered his father and teacher was simply unheard of, and she was angry because her daughter actually read the messy books printed by Lu Sanlang's bookstore!
Of course, Lu Sanlang had confessed to her about the bookshop he owned a long time ago. Not only was it a well-known bookshop in the capital, but Lu Sanlang had also privately counted on his fingers and told her the wealth he had accumulated over the years. He even did not hide the fact that he once held a stake in Tingyu Cottage because of his friendship with Weinan Earl Zhang Kang, but later returned it all.
It was also because of this that Mrs. Liu, who was initially very dissatisfied with the marriage chosen by her husband and also disliked Fatty Lu, gradually changed her mind about this future son-in-law. Now, she is even more fond of the Fatty Lu, just like Zhu Ying's grandmother and mother look at Zhang Shou.
So, she coughed and said seriously, "It's not a big deal for the subordinates to write two books casually. You can just go and talk to your father and your teacher! You are always too clever and always make simple things complicated. I think you are just making trouble for yourself!"
"Given your teacher's unquestionable faith in you, even if he and your father worked together to produce the manuscript, printed the book and started selling it, how can you say that he was definitely setting a trap to bury you? With so many skilled workers trained, where would they be best placed to use them? Of course, it would be best to place them in your bookshop. Maybe that's to expand the influence of your bookshop in the future."
"Why don't you just leave the existing stove unused and start a new one? They are your father and teacher, not your enemies! Who knows, they might just be waiting for you to go to them and apologize and make things clear!"
Lu Sanlang was openly seeking the advice of his future mother-in-law and fiancée, but secretly seeking advice from Zhu Ying. However, he never expected that before Zhu Ying even opened her mouth, Mrs. Liu's words touched his heart!
He slapped his head hard and shouted, "Aunt, you really woke me up with your words... You are closer to me than my own mother!"
Seeing the chubby Lu Sanlang climb up and then turn around and run out, Mrs. Liu was so amused that she immediately shouted, "Slow down, don't fall. This little fat boy, how old is he and he is still so unstable, he is about to get married!"
Liu Qing was also at a loss for words because of Lu Sanlang's blunt words, "You are closer to me than my mother." Seeing Zhu Ying frowned suddenly when she heard the word "marriage," she couldn't help but feel a little surprised, "Sister Yingying, has Dr. Zhang ignored you recently?"
"How is that possible?"
Zhu Ying smiled softly, and then said somewhat listlessly: "I suddenly remembered what I heard when I entered the palace this morning. Someone said that the eldest and second princes are getting old enough and should marry concubines. I think it would be a disaster for a girl from a good family to marry them!"
Seeing Liu Qing's face suddenly turn pale, she knew that she was thinking of the past when she was considered as the second prince's concubine and was humiliated in the street. She shook the little girl's hand and then smiled and said, "I heard that someone has written a letter to request that the previous selection of concubines for the prince be completed before arriving in the capital, so as to reproduce the royal heirs. I really want to know why his daughter doesn't get married?"
"If you want to be known as a benevolent and virtuous person, then you must first have the determination of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva that if I don't go to hell, then who will?"
