Chapter 7 Red Book

  The Eighth Office of the Control Yuan, also known as the Imperial Censorate, is similar to the Press Review Committee of a certain Republic of China government. It is responsible for reviewing all written texts published through official channels. Only articles that have passed the review of the Eighth Office are allowed to be published. In recent years, most of the duties of the Imperial Censorate were taken over by the Ministry of Education, but it still retains the right to review privately printed books.

  So articles involving descriptions of human body art, violent aesthetic rendering, and reform suggestions not permitted by the authorities are impossible to pass through eight audits. However, people from any world have a stunning enthusiasm for sex, violence, and politics, so they naturally gave birth to some underground bookstores.

  Political books are generally not touched by book merchants, but like "Yi Qing Zhen" and other erotic works, they were printed in large quantities and distributed to different cities through various channels, and then delivered to the citizens who needed them.

  The aunt who holds the child is undoubtedly the last link in this circulation channel.

  The whole of Kyoto is already accustomed to such scenes, and no one will be surprised or alarmed, let alone the officials who turn a blind eye, not to mention the people who benefit from it.

  "What did the young master say?" The old lady who sold banned books obviously didn't know about the wonderful existence of AV, and stared blankly with wide eyes.

  Fan Xian smiled and asked: "What kind of book?"

  The middle-aged woman handed the child to one hand, and from her bosom she pulled out a large open book about eight inches square. The pages were all red, and it looked like a good-looking book. Fan Xian was just a little admiring, holding a child in his arms, such a big book was placed inside his clothes, but surprisingly the corners of the book were not damaged.

  "The latest fad in Kyoto." said a middle-aged woman with an air of mystery.

  Fan Xian took the book and naturally wouldn't take the other's pretentious mysteriousness seriously, smiling as he flipped open a page... then his face suddenly became very colorful.

  The book cover has no name, but on the title page are written four big characters: "*".

  "Who would have thought that this woman had a natural and peculiar interest, once a man got close to her, she felt her whole body's muscles go limp, making the man feel as if he was lying on a cloud."

  Fan Xian's mouth was agape, and he couldn't utter a word for half a day. At a glance, he recognized the book as the Dream of Red Mansions that he had copied for his sister. The text on the cover page came from Chapter 21, where Ping'er uses gentle words to save Jia Lian, telling the story of Duo Gu Niang.

  The middle-aged woman thought that the handsome young man was moved, and smiled softly: "This is just one section of the text, the wonderful part is still inside."

  In his past life, Fan Xian often lay in bed, his body inconvenient, and it was naturally not convenient to trouble the nurse sister to flip through yellow books for him. So he had no choice but to repeatedly read "Dream of Red Mansions", relying on the many heroines' "jade-like beauty" to dispel his boredom countless times.

  Today, in the midst of Kyoto's bustling streets, I suddenly saw this passage that was all too familiar. How could Fan Qiang not be greatly shocked and filled with emotion? But what he couldn't understand was that the "Dream of Red Mansions", which only he and his sister knew about, had already been printed into a book and was being sold on the streets.

  The bill was also unpaid, Fan Xian took out the silver and paid the bill, not feeling any heartache at all. These silvers were all earned from selling newspapers in Danzhou, and they were used lavishly and freely to the extreme.

  After the middle-aged woman walked away with a smile, Fan Ruo led Fan Siyan to the front of the wine building. Fan Siyan's hand didn't hold a mask, but pinched a sugar figurine and licked it.

  "What were you just doing?" Fan Ruo Ruo asked her brother with a smile.

  Before Fan Xian could respond, Fan Siyan sneered with a cold smile: "I saw him buying a book from that woman. He didn't even try to avoid it, buying such indecent things on the street."

  Fan Ruoruo was slightly stunned, not knowing what to do. Fan Xian, however, thought of finding a place to ask his sister, so he didn't bother talking to the young man either. Just then, Tongzi Jing came out of the building and reported that the private room had been vacated, so Fan Xian pulled Ruoruo's slightly cold hand and headed upstairs.

  Fan Siyan was taken aback, licked his lips, and quickly followed up.

  The restaurant was crowded, but the third floor was very quiet, and the private rooms were already fully booked. It seemed that Tong Zi Jing was able to get a compartment, his ability was indeed impressive. Fan Xian felt that he had made the right decision in asking his father to bring him here.

  Sitting down at the table, Fan Xian glanced at his sister, whose eyes were wide with excitement, and smiled slightly. He handed her the red-covered book in his hand without hesitation.

  Fan Ruo Ruo slightly furrowed her brow and took it over, but as soon as she opened the cover page, a look of surprise appeared in her eyes. After flipping through a few more pages, she was even more shocked and quickly turned around to explain nervously: "Brother, I've never seen this before either."

  Fan Xian smiled and comforted, "I didn't blame you." He had long guessed that his sister would definitely bind the Dream of Red Mansions she copied into a book and share it with her close friends in the boudoir. He thought to himself, even if it was spread among them, they were all young ladies from royal families or noble households, so even if it did circulate slightly, there was no reason for it to reach the outside world.

  It wasn't until he saw a pirated copy of "Dream of the Red Chamber" on the street today that he realized he had entered another world, and once again underestimated the tenacity of pirates.

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  Fan Ruoruo recalled something. Last year, she had just subscribed to the first 68 chapters of "Dream of Red Mansions" and placed them in her boudoir, pressing them with a hardwood board. One day, Rongguo County Princess from Prince Jing's residence came to chat, saw the book, picked it up, and refused to put it down, saying she wanted to take it back to her residence.

  But in Fan Ruo's heart, this was her brother's blood and sweat, how could she dare to put it outside the mansion? What if something went wrong? So no matter how much Princess Roujia begged, even throwing a tantrum, she didn't agree. In the end, it was Queen Jing who came up with a solution, letting the female officials from the palace come over and copy it for a few days.

  It had come to this, and Fan Ruo also didn't want to make any more obstacles, so she let it go. Who would have thought that this book was passed from one person to ten, and then from ten to a hundred, and became a secret known to all, circulating secretly among the various princes' mansions.

  Then it spread to the market.

  "Nobody knows I wrote it, right?" Fan Xian took the book and flipped through it, finding that the author's name was written as Cao Xueqin, feeling slightly relieved.

  Fan Ruo said with self-reproach: "Brother regards fame and wealth as fleeting clouds, I was careless to let this book spread out, it's already a big mistake, how dare I reveal that this book comes from your handwriting."

  Is fame like floating clouds? Fan Xian smiled awkwardly, rubbed his sister's head, but found that he had accidentally messed up the little girl's hairstyle. He quickly apologized and explained: "Since I wrote it out, of course, I'm prepared to let people see it." Thinking of the silver he spent earlier, he felt a bit painful and sighed: "I just didn't expect that it would make the pirates drink a bowl of bitter medicine, what a pity for the silver that was spent in vain."

  The two siblings chatted for a while longer, but then Xiao Er started serving dishes, so they stopped talking about it.

  At this moment, the two of them suddenly noticed that Fan Siyan had broken free from his silence, looking at Fan Xian with a shocked gaze, his words somewhat unclear, and he asked in admiration: "That book is... written by you?"

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