Chapter Twenty-One: The Plan

  (Friends who want to add comments, please go to the book review area and post on May 28th. I'm going to bed now and will add more tomorrow.)

  The moonlight shines on the corridor.

  Fan Ruo said with a sympathetic tone: "My future sister-in-law, I heard she's suffering from... tuberculosis, often coughing up blood, so she's been on a strict diet without any greasy food. The girl you mentioned was gnawing on a chicken leg." She thought of the scene her brother had described earlier and couldn't help but laugh, "It can't be Miss Lin, not to mention that Miss Lin is only said to have a delicate complexion, absolutely not as beautiful as the goddess my brother described."

  Fan Xian thought for a moment, and indeed it was so. He sighed and put the matter aside, but he wouldn't give up on finding that girl either. However, another scene emerged in his mind, causing him to frown slightly.

  "Consumption?" He knew that in this world, consumption was equivalent to an incurable disease. Although he had followed Fei Jie to study for a year and had not stopped practicing in various aspects afterwards, since the other party was the daughter of the Crown Princess, she must have had imperial physicians treating her. If even the imperial physicians couldn't cure the illness, what could he do?

  Fei Jie is not here, this is really a big problem.

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  The next day, Fan Xian got up and found that his father's sister and Liu were not there. After eating some plain porridge and small dishes under the service of the lower people, he prepared to go out. He planned to go to the Qing Temple to try his luck and see if he could meet the girl again.

  Just as he was about to leave, Fan Xian ran over, grabbed his sleeve and pulled him into the study, very seriously handing him a few pieces of paper. Fan Xian looked at him curiously, discovering that his brother's eyes were full of bloodshot, apparently having stayed up all night, and asked: "You didn't sleep last night, won't Second Aunt scold you again?"

  Fan Siyan chuckled a few times: "Learn from you, deceive and deceive."

  Fan Xian smiled and unfolded the papers with his fingers, propping up his chin to take a look. On it was written Fan Siyan's "plan" from last night - although Fan Xian wasn't a successful businessman in his past life, he had seen pigs run before, and the business atmosphere of his past life and today's Qing Guo were completely different. Plus, with his previous special occupation, he still had some confidence.

  His eyebrows gradually furrowed, and he asked: "Your idea is not bad, but I'm not familiar with Kyoto, so whether the location of the bookstore is good or not, you can consider it yourself. But there's a problem, although we're the only ones who have the manuscript source, how can you guarantee that other bookstores won't pirate print after you've printed it?"

  Fan Siyan's face was flushed with excitement as he said, "Nowadays, our household is very idle, and those servants have nothing to do. We can let them go out on the streets to stroll around, and whenever they see a family that counterfeits, they can smash one."

  Fan Xian was stunned, thinking that all you know how to do is fight and loot? It completely didn't match his expectations. He smiled wryly and shook his head: "Don't look down on the book merchant, the profits aren't small. Who knows what kind of background other families have?"

  "What's he afraid of? This manuscript was ours to begin with, and he has the nerve to pirate it?" Fan Siyan shouted.

  Fan Xian reminded him: "The Qing law does not have provisions to protect manuscripts from being printed... Besides, this book has not been approved by the eight departments, if you sue, you may end up paying compensation yourself."

  Fan Siyan smiled and said: "This is nothing to be afraid of. If we really want to open a bookstore, let's have our old father write a letter, the eight places will definitely give us face."

  Fan Xian thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. His seemingly ordinary father had a much deeper relationship with the Imperial Censorate than most people knew. He then said, "Even if you get rid of your 'forbidden book' status, you still can't just use violence to eliminate your competitors. You can't hit someone's face, after all. Chasing those middle-aged women in the streets and alleys of Kyoto, shutting down other people's shops... that's a way of tearing off one's own skin. For the sake of silver, both sides will bring out their backers, and no one will come out on top."

  "What's the fuss about?" Fan Siyan gave him a white eye, seemingly thinking that this brother was being overly cautious. "If you think there's no precedent, we can come up with a rule and follow it from now on. If other booksellers dare to pirate again, we can let the authorities handle it."

  Fan Xian burst out laughing: "Rules? Is the imperial court's law so trivial, that just because the Fan family is publishing a book, they would change the law?"

  Fan Siyan shook his head and said, "How can the law be changed? Of course, it's going to take the usual route. It's not difficult to make some changes to the Kyoto Defense Regulations. Ye Chongjia's fierce wife and Rong Jiajun have a good relationship, so just ask Sister to let the Jingguo Wangfu and Ye Fu say something and it will be done."

  Fan Xian's interest was piqued, and he asked, "Can the Kyoto Defense Regulations still govern book sales?"

  Fan Siyan was taken aback for a moment, then thought for a while and said: "It seems that there is a clause inside that governs the flow of refugees and businessmen, which can be used to make a good show."

  Fan Xian couldn't help but praise, thinking that this little guy indeed had the potential to be a great merchant. The way he came up with such a ruthless tactic as colluding with the city management team was truly impressive. However, he knew that ideals and reality always have a gap between them, so he asked: "Have you calculated the profit?"

  "Ten chapters in one volume, each volume costs eight taels of silver. Now there are sixty-eight chapters in total. Kyoto has a population of 640,000 people, with one volume per thousand people, it can sell more than 600 sets. Calculating carefully, it can earn 35,840 taels of silver." Fan Siyan said with relish, these income he had calculated clearly before, "The rent in Luodong is a bit expensive, plus the cost of proofreading, let Wanjuantang handle the printing, which can save some trouble."

  "Wan Juan Hall?" Fan Xian asked curiously.

  "Kyoto's most famous private printing workshop." Fan Siyan smiled slyly: "His family is wealthy and influential, but behind his back, there isn't anyone reliable. If he dares to plagiarize our manuscripts, we'll expose him and turn the tables, probably earning even more."

  Fan Xian felt so depressed he wanted to vomit blood.

  "After careful calculation, there will be at least a few thousand taels of silver in the account within the year. If other bookstores really close down, this number will increase even more."

  Fan Xian sighed, "You're too optimistic. To become a successful businessman, you must prepare for the unexpected. Let's talk about your estimated numbers. Although the people of Kyoto are wealthy, each set costs more than 50 taels of silver. How many people can afford this price?"

  Fan Siyan was shocked and looked at Fan Xian as if he were a monster, saying: "Don't you know what kind of situation the book you wrote is in now?"

  Fan Xian widened his eyes, thinking that "Dream of the Red Chamber" was popular in the Qianlong period of the previous life, and it was also seen in miscellaneous news that it sold for over 100 taels of silver, but that was a handwritten copy, and it was not widely circulated. If you are preparing to print and sell it on a large scale, can it still be sold at such a high price?

  Fan Siyan sighed and said, "A few days ago, I heard that the young lady of the Kyoto Prefectural Governor's family was so infatuated with your book that she became distracted and listless. The governor's wife burned the manuscript in a fit of rage, and the young lady cried out in anguish: 'Alas, why did you burn my precious jade?' She fell ill for a long time afterwards... Brother, this Kyoto is not like other places; officials are as numerous as dogs and fish, and these idle young ladies have nothing better to do. Selling several hundred or thousand copies would be no problem at all."

  Fan Xian was stunned and thought to himself whether he should send some gifts to comfort that poor Miss Fu Cheng.

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