If you don't return to your hometown when you are rich and powerful, it is like walking in fine clothes at night.

Although he only won the first place in the provincial examination, Xu Yan was still warmly welcomed by his neighbors when he returned to Dinghai County.

After all, Dinghai County is not a prosperous place for culture and education, and it has not produced a top scorer in the provincial examination for many years.

Xu Xiaolangjun gave them hope. If they could win the first place in the college entrance examination again and become a "small three-point winner", it would be extremely beneficial to promoting reading and education among the people in the county.

As for Xu Huaiyuan, he cried with joy when he saw his son return.

"Hurry, let your father take a good look."

Seeing that Xu Yan had obviously lost weight, Xu Huaiyuan felt a little sad.

"My son has lost weight."

Xu Yan smiled and said, "Dad, I just lost a few pounds, it's not a big deal."

Xu Huaiyuan glared at him fiercely and said, "What are you talking about? You've been weak and sickly since childhood. The doctor prescribed a prescription and you took it every day to slowly recover. You must avoid starvation, otherwise you will easily get sick. Alas, it's all your fault that your father is not by your side."

Xu Yan felt helpless. Did his dad seem to be eager to become his own tutor? That wouldn't do. How would he hold his head up high in front of his classmates?

"Father, please don't blame yourself. Your son has grown up and knows how to take care of himself."

"Okay, okay, my son has grown up."

Xu Huaiyuan finally smiled.

"By the way, Dad, is Mom home?"

After all, it was a good result, and Xu Huaiyuan was eager to tell his mother the good news.

"Oh, your mother went back to Hangzhou to visit relatives a few days ago. I guess she'll be staying for a while."

Xu Huaiyuan sighed and said, "It's difficult to harvest raw silk this year. Although His Majesty has replaced the eunuch in charge of weaving, I heard that he didn't reduce the quota of imperial silk, but only extended it for a while. I'm afraid your grandfather's life is not easy either."

Xu Yan nodded.

This is reasonable. Sun Qing fell from power because he was too domineering and killed people, which brought disgrace upon the emperor.

But there was nothing wrong with Sun Qing's action of collecting silk. At least that's what Emperor Jiajing must have thought.

Emperor Jiajing replaced the eunuch in charge of weaving, which was just like replacing a dog. There was indeed no essential difference in collecting silk.

Being an imperial merchant is like this. There are times of glory and prestige, but there are also times of feeling uneasy.

So Xu Yan was very glad that the Xu family did not get involved in the imperial business, as the waters in this circle were too deep.

"By the way, father, I heard that County Master Zhao is about to be promoted, and I would like to offer him an umbrella of all people as a token of my appreciation. Do you have any ideas?"

Magistrate Ma was anxious to take over and rushed to Nanjing to take up his post. County Magistrate Zhao was about to step down in the next few days.

As a student of Zhao Ruohai, Xu Yan should at least say something.

Xu Huaiyuan said in a gentle voice, "This isn't difficult. I'll leave it to you. My son is really sensible."

"Father, I have a question for you. Besides running the cloth and grain business, do we have any other income?"

Xu Yan felt that the Xu family's business scope was a bit limited, unlike his grandfather's family, whose main business was silk but which was involved in various industries.

"No, why would my son suddenly ask this?" Xu Huaiyuan smiled and said, "My son only needs to study hard and pass the imperial examination. You don't need to worry about making money."

Xu Yan thought to himself, how can I squander my money if I don’t make money? If I don’t squander my money, how can I maintain my image as a prodigal son?

Hey, do you think I want to worry about money?

"Well, in that case, my son will go back to the house first, and father can rest more."

Xu Huaiyuan nodded with satisfaction.

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But Xu Yan returned to his room and began to think about ways to make money.

Logically speaking, a time traveler should be a favored child of heaven and be omnipotent.

But Xu Yan studied literature and history in his previous life, and he could neither make soap or glass, nor brew wine or make sugar.

Xu Yan is really powerless to do what these science and engineering men are good at. What he can do is to play to his strengths as a practitioner of literature and history.

After thinking about it, Xu Yan felt that selling books was the right choice.

It was still the middle of the Jiajing reign, and the popular novels that had flourished in the late Ming Dynasty had not yet been published. Didn't this give him a perfect opportunity?

Is Dream of the Red Chamber exciting? Is Journey to the West good?

Let's not even talk about Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin hadn't even been reincarnated yet. As for Journey to the West, according to Xu Yan's research, Wu Cheng'en began writing it around the age of 50, which would have been around the 30th year of the Jiajing reign. He didn't actually finish writing it until after he resigned from office in his later years.

Not to mention the many wonderful novels that could be sold.

Wouldn't it be unworthy of being a time traveler if I didn't copy so many best-selling books?

Moreover, Zhejiang's printing industry is extremely developed and can fully support Xu Yan's huge ambitions.

The last and most important point is that selling books was tax-free in the Ming Dynasty.

Hongwu decreed: Except for the tax on books and farm tools, the arrears of the people were exempted from tax. However, farm tools, books, and other items not sold in the market were not included in the tax.

Therefore, as long as the quality of the manuscript is good enough, you can definitely make a lot of money by selling books in the Ming Dynasty.

Zhejiang's printing industry is very developed, and basically follows the model of a shop in front and a factory in the back.

The front shop sells books, and the back factory prints books.

What about Sanduozhai, Zongwenshushe, Santaiguan, Qinghuitang...

They are all famous old shops.

If the Xu family wants to enter this industry, they naturally have to have their own advantages.

First-hand manuscripts are of course important, but they also require a lot of publicity.

In this age of underdeveloped information, information is basically passed on by word of mouth.

There is no other way. It seems we can only rely on the tactic of human wave.

This is the only way to become popular in a short period of time and grab the existing market share.

The cost of opening a bookstore is not high, and my father probably won't object as long as Xu Yan asks.

The only problem is that writing books in the Ming Dynasty was considered a low-level job and was looked down upon by the literati.

Since Xu Yan decided to take the imperial examination, he could not write books under his real name and could only use a pen name.

Alas, when Xu Yan thought that the best-selling author could not show his true face to the public, he felt a little sad.

Of course, if you want to make a lot of money, controlling the update speed is also a key point.

In this era, anti-counterfeiting is basically non-existent. As soon as a popular book comes out, many pirated copies will appear on the market.

Therefore, do not update too much at one time; a thin booklet is enough.

In this way, even if piracy occurs, it will definitely be delayed.

If people want to read the latest chapters, they can only buy them at Xu's Bookstore.

Furthermore, controlling the update speed can whet people's appetite and keep the book popular. This tactic is later called hunger marketing and has been proven to be effective in various industries.

The more Xu Yan thought about it, the more excited he became. He immediately asked Shuangxi to grind the paper and prepare to write a few chapters of Journey to the West to practice.

Seeing that the young master was about to write another essay, the little servant was extremely surprised and said, "Young master, the provincial examination is over, you should take a break."

Xu Yan shook his head and said, "Master, I need to make money so that I can squander my fortune."

The little servant boy suddenly understood and smiled sweetly, revealing two dimples.

"It's still the young master I'm familiar with."

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