Chapter 580 Decides to Write His Own Book
As evening approached, the orange sunset slowly withdrew its last rays.
Red lanterns lit up the courtyard, and fruits and snacks were laid out on the stone table, around which maids, palace maids, old women and eunuchs sat.
Cheng Wanwan sat on the recliner and slowly began to tell her story.
"Speaking of which, in a place called Haizhou..."
Ninglan, being a bit bolder, asked, "Where is Haizhou? This servant has never heard of it before..."
"Well, it's just a place name, I made it up." Cheng Wanwan continued, "There was a family in Haizhou who lived in an official residence. Their surname was Jia, and they were probably of the third or fourth rank. The eldest daughter in the family was extremely beautiful. After she turned fourteen, she had a constant stream of suitors. However, this Miss Jia had been betrothed since she was a child. She was the eldest son of the Zhou family, a well-matched family. The Zhou family also lived in Haizhou. Miss Jia and the young master grew up together and were deeply in love. They only waited until she was sixteen to get married."
"But in the year Miss Jia turned fifteen, Old Master Zhou was promoted, and the whole family moved to Liangcheng. The two lovers were separated and could only express their longing through letters. Unexpectedly, Old Master Zhou suddenly died, and the Zhou family fell into decline, no longer a suitable match for the Jia family..."
Having said this, she deliberately paused.
Ninglan couldn't wait to ask, "Miss Jia, you wouldn't be thinking of calling off the engagement, would you?"
Granny Qi shook her head: "Young ladies wouldn't understand what it means to be well-matched in social status. This old servant believes that it is Madam Jia who wants to break off the engagement."
“Originally, the Jia family had no intention of breaking off the engagement. After all, the two families were old friends, and the Jia family was unwilling to do such a thing as kicking someone when they are down.” Cheng Wanwan took a sip of water and continued, “But unexpectedly, a marquis from Liangcheng took a fancy to Miss Jia. What kind of status does a marquis have? Can the Jia family afford to offend him? Under the marquis’s repeated probing and coercion, the Jia family had no choice but to write a letter to the Zhou family to break off the engagement.”
"Miss Jia was heartbroken and even contemplated suicide at home. At this time, the Marquis told her that the Zhou family had climbed up to the Prime Minister in order to restore their former status. The Prime Minister was planning to marry his youngest daughter to the young master of the Zhou family. Upon hearing this news, Miss Jia completely collapsed."
"Bah! Young Master Zhou is a real scoundrel!" Granny Yang cursed. "Miss Jia's sincere heart has been wasted on a dog; how pitiful."
Ning Lan said, "Fortunately, the Marquis is with Miss Jia, so Miss Jia isn't too pitiful."
Cheng Wanwan smiled and said, "Then let me tell you about Liangcheng. After Old Master Zhou passed away, Young Master Zhou studied even harder. He was already talented and full of poetry and literature. He passed the imperial examination with top honors and caught the eye of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister wanted to marry his daughter to Young Master Zhou, but Young Master Zhou clearly told him that he already had a fiancée and firmly refused the marriage. As a result, Young Master Zhou offended the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister used tricks to remove Young Master Zhou's status as a tribute student..."
"While Young Master Zhou was seeking justice for himself, someone in Haizhou told him that his fiancée was engaged to the young marquis. At the same time, Young Master Zhou received a letter of annulment from the Jia family... One blow after another, Young Master Zhou completely collapsed..."
Ninglan covered her mouth: "Oh my god, this is too tragic. They clearly like each other, why can't they be together?"
Granny Qiao urged, "Madam, what happened next?"
Cheng Wanwan was very satisfied with their reactions and continued to tell the story. The sequel was that Miss Jia fled to Liangcheng secretly, and Master Zhou rushed back to Haizhou. The two met in a city in between. After the lovers met, those misunderstandings naturally disappeared... Later, with the help of Miss Jia, Master Zhou returned to Liangcheng to continue to seek justice for himself, and the Marquis was moved by their love and helped Master Zhou clear his grievances. In the end, Master Zhou passed the imperial examination, restored the Zhou family's reputation, and married Miss Jia.
After the story was told, several palace maids burst into tears.
Cheng Wanwan asked, "What do you think needs to be improved in this story?"
Ninglan sniffed and said, "Miss Jia is so pitiful. She turned into a beggar all the way to find Young Master Zhou..."
"If it wasn't so tragic, would the audience empathize?" Cheng Wanwan laughed. "If there was a book on the market specifically about the story of Miss Jia and Young Master Zhou, would you want to read it?"
Everyone in the yard nodded.
The next day, Cheng Wanwan asked someone to invite Manager Yu over.
Manager Yu thought the people from Sui'an were there to audit the accounts, so he brought over the ledgers he had prepared for the past few days. Just as he was about to report, Cheng Wanwan interrupted him: "I have something for Manager Yu to do. Our reading room has been open for many days, and many people have given valuable suggestions. Among them, many women feel that the reading room is only for men, so I was thinking of adding more books for women to read. But there are too few of these kinds of books on the market, so why don't we write them ourselves?"
Shopkeeper Yu asked in surprise, "Writing your own book?"
The people of Sui'an got to where they are today through agriculture, so how come they're writing books?
Oh right, I heard that people from Sui'an also speak the Assab language, which is why they were given important positions by the Court of State Ceremonies.
“I’ll give you a brief outline of the story. You can find a scholar to fill in the details. Also—” Cheng Wanwan began, “insert a beautiful illustration every two pages to make it a visually appealing book. Since this is my first time writing this kind of book, the story doesn’t need to be too long, under 10,000 words is fine. Manager Yu, do you think it can be finished in seven days?”
Shopkeeper Yu nodded: "Ten thousand words is not a lot. A scholar with a quick handwriting can finish it in three to five days. The main thing is drawing, which is more time-consuming..."
Cheng Wanwan took out two pictures from her sleeve. These were hand-painted pictures in ancient style that she had found in the mall last night. They tried to fit the painting style of this era as closely as possible. One was a portrait of a woman, one was a portrait of a man, and the other was a picture of two people cuddling together. The three pictures were considered samples.
"With a sample, the drawings will be ready very quickly." Shopkeeper Yu smiled. "I'll have a draft ready within five days, and then I'll show it to the people in Sui'an for review."
Over the years, Shopkeeper Yu had been dealing with scholars. Many scholars would come to him to copy manuscripts and earn a living. He found an honest scholar with relatively good handwriting to write stories, and then went to the alley to find old scholars who were good at drawing portraits... These old scholars were frustrated and unsuccessful after failing the imperial examinations, and basically made a living by writing letters and drawing pictures for people. Their paintings could not compare with those of the masters, but they were more popular and more in line with the readers' aesthetics.
In less than five days, the first draft was completed. The easy-to-understand text was combined with exquisite illustrations to compile a book of thirty or forty pages.
Cheng Wanwan picked it up and flipped through it. To be honest, it really looked quite convincing. However, the cost of this book was a bit high. It cost 800 coins to have someone write the story, and the twelve illustrations cost 2.4 taels of silver, totaling more than 3 taels of silver. It would take a very long time to break even just by renting it out.
She casually asked, "If this book needs to be printed in large quantities, how will it be done?"
Shopkeeper Yu cupped his hands and replied, "There are many booksellers in the capital who specialize in this. They usually print a minimum of five thousand copies. A small book like this costs about forty copper coins. If you want the illustrations printed in color, it will cost about one hundred copper coins per book. We'll have to discuss the specifics."
Cheng Wanwan nodded.
Ancient printing technology was relatively backward. Simply printing in black and white didn't reveal much, but if it were printed in color, it would look very inferior. Therefore, the colors of the patterns on some precious ancient books were painted on separately by someone, which could keep them from fading for many years.
She said, "First, have someone copy out ten copies and put them in the reading room to see the effect."
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