The renovation of the bookstore was carried out in an orderly manner. As Uncle Cao said, the work of painting the walls and patching the bricks was completed in two days. Once the walls were repainted, the feeling of dilapidation was largely gone.
Xu Jiang planted some of the flowers and plants she brought back from Dongshan in front of the door and beside the eaves leading to the corner gate, and left two peach trees. The rest were brought back to the house by Lou Yunchun to plant.
Of the two peach trees left, one was sent to the Nanshan Academy, where Master Lin planted it in the corner of the academy's backyard. The other was planted by Xu Jiang at the corner gate of the academy's backyard, where the sun was better.
The purpose is to prevent the stubborn donkey from chewing the food when passing by.
Xu Jiang stared at the sapling bathed in the morning light, then turned to the stubborn donkey in the yard and warned, "If you dare to nibble on it, I'll make donkey meat roast."
The stubborn donkey turned around and faced her with his butt, pretending not to hear.
Xu Jiang raised his hand and slapped it.
The wine bought in Dongshan was also delivered. Xu Jiang made an agreement with the farmer that if he produced new wine, he would send it to her first to try.
The old man agreed, took the money, and happily went to the East Market to buy small green tiles.
Over the next few days, Xu Jiang, besides managing the bookshop and entertaining customers, also had to rush to edit and annotate the county annals and the book left by her master. Liang Mo was in charge of printing and binding the poetry collection, and the two of them were so busy that they had no time to rest.
She was copying her master's book when Wu Qingchuang came to her happily.
Xu Jiang offered him a cup of tea and asked with a smile, "What are you so happy about?"
"I knew you definitely didn't know, so I came to tell you." Wu Qingchuang drank half a cup of tea in one gulp and whispered, "Bandoushan Bookstore published a set of floral and grass paper albums a while ago, and yesterday they were summoned by Jisheng Bookstore for questioning. As a result, the two sides got into a huge argument."
"Bandoushan?" Xu Jiang raised an eyebrow. "They've always had close ties with Jisheng Bookstore. Why are they making such a fuss over this paper?"
"Everyone is busy and bustling about for profit. Although Ban Dou Shan and Ji Sheng used to have a good relationship, it was because their interests were aligned. Now that their interests conflict, they've naturally fallen out. Ban Dou Shan isn't a small shop like us with no foundation. To be able to compete with Ji Sheng, they must have some secrets." He lowered his voice. "I heard recently that they've gotten close to Lord Dong, the Minister of the Western Palace. That's why they dared to challenge Zhou Shancai."
Xitai Minister? Why does it sound so familiar?
Xu Jiang suppressed her doubts and asked, "Where did Bandoushan get the flowery paper for making the calligraphy?"
"Of course it's the paper mills that make it. Seeing that the paper is selling so well, they're naturally thinking about how to get a piece of the pie. Now that every paper mill is producing this floral paper, even if Zhou Shancai is rich, he can't buy out all of it."
"If that's the case, why is he fussing with Ban Dou Shan? Even if Ban Dou Shan doesn't imitate it, someone else will."
"We're just targeting the first one first. Besides, Ban Dou Shan is now relying on the Western Minister, and his status and reputation are clearly superior to his. If we don't knock down this nail that has popped up, it will be difficult for him to control the bookstores in the future." Wu Qingchuang chuckled, "Let's just wait and see the dog-eat-dog show."
Hearing this, Xu Jiang suddenly remembered Lou Yunchun's words about killing a chicken to scare the monkeys. Could it be...
As soon as she thought of Lou Yunchun, she remembered who this Minister of the Western Palace was.
Mr. Dong, the Minister of Xitai, was the top scorer in the imperial examination during Lou Yunchun's time, and that was Dong Shou.
Her mind suddenly became clear.
Wu Qingchuang asked, "With floral paper being so popular these days, does Shopkeeper Xu have any plans to recreate the paper pattern?"
Xu Jiang came back to his senses and then shook his head. "I'm busy at the shop right now, so I won't be publishing this calligraphy for the time being." He then smiled and said, "If Shopkeeper Wu wants to publish it, now would be a good time."
Unexpectedly, she had seen through his true intentions. Wu Qingchuang blushed and asked, "You don't mind?"
“It is better to have it spread everywhere than to let one company rule alone.”
Most of the paper patterns she had produced had already been given away as gifts, so reproducing them would be excessive. Furthermore, since this matter involved the Minister of the Western Court, it was definitely not accidental, and she didn't want to get involved in this mess.
Besides, there are too many things to do in the store and I am too busy to handle it.
Wu Qingchuang couldn't help but admire, "Shopkeeper Xu has a kind heart." Then he said gratefully, "Shopkeeper Xu, you can rest assured. Even if I want to publish it, I will let everyone know. This set of paper patterns is inspired by you, and your name will not be tarnished."
Xu Jiang smiled at him and said, "Manager Wu has always been honest and upright in his work. Xu Jiang can trust him."
Wu Qingchuang was deeply moved and raised his cup to offer her tea.
After seeing Wu Qingchuang off, Xu Jiang stared at the rolling clouds in the sky and sighed, "The wind is about to pick up."
A few days later, the news of the disagreement between Ban Dou Shan and Ji Sheng Book Bureau spread like wildfire, causing quite a stir.
In addition, with the widespread popularity of straw flower paper, bookstores of all sizes in the capital also began to publish paper albums, and the prices were several times cheaper than those of Jisheng Bookstore, thus diverting a lot of its customers.
Jisheng Bookstore was able to suppress some but not others. Seeing that the stockpiled flower paper and paper music sheets were in a bleak situation, they had no choice but to use the name of originality or pioneering to stabilize prices, and posted notices denouncing other bookstores for imitating paper music sheets without their consent.
Especially Bandoushan.
The publication of this list did not shock the public, but instead sparked doubts. This was because someone at a gathering of scholars refuted the claim that the original publisher of this grass and flower paper was Zhanchun Bookstore, not Jisheng Bookstore.
Ban Doushan took the opportunity to fan the flames, and posted a notice to accuse Jisheng of being the one who plagiarized. He also collected the plum blossom paper produced by Xu Jiang from somewhere, and presented it to his own bookstore. He also prepared a generous gift and sent it to Zhanchun Bookstore with drums and gongs.
His shamelessness is on par with that of Jisheng.
Seeing the fire approaching her doorstep, Xu Jiang poured out a basin of water, which chilled the gift-giving team to the bone, and closed the door to refuse entry to Ban Doushan, who had come to give gifts.
The crowd who came to watch the fun couldn't help but sigh. The people from Bandoushan were humiliated and had to return home in embarrassment.
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