Chapter 1196 Substitute (The End)
Lin Yuesha remained calm and casually picked up a book to look through in front of the waiter, while the waiter blushed and looked away.
Is there anything else?
The storybook's content isn't explicit enough; it's all veiled and can only be considered R-rated at best. Lin Yuesha believes that with deeper exploration, even more unique elements can be found.
"have."
The shop assistant couldn't see the person's face, but seeing how calm the person was, he guessed that the person was a regular customer of the bookstore.
He ran out and a moment later came back carrying a book, which was the shop's prized possession, a treasured item.
The cover was plain and unremarkable, with the words "Collection of Poems and Prose" written in large characters. But once you opened it, the style immediately changed, and the content was utterly unbearable to look at.
Some time ago, an official sent Qi Heng a list of banned books in the Great Qi Dynasty. Lin Yuesha happened to be there and took the opportunity to glance at it. Because the banned books were quite peculiar, she had some recollection of them.
It now appears that Xu Da's bookstore simply changed the covers of the banned books and continued to sell them, and even sold them privately to regular customers.
Those who knowingly break the law deserve a double penalty.
Lin Yuesha bought all the books the shop assistant brought, and after the two boys fell asleep, she showed them to Qi Heng.
"Husband, does my cousin know that the bookstore owner and his assistant are selling these books privately?"
Lin Yuesha was worried that Xu Da was too busy with official duties to pay attention to business and was kept in the dark.
"Of course I know."
Qi Heng opened the list of banned books to admire it. It had been presented by a group of pedantic old scholars who had been nagging him for three months to persuade him.
The book mainly deals with exciting matters of love between men and women, without any taboos or gore, and is not considered outrageous.
Among the officials listed above, every single one has grandchildren. If they don't engage in sexual relations, are their descendants just born from cracks in rocks? They might as well become monks.
Such folk tales are impossible to ban; even if one batch is banned, new ones will appear.
"Indeed, these words are not cheap; ordinary people cannot afford them."
It would easily cost more than ten taels of silver, enough for an ordinary person to eat and drink for one or two years. Wealthy families would also buy them and exchange them among themselves.
The matter is not serious. If investigated according to the "Great Qi Law", Xu Da would have to spend at least three months in prison.
"These banned books were supposed to be destroyed. Xu Da was in charge of this matter. He took this opportunity to change the covers and sell them in his shop. He's quite bold."
Qi Heng sighed, wondering when Xu Da had developed such business acumen, a significant improvement over his previous work.
"Are you just going to pretend you don't know anything about this?"
Lin Yuesha smiled, she had spent about a hundred taels of silver on the storybook, and given Qi Heng's nature of not wanting to suffer a loss, this debt would eventually be settled with Xu Da.
"No rush. If we expose him now, it will be harder to sell the rest. Once he's sold them all, we'll estimate a price and make him hand them over."
In this way, Xu Da worked hard and painstakingly, but in the end, the money ended up in Qi Heng and Lin Yuesha's pockets.
"I think so too."
Lin Yuesha chuckled inwardly, vaguely realizing that the word "kindness" was becoming increasingly distant from her.
"By the way, what's going on with Lord Liu?"
Lin Yuesha felt embarrassed for Liu Huan when he came to her door to propose marriage.
To be fair, although Liu Huan lost his wife, his other conditions were not bad. If Qin Nanyan had such a partner, she wouldn't have to worry about encountering problems in the future.
"Liu Huan is my husband's confidant."
The prefect of Cangzhou was only a fourth-rank official, while Liu Huan's political achievements were enough to qualify him for a second-rank official position in the capital.
Qi Heng's words showed that he highly approved of Liu Huan, who was also a bit eccentric. If he went to propose marriage, he might very well mess things up.
Qi Heng had the idea of transferring Liu Huan to the northern border city to keep a close watch on the movements of the barbarians.
In recent years, the northern barbarians have been fighting each other everywhere. Yuwen Kun has been busy with wars, and his strength has been greatly reduced. Sishui City is no longer as impregnable as before.
With both countries tacitly agreeing to a ceasefire, Qi Heng was able to take advantage of this time to recuperate and develop a gold mine in the open sea, where he was busy engaging in offshore trade.
The people of Daqi have become visibly wealthy, and their army is strong and well-equipped to handle any war.
Meanwhile, in the city lord's mansion of Sishui City in the North, Yuwen Kun was sitting in the garden, with dozens of young girls standing in front of him.
"Lord City Lord, these are the newly found young girls, what do you think..."
Beside Yuwen Kun, the steward of the city lord's mansion was obsequious.
Everyone in Sishui City knows that the city lord has a white moonlight in his heart, but that white moonlight is not an ordinary woman, but the Empress of Daqi.
If it were an ordinary woman, she could have been snatched away, but this person's status and position were extraordinary, and Sishui City was simply no match for the Great Qi.
Yuwen Kun knew this well, but he could not give up his thoughts, so he ordered people to search everywhere for women who resembled Lin Yuesha.
For years, Yuwen Kun lived in constant disappointment. He often locked himself in his room, making lanterns and looking at Lin Yuesha's portrait to console himself for his longing.
There were maids in the city lord's mansion who wanted to climb into his bed, but none of them succeeded. Instead, they were executed. Over time, no one dared to do so anymore.
“Raise your head.”
Yuwen Kun remained expressionless and cold, inwardly feeling extremely ironic; he realized that finding a replacement was indeed so difficult.
At the command, the girls looked up, their bodies trembling. Among these trembling girls, only one girl had a calm gaze and looked directly at Yuwen Kun.
"Come out here. What's your name?"
Yuwen Kun pointed at the composed girl. This girl's appearance had no resemblance to Lin Yuesha. He guessed that she was someone his subordinates had brought in to fill in the gaps in their mission, fearing punishment for failing to complete it.
The girl's eyes reminded Yuwen Kun of a few years ago.
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