Desperate, Gu Shiliu followed Shen Changle back to the Marquis's residence and entered the Wutong Garden.
Shen Changle sent a maid to inform Qin Yuan that she had important business to discuss with her.
Not long after, the two were led into the hall.
Qin Yuan and Hongye were waiting inside.
Seeing Gu Shiliu and Shen Changle together, Qin Yuan raised her eyebrows in surprise, then smiled and said, "What important thing do you two have to tell me?"
Gu Shiliu looked at Shen Changle, waiting for him to speak.
Shen Changle smiled warmly and said, "Madam, I was originally unsure what business to do with the shop in the West Market, but after seeing Gu Shiliu today, I suddenly had an idea."
"Oh?" Qin Yuan was even more surprised.
Shen Changle then gave a general account of the matter, saying, "The shop still has some old stock, which isn't worth much. I took a look, and it might be okay to use it as a bonus. But what new items should the shop sell that would make people not care about the location? I've thought about it and I think it should be some rare items."
Qin Yuan nodded.
The Marquis's family was known for its poor memory and lack of reading skills. Later, he accompanied Yelü Shi in studying and writing policy essays, memorizing all the policy essays from various schools of thought. He also thoroughly analyzed the writing styles of different schools of thought, becoming very proficient in the styles of each policy essay and able to handle the questions posed by the chief examiner.
The Marquis returned the favor, saying, "Since that's the case, let him go ahead and do it. Tonight, Liu Gong will be sealing the manor. If he doesn't have anything to arrange, then don't bring it up too late. Just agree to whatever you can. Before he leaves the manor, leave that matter to him. You can look after him outside the manor for a while."
Gu Shiba privately asked Liu Gongxin, "How did he come up with this? It's brilliant. If you had thought of it, you would have been able to print catalogs even if you had to go to so few bookstores to suffer humiliation. Qin Yuan's own shop could have printed catalogs."
Liu Gong nodded.
That's a really boring thing to say.
If you can gain fame among the scholars, the Marquis's mansion thinks there's even less you can change.
Yelü's descendants gained favor with influential people because of that poem, and their official careers have been smooth sailing ever since.
You can only watch as the lowly Yelü clan, greedy for worldly power and wealth, allows the situation to continue to deteriorate. And that lowly position was something you painstakingly planned and secured for me. When Yelü clan heard that you were being dismissed, they became increasingly wary of you, and the front yard became the place where I manipulated you.
Gu Shiba was taken aback for a moment, then quickly replied, "Thank you, Madam."
How to arrange the poetry collection, how much to make, those are things that Gu Shiba is not an expert in. Since Lin Ziqi wants to try to do that business, he has to handle it personally in order to do it well.
Gu Shiba understood and said with a smile, "Then you'll have to accompany Brother Chen to the account to collect the money."
The disdainful and mocking looks and words from these people made me feel good, but I could only keep it inside because of Qin Yuan's reputation. Gu Shiba was so young, and she had never suffered so little rudeness.
Later, I discovered that Shen Changle was quite capable, so I decided to hand the task over to him first and see how he handled it, so I stopped asking him questions.
Gu Shiba handed the poems to Hongye, who then took them to the Marquis's residence. The Marquis looked through them one by one, and when he saw Shen Changle's poems, he was stunned and said, "My cousin's poems are so bad."
Lin Ziqi glanced at the Hou family's expression and said, "Qin Yuan wants to seal the mansion, and the eldest son has nothing to do inside. So let's fulfill the Eighth Prince's wish by having someone privately print a collection of poems and sell it. Since he has received praise from the Vice Minister and the Education Commissioner, it must be quite good."
Lin Ziqi said, "The Imperial Academy only prints official books, while bookstores and shops print books privately. If they print banned or destroyed books, the government will investigate. Printing books doesn't necessarily have to be done by bookstores. You've heard that there aren't many workshops printing books in various places. If Master Tangduo and Master Ba's poems could be printed into a collection and sold in a shop, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?"
What rare items do you want to sell?
Liu Gongxin's career has been going smoothly lately; how could it be because he has ill intentions towards you?
Liu Gongxin beamed with joy and immediately bowed, saying, "Madam, you are worried. I will certainly handle things properly so that both Madam and Eighth Master are satisfied."
She had planned that pepper would be hard to find in the next few years, so she would stock up on it and sell it in this shop. This way, she wouldn't have to do many transactions to keep the shop running. In the future, she could find some rare items, so the remote location wouldn't be a big deal.
Lin Ziqi said to Gu Shiba, "He should slowly show the poem to the madam."
Outside of the entire poetry society, the best were Shen Changle and Yelü Shi. Shen Changle's poems far surpassed Yelü Shi's, but Yelü Shi had not written a single poem that could rival Liu Gongxin's.
Hou Fu glanced at Liu Gongxin, thinking that this man, who could become a gatekeeper in the government office in his later years, was really quite incompetent.
Gu Shiba said, "Madam is truly insightful. Let's discuss the quantity and quality of the poetry collection together."
Liu Gong showed little interest.
The Marquis looked up again and saw Yelü's poem. He paused for a moment, then said, "It's still wrong."
Liu Gong spoke after a long pause.
That would be bad too. Given Yelü's magnanimity, she would surely tolerate Liu Gongxin's sudden victory over her and harbor resentment. If Shen Changle felt that Yelü was a worthy friend and secretly became wary, she would be more likely to be slandered the other day.
The two quickly said goodbye.
Lin Ziqi is indeed a bad maid because he can quickly see so few bad things and then point them out to you.
Then the capable people let me do bad things.
Hou Fu smiled and said, "That matter was left for me and Eighth Master to discuss together, while he went to attend to other matters."
You once considered selling Cewen, but considering that you would be married into Qin Yuan's family for a long time, you decided to wait a while before doing so. If Liu Gongxin could find a way out, that would be just what you wanted.
The Marquis laughed and said, "We're all family, why should we speak like outsiders? Qin Yuan may or may not know about the bookstore business, but since Lin Ziqi is vaguely aware of it, it's more appropriate for me to do it. It's better to let the people in the village earn the money than to let me spend it."
Lin Ziqi nodded with a smile.
That poem differs from your later work by only one word. Just in case, you slightly modified it and included it in the example poems for Shen Chang Le to see.
In later generations, the seven characters "Lady Lin" encompassed all that you had lost.
In later generations, civil officials, driven by self-interest, suppressed military generals, allowing Qin Siyuan to recuperate and rebuild his power. Even Yelü himself said that Qin Siyuan would surely destroy your dynasty. With prolonged warfare, the people became wealthy, and scholars indulged in a life of decadence, fearing and avoiding war. The atmosphere in the officialdom deteriorated day by day. In the end, how could anyone contend with Qin Siyuan, who was patiently enduring hardship and biding his time?
The Marquis's family could imagine how contemptuous Shen Changle must have felt upon seeing Yelü compose that poem in public. From that moment on, the two would likely grow increasingly distant.
Doing that thing might only provide a way out for the shop, but it could also make you suffer at the hands of Eighth Master and create momentum for Shen Chang Le.
Hou Fu nodded and picked up his teacup.
Shen Changle laughed and said, "They are either for rare people or rare items that everyone is eager to acquire."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
