Besides ordinary people, bookstore owners and storytelling authors were also keeping a close eye on the competition. On the first day of the competition, they immediately received a list of all the storytelling authors participating from various bookstores. Of course, this list also included some private authors, but they paid no attention to those. Most private authors were those who couldn't secure contracts with bookstores but wanted to achieve a good ranking in the competition so they could be noticed by the bookstores after the competition.
In previous years, few private storytelling authors achieved good results. Everyone ignored them and focused on the lists of various bookstores. After a quick glance, they found that all the well-known names they remembered were participating. Yizhi Haitang, a recent favorite, also participated.
"Who is this person?" someone asked, pointing to one of the names.
This time, Taohua Bookstore had fewer participants than in previous years, only four: Beishan and Mu Rufeng, both veteran authors whose works had always been in the top ten. Today, they added a new author, Haitang, and another person named "Mo Ci Zui." I'd never heard of him before.
"Could it be that it's newly signed by Taohua Bookstore?"
"Of course. They haven't published any storybooks. Taohua Bookstore is empty, so they're just throwing in the towel? Are they just using someone randomly to fool people?"
Everyone thought it was possible and sneered.
At this moment, someone interrupted. Their voice was weak and lacked much confidence, but they still stood up and spoke: "I think you should go and read the stories of Yizhi Haitang and Mo Cizui in this competition. Perhaps you will have a different opinion."
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In previous years, there weren't many people in front of the competition venue at Taohua Bookstore.
"Ah Liang, why are you reading here at Taohua Bookstore? It's not interesting. Come on, I'll take you to Liangyuan Bookstore, where you can read the novels by Gao Shan Liu Shui. Don't you love reading her novels the most?" Every novelist has his own loyal readers, and Ah Liang is one of them. Every time a novel by Gao Shan Liu Shui comes out, he sends his servant to buy it.
A Liang is sentimental and sentimental. He likes fresh and delicate writing and stories that move people. The storybook "High Mountains and Flowing Water" perfectly fits the type of storybook he wants.
This time, for the storytelling competition, he woke up early just to read the story by Gao Shan Liu Shui. He'd planned it all: for the five days of the preliminary round, he'd vote for Gao Shan Liu Shui every day. But this time, Gao Shan Liu Shui's storytelling disappointed him. The writing and the story were stiff and didn't move A Liang at all. The more he read it, the more he felt something was off. It was as if it had been written by a completely different person.
He was bewildered. Could this really be written by Gao Shan Liu Shui? He wanted to vote for Gao Shan Liu Shui, but he couldn't bring himself to write his own name. In the end, he couldn't go against his heart. Feeling depressed, he turned to other storybooks and came across a storybook called Mo Ci Zui. Almost within a few paragraphs of reading, he was surprised. If this storybook hadn't been in Taohua Bookstore, if it hadn't been signed by Mo Ci Zui, he would have really thought it was a storybook by Gao Shan Liu Shui.
It truly resembles the style of Gao Shan Liu Shui's huaben. What's going on? Is he imitating Gao Shan Liu Shui, or something else entirely? Imitation is not uncommon in huaben, but plagiarism is forbidden. The Da Sheng Dynasty had strict regulations on this. Simple imitation is difficult, and completely mimicking another person's style is even more difficult.
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