Writing is not something you can just do on a whim. Yang Cui also needs to come up with ideas and pay extra attention to the background setting, otherwise it would be terrible if it caused trouble.
After racking her brains for several days, Yang Cui gradually came to a conclusion. Reflecting on her own experiences, she deeply felt the hardships women faced, and thus she thought of Dou E!
"The Tragedy of Dou E," a story that moved heaven and earth, is a landmark of the maturity of ancient tragedy and a model work of ancient tragedy. Dou E's life experiences fully reflect the darkness of society at that time, the common misfortune of the people, and especially the misfortune of women.
The more Yang Cui thought about it, the more she felt that bringing Dou E to the stage was a good idea.
She spent five days writing down the story based on her memories, using a quill pen she made herself. Of course, she used plain language throughout, and she didn't use any fancy classical Chinese.
"Brother Cen, I've written a script. Could you take a look and see if there's anything that's too sensitive?"
Cen Xiao took the stack of papers and flipped through them one by one. He knew that Yang Cui must have some skills in this area since she dared to negotiate with Ren Donghui. So he wasn't too surprised to see the work now.
"I'm going to sell this to opera troupes or print shops. Will that cause any problems?"
"No, the story is very interesting." Although Cen Xiao was a rough and uncultured man, he could still tell whether a story was good or not, and whether there was anything inappropriate in the content.
Upon hearing this, Yang Cui was immediately relieved.
"Then I'll go to the city to find him tomorrow."
“I suggest you sell it to the Xile Troupe at a fixed price. You have no relation to the Xile Troupe or Ren Donghui and know nothing about them. If you take 10% of the ticket revenue, it will be difficult to determine how many tickets the Xile Troupe sold in a day. The Xile Troupe has many actors now. If they go to perform in other counties, it will be even more difficult for you to determine how many tickets they sold. Furthermore, you are, after all, a woman. Frequently going to and from the opera troupe will not be good for your and your children’s reputation.”
Yang Cui suddenly understood.
If the play becomes a hit, it sounds like a 10% share of the ticket revenue would be more worthwhile. However, if the Joyful Troupe were to falsify their accounts, it would be really difficult for them to investigate. In this respect, ancient times were not as convenient as modern times.
"You're right. I'll sell it for a fixed price then."
"When I return to the city this afternoon, I'll give him a message and ask him to go to the Star Gazing Tower tomorrow at noon."
"Thank you very much. If I make money from selling it, I'll treat you to a meal," Yang Cui said generously and without any hesitation.
"Can."
"Mom, does that mean our family is going to get rich again?" Sanya asked excitedly.
"You little money-grubber!" Yang Cui ruffled her hair and laughed. "If we can reach an agreement tomorrow, I'll buy you all gifts. Tell me, what do you all want?"
"Mom, can I eat peach shortbread?" Sanya's eyes lit up, and she couldn't help but swallow when she heard about food.
"Okay! Qiuqiu and Erya, what do you want?"
"Mother, we don't want to." Er Ya and Yuan Qiu shook their heads.
Now Er Ya is learning to do accounts from Yang Cui. San Ya doesn't know how much the family spends every day, but Er Ya does, and it pains her to see it.
When Sanya heard that her older sister and brother didn't want it, she felt a little embarrassed and disappointed, and said, "Then...then I don't want it either."
Yang Cui felt both heartened and distressed by the children's maturity, as they were being overly mature for an age when they shouldn't be.
“You all need gifts. You work so hard helping your mother with chores every day! If the business succeeds, our family won't be short of money anymore, and we can afford some peach shortbread. How about this, I'll buy you peach shortbread and make you a new set of clothes?”
"Thank you, Mother (godmother)."
——
The next day, at the Star-Gazing Tower.
Ren Donghui arrived as promised.
"Master Ren, this is the script I prepared. Please take a look."
Yang Cui got straight to the point and handed him the first part of "The Injustice to Dou E".
Ren Donghui has been looking forward to it ever since he received the news yesterday.
After a moment, Yang Cui asked, "What does Master Ren think?"
“Miss Yang, your story is indeed extraordinary. I can offer ten taels of silver.”
"That's too low. I want thirty taels. If we work together well, I'll give you priority if I have any new scripts in the future."
"That's too high, at most twelve taels, and that's already an astronomical price in the industry."
This play script didn't bring the troupe any advertising revenue; Ren Donghui felt that thirty taels was too expensive.
"Thirty taels is the lowest price. If Master Ren thinks it's not appropriate, that's fine. I'll take it to Chunxi Troupe and ask them. I was originally selling it at a fixed price, so whether I sell it to you or Chunxi Troupe, it's the same to me."
But it's different for Ren Donghui.
His troupe also had many scholars who wrote stories. Their literary talent was far superior to Yang Cui's, but most of their stories were old-fashioned tales of talented men and beautiful women. However, the stories that Yang Cui brought were novel and more relatable to the general public.
Ren Donghui pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "Thirty taels it is. I'll take this gamble and hope to have the opportunity to cooperate with Miss Yang in the future."
"I also hope that we will have the opportunity to cooperate again. In addition, I would like to ask Master Ren to keep this a secret and not to tell anyone that I provided the script. If anyone asks, just say that it was written by Guan Hanqing."
She didn't create the story; she'd already made money using someone else's story, so there was no reason for her to put her own name on it. Most importantly, Yang Cui didn't want to be too high-profile and cause trouble.
Ren Donghui immediately agreed. His quick agreement was partly due to his own selfish motives. What if everyone knew that Yang Cui was the one who provided the scripts and became famous, and then they all went to Yang Cui to buy the scripts?
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