The original name of Shen Cui's storybook was "Xiu Xian Ji", and the heroine's name was Yanzhi.
Later, after Cui Wuniang's suggestion, the title of the book was changed to "Rouge's Cultivation Story".
The title of the book directly tells everyone that this is a story about a woman's cultivation of immortality.
If you don't like this story, there is no need to buy the book. There is no going back and you have to go back to the bookstore to return it. Cui Wuniang has been running the bookstore for many years and has met all kinds of strange customers. From time to time, someone would come to return the book because they didn't like the one they bought.
No wonder Cui Wuniang told her not to worry about publishing. She started with printing on movable type plates, which was definitely a big deal.
Chen Cui combined the knowledge that Cui Wuniang taught Sun Ruowei last time and made a rough calculation in her mind.
Since only 100 copies have been printed so far, even if they are all sold out, the most we can do is just break even.
Only when this batch is sold out and we can reprint it to spread the cost, can we make a profit.
Within a few days, "Rouge's Cultivation Story" was officially on sale at Cui's Bookstore!
Nowadays, there is no special ceremony for the sale of new books. People just write a notice and post it at the door of the bookstore, stating that a certain book has arrived.
When Shen Cui discussed publishing matters with Cui Wuniang, they agreed not to mention this matter to the young men in the academy for the time being.
If it is mentioned, they will definitely keep it in mind, and may even have to take on tasks such as helping with manuscript editing, illustrations, and publicity.
After all, the provincial examination would be held in a year, and Chen Cui didn't want them to be distracted at this time.
So even though she was worried, she didn't show it in front of the boys. She went to Cui's Bookstore in person when she had nothing to do during the day.
The layout of Cuijia Bookstore is somewhat similar to that of later libraries, with various areas clearly divided and several display cabinets in each area.
However, books are valuable things in this era, so each area will be equipped with several assistants to prevent anyone from being dishonest or damaging or dirtying the books.
As soon as Shen Cui entered the bookstore, a clerk came up to greet her, "Madam, what would you like to read? You look so young, so I guess your children are not very old. The enlightenment books are on the left."
Isn’t it said that Cui Wuniang is very capable? Being an ordinary clerk in a bookstore, you will feel comfortable greeting people.
Chen Cui couldn't help but curl her lips, "My child is already grown up, and has long passed the age of enlightenment. I came here to read the storybook."
The guy responded by stroking his waist and leading her to the right.
Because the book cover was a very eye-catching pomegranate red, and Cui Wuniang had placed it in a very conspicuous position, Chen Cui saw it as soon as she turned around.
Unfortunately, the display case of "Rouge's Cultivation to Immortality" was still piled high, and no one stopped in front of the case.
In contrast, there were at least three or five people stopping in front of other booths.
This was a bit of a difficult situation. Shen Cui paused for a moment, thinking, why not buy a few books herself? It will also save Cui Wu Niang from losing too much.
She bought it as a souvenir and could also give a set back to her parents' home.
Although Zheng and Mr. Shen could not read many words, if they knew it was written by her, they would definitely treasure it like a treasure and keep it carefully.
She was still thinking, when the waiter introduced it to her attentively: "Madam, you have good taste. This "Rouge's Immortal Cultivation Record" is unique to our bookstore and is not available anywhere else..."
Just as the waiter was talking about this, someone nearby laughed out loud and said, "This booklet is specially published for women. It's really hilarious. Aren't there jokes here that can only be found here but nowhere else?"
Shen Cui turned her head and saw that the person who was speaking was a young man in his early twenties, and there were several companions of similar age around him.
As soon as he said that, some of his companions also laughed and said, "That's right, a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent. For a young lady from a wealthy family, it is enough for her to be able to read and write and read the Four Books for Women."
"I thought it was not a good idea for the Cui family to let a woman run the family, but in recent years, the Cui family's business has been getting better and better. I was still wondering... Now, you see, it really is not a good idea for a woman to run the family! How much money will they lose!"
As they talked, a man who they had never met before chimed in, "Brothers, you don't know, right? This is nothing new. I heard that the wife of our current academician is doing something outrageous... She actually wants to establish a girls' school in Linnan Prefecture!"
After all, the wife of the academician was an official's wife, so it was inconvenient for the others to continue the discussion, but they all sneered at the same time.
When the sounds of their voices and laughter reached Shen Cui's ears, she became a little unhappy.
Just as he was about to refute the other party, someone else laughed and said, "They are open for business. They have male customers, so they are not allowed to have female customers? The owner is willing to do business with female customers. You guys should just worry about it first."
Chen Cui looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman who was dressed very decently. She looked a few years older than her and was accompanied by servants. The waiter who served her was holding several sets of "Three Hundred Thousand" in his hands. It seemed that she was buying books for the younger generation in her family who had just been enlightened.
These men felt somewhat humiliated when they were refuted by a woman like her.
"What do you know, woman? We are regular customers of this bookstore. We are worried that they will lose money. What's wrong with chatting for a while?"
"That's right. What did we say wrong? No one would buy this book anyway."
"Who said no one wants to buy it?" The woman glanced at the waiter next to her and said, "I want to buy ten sets. Pack them for me."
The waiter responded cheerfully, called other waiters to help, and held ten sets in his hands.
Compared with her lavish spending, these old customers who talked a lot and claimed that they were wholeheartedly doing the best for Cui's Bookstore have not spent a penny yet.
"We can't interfere with the affairs of rich families. After they bought it, the treatment of the book did not change. It just moved to a new place to collect dust."
"That's right. I don't believe that other than this angry, stupid woman, anyone else would buy this kind of thing..."
Shen Cui said, "Why are there no more? I am also going to buy three sets."
The waiter beside her was asked by the waiter beside the woman to help, so she took three sets of food and went to the counter to pay.
After paying the bill, Chen Cui ignored those chattering people and left the bookstore.
At the door of the bookstore, she met the woman again.
The woman looked at her with admiration and smiled and nodded at her, which was probably the kind of admiration that comes from meeting someone who shares the same interests.
Chen Cui smiled back, and the woman's carriage came over from behind, and the two separated.
The next day, Cui Wuniang wrote a letter asking Chen Cui not to worry about the sales.
If it doesn't sell well, it's because of her incompetence, and has nothing to do with the author Shen Cui.
She was also confident that she could sell well, but since she was trying something new, she needed some time to figure it out.
The letter came so quickly, and Chen Cui was coherent from beginning to end, so she guessed that the waiter must have reported what happened the day before to Cui Wuniang.
As soon as she described her appearance, Cui Wuniang knew that she had been there.
But since Cui Wuniang said so, Shen Cui also started to worry about it, as if she didn't believe her.
…………
In August, Cui Fei and Sun Ruowei got married.
Of course, everyone from Cuiwei Academy was among the guests, as well as some close classmates from the provincial school and relatives of the Cui and Sun families.
This was the first teenager in the academy to get married. Mu Erpang and Mei Ruochu prepared for half a year and worked together to make a gift - each of them wrote a calligraphy painting with blessing words such as "a happy marriage for a hundred years" and "harmony between the piano and the zither".
For this reason, they have been practicing calligraphy and painting extremely seriously in the past six months. The level of their calligraphy and painting is far beyond their usual level. Moreover, it was carefully designed by Mei Ruochu, so when the calligraphy and paintings of several people are hung together, they can be connected and are particularly harmonious.
The gift is small but the sentiment is great.
Since the headmaster Chen Cui couldn't come up with something so elegant, he was more practical and gave a red envelope of twenty taels as a gift.
Later, on the day of their wedding, Cuiwei and her group went to Cui's house early in the morning to attend the wedding banquet.
Cui Fei has now completely lost weight, weighing around 75kg, and is only slightly stronger than an average person.
He was wearing a bright red wedding gown and looked particularly energetic. He followed Mr. Cui to greet guests at the door.
When Shen Cui and the others arrived, Cui Fei smiled even more happily and personally took them in to sit down.
Chen Cui waved her hand and refused to let him go. "Your sister specially asked A Yao to come over to take care of us. You, the groom, can go and welcome the guests. We will find a seat ourselves."
As they were talking, Cui Wuniang's personal maid came out of the mansion, also coming to greet them on Cui Wuniang's orders.
Later, led by the maid and A Yao, Shen Cui and the others entered Cui's mansion.
The Cui Mansion was much larger than Cuiwei's three-courtyard house. It took the group nearly a quarter of an hour to reach the banquet hall for guests.
There are two banquet halls, one for male guests and the other for female guests.
Chen Cui and Mu Erpang separated. Mu Erpang deliberately lagged behind Mei Ruochu and the others by half a step. Before he opened his mouth, Chen Cui understood and said, "Ayao is here, and Wu Niang's maid is also here. I will eat more and drink less, and I can take care of myself."
Mu Erpang smiled and said, "I didn't say anything. How can mother make me sound like a housekeeper?"
Shen Cui looked at him with a smile, and the mother and son separated temporarily.
The maid led Shen Cui to the banquet hall where the female guests were and took her to sit at the main table.
The main table was occupied by the closest relatives of the Cui and Sun families.
However, Chen Cui had only come into contact with Cui Wuniang, so she didn't recognize anyone. After sitting down, she did as she had just said and quietly picked up the melon seeds on the table and ate them.
In the banquet hall, many people said they were relatives, but in fact they only saw each other a few times throughout the year. After meeting, they first exchanged pleasantries, praised each other's clothes and jewelry or the promising children in their families, and then started chatting about random topics.
Chen Cui was eating melon seeds while listening to people chatting about their daily lives, and soon she even heard others talking about her own storybook.
"Have you read the recent "Rouge Immortal Cultivation Story"? "
"Does the name sound like a storybook? I don't read those. They're all about scholar ladies, scholar courtesans, scholar fox fairies... It's as if the only men left in the world are scholars."
Chen Cui silently agreed in her heart, those were indeed meaningless - although she herself was a person who trained scholars, which scholar with a truly pure mind would spend the whole day thinking about having affairs with young ladies and courtesans? There is no time to study hard!
"This one is different! It's about a girl named Yanzhi, whose family fell into poverty, and her fiancé broke up with her and wanted to marry someone else."
"Oh, so that's the story of Wang Baochuan who waited in the cold kiln for eighteen years?"
"That's not it! I've already said this is different from the others. After Yanzhi found out that her fiancé had changed his mind, she agreed to cancel the engagement. As a result, she encountered an opportunity and began her journey of cultivating immortals. Later, she met many people, including a brilliant immortal genius, a chivalrous heroine, and a wounded fairy... But they were all comrades-in-arms and allies. She was pursuing immortality, and there was no description of love. It was also because of this that my grandmother took away the storybook. You know her, she is the most polite person. I was going to be severely punished, but I didn't expect that she not only didn't punish me, but also praised me, and turned around and gave the storybook to my fourth sister..."
The people at the main table were all relatives, and everyone knew more or less about each other's affairs. Only Chen Cui was a stranger.
But she just ate quietly, without looking around or talking nonsense. The Cui family treated her as a close relative of the Sun family, and the Sun family treated her as a close relative of the Cui family, so they didn't avoid her when talking.
So Chen Cui soon found out that the fourth sister of the round-faced woman who was selling "Rouge's Cultivation Story" was divorced by her husband's family because she had no children after many years of marriage. Before rumors started, her family members didn't treat her harshly, but she couldn't stand it anymore and refused to eat or drink after returning to her parents' home.
The story of "Rouge's Cultivation to Immortality" is an upgrade-oriented novel with only one main theme: a woman can live without a man, and maybe even live a better life!
The power of books is subtle and sometimes more effective than any direct preaching.
After reading it, her fourth sister felt much better than before, but now she was no longer worried about being divorced, but when there would be a sequel.
"Is it really that beautiful? Where did you buy it?"
"It was sold at Cui's Bookstore. Ruo Wei gave it to me not long ago."
With the woman's hard work in promoting the product, many female customers were interested.
But soon the round-faced woman began to look worried as she spoke, "I've never heard of this Fangcaoke, and I don't know much about him. But it says on the book jacket, 'Three years to sharpen a sword', so I'm afraid I'll have to wait another three years for the sequel."
The pain of readers who follow the latest updates has been the same since ancient times.
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