Chapter 1031: Publishing a Book

Approaching the end of the year, Bianjing city became lively. People were preparing New Year's goods, and they had to eat and use something good at the end of the year. On the streets, various vendors were hawking, and people were rubbing shoulders—it was truly prosperous.

The scholars who traveled far to the capital to take the examinations, although they couldn't reunite with their relatives at home, were all traveling with various friends. After all, the outstanding scholars from all over the country were all here, and making friends was a basic quality required for scholars, so they didn't feel lonely. Being in the same boat, everyone comforted each other.

Scholars shopping, nothing more than looking at girls, tasting food, and then browsing calligraphy and painting shops, brush, ink, paper, and inkstone shops, etc.

A group of scholars walked further and further away, and finally discovered two adjacent shops in the corner of the market. One was named "Wang's Incense Shop," and the other was named "Three Flavors Bookstore."

These two shops were two extremes. A pile of carriages was parked at the entrance of the incense shop, some of which looked like noble ladies, and some were nannies and maids from wealthy families. They were queuing up, buzzing, and had to announce their names. Whoever had a high family status naturally had to queue in front, and the practice of flattering the high and trampling the low was severe.

The scholars approached and asked, only to learn that it was actually a business researched by the famous Wang Ziyan, specifically sold to nobles. Things inside were casually tens of strings of cash, or even hundreds or thousands, and there were even "New Year limited editions," etc., which they didn't understand but felt were impressive.

Hearing that the Three Flavors Bookstore next door was also opened by Wang Ziyan in the capital, a group of scholars walked into the bookstore.

As for the bookstore, there wasn't much difference. In the quite spacious area, there were just a few rows of large bookshelves and a low table piled with a stack of books. There was also a counter displaying brush, ink, paper, and inkstone of various grades and models. All of them had small bamboo slips attached, marking the prices.

And beside the bookshelves, there were more than ten tables and chairs left vacant, all wiped clean. The room was filled with the smell of oil ink and burning incense. Taking a deep breath was truly refreshing.

There was only an old shopkeeper in the store, and three half-grown children, each holding a book and reading it to themselves. Seeing their group of scholars enter, he didn't have any special expression, just raised his head, smiled friendly, and continued to read his own book.

Their appearance made the scholars very happy; it was better to be quiet. Moreover, selling books, although it was selling, was also an elegant thing, so it wouldn't do to shout about which book was on sale, which was too unseemly.

It was quite good as it was now; they could come in and look around quietly. If they happened to take a liking to a book but were short on funds, they wouldn't be put on the spot by the shopkeeper's flattery and lose face. If they found something they liked and had enough money, then it would be sold. If not, they could just browse for a while and then leave.

They all saw the clean tables and chairs at the very back, and knew with a turn of their brains that they were for people to read books, and there were brush, ink, paper, and inkstone on the tables. Although Wang Ziyan was a bit too impressive, he was indeed one of us. Ziyan understands me...

A group of people, holding this recognition and satisfaction with Wang Impressive, looked around silently.

Some flipped through books at will, looking at the various prices of books with different degrees of exquisite printing. Some went to the table side, fiddling with the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and were surprised to find that these consumables, which looked like they were for free use, were actually top-tier products. They couldn't help but have a better evaluation of Wang Yan by three points, because he was generous enough.

Little did they know that selling a bottle of perfume from the incense shop next door was enough for people to use these brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for half a year...

One scholar didn't go straight inside to look like the others, but picked up a book from a stack on a low table at the entrance.

He frowned at the title on the cover, "Wang Yan Says," three dragon-flying and phoenix-dancing big characters, which truly blinded his eyes.

The scholar confirmed it carefully, then opened the cover and entered the preface. That was the original intention Wang Yan wrote for this book, the whole text was sincere and humble, inviting scholars to discover problems, solve problems, and perfect this school of learning together, thousands of words.

Turning to the main text, the opening was quite domineering: "The heaven and earth..." directly discussing the universe and man, the opening was direct, crisp, and grand.

The scholar's hands were trembling, not for anything else, but because Wang Yan was too impressive. He had seen Wang Yan many times, and every time he watched Wang Yan lecturing on the stage and debating with people. But he hadn't expected that Wang Yan had even started publishing books. Before, everyone could comfort themselves, although they were far inferior to Wang Yan, they were still peers taking the same examinations.

Now Wang Yan was publishing books, even if it was published by his own shop, it could certainly be sold. There was no way, Wang Yan's reputation was too big. In fact, as far as he knew, Wang Yan really had some followers, although not many, but there were. Every time Wang Yan promoted his school of thought outside, there were people recording it. It looked like Confucius, and it looked like he was going to make an "Analects."

He didn't expect that Wang Yan actually published the book himself, which actually lacked prestige. After all, real bigwigs were organized and compiled by disciples and followers, and then made into books.

But he didn't think too much, just stood there and read it.

He read it for a long time, until his companions patted him, and then he came back to his senses.

"Wang Ziyan is truly extraordinary."

"Why do you say that?"

The scholar didn't answer, just pointed at the title with his sword finger, then turned and walked toward the counter: "May I ask the shopkeeper, how much is this 'Wang Yan Says'?"

The shopkeeper responded with a smile: "Ninety-nine wen."

"A bit expensive."

"This book is printed with movable type. Although the paper and ink are not top-tier, they are not bad, and the font molds are all written in regular script by the owner himself. This pricing is already the owner's sincerity. The owner told me long ago that this Three Flavors Bookstore doesn't seek to make money, as long as it doesn't lose money. The cost of the shop, the cost of the four of us to support our families, and the cost of printing are all in these ninety-nine wen. Young Master, please forgive me."

"That's true, then buy one." The scholar started digging for money from his pocket.

The shopkeeper took the money with a smile, recorded the account, and then turned to take a small box from the cabinet, and said to the confused scholar: "The owner's book was sent over today, and you are the first person to buy the book. The owner said long ago that this is a great fate, so he prepared a gift for you."

"Handwritten?"

"Only this one!" The shopkeeper nodded with a smile.

The scholar opened the gift box with trembling hands, found a paper fan wrapped in velvet inside a small box, opened it and looked at the dragon-flying and phoenix-dancing cursive script, finally signed by Wang Yan, stamped with a seal, and even wrote down the reason.

It was no wonder the scholar was excited, because this was money.

At this time, the other scholars who had scattered also heard his exclamation and walked over. After understanding what happened, knowing that only the first person had it, the others could only envy, be jealous, and hate, and each bought one, planning to flip through it when they went back.

Unsurprisingly, at the end of the eighth year of Qingli, the hottest event in Bianjing city was that Wang Yan published a book. An even hotter event was that the first person to buy the book received a handwritten paper fan from Wang Yan. It was even heard that someone wanted to pay ten thousand strings of cash to buy it, but was refused.

In short, all kinds of news were messy, but "Wang Yan Says," written by Wang Yan himself, truly became popular. The ten thousand copies prepared early were sold out in less than three days. It was also within this time that the same books appeared one after another in other bookstores. Some were like defective products, and some were still quite exquisite.

However, there was no shop that sold books of better quality than the Three Flavors Bookstore. This was not a technical problem, but everyone tacitly agreed not to find trouble with Wang Yan. Of course, they were also afraid that Wang Yan would find trouble with them. After all, Wang Yan was young, had a great reputation now, and even published a book. Even if he couldn't pass the imperial examinations, his disciples would be there in the future, and he would still find them to take revenge, right?

In fact, Wang Yan was happy to see this situation, because it could help him promote. His money was really not much, and he couldn't spread it to other regions. Having so many pirated books was very conducive to the spread of his thoughts; what he wanted was this kind of influence. Although he didn't receive royalties, nor did he receive royalties...

His own family background had all been spent on opening businesses in the capital this time. The shops for both the bookstore and the incense shop were all bought in full. The location was remote, and the space was large, based on the principle that "good wine is not afraid of deep alleys." Of course, if possible, he also hoped to open businesses in prosperous places.

The incense shop's business was very good, and he had earned all the business of the wealthy in Yangzhou. But his family background was too thin, his accumulation was not thick, and the scale of his business was constantly expanding, costing a lot.

His caravan had now expanded to more than two hundred people, half for each of the north and south caravans. They were all strong men, and the treatment was very good. A considerable part of the profit from each trip was invested in manpower. The remaining part was to establish branches in various places and continue to recruit strong men.

Besides that, he had also started doing business related to people's livelihood such as grain, which belonged to thin profits but stable, and required increased investment to expand.

So the liquid funds in his hands were actually not much, and they were constantly being invested in the development of various aspects. All the needs in the capital this time were borrowed from the Sheng family's big house. This was the benefit of having a wealthy father-in-law; when you need it, you really use it. Of course, the premise was that he, Wang Mou, was impressive enough himself.

Sheng Hong basically responded to every request for Wang Yan. His precious son-in-law came to the capital, and he was not comfortable staying in Yangzhou, eating poorly and sleeping poorly, fearing that Wang Yan would be abducted by others to be a son-in-law.

Even though Wang Yan had already started the marriage procedures with Hualan, and it was just a step away from returning to get married, Sheng Hong was also very worried; after all, this matter was not guaranteed.

If Wang Yan were really shameless and found a new father-in-law with more power, the Sheng family could only swallow their teeth and swallow them into their stomachs.

This kind of thing was just Sheng Hong scaring himself, because once he did that, Wang Yan would basically be finished. Clinging to the powerful and not keeping promises—these two points would negate him as a person.

It's like corruption cannot be put on the table, and when facing the outside, one must hold the flag high. Clinging to the powerful can be done, but it cannot be admitted. Promises can be broken, but they cannot be known by others.

Wang Yan couldn't do either of these two points, because his reputation was too big. Moreover, there was a love story with Hualan that was sung by people. By then, men and women in the world, rich or poor, cultured or uncultured, would all look down on him, which belonged to cutting himself off from the Great Song, and he would have to run to Liao, Western Xia, or Dali to mix; there would be no place for him in the Great Song...

In short, Wang Yan had once again successfully carried out self-marketing and further expanded his influence.

After all, at this time, writing books was not as casual as it would be later, where one could just fool around with marketing and hype, add all kinds of messy titles to one's head, and become a bestseller.

Especially since what Wang Yan wrote belonged to academic theory, which was very boring. If he didn't write well, people wouldn't buy it. The first wave might be borrowing the heat, and the book sold very well, but when he compiled the second volume to further perfect the theory, no one would buy it again—it was hard to last long.

In ancient times, the New Year was not the most lively; the most lively was still the Lantern Festival, which was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

On this day, Wang Yan received many invitations. His book was sold everywhere in Bianjing, and his status was rising with the tide. After all, lecturing on the Dao and really implementing it into a book and issuing it had a huge gap for scholars. It was also a festival, and he had always had talent in poetry, so it was inevitable that he would be invited to visit brothels or participate in poetry gatherings.

It was just that he refused them all, and went to Old Bao's house with Fan Chunren and Feng Jing.

Old Bao was accompanying the Emperor to have fun in the Jingcheng and was not at home; it was Bao Yi who hosted. The food was naturally stir-fried dishes, and Old Bao's cook had also returned from further training.

Seeing Wang Yan, Bao Yi was very happy and said with a tone of complaint: "Ziyan, you kept me in the dark for so long. You actually wrote a book before the New Year, but didn't tell me, it's really..."

"It's not yet a climate; it's all the favor of everyone, why bother the elder brother to cultivate his body and nature?"

"It's thanks to you, after you changed my medicine last time, I feel more and more spirited."

"It's still the elder brother who did those things I said, otherwise how could there be such an effect? In treating illness, the most important thing is for the patient to cooperate."

"Ziyan is just too humble, you are not..."

Bao Yi shook his head and smiled, "Don't change the subject, Ziyan. I think it's a bit early for you to write a book, and my father is the same. Being too much in the limelight is not a good thing. You yourself said that if you don't pass the imperial examinations, you will have no face to see people. Since that's the case, why rush for a moment? If you really perfect your thoughts in the future, you will have disciples to do the work, why delay your time now?"

"The imperial examinations have already been prepared for to the greatest extent. If I can pass, I will pass; if I can't, I won't force it. On the contrary, the matter of writing and selling books is imminent and cannot wait any longer. It is because someone is already recording my words and deeds. However, my thoughts are also shallow; how can others understand them? If I let others record them, it is inevitable that they will add their own understanding, which may not be my original intention."

"Rather than racking my brains to correct them later, I might as well write them down myself now. It also avoids people using my name to distort my original intention and ruin my reputation."

"It seems Ziyan is not confused. My father asked me to tell you to be careful, saying that speaking and writing are different, and there are people who want to find trouble with you."

"I participated in scholar gatherings before, and many people debated, and there may not be no disciples of others. Elder brother, don't worry, I have preparations." Wang Yan waved his hand, "Let's not talk about my affairs, there are seven days left before the examination, today is the Lantern Festival, we should have a good rest. Come, come, brothers Yaofu and Dangshi..." ===== CHAPTER 1032 =====

"It seems Ziyan is not confused. My father asked me to tell you to be careful; writing and speaking are ultimately different, and there are people who want to find trouble with you."

"I have participated in many scholar gatherings before and debated with many people; it is not unlikely that there were disciples of others among them. Brother, rest assured, I am prepared." Wang Yan waved his hand, "Let's not talk about my affairs. The examination is in seven days, and today is the Lantern Festival; you should get some good rest. Come, come, brothers Yaofu and Dangshi..."