The Red Mansions

Chapter 48

In the east window, in the wing room, on that thin and bright face, the orange, soft light and the surprise between the eyebrows and eyes shine.

Jia Heng was also affected by the surprise of the young girl who showed her sharp corners like Xiaohe. Looking at the somewhat crooked characters, she said with a smile: "I can write better in the future. As the saying goes, characters are like people, and girls' characters will eventually It should be written more gracefully."

He secretly thought, if Qingwen is allowed to write her own verdict in the future, it would be interesting to think about it.

Qingwen nodded and responded, looking at the words on the paper as if they were treasures.

Jinyang Princess Palace·Attic
Drapes and curtains are spread around, and glazed palace lanterns and red candles are silently lit. In the exquisitely furnished attic, on the bank of the railing illuminated by high lanterns, a beautiful woman in palace clothes in a golden hairpin dress is half lying on a reclining chair made of huanghuali. Lifting a pair of soft and flowing eyes from the jute paper, Koudan's bright and slender hands put a piece of rice paper full of words on the small table beside her hand.

There was a bit of sadness in his tone, his red lips parted slightly, and his voice was like flying jade, he said: "Is this Linjiang fairy the opening speech of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" manuscript?"

Partitioned by a screen, the brocade-robed old man bowed and stood outside the hall, with his gray hair hanging down, and said: "Your Highness, the first time I looked back at the manuscript, it was taken away by that Mr. Jia."

Princess Jinyang seemed to frowned, and said, "Didn't you have someone copy it?"

"It's old and dull. I didn't think about copying at the time, but that Mr. Jia said that the manuscript will be delivered at the end of the month." Liu Tong, the old shopkeeper of Hanmozhai, couldn't help but bowed a little more.

The eldest princess of Jinyang stretched out her slender hand painted with Mingyan Kodan, picked up the teacup on the side, took a sip, and said: "Go get someone to remind you, if you have finished writing some manuscripts, just bring them over first, that's good." Words, when there is a good story to match, is the truth."

"Yes." Liu Tong replied.

"Put down the ledger and hand it to Shuang'er, and you go down too." Princess Jinyang said calmly.

"Goodbye old man."

Liu Tong bowed his hands, then turned and left.

"There are so many things in the past and the present, all in the jokes..." When the old man's footsteps went away, the beauty in palace clothes chuckled and murmured. Looking faintly at the dim lights in the distance, it is the Dahan Palace.

The next day, early in the morning, Jia Heng finished his breakfast just like yesterday, and then went to Wencui Pavilion of the Imperial Academy.

Just like the day before yesterday, I was on duty on the third floor, started with a cup of tea, wrote an essay, and sat for a whole day.

After lunch at noon, just waiting for a nap, Song Yuan went up to the third floor and said with a smile: "Ziyu, the wooden sign has already been made by someone, and it will be listed in the first area of ​​the third floor. Once it is done, it will be placed here first. .”

While pouring tea, Jia Heng smiled and said, "Mr. Song is bothering you."

While talking, he handed over the poured teacup.

"What's the trouble? Song Yuan waved his hand and said with a smile: "How much did Ziyu write in the back of the manuscript?Just now I went to work with the school inspector, met Zisheng, he said he would come over later, I told him, you have already written the second chapter. "

"Yesterday, I finished the third chapter, and I'm about to ask Mr. Song to be upright." Jia Heng turned around and took out the manuscript from behind the case, and handed it to Song Yuan.

"Oh?" Song Yuan quickly put down the teacup, took the manuscript, and began to read it.

Jia Heng was at the side, sipping fragrant tea, with a silent expression.

"Okay." Song Yuan put down the manuscript, praised it, looked up at Jia Heng, and said with bright eyes: "In my humble opinion, this article will be best-seller in the world. Ziyu sold it to Hanmozhai for a price... The opening is too low, if this book is like the previous one, it may be that Shenjing paper is expensive, and a book is worth a thousand gold, so I don't know."

The so-called three golden chapters, Song Yuan has finished reading three chapters at this moment, and savored it repeatedly, and feels that this book has the potential to be a big seller in the world.

Jia Heng put down the teacup and sighed: "It's a pity that we have already signed the deed. We can only negotiate the price separately depending on the specific sales situation."

Sometimes it's like this, there are no channels and connections, and you can only watch others make money.

He didn't know Song Yuan before, and he didn't know the channel of Guozijian.

While the two were talking, a clear voice came from outside, saying, "What's low?"

It was Han Hui and Yu Zhen.

The two of them seem to be inseparable from Meng, and Meng is not separated from Jiao.

When Han Hui entered the Xuan room, he first noticed the manuscript on the case, and a look of surprise appeared on his face, so he picked it up and read it.

Yu Zhen nodded with Jia Heng first, and joked with a smile: "Zi Yu, we agreed to let Zi Sheng and I have a sneak peek at the beginning, but Mr. Song got there first."

Jia Heng said with a smile: "Originally, I wanted to call the two after writing three chapters. Yesterday happened to be a meeting, and I returned in the same car with Mr. Song. When Mr. Song asked, he didn't dare to remove the broom, so I showed it to Mr. Song."

On this side, Han Hui had also finished reading the manuscript, with a look of disappointment on his face, and sighed: "Zi Yu, I probably couldn't sleep well tonight."

Jia Heng laughed and said, "Zi Sheng was joking."

Han Hui smiled and said, "I am ashamed to say that although I have read a few history books, I don't know much about "Three Kingdoms". It can attract the heat of the Three Kingdoms."

This is also the status quo of scholars, blindly studying fashion studies, thinking that they are the way to get ahead, and regarding history books, they regard them as miscellaneous books, and most of them just flip through them. Some famous allusions may also be known, but unless the book is compiled by the pavilion Readers are few.

And in the form of romance stories, it is indeed Jia Heng's first joke about history in this world.

Jia Heng's complexion paused, his eyes were deep, but he thought of a person——Cai Dongfan, whose Romance Series of General History of China processed the 5000-year official history of Huanghuang China into a story in the form of a romantic picture book.

"By the way, just now Mr. Song said that Hanmozhai's bid was low?" Han Hui asked with a frown.

On that day, he and Yu Zhen were also the witnesses who saw the first appearance of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in Hanmozhai. However, they were not familiar with Ziyu at the beginning, so it was not good to ask too much about the price.

Jia Heng smiled and said: "It's just that Mr. Song said that this book has signs of being sold well. He said that if it is engraved and printed in prison, it may be more valuable for polishing the pen."

Han Hui nodded and said, "Jianzhongfang Ke also cooperates with outside booksellers, but... By the way, what about the document? How is the document agreed? Can you take a look at the document?"

Jia Heng thought for a while, then turned around and took out the deed from the cloth bag, and said with a smile, "Brother Zisheng, please read."

Han Hui took over the deed, read it, and gradually frowned, saying: "The draft of this contract is worth two taels per round. Ziyu's manuscript is indeed cheap. If it's an ordinary newcomer, it's fair. Well, unexpectedly There is no agreement..."

I don't know if it was Liu Tong's negligence that day, or in the eyes of the old shopkeeper, it never occurred to Shenjing to dare to rely on his Hanmozhai's account, and he didn't ask for a high amount of liquidated damages.

Of course, if there was a high liquidated damages clause that day, Jia Heng would probably leave after seeing that he would be disgusted.

Song Yuan also leaned over at this time, looked at the deed, and asked in surprise: "Why didn't Hanmozhai make a deed of breach of contract?"

Jia Heng said: "At the beginning, it was considered an appointment. I will hand in a book of fifteen chapters first, and Hanmozhai paid a deposit of 50 taels. If there is a breach of contract, I will pay Hanmozhai 100 taels of compensation."

Song Yuan's eyes lit up when he heard the words, and said: "If that's the case, just give him 100 taels. If you use Jianzhongfang to engrave the edition, you only pay labor and paper costs, and sell it to the world. This book may make a profit of tens of thousands of taels. Unknown."

Song Yuan was in charge of the Wencui Pavilion of the Guozijian, undertook the printing of Chinese manuscripts in the pavilion, and even published books by some lecturers, and was familiar with the process.

Originally, I thought Hanmozhai had strong financial resources yesterday, so I could renegotiate the price, but if I renegotiate the price again, I would add a few hundred taels more at most.

Han Hui paused when he heard the words, folded the deed, and asked, "Ziyu, what are your plans?"

Jia Heng pondered for a moment, and said: "Since I have already agreed with others, it is not appropriate to repeat it again, but we can choose another opportunity to talk about it."

This is also a common example in the industry that has rules to follow... Don't talk about buying out and transferring dividends, it is still possible to renegotiate the price.

Yesterday, Mr. Song also proved this point. There is such a practice in this world.

　The second is later.

　
(End of this chapter)