[Red Chamber] Madam's wishes come true

The shopkeeper hurriedly asked about the situation: "Why do you all come here to buy books suddenly?"

One of them was dressed in brocade clothes, and he could tell at a glance that he came from a wealthy family. He snorted at the shopkeeper: "It's not that you, an old bastard, can't do things. Your family is going to take away the long-lost ancient books." It was published and sold, and you wouldn't say that such a good thing would be publicized in the capital with gongs and drums, but it would be finished quietly on the bookshelf, and you wouldn't even notify Master Ben... Huh, if it wasn't for Master Ben I saw "Mengxi Bi Tan" at a friend's place, but I didn't know there was a book store selling it!"

The shopkeeper was wronged: "Before these books were put on the shelves for sale, we wrote an announcement on a big piece of red paper at the gate of the book shop, and even wrote which books will be put on the shelves later. If you don't believe me, go to the door and have a look." I will know."

The young man in brocade clothes was not happy: "Even if you posted an announcement at the door of the bookstore? How about the business of your bookstore? How many people can see it posted at your door?"

The shopkeeper opened his mouth, but was speechless for a while.

However, it is a bit shameful to let people beat the gongs and drums to spread it everywhere.

They are doing elegant business, how can they do such a business behavior?Furthermore, don't look at the shopkeeper who has been heartbroken that no one bought these ancient books, but he is actually just sad that the customers have no eyes, the owner's good intentions have been let down, and the second girl of the owner will be hit after learning the truth.

But can't sell the books themselves?The shopkeeper is not sad.

These ancient books are the master's collection. If no one buys them, the master will not take out the books to print and sell them, and there will be no loss.

The young man in brocade clothes impatiently greeted the shopkeeper, and hurriedly asked, "So, do you have any more of those books?"

The shopkeeper's gaze fell on the scholar who came first.

As soon as he turned his eyes, everyone's eyes also turned in unison.

Surrounded by so many people, the scholar couldn't help shivering: "Brothers, I don't know what books you all want to buy?"

The young man in brocade clothes looked at the shopkeeper: "What's going on?"

The shopkeeper had a good impression of the scholar, and explained: "The book sales were not good before, and the scholar was worried that no one would buy the books. In the future, the owner would not take out the books in his home to print and sell them, so he spent a lot of money and wanted to sell the remaining books. All my schoolbags are round."

other people:"???!!!!"

What are you doing?

All inclusive?

Believe it or not we beat you? !

The scholar broke out in a cold sweat when others looked at him, and hurriedly said, "I haven't paid the money yet, and I already have these eight books at home. If you want them, you can actually..."

"I want it!" The young man in brocade clothes said quickly, "What kind of books do you have here, give me one of each!"

Not to be outdone, the others also said the title of the book they wanted.

After the scholar kept one copy of each book for himself, he returned all the rest to the shopkeeper, who then sold them to other people.

Although one or two copies were not sold out in the end, the sales volume has been excellent.

The shopkeeper said happily: "You are a scholar, attracting money. You have attracted so many customers when you first arrived at the bookstore. Remember to come and buy books in two days. It will also help our bookstore to increase its popularity!"

The scholar opened his mouth, but he still didn't deny the shopkeeper's statement——

If you want to attract money, you can attract money. If you can leave an impression on the shopkeeper, you might be able to join a team when you come to buy books in the future.

But he soon realized how naive his thinking was.

Two days later, the scholar came to the bookstore early in the morning.

He had thought that if he came so early, he would be among the top ten even if he wasn't the first customer today, so it would be absolutely no problem to buy his favorite books.

But unexpectedly, when he arrived at the door of the book shop, he found that there was already a queue outside the door of the book shop.

Scholar: "..."

Where did all these people come from?

He quickly grabbed a person and asked: "Brother, this bookstore was not doing a mediocre business before, why are there so many customers now? Are they all here before the door opens?"

The man looked the scholar from head to toe, as if he had confirmed something, he simply turned his head and didn't say a word.

Scholar: "???"

He asked a dozen more questions, and seeing that two more people were added to the end of the line during the process of his own questioning, the scholar didn't dare to delay, so he hurried to the end of the line.

As soon as he was queuing up, the person in front turned around and talked to him: "You don't even know what everyone is doing in line, so why are you here?"

The scholar smiled shyly: "I want to buy books, but the line is so long, I'm afraid I won't be able to get in if I don't line up."

The person in front was startled: "Are you also buying books? What are you buying?"

The scholar replied: "This bookstore has recently been selling lost ancient books. I have only heard the name but never read many of them, so I intend to buy them home. I bought all the last batch. The shopkeeper said that the second batch will be sold today. After reading the book list, several books are what I want, so I came here to buy them. I just didn’t expect..."

He glanced at the gate of the bookstore, "Why are there so many people queuing up all of a sudden?"

The man in front of the scholar gave him a blank look: "Of course I'm here to buy books just like you!" After speaking, he rolled his eyes, "You said before that you bought all the books in the last batch?"

The scholar was shocked that so many people came here for the ancient books. After hearing the second half of the sentence, he hurriedly pulled away his thoughts and replied: "I really bought it, and I bought two of each. One is for reading on weekdays, and the other is for reading. Collect it."

The person in front instantly grabbed the scholar's hand, and looked at him as if he saw his own mother: "Brother, I just got the news yesterday that the bookstore sells lost ancient books. When I heard the news and rushed over, All the books in the book store were sold out, so I had no choice but to buy a legal book at random. I asked the shopkeeper, but the shopkeeper asked me to wait, and only said that it would be printed and sold on the shelves next month with the new book of the next month. But it was just One day I just toss and turn, I don’t think about food and drink, how can I pay it back in a month?”

"Brother, I wonder if I can sell the set of books you have collected to me? You are just collecting it, so you can buy it next month..."

The scholar was stunned and was about to answer.

However, the guests queuing up around heard the conversation between the two, and turned their heads to look at the scholar one after another, and each of them spoke anxiously, all wanting the scholar to sell the set of books in his collection to him.

At the back, seeing more and more people wanting that set of books, some of them even started bidding.

All prices are added to the original price.

In the end, the price they offered was even double the original price.

The scholar was almost frightened into a fool, and quickly said: "It's only a month, everyone, wait a minute, I won't sell it. Of course I can make money, but if the owner of the bookshop knows that I am making a profit from it, I will not sell it." I'm afraid I'll never sell other books again. Even if you want to send money, please give it to the owner of the bookstore."

Others didn't pay attention to the other things he said.

However, the owner of the book shop will be disappointed...

In the future, it is possible that the collection of books will not be published and sold again...

Nowadays, good books are hard to find, and everyone dare not bet on this possibility.So they looked at the scholars gratefully one by one, then returned to their positions and stood quietly.

woo woo woo...

Another month to wait!

She didn't know about it until the second book was sold out within a day, and even Zhang Ying couldn't buy the second set of books.

After inquiring again, I found out that the business of Lin Family Bookstore was not doing well before, and it turned out that it was because there was no publicity.

No publicity?

Even if the smell of wine is not afraid of deep alleys, but where does the smell of wine come from shops like bookstores that are full of streets?Furthermore, even if there is a scent of wine, wouldn't it take time for the scent to dissipate?

Word-of-mouth fermentation is impossible without ten days and half a month.

Even, possibly longer.

Lin Kou deliberately went to the Lin Family Bookshop to take a look around——

After selling out this batch of ancient books, although the book store's passenger flow has increased, there are no queues.

Lin Kou deliberately parked the carriage at the door and looked out from the window of the carriage.

She was surprised and not so surprised to find that almost every guest who entered the Lin Family Bookstore would come out with at least two books in their hands.

Apparently, Lin Family Bookstore has really achieved "I have everything you want".

Lin Kou: "..."

For a book store with such a complete range of books, its previous business could only maintain a balance of income and expenditure.

It's outrageous!

Shouldn't such a bookstore have an excellent reputation and trust among literati?

If you don't know how to advertise, it's really killing you!

So when Daiyu sent her an invitation again, inviting her to the Lin family to discuss the business of ancient books, Lin Kou first approached Jia Min and asked her about her previous business methods.

Jia Min said: "You also know that the Rongguo Mansion started with military merits. My father was able to conquer Rongguo Duke without demotion because of his military merits. Although he has always wanted to change his family and let the descendants of the Jia family pass the imperial examination, it is nothing after all. In fact, most of the businesses at home are antique stores, jewelry stores, cloth shops, etc., and I have never managed a bookstore.”

She was a little embarrassed, "I'm not afraid of your jokes. What the Lin Family Bookstore was like when I took over, it's still the same now. I don't know how to run a bookstore. I really don't know what else to change."

The point is, even if she wanted to change, she didn't dare at all.

Those bookstores are the signs of the Lin family outside, and it is also because of these bookstores that the Lin family can flaunt their status as a scholarly family in the eyes of outsiders——

Others don't know that the Lin family has a rich collection of books.

Similarly, Lin Ruhai was accepted by civil servants so quickly after being admitted to Tanhua, and there were also reasons for those bookstores.

Because it is important, so dare not act rashly.

In case something goes wrong with the book shop, how can she be worthy of the ancestors of the Lin family?

Lin Kou was silent for a while, and then said, "You should at least spread the word? Find out the advantages that your bookstore has that other bookstores don't have, and make it into a catchphrase or something like that, and then spread it. I'm afraid that others will not remember the books of the Lin family. shop?"

Jia Min was taken aback: "It seems to be okay?"

Lin Kou smiled and shook his head: "I went to the Lin Family Bookstore before, and found that the bookstore is very complete, which is completely different from other bookstores that always lack one or two books. Madam can definitely use this as a publicity point , taking advantage of the popularity of the bookstore recently, let people publicize it, so that in the future, when people think of buying books, especially books in large quantities, they will immediately think of the Lin family."

Jia Min's eyes lit up immediately: "This is a good idea."

only……

Jia Min was a little strange, why did she "hate iron but not steel" about the bad business of Lin Family Bookstore?

Lin Kou saw Jia Min's doubts at a glance, and hurriedly said, "Didn't Daiyu want to print those exam papers for sale too? But I thought, those exam papers belonged to the previous dynasty, and the master is now an official. You have to dodge it a little bit, so you want to break up and reorganize the test papers and publish a book, which makes it hard for people to grasp. I will be in charge of this matter, so I also hope to make money from it, so..."

Of course, when the book store is well established, her business will follow suit.

Jia Min felt a little guilty: "I didn't do well..."

"No," Lin Kou said with a smile, "Ma'am is just worried that changing the Lin family's management method at will will affect the reputation of the book store. But now the time and place are favorable, as long as the opportunity is seized, it is entirely possible to make the Lin family book store famous of."

Jia Min nodded: "I understand, don't worry go find Daiyu, I will do well."

It's not that she doesn't know how to manage the shop, it's just that she attaches so much importance to the book shop that her hands are tied.

Lin Kou nodded, quickly said goodbye and left.

The little girls Daiyu and Xue Baochai have all arrived, and she is the only one waiting.

Seeing her coming, Daiyu happily pulled her to sit beside her: "I waited for a long time before my sister didn't come, and then I found out that you went to your mother's place, so we started discussing it first."

"What are you discussing?" Lin Kou was curious.

Daiyu was embarrassed: "The shopkeeper of the book shop came to the door earlier and said that the books that were published before have been sold out, but there are still many customers who want to buy them. I was wondering how many copies of the next batch of books will be printed."

Wang Xifeng spoke first: "Nowadays there are many scholars, so I thought about printing one thousand directly."

Xue Baochai is more conservative: "I think that there are very few people who have spare money to buy books other than imperial examinations. I have sold a hundred books before, and even if there are people who want to buy books, I am afraid that there are not many."

Yingchun and Xichun looked at each other, they felt that what they said was right, they really didn't know what to say.

Jia Tanchun put forward another idea: "Since I don't know how many people want to buy books, Sister Lin can let the people below print them batch by batch. It is still the same as last time to print one hundred copies, more Print it a few times, and when no one buys it, the loss will not be too much."

Daiyu paused: "But there is only one set of movable type, and there are other books to be printed, so it is best to print them all at once."

After speaking, she looked at Lin Kou.

Seeing Lin Kou wandering off into the sky, she hastily tugged at the corner of Lin Kou's clothes: "Sister Kou, what are you thinking?"

Lin Kou came back to his senses, and when he learned about Daiyu's problem, he directly gave a solution: "Why guess? There are very few people who can afford ancient books, so you just ask someone to post a notice saying that you will register within a certain period of time. The list of guests who want to buy books, you can print as many people as there are at that time, and you can print dozens more copies at most just in case. In order to prevent people from making trouble, if you register your name and don’t buy it, you can also let the people in the book store Half of the book price is charged as a deposit."

In this way, won't the problem be solved?

Several little girls, including Wang Xifeng, looked at Lin Kou with admiration.

Lin Kou laughed: "It's just some small tricks, it's not worth taking seriously. That is to say, Daiyu gave you very little time to think, otherwise, with your intelligence, it will be a matter of time before you come up with this method."

After all, none of these girls is stupid.

After finishing speaking, Lin Kou turned to look at Daiyu: "Besides this question, are there other questions?"

Daiyu thought for a while, then nodded, "There are still exam papers."

As soon as these words came out, Lin Kou keenly noticed the expressions of disapproval from the other little girls.

She turned her head to look: "Is there a problem?"

Tanchun and Baochai looked at each other, and then Tanchun said, "Sister Lin printed and sold the collection of books, and wanted to let more people see it. This is good for both the scholars and the Lin family."

"Scholars can rely on those books to broaden their horizons and accumulate knowledge," Baochai nodded, "The Lin family can also gain fame through this. This is a win-win situation. I'm not afraid of your jokes. Even if my family falls to this point, I will let people buy it I read two books I was interested in and went home, thinking that whether I stay in Xue's house or take away to marry, it will be excellent, and I am very grateful to Sister Lin for this."

"But if you print out the examination papers collected by the Lin family and sell them..."

Yingchun asked softly: "A few young cousins ​​from the Lin family will take the imperial examination in the future. Compared with other candidates, wouldn't they have no advantage? They could rely on the examination papers collected by the Lin family to compare with other candidates..."

She glanced at Daiyu cautiously, then quickly lowered her head.

Xichun has a completely different opinion from them: "Sister Lin is so smart, and Brother Shan is not far behind. With Sister Lin's talent, even if she is the number one in the exam, it is okay. Does Brother Shan not even have one?" Can’t even pass the Jinshi exam? You don’t have to worry about Brother Shan, you’d better listen to Sister Lin’s difficulties.”

Daiyu was a little embarrassed: "I asked my parents before, and they had no opinion."

When Baochai heard this, his eyes were slightly sad.

She thought of her father.

When his father was still there, he loved her as much as Lord Lin, and sometimes treated her better than his elder brother Xue Pan. He would only support her when he still had naive thoughts about him at that time.

It's a pity that after my father passed away...

Baochai sighed slightly in her heart, full of envy for Daiyu.

Baochai's mother and elder brother were all there, so she couldn't help but envy Daiyu, not to mention people like Yingchun and Xichun who had lost their parents, and people like Tanchun whose birth mother would only hinder her.

Even Wang Xifeng sighed because of Lin Ruhai's love for their daughter.

Lin Kou had no idea: "This is exactly what I want to tell you. Of course, the examination papers of this dynasty can be printed casually, it doesn't matter, but the examination papers of the previous dynasty can't do this. In order to avoid risks, we should print them Scramble it and reorganize it, then print it and sell it in book form, so that no one else can blame it."

"Even if you don't want to print it as a book, you should scramble the exam questions. It's better to insert some current exam papers and some exam questions you wrote yourself in the middle, so that people can't see the source of the exam questions."

Daiyu threw herself directly into Lin Kou's arms: "Sister Kou is really the roundworm in Yu'er's stomach. I was worried about this problem at home, and my sister came up with a solution."

Others also strongly agree with this method.

Lin Kou, on the other hand, couldn't help poking Daiyu's forehead: "You are the roundworm in my stomach, and you are too dirty!"

Daiyu laughed sheepishly and sat up straight.

Lin Kou said again: "Besides the exam papers that the Lin family already has, I have other ideas."

Daiyu looked over: "What do you think?"

Lin Kou explained: "Isn't the Lin family's examination papers without county and government examinations? But in fact, there are many more candidates in this part than Tongsheng, Xiucai and other famous people. I just thought that you guys are knowledgeable enough, why don't you come out yourself?" Questions to fill in the gaps in this area? Besides, those scholars who don’t know their depth and don’t know when they will take the exam, don’t they also hope to have a copy of the exam paper so that they know their level? You should also know how far you are from the next exam, right?"

"I don't know about the others, but I've watched them coldly these days. Daiyu and Miss Xue are definitely enough."

Daiyu and Baochai looked at each other, panicked by Lin Kou's words, but couldn't help feeling a bit of anticipation and joy in their hearts.

Both of them are well-educated people, but they are limited by their female status and cannot go to the end to test their knowledge. Baochai has always hated her daughter's body deeply, but Daiyu has never sighed like this, but it may not be because of the limitation of female status. Pity.

And now, they found another way to prove themselves.

Questions for readers!

Lin Kou said again: "When the time comes, you all have to think of a name to use for the questions, and I'll let my husband also come up with some questions. He also had a certain reputation in the south of the Yangtze River back then. The names of eight-year-old boy and ten-year-old scholar are still acceptable. If you’re bluffing, you won’t have to worry about no one buying it.”

Daiyu and Baochai cheered up immediately.

Lin Kou looked at the two of them: "Ugly words first, I came up with this idea, and I definitely want to share part of the profits. You can also get paid according to the proportion of the questions you write. The remuneration is negotiated, and the questions will be set later, so as to avoid problems and conflicts in the later stage."

"Also, those test papers should also be classified according to the provincial test, general test, and palace test, so those who are interested will not spend more money on unnecessary ones."

"I also plan to carefully select some difficult or important exam questions based on the exam papers collected by the Lin family, and then publish a "Five-Year General Examination and Three-Year Rural Examination"..."

Daiyu was curious: "It's just the general examination and the rural examination? What about the palace examination and the courtyard examination?"

Lin Kou paused: "Actually, we can also publish another book like "Compilation of Palace Examination Questions" and "Five-Year Court Examination and Three-Year Government Examination"..."

Anyway, it's not me who is doing the problem.