Chapter 003: The Four Great Masterpieces

Chen Cao showed a smug expression on his face, then stared at Li Xiang's eyes and said: "Chen dares to be so self-proclaimed, he naturally has a certain ability, if Boss Li feels that Chen's request is not too much, Chen can give Boss Li another favor." ”

"Oh?" Li Xiang looked at Chen Cao with a curious expression and said, "I don't know how Mr. is going to give the little girl a favor?" ”

Chen Cao took a sip of the teacup, and then said in a straight voice: "Chen has nothing to do, and a new story has been conceived in his mind, Chen's new novel will inevitably become a hit, so if Boss Li decides to cooperate with Chen, this next story, Chen is willing to sell it directly to Boss Li at a price of three hundred taels of silver, of course, if Boss Li doesn't believe Chen's words, Chen promises, if this new novel can't become popular, Chen can return all the remuneration from 'Dream of Red Mansions', and Chen Mou will use it as a basis, how about it?" ”

Li Xiang stared at Chen Cao for a long time, his fair face slowly showed a smile, and said loudly: "Since Mr. is so bold, how can the little woman not agree, so let's do it, Mr. 'Dream of Red Mansions' will continue to serialize the thirty chapters in my bookstore, and the price and bonus are the same as what Mr. said, secondly, the new novel The little woman will give Mr. five hundred taels, and in terms of dividends, how about giving Mr. three percent?" ”

"Boss Li is really refreshing, so Chen agreed..."

"Boss Li, we had a good conversation today, Chen won't stay long, I'll talk about it another day and say goodbye." With that, Chen Cao stood up and walked outside.

"Xiaoxue, you go and send Mr. Xiang."

Chen Cao went out, and Xiaochun, the maid beside him, said: "Miss, this guy is so rude, he is a hereditary general, a lackey of a powerful family, how can he write such a good novel, he must have stolen a masterpiece of a certain talent and used it for his own use, otherwise, how could such a talented person hang himself." ”

"I don't think so," Li Xiang shook his head: "When people are impulsive, I heard that he was grateful that his father died in Liaodong and couldn't take revenge, so he hanged himself, and it was just human nature to figure it out later." ”

In the next ten days, Chen Cao locked himself in the dormitory every day and night, and kept copying the "Legend of the Condor Heroes", which was finally completed, and then personally sent it to Zhou Decai, of course, Li Xiang also personally received this Mr. Nalan, and when he read the first two chapters, he felt that he was still unsatisfied, so he ordered someone to give Chen Cao the promised reward.

Previously, because the serialization rights of the first thirty chapters of 'Dream of Red Mansions' were given to Shuxiangfang, and the daily update speed of Shuxiangfang was also two chapters a day, so after they finished updating, Chen Cao would continue to transcribe the later chapters to Juxianju, so that he had a few days of free time.

Later generations of scholars will be surprised to find that the original four famous works are Dream of Red Mansions, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, and Strange Tales of Liaozhai, hahaha..."

Chen Cao thought happily in his heart, and then looked at the five hundred taels of snowflake silver on the desk, and suddenly his heart blossomed, according to the purchasing power of this era, if these five hundred taels are used to live a little richer, it is enough for a family for a year.

Making money is the big thing.

I remembered that a few days ago, I asked Song Che to help me check the matter and there was no reply, so I wanted to go out and ask Song Che in person, and as soon as I walked to the gate, I saw Song Che also walking towards him.

"Shi Xiu," Chen Cao shouted, "How about it, have you found out what you asked you to help with?" ”

Song Che stepped forward and said in a straight voice: "I found it..."

Qinhuai River, one of the eight great fangs in Jinling, is in a small private room on the second floor of Yanlai Building

"Her father is Li Maohui, a jinshi in the eighth year of Wanli, because he offended Zheng Guifei and was demoted to Huguang, and in the forty-fourth year of Wanli, he was activated and transferred to Nanjing, and now he is the head of the Nanjing Military Department, and the official residence is the sixth grade." Song Che whispered in the private room.

As the saying goes, only by knowing oneself and knowing the other can one win a hundred battles, Li Xiang checked him Chen and someone cleanly, so this woman can't be unclear here.

"How old is she?"

"This year, nineteen, four years ago moved to Nanjing, in the west of the city opened this Juxian residence, specializing in selling books, the business naturally can not be compared with the east of the city, Jinling to talk about the study, second to none is naturally Donglin Bookstore, that is the industry of Mr. Mu Zhai, the head of Donglin. The business is tepid, even if it is Bai Mengsheng, it is just an entrustment relationship. ”

"Shi Xiu, I'm on duty now and I'm just going to order a little bit and leave, and now my main industry is writing novels." Chen Cao sandwiched a piece of braised beef into his mouth and ate it slowly.

"Novels?" Song Che was stunned for a moment, and then said, "Yaozhong, you didn't write Dream of Red Mansions, right?" ”

Seeing Song Che's surprised appearance, Chen Cao smiled and nodded: "It's okay to be idle, it's fun." ”

In this era, there is no such thing as a novel, only a script, so as soon as Song Che heard Chen Cao speak, he knew who wrote the Zhanghui style novel that is now popular in Jinling City: "God, Yaozhong, you and I have been friends for more than ten years, and your literary style is really not as good as me, how, how can you write such beautiful words as Dream of Red Mansions?" ”

"Wonderful, ha..."Chen Cao put down his chopsticks, stared at the painting boat outside the building and said: "Now my Chen family is also gone, although I rely on the Guogong Mansion to shade the position of Jinyi Wei Zongqi, it is also an empty shelf, and now I can't even enter the gate of the Guogong Mansion. ”

"YCIS is cautious." Song Che interrupted Chen Cao's words: "Uncle gave you this table word when he left, just to want you to glorify the lintel of the Chen family, otherwise, which one do you think took the table word before the crown?" If you are like this, if you are known by Grandpa Guo, the consequences are unpredictable. ”

"I'm rich, it's the credit of the Guogong Mansion, I'm poor, it has nothing to do with the Guogong Mansion, this world, it's not the past, Shi Xiu, if he becomes famous, I'll also get you a knighthood to play."

"You've drunk too much at YCIS..."

...

Chen Cao, who sighed about life, walked home alone, and only then did he feel that he was so lonely in this world, although money can make ghosts grind, but it can't buy a person's sincerity, when he falls into hesitation, who can get himself out of the trough.

As soon as I entered the door, I heard the cry of the underage in my house, as well as the low sigh of Chen Li, the old housekeeper Uncle Chen comforted on the side, and the old mother kept enlightening.

Seeing this, Chen Cao was a little curious: "Chen Qing, did you make a mistake again, and now let your grandmother come to be a lobbyist for you?" ”

Hearing that Chen Cao was back, Chen Qing cried louder, and the old grandmother Chen Li sighed and didn't want to say more, Chen Cao had to ask the old housekeeper Uncle Chen: "What's wrong?" ”

The old housekeeper hesitated for a long time, until he saw that Chen Cao was about to go crazy, and then he said in a hesitant voice: "Young master, you don't know, after you left in the afternoon, the Zhang family sent a servant over and said... Said to..."

"Zhang's family?" The memory in my head was integrated for a long time, and then I remembered who the Zhang family was, the servant of Zhang Tiande, the commander of the Nanjing Left Guard: "What do you want?" ”

"That little guy came to the house with a message, saying that the Zhang family is willing to pay 5,000 taels of silver, and I want the young master to hand over the marriage letter with Miss Zhang."

"Evil..."Chen Li sighed, two lines of turbid tears flowed down the trend, and the muddy accent trembled and said: "Your father died in battle, and their Zhang family will regret their marriage, these snobs, grandchildren, you must not hand over the marriage certificate, otherwise my Chen family's face will be completely lost..."

"Hey..."Chen Cao said with an indifferent expression: "What should I be, it turns out to be just that marriage book, they will give it to them if they want." ”

"I can't give it to my brother, my father finally made a marriage contract for our family before he went on the expedition, if he handed it over, my family won't even be able to raise his head in the future." Chen Qing said as she cried, her voice getting louder and louder.

"As the old saying goes, don't forget each other; Their family came to ask for a marriage letter when our family was in trouble, and even if they became relatives in the future, it would be a bunch of white-eyed wolves, so," Chen Cao sat on the main seat and said: "The marriage book can be given to them, but five thousand taels is too little, and her daughter is worth five thousand taels?" You have to start with 10,000 taels. ”

(The crowd in the hall is messy)

...

Chen Cao looked at the marriage book in his hand, and then looked up at the mansion in front of him, and couldn't help but shake his head: "Zhang Shuhua, the name is good, but you can't be a man." ”

The guard at the door knew Chen Cao, and when he saw Chen Cao standing outside the door of the mansion, he hurriedly trotted in to say goodbye, and then a person who looked like a housekeeper led him to the lobby.

"Uncle sit down for a while, and the little one will go and invite Mrs."

The housekeeper left, Chen Cao sat in the lobby, looking at this luxuriously decorated interior, he couldn't help nodding, and he made up his mind to knock on the bamboo.

Less than half a cup of tea, a graceful and luxurious woman slowly walked into the lobby with the support of many maids, and sat straight on the main seat.

In this era, marriage is early, and a woman must marry at the age of sixteen, which is also a hard rule of Boss Zhu, the woman in front of her is at most about thirty-four or five years old, but she is born with white skin and beautiful appearance, and she feels like Miss Hatano. As the saying goes, 'a wife is good for others'.

"Son-in-law Chen Cao, I've seen Lord Taishui." Chen Cao's memory knows who this woman is, she is his mother-in-law, from a big family in Yangzhou, many people in the family are officials in the capital, it can be described as an official eunuch and scholarly family, but this woman has a shortcoming, too arrogant, very domineering.

Zhang Liu looked at Chen Cao with disdain, and then said for a long time: "What's the matter, I figured it out, then bring it, come on, go to the account room to get five thousand taels of silver tickets." ”

"I'm not busy..."Chen Cao interrupted Zhang Liu's words: "Lord Taishui, before returning the marriage letter, the son-in-law wants to ask, does Lord Taishan know about this matter?" ”

Zhang Liu's white face flushed slightly, and then he scolded angrily: "Hugh wants to talk about everything, since you are here, then bring the things, and you can leave after taking the silver ticket." ”

"I just don't know?" Chen Cao said and sneered, and then sat in his place with a golden knife, not taking Zhang Liu in his eyes at all: "In this case, then the son-in-law has nothing to say, only five thousand taels, Lord Taishui thinks that the son-in-law will hand over the marriage certificate?" ”

Zhang Liu's face turned from red to white, and he said coldly: "What do you mean." ”

"If Lord Taishui sends someone to directly manage his son-in-law to ask for this marriage letter," Chen Cao squinted at Zhang Liu's family: "Chen Cao will definitely hand it over directly to Lord Taishui, after all, now that my Chen family is in the middle of the road, it is natural for Lord Taishui to want to find a better son-in-law for his daughter, but..." I, Chen Cao, can marry whenever I want, and your Zhang family has no qualifications to stop me. ”

Including Zhang Liu, the others around her were all shocked, and then each showed an angry expression, if killing people does not pay for their lives, presumably Chen Cao will die at the hands of this group of female hooligans now.

"What the hell do you want?" Zhang Liu's voice was even lowered, obviously controlling his temper to the extreme.

The other party's small universe is about to explode, and Chen Cao naturally wants to accept it when he sees it: "The request is very simple, if Lord Taishui is willing to give 10,000 taels of silver as compensation, the son-in-law will hand over the marriage certificate to you, and you will not be in arrears in the future." ”

"You're going too far." Zhang Liu said word by word.

"Could it be that Lord Taishui thinks that his daughter is only worth five thousand taels?"

...

Chen Cao went home with a tired face, and regardless of the comfort of the little sister and the old grandmother, he divided the 10,000 taels of silver tickets with 5,000 taels to the old grandmother for her family expenses, and then went back to sleep alone.

Chen Cao, who was lying on the bed, had only one thought, that is, how to repay this great shame, and the only thought was that he would become more and more famous, and then become a big official, otherwise it would be unrealistic to make a fortune by writing novels.

Of course, it took a long time for Chen Cao to learn from the side that Zhang Tiande and Chen Fei had a very good relationship, they had carried a gun together, and they were furious that their wife wanted to return the marriage certificate, but in the end, they didn't dare to disobey their wife's intentions, but they always felt guilty about Chen Cao in their hearts.

So, Chen Cao turned his grief into strength, and it took another ten days to finally transcribe all the remaining 90 chapters of Dream of Red Mansions day and night, and then sold them all to Li Xiang at one time.

And the reward is five hundred taels of silver tickets, counting the achievements of today, less than a month after crossing here, he earned 11,000 taels of silver, which is already very powerful.

But this money in Jinling City can only be regarded as close to the well-off level, if it is calculated according to ordinary people, it is only a small rich family.

'How do you make a lot of money?' ’

This is the idea that has always existed in Chen Cao's heart, recalling that in the Ming Dynasty can make a lot of money, in addition to going to sea to carry out trade, there seems to be no other good way, the key is that behind these maritime merchants who go to sea are the forces of the DPRK and China, if he rashly intervenes, it is estimated that he will not know how to die.

At the same time that Chen Cao racked his brains, a flash of spiritual light flashed in his mind, and he lit it up.

"That's right, if you want to make yourself famous as Mr. Nalan, you can't just rely on a small story, you have to build your reputation, and it's a good place to make your own reputation..."

...

The reason why Jinling still became the most prosperous place in the entire Ming Dynasty after the relocation of the capital is because there is a Qinhuai River, and the brothels on both sides of the river have become the largest gold caves in the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to these eight, there are also the industries of the various nobles and high-ranking officials of the dynasty after the founding of the country and the Jingjing, but those places that make the fastest money every day, the first is the painting boat in the Qinhuai River.

Chen Cao has been here for so long, and he has not been to visit the Qinglou, but thinking that his reputation is going to fight, he naturally wants to go to this kind of painting boat to participate in the poetry meeting.

"Yew Chung, your luck is indeed not bad, Jinling Xichun Lou has just invited back a Qing man from Yangzhou, named Li Fengchun, proficient in qin, chess, calligraphy and painting, today in this Qinhuai River to meet friends with poems, whoever wins the first place, can be the guest of the curtain, when the time comes..."Song Che did not finish speaking, but looked at Chen Cao with a smile: "However, brother, I heard that if you want to go to the painting boat, you must first pay fifty taels of silver." ”

Song Che is a poor ghost, but Chen Cao is not, Chen said with a big hand: "Let's go, let's go and meet this Li Fengchun for a while." ”

Jinling has many talents since ancient times, and the ticket for a painting boat like this costs fifty taels, which excludes those poor scholars in disguise, and the rest are either the children of the noble or the wealthy families with huge sums of money.

Chen Cao's dress today is a casual dress, very ordinary, compared with the group of bewitching sons and brothers in front of him who wear silk and satin at every turn, he naturally falls behind, and Song Che is even more shabby, and directly wears a cardigan.

But all the people who can get on the painting boat are rich people, which naturally shows that the identity of this boat person is not ordinary, but Chen Cao and Song Che standing together are indeed a little eye-catching, so he said: "If those scholars ridicule you later, don't be angry, just laugh." ”

As soon as the words fell, a handsome maid went down to the first floor of the cabin, leaned over and saluted: "My young lady thanks you for coming, let you prepare first, and then answer the question, if you can answer it, please go up to the second floor." ”

Chen Cao only remembered at this time that Qin Huai Bayan was not born except for Ma Xianglan, who had died, and there was no such thing as Bayan at the moment, but when he heard that Li Fengchun had so many rules, he became even more interested for a while.

Song Che on the side said embarrassedly: "Yew Chung, although you have written a good book, I really can't do this poetry and song, or brother, I will wait for you below." ”

"Brother Shixiu, don't panic, leave everything to me." Chen Cao said proudly.

"Miss Xiaolan, hurry up and bring the topic, I can't wait." A talented man shouted loudly.

Then there was a response from the boat, and the maid who called Xiaolan walked down from the second floor quickly, and handed the thick stack of questions written on rice paper in her hand to the young brother in the boat, and then said: "Time is a cup of tea, and after each one has thought about it, you can write the answer on the paper, which one of the sons is the right answer, you can go up to the second floor to meet with my young lady." ”

"Good..."

Everyone's title is the same, they are all 'appreciating flowers', you can write couplets, you can write poems, Chen Cao didn't think about it, so he wrote Tang Bohu's poems to himself and Song Che respectively: Crossing the Yangtze River on a lonely boat on a cold night, appreciating flowers, appreciating the moon and autumn fragrance, and the couplet in the movie.

Sure enough, it was chosen.

On the second floor, Chen Cao took a look, plus two on his side, there were only thirty-five people in total, compared to the previous one, more than fifty people were eliminated, and those sons and brothers who were not selected sat in the cabin on the first floor one by one, and they were unsuccessful, but they also arranged for several singers to sing and dance below, so it was not lively.

In the cabin on the second floor, thirty-five people sat in the middle, with a curtain of tulle in front, and Li Fengchun sat next to the table behind the tulle, with a piano on it.

The maid Xiaolan opened her mouth and said: "The people who come up here are all great talents, my young lady was selected as the guest of the curtain today, and she is the only one, I don't know which son will pick this fruit?" ”

At this time, most of them first look at the excitement, and then weigh whether they have the ability, so someone looked at Song Che beside Chen Cao like a demon and said: "I don't know who this son is, can you report your fame and teacher?" ”

Song Che was wearing a linen shirt, and he was out of tune with everyone in the cabin, even Li Fengchun behind the tulle secretly frowned, what he thought in his heart was the same as most people, this guy was an upstart and had no culture, but it was this kind of psychology that the people in the cabin didn't look down on Song Che very much, so they were arrested like this.

Song Che was called by Chen Cao, and at this moment Song Che's face turned red, Chen Cao immediately stood up and relieved him and said: "Sons, and Miss Li, please listen to me, I and the two brothers heard that Miss Li held a poetry meeting here today, and they came to cheer the scene, just to learn knowledge with many high-level talents in front of them, and the two brothers and I don't read much, so I am fortunate to hear the masterpieces of your sons, and I will bragging in front of the neighbors in the future." ”

Dare is really a nouveau riche.

But Chen Cao's words were extremely high, which made everyone in the cabin very comfortable, everyone likes to pat on the back, but Li Fengchun, the selection of people was personally selected by her, everyone's answer is different, but the artistic conception of the things written is different, so she is noncommittal about what Chen Cao said, the main reason is that there are too many capable people in Jinling City, and you must not judge people by their appearance.

"What you say is really good, this son likes it, since this is the case, it also opens the eyes of the two of you," a young man said in a loud voice: "This son Zhao Cheng, is a person from Suzhou, in the forty-sixth year of Wanli, Suzhou Township tried to raise people, and the family has a lot of surplus wealth. ”

"Brother Zhao, don't lose the face of our Suzhou people." A young man beside Zhao Cheng said in a loud voice.

The maid Xiaolan saw that someone stood up, so she gently rolled up the tulle and exposed Li Fengchun behind her.

Wow...

The people in the cabin all exclaimed, and Chen Cao's saliva was about to flow down.

'It's much more beautiful than that beautiful woman who came out in 5,000 years...'

Chen Cao was stunned, he couldn't describe Li Fengchun in front of him, with a trace of delicacy in his maturity, and the little baby fat on his face made Li Fengchun even more beautiful.

Zhao Cheng was also stunned, and it wasn't until Xiaolan reminded him that he relieved himself and said, "Ahem, Meng Lang, it's really Meng Lang," and then said calmly: "I don't know what the girl's question is?" ”

"Zhao Gongzi is chasing the little girl, why don't you just take the 'old man' as the key and compose a poem?" Li Fengchun said slowly.

"She's so nice..."

Chen Cao said it from the bottom of his heart, but in the eyes of many sons and brothers around, this is a typical soil bun, the color of a gentleman, and it is unspeakable.

Zhao Cheng is also a person, it only took half a moment, he picked up the finished poem on the rice paper, and the young man next to him took it and said loudly: "The Qinhuai River is a city, dancing into the mortal dust, brocade and tulle cover the curtain, the road is the old neighbor meets spring..."

"Good..."

"Brother Zhao's masterpiece, amazing, really powerful, my generation is a role model..."

"It's better to be, it's better to be..."

"Zhao Gongzi is really powerful, I don't know if there is any other son who has a good work, hurry up and write it." The maid Xiaolan accepted the poem written by Zhao Cheng with a smile, and then looked at the others in the cabin.

Some people silently read the poems they wrote in their hearts. But they all found that they couldn't compare with Zhao Cheng, so they gave up and started watching the excitement.

Of course, there are also a few talented people who are not fair, so they take out their masterpieces, and the result can be imagined, so Li Fengchun frowned secretly when he heard it.

"This brother, what do you think of what Zhao Gongzi did?" A son-in-law next to Chen Cao asked jokingly.

"A certain person is a rough person, and there will be no more flattery, but good is good, and bad is bad." Chen Cao pretended to be serious and said.

"What about you?" The man then asked.

"After all, it's just a matter of lifting people."

This sentence is a provocation, Chen Cao's words just fell, Zhao Cheng's face turned black, and his companion stood up angrily and scolded: "You are really presumptuous, I don't know how you got in, insulting Sven." ”

The scholars of the Ming Dynasty like to use the past to satirize the present and scold people through the ancient words, which is a powerful figure among their colleagues, but in front of Chen Cao, a turtle who does not know much about ancient poetry and literature, the group attack of this group of people did not play the slightest role at all.

It's not that Chen Caotian is shameless, but he doesn't know what the other party wants to express after talking for a long time, and when he wanders in his mind, he actually remembers Zhengde, who is known as the first absurd emperor in the ages, this guy's holy decree is all vernacular, and there is no momentum at all, so Yang Tinghe also privately said that he does not have such an emperor student.