Chapter 023: Proud and Expensive

Book review: There is an old brother who said that I am suspected of imitation, and he wants to use a rake to bury me in the soil, big brother, I have read a lot of novels with such themes, and there are things that engage in literati poetry clubs, but everyone's writing style is different, so everyone will look at something different... 17K's platform is relatively large,It's not so simple to sign a contract in the past,I relied on my own writing style to let the editors go through the signing process for me,It actually proved that my writing style also made the editors agree with it,,, big brothers,Thank you for your criticism,Pay attention next time,Give a collection to the big brothers you like.,Thank you....

"You are prisoners appointed by His Majesty, it is okay to save you, but it is a little difficult..."Chen Cao looked at Liu Min'er meaningfully, wondering if the thirty-three-year-old beautiful young woman in front of him could understand what he meant.

Sure enough, Liu Min'er was a woman after all, and she heard the off-string sound from Chen Cao's eyes and words, and she was embarrassed and embarrassed at the moment, and refused to speak.

Chen Cao is just like this, he looked at Zhang Shuhua like a big pervert, and then stared at Liu Min'er and said: "I just know you, I have nothing to do with it, I will save you in the future, with my identity as Chen Cao, it is a trivial matter to accept you as a concubine, maybe his official position will be higher and higher, compared to Zhang Tiande, maybe it will be more glorious, you Zhejiang Liu family, that glory should be even higher than now." ”

One sentence went to Liu Min'er's heart, and her red cheeks were even redder, so she lowered her head to cover it.

Chen Cao pointed to the screen on the side of the carved bed: "Zhang Shuhua is resting here, you go there with me." ”

Behind the screen is the bath bucket for bathing, there is a Taishi chair placed there, Chen Cao just sat there, and then waited for Liu Min'er to act, and then Liu Min'er kept his head down, Chen Cao said: "If you don't serve me well, then I can only go to your daughter, if he can't save your mother and daughter in the future, let alone your daughter, it's you, you have to laugh and let people go to bed, do you want me Chen Cao to ride alone, or let those prostitutes get on you together?" ”

It's so explicit...

Liu Min'er was not to mention how uncomfortable Chen Cao's words were at the moment, but if she thought about it carefully, Chen Cao's words were very reasonable, and now the situation of her mother and daughter was worrying.

Finally, Liu Min'er took a step, squatted in front of Chen Cao's feet, and then stepped up very skillfully...

Zhang Shuhua heard a small sound of 'squirming' on the bed, and then his mother's breath came from behind the screen, although he had not yet left the cabinet, but Zhang Shuhua, who knew a little, instantly reacted to what was going on, so he blushed with shame and covered his head with a silk quilt...

...

After Chen Cao was promoted, his mansion naturally had to increase some, and the yard was okay, but he thought that there would be two beautiful girls who would enter his home after the year, so he decided to fill in all the acres of land in the backyard and expand the yard.

Everything was handed over to the old housekeeper Uncle Chen, and the money and silver were withdrawn by Chen Qing, and things were in order.

Chen Cao had just finished his work, and then Zhang Chen dressed himself, so he asked, "I have been in bed with you for so long, and I haven't asked your family name?" ”

"The slave Jiangning Chen family, whose real name is Rui'er..."

Chen Cao nodded: "Why do you like to have a 'child' in your family?" ”

What Chen Cao didn't know was that in ancient times, people who had daughters in the family liked to add the word 'er' after their names, which meant to give birth to a son.

Chen Rui'er blushed and lowered her head, Chen Cao took advantage of the situation and asked, "Compared with your dead ex-husband, who is the best kung fu in this bed?" ”

Chen Rui'er was embarrassed to answer, and couldn't stand Chen Cao's inquiry, so she said, "Master is much more powerful." ”

...

Chen Cao held a serial story in his hand, and walked to the door of Juxianju, and his old acquaintance Zhou Decai went out to greet him, still with a smiling face: "Ouch, my lord, why do you have to send it in person after you have written it, send someone to send a message, and the little one will come to pick it up in person..."

Zhou Decai did his best to flatter, making Chen Cao feel that the greater the benefits of the officials in this era, it was really comfortable: "Yo, when did the shopkeeper Zhou become so doggy?" ”

was ridiculed by Chen Cao, Zhou Decai still laughed obscenely: "Where is it, the magpies in the sky keep calling, and the little ones know that the nobles are coming, so they don't wait at the door first, and they really come." ”

"The old boy's sycophants are powerful enough, huh? But I'm listening..."Chen Cao patted Zhou Decai on the shoulder, and the two walked into the store one after the other, and then served tea and water.

"A Chinese Ghost Story in Strange Stories"?" Zhou Decai took the manuscript and read it for a long time: "Oh, my lord, this story is fascinating at the beginning, ah..."

"How?" Chen Cao wanted to laugh when he looked at this old boy.

Zhou Decai said seriously: "Bai Meng wrote a book a few days before his death, called "Dream Soul", which tells the story of ghosts, gods, men and women, good guys, a short article of only 6,000 words, and it was sold for three taels of silver, my God, it is one or two more expensive than the cost of the Dream of Red Mansions..."

"Huh?" Chen Cao glared at Zhou Decai, his eyes were not good.

Zhou Decai saw Chen Cao's murderous face, and immediately wondered if he had said something wrong, so Chen Cao grabbed his collar and vigorously pulled him closer.

was so frightened that Zhou Decai begged for mercy again and again.

"dog, how much benefit have you taken from Lao Tzu?" Chen Cao immediately remembered the cost of the Dream of Red Mansions that he talked about when chatting with Li Xiang on the canal that day, at that time, Li Xiang truthfully said that the cost of selling 5,000 copies of the Jinling boundary alone, not counting the boundary of the South Zhili and the boundary of the North Zhili, on this Chen Cao's dividends are sent a lot every month, but now that it is said like this, Chen Cao reacted that Zhou Decai took a kickback from it.

"Adults are angry..."Zhou Decai begged for mercy: "Adults are angry, it is not easy for the small ones to support their families in Jinling, and they are only five hundred taels of silver before and after, and they will not be a little more, if the adults are unwilling, the small ones will be returned to the adults." ”

"Is it really only five hundred taels?" Chen Cao squinted his left eye and stared at Zhou Decai.

Zhou Decai's body tightened, and the murderous eyes were unfriendly: "The adults are too little, and the small ones buy houses and give them to the adults..."

Chen Cao let go of Zhou Decai and patted him on the shoulder: "Shopkeeper Zhou, don't be afraid, for the sake of Boss Li's face, I don't care about you." ”

Zhou Decai breathed a sigh of relief: "Lord Xie..."

"Where's what you just said, you go on."

Zhou Decai put down the manuscript: "According to the name of the adult Nalan Rongruo, the number of words in this story alone is more than 50,000, and it is estimated that if it is sold according to the cost, four taels of silver will definitely be no problem." ”

"Four taels?"

Zhou Decai saw Chen Cao's expression, and hurriedly said: "If it's expensive, then three or two, fight with Bai Mengsheng..."

"Bastard thing," Chen Cao slapped the table vigorously, and frightened Zhou Decai and quickly begged for mercy, only to hear: "Lao Tzu, the name of Jinling Nalan Rongruo is only worth four taels?" Let it go, the cost is five taels of silver, do you want to love it. ”

"Won't it be too expensive..."Zhou Decai frowned and looked at Chen Cao.

Chen Cao stood up and walked out, without looking back: "Jinling is good everywhere, but the bad thing is that there are too many rich people." ”

Zhou Decai: "Ah..."

The papermaking and printing technology of the Ming Dynasty has reached the peak of the same world, on Chen Cao's 50,000-word novel, Juxianju's genuine printing, the cost of 500 copies took less than half a day, of course, the cover is painted with exquisite color patterns, plus the author's signature 'Nalan Rongruo', once sold, 500 copies were snapped up by Jinling's dignitaries and wealthy businessmen within an hour, and many large households even started a scolding war with Zhou Decai because they did not buy the book.

At Chen Cao's request, 500 copies were printed again the next day, and the result was that they were sold out in half an hour compared to the first day, and the sales volume in two days was 5,000 taels of silver, and the actual income was more than 4,900 taels after deducting labor costs and costs.

"The adult is smart..."Zhou Decai poured tea for Chen Cao in the private room: "Your 'hunger marketing' is too effective, little admiration..."

Chen Cao looked at Zhou Decai: "Then according to our previous contract, how much will I receive dividends this time?" ”

Zhou Decai flattered: "Fifty percent of the benefits are given to adults, and the adults actually receive two thousand four hundred and sixteen taels." ”

Chen Cao looked at Zhou Decai with a wicked smile, and then asked, "What, Old Zhou, you don't make money anymore?" ”

"Hey..."Zhou Decai looked embarrassed: "Where is the adult." ”

Chen Cao pointed at him with his finger and smiled: "That's it, don't say that I'm not righteous, I have a lot of novels in my belly, and there are many opportunities to make money, I see that you have a set of business, I don't care how much money Li Xiang gives you, I will give you five cents of profit in the future, how about it?" ”

"Five?" Zhou Decai's eyes were red, and when he saw Chen Cao nodding, he quickly knelt down and saluted: "Thank you, little one, thank you, adult." ”

"From today onwards, you take five cents of profit from what I deserve, and send the rest to my house and hand it over to my little sister." After Chen Cao finished speaking, he stood up and left.

Zhou Decai was grateful to Dade for sending Chen Cao out, and he was really happy to get more than a hundred taels of money just this time, not to mention that now this A Chinese Ghost Story has only started for two days, and he is making Chen Cao's money openly, and his heart is much happier than before.

The purchasing power of the Ming silver taels is very valuable at this time, the hundred taels of silver are placed in the hands of Zhou Decai, which is the cost of the whole family's life for half a year, although the consumption of Jinling is large, and the price is a little high, but at the bottom, this hundred taels is not a small amount.

After leaving here, the last time Chen Cao asked Zhao Xincha to do something, there were also eyebrows.

In the Qianhu Office of Xuanwu Lane, Zhao Xinzheng was holding the recorded things and was telling Chen Cao: "Xinguo Gong passed on to Tang Yinqi basically did not come out, that Ren died in Gushan Fort, and the descendants behind him are living in Nanjing; Zheng Guogong Chang Shichun Zu committed an accident and was dismissed, and later restored his title during the Jiajing period; The ancestor of the Marquis of Yingyang went to Yang Jing and posthumously sealed the Duke of Rui Guo; Jinshan Hou Zu Shang Puying, posthumously sealed Lelang County Duke; However, the ancestor of the Pu family was dismissed because of the Lan Yu case during the Taizu period, and the title was also restored during the Jiajing period. ”

As the saying goes, it's good to know oneself and know one's other, and Chen Cao's general understanding of these things is also good for dealing with these people in the future: "It's good, by the way, Zhao Xin, I have one thing you have to do in person." ”

"But please ask your lordship to command." Zhao Xin gave up.

"You send people down to Nanzhili to find some scattered people, especially those craftsmen who are not wanted by the Ministry of Industry, how many tricks there are, and also, go to Zhejiang or Jiangsu to run a trip to see if there are water conservancy workshops in the people."

Zhao Xin frowned: "What are you looking for these people?" ”

"Make muskets..."

"Ah..."Zhao Xin screamed: "My lord, don't do it, if you let the court know that we made a musket privately, it would be a big crime to kill your head." ”

Chen Cao couldn't help but laugh when he saw Zhao Xin's dead mother's expression: "Who the hell told you that Lao Tzu wanted to make a musket privately?" ”

"Huh?" Zhao Xin didn't know what to do: "The subordinates are stupid, please make it clear to the adults." ”

"Now is not the time," Chen Cao did have his own plans, but not now: "You just do what I say, and also, after these people are gathered, I will arrange all of them to Chunhua Town in the name of my Jinyiwei." ”

Although he didn't know what Chen Cao was going to do, Zhao Xin didn't dare to disobey, nodded and left, Chen Cao looked at Gao Chong and said: "I have a letter here, you go to Guanhaiwei, hand it over to Lin Guodong on my behalf, and hand it over to him personally." ”

Gao Chong took the letter and nodded and went out to run errands, Chen Cao lay on the chair with a sigh of relief, thinking about his future plans.

...

"Master, there is a name post," Chen Cao was just at home, and the old housekeeper Uncle Chen handed over a name post.

"Who?" Chen Cao took the name card and opened it to look at it, and what caught his eye was the three big characters of 'Bai Mengsheng'.

The content is relatively simple, Bai Mengsheng, a junior student, wants to meet Chen Cao, a senior in the novel, but the location is not in Chen Cao's house, but Bai Mengsheng's house in the east of the city.

Chen Cao is a pacification envoy, a high-ranking official of Jinyi Wei, one of the spy leaders of Nan Zhili, who dared to let Chen Cao go to his house directly, indicating that the status of the family is better than Chen Cao, Chen Cao's current identity is more sophisticated, and he has long known Jinling in his heart, so he made up his mind to meet this Bai Mengsheng for a while.

This place in the east of the city is really mixed with dragons and snakes, especially near the banks of the Qinhuai River, either the Marquis' Mansion or the Earl's Palace, the dignitaries and dignitaries have a lot of dignitaries, and the land is expensive to death, and the mansion of Bai Mengsheng is still in the inner city of the east of the city, close to Xuanwu Lake, and Xuanwu Lane is separated by two streets.

The plaque of the mansion reads the word 'White Mansion', and there are two sturdy families guarding outside the door.

Chen Cao naturally couldn't hand over the name post by himself, and Bai Mengsheng wrote on the name post that the purpose of inviting Chen Cao was to meet friends with a text, and he couldn't wear a brocade dress to show off his might, so he took Xu Kaixian with him, so he asked Xu Kaixian to inform the family over there.

Bai Mengsheng's details are unknown, the only thing found is that this guy has written a lot of books, basically about the love between men and women, the most famous is "Wutong Shadow" and the popular "Jianghua Spring Moon" a few years ago, it is also a small matter to buy a mansion like this as a wealthy businessman, the key is to buy a house in this place, not only to have money, but also to have an official background, otherwise it will definitely not be able to buy.

As soon as the name card was handed over, a maid walked out from time to time, saluted Chen Cao silently, and then took Chen Cao to the house.

Passing through the wall, the golden bamboo of western Sichuan that catches the eye of a water, the bamboo leaves blown by the breeze are rustling, quite poetic, Chen Cao secretly admired, and then made up his mind to go back and arrange according to this, before the flower and the moon, hugging his wife and concubine and drinking wine and blowing the breeze of the bamboo forest, a word ----- comfortable...

In front of the lobby, there was a bell ringing inside.

Chen Cao's dirt bun immediately asked, "Why is there a Taoist priest in it?" ”

The maidservant who led the way covered her mouth and smiled, and then said, "Mr. Lanna said that he laughed, it was the music from the chime..."

Chen Cao looked embarrassed, and then was taken into the lobby, there was a screen in front of the lobby, and there was really a set of chimes on the left side, Chen Cao couldn't help but walk over to see, it was indeed bronze, but compared with the famous Zeng Hou Yi in later generations, this set of chimes was also a little stingy.

Look at the right side, there are calligraphy, painting and poems, but it is also the handwriting of the previous generation of famous masters, Tang Bohu and Zhu Xi's calligraphy and painting are mostly rich...

"Ahem", coughed twice, and then asked Chen Cao to sit down, Xu Kaixian stood behind him, the old rule, serving tea.

Chen Cao is now full of identity, and he is not afraid of this, so he made up his mind that if this Bai Mengsheng learns from Old Man Li and dares to dry himself, he will have a cup of tea, and he will leave if he has more.

Obviously, the other party didn't dare to dry himself, and three minutes after the tea came up, a group of maidservants led a woman in white into the main seat of the lobby, and then sat on a chair, which was extremely elegant.

"Xu Kaixian, let's go..."Chen Cao said and stood up, not forgetting to drink the tea before leaving.

"Where is Mr. Nalan?" The screen was removed, and the woman in white showed her face, not only dressed elegantly, but even her voice had a classical and refreshing feeling.

Chen Cao couldn't help but glance back, this glance, shocked, the beauty of the woman in white in front of him was different from Li Fengchun, it was as beautiful as the feeling of looking at the beauty of ancient costumes in his era, fresh and refined, and it seemed that the spring breeze had been blowing on his face when he looked at it more.

Chen Cao came back to his senses and said coldly: "This girl, please go back and tell Bai Mengsheng that if you have any officials, take them out, this official is not so easy to get along with, let him be careful after writing the script, but if he dares to insinuate or touch a little bit about the court and officials, hehe... It's not as simple as banning books, farewell..."

"Mr. Nalan and slow..."The woman in white said and smiled, Chen Cao couldn't hold it anymore, according to his own standards in the past, this was his first love: "I think Mr. must have misunderstood, the little girl is Bai Mengsheng..."

"Ahh

"Sir, please sit," Bai Mengsheng stretched out his hand, Chen Cao sat down unconsciously, Bai Mengsheng had a light smile on his face, and every frown was deeply reflected in Chen Cao's mind: "Sir, the little girl is presumptuous, I invite Mr. here, but I want to exchange literature with Mr. ”

"Sir?"

"Ah..." Chen Cao was fascinated, coupled with Bai Mengsheng's voice, he felt that this was a real beauty, but when Bai Mengsheng called him like this, he entered the Daigo empowerment: "Ah, I'm sorry, this official, no, I'm sorry to think about something just now." As he spoke, he bowed his hand to Bai Mengsheng.

Bai Mengsheng didn't mind, and still looked at Chen Cao without losing his makeup: "The little woman is presumptuous, don't you know the teacher's teacher?" ”

Chen Cao arched his hand: "The family teacher has traveled all over the world and comes from Shuzhong..."

Bai Mengsheng was thoughtful, such people who didn't want to say that the master generally had masters behind his back, so he didn't ask much, and said, "Has Mr. read Xiaonu's "Dream Soul"? What do you think? ”

Chen Cao really hadn't read it, and he didn't dare to pretend: "Don't be angry, white girl, I really haven't read your book." ”

"Lying," the maid beside Bai Mengsheng said loudly: "My young lady wrote "Dream Soul", you wrote "A Chinese Ghost Story", and also crowned a word card in front of it to talk about Zhai Zhiyi, what is this not plagiarism?" ”

"Don't talk nonsense," Bai Mengsheng scolded the maid: "Mr. Nalan's name is very hot in my Daming now," said and looked at Chen Cao: "Presumably Mr. will not do such dirty things." ”

Chen Cao now understands that what is a literary meeting is pure nonsense, and it is pure nonsense to ask himself to show that it is the "A Chinese Ghost Story" that he wrote that provoked them, but he is really plagiarizing, but he is not plagiarizing the one in front of him, so he has no guilt at all: "I Chen Cao debuted, and the first novel I wrote in the name of Nalan Rongruo was "Dream of Red Mansions", Miss Bai thinks that there is a connection with your previous "Wutong Shadow"? ”

Bai Mengsheng has read every novel written by Chen Cao, and even she herself thinks that Nalan Rongruo's writing is really good: "It's different..."

Chen Cao said with a smile: "Although a certain family has not read Miss's book, but they also know that Miss is good at writing about the love between men and women, while I, Chen Caoshan, am Dacheng, to be honest, I really want to plagiarize Miss's things, and a certain family thinks that Miss will practice for at least another twenty years..."

"Presumptuous..."The maid couldn't help it: "You Jinyi Guard military attaché, how dare you talk to my young lady like this?" My lord is a waiter in the criminal department. ”

"Go down..."Bai Mengsheng was not angry, as if these words were all words he wanted to say, just a simple sentence, and the maid also obediently retreated: "Sir, the little girl has no way to teach her, please don't be surprised." ”

Chen Cao smiled: "It's okay, miss, there are still some things in a certain yamen, that's all for today, Chen Cao will come to visit again another day, but before leaving, please remember that my Chen Cao is not only proficient in poetry and literature, but also proficient in songs, and my literary attainments are not only for the pastime of writing scripts, so I said goodbye..."

"Send sir..."

Bai Mengsheng didn't get angry until Chen Cao left, but kept reading what Chen Cao said when he left.

"Xu Kaixian, you go and find out who the current criminal department attendants in the north and south of Beijing are, as well as their networks, and find out for me before sunset..."

...

There was a party in the evening, Xu Xianchun invited him to drink, and after Chen Cao finished drinking, he touched Xu Kaixian, who was trotting: "My lord, I found it." ”

Chen Cao found a street shop and sat down, and the boss came with a bowl of sobering tea: "Say it carefully." ”

"There is no criminal department squire surnamed Bai in Nanjing, but there is one in Beijing, named Bai Yu, a Jinshi in the twenty-third year of Wanli, because he offended Wanli Ye, he was demoted to Guangxi Buzheng Division to do a Zhaoma, and then resigned; When Taichang Ye ascended the throne, he was reinstated as the Shaoqing of Guanglu Temple, and now His Majesty has moved to the Ministry of Criminal Affairs after ascending the throne. ”

Chen Cao looked at Xu Kaixian: "It's over?" All the networks I said? ”

Xu Kaixian continued: "Bai Yu has two daughters and a son, the eldest son Bai Cunsheng, who is an official in Shuntian Mansion, the eldest daughter is now nineteen, married to the second son of Baoguo Gong, the second daughter is eighteen, it should be the Bai Mengsheng that the adults see today." ”

"That's reasonable..."Chen Cao nodded, the location of Baifu is dazzling, if it doesn't matter, there is really no way to buy this house" Okay, send someone to keep an eye on Baifu, don't make a noise. ”