BLL Chapter 59

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Here’s the makeup post for the week I skipped.


Correct. It was popular among merchants.

Because the entire text was written vernacularly. It was easy to read and unpretentious. It could be understood by ordinary readers, even businessmen who could only recognize a few words.

The merchants traveled the north and south. The journey was quite boring, and they had to rush during their workdays, and the journey was hard and tiring. Only the sound of the wind and rain accompanied them on the trip. It was quite miserable and lonely. Now that they had this treasured book, they would open it to read when they were bored.  They didn’t need to think about it and could easily indulge in it. The story was witty and light, full of fun. It was enough to keep away the loneliness on the journey.

“Hahahaha!!!” They fell on the ground laughing. They laughed so much their stomach hurt. They laughed so much their tears flowed.

These kinds of laughter appeared all over the country. Inside the carts and horses. In inns. In the streets and allies. People read this book everywhere.

Lin Lixuan’s book could be regarded as a hit. Almost every person had a copy, earning him a ton of money.

When those self-proclaimed literati saw his book, they reprimanded it for being illogical and incomprehensible. They said it was completely unreasonable.

Only the commoners would like a book like this!

Although these people criticized this book as worthless, in private, they secretly opened it and read it by their bedside. They also laughed so hard, their teeth showed so much.

The images inside the book were also very innovative.

Relying on this book, Lin Lixuan actually made a lot of money.

Investiture of the Gods was written first. It was a highborn art of literature, filled with exquisite words and full of countless stories about legends. There were many ups and downs in the plot and countless foreshadowing. Not everyone could understand it. But scholars like this more.

And this book, The Diaries of Scholar Yongyi, told the story of a legendary commoner merchant. This was easier for the public to take an interest in.

This book brought in more revenue than the previous one. Many people liked the comics inside the book very much. They said the drawings were simply the finishing touch.

When they were bored, they would open the book. And when they saw the contents of the book, they felt extremely happy. There were many people who especially liked the cartoons. The characters were extremely expressive. The movement was concise and beautiful, concise and clear. It was very easy to appreciate. Children could understand it too.No matter the age, men, women, and children could understand it. They also liked it very much. Many people were confused and wondered what kind of person would write such a novel and interesting story.

When they learned the author of this book and also wrote another bizarre story about fighting gods and spirits, they were very surprised. They wondered if the authors were two different people. How could they write two completely different books?

Huang Yuan, who knew Lin Lixuan, also asked him, “Did you really write this book?”

Lin Lixuan nodded. “Of course. Don’t ask anymore. I really wrote it. I wrote it when I was bored, so it’s not very elegant.”

“Don’t say that. I can’t even write something like this. I’m so jealous.” Huang Yuan scratched his head. His eyes were full of envy.

“You’re even envious of this?”

“Of course. I’ve been planning a book since the new years, but I haven’t started writing yet,” Huang Yuan said, a bit embarrassed. He’d been planning it for a long time. The more he cherished it, the more he didn’t dare to write it.

“Why haven’t you written it?” Lin Lixuan was curious.

“Aren’t I inexperienced…? What if I can’t write it well?” In fact, he wrote the beginning countless times already, but he was never satisfied with them. He couldn’t write it. He kept thinking that nobody would read what he wrote.

“…Don’t worry about writing it good or not for now. At the very least, you have to put the pen to paper!” Lin Lixuan hit the nail on the head and said. He spoke about how when he first started writing, he didn’t care if he wrote it well or not. After he finished writing it, he satisfied his desire to create. It was enough. Whether the reader liked it or not, he was able to accept it either way.

“Alright. With your encouragement, I’ll write it as soon as I get back.” Huang Yuan straightened his clothes. Beads of sweat appeared on his head like small pearls.

“Go write. Don’t stay here and talk nonsense.”

“I really want to open your head and see what’s inside.”

Lin Lixuan laughed, then replied, “In any case, it’s all nonsense.”

Huang Yuan shook his head helplessly. He turned his face and smiled lightly. “The weather is really getting hotter. Hey, the watermelon you grew really was delicious…”

“Thank you for the compliment. I also think the watermelon I grew is delicious.” Lin Lixuan raised his eyebrows and shamelessly baosted about his melon.

“Then why aren’t you selling them at your store? I think if you sell them, a lot of people will buy them.” Huang Yuan wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, smacked his lips, and said, “I want to eat it now.”

Lin Lixuan thought about it, then said, “Soon. Wait a few days and you’ll be able to buy watermelons from my store.”

Lin Lixuan’s watermelon seedlings were planted in batches. The planting time was different, so the harvest time was different too.

At the end of June, he began selling watermelons in the county town store. He had 80 harvested watermelons in his warehouse. 80 watermelons were piled up there like a mountain. It looked magnificent. Looking at it from afar, he felt the joy of the harvest in his heart. Zhao Liniang smiled from ear to ear. Before autumn, they harvested this batch of fruits first. There were thousands of catties.

With so many watermelons, their family would definitely not be able to eat them all. The weather was getting hotter now, the sun was scorching, and when walking through the fields, the smell of the soil and greed and yellow weeds was enough to make people’s heads dizzy.

Transporting the watermelon to the county town was also a problem. The donkey would get very tired if they went back and forth. It was hot, and the sun was bright. People couldn’t stand it, much less an animal. Ger Yan and Ger Yu felt bad for them. They specially made a super large bamboo umbrella. The purple bamboo umbrella was strong and was light enough to cover the bright sun. Although it couldn’t block the rain, it was enough to use as a shade. They plugged it into the cart so that it would cover the people, and the donkey could be in the shade as well to help relieve its fatigue. In addition, their family also bought a cow. These two livestock laborers could be used one after another.

The surface of the cart was paved with a layer of heavy straw. It was yellow gold. The different shades of turquoise watermelon formed a sharp contrast. With the help of the straw, the outside of the watermelon wasn’t damaged. However, they still had to be careful during transportation. If a watermelon rolled down from the top of the water, it would be damaged, and they would have to keep it for their own consumption.

After the watermelons were transported to the store, Lin Lixuan, as a profiteer, naturally did not sell the watermelons individually. He cut them up, like those carts on the modern streets did, and sold them in pieces.

He also took into account the actual purchasing power of the residents here. Not every household could afford a watermelon. He cut the watermelon into pieces and put it in a wooden box filled with ice. The ice was steamed inside the box, and the bright red watermelon was very attractive. The price of a watermelon piece wasn’t expensive. Eight wen could buy a large piece to satisfy their craving. In the hot summer, eating cold watermelon was a happy thing.

Like a moth to the flame, people flocked to their store to buy a piece of watermelon or snacks. Lin Lixuan cut the watermelon into triangular pieces with a knife. He neatly placed them on a white porcelain plate. The red and white looked very refreshing. While eating the watermelon, they chatted with the people around them. It had become a leisure thing for the residents of  All Water County.

“Boss, I want another piece of watermelon and two plates of peanuts.”

“On such a hot day, I also want to eat watermelon, so I bought two pieces and took them back so my mother could have a taste too.”

The watermelon that helped people cool off greatly increased the sale of Lin Lixuan’s store. Eating watermelon helped cool them down and increase their appetite, which made them want to buy more things from the store. Counting the money earned, Lin Lixuan smiled like a cat stealing fish.

The watermelon he spent so much effort on really wasn’t all for naught!

The large watermelons he grew could be cut into 16 pieces and sold. One watermelon could be sold for 128 wen. 100 watermelons equaled 12 taels of silver, which was a lot of money.

What was more interesting was that there were now more tourists in All Water County. It had become a popular spot to buy a piece of watermelon at the store here. They were even more interested in buying The Diaries of Scholar Yongyi.

Niu Dong was a merchant who traveled north and south. He would buy goods from the north and sell them in the south, then buy the rare goods from the south to sell them in the north. He could earn a bit of money this way. This was an extremely profitable business. The only difficult thing was that these merchants had to endure the harsh journey and worries. Fortunately, the country was safe. There weren’t many road bandits. There weren’t any robbers to cause any trouble. Business was developing, and they had the luck to do business safely.

After getting off the boat, he came to a place called All Water County to rest. The dazzling sunlight illuminated his eyes so that he could barely open them. He used his hands to block the sunlight from the top of his head. The golden sunlight sparkled on the ground. With the bright color, the people didn’t realize their mouths were dry, as if they were being scorched.

Niu Dong wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with a towel. He wanted to find a teahouse to sit down and rest for a while. He could drink a cup of herbal tea to cool off.

While he was wiping his sweat, he saw two pot-bellied people walking in front of him. Those two people were gorgeously dressed. There was tiredness from the journey between the corners of their eyes and eyebrows.

The two rather wealthy merchants, one was in a bright red satin garment, the other was in yellow robes. The man in red seemed to be eating something. It looked like…watermelon?

He ate it with relish. When he looked at them from a distance, he felt that there was an endless sense of coolness coming from him. There was a cold breath too. It was as if he was soaked in ice water, which made people feel comfortable and happy when they saw this.

After eating the red flesh, the green melon skin was practically pasted on his face. It relieved the heat and fatigue. It was very comfortable and refreshing.

Seeing this, Niu Dong, couldn’t help but step forward and ask the two, “Sir, where did you get that? What is it you’re eating?”


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