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At the same time, more people came to buy books. On the first day of every month, the day the issue was released, there was a long queue at the entrance of Songyun Bookstore. The passersby who didn’t understand were surprised. When they heard the reasoning, they were even more surprised that this long queue was only for one book.
Passerbys in hats circled around the long line several times. After inquiring about the details of the incident, they couldn’t help but line up behind them… What kind of strange book was this? They wanted to join in the fun as well!
A lively place became even more lively. This had always been the case.
Even if Lin’s Restaurant had free copies, they didn’t care. They had to seize this opportunity since they knew what was going on. They had the advantage over other people—and some people were really content with this.
Anyway, they would be the first to read it!!!
Songyun Bookstore was lively, and Lin’s Restaurant was even more lively. The first few days of the month were overcrowded with people,. and there were so many people who came to eat and drink that the entire floor was covered and the second floor was full. And in the middle of the month, it was the day the answer to the anagram was revealed. A crowd blocked the door. The people who clustered around didn’t care what the answer to the anagram was. Many months had passed around, and the answer had already come out. What they cared more about was who the person who got the piece of the pie was.
Something that couldn’t be obtained with money was more enjoyable.
With the progress of the lottery each month, the prize for the one lucky reader was becoming even more abundant. First it was food coupons, later, it was All Water Tales and some novel fruits and vegetables. Speaking of which, it had to be mentioned that the lychee and longan Lin Lixuan planted finally bore fruit. The only thing he was unsatisfied with was that there wasn’t a lot of lychee flesh and a big pit, but not everything could go his way. Nevertheless, they were still delicious. Improving fruits such as lychees should be done slowly.
There were few lychee and longan fruits at home, so Lin Lixuan didn’t sell them. He kept them for himself and Ger Yan to snack on. Others saw them eat this. The flesh was white and delicate, and the almost transparent flesh was extremely attractive. Sweetness seemed to emanate from the splashed juice. Some people came to around to ask, “Boss, what kind of fruit are you eating? When will the store sell it?”
“Sell it?” He didn’t have enough for themselves to eat. Lin Lixuan himself loved to eat lychees, not to mention his baby Ger Yan. Just this pair of husbands could completely eat all the lychees.
He wasn’t short of money now, and the most important thing was to satisfy his appetite. As for others, he could only say sorry.
They could only watch but not eat, which was really sadistic, especially for foodies. Those who saw it were all really greedy for it. And the only way to eat this eye-catching lychee was to participate in this monthly lottery. Lin Lixuan’s prize was very rich and attractive. Ten catties of fresh and huge lychees. It was simply tempting to all these foodies.
Why was Lin Lixuan willing to take out ten catties of lychees as a reward? He was forced to do so because he made a bet with a foodie customer from his store, and he’d lost the bet. He couldn’t back down now.
The foodies were especially grateful to the customer who’d won the bet against the boss. The customer from the store was none other than Huang Yuan, that bastard.
Huang Yuan winked at him while laughing. “Ger Yan, it’s all thanks for your help that I was able to win. If you want to blame anyone, then blame him!”
Lin Lixuan had no choice but to look at Ger Yan with resentful eyes. “You actually joined forces with outsiders to bully me.”
Ger Yan was originally laughing happily on the side, but at this time, Huang Yuan exposed the crime. Under Lin Lixuan’s judgmental eyes, he was apologetic as he said, “I–I also… There’s so many people in the store who want to eat as well…” Ger Yan was a little reluctant to eat it alone. And looking at Huang Yuan’s round figure now, what if he himself also became round like him and turned into a ball from eating so much.
“Don’t blame Ger Yan. He doesn’t deserve you being hard-hearted. Keeping happiness for yourself isn’t as good as sharing it with others. Good things should be shared with everyone…Ger Yan, don’t you think?”
Huang Yuan held his stomach and laughed. He spit out a melon seed, picked up a fried peanut and threw it into his mouth. His appearance really made others want to slap him.
“Huang Yuan, you got lucky and now you’re trying to act innocent. Do you want me to kick you out of the store?”
Huang Yuan wasn’t afraid of the threat. He smiled. “I’m big and round, will you be able to do it?” He spun around twice in the same place.
“I can do it with Daniu. Why wouldn’t we be able to kick you out? We can carry you out like how butchers carry out pigs.”
“Daniu has a good relationship with me, so he wouldn’t carry me out. You’ll have to carry this pig yourself.”
“Hmph. Daniu, come and carry him out with me.” Why wouldn’t the people at his own store listen to him?
“Hey, why are you being so mean?” “We’re out in public. How could you make me lose face like this?” Huang Daniu was about to open his mouth and throw more peanuts into his mouth, but he saw Huang Daniu come over. He got scared and hit his chin instead. The peanuts fell onto the ground, rolling a few times.
“Daniu, lift him. Let me remember, where did you say the closest pork stall was?” “Ger Yan, do you know where it is?”
“It’s just around the corner…”
“Sob sob… You’re all teaming up against me. I’m so mad, ugh, don’t lift me. Don’t lift me…”
Foodies were really looking forward to this day. It was the day the lottery came out. They were looking forward to becoming the lucky ones to take the food away under all these envious gazes.
The lucky winner was a scholar in his thirties. He got ten catties of lychees. Holding the bamboo basket of lychees, his face was extremely bright. It exuded an aura of pride. He also held the basket for everyone to come take a look.
“Come and see. Look at how fresh it is. Wow, it’s so shiny! But you can only look and not touch. Hey, take back your hand now. Don’t crush my fruits…”
His friend laughed beside him. “We’re friends. We should share blessings and hardship. Since you got lucky, shouldn’t you let us have a taste too…”
“No, no. This is only for me. Hey, you can only look. If you have a taste, but if you want to eat, you can only watch me eat. You can imagine the flavor while you watch.” The man took one and opened his mouth. His eyes squinted with enjoyment. He didn’t say anything while he ate. He even munched as he ate. He was so eager to show his satisfaction by using both sound and visuals. Everyone around him was attracted to him…They wanted to hurry and beat him up.
…Finally someone stepped forward. He couldn’t get used to his prideful friend of his, so he took a handful from the basket and ran. “For the sake of our friendship, you don’t need to ask, I’ll just take…”
“Y-y-you! Just you wait!”
When the people around him saw the first person act, they rubbed their hands and couldn’t help but learn from him. Surrounded by wolves, the man in the midst of it didn’t have time to chase his friends. He had to protect the things in his arms. He flew out of the crowd like a wild horse who’d escaped its reins.
The thief who ran away quickly attracted a group of amazed onlookers!
“Look, he’s still showing off!”
In the long queue, the Songyun Bookstore magazines sold like hotcakes. Those who haven’t read it yet were all buying them. It could be read for free at Lin’s Restaurant, so why did people buy it instead? It was because they wanted to have a taste of sweetness.
What sweetness? …Of course, it was the sweetness of being a scalper.
The people who were attracted to the magazines wanted to read it. If they couldn’t buy it at the bookstore, then there was no other choice than to buy it from those who already purchased it before, no?
“I want to read the previous issue. Don’t you have the previous issue in store? Why do you only have this month’s?”
“Y-you tall man, what are you saying?”
“After reading so many fragments of the story, I’m so curious to know what happens.” “Your store is so mean. Why do you only keep this month’s issue? Why aren’t you selling the previous month’s?
“Hey, hey. Don’t question him. This store only sells this month’s…Look at the cover. They only sell the current month’s edition. When the month passes, they don’t sell it anymore.”
“Then where can we go to read the old issues?”
“Others have bought it. You can see if you can borrow it from them.”
“Brother, do you know who has a copy?”
The price of the original All Water Tales had already risen to three taels of silver. There were outsiders who were willing to buy it at a high price.
A poor scholar bought a copy to keep, but now he was able to sell it for a high price and make huge profits. He was so happy about this. When some people saw that he’d made money, they also followed suit. After they sold an issue, they’d buy another one. They were able to make money being scalper.
“Lao-Shui, why are you being so extravagant today?” “You ordered so many dishes. What happened to the old you?”
“Don’t you know that I earned big recently…”
“You did? How?”
“From selling All Water Tales. I buy every issue, and there happened to be a rich businessman who liked this magazine but wasn’t able to buy the previous one, so he bought them from me. I made a huge amount of money!”
“Drink. Let’s drink.”
“Haha, when I bought them, you thought I was stupid. But now I know! Stupid people have their stupid luck!”
For this matter, the biggest scalpers…Lin Lixuan, who had hoarded hundreds or thousands of copies, made a lot of money. Not only had he earned back his initial investment, he made a huge profit.
But Lin Lixuan knew this wasn’t a long-term plan. After making a lot of money, he stopped and moved on to the next stage of the plan.
He wanted to open a new rental bookstore in All Water County. All the old books that were no longer sold at Songyun Bookstore, including the All Water Tales over the past months, were also placed inside the bookstore for people to borrow.
Books could be rented for a day for a penny. Residents of All Water County could borrow the books for free as long as they verified their identification. Strangers from other places had to pay a deposit to rent and read the books.
Lin Lixuan’s actions were met with a lot of gratitude, especially those poor scholars from All Water County. They couldn’t afford to buy books, but they were able to afford to rent books for a few days.
There was a poor scholar named Chu Qing who liked to borrow books. He liked to read books but usually couldn’t afford them. Now he could rent the books, he was ecstatic. He would borrow books four or five times a month. Each time he would borrow a book for four to seven days. Not only did he rent the books to read them, but to also copy them. He worked so hard that he would sometimes forget to eat and sleep in order to copy the books.
He worked hard. Even if his hands were frozen from the winter, he insisted on copying books under the oil lamp. Five years later, he successfully passed the county and state examinations. He only said he was grateful for the existence of this rental bookstore.
“I’m also contributing to the local culture.”
There were more and more people who liked to read in All Water County. Gradually, there were more interested people who submitted manuscripts. Lin Lixuan couldn’t find any manuscripts in the beginning, but now they were flowing in like snowflakes.
He dug up a number of talented authors and published their manuscripts. Most of these authors used to be readers. This was a great way for them to earn money and greatly helped them.
With more manuscripts, the contents of All Water Tales became richer. With more fans liking it, it became even more circulated. Later, All Water Tales, which was only published once a month, would no longer be able to meet the readers’ demands. With strong requests from the readers, Lin Lixuan added a supplement.
The content of the supplement was different from the main magazine. Anything could be added. Lin Lixuan’s new supplement mainly included emotional content. In order to promote this supplement, Lin Lixuan also personally wrote a legendary novel that was about a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
As the mother-in-law, how was she to suppress her new daughter-in-law? And placed in the middle was the husband, who couldn’t take either side. Then came the fights that everyone loved to read about.
He vividly portrayed the struggles between the mother-in-law and father-in-law. The battle of wits and courage captivated the audience, making people unable to pull themselves from it.
As soon as this serialized novel came out, it was unknown how many people’s jaws were shocked. When it was released, it became an instant hit!
“I’m a humble student, so why am I so obsessed with this novel?”
“There’s something wonderful about this book that just draws me in.”
“I get so emotional reading this book. My husband and I are also facing this dilemma…”
“What the heck is this? It sounds like you’re married. Do you have a wife?”
“…Should I prepare in advance? As they say…prepare for anything…”
…”I empathize with the daughter-in-law in the book. My mother-in-law has done worse…”
“Yes, marrying into another family is hard.”
“You women have it better. It’s really hard for us Shuang’ers!”
As soon as this story was released, it attracted a lot of female readers who had similar situations. They liked to read it. There were even some illiterate women, who despite being unable to read, heard the story. One in particular listened to it from her neighbor with interest. She dragged her son, who wasn’t even 12 years old, to the second floor to read. She sat there drinking tea and eating melon seeds while her poor child held a book and read to his mother.
As soon as this scene was seen, more people came to watch.
Lin Lixuan, who created this wonderful story, also suffered from the shift of eyes people used to look at him. Huang Yuan held the book and laughed at him for several days. “Brother, I didn’t expect you to have this many tricks up your sleeve. I really couldn’t tell.”
Huang Yuan took a sip of tea like an elder and commented sharply. “You wrote this from experience, right?”
Lin Lixuan rubbed his forehead and sighed. Why would you need experience to write a book like this? As long as you sprinkle some dog blood, anyone could make up a story like this.
It was also his own fault. For him to write a novel like this was…strange. It really was strange for him to write such an emotional piece. Many people thought the story was based on real life experiences, and he spun this tale. This made Lin Lixuan sigh…
The story was already written. Not only did it become popular, he almost became the ancient version of a bestie. It was terrifying! There was still speculation that his wife was being oppressed by his mother, but he didn’t know how to explain this.
His family was harmonious. There was really no mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflict. Others didn’t believe it. They came to inquire about the details of their family. Even if they knew the truth, they would just come over to secretly mock them.
“Sigh, isn’t that Boss Lin’s husband?” “He looks so gentle…”
“Yes, he doesn’t look fierce at all!”
“How could you only look at the surface…”
“Perhaps at home…hehe…”
Ger Yan was scared of being watched at the store. After suffering from strange eyes for days, he finally couldn’t bear it anymore and hid at home.
“Lin-dage, don’t write such strange things in the future!” ！ ！”
Lin Lixuan: “…”
The twists and turns of this strange story were just too interesting. Later, this wonderful novel was even spread to Jade Creek Village. Even the villagers knew about it.
After everyone knew about it, the book finally reached Zhao Liniang’s ears. She took Lin Lixuan and taught him a good lesson. It was as if Lin Lixuan had committed an earth-shattering crime and was criticized in public. “In your eyes, is this about me and Ger Yan?”
Ger Yu covered his mouth and smiled. His big eyes were like little grapes. He secretly looked at Ger Yan’s face, who was beside him. He and Ger Yan glanced at each other. The two wore similar smiling faces.
Zhao Liniang crossed her arms. She glared, and Lin Lixuan was helpless against her. He took a step back and wanted to explain the situation, but the other party didn’t let him speak at all. Words were sprayed toward him, like rapid raindrops. He was drenched. “Was I this piece?” Ger Yan was a cunning fox? …Do you understand? “Everyone in our village heard about what you wrote. What kind of eyes do you think they use to look at me? When I was selling chickens, they suddenly jumped toward me and said I was a powerful mother-in-law. They said the chicken I raised was definitely delicious…The fiercer you are to the chickens, the better they’ll taste.”
“Are you having a hard time being caught in the middle?” “Do Ger Yan and I embarrass you?” Zhao Liniang’s words crackled long and loud. They were light fireworks being set off on the side of the road during new years.
Zhao Liniang spoke to him and poked him in the eyebrows with her index finger. She would give him some honey before knocking him down with spice again.
“I made it all up…”
“How can you write something fake so vividly…That’s what other people are saying. They’re saying you wrote it from experience!”
“Mother, you get along with us day and night. Do you think I experienced this?”
“How could you have not experienced it?” “I think you wrote this based on facts…”
“How can that be? The relationship between you and Ger Yan…” Lin Lixuan felt that Zhao Liniang was joking with him. Was she confused? Or was she making fun of him like the villagers?
“They all say…In this book, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law fight with courage and wits all day long. Isn’t that our family? Aren’t you the one who fights with me all day long?” The more Zhao Liniang thought about it, the more that she felt this was the reason. Her son was too much. She dared to write about his mother in his book. She would be so mad if she didn’t teach him a lesson right now.
“…” Lin Lixuan was almost stunned by her logic! How could she put herself inside the book like this!! ！ At the start, he looked at things with rose-colored glasses. But the more he looked at it, the more ghosts came out.
In the Lin family, it was usually Lin Lixuan who suppressed Zhao Liniang to the point that she couldn’t speak. But now, Zhao Liniang was on fire. She had reached the point of exploding. Now that she had the power to resist, she was giving Lin Lixuan a good talking to.
“Is this how you see your mother? Am the mother-in-law who fights with a vixen? The evil mother-in-law?” The corners of Lin Lixuan’s mouth twitched visibly. After that was said, he turned to look at Ger Yan. “Then that must mean Ger Yan is the husband who’s stuck in the middle.”
Ger Yu snorted and laughed.
Zhao Liniang had her hands on her hips and raised her chin. “Isn’t that so? You bad child…”
Lin Lixuan, who had been called a bad child, walked away with a smile and ran to Ger Yan and Ger Yu’s side. He held one person in each hand.
“Let’s go inside for dinner. Ignore mother for now and let her continue to play around outside by herself. We can’t let her really become the evil mother-in-law from the book. Ger Yan, you have to be careful!”
“…My relationship with Ger Yan is good. Don’t stir things up between us!”
Besides this somewhat legendary in-law novel, the content of the supplement was mainly based on emotion and love between men, women, and Shuang’ers. It was filled with lingering compassion, which attracted much love from women.
Stories of talented and beautiful women, or about childhood sweethearts who reunited 18 years later. Or how the princess awaits for the prince’s return…
There’s love for you and me. Or I love you but you don’t love me. Or I love you once you’ve moved on. After all,old love isn’t as good as new. Partings were sensational, earning countless tears. Even if the story was fake, people were mesmerized by it. They felt deeply.
In this way, the supplement of All Water Tales became the book countless sentimental women and Shuang’ers read after dinner in their free time. Even if some were illiterate, they would pester their brothers and friends to read it to them.
“I want to read the story of Chun Yangzi and Liu Qinglan. When will their story end?”
“I didn’t expect this rich person to be so bad.”
“A spirit and a scholar. This spirit scattered her soul for the sake of a scholar. While reading it…I feel so sad…”
“Ah!” “The sad ending is so heartbreaking. I want to help him revise it myself. I want them to end up together.”
The ancient old-fashioned people didn’t allow their daughters to read these messy emotional books. But where there was oppression, there was resistance. If they couldn’t read it out in the open, then they’ll do it in secret. In any case, they couldn’t be stopped!
In a refined lady’s chambers, the Shuang’er clothed in blue pulled his cousin, who he hadn’t seen in a long time. He couldn’t wait to pull the other person’s sleeve. “Sister Liu, did you bring it?”
The cousin gave him a knowing look. The two looked at each other and smiled.
“Don’t worry, I brought it. Let’s read it together. Let me tell you, in this book there’s…”
The supplement didn’t print much every month…After all, there weren’t many literate Shuang’er and women. Not every man liked to read these kinds of emotional stories related to love.
Lin Lixuan thought of this scene, but what he didn’t expect was that there would be a lot of articles from this supplement. All of which were submitted by some talented Shuang’ers and women. They had more experience than anyone else, and now they had a place to send their emotions.
What he didn’t expect was that it was a natural bred fandom. The ending of the supplement was more of a tragedy. Some weren’t satisfied. Most said they wanted to rewrite the ending or continue it. Their hands started to itch. Lin Lixuan was speechless to receive all these manuscripts.
The number of supplements had gradually grown and grown. There was one author who specialized in love stories who had become popular. After two years of releasing on All Water Tales, she could be called the ancient version of a bestseller. This person’s pen name was Rulan Ruyu. The stories these men and women wrote were extremely touching. Most of the endings were tragic. There were countless stories of fickle men and infatuated women, lovers who were apart but longed for each other, and foolish people. The number of female fans who were fascinated by these were countless. Many people agreed that Rulan Ruyu must have suffered emotional injury and had been betrayed by a scumbag to write such stories.
What made Lin Lixuan not know whether to laugh or cry was that Songyun Bookstore actually received many letters from readers. All of whom were enthusiastic about Mr. Rulan Ruyu.
When Lin Lixuan sent someone to send the manuscript fee to this author, he heard this person’s name. How could it be so familiar! He silently repeated the name, and only then did he realize that author Rulan Ruyu was an old acquaintance. It was the kind of old acquaintance who he’d heard from several times but hadn’t seen in person.
