Chapter 109: The Melon Eater Front Line 2
Mei Cheng'an and Fan Xian walked out of the dark alley, chatting and laughing.
As soon as they arrived at the entrance of Yishiju, they saw Versace leaning on the railing of the open-air box on the second floor above the main entrance of Yishiju with one hand, looking around downstairs, with the other hand raised in the air, pointing here and there, muttering to himself, as if counting something.
Teng Zijing and Qingniao were standing at the window corners on both sides. Qingniao saw them first and nodded slightly at Mei Chengan.
Mei Cheng'an nodded in response and introduced Fan Xian who was standing beside him.
"My maid, Bluebird."
Fan Xian waved at the blue bird.
"hello."
Bluebird had no expression on his face and continued to nod.
He was quite aloof, but Fan Xian just smiled and didn't care.
Teng Zijing was originally leaning against the pillar by the window on the other side with his arms folded, looking into the box. He noticed the movement of the blue bird out of the corner of his eye and looked down.
Seeing Fan Xian waving, he wanted to reach out his hand in response, but when he saw that he was not looking at him, he put his hand down halfway. Seeing Mei Cheng'an beside him looking at him, Teng Zijing subconsciously wanted to hide, but when he remembered what Fan Xian said to him that night, he felt that it was unnecessary. However, his body involuntarily changed from a relaxed leaning state to a tense upright state, and he was still a little nervous.
Teng Zijing forced a slightly stiff smile and nodded at Mei Chengan.
Mei Chengan smiled and nodded in response.
Fan Xian also looked over and introduced Mei Cheng'an.
"He is... Teng Zijing. He is here to be my bodyguard for a day."
Mei Cheng'an glanced at Fan Xian with a half-smile and said "oh".
"Go up first, and we'll talk in detail later."
Mei Chengan's calm demeanor surprised Fan Xian a little. A hint of surprise and depression flashed in his eyes. Damn, you should at least be surprised when you heard this name. Can you give me a normal reaction, you bastard?
Mei Cheng'an noticed the emotions in Fan Xian's eyes, smiled and walked towards the gate of Yishiju without saying a word.
Fan Xian stood there depressed for two seconds, looked up and gave Teng Zijing on the second floor a reassuring look, then raised his feet and followed.
As soon as Mei Cheng'an walked into the box, Fan Ruoruo, who was sitting, stood up immediately when she saw him.
"Brother Mei."
Mei Chengan waved his hand and smiled.
"Hey, just sit down. We're all family, no need to be polite. Your brother is right behind us, he'll be here soon."
Fan Ruoruo smiled and nodded, and only sat down after Mei Chengan took the main seat.
Mei Cheng'an asked casually when he saw there were only some fruits, tea, and snacks on the table.
"Did you order?"
Fan Ruoruo said softly.
"Since Brother Mei is the host, we should wait for him to bring us some food. We dare not usurp the throne."
Okay, Mei Chengan thought for a while and asked.
"Are there any taboos?"
Fan Ruoruo shook her head.
Mei Cheng'an looked at Versace's back. The boy was still concentrating on counting and didn't even notice him enter the room.
Fan Ruoruo glanced at Versace's back and looked at Mei Chengan.
"Brother Mei doesn't need to worry about him."
Mei Cheng'an wanted to laugh when he heard this. When will my little brother Sizhe be able to make a breakthrough?
Nodding with a smile, Mei Cheng'an looked at the blue bird.
"Let the boss serve one of their signature dishes. As for drinks... let him serve two bottles of craft beer first."
Bluebird left in response and almost bumped into Fan Xian, who was reading a book with his head down, at the door of the box.
"Excuse me."
Fan Xian stepped aside to let Qingniao leave. Just as he was about to walk inside, Mei Chengan asked him a question.
"Do you have any taboos?"
Fan Xian was stunned for a moment.
"what?"
He looked back, realized what was happening, and waved his hand.
"Ah, no, no, we eat whatever is served."
After saying that, he walked towards Mei Cheng'an with the book in his hand. When he reached his seat, he was not in a hurry to sit down. Instead, he started sharing interesting stories with Teng Zijing.
"Hey, guess who's the book seller?"
Fan Ruoruo had been looking at Fan Xian since he entered the room. She became curious when she heard what he said and listened carefully with her ears pricked up.
Mei Chengan sipped his tea leisurely, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
Teng Zijing responded casually.
"Who?"
Versace's voice was slightly louder.
"Wang Qinian!"
"What about people?"
"He ran! He ran very fast."
Hearing the name, Fan Ruoruo looked up at Mei Chengan, asking with her eyes whether the Wang Qinian he was talking about was the one she knew.
Mei Chengan nodded with a smile on his face.
A flash of realization appeared in Fan Ruoruo's eyes. She put down the teacup, thought for a moment, and then spoke.
"This book is widely circulated among the women of various mansions. I don't know where it leaked out."
After saying this, he looked at Fan Xian embarrassedly.
"Brother, this is all my fault."
Fan Xian was just a little curious about this matter and didn't really care about it. Seeing his sister blaming herself, he smiled and said something to comfort her.
"It's okay. Books are meant to be read by people."
After saying that, he noticed Versace and saw that he was still standing by the guardrail looking back, so he walked over curiously.
"What are you looking at?"
Versace glanced at Fan Xian, his tone excited. "There are quite a few people selling books."
Fan Xian looked down at the street.
Teng Zijing also looked down a few times and asked curiously.
"Why are so many people holding children?"
Upon hearing this, Fan Xian turned around and glanced at Mei Cheng'an. Mei Cheng'an also looked at him tacitly, and the two smiled at each other.
"Wang Qinian is not a simple person. He is a friend of women."
Versace became more and more jealous as he watched the scene of books being sold below, and turned to look at Fan Xian.
"Fan Xian, did you really write this book?"
Fan Xian smiled bitterly and said, "Okay, I have to explain it again."
“I didn’t write that!”
After saying that, he turned around and went back to his seat.
Versace also walked over, and when he saw Mei Chengan, he quickly bowed and called him "Boss An".
Mei Cheng'an smiled and motioned for him to sit down and talk. Versace grunted and leaned over the corner of the table to look at Fan Xian.
Fan Xian continued after sitting down next to Mei Cheng'an.
"It's Mr. Cao Xueqin's Red Mansion."
Upon hearing this, Fan Ruoruo thought to herself that her brother was at it again, refusing to admit that he wrote it, so she made a small complaint.
"Brother, please stop hiding it."
After saying that, he looked at Versace with a smile and told the truth.
"There is no such person in the world."
Fan Xian looked at Mei Cheng'an helplessly, and rolled his eyes in his heart when he saw his gloating look.
"I really didn't write it. How dare I deceive the world and steal the credit for such a wonderful book? I just wrote it down from memory."
Mei Chengan said quietly from the side.
"As far as the world is concerned, you are the only one who knows the rest of the story, so you are the author. It's meaningless to deny it after it's been done. Is it interesting to lie to your family? I don't understand you!"
Although Fan Ruoruo didn't understand the meaning of the previous words, she agreed with the last sentence and thought so too.
Fan Xian naturally understood what was said before and smiled bitterly in his heart. He also knew that his explanation was meaningless. In the eyes of outsiders, whether he admitted it or not, the book was written by him. He just couldn't get over it in his heart, so he said it out loud to feel at ease.
However, the last sentence of my fellow villager was obviously intended to stir up trouble.
Fan Xian groaned and glared at Mei Cheng'an.
"You're just standing here watching the show. You don't mind watching the fun, right? If you don't want to help me, just don't make trouble, okay?"
Mei Chengan chuckled.
"Okay, okay, go on. I won't say anything."
After saying that, he even made a gesture of zipping his mouth.
Fan Xian rolled his eyes at him.
Versace looked left and right, listened to the general idea, and then asked Fan Xian.
"Anyway, are you the only one who knows the story behind this?"
Fan Xian pointed at Mei Chengan.
"He knows that, too."
Mei Cheng'an was stunned for a moment and waved at Versace.
"Don't listen to his nonsense. I don't know who knows who is a dog."
Fan Xian: "..."
Fan Ruoruo and Teng Zijing couldn't help but burst out laughing, and Fan Xian was very upset.
Versace didn't laugh, his mind was completely on the book. He believed what Boss An said and confirmed that only Fan Xian knew the follow-up content, so he spoke excitedly.
"Fan Xian, we can take over this book business."
Fan Xian was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect him to bring up this matter suddenly.
Fan Ruoruo put away her smile when she heard that.
"Versace! Acting like a fool again!"
Versace was very serious and quickly explained.
"No, sister, I just looked carefully and found that many people bought this book. One volume can be bought for eight taels of silver."
After saying that, he picked up the Dream of the Red Chamber on the table, opened the book and gestured to Fan Ruoruo.
"Look at this book. It's in very ordinary condition."
Fan Ruoruo took a look and found it to be indeed ordinary.
Versace put the book down, tapped the cover with his fingers, and began to speak in front of the curious eyes of everyone in the room.
"The printing and plate-making costs less than cents, not counting the labor costs. For every book sold, we can make a net profit of cents. In just a short while, we have sold at least 8 or 9 books. If we add more people, we can sell at least 100 books a day."
Seeing that Versace was analyzing the matter so seriously, Fan Xian wanted to ask him if he really intended to sell the book.
"Hey, I said, you..."
Before he could finish his words, Versace interrupted him with the sound of calculating.
"With one hundred copies, we can make a net profit of 768 taels. If we manage the time well and publish one volume every fifteen days, that would be 11,520 taels..."
Listening to Versace reciting a series of numbers without hesitation, everyone in the room stretched out their fingers and began to calculate silently. Although Mei Chengan did not use his fingers, he was also doing mental arithmetic.
But he really couldn't figure it out for a while. Mei Cheng'an was puzzled. How could this unlucky child calculate so quickly?
Versace is still gushing.
"After deducting the labor cost, let's calculate it at three-tenths, and we can still get a net profit of 8,064 taels. If you publish twelve volumes, that will be 96,768 taels. This is just a rough estimate. Huge profits, Fan Xian!"
The room suddenly fell silent, and everyone stared at Versace in amazement, unable to recover for a long time.
Mei Chengan gave up after deducting one-third of the cost. I can’t figure it out, I really can’t.
Fan Ruoruo was the first to react. Don’t get me wrong, she didn’t figure out the loopholes in the account, but she did find the loophole in the name of Versace, and reminded him in a cold voice.
"what is it call?"
(End of this chapter)
