I have been slaying demons in the Demon Slayer Division for thirty years

"Sir, this is Longchuan's Yuqian Longjing, brewed with Cuifeng Mountain Spring Water."

Zhimo turned out to be a woman of fifteen or sixteen years old, with delicate features and beautiful eyes, wearing a green shirt with her hair tied up, and a graceful figure.

After serving tea to Zhou Yi and the shopkeeper, Zhimo slowly left to guide a new scholar in selecting books.

Zhou Yi didn't know how to judge the owner of Zhuangyuan Hall, who had managed his business to such an extent, and every detail hit the scholar's weakness. He was probably the only one in Daqian.

The shopkeeper said: "Sir, please sit down and talk."

"Thanks."

Zhou Yi worked with Zhang Cheng every day, and they had a subtle influence on him. Occasionally, he would receive some guidance from him, and he improved a lot in tea ceremony.

Zhang Cheng's mantra is to drink wine to cheer up and strengthen one's courage, and to drink tea to cultivate one's character and self-cultivation.

Zhou Yi was very confused, whether he wanted to have fun or to maintain his health...

The tea is tender green, has a pure aroma, and has a sweet taste in the mouth.

“Good tea!”

"Longchuan Longjing tea is the royal tea that Taizu personally sealed. Unfortunately, the Mingqian tea is too popular. There are so many dignitaries in Kyoto, and the new Mingqian tea will be gone before the end of the month."

The shopkeeper obviously loves calligraphy very much, and he never forgets to read it while drinking tea and chatting.

"Sir's font has the elegance of Shi Heng Gong, without losing the squareness of the Taige style. It can be said to be a school of its own."

"The shopkeeper is too complimentary. I also copied my colleagues' calligraphy."

Zhou Yi tasted the tea carefully, and there was a hint of aura contained therein, but it was a pity that it was a hundred times worse than Zui Chungui.

Zhang Cheng himself is a true hermit master, and his calligraphy is naturally elegant. Because of the need for copying books, he absorbed the integrity of the Taige style and formed a unique "Zhang style".

"Even if he didn't create it himself, his calligraphy can still be regarded as a masterpiece. It is extremely difficult to perfectly combine the two styles."

When the shopkeeper heard the word "colleague", his expression did not change, and his tone became more respectful.

After flipping through several volumes of Taoist scriptures, as the shopkeeper of Zhuangyuan Hall, I know that these are the authentic Taoist canons of the Taoist sect, not some unofficial scriptures that use the names of sages to fool ordinary people.

Combining the two, this young man's background must not be simple.

Zhou Yi asked: "Sir, the taste of this mountain spring water is extraordinary. Can't you tell me where it comes from?"

"What's the inconvenience? It's not a private spring."

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "The spring is located on Cuifeng Mountain outside the city. As for the specific location, you can follow the source of Bibo Pond and reach the end of the stream."

"It turns out to be the spring at the source of Bibo Pond. No wonder the water quality is quite spiritual."

Zhou Yi has a deep memory of Bibo Pond. An old dragon once lived in seclusion in the Pond and finally died in the execution room.

The two of them chatted and drank tea. Zhou Yi had read the memories of tens of thousands of monsters, and he was definitely well-informed. The shopkeeper was in thousands of books, so he could be said to know everything about the world.

The more they chatted, the more interesting they became. In the blink of an eye, more than half an hour passed, and the tea and water were changed three or five times.

Until the shopkeeper turned to the twelve volumes of Taoist scriptures, there was a stack of vernacular stories about gods and ghosts, which was "The Punisher's Story".

When Zhouyi was copying the Taoist scriptures, he once again sorted out, typed, revised and copied the "The Punisher's Theory" he had written.

The first draft of "The Punisher's Story" was simply written in vernacular Chinese based on his own experiences and the stories told by the torturers. Later, the stories gradually became sparse and the plots were repeated too much, so Zhouyi began to revise the content.

If a story wants to be spread, it must be novel and interesting. After sorting and processing, a second edition will be available.

Now it is the third edition. On the basis of being interesting, it has been polished and polished. The plot has been slightly changed and has more ups and downs than the original edition.

Zhou Yi knew that his level was average, and he had spent several years revising and revising it, which was already the limit. He finally decided to collect the manuscripts into a book.

"This story seems to be similar to "The Charming Ghost Jiao Li"."

After reading the first article, the shopkeeper frowned slightly: "The Charming Ghost Jiaoli is a forbidden book for the third class, but this article is a warning to ordinary people that those who live with ghosts will suffer harm. However, the scholar Liu Xi and the female ghost Zhu Meiniang clearly Same……"

"???"

I almost choked on the Zhouyi tea. What kind of book is "Mei Gui Jiao Li"?

"Has the shopkeeper seen this story?"

"I've seen more than one."

The shopkeeper smiled like a man, and when he saw Zhimo making tea for the scholar, he quietly took out a few books from behind the counter.

The charming ghost Jiaoli, the bull-headed monk, the golden rooster repay the favor...

Zhou Yi flipped through a few pages at random, wishing he could use the Purple Ying Sword to send the person who wrote the book to heaven.

The stories in these books are very familiar. Several warning stories from the Tormentor's Tale were adapted into a forbidden book that deals with demons and monsters stealing fragrances and jade.

Most of the signed authors are anonymous, Anonymous, Xiaoxiaosheng...

"To be honest, this torturer said it was exactly what I wrote."

Zhou Yi's face turned slightly red and he explained: "Originally, I saw too many demons harming people, so I wrote this as a warning. I never wanted to pass it on..."

"I see."

There is no doubt that he is the shopkeeper.

The third edition of "The Punisher's Story" includes a note at the end of each chapter explaining why you should not live with monsters, noting the simple ways to restrain fox demons and imps in the story, and also popularizing some common sense about Daqian laws through the story.

From the shopkeeper's point of view, eating and drinking is a common thing, but in the eyes of the people at the bottom, it is obscure and difficult to understand. In many cases, they don't even know if it is illegal.

The shopkeeper likes it more and more as he reads it. There are 108 stories in the book with popular language and profound meaning.

This book will be a hit!

The shopkeeper has read a lot of books and has a high level of appreciation, but he is different from ordinary scholars and judges more from a business perspective.

He did not look down on vernacular literature at all. Many bookstores in Chongrenfang relied on secretly printing vernacular banned books to survive.

"Sir, do you need it to be printed and published? Zhuangyuantang is willing to provide 500 taels to polish the pen."

Zhou Yi shook his head and refused. The shopkeeper thought he disliked the low price.

"This is already an extremely high price. Even the best anthology sold on the market will not exceed a thousand taels."

The shopkeeper explained: "Sir, you don't know anything. Not to mention the cost of engraving and the risk of inventory. Even if the sales are very good, only the first batch of books will make a profit. In a few days, other bookstores will compete to print and sell them."

"I agree to print and sell it for free."

Zhou Yi held out three fingers: "I want 30% of the net profit from book sales."

"This kind of cooperation is unprecedented..."

The shopkeeper quickly calculated in his mind.

The labor cost of printing books is known. Each book sells for 2 yuan, and the profit is 1 yuan and 5 yuan. The intermediate cost of manpower, material resources and time is 30%, and the refining fee of 500 taels requires the sale of about 5,000 copies.

A new book in Zhuangyuantang has sold 5,000 copies and has become a hit, so the shopkeeper said that the retouching fee was extremely high.

If the net profit is distributed according to 30%, there will be no more than 15,000 copies, which is less than 500 taels.

This business is available!

"Sir, shall we sign a contract now?"

The shopkeeper took out a standard contract. Zhuangyuan Hall was extremely famous and printed hundreds of new books every year. All he had to do was change the fixed polish in the contract to a share of net profits.

Zhou Yi read it over and found that the general meaning was ok.

Compared with the thick stack of contracts in the previous life, a contract with a few hundred words on a page can find a hundred loopholes.

Just talking about the calculation method of net profit can make Zhuangyuantang easily smooth out all the net profit and get a book in vain.

Contracts are meant to guard against gentlemen and villains.

Of course, Zhou Yi doesn't care about contracts at all, and being prudent and prudent is not a coward.

Zhuangyuantang dares to be the first grader of junior high school, and adheres to the central idea that revenge does not last overnight, and a fairy sword will kill him at night.

The name signed at the end is the name of the shopkeeper, so why should I say it?

"Okay, but I have to add one more thing."

Zhou Yi said: "One hundred and eight stories are divided into three volumes, upper, middle and lower, and sold separately.

Shopkeeper He secretly thought that selling them separately would not only make more money, but also effectively prevent piracy. Once the first volume became popular, it would also greatly enhance the reputation of Zhuangyuantang.

"Mr. Gao Ming, don't you know your surname? I hope you can sign the book."

Zhou Yi said: "Just use Liuquan layman."

Shopkeeper He expressed his understanding that books such as Da Qian Zhi Wei and Mysterious Mysteries are not mainstream, and they are despised for vernacular literature at the bottom of the chain. The authors rarely use their real names.

"It's so good. I wish the layman's new book will sell well."

Shopkeeper He said: "I will find someone to proofread it tomorrow. I may remove some taboo words. I hope lay people will not mind it."

"It doesn't matter."

Zhou Yi paid attention to avoiding taboos from the beginning when he wrote "The Punisher's Theory".

In the second revision, some stories that exposed officialdom, metaphorized the imperial court, and ridiculed the state of the world were deleted.

The purpose of the book "The Punisher's Theory" was not to leave a name in history, nor was it to express thoughts directly from the heart.

Zhou Yi saw many demons and ghosts in the execution room and lamented the hardships of the people's livelihood. He wrote this book to avoid the same tragedy from happening.

What ideals, three views, and spiritual food are too far away from the common people at the bottom of the country, so it is better to spread more meaningful stories.

As written in the opening chapter of "The Punisher's Story": If someone can get a warning from it and avoid disaster, this book will not be written in vain...