My book friend Long Aotian

Chapter 134 Eat my real-name verification!
Huazhou Qushiwen Chamber of Commerce.

Chairman Zheng Xiuyuan sat in the first seat, and the other members sat in order of seniority.

There were dozens of tables outside the hall, covered with pens, ink, paper and inkstones. Dozens of gentlemen from the book club who had been summoned were writing furiously, quickly copying a storybook. Servants kept coming up to collect the papers and bind them into books.

The hall was silent.

After a while, Zheng Xiuyuan put down his teacup and broke the silence: "Tell me, who didn't sign the IOU?"

Everyone looked at each other in dismay, and no one spoke.

Someone grumbled, "If you don't write an IOU, you'll be beaten at the Tongwen Bureau. How can you still sit here?"

This opened up the conversation.

Everyone started to complain, saying that Li Bailong was not a good man. It was not that everyone had not paid the money, but that it had all been divided among the officials. Instead of asking the various government offices to ask for it, he actually asked the innocent merchants to give up another share. Isn't this bullying the honest people? Chasing them to the door to ask for the IOU was unheard of!

There was chaos and confusion, everyone was talking at their own pace, and the hall was in complete chaos.

If you have an enemy, you will take the opportunity to be sarcastic.

"If we had known this, what would we have done last night? We were all at the Tongwen Bureau last night. We have so many people and so much power. If we had all insisted on not handing it over and had advanced and retreated together, maybe we could have gotten Li Bailong to give in and let us pay less. But in the end, he said he had to go back to raise funds and discuss something. When we woke up, the violent Li was here again."

The man said in a gloomy tone, "Now it's all right. We've been found early in the morning and defeated one by one. We've even written the IOU. Now Governor Li is not only the superior, but also the creditor! What can we do?"

Zheng Xiuyuan could tell that this was a reference to himself, the leader of the association.

He was extremely annoyed, slammed the cup in his hand down, and shouted: "What are you arguing about! When something goes wrong, you just blame each other here... Li Bailong is going to hold a new song poetry meeting!"

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was shocked.

Someone asked, "What is a new song poetry meeting?"

Zheng Xiuyuan then shouted to the outside: "Lao Xi! Have you finished writing?"

The long-servant outside responded, "Master, I only copied half of it."

"Then bring in half of it first!"

Not long after, three servants each held a pile of books and distributed half-bound pirated hand-typed books. Someone saw the title and said in surprise, "Legend of the Imperial Battle of Heaven? Isn't this a book from Lin County?"

Zheng Xiuyuan looked at him and asked, "Have you seen it?"

"The people below brought it back from their performance in Lin County. I took a look at it when I had some free time."

The person who replied was named Ye. The Ninghai Bookstore under his name mainly published BL literature, and the performance styles of several drama troupes and theaters he owned were also the same. What the lower did, the upper must do well. This boss Ye was active in the front line of ancient puppet adaptation and publishing. Slaanesh took away his soul and occupied his mind.

He commented sharply from his professional perspective: "The man's writing is not very interesting, there is no point in adapting it, most audiences find it difficult to accept it, and my theater can only perform this late at night."

Although Zheng Xiuyuan frowned, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that Huazhou's literary and art circles were dominated by such talents, he felt much more relieved.

"Besides that, his plot is too shallow, all about fighting and killing, without any lingering, life-and-death love. The key is that there are too many characters, they die too quickly, and the stage is too big..."

After summarizing the whole thing, Boss Ye commented: "Anyway, our audience doesn't like to watch it. So after I watched it for a while, I put it down... So, Lao Zheng, what's going on?"

"The bookseller who published this book is about to open a store in Huazhou. He came to pay me a visit this morning."

Zheng Xiuyuan said coldly, "He is from Lin County, a fellow villager of Li Bailong. He claimed to have received a favor from Li and spoke in a sarcastic tone, trying to get me to support him. I refused, and the housekeeper sent him out. Then he called on the henchmen of the Tongwen Bureau to collect debts... You see, Li Bailong is supporting him."

Everyone then knew about this and there was an uproar in the hall.

It should be noted that all the wealthy businessmen present here have very legendary life experiences. Each of them started from scratch and earned a huge fortune by relying on pure intelligence, diligence and honesty. The starting capital was sponsored by ordinary parents with their savings. The reason why their careers were able to take off was that they relied on their hard work, sincerity, kindness and honest character, and were appreciated by noble people. Every penny was earned cleanly.

So, when they saw a young colleague from Lin County, who had the above two virtues, was appreciated by a noble who had nothing to do with him...

The first reaction was to quickly press this guy to death.

Because according to their experience, if this guy takes off and becomes big, he will claim that he made his fortune through hard work and honesty, and the competitors who stand in his way will die one by one at the right time.

——Chen Botang, right? This boy must not be allowed to stay!
Seeing that everyone was quickly united in their hatred of the enemy, Zheng Xiuyuan had no choice but to remind them: "Everyone, the Tongwen Bureau has changed... and Li Bailong is still your creditor."

Everyone then recalled what had happened and all looked distressed.

"You guys take a look at this book first."

After Zheng Xiuyuan said this, the bosses began to turn the pages.

A few people just stared at Zheng Xiuyuan. These people were the most powerful Quju bosses present, and it was reasonable that they were not very literate.

Zheng Xiuyuan waved his hand and asked the Chamber of Commerce servants to call a few readers.

"Tell me earlier."

One of the bosses of the brothel said carelessly: "Otherwise I would have brought a few female book masters."

This elder brother also ran an entertainment business and loved listening to stories, so he hired a young lady with a soft voice who could tell stories vividly to read to the guests. One day, he had an idea and combined the technician and storyteller industries into one, with the female storyteller telling romantic stories to the guests.

After all, language is pale and powerless, and practice is the truth. If you talk about something indescribable and the customer is willing to pay more, you can practice it on the spot, focusing on a real-life scene, which will make the sense of immersion very strong.

It was a huge success and this guy made a lot of money.

Thanks to Huazhou's original and advanced intellectual property regulations, he actually monopolized this way of playing. His club business is booming, and the masterpiece "The White Lady" has always been ranked first on the on-demand list.

If the topic of live video on demand was mentioned in the past, all the men present would smile with understanding.

But now, Li Bailong is going to organize a new song and poetry meeting, and he wants to kill the parents of everyone present. Everyone is busy reading this little-known book "Legend of Huangji Zhantian". For a moment, the whole room was silent.

After a while, someone shouted, "Damn it! This is ridiculous! It's fine to cancel the engagement, but why even the betrothal gift..."

Before he finished speaking, another person said angrily, "Fuck you! Your beak is stuck! I haven't even seen that!"

Zheng Xiuyuan had to maintain order: "Be quiet! Outsiders have come to the doorstep, and you are still quarreling here! Look! I'll give you a quarter of an hour!"

With this sentence, no one said anything more. Zheng Xiuyuan had already finished reading the first volume at home. He was watching the crowd with a cold eye. Some people looked disdainful, some were concentrating, some were breathing rapidly... and so on.

Until a quarter of an hour.

"Everyone." Zheng Xiuyuan knocked on the table. "Chen Baitang sent a total of five books. This is just one of them. The others are all from the male protagonist's perspective, and more or less, they all have the shadow of this book..."

Boss Ye, who had just spoken, frowned and said, "That is to say..."

"Linxian is a rural area, and the popular things there are different from those in Huazhou."

Zheng Xiuyuan glanced at the empty chair in the hall, which belonged to Yunjiang Bookstore. "Logically speaking, if Gao Tongzhi is in trouble, Li Bailong will definitely take over all his businesses. If he wants to make money from operas, he can just take over Yunjiang Bookstore and other businesses. Why should Chen Baitang start another business?"

In front of everyone, he said in a deep voice: "Chen Baitang's business is obviously to focus on books like "Legend of the Imperial Battle Heaven" and carve out another world to snatch readers and audiences from us. We can only say that Bao Li's greed may be beyond our imagination..."

Chairman Zheng slowly stood up and looked around the room at his colleagues.

"Brothers, I don't need to say much about our business in Huazhou. For so many years, we have been pacifying the audience and guiding public opinion, both good and bad. The people have similar tastes and there is no need to be picky. They are like being trapped in the cocoon we have created, and we can make money more easily..."

"Over the years, some people have tried to introduce new gadgets, but we all know what happened."

"Now, there is one more challenger."

He picked up the "Legend of Huangji Zhantian" in his hand and shook it.

"A country bumpkin from Lin County is not worth mentioning, but with Li Bailong standing behind him, we have to think carefully. I know everyone is afraid, and I am afraid too, but Li Bailong not only wants to take a piece of our pie, but also wants to smash our stall. Everyone is afraid of Li Bailong, but are you afraid that your future wealth will be gone?"

The bosses present were all shrewd people and would not be moved by passionate and ambitious words.

They are cold machines, driven only by weighed interests.

Zheng Xiuyuan looked around at everyone and slowly raised his hand.

"As the current president of the Qushiwen Society, I have decided to confront Li Bailong. Li Bailong is extremely greedy and cannot be satisfied by giving up temporary interests. For the sake of long-term wealth and prosperity, I cannot give in step by step."

He said coldly: "I have finished speaking, you can express your opinions."

One by one, slowly raise your hands.

The situation in the field was dull, and there was not a single bit of heroic spirit to rise up and fight against the violent Li.

Everyone agreed that, firstly, they needed to fit in, and secondly, Li Bailong's behavior was really excessive.

If you just take over Yunjiang Bookstore, participate in Huazhou's literary and artistic undertakings, and make money with everyone here, everyone will welcome you. But if you want to promote male-oriented books, pollute the pool of female-oriented books in Huazhou, and dare to broaden readers' horizons and provide them with more choices... It's a way to get killed!

But even so, everyone was still very scared.

"I think everyone should not take any chances based on the IOU I wrote."

Zheng Xiuyuan said slowly: "Just grit your teeth and take it out. He said that once the money is paid, the past will be written off. He has no handle to hold us back..."

Someone sighed, "We lack a backer... The officials surrendered too quickly. Li Bailong has absolute power. He thinks he is the King of Zhao. In Huazhou, few people dare to mess with him."

Boss Ye thought for a moment and said, "Prefect, I heard that the prefect is Meng Gong's man, so he should not be afraid of King Zhao..."

"The prefect is in Lin County. I sent my family to report yesterday."

A boss sneered disdainfully: "The Lord of the Prefecture is still handling the case in Lin County. He said that the news was broken. He needs to review the files of the past dynasties to see if there is anything inappropriate..."

So everyone lamented that Li Bailong, as an official, actually competed with the people for profits, and the officials did not dare to intervene!
At this time, Zheng Xiuyuan said quietly: "Someone can take care of it, it depends on whether you are willing to take the risk or not."

Everyone looked over, and Boss Ye seemed to be thinking: "You mean... the one over there?"

He pointed outside and heard the sound of the river tide coming in waves.

Zheng Xiuyuan nodded.

The eldest brother who was doing the audio reading objected, "How can we resist jackals and invite tigers into the house? No matter how greedy and vicious Li Bailong is, he should be kicked out after serving for one term. If we provoke those people who are as important as the country, we will be controlled by them for the rest of our lives... No, I don't agree!"

Everyone responded.

"But Bao Li is insatiable in his demands. If we fight him, who will support us?"

"Then just bear with it!"

Boss Ye said, "This isn't a fight between officials! It's fine that Li Bailong is fighting for power and bullying others, but his fellow villager wants to open a bookstore, not a gang fighting for territory. Power and people are useless!"

He stood up suddenly and looked at everyone: "What are you afraid of? We can't compare to Li Bailong in playing dirty tricks, playing with power, playing with backers, but we have been immersed in opera for a lifetime. Li Bailong, a young man from a famous family, can understand nothing about it!"

Boss Ye waved his hand and said, "Pay the money, and let him handle the affairs of the Tongwen Bureau! But as for the affairs in the market, if they can't be done, they can't be done! I heard from my father that the Education Bureau has been struggling for decades and has achieved nothing. As for the affairs of the market and cultural creation, no matter how powerful the government is, if they can't do it, they can't do it!"

Seeing him giving advice on the matter, Zheng Xiuyuan hurriedly spoke up and made a final summary.

"Then, we will target Chen Botang's shop! We will follow whatever Li Bailong says, but how can he understand business matters? If the business is not good, it will only be the dishes of the surname Chen!"

Chairman Zheng smiled as he said this: "Usually, we instigate readers and viewers to oppose and insult each other, while we sit back and make money. Now let's use this method on Chen Botang and that bastard Emperor Extreme Battle Heaven Legend to see how they respond... The way we Huazhou people play is something these Linxian country bumpkins must have never seen before!"

Someone excitedly suggested: "Publish in a newspaper! Let's first find someone who publishes a newspaper to write an article..."

Zheng Xiuyuan's smile froze: "...The publication of the newspaper has been put under the control of Li Bailong. He holds the official seals of the prefect and the deputy prefect. No one in Huazhou can control it."

The morale was slightly dampened, and someone else suggested: "If newspapers don't work, we can do it ourselves! Find obedient authors to speak directly, instigate readers, and guide them to be hostile to Chen Botang's books..."

This is acceptable!

Everyone happily began to discuss the details of the attack.

About a quarter of an hour later, someone ran in to report the news to Zheng Xiuyuan.

"Master, the Tongwen Bureau has issued an order to all bookstores in Huazhou, requiring us to tell all authors under our jurisdiction to complete real-name verification within a limited time and report their personal identity information to the Tongwen Bureau. We also require all authors in Huazhou to be like... to be like Mo Feng and to declare their identities openly!"

(End of this chapter)