Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 451 Bestselling Author Gua Mei
A mere vice minister wanted to mediate the Huo family's affairs while also trying to get people to give up on Ye Tinglan.

After leaving the palace, Lu Xingzhou laughed the whole way. "How interesting. You, the Grand Minister of the Qian Dynasty, are worth so much."

However, this position is indeed valuable in the eyes of the system, especially for someone so young. This position of vice minister is practically a promise of an even bigger one, and it's almost like a promise of prime ministership.

As long as you give up Ye Tinglan, the future will be yours.

On the surface, there's no direct indication that it's due to gender; from a conventional perspective, it could easily be considered poaching. Aren't you one of the Grand Tutor's men? I'm now formally promising you a promising future. Will you sever ties with the Grand Tutor and become one of my men?
This emperor, having been on the throne for so long, developed a strange, arrogant confidence, believing that he could influence others with high-ranking positions and generous salaries.

He seemed never to have considered that after he broke Shen Tang's leg, he and Lu Xingzhou were already enemies, and their relationship was irreconcilable.

Unless he suddenly realizes his mistake and makes amends to Shen Tang, seeking reconciliation with her, there will never be any possibility of harmony between father-in-law and son-in-law, even without the Ye Tinglan incident. But with the double buff of feudal patriarch and emperor, he seems to think that breaking his daughter's leg is a perfectly normal thing, never considering the hatred involved, and never imagining that those who love Shen Tang hate him more than Shen Tang herself.

In comparison, high-ranking official positions and generous salaries mean nothing.

Of course, Lu Xingzhou was happy to see him have this inexplicable confidence for the time being. His own power was still insufficient, and he couldn't directly turn against him. Not to mention anything further ahead, just considering the matter of the two old men in the Huo family, he couldn't complete the final step of this revenge for the time being.

It will be soon.

In addition... Zhao En is hiding in the Huo family, and Gu Zhanting is pretending to be ill even though he has recovered... All these signs suggest that Gu Zhanting is plotting something big against Ye Tinglan. Before this matter breaks out, we need to make sufficient preparations and conduct investigations.

Actually, there was another way: Ye Tinglan could use the pretext of capturing the demon disciples to directly attack the Huo family. However, this would be tantamount to directly turning against the Great Qian royal family, which seemed too reckless. Ye Tinglan didn't want to do it that way, and Lu Xingzhou also felt it was inappropriate.

Lost in thought, I returned to my office and saw my subordinates passing around the latest rankings of heroes, each with a strange smile on their face.

Lu Xingzhou asked for a book, glanced at it, and chuckled to himself.

The top rookie, Qi is out of the running.

Aside from this meme, the Heroes Ranking seems to have no appeal whatsoever for discussion. It's useless; even Lu Xingzhou himself is too lazy to check where he ranks. It's truly meaningless.

I promised Gua Mei I'd help with the sales figures for the Heroes Ranking, but it seems I really can't figure it out. It's hopeless; I might as well just drag it out and bury it.

On the contrary, a few other people in the corner were discussing another book, their faces beaming with excitement.

Lu Xingzhou strolled over and tapped the table: "What are you muttering about? You're not going to make fun of our Manager Qi, are you?"

"How could that be!" the subordinate laughed. "Sir, we were discussing your wife's masterpiece."

Lu Xingzhou: “?”

Reaching out, I flipped the book open on the table back over its cover and saw the large title: "Tales of the Demon Realm".

The author is Sheng Yuanyao, and the text was polished by Pei Chuyun.

Lu Xingzhou felt a bit amused. Gua Mei actually asked Pei Chuyun to polish the writing of her book... Just imagining the two beauties getting together to discuss which sentence to revise, that scene was quite beautiful, suitable for stacking together.

Unfortunately, the Huo family's affairs have been so tumultuous these past few days that there hasn't been a chance for a second round... It seems that while I've been dealing with the Huo family these past few days, my two wives have been busy publishing a book together, and I haven't even paid attention to it.

Lu Xingzhou chuckled and took a copy, then returned to his office to leisurely read it.

Other people's travelogues mainly focus on local customs and traditions, making them valuable research materials. My wife's travelogues, while mentioning local customs and traditions, are merely supplementary; the main focus is on gossip.

I've heard rumors that a powerful demon's wife ran off with someone, that so-and-so's son wasn't theirs and they're getting a divorce because they were each doing their own thing, that someone was having sex with a group in the pigsty, that the high priest of the holy mountain had the story of his fifty-one women, and that a certain general had a crush on the demon king...

Is this how you write about your experiences in foreign lands?

It's one thing to write it like this, but why do you portray the Demon Emperor as so vicious? Are you sure you won't get beaten up later?
However, since the Heroes' Ranking has no sales, this thing will probably sell very well... but it will most likely become a banned book if it gets into the Demon Realm...

Just as I was enjoying the story, the secretary pushed the door open and then closed it again with an air of self-righteousness.

Previously, when the registrar had an affair with the doctor, it was called adultery; now it's called marital intimacy, and nobody can interfere.

Pei Chuyun gracefully swayed her hips and sat on Lu Xingzhou's lap: "You're reading this book too?"

Lu Xingzhou laughed and said, "I didn't even know when you guys teamed up to do this."

“Yuan Yao wrote quite a bit in the Demon Realm, and then she finished some more when she came back. I saw it the other day, and she just dragged me into doing all the hard work of polishing her entire text. I was exhausted, and she didn’t even pay me.”

"..."

Pei Chuyun laughed, "The printing presses at the Publication Bureau are almost at a standstill... That day, Yuan Yao had a sudden inspiration and decided to use her position for personal gain by having the engravers at the Publication Bureau carve a block for her book, printing a few copies for herself. But the Publication Bureau went crazy over it, and I thought it was a business opportunity, so I expanded the printing. Guess how many copies have been sold now?"

Lu Xingzhou laughed and said, "How can we guess?"

"Let me tell you, we printed 10,000 copies, and they sold out in just one day at bookstores. Yuan Yao is ecstatic and is now urging the publishing department to print more, putting all the production capacity allocated to the 'Heroes' Ranking' into this stuff..."

Lu Xingzhou always felt that Agua would get beaten by Lao Sheng again when he got home.

Please, that's the publishing department, not your own printing workshop...

"Hey, let's not talk about her anymore. She's always grinning like an idiot." Pei Chuyun whispered in his ear, "While she's still out there inspecting the book-selling craze, how about we create one ourselves..."

This is seizing any opportunity to sneak a bite. Lu Xingzhou was both amused and exasperated: "You came all this way just for this?"

Pei Chuyun pouted: "No, that's not it. I have important things to do, unlike that idiot who has nothing to do."

He handed over a stack of documents: "These are recent exit reports and tax information for those going to the border markets, as well as information on the seizure of items on the embargo list."

Lu Xingzhou was taken aback: "Where did you get this?" "Qi Tuizhi is back. He sorted these out from Xiang An and Long Zheng respectively."

"Where is he? He came back but didn't come to report to me."

"As soon as I got back, I saw people discussing the top rookie. I was too ashamed to face them, so I threw my materials on my desk and ran away."

A pure tragedy.

Lu Xingzhou chuckled and picked up the materials to read them.

Qi Tuizhi went to the border market to investigate the situation, and this report is his answer sheet. It must be said, he's truly capable, yet his reputation has been ruined by his own family...

The report indicates that currently all taxes are going to the border markets, meaning the Demon Realm profits entirely. The Great Qian Dynasty only exports goods through these markets, and while merchants earn money there, no commercial taxes are paid to the Great Qian, rendering the country largely useless. Given this situation, a special office should be established at the Demon-Suppressing Pass to collect customs duties…

But for Lu Xingzhou, if the Demon Realm had taxes, then his own dragon maiden had taxes; whether or not the Great Qian Realm had taxes seemed irrelevant...

Of course, the public relations work also needs to be done well. This can be done on a large scale so that the government and the public can see the effectiveness of the Foreign Trade Bureau. Moreover, it seems that there are already some voices in the court calling for the establishment of a Foreign Trade Bureau. At present, the voices are still small, but once these are fully rolled out, they will become formal proposals.

If Gu Zhanting wants to use the position of Vice Minister as a pie in the sky, then I will naturally set up the platform for myself to become Vice Minister as well. When the time comes, I will ask someone to mention it in court and see if Gu Zhanting will accept it.

As I was deep in thought, the boat suddenly entered a warm, moist environment.

Lu Xingzhou was stunned for a moment, then looked down and saw that Pei Chuyun had crawled under the table at some point and was playing a prank.

Seeing that she was reading on, Pei Chuyun blinked her eyes.

This little goblin.

Lu Xingzhou breathed a sigh of relief and patted her hair as encouragement.

In fact, Pei Chuyun's original intention was just a prank, but this guy actually encouraged her, which made her feel a little amused, so she decided to serve him properly.

Lu Xingzhou continued to look at the materials, but the data he had just been understanding so clearly was now floating in front of him, and he couldn't understand a single word of it.

So how exactly do those gods who can play this game while working do it?
The doctor pretended to look at the materials, and then the door was pushed open again.

Pei Chuyun almost bit her teeth, her movements were completely tense.

Lu Xingzhou tensed up, only to see Sheng Yuanyao enter: "Where's A-Lu? I heard her voice inside earlier."

Lu Xingzhou solemnly picked up his pen to write down instructions, without even looking up: "She just came to deliver some materials... naturally she should go do her own thing..."

Sheng Yuanyao looked around suspiciously, but there was nothing there.

Lu Xingzhou said, "Why aren't you selling books? What are you doing here? Catching someone cheating at a time like this?"

"Who's interested in catching you adulterers?" Sheng Yuanyao's face gleamed with the glow of wealth: "Our book is selling like hotcakes, I'm going to treat her to dinner."

You even treated her to a meal, and she's already eating.

Lu Xingzhou had no choice but to say, "Then you go and look for it. I still have things to do."

Sheng Yuanyao gave him a strange look and took two steps forward.

Lu Xingzhou was startled: "What, what are you doing..."

Sheng Yuanyao said angrily, "So you think you can keep your distance after you've had your way with me?"

"No, no," Lu Xingzhou said with a forced smile, "I'm really doing something right now... hiss..."

Pei Chuyun playfully bit her lightly.

Lu Xingzhou's expression twisted.

Sheng Yuanyao became increasingly suspicious: "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, no." Lu Xingzhou smiled apologetically, "Go find Chu Yun, it's alright."

"Why do you always have to send me away..." Sheng Yuanyao was only halfway through her sentence when there was a knock on the door: "My lady."

Lu Xingzhou coughed lightly: "Hmm, what is it?"

“A young lady named Dugu Qingli has come to visit.”

Dugu Qingli! Sheng Yuanyao felt she had found the root cause of Lu Xingzhou's strange behavior.

It turns out that Dugu Qingli was coming and wanted to sneak a bite behind his back, so he kept chasing people away!

Sheng Yuanyao glared fiercely at Lu Xingzhou, then, seeing nowhere to hide, quickly shrank under the table: "I want to see how you cheat on me with that little white hair!"

As soon as I crawled inside, I was stunned.

Pei Chuyun, with something in her mouth, looked at her innocently with wide eyes.

(End of this chapter)