Frost for a Thousand Years

Chapter 289 of "Journey to the West" is a bestseller.

Because Yuewenge has a dedicated workshop, it only took seven days to complete the typesetting and printing of 20,000 copies.

Then, it took about three days to transport them to the surrounding cities simultaneously.

Sheng'an left 15,000 books, and the surrounding cities combined had a total of 5,000 books.

After all, Sheng'an has a population of over 400,000, and its residents have the strongest purchasing power.

The remaining stores in Sizhou only cover a total of a few hundred thousand citizens.

Its market size is only one-third of Sheng'an's.

Fortunately, the other cities and towns had virtually no bookstores, forming a complete monopoly.

The only competitors were small-time vendors who pirated prints.

The final unified price was set at twenty coins for the first book.

Although both the owner and the stallholder felt that even thirty coins would be a perfect deal, the newcomer "Wu Cheng'en" was not well-known, the book had no prequel, and the subject matter was incomparable to those straightforward and explicit erotic books.

And crucially, the first part is free, so there's no need to share revenue with 'Wu Chengen', and you'll make a profit no matter how many copies you sell.

And so, after being put on the shelves at all the major bookstores, the first unified sale began.

This time, even the owner personally stood guard, nervously waiting behind the main store's bookstall, rubbing his hands together like a fly.

Beside him hung a cloth banner with the words "New Work Today: The Great Monkey King with Seventy-Two Transformations" prominently displayed.

When a new book is published, it is usually promoted here.

If two new books are being released simultaneously, they will promote the one by the more famous author, or the one they think is more excellent. If this doesn't work, they will quickly pull the book and replace it with the other one.

Regardless of its quality, they all had to strongly recommend "Journey to the West".

After all, a full 20,000 copies were printed at once.

Generally speaking, the first book is usually printed in four or five thousand copies to test the waters.

And most of them were sold out before piracy began to rampant, forcing them to sell off their stock cheaply to street vendors.

Sheng'an has many book lovers, and this is the flagship store in the best location in the heart of the city. As soon as the door opens, more than a dozen customers come in.

And they're all here to see if there are any new works.

The Old Bookworm.

"A great monkey with seventy-two transformations?" A thin, middle-aged man with a long beard looked puzzled upon seeing this. "Is this all the new work for today? Nothing else?"

"Yes, there are others, but this book is the best," the stall owner said.

"Best? What the hell? Did I read this book to see monkeys?"

"Journey to the West?" One of them, seeing the book displayed all over the stall, was even more puzzled. "Is this the first copy? You've printed so many? Is it a new work by some gentleman?"

As they spoke, someone turned to a page and read aloud: "I have never heard of Wu Cheng'en."

The landlord's expression was somewhat solemn.

The stall owner quickly said, "How about you all read one chapter first? If you don't like it, you don't have to."

In bookstores, you can usually look at the books before you buy them.

For a few years, this seemed to be the pattern. Then, I don't know when it started, all the books were covered with plastic covers, so you could only buy them first and read them later.

"Let's take a look."

One person picked up a book.

A few people who were curious about this "Journey to the West" also picked it up.

“I don’t read monkey stuff, it’s utterly boring,” said the thin, bearded man. “Do you have any books like that?”

"This is a newly published work, a new piece by the author of 'Springtime in the Garden'."

The stall owner gave him the book, and he put down the money. After taking the book, he looked at the people watching the monkey demon beside him.

"Hmm, this is interesting."

"A monkey that sprang from a stone."

"But why can these monkeys talk? Are they all monsters?"

Seeing that they were still looking at it, the owner's expression relaxed a little.

At this moment, seeing people blocking the stall, a customer who wanted to buy books impatiently shouted, "What are you doing blocking the way?"

"Please stand aside for a moment, everyone. Those customers want to buy books," the stall owner said.

Then, those people made a slight concession.

"He's become the Monkey King! This is interesting!" one person exclaimed upon seeing the exciting part.

Those nearby who witnessed this couldn't help but join the conversation: "It truly is a spirited and agile monkey; after all, when it was born, the heavens and earth seemed to tremble..."

"What kind of person would be born with such an extraordinary phenomenon? That would be a king."

"The Monkey King is also a king!"

Seeing the group chatting so happily, the newcomer asked, "What are they looking at?"

"Today's newest work, 'Journey to the West'," the stall owner said.

"Let me take a look first."

The man simply picked up a book.

The shop assistant, who couldn't read, came to buy books for his employer and asked in confusion, "What's this about? Is it interesting?"

"It's just a powerful and magical monkey."

"What's so interesting about monkeys?"

"You'll see for yourself; it's quite interesting."

"I can't read..."

Before they knew it, more and more people were gathering in front of the stall. Even the skinny, bearded man from before couldn't resist picking up a book and starting to read.

Soon, everyone was engrossed in reading, their feet motionless.

Furthermore, they completely blocked the area in front of the stall.

Only then did a slight smile appear on the owner's lips.

Then, give the stall owner a signal with your eyes.

"Gentlemen, it's not that we can't let you see it, but there are many customers behind us. If you think it's worth reading, please buy it and take it home to read," the stall owner said quite kindly. "Twenty coins a book."

As more and more people gathered behind them, they were so crowded that they couldn't read anymore, so they all left their money behind, took their books, and left.

"Excuse me, excuse me, don't block the way."

They had completely taken a liking to the book, and after leaving the money, they were ready to leave, wanting only to find a place to read as soon as possible.

And so, one by one, readers who had read the beginning of "Journey to the West" bought the books.

Later, after flipping through a few pages, he was also attracted and placed an order. The illiterate waiter saw people coming and going, all looking at this book, and buying it after they finished reading. So he also put down twenty coins, took the book, and left.

"This momentum is incredible," the stall owner whispered to his boss, "It looks like our main store's six thousand copies will be sold out within ten days... no, within seven days."

Ten days is a milestone.

Those fast-selling, best-selling books will have pirated copies within ten days.

The limit for piracy is seven days.

If they can sell out within seven days, they'll make a fortune.

Gross profit of 300,000 coins.

But the problem comes again...

Where is Wu Chengen? When will he send the second book?

.........

In the largest pawnshop in Sheng'an, Boss Min was resting in a reclining chair, waiting for the clerk to bring back the books he had bought for his amusement.

By this time in the Dayu era, collateralized lending had already seen considerable development.

Previously, these events were organized by some temples.

Now it's also available to the general public.

Some large pawnshop owners were even commended by the imperial court and given the honorary title of "Chaofenglang" to encourage commerce.

Boss Min is a court official.

It's pure local knives, guns, and cannons, with a very solid background.

A man like this will never lack women. But that doesn't stop him from enjoying erotic books; he'll eagerly follow any new work.

In ancient times, spiritual and cultural enjoyment was always the highest form of consumption.

Even if it's the Imperial Uncle.

"Master, the books have been bought."

The waiter ran up to him with the book, his head covered in sweat.

Mr. Min took the book and frowned immediately when he saw the words "Journey to the West" on it: "What kind of book did I ask you to buy? What is this?"

"Boss, I see a lot of people buying this," the waiter explained.

"Was that a hired shill?"

"If those are shills, there are way too many of them..."

"It's nothing more than 'The Strange Tales,' about a poor, pedantic scholar who failed the imperial examinations and then writes rubbish in his daydreams." Boss Min read "The Strange Tales" like a top-tier rich guy reads a fantasy novel, unable to find any sense of identification. So after casually flipping through it, he ordered, "Go buy me another copy now."

"Okay." The waiter readily agreed, then picked up a towel, wiped the sweat from his brow, and dawdled for time, watching the boss reading a book.

Not long after, Boss Min, who had been quite disdainful just moments before, gradually focused his attention and his expression became serious.

"Boss, which author's book do you want? I'll go ask the bookseller," the waiter asked in a low voice.

"No need, you go ahead and do your work." He waved his hand.

"okay."

Seeing this, he chuckled and walked to the side.

Boss Min just kept watching.

The stall owner's reading speed is unmatched by ordinary people; a book he can finish in less than half an hour might take others more than an hour.

That is, a little over two hours.

He just watched like that all morning.

"Boss? I want to pawn some things." Just then, someone came over to pawn some goods.

"in."

Without even looking up, Boss Min gave a perfunctory reply and continued reading.

"Master, lunch is ready."

The waiter, seeing that he had been reading for a while, asked in a low voice.

But Boss Min simply ignored him.

The more I watched, the more engrossed I became; the more I watched, the more excited I got.

As he read until the very last page, his heart skipped a beat: "What happened? The book wasn't finished, and it's already being sold?"

He disliked books like "The Bizarre Theory" because they were sold in dozens of copies.

In order to make money, a story that can be told in one chapter is stretched into several chapters.

Their eating manners were extremely unsightly.

Can't I just read one story in one book?

You can write it all down and compile it into one big book, then sell it for a few hundred coins at once.

"Go ahead." Boss Min, stuck here and getting increasingly frustrated, said directly, "Tell the owner of Yuewen Pavilion, 'Ask the pawnshop owner, 'When will the second volume of Journey to the West be published?'"

"okay!"

The waiter dared not delay and quickly ran to Yuewen Pavilion.

Boss Min waited there, looking at this divine book, and for the first time, he lost his withdrawal reaction to erotic books.

I feel like I don't just enjoy watching porn or doing anything vulgar; it's just that I haven't read any good books before.

Isn't this monkey more interesting than my sister-in-law?
With seventy-two transformations, he could travel 108,000 li in a single somersault, and his weapon was none other than the Dragon Palace's Sea-Stabilizing Needle, weighing 13,500 jin!

These novel settings and impactful plot twists truly broadened his horizons.

It turns out this novel can be written in more than just the Three Paths.

It's even possible to completely avoid writing the third path!

The book is so thin, though; after finishing it, I really wanted more…

"Master!" the waiter rushed back and said hurriedly, "The owner of Yuewen Pavilion said that Mr. Wu Chengen is still writing the second book..."

Who is Wu Chengen?

"The person who wrote this book."

"Why is he taking so long? How much longer will he take?" Boss Min said impatiently.

"The boss didn't say."

"What happened to him who was trapped under the Five Finger Mountain...?"

After muttering something unsettling, Boss Min looked up and urged, "Tell Wu Chengen that he needs to finish the book within five days, and I'll give him extra money—one coin for each word!"

(End of this chapter)