Transmigrated as a Cannon Fodder Wife A in Ancient Times - Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Lu Zijin dealt with Yun Xiang’s matter, and everyone naturally dispersed. In the morning, Lu Zijin needed to inspect the dyeing workshops.

Several days passed like this. The five sets of books that Lu Zijin had hired workers to carve were completed. One set was Wei Lan’s storybook, and the other four were ‘The Analects’, ‘Mencius’, ‘The Great Learning’, and ‘The Doctrine of the Mean’, commonly known as the Four Books.

In this era, these books sold at very high prices, mainly due to the cost of copying. But now, the Lu Family Bookshop had complete molds, making printing these books a simple task.

Each page was printed in hundreds of copies, then bound together by page number with a uniform cover, completing a book.

Books printed with molds had another advantage: the text was clear, and the font size was consistent, making it easier for scholars to read.

Lu Zijin quickly came up with an idea. She had people place a vertical wooden sign at the bookshop’s entrance, listing the price of the Four Books at six hundred wen per book, a full hundred wen cheaper than Chen’s Bookshop.

This news spread quickly through the city. At first, some scholars doubted that books needed for the imperial exams could be so cheap, but gradually, people started coming to the shop to inquire.

“Shopkeeper, is ‘The Analects’ really only six hundred wen?” a female Qianyuan asked uncertainly.

“Of course, it’s over there. Go take a look,” a clerk said, leading her to the bookshelf.

The female Qianyuan picked up a book, and her eyes lit up. The text was clear, the font size consistent, and most importantly, it was cheap enough. Buying all four books would save her four hundred wen compared to before.

She immediately bought a set. After purchasing, she hugged the books and rushed out of the bookshop to the teahouse across the street to call others.

“Everyone, hurry to the Lu Family Bookshop! If you haven’t bought all the Four Books yet, go now. They’re a hundred wen cheaper per book than Chen’s. Buying them is a steal. There are already lots of people inside, and if you go late, they’ll be gone,” the female Qianyuan said excitedly in one breath. After a moment, she drank some tea to catch her breath.

In the teahouse, except for a few scholars close to her, others thought it impossible. After all, seven hundred wen had been the price for a long time. How could it drop by a hundred wen?

Still, some went to the Lu Family Bookshop with a try-it-out attitude. As a result, they joined the frenzy, and all six hundred-plus sets of the Four Books were sold out in less than a day.

The shopkeepers were overjoyed, grinning from ear to ear. However, Wei Lan’s storybook didn’t sell much. After all, the scholars writing storybooks for Chen’s Bookshop were somewhat famous in the circle, while Wei Lan was a newcomer. Plus, in the morning, the Lu Family Bookshop was overrun by scholars, so no one noticed Wei Lan’s storybook.

While inspecting the dyeing workshops, Lu Zijin received news that the Four Books at her bookshops had sold out. She was delighted and immediately ordered the workers to print more.

After returning, Lu Zijin went straight to Wei Lan, who was in her study continuing to write her storybook. Wei Lan had named her storybook ‘Rebirth of the Abandoned Consort of the Marquis’s Mansion’, using her real name as the author to make Chen Zhou furious.

When Lu Zijin arrived at Wei Lan’s study, she saw Wei Lan still writing diligently.

Hearing the noise, Wei Lan quickly looked up. “Madam? Why are you here?”

Wei Lan knew Lu Zijin had been busy these days and hadn’t expected her to come.

“Hmm, I came to see you. Our bookshop sold a lot of books today, and I’ve already ordered more printing,” Lu Zijin said with a smile to Wei Lan.

“That’s great. My storybook is almost finished these days, but printing it into booklets will probably need five or six volumes,” Wei Lan said, standing up to organize her manuscript.

Thinking for a moment, Wei Lan added, “But people in the city are used to buying storybooks at Chen’s Bookshop. If I want my storybook to sell well, I’ll need to think of a way.”

Lu Zijin nodded. “Indeed, today our Four Books sold out, but few asked about the storybooks.”

Wei Lan thought for a moment, took out a new sheet of paper, and sat back at the desk. She wrote some words on the paper and stopped after a moment.

Curious, Lu Zijin walked over and asked, “What are you writing?”

“Promotional words. They can be written on a wooden board. It might work,” Wei Lan said, handing the paper to Lu Zijin.

Lu Zijin looked down at the paper and saw a few lines: ‘In my previous life, my husband killed me, and all my family’s wealth fell into his ungrateful hands. He favored his concubine, schemed viciously, and after killing me, he pretended to be affectionate to win the world’s praise. Reborn, I will take back everything that belongs to me…’

Lu Zijin read the content, paused for a moment, and said, “This is interesting. I’ll have someone prepare a wooden board tomorrow to see how it works.”

“Hmm, hmm,” Wei Lan said, her eyes shining as she looked at Lu Zijin. She walked around the desk and hugged Lu Zijin tightly. “Madam, I haven’t seen you in days. I missed you so much.”

Seeing the little Qianyuan clinging to her and acting spoiled, Lu Zijin happily wrapped her arms around Wei Lan’s waist.

She kissed Wei Lan’s lips softly and coaxed, “I missed you too. I’ll stay here tonight to keep you company, okay?”

“Hmm,” Wei Lan said, comfortably nuzzling Lu Zijin, unwilling to let go.

Seeing Wei Lan’s clingy demeanor, Lu Zijin’s smile grew wider. Her little Qianyuan was just too cute.

“Alright, I’ll have them bring dinner first. We can hug later, okay?” Lu Zijin said gently.

Reluctantly, Wei Lan let go of Lu Zijin. She loved hugging Lu Zijin; her Madam was soft and fragrant, and she adored it.

The two rarely ate dinner together. Lu Zijin remembered Yun Xiang’s matter and felt she should tell Wei Lan. “A few days ago, Yun Xiang tried to burn the mansion’s warehouse. I’ve dealt with her, so we don’t need to worry about her leaking secrets anymore.”

“Good. I heard about it. Chen Zhou came that day too?” Wei Lan had heard the maids in the courtyard discussing it while she was out for a walk.

“Hmm, he was quite scared. Yun Xiang said before she died that she’d come back for him,” Lu Zijin said, recalling Chen Zhou’s cowardly appearance with a hint of disdain on her face.

“We might use this to our advantage,” Wei Lan said, an idea suddenly sparking in her mind. Her eyes shone as she looked at Lu Zijin.

“How would you use it?” Lu Zijin asked, sipping her chicken soup.

“We can have a guard skilled in martial arts dress up as Yun Xiang to scare Chen Zhou,” Wei Lan said. After all, people in ancient times were superstitious and fearful of ghosts, so it would surely terrify Chen Zhou.

“Good idea,” Lu Zijin said, a smile curling her lips. “I’ll arrange for someone to do it today.”

Soon, Lu Zijin called Qianxue in and tasked her with the job.

Qianxue was originally a hidden guard, skilled in light-footed techniques, and had known Yun Xiang for years, so mimicking her was easy. The most important part was getting the makeup right.

The senior maids in the courtyard wore similar clothes. Qianxue found a set of her own, then sat at the dressing table to apply ghostly makeup.

She painted bl00d-like tears under her eyes and smeared red liquid on her face and lips, making it look very realistic. Even she felt creeped out looking at herself in the bronze mirror.

Feeling ready, Qianxue set out.

Her makeup couldn’t be worn openly on the streets, so she used her light-footed skills, leaping across rooftops. The night was deepening, and the streets were already sparsely populated.

Qianxue soon infiltrated the Chen Mansion and found Chen Zhou’s residence.

At that moment, only a few young maids stood guard at Chen Zhou’s courtyard entrance.

Qianxue swooped down, knocking out the four maids before they could react.

She poked a hole in the window paper. Chen Zhou was already asleep, with a half-burned candle in the middle of the room. A Bagua mirror hung above his bed, and talismans were pasted on the wardrobes on both sides.

A glint flashed in Qianxue’s eyes. She creaked the door open, and Chen Zhou stirred but didn’t seem to notice.

Qianxue stepped into Chen Zhou’s bedroom, lifted the translucent bed curtain, and lightly tapped Chen Zhou’s shoulder.

At first, Chen Zhou thought it was some careless maid disturbing his rest. He frowned and said, “Who’s there? It’s so late, disturbing this young master’s rest. Are you looking for death?”

Chen Zhou rubbed his eyes and opened them. When he saw the figure by his bed in the dim candlelight, he screamed.

Qianxue grinned menacingly at Chen Zhou. “Young Master, you said you’d take me as a concubine. I’m here for you. Come with me to the underworld, hahaha.”

Qianxue laughed maniacally, her face covered in bl00d-like makeup, her expression nearly deranged.

“Ah! Help! Someone, Yun Xiang is here to claim my life! No, no, it was Lu Zijin who killed you. Go find her, go find her! Please, Yun Xiang, I haven’t lived enough. Please spare me. I’ll burn lots of paper money for you tomorrow, please spare me,” Chen Zhou pleaded.

“Die, I want you to die,” Qianxue said in a deliberately hoarse voice, reaching out with her red-stained hand toward Chen Zhou.

Terrified out of his wits, Chen Zhou fainted.

Seeing him unconscious, Qianxue sneered and left. By then, maids and servants, alerted by his cries, rushed over, dressed hastily. They found the four maids at the entrance unconscious and Chen Zhou lying with his eyes closed.

The maids and servants exchanged glances. No one dared to wake Chen Zhou, but they feared he was in trouble, and they’d suffer for it. Finally, they sent a few maids to fetch Chen Zhou’s mother, Zhou Yuer.

Zhou Yuer had gone to bed early and was displeased at being woken. She scolded, “Which fool doesn’t see what time it is?”

“Madam, it’s the young master. Something’s wrong,” a maid stammered outside.

Hearing this, Zhou Yuer sat up immediately. “Come in quick. What’s wrong with the young master?”

Zhou Yuer spoke as she began dressing.

The maid cautiously opened the door and said, “We heard the young master cry for help. When we got there, his room’s door was wide open, and the four maids at the entrance were unconscious. But the young master was sleeping soundly. We didn’t dare disturb him but feared something was wrong, so we came to you.”

“Idiots, what are you standing there for? Lead the way,” Zhou Yuer said, rushing out without fully dressing.

The maids led the way. When Zhou Yuer reached Chen Zhou’s courtyard, many servants were gathered there.

Zhou Yuer cursed angrily, “Useless, all useless! So many of you, and you can’t even protect your young master.”

“He’s sleeping fine,” a servant muttered from the crowd.

“What? Do you want to be kicked out of the Chen Mansion? Madam Liu, tomorrow have the steward sell this useless fool. The Chen Mansion doesn’t keep such people,” Zhou Yuer said furiously, rushing into Chen Zhou’s room.

“Zhou’er, Zhou’er, are you alright?” Zhou Yuer looked at Chen Zhou. His face was pale, clearly not just sleeping.

Zhou Yuer was nearly scared to death. She shouted, “Quick, fetch the mansion’s physician! If anything happens to the young master, none of you will get off easy!”

The servants scrambled to fetch the physician.

The physician, an old man, was dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and hurried to Chen Zhou’s bedroom.

He checked Chen Zhou’s pulse, looked at his eyes, and pressed his philtrum. When that didn’t work, he took out silver needles and pricked several points on Chen Zhou’s head. Chen Zhou slowly woke up.

But he hadn’t recovered from the shock. Qianxue’s bl00d-covered face and venomous eyes, so like Yun Xiang’s before she died, haunted him. In the dim room, he couldn’t see Qianxue’s face clearly and thought it was Yun Xiang.

Chen Zhou curled up on the bed, eyes wide with terror, muttering, “Yun Xiang, it’s Yun Xiang. She came for me. She said she wants me to die. Mother, save me. I don’t want to die. I really don’t want to die.”

A grown man, Chen Zhou broke down crying, his mind filled with Yun Xiang’s bloody face and her dying expression.

Zhou Yuer was terrified too. The Chen Mansion had only one heir. If something happened to him, the family’s legacy would collapse.

“Zhou’er, don’t scare Mother. What Yun Xiang? Don’t be afraid. Tomorrow, I’ll have priests come and stay in your courtyard,” Zhou Yuer said quickly.

“No, Mother, she was standing there, her eyes bleeding. She won’t let me go, she won’t…” Chen Zhou looked deranged. With no other choice, Zhou Yuer had the physician prick him with needles again to make him sleep.

That night, the Chen Mansion was in chaos.

Meanwhile, Wei Lan and Lu Zijin bathed and went to bed early.

Wei Lan consciously lay on the bottom, letting Lu Zijin rest in her arms.

Lu Zijin had planned to tease Wei Lan, but she was too tired lately. Soothed by Wei Lan’s comforting scent, she soon fell asleep.

Wei Lan felt sorry for her wife and held Lu Zijin obediently, not daring to disturb her.

Early the next morning, while Wei Lan and Lu Zijin ate breakfast, a guard came to report that the Chen Mansion had been haunted last night. Zhou Yuer had invited many priests to stay in the mansion to exorcise evil for her son.

Chen Zhou still didn’t dare get out of bed. Out of fear, he even switched rooms, letting the priests stay in his old room to ward off spirits.

—

In the morning, besides the wooden sign at the Lu Family Bookshop’s entrance stating the Four Books were six hundred wen each, another sign was placed beside it, displaying the promotional words Wei Lan wrote last night.

That morning, the Lu Family Bookshop was again overrun by scholars. Hearing a set of books could save four hundred wen, no one wanted to be a fool at Chen’s. The Lu Family Bookshop’s clerks were busy and dizzy, while Chen’s Bookshop had only a few people buying storybooks and no other customers.

At this time, a scholar at the Lu Family Bookshop’s entrance noticed Wei Lan’s storybook promotion. She read it a few times, found the summary intriguing, and discussed it with a friend nearby.

“This storybook looks pretty good. Reborn in a new life—can people really live again? And it seems like a revenge story, different from those scholar-beauty tales. My little sister might like it. I’ll buy one,” the scholar said.

The female Qianyuan went back into the shop and asked a clerk, “How much are the storybooks here?”

“Oh, nine hundred wen per volume. They’re new stories, but there’s a rule: you can’t read them in the shop, only buy to take home,” the clerk explained. After all, ancient books had few words per page, and if people read them in the shop, the business would lose money.

“Got it. Give me one,” the female Qianyuan said with a smile.

“Alright, miss, follow me,” the clerk said, fetching a book and heading to the counter to settle the bill.

A classmate saw her buy the storybook and casually asked, “Who wrote their storybooks? Liu Wenyuan? My little sister loves his scholar-beauty novels.”

“No, the author is Wei Lan,” the female Qianyuan said, checking the cover.

“Oh? A newcomer? Is it any good?” the classmate asked.

“Probably decent. The summary at the entrance looked good. My little sister likes these, so I thought I’d get her one,” the female Qianyuan said.

“Then I’ll get one too. My little sister likes these too. She’s collected all of Liu Wenyuan’s scholar-beauty storybooks,” the man said, buying one as well.

People are creatures of herd mentality. After those two bought copies, several wealthier scholars also bought Wei Lan’s storybook to try it out.

The female Qianyuan was Lu Jingxian, the eldest daughter of Panyang City’s City Lord Lu Feng.

Lu Jingxian already owned a full set of the Four Books. She had come with friends to join the excitement, as some classmates from the academy weren’t well-off. The Lu Family Bookshop’s cheaper books attracted many scholars, and Lu Jingxian came to join the fun, buying a storybook for her little sister.

When she got home, she took the book straight to her little sister’s courtyard. Lu Jingxian’s sister, Lu Shihua, was fifteen, a lively Kunze. Seeing Lu Jingxian, she ran over.

“Sister, why are you back from the academy?” Lu Shihua asked.

“I went to the bookshop with some friends and got you a storybook,” Lu Jingxian said with a smile.

“Sister, you’re the best! Is it Liu Wenyuan’s new storybook? Wait, no, I just bought his latest one a few days ago. He shouldn’t release books that fast,” Lu Shihua said, puzzled.

“It’s not Liu Wenyuan’s. It’s by Wei Lan. Speaking of which, her name is the same as the master of the Lu Mansion,” Lu Jingxian said, handing the storybook to her sister.

Hearing it wasn’t by Liu Wenyuan, Lu Shihua lost interest. She pouted and said, “Sister, don’t randomly buy me books. My friends and I have read all the storybooks in Panyang City. Only Liu Wenyuan’s are worth reading. Others aren’t good.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll listen to you. But I already bought it, so just take a look. You never know,” Lu Jingxian said, coaxing her with a smile.

“Fine, I’ll take a reluctant look,” Lu Shihua said, taking the storybook back to her bedroom.

The weather was hot lately, and she didn’t want to go out with friends, so she stayed in her room reading storybooks. But she had read Liu Wenyuan’s books several times and was bored.

Lu Shihua’s gaze fell on the storybook on the round table. She thought even the worst storybooks she had read before were fine, and since it was her sister’s kindness, she’d read it to pass the time.

With that, Lu Shihua started flipping through it. At first, she read lazily on the soft couch. By the third page, when she saw Cui Niang reborn, she sat up straight. She had never read this type of storybook before. It was kind of good—slapping the scumbag and the vicious mother-in-law felt satisfying!

When she read about the reborn Cui Niang working to change her situation, Lu Shihua was so excited she wanted to run laps. In less than a morning, she finished the volume.

Lu Shihua put down the book, annoyed. She hadn’t asked her sister when the next volumes would come out. The book was too good—no sappy romance, but Cui Niang’s revenge and career-building after rebirth were so thrilling!

Lu Shihua couldn’t wait to go out and share it with her friends. Thanks to her, within a day, many young ladies and gentlemen in the city sent people to buy ‘Rebirth of the Abandoned Consort of the Marquis’s Mansion’. It became Panyang City’s new trendy item overnight. Young people loved it, and even many Qianyuans couldn’t put it down.

As a result, after the Lu Family Bookshop sold out the Four Books, ‘Rebirth of the Abandoned Consort of the Marquis’s Mansion’ also became wildly popular. Shopkeepers at each branch were grinning ear to ear, as the past few days’ revenue exceeded the previous month’s.

In contrast, Chen’s Bookshop was deserted, with hardly any customers. The shopkeepers and clerks stood around, at a loss.