Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Fang Beidou was motionlessly holding the manuscripts of ‘Journey to the West’ that Yan Liqiang handed to him as though he was in a trance. The room was filled with only the occasional sound of papers flipping and Yan Liqiang slowly sipping his tea.
After Yan Liqiang finished drinking his tea, he sat at the side and read the articles that a few ‘editors’ had drafted for the next issue until Fang Beidou was done reading…
Fang Beidou’s reading speed was a lot faster than Yan Liqiang’s in his previous life. In just two hours, he finally let out a long sigh. Picking up the teacup that had completely cooled down from the table, he drained its contents in one go…
“Did you… write this?” Fang Beidou stared at Yan Liqiang as though he was a monster.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you someone else wrote it either…” Yan Liqiang set the stack of drafts down and spread his arms, “So… yes, of course, I am the one who wrote this.”
“How can anyone possibly write such a book… How can anyone possibly write such a book…!” Fang Beidou paced around the room in excitement while mumbling to himself.
“Why? Isn’t it good?”
Fang Beidou suddenly stopped. He looked at Yan Liqiang with sparkling eyes and clapped hard. “It’s not just good. It’s phenomenal! The fantasy story in this book is absolutely amazing. I couldn’t stop as soon as I began reading…”
Yan Liqiang only smiled and didn’t say anything. This was exactly why he chose one of the four great masterpieces. Although he had hundreds and thousands of books in his mind, a classic would always be a classic. For a timeless piece like ‘Journey to the West’, it was expected to become a sensation in an era without much entertainment.
“Have you made any contact with the storytellers in the capital city these few days?”
“I have already contacted some…” If Fang Beidou hadn’t figured out why Yan Liqiang wanted him to find the storytellers before, then he’d be a little too stupid if he still hadn’t realized it by now. “You’re thinking of giving this ‘Journey to the West’ to the storytellers so they can promote ‘The Great Han Times’ for us after their performances? That’s a good idea. With that, it will take only a few days for our newspaper to be known everywhere in the capital city…”
“Do you think they will be willing to perform ‘Journey to the West’?”
“Yes, of course. Surely you are not aware of how difficult it is for a storyteller to find an interesting story. Most of them rely on only one story to make a living for their entire lives and there are very few stories in the Imperial Capital. Although people still listen to them, they’re already losing their charm. These storytellers will be overjoyed if we allow them to perform a new story like this one…”
Yan Liqiang smiled. He wasn’t surprised that Fang Beidou would think this way. If Fang Beidou thought this was Yan Liqiang’s complete plan, then he would be underestimating his experience from his previous life. “I don’t plan on letting the storytellers in the capital city perform ‘Journey to the West’ in its entirety. They will only perform the first few chapters — perhaps up to the part where Sun Wukong was trapped under the Five Elements Mountain…”
“Ah, what about the rest? Is that where they will stop?” Fang Beidou asked in confusion.
“Of course not. They can still continue, but they will have to wait for a while first!”
“Why?”
“Because the rest will be serialized on ‘The Great Han Times’ first. Do you know what serialize means? It means from that point on, a few chapters of ‘Journey to the West’ will be published on every new newspaper issue. Those who wish to read the continuation of the story will have no choice but to buy our new issues. With that, we won’t have to worry about our sales volume…”
Fang Beidou didn’t expect Yan Liqiang to come up with such a perfect idea. By the time Yan Liqiang finished explaining, he couldn’t help but clap and sing praises. Compared to his own idea, this idea was undoubtedly superior by a few fold. Even so, Fang Beidou still had doubt in his heart. “It’s true that we won’t have to worry about sales while ‘Journey to the West’ is still being serialized on the newspapers. However, won’t our problem return again as soon as ‘Journey to the West’ ends?”
Yan Liqiang shook his head. “Our newspaper is still a new thing and everyone hasn’t gotten used to buying them. Although their interests are piqued, most are still browsing around only. Our objective of serializing ‘Journey to the West’ isn’t to make people buy it, but to cultivate their habit of spending money on the service. Once the habit is formed, it will be difficult to break. Just like breakfast, once you get used to having soy milk and fried breadsticks, you will love them for the rest of your life. The same is true when it comes to buying newspapers. Once they form the habit of buying newspapers, they will buy every issue of our newspaper even after ‘Journey to the West’ has ended. With that, our newspaper sales volume and influence will be guaranteed!”
Fang Beidou stared at Yan Liqiang blankly before letting out a long sigh. “If someone like you were to manage a business, you will surely possess the wealth equivalent to that of an entire nation in just less than twenty years!”
Thinking about the ‘Liqiang Telecommunications’ business that he dreamed to establish in his previous life put Yan Liqiang in a daze. He thought he had a lot of talent for business and worked very hard. Just when he was about to execute his plans, God had the Heavenly Stone send him to this bizarre world. He wondered if he’d still have the opportunity to build a business empire in this world, thus fulfilling the dream he had in his previous life. Fang Beidou’s words reminded him that despite the dense population of this world, Yan Liqiang, who had lived two lifetimes, was much more aware of the great power that business and wealth could bring. In the triangle of martial arts, authority, and wealth, the third was sometimes much more powerful than the first and second…
His heart stirred — perhaps ‘The Great Han Times’ would be an opportunity to realize the dream he had in his previous life.
“Hahaha, I will take your words as a compliment…” Yan Liqiang winked at Fang Beidou. “I’ll leave the rest to you. I recall that certain rules apply to these storytellers. For example, they’ll have to get approval from the authors of the stories they wish to perform or pay them certain fees. I think you can make good use of this rule. I don’t care about money, but any storytellers who wish to perform ‘Journey to the West’ in the Great Han Empire must be willing to advertise our newspapers. In the future, ‘The Great Han Times’ will be known in places where storytellers perform ‘Journey to the West’…”
“Rest assured, I know what to do!” Fang Beidou told him. However, the expression on his face once again reminded Yan Liqiang of those sly businessmen he’d seen before.
Yan Liqiang stood up to leave after briefing him. However, he suddenly seemed to have recalled something. He turned his head around to ask Fang Beidou, “Oh right. Did your master ever mention how many years I can live up to?”
“Umm… I think not!” Fang Beidou shook his head honestly.
After exiting the room, Yan Liqiang stared at Mount Longqi which towered in the darkness like a gigantic beast and the brightly lit capital city. He let out a long sigh and muttered to himself, “As expected, I’ll have to work hard for everything…” He shook his head lightly after saying that, then left the newspaper office and headed toward the Imperial City…
The southern city gate was closer to Mount Longqi, but Yan Liqiang purposely took a detour. He entered the capital city through the eastern city gate and started making his way toward the Gan Provincial Guild Hall.
Since he had made an appointment with Lu Peien before, the latter was already waiting for him in the guild hall by the time he arrived.
They both knew each other very well already. Therefore, they didn’t waste any time and went straight into talking about the lotus root briquettes before they discussed the time for a banquet with the Soul Mountain Sect’s Imperial Capital Branch.
Yan Liqiang couldn’t really say that he had agreed to the banquet only for the sake of the Lu Clan. After all, the Revival Pill that the supervisor of the Soul Mountain Sect gifted to Old Master Lu was ultimately consumed by his father to bring him back from death’s door. Therefore, it was only reasonable for Yan Liqiang to accept this invitation. Besides, there was no harm in gaining a few more friends in the Imperial Capital either…
The banquet was scheduled to be tomorrow night, at Sky Beyond, one of the famous restaurants in the Imperial Capital…
“Oh right, let me show you something, Liqiang…” When Yan Liqiang was about to leave after their discussion, Lu Peien suddenly remembered something. He went out of the drawing room, then came back with a kukri knife he retrieved from the adjacent room and handed it over to Yan Liqiang.
Yan Liqiang took the kukri knife and looked at it. He then glanced at Lu Peien, “Brother Lu, you brought this out too?”
“Look more carefully…” He smiled in response.
Yan Liqiang then examined the kukri knife in his hands more carefully upon hearing Lu Peien’s words. There was nothing special about its design; it was a standard kukri knife that he’d designed and it was quite well-made with above average quality. It was also branded with the Yan Blades embossing seal which he had designed back then — a ferocious tiger and a flying dragon that formed an abstract circle. Inside the circle was the Chinese character ‘Yan’. Everything looked exactly the same.
Yan Liqiang took a closer look at the embossing seal, then snapped his head up. “This… Someone is actually plagiarizing our Yan Clan’s business!”
“Haha, so you finally saw it…”
“I designed the Yan Clan seal. Although the one on this knife looks similar, it’s still missing some minor details. Where did you find this kukri knife, Brother Lu?”
“Liqiang, do you know what is this knife called in Gan Province?”
“Don’t tell me…”
“This knife is currently known as the Yan Knife in Gan Province. It bears the Yan Blades brand. Even with the same quality, it can fetch twenty to thirty percent above the market price. We bought this knife in the Imperial Capital yesterday!”
“Oh, so they’ve reached the Imperial Capital too…”
“A caravan from Gan Province just transported a batch of them to the Imperial Capital!” Lu Peien gave Yan Liqiang a serious look. “I think you’ll be famous very soon…”
