Hearing Pang Feiji's straightforward reply, Yuchi Jingde nodded in satisfaction and said, "Little Xuan, Pang Feiji will be given to you in the future. If anyone comes to cause trouble, just let him go. If it doesn't work, there's still me and His Majesty. As for the Wu Marquis government and the Ministry of War, I will personally report to them. You don't have to worry about that! "
"Thank you Uncle Yuchi, but wouldn't this be too much of a fuss? After all, Strange Culture is just a bookstore! "
Li Zexuan expressed his gratitude towards Yuchi Jingde's good intentions, but to let Pang Feiji, the "head of the local police station", be the "head of security" for his store, wasn't it a bit too pretentious?
Yuchi Jingde laughed coldly and said, "You really don't know what to fear. Do you know how many people's benefits have been harmed by your cheap books? Including many aristocratic families, courtiers, bookstores, and rich merchants. It's not like I haven't experienced this deception before. I know the faces of those people better than you! "
"So what? Do they dare to do anything illegal under the feet of the emperor? "
Yuchi Jingde shook his head and said, "Heh, if you can't do it openly, you can do it secretly. Anyway, you can't go wrong by being more careful!"
Li Zexuan nodded thoughtfully.
…
East Market, South Main Street.
Virtuous Bookstore.
In the past, this place was really filled with "scholars chatting and laughing, and there were no unskilled people coming and going." But today, it was really deserted. Not only were there no scholars, there weren't even any unskilled people. Two servants in the store sat in front of the door in boredom, looking at the few people on the street. Occasionally, they would slap away a few mosquitoes on the table. Inside sat a middle-aged man in purple. At this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed as he looked at the empty bookstore. He was silent, and the atmosphere was very oppressive.
"Oh, this guest, what book do you need?"
At this moment, a white-clothed scholar suddenly came in. The two servants quickly stood up and greeted him.
The middle-aged man in purple quickly hid the worry on his face and stood up to greet the scholar.
The scholar nodded and didn't say anything. He went straight to the bookshelf to look for a book. A moment later, he came out with a book called "Zuo Zhuan."
"Shopkeeper, how much is this Zuo Zhuan?"
The middle-aged man in purple hurriedly replied with a smile, "Sir, this Zuo Zhuan is sold for 1,700 copper coins. If you are sincere, I can sell it to you for 1,600 copper coins!"
He saw that the business today was too bad, so he decided to lower the price at the last minute, hoping to keep this customer.
The young scholar frowned and said unhappily, "Although my family doesn't lack money, I don't want to be cheated by you for no reason. I heard that there's a culture not far from here that sells Zuo Zhuan for 110 copper coins. It's fine if you sold it at such a high price before, but how can you cheat your customers like this? I'm not buying anymore! "
With that, he flicked his sleeves and left!
"Hey! Dear customer, it's not what you think! Sigh! "
The shopkeeper hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop him, but to no avail. He could only sigh.
"Shopkeeper, this is already the fifth customer today who has said so!"
A manservant couldn't help but complain.
"Shut up! I sent Ah Fa to scout for news, why isn't this kid back yet? "
The shopkeeper scolded angrily, then anxiously looked outside the door.
"Shopkeeper, shopkeeper, I'm back!"
At this moment, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside, and then a manservant in a navy blue robe ran in.
The shopkeeper hurriedly pulled him over and asked, "Ah Fa, how is it? Did you get any news? "
"Huff ~! Huff ~! "
Ah Fa continuously patted his chest a few times, panted a few times, then said, "Shopkeeper, there's a long queue over at Qiqu Culture. Their books are really cheap, the price is not even 10% of ours. Many people are fighting over the books! Even the people from Wu Hou government are alarmed! "
Hearing this, the shopkeeper's expression changed. After a while, he asked word by word, "Then how many of these books do they have?"
Ah Fa scratched his head and said, "Shouldn't be many, about three to four hundred books, or else there wouldn't be so many people fighting over them!"
The shopkeeper heaved a sigh of relief. Another manservant beside him asked, "Shopkeeper, should we also reduce the price? Or else no one will buy books! "
"Pa!"
The shopkeeper angrily patted the manservant's head, and said unhappily, "Reduce, reduce, how do we reduce? If we reduce to the same price as them, we'll be losing money! Quickly go to work, wipe the bookshelves. I don't believe that Qiqu Culture has so many cheap books! Furthermore, since they're selling them so cheap, the quality of the books must be shoddy. In the future, when those cheap people wake up, they'll still come here to buy books! "
"Shopkeeper is right, you're wise!"
The manservant rubbed his head, and quickly brought the other two to wipe the bookshelves.
This situation was common in other bookstores in Chang 'an City. The impact of Qiqu Culture's books on the entire book market was starting to show!
… … …
Taiji Palace, Sweet Dew Hall.
Li Er had just finished the morning court and was about to change into his regular clothes. At this moment, Zhao Song hurried over and bowed, "Your Majesty, we just received news that there was a large-scale brawl in the East Market. Old General Yuchi has personally led the Right Marquis Guards to quell the chaos!"
Li Er paused, and then said with an ugly expression, "Chang 'an, Chang' an. Since the establishment of the Tang Empire, the imperial court has put in a lot of effort to improve the security of Chang 'an City. These years, there has been a great improvement. Why are there so many people causing trouble today? Zhao Song, have you found out the reason?"
"Your Majesty, it's said that Qiqu Culture, which is opened by Li Er, is selling a large number of cheap books today. The price is less than ten percent of other bookstores, so it attracted many people in Chang 'an City to fight over them. In the process, some people were afraid that they wouldn't be able to get the books, so they couldn't help but quarrel and even fight. This caused a large-scale brawl!"
Zhao Song explained everything in detail.
"Hehe, I didn't expect this brat to be so fast. He just came up with the paper machine a while ago, and he's printing so many books in just a few days! Not bad, not bad! "
Li Er exclaimed in surprise. Then, he frowned and said, "Zhao Song, immediately draft a decree to reprimand Lantian County's Li Zexuan for not doing his job properly, opening a store without permission, failing to restrain his customers, causing a brawl and disrupting public order. He shall be locked up for seven days and be paid a salary for three months as punishment!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Zhao Song cupped his hands and accepted the order. However, he was puzzled. Li Er didn't seem to be angry about this, so why did he have to issue a decree to reprimand Li Zexuan? Although he had doubts in his heart, Zhao Song didn't ask. He knew his duty.
After Zhao Song left, Li Er leaned on the couch and muttered, "Hey, I'm doing this for your own good. You better know what's good for you!"
…
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