Joy of Life - Volume 2 - Chapter 61

Chapter 61: The Proposal

Fan Ruoruo spoke with pity in his voice, "I’ve never seen my future sister-in-law before but I’ve heard that she has tuberculosis and often coughs up blood, and that because of this, she has been banned from consuming meat and oily foods. The girl you described was munching on a chicken drumstick."

Fan Xian took a moment to think before agreeing with her. He sighed and cast the topic aside, but it didn’t mean he had given up on the idea of looking for this girl. An image surfaced in Fan Xian’s mind which made him frown.

Fei Jie’s absence was a troublesome problem.

Just as he was about to leave, Fan Sizhe ran towards him and grabbed his sleeves, proceeding to drag him into the study. Fan Sizhe handed Fan Xian some papers, doing so in seriousness. Fan Xian glanced at him curiously and noticed that his brother’s eyes were bloodshot; it looked like he had pulled an all-nighter. "Aren’t you worried about being scolded by auntie for staying up all night?" He asked Fan Sizhe.

Fan Xian laughed and thumbed through the pages. It was a proposal that Fan Xian had worked all night on. Although Fan Xian was not a successful merchant, he went by the saying that even if you haven’t had pork before, you must have seen pigs run. Although the business atmosphere of this world could not be compared to his previous world, he had already had his fair share of experience in this special type of business, so he was somewhat confident.
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Fan Sizhe spoke excitedly, "The mansion has been pretty quiet recently, so there’s not much for the servants to do. I could let them wander the streets, and if they come across any pirating bookstores, they can simply trash their store."

"What’s there to be scared of? The story belongs to us, so what makes them think they can pirate?" Fan Sizhe argued.

Fan Sizhe chuckled, "That’s nothing to worry about. If we were to open a bookstore, all we need to do is get father to send a letter to the Eighth Bureau and things will straighten out naturally."
Fan Xian realized that he was right. Although his father looked like an average man, his connection to the Overwatch Council were deeper t

hat what an outsider would think, but he once again changed his mind, "Even if you could take away the ban, you can’t just eliminate competition by trashing their stores; it’s like slapping them in the face. Chasing those middle-aged women off the streets of the capital and prohibiting their stores is a foul method. Even if you earn money, there will be retaliation, and nobody wins." Fan Xian retorted.

Fan Xian howled in laughter, "Rules?! You think the government would treat the law like child's play and change it just because we are publishing a book?"

Fan Xian was interested, "The garrison regulations of the capital have to do with the selling of books too?" he asked.

Fan Xian was utterly impressed at the boy in front of him, who had promising potential to be a corrupt merchant who plucked ideas out of thin air like making deals with government officials and having his own personal gang trashing his competition. However, expectation always looked better than reality. "Have you calculated the profit yet?"

"Wanjuan Tang?" Fan Xian questioned curiously.

Fan Xian was so appalled he was ready to cough up blood.

Fan Xian sighed and said, "You’re too positive. To be a successful merchant, you have to be prepared for many possibilities. Take your estimated income, for example: Even though the people of the capital are well off, do you really think they can afford to pay fifty odd silver taels just for a set of books?"

Fan Xian’s eyes widened. He knew that Dream of the Red Chamber was popular in his world during the Qianlong era and remembered seeing on the news that a limited handwritten version was sold for over 100 silver grains. How could they sell it at such an expensive price if they were printing in mass?

Fan Xian was flabbergasted. He was unsure whether or not he should bring desserts to pay Miss Fucheng a visit in order to comfort her.