That day was the birthday banquet of Registrar Chen's youngest daughter, Chen Yuling. Registrar Chen doted on his youngest daughter and held a small birthday banquet for her at home.
Chen Yuling invited her close friends over for a gathering. In the courtyard of the Chen residence, seven or eight richly dressed young women and gers laughed and played in a pavilion, chatting as they ate fruit and pastries.
A round-faced girl in a lake-green dress said, "Yuling, you'll be sixteen after this birthday. Are your parents going to arrange a marriage for you?"
Chen Yuling replied, "Not so soon. My mother can't bear to marry me off so early. She says she wants to keep me at home for another two years."
"How nice. Once you're married, you have to manage the household. There are so many things to look after every day." The speaker was an already-married woman, who complained, "Running a household is so tiring. I don't even have time to read storybooks anymore."
"Speaking of storybooks, I went to the Distant View Bookshop a while ago, and Shopkeeper Sun strongly recommended one to me. Hmm, what was it called?" Chen Yuling rested her chin in her hand and tried hard to remember. After quite a while, she said, "Oh, right, Realm of Wonders and Strangeness. I've been busy lately, so I haven't read it yet!"
"What? You actually managed to buy that storybook?" A ger in a long blue robe exclaimed, his voice cracking in surprise. He hurriedly asked,
"Could you lend it to me first? Yesterday, my older brother and I went to the Forget Worries Pavilion for tea, and that was the story the storyteller was telling. It was so exciting, but he only told three installments that day. My brother and I were desperate to know what happened next, so we went straight to the bookshop the storyteller mentioned to buy it and read the ending. Who knew it had sold out? We have to wait another five or six days."
Chen Yuling said, "Is that storybook really so exciting?"
Another girl chimed in, "It is, it is! I bought it and read it. The setting is so original: the Old Ones who rule the world, mythical creatures, ordinary people who mutate and gain wondrous powers to become Beyonders..." She poured out an introduction to the storybook, then concluded, "Heavens, this is absolutely the most original subject matter I've ever read in a storybook." After a brief pause, she said solemnly, "As long as you 'praise the Lord of the Moon' like I do, we're good friends!"
Then several others echoed her:
"Praise the Lord of the Moon!"
"Praise the Lord of the Moon!"
"Praise the Lord of the Moon!"
The protagonist of this storybook was the "Lord of the Moon," who was mentioned repeatedly throughout it. Rong Zheng had specifically insisted that this catchphrase be added to the storybook.
Many young women and gers grew very fond of the protagonist after reading or listening to the storybook. The phrase gradually became popular in their circles. Whenever they discussed it, they would proudly say, "As long as you 'praise the Lord of the Moon' like I do, we're good friends!" to show that they had already read it.
Chen Yuling's curiosity was piqued. "Then I have to read it first." She turned to the ger who had asked to borrow it. "Ger Le, I think I can finish it in two days. I'll lend it to you then."
Ger Le said eagerly, "It's a promise, then! It's so good that even my eldest brother, who thinks storybooks are vulgar, wanted to read it after listening!"
The girls moved on to their next topic~
The next afternoon, Chen Yuling's older brother, Chen Yujie, came home from school and saw his younger sister leaning back in a chair, engrossed in a storybook. She had not even noticed him come in, so he lightened his footsteps, walked over, and shouted, "Little sister, what are you reading?"
Chen Yuling was so absorbed that his shout gave her a fright. Patting her chest to calm herself, she complained, "A storybook! Why did you scare me?"
"Realm of Wonders and Strangeness," Chen Yujie read aloud when he saw the title. "Oh, that's an unusual title for a storybook."
"Brother, let me tell you, it's really good! It describes an incredibly original world, unlike anything I've ever heard of!" Chen Yuling had already read more than half of it and could not bear to put it down. She only wanted to finish it as quickly as possible.
"What's so good about storybooks? Another tale of a talented scholar and a beautiful lady?"
"No, this one is completely different. Forget it. You wouldn't know a good thing if you saw it."
Seeing how captivated his sister was, Chen Yujie reached over, took it, and read a few pages. Then... he ate his words and turned a few more pages. Beside him, Chen Yuling said anxiously, "Weren't you only going to look for a moment? Hurry up and give it back."
Chen Yujie was engrossed. There was no way he would give it back.
And so, the brother and sister began their battle over the storybook!
One day, during the midday break, Huang Yi began gossiping with Rong Zheng:
"Rong Zheng, did you know? People at school have actually been privately discussing a storybook called Realm of Wonders and Strangeness lately. They all say its contents are as original and strange as its title. Even the Distant View Bookshop has sold out. I wonder if it's really that good. Even my younger cousin keeps mysteriously saying something about 'praise the Lord of the Moon.'"
Remembering that he had yet to introduce his younger cousin to Rong Zheng, he added, "Oh, right, my cousin's name is Chen Yujie. He's a student of Teacher Lin next door. I'll introduce you later. The three of us can act as mutual guarantors before the exam."
Hearing the familiar storybook title, Rong Zheng's expression turned slightly odd. He had expected it to sell fairly well, but he had not imagined that even people at school would be discussing it. Those sales exceeded his expectations by quite a margin!
"All right. We'll find two more people then."
Huang Yi did not notice Rong Zheng's expression. When Rong Zheng did not pick up the subject of the storybook, he assumed Rong Zheng was focused solely on studying the classics. That made sense. Rong Zheng wrote excellent essays, and Teacher Zhao had singled them out for praise several times.
With such a top student beside him, Huang Yi felt under enormous pressure.
Then he saw that, in the brief time they had spent talking, Rong Zheng had already finished reading a passage from the classics. This...
Someone better than you was working even harder than you!
Spurred on, Huang Yi stopped dwelling on the storybook gossip. He leaned closer and asked earnestly,
"Rong Zheng, tell me your secrets to writing essays."
Rong Zheng felt there was no need to keep this to himself. Helping others was a good thing, so he set down his book and patiently shared his essay-writing methods with him.
After listening, Huang Yi praised his methods enthusiastically and declared generously, "Brother, thanks! Tomorrow, I'll treat you to a meal at the Delighted Phoenix Pavilion. I'll bring my cousin along so you two can get acquainted."
Another month passed, and Rong Zheng and Feng Xuanwen were summoned to the Distant View Bookshop together. Shopkeeper Sun's face creased all over with smiles as he took out a ledger to calculate their shares of the profits. "We've sold nearly four hundred copies of this storybook so far. Those are unprecedented sales for a storybook. After costs, the total profit is one hundred taels. My twenty-percent share comes to twenty taels. The rest is yours." As he spoke, he handed over a money pouch.
Paper was expensive in this dynasty, and few people in a town could afford to buy storybooks for entertainment, so selling four hundred copies already made it a bestseller.
Rong Zheng opened the pouch in front of him and counted the money, then said with a smile, "A pleasure doing business with you!"
Beside him, Feng Xuanwen was still in shock. This had actually sold nearly twice as many copies as the popular storybooks of the past. It was hard to imagine.
Shopkeeper Sun smiled. "We owe these sales in less than three months to the promotion by the teahouse storytellers Rong Zheng found. Most people who used to buy storybooks were young women and gers. Now even some men come to take a look out of curiosity."
Turning to Rong Zheng, he said regretfully, "If I didn't know you were studying for the exams, I'd really want to hire you."
"Thank you for the compliment!"
Shopkeeper Sun asked, "By the way, when will the next storybook be ready? A lot of people have been asking about the rest of the story."
Feng Xuanwen came back to his senses. "Rong Zheng and I discussed it early on. I'm working on it now, and I expect to bring it here for you to look over around the middle of next month."
"That's wonderful!"
After leaving, the two divided the silver according to their agreed thirty-seventy split. Rong Zheng received twenty-four taels, and Feng Xuanwen received fifty-six.
Feng Xuanwen handed over two taels. "This is the tael I borrowed from you earlier, plus the tael you paid the storyteller."
Rong Zheng accepted it without declining.
Feng Xuanwen solemnly cupped his hands and bowed. "Rong Zheng, I'm truly grateful to you. You have no idea how much this money means to me."
His eyes reddened. "My mother has suffered from illness for years. Unfortunately, I have so many younger brothers and sisters that we barely have enough to eat, much less money to treat her. We could only rely on cheap medicine to ease her symptoms, but it did very little. Worried about burdening the family, my mother endured it in secret and refused to say anything. But everyone in the family knew, and there was nothing we could do. We still haven't repaid all the money we borrowed from relatives, and there was no one left to borrow from. All we could do was pretend we didn't know!" As he spoke, tears streamed down his face.
Rong Zheng was shocked to hear it. Only now did he realize that Feng Xuanwen's family was in far more than ordinary hardship. He comforted him, "Now you can find better medicine to treat your mother. Things will get better." Reaching out to pat his shoulder, he added, "If you need my help with anything, just ask. I'll do everything I can!"
He felt that Feng Xuanwen was worth getting to know well. He was upright, filial, grateful, and willing to shoulder responsibility.
Feng Xuanwen cupped his hands and thanked him again.