Gu Moran closed his eyes with satisfaction.
Tonight is nice.
The two old foxes were won over and even wrote love poems for the ladies.
A perfect day.
The next day, at Chen Shi (7-9 AM).
Gu Moran was awakened by the chattering sounds coming from the courtyard.
He put on his outer robe and pushed open the door, seeing Xie Wanqing and Su Yao standing under the eaves, with a long table in front of them.
The table was covered with papers.
Cut out, uncut, and being formatted.
Xie Wanqing held a ruler in her hand and gestured on a thin sheet of Xuan paper.
Su Yao stood beside her, using an abacus and pressing the keys rapidly.
" Wanqing, should we have two or three poems per page?"
"Two poems. More white space will give them a more refined feel. Add some decorative borders, and scholars will find them worthwhile."
"Yes. The coasters will have a bamboo lining, wrapped in waterproof paper. Once the design is finalized, have them make the first batch of 500, as an expedited order."
Gu Moran stood at the door, her mind not yet fully clear.
What are you doing?
The two of them turned around at the same time.
Su Yao adjusted the abacus.
"Make coasters."
Gu Moran walked over and looked down.
On the thin Xuan paper on the table, it was printed neatly.
" Chengdu, a city opened up by the heavens, is a picture of ten thousand households and a thousand gates."
The poem he wrote for Su Yao.
It was made into coasters.
"..."
Gu Moran then looked at another stack of stacks.
"At dawn, the flowers are heavy with dew, a vibrant red in Brocade Official City."
Shen Ling'er's song.
It's also a coaster.
He turned to look at the third stack.
"The sounds of silk and bamboo instruments fill the air daily in Brocade City, half carried by the river breeze, half rising into the clouds."
It's still a coaster.
Gu Moran tapped his fingers twice on the edge of the table, the sound calm.
"These... are what I wrote for you."
"I know." Su Yao replied without looking up.
"The poem I wrote for you, you turned into coasters?"
Su Yao finally looked up and glanced at him.
"Your Highness, your handwriting is beautiful, and your poetry is excellent. But if you put it under your pillow, only I can see it. If you put it on a coaster, the whole of Yi Prefecture can see it."
Gu Moran: "..."
Xie Wanqing handed him the formatted paper to look at.
"Your Highness, please take a look. I read them three times last night and found them to be perfectly matched in parallelism, elegant in imagery, and easy to recite, making them ideal for dissemination. I had the publishing house print out a sample overnight."
She turned a page.
"These are coasters. Fifty coins each, come with a fruit tea set."
Turn another page.
"This is the title page of the storybook. Each storybook has a poem printed at the beginning, which scholars would consider to indicate its historical significance."
Turn the page.
This is a wooden tag for blind boxes.
Gu Moran stared at the drawing of the wooden sign on the page.
๑°⌓°๑
The back is made of rosewood, with a poem engraved in clerical script on the front and the snowman logo of Mixue Ice City on the back.
"There are six wooden plaques in total." Xie Wanqing put the paper back on the table. "They will be distributed randomly. Buy twenty cups of tea and get one free. Collect all six to redeem a free tasting session."
Gu Moran stood there, opened her mouth slightly, then closed it again.
He spent the whole night writing poetry.
They were given to the women respectively.
When I woke up, the poem had turned into coasters, title pages, and blind box tags.
"What about Ruyan?" he suddenly asked.
Liu Ruyan emerged from behind the moon gate, holding a piece of paper in her hand.
"Here."
Gu Moran reached out to take it.
Liu Ruyan handed the paper to Su Yao.
"This piece would be perfect for embroidering on a handkerchief," Liu Ruyan said calmly. "The silk shop is just looking for new patterns."
Gu Moran: "..."
Su Yao took the paper, glanced at it, and handed it to Xie Wanqing.
"Write this down. The handkerchiefs are made of fine Shu brocade, priced at three taels each."
Xie Wanqing nodded and took notes.
Gu Moran's hand was still outstretched in mid-air.
Slowly pull back.
"My poem." His voice was a little dry.
"They've all become commodities?"
All four women looked at him at the same time.
Su Yao moved the abacus beads.
"Your Highness, you should think of it this way," she said with utmost seriousness, "How much is your one-person romance worth?"
Gu Moran: "..."
"If one person watches it, it's free. If ten thousand people watch it, it's worth ten thousand coins."
Liu Ruyan continued.
"Everyone says Yang Yi is second to none. I'll have these poems set to music, and the girls in the brothel will sing them. Before long, the number of wealthy merchants and talented men coming to Chengdu Prefecture will only increase."
The following afternoon.
Mixue Ice City.
Gu Moran looked down from the second-floor window.
There was a long queue at the entrance.
But today's team is different from usual.
In the past, the people queuing up were ordinary folks and small vendors from the west of the city; today, it's all about fine silks and satins.
Folding fan.
Jade pendant.
A scholar's cap.
Everyone there was dressed smartly.
Everyone clutched their silver coins, craning their necks towards the counter, eagerly awaiting their turn.
"Shopkeeper! Do you have any more wooden signs? I want to buy five!"
"I'll offer two taels for one piece! Do you have the 'Ten Thousand Households and a Thousand Doors Entering the Painting' design?"
"Five taels! Anyone have that piece of 'The Brocade Official City Brocade' that I'll trade with you for 'The Silken Tunes of Chengdu'?"
Gu Moran's temple throbbed, and she looked to her right.
Su Yao stood behind the counter, in front of him was a row of sandalwood plaques, each engraved with a poem he had copied.
She accepted the money, registered the transactions, and handed out the wooden plaques with a blank expression, her movements fluid and effortless.
Batuer stood at the door to maintain order.
Chen Qing wasn't in the shop.
But the thirty security guards he left behind stood in two rows, with iron bars in front of them, blocking the queue of people neatly.
Gu Moran looked to the left again.
Xie Wanqing sat behind a small table next to the bookstore counter, with a stack of newly printed storybooks in front of her.
Each book's cover features a poem, and the opening lines read "A Special Edition Bestowed by Prince Yi, Exclusively for Mixue Ice City."
"One tael for a storybook, plus a coaster." Her voice was calm and unhurried.
"What poem is featured on the coaster that came with the book?"
"Random."
Can you specify?
"Cannot."
"Then I'll buy ten!"
Gu Moran closed the window.
He turned and leaned against the window frame.
There's something twitching in my head.
He spent half an hour recalling the poems of Li Bai Du Fu, and another half an hour copying them.
A wooden plaque is now being sold for five taels of silver.
A storybook with his poems sold for one tael of silver.
He embroidered his poems on a handkerchief and sold it for three taels.
A bamboo coaster costs fifty coins.
Added together...
He didn't want to calculate.
But Su Yao was calculating.
"Today's revenue, preliminary estimate..."
Pat-pat.
Two hundred and thirty-seven taels.
Two hundred and thirty-seven taels.
One morning.
Relying on the poems of the ancients.
Gu Moran slowly squatted down and buried her face in her knees.
He recalled the feeling he had when he copied the poem.
The candlelight flickered, the pen strokes were full of emotion, and my mind was filled with images of the ladies blushing, their hearts pounding, and their eyes welling up with tears upon receiving the poem.
And the result?
It was the scholars and writers who blushed.
The one whose heart is pounding is a wealthy businessman from out of town.
The collector with slightly warm eyes was unable to purchase the wooden plaque.
His wives, each with a clear mind, were only thinking about "how much money this thing can sell for."
Footsteps echoed down the stairs.