Urban Sims

one year later.

In Qingzhou, a new thing that has never appeared before suddenly became popular in all states and counties!

Zihua Bookstore!

As if overnight, this chain of bookstores opened in every prefecture, county, and county of Qingzhou, quickly bringing endless novel experiences to people.

People did not expect that there are so many twists and turns, strange and magnificent, suspenseful and eye-opening stories in this world. They can be seen in the "Story Club" sold by this bookstore. The words in the middle of each "Story Club" Jokes, jokes, and brain teasers bring countless laughs and fashionable terms to people's serious lives.

In these "story meetings", there are also touching pieces of chicken soup for the soul, which have allowed countless people to find the motivation to overcome obstacles and move forward, and rediscover the meaning and true meaning of life, with waves of positive energy. , injecting a different kind of regional temperament into Qingzhou, a place with a relatively backward economy and simple and honest folk customs.

"The Collected Works of Zihua" is a must-buy for literati. It contains thousands of high-quality poems, songs, poems, and essays, which has greatly improved the humanistic atmosphere and overall poetry appreciation level of the intellectual class. In particular, Tian Zihua's poems have reached the "exceptional" level. "Wherever literati and poets gather, they will hear the sound of Zihua's poetry." Although most of the poems and songs in "The Collected Works of Zihua" were not written by Tian Zihua himself, those few are the essence of Tian Zihua's works and have become famous works that countless literati in Qingzhou must memorize.

Tian Zihua, the "Haiping Literary Immortal", became an idol figure known to everyone among the literati and poets in Qingzhou.

As for "Comics", don't ask me how popular they are. Every mid-month and end of the month, you can go to the entrance of Zihua Bookstore and see the length of the queue to buy comics. Once this new type of literary work is launched, it can be seen in the city center. Atomic bombs were dropped one after another, killing countless literate people. In ten minutes, as long as the queue time exceeds ten minutes, you will miss the latest issue of "Comics". No matter how much you pay, it won't matter if others don't read it. You won't be able to buy it before it's over. The wonderful stories in "Comics" are just like TV with 100% ratings. Every time an issue is released, people in various cities and streets can hear the voices of plot discussions and "wow" exclamations. .

Except for some old antiques that are difficult to accept new things, "Comics" have become the most enthusiastic extracurricular reading books for young and middle-aged intellectuals, men, women, especially teenagers. The comic books, such as the newly released game consoles and Internet cafes have made countless people obsessed with it, caused countless students to have poor academic performance, and caused countless parents to suffer from headaches and irritability, and have caused domestic violence countless times... This little cartoon has become the culprit of the tense relationship between countless children and their parents.

It is precisely because of this that Haiping Wenxian Tian Zihua was blacklisted by countless parents and cursed countless times in the street. Tian Zihua was forced to add a sentence on the cover of every comic issue: "Children should not read comics. ".

In just one year, the sales of Zihua Bookstore's three reading materials increased by more than ten times from an average of less than a thousand copies per issue at the beginning.

In December, the 22nd year of Zhitiansheng, after the release of the 18th bimonthly issue, sales data statistics showed that the sales volume of the three reading materials in this issue were: "Story Club", which sold 13,000 copies, and "Collected Works of Zihua", which sold 13,000 copies. 15,000 copies were sold, and "Comics" sold 17,000 copies.

These data are very astonishing, because the selling price of books in this world is generally very high. The fact that they can sell so many shows not only their popularity, but also the large number of wealthy and intellectual people. The literacy rate in this world is not as low as Zhou Ming imagined.

In order to increase sales and expand influence, Zihua Bookstore’s three reading materials are priced lower than pirated ones (mainly due to the printing cost of Zihua Printing Factory, which makes piracy unprofitable). To minimize readers' reading expenses, Zihua Bookstore also provides a "half-price recycling, low-price rental" service, that is, readers purchase a book and after reading it, they can return the purchased book at half of the selling price, and Zihua Bookstore will return it to the reader. These half-price recycled reading materials are then provided for external book rental services at a lower price...

Relying on various means, Zihua Bookstore not only has countless die-hard readers, but also makes more than 98% of bookstores profitable. The amount of profit is considerable.

…

years later.

In the twenty-third year of Tiansheng, it is the third day of the first lunar month.

Qingzhou, Hedong County, Anping Cuijia.

The Cui Family Courtyard, which is magnificently decorated and extremely festive, has an unusually distinguished guest coming today.

In order to welcome this distinguished guest from afar, the Cui family prepared to the highest standards for many days in advance. The patriarch and uncle personally stood at the door waiting, and saw the horse-drawn carriage decorated with colorful decorations in the vast snow. , after the gorgeous carriage appeared among the dozens of martial arts guards around, everyone was shocked and excited: "It's coming, it's coming, it's finally here."

The gate of the courtyard.

On the gorgeous carriage, there is a pair of exquisite embroidered shoes embroidered with peonies. The hem of the skirt is lifted lightly and stepped lightly on the carpet spread to the feet. A young woman with a pure white fox fur on one shoulder, an elegant manner and a cold temperament, with phoenix eyes. After seeing the people waiting at the door and the magnificent layout in the courtyard, Xiumei frowned slightly inadvertently.

"I really don't want to come to this place."

As a legitimate daughter of the Cui family in Qinghe, Zhongzhou, she left two months in advance and traveled three thousand miles to come to Qingzhou, a branch of the Cui family, to visit her relatives. Cui Yunhua was not happy in her heart. However, the family was short of manpower and had to assign some important children. , at this time of the new year, visit this branch of Cui's family - even if this branch is so remote that no bird shits.

No one is willing to come, so Cui Yunhua can only take the initiative to ask for help to share the worries of his father and brother, because the task of visiting relatives can be regarded as a contribution to the family. If the effect of visiting relatives is good and the ties between distant relatives and branches are stabilized, it can bring benefits to the family. There are many benefits, and the status of the person who completes the task will also be improved in the clan... It is precisely after seeing these points that Cui Yunhua, who has been smart since childhood, took on the arduous task of this family, and everyone in the family is grateful to her.

but……

The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. As an important branch of the Qinghe Cui family, the various performances of the Anping Cui family made her very disappointed.

Take the pomp and ceremony that greeted her today as an example. It was too vulgar and disrespectful. First of all, no matter how distinguished the guest was, there was no need for the clan leader and elders to greet her at the door in person. Secondly, the servants and maids stood loosely and looked happy. His eyes were lustful and dazed, making her feel as if she had eaten a fly... and the decoration in the courtyard, which was rich in gold and red, was extremely tacky, and the layout was unscrupulous. She could find a hundred inappropriate things.

"The Anping Cui family, is it really a branch of the Qinghe Cui family? Even if it is, it must be the kind of maidservant, right?"

There is a huge gap. On the one hand, Cui Yunhua is quite proud of her good tutoring skills. On the other hand, after the family visit is over, she has decided not to take on such tasks again.

However, no matter how much complaints he had in his heart, Cui Yunhua, who looked as usual, still maintained the basic etiquette and personally presented a package of native soil and a tree root brought from Zhongzhou. Cui Ping, the leader of the Cui clan in Anping, gave back a branch And a bag of apricots... After some friendly greetings, they entered the Cui family courtyard together.

After staying for three days in a row, Cui Yunhua barely adapted to the environment here. The reception she received was quite good. Everyone in the Cui family, young and old, paid attention to them. They took great care of her. They tried their best to meet all kinds of requests and even brought many local specialties for her to taste. She It feels very good, such as the Haiping dried fish, Haiping whale meat, etc., the taste is good, and it does not have the flavor of the sea.

In the past two days, Cui Yunhua, with her noble temperament, elegant manners, and appropriate conversation, not only made people feel like spring breeze, but also made everyone in the Cui family feel ashamed. They secretly sighed: She is worthy of being a noble child of our family and a child of the Anping lineage. , I am ashamed of myself.

Therefore, the invisible sense of distance made Cui Yunhua not make a few friends with whom she could get along in the past two days at Cui's house in Anping. Most of them were just polite. She was used to this kind of politeness, and she didn't need to be there. What kind of friends are you making...

However, in the Cui family compound, there is an innocent girl of fourteen or fifteen years old who always likes to pester her and even show her some of her favorite miscellaneous books.

These miscellaneous books had strange cover names. They were called "Story Club", "Collected Works of Zihua", "Comics", etc. She had never read them, but they were treasured by this girl as treasures, and she tried her best to I recommend it... Cui Yunhua, who was extremely bored, opened a book that children like to read with a glance at it...

Cui Yunhua, who had only read a dozen books after two days and two nights in a row, rubbed his sore almond-shaped eyes and asked the girl: "Rourer, why have I never read these books? Where did you buy them? ?Can you take your sister to buy some and come back?"

In a few days, her mission of visiting relatives will be completed. She wants to take dozens of these miscellaneous books back to Zhongzhou and read them slowly on the way back.

Cui Rou, who was wearing a pink undershirt, shook her head and said, "Now these books in Zihua Bookstore have been sold out and you can't buy them anymore! Unless you let my cousin give you a set!"

After saying that, she mysteriously leaned into Cui Yunhua's ear and whispered: "Sister Yunhua, let me tell you a secret. Zihua Bookstore is opened by my cousin. My cousin Tian Zihua is you. The author of the books I read, and the cartoons he draws, I like to read the most!"

After finishing speaking, she proudly puffed up her small chest, and smiled showing two small canine teeth.

What?

Cui Yunhua's eyes widened, and he quickly found a few books of "Story Club", "Collected Works of Zihua" and "Comics". Sure enough, he saw the four characters "Mr. Zihua" in the pen names of many authors.

She asked eagerly: "Are these books and comics created by your cousin? Your cousin is 'Mr. Zihua'? You didn't lie to me, did you?"

Cui Rou pouted and said unhappily: "Sister Yunhua, why should I lie to you? Mr. Zihua, he is really my cousin, I didn't lie to you!"

"Cousin Zihua is here!"

"Cousin Zihua brought a lot of gifts!"

"Cousin Zihua, you miss me so much!"

Outside the Cui Family Courtyard, there was suddenly a burst of lively noise. In the calm courtyard, after hearing a name, it seemed as if a pot exploded. Everyone ran to the front yard desperately, cheering and cheering, and it was extremely lively.

"ah!!"

The girl in front of her suddenly screamed, her legs were like taut clockwork, and she quickly bounced out of the house. She ran and shouted: "Brother Zihua, my gift!" She didn't have the demeanor of a noble girl from aristocratic family, and she was frightened. Cui Yunhua jumped and she was stunned.

After a long time, she murmured, "Mr. Zihua, what kind of person is he?"

Pave the way for the plot, don't spray if you don't like it