Jackie Chan's Son-in-Law

Chapter 57 Money Ability

As a soul from another world, there are still many things I can do if I want to start a business and make some money.

The simplest way is to copy books. The Romance of the Western Chamber has already served as a good example. In addition, the bookseller industry in this era is quite mature. Chen Qing doesn't even need to join this industry himself. As long as he sells manuscripts, he can earn a decent income.

With plenty of ideas, and the fact that Chen Qing didn't even start from scratch, but had the Gu family behind him who could provide him with ample start-up capital, making money was incredibly easy.

But simply making money is neither meaningful nor useful.

In terms of wealth, the Gu family is quite wealthy now. In this era of material scarcity, as long as they don't gamble, it's enough for Chen Qing and Miss Gu to live on for several lifetimes.

However, Chen Qing knew very well that in an era where officialdom was paramount, money alone was of little use. With Master Gu's wealth, he was definitely among the top few in this era, but in reality, he had to be a little careful when dealing with county officials.

Because of this bureaucratic system, Chen Qing didn't intend to cause too much trouble after arriving in this world. He originally just planned to live a comfortable life in this relatively peaceful era.

Now that he has decided to make a name for himself, he must start his business in a planned way and enter an industry that will benefit him in the future.

Miss Gu was sitting opposite Chen Qing at this moment. She reached out and poured Chen Qing a glass of wine, and asked, "What exactly is the young master planning to do? Could you tell me so that I can be prepared?"

Simply put, it's the cultural industry.

During this period, Chen Qing had already conducted a brief investigation of this era. Industries such as soap and perfume actually existed in this era and had even been commercialized on a small scale.

Moreover, there's not much of a future in this kind of business; even if you succeed, it'll just be another Anrentang.

Only by engaging in the cultural industry can one gain sufficient influence.

Chen Qing hasn't figured out what other industries he should focus on, but he has already figured out what to do in the cultural industry.

"Miss Pan'er, please wait for me."

Chen Qing got up, went to the inner room, and rummaged through his bundle to find dozens of pages of manuscript. He returned to the pavilion and handed the manuscript to Miss Gu.

Miss Gu took the manuscript, and before she could even look at it, she looked at Chen Qing and asked, "Is this the manuscript of The Romance of the Western Chamber?"

"The story of The Romance of the Western Chamber is excellent. If it were printed into a book, it would sell very well."

Chen Qing shook his head and said with a smile, "A book like The Romance of the Western Chamber, once written in its entirety and submitted for printing, will probably be pirated in no time. Although it can make some money, it's not very meaningful."

"I'm planning to make it into a serialized book."

This era not only had the "Imperial Bodyguards," but society was also relatively developed, at least the printing industry was very advanced, and in the street bookstores, there were not only serious books like the Four Books and Five Classics, but also some unorthodox books.

For example, vernacular novels.

It not only includes simple vernacular novels, but also those with a touch of eroticism, and even those with colorful illustrations.

Even in a small place like Deqing, you can easily buy books at roadside bookstores.

In the past few days, Chen Qing has also bought several books to read as samples for his investigation.

In this era, some scholars failed the imperial examinations repeatedly, leaving them with few options. If they couldn't pass the provincial examinations, most scholars only had two paths to choose from.

The first option is to become a private tutor or a teacher in a wealthy family.

The second option is to write vernacular novels at home. If you happen to write a bestseller, you might suddenly become rich.

The vernacular novel industry is quite popular in this era.

"A serialized book?"

Miss Gu looked down and flipped through the manuscript in her hands. After turning a couple of pages, she looked up at Chen Qing and asked, "What does this mean?"

"It's about breaking down a book into dozens or hundreds of issues and printing them out."

"Each issue only has one chapter title, which is printed on about ten pages of paper, and can also be divided into different sections."

Chen Qing said solemnly, "For the first few issues, we will print the West Chamber and the copy that Miss has in her hand. We will print one issue every five or ten days, and each issue will only contain one chapter title."

Miss Gu then took a serious look at the manuscript in her hands. The more she read, the more interesting it became. She lowered her head and flipped through many pages before looking up at Chen Qing and asking, "Young Master, what is the name of this book?" "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".

Chen Qing replied, "I heard it when I was a child, so I don't think many people know about it."

As a fan of martial arts novels, Chen Qing has read most of them many times. He dares not say that he can reproduce the original perfectly, but he can write about 70-80% of it without any problem.

Only this kind of "new thing" can carve out a path in the already fiercely competitive field of vernacular novels.

Miss Gu thought about it carefully, then looked at Chen Qing and her eyes lit up: "This way, we can stop the theft of seals!"

Chen Qing looked at her and shook his head slightly.

“Miss Pan’er, as I’ve already said, making money is just a side benefit for us, not the most important goal. If we’re talking about making money, no matter how well we do this business, it’s just another Anrentang.”

Miss Gu held the manuscript in her hand, glanced at Chen Qing, and chuckled softly, "Anrentang isn't good enough? Does the young master know how much Anrentang is worth?"

"do not know."

Chen Qing shook his head and then continued, "The most important thing about this kind of serialized content is that many people will read it later on."

"At that time, we can not only serialize vernacular novels, but also print other things on it."

Miss Gu paused, then looked down at the manuscript in her hands, lost in thought. After a while, she looked up at Chen Qing and murmured, "Will... the Embroidered Uniform Guard come knocking on our door?"

Chen Qing scratched his head.

"Is it not acceptable to only write about rumors or local anecdotes, without explicitly mentioning the imperial court?"

Gu Pan pondered for a moment, then looked at Chen Qing and said slowly, "No matter what, I believe that if this thing can be made, it will have a great impact. My father might need some influence if he wants to save people."

At this point, Gu Pan slowly said, "Let's get this done first, and we'll talk about the rest later."

Chen Qing nodded, and the two young people discussed the general plan under the pavilion. Miss Gu seemed to have finally found her direction. She stood up, looked at Chen Qing, and said softly, "Young master, I will take these manuscripts back and take a look first, and then I will start to make some preparations in the next few days."

At this point, she looked around and then said, "Young master, you've just moved, so please take a good rest for a couple of days."

Chen Qing got up to see her off, escorting her all the way to the door. Before Miss Gu got into the carriage, she looked back at Chen Qing and said, "Young master, you can also visit the Gu family when you have time."

Chen Qing nodded and smiled in agreement.

After they parted, Chen Qing stretched and went back to his room to rest for a while. In the evening, Mr. Yang came to invite him for drinks again. The two drank and chatted happily.

Chen Qing was so drunk from the drinking session that he slept until noon the next day. Not long after the sun had passed its zenith, there was another knock on the door. Chen Qing stretched and went to the door. When he opened the door, he saw Miss Gu standing there again.

"Son."

Miss Gu looked at Chen Qing, took a deep breath to calm herself down, but there was still joy in her eyes.

"I'm almost ready."

Chen Qing stepped aside and invited her into the courtyard. He looked at her, then at Xiaoyue following behind her, and said with a smile, "It's only been a day. What has Miss Pan'er prepared?"

"I bought a bookstore."

Gu Pan looked at Chen Qing and said softly, "My father has already taken Li Shiyi and the others to the bookstore to take over."

Upon hearing this, Young Master Chen was first stunned, then fell silent.

"It seems I really did say the wrong thing yesterday."

He looked at Gu Pan and sighed.

"I did underestimate Anrentang."

(End of this chapter)