Fu Wenyu saw the Liuzhou Tabloid at home.

Unlike modern newspapers with clear, well-arranged text and illustrations, this ancient version of the tabloid had smaller sheets, larger characters, and far less content.

For example, the storybooks Fu Wenyu was most interested in only had three entries.

One was The Woodcutter, which he also liked, written by Mr. Sanliu. Another one that Fu Wenyu found somewhat familiar was The East Chamber, which he had flipped through at Kaiyuan Bookstore. It was a story about a young lady from a wealthy family who sold her dowry to support her husband’s imperial examination. After her husband became the top scholar, she fell ill and passed away, and her husband eventually married a princess. The author was someone named “Scholar Sun,” though it was unclear whether this was a pen name or if the author was an actual scholar.

The last entry was Fu Wenyu’s Jiu Occupying the Magpie’s Nest: The True and False Young Masters. Aside from the usual poetry and prose, the tabloid also printed the names and brief introductions of some shops.

For instance, the most prominent spot featured a restaurant called “Fugui Restaurant.”

The writer clearly understood the psychology of diners, listing the restaurant’s signature dishes and their flavors. For example, there were over a dozen lamb dishes, such as “Lamb Trotters with Bamboo Shoots,” “Wine-Steamed Lamb,” and “Five-Flavored Almond Lamb.” For those who didn’t like lamb, there were also dishes like “Crab-Stuffed Orange” and “Bamboo Shoots with Steamed Goose,” offering a variety of chicken, duck, and fish options.

These dishes were described as crispy, savory, or richly aromatic, making one’s mouth water just by reading about them.

Fu Wenyu reluctantly shifted his gaze away. He decided that after the mourning period, he would take his family to this restaurant to try their signature dishes, ordering every one of them.

For now, he focused on reading the storybooks.

The three storybooks printed in the tabloid were only the beginnings, each about three thousand characters long. The other two progressed slightly faster, but Fu Wenyu’s story only covered the part where Nanny Zhang swapped the babies.

The person who delivered the tabloid was the clerk, Zhang Er.

Not only did he bring the tabloid, but he also brought Fu Wenyu a pile of things.

“Wenyu, these thirty taels are a thank-you gift from our owner for your idea of ‘serialization’ and ‘advertising.’ Some of the other items are from the owner, and some were arranged by my uncle. My uncle said your idea of ‘advertising’ was brilliant. Our owner listed the restaurant’s signature dishes in the tabloid, and it really attracted many customers.”

“So now, any shop that wants to be featured in the tabloid and known throughout the twelve counties of the prefecture has to pay a fee to the Liuzhou Tabloid. They’re all very pleased.”

Fu Wenyu hadn’t expected the additional thirty taels.

He happily pocketed the silver notes, but from Zhang Er’s words, it seemed the owner hadn’t paid much attention to the serialized storybooks, focusing instead on the advertisements that brought in customers.

This wasn’t surprising.

The owner of Kaiyuan Bookstore simply hadn’t yet grasped the charm of serialized stories.

Fu Wenyu didn’t comment further on the Liuzhou Tabloid. He took out the revised twenty thousand characters he had prepared and handed them to Zhang Er, saying, “Brother Zhang, since you’re here, I’ll give you the next part of the manuscript. I’ve reached a crucial part, and I should be able to finish it in about half a month.”

What he gave Zhang Er was the second revision, where the plot had progressed to the part where Wang Fugui killed someone.

The two batches of manuscripts totaled forty thousand characters. At the current rate of printing over three thousand characters every five days, these forty thousand characters would last them two months. By the time Fu Wenyu finished writing The True and False Young Masters, he could have it printed into a book and sell it before the tabloid published the finale. There would surely be readers eager to buy it to see the ending in advance. The wider the tabloid’s circulation, the more such readers there would be.

Thus, Fu Wenyu’s goal would be achieved.

After all, in ancient times without online novel platforms, authors could only earn higher income by selling books. The more books sold, the more royalties they would receive.

Zhang Er didn’t think that far ahead. Upon learning that Fu Wenyu had written new content, he was overjoyed. “Wenyu, let me see it quickly.” He took the manuscript and eagerly flipped through it, exclaiming in admiration at the exciting parts.

“Excellent!”

“Wenyu, you’ve written this so well!”

“Let me tell you, many people love your storybook. Following your suggestion, our owner divided the storybook and printed a chapter every few days. Now, people are already coming to buy it.”

At this point, he suddenly lowered his voice and said mysteriously, “Have you heard of Young Master Liu? The famous ‘Liu Dandy’ in Liuzhou City, the one whose father is a Juren.”

Fu Wenyu knew of this person.

“I know. I heard about him when our family still lived in the city.”

After all, it was rare to hear of someone whose four fiancées had all died. It was said that after his fourth fiancée drowned, all the matchmakers in Liuzhou avoided him. This “Liu Dandy” and the foolish son of the landlord Chen were the two most avoided figures in Liuzhou’s marriage market.

Seeing that Fu Wenyu had heard of Young Master Liu, Zhang Er didn’t elaborate further. Instead, he said, “Young Master Liu really likes your storybook. The next day, he sent someone to ask about the next part.”

“When he found out it wasn’t finished, he wasn’t very happy.”

“Wenyu, write more, write faster.” Zhang Er patted Fu Wenyu’s shoulder encouragingly. “I heard from my uncle that book vendors have already started asking about the tabloid. The teahouses and entertainment venues in the city have also asked us to send more copies, saying their customers really like it.”

“My uncle said that once the tabloid sells more, they’ll share the profits with you!”

Fu Wenyu loved hearing this.

He immediately nodded, “Go back and tell Uncle Zhang that I have a good grasp of this storybook and will finish it soon. Once it’s done, I’ll send it over.”

Since the Liuzhou Tabloid was only printed once every five days, the manuscripts Fu Wenyu had previously sent, along with the current twenty thousand characters, would last them a long time. So he spoke with confidence.

…

After seeing Zhang Er off, Fu Wenyu took the items and found Mrs. Zhou.

“Mother, these are from the owner of Kaiyuan Bookstore.”

“So much?” Mrs. Zhou, who was organizing silk threads for making velvet flowers with Fu Rong, looked at the brand-new thirty taels of silver and the box of pastries on the table in surprise.

“Wenyu, why did the bookstore give you so much money again?” As far as she knew, her son had been busy writing storybooks lately, occasionally showing them to her, but he hadn’t mentioned writing a second book.

There was no reason to hide this.

Fu Wenyu directly took out the Liuzhou Tabloid. Zhang Er had brought two copies this time, so he gave one to Mrs. Zhou and explained, “Mother, look, this is the latest issue of the Liuzhou Tabloid.”

“My storybook is printed in this tabloid, along with two others. But the most important part is these advertisements—you can think of them as notices. The owner of Kaiyuan Bookstore listed his shop’s name and what it sells in the newspaper, and it really attracted new customers. So to thank me for this idea, he gave me these thirty taels.”

“By the way, this tabloid costs five coins per copy.”

“Zhang Er said the owner didn’t charge for this issue and gave it away for free. The second issue will start selling, and since they’re not selling many yet, they haven’t shared any additional profits with me. But once they sell more, they’ll share some with me.”

However, since the tabloid wasn’t expensive and the literacy rate in Liuzhou was limited, Zhang Er had also mentioned that the royalties he would receive wouldn’t be substantial.

This was within Fu Wenyu’s expectations.

After all, his goal in proposing this idea was to quickly expand his fame and sell more storybooks. Given the literacy rate in ancient times and the cost and price of the Liuzhou Tabloid, the share he could receive was naturally limited.

“This, this… it can be like this…”

Mrs. Zhou was utterly astonished.

She knew her son had been writing storybooks and had even read some, but she hadn’t expected that he could earn such a large sum just by suggesting an idea to the bookstore—more than her late husband had ever earned.

This filled her with both surprise and joy, her emotions complex.

Fu Wenyu, however, didn’t dwell on it. As usual, he handed the silver notes to Mrs. Zhou for safekeeping and said, “Mother, shouldn’t we build a few more rooms?”

“Our current living space is too small.”

Fu Wenyu looked around and said, “Mother, look, since we don’t have a proper reception room, we have to invite guests into my bedroom, which is very inconvenient. The kitchen is also just a simple thatched shed that leaks when it rains. Now that we have fifty taels of silver, why don’t we hire someone to build a few more rooms? It’ll be more convenient in the future. We’ll have a place to receive guests, and my sister can have her own room. I can also have a study.”

As far as he knew, the mourning customs of this era weren’t so strict as to require living in a hut by the grave, eating only vegetables and tofu, and avoiding all oil. While one couldn’t take the imperial exams, marry, or hold grand celebrations during mourning, building a house to make the family’s living conditions more comfortable was acceptable, and the authorities wouldn’t interfere.

After all, it wasn’t as if life stopped just because an elder had passed away.

Hearing Fu Wenyu’s suggestion, Mrs. Zhou nodded, “That makes sense.”

“But building a house is a big matter. I’m just a woman, and you’re still young. We should consult your grandfather for advice on such an important decision.”

Fu Wenyu thought about it and agreed.

Building a house wasn’t like buying one, where you just paid after seeing it. It involved steps like buying bricks and tiles, laying the foundation, and raising the beams. Neither Fu Wenyu nor Mrs. Zhou had experience in building a house, so they weren’t the right people for the job. The only people Fu Wenyu could think of to consult were the clan leader and Fu Dashi.

The clan leader wasn’t suitable; his favor couldn’t be used for this.

So Fu Wenyu simply took a bag of pastries and went to the main house to find Fu Dashi.