An immortal descending to the mortal world?

Tang Yishan, who had been tightly clinging to Mr. Tang’s neck, curiously turned his body to the side.

…

Fu Wenyu soon received an invitation from Jinshizhai.

Not only did they agree to teach him some knowledge about identifying antiques, but they also brought out their own antiques to explain to him. This delighted Fu Wenyu. While he humbly studied, he also planned to reciprocate by selecting some unique items to feature in his story. This way, once the story was published, readers might want to own similar items.

But let’s be honest…

Identifying antiques was incredibly difficult!

Despite being exposed to modern knowledge, having watched treasure appraisal shows, read several books on antiques and gambling stones, and even prepared a similar urban fantasy novel, Fu Wenyu was still overwhelmed by the profound knowledge imparted by the master craftsman. Even after expending a lot of effort, he was only just beginning to grasp the basics.

And this was just about antiques.

He still hadn’t learned about gambling stones.

But the story had already started, and Fu Wenyu wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. So, every morning, he would go into the city with his mother and sister, drop them off at the Li Embroidery shop, and then head to Jinshizhai to study.

A couple of days later, a new issue of the Liuzhou Tabloid was delivered to readers.

This issue not only featured the much-anticipated The True and False Young Master, announcing that readers could pre-order the book at Kaiyuan Bookstore, but also introduced two new stories.

The Tale of the Green Hairpin and The Legend of the Divine Eye.

Thanks to his connection with Kaiyuan Bookstore and the previous mishap with the Liuzhou Tabloid, Fu Wenyu was cautious this time and specifically requested a sample copy. As a result, he got to see the gazette a day earlier than most readers. After confirming that the pre-order announcement for The True and False Young Master was indeed printed and that this issue only contained 3,000 words, ending right at the cliffhanger of “the blood of three people merging during a blood test,” he felt satisfied.

This cliffhanger was perfect!

He believed that this alone would drive many people to pre-order the book at Kaiyuan Bookstore today.

After confirming the most important matter, he looked at the other content.

The Liuzhou Tabloid had now become the leading newspaper in the region. By “region,” it meant Liuzhou and its neighboring prefectures: Jiangzhou, Anzhou, and Pingzhou.

The reason it broke through geographical limitations wasn’t due to any major promotional efforts but rather a series of coincidences. The biggest factor was the serialized stories and the Tang family’s child-swapping incident, which mirrored a story. When Fu Wenyu heard about this, he could only sigh at how people were universally drawn to drama and gossip.

This issue of the Liuzhou Tabloid added two new stories: one was Fu Wenyu’s own The Legend of the Divine Eye, which he had just finished writing the first chapter of a few days ago, and the other was an unfamiliar one.

He first read the unfamiliar The Tale of the Green Hairpin.

This was a story written from a female perspective by someone named “Madam Qin.” After deciding to write stories, Fu Wenyu had familiarized himself with many other authors’ works, but this name wasn’t among them. It seemed that, like him, this person was either a newcomer or had another pen name.

The protagonist of The Tale of the Green Hairpin was a courtesan. The story began with her parents’ death and her subsequent abduction and sale to a brothel. The writing carried a faint melancholy, with a tone of self-pity.

Well, how to put it…

It was well-written, but Fu Wenyu didn’t care for this style.

So he flipped past it and looked at his own story. Since it was his own work, he skimmed through it, mainly checking the layout, printing, and whether there were any typos.

Fortunately, there weren’t any.

After reading everything, Fu Wenyu still felt uneasy, as this was a new genre. So the next day, after dropping off his mother and sister at the Li Embroidery Shop, he took a day off from Jinshizhai and went to a teahouse to listen to ancient readers’ opinions on The Legend of the Divine Eye.

If the response was lukewarm, he could make adjustments.

…

Another five days passed, and it was time for the Liuzhou Tabloid to go on sale again.

Liu Changmiao, the youngest son of Scholar Liu, got up early and urged his servant to go buy the Liuzhou Tabloid. For the rest of the day, he was distracted, constantly glancing toward the door.

Ever since that day over two months ago when he received a copy of the Liuzhou Tabloid from a Kaiyuan Bookstore clerk, this routine had repeated every five days. He had been captivated by a new story about a nanny surnamed Zhang who swapped her grandson with her master’s child.

It was unlike any story Liu Changmiao had ever read before.

It wasn’t finished!

How could a story not be finished?

For this reason, Liu Changmiao had visited Kaiyuan Bookstore countless times, urging them to pressure the author—who had given himself the strange pen name “Two Coins for a Steamed Bun”—to write faster. He also discussed the story with fellow enthusiasts, anxiously waiting for the Liuzhou Tabloid to be printed every five days. Then, suddenly, he heard that the Tang family had experienced a similar incident in real life, where the Tang family’s only son had also been swapped. Everyone rushed to see the commotion.

Now, the Tang family’s matter had been resolved, and Mr. Tang had found his real son.

But because Liu Changmiao came from a wealthy family and the Liu and Tang families were acquainted, he knew more than others. He had heard from his mother that the poor child, now renamed Tang Yishan, had been severely traumatized by the incident and had lost the ability to speak after being rescued!

Losing the ability to speak—how terrifying.

This matter was kept tightly under wraps by the Tang family, so outsiders didn’t know. Liu Changmiao only knew because the Tang couple had come to ask his father, Scholar Liu, to help them find a good doctor from the capital.

Like everyone else, Liu Changmiao deeply hated the evildoers. But for this reason, he was even more curious about The True and False Young Master, the story that had inadvertently revealed the truth to Mr. Tang. He couldn’t wait to know how the story would develop and to see the villains in the story meet the same fate as those in real life.

He was so anxious it felt like his heart was being scratched.

So when he saw his servant return, his eyes lit up.

“Give it to me quickly!”

“I remember the bookstore clerk said this story was three times the length of The Woodcutter, so it should be around 120,000 words. They’ve already printed 110,000 words, so there’s only about 10,000 left.”

“Today’s 10,000 words must be the reunion, right?!”

Although Liu Changmiao had never written a story, he had read many, so he was well-versed in the tricks of the trade. He knew that the climax of a story wasn’t the last few thousand words but rather a bit earlier.

Take The True and False Young Master, for example. Based on the word count, today’s 10,000 words would likely cover the capture of the culprits and the reunion, which would be the most exciting part of the book. Even if the trial wasn’t fully written, most of it should be done; otherwise, the entire story couldn’t be just over 120,000 words.

He was confident in his prediction.

But the usually quick-witted servant didn’t hand over the Tabloid this time. Instead, he cautiously took a step back and awkwardly said, “Um, young master, today’s… today’s story doesn’t have 10,000 words.”

As he said this, the servant inwardly groaned.

He knew his young master’s temperament all too well. The young master was lively, disliked constraints, and loved reading stories, unlike his elder brother, who preferred the Four Books and Five Classics.

On the shelves in the young master’s room, alongside the Four Books and Five Classics, were stacks of stories from various places. When his father was home, he often scolded the young master for this, but the young master never changed. Now that his father had taken the elder brother to the capital for studies, the young master was even less restrained and bought whatever stories he wanted.

Recently, he had become particularly fond of The True and False Young Master in the Liuzhou Tabloid.

For the past five days, the young master had been mentioning it repeatedly, saying that today’s 10,000 words would definitely cover the conclusion, and he would finally know what fate awaited the villains.

So when the servant saw that the gazette only had 3,000 words, he knew trouble was coming.

Liu Changmiao, unaware of his servant’s internal monologue, reached out his hand. “If it’s not 10,000 words, then it must be 8,000, right? 8,000 is fine too. If it’s less than 10,000, doesn’t that mean they’re printing the conclusion today?”

“Quick, quick, give it to me!”

The servant closed his eyes and quickly handed it over.

Liu Changmiao opened it and read carefully.

As he read, he burst into laughter. “Sure enough, Mr. Wang has caught them all!”

“These Zhang family members are truly despicable! A thousand times worse than the Huang family. They should be sent to the authorities and preferably beheaded.”

“Blood test to confirm kinship?”

“So there’s a method like ‘blood testing’ to determine if someone is your real father?” As he said this, he subconsciously glanced at his own finger and then instinctively shrank back.

Hmm, cutting fingers was better left to Mr. Wang and Zhang Gousheng in the story. Since they were father and son, their blood would definitely mix.

With this thought, his gaze returned to the Liuzhou Tabloid, fully expecting to see a heartwarming reunion, followed by the villains getting their just deserts and a happy ending.

But the next moment…

“What?!!!”

A cry of shock erupted: “Their blood mixed? All three of them?!”

“How could this happen?!!!”

“Are Mr. Wang and Zhang Gousheng not father and son?” Liu Changmiao shouted in disbelief. “I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it!”

“I have to see…”

His eyes instinctively looked down, but instead of finding more content, he saw this line:

[Dear readers, The True and False Young Master is now available for pre-order. Those who wish to know the ending sooner can purchase it at Kaiyuan Bookstore.]

Liu Changmiao: “…???”

Liu Changmiao: “…!!!”

Then, an utterly bewildered voice rang out from the Liu household: “It’s over?!”

“It just ends like this?!”