Moonlight, moonlight, shines upon the veranda.

Fan Ruoruo said with a touch of pity, "My future sister-in-law, I heard she suffers from... consumption, often coughing up blood, so she's always avoided oily foods. That girl you mentioned is gnawing on a chicken leg." Remembering the scene her brother had described earlier, she couldn't help but smile. "Then it definitely can't be Miss Lin. Besides, Miss Lin's appearance is said to be merely plain, certainly not as stunningly beautiful as you described."

Fan Xian thought about it and realized she was right. He sighed and put the matter aside, though he wouldn't give up on finding that girl. However, another image surfaced in his mind, and he frowned slightly.

"Consumption?" He knew that in this world, consumption was an incurable disease. Although he had studied with Fei Jie for a year and had never stopped his cultivation in various aspects, since the person in question was the Princess Royal's daughter, she must have been treated by imperial physicians. If even the imperial physicians couldn't cure her, what could he do?

Fei Jie's absence was a significant problem.

The next day, when Fan Xian got up, he found that his father, sister, and Liu Shi were not around. After having some congee and pickles served by the servants, he prepared to go out. He planned to try his luck at the Qing Temple, hoping to meet that girl again.

Just as he was about to leave, Fan Sizhe ran over, grabbed his sleeve, and dragged him into the study. He earnestly handed him a few sheets of paper. Fan Xian looked at him curiously, noticing that his younger brother's eyes were bloodshot, indicating that he had stayed up all night. He asked, "If you don't sleep at night, won't Second Aunt scold you again?"

Fan Sizhe chuckled a few times. "I learned from you, keeping it a secret."

Fan Xian smiled, rubbed the sheets of paper open with his fingers, propped his chin, and looked at them. They contained the "business plan" Fan Sizhe had drafted last night. Although Fan Xian had not been a successful businessman in his previous life, he had seen pigs run even if he hadn't eaten pork. The commercial atmosphere of his previous life was completely incomparable to that of Qing Yu Nian today. Moreover, given the special profession he had once been in, he had this confidence.

His brow gradually furrowed, and he asked, "Your idea is not bad, but I'm not familiar with the capital, so you'll have to decide for yourself whether the location you choose for the bookstore is good or not. But there's a problem: even though we're the only ones with the source of the manuscripts, how can you guarantee that other booksellers won't pirate them once you print them?"

Fan Sizhe said with a feverish look, "The family is idle now. Those servants have nothing to do, so we can have them wander around the streets, and smash any store that's pirating our books."

Fan Xian was dumbfounded, thinking, "Is all you know how to do is smash and grab?" This was completely out of line with his expectations. He shook his head with a wry smile. "Don't look down on booksellers; the profits are actually quite substantial. Who knows what kind of backing others might have?"

"What's there to be afraid of? The manuscript belongs to our family in the first place. How can they be justified in pirating it?" Fan Sizhe exclaimed.

Fan Xian reminded him, "There's no clause in the Qing law that protects manuscripts from being printed... Besides, this book hasn't been reviewed by the Eighth Bureau. If you go to court, you'll probably have to pay a fine first."

Fan Sizhe chuckled. "Don't worry about that. If we really want to open a bookstore, we can have our old man write a letter. The Eighth Bureau won't refuse to give him face."

Fan Xian thought that made sense. His seemingly ordinary father had a much deeper relationship with the Supervisory Council than most people knew. He then said, "Even if you get rid of the status of being a banned book, you still can't rely solely on smashing and grabbing to eliminate competitors. As they say, don't hit a person in the face. If you chase those middle-aged women on the streets of the capital and shut down other people's shops, that's tearing face. For the sake of money, if the backers on both sides start fighting, it's not worth it for anyone."

"What's there to be afraid of?" Fan Sizhe rolled his eyes at him, as if he thought his older brother was being overly sentimental. "If you think there's no excuse, you can find a way to set a rule. Then, we can follow the rule. If other booksellers dare to pirate again, we can let the government handle it."

Fan Xian burst out laughing. "A rule? Do you think the imperial court's laws are a joke, that they would change the law just because the Fan family wants to publish a book?"

Fan Sizhe shook his head. "How can the law be changed? Of course, we'll go through the lower channels. It's very easy to amend the Kyoto Defense Regulations. Ye Zhong's fierce wife has a good relationship with Princess Roujia. We can ask my sister to ask Jing Prince's mansion and the Ye family to say a word, and it'll be done."

Fan Xian became interested and asked, "Can the Kyoto Defense Regulations govern the sale of books?"

Fan Sizhe paused, thought for a moment, and said, "There seems to be a clause in there that governs vagrants and itinerant merchants, which can be used."

Fan Xian was full of admiration, thinking that this little guy really had the potential to be a treacherous merchant. Official-merchant collusion and city management teams were such ruthless tactics that he could come up with out of thin air. However, he knew that there was always a gap between ideals and reality. He asked, "Have you calculated the profits?"

"Ten volumes per set, eight taels of silver per volume, currently a total of sixty-eight volumes. There are 640,000 people in Kyoto. If one in a thousand buys a set, we can sell more than six hundred sets. A rough calculation shows that we can sell for 35,840 taels of silver." Fan Sizhe said with relish, having calculated these figures clearly long ago. "The rent on Luodong Road is more expensive. If we add the cost of proofreading and give all the printing to Wanjuantang, we can worry less."

"Wanjuantang?" Fan Xian asked curiously.

"The most famous private printing house in Kyoto." Fan Sizhe smiled slyly. "Their business is big, but they don't have any reliable figures behind them. If they dare to scheme against our manuscripts, we'll turn their place upside down and probably earn even more."

Fan Xian felt so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood.

"A rough calculation shows that we can earn at least several thousand taels of silver within the year. If we can really make other booksellers close shop, this figure will be even higher."

Fan Xian sighed. "You're too optimistic. To become a successful merchant, you must plan ahead. Let's talk about the figures you've estimated. Although the people of Kyoto are wealthy, each set costs more than fifty taels of silver. How many people can afford that price?"

Fan Sizhe was shocked, looking at Fan Xian as if he were a monster. "Don't you know how popular the book you wrote is right now?"

Fan Xian widened his eyes, thinking that *Dream of the Red Chamber* had gradually become popular during the Qianlong era in his previous life. He had also seen rumors that it sold for hundreds of taels of silver, but that was because it was a hand-copied version with limited circulation. If you're preparing to print it on a large scale, can it still sell for such a high price?

Fan Sizhe sighed. "A few days ago, I heard that the Kyoto Prefect's daughter stopped eating and drinking because she read the book you wrote, brother, and became infatuated. The Prefect's wife burned the manuscript in a fit of anger. The young lady cried out, 'Why burn my Baoyu?' and has been ill ever since... Brother, Kyoto is different from other places. There are as many officials as dogs and carp. How many idle young ladies are there? It's not a problem to sell several hundred or even a thousand sets."

Fan Xian was dumbfounded, wondering if he should bring some snacks to comfort the poor Prefect's daughter.