Chapter 76
Chapter 76
The Lord of the City, after reading Shen Lang's book, felt as if he had communed with him spiritually through its pages. It was like glimpsing a great man within the text. He imagined Shen Lang to be a master of worldly plots and schemes, unburdened by convention.
* * *
Two hours later, thousands of people had surrounded Deng Xian's bookstore, leaving no room for escape.
"Deng Xian, come out!"
Zhu Wenhua, due to his high status, had to maintain his composure and remained silent within the crowd. The one shouting was his lackey, the scholar Wang Shimin. A moment later, the bookstore's doors opened, and Deng Xian walked out, his face pale with alarm.
"Everyone... Wh-what is going on? Why have so many people come here, as if preparing for war?"
The head lackey, Wang Shimin, said.
"Deng Xian, do you have any idea how grave your crime is?"
"This humble one does not know."
"To publish a vulgar book like *Boundless Wind and Moon*! Are you not aware that such a poisonous weed of a book corrupts the souls of us scholars? Are you trying to make an enemy of every scholar in Nanshan City?"
Deng Xian spat inwardly, cursing them in his mind.
'Scholars like you are the most shameless of all. I sold over three thousand copies of *Boundless Wind and Moon* today, and a third of them were bought by scholars like you. What's more, many of them visited the brothels not long after buying the book.'
He knew this because the madams of several brothels had sent him flower baskets out of gratitude. The madam of the largest brothel had revealed the truth in a single sentence.
"Our Little Hong didn't even have time to wash her bottom."
'And these are the men who now call it a poisonous weed of a book, claiming it corrupts their souls? Your souls are already filthy; could a poisonous weed even stain them further?'
"Let's not waste words on this fellow. He's a vulgar man who only cares about money. Speaking with him is a waste of breath."
Wang Shimin said.
"Deng Xian, we are giving you an ultimatum. Immediately bring out all copies of *Boundless Wind and Moon* and burn them before everyone."
"My lords, we have no more copies of that book. Truly, we don't!"
Wang Shimin said in a chilling voice.
"Do you take us for fools? Words will not suffice. Why would that lowly cur Shen Lang publish his poisonous book here in Nanshan City instead of in Xuanwu City? It's to tarnish the literary circle of our Nanshan! This is a conspiracy. A conspiracy by that shameless, talentless, and base man, Shen Lang.
Let's go. Let's tear down this vulgar merchant's bookstore and burn every last copy of Shen Lang's poisonous book!"
Wang Shimin shouted at the top of his lungs, waving his arm as he charged forward. From start to finish, he was the one stirring up trouble. Zhu Wenhua, the great talent and son of a century-old noble house, simply watched from behind.
Wang Shimin had managed to pass the county examinations but lacked the ability to pass the provincial ones. For a man with no talent and a modest family background, what path was there to success? Only by becoming a lackey for a powerful noble family. From his position, the only such family he could approach was the Zhu Clan, so becoming Zhu Wenhua's loyal dog was a natural course of action. Today was no different. He acted as he always did, to please Zhu Wenhua.
'He'll have to pay me more for this. It's well worth it!'
"Let's go!"
With Wang Shimin in the lead, hundreds of scholars immediately stormed the bookstore. Deng Xian cried out.
"You can't do this! You really can't!"
He tried desperately to block them, but how could he and a few clerks stop one or two hundred scholars? Deng Xian shouted loudly.
"My lords, please listen to me! You will bring great disaster upon yourselves if you do this!"
At that moment, Zhu Wenhua let out a scornful laugh.
'Great disaster? Please, this is Nanshan City, not Xuanwu City. And even if this were under Xuanwu's jurisdiction, with the New Policies being so fiercely implemented, the Count of Xuanwu would want to hide his head in his shell like a turtle. Shen Lang is merely a live-in son-in-law of the Count's Estate, a lowly creature who can never appear on the stage of history. Burning his book is nothing.
Did you think bringing in that fatty Jin Mucong would make a difference? What a naive and childish thought! Even if I burn your book and humiliate you, there's nothing you can do about it.'
In an instant, they knocked down the doors of the Spring Colors Bookstore, and hundreds of scholars rushed inside like a pack of angry wolves.
"Smash it all."
At the lackey's command, over a hundred scholars began to wreck the bookstore. They smashed everything in sight, destroying it all with a cathartic release of their pent-up frustration. A few of the scholars, however, were holding their lower backs as they went about their destruction. It couldn't be helped. *Boundless Wind and Moon* had been so captivating that they couldn't contain their excitement and had gone to the Raging Spring Courtyard to visit Little Hong several times. It was no wonder their legs were weak and their backs ached.
Wang Shimin said.
"Where is that poisonous weed? Find it and burn it!"
Hearing his words, the hundred or so men began searching everywhere for the books. But even after turning the bookstore upside down, they couldn't find any stock of *Boundless Wind and Moon*.
"Impossible. They must be here. We'll dig three feet into the ground if we have to!"
They searched the front yard and the back. After a few minutes, someone suddenly shouted with joy.
"Found it! I found it! Deng Xian, you cunning bastard... he hid the books in a secret cellar."
The scholar said excitedly. Wang Shimin entered through the open cellar door. Inside were freshly printed books, the smell of ink still lingering in the air. They were wrapped in large sheets of oil paper, in bundles of one hundred. On top of each was clearly written the large characters for *Boundless Wind and Moon*. There were several dozen bundles in total, easily amounting to over two thousand books.
Peeling back the oil paper from a loosely wrapped bundle, he saw a newly printed copy of *Boundless Wind and Moon* inside. Wang Shimin couldn't hide his joy. Zhu Wenhua had promised him two silver taels for every hundred books they found and burned. With over two thousand books here, he stood to make more than forty silver taels—enough money for him to live comfortably for several months without working.
"Here they are, the poisonous weeds written by that vile Shen Lang! Carry them all outside so we can burn them in public!"
At Wang Shimin's command, strong young scholars came in and began carrying the books out, bundle by bundle.
* * *
A quarter of an hour later, more than twenty bundles of books were piled up like a small mountain on the main street in front of the bookstore. Thousands of onlookers had gathered around. Wang Shimin shouted loudly.
"Everyone, look closely! Inside these bundles is a great poison that harms the people, a vile and trashy book! Its existence undermines the simple virtues of Nanshan City and defiles the teachings of the sages. Now, before all of you, I will burn it all to restore a clear scholarly atmosphere to Nanshan's literary circle. And in doing so, I will bring utter shame upon the shameless man who wrote this poison!"
After his speech, Wang Shimin tossed a torch into the pile of books. Flames erupted instantly. Zhu Wenhua felt an unparalleled sense of satisfaction, as if every pore in his body was breathing freely.
'How refreshing! So incredibly satisfying! Shen Lang, what does it matter how good your book is? What does it matter how well it sells? In the end, it's all been burned to ashes. With a single finger, I can effortlessly destroy all your efforts. Feel the gap between us and despair. I only used a small trick. No matter how I think about it, I truly am a master of strategy. Hahahaha.'
Zhu Wenhua began to imagine how furious and desperate Shen Lang would be when he learned that all his books had been burned to a crisp.
'Even if you find out, what can you do to me? The law doesn't punish a crowd for an illegal act. If one or two scholars had burned the books, it would have been troublesome. But with hundreds of scholars burning them together, there will be no punishment. If a man is going to make a move, he should make it big, shouldn't he? Hahaha.'
Just then, Deng Xian, the owner of the Spring Colors Bookstore, suddenly rushed into the pile of books and shouted.
"No! You can't burn these! We have to put out the fire, quickly!"
Then, along with a few clerks, he desperately rushed forward, splashing water to extinguish the flames. Wang Shimin led some men forward and dragged Deng Xian away.
"What are you doing?! Anyone who tries to stop the burning of these books will become a traitor to Nanshan City!"
Deng Xian charged forward again and yelled.
"Who said these are a great poison? This is the promulgated by the King! To call this a great poison and burn it all—you are insulting His Majesty the King!"
Hearing this, Zhu Wenhua flinched slightly. Wang Shimin's face changed, but then he burst into loud laughter.
"You cunning merchant! To spout such nonsense at a time like this, even invoking His Majesty the King. You must have a death wish!"
It was absurd. The King had promulgated the tens-of-thousands-of-characters-long and forced bookstores to stock it with mandatory quotas. But the book targeted the old nobility and didn't sell. What commoner cared about the New Policies? No sane merchant would print this book at a loss.
Deng Xian threw himself into the fire as if his life depended on it and rescued one bundle from the pile. For some reason, this particular bundle hadn't burned even after some time. Deng Xian tore off the large oil paper wrapper and spread out the dozens of books inside, wailing loudly.
"Look at this! Is this not clearly the promulgated by the King? You insulted it, calling it a great poison, and burned it all. Over two thousand copies have been burned, and only a few dozen remain. Your Majesty! There are people insulting you! Come quickly! There are traitors plotting rebellion here!"
At that moment, the air fell deathly silent. A chilling wind seemed to blow from nowhere, and the hundreds of scholars began to tremble.
The one or two hundred scholars present were all dumbfounded. It wasn't a particularly hot night, yet they were sweating profusely.
"To spread His Majesty the King's New Policies, I, Deng Xian, practically bankrupted my family to print several thousand copies of the . I did this purely out of patriotism for this country and His Majesty the King. But you burned them all. I will sue you! I will go to the City Lord's Manor, the Prefecture Office, even the Governor-General's Office to sue you!"
Wang Shimin felt a mortal crisis descend upon him, and he was so frightened he could barely breathe.
"It's a conspiracy! There's clearly a conspiracy! The books we burned couldn't have been the ."
He was right about that. There was only one bundle of the real ; the rest were just unsold, worthless stock. But all the other books had been incinerated, and even the single remaining bundle of the Edict was partially burned. Deng Xian said fiercely.
"The thousands of people here all saw it clearly. What they burned was undoubtedly the ."
"Nonsense! The oil paper wrapping the dozens of bundles we burned clearly said *Boundless Wind and Moon*."
Deng Xian said quietly.
"You're the one spouting nonsense with your eyes wide open."
He brought over the large sheet of oil paper used as a wrapper.
"The four characters for 'Edict of New Governance' are written plainly on this paper. Where do you see the words *Boundless Wind and Moon*?"
Wang Shimin was stunned.
'D-did I see a ghost? Just a moment ago, it clearly said *Boundless Wind and Moon* on the oil paper. I didn't see the four characters for 'Edict of New Governance' at all. What in the world is going on?'
Some substances lose their color when burned, while some characters, originally invisible, appear when heated. To Shen Lang, this was a petty trick not even worth boasting about.
Just then, a distinguished and extraordinary figure with a dignified, manly air walked out. Zhu Wenhua's eyes flashed sharply.
'So it was you, Shen Lang, who orchestrated this whole conspiracy!'
Shen Lang said leisurely.
"To burn His Majesty the King's ... Is this an act of discontent with the royal court, a plot of rebellion?!"
Wang Shimin's body trembled violently. Then, Shen Lang addressed someone.
"Lord Registrar, these men have openly defied His Majesty the King's New Policies. What punishment do they deserve?"