Chapter 618: Immortal Inscription

After a day of preparation, the bookstore jointly owned by Fan Xian and Fan Sizhe finally opened.

Dongchuan Road was crowded with people, and even the surrounding Imperial College had a rare trend of truancy. The buildings along the street were decorated with lights and colorful decorations. The square door was wrapped with fine wood, and the black was bright, which was really a decoration with a strong bookish flavor.

But for some reason, the bookstore was about to open, but the plaque at the door had not been hung yet.

In the backyard, Fan Sizhe was circling around Fan Xian with a somewhat anxious look.

Seeing that Fan Xian was always leisurely, Fan Sizhe finally couldn't help it.

"Brother, didn't we agree before that this bookstore would be called Danbo Bookstore? You also gave me a sentence like "One cannot set his ambition without being indifferent..."

Fan Xian glanced at him and said, "One cannot clarify his ambition without being indifferent, and one cannot reach far without being calm."

Fan Sizhe nodded repeatedly, "Yes, that's the sentence. It's so good. Prince Jing was shocked when he heard it. Why did you change your mind at the last minute when you have such a good name?"

Glancing at the confusion and doubt on Fan Sizhe's face, Fan Xian smiled slightly.

"Don't worry!" Fan Xian patted his brother's shoulder and chuckled, "You just want to become famous so that your book can sell well. The new name I thought of is better, and there is an inscription by a master."

"...Master?"

Fan Sizhe was stunned for a moment, and then said unhappily: "What master can compare to the prince of Jing?"

"Also, the publicity you mentioned before, and that, that advertisement, I have been preparing for so long, you suddenly changed the name without discussing it with me, isn't it a bit unreasonable?"

Fan Xian thought about it, looked into Fan Sizhe's eyes and said seriously: "It is indeed my fault for not notifying you, but don't worry, I promise that this new name will definitely make your book sell well, just wait and see!"

After saying that, Fan Xian no longer paid attention to Fan Sizhe, and turned to play with an exquisite jade plate.

Suddenly, the jade plate vibrated slightly.

...Here it comes!

Fan Xian's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up and walked towards the warehouse in front.

Fan Sizhe wanted to come up and take a look, but was refused entry by Fan Xian, so he could only wait anxiously in the yard.

Soon, the door of the warehouse opened, and Fan Xian came out holding a plaque covered with red cloth.

Fan Sizhe's eyes widened, and he walked up to uncover it, but was slapped on the hand by Fan Xian.

"Ah!"

Fan Sizhe cried out in pain, covered the back of his hand, and stared at Fan Xian aggrievedly.

"Don't make trouble!" Fan Xian said unhappily, "This red cloth is most effective when it is just uncovered, and it can't be wasted here."

After saying that, he turned his head and looked at the shopkeeper Ye who was waiting behind Fan Sizhe.

This shopkeeper Ye was one of the 17 shopkeepers of Qingyutang, and was also a subordinate of the business left by his mother Ye Qingmei.

When the industry of Ye's business was under the control of the royal family, these shopkeepers trained by Ye Qingmei were cleared out. After leaving the business, they should have found their own way to make a living, but the court was afraid of their business talents and did not allow them to do business on their own.

Therefore, those shopkeepers who were cleared out formed Qing Yu Tang, which was dedicated to managing business for others, and they could not invest in it.

When Fan Xian wanted to open a bookstore, he naturally thought of Qing Yu Tang, so he invited the shopkeeper Ye by name.

"Shopkeeper Ye, find someone to put this plaque up quickly!"

"Okay!"

Shopkeeper Ye responded with a smile, and then asked the waiter to take the plaque from Fan Xian.

Not long after, the crowd on the street dispersed to the outer circle.

The waiters carried the plaque and hung it up steadily under the curious eyes of the crowd.

As soon as the red cloth was lifted, four large characters full of the breath of time appeared in front of everyone -

"Lan... Ke... Book... Bureau?"

Seeing these four words, whether it was the well-read students of the Imperial College or the ordinary people who could not read, they could not help but be stunned by the artistic conception contained in the words.

For a time, the whole street was quiet.

Everyone stared at the four characters in a daze, as if they were baptized by the long river of time in an instant, and saw the changes in the world, the vicissitudes of life...

"... Good characters!"

The first student who came to his senses couldn't help but exclaimed in admiration.

And this exclamation seemed to press a switch, and the whole street instantly turned from quiet to moving.

Everyone's face was full of excitement and admiration, and the crowd was discussing the wonderfulness of this character.

"What a beautiful calligraphy!"

"I just don't know which great scholar of the time came up with this calligraphy."

"Could it be Zhuang Mohan of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Master Zhuang?"

"Impossible. I have had the honor of seeing Master Zhuang's calligraphy. Although Master Zhuang is also proficient in calligraphy, the artistic conception of his calligraphy is far from the four words 'Lan Ke Bookstore'."

"The two words 'Lan Ke' have a profound artistic conception and are full of historical traces of the passage of time. According to my guess, this must be a new calligraphy school created by a reclusive great scholar who does not pursue fame and fortune... Brother, do you have paper and pen? I like this calligraphy very much and want to copy it."

"What a coincidence, I thought so too!"

The streets were bustling with students and people talking about it.

Fan Xian was well prepared and immediately ordered Shopkeeper Ye to go out to deal with it.

Shopkeeper Ye led the staff out with a smile and announced that in addition to selling books, his bookstore also sold paper, ink, pens and inkstones.

The eager students outside the door immediately swarmed in, clamoring to buy paper and pen to copy the four characters.

Fan Sizhe squeezed out of the crowd and ran to the backyard with excitement on his face.

"Brother Juele, it's really amazing. Who did you ask to write these four words? Why do they look like they flew out? Could it be that they were written by immortals with golden pens and jade books?"

"..."

Fan Xian glanced at him and thought that you really guessed it right.

He asked Zhou Tianyi, a senior who traveled through the world of immortal cultivation, for these four words.

There are three thousand great ways in the world of immortal cultivation, such as Confucianism, Taoism, calligraphy and painting, all of which have complete cultivation systems.

As a family of immortal cultivation, the Zhou family naturally also included these unorthodox ways.

Coincidentally, there was a junior in the foundation-building stage in the Zhou Tianyi clan who was a genius in Confucianism and Taoism, and had already mastered calligraphy.

Fan Xian asked Zhou Tianyi for help, and he agreed without thinking, and asked the junior to help write these four words.

Although the junior was only in the foundation-building stage, the handwriting was infiltrated by magic power, and for mortals, it was already the handwriting of immortals.

Seeing that Fan Xian just glanced at him without replying, Fan Sizhe didn't care, but said with some worry: "But brother, isn't this a bit of a distraction?"

"Although the opening today, selling paper and pens is also an extra income, but if you want to run the business in the long run, you still have to rely on selling books as the main business!"

Fan Xian smiled and said: "You are very clear-headed... But it doesn't matter, just wait and see!"

This time, Fan Sizhe did not fight back against Fan Xian, but came to the back door, waiting for the next development with expectation.

At this time, sedan chairs kept coming on Dongchuan Road, and the sound of singing and singing was heard everywhere. It turned out that officials from various departments in the court heard the news and sent their subordinates with gift boxes to congratulate the opening of the bookstore.

After all, this is a rare opportunity to get closer to Si Nanbo.

And many people know that the emperor has appointed Fan Xian as the assistant lawyer of the Taichang Temple, and he will marry a princess in the palace soon.

Because of this, officials from various departments who got the news started to move.

But they didn't expect that today there would be a group of students copying calligraphy.

The people who were watching the excitement were naturally amazed, thinking that this Mr. Fan, who was both civil and military, was indeed not an ordinary person. Just because he opened a bookstore, so many officials sent people to congratulate him.

But the students of the Imperial College were different.

They just felt that the noise in the street disturbed their quiet copying.

In this way, the servants of the officials' houses of various departments received the unfriendly glares of the students.

Although it was a bit inexplicable, they still went through the whole process and presented the prepared gift box to Fan Xian.

Fan Xian stood in the yard with a smile, allowing Shopkeeper Ye to receive these guests for him.

At this time, Li Hongcheng, the prince of Jing, also came. People on the street who knew his identity saluted one after another. He responded with a gentle face, without a trace of arrogance of a royal relative. His face was like spring breeze, and he looked very elegant.

When he arrived at the door of the bookstore, Li Hongcheng was naturally shocked by the immortal's inscription.

But unlike those students who were copying calligraphy, Li Hongcheng, after coming to his senses, immediately strode into the bookstore, came to the backyard, and grabbed Fan Xian's arm with excitement.

"Brother Fan, I was wondering why you declined my father's kindness in writing an inscription. It turns out that you had prepared it in advance!"

"Tell me quickly, who is the master who wrote the inscription? This fairy spirit is really admirable!"

As soon as these words came out, not only Li Hongcheng, the prince of Jing, but also those students who were copying in the bookstore pricked up their ears.

Fan Xian seemed to smile bitterly and shook his head: "Your Highness, it's not that I don't want to give you this face, but that the master doesn't want to show it in front of others. It's already a shameless request for me to get these four words."

"Really? That's a pity..."

Li Hongcheng's face was full of regret, but he was very polite and didn't ask any more questions.

Those eavesdropping students also sighed and sighed, obviously feeling very disappointed.

Shopkeeper Ye looked at the expressions on their faces, and then at the seemingly correct imitations in their hands. He knew that the time had come, so he smiled and approached the group of students.

"Gentlemen, do you think this character is extremely mysterious and very difficult to copy? How can you not grasp the essence?"

"... Indeed."

"Haha, that's right!"

Hearing Shopkeeper Ye's laughter, the students who were copying couldn't help but show dissatisfaction.

"What does shopkeeper mean by this?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Shopkeeper Ye said with a smile, "It's just that I took a look around and found that the calligraphy of the gentlemen is very amazing, but the meaning of the two words "Lan Ke" seems to be a little confusing."

As soon as these words came out, let alone these students, even Prince Jing Li Hongcheng became interested.

"Yes, shopkeeper, what exactly does the two words "Lan Ke" mean?"

Many students gathered around, curiously waiting for Shopkeeper Ye to give them an answer.

Shopkeeper Ye smiled and picked up a book from the side, showing the cover to the people in front of him.

"Let the young master know that in addition to exclusively selling the stories after the 68th chapter of "The Story of the Stone", our Lan Ke Bookstore also has some unsophisticated books."

"The reason behind the two words Lan Ke is a story recorded in this book "Records of Strange Things."

"If you are interested, you can take this book back and savor the artistic conception contained in this story carefully. Maybe you can understand it and truly grasp the essence of Lan Ke calligraphy!"