Chapter 86
his siblings.
He licked his lips as he tasted the food daintily and he nodded, "The cuisine of the Capital is quite delicious."
Fan Ruoruo was delicate and ate only a little, her body turned to the side as she concentrated on the book Dream of the Red Chamber. Meanwhile, Fan Xian and Fan Sizhe were munching away, with Fan Sizhe growing more depressed at as he ate, not understanding why he was chubbier than Fan Xian, who ate faster and more than him.
Fan Ruoruo’s frown grew deeper as she realized that this copy of Dream of the Red Chamber was practically identical to the one that was in her room, the only difference being the that the excerpt concerning Miss Duo that was intentionally extracted from the first page and that might lead the capital people to see Dream of the Red Chamber as a dirty book.
Seeing her expression, Fan Xian knew what was on her mind. He smiled and placed his chopsticks down on the plate of fish, saying, "This is merely a marketing method; what’s there to be upset about?" Their voices slowly increased in volume.
Fan Ruoruo guessed what marketing method meant but Fan Sizhe was completely confused.
"Before someone buys a book, they will flick through it for an idea of what it’s about. Things like the foreword, preface, postscript or prologue must be written clearly- not necessarily to explain the novel in full, but to catch their interest."
Fan Xian took a sip of tea and continued to talk, "Sister, you are angry because you feel that the bookseller has no morals, as they placed Miss Duo’s excerpt at the front which could easily cause the misunderstanding that the story was a romantic affair novel, right?"
Fan Ruoruo blinked her eyes and nodded. Treating such a lofty novel as something so unrespectable- wasn't this something to be mad at?
"But the booksellers must do this." Fan Xian Looked at his sister’s serious face and burst out laughing. "If it were me, I would have been even more excessive. This is a copy of chapter ten, so on the t.i.tle page I would have wrote the most intriguing excerpts designed to intrigue the customer so much that they must buy the book to find out more."
"Like what?"
"Ones like Miss Duo’s excerpt."
"How about this chapter?" Fan Ruoruo understood what her brother meant, and with a slight smile, she pointed to a section of the book, chapter twenty-three: Lines from ‘Romance of the West Chamber quoted for fun, a vibrant song from ‘The Peony Pavilion’ singing the distresses of the heart.’ This chapter talked about things which happened before the flower burial, and there were no sentences which would have made someone blush.
Fan Xian chuckled as he spoke, "The words’ vibrant song makes it easy. If it was me, I would use the excerpt… where more than half of the people in the garden were girls, and it was a chaotic and innocent place. People lay around lazily, laughing to themselves. At the time, Baoyu had something on her mind and wasn't herself. She hung out in the garden and only messed around outside, yet once again she stupidly… witnessed the red array of flowers."
"And then I would outline the words lay around lazily, laughing to themselves and playing around, stupidly and red array in the color red."
Fan Ruoruo looked down in thought and realized that this really seemed to work. The words meant nothing special on their own, but once combined, and in addition the words ‘vibrant song’ in the t.i.tle, a vast room for imagination was created.
She blushed, and spoke in a low voice, "It would seem that brother has much experience in this sort of business."
Fan Sizhe, however, was stunned; he gave his brother thumbs up and said, "Big brother, you really are full of talent."
Fan Xian snorted and spat out all the tea in his mouth.
At the moment, a highly arrogant voice could be heard from outside of their compartment, "Just where did those ignorant people come from? How do they dare call a mind full of dirty thoughts talented?"