Chapter 23: Obstinate Entanglement
Xu Chengyue felt a profound sense of frustration. This situation was truly difficult to handle; against someone so brazen as to shamelessly plagiarize another’s work, moral condemnation was almost entirely useless.
For a moment, she could not think of a viable solution.
"Shall we pay a visit to that bookstore and speak with the proprietor?" Xu Chengyue asked.
She hoped the shopkeeper might care about his reputation—after all, someone who dealt with scholars year-round should at least be concerned about his standing in the community.
Lu Hongzhuo, having no other options, agreed to follow her and give it a try.
Xu Chengyue and Lu Hongzhuo arrived at the bookstore. It was close by, only a few steps away. The name of the shop was even more audacious: "Shanhe Bookstore," clearly a deliberate imitation of "Shanhai Bookstore."
Xu Chengyue was speechless. The shop itself was a massive act of piracy! It was no wonder they could deceive readers by piggybacking on the reputation of the original.
Without time to dwell on it, the two walked inside.
Seeing them enter, the shopkeeper bowed and greeted them, "Greetings, young master and lady. Would you like to take a look at our new releases?"
He enthusiastically pushed a book forward—it was the very plagiarized work in question.
"Don't be put off by the title, my lady. The content inside is quite marvelous, far more interesting than the classics or historical texts."
The shopkeeper spoke with a silver tongue, describing the pirated goods as something unparalleled in heaven or on earth—a peerless masterpiece with no equal, past or present.
Xu Chengyue tried to interject several times, but was repeatedly interrupted by his relentless flow of speech.
When he finally finished and asked, "Would you like to buy it, my lady?"
Xu Chengyue seized the opportunity. "Shopkeeper, you misunderstand. We are from Shanhai Bookstore. We heard your shop has a book that is remarkably similar to one of ours, and we came specifically to inquire about it."
She held back, not explicitly stating that she was the author herself.
Upon hearing this, the fawning smile vanished from the shopkeeper’s face. He replied coldly, "The young lady must have heard wrong. We have no such book in our shop. I know nothing of this matter; it must be that someone is maliciously slandering us."
To have the victim stand right before him and still meet her with such stubborn denial made Xu Chengyue laugh in anger.
She took out her own book and handed it to the shopkeeper. "Take a look, shopkeeper. The story you just described is nearly identical to the one in our book—even the protagonist's name is copied. How can you say you don't have it?"
The shopkeeper, faced with evidence, felt a flicker of panic, but quickly regained his composure. "My apologies, young lady, but this book was not written by our shop. It was provided by a contributor; it has nothing to do with us. We were deceived as well. Perhaps all good writing shares certain similarities; you cannot accuse someone of plagiarism just because of that. Furthermore, it is not yet certain who copied whom."
With that, he stood there with his hands in his sleeves, looking innocent, composed, and utterly fearless.
He had completely shirked the bookstore's responsibility, hiding behind crooked logic and sophistry.
Xu Chengyue’s expression darkened. Her brows knit together, and her gaze pierced the shopkeeper like a needle.
Lu Hongzhuo was furious and opened his mouth to berate the man, but having never encountered such a situation, he was left tongue-tied. The insults he thought of could not penetrate the shopkeeper’s thick, shameless hide.
"Master Lu, there is no point in arguing with someone like this. Let us go." Seeing that nothing would be gained from further confrontation, Xu Chengyue turned and left decisively.
She knew that such people were thick-skinned; they felt no shame even when confronted face-to-face. Continuing the argument would be futile.
The two walked out of the bookstore, filled with anger and frustration, yet powerless against such a blatant loophole.
Xu Chengyue looked dejected. Was this it? Was she just to swallow this bitter loss?
No. If she let it go once, it would happen again. If this was not handled well, anyone could steal her work to trample on her in the future. She could not back down.
She looked back at Shanhe Bookstore.
The storefront was unimpressive, far inferior to Shanhai Bookstore. The plaque with the shop’s name was weathered and old, the paint faded by the sun and wind, and the shop banner was dirty and tattered.
From this, it was clear that business was poor—no wonder they had resorted to the desperate act of plagiarism.
As she watched, a sudden flash of inspiration struck her.
"Master Lu, let me see that plagiarized book again," Xu Chengyue said, turning around.
Lu Hongzhuo took out the book and handed it to her, puzzled by her intent.
Xu Chengyue took the book and flipped through it.
Sure enough, the paper was coarse and rough to the touch, and the printing quality was poor—some of the characters were barely legible.
"What is the price of this book?" Xu Chengyue asked next.
Lu Hongzhuo quoted a figure—it was about thirty percent cheaper than the price of her own book.
Xu Chengyue suddenly understood. So that was the reason. She had been wondering how a common plagiarized work could become popular enough to rival the original.
Price was the primary factor for most people when making a purchase. One was expensive, the other cheap. If the buyer was an ordinary person of modest means, they would naturally choose the cheaper option, especially in the Tang Dynasty, where there was little to no concept of copyright.
Now, it was easy to solve.
"When you are at the end of your rope, you find a new path." The problem that had seemed insurmountable suddenly had a solution.
Xu Chengyue smiled brightly, revealing her pearly white teeth. "Master Lu, I have a way. Let’s go back and discuss it in detail."
The fate of Shanhai Bookstore was tied to Xu Chengyue; her problems were Lu Hongzhuo’s problems as well.
Hearing this, the gloom lifted from Lu Hongzhuo’s heart, and he hurried back to the bookstore with her.
Before they could even have a drink of water, he asked impatiently, "What is the plan? Please tell me, Lady Xu."
"We will print the books in two versions: one that maintains the original quality, and another printed on newsprint-style paper with tighter typesetting to lower the cost and retail price..." Xu Chengyue explained her idea step by step.
As the best bookstore in Luoyang, Shanhai Bookstore naturally boasted excellent quality.
The paper was high-quality, durable, tear-resistant, treated to prevent decay, and the printing was crisp.
However, the downside was that the production costs could not be lowered, keeping the retail price high.
If they used lower-quality paper, like that of a newspaper—sufficient to make the characters clear without affecting readability—they could drastically reduce production costs and cater to different segments of the market.
Wealthy families would still pay for quality, while ordinary people, who did not care for such luxuries, would choose the more "cost-effective" cheaper edition.
In this way, they would capture both the high-end and the mass market, while also neutralizing the threat of future pirated copies.
Xu Chengyue thought of the endless cycles of piracy from her previous life—where one site was shut down, only for another to take its place. She shivered, feeling a chill run down her spine. The only consolation was that such things did not exist here yet.
As long as they used the right methods, piracy could be controlled.
Lu Hongzhuo’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. Previously, their bookstore was only visited by the wealthy, as those who spent their lives reading were generally well-off.
Because of this, they had only ever pursued quality and had never thought of reducing costs. Even the newspaper had initially been headed toward a high-quality, expensive direction, but after Lady Xu stepped in, they had created the affordable five-wen "Shanhai News."