Gao Yiye took “her own book” and happily flipped it open.

She was reading, and Li Daoxuan was reading too.

With the “Attention” function, Li Daoxuan no longer even needed a magnifying glass. By simply “attending” to the book, he could immediately pull his vision very close: Huh! This book was printed even better than “Yang Family Generals”.

As it turned out, when the woodcarver printed this book, he worked with an attitude of immense reverence, carving each stroke meticulously.

Gao Yiye’s drawing skills were actually quite poor, with many areas poorly rendered.

But that didn’t matter. The woodcarver’s drawing skills far surpassed Gao Yiye’s, and he simply made up the difference for her.

If her strokes were crooked, the woodcarver corrected them with ten strokes. If she drew Daoist Ma’s face crooked, the woodcarver restored Daoist Ma’s proper visage.

During printing, the printer also employed the most meticulous attitude, ensuring ink didn’t smudge or pool messily.

The binding process was flawless, not a single page crooked or misaligned.

After flipping through it a few times, Gao Yiye was overjoyed: “Wow, fantastic! It’s printed so well. Let’s start selling this book immediately.”

Thirty-Two said, “Before it goes on sale, I need to explain something clearly to you.”

Gao Yiye blinked curiously, “What’s the matter?”

Thirty-Two spoke seriously, “Gaojia Publishing House wasn’t opened from my private funds. The Gaojia Village treasury handles its profits and losses. And this ‘Dao Xuan Deity’s Demon Elimination Tale’ was not produced by the Deity’s decree. Therefore, village treasury funds cannot be used for it.”

Gao Yiye understood. Thirty-Two had told her this before; even the wages for the woodcarver doing this job had to come from her.

Though this was more symbolic than practical, she still had to follow the rule. Otherwise, as the Saint Lady setting a bad example, if others recklessly used village treasury goods, that wouldn’t be good.

Gao Yiye: “I understand. The materials used for these two hundred comic books, the woodcarver’s labor, and the associated costs should all be my responsibility.”

Thirty-Two nodded: “If none sell, you must pay the full cost into the village treasury. If they sell, then the money from sales can be used to reimburse the village treasury. Any leftover money is your runbi fee.”

Gao Yiye: “Huh? So if they all sell out, I can actually earn money? Is this called a runbi fee?”

Thirty-Two smiled: “Publishing houses always pay authors a runbi fee; this is already a standard practice in the prosperous Jiangnan regions. It’s just rare in remote little Northern Shaanxi villages to publish books, so you haven’t heard of it. Simply put, books that sell well bring higher runbi fees. Poor sellers bring smaller fees or sometimes none at all. Publishing at your own expense like this means you could lose money if the books don’t sell.”

Gao Yiye fully grasped it now: “Alright, I get it!”

Thirty-Two smiled: “Remember this clearly, Saint Lady: if you mess around publishing your own books and they don’t sell, you’ll lose money.”

Gao Yiye: “I don’t care about losing money! Enough lecturing, let’s start selling right now!”

Thirty-Two chuckled and shook his head, “Fine, let’s begin.”

He directed the bookstore attendants to move the two hundred copies of “Dao Xuan Deity’s Demon Elimination Tale” onto the shelves by the entrance. Once displayed, he sent two attendants to stand outside the shop and shout loudly: “New book at the publishing house! Get your new book!”

“A new book?” Villagers strolling through the Gaojia Business Circle instantly perked up, swiftly gathering in a crowd.

At the head was the Old Village Chief.

He spent all day in the business circle now, selling bamboo products from his stall, close to the bookstore, and arrived lightning-fast.

Hearing of the new book, the Old Village Chief suddenly felt forty years younger. He bolted to the bookstore entrance, shouting: “Is it the third volume of ‘Yang Family Generals’? Quick! I’ve been wanting to read it!”

The attendants smiled awkwardly: “It’s not ‘Yang Family Generals’.”

“Eh?” The Old Village Chief looked crestfallen: “Then what is it? If it’s not as good as ‘Yang Family Generals’, I won’t buy it.”

An attendant wore an odd expression: “Whether this book is good or not, I dare not say. Best you see for yourself.”

With that, one attendant raised his hand, holding up “Dao Xuan Deity’s Demon Elimination Tale” for everyone to see.

Most villagers who could read were at the new school visiting, so the crowd by the door was entirely illiterate. The words “Dao Xuan Deity’s Demon Elimination Tale” meant nothing to them.

However, the portrait of the Dao Xuan Deity Statue on the cover was instantly recognized by all.

“Ah! Isn’t this the Deity?”

“How bold! Putting the Deity on a comic book!”

“How dare they?”

The attendants looked uncomfortable: “This book was drawn personally by the Saint Lady. It’s called ‘Dao Xuan Deity’s Demon Elimination Tale’. I’ll flip through a few pages; see for yourselves.”

As they spoke, they opened the book.

The crowd peered intently and immediately understood: The Dao Xuan Deity descended to the mortal realm for amusement. He saw a poor little village. Robbers lived on the mountain next to the village. The robbers came down to raid. The Deity stretched out his hand – Wham! – and crushed the robbers.

Seeing this, the Village Chief gasped loudly: “Ah! Ah! Ah! This… this is the Gaojia Village story! When the Deity first manifested, it was exactly like this… An old man like me lacked the fate, I couldn’t see the Deity’s hand, only Yiye could. Unexpectedly… this was what it looked like back then… Bless Yiye for drawing it all.”

The Old Village Chief didn’t need to wait for another page. He instantly pulled out a handful of copper coins: “I have to buy this book!”

The villagers beside him heard this and suddenly understood: “So buying this book will let us know the story of when the Deity first manifested!”

“Buy it!”

“We must buy it, even if we have to sell our pots and pans!”

A gaggle hurriedly felt for their money, and in the blink of an eye, two hundred copies had sold out.

Those who didn’t get one flew into a rage in front of the bookstore: “What’s going on here? Such an important book, and you barely printed any copies?”

“Exactly! This is the Deity’s story! Shouldn’t you have printed more?”

The commotion startled the boys badly. They quickly called Thirty-Two out. He hadn’t expected that Gao Yiye’s playful comic book, pieced together with borrowed elements, could sell this spectacularly.

Little did he know, Gao Yiye had effectively ridden the wave of the Deity’s popularity – a concept ancient folk wouldn’t grasp.

Thirty-Two was utterly unprepared. He could only wave his hands, “Don’t panic, everyone! The woodblocks are carved. We’ll reprint immediately! With the blocks, printing is quick! In two or three days, we’ll have many, many more copies… I assure you everyone can get one!”

“Don’t cause any more trouble!”