A Top Scholar From A Humble Background.

Summary

After returning, Shen Xi focused on writing scripts. He prepared two scripts - a heroic legend novel "The Complete Tale of Yue Fei" based on Yue Fei's resistance against the Jin dynasty, and a folk martial arts story "The Tale of Tong Lin" set in the Yuan dynasty. These works were representative of later storytelling and had high artistic achievements. Shen Xi wrote the first 10 chapters of each story, handed them over to Master Han Wu for performance. On the opening day of the tea house, they offered free tea and storytelling, with Master Han Wu narrating "The Complete Tale of Yue Fei". Though the morning saw few customers, by noon the tea house was bustling. The next day, with the reopening of official roads and waterways, more people visited the tea house. They earned over 500 wen, netting nearly 400 wen after expenses. Shen Xi suggested selling snacks like fried melon seeds and twisted dough sticks to further increase profits.

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