Chapter 22: The Tang Dynasty Version of a Written Apology Appears

Xu Chengyue followed Xue Zhenrui into the room and watched as she retrieved several envelopes from a thick stack and handed them over.

She pulled out a letter and unfolded it. It was a discussion regarding the heroine’s denunciation of her father in the previous volume. The sender had written several pages, citing everything from ethical codes to moral laws to argue for the rationality of the heroine’s actions. The author contended that while the act was unfilial, it was excusable and fulfilled the duty of loyalty to the sovereign, and thus should not be overly condemned.

This was a response to the heated debate that erupted among readers after the volume was released, with neither side willing to yield.

She hadn't expected someone to go to the trouble of writing a letter specifically for submission to the newspaper. The sender was sharp-witted; they had realized so quickly that the newspaper was a significant arena for public opinion.

As a visitor from a later age, Xu Chengyue had never underestimated the wisdom of the ancients. They might have been confined to a less developed society, but they left behind countless intangible treasures for future generations. Their intelligence was never limited by their era. Yet, at this moment, she still felt she had underestimated them—the newspaper was a novelty, and they had immediately grasped its utility.

However, there were dissenting voices as well, for this was an ancient society where filial piety was the foremost of all virtues, and people were sometimes even recommended for official positions based on their "filial piety."

She opened the next few letters and found them similar to the first.

"Are there no opposing opinions?" Xu Chengyue asked, closing the letter.

Xue Zhenrui, not expecting her to want to see the criticisms, replied blankly, "They're in the wastebasket."

Those were rejected drafts that Xue Zhenrui had screened out. She went to retrieve them, and fortunately, they were right on top.

The dissenters were far more vitriolic than those in agreement. They didn't bother with refined phrasing, and it seemed they hadn't held out much hope for publication; it was purely a venting of emotions.

Xu Chengyue wore an expression of someone watching a show, as if the topic of the debate had nothing to do with her.

"Which side do you agree with, Lady Xu?" Xue Zhenrui had originally assumed the former, but now it didn't seem so.

"And you?" Xu Chengyue asked in return, sidestepping the question.

"The former, of course! Heaven, Earth, Sovereign, Parents, and Teacher—the sovereign comes first!" she said with firm conviction.

Xu Chengyue nodded with a smile but still didn't reveal her own stance, merely suggesting that Xue Zhenrui publish the best piece from each side.

The truth was, she agreed with neither. The heroine, Luo Muqing, was driven solely by revenge. In her eyes, her father was an enemy, but what of the Emperor? He was the one who ultimately issued the order to have her maternal family—the illustrious Luo clan, whose merits spanned generations—wiped out, sparing not even a three-year-old child. The plot hadn't reached that point yet, but that didn't mean Luo Muqing had forgotten.

Of course, Xu Chengyue couldn't write too explicitly; after all, this was a feudal society, and one could not openly call for regicide.

Intrigued, Xu Chengyue decided to look through the reader submissions with Xue Zhenrui, and she actually discovered some treasures.

For instance, the letter in her hand was from someone claiming to be a "Mr. Zou." He was writing to apologize and clarify a misunderstanding; he was the protagonist of the "Zou Family Incident" featured in the first issue of the *Shanhai News*. He claimed his words had been a drunken slip of the tongue—a complete fabrication—and had nothing to do with his elder brother, sister-in-law, or the rest of the family.

The letter included nearly a thousand words of self-criticism, listing his transgressions one by one and desperately trying to distance himself from his family. He concluded by stating that he had already been punished and would surely reform. It was essentially an ancient version of a letter of apology.

"Hahahaha—" Xu Chengyue couldn't help but burst into laughter. There were too many elements to this, and she didn't know which part was the funniest.

Xue Zhenrui, who had been focused on her work, was startled by the laughter and hurried over. "What is it, Lady Xu?"

Xu Chengyue was laughing so hard she couldn't speak. She waved her hand and handed the letter to Xue Zhenrui, signaling her to read it herself.

"——Hahahaha!" After reading it, Xue Zhenrui joined in the laughter. She knew the ins and outs of the incident better than anyone, as she was the one who had unearthed the secret.

The elites of these great families did not treat their servants as human beings, and they didn't avoid them when speaking or acting. Secrets they thought were known to no one might already be common knowledge in some hidden corner. It was just that everyone feared bringing trouble upon themselves, so they didn't bring these things out into the open.

***

Master Zhou lay face down on his bed, bruised and swollen, howling in pain.

"Gentle! Can't you see I'm in agony?" he roared at the servant applying medicine.

The servant trembled in fear, narrowly avoiding pressing too hard, and breathed a silent sigh of relief.

After the rant, Master Zhou fell into a gloomy silence. His father had struck with such cruelty, doing so right in front of his sister-in-law's family, without a shred of mercy. If he hadn't, not only would he have lost his wife, but the bond between the two families would have been truly severed.

Master Zhou accepted the beating willingly; if his father hadn't intervened, he would have been on the verge of being cast out of the family. But his brothers-in-law were truly beasts. They pretended to plead for him, but they didn't stop a thing, instead fanning the flames by recounting his usual romantic escapades, which made his father strike with even greater force.

Now, lying on his bed, he couldn't even straighten up and had to be fed. He was grounded, forbidden from seeing visitors or going out, and he had no idea when it would end.

"Master, the newspaper is here!" A servant rushed in from outside, knelt, and presented the paper.

Master Zhou was delighted and hurriedly unfolded the paper, reading it from beginning to end. To his surprise, the very first piece at the top was his letter of apology.

This was the method of clarification Master Zhou had devised. He had originally wanted to use his family's influence to pressure the Shanhai Bookstore into apologizing. But his father had cursed him out, telling him that he hadn't used his head since he was a child. The Shanhai Bookstore knew such sensitive information and dared to publish it; there was no guarantee they didn't have other cards up their sleeves. The owners, the Lu family, were just ordinary merchants—how could they know so many secrets of the aristocratic families? There must be other forces behind them; they couldn't act rashly. Furthermore, the newspaper hadn't used their real names; if they went to cause trouble, wouldn't they be exposing themselves?

To save his own skin, Master Zhou turned his rarely used brain and came up with this clarification, writing the letter to explain the cause and effect while distancing himself from the family.

Seeing the apology printed in the paper, Master Zhou didn't even have the energy to be angry; he was moved to tears. Surely his father, mother, brother, and sister-in-law would forgive him now!

*Wuu...* Being at home yet feeling like an orphan was truly a miserable feeling!

***

Xu Chengyue had anticipated that the aristocratic families would exert pressure after their secrets were exposed, and she had prepared for a battle of public opinion. To her surprise, the families remained calm and took no action, even tightening the discipline of their younger generation, making her vigilance seem entirely misplaced.

This was fine, too; it saved a lot of trouble.

She took her manuscript to the bookstore. Originally, the bookstore would send someone to collect it, but the newspaper was still in an experimental stage and immature in many respects, so she often needed to provide guidance.

Moreover, humans were social creatures with social needs. In her previous life, this was satisfied by the internet, but in the ancient world, an ordinary person's social life was limited to neighbors and relatives. She had no relatives and didn't care to chat with neighbors; if she went on like this, even the most introverted person would eventually fall ill. So, visiting every few days wasn't such a bad idea.

Upon entering the back room of the bookstore, she found the room silent, and everyone looked grim, especially Lü Hongzhuo. Seeing her enter, they all cast sympathetic glances her way.

"Lady Xu, I had intended to send someone to tell you, but I didn't expect you to come yourself," Lü Hongzhuo said, his brow furrowed.

"What happened?" Xu Chengyue’s lips, which had been turned upward, faltered as she asked with trepidation.

"Another bookstore has plagiarized your book. They only changed the gender of the protagonist, but almost every plot point is identical." Lü Hongzhuo handed her a book.

No creator would be happy to hear their work had been plagiarized. Xu Chengyue frowned and took the book.

It was indeed a gender-swapped version of *The Divine Doctor and the Poisonous Consort*, titled *The Divine Doctor and the Poisonous Prince Consort*.

The content was copied one-to-one: the heroine, Chu Muqing, became the hero, Chu Muqing; the vicious younger sister became a vicious younger brother; the lecherous, foolish Prince Li became Princess Liyue; Prince Jiang became Princess Jiangyang. The plot was identical, and some sentences were lifted word-for-word.

Xu Chengyue’s pupils dilated, and her mouth hung slightly open in shock.

*Are they really this shameless?* She had thought they would only copy the plot outline.

Xu Chengyue had no concept of just how popular her novel was. She was accustomed to measuring things by the standards of her previous life, but in reality, the explosive success of the Shanhai Bookstore had long since invited jealousy.

Although scholars were aloof and looked down upon her style of writing, there were always those who were unscrupulous and knew their own talent was limited, who set their sights on her. However, Xu Chengyue's novel was completely original, with no path to follow; they had no way to learn even if they wanted to. What they wrote was either not as interesting as hers—lacking her effortless plot development and vivid character descriptions—or it was bogged down by rigid, obscure academic language that made it difficult to read.

Directly copying became a method that required no time or effort to learn or explore.

This book, riding on the fame of the original *Divine Doctor* series, was selling quite well. Because the titles were so similar, some customers who came specifically for her work couldn't tell the difference and bought theirs instead.

"Lady Xu, what should we do now? Should we report them to the local authorities?" Lü Hongzhuo asked anxiously.

"No, there is no law to rely on; the authorities won't be able to do anything to them." Xu Chengyue thought for a moment and shook her head slowly.

As far as she knew, there were no laws protecting copyright in the Tang Dynasty. Many famous figures had been victims of infringement, and most matters were resolved privately. Besides, she wasn't sure if the authorities would bother with small fries like them.