The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Xigu, Tianjin, is also a place where gangsters live.

In an open space behind the Zheng family building, there was a man wielding a nine-ring sword. The blade is 1.3 meters long and weighs 20 catties, but he dances it like a tiger, the iron ring hits the back of the blade and clangs, and you can even feel the flow of energy when you get close.

Suddenly, the man put away his knife and stood up, slowly exhaling a foul breath.

"Good knife skills!"

"Second brother Zheng, come one more."

"I want to watch Tai Chi!"

"..."

The idlers and hooligans who were onlookers yelled and booed, but the man laughed and said: "It's all gone, it's all gone, I want to see Taijiquan and come back another day."

The name of the knife-wielding man is Zheng Rupei, a member of the Zheng clan in Xigu.

The Zheng family was a well-known family in Xigu during the Qianlong period, mainly engaged in the timber business, and a large piece of land nearby was owned by the Zheng family. But during the period of the Republic of China, the Zheng family gradually declined, and all the family property was transferred to others, leaving only the Zheng family building standing still.

Instead, it was the church and the Young family.

The Yang family were Christians in their early years, relying on the support of foreigners to do their best, and later joined the Qing Gang to open a incense hall, gradually occupying the generation of Xigu.

Zheng Rupei is 26 years old this year, belongs to the direct line of the Zheng family, and lives in a private house behind the Zheng family building. He learned martial arts from his grandfather and uncle when he was young, and later joined Xu Yusheng at the Beiping Martial Art Museum to learn Taijiquan, Chaquan and other kung fu.

Zheng Rupei's motive for learning martial arts is very simple, that is to protect himself. If it weren't for his support, the last bit of Zheng's family property would have been taken away by the Green Gang.

"Second brother, the newspaper, the newspaper is here!" Zheng Rutong, the clan brother, ran over happily, waving a newspaper in his hand.

Zheng Rupei threw away the Jiuhuan sword and asked impatiently, "Is there a sequel to The Legend of the Condor Heroes?"

"Yes, it's called "The Legend of Condor Heroes," Zheng Rutong said cheerfully, "I watched it on the way, and there was a woman named Li Mochou mentioned in it. Bloody handprints on walls or doors."

Zheng Rupei scolded with a smile: "You kid, you dare to eat alone, we agreed to watch it together."

Zheng Rutong scratched his head and said, "Didn't I hold back?"

Zheng Rupei snatched the "Popular" supplement, found the page of serial novels, and sat on the floor to read it.

Due to the limited space, the serialization of the first chapter "The Heartless Wind and Moon" was not finished, and it came to an abrupt end when Li Mochou appeared on the stage. Zheng Rupei's heart itched unbearably when he saw it. If it were decades later, he would definitely scold: Broken dog!

"It's really boring, there are only so many words, it's not enjoyable to read," Zheng Rupei told his younger brother, "Remember to buy me a newspaper on time tomorrow."

Zheng Rutong said: "Second brother, "Dazhong" is published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You will not be able to see it until the day after you read it today."

Zheng Rupei said depressedly: "Then why don't we see the year of the monkey go?"

Zheng Rutong said: "Let's read it slowly, at worst, re-read "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"."

"Oh, let's not talk about it," Zheng Rupei changed the subject, "Why didn't you study after graduating from primary school? It's no good if you don't study. Let me take the middle school entrance examination next year."

Zheng Rutong smiled bitterly and said, "Second brother, I'm really not good at studying, and I'm pretty good at learning crafts."

Zheng Rupei picked up the big knife and went home. Looking at the humble house, he pointed to the Zheng family building in front of him and said, "Fifth brother, only by studying can you be successful. Our Zheng family used to live in that tall building, but now we can only live in a small house. We must find a way to move back."

Zheng Rutong muttered: "I want to move back, who doesn't like living in a big house."

"Oh, let's not talk about it." Zheng Rupei said helplessly. The Zheng family was also unlucky, having encountered the Boxers, foreigners and hooligans successively, and the huge century-old family declined rapidly. Now the gangsters not only joined the Green Gang, but also climbed into Chu Yupu's relationship, which is not something the Zheng family can handle.

Zheng Rutong didn't have so many worries, and asked curiously: "Second brother, do you think that Jin Yong who wrote "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is a peerless master? Maybe he can also subdue the dragon with eighteen palms. If I meet him, I will definitely worship him as my teacher."

Zheng Rupei smiled and said, "Jin Yong is in Tianjin, if you want to learn from him, go to him."

Zheng Rutong said: "I heard that Jin Yong is working for Marshal Chu, so I dare not come to ask for a beating."

"It's all old calendars. Jin Yong is Zhou Hexuan who runs the Hope Primary School. He belongs to Young Marshal Zhang." Zheng Rupei said.

Zheng Rutong was startled and said, "Second brother, how do you know?"

"I heard from an old friend in Peking." Zheng Rupei said.

In his early years, he visited the Beiping Martial Arts Museum and met many martial arts masters. The Beiping Martial Arts Museum published a newspaper last year, saying that martial arts can strengthen the country and breed, and now the Chinese are called the sick men of East Asia. We hereby inform the citizens and students, hoping that everyone can learn martial arts and serve the country.

This announcement had a great impact. More than 40 universities and middle schools in Peiping sent invitations to the Peking Martial Arts Museum, hoping that they would send teachers to teach martial arts in schools. This move even received financial support from the Ministry of Education.

Based on the connections between the Beiping Martial Arts Museum and major schools, it is quite normal for someone to know that Zhou Hexuan is Jin Yong.

Zheng Rutong was quite excited when he heard this, and encouraged him: "Second brother, your skill is so powerful, why don't you go to Mr. Zhou to learn from it?"

Zheng Rupei said, "I heard that Mr. Zhou doesn't seem to know martial arts."

"How is it possible? The martial arts novels he wrote are amazing. If you don't know martial arts, you will never be able to write them!" Zheng Rutong said.

"It's true." Zheng Rupei was quite moved.

"Then what are you waiting for, let's go!" Zheng Rutong said.

Zheng Rupei asked, "Where are you going?"

"Go to Mr. Zhou to learn martial arts." Zheng Rutong said.

After talking, the two brothers went out and walked from the north of the city to the concession in the southeast of the city. It was almost noon when they arrived at the newspaper office.

Zheng Rupei was dressed in a short jacket, walked in and asked, "Is Mr. Zhou Hexuan in?"

"Who are you? What do you want from Mr. Zhou?" the newspaper staff asked.

Zheng Rupei said: "I am Zheng Rupei from Xigu, and I am here to discuss martial arts with Mr. Zhou!"

The staff almost laughed, pointed to the editor-in-chief's office and said, "Mr. Zhou is inside, go in by yourself."

When Zheng Rupei came outside the editor-in-chief, he didn't knock on the door, but shouted: "Xigu Zheng Rupei, I'm here to pay a visit to Mr. Zhou, please see me!"

Zhou Hexuan stood up and opened the door, looking at the visitor with a confused face: "Hello, what's the matter?"

Zheng Rupei clasped his fists and said, "Mr. Jiuwen's name, Mr. Zheng is proficient in martial arts, and I want to ask you a lesson today!"

Nima, what the hell?

Three black lines appeared on Zhou Hexuan's forehead.

However, what Zhou Hexuan didn't know was that standing in front of him at this moment was Zheng Zhengyin, one of the "Five Masters of the Northern School" of the Republic of China martial arts novel, and the other four were: Li Shoumin, Wang Dulu, Gong Baiyu and Zhu Zhenmu.

Zheng Rupei's path of martial arts creation is quite bizarre. Gong Baiyu writes martial arts novels to make a living, but he doesn't know how to move, so he asks Zheng Rupei to be his martial arts instructor. Zheng Rupei draws the fighting moves on the paper, and then he looks at the pictures and writes them into words.

Later, Gong Baiyu fell ill while writing "Makino Heroes", and Zheng Rupei was a ghostwriter for a time. It wasn't until Gong Baiyu fell out with Zheng Rupei that Zheng Rupei began to create his own martial arts novels and took the pen name "Zheng Yin".

As for Zhu Zhenmu, it's even more funny. He and Li Shoumin are colleagues at the telephone bureau. Seeing that Li Shoumin could make money writing novels, he started to write novels himself. Zhu Zhenmu created the harem routines of "one bed counts" and "all women chasing after men".

These are things that happened in the 1930s, and they haven't happened yet.

Zhou Hexuan didn't know Zheng Rupei's details, so he could only explain with a wry smile that he didn't know martial arts, and called the Sun family brothers to play with this person slowly.