The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

As soon as Zhou Hexuan walked into the room, Li Shoumin said to him happily: "Brother Hexuan, would you like to be a newspaper proofreader? The monthly salary is 36 yuan. I will be promoted to editor in a few days, and there is a vacancy for a proofreader. His ability will definitely be hired. It’s just that he is a bit inferior.”

"Congratulations, brother Shoumin, for his promotion." Zhou Hexuan clasped his fists.

"It's just a small editor, so what's the point of congratulations?" Li Shoumin waved his hands and smiled. He really doesn't care about being an editor. The only thing he is happy about is that his salary has increased a little, which can ease the financial situation of his family.

Zhou Hexuan took out his novel manuscript: "Since Brother Shoumin has edited it, please help me read it."

"I must read the masterpiece." Li Shoumin took the manuscript, quite curious about what kind of work Zhou Hexuan would write.

Mrs. Zhou had already put the food on the table and said, "Let's eat first."

After everyone finished eating, Zhou Hexuan chatted with Mrs. Zhou for a few words, then took his leave and returned to his bedroom to continue coding.

Li Shoumin held the manuscript and read it. "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" opened with a storytelling plot, which gradually led to the loyalty of Guo and Yang, and was mixed with the feelings of home and country invaded by the Hulu. In Zhou Hexuan's more than 10,000 characters, he only wrote that Qiu Chuji appeared on the stage and named the two unborn children Guo Jing and Yang Kang.

After reading the manuscript, Li Shoumin felt a little interesting, but that's all. Because the plot of the story has not yet unfolded, we can only infer from the lines that Guo Jing and Yang Kang should be the protagonists of this book.

About four years ago, Pingjiang Buxiaosheng (Xiang Kairan)'s "Legend of Heroes of the Jianghu" came out, marking the birth of China's first true martial arts novel. provinces.

The martial arts novelists in the north are represented by Zhao Huanting at this time, but his works are still the three heroes and five righteous ones.

These two people are called "South to North Zhao", and they are regarded as the top martial arts writers.

In Li Shoumin's view, Zhou Hexuan's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" followed the "south direction" Pingjiang's unscrupulous life. This kind of novel is very popular now, and it will definitely be no problem to serialize it in a newspaper. He is going to wait for Zhou Hexuan to write more words before taking it to the newspaper office to find the editor-in-chief.

The next morning, Li Shoumin practiced breathing in the yard on time. When he finished his work, he saw Zhou Hexuan walking over with a smile, holding a few manuscripts and saying, "Brother Shoumin, I went back last night and completed the first chapter, with a total of more than 26,000 words."

"So fast." Li Shoumin was a little surprised.

He didn't think much about it, and went to work at the newspaper office with the manuscript. After finishing the work at hand, it was almost noon, and I finally had time to relax and read the content of the next half chapter.

Guo Xiaotian died fighting hard to cover his brother's escape. Yang Tiexin resolutely abandoned his pregnant wife in tears in order to save his sister-in-law. After being seriously injured, his life and death are unknown. This paragraph is written with great enthusiasm, and readers of later generations may have become accustomed to it, but it was particularly exciting in the Republic of China in the 1920s.

Li Shoumin felt proud when he read this, but at the same time felt sad for the characters in the book.

The wives of the two martyrs both survived and are pregnant with their children, which makes readers look forward to it.

Li Shoumin put away the manuscript and went straight to Tao Jincheng, the deputy editor-in-chief: "Mr. Tao, please read this novel."

Tao Jincheng put on his glasses and carefully read the manuscript. He quickly finished the manuscript and asked happily, "Which master is this work? It's a bit similar to Pingjiang's Unworthy Life, but it also has its own unique style."

Li Shoumin said: "A friend of mine wrote it. He just returned from a study tour in the West."

Tao Jincheng said: "The serialization of "Thirteen Heroes of the South of the Yangtze River" is almost finished, and this "Legend of the Condor Heroes" just follows it."

"How is the remuneration determined?" Li Shoumin asked.

Tao Jincheng thought about it, and said, "The quality of the manuscript is high. What do you think of 80 cents for a thousand characters?"

"Less." Li Shoumin took the initiative to negotiate the price for Zhou Hexuan.

Nowadays, when publishing an article in newspapers and magazines, the manuscript fee is generally 1 to 3 yuan per thousand words, and the manuscript fee for a master like Lu Xun can reach 5 yuan per thousand words, or even 6 yuan per thousand words. But that is the price tag for prose, poetry, reviews, and essays, and the remuneration for novels is generally lower.

Tao Jincheng smiled and said, "Let the author come to the newspaper, and I'll talk to him face to face."

...

"New Tianjin News" was founded by Liu Rangong two years ago. The policy of running the newspaper is civilian. To put it bluntly, it is a newspaper for ordinary people without getting involved in political and academic disputes.

This newspaper has developed extremely fast, and its sales volume has increased from more than 1,000 copies at the beginning to more than 20,000 copies. It is considered a big newspaper in the Beijing-Tianjin area. Mr. Liu Ran hit the iron while the iron was hot, and successively added "New Tianjin Evening News" and "New Tianjin Xiaobao".

Of course, the rapid development of the "New Tianjin" series of newspapers is also thanks to the closure of "Ta Kung Pao".

"Ta Kung Pao" was originally the base of the royalist party, and the headquarters of the newspaper was located in Tianjin. Later, it had a deep connection with the Anhui warlords, and its circulation in Beijing and Tianjin was huge.

Three years ago, the second boss of "Ta Kung Pao" was killed in the earthquake in Japan. Coupled with the defeat of the Anhui warlords in the Zhi-Wan War, "Ta Kung Pao" lost its patrons and backers one after another, and finally ceased publication last year. Taking advantage of this gap, the newspaper department of "New Tianjin" expanded rapidly, occupying the newspaper market in the Beijing-Tianjin area.

It was already the fourth day when Zhou Hexuan came to the newspaper office. He also brought the manuscripts of the second and third chapters, which totaled more than 70,000 words.

"Mr. Tao, this is Zhou Hexuan, a young talent who returned from the West." Li Shoumin introduced.

Tao Jincheng shook hands with Zhou Hexuan enthusiastically, and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhou is really young."

Zhou Hexuan's actual age is 28 years old. Due to traveling around the world all year round, he often experiences wind and sun in the wild, and his skin is dark and slightly rough. But for some reason, after transmigrating, his skin became much fairer, and even the few wrinkles on his face disappeared, as if he had returned to his youth.

"Hello, Editor-in-Chief Tao," Zhou Hexuan greeted, took out the manuscript and said, "This is the follow-up content, please read it."

Seeing him getting straight to the point, Tao Jincheng smiled and said, "Then forgive me for being negligent. Please sit down, Mr. Zhou. I'll talk about it after reading the manuscript."

After Li Shoumin brought the people here, he went to deal with the work at hand. Only Zhou Hexuan and Tao Jincheng were left in the office. The secretary brought a cup of tea, and Zhou Hexuan sat on the sofa and sipped the tea slowly, looking at the furnishings in the room.

In the novel, the Seven Monsters of the South of the Yangtze River and Tiemu Zhenzhen appeared one after another, and these plots made Tao Jincheng's eyes shine. After reading the manuscript, he said with a smile: "Mr. Talent, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is indeed a novelty compared to the current martial arts novels."

"Editor Tao is absurd." Zhou Hexuan said modestly.

Tao Jincheng took the initiative to introduce the current situation of manuscript fees in China, and then said: "I hope "Legend of the Condor Heroes" can be serialized in "New Tianjin Evening News". How about 1 yuan per thousand characters?"

For martial arts novels, this is a relatively high price tag, not to mention that Zhou Hexuan is still a newcomer and has no reputation at all. He didn't bargain any more, nodded and said, "Yes."

As for the price increase after the novel becomes popular, that's for sure. Even if Zhou Hexuan didn't mention it, the newspaper office would take the initiative to bring it up, because they had to trap Zhou Hexuan with a high salary, lest other newspapers come to poach the author.