It took Chen Muwu three days from Sunday to Tuesday to finally finish the first chapter of "The Condor Shooting".
Looking at the heavy manuscript in his hand, another problem appeared in front of his eyes, that is, where should he put this novel?
If it were a physics paper, Chen Muwu would still be familiar with current physics journals.
But this is a martial arts novel, and his limited knowledge reserve is somewhat lacking.
Like "The Legend of Jianghu", submit it to "Red Magazine" of Baihai World Book Company?
For the time being, regardless of the fact that the manuscript went through the postal service, there was a risk of it being lost on the way from Beijing to Qihai.
It's just that it will take three or four days on the postal route, plus the editor's review, typesetting and publication. It is estimated that it will take more than a month before he can get the royalties for the first chapter.
The same is true for "Novel Monthly". Not only is the editorial department also far away in the Commercial Press in Sihai, but also since the editor was changed two or three years ago, this magazine has also changed from a simple novel publication of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School to a new culture Popular novels such as "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", a frontline of new literature, may not necessarily be able to attract their attention.
This is very inconsistent with Chen Muwu's need to make quick money. He has already returned to Baihai for more than a month. Wouldn't it be faster to get money directly from home?
What if, like "The Legend of Strange Heroes", it was not serialized in newspapers and magazines, but directly published and distributed by bookstores?
It's not very feasible, because it also takes a long time for the bookstore to go from proofreading and typesetting to publishing.
Moreover, Chen Muwu’s current manuscript collection is less than 30,000 words, which is far from meeting the word count requirement for a book.
Then the only way left is to serialize it in the local newspaper in Beijing.
It's just that Chen Muwu didn't read newspapers much at home in Wuhai. After coming to Beijing, he only bought a "Morning News" from the newsboy on the roadside on the day Cai Yuanpei resigned.
He simply didn't know which newspaper in Beijing had the largest circulation and paid the most royalties.
So that day, Chen Muwu was clever and borrowed newspapers from the past few days from the Ma family, saying he wanted to read the news.
Ma Yuzao's wife, Chen Dexin, took out a stack of newspapers. He went back to the house and flipped through them. They were all "Morning News".
Seeing this name, Chen Muwu was suddenly awakened as if cold water had been poured over his head.
The newspaper "Morning Post" may not be that famous yet, but the name of its supplement "Morning Post Supplement" is well known.
In Chinese textbooks from primary school to high school, countless classic texts are from the supplements of this newspaper, such as "Stars and Spring Water", "For Young Readers", and of course the famous "The True Story of Ah Q" .
Chen Muwu did not expect to be able to catch up with Mr. Lu Xun's literary attainments, but Xie Wanying, who was of the same age as him, had been publishing some philosophical sentences imitating Tagore in the "Morning Post Supplement" to earn royalties a few years ago.
She can do it, can't she?
Maybe "Morning News Supplement" is really a good choice?
As soon as he said it, Chen Muwu took the manuscript and went straight to the editorial office of "Morning News" in Chengxiang Hutong, Caishikou.
The person who received Chen Muwu was Sun Fuyuan, the editor-in-chief of "Morning News Supplement" and the "King of Supplements in the Republic of China" who appeared many times in Mr. Lu Xun's diaries and letters.
On the lintel of his office hangs the sign "Editorial Department of "Morning News Supplement". Yes, "Supplement" is just a common name for people, and "Supplement" is the real name of this newspaper.
There is only one desk in the huge office, and Sun Fuyuan is responsible for everything from manuscript selection to review.
He took the manuscript handed over by Chen Muwu and read the words on it carefully.
Seeing his two eyebrows gradually moving closer to the middle, Chen Muwu whispered in his heart, could it be that he was lazy and wrote too many simplified Chinese characters that the editor could not understand?
In fact, his worries are completely unnecessary. Most of the simplified Chinese characters are a variant of calligraphy. Nowadays, people are highly educated, so there is no reason that they cannot understand!
Sun Fuyuan's reading speed is ten lines at a glance, and Chen Muwu's writing is also a popular novel, so you don't need to read it word for word.
After a while, he finished reading the last piece of paper in his hand, knocked the manuscript neatly on his desk, and returned it to Chen Muwu: "Sir, I'm sorry, I'm afraid our "Morning News Vice Editor" cannot publish your article. A masterpiece."
"Huh? Can you ask me if there is anything inappropriate in this novel?" Chen Muwu couldn't figure it out.
"Not really. The writing of your novel is very fluent and the conception is very sophisticated, but the content is still that of old-school literature, which emphasizes chivalry, righteousness, kung fu, and fists. It does not meet the requirements of our supplement, which is mainly for new literature."
Yes, it’s new literature again.
Chen Muwu only thought that articles by Lu Xun, Bing Xin and others were published in this newspaper, but he did not think about why their articles were published in it.
Seeing that the young man who submitted the article looked a little disappointed, Sun Fuyuan kindly comforted him: "Sir, you have been rejected. You don't have to be so depressed. Our newspaper is not the only one in Bei. I can recommend you to another newspaper." Try your luck. My classmate and I work as an editor in the Beijing branch of Tianyi's "Yi Shi Bao". Their newspaper's supplement "Yizhi Zong" is more oriented to the general public. In this way, I will write a note for you to take with you. Let’s try our luck with this manuscript.”
Chen Muwu thought to himself that this was all he had to do, so he nodded: "Thank you then."
After coming out of the editorial office of "Morning News", he took the manuscript and the note written by Sun Fuyuan and ran to the Beijing editorial office of "Yi Shi Bao" outside Xuanwu Gate.
What a coincidence. The person Sun Fuyuan wrote in the note, Cheng Sheme, was out doing news today and was not in the editorial office.
The person who received Chen Muwu was an editor named Zhang Xinyuan.
After reading the manuscript, Editor Zhang was full of praise for this work.
"Sir, your masterpiece has good content and good writing skills. It is different from the common martial arts novels on the market. Our "Yi Shi Bao" lacks such good manuscripts. I think if it is published in the newspaper, it will definitely inspire him a lot. "But," Zhang Xinyuan changed the topic, "I don't have the final say on what content will be published in the newspaper. How about you leave your contact information and we will contact you after the editor-in-chief comes back?"
"I would like to ask, if it is published in your newspaper, how should the royalties be calculated?"
"General articles cost two to three yuan per thousand words, but please rest assured that I will definitely try my best to get it from the editor for your masterpiece, and I should be able to add another one or two yuan."
Hearing this quotation, it was somewhat different from Chen Muwu's expectations. Why was it that "The Legend of Jianghu" was priced at ten yuan per thousand words, but when it came to his, it was three to five yuan per thousand words?
But no matter how small a mosquito's legs are, they are still meat. With these 28,000 words, I can earn more than 100 yuan. This Sunday I will be able to salvage another national treasure.
So he wrote down Ma's phone number and address on the paper provided by the newspaper.
"Yao Fulan?" Zhang Xinyuan stared at Chen Muwu doubtfully.
"This...this is one of my sisters. She didn't want to be in the public eye, so she asked me to do it for her."
He doesn't have any sister, it's just a tribute.
Besides, when traveling around the world, no one can prepare more vests for self-defense!
…
Thursday, January 25, 1923, two o'clock in the afternoon.
Chen Muwu opened the first lecture of this Bei Jing lecture titled "Relativity and Space" in the auditorium of the School of Science of the Second College of Bei University, Masheng Temple, Jingshan East Street.
