Zhang Henshui is not lying.
Nowadays, the new literature produced under the New Culture Movement is the trend in the literary world. Mandarin Duck and Butterfly novels, which are for people's entertainment, can make money if they are well written, but the authors always feel inferior to those new literature writers. Let's wait.
Gong Baiyu, who was admired by Liang Yusheng and therefore took the pen name "Yusheng", and was called by Jin Yong "the master of martial arts in the 1930s and 1940s", is a famous martial arts master at home and abroad.
In his youth, he was also a believer in New Literature. He exchanged several letters with the two brothers Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren. He also personally went to Mr. Lu Xun's home in Badaowan to borrow and return books. He always treated them as a disciple in his heart. Serve as a teacher.
But later, Gong Baiyu's family fell into decline and he realized that "living is the first important thing in life". He had to bow his head in the face of high royalties and began to make a living by serializing martial arts novels in newspapers.
Although he became famous with "Twelve Money Darts" and his economic situation improved greatly, he was not only ashamed of his martial arts creations, but also looked down upon them. He once said bluntly, "(I) can publish these boring words and have a market." , this is a shame for today’s North China literary world.”
Gong Baiyu felt that his famous flower had fallen into the weeds and his soul was broken in Lanqiao. He believed that he had failed Mr. Lu Xun's ardent expectations for him. He felt that he was too shameless to see Lu Xun again, so he voluntarily broke off contact with him.
The status of martial arts novel writers in the literary world during the Republic of China can be seen from this.
A week has passed since "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was serialized in "Yi Shi Bao". The newspaper's sales have increased slightly. The editorial department has also received several letters from readers about this novel. Someone asked for the detailed information of Miss Yao Fulan. , some people hope to add more words to the daily serialization.
That's right, even though Chen Muwu has handed over 100,000 words of manuscript to the editorial department, "Yi Shi Bao" still continues to serialize it at a rate of 1,000 words per day.
The main reason is that there is only so much space in each supplement. If you want to increase the word count of the novel, you must either delete other content, or you can only issue four more pages in each issue.
No matter which of the above two methods is adopted, there are great risks, so I decided to observe it for a while before making a decision.
Zhang Henshui naturally thought that Chen Muwu was well dressed and could write such good novels, but he was unwilling to use his real name because he couldn't save face and couldn't afford to embarrass others.
When they met today, he confirmed his thoughts even more. It turned out that Chen Muwu's achievements in science were already high enough to give lectures at Bei University, so it's no wonder that he looked down on such a low-level status as a martial arts novelist.
Especially Chen Muwu didn't think so at all.
The reason why he used a pen name was to pay tribute to Mr. Jin Yong, whose work he had plagiarized.
The second is that he is afraid that his relatives and friends will come and ask questions after reading the novel, which would be troublesome to him.
Especially his eldest brother, if Chen Muqiao asked him about his motivation for writing and the whereabouts of his royalties, Chen Muwu was afraid that he would not be able to explain clearly.
That's right, he wasn't going to tell his elder brother about those calligraphy and paintings. He was afraid that having so many treasures hidden at home would cause unnecessary trouble to his elder brother.
Chen Muwu's old principal, Ye Gongchuo, fled to Hong Kong because a Mao Gongding tripod was targeted by Qi Ben. His nephew Ye Gongchao almost died under the seven tortures of Qi Ben.
Zhang Henshui originally only wanted to describe the venue of this lecture in the newspaper, but he did not expect to be fascinated by Chen Muwu's talk.
He admired Chen Muwu not only for his superb attainments in science, but also for his deep research foundation in history. He could easily pick up the old events of the Western Han Dynasty and New Dynasty more than a thousand years ago. No wonder he could write such a good story as "The Condor Shooting" !
When he heard the open-ended question raised by Chen Muwu at the end, Zhang Henshui's thoughts aroused endless thoughts.
If he could really go back to the past, when would he go back?
At the end of the Qin Dynasty, he helped Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, avoid the defeat of Gaixia?
Or go to the Three Kingdoms of the Eastern Han Dynasty and let Prime Minister Zhuge die before he leaves the army?
Is it to prevent the "Jingkang shame" from happening, or to avoid the regret of "the hatred of ministers"?
Should he follow Governor Yuan to Liaodong to kill Hou Jin Jiannu, or should he follow Guan Tianpei to bombard the British Japanese in Humen?
…
Chen Muwu naturally did not expect that one of his lectures would actually make Zhang Henshui, a master of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly Sect, want to write a time-travel novel.
He only knew that his last lecture today was the most successful of the five lectures he gave in half a month.
After the two-hour lecture ended, the audience burst into applause, but everyone had their own thoughts.
Mr. Lu Xun was proud that China could have such advanced talents in scientific research as Chen Muwu. At the same time, he was also happy that his second brother could associate with the Zhilan Yushu of the Chen and Ma families.
…
Ma Yuzao, Qian Xuandong, who were disciples of Zhang Taiyan, felt that it was time to write a reference book that could compare ancient era names with the Western and Hijri calendars.
The question of Chen Muwu's era name made them calculate in their minds for a long time. If the tall professor Chen Yuan hadn't come to the rescue in time, they almost wouldn't be able to get off stage. 【1】
Chen Muwu went to study physics instead of devoting himself to history. Did the historical community lose a talent?
…
Yan Renguang, chairman of the physics department, discussed with several professors such as Xia Yuanzhen and Ding Xilin. After listening to these five lectures, everyone confirmed that Chen Muwu had a profound knowledge of physics.
Although he is very young and does not have a master's or doctorate degree from a foreign university, can he be hired to teach at Bei University?
Do I need to ask the acting principal what he means?
…
Jiang Menglin, the president of Bei University, who was worried about money, was thinking about how to ask Chen Muwu to authorize the content of these five lectures to be compiled and distributed by the Publishing Department of Bei University.
He thought that after the publication of this book, he would definitely make a lot of money, which would alleviate Bei Da's urgent need to pay his salary.
It seems that Professor Hu Shizhi really has a way to invite Chen Muwu to the school to give lectures without spending a penny on the school.
…
Hu Shi was so proud that Chen Muwu's lectures were a great success, and Hu Shi's contribution was indispensable.
Next, he only needed to persuade Chen Muwu to study at Cornell University in the United States. Then he would be able to earn enough face in front of Schulman, and he could also consider himself a teacher in front of Chen Muwu.
He had Dewey as his teacher before him, Shulman as the current American minister, and Chen Muwu, a descendant of the Hu clan, will continue to build his reputation on his behalf in the future.
A little Zhang Junmai still wants to imitate his reputation by accompanying Du Lishu to give lectures in China. Is he worthy?
It’s just that a tiger cannot be compared to a dog!
…
Zhang Junmai, who was about to provoke a debate between science and metaphysics in a few days, thought for a long time after listening to the speech. He will go to Tsinghua University next week to give a speech on "View of Life". Does the manuscript need to be revised?
I heard that the father of Miss Lin, my former brother-in-law, who has been pursuing him, also came to the scene to listen to the lecture. After it is over, do you want to tell Lin Changmin that Xu Zhimo is a Chen Shimei who always abandons himself and asks him to take care of himself? My daughter, please don’t fall into the trap of his sweet words?
…
Lin Changmin accidentally heard that the American minister was going to attend a lecture at Beida University, and he had nothing to do today, so he came along to join in the fun.
Looking at the knowledgeable and personable Chen Muwu on the stage, he suddenly felt that it would be good to find such a talented son-in-law for his daughter. Wouldn't it be much better than Xu Zhimo, who had been with him to the lecture today?
When I get back, I'll find out whose family Chen Muwu is the son of and what his family background is. 【2】
…
Only Xu Zhimo, who only pursued "love, beauty and freedom" in his life, was the most unrestrained. He was the first to stand up and clapped his hands the loudest. While applauding, he shouted: "Brother Hanchen is a great talent! Brother Hanchen is a great talent!" Great talent!"
*****
[1] Author's note: "Twenty Histories Shuo Leong Biao", written by Chen Yuan, was published by the Chinese Studies Department of Beijing University Research Institute in 1926.
Chen Yuan was a professor at Wujing University at this time, and he was also the middle-aged man who answered Chen Muwu's question about which year AD corresponds to the first year of Yuanshi in the previous article.
[2] Author's note: The heroine of this article is not Lin Changmin's daughter.
