As soon as Zhou Hexuan walked into the house, Li Shoumin said to him happily: "Brother Hexuan, are you willing to be a newspaper proofreader? His monthly salary is 36 yuan. I will be promoted to editor in a few days. There is a vacant proofreader. With your ability, you will definitely be hired. It's just a bit insignificant."

"Congratulations to Brother Shoumin for his promotion." Zhou Hexuan said with his fists.

"It's just a small editor, what's the congratulations?" Li Shoumin waved his hand and smiled. He really didn't want to be an editor. The only thing he was happy about was that his salary increased a little, which could alleviate the family's economic situation.

Zhou Hexuan took out his novel draft: "Since Brother Shoumin has been an editor, please help me."

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

Mrs. Zhou had already brought the food to the table and said, "Let's have a meal first."

After everyone finished their meal, Zhou Hexuan chatted with Mrs. Zhou for a few words, then said goodbye and returned to his bedroom to continue typing.

Li Shoumin read the manuscript with his manuscript. "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" opened with a storytelling plot, gradually leading to the loyalty of Guo and Yang, and mixed the feelings of the family and country of the barbarians' invasion. Zhou Hexuan's more than 10,000 words were written only on Qiu Chuji's appearance, and named the two unborn children Guo Jing and Yang Kang.

After reading the manuscript, Li Shoumin felt it was a bit interesting, but that was all. Because the plot has not yet been unfolded, he could only infer from the lines that Guo Jing and Yang Kang should be the protagonist of the book.

About four years ago, Pingjiang Buxiao Sheng (Xiang Kairan)'s "Legend of the Legend of the Warriors" was released, marking the birth of China's first true martial arts novel. It separated from the traditional chivalrous novel from the content of the story and became popular in various southern provinces for a time.

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

These two people are called "South to North Zhao" and are considered the top martial arts writers.

In Li Shoumin's view, Zhou Hexuan's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" took the path of "south-waying" Pingjiang Buxiaosheng. This kind of novel is very popular nowadays, and it is definitely no problem to serialize it in the newspaper. He is planning to wait for Zhou Hexuan to write more words before taking it to the newspaper to find the editor-in-chief.

The next morning, Li Shoumin practiced breathing skills in the yard on time. When he finished his exercise, he saw Zhou Hexuan coming with a smile, holding a few manuscripts and saying, "Brother Shoumin, I went back last night to make up for 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 took the manuscript to work at the newspaper. After finishing the work at hand, it was almost noon, and finally he had time to read the contents of the next half chapter.

Guo Xiaotian died in order to cover his brother's escape, and Yang Tiexin resolutely abandoned his pregnant wife with tears in order to save his sister-in-law. After being seriously injured, his life and death are unknown. This passage is written in extremely passionate and may be common to later readers, but it was particularly wonderful in the Republic of China in the 1920s.

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

The wives of the two righteous men survived and were each pregnant, which made readers feel very excited.

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

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

Li Shoumin said: "A friend of mine wrote that he had just returned from studying in the West."

Tao Jincheng said: "The Thirteen Heroes of Jiangnan are about to be serialized, and this "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is just about to be followed."

"How to determine the remuneration for the manuscript?" Li Shoumin asked.

Tao Jincheng thought about it and said, "The manuscript is of high quality, how about the 8-point 1,000 words?"

"It's less." Li Shoumin took the initiative to help Zhou Hexuan negotiate the price.

Nowadays, the royalties for publishing articles in newspapers and magazines are generally between 1 yuan and 3 yuan, and the royalties for masters like Lu Xun can reach 5 yuan, or even 6 yuan, a thousand words. But that is the price of prose, poetry, comments, and essays, and the royalties for novels are generally lower.

Tao Jincheng smiled and said, "Let the author come to the newspaper and I will talk to him in person."

...

The "New Tianjin News" was founded by Liu Rangong two years ago. Its newspapers are popularized. To put it bluntly, it is a newspaper for ordinary people to read, without interfering in political and academic disputes.

This newspaper has developed very fast, with sales volume from more than 1,000 copies at the beginning, and now it has increased to more than 20,000 copies, which is considered the largest newspaper in Beijing and Tianjin. Liu Rangong was hitting while the iron was hot and successively launched the "New Tianjin Evening News" and the "New Tianjin Xiaobao", and the two new reimbursements have reached 5,000 or 6,000.

Of course, the "New Tianjin" series of newspapers have developed so quickly, thanks to the "Ta Kung Pao" closing down.

The Ta Kung Pao was originally a royalist base, with the headquarter of the newspaper office located in Tianjin. Later, it had a deep connection with the Anhui warlords and had a huge circulation in the Beijing-Tianjin area.

Three years ago, the second boss of Ta Kung Pao was killed in the Great Japanese earthquake. In addition, the Anhui warlords were defeated in the Zhi-Anhui War. Ta Kung Pao lost his financial backers and backers one after another, and finally stopped publishing last year. Taking advantage of this gap, the newspaper department of "New Tianjin" quickly expanded and occupied 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 for Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, 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 so young."

Zhou Hexuan is actually 28 years old. Due to his years of travel around the world, he often experiences wind and sun in the wild, and his skin is dark and slightly rough. But for some reason, after traveling through time, his skin has become much whiter, and even the wrinkles on his face have disappeared, as if he has returned to his youth.

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

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

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

In the novel, the Seven Monsters of Jiangnan and Temujin appeared one after another. These plots made Tao Jincheng's eyes lit up. After reading the manuscript, he smiled and said, "Mr. "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" is indeed new compared to the current martial arts novels."

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

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

For martial arts novels, this is a relatively high price, not to mention that Zhou Hexuan is still a newcomer and has no fame at all. He did not bargain anymore and nodded, "Yes."
Chapter completed!