The Bourne Counterattack

Chapter 40 The Birth of a Great Novelist
  Su Shouan, a native of Ningbo, a member of the Old Alliance, is now the chairman of Shouan Insurance Company. His home is at No. 12 Lafayette Road in the French Concession...

"Team leader, what do you care about this person?" Shen Mo didn't know why Cheng Mo asked people to investigate what this person did.

"I have to know what my father-in-law does, otherwise how can I know myself and my enemy?" Cheng Mo chuckled.

"Team leader, you are using this for personal use."

"Su Shou'an's daughter Su Mo'er is also a member of our group. I know about her family. How can this be considered a public weapon for private use?"

"Team leader, although Shangfeng has given us the power to recruit team members freely, please don't use it indiscriminately." Shen Mo reminded.

"Don't worry, I won't mess around. Su Mu'er is also one of the trainees in the Qingpu class. She is originally a member of our group." Cheng Mo nodded and said, "As long as there is a radio station, she will be our group's reporter member."

"Really?" Shen Mo really didn't know this situation.

"Of course, I won't do anything that violates discipline. Okay, I've worked hard all night to clean up. I'll treat you to hot-boiled mutton later."

"You went on a date to watch a movie, and you asked me to clean up the house for you, and just boil the mutton for a meal?" Shen Mo said dissatisfied.

"If one meal is not enough, just two. Don't leave any traces. After a while, it will snow heavily and you won't be able to go back." Cheng Mo pushed the person out directly.

"Then I'm leaving. If you need anything, please contact me again." Shen Mo said as he walked out.

Returning to the study room upstairs in his new home, Cheng Mo sat down and carefully considered how he would earn money for his work next.

The popular popular literature of this period was the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School, commonly known as the Saturday School. Representative writers Zhang Henshui, Bao Tianxiao, and even Zhang Ailing later also belonged to this school. They mainly focused on novels about male and female love and curiosity, and entertainment. It also takes into account some exposure to social darkness and criticism, but mainly sticks to the old ways and has been criticized and accused.

It does have its limitations of the times and does not meet the needs of the country and nation in this era, but it also has the rationality for its existence.

This group was the most popular in the Shili Foreign Market in Shanghai, especially in the years after the fall of Shanghai. Ordinary people in the occupied areas could only comfort and anesthetize themselves through this kind of things.

Cheng Mo knew that once he started this way, he was afraid that he would become the target of criticism in the future.

But he just wanted to raise some funds. It is not easy to be an agent these days. Agents of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party must first support themselves before they can continue to fight. Many people work on an empty stomach. That is really a powerful belief. Ordinary people If he really couldn't do it, if he could find a better way to make money, he wouldn't have to use this method anymore.

He now has three themes to choose from, romance, martial arts and science fiction.

For romance, he chose "Ghost Husband", a novel set in the Republic of China. For martial arts, he chose Liang Yusheng's "Ping Zong Xia Video" or "Four Famous Catchers". For science fiction, he could choose "Wesley". If it becomes popular, it will be serialized and laid eggs. Golden rooster.

Because he has a relatively deep memory of these stories, the general plot, and his twenty years of experience in the literary world, he can still write them down, and with a little polish, they will be easily accepted by the audience of this era.

The story background of "Ghost Husband" itself takes place in this era. The sadomasochism of the male and female protagonists, the lingering pathos, and the praise of loyal love, especially from a female perspective. This kind of subject matter is in line with the characteristics of female liberation in the new era, and it is easy to be a hit. And red.

However, he has never written ancient poems, and he doesn't know what it will look like if he writes it, but he still remembers the context of the story.

Unexpectedly, I came first as a lurker. I had to earn money for my lurk group first, and my first side job turned out to be writing.

This is a relatively easy and safe way to make money.

You also have to give yourself a pen name. You can't just use the one from later generations. It's not appropriate and you can't afford to disgrace that person.

Forget it, let’s start a new one.

After thinking about it, Cheng Mo finally wrote a pen name on the paper: Fengqi Loulan.

This night, a great popular novelist was born. He was also a versatile writer who could write romance, martial arts, science fiction and even revolutionary novels. He was like a "demon".

As soon as I started writing, my thoughts flowed out like a fountain.

I kept writing until my fingers went numb, and then I realized that I had already written more than twenty pages. After a little polishing and revision, I could submit it directly.

I looked at the time again and saw that it was already two o'clock in the middle of the night. I quickly washed myself with hot water and went to bed.

Early the next morning, Cheng Mo transcribed the manuscript he had worked hard on last night in "Song" style, went out to find a mailbox, and sent it to the editorial department of "Novel Monthly".

"Novel Monthly" is the largest fiction magazine in Shanghai. It has a large circulation and is even distributed in Peking, Tianjin, Wuhan, Chongqing and other places. At most, a monthly magazine can sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

The more the book sells, the more royalties will naturally be given to the author, and the royalties for novels are calculated based on one thousand words, usually 2-3 yuan, the better ones are 4-6 yuan, and the top ones can reach 10 yuan per thousand words. The yuan here used to be silver dollars, but now it is legal tender.

In other words, if I write at the same speed as I did in my previous life, as long as it is adopted, I can earn more than 400 yuan a month.

This is definitely a high-income existence in the Republic of China, at least it can be regarded as a petty bourgeoisie or middle class.

But this method is still too slow to generate money. The fastest way is to sign a contract with a publishing house, print the book, and get the royalties directly. If a novel is published in 100,000 copies, the price of a novel will be between 1 yuan and 1.5 yuan according to current prices.

The royalties are calculated at 10%. For 100,000 copies, he can get about 10,000 to 15,000 yuan.

He decided to spend a week writing "The Ghost Husband" and serialize it in "Novel Monthly" first, and then publish it as a book.

If it becomes a small hit, you should be able to earn a few thousand yuan in income. If you are lucky and it becomes a big hit, I don’t know how much it will be.

This depends on fate.

……

"Novel Monthly" belongs to Lianhua Advertising Company, which has several publications under it, including the famous "Tea Talk" and "Shanghai Life".

This is why Cheng Mo chose it.

After submitting the article, it’s just a matter of waiting. It’s only the beginning of the month. Even if it is used, we won’t know until the end of the month.

After breakfast, Cheng Mo hailed a rickshaw and headed to Laozha's house. Yesterday, he went to the Ministry of Industry Bureau Building to report in and go through the entry procedures.

Today he is going to work.

Laozha Chafang has a three-story brick-concrete structure with a red facade. Because all the Indians (Sikhs, wearing red scarves on their heads) from the public concession are here, it is also known as the Red House Chafang.

Originally, the front door opened facing the main road (Nanjing Road). After the May 30th massacre, the main door opened to the Guizhou Road side, and everyone entered and exited through this door.

There are seal guards standing guard at the door. They wear red scarves on their heads and leather shoes on their feet. They are tall and strong, with curly beards under their noses. Their arrogant appearance is comparable to that of later generations.

In the patrol house of the concession, the Chinese agents were on the lowest floor, followed by the Yinzhou agents, the Japanese agents and the Western agents. The Western agents had the highest treatment.

Of course, after Huaqiao is upgraded, his salary will also be improved, but compared to Yinqiao and Xiqiao at the same level, it is far behind.

However, most of the Chinese arresters are in the gang. After becoming a Chinese arrester, you will have a lot of gray income, especially when you become a police sergeant (inspector), the real income is no worse than that of the Western arrester. Of course, the Western arrester also makes money. Anyway, corruption in the police station is the norm.

Ordinary people, those with no power, it is best not to enter the patrol room, otherwise you will have to have your skin peeled off even if you die.

Entering the building, you went directly to the chief inspector's office on the second floor.

As the second prison house established in the concession, it has jurisdiction over one of the most prosperous areas in the concession. The daily affairs here are naturally the busiest. People come and go in the corridors, and occasionally quarrels can be heard. In Chinese, There are also some incomprehensible bird songs in English.

The chief inspector of the Laozha Capture House is an Englishman whose Chinese name is York. He previously served in the British Navy with the rank of captain.

He is not tall, and his hair is yellow but somewhat sparse. He looks like an old-school British gentleman.

Of course, looking down on yellow-skinned Chinese is their usual practice.

"You graduated from Waseda University in Japan?" York put down the cigar in his hand in surprise when he saw Cheng Mo's resume.

"Yes, Mr. York." Cheng Mo replied in English.

"Is your English good?"

"I taught myself in college." Cheng Mo nodded slightly and said in a neither humble nor arrogant tone.

"What do you think of the war between Japan and China?" York suddenly asked a question, and stared at him with bright eyes.

Cheng Mo was stunned for a moment, what did York mean? But since he was asked, he had to answer, so he thought about it: "The strong can bully the weak at will, and the weak also have the right to fight to the death. We have a saying in China: common man In anger, blood splatters three feet."

"When a man is angry, blood splatters three feet?" York repeated Cheng Mo's words and pondered for a while, "I think you will do this job well. From now on, whenever the Japanese commit crimes in my jurisdiction, I’ll leave it all to you.”

"Me?" Cheng Mo was startled. He had just come over. Why did he take over such an important matter? Wasn't there someone who handled the case with the Japanese before?
  "Yes, it's you." York said seriously.

Cheng Mo frowned slightly. He was reused as soon as he came. This was not about taking the blame or being a victim. This was a very difficult start.

However, he obviously understood it wrong. There was another detective in the political unit in the Laozha prison, and that was the one in charge. He was just the new detective.

　I’m rolling all over the floor begging for collection and reading!

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)