The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

   "Ahhhhh!"

   Li Shuanzhu, who was dressed in casual clothes, knocked on the gate of the courtyard. The hem of his waistcoat was bulging, and inside was an M1892 revolver.

   Recently, Commander Chu bypassed Zhang Zuolin and the Japanese, and secretly negotiated an arms deal with the French. Purchased 30,000 rifles with 300,000 rounds of ammunition, 6 mountain cannons with 10,000 rounds of shells, 10 Fiat cannons with 20,000 rounds of shells, with a total value of 28 million francs.

   These are the stocks in France after the First World War. Most of the rifles are severely worn, and some even have rusted barrels, but they are still very popular when they are sold to China. The Frenchman also knows how to do business with favors, and he also gave 500 pistols and a lot of bullets for free. Chu Yupu gave one to each of his direct guards.

   In the past ten years, the franc has depreciated wildly, and the parity with the British pound has fallen to 240:1. The conversion of 28 million francs is less than 1.2 million oceans.

  Since he received the French revolver, Li Shuanzhu has become a baby. He has to hold it in his arms even when he sleeps, and even carry it with him when he goes out.

   "Yah!"

  The old gate of the courtyard house opened. When the old lady of the landlord saw Zhou Hexuan, she hurriedly greeted her with a smile: "Mr. Zhou is here, please come in, come in quickly!"

   "Old Madam, I'm sorry!" Zhou Hexuan clasped his fists.

  The landlady said gratefully: "Thanks to Mr. Zhou's care, those big bosses didn't dare to come to the house to make trouble."

  The landlord, Shan Chengfu, heard the movement, so he quickly made his daughter-in-law make tea, ran to the yard and said, "Mr. Zhou, come in and sit down."

   "No, I'm here to find brother Shoumin." Zhou Hexuan smiled.

  The door of the west wing was suddenly pushed open, and Li Shoumin's Sichuan voice came: "Rare guest, rare guest, I just said that magpies kept calling today."

   Zhou Hexuan went into the house to meet Mrs. Zhou, and took brothers Li Shoumin and Li Xiangji out to play. The third brother Li Shouji also wanted to follow, but was scolded by Li Shoumin for going back to the house to do his homework.

   "Go to Xinming Theater!"

  Li Shoumin instructed the driver, turned around and said to Zhou Hexuan: "The Xieqing Society is performing in Tianjin these two days, you must not miss it."

   Zhou Hexuan has no interest in traditional opera, and does not know which popular opera troupe the Xieqing Society is. Since Li Shoumin likes to watch it, he treats it as a way to relax with his friends.

  The rickshaw ran on the street for a while, Zhou Hexuan looked at the sparse pedestrians and couldn't help but said, "This Tianjin city is a lot deserted. It used to be very lively on weekends."

   "It's not Chu Yu yet..." Li Shoumin glanced at Li Shuanzhu and changed his tune, "It's not the credit of the commander Chu. Today, the Red Party is arrested, and tomorrow's salaries are collected. The people of Tianjin have met a great master."

   "Hehehe." No matter how stupid Li Shuanzhu was, he could still hear the irony. But this is a fact, and Li Shoumin is also a good friend of Zhou Hexuan, he doesn't know what to say except giggling.

   To tell the truth, the people of Tianjin still miss Feng Yuxiang's rule, and although General Changchang is politically unstable, he is much more gentle than Chu Yupu in terms of managing the people.

   After walking not too far, a newsboy suddenly appeared on the street. He was barefoot, wearing a tattered single coat, holding a booklet in his hand and shouting: "The Legend of the Condor Heroes is going to be printed out in a single volume, a set of four volumes, with a limited number of prints, you can buy it first, first served later. No la!"

   Li Shoumin laughed: "Brother Hexuan, your masterpiece has actually been published."

   "Thanks to Xiangji for connecting," Zhou Hexuan asked the driver to stop and waved at the newsboy, "How did "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" sell?"

  The newsboy immediately ran over: "A set of four volumes, each one yuan, can be purchased separately, and the whole set is only three and a half dollars."

   "Give me a set, and the remaining five cents is a tip for you." Zhou Hexuan took out four silver dollars and said.

   "Okay, thank you sir!" The newsboy was overjoyed.

   Zhou Hexuan took a look at the book and found that each book has only six chapters, about 160,000 words. Considering the current price, this book is quite expensive, and it is no different from robbing people.

   There were few intellectuals in the Republic of China, and even fewer were able to write and publish books. Therefore, not only did literati pay high manuscript fees, but book prices were also ridiculously expensive.

   Lao She's novel "Divorce" has such a plot: a colleague persuaded Lao Li not to buy books, save the money for buying books every month, and buy a small house in Peiping in a few years.

  A few years of money to buy books can buy a house in the capital. This is a fantasy in later generations, but it was a fact in the Republic of China.

   How about Zhang Henshui’s manuscript fee for a book, so he bought a palace in Peiping.

   Zhou Hexuan handed the book to the Li Shoumin brothers and asked the newsboy, "How is the sale of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes"?"

The newsboy smiled and said, "It's selling really well. I've only been on the street for a while, and I've already sold 8 sets. I'm about to go back and get the goods. It's more profitable than selling newspapers." The newsboy got 50 cents He felt very happy. He added, "If there are "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" for sale every day, I will be able to earn enough tuition in half a year and I can go to the school to study."

   Looking at the happy smile on the newsboy's face, Zhou Hexuan felt very sad, there were a lot of things he wanted to say but couldn't say. He waved his hand and said, "Go get busy, read more books to have hope."

   "My mother said the same," the newsboy ran away excitedly, then turned around and bowed again, "Thank you sir!"

   Li Shoumin was also a little touched, and asked for no reason: "He Xuan, when do you think this country will be able to cheer up?"

   Zhou Hexuan shook his head helplessly: "As long as China is not unified, there will always be endless internal friction, and the warlords don't care about the lives of the common people."

  The two stopped talking, and each fell silent.

  The rickshaw arrived at the Xinming Grand Theater in a blink of an eye. No matter how the war was raging outside, it was always lively here, like two unrelated worlds.

   Zhou Hexuan bought four premium tickets and sat in the front. After watching the opening scene, today's highlight finally came.

   After listening to the introduction of the newspaper, Zhou Hexuan knew that the Xieqing Club was the team of Shang Xiaoyun.

  Shang Xiaoyun is the founder of Shangpai art. In the 1930s, he was as famous as Mei Lanfang and ranked among the four famous performers in Peking Opera. At this time, although he has not yet achieved this name, he has already become famous all over the country, and no brutal warlord dares to kill him easily.

  Fame is very important!

   As long as Zhou Hexuan's "Rise of a Great Power" is finished and his reputation spreads all over China, Chu Dashuai will never dare to embarrass him again. Of course, it really angered Chu Yupu, and directly deducted the hat of a red element.

   What surprised Zhou Hexuan was that Shang Xiaoyun was actually playing a fashion show today. The Peking Opera master wore a suit and accompanies Western instruments throughout. The song is called "Modern Girl".

   Wearing a suit, playing foreign music, singing Peking Opera, but the content of the story is interpreting Buddhist classics, and the style of painting is extremely strange.

"it is good!"

When    sang wonderfully, there were cheers from all over the place, and the sound seemed to overturn the roof of the theater.

   Zhou Hexuan turned his head curiously and looked to the side. The person beside him was not too hot. He was wearing a hat in June, and half of his face was covered by the brim. The strangest thing is that this person's applause just now was extremely shrill, and it was clearly a woman in men's clothing.