Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 269 08 Night Visit to Jisi Fir Road

The three giants in the book publishing industry during the Republic of China, the Commercial Press, Zhonghua Book Company and World Book Company, were all located on Sima Road in the Baihai Public Concession.

In particular, the Commercial Press and Zhonghua Book Company, the top two publishing companies in the country, have their marketing departments located at the intersection of Sima Road and Qipan Street. The two companies are even neighbors. This shows that there is competition between the two companies. How intense.

Later, as it slowly developed, businessmen sensed that cultural publishing was profitable, and they all jumped in.

So near these two major publishing companies, various well-known and unknown bookstores have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, along the Fourth Road.

Although the rising star World Bookstore is not in the area of ​​Qipan Street, it is still on Sima Road. It is the neighbor of the Xinghualou restaurant where Xu Zhimo invited Chen Muwu to dinner.

Even though the two major companies, China Business and China, became bigger and stronger, they opened their own printing plants, editorial offices and libraries in the Chinese community outside the concession, but their marketing and office locations still remained in the public concession. The fourth road in the city.

Chen Muwu left Xinghua Tower and walked east along Sima Road. When he reached the intersection of Qipan Street, he started heading south again, crossing the tramway in the middle of the road, and then passed the first Zhonghua Bookstore at the intersection.

The reason why he chose the Commercial Press instead of Zhonghua Book Company was because he had his own considerations.

Although these three giants are all publishers, their main publishing directions are different.

No. 3 World Bookstore was founded the latest and is also the weakest.

Therefore, in order to survive, they initially aimed to make money, so they took a different approach in the selection of publishing content, focusing on popular books and magazines for the general public to read and entertain.

The famous magazines of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School, such as "Red Rose", "Saturday", etc., are all published by World Book Company.

Pingjiang Buxiaosheng's "The Legend of Jianghu" was serialized in "Red Magazine", so the publication of the bound volume was naturally the World Book Company behind "Red Magazine".

If the manuscript in Chen Muwu's briefcase that day was "The Eight Parts of the Dragon", then he would have chosen without hesitation to leave Xinghua Tower and head west, directly to World Bookstore to find their general manager Shen Zhifang.

General Manager Shen is Chen Muwu's fellow Shaoxing fellow, and he might even be able to offer a big price for Chen Muwu's novels.

It seems to be an open secret in the industry that Yao Fulan is Chen Muwu.

Marshal Zhang knew it, and Shen Zhifang naturally knew it too.

Ever since "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" appeared in the northern "Yi Shi Bao" and defeated "The Legend of Jianghu" serialized in "Red Magazine", Shen Zhifang wanted to use various channels to fight back. Hire this Miss Yao to World Bookstore so that she can revitalize her publishing business.

After several inquiries, I found out what Yao Fulan's true face was.

During Chen Muwu's retreat, Shen Zhifang also went to Chen's house to hand over his business card, hoping to meet this talented man who was both a scholar and a novelist.

Even though he was rejected, Shen Zhifang had always imagined that one day Chen Muwu would come to him with the manuscript of the novel after he came out of isolation.

Zhonghua Book Company started by editing and printing textbooks.

Although the number of schools during the Republic of China was completely incomparable to that of later generations.

But textbooks will always be a major market in the book publishing industry, with new students enrolling every year and publishing and printing every year.

Zhonghua Book Company established a firm foothold in the domestic book publishing industry by quickly launching the first edition of textbooks suitable for primary and secondary school students in schools after the Republic of China.

Later, Zhonghua Book Company began to publish some traditional Chinese ancient books along with textbooks.

Until later generations, Zhonghua Book Company was also a famous ancient book publishing house, but the textbook business, which it started with, disappeared.

If Chen Muwu’s briefcase contained the manuscript of a physics textbook, there would be no problem for him to choose Zhonghua Book Company.

But Chen Muwu’s manuscript is neither a popular martial arts novel nor a physics textbook more suitable for Chinese babies’ physiques.

So he set his sights on the Commercial Press, which has the most diverse publishing directions and the most complete publishing business.

The Commercial Press is indeed the largest publishing company in the country. In addition to publishing a wide range of books, the editorial team in the library is always full of talents.

Currently working as editors at the Commercial Press, there are future famous writers Ye Shengtao and Shen Yanbing.

Then there was another more powerful clerk in the sales department of the Commercial Press.

Chen Muwu certainly wanted to have a chance encounter with the clerk, but his main purpose in coming to the Commercial Press was to publish a book for himself.

After entering the door, Chen Muwu didn't see the clerk he wanted to see, so he could only ask other clerks where the general manager was.

The most famous helmsman of the Commercial Press in its early days, Zhang Yuanji, had some relationship with the Chen family.

He was once the second principal of Nanyang Public School, the elder brother of Chen Muwu. He was also from Jiangxi, and could be regarded as Chen Muwu's fellow villager.

It was during the years under Zhang Yuanji's management that the Commercial Press transformed from a small printing workshop into the number one publishing company in the country.

Because Xu Zhimo's banquet was unexpected, Chen Muwu did not rely on family connections to get in touch with General Manager Zhang first, but went straight over by himself after the meal.

The general manager he told the clerk was Zhang Yuanji.

As a result, the clerk told him that General Manager Xia was not in the store today.

It turned out that just before Chen Muwu returned to China, Zhang Yuanji decided to retire. He resigned from all positions in the Commercial Press and was elected as chairman.

The current general manager is Xia Xiaofang, who is also the son of Xia Ruifang, the founder of the Commercial Press.

The word "小" is a pseudonym for "小".

During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, there was a way to name one's children, which was to change only one character in the father's name and replace it with "小" or "小".

For example, if Chen Muwu gets married and has a child later, he can name his child Chen Xiaowu in this way.

This Chinese name naming method basically has the same effect as the English name Jr. (junior).

Fortunately, General Manager Xia was not there that day, otherwise Chen Muwu would have made a joke when he came to the door in high spirits.

And no one can tell how much real power this newly appointed second-generation general manager has.

If Chen Muwu wants to accomplish his task, he must contact Mr. Zhang Yuanji, the man behind the Commercial Press.

Chen Muwu turned around and was about to leave, but the clerk suddenly said something else.

Although the general manager is not here, Director Wang from the translation office happens to be on duty in the store today.

As the clerk spoke, he pointed to a book that was prominently displayed in the store.

"Wang Yun's Five Dictionaries" was just published last year.

Chen Muwu didn't know who the Director Wang he was talking about was at first.But this dictionary marks the author's name, so it is self-evident who Director Wang is.

During the Republic of China, there were too many strange and divine people in the country.

Among them, Wang Yunwu can be regarded as one with a more distinctive personal experience.

He is a fellow villager of Qudong, the former Prime Minister, and once worked as a secretary for the former Prime Minister.

Then he compiled a dictionary named after himself. This dictionary adopted a completely different word-checking method from the Kangxi Dictionary, using the four-corner number-checking method invented by Wang Yunwu.

In the 60s and [-]s, this method of using four-corner numbers to search for words would still appear in dictionaries at that time.

However, with the popularization of basic education and the promotion of Chinese pinyin, the four-corner numbers have gradually disappeared in the long river of history.

But this four-corner number is not the most important invention in Wang Yunwu's life.

The most famous invention in Wang Yunwu's life, and also the biggest stain, was when he was the Minister of Finance in the late Republic of China, he launched a currency reform plan to replace legal tender with gold yuan bonds.

Although this plan was largely to take the blame for an unknown bald man, it eventually allowed Wang Yunwu to enter the list of war criminals.

The clerk may have seen that Chen Muwu was well dressed and had a strong sense of culture in his behavior. It seemed that he really had something important to discuss with the general manager.

That's why he told Chen Muwu such a piece of information that he thought was very useful.

Although Wang Yunwu's status in the Commercial Press was not low, Chen Muwu had to go to Zhang Yuanji for the matter he wanted to handle.

I didn't see the entertainment I wanted to see during lunch, and I didn't see either of the two people I wanted to see when I arrived at the Commercial Press. Chen Muwu felt that he didn't read the almanac that said "Everything is not appropriate" when he went out that day, so he had to come here in good spirits and return disappointed. .

After returning home, he got in touch with Zhang Yuanji through his elder brother.

Everyone in the Chen family was very willing that this little brother who stayed at home every day, either nagging like Tang Sanzang or hiding in his room to write, would go out to see the sun as soon as possible.

Xu Zhimo invited him to dinner, which was a good start, so Chen Muqiao was also willing to help him matchmaking.

Moreover, the third brother did not go out for romance or pleasure, but to visit people in the publishing industry. Chen Muqiao guessed that Chen Muwu might have written something new while he was at home.

He dug out the phone book given by the Sihai Telephone Company and called the senior from Nanyang Public School.

Hearing that it was Chen Muwu who wanted to visit, Zhang Yuanji immediately agreed without thinking, and said that if he had time, he could wait for Dr. Chen at home that night.

The host was also anxious to meet, and the guests were also anxious to meet, so that night, Chen Muwu took the family car and went to the Zhang Mansion at No. 40, Jisi Feier Road, West Shanghai.

Jisi Feier Road was not originally within the sphere of influence of the public concession, but as the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau of the concession repeatedly crossed the boundary to build roads and continued to encroach outwards, this area was subsequently included in the scope of the concession.

Like Jingyi Temple Road, the area around Jisi Feier Road is also a famous residential area in the concession.

It is said that Dr. Hu also lives nearby now, but fortunately he had gone abroad to the United States at that time, so Chen Muwu was "unfortunate" not to meet this enthusiastic Professor Hu.

But the most famous celebrity residence on Jisi Feier Road is not Hu Shi's house or Zhang Yuanji's house, but No. 76 on this road.

Although Huxi is not yet considered the evil land of Baihai, and No. 76 is not that disgusting devil's cave, visiting Jisi Feier Road at night after dark still makes Chen Muwu feel a little uncomfortable.

Everyone among the celebrities in Shanghai has a wide range of friends, and Zhang Yuanji is no exception.

Often, good friends from other places choose to stay at a friend's house instead of staying in a hotel when they come to Wuhai.

Zhang Yuanji's family often became Cai Yuanpei's foothold in Jihai.

In the longest period, President Cai lived in the Zhang family for more than half a year, starting from the first half of 1923 when he resigned as the president of Bei University and leaving Beijing, and ending in the second half of [-] when he boarded a ship for Europe after getting married.

On the day Chen Muwu visited, the Zhang family was relatively quiet without any guests.

This is also a convenience, so that he does not have to participate in meaningless social interactions.

The relationship between Zhang Yuanji and Chen Muqiao was that they had both worked at Nanyang Public School, which is now Nanyang University of the Ministry of Transport, but had never met each other before. It was their first time meeting Chen Muwu.

After the two introduced themselves, they exchanged a lot of beautiful polite words.

——It was mainly the elder Zhang Yuanji who was praising Chen Muwu, saying how promising he was at a young age, rich in knowledge, great achievements, and how he had won glory for the country.

Zhang Yuanji had already seen the news about Chen Muwu's return to China in the newspapers.

If he was the kind of bookseller who would do whatever it takes to make money, he would have definitely paid a visit a long time ago and paid a lot of money to ask Chen Muwu to write whatever he wanted and compile it into a booklet. He would have used Chen Muwu's reputation to make a lot of money in the market with this best-selling book. One stroke.

But Zhang Yuanji didn't do that. He and the Commercial Press behind him had their own pride.

It is impossible to let the Commercial Press publish popular novels. It is possible to consider publishing some academic monographs, but it requires a meeting to discuss the topic, and I am afraid that if I rush to the door, I will be rejected.

Zhang Yuanji never thought that he would receive a call from Chen Muqiao that day, saying that his younger brother wanted to visit him, an old guy who had retired.

What's the reason for Chen Muwu's late night visit?

Zhang Yuanji was confused and could only test this young man who was full of confidence amidst constant compliments.

Because he does not have a mobile phone, Chen Muwu's work and rest time has been adjusted to a very regular schedule.

He didn't want to play Tai Chi with Zhang Yuanji anymore, so he took out his manuscript from his briefcase.

The manuscript that he had been constantly correcting in his room since he returned home and had been running around with him all day was finally handed over to the place where it should be handed in at the last moment of that day.

Zhang Yuanji got a stack of manuscript paper in his hand. There were only four Chinese characters written on the first page, "The Rise of a Great Power."

So he immediately understood why this young man came to him.

Zhang Yuanji smiled and rejected Chen Muwu's request. He said that he had stepped down from the position of general manager of the Commercial Press. Now he was not involved in library affairs and was enjoying his life, so he could not help him.

Although he felt that Chen Muwu was very famous and the topic was interesting, he still did not want to make an exception and use the back door to publish books for him, and let him use the regular way of publishing books by the Commercial Press.

Then Chen Muwu's answer made Zhang Yuanji wonder if he was hallucinating.

He said that his book did not require a penny in royalties, but it had to be published by the Commercial Press.

Zhang Yuanji was confused again that night.

He didn't know what Chen Muwu was up to.

How can anyone write a book for free? Does this mean he looks down on the Commercial Press and regards it as a kind of charity?
(End of this chapter)