I wrote novels in the Republic of China

Shanghai in the Republic of China was home to countless intellectuals, and the young people here were more likely to be exposed to new ideas and new culture.

In the late Qing Dynasty, Hong Yongxiang went to a new-style school to study. As a journalist over the years, he was exposed to many new ideas.

He was a new-style writer who advocated new culture, and his newspaper was also committed to promoting vernacular Chinese.
The political articles and various news they published were all written in vernacular Chinese, striving to make them understandable to "naive business women" after they were read out.

In the newspapers, they have been calling for strengthening national education. It is not enough to just make people understand. The goal of many people, including Hong Yongxiang, is to make everyone "literate".

It’s hard, but they keep trying.

Therefore, Hong Yongxiang attached great importance to the education of the younger generation in the family. At his request, Hong Xu's eldest sister and second sister both entered a private school run by girls in the county town to study and learn to read.

When he found out that Hong Xu's second sister Hong Yue liked reading, he would bring some books to her from time to time and encourage her to read the newspaper every day.

Now, seeing Hong Yue draw a picture book, Hong Yongxiang is very happy.

Although this is an abbreviated story from "Journey to the West", it is very rare for a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl to achieve this.

This picture book also reminded Hong Yongxiang of another thing.

Since the beginning of the Republic of China, schools in Shanghai have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, with primary schools being the largest.

Nowadays, many ordinary families in Shanghai's county towns will send their children to primary school, or at least finish the lower primary school.

After all, the tuition for primary school is only a few silver dollars per semester. Even if you add the cost of buying paper and pens, the cost is not that much and many families can afford it.

Seeing that the number of primary school students was increasing, an editor of a printing company known to Hong Yongxiang planned to make some books for children to read, to help those in primary school, especially those in the first year of primary school, learn to read.

This picture book in front of me is just right!
He read the whole article and found not a single unfamiliar word. He even used foreign punctuation marks between sentences, making it very easy to read.

This book is definitely publishable.

Hong Yongxiang can't put it down.

Hong Xu then spoke up: "Uncle, that vernacular article was not written by Second Sister, but by Sister Sang."

"Sister Sang?" Hong Yongxiang was curious.

Shopkeeper Hong heard the news that his youngest son had returned and rushed over. When he heard this, he said, "She is Sang Yuanshan's granddaughter."

Hong Yongxiang said, "I've also heard about Mr. Sang's story. It's such a pity. Dad, what's the situation with his granddaughter?"

Shopkeeper Hong briefly explained Sang Jingyun's situation.

After listening to this, Hong Yongxiang sighed: "This girl is not bad."

Shopkeeper Hong was moved: "Yongxiang, I know you like educated women. Do you want to meet Miss Sang?"

Hong Yongxiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In recent years, whenever his father met an unmarried woman, he would want him to meet her.

Shopkeeper Hong had not thought much about Sang Jingyun because she looked young, but now he thinks she is more and more suitable: "Miss Sang is beautiful and well-educated. I think she is a good match for you. You are twenty-five this year. When I was your age, your brother was already five years old. You should pay more attention to your marriage."

Shopkeeper Hong kept talking to Hong Yongxiang until the reunion dinner.

The Mid-Autumn Festival reunion dinner was prepared by the eldest daughter-in-law of the Hong family and her servants. When she put the food on the table, she thought that her parents-in-law attached great importance to her brother-in-law's opinions, and her brother-in-law attached great importance to the education of the children at home, so she said: "Yongxiang, Ah Xu has been going to the paper shop every day recently and has neglected his studies."

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Hong family was already dissatisfied with Sang Jingyun. When she accidentally learned that a scholar went to her paper shop to accuse Sang Jingyun, she didn't want Sang Jingyun to have contact with her children again.

When Hong Yongxiang heard what his sister-in-law said, he said without thinking: "Ah Xu helps others write letters, which is also a learning experience. It can help him understand the world. Sister-in-law, since you care about your child's studies, why don't you let Ah Yue continue to study? In my opinion, Ah Yue can study for a few more years."

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Hong family began to pretend to be deaf and dumb and did not answer her brother-in-law.

What's the good of studying? After her daughter A-Yue started studying, she kept finding fault with her.

What's more, a girl of Yue's age should be looking for a husband, so how can she go out to study every day? She will be laughed at.

Seeing this, Hong Yongxiang knew that his sister-in-law did not want Hong Yue to continue studying.

And my eldest brother must agree with this.

He sighed secretly, but there was nothing he could do.

Hong Yue is not his daughter, but his niece. He can give her some advice but can't do too much.

However, if the comic book can be published, Hong Yue, who helped draw the pictures, can also get some royalties and have some extra money for himself.

When thinking about the royalties, Hong Yongxiang thought of Miss Sang.

After Miss Sang's family fell into poverty, she was not only willing to write letters to earn money, but was also very creative and taught Hong Xu and Hong Yue how to make a picture book.

This must be a smart woman. He will go and see her tomorrow.

Hong Yongxiang was very interested in Sang Jingyun. At this time, another person mentioned Sang Jingyun.

The boss Zhang who rented the house to the Sang family, called Uncle Zhang by Sang Jingyun, was also known as Master Zhang Si.

He had a younger son named Zhang Zhuangmao, who attended middle school in the concession.

Mr. Zhang Si was once supported by Sang Yuanshan, and the two families had frequent contacts before.

Zhang Zhuangmao is seventeen years old this year, about the same age as Sang Jingyun. They played together when they were young and can be considered childhood sweethearts.

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival. Zhang Zhuangmao rushed back to Shanghai County from the concession to celebrate the festival with his family and asked about Sang Jingyun.

"Mother, what is the current situation of the Sang family? Is Sister Jingyun in good health?"

Zhang Zhuangmao and Sang Jingyun grew up together, and his parents intended for him to marry Sang Jingyun, so he paid more attention to Sang Jingyun.

Sang Jingyun was good-looking, well-educated, and generous, so he began to admire her as a young boy.

When Sang Yuanshan passed away, he felt even more distressed when he saw Sang Jingyun, who looked pale and shaky, at Sang Yuanshan’s funeral.

He privately begged his mother to help the Sang family and take good care of Sang Jingyun.

At this time, when Zhang's mother saw her son asking about the Sang family, she looked at her husband and felt unhappy.

The two of them chatted for a few words casually, muddled the issue, and then began to persuade Zhang Zhuangmao to eat, and asked about Zhang Zhuangmao's school affairs.

As expected, Zhang Zhuangmao was diverted to talk about the concessions.

Seeing that Zhang Zhuangmao no longer mentioned the Sang family, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

They also sympathized with the Sang family, but did not want their sons to be involved with them.

When they returned to their room at night, the couple talked about Sang Jingyun.

"That Sang Jingyun has been helping people write letters at Hongxing Paper recently. She doesn't look like a girl at all. Yesterday, she was even scolded by an old scholar. I don't want a daughter-in-law like her." Mrs. Zhang's words were full of complaints.

"The marriage hasn't been finalized yet, and no one is forcing you to have a daughter-in-law like this." Mr. Zhang Si was a little impatient.

"But she always comes to the county town. What if Ah Mao sees her? The Sang family is in such a state now. They probably hope to find a good marriage for her so that she can support her family! She is also restless. She hooked up with Ah Mao at such a young age..."

Mr. Zhang frowned.

Mrs. Zhang was still muttering: "You are really a fool. You even rented our house to them. If you didn't rent the house, they would definitely go back to the countryside."

Fourth Master Zhang said angrily, "Everyone knows that I have a good relationship with the Sang family. How can I not help them? If that were the case, who would dare to do business with me?"

After saying this, Mr. Zhang Si turned over and went to sleep.

Mrs. Zhang became more and more uneasy the more she thought about it.

Their family is close to the Sang family, and everyone in the county knows it.

If Sang Jingyun was involved with her youngest son and the matter became a big deal, and the Sang family revealed that the two families had once discussed a marriage, she might have to hold her nose and let Sang Jingyun enter the house.

No, absolutely not.

Mrs. Zhang thought about it and decided to go to the Sang family to ask for rent tomorrow.

Sang Jingyun has the original owner's memories, but he has no idea that Zhang Zhuangmao likes him.

In the original owner's memory, Zhang Zhuangmao was just a playmate he had played with in the past.

At this moment, she was eating the braised pork brought by Alan, feeling mixed emotions.

The original owner used to be picky about food, so Alan would cook her favorite dishes for every meal and put them in front of her.

When the original owner was a child, Lu Ying asked her to do needlework, but she thought it was boring and didn't want to do it, so Alan hid in her room and secretly helped her.

Alan is a really nice person.

The Sang family invited Alan to have dinner with them, and Alan stayed. She persuaded the Sang family to eat braised pork, and cut the two five-nut mooncakes she brought into four pieces each and shared them with the Sang family.

So, Sang Jingyun ate a quarter of a five-nut mooncake.

Very fragrant, very sweet and very delicious.

Although his eyes were red at first, Alan didn't say a single unhappy word later and kept smiling.

She praised all four children, including Sang Jingyun, and said that Sang Xuewen had grown up and become sensible.

After dinner, Alan said he wanted to go home.

Tomorrow morning, she will have to make breakfast for her current host family.

"Aying, take Grandma Alan back home." Sang Jingyun said to Sang Jingying.

Sang Jingying nodded, but Alan said, "No, no, why do I need the young master to send me off? I can walk by myself."

Alan refused to let Sang Jingying see him off and rushed out.

Seeing this, Sang Jingyun wrapped a mooncake with red bean paste that she and Sang Jingying had bought together, and went back to her room to get two dimes, and gave them to Sang Jingying: "Aying, you follow her and make sure Grandma Alan doesn't fall. When she gets there, put the money and mooncake in her basket, and then run back immediately."

When Sang Yuanshan was holding his funeral, Alan secretly left all the money to them, so she probably doesn't have much money on her now.
Two dimes isn't very useful, but it can keep her company.

Sang Jingying responded and ran out.

Sang Jingxiong then asked: "Grandma, when are we going to eat mooncakes?"

A quarter of a five-nut mooncake was not enough for him, and Sang Jingxiong coveted the red bean paste mooncakes at home.

Hearing this, Sang Jingyun said, "I bought the red bean paste mooncakes, so there is no share for you."

They gave one to Alan. There were three red bean paste mooncakes left in their house. After cutting them in half, everyone except Sang Jingxiong got half a mooncake.

Sang Jingxiong was furious. Seeing that no one spoke up for him, he ran upstairs with red eyes.

Sang Jingyun and the others waited for more than an hour until Sang Jingying came running back, and then they ate mooncakes together.

While eating mooncakes, Sang Jingying talked about what she saw on the way back to A-lan, and said, "I threw the mooncakes into her basket and ran away quickly. Now she can't catch up with me!"

Sang Xuewen suddenly said, "Alan had saved a lot of money for retirement, but I cheated him out of it."

When the Sang family fell into decline, Alan did not leave. Instead, he used his pension money to support the Sang family.

Unfortunately, Sang Xuewen was a dishonest person and cheated the old lady out of her money. Alan felt that he would be a burden to them if he stayed any longer, so he insisted on leaving.

Sang Jingyun ate the mooncake silently and went back to his room to lie down.

Her lower abdomen no longer hurt today, and she slept very well and deeply tonight.

The next morning, Sang Jingyun felt more energetic, but the ulcer at the corner of her mouth was still not healed. She touched it and found that it was covered with thick scabs, which were still painful when pressed.

Lu Ying came in to deliver the menstrual belt and saw it, and said softly: "Ayun, your mouth ulcer is very serious. I'm afraid it will take seven or eight days to heal."

In her previous life, Sang Jingyun also developed mouth ulcers after being tired and having a weakened immunity. At that time, she could have applied some medicine and it would have healed faster, but now she doesn’t have the conditions to do so and can only wait for it to heal slowly.

Fortunately, this is not a serious problem and the impact on my life is not as great as my menstrual period.

Now she can only use a menstrual belt filled with wood ash, which is not leak-proof, making it inconvenient for her to go to the county town. That day, she continued to rest at home.

After Sang Jingying took Sang Jingxiong to the county town, Sang Jingyun found Sang Jingxiong's schoolbag and looked at Sang Jingxiong's textbooks.

At that time, there were several versions of elementary school textbooks, and the textbooks used in different schools were different.

A good primary school teaches a lot of knowledge, including astronomy, geography, and foreign literature. But the primary school that Sang Jingxiong attended only had Chinese and math teachers. For other subjects, the Chinese teacher would at most read from the textbook.

The texts in Sang Jingxiong's Chinese textbook are like many of the novels that Sang Jingyun has read these days, half vernacular and half classical Chinese.

The articles are not long, are written vertically, and the only punctuation mark is a period.

The layout and wording of the math textbook were also strange, but in Sang Jingyun's opinion, the content was not difficult.

"Grandma, please ask for leave for Jingxiong today. Say hello to the teacher and tell him that Jingxiong will not go to school in the future and will only take the final exams." Sang Jingyun said.

If Sang Jingxiong goes to school, he can only learn some messy things. It is better for him to study at home and ask Sang Jingying to tutor him if he doesn’t understand.

Just wait until the end of the semester to take the exam and get a diploma.

I have studied for so many years, it would be a shame not to get a diploma.

As for going to middle school in the future, one has to take the entrance exam by himself. Many people take the entrance exam when they are 17 or 18 years old. Sang Jingxiong is still young and is not in a hurry.

After making the decision, Sang Jingyun took out paper and pen and continued writing his novel.

The words she used in writing this novel are similar to those in the martial arts novels written by masters that she read when she was young.

This is definitely a very easy-to-read vernacular novel for people in the early years of the Republic of China.

Some old literati have always been resisting vernacular Chinese, but the common people like to read and it is the vernacular Chinese that is easiest to spread.

The four great classics are all vernacular novels.

The newspaper that Sang Jingyun planned to submit his article to was the "New Novel" subscribed by Manager Hong.

This newspaper was very popular in Shanghai at that time. Every time a new issue came out, countless people rushed to buy it. Its sales volume surpassed many newspapers that published important news.

The newspapers that Manager Hong bought were mainly the Shanghai Daily and the New Novel. After getting them, he would only pick out the Shanghai Daily and take a look at it, and then use it to wrap things up after reading it.

But he would read the "New Novel" carefully every day, and after reading it, he would organize it and keep it so that he could read it for the second time when he had nothing to do in the future.

During the Republic of China period, when there were no mobile games, no short videos, no TV dramas, the only movies were black-and-white silent films that cost 20 cents each, and dramas could not be updated every day, reading novels in newspapers was a favorite pastime for many people.

Sang Jingyun spent the whole morning writing two thousand words.

It is very simple to write letters for others. For those who ask others to write letters, the things they need to write are just a few, so it is not difficult to write.

Writing a novel is different. You have to consider the sentences and plot yourself.

Of course, if she had a computer, she could write faster, but she doesn't.

For people who are used to using computers, it is really inconvenient to hold paper and pen and write traditional Chinese characters vertically.

When Sang Jingyun started writing the novel, Sang Jingying and Sang Jingxiong had just arrived in the county town.

Sang Jingxiong used to think it was a good idea to go to the county town to write letters, but after writing for a whole day yesterday, he no longer wanted to write.

This morning, he wanted to pretend that he overslept and couldn't get up, but Sang Jingying didn't buy it and beat him up again.

He had no choice but to follow Sang Jingying and continue to go to the county town to earn money.

When the two arrived at the store, only the apprentice was there, and Manager Hong had not arrived yet.

Sang Jingying didn't waste any time. He took a pen and paper and started writing letters for others. He also threatened Sang Jingxiong: "If you don't make 20 copper coins today, you won't have dinner!"

Sang Jingxiong said angrily: "Why!"

"Because I'm your brother, an elder brother is like a father."

"I would rather not have a brother like you. I would rather not be a member of the Sang family." Sang Jingxiong was angry.

Sang Jingying smiled and said, "Then you should return the money your family has spent on you. From childhood to adulthood, you have spent a lot of money on food, clothing, housing, transportation and education."

Where did Sang Jingxiong get the money? He was indignant and started writing letters.

Seeing this, Sang Jingying continued writing.

Not long after the two of them wrote, Manager Hong came to the store with Hong Xu and a young man.

Shopkeeper Hong asked Sang Jingying, "Jingying, your sister didn't come today?"

Sang Jingying said, "Grandpa Hong, my sister is not feeling well and needs to rest for a few days."

"She is weak and should rest more." Shopkeeper Hong said and glared at his younger son who looked relieved.

Hong Xu didn't notice the quarrel between his grandfather and uncle. He said to Sang Jingying, "It's a pity that Sister Sang didn't come. Do you know? My uncle said that the comic book we made together can be published!"

Sang Jingying opened her eyes wide in shock.

Hong Yongxiang smiled and took out two silver dollars and gave them to Sang Jingying: "I know an editor at a printing house. He wants to publish some comic books. Your sister and A Xu's second sister's collaboration on "Three Strikes on the White Bone Demon" is just right. I plan to give the book to him today. These two silver dollars are an advance payment for the manuscript fee."

Hong Yongxiang was not sure whether his friend was willing to publish this comic book. The so-called advance payment was given by him because he knew that the Sang family was not doing well and wanted to help them.

If it can be published, he will divide the royalties from his friends into two parts and give one part to Sang Jingyun. If it cannot be published...

Hong Yongxiang had already thought that if his friend was unwilling to publish, he would spend his own money to find a woodblock engraver to print a few books and sell them at the Hongxing Paper Store.

It costs a lot of money to hire someone to make woodblocks, so doing this will definitely result in a loss, but it is still worth it if it can make a few children happy. However, by then, there will be no subsequent royalties for the Sang family.

As a reporter, he earned 15 yuan a month, which was not low, but in the concession, everything was expensive.

He has to rent a house and he doesn't cook. Sometimes he will donate some money when there are fundraising events, but his salary is barely enough to cover his living expenses.

Sang Jingying took the two silver dollars and was at a loss as to what to do when she heard Hong Yongxiang say, "I'm in a hurry to get back to the concession, so I'm leaving now."

Hong Yongxiang left after saying this.

Sang Jingying could only look at Shopkeeper Hong: "Grandpa Hong, this money..."

Shopkeeper Hong said, "Yongxiang gives it to you, just take it. When your sister's book is published, you can get another sum of money."

Sang Jingying thought about it and finally accepted the money.
If this book cannot be published, I can just return it when the time comes.

With two more silver dollars in his pocket, Sang Jingying had more motivation to write letters. He kept dipping the pen in his hand into ink.

He was busy writing, but he did not forget to watch Sang Jingxiong write.

Sang Jingxiong was not very happy and wanted to complain, but Sang Jingying wrote more than him, and even Sang Jingyun, whom he had always looked down upon, could earn two dollars.

He didn't even know what else he could complain about.

Under the pressure from Sang Jingying, Sang Jingxiong wrote twenty letters that day!
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, there should have been fewer people coming to write letters, but the news that they could write letters for only two copper coins had spread, so there were still fifty or sixty people coming to them every day.

After finishing his work that day, Sang Jingying touched the money in his pocket and felt his steps become lighter.

He had a lot of money, but he didn't dare spend it.

He put the money into his pocket, held the pocket with his hands to prevent the coins from making noises, and then ran quickly home.

Sang Jingxiong didn't do much exercise on weekdays, and his legs were not as long as Sang Jingying's. He was out of breath while chasing after her, and cursed Sang Jingying hundreds of times in his heart.

When Sang Jingying and Sang Jingxiong ran home, someone came to the Sang family.

Mrs. Zhang, along with a maid and two servants, knocked on the Sang family's door.

Sang Jingyun had just put down his pen when there was a knock on the door.

For ordinary people, writing novels is difficult. Many people have to revise them repeatedly and spend a lot of time to write a few thousand words.

But Sang Jingyun had written online novels for more than ten years in her previous life, and the total number of words in her works was nearly 20 million. Having written so many, writing novels was not a difficult task for her.

This time, she wrote a martial arts novel that was very common and very easy to write for her, and there was no mobile phone to distract her... She wrote very quickly, and including the thousand words she wrote yesterday, she had already written nearly six thousand words.

Her hands started to hurt again and she couldn't bear it anymore, so she decided to continue tomorrow.

Hearing the knock on the door, Sang Jingyun looked towards Sang Qianshi.

These days, Sang Xuewen often couldn't help wanting to escape, so the gate of their house was not only bolted, but also locked with a copper lock.

The key was with Sang Qianshi. She put all the keys in the house into a bunch and hung it close to her chest.

Sang Qian was lighting a fire behind the stove. Hearing this, she asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me, from the Zhang family." Mrs. Zhang said.

"It's the Zhang family...please wait a minute." Sang Qian quickly locked Sang Xuewen into the room, took out the key bunch from her chest and locked Sang Xuewen up, then went to open the door.

With her at home, even if Sang Xuewen wanted to run away, she could stop him, but it was not good to chase each other in front of outsiders.

In order to prevent Sang Xuewen from being embarrassed, she simply locked him up.

Sang Qian opened the door and said, "Mr. Zhang, please come in and sit down. Ah Yun, go make some tea."

Mrs. Zhang had been waiting outside the door for a while. She was in a bad mood and didn't want to get involved with the Sang family. She said coldly, "No need to make tea, just talk about business."

Sang Qian was puzzled.

Madam Zhang said, "Aunt Sang, I'm renting this house to you for two silver dollars a month. That's considered cheap, right? You can't default on the rent any longer."

Sang Qian looked embarrassed, then said, "I'll bring the rent right away."

Mrs. Zhang said, "Wait, you didn't pay the rent last month. This month is already halfway through, so you should pay the rent. It costs four silver dollars."

Sang Qian froze in her tracks.

After paying back Boss Li, the Sang family had about four silver dollars left.

In the past few days, Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying earned some money, and she and Lu Ying also earned a little, which added up to quite a bit.

But their family needs to spend money to live.

Buying rice, vegetables and firewood all costs money. Not long ago, Sang Qian bought 100 kilograms of cheap broken rice and 10 kilograms of white rice for only three silver dollars.

The money she had now could only amount to two silver dollars at most.

Mrs. Zhang saw Sang Qian's dilemma.

She smiled and said, "Aunt, you know that people are moving to the concessions now. Business in the county town is getting harder and harder. We have a large family and high expenses... We rely on the rent to supplement our family income. It's not good to let you live here for free."

(End of this chapter)