I wrote novels in the Republic of China

Sang Jingyun heard clearly the conversation between Mrs. Sang and Mrs. Sang Qian, and she could also sense that Mrs. Zhang disliked their family.

The Zhang family rented such a big house to them for only two silver dollars a month, which was really cheap.

At that time in Shanghai, prices were very high, and rents and house prices were much higher than in Beijing. Although their house was on the outskirts of Shanghai county, it was not far from the county, and there were factories nearby. Even if they charged three yuan a month in rent, they could still rent it out.

Mr. Zhang only charged two yuan per month for rent out of consideration for her grandfather.

They should pay the rent, but at the moment, they really have no money.

During this period, the Sang Qian family consulted Sang Jingyun on everything, and Sang Jingyun also knew how much money they had left.

She smiled at Mrs. Zhang and started to discuss: "Aunt Zhang, how about we pay last month's rent today and then pay this month's rent tomorrow?"

She could borrow two silver dollars from Manager Hong and then pay him back slowly.

Mrs. Zhang looked at Sang Jingyun.

In the past, although Sang Jingyun was a little weak, she was satisfied with Sang Jingyun for Sang Yuanshan's sake. But at this moment, she felt that Sang Jingyun was not good in every way.

This little girl is too opinionated. She has a big family to support her and she is not in good health... Mrs. Zhang said sarcastically, "Tomorrow and tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there? You were able to pay off Boss Li before, so why can't you pay the rent now? Are you deliberately refusing to pay? Yes, your family owes a lot of foreign debts now. You are a shameless family."

Mrs. Zhang didn't come here just to collect the rent this time.

She just wanted to let the Sang family know that she was dissatisfied with them.

If the Sang family had any shame, they would definitely move out after seeing her attitude.

Sang Jingyun and Sang Qianshi were both annoyed when they heard Mrs. Zhang's impolite words.

There is nothing wrong with Mrs. Zhang coming to ask for rent, but her attitude is really unpleasant.

If it weren't for Sang Yuanshan, the Zhang family would never have their current fortune. After the Sang family fell into decline, the Zhang family did help, but Sang Yuanshan also did not go without reward.

Sang Yuanshan had been in business for many years and had a lot of connections, and he introduced some of them to Mr. Zhang Siye.

The Sang family does not owe the Zhang family anything. On the contrary, they have done the Zhang family a favor. Now that Sang Yuanshan has just left, the Zhang family has such an attitude, which is really contemptible.

Sang Jingyun was no longer polite: "Madam Zhang, it's not that we don't want to pay the rent, we just want to pay it one day later. Is that not possible? Is this how your Zhang family does business? I'm going to go to the county town to ask around tomorrow!"

Mrs. Zhang's face changed when she heard this. If Sang Jingyun made a fuss, her family's acquaintances would definitely laugh at them, and her husband would definitely be angry.

She could only say, "Then you should pay last month's rent, and pay the rest tomorrow."

Sang Jingyun looked at Sang Qianshi: "Grandma, go get the money."

Sang Qian had given her two dimes before and asked her to keep it for emergency use, but she had already given the two dimes to Alan yesterday.

At this moment, she was penniless.

Sang Qian went in and soon took out two strings of copper coins.

There are one hundred and thirty copper coins in this string. According to the exchange rate between silver dollars and copper coins in the past two days, one hundred and twenty-eight copper coins can be exchanged for one silver dollar, so it is a little more than two silver dollars.

"Here are two hundred and sixty copper coins." Sang Qian gave the copper coins in her hand to Mrs. Zhang.

Mrs. Zhang looked disgusted and said, "You don't even have a silver dollar in your family?"

Sang Jingyun heard this and said, "Yes, we don't have any silver dollars. Madam, would you like to count these copper coins? After all, your family is having a hard time now, and you are counting on these coins."

Mrs. Zhang was extremely angry when she heard what Sang Jingyun said.

In Mrs. Zhang's imagination, Sang Jingyun should curry favor with her. After all, only by pleasing her would Sang Jingyun have a chance to marry into her family. She didn't expect Sang Jingyun to have such an attitude.

She knew that Sang Jingyun was not a good person, and she would never agree to let Sang Jingyun marry into her family!

Madam Zhang said, "You little girl are quite sharp-tongued. Do you still think you are the same old lady?"

After saying that, she looked at Sang Qian again and said, "Aunt Sang, your family's upbringing is really bad. Not only does a girl go out to show her face in public, but she also talks back to her elders. Be careful that she won't be able to get married!"

"You said I was showing up in public, but today, didn't you also show up in public to ask for rent? As for your tutor, you speak so harshly, but your tutor is really good." Sang Jingyun mocked her.

Sang Qianshi also said, "Zhang family, you don't have to worry about our family's affairs. Since you are so idle, why don't you take care of your man who has a mistress outside, so that he won't give all his money to women and children outside. Oh, you can't control him, no wonder you treat the two silver dollars as treasures and want to vent your anger on us."

"You...you get out of my house!" Mrs. Zhang was furious because her sore spot was hit.

"What happened?" Sang Jingying hurried over, followed by Sang Jingxiong who was out of breath.

Sang Jingyun said: "She came to ask for rent."

"Want rent? I have some here." Sang Jingying took out two silver dollars.

Sang Jingyun didn't expect that Sang Jingying actually had silver dollars on her. She took the two silver dollars and threw them at Madam Zhang, saying, "Take this month's rent and get out of here!"

Mrs. Zhang was extremely angry, but the Sang family had already entered the yard and closed the door.

Mrs. Zhang kicked the gate, turned around, got on a rickshaw outside, and asked someone to take her back.

Today, she waited for her youngest son to return to the concession before rushing over. It was getting a little late, so she had to go back quickly.

If Fourth Master Zhang came back for dinner and didn't see her, he would definitely tell on her.

Mrs. Zhang hurried back to the Zhang family, but learned that Mr. Zhang Si was staying outside today and would not be returning home, which made her even angrier.

She had no appetite for dinner, so she went into the room, lay down on the bed, and started crying.

The Sang family didn't know what happened to Mrs. Zhang.

After she left, Sang Qian asked Sang Jingyun, "Ayun, should we move out?"

Sang Jingyun said: "Grandma, why should we move out? No!"

When they first moved in, the house was dirty. They slowly cleaned it up, scraped together money to buy some new things, and repaired the roof.

I also started planting vegetables in the yard recently.

It would be a shame to move away now!
They also don't have the money to move.

Moreover, given Sang Xuewen's situation, a bigger house is needed to house him, but such a house is hard to find.

Sang Jingyun knew that Madam Zhang came to them and wanted to drive them away, but she refused to leave!

There is no hatred between the two families, and the Zhang family still has some dignity. Mrs. Zhang will not do anything except say a few unpleasant words to them.

In that case, they just continue to live there.

In fact, Sang Jingyun felt that Mrs. Zhang’s reaction was a little strange. In those days, Shanghai County was a society based on personal relationships.

Except for a few people who work for foreigners and like to treat themselves as dogs of foreigners and bully their compatriots all day long, the vast majority of businessmen believe in making money through harmony and attach great importance to reputation.

Mrs. Zhang's behavior today is really wrong.

Thinking of the big news revealed by Sang Qian, Sang Jingyun suspected that she was provoked by Mr. Zhang Si and came to vent her anger on them.

"That's right. The Zhang family has received so many benefits from our family, so it's only right that they give us this house." Sang Qian said.

When they first moved in, Mr. Zhang actually said that he would give them the house and some money.

It was because Sang Yuanshan didn't want to use up all his affection at once that he didn't want it.

Before, Sang Yuanshan had told her that when the family was really in trouble, she could ask the Zhang family to marry Sang Jingyun to Zhang Zhuangmao.

Who would have thought that the Zhang family would turn their backs on Sang Yuanshan as soon as he left. "Anyway, we won't move for now. When we have more money, we'll try to find a good house to live in," said Sang Jingyun.

There is no way to move now, but I will definitely have to move in the future.

In addition, this Zhang family must be kept away.

Sang Jingyun immediately decided that in the martial arts novel he wrote, the friend of the protagonist's father who wiped out the protagonist's entire family would be named Zhang, and ranked fourth.

The name is definitely different, but others also call him Master Zhang Si.

After making the decision, Sang Jingyun asked Sang Jingying: "Aying, where did you get those two silver dollars?"

Sang Jingying said: "Sister, this is the royalties given by Uncle Hong Xu."

He talked about the comic book.

When Sang Jingyun asked Hong Xu to make the comic book, he also thought about publishing it.

She also thought that Manager Hong’s store could sell or rent out picture books. This would not make a lot of money, but it would still bring in more income.

When she was a child in her previous life, she loved to rent books from rental bookstores.

Sang Jingyun had thought about it a lot before, but because the comic book had not been made yet, he never mentioned it.

Now that she knew there was a chance for publication, she was very surprised and asked, "Hong Xu's uncle is actually a newspaper reporter and knows the editor of the publishing house?"

"Yes." Sang Jingying said.

Sang Jingyun was very upset.

Her period came at an inopportune time this time.

If she had not had her period and was still helping people write letters in the county town, she would have met Hong Yongxiang and could have asked him for help in submitting her novel.

But soon, Sang Jingyun came to his senses.

If she hadn't had her period, she would definitely not have written the new work yet.

It doesn't matter if we get to know each other a few days later. I can wait until she writes 20,000 or 30,000 words, and then ask her to help submit it.

Before knowing that Manager Hong's youngest son was a journalist, Sang Jingyun planned to let Sang Jingying take her work and submit it directly to the newspaper.

If it were in modern times, submitting manuscripts to a publishing house would be very simple; you just need to send the document directly.

But now there are no computers or documents, only manuscripts.

Of course she could submit her manuscript by mail, but the mailing system in the early years of the Republic of China was very unreliable. If her manuscript was lost, she would have to rewrite it and recopy it.

In this chaotic era, we cannot rule out the extreme possibility that someone will take her manuscripts for themselves. If such a thing really happens, she will have nowhere to appeal.

Therefore, it is better to submit your manuscript in person.

As for why she didn't go herself but asked Sang Jingying to go, it was because at that time, the people who serialized novels in newspapers were basically men, and the newspaper editors were also men. Seeing that she was a young girl, they might not be willing to publish her work, or they might try to lower the price.

This was the Beiyang government period. There had been a riot at the end of last year. The New Culture Movement had just begun and the status of women was not high.

Ordinary middle schools and universities in the country do not even admit female students.

Shanghai finally had a girls' middle school in recent years, and looking at the entire country, the first women's university was only established last year, and that school was built by Americans.

Old scholars believed that women should stay at home to take care of their husbands and children, while reading and writing were men's jobs.

After failing to find a job, Sang Jingyun thought about speaking up for women and writing a few novels about women's liberation, but now she is short of money.

It would be better to write a martial arts novel first to make some money, and then think about other things.

Submitting articles is a troublesome thing for Sang Jingyun, but if Hong Yongxiang is willing to help, things will be much simpler.

Listening to Sang Jingying's description, Hong Yongxiang did not discriminate against women, and Sang Jingyun felt that he should be willing to help.

In addition, since the other party is very interested in picture books, it is also possible for her to take the time to write a few more picture books.

The comic book is rich in pictures and texts, but the number of words is really small.

As for what to write, in this era of transition from the old to the new, there are so many things to write about. Those related to idioms can be "Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains", "Looking at the Plum to Quench Thirst", "Covering One's Ears to Steal the Bell", etc.

For mythology-related articles, you can write "Creation of the World", "Nuwa Creates Humans", "Kuafu Chases the Sun", etc.

As for the four great classics, "Journey to the West" can directly become a series, and "Water Margin" can also have "Wu Song Fighting the Tiger", "Taking the Birthday Gift by Strategy", "Uprooting the Weeping Willow" and the like. These already have their own special dramas, and if they are made into picture books, there will definitely be people willing to read them.

Sang Jingyun hated that he didn’t have ten hands so he couldn’t write enough.

Although Mrs. Zhang was a bit annoying, everyone was very happy at dinner because Sang Jingyun received two silver dollars in royalties for writing comic books.

Sang Qian praised Sang Jingyun again and again and was very proud of him.

"Ayun, were you writing comic books during the day today?" asked Sang Qian.

Sang Jingyun said, "What I wrote today was not a comic book, but another story. After reading the newspaper, I wanted to write a martial arts story, so I submitted it to try."

Sang Jingxiong said, "How can it be that easy to submit a story? You definitely can't do it."

Sang Jingxiong actually looks down on his family.

His father is a useless person, his grandmother and mother are illiterate, and his sister is just a woman.

The only person he admired was Sang Jingying, but he felt that he was better than Sang Jingying. After all, he skipped a grade and Sang Jingying did not.

He suffered the loss of being born three years late.

Sang Qian scolded Sang Jingxiong: "Jingxiong, how can you talk to your sister like that?"

Sang Jingxiong stopped talking.

Sang Jingyun ignored Sang Jingxiong and said to Sang Qianshi with a smile, "Grandma, I'll read to you when I write more."

She had only written 6,000 words so far, and felt that there was not much substance, so she planned to write a little more, revise it, and then read it to her family.

"Okay, we'll listen to the story written by Ayun together then. It must be interesting." Sang Qian smiled.

Sang Jingxiong felt uncomfortable again.

His sister only knew a few words and couldn't understand many books, but everyone in the family praised her as if she was so great.

Having finished his meal, Sang Jingxiong left the table with a sullen face.

At this moment, he suddenly found a stack of papers full of words on the domino bench next to him.

This must be something his sister wrote.

What kind of thing could his sister, a woman, write? He wanted to go and read it so that he could make fun of his sister!
Sang Jingxiong rushed over, picked up the stack of papers and started looking at it.

With the remaining light of the setting sun, Sang Jingxiong saw the pencil words on the paper: "The night is as dark as ink, the wind is howling, and several black shadows are rushing like ghosts, approaching Mingjian Villa..."

Seems quite interesting? Sang Jingxiong continued reading.

(End of this chapter)