Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 19 Interview
Shen Yan's editor-in-chief is Li Yuqiu...

He likes Gu Long very much, and specially serialized Gu Long's "Sword Qi and Book Fragrance" in martial arts version!

"Sword Qi and Book Fragrance" is very bad.

Gu Long's early martial arts novels had not yet formed his own style, and he still imitated martial arts authors such as Jin Yong and Wolongsheng. "Sword Qi and Book Fragrance" is actually similar to his first novel "Sky Sword"...

He is completely different from the great martial arts writer who created "The Sentimental Swordsman".

Whether in temperament, talent, sentiment, moral character, or mind - there is no similarity at all.

Sword Qi and Book Fragrance…

Many people think that Gu Long only wrote the beginning and hired someone else to write the sequel!

In fact, among Gu Long's early works, only "Fragrant Sword Rain" is worth reading. "Fragrant Sword Rain" is one of Gu Long's "Famous Jianghu Works" series.

Gu Long's style began with The Swordsman in 1964, gradually gained momentum, and reached full maturity with The Sentimental Swordsman in 1968...

During this period, his works began to be serialized in Hong Kong's "Martial Arts World", the most authoritative magazine of Hong Kong martial arts literature, with a large circulation covering Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and even Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States...

"Wulin Waishi", "Peerless Twins", "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang", "The Sentimental Swordsman"...

All created during this period!

By the way, the Lu Xiaofeng series originated from Jin Yong's invitation to write a novel. I feel that Gu Long was too serious about it and was a little restrained...

At that time, Jin Yong had retired from writing and wanted Gu Long to take over, so he serialized his martial arts novels in Ming Pao...

So, Gu Long created the "Lu Xiaofeng" series.

Back to the topic, after watching Lotus Tower, Li Yuqiu was very excited. He had been looking for a martial arts writer in the style of Gu Long, as he had been looking for a martial arts writer in the style of Jin Yong. Lotus Tower clearly borrowed from Gu Long's detective martial arts, and the character design was based on The Sentimental Swordsman...

During the serialization of "Kunlun", the "Martial Arts Edition" was in great demand, with sales reaching 76 copies a month...

So does "Lotus Tower" have a chance to reach new heights?

He really wants to know about 'Fried Husky'...

So he personally conducted the interview this time.

Arriving at Huairou Film and Television City, I made a phone call and found a restaurant. At noon, Shen Yan came over...

Li Yuqiu knew that Shen Yan was not very old. Shen Yan had said that he was 21 years old.

But he didn't expect that this man was so handsome!
Standing in front of Li Yuqiu, Shen Yan had a straight back, broad shoulders and a level back, and the proportions of his upper and lower body were harmonious...

He has the kind of beauty that the ancients often described as a gentleman with a sturdy figure, a tall stature and a strong character.

'Ji Zhongsan has the appearance of a dragon and a phoenix, and the solitary pine stands alone with a long sigh!'

When he first met him, Li Yuqiu remembered a sentence in "Book of Jin: Biography of Ji Kang" that described the beauty of Ji Kang!

Shen Yan greeted first: "Are you Editor Li?"

“…Are you a fried husky?”

"right…"

“…Hurry up and sit down!”

Li Yuqiu asked him to sit down, and then exclaimed: "You are so good-looking!"

Shen Yan smiled: "Many people say so..."

"Are you an actor?"

Shen Yan thought for a moment and said, "Not yet, I'm just a small actor in the group..."

“…Aren’t cast members considered actors?”

"I'm afraid you'll ask me what roles I've played... Actually, I've only played background roles. I previously played a few small roles in Zhang Li's film 'The Right Path of Life is Vicissitudes'..."

"'The Right Path in the World is Vicissitudes'?"

"This summer, it should be airing. It's a TV series starring Sun Honglei and Huang Zhizhong..."

Hearing him say this, Li Yuqiu remembered something: "So you haven't been to college?"

Shen Yan nodded: "No, I followed my second uncle to the crew during my high school graduation season. Because of my appearance, the director assigned me a few roles... and then I became an actor. Editor Li, let's order!"

"Okay..." I ordered three dishes: three fresh vegetables, big plate chicken, and pickled cabbage...

"No, I don't want to drink. I have a show this afternoon!"

"...You're already writing novels, and you're still an actor?"

"This is my job."

Li Yuqiu was puzzled: "Will you continue to be a supporting actor in the future?"

"It depends... Actually, being an actor is quite fun!"

"What's the difference between being an actor in a group and being an extra?"

"Following a crew means following a group. Generally speaking, the crew will provide food and accommodation, and you must be available at any time... and your salary is paid monthly..."

"How much is it per month?"

"About four or five thousand..."

After chatting about Shen Yan's career for about twenty minutes, the food was served and Li Yuqiu got to the point: "Why did you want to write martial arts novels?"

"I like it, and I feel that many things written by so-called famous writers are just so-so... so I tried it myself!"

"A famous family is just like that? What does that mean?"

“…It just doesn’t feel right. I’ve always felt that Guo Jing should have accepted Genghis Khan’s proposal and become the King of Song!

In fact, Guo Jing is the most formal member of Genghis Khan's Golden Family. He grew up following Genghis Khan. Mongolian is Guo Jing's mother tongue, and the prairie is where he grew up. Guo Jing is a genuine Mongolian aristocrat with several thousand troops under his command. This is Mu Huali.

His title of "Golden Sword Prince Consort" was merely a reward for his military exploits against Jamukha. Guo Jing was first a Wan Hu, then a Golden Sword Prince Consort... After conquering Samarkand, even if he, a Wan Hu, didn't want to become the King of Song, his Qian Husbands would force him to do so. Not only the Qian Husbands, but also Lu Youjiao of the Quanzhen Sect and the Beggars' Sect would force him to do so. No matter whose interests were at stake, Guo Jing had no turning back.

Li Yuqiu smiled bitterly: "...If you really write it like this, you don't respect history!"

"Yes, respect history... That's why the martial arts I write are detached from history!"

“But without history…there’s no depth!”

"So, I don't like Jin Yong. I think martial arts novels are just martial arts novels. I prefer "The Sentimental Swordsman"..."

"Did you know that the protagonist of 'The Sentimental Swordsman' was originally going to be Ah Fei?"

"I know..." Shen Yan nodded. "I've read a lot of information. Gu Long was originally planning to write a sequel to 'Wulin Waishi'. Ah Fei is the illegitimate son of the great hero Shen Lang and Bai Feifei. I heard that when he wrote 'The Sentimental Swordsman', he borrowed inspiration from 'The Return of the Condor Heroes' and wanted to shape Li Xunhuan into a character similar to Guo Jing... Ah Fei is Yang Guo... He never expected Li Xunhuan to be so popular!"

Not only that, Ah Fei’s experience is actually similar to Gu Long’s own!
The most exciting part of "The Sentimental Swordsman" is that Ah Fei claimed that he killed Plum Blossom Bandit, Tian Qi, Zhao Zhengyi and other "martial arts predecessors" but they slandered him.

The setting of these characters is very clever. They are said to be veterans but their martial arts skills are not very high.

Gu Long himself once said, "The only Taiwanese martial arts writer I've ever been a fan of is Sima Ling."

Because in the early days, Gu Long had to ghostwrite for these predecessors!

He looked down on many so-called seniors, but still had to write for them and attribute his own work to them - even though he also had others write for him when he became famous, haha.

Gu Long's personality is that of a person who appears to be very kind to everyone but is actually very clear-headed in his heart. In real life, he treats people like Wolongsheng and Zhuge Qingyun politely, helps them write for him in card games, and sneaks into their circle, but in his heart he writes about Tian Qi and Zhao Zhengyi to expose the true face of the seniors in this circle.

Li Yuqiu nodded. "'The Sentimental Swordsman' is so well written. I still remember the first paragraph: 'The cold wind is like a knife, treating the earth like a chopping board, and all living things are like fish; the snow flies for thousands of miles, turning the sky into a furnace, melting all things into silver.'"

The opening section of "The Jade Knife" describing the spring scenery in the south of the Yangtze River is also excellent... 'In late spring in March, when the grass grows long and warblers fly in all directions, a spring breeze carrying the fragrance of peach blossoms blows across the earth, as gentle as a lover's breath. The green water ripples in the spring breeze. A pair of swallows have just flown out of the peach blossom forest and landed on the vermilion railings of the small bridge, whispering to each other, but no one knows what they are saying...'

The two chatted for over an hour. When they were about to pay the bill, Li Yuqiu suddenly remembered something: "What do you think of Bu Feiyan's suggestion to kill Jin Yong a while ago?"

Oh, it should be the year before last. At the award ceremony of the 3rd Jin Gu Chuan Qi and Huang Yi Wuxia Literature Awards held in Beijing, Bu Feiyan, who won the third prize, made a statement: we must transcend the orthodoxy and classics of "Jin Gu Wen Liang Huang" and so on. "It's time for us to talk about revolution!"

This statement was later summarized by the media as "Bu Feiyan wants to 'kill' Jin Yong!
Shen Yan waved his hand: "He is a PhD in Chinese Language and Literature from Peking University. I dare not express my opinion."

"Just chatting."

Shen Yan thought for a moment and said, "I feel like it's like the ending of The Return of the Condor Heroes, when a bunch of unknown people were clamoring for a sword fight on Mount Hua..."

"Which of the 'Martial Arts Version' works do you like best?"

"I quite like Yang Xubai's 'Waving the Spear', Ma Ge's 'Records of the Jianghu', and Sheng Yan's 'Three Capitals Picture Book'..." After thinking for a moment, Shen Yan added, "However, I rarely read martial arts novels nowadays... I usually read online novels like 'Zhu Xian', 'Return to the Ming Dynasty as a Prince', and 'A Mortal's Journey to Immortality'..."

"Ah? You read online novels?"

"I also write an online novel called 'The Supreme One'. Please help me promote it. It will be serialized on Qidian..."

(End of this chapter)