Against the Current Hong Kong 1979

The editorial office of Ming Pao is located at 399 Jaffe Road, Wan Chai.

Jin Yong rented four floors here as the office space for the entire newspaper, but all of them were on the third floor and above.

When Zhang Shuai'an walked to the front of the building, he found that the building was gray and had a rustic feel to it, and was not particularly high-end.

Upon reaching the main entrance, I saw the Ming Pao sign. The handwriting was quite good; I wondered if it was Jin Yong's own handwriting.

People were constantly coming and going from the building, and security wasn't very tight; there was only one security guard at the entrance.

Zhang Shuai'an walked over and greeted the security guard: "Hello, I'm here to submit an article to Ming Pao. How do I get into the editorial department?"

"Submitting a piece?" The security guard looked Zhang Shuai'an up and down and casually said, "Go to the fourth floor, turn right after you get off the elevator."

"Thank you," Zhang Shuai'an said, then entered the elevator and went directly to the fourth floor.

When he reached the fourth floor, he smelled the odor of ink, and there were many people working in the cubicles behind the corner.

Sitting closest to the door was a charming woman in her thirties wearing glasses. When she noticed Zhang Shuai'an's gaze, she suddenly looked up.

She asked, "Is there something you need?"

"Hello, I'm here to submit a manuscript," Zhang Shuai'an replied.

The elegant woman adjusted her glasses and asked, "Which version did you submit?"

"The supplement, the novel," Zhang Shuai'an replied.

The elegant woman nodded, then pulled out a registration form from beside her and handed it to Zhang Shuai'an: "Please fill out this form first. By the way, did you bring the manuscript?"

"I brought it." Zhang Shuai'an took out the manuscript bag he had been holding in his arms and handed it over.

"So thick?" The elegant woman took the manuscript, somewhat surprised. "It must be fifty or sixty thousand words long, right? How many words does your book have in total?"

Zhang Shuai'an responded with a smile: "A short story, 150,000 words."

The elegant woman widened her eyes and said with amusement, "Anything over 100,000 words is a novel, and yours of 150,000 words is considered a short story? Young man, you're quite arrogant."

Zhang Shuai'an was stunned for a moment. Was 100,000 words considered a long novel?

He quickly came to his senses; he had misunderstood. In his later years, he often read online novels that were five or six million words long, which led him to develop the habit of not reading novels with less than one million words.

When the topic of novels comes up, he instinctively thinks of two or three million words.

The elegant woman glanced sideways at Zhang Shuai'an: "You don't mind if I take a look first, do you?"

Zhang Shuai'an replied, "You're an editor; assessing the quality of a novel is your job, you don't need to ask for my opinion."

The elegant woman smiled and opened the manuscript bag, taking out a large stack of handwritten manuscripts.

"Shattering the void?"

Upon seeing those four words, a sense of grandeur and magnificence washed over her. She flipped to another page: "Martial arts novels?"

While she was reading the novel, Zhang Shuai'an was filling out a manuscript registration form, which included his name, age, home address, and contact number. One item made him hesitate for a moment: the "pen name" field.

Should we use a pen name, or just use his real name?

After thinking for a while, Zhang Shuai'an decided to choose the name of his favorite character from all of Huang Yi's novels, "Xiang Shaolong".

A few minutes later, Zhang Shuai'an put down his pen and asked, "Hello, I'm done filling it out! What's next?"

"Ah? Oh." The voluptuous woman finally came to her senses, looking at Zhang Shuai'an with a somewhat complicated expression: "This...this really was written by you?"

Zhang Shuai'an smiled, showing no embarrassment whatsoever: "Of course. Have you seen it somewhere else?"

"No, not at all." The elegant woman's face showed a hint of apology. "Your novel... really does have a fresh feel to it. I'm a little undecided and need to discuss it with the editor-in-chief. I wonder if you could wait a little while?"

Zhang Shuai'an nodded and said, "Of course, that's no problem."

The elegant woman picked up the manuscript and stood up: "Yanzi, please entertain this gentleman..."

"My name is Zhang Shuai'an," Zhang Shuai'an replied.

The elegant woman replied, "Please entertain this Mr. Zhang and make him a cup of hot tea. I'll go upstairs to find the editor-in-chief; I'll be right back."

With that, she grabbed the manuscript and hurried upstairs.

A moment later, someone came over with a cup of hot tea: "Hello, please have some tea."

"Thank you, Yan Xiao... Hmm?" Zhang Shuai'an didn't expect that the person named Yan Zi was actually a man, and a young man in his thirties at that.

Yanzi laughed and replied, "My surname is Yan, and my pen name is Yanzi. Our editor-in-chief, Hu, has the pen name Sima Changfeng, and another pen name, Yan Jingwen. Our boss also has a pen name, Yao Fulan. Don't they sound like girls? Haha."

Zhang Shuai'an could only awkwardly laugh along a few times.

……

the other side.

The elegant woman went upstairs, which was mainly the office space for the editor-in-chief and editors of Ming Pao.

At this time, Lin Zhedong and Hu Juren were on duty. Hu Juren was in charge of literary criticism, while Lin Zhedong was in charge of novel review.

"Editor-in-Chief Lin." The elegant woman knocked on the doorframe. "I have a new author's manuscript that I'd like you to review."

Lin Zhedong was engrossed in organizing some documents when he heard this. He immediately looked up and said, "Wow, there are even drafts that you, Fairy Chilian, can't decide on?"

"It is a bit... take a look." The elegant woman quickly handed the manuscript in her hand to Lin Zhedong.

Hu Juren, who was standing nearby, also became interested and stretched out her hand: "Let me see too."

Lin Zhedong skillfully divided the manuscript in two and handed over the second half.

Hu Juren didn't mind and started reading from the middle, still enjoying it immensely. In fact, because the climaxes were all in the second half, it was even more exhilarating.

Lin Zhedong read the first half and found that the foreshadowing and foreshadowing were subtle and intricate. The writing style, the pacing, the control... it really didn't seem like the style of a newcomer, but it seemed that no famous martial arts writer in the industry had this style.

"This book..."

Lin Zhedong read very quickly. After finishing the first half, he immediately exchanged the text with Hu Juren.

"Hey, hey, I haven't finished reading it yet," Hu Juren protested.

Lin Zhedong ignored him, immersing himself in the story and feeling the "Tao" spirit in the book, which was truly irresistible.

"I can't order this book either. I'll go find the old man."

After a moment's thought, Lin Zhedong stood up, snatched the upper half back from Hu Juren, and ran upstairs.

Hu Juren slammed her fist on the table in anger: "Hey, you idiot... at least let me finish reading it! This is so half-hearted!"

……

At this moment, the atmosphere in the president's office was a little awkward.

Ni Kuang was lounging on Jin Yong's desk, half his buttocks on the edge of the desk, a fountain pen dangling from his hand.

"Mr. Cha, just tell me whether you'll increase the royalties or not." Ni Kuang grinned, his tone somewhat roguish: "Yi Shu, Yan Ni, and several other writers have all expressed their opinions. If you don't increase the royalties, we're going on strike."

In fact, this is the third time that Ni Kuang and his team have increased the royalties.

Don't be fooled by the fact that they add to the newspaper every time they make a fuss; the amount they add is negligible compared to other newspapers.

Therefore, Ni Kuang and his group still had to come and "protest" for their wages every now and then.

Jin Yong sat behind his desk, wearing his signature black-rimmed glasses, holding a report in his hand, without looking up: "Wesley's sales have been good lately?"

"Not bad, not bad." Ni Kuang's tone was not without arrogance, but then he realized the other party's intention and added, "But prices have gone up, even pork is expensive, it wouldn't make sense for royalties not to go up."

"Pork is expensive, so eat less of it," Jin Yong said slowly. "You should also take care of your health; there's nothing wrong with being vegetarian."

Ni Kuang choked for a moment, and was about to continue arguing when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Jin Yong said.

Lin Zhedong, holding a manuscript, pushed open the door and walked in. He was taken aback when he saw that Ni Kuang was still there.

"Sir," Lin Zhedong stepped forward, "I have a manuscript I'd like you to take a look at."

Jin Yong was somewhat surprised: "Oh? What manuscript are you unsure about?"

"A new author submitting a martial arts novel," Lin Zhedong said, "but the writing... doesn't seem like that of a new author."

Ni Kuang scoffed from the side, "What kind of tricks can a newcomer write? Ah Dong, you must have misjudged him."

"Let me see." Jin Yong ignored Ni Kuang and took the manuscript.

He first looked at the title, then the beginning, and then turned the pages one by one.

The office fell silent.

Ni Kuang was initially indifferent, but seeing Jin Yong reading so intently, he gradually became curious as well.

He leaned closer, tilting his head to watch.

After reading a few pages, his expression immediately changed.

He's an expert; he can see the difference at a glance.

The novel's structure, pacing, and character development all exude a seasoned sophistication.

Especially that effortless narrative style—it's either a natural talent or a case of "an old clay sculpture getting a makeover—pretending to be a newcomer!"

However, the handwriting on the manuscript paper was very young, neat and strong, unlike the handwriting of an older writer.

Jin Yong, having read up to the seventh chapter, put down the manuscript, took off his glasses, and asked, "Where is the author?"

Lin Zhedong replied, "I'll wait in the supplement editorial office downstairs."

"Please invite him up," Jin Yong said solemnly. "I want to see him."

For some reason, Ni Kuang had a very bad feeling that the plan to increase manuscript fees was most likely to fall through.