A Literary Life Starting from the First Year of High School

March 4th, Saturday.

At 9:30 a.m., Lin Shubai's phone vibrated.

Su Wan's text message: "What are you doing today? I'm bored."

Lin Shubai thought for a moment and typed: "Let's go for a walk. Do you want to come?"

"Where to?"

"I don't know. Just wandering around."

"Then wait for me, see you downstairs at ten o'clock."

Lin Shubai changed his clothes and went downstairs, where Su Wan was already waiting at the entrance of the building.

Today she wore a light blue light jacket, her hair was tied in a low ponytail, and her canvas bag still had that silly little bear keychain from the amusement park hanging on it.

"Let's go." She gestured with her chin toward Lin Shubai.

The two walked out of the residential area. At the foot of the wall by the roadside, the forsythia was in bloom, a bright yellow, covering a large area.

"Where to?" Su Wan asked.

"I'd like to check if they still have 'The Little Prince' in stock at the Xinhua Bookstore on Nanjing Road."

"You're still worrying about this? Doesn't the publisher give you reports?"

"It's different when you take a look for yourself."

The Xinhua Bookstore is located in the middle of the pedestrian street. The glass window at the entrance displays new book recommendations, with a stack of "The Little Prince" in the most prominent position. Next to it stands a small sign that reads "This Month's Bestseller".

The two pushed open the door and went inside. There weren't many people in the bookstore. It was a Saturday morning, but the educational materials section was bustling with activity, as several parents were picking out workbooks with their children.

It was past eleven o'clock when they came out of the bookstore. Su Wan said she was hungry, so the two of them turned into a small alley next to Nanjing Road. There was a pan-fried dumpling shop in the alley. The storefront was not big, but there were five or six people queuing up in front of it.

"Let's go with this place. Liu Yang said it was delicious last time, and I've been wanting to try it."

After moving forward in the queue for about ten minutes, it was finally their turn. They ordered two pan-fried buns and two bowls of beef soup. The bottoms of the pan-fried buns were fried to a golden brown and sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallions. When they took a bite, the soup was so hot that Lin Shubai hissed. Su Wan laughed beside him.

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

"It's too hot."

"Then blow on it before you eat it."

The two sat on small stools at the shop entrance, each holding a plate of pan-fried dumplings, their hands covered in oil from eating.

After finishing their pan-fried dumplings, the two walked back along Nanjing Road. When they reached the street corner, Lin Shubai's phone rang.

It's Zhou Mingyuan.

"Kobayashi, where are you?"

"I just finished eating pan-fried buns on Nanjing Road."

"Perfect timing! Someone's on duty at the publishing house today. Would you like to come over and have a seat? Your 'The Little Prince' has been reprinted, 50,000 copies. We just printed a hardcover sample copy, you can take a look."

"I came with a friend, let me ask her."

Lin Shubai glanced at Su Wan and mouthed, "Are you going?" Su Wan nodded.

When they arrived at the publishing house, the receptionist was still the same young woman with round-framed glasses. She smiled when she saw Lin Shubai, pointed to the stairs, and said, "Editor-in-Chief Zhou is in his office."

The two went up to the fourth floor, where Zhou Mingyuan's office door was open.

Seeing Lin Shubai enter, he waved, and noticing Su Wan following behind, he nodded, "Is this your classmate?"

"Su Wan, she's from our literary society."

"sit."

Zhou Mingyuan picked up a hardcover copy of "The Little Prince" from the table and handed it over. The cover was similar to the regular edition, but it had an extra hard cover and a cloth spine that felt very high-quality to the touch.

"The deluxe edition will be released next month, priced a bit higher, and is specially given to collectors. We've also made some small pendants; I'll give you two when they're finished."

"That's great, but are you making a deluxe edition so early?" In Lin Shubai's mind, a deluxe edition should only be released after the product has failed to sell.

"Mainly because many readers have given feedback that they want a deluxe edition, we've been going along with that."

The three chatted for a while, mainly Lin Shubai and Zhou Mingyuan, while Su Wan listened from the side.

By the time they left the publishing house, it was already getting dark, so Lin Shubai and Su Wan went home.

......

After dinner, Lin Shubai sat at his desk with the desk lamp on, his notebook spread out in front of him, staring blankly at the ceiling for a while.

Actually, he wasn't spacing out; he was thinking about things. The publication of "Hope" and the publication of "Four Generations Under One Roof" were both coming to an end at the same time. He should have felt relieved, but instead, he felt empty inside.

The sample copies of "Hope" are all done and will be officially released next Monday. All the typesetting errors reported by the group leaders have been corrected. Mr. Zhao from the printing room said that all 300 copies can be printed by Tuesday. Mr. Chen has also confirmed that the placement of the book corners in each class has been coordinated.

The contract for "Four Generations Under One Roof" has been signed, the cover has been finalized, and it will be released at the end of the month. Wang Shouyi said he would receive a sample copy around next Wednesday and send one over. The publisher has already started promoting the book, and the Douban page has been created, although not many people know about it yet.

This feeling is a bit strange. From last September until now, he has been almost constantly rushing—rushing to finish manuscripts, rushing to competitions, rushing to publish, rushing to the literary society, as if he were being pushed forward by something and couldn't stop. Now that he has suddenly stopped, he feels like he has missed a step and feels empty inside.

"I need to find something to do," he thought to himself.

Write something new.

He sat up straight, opened his notebook, and flipped back page by page. The front page contained a list of works he had already unlocked: *The Gift of the Magi*, *Lunch*, *The Back View*, *Spring Blossom Noodle Shop*, *Charlotte's Web*, the *Feed Out* collection, *Red Sorghum*, *Life on a String*, *The Little Prince*, *Four Generations Under One Roof*, *Night on the Galactic Railroad*, *The Wrong Station*, *Blessing*...

Most of them have already been written. "Red Sorghum Family" is temporarily shelved; the timing isn't right. "Night on the Galactic Railroad" has been placed in the "Hope" magazine's Starry Night section.

"The New Year's Sacrifice" is a short story by Lu Xun. It is not long, but he has not yet figured out how to deal with it. That story is too cold, cold to the bone, and he doesn't really want to touch it now.

He consistently submitted two of Shinichi Hoshi's collected works to Science Fiction World every month.

His gaze continued downwards, settling on a name—

"The Invention of Hugo Cabrit".

This was triggered at the arcade last time; he only skimmed through it then and hadn't had a chance to look at it closely since. Now that he has some free time, he can finally take a serious look at it.

He closed his eyes and mentally reviewed the entire book from beginning to end.

The story is set in Paris in the 1930s. Twelve-year-old orphan Hugo hides in a wall compartment of a train station and is responsible for looking after all the clocks in the station. His father was a clockmaker who died in a fire, leaving behind only a broken mechanical doll and repair notes. Hugo firmly believes that the doll contains his father's last words and steals parts from all over to repair it.

During the process, he was captured by Méliès, the owner of a toy store, and met a kind girl named Isabelle. The two solved the mystery together and unexpectedly discovered that the silent and aloof Méliès was actually a pioneering master of fantasy films, and the doll was his work from his youth.

The story not only tells of a boy's loneliness, growth and redemption, but also awakens a forgotten film history, gently praising the power of love, perseverance and inheritance. Moreover, it is a picture book novel, and the original exquisite illustrations are now in his mind.

He picked up his pen and wrote a new title in his notebook.

"Hugo in the Clock Tower"

"Hugo in the Clock Tower"—this title is more concise and direct than the original title.

He continued writing down his adaptation ideas.

"He set the story in Shanghai in the 1930s. The name 'Old North Station' is good; it has a sense of history without being too specific. Shanghai at that time was a city of immigrants, a melting pot of all sorts of people, so it's reasonable for an orphan to hide in the train station."

The protagonist's name is Hugo, which can be kept, since foreign names were common in that era. His father was a clockmaker who died in a fire, so these details don't need much alteration. Although the name Hugo sounds sophisticated, it's not too outrageous in 1930s Shanghai. It sounds like a character from a foreign novel, but he happens to be an orphan living in a clock tower and making a living by stealing. He quite likes this contrast.

The key is the character of Méliès.

In the original work, Méliès was a real historical figure who filmed "A Trip to the Moon," later went bankrupt, and opened a toy store at the train station. Does this parallel world have a Méliès? He didn't know. To be on the safe side, he decided to change the old man to a Chinese person with the surname Méi, who had made films in Shanghai when he was young.

He thought for a moment and wrote down the words "Old Mei" in his notebook. Old Mei was a film director in his youth, and he made many fantasy short films. Later, war broke out, the film was destroyed, and he was heartbroken. He burned all the props and sets, opened a toy store at the train station, and adopted a daughter named Xiao Mei.

He drew a line under "film director," a setting that needed to be handled carefully. He wasn't familiar with the early history of Chinese cinema, but he didn't need to write too specifically. He simply said that Lao Mei had made films when he was young, but later, due to war or other reasons, the film stock was destroyed, and he was disheartened, so he opened a toy store at the train station.

"Old Mei - all his film works from his youth were lost (the film reels were destroyed), he was forgotten, and he made a living by running a toy store at the train station. He was taciturn and had an eccentric temper, but he was actually very soft-hearted."

He picked up his pen and began writing the main text.

"In 1930s Shanghai, the old North Railway Station was bustling with people. The sounds of steam locomotives, clocks ticking, and pedestrians talking mingled together. Twelve-year-old Hugo hid in a crevices in the station wall, living a secret life."

"His father was a clockmaker who, while working at a museum, stumbled upon a broken mechanical doll—a sophisticated device that could write and draw, composed of countless tiny gears. His father became fascinated with the doll and would repair it with Hugo every day after get off work. He even wrote a repair notebook, recording the location of each part and the repair method."

"Unfortunately, a sudden fire broke out, and my father perished in the flames, leaving behind only the unrepaired mechanical doll and a repair notebook with charred edges. Not long after, Hugo's uncle took him to the train station and put him in charge of maintaining all the clocks in the station."

"In order to repair the doll, Hugo often sneaked into the toy store at the train station to steal small parts such as gears and clockwork. Until one day, he was caught red-handed by the toy store owner, Old Mei. At this time, he met Old Mei's adopted daughter, Little Mei. Little Mei was kind and curious. After learning about Hugo's experience, she agreed to help him find the notebook. The two quickly became allies."

By midnight, Lin Shubai had written about one-tenth of the book. The book itself wasn't very long; most of it consisted of illustrations.