Ni Jiang entered the "Ming Pao" building with a bag, and the "Ming Pao" employees he met along the way who were not on New Year's Day vacation took the initiative to wish him a happy holiday.
Compared with his fat head and big ears in the future, Ni Jiang's figure at this time was much better, and he could only be regarded as a little puffy. When he first came to Hong Kong, he was a super thin man, and he wrote books like a toad belly for many years.
Ni Jiang went directly to Jin Yong's office. When Jin Yong's assistant saw that it was Ni Jiang, he had no choice but to let him in.
After Ni Jiang threw the manuscript of "The Wish Monkey God", the second half of Wesley's series "Chain", on the table, Jin Yong took off his glasses and said with a smile: "Brother Yiming, why are you here? I asked someone to go to your house to pick up the manuscript.
That’s good.”
People in the Ni family are very straightforward, or very blunt, whether it is Ni Ji, Yi Shu or Ni Zhen. Ni Ji did not give Jin Yong any face at this time, and said straight to the point: "I want a raise in royalties, otherwise I will really write
I can’t go on anymore. Also, don’t fool me the same way you fooled my little sister, I won’t do that.”
The reason why Ni Jiang was able to make a fortune from writing was entirely because of Jin Yong's support, and the relationship between the two became very close. But no matter how good the relationship was, Jin Yong would still be dissatisfied if he continued to pay for his manuscripts for decades.
ah.
Jin Yong was not good at words. He was silent for a while before saying: "Didn't I just give you a remuneration increase last year?"
Ni Jiang slapped a copy of "Sing Tao Daily" on Jin Yong's desk and said: "Look what it says? The remuneration for Kang Jianfei's new book is still 500 yuan per thousand words, which is the highest remuneration for Hong Kong writers today.
People say that my Ni frame is outdated!"
Jin Yong sighed and asked, "How much do you want?"
Ni Jiang said angrily: "At least 501 yuan per thousand words. I have written novels for decades, but I am not as good as a junior. Isn't this a joke?"
Hong Kong's economy has developed rapidly in the past two years, and prices and wages have continued to rise. Logically speaking, it is time to increase the author's remuneration. Jin Yong said: "500 yuan for a thousand words is too much. How about 400 yuan for a thousand words?"
Ni Jiang blushed and said, "No! Old Cha, what I care about is not the royalties, but my reputation! Do you know how many people made fun of me last year? I can't swallow that tone."
Ni Jiancheng indeed has reason to be angry. His Wesleyan series "Hair" was rated as the most popular novel among Hong Kong youths the year before last. The Wesleyan single volume released last year was also a huge seller, and Huang Yulang was promoted to a royalties of NT$500 per thousand words.
The number one person in the literary world. Just when Ni Jiang was in the limelight, Kang Jianfei appeared out of nowhere, and directly stole his limelight with his unheard-of time-travel martial arts "Xun Qin Ji", and also paid a lot in royalties.
Overwhelm him.
Ni Jiang was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood. He said many strange things to Kang Jianfei in private. He even expressed his disdain for "Looking for Qin" in front of reporters.
Jin Yong shook his head with certainty and said: "400 yuan for a thousand words. No more."
Looking at Jin Yong's peaceful but resolute expression, Ni Jiang had the urge to roll up his sleeves and beat him up. But Ni Jiang, an old friend of the two for 20 years, knew how difficult it was to get Jin Yong to increase his royalties.
, he could only say helplessly: "Is this okay? You give me a remuneration of 400 yuan per thousand words, and to the outside world it is 550 yuan per thousand words."
Jin Yong did not expect that Ni Jiang would come up with such an idea to make a fool of himself, and said speechlessly: "The extra 1,500 yuan in royalties for a thousand words will have to be paid to the government in royalties."
Ni Jiang insisted on his idea and said: "When the tax collector comes, I will explain the situation to them. If it doesn't work, I will bear the manuscript tax myself."
This is called dying to save face and living to suffer.
When it came to the matter of remuneration, the clumsy Jin Yong suddenly became eloquent. He shook his head and said: "It still doesn't work. If I increase your remuneration so high, should the remuneration of other authors be increased? "Ming Pao Weekly", "Ming Pao Monthly"
"As for the authors of "Ming Pao Evening News", will their remuneration also increase? I can't possibly tell them that you are getting fake remuneration. If it all goes up, my losses will be huge."
"You... are sophistical. Oriental Daily only gave Kang Jianfei a super high remuneration. Why can't I do it?" Ni Jiang didn't expect that he couldn't even pay for it, and he suddenly felt the urge to vomit three liters of blood.
"Brother Yiming, don't worry. If you have anything to say, talk to him." Jin Yong saw Ni Jiang looking like he was about to go berserk, so he quickly comforted him.
At the beginning, Jin Yong had a good relationship with Ni Ji's sister Yi Shu, and Yi Shu's articles were a guaranteed sales volume for "Ming Pao". But because Jin Yong repeatedly rejected Yi Shu's request for an increase in manuscript fees, after the stalemate, Yi Shu was so angry that he left "Ming Pao".
Ming Pao", the losses caused were far greater than the increase in royalties requested by Yi Shu.
Ni Jiang said: "Why do you tell me not to be impatient? Look at how Ming Pao has been suppressed by Oriental Daily in the past year. If you increase my royalties, I can compete with Oriental Daily."
Jin Yong Youyan Bujin said: "A newspaper needs to be run in the long run. Those hype methods can only bring temporary sales. I don't bother to do it."
Ni Ji wanted to say: I disdain your sister, if it hadn’t been for the hype through writing, the sales of "Ming Pao" would have soared back then, and it would have become one of the three major newspapers in Hong Kong now?
Seeing Jin Yong's behavior, Ni Jiang knew that he would not be able to raise his royalties today, so he could only express his dissatisfaction with silence.
The two of them stared at each other and held their breath for a while, before Jin Yong said: "Let's do this, the manuscript fee will be increased to 410 yuan per thousand words for you, and it must not be increased any more."
Ni Jiang sighed: "410 is just 410."
Seeing that Ni Jiang was solved, Jin Yong finally showed a smile on his face and asked: "Have you read the Oriental Daily in the past two days?"
Ni Jiang said: "It is the New Year's Day holiday, and many newspapers and magazines have asked me to write special articles for the New Year. I provide manuscripts for 10 publications every day, so how can I have time to read newspapers?"
Sing Tao Daily said, "The article comparing me and Kang Jianfei was shown to me by my son."
Jin Yong took out two copies of "Oriental Daily" from the drawer, handed them to Ni Jiang and said: "Kang Jianfei's new novel has been serialized, please read it first."
Today is January 2, 1981, and "The Misty Journey" has been serialized in "Oriental Daily" for two days.
Ni Jiang didn't say a word and just flipped through the newspapers in Jin Yong's office.
At first, Ni Jiancheng was quite disdainful of "The Misty Journey", thinking that Kang Jianfei was going to play the same trick of traveling through history again, and even wanted to laugh at Kang Jianfei's lack of skills. But he soon discovered that something was wrong, because the novel went from the earth to the earth in a blink of an eye.
Mars, the battle of cultivators between Fu Chongbi and Hua Meiniang on Mars is far more exciting than the current martial arts novels. Then the plot takes another turn, and it actually reaches a heavenly planet with ancient Chinese historical environment.
After finishing two days of serialized content, Ni Jiang couldn't help but sweat, and said nervously: "If this kind of cultivation novel becomes popular, martial arts and science fiction adventure novels will be in disaster!"
"Yes." Jin Yong nodded.
As senior top novelists, Jin Yong and Ni Jiang saw far more than others after reading "The Misty Journey".
Ordinary readers will only find "The Misty Journey" novel and interesting. But after Jin Yong read it, they saw the huge threat that cultivation novels pose to martial arts and science fiction adventure novels.
In terms of fighting scenes, the cultivation novels move mountains and seas at every turn, completely destroying the inner strength and lightness of martial arts novels; in terms of plot development, the cultivation novels use the planet as the scene and integrate various different elements into it, and you can open a copy at will. It is enough.
Stealing the thunder from science fiction adventure novels.
If this kind of cultivation novels become popular, then martial arts novels represented by Jin Yong and science fiction adventure novels represented by Ni Jiji will be in danger of losing readers.
Ni Jiang asked: "How is the sales of "Oriental Daily"?"
Jin Yong said: "The sales volume of "Oriental Daily" fell somewhat some time ago, but as soon as Kang Jianfei's new book, which has been promoted for a long time, was serialized, yesterday's sales returned to more than 150,000 copies. As for today's sales, it is estimated that it will increase a lot.
.”
…………
…………
January 3, 1981.
Wu Chenggang deliberately wandered around the streets. From time to time, he paid attention to the bookstores and newsstands on the roadside. Although he did not sign "The Misty Journey", it was written by him after all, and he also revised the first tens of thousands of words, so Wu Chenggang was particularly special.
I am interested in readers’ feedback on this novel.
Wu Chenggang walked to a bookstore and asked: "Boss, "Oriental Daily"..."
Before he could finish speaking, the boss interrupted: "Today's Oriental Daily is sold out. Come back tomorrow."
Wu Chenggang asked: "Is "Oriental Daily" easy to sell?"
The boss said: "Why is it so hard to sell? After the completion of "Looking for Qin", fewer people bought "Oriental Daily", but as soon as "The Misty Journey" was serialized, buying newspapers these days is like robbery.
Wu Chenggang pretended to ask: "Is "The Misty Journey" really that good-looking?"
The boss smiled and said: "I'm not just exaggerating. After selling newspapers for so many years, "The Misty Journey" is simply amazing. Only Kang Jianfei can write this kind of novel. How can anyone else have such a magical imagination?"
Wu Chenggang was a little disappointed. The boss was praising the creativity of "The Misty Journey" from beginning to end, and did not mention the literary talent of the novel at all.
Walking out of the bookstore, Wu Chenggang couldn't help laughing. Why was he arguing with his nephew? Moreover, this novel was originally Kang Jianfei's idea.
Wu Chenggang arrived at the bus station, waited for a while and finally got the bus, ready to take the bus home.
There were so many people on the bus that Wu Chenggang could only squeeze in the crowd and pull the horizontal bar, but he heard someone next to him saying: "Hey, Abu, why haven't you finished reading yet? Show me quickly."
"Wait a minute, I'll finish reading it a second time and then talk about it."
"What? You actually watched it a second time. Why did you watch it for so long?"
"It'll be ready soon. Who told you not to buy a newspaper yourself?"
"Wherever you can buy it, it's already sold out."
"You don't know how to subscribe to a newspaper?"
“I would have booked it if I had known earlier.”
"..."
Wu Chenggang turned his head and saw two young people grabbing a copy of "Oriental Daily". Needless to say, those two people must be watching "The Misty Journey".
The bus passed a cinema, and the most eye-catching poster at the entrance of the theater was "The Royal Sisters". Although the queue at the ticket office was not as scary as the previous days, you still had to wait in line for two or three minutes to buy a ticket.
Wu Chenggang suddenly felt strongly that his nephew had such a great influence in Hong Kong! (To be continued) 8
