After chatting all the way on the train, Zhou Hexuan finally found out that the friend I met in Nanjing was none other than Zhang Henshui, a great figure of the generation.
Cheng She and I are old acquaintances of Zhang Henshui. This time he wanted to start a new newspaper. He not only invited Zhang Henshui to be the editor-in-chief, but also hoped that Zhang Henshui could invest money and become a shareholder.
Zhang Henshui had lived in Peiping for the past few years, but Zhou Hexuan had never met him, so he simply followed Cheng She and I and got off the train at Nanjing Xiaguan Railway Station.
Although the distance by train from Shanghai to Nanjing is short, it takes six hours. The old-fashioned train took eight hours. When the two arrived at Xiaguan, Nanjing, it was already evening and the sun was almost setting.
.
Zhou Hexuan plans to stay in Nanjing for one night and wait until tomorrow to take a boat across the river. He will buy a ticket at Pukou Railway Station and continue his journey north.
On the station platform, Zhang Henshui waved and shouted: "Lao Cheng, this way!"
After Chengshe I walked over quickly, gave Zhang Henshui a hug, turned around and said with a smile: "Xinyuan, who do you think this is?"
Zhang Henshui held up his glasses and looked at it carefully, and suddenly said happily: "Mr. Zhou!" He quickly walked up to Zhou Hexuan and shook hands warmly, "Oh, oh, hello, Mr. Zhou, I finally met the real person today."
"Mr. Zhang, I have long admired your name!" Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.
Cheng She and I said cheerfully: "Both of you are masters in the world. We must have many topics in common. Why don't we find a teahouse to sit down and chat."
The three of them were walking together, and when passing by a bookstore, Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "I'm going to buy a set of "Cause of Laughter" and ask Brother Xinyuan to sign it."
"That's just right, I'm going to buy a set of "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" too." Zhang Henshui said with a smile.
Walking into the bookstore, Zhou Hexuan asked directly: "Boss, do you have "The Cause of Laughter"?"
"Yes, yes, there are sequels," the boss replied.
The first 22 chapters of "The Cause of Laughter" were written three years ago. Because the tragic ending left readers very dissatisfied, there were more than ten versions of various sequels. Zhang Henshui could not withstand the pressure of readers, so he finally continued
I wrote 10 chapters and completed and published them at the beginning of this year.
There is also a very interesting anecdote about the sequel to "The Affair of Laughter".
Kenji Doihara treated the pro-Japanese Chinese scholars with kindness but no respect, just like a hunter raising a dog. On the contrary, he treated those scholars who hated Japan deliberately to please him and treated them with extra courtesy.
For example, there is a guy named Guan Yixian (the founder of "Shibao") who often publishes anti-Japanese remarks in newspapers. Since the circulation of "Shibao" once reached more than 100,000 copies, ranking first among all newspapers in the north, so
Guan Yixian's articles are very influential.
Not only did Kenji Doihara not send anyone to assassinate Guan Yixian, he instead went out of his way to please Guan Yixian. He even saved a considerable amount of money at a cloth store that Guan Yixian's wife liked to go to. As long as Guan Yixian's wife came to buy it,
When the cloth came out, the accountant said: "Doihara-kun has been paying for it for a long time."
After a few years, Guan Yixian finally became a traitor and became an accomplice of Dofeihara's cultural invasion. He talked about the "theory of national rebirth" and said that "the fall of Nanjing actually gave the general Chinese people a major opportunity to thoroughly reflect."
"The Continuation of the Laughing Karma" describes the anti-Japanese volunteers, and Zhang Henshui came into Kenji Doihara's sight. Just a month ago, he asked someone to bring "Chunming Foreign History" and "Golden Fen Family" to see Zhang Henshui and spread the word: "
I will give you an inscription and leave it as a souvenir to appease everyone’s sincere admiration.”
Zhang Henshui kept the two books sent by Doihara, took out a copy of "The Continuation of the Cause of Crying and Laughing", and wrote on the title page: "Mr. Doihara asked me to give it to the author. The author was traveling in Yanjing."
This word game is very clever. The word "gift" clearly indicates that Dofeihara requested it, not the author's voluntary gift. The signature only says "author" without his signature, which shows that Zhang Henshui does not want to be associated with Dofeihara.
After Kenji Doihara received the "signature", he was indeed furious, but he became even more "reverent" to Zhang Henshui. He asked someone to convey his respect to Zhang Henshui, and praised "The Continuation of Laughing Karma" which describes the anti-Japanese volunteers: "The vivid description is like
Painting is a truly magical pen!”
On the shelves of bookstores, there are only two genuine copies of "The Destiny of Laughter" and its sequels, but there are more than 10 copies of various pirated sequels. Some people make a living by writing sequels to "The Destiny of Laughter", which shows how popular this book is.
And Zhou Hexuan's works are even more terrifying, such as "The Condor", "The Condor", "The Heaven" trilogy, "The Goddess", "The Dog Official", "The Dog Official", "Titanic", and "Black Soil"
Single volumes, as well as a series of academic works such as "The Rise of Great Powers", occupy more than half of the bookshelf.
Zhou Hexuan even saw a copy of "Collected Works of Zhou Mingcheng". He curiously opened the catalog and found that the content was all kinds of current reviews and poems he published in newspapers and magazines.
"Boss, this is a pirated book, not authorized by the author." Zhou Hexuan said while flipping through the "Collected Works of Zhou Mingcheng".
The bookstore owner smiled and said: "If readers like it, of course I will sell it. Whether it is pirated or not is a matter for the publisher to consider."
Zhou Hexuan asked: "Are this person's books easy to sell?"
"Of course, the "Condor" trilogy and "Titanic" are bought by the most people, and they can sell at least five sets a month. "The Rise of the Great Powers", "The Goddess" and "The Dog Officer" can also be sold every month.
Only his academic works are not popular." The bookstore owner took out a copy of "Guns, Germs and Steel" and sighed, "I can't understand this kind of book at all. Some people bought it two years ago, but now I can't understand it at all.
No one cares about them. If no one comes to buy them anymore, I’m going to take them off the shelves.”
Zhang Henshui watched from the side until his stomach hurt from laughing, and reminded: "Boss, take a closer look, who is the person talking to you?"
Zhou Hexuan was wearing a white men's hat, and the brim of the hat covered his eyebrows. The bookstore owner looked carefully and suddenly said in surprise: "Isn't this Zhou...Mr. Zhou Mingcheng? Oops, disrespectful, disrespectful. I just talked nonsense,
Don't worry about it."
How can one person get such limelight? Zhou Hexuan pointed at Zhang Henshui: "This is the author of "The Cause of Crying and Laughing"."
"Mr. Zhang Henshui!" The bookstore owner was full of surprises.
There were several customers in the bookstore at this time. When they heard the shouting, they immediately gathered around. Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Henshui were immediately surrounded. And the number of onlookers was increasing. Some pedestrians passing by the bookstore came running when they heard the noise.
The bookstore owner happily took out the banknotes and said respectfully: "Please, gentlemen, please leave the calligraphy treasures!"
Mr. Zhou's calligraphy is no longer what it used to be. He writes four big characters as soon as he picks up his pen. Don't sell pirated copies.
"Good words!"
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Amid the praise and laughter of the onlookers, the boss seemed extremely embarrassed and hurriedly ran to put away Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Henshui's pirated books.
Zhang Henshui was much more tolerant. He took up his pen and wrote the words "Xiaguan Bookstore". This character can be carved into a plaque and used as a sign.
Neither Zhou Hexuan nor Zhang Henshui expected that their inscriptions would make the bookstore's business get better and better. Although the boss died in the Nanjing Massacre, his son reopened the business after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. After dozens of state-owned and private operations,
After years of development, Xiaguan Bookstore has become a "century-old store".
Zhou Hexuan's four words "Don't sell pirated copies" were dug out and re-posted in the 1980s. In the 21st century, netizens intercepted photos of Zhou Hexuan and added these four words to make emoticons specifically used to ridicule piracy.
and plagiarism.
There are also various combination emoticons, such as using Zhang Henshui's photo with the text "Mr. Zhou is right", and using Lu Xun's photo with the text "I never said that".