In this meeting, Fang Minghe informed Wen Jianning of the sales of the latest issue of the tabloid -

Nearly six thousand copies.

Wen Jianning didn't know what the concept of 6,000 copies was, but that didn't prevent her from using the sales of other newspapers as a reference.

One of the most influential newspapers of the moment is Shanghai's Declaration, which has a nationwide circulation and has a steady reading of more than 150,000 copies per issue. If this gap is too big, it doesn't explain the problem, Wen Jianning also heard Mr. Qi mention that the highest sales of Shanghai tabloids are only 20,000 copies. This is still the case in Shanghai, which has a population of more than 200,000 people, not to mention this small island in the southeast corner of the country.

Of course, this is not all the credit of Wen Jianning alone.

As the newly appointed editor-in-chief, Fang Minghe adheres to the concept of "combining the old with the new, and appreciating the elegance and the vulgar", and has carried out drastic reforms to the layout and columns of "Sing Tao Miscellaneous Conversations". He abandoned the kitsch and vulgar jokes of the tabloids in the past, and instead published important local social news in Hong Kong, and selected some fresh essays, essays, and commentaries, so that the style of the whole newspaper was completely renewed.

This also includes the popular.

Today's domestic popular culture is divided into two schools, one is the old-style Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School, and the other is the new-style literature. The former fell behind in the pen war with those of the new literature a few years ago, and was denounced as a low-end article that did not stand up to the elegant hall, and its popularity has become more and more declining in recent years, but it still occupies a considerable part of the market among the old-school citizens; the latter is a combination of new literature and commercial writing, attracting a large number of new readers, and is currently most famous for the creations of Shanghainese writers such as Zhang Liuyu, Ye Shuangya, and Shi Yuandeng in Shanghai.

Hong Kong is no larger than Shanghai in terms of population and inclusiveness. In the early years, there were many old people who fled from the mainland, and the local tabloids have always been dominated by the Mandarin Butterfly style preferred by the old-fashioned citizens, but this cannot meet the needs of the new citizens, so it needs to change urgently.

Wen Jianning's "Returning the Pearl Yuan", at first glance, is still a half-literate and half-white path of the Mandarin Butterfly School, but in fact, the style is a mixture of old and new. This is exactly in line with Fang Minghe's concept, so there is this meeting and follow-up cooperation between the two.

In this meeting, Wen Jianning has preliminarily decided on the theme of the next part.

- She wanted to write about the prostitutes in Tangxi.

Although prostitutes are a ninth-rate profession, they have always been one of the favorite subjects of literati and artists, and Wen Jianning is not exempt from vulgarity.

There are countless works on the theme of prostitutes, and in the hands of the new literati, they have become modern dancers. Most of the prostitutes in literary works have tragic backgrounds and pitiful experiences, and because of the particularity of their professions, people can't help but want to peek into their inner world.

There is another reason why she chose this theme.

In the previous book, she set the location of the protagonist's activities in Shanghai. However, Wen Jianning has lived in Hong Kong for a long time, and his knowledge of Shanghai is limited to a glimpse of the sky a few years ago and the depictions in newspapers and magazines over the years. As soon as the length of the writing increases, it will inevitably be constrained. As for Tangxi, although she has never been there, after all, she is in Hong Kong, and there is always a way to get materials.

After learning about Wen Baiqing's incident before, Wen Jianning wrote a letter to Mr. Qi who was far away in Shanghai, asking Mr. Qi if she had any friends in Hong Kong who knew about the situation in Tangxi, but Mr. Qi had not replied.

However, she was not in a hurry, and first typed the framework of the story on the manuscript paper while waiting for the letter.

If Mr. Qi has no way, she will think of another way.

Because he was busy thinking about the new one, Wen Jianning stayed in the room all day, and did not go downstairs until before dinner.

At this time, Mei Shan and Wen Jingshu, who went out to the banquet early in the morning, and Jianwan, who went to swim with their classmates at the Repulse Bay Hotel during the day, also returned to the villa, and everyone was chatting on the sofa downstairs.

Because it is summer, the women of the Wen family pay attention to maintenance, and their skin is tanned honey every day when they go out. Fortunately, this skin color is in vogue nowadays, so they are relieved of many worries. Only Wen Jianning was alone all day long, and his skin was white and dazzling.

Mei Shan saw her come down, hurriedly beckoned her to come and sit down, and persuaded her: "Jianning, I heard that you stayed in the room all day today, and even had lunch sent upstairs." You don't have to do this during the school day on weekdays, and you have to lock yourself in the house during the holidays. After a long time, you will get sick. ”

There was blame in her tone, as if she was concerned about Wen Jianning like a real elder.

Jianxiu on the side also nodded.

Living under the same roof for six years, Wen Jianning's attitude towards Mei Shan has eased a lot compared to before, and she also found an excuse to be perfunctory: "The sun is too hot outside, I am dizzy, and I don't want to go out." ”

Seeing Wan sneering on the side: "Look at the way you hide in your room all day long and pretend to study and study, I didn't see that you had Lin Daiyu's poetic talent, but she got sick first." ”

During this time, she published several small poems in newspapers and magazines one after another, mocking Wen Jianning for being particularly confident.

Seeing Xiu grabbing her on the side and whispering, "See Wan-"

These two people have not dealt with each other since childhood, but fortunately, one side is too lazy to care, and the cynicism of the other side does not work. But since the conflict at the coming-of-age ceremony, the two of them have been on the tip of the needle these days, and neither of them has refused to back down half a step.

Wen Jianning lowered his eyes: "I naturally can't compare to Miss Wan's talent, but when it comes to being weak and sick, I see Miss Wan's heart, after all, I am a country girl, and I still have brute strength." ”

She also understood it after the last time, and saw that Wan was a bluffing paper tiger, and the more polite she was to her, the more she opened her teeth and claws. On the contrary, scare her a few times, and she can settle down for a few days.

Seeing that Wan heard the threat in her words, she was angry and scared for a while, and turned her head to complain with a red face: "Auntie, look at her-"

Wen Jingshu was happy to watch them fight, and was called by Jianwan, so she had to come out to be a referee: "Okay, your sister is also for your good, you really don't look good in the room all day, from tomorrow onwards you and your sisters go out to play together." Seeing that you are too, you shouldn't use this tone to teach your sister. ”

It's clear who she is biased in.

Jianwan glanced at Wen Jianning triumphantly.

Mei Shan played a round and said, "Okay, it's almost time to eat, you all go and wash your hands." ”

The two girls snorted coldly in unison, and they both looked away.

...

Although Wen Jingshu told her, Wen Jianning didn't take it to heart, and still went her own way.

One afternoon, while she was in her room to frame the story, a maid knocked on the door and brought her letter.

When I opened it, it happened to be Mr. Qi's letter.

Mr. Qi's reply letter really mentioned the tenant who was renting with her back then.

The man's name was Meng Li, and he was a prostitute in Tangxi. Mr. Qi had been with her for half a year, and knew that she was also a hard-working person, and later she was abducted and trafficked to Hong Kong, so she fell into the dust, but she was not bad.

Wen Jianning wants to inquire about the personnel of Tangxi, and he can find Meng Li.

However, Mr. Qi repeatedly warned Wen Jianning in the letter not to stay alone near Tangxi, and then gave the contact information of the woman named Meng Li.

After Wen Jianning copied down the address, he first wrote back to Mr. Qi with a pen, thanking her for her help.

Halfway through writing, she hesitated, but she still didn't dare to tell Mr. Qi about writing popular things.

Not only that, because she was busy preparing new ones recently, she didn't send her assignments this time, so she could only make up an excuse, saying that there were too many homework assignments in school during the summer vacation, and she would make up for it when she had time.

This was the first time she had lied to Mr. Qi, and her palms were sweaty when she put pen to paper.

Several times, Wen Jianning crumpled the letter into a ball and took the initiative to admit everything to Mr. Qi, but in the end she copied a new copy of the original letter and stuffed it into the envelope.

After sending the letter, she began to think about how to contact this Meng Li.

Due to many considerations, Wen Jianning finally did not use the address of the Wen family's villa to contact Meng Li, but sent a letter from the previous bookstore, and the bookstore owner received and forwarded it on his behalf.

Because he had the experience of meeting Fang Minghe before, Wen Jianning was much more skilled this time.

After going back and forth, the two quickly agreed on a time to meet, and the place was still in the Blue Bird Cafe.

On the day of the meeting, Wen Jianning arrived 20 minutes early, but after sitting down and waiting for more than an hour, the other party was late.

Wen Jianning was looking down at the notes he had brought with him, when he suddenly heard the knock of a high-heeled heel behind him.

Before she could look up, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a dark and green shadow floating in, sitting in the seat opposite her, and then wafting a strong smell of fat powder.

Wen Jianning closed the notebook and looked up at the opposite side.

She had seen Meng Li once six years ago, but she had just glanced at Mr. Qi's residence back then, and she didn't know what she looked like.

Today was actually the first time she had seen this woman's face.

This woman named Meng Li is in her forties, her curly black hair is like a cloud, the skin and flesh on her face have been loosened, the tails of her eyes have fine lines, and she is even covered with thick fat powder. At this age, she still has charm, not to mention how beautiful she was when she was young.

She wore a black silk cheongsam with black velvet trim, a pearl necklace, and a jade-colored satin handbag, which was the typical dress of the aunts in Tangxi on the pictorial.

After all, Wen Jianning has lived under the same roof as Wen Jingshu, Mei Shanna and other characters for a few years, although the skills of communication have not been learned, but the eyesight has been trained: Meng Li's hair roots have not been ironed for a long time, and the style of the cheongsam on her body is also popular a few years ago, not to mention that the material of Xiangyun silk is not worth much, and the handbag is not bad, but there are a few places on it that have been hooked, and as for the color of the pearl necklace, it is even more unbearable.

She only looked at it for a moment before she withdrew her gaze, and she had a rough idea in her mind.

While Wen Jianning was looking at Meng Li, the other party also glanced at her a few times.

The girl in front of her gave birth to a delicate goose egg face, and although her eyebrows and eyes had not yet grown, she could see that she was a rare beauty embryo. He is about fifteen or sixteen years old, maybe even younger, just because his demeanor is calm, and he looks precocious. Although he is dressed as plain as an ordinary student, he can tell that he is from a good family at a glance, not to mention that he can afford a tutor like Qi Peizhen at home, which is obviously either rich or expensive.

It's just that the look of a little adult when she looks at people still can't hide her youthfulness. If it weren't for the favor she owed to her teacher in the past, Meng Li wouldn't have traveled all the way to see a stinky little girl today.

Although the other party was late for a long time, it was Wen Jianning who asked for help, so she still said politely: "Ms. Meng, hello." I'm Wen Jianning, who wrote to you before, and I want to ask you about the whereabouts of a loved one of my family. ”

These Meng Li had already heard Qi Peizhen say it from the letter before, she yawned boredly, and said lazily: "I know, what is that person's surname and what does he look like." ”

Wen Jianning was about to speak, but suddenly he was stuck.

Wen Baiqing didn't allow her to go to Tangxi to inquire in private, and naturally he didn't tell her much detail. Now that the words came to her lips, she was embarrassed to find that she knew very little about the person she was looking for, so she could only say dryly: "What I am looking for is a woman, she should be thirty or forty years old, maybe a little older." She used to be very good at making tofu, and she had a son who was once called Tofu Shih Tzu. ”

Meng Li was stunned for some reason, and suddenly sneered: "What makes tofu and doesn't make tofu, if you don't make tofu, if you don't know how to make tofu, you can't open it." Saying that, she didn't even care about wearing a split cheongsam, spread her legs under the table, and flew a glance at Wen Jianning, which was very provocative.

The expression on Wen Jianning's face was a little stiff, but he still continued: "Today is my lack of preparation, we can put the matter of finding someone aside for a while, and talk about it next time." I have another thing I want to trouble Ms. Meng. I'm very curious about Tangxi, so I'd like to ask you about things over there. ”

Meng Li said suspiciously: "You are a good girl, even if you ask about the people there, why do you still inquire about this." Speaking of this, she couldn't help but glance up and down at Wen Jianning a few times, as if she was some kind of anomaly.

Wen Jianning naturally wouldn't tell her the reason, and insisted: "I'm just curious, I want to ask you a few questions, and I hope you can answer them." ”

Meng Li looked at her for a while, and then suddenly smiled: "It's okay if you want to ask about Tangxi, but I only promised your teacher to help you find someone, but I didn't say that I would help her lead students." If you want to inquire about anything else—"

She licked her red lips and looked greedy: "I have to collect money." ”

(End of chapter)