Bao Tianxiao glanced at Yan Qingshu and said, "Qingshu, speaking of this Songling woman Pan Xiaohuang, you actually know her, it's Brother Jiaxuan." ”

"Jiaxuan..."

Yan Qingshu thought about it for a few seconds, thought of something, and immediately said in surprise: "Liu Qiji!"

Bao Tian smiled and said, "It seems that you still remember him." ”

Yan Qingshu sighed: "How could I forget this! My first job in Shanghai was to copy books at Mr. Liu's Tongzhi Museum. ”

Yao Wenjie listened to the conversation between the two, and he still didn't know who this Liu Qiji was, so he couldn't help asking, "Brother Qingshu, who is this Liu Qiji?"

didn't wait for Yan Qingshu to speak, only listened to Huo Yaowen say: "Liu Qiji should be Liu Yazi, who followed Mr. Zhongshan in his early years and served as the secretary of the presidential palace after the Xinhai Revolution."

There are not many people who know Liu Yazi today, Bao Tianxiao glanced at Huo Yaowen with appreciation, and then said: "When I met Brother Jiaxuan, it was in 1931 when he first came to Shanghai to prepare for the establishment of Tongzhiguan. At that time, I was working at the "News", and once I met Brother Jiaxuan in the newspaper office, and we had a very pleasant conversation, and in the evening he invited me to have dinner with Hatshui. When we chatted, we talked about the short-lived Songling woman more than ten years ago, and Brother Jiaxuan smiled and told me and Hate Shui that he was the beautiful Pan Xiaohuang who wrote "The Red Line of Chivalrous Women, Nie Yinniang". ”

"Pan Xiaohuang, Liu Qiji......" Thinking that the woman who haunted her dreams when she was young was a man, or Liu Yazi, who took good care of her back then, Yan Qingshu sighed for the second time.

Yao Wenjie said with a smile: "I said Brother Qingshu should not be too sad, I have never heard these words today, Pan Xiaohuang, a woman from Songling, is still the talented woman in your heart who wants to protect the country." ”

Yan Qingshu rolled his eyes and said, "I listened to it, how could I have never heard it." ”

Speaking of this, Yan Qingshu glanced at Bao Tianxiao beside him, and saw that Mr. Bao looked tired, thinking that he was a little tired after chatting for so long, and hurriedly said: "By the way, the conversation was up and forgot to ask you to come for a while." ”

Yao Wenjie said: "Brother Qingshu, but it doesn't hurt to say it. ”

Yan Qingshu glanced at Huo Yaowen and said, "That's right, Mr. Bao recently perfected the sequel to the "Memoirs of Chuan Ying Lou" written before, and I helped find many publishing houses, but none of them agreed to publish it. ”

Huo Yaowen asked in surprise: "Don't agree to publish?

You must know that Bao Tianxiao is not an ordinary literati writer, not only was he an important representative of the leader of the "Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School" and popular writers like Zhang Hatshui during the Republic of China, but also a translator who is proficient in the translation of foreign masterpieces, and his status in the Hong Kong literary circle is much higher than that of Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng.

Yan Qingshu was just about to explain, but Bao Tianxiao stretched out his hand to stop him, and said to himself: "It's no wonder they don't agree, I also worked in the publishing industry in my early years, and I know how difficult it is." If they publish my book, I am afraid it will be difficult to have a market in Wanwan in the future. ”

Huo Yaowen and Yao Wenjie were a little confused, and they didn't understand the meaning of Bao Tian's joke.

Yan Qingshu explained: "That's the case, Mr. Bao's "Continuation of the Memoirs of the Shadow Building" mentions the past when he ate flowers and wine in Shanghai in his early years, and coincidentally, Chang Kaishen was upstairs with him that day, and the two bumped into each other when they went out. ”

Puff......

Huo Yaowen almost didn't laugh, if this book is published in a few decades, with this past, it may sell very well, but now, if a publishing house is willing to publish this book, then he obviously doesn't want the Taiwan market.

After all, Hong Kong is so big, and the land of a small place can support more than 30 publishing houses, thanks to the book markets of Taiwan, Macao and Nanyang, and the majority of these markets are in Taiwan.

Even best-selling authors like Fok Yaowen, Kim Yong, and Liang Yusheng have never sold 200,000 copies of their books in Hong Kong, and only in Taiwan can they sell more than 200,000 copies, or even higher.

Not to mention the European and American markets, in Asia alone, there is no other publishing house like Huo Yaowen, who can sell millions of books in Japan.

Although it is okay not to want the Taiwan market, as long as the quality of the books is good, the Hong Kong market alone can support a publishing house, but businessmen are profit-seeking, and it is impossible for them to lose their financial means because of a book.

Yao Wenjie glanced at Huo Yaowen, saw that he had no expression on his face, and hesitated, now Taiwan is an important market for Yaowen Book Publishing Company, and there are more than 20 books in cooperation with Aoki Publishing House last year alone, which has brought a lot of profits to the company. If only a book loses the Taiwan market, but I am afraid that even the chairman's book may not be able to sell in the future.

While he was still hesitating, Huo Yaowen on the side thought about it and nodded in agreement: "This matter is simple, since other publishing houses are clumsy and don't know good books, Mr. Bao might as well hand over this book to our publishing house to ensure that it will not be dusted." ”

When Yao Wenjie heard this, he wanted to dissuade him, so he hurriedly said: "Director ......"

Editor-in-Chief Yao will talk about it later. Huo Yaowen interrupted Yao Wenjie's words.

Bao Tianxiao hesitated: "Huo Sheng, you don't have to be like this, I know how important the Taiwan market is to the publishing house, and it's not worth it for my book." ”

Yan Qingshu nodded: "What Bao Lao said is right. I asked Wen Zhuo to come, but he asked him to help print a hundred copies of the book in the printing house, and Bao Lao said that he wanted to give it to some old friends. Originally, we wanted to publish it, but those publishers didn't agree to it, so we came up with this method. ”

In fact, other publishing houses do not agree to publish, Yan Qingshu can also understand, he knows that Yao Wenjie works in a book publishing company, so this time he made an appointment to drink tea, hoping that he could make it convenient to help take the book to the printing house to print a hundred copies for giving away or keeping as a souvenir.

Huo Yaowen said with a smile: "Mr. Bao and Mr. Yan, I know your good intentions, but I am not talking about Yaowen Book Publishing Company, but the University of Hong Kong Press. ”

"HKU Press?"

Bao Tianxiao is old, although he still insists on reading newspapers and writing books, he is not as up-to-date as young people, so he doesn't know that Huo Yaowen is the president of the University of Hong Kong Press.

When Yan Qingshu heard this, he immediately remembered that Huo Yaowen still had this identity, but he was still a little puzzled, and couldn't help asking: "I know that Mr. Huo is the president of the HKU Press, but after all, you are a publishing house, don't you want the Taiwan market?"

"Not really. ”

Huo Yaowen smiled and explained: "The Hong Kong University Press does not publish popular books now, only publishes some academic books, or educational tutorial books, and does not need the Taiwan market at all, even if it is, it will be a long time later." ”

Yan Qingshu understood, but Bao Tianxiao was still a little puzzled, but with Yan Qingshu's explanation, he also understood the meaning of Huo Yaowen's words, and sighed: "I hope that this "Sequel to the Memoirs of the Shadow Building" can be published and distributed, so that more people can see it, and it can be regarded as a memory of those old friends and acquaintances who have passed away. ”

After saying that, Bao Tianxiao got up and bent down to thank him.

Huo Yaowen was excited, and hurriedly got up and walked over to help Bao Tianxiao, and said: "Mr. Bao can't help it, you are a senior, and I am a junior who deserves this great gift." ”

...

Evening.

Fok family, Kowloon Tong.

Huo Yaowen held the manuscript that Bao Tianxiao gave him in the afternoon, the number of words was not much, only more than 100,000 words, but it could be said that he was fascinated by it.

Bao Tianxiao has traveled extensively throughout his life, from bureaucrats and politicians to prostitutes and hooligans, with different categories and rich experience, this "Continuation of the Memoirs of the Shadow Building" is not only a recollection of his own life, but also a vivid and vivid display of the great era of the people's agitation and vicissitudes of life.

When flipping through the chapter "Gambling and Prostitution in the Warlord Era", Huo Yaowen noticed that Bao Tianxiao told the description of his chance encounter with Chang Kaishen while eating flower wine in the book, and when he saw this, he couldn't help grinning: "It seems that Mr. Yan didn't tell the truth, where to eat flower wine, it's obviously a kiln!"

...