At the end of July, when it was hot in Tokyo, you could see beautiful girls wearing short skirts everywhere on the streets of Shibuya, and this gave many crazy people a chance to feast their eyes. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoAt this time, the economy of Japan as a whole was booming, and the country's high prosperity can be seen in the most prosperous administrative districts of the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, is located in the center of Tokyo's 23rd ward, and is only about 3 kilometers away from the Emperor's residence and the seat of the central government. It is the cultural center of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, home to many private universities, junior high schools, and higher education institutions in Japan, and the main campus of the University of Tokyo is located here. On the whole, there are no less than 10 universities of all kinds and no less than 20 high schools of all kinds, totaling nearly 100 colleges and universities gathered within a radius of only a few kilometers, which really does not deserve its reputation as a cultural and educational area.

One of Japan's largest publishing companies, Kodansha, is located here.

Kodansha is Japan's largest comprehensive publishing house and one of Japan's major manga publishers. Its predecessor was the Dai-Nippon Eloquence Society, which was founded in 1909 and published the debate magazine "Debate", and from 1911 it was used in conjunction with the name Dai-Nippon Eloguing Society, and then in 1958 it was changed to its current name, Kodansha Co., Ltd.

However, despite its lofty status in Japan, the office building itself is not an exaggerated skyscraper, but a five-story western-style building.

The term "small but fine" has always been common in the world of literary publishing, and as a company that publishes books, it really doesn't need to have too many employees, because most of the products are mailed directly by writers living all over the country. A book is a product, and how much space does a book have?

At noon, just after a quarter past nine o'clock, a small box truck pulled up at the entrance of the Kodansha building. When Hirota got out of the car, he was pleasantly surprised to see a handsome middle-aged man walking briskly towards him.

"Yo, this isn't Tsukamoto-san, why did you pick up the goods at the door in person?"

The middle-aged man nodded at him, his expression was serious, but he said in a kind tone: "I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed, I'm actually a little late today, and I just walked into the lobby." Hirota-san, is there a lot of shipments today?"

Hirota opened the door of the cargo box with his hands and feet: "About twenty-five pieces, all of them are manuscripts sent to you Kodansha." Haha, don't look at the lot, it doesn't take up space at all. It's not like I sent textbooks to the University of Tokyo, where a stack of textbooks would sink to death!"

Tsukamoto smiled indifferently: "It's just different in nature." In college, twenty-five books are just a subject in a small class, and the manuscripts will be piled up at my feet, and you will go upstairs without work. ”

Hirota's face was overjoyed: "Thank you so much, Tsukamoto-san, then I'm going to work harder." ”

Twenty-five books is a lot of weight, but Hirota's physical fitness as a courier certainly does not need to be doubted, and after quickly placing things up the stairs, he quickly opened the box and prepared to go to the next one.

Tsukamoto stood in front of the company and beckoned inside.

A young man immediately ran out: "Editor-in-chief!"

"Find two people, bring these books back, I'll get one first. ”

Looking at the thin package on the top floor, Tsukamoto casually pulled it up, and then walked quickly into the company.

Tsukamoto is a person who cares a lot about details, and the editor-in-chief's office on the fifth floor is well kept by him. Not only the books, but also the placement of the ashtrays, where each half-smoked cigarette was placed in the ashtray, and how the flower pots on the windowsill were placed, he could clearly remember every detail, and he would never let the secretary change it at will.

Walking into the editor-in-chief's office and instructing his secretary Ejima to pour himself a cup of good Biluochun, Tsukamoto sat on the office chair, and the first thing that caught his eye was the list of nominees for this year's "Edogawa Ranpo Award".

That's what he asked Ejima to put here the day before yesterday, and the Edogawa Ranpo Award is one of the most important awards in the Japanese mystery novel industry. It can be said that understanding this list is the best way to understand the development of the Japanese speculative literature scene in the next few years.

Since the first edition in the fifties, Kodogawa Ranpo Prize-winning works have been published by Kodansha, and have long been one of the most important components of this long-established publishing house. Not only Tsukamoto, but also every editor-in-chief in the past must grasp the list of each session in detail and auspiciously.

However, for two whole years, Tsukamoto has been disappointed.

The reason is simple, there has not been a good enough work.

Although there will still be winners in each session, but that's just the best of the inferior, and they are also newcomer debuts, and the winners of these two editions are actually very unworthy of this title.

It stands to reason that most of the new mystery writers in Japan send their works to Kodansha, and even if they don't win awards, it's good to try their luck. However, in the past two years, it seems that due to the impact of the great economic development of the whole of Japan, many potential writers who could have gone to the literary world have given up their pens and thrown their energies into the stock market as if they were crazy.

Whether they made money or not, Tsukamoto doesn't know, but if the quality of the works of the next Edogawa Ranpo Award is still not up to par, he, the editor-in-chief, will definitely be blamed by the president.

"Editor-in-chief, your tea. ”

Just as Tsukamoto was staring at the list and frowning, the secretary Ejima walked in with a teacup.

Tsukamoto didn't have time to take care of it, waved his hand and said, "Well, just put it there." ”

"Good editor-in-chief. ”

Ejima put the teacup on the table while looking at the courier package that was placed on the table by Tsukamoto.

"Oops, isn't that the address of the United States!?"

Tsukamoto raised his head: "What America?"

Jiang Dao was surprised and pointed to the package on the table: "Address, editor-in-chief, this package is from...... Heck, I sent it from Los Angeles!"

It's just a submission that is routinely sent to the publishing house every day.,There's so much to handle every day.,Tsukamoto really didn't pay attention to the problem of address.。 When he picked it up, it was really the address of Los Angeles, USA!

"Alice-Wang?"

Seeing this name, which obviously did not belong to ordinary Japanese, Tsukamoto frowned slightly: "Ejima, you go out first." ”

"Good editor-in-chief. ”

Ejima's departure has no sense of existence, and Tsukamoto's attention is all drawn to the name.

Alice Wang?

At the first moment he saw this name, Tsukamoto realized that he was very familiar, as if he had heard this name through various channels for a long time. It's a somewhat funny idea, and for him who has been in the publishing industry for 20 years, he understands it better than any ordinary person.

“…… Anyway, let's take a look at the content first. ”

Having the name in his mind, Tsukamoto expertly unwrapped the package, revealing a delicately bound manuscript.

What made him a little funny was that the author of this novel actually wrote "Suggestions for Putting on the Shelves: Mystery Novels" on the cover.

"Really, Cao Cao Cao arrived, and another mystery novel was delivered to me?"

Tsukamoto smiled wryly and glanced at the list of nominations for the Edogawa Ranpo Award next to him, this year's work will be published early next year, but the list has already begun to be compiled. After all, it's an award for an unpublished novel by a new writer, and there's a lot of work to be done before the book goes on sale, both for the award and for the publicity that comes after.

"Maybe this instinct can catch up, and look at the quality. ”

In this way, Tsukamoto casually flipped the page, and three huge men suddenly came into view.

At the same time, just outside the editor-in-chief's office, more than a dozen senior editors were chatting to start their day.

"Ah~ I'm so sleepy......"

But early in the morning, Qingzhi lazily lay on the table and didn't work, he has been yawning since he first went to work, and anyone can see those two black panda eyes.

Junzi, the female editor sitting behind him, spoke, but it was a sentence of Wang Zhi's contempt: "It's not because you have to stay up late to clear Mario, you deserve it." ”

This remark caused a backlash, and the graduate student of Tokyo University, who was only twenty-five years old and qualified to sit here, Hongji said: "Oh, Junko, you have to understand, Super Mario is a super fun game, when it was first released, I stayed up late with a few classmates to play it." ”

Chunzi didn't give in: "You were in college, Qingzhi is going to be a father next New Year, and his parents are almost sixty years old, so can he still be so temperamental?"

Hongji rolled his eyes on the spot: "Ah...... The old immortals...... I have to feed ......"

"What are you talking about, stinky boy, are you looking for a fight? Yamamoto, look at it, you can talk about Hongji's ......"

"Oh, it's annoying~!"

The noisy voices of colleagues woke up Qingzhi, and when he raised his head, he slammed his head on the table: "Five minutes, just let me sleep for another five minutes, anyway, there is no work here." Hongji, please make me a cup of coffee, double the extra strong, I'm tired. ”

"Yes, senior......"

However, just as Qingzhi said this sentence less than three seconds later, there was a bang, and the door of the editor-in-chief's room was violently opened.

"Gentlemen!"

Tsukamoto stood at the door, his face swollen red, undoubtedly excited to the extreme: "A new era is coming!"

This voice immediately alarmed all the staff, and Hongji hurriedly put down the cup and woke up Qingzhi with a shake.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?"

I saw Tsukamoto excitedly waving the manuscript in his hand: "Junko, hurry up and copy this manuscript in sufficient copies, all the staff, prepare for the meeting at ten o'clock!" (To be continued.) )