It's Tuesday, and Hong Kong is busy in the morning, with office workers standing on crowded buses, looking at their watches and rushing to work. Passerby A was bored in the car, looking around, and saw a office worker next to him who was dressed the same as himself was reading the newspaper, and Passerby A has always had the habit of reading the newspaper in the morning, but because of overtime yesterday, he was physically and mentally exhausted, and he got up late in the morning, so he had to go out immediately after washing up in a hurry, and he ate on the road early, so he caught the bus, so he forgot to buy the newspaper.

Passerby A leaned over his face and saw that it was "Oriental Daily", and passerby B read the supplement of the serialized novel, usually passerby A also likes to read novels, but it is Wen Ruian's martial arts novel that is now being serialized in "Ming Pao", and he has also seen the very popular Wesley series serialized by Ni Kuang in "Ming Pao Evening News". It seems that the serialized in "Oriental Daily" is also a novel by Ni Kuang, but it is not a Wesley series. Passerby A fixed his eyes saw that the title of the novel "Zhu Xian" had reached the third chapter "Grand Wish".

He forced himself to calm down, and the corner of his eyes swept over Lin Jingyu, who fell to the ground unconscious, but saw that in the placket of his clothes, a colorful centipede slowly crawled out, as big as a palm, and the most strange thing was that it had seven forks on its tail, as if it had seven tails. And each one is a different color, different, colorful, but beautiful but a little terrifying.

"Seven-tailed centipede!" The old monk's words sounded like a moan.

The black qi on his face became heavier and heavier, and the corners of his mouth continued to bleed, as if it was difficult to support, but he still held on and did not want to fall. He looked at the black gas in the air and said, "You put this strange poisonous thing in the world on that child, and deliberately hid your strength, and saw the opportunity to hurt me with one blow, you are coming for me, right?" ”

The man in the black qi sneered and said, "Yes, I came specifically for your Puzhi bald donkey." If it weren't for that, it would not be easy to deal with with your Tianyin Temple Buddhist practice. Okay, now hurry up and hand over the 'Blood Devouring Bead', and I will give you the antidote to the seven-tailed centipede, and spare you from dying!" ”

"Hey, this isn't a martial arts novel?" Passerby A wondered, as one of the three best-selling newspapers at present, the novel supplement of "Oriental Daily" was not a martial arts novel, nor was it Ni Kuang's science fiction novel. At this time, passer-by B seemed to have finished reading the serial, turned his head sideways at passer-by B and said, "It's indeed not a martial arts novel, but a fairy tale novel." ”

"Xianxia novels? Is it similar to the "Legend of the Swordsman of Shushan" that is similar to the owner of the Huanzhu Building? Passerby A said hesitantly.

"Yes, you have also watched "The Legend of the Swordsman of Shushan"?" Passerby B's eyes lit up.

"I'm also a senior fan of novels, of course I've read the Xianxia masterpiece "The Legend of the Swordsman of Shushan", but my favorite is martial arts novels, Jin Yong's novels are all over, and now I will watch Wen Ruian and Gu Long's martial arts." Passerby A smiled and said, "It seems that we are heroes." ”

"Cut, who doesn't like to read martial arts novels?"

"It's just that a few men haven't seen it."

It seems that the influence of martial arts novels in this era is really huge, and then everyone chatted about their martial arts scriptures. Passerby A looked at what everyone was talking about, and asked, "How about the Xianxia novel "Zhu Xian" you read?" ”

"There are only four chapters in this novel, the author's name is Yue Lang Xingxi, it seems to be a new author, it was serialized since yesterday Monday, and I can't see anything now, only from these four chapters, it is still above the level, there have been some fairy magic methods, strange insects, and some magic weapons, the storyline has not yet been developed, and the entire Xianxia world has not been reflected, all in all, a book with great potential, if you like Xianxia, or want to change your taste after reading martial arts, this novel is worth a look." Passerby B gave a pertinent assessment.

"Oh, yes, then lend me a look, and tell me about the first two chapters of the novel." When passer-by B heard this, he gave the newspaper to passer-by A, and the others who had not read the Oriental Daily also asked passer-by B to talk about the content of the novel. Passerby B was not nervous, but came with his mouth open, and said it vividly, and the others listened to the content and thought it was good, maybe they would buy it tomorrow.

Time to go back to the general manager's office of the Oriental Daily last Sunday.

The current chairman and general manager of "Oriental Daily" is Ma Chengkun, and he is in charge of the newspaper with his cousin Ma Tingqiang, both of whom are now only 24 years old. Because the father of the two, the original person in charge of the newspaper absconded to Taiwan because he was accused of drug trafficking, one hid incognito, and the other was in prison.

Although the current "Oriental Daily" is also the top three large newspapers in terms of sales, but the two brothers are young after all, and the days of "Sing Tao Daily" and "Ming Pao" taking turns to sit on the sales championship are getting farther and farther away, and now "Ming Pao" is dominant, with a peak sales of 154,000 copies, while another newspaper "Sing Tao Daily" has also declined in sales, only a little more than 100,000 sales, but at least it remains above 100,000 copies, but "Oriental Daily" However, it fell below 100,000 copies last Sunday, and may still be in third place in terms of sales, but the gap with the first two is getting wider and wider, especially with "Ming Pao", which serialized Ni Kuang Wesley's novel, and the gap is even close to 50%.

Ma Chengkun saw that the gap in sales between the three newspapers was getting bigger and bigger, and he was in a hurry recently, and he was in a very bad mood and a little anxious, and at this time, the deputy editor-in-chief and the editor-in-chief of the newspaper came to his office together and sent a novel, and it was a Xianxia novel. At that time, I thought the two were joking, but I thought that the two had worked in the newspaper for many years and were the right-hand men of their father and uncle, so they shouldn't be so vexatious, so I had to be patient with my temperament and read it carefully to see what was so strange about this so-called Xianxia novel.

As a result, Ma Chengkun was fascinated when he looked at it, and he completely lost his previous anxiety, and the positive and negative editors of the newspaper also looked at each other, laughed silently, and of course they were relieved in their hearts, and waited patiently for Ma Chengkun to read it.

"Why is it gone, is there any follow-up content?" Ma Chengkun asked at the two after reading it.

"No, the contributors only sent so much content." The deputy editor-in-chief spoke.

"Well, although this novel is not the mainstream martial arts novel now, it is very interesting, although the spells and magic weapons are only sporadic and flashing, but it can be seen that the follow-up should be very exciting." Ma Chengkun resumed his identity as general manager and analyzed.

"Yes, the situation of the newspaper is getting worse now, and the sales have fallen to 100,000 copies, and the two of us analyze that there is not much difference in the content of the newspaper, mainly because the Wesley series serialized in "Ming Pao" is too popular for anyone to compete. So we think it's better to start with the novel, but now Hong Kong's martial arts novels are not necessarily better than Wen Rui'an's, and science fiction has not surpassed the Wesley series, but fortunately, we found this Xianxia novel with great potential, which can be regarded as a different way. Even if this novel is not popular, it will not have much impact on the current newspaper sales, so it is better to give it a go, the quality of this novel is definitely above the standard, it depends on whether readers can accept Xianxia novels? The editor-in-chief pondered and said.

"Well, it makes sense, in the current situation of the newspaper, everyone really has nothing to do, so let's be a dead horse and a live horse doctor." Ma Chengkun looked at the novel manuscript in his hand and thought for a while, and finally nodded.

The deputy editor-in-chief was very happy, after all, he recommended it to the editor-in-chief, and then persuaded the editor-in-chief to persuade the general manager together, but he didn't expect the general manager to agree so easily, so he was a little overjoyed. So he asked with some excitement, "Mr. Ma, then I'll call the author now." ”

"No, this is not a mainstream martial arts novel, and the author may not have much hope when he submits it, so he is likely to vote for several at the same time, "Ming Pao" may not be liked, but "Sing Tao Daily" is difficult to say, maybe they also received the submission, and have the same idea as us, so I think it is better for the deputy editor-in-chief to personally run a trip to show our sincerity, and the other is that the price can be slightly higher, and 80 yuan for 1,000 words can also promise him." The editor-in-chief stopped the deputy editor-in-chief who was about to go out.

"Uncle Wang is still thoughtful, then please trouble Uncle Liu to run in person, and the price can be up to 90 yuan per thousand words, and then Uncle Liu, you can act when you see the opportunity." Ma Chengkun seems to have really made up his mind.

"Ah, 90 yuan for 1,000 words, isn't this a bit high, and the famous artist is only about 100 yuan for 1,000 words." Deputy Editor-in-Chief Liu said in surprise.

"Now that you have made a decision, you can simply be generous, which is 90 yuan for 1,000 words." Ma Chengkun is also the master who does not regret after making a decision.

"Okay, I'll try my best to press the price, if I can't do it, I'll give 90 yuan for 1,000 words, anyway, I will definitely complete the task." After speaking, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Liu walked out quickly, and then there was an uncle visiting Chen Lang's house.

It's Tuesday afternoon, and it's still in the office of the general manager of Oriental Daily.

Ma Chengkun waited anxiously in the office until Editor-in-Chief Wang and Deputy Editor-in-Chief Liu came to the office together, and their faces were full of joy. Ma Chengkun's eyes lit up when he saw the faces of the two, sat down, and waited for the report of the two.

"Good news, Mr. Ma, good news," Deputy Editor-in-Chief Liu said with some excitement.

"Oh, talk about it, talk about it." Ma Chengkun was also excited when he heard this.

"When "Zhu Xian" was first serialized yesterday and Monday, according to the final statistics, although the sales volume had not yet reached 100,000 copies, the sales had stopped the downward trend, and there was still an increase of 1,000 copies. As of this afternoon, 102,000 copies have been sold, and 2,000 copies have been reprinted, so it is not surprising that the newspaper should sell about 104,000 copies today. ”

"Great, we have finally stopped the decline and grown, it seems that this gamble, we made the right bet." Ma Changkun stood up and looked down at Hong Kong, breathing a sigh of relief, and the two editors-in-chief were also full of smiles.