Taris sat alone in his office, looking down at the most recent quarter's financial report.

"If it goes on like this..."

The data in his hand is as ugly as his face, and of course the other way around.

A few years ago, Taris founded the current publishing house, and although the publishing house is not very large, it was not a good business at the beginning. However, in the past two years, the competition among peers has become more and more fierce, and the operation of publishing houses has become worse and worse.

If this continues, I am afraid that the publishing house will close its doors in a few years.

As for the newspaper that Taris co-founded? The skin does not exist, the hair will be attached, the newspaper was originally used as a foil, the publishing house is closed, and the newspaper will of course close along with it.

For Tarris, it has come to the point where he has to make a decision, but he has put a lot of effort into this publishing house after all. Just turned it off, he was always a little hesitant...

Just as Tharis was still struggling, there was a knock on the door outside the office.

After collecting his mood, Tharis raised his voice.

"Come in..."

The door was pushed open, and a young man in his 20s walked in.

"Boss, someone came to submit just now..."After a moment's hesitation, the young man continued. It's a Chinese..."

"Oh?"

Because of the increasing losses, the size of the publishing house has become smaller and smaller, and now Tharis is a person who holds the position of boss and editor-in-chief. As the editor-in-chief, Tharis naturally receives countless manuscripts on weekdays, but if the Chinese say, this is the first time, which also makes Tharis have a trace of curiosity in his heart.

"Show me..."

Seeing that the boss was interested, the young man hurriedly handed in the manuscript.

After seeing the manuscript, Taris frowned.

Because the manuscripts are all in English, but this does not prevent him from reading, after all, he has also founded a newspaper specializing in English, so it is naturally impossible for him to not be able to read English.

Although it was obvious that the manuscript in his hand was only a part, it didn't take long for Tharis to nod involuntarily.

"That's good..."

As he spoke, Tharis looked up at the youth.

"What about the Chinese? Bring him in..."

When he saw Yan Shao, Taris was taken aback like the others.

Because what appeared in front of Tharis was not the image of him with braids behind his head and a thin body at all. Not only is he not thin, but on the contrary, Yan Shao's height of 1.85 meters is even taller than most white people in this era, but because of this relationship, Tharis has once again increased his interest in his heart.

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Whether it was in the past or now, Yan Shao was the first time to go to a place like a publishing house, and naturally it was impossible to know a lot about what he understood. Therefore, in the face of the 15 francs for 1,000 words and the additional printing fee proposed by Tharris, if the additional printing will be added, he does not know whether it is reasonable.

However, there are some things he still understands, and that is the exchange rate of this era.

In this era, 1 pound is equivalent to 25 francs, and the first manuscript that Yan Shao handed over to Tharis is about 200,000 words, which is equivalent to 3,000 francs, 3,000 francs is equivalent to 120 pounds, and 1 pound is equivalent to 10.5 silver dollars, which means that the manuscript fee paid by Tharis this time is at least equivalent to 1,260 silver dollars...

Considering that the monthly salary of the new army in the late Qing Dynasty at this time was only 7 silver dollars, 1260 silver dollars was definitely not a small amount. What's more, Taris also said that he would continue to pay the manuscript fee if it was printed, so Yan Shao signed the agreement without hesitation.

Looking at Yan Shao's back, which was obviously much more relaxed than when he came, the young man hesitated for a moment and then spoke.

"Boss, is this book really worth 3,000 francs?"

At least the young man didn't think it was worth it, and in his opinion, although the book was very well written, 10 francs for a thousand words was already considered a ceiling. After all, Jules Verne's first debut novel, "Five Weeks in a Balloon", only earned 500 francs, considering that it was 1862 at the time, plus other factors, a young man like Yan Shao, who did not have the slightest reputation, 10 francs for a thousand words was indeed the sky.

Considering that Yan Shao is only a Chinese, the young man even feels that this price can be lowered a little more. And as a confidant of Tharis, the young man is also very aware of the current situation of the publishing house, and in this case, he has to pay so much manuscript fees to Yan Shao, and the young man really doesn't understand.

On the other side, after noticing the young man's thoughts, Tharis smiled lightly.

"You should have heard the story of Verne and Ezel..."

According to an unconfirmed rumor, Jules Verne's debut novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, failed to submit to 16 publishers, and in a fit of rage, he threw the manuscript into the fire, and Verne's wife, Honorina, snatched the manuscript and gave him a chance to meet a 17th publisher who knew the goods.

In fact, it was in the autumn of 1862 that Verne became acquainted with the publisher Ezel through the introduction of the Brittany writer Bréa. Verne left Ezel two manuscripts: A Travels in England and Scotland and Five Weeks in a Balloon. Ezel rejected the former and asked for changes to the latter, and on October 23 of the same year, the two signed their first contract, in which Verne's debut film was required to sell at least 2,000 copies, and in return he would receive a salary of 500 francs.

After the contract was signed, in 1863 alone, 3,000 copies of Five Weeks in a Balloon were sold. By 1905, the year of Verne's death, 76,000 copies of Five Weeks in a Balloon had been sold in the unillustrated edition alone.

The success that followed Five Weeks in a Balloon not only brought wealth to Verne, but also laid the groundwork for a 40-year collaboration with Ezel and his son Ezel Jr., who even had a debate about the characteristics of the book's protagonist, the Nautilus, Captain Nemo, when Verne wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. And the friendship between the two is what Taris values the most.

The predicament of the publishing house is quite clear to Tarris, and at the moment it is impossible to save the publishing house with conventional means. If you want to save the publishing house, you have to take extraordinary measures.

The best way to do this is naturally to find a famous author and write two best-selling books to alleviate it. But the scale of Tharris's publishing house is not very large, and coupled with the long-term losses, it is almost impossible to invite famous writers to come. At this time, Yan Shao, who came to the door, was like a life-saving straw in Taris's opinion.

In fact, just as the young man thought, Yan Shao's "Tarzan of the Apes" is good, but it is only worth 10 francs per thousand words at most, and if you pay 3,000 francs, unless the novel can be reprinted, the publisher will make much less money, after all, when a novel is first started, at most one or two thousand copies will be printed.

However, if Yan Shao can succeed like Verne, then the extra 1,000 francs paid this time will bring many years of friendship to both parties, just like Verne and Ezel and his son Ezel Jr.

For Tharris, it's like gambling, and the odds of a gamble are slim, after all, writers like Verne are usually rare for many years. But now Tharis is desperate, if he doesn't gamble, the publishing house will definitely close down, betting, if he wins, the newspaper and the publishing house will be saved, even if he loses the bet, it will only be a loss of 1,000 francs...

Based on the quality of "Tarzan of the Apes", Taris feels that this game still has a certain chance of winning.

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After returning to the hotel, he learned that Yan Shao's book had been approved, and Morgana was happy for him.

However, when Morgana learned that Yan Shao's novel had received 3,000 francs for the manuscript, the expression of surprise on her face could not be concealed.

After living in Marseille for so many years and opening a hotel, Morgana naturally knows a lot of things, and she also knows very well that it is impossible for an unknown author to earn 3,000 francs with his first novel, in fact, in Morgana's opinion, if Yan Shao's novel passes the review, it will be very good to sell for 1,000 francs—————— in this regard, Morgana is the same as the young man thinks.

And after learning about the situation from Morgana and some of the travelers around him who came together to congratulate him, while scratching his head, Yan Shao also felt as if he owed a favor unconsciously.

"But I'm not related to that guy, so why did he give me an extra 1,000 francs?"

"I've heard that something seems to be wrong with the operation of that publishing house..."

"Yes, I've heard about it, and I've heard that he plans to close the newspaper..."

"That's right, at this time, he actually gave so much money to others, I think his brain must be..."

"Ahem, don't speak ill of people behind your back, but, actually, I think..."

Hearing others say this, Yan Shaozhi thinks that the middle-aged man named Tharis will want to buy himself in this way, so that his future works, well, in fact, will all be sent to him?

After a while, Yan Shao vetoed this idea by himself, he would not think too highly of himself, but in his opinion, since the book "Tarzan of the Apes" can be passed down to the point that women and children know it in later generations, it will inevitably have its own uniqueness, 3000 francs may be too much in the eyes of others, but in his opinion, it is only low and not high.

"But I'm just a novice after all, so there's no need for the other party to spend so much money to win me over..."

Yan Shao said silently in his heart, he didn't know what to do, the current Tharis was desperate, and as for investing in Yan Shao, it was just a dead horse as a live horse doctor.