Harvey waited on the side of the street to summon a black carriage, opened the door and was surprised to find that there were already guests inside, the first person he met when he crossed into this world, Lester, the debt collection officer in an old-fashioned suit and a top hat, who sat on one side of the carriage with the iconic gentleman's staff in both hands.

Harvey looked up at the coachman sitting at the top of the carriage, his humble suit could not hide his burly figure, and after silently getting into the car, he sat opposite Leicester and said, "Please go to Leonard Press." ”

The carriage started slowly, and Lester sneered disdainfully, and looked at Harvey with contempt: "Mr. Adrian, you must know that even the cost of the carriage belongs to us until your debts are paid. ”

Harvey replied without humility or arrogance: "Mr. Lester, you must have promised me a month of grace. ”

"Of course, the most important thing for us businessmen is credibility, and I hope you will do the same, Mr. Adrian, and this time we will give you a free ride to show our respect for you." Lester smiled, his eyes indescribably indifferent and bantering, which was already a blunt indication that they were spying on Harvey, and the purpose of meeting Harvey this time was to convey this message to him, so as to dissuade him from running away or other thoughts.

Harvey was not used to going around in circles, and said lightly: "Thank you, I am trying to raise thirty gold barrons to pay off the debt." ”

"The call for papers from Leonard Press, the prize is 5,000 balun pounds, and it seems to be a good choice to pay off Mr. Adrian's debts and leave a lot of money."

Harvey looked at him frankly: "That's true, what's the problem?" ”

Since the group was spying on him, they should have known about his commuting to and from the library and getting Shirley to deliver the manuscript to Leonard's publishing house, so it was not difficult to guess Harvey's intentions.

Lester leaned back in his chair and lifted Erlang's legs: "No, I just wanted to congratulate Mr. Adrian on the sale of his work in advance, and allow me to ask a faux pas, did your work appear in the newspaper this morning?" ”

Harvey shrugged: "It should have been, but there was a little accident, and I need to go to Leonard Press to confirm this." ”

"What a masterpiece, Mr. Adrian is as innocent as ever."

Hearing this, Lester laughed impolitely in anticipation of the result, full of mockery of a man who was not self-sufficient. Harvey Adrian had naively thought that it didn't matter if he borrowed money from a private bank and didn't pay it back, naively thought that Lester would not dare to do anything to him as the heir of a hereditary aristocratic family, and in Lester's opinion, Harvey was now just repeating this mistake, but the object became someone else.

Before the carriage took Harvey to Leonard's Press, Lester gave him an ultimatum: "Dear Mr. Adrian, we hope you understand that there are only eighteen days left until your repayment date, and that it is better to think about how to beg your fiancée to help or sell your maid than to do something stupid." ”

"Thank you, Mr. Lester, for your advice, I know my situation all too well."

Harvey's face became even more ugly as he watched the carriage leave, and he felt a sense of grievance at every turn, Lester didn't say a word of rudeness on his face, and his arrogant attitude and the irony that contained his impatience made him uncomfortable, and things were just as Lester had expected, and his "The Count of Monte Cristo" did not even have a chance to be published.

"Damn it!"

He cursed, turned around and saw the duplex office building in front of him, the architectural style is biased towards Baroque, there are two floors, the exterior decoration of the building is extremely luxurious, the shape is complex, part of the exterior wall is painted with light blue wall paint, the two stout marble columns next to the door are carved with exquisite and complex patterns, full of artistic style, and the window design has a modern atmosphere, neatly arranged in rows, and the figures moving inside can be seen through the transparent glass.

In earlier times, this style of architecture might have been criticized as deviant, but with the development of art, the revival of classicism, and the clash of new cultures, such a warm and free architectural culture has ushered in a new development, just like the field of literature.

Once inside, he found that the interior was much more lively than he had imagined, with many well-dressed people coming in and out, of different ages, the youngest of whom was about the same as him, and the older ones who had frosty white sideburns, and who were obviously not employees of Leonard's publishing house.

"Is it the same as yourself?"

Harvey sighed heavily, guessing that these people were just like him who were contributors whose works did not make it to the publication list, and most of the contributors had blind confidence in their own works, and as a result, they did not even have the opportunity to be published, and the self-proclaimed contributors would definitely come to the door to ask for explanations. He explained his intention to the receptionist and went to the reviewer's open office, and according to the instructions of the receptionist, he found the reviewer of The Count of Monte Cristo, Puran Garcia.

It was a mature, experienced-looking man who was dealing with a contributor who had the same purpose as Adrian, and Harvey stepped forward to show his intention and sat aside to wait quietly.

After ten minutes, Puran dismissed the contributors who had come to question the failures of his work before turning to Harvey and politely saying, "Sir, I'm Puran Garcia, who are you?" ”

Harvey is not badly dressed now, and his mature and polite attitude makes Planco look good.

Harvey stretched out his right hand and shook his hand to identify himself: "Harvey Adrian, the author of your novel The Count of Monte Cristo, the purpose of this trip is to retrieve the Count of Monte Cristo's novel submission." ”

Is this Harvey Adrian?

Puran was stunned for a moment, was the young man with a good demeanor in front of him the rumored social playboy Harvey Adrian? The person he had just dealt with was not without a higher status than Harvey, but Harvey surprised him. He shook his head and sighed: "Ah, it's a pity that your work didn't pass this review, the quality of your work is undoubtedly very good, but there are too many writers who participated in the call for manuscripts this time, and excellent works emerge in endlessly. ”

Had it not been for Harvey's belief in the sleek style of doing things that is prevalent in the world's social circles and his confidence in the quality of The Count of Monte Cristo, the purpose of his trip was to make sure that the reviewers had taken a good look at The Count of Monte Cristo, and the polite rhetoric would have given the answer.

"The failure of my work really gave me a big blow, but I feel a lot better when I come here and see your publishing house today's battle, there are so many people who have the same hope as me but return disappointed, and my work is at least not the worst one." Harvey smiled and replied politely.

Puran looked at Harvey in surprise, and as a contributor, he didn't even defend his work.

After chatting for a while, Puran found the manuscript of "The Count of Monte Cristo" that Shirley had delivered and returned it to Harvey, and he opened the folder to make sure that the manuscript paper inside was as good as new.

Leonard gave up The Count of Monte Cristo, and Harvey couldn't hold back his face to argue with them about whether the novel was worth publishing.

"It's much better to beg Diana than to make a fool of yourself here, and there is still more than half a month, so if you really can't do it, you can only rely on your cheap fiancée." Harvey thought to himself.