Three days later, at noon.

White Star Shipping Company London Branch.

Led by the foreman Klenell, a group of workers gathered in the corner, nibbling bread and eating bacon.

Since the ouster of former Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil more than half a year ago, they have been treated a lot better.

At least, the wages now paid support them to eat meat regularly,

There are even more opportunities to go for a drink.

The workers are chatting,

"Alas...... Without "The Lord of the Rings", I'd be dead. ”

"Can we call it reading? It's obviously listening to books~"

However, he was right. After the end of "The Lord of the Rings", although the "Mandy Miracle" recently serialized by "The Mirror" is also a fantasy work, it is really bad taste, and it does not have that kind of refreshing feeling. ”

……

They were all talking about the Mirror edition.

At this moment, Nansen, the factory accountant, walked over with the "Mirror" in his hand.

He pounced and sat down next to Klenell,

"Boss, I'm here."

Klenell nodded,

"There's another serialization today, right?"

Nansen nodded,

"Yes."

He said as he picked up the jug and poured it into his mouth.

As a result, it was this act of drinking water that attracted everyone's attention.

Staring –

The eyes of the workers were like torches.

"Goo......

Nansen swallowed and whispered, "What's wrong?" ”

Klenell glared at the other and warned, "You kid, can't we smell what you're putting in the kettle?" Drinking in the factory in broad daylight, are you crazy? If those overseers find out, they can pick you up a layer of ...... Not...... That's right, you are the accountant of the factory, and the supervisor can't control you. ”

Klenell said as he pointed to the other's kettle.

The smell of alcohol is obvious.

Nansen was surprised,

"Can you really smell it?"

Klenell was helpless for a while,

"Boy, we drink every day, can we smell it? In short, you should be careful, don't make a mistake in the calculation and pay the wrong salary. ”

Nansen waved his hand,

"That won't be. I played board games while drinking, and I didn't miss the damage~"

!

Ten thousand grass and mud horses galloped through Klenell's heart.

A worker leaned over next to him,

"Give me a bite."

Klenell went up and kicked him and said, "You want to die!?" ”

The worker immediately became honest and sat back in his original position.

He whispered, "Nansen, what's the matter with you kid?" Recently, you didn't go to drink at night, and as a result, you were sneaking here during the day. ”

Before Nansen could answer, Klenell next to him spoke for him,

"You forgot, his wife just gave birth."

"Ah......h

The workers immediately showed a look of concern,

"I'm a dad too. I know. ”

He patted Nansen on the shoulder,

The two sides made eye contact, and everything was in plain sight.

Klenell next to him smiled wryly,

"When the child was born, it was actually fine. The half-sized son in my family is the age when the dog is annoyed when he sees it, and he argues all day long. Before, I couldn't understand what it meant for those male compatriots who liked to fish to sit by the river. I understand now that sitting is also a pleasure. ”

"Poof! Hahahaha......"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Klenell glared,

"Laugh at it!"

The rest of the people quickly quieted down.

Klenell sighed and said to Nansen, "Okay, let's not talk about those who have and don't. You can read us "The Mandy Miracle." Where did you come from last week? ”

When I said this, the workers couldn't help but look at each other,

They all found that they didn't seem to have much of an impression of the previous plot.

It can only be said that "The Mandy Miracle" is far worse than "The Lord of the Rings", and it can't even leave a mark in memory.

The two books are not on the same level at all.

Nansen asked, "Do you still listen?" ”

Klenell nodded,

"Listen. I've been listening to it for a few months, and if I don't continue, I always feel like it's a loss. ”

It's a question of the cost of silence.

It's like chasing more online articles,

Some books drag the battle line too long, and there is a tendency to drag it out longer and longer, and it is easy to become a chicken rib that "eats no meat and discards it is a pity".

Nansen nodded,

"Then I'll read it."

He flipped the newspaper all the way back, looking for the edition.

Suddenly, his movements stopped,

"This is...... Come and see, the Mirror has a new section! ”

"What layout!?"

The rest of the people came forward,

Although they are big and coarse, they especially like some pages of the "Mirror".

Like what

Drawing charts for people's livelihood edition,

Sexes that tell all sorts of outrageous love stories,

Jokes and casual,

Comic Version,

……

Even if you don't have a lot of literacy, you can read these pages, and it's a lot of fun.

"The new section is called Children's Literature," Nansen said. ”

As soon as they heard the name, the workers were bored,

Then, as if someone remembered something, he joked to Klenell: "Boss, maybe you need this~ Didn't you just say that your children and dogs are annoyed when they see it?" ”

Klenell was furious,

"! I say everything at home, do I need to rely on these little tricks to stabilize the child? ”

However, he is stubborn in his mouth, but he is honest in his body.

He stepped forward,

"Nansen, read it to me."

Nansen shook his head and said, "I don't need to read it." Because it's children's literature, the words are simple. You can do it yourself. ”

Klenell was even more curious and took the newspaper.

《Le Petit Prince》，

《The Little Prince》，

"The little prince?"

Klenell was surprised,

"And, it's actually bilingual!?"

Nansen explains: "It's not hard to understand. Children's literature, the main readers must be children~ Sir Lu attaches great importance to education, so he adopts a bilingual model. It's always good for children to learn one more foreign language. ”

Although education in the UK has always been a two-track system, there was no such thing as a happy education in the early 20th century.

Everyone, the volume is still the volume.

Poor families like Klenell also know the importance of reading.

He nodded in agreement,

"Makes sense. I'll read it first. ”

He didn't know French, so he only read English.

I thought it was something for children to see, but I read it cursoriously and it was over.

But for some reason, he was unconsciously immersed in it.

Time passed by minute by second,

suddenly

Jingle Bell –

The bell rings to remind you to go to work.

Klenell detached himself from the atmosphere created by "The Little Prince" and unconsciously handed the newspaper back to Nansen.

Nansen whispered: "Boss, you ......"

As he spoke, he handed over a handkerchief.

Klenell was surprised,

"How?"

Nansen didn't answer directly, just silently pointed to the corner of his eye.

Klenell touched his right cheek,

Somewhat moist.

"I ...... Crying? ”

He grimaced his expression.

Nansen didn't want to embarrass the boss, so he looked away and pretended not to see it.

Klenell had infinite emotion in his heart, but he didn't know how to express it.

He sorted out the wording for a long time before he said: "Nansen, I didn't expect that there was an author who could express the unspeakable feeling in people's hearts with such a fairy tale and innocent words. ”

Nansen was stunned,

"Boss, it turns out that you are also quite literate and crepe, and you can say such things."

Klenell couldn't help but laugh,

"I really should take this fairy tale back and read it to that stinky boy at home. Of course, I'm not saying I can't keep him, but ...... It's just ......"

Klenell was speechless.

Nansen patted him on the shoulder,

"Boss, don't explain anything. I know. ”

Klenell glared at each other, then asked, "Whose work is this fairy tale?" If I can, I'm going to go out and find a few of his books. ”

Nansen swept his eyes, and then looked shocked,

“Lu！？ It turned out to be Lu!? ”

Klenell was surprised,

"It turned out to be the master who wrote The Lord of the Rings. How? Is there anything surprising that this book was written by him? ”

Nansen scratched his head, unable to explain.

Because the workers don't read particularly profound works, they naturally don't know "Animal Farm", the Innocence Trilogy, and "The Moon and Sixpence".

Therefore, they can't understand the difference in style between "The Little Prince" and these books.

Lu has so many writing styles, it's a real fairy.

Seeing that Nansen didn't speak, and Klenell didn't ask deeply,

He continued: "This fairy tale, is there still one to come? I look like a serial. ”

Nansen said: "There should be. ”

Klenell sighed,

"It would be nice if it wasn't a week, but a day."

……

Evening.

Fleet Street.

Not far away, the Fleet River flowed silently, splashing with dots.

Outside the "Mirror" newspaper building, many readers surrounded the gate,

"The Little Prince, please update tomorrow!"

"Without a follow-up story, my children would definitely have plucked my beard. Help......"

"Please, Lu, give us those of us a way to live as parents."

……

So many people cry dad and call mother,

Mourning is everywhere.

In the editor-in-chief's office, the current editor-in-chief of The Scotsman, Charles Alfred Cooper, was staring at Lu Shi with a playful expression.

He joked: "At the beginning, "The Hobbit" was serialized for the first time in the "Scotsman", which caused the newspaper to be out of stock, and I was in the same state as you, like an ant on a hot pot, standing or sitting." ”

At this time, Lu Shi was indeed extremely depressed.

He never imagined that "The Little Prince" would cause such a big sensation.

On the other side, Picasso, who was in charge of the illustration, smiled wryly,

"Shouldn't bedtime stories be read at night? Why did these readers start urging them in the afternoon? ”

Lu Shi said: "Don't ask. Sketch first. ”

Picasso is full of black lines,

￣□￣｜｜

I continued to draw illustrations for "The Little Prince".

Cooper on the side said: "Maybe other people's children are taking a nap~ Hahahaha!" ”

This guy doesn't think it's a big deal to watch the excitement.

Lu Shi groaned,

With the word count of "The Little Prince", the newspaper only needs four or five pages to get it.

But that certainly won't work.

In modern times, the reason why "The Little Prince" has become the best-selling fairy tale, in addition to the wonderful story, is because of the wonderful illustrations in it.

Illustration is one of the souls of children's literature,

It can help children understand the content of the text, and can also associate the text and pictures, enrich their cognition, and improve their concentration.

And the illustrations undoubtedly take up a lot of space.

Therefore, Lu Shi divided it according to the content:

Chapters 1~9, the first encounter with the little prince, tells about the little prince before he left the planet;

Chapters 10~16 tell the story of the planets that the little prince passed through before coming to Earth;

Chapters 17~26 tell the story of the little prince who came to the earth, met a fox, saw a lot of roses, and finally met the author;

Chapter 27 talks about the author's nostalgia for the little prince.

There are four parts.

Merge the last two parts,

In this way, the fairy tale was serialized in three weeks, leaving Picasso plenty of time.

Who would have thought ......

Outside came the howling of ghosts and wolves,

"Without The Little Prince, I'm going to die!"

Lu Shi immediately one head two big.

He turned to Picasso,

The latter seemed to feel the extremely anxious gaze, and kept his hands on it, while burying his head lower, pretending not to know.

Rustle Rustle –

The nib of the pen rubs against the paper.

Lu Shi coughed lightly,

"Pablo, time is tight and the task is heavy, do you have confidence?"

Picasso knew that he couldn't hide, so he rubbed his face depressedly,

"Sir, don't tell me you're going to serialize it for three days in a row, and just end 'The Little Prince'. In that case, I won't be able to sleep. ”

Lu Shi said solemnly: "It's okay, I'll accompany you!" Everyone doesn't sleep together! ”

With that, he glanced at Cooper, who had been sitting next to him.

Cooper: ???

"Lu, I'm not in charge of the Mirror now, hey!"

Lu Shi said: "But as one of the founders, your soul is still with the Mirror. Now is the time for you to show resilience and stand with you through this difficult time. ”

Cooper was speechless,

Why don't you become a KBE when you are on the land?

The level of people being leaders (capitalists) is indeed high.

However, there are some things that cannot be solved by willpower,

Even if Picasso finishes painting, there is still typesetting and printing behind it, and it will definitely not be in time for the newspaper delivery the next morning.

Lu Shi has been in the media field for so long, it is impossible not to understand.

He muttered for a moment,

"I've got to go out and talk to the readers."

Cooper was stunned for a moment and asked, "Lu, do you want to adjust the publication time of the Mirror, from the morning newspaper to the evening newspaper?" ”

Lu Shi: "Huh? "With a sigh, he turned his head,

"How else can you do that?"

Cooper: "......"

Why talk about it too much?

I really want to give myself two mouths.

He shook his head,

"No, no, except for particularly important events like the Queen's death, the distribution of newspapers has always been fixed."

Lu Shi showed a thoughtful expression,

After a long time, he said, "I know what to do." ”

After speaking, he left the editor-in-chief's office.

He went straight out of the newspaper office,

The readership boiled instantly,

"Sir! Please update The Little Prince tomorrow! ”

"Yes, yes!"

"I don't want my house to be torn apart."

……

Voices of pleading arose.

Lu Shi looked left and right and asked, "Everyone, do you all like "The Little Prince" very much?" ”

The readers here are all parents,

Therefore, they have a love-hate relationship with The Little Prince.

Love is because there is finally a children's literature that can coax children to listen to it attentively, without being noisy or noisy;

And hate is because,

Why is it serialized!?

Unable to hear the follow-up, the children all turned into demon kings.

Lu Shi spreads his hands,

"Guys, I know your difficulties. But you also have to be considerate of the Mirror. Because although the text part of "The Little Prince" has been completed, as children's literature, illustrations are indispensable, and we need time to rush to work. ”

The scene instantly resounded with all kinds of complaints.

Someone shouted, "Can you do without illustrations?" ”

Lu Shi had no choice, and talked about the relationship between children's literature and illustrations.

There is a reason, and no one can refute it.

After a while, someone asked, "How long will it take for the illustration to be completed?" ”

Lu Shi said: "It will take at least 10 hours. But there is also typesetting and printing in the back, so it will definitely not be able to catch up. Unless ......"

In the middle of the words, there was a big gasp,

Everyone's attention was drawn over,

"Sir Lu, have something to say!"

"Yes! Don't sell it! ”

"My family is counting on "The Little Prince", Sir Lu, help!"

……

Lu Shi chuckled: "Unless, tomorrow's "Mirror" can be published twice." Once in the morning, all layouts are normal; Once in the evening, a children's literature version was added to the foundation, and the second part of "The Little Prince" was serialized. ”

Readers' eyes lit up,

Immediately someone shouted: "That's it!" ”

Lu Shi hesitated,

"However, this is very unfair to people who subscribe to the newspaper throughout the year. They can't get a refund, and they have to pay again for the evening version. Alas......"

He sighed deeply, with a strong smell of green tea.

As a result, everyone present ate this set,

"It's okay!"

The readers were unanimous.

That's what Lu Shi was waiting for,

"In that case, the Mirror should fully cooperate with the needs of all readers," he reluctantly said. ”

As a result, the "Mirror" created a historical precedent and became the first newspaper to be published twice a day.

What's even more outrageous is that the later version only has one more piece of children's literature.

But Lu Shi miscalculated the situation after all,

The next day,

The Mirror, which sold nearly 140,000 copies;

The special issue of children's literature in the Mirror newspaper sold exactly 70,000 copies.

The reason why the latter is an integer is because there are so many prints,

The sales estimate is still too conservative.

(End of chapter)