During the Republic of China, the three giants of the book publishing industry, the Commercial Press, the Chung Hwa Book Company and the World Book Company, were all located on the Sima Road in the Qianhai Public Concession.

In particular, the marketing departments of the Commercial Press and Chung Hwa Book Company, the top two in the national publishing industry, are also located at the intersection of Sima Road and Qipan Street, and the two companies are even neighbors, which shows how fierce the competition between the two is.

Later, with the gradual development, the merchants smelled that the cultural publishing business was profitable, and they also entered the market one after another.

As a result, in the vicinity of these two major publishing companies, all kinds of well-known and unknown bookstores have sprung up along Sima Road.

The rising star World Bookstore, although it is not in the area of Qipan Street, is still on the four roads, and it is the neighbor of the Xinghualou restaurant where Xu Zhimo invited Chen Muwu to dinner.

Even though the two large companies, Commerce and Zhonghua, after becoming bigger and stronger, opened their own printing houses, editorial offices and library buildings in the Chinese territory outside the concession, the location of marketing and office still remained on Sima Road in the public concession.

Chen Muwu walked out of Xinghualou, walked east along Sima Road, walked to the intersection of Qipan Street, and then began to go south again, crossing the tram lane in the middle of the road, and then passing by the first Zhonghua Book Company at the intersection.

The reason why he did not choose Chung Hwa Book Company but chose the Commercial Press was because of his own considerations.

Although these three giants are all publishers, their main publishing directions are different.

The third place, the World Book Company, was founded the latest, and it is also the weakest one.

Therefore, in order to survive, they initially aimed to make money, so they found a new way in the selection of published content, mainly popular books and magazines for the general public to read and recreation.

The famous magazines of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly Pie, such as "Red Rose" and "Saturday", were published by the World Book Company.

Pingjiang Buxiao's "The Legend of Jianghu Heroes", because it was serialized in "Red Magazine", so the publication of the bound edition is naturally the world book company behind "Red Magazine".

If the manuscript contained in Chen Muwu's briefcase that day was "Tianlong Babu", then he would definitely choose to go west without hesitation when he left Xinghualou, and went directly to the World Book Company to find their general manager, Shen Zhifang.

General Manager Shen is still Chen Muwu's Shaoxing fellow, and maybe he can even give Chen Muwu a big price.

Yao Fulan is Chen Muwu, and it seems that it is already an open secret in the circle.

Zhang Shaoshuai knew, and Shen Zhifang naturally knew it.

Since "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was born in the "Yishi Daily" in the north, and the "Legend of Jianghu Heroes" serialized in the "Red Magazine" was powerless, Shen Zhifang wanted to dig this Miss Yao to the World Book Company through various channels, so as to revitalize his publishing business.

After several inquiries, I found out what Yao Fulan's true face was.

During the days of Chen Muwu's retreat, Shen Zhifang also went to Chen's house to hand over his business card, hoping to meet this great talent who has blossomed academically.

Even if he was closed, Shen Zhifang had always fantasized about whether one day after Chen Muwu came out of the customs, he would find him with the manuscript.

Chung Hwa Book Company, on the other hand, started by editing and printing textbooks.

Although the number of schools in the Republic of China period is completely incomparable with that of later generations.

But textbooks will always be a major market in the book publishing industry, with new students enrolled every year and published and printed every year.

It was only by relying on the rapid release of the first edition of textbooks for primary and secondary school students suitable for private schools after the Republic that Zhonghua Book Company gained a firm foothold in the domestic book publishing industry.

Later, Chung Hwa Book Company began to publish some traditional Chinese ancient books at the same time as publishing textbooks.

Until later generations, Zhonghua Book Company was also a well-known publishing house of ancient books, but the business of textbooks disappeared.

If Chen Muwu's briefcase contained a physics textbook manuscript, then he would have no problem choosing Zhonghua Book Company.

But this manuscript by Chen Muwu is neither a popular martial arts, nor a physics textbook more suitable for the physique of Chinese babies.

Therefore, his eyes are on the Commercial Press, which has the richest publishing direction and the most complete publishing business.

The Commercial Press is now the largest publishing company in the country, and in addition to publishing a wide range of books, the editorial team in the library is always full of talents.

Now working as editors in the Commercial Press, there are future famous writers Ye Shengtao and Shen Yanbing.

And then in the sales department of the Commercial Press, there is another more powerful clerk.

Of course, Chen Muwu also had a certain intention of having a casual encounter with this clerk, but the main purpose of his coming to the Commercial Press was to publish a book for himself.

After entering the door, Chen Muwu didn't see the clerk he wanted to see, so he could only ask the other clerks where the general manager was.

One of the most famous people at the helm of the Commercial Press in the early days, Zhang Yuanji, had a little relationship with the Chen family.

He used to be the second principal of Nanyang College, and Chen Muwu, the elder brother of his eldest brother, is also a Jiang person, and can be regarded as Chen Muwu's fellow villager.

It was during the years of Zhang Yuanji's management that the Commercial Press has become the No. 1 publishing company in the country from a small printing workshop.

Because Xu Zhimo's banquet happened suddenly, Chen Muwu did not rely on his family relationship to contact this General Manager Zhang first, but killed him alone after eating.

The general manager he said to the clerk was Zhang Yuanji.

As a result, the clerk told him that General Manager Xia was not in the store today.

It turned out that just before Chen Muwu returned to China, Zhang Yuanji decided to retire, he resigned from all his positions in the Commercial Press, and then was elected as the chairman.

The current general manager is Xia Xiaofang, who is also the son of Xia Ruifang, the founder of the Commercial Press.

The word "Xiao" is a common fake word for the word "small".

During the late Qing Dynasty, there was a way to name one's children, which was to change only one character in the father's name and replace it with Xiao or Xiao.

For example, if Chen Muwu gets married and has children in the future, he can name his child Chen Xiaowu in this way.

The way this Chinese name is chosen is basically the same as the English name Jr. (junior).

Fortunately, General Manager Xia was not there that day, otherwise Chen Muwu, who walked up to the door with great interest, would definitely make a joke.

And no one can say how much real power this newly appointed second-generation general manager has.

If Chen Muwu wants to do this for him, he must contact the old Mr. Zhang Yuanji behind the scenes of the Commercial Press.

Chen Muwu, who was in the air, turned his head and was about to leave, but the clerk suddenly said another sentence.

Although the general manager is not there, there happens to be Director Wang of the compilation office who is on duty in the store today.

As he spoke, the clerk pointed to a book prominently placed in the store.

"Wang Yun's Five Dictionaries" was just published last year.

Chen Muwu didn't know who Director Wang was at first.

But this dictionary marks the author's name, so it is self-evident who Director Wang is.

During the period of the People's Republic of China, there were too many strange people and gods in the country.

Among them, Wang Yunwu can be regarded as one with more distinctive personal experience.

He was a native of the former prime minister, and he also used to be a secretary to the former prime minister.

Then he compiled a dictionary named after himself, which adopted a completely different way of checking words from the Kangxi dictionary, the four-corner number checking method invented by Wang Yunwu.

In the fifties and sixties, this method of checking characters with four-corner numbers still appeared in the dictionaries of the time.

However, with the popularization of basic education and the promotion of Chinese pinyin, the four-corner number has gradually disappeared in the long river of history.

But this four-corner number is not the most important invention in Wang Yunwu's life.

The most famous invention in Wang Yunwu's life, and the biggest stain, was when he was the Minister of Finance in the last years of the Republic of China, when he introduced a currency reform plan to replace fiat currency with gold yuan coupons.

Although this plan is largely to carry the black pot for an unknown bald head, it also made Wang Yunwu enter the list of war criminals in the end.

The clerk may have seen that Chen Muwu was dressed well, and his demeanor was full of a strong cultural atmosphere, and it seemed that he did have something important to discuss with the general manager.

That's why he told Chen Muwu such a piece of information that he thought was very useful.

Although Wang Yunwu's status in the Commercial Press is not low, Chen Muwu has to find Zhang Yuanji for this matter.

I didn't see the fun I wanted to see at lunchtime, and I didn't see any of the two people I wanted to see when I arrived at the Commercial Press, Chen Muwu felt that he didn't see the yellow calendar that said "everything is not suitable" when he went out that day, so he had to take advantage of the excitement and return disappointed.

After returning home, he got in touch with Zhang Yuanji through the door of his eldest brother.

The Chen family is very willing to stay at home every day, either nagging like Tang Sanzang, or hiding in his room to write and hurry out to meet the sun.

Xu Zhimo invited him to dinner, which was a good start, so Chen Muqiao was also willing to help him match.

And the third brother didn't go out for pleasure, but to visit people in the publishing industry, Chen Muqiao estimated that Chen Muwu might have written something new during the time he was at home.

Digging out the phone book presented by the company, he called the senior of Nanyang College.

Hearing that Chen Muwu wanted to visit, Zhang Yuanji immediately agreed without thinking about it, and said that if he had time, he would be able to wait for Dr. Chen at home that night.

The host was also in a hurry to meet, and the guests were also in a hurry to meet, so that night, Chen Muwu took the family's car and went to the Zhang Mansion at No. 40 Sifeier Road, Huxi.

Originally, Jisfeier Road was not considered to be within the sphere of influence of the Public Concession, but as the Ministry of Industry Bureau of the Concession crossed the border again and again to build roads and continued to encroach outward, this area was also included in the scope of the concession.

Like Jing Yusi Road, the area around Jisfeier Road is also a well-known residential area in the concession.

It is said that Dr. Hu also lives in the vicinity now, but fortunately he had already gone abroad to the United States at that time, so Chen Muwu was very "regretful" not to meet the enthusiastic Professor Hu.

But the most famous celebrity residence on Jisfeier Road is not Hu Shi's house or Zhang Yuanji's house, but No. 76 on this road.

Although Huxi is not considered a bad land in the sea now, and No. 76 is not the disgusting demon cave, visiting Jisifeier Road at night after dark still makes Chen Muwu feel a little uncomfortable.

Shanghai celebrities, everyone has a wide range of friends, and Zhang Yuanji is no exception.

There are often good friends from other places who come to the sea and do not choose to stay in hotels, but borrow to stay at friends' houses.

Zhang Yuanji's family often becomes Cai Yuanpei's foothold in the sea.

The longest time, President Cai has been living in Zhang's house for more than half a year, from the first half of 1923 when he resigned as President of Shao University and left Beijing, to the second half of the year after marriage and boarding a ship to Europe.

On the day of Chen Muwu's visit, the Zhang family, which had no guests, was still clean.

It's also a convenience that saves him from engaging in meaningless socializing.

The relationship between Zhang Yuanji and Chen Muqiao is only that they have both worked in Nanyang College, which is now Nanyang University of the Ministry of Communications, but they have never met, and it is the first time they have met Chen Muwu.

After the two introduced themselves, they said a bunch of nice kind words to each other.

——Zhang Yuanji, who is mainly an elder, is praising Chen Muwu, saying that he is young and promising, rich in learning, and has made remarkable achievements, winning glory for the country.

Zhang Yuanji had already seen the news in the newspaper that Chen Muwu had returned to China.

If he was the kind of bookseller who would do anything to make money, he would definitely have come to visit him a long time ago, spend a lot of money to ask Chen Muwu to write whatever words he wanted to compile into a booklet, and use Chen Muwu's fame to make a lot of money in the market with this bestseller.

But Zhang Yuanji didn't do that, he and the Commercial Press behind him have their own pride.

It is impossible to let the Commercial Press publish popular publications, and it is possible to consider publishing some academic monographs, but it is necessary to hold a meeting to discuss what topics to choose, and I am afraid that if I come to the door rashly, I will eat until the door is closed.

Zhang Yuanji never thought that he would receive a call from Chen Muqiao that day, saying that his younger brother wanted to visit him, an old fellow who has retired.

What happened when Chen Muwu came to the door late at night?

Zhang Yuanji was at a loss, so he could only test this young man who was full of confidence in the non-stop compliments.

Because he doesn't have a mobile phone, Chen Muwu's schedule has been adjusted very regularly.

He didn't want to play Tai Chi with Zhang Yuanji anymore, so he took out his manuscript from his briefcase.

The manuscript, which had been altered in his room since he had returned home, and had accompanied him all day, was finally handed over to its rightful place at the last moment of the day.

Zhang Yuanji got a stack of manuscript paper in his hand, and there were only four Chinese characters written on the first page, "The Rise of a Great Power".

Then he immediately understood what the young man had come to him for.

Zhang Yuanji rejected Chen Muwu's request with a smile, saying that he had stepped down from the position of general manager of the Commercial Press, and now he didn't ask about the library's affairs and was taking care of his old age, so he couldn't help him.

Although he felt that Chen Muwu was very famous and the topic was also very interesting, he still didn't want to make an exception to publish it for him through the back door, so he would go through the formal way of publishing books by the Commercial Press.

Then Chen Muwu's answer made Zhang Yuanji feel that he was hallucinating.

He said that he didn't pay a penny for his book, but that it had to be handed over to the Commercial Press for publication.

Zhang Yuanji was puzzled again that night.

He didn't know what Chen Muwu was doing.

How can anyone write a book without money, is this looking down on the Commercial Press and treating it as a kind of charity?

(End of chapter)