Chapter 20 The Pearl Master I Know

Before the Anti-Japanese War, my office was on Xihuamen Street in Beiping, very close to Wenjin Street.In summer, all agencies are changed to go to the office in the morning, and they are closed in the afternoon.I went for a walk after lunch, the sun was in the middle of the day, and my skin was scorching hot, so I always went to the Central Library to read.The windshield exposes the sill, looking at the North Sea in the distance, the palace is majestic, the gold is beautiful, the green lotus is fragrant, the algae are blooming, the altar is spacious, and the heat is gone. It is really a pleasure to read by the window.Xueyou Chen Tongwen is in charge of rare books and ancient books in the library, so I can borrow the rare books of "Hanfenlou Secret Collection" and "Siku Quanshu" for reading.Not long ago, the museum received a batch of Buddhist scriptures, Taoism and seal books donated in the name of Yang Jiaxun, about 240 volumes totaling more than 1,000 volumes (I know that Yang Xiaolou, the master of martial arts, has a lot of Taoist classics in his possession. Silently donated to the Central Library).

Although the museum sorted them out by categories soon, they couldn't make a serial number for the time being, so they couldn't be borrowed by the public.Every day, a middle-aged man in his thirties sitting across from me in the reading room, with a graceful demeanor and a Sichuan accent, repeatedly asked to borrow a copy of "Xuantian Jiuzhuan Daozhuan", a book donated by Xiaolou. Quite embarrassed.I saw that his love words were sincere, and I assured Brother Tongwen on behalf of him that he was only reading them in the library and would never bring them out.After this point of contact, we only knew that he was Li Shoumin, from Sichuan, through the names of each other.As soon as the book arrived, he read it deeply and took notes.

After more than half a month, I was walking in the flower garden of the office building, and I met him meditating under a lilac tree, and then I realized that we both work in the same building and are separated by a wall.He reads a wide range of books. In addition to Buddhist scriptures, Taoist books, Qi training, and Zen skills, he also likes to study life and astrology. A copy of "Yuanhai Ziping" is always carried with him, and he takes it out to look through it when he has nothing to do. .He bought three magazines called "Xinming" in Pocket Alley, and it was stated on the back of the book that the consignment office in Beiping was abandoned, so he thought I was a fellow, but in fact I was just a researcher for Xinming magazine, and I only knew a little about Ziping.Because of my introduction, he got to know Guan Nairi, a well-known celebrity in Peking. Guan gave him a horoscope, saying that he was "under Wenchang" but "trapped in Jiamu".Guan is a Chinese laborer who studied in France. Although his writing is not brilliant, he has studied a few degrees and mastered mathematics and theory. From his eight characters, he can see that his literary name is obvious but not obvious.At that time, he only wrote some short essays, which were published in the newspaper Naizhi under the original name of Shanji or the pen name of "Zen Ji", and he had not yet started writing martial arts novels.He was trapped in haze (opium) due to stomach problems; although the ban was not too strict in North China at that time, civil servants always dared not disclose smoking.He thought that the horoscope Guan Nairi had given him was the words of his knowledge, so he asked me to ask Guan Nairi to calculate it for him if he had nothing to do.

His old man traveled to the southwestern provinces, and wrote notes every day. He described the customs and cultural relics of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Hunan in detail, so the description of the scenery in his book is not completely fabricated but has its roots.Before he joined the "Jicha Political Affairs Committee", he did serve as a reporter in Hu Jingyi's army.Although monk Hu Li was obese, he was very scheming, capricious, and difficult to get along with; so he thought twice, and finally decided to return to Peiping to work as a secretary in the "Political Committee" Office of Government Affairs. Song Mingxuan, chairman of the "Political Committee", is very particular about old learning. He divided the Four Books into different categories and compiled them separately, named "Four Books New Edition". Several well-known Confucian scholars presided over it, but nine out of ten were actually written by Li Shoumin, and those imperial officials were just famous.

He has many children and he has hobbies. Although his income is good, his expenses are huge and his life feels exhausted.It just so happened that Sha Dafeng, the director of Tianjin "Tianfeng Bao", was involved in a lawsuit with Zhu Qinxin, and there was no one to preside over the library affairs, so he asked me and Zhao Youmei to take care of him temporarily.At that time, he had already started writing, and wrote as many as twelve chapters. He planned to publish a book, but he was afraid that the market would not be sure.At that time, "New Tianjin News" published the storytelling department "Yongzheng Swordsman Picture". In March, the newspaper added more than 10,000 copies. I wanted to publish it in "Tianfeng Daily" and Liu Dioruo's "Little Yangzhou Chronicle" was brought in, and it began to be published on the same day as "Shushan". Who knows that the sales have skyrocketed, and readers from Pingjinyuan and Shanghai and Nanjing have requested to complete the first issue of "Shushan" from the publication.

In good conscience, from the first to the fifth episodes of "Shushan", it is Huanzhu's literary test pen; after the fifth episode, because it is very popular with readers, he concentrates on writing it down.Because he has read a lot of books, each episode of "Shushan" is more exciting than the last episode, and since then he has laid the foundation and created a masterpiece that shakes the world and weeps ghosts and gods.His books were originally published by Tianjin Lixing Bookstore, and each episode was published with 6,000 copies. As soon as the book hit the market, it was sold out.At this time, the Anti-Japanese War broke out, and Song Mingxuan moved to Baoding. Zhang Jianhou, the financial director of the "Political Committee", repeatedly urged Brother Shoumin to move in with the army. He felt that his family was very tired and it was difficult to bring his family with the army. Writing novels can be difficult, so I finally decided to stay in Jinghua without moving inward.

The book he wrote sold so well that a publisher wanted to take the copyright of "Shushan" from Lixing Bookstore.He got along very well with Li Xing Bookstore, and he was in a timely manner. He was also a person who valued both morality and affection, so he offended the publisher, Boss Xu, virtually.Boss Xu had a relative who worked as an interpreter in the Japanese Gendarmerie in Beiping, so Huanzhu was put on a hat and charged with the absurd novel he wrote to deceive the public, and was imprisoned in the Gendarmerie Beach Prisoner Detention Center.He knew that this prison disaster was inevitable, so he took it calmly; but it is obvious that a person who is addicted to smoke suddenly cuts off the fireworks.Fortunately, there were a few "Shushan fans" in the military headquarters of the North China Garrison. Fortunately, his charges were unfounded, and he was released after being confused, so some of his rumors related to "Shushan" came out one after another.

Later, food control in North China was tightened, and it became a problem to live in Beiping to buy rice and white noodles, so he went south with his family and lived upstairs in a bookstore in Maijiaquan.After I came to Taiwan, I sent a message to my friend Ning Peiyu to persuade him to come and settle in Taiwan, but he never responded.Since then, there has been no news.Later, I heard indirect rumors that he suffered from dysentery in Shanghai, and he couldn't afford the Bodhi fruition. His book "Shushan" has recently been analyzed by Mr. Ye Hongsheng in an eloquent, eloquent and extremely detailed article, which has been reprinted by the "World Journal" in the United States. I don't want to spend more words on this; Reading his wuxia novels gives me a feeling, like eating a colorful feast, and I don’t want to eat chopsticks if I make mistakes in other mountains and seas.It has been 20 years since Brother Shoumin returned home, and there are still many fans of martial arts novels in Taiwan. Let's smile with satisfaction!