Chapter 4

Although after earning 3,000 francs, Yan Shao no longer had to worry about his livelihood with the money he already had, he never thought about stopping writing novels. Even after returning to the hotel, Yan Shao quickly picked up his steel pen again.

"The Second Part of Tarzan."

The entire "Tarzan" series is divided into four parts, and it's not an easy task to finish writing them all. For Yan Shao, continuing to write, besides earning more money, the most important thing is fame, because he will eventually have to return to China.

Indeed, compared to China at this time, the environment in France or other European countries is clearly much better. However, he is, after all, a Chinese person, and Chinese people were highly discriminated against in this era. This was something Yan Shao had already noticed after just a few rounds outside. Not to mention the cold looks from passersby, even in the hotel, someone had once asked Morgana to kick Yan Shao out, but Morgana did not agree.

In such a country, Yan Shao could not stay for long, and returning to China almost became an inevitable choice.

The question was how to return and with what identity.

Returning was simple; buying a ticket back to China was enough. The problem was what to do after returning.

If he did nothing, the 100 pounds, though a lot, would eventually run out. If he did business, he clearly did not know how to do it. Returning like this, without capital or connections, and being unfamiliar with the environment, doing business would likely leave him with nothing. Moreover, China at this time was not a suitable place for business. The corruption and darkness of the Qing Dynasty were deeply ingrained in history, especially during the period just before its fall.

After the Xinhai Revolution, China entered a period of over 30 years of war, and the country was almost never at peace. Returning like this, Yan Shao himself could not guarantee his safety.

However, if he could gain enough fame abroad, he would not have to worry.

If it were a hundred years earlier, no matter how much fame Yan Shao gained abroad, it would have been useless. After all, in the eyes of the Qing government at that time, those places were considered barbaric, especially Europe, which was seen as a place only barbarians would live.

Now, things are different. Although it is somewhat annoying to say, the Qing government has been thoroughly beaten by the Western powers. If he could gain fame abroad, his safety would be guaranteed upon his return, and perhaps even unknown people would come to help him.

Therefore, after finishing the first book, Yan Shao had already started working on the second.

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After receiving over 100 pounds in payment, Yan Shao's financial situation improved significantly. So this time, he did not need to rush the manuscript. Even though the second part had fewer words than the first, it still took him a whole month to finish it—considering he was well-prepared, this was already a relatively slow pace.

On the other hand, to save his newspaper and publishing house, Talis had already prepared the printing work. Many employees of the publishing house were skeptical about the idea of a miracle happening for a Chinese person, but Talis was already at his wit's end. He had even visited the church, which he rarely went to, many times recently. It was precisely because of this that the printing work was completed so quickly.

To the people of this era, Yan Shao was still an unknown. Talis himself was not sure how many copies of "Tarzan" would sell. He was just grasping at straws.

As for the 3,000 francs, which was much more than what a regular author would earn, it was just to build a good relationship. If Yan Shao wrote a new book in the future, he might come back to submit it—provided his publishing house still existed.

As for the second part of "Tarzan," Talis thought it would have to wait until next year. After all, a high-quality novel was not easy to create, especially in this era.

However, things seemed to surprise him...

"Did you write this too?"

After placing the manuscript he had just finished reading aside, Talis's face was full of surprise.

"Of course..."

Yan Shao did not feel particularly proud, after all, these were written by others, and he was just copying them from his memory...

"Truly a miracle..."

Talis rubbed his temples. To him, the quality of this book was no different from the previous one, and it met the publication standards of any publishing house. However, this was not the important part, as many authors could achieve this. What truly surprised him was Yan Shao's speed...

In just over a month, he managed to create a sequel of the same quality as the first, which was a miracle.

He did not know that these were not created by Yan Shao; he was just copying them from his memory...

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Although the situation at the publishing house was complicated, Talis still paid Yan Shao 3,000 francs as a manuscript fee and made the same promise as before.

For Talis, paying such a high manuscript fee twice in a row was clearly a headache, especially since the previous book had not yet made a profit, and he now had to pay out so much again.

However, since he had already paid 3,000 francs for the previous book, he could not lower the manuscript fee for a work of similar quality this time.

"I can only hope that this work will really save my publishing house and newspaper..."

With a bitter smile, Talis put the manuscript away.

On the other side, with the 3,000 francs in manuscript fees, Yan Shao headed straight to a department store.

He had had enough...

He had had enough of using a single steel pen to write novels of over 100,000 words.

In the past, because typewriters were expensive, he had to make do. But now, since he had earned another 3,000 francs, he no longer needed to suffer.

"However, I don't need to buy an expensive one; the most important thing is that it feels good..."

Having used keyboards frequently in the future, Yan Shao knew the importance of a good feel.

Although he had already earned 6,000 francs, which was not a small amount for an ordinary person in this era, it was still not much compared to the tycoons who could still build skyscrapers and compete for wealth during the economic crisis 20 years later...

Without capital, Yan Shao could only choose a cheaper typewriter...

Although yellow skin was not exclusive to Chinese people, when Yan Shao entered the department store, many French people still gave him curious looks, especially when they saw him approach a counter selling typewriters. After all, yellow-skinned people were still rare in France at this time.

The shop owner also had a surprised expression, and when Yan Shao approached, his face showed not only surprise but also a hint of doubt...

"Can I try the feel first?"

Using broken French, Yan Shao stuttered.

Having been in France for almost three months, Yan Shao had learned some basic daily phrases, but only for oral communication. He still knew nothing about written French.

Hearing that Yan Shao wanted to try the feel, the shop owner's face showed some difficulty.

He was very doubtful about whether Yan Shao could afford it, as the items he sold were expensive even for ordinary French people. However, he finally nodded in agreement, as he had no reason to refuse.

Seeing the shop owner agree, Yan Shao walked to the display typewriters at the counter.

After trying several, Yan Shao finally chose one with a good feel and a relatively low price—actually, Yan Shao wanted to try more, but the shop owner's face became more and more difficult with each additional try. Seeing the shop owner's face getting worse, Yan Shao could only choose one that suited him.

Taking out several banknotes, seeing the shop owner's originally difficult face start to improve, Yan Shao also breathed a sigh of relief.

If it were in the past, who would dare to give him a hard time? He would definitely turn around and leave, as he was there to buy something, not to suffer. However, in this era, the status of Chinese people, or rather, all yellow-skinned people, was so awkward that they would be discriminated against and doubted wherever they went. Even if he went to another store, he would likely receive the same treatment, so he could only勉强忍下...

This environment of discrimination against yellow-skinned people was not something he could change...

At least, not with his current abilities...

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