Chapter 4

A lean, middle-aged man was pulling a rickshaw down the street at a fast pace. The temperature in early spring was still quite low, and he was only wearing a thin shirt, but his back was drenched in sweat from the exertion.

Zhou Hexuan sat in the rickshaw, his arms full of various household items. Seeing how hard the rickshaw driver was working, he couldn't help but ask, "Sir, is your livelihood usually good?"

"Are you talking to me, sir?" the driver slowed down and turned back to ask.

"Yes," said Zhou Hexuan.

The driver wiped the sweat from his forehead and smiled, "I'm just a rickshaw puller, not a master. You're too polite."

Zhou Hexuan asked, "Is your business usually good?"

"Getting by," the driver said with a tone of helplessness, "The tram tracks in the city are getting longer, and our rickshaw business is getting worse."

Zhou Hexuan immediately understood the reason. Trams were fashionable and cheap, so people naturally chose to ride them. He asked again, "How much do you earn in a day?"

The driver replied, "It depends. On a good day, I can earn 7 or 8 jiao, but on a bad day, only 3 or 4 jiao."

Zhou Hexuan calculated the current prices and said, "That's not bad. You can save a lot of money every day."

"What money to save?" the driver sighed repeatedly, "I have to pay 1 jiao to the rickshaw company every day, and I need 2 jiao for my meals. With all the other expenses, I spend at least 4 jiao a day. It's fine for a single person, and I can go to a restaurant for a drink every few days. But I have a wife and children to support. Working from dawn till dusk, I just thank heaven and earth if we don't go hungry."

Zhou Hexuan was silent, realizing how hard life was for the common people in the Republic of China.

A few minutes later, the driver stopped the rickshaw in front of a quadrangle courtyard and said, "Sir, we're here."

"Thank you for your hard work," Zhou Hexuan handed the driver 20 copper coins.

The driver kept refusing, "That's too much, you've given too much!"

Zhou Hexuan smiled, "The rest is a tip."

"This... this is too much," the driver smiled awkwardly, showing his yellow teeth, feeling both happy and embarrassed.

"You've been with me for a long time. It's only right to give you a tip," Zhou Hexuan said, getting off the rickshaw with the items he had bought.

The driver hurriedly came forward, "Sir, let me help you. I'll take care of the heavy lifting. You just watch the rickshaw here."

Zhou Hexuan didn't refuse, handing over the pots and pans to the driver and waiting by the rickshaw.

The driver made two trips to move all the items and returned, grateful, "Sir, I've put the items under the eaves of the east wing. You're a good person. I wish you great wealth and a long life."

"Thank you," Zhou Hexuan smiled and nodded, then walked into the quadrangle courtyard.

The door of the main house suddenly opened, and the landlord, Shan Chengfu, came over to greet him, "Buying things?"

"Uncle Shan, I bought some household items," Zhou Hexuan greeted him.

Shan Chengfu chatted with him for a few moments and asked, "Will you pay for your water and coal separately, or do you want me to help you with it?"

Well, the first challenge for a time traveler wasn't saving the country or achieving great ambitions, but rather the mundane daily chores. Not just water and coal, but even handling waste required money. Sanitation workers would collect the waste from chamber pots every morning from 8 to 9 o'clock.

This was equivalent to the water, electricity, gas, and property management fees of the Republic of China.

Zhou Hexuan took out several dozen copper coins and asked the landlord to help with these tasks. After arranging the household items, he carried a piece of pork to visit the Li family: "Auntie, I'm too lazy to cook for myself, so I might come to your place for meals often. This is the meat I bought at the market. Could you please cook it for me?"

Mrs. Li wasn't the type to haggle over every detail. She took the pork and said, "Don't bother in the future. Just let me know when you're hungry. Have you had lunch?"

"I've already eaten outside," Zhou Hexuan smiled.

...

Back in his room, Zhou Hexuan spread out the new manuscript paper, filled his fountain pen with ink, and sat at the desk, considering what to write.

Zhou Hexuan's undergraduate major was history, and he had some understanding of the Republic of China. The debate between old and new literature in China's literary scene had largely been settled, with the new literature promoted since the May Fourth Movement winning the day. Writing in vernacular Chinese had become a social consensus.

Now, if he wanted to submit articles to newspapers and magazines, he had two main options: serious literature and popular literature. Serious literature included various poems, essays, and pure literary novels; popular literature was mainly for entertainment, such as martial arts novels, romance novels, and even erotic novels.

Of course, there was no strict boundary between the two, mainly depending on the ideological content of the work.

After much thought, Zhou Hexuan decided to start with some entertainment works, like martial arts novels. Pure literature was too highbrow, and he didn't want to tackle it for now—mainly because martial arts novels were long, often running into the millions of words, allowing for long-term serialization and a steady stream of royalties.

Among the five masters of martial arts novels—Jin, Gu, Wen, Liang, and Huang—Gu Long, Wen Rui'an, and Huang Yi were ruled out first. Their works were too modern and might be hard for readers in the Republic of China to accept.

Liang Yusheng's works were too limited, so Zhou Hexuan also ruled him out. Jin Yong's novels were the safest choice.

But which of Jin Yong's works should he copy?

Zhou Hexuan wrote down "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" trilogy, "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils," and "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" on the manuscript paper. After much consideration, he finally chose "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," which was the perfect introduction to the new school of martial arts.

Recalling the plot of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," Zhou Hexuan was about to start organizing his thoughts and writing when the original content suddenly flooded his mind, swirling around.

A golden finger?

"The vast waters of the Qiantang River flow endlessly day and night, passing by Niu Family Village in Lin'an and flowing east into the sea. Along the riverbank, dozens of Chinese privet trees have leaves as red as fire, it is the eighth month of the year..."

Zhou Hexuan, as if possessed, wrote the novel content without stopping, and by the end of the afternoon, he had written over ten thousand words.

Zhou Hexuan's calligraphy was quite good, and he wrote in cursive, which greatly reduced the trouble of writing in traditional characters.

In fact, simplified characters have existed from ancient times to the present, and the evolution of Chinese writing has been a process of simplification. Many simplified characters appear in the preserved Tang and Song dynasty steles and paintings. Although Emperor Kangxi of the Qing dynasty ordered the use of traditional characters, even the characters on the waist plates of his inner court officials were simplified, as they were more convenient and easier to recognize.

Even if Zhou Hexuan's manuscript was entirely in simplified characters, it would be no problem to submit it to the newspaper. Writing entirely in traditional characters would make him seem like he had a mental issue.

In the evening, the third son of the Li family came to knock on the door and shouted, "Big Brother Zhou, it's time for dinner!"

"Coming!"

Zhou Hexuan responded, picked up the ten-thousand-word manuscript, and planned to ask Li Shoumin to deliver it to the newspaper editor the next day.