British writer

Fleet Street,

Office of The Scotsman.

The editor-in-chief, Charles Alfred Cooper, listened to the reports of his clerks and couldn't believe his ears.

"You mean, sales increased by 3,700 copies?"

Scott on the side laughed and corrected: "It's 3751 copies, you heard it right. In addition, I must remind you that the reason for this number is because you only distributed 8000 newspapers in London. The upper limit of the increment is there, and 3751 copies have reached the top."

Cooper still looked disbelieving.

After a long time, he waved his hand to signal the clerk to go out, then slumped in the chair, rubbing the space between his brows with his fingers, trying to digest the shock that this incident brought to his heart.

"And There Were None" is on fire!

Prices for Wednesday's supplement editions of The Scotsman skyrocketed on the second-hand market over the course of a day.

There is no shortage of smart people in the UK, they know the collection value of this thing,

Just like in 1887, "Beeton's Christmas Annual" has been fired for 300 pounds because of the publication of Sherlock Holmes's debut work "Scarlet Study\

,"Everyone wants to lie down and make money.

(Funnily enough, Doyle was only paid £25 for the manuscript at the time.)

With the explosion of "And There Were None", the mysterious name of Lu has also spread in the streets and alleys,

People are wondering what kind of person he is.

Cooper sighed: "Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a Chinese..."

As editor-in-chief, he was an ambitious man,

When he first took over the "Scotsman", "The Scotsman" was just a local newspaper in a quiet corner. It was he who made up his mind to rent the telegraph line between London and Edinburgh, and later became the first newspaper outside London's major traditional newspapers. The first newspaper to have an office in Fleet Street predates the Manchester Guardian.

It's a pity that Edinburgh is too far behind in terms of industrialization, and the printing cost has not been reduced. In addition, it is too far away from London, and the transportation cost is also high.

Other newspapers sell for 1 pence, while other newspapers sell for 4 pence.

How is it possible to beat this?

What's more, the "Scotman" has sharp views and is more avant-garde than the "Manchester Guardian", with a small audience.

In this case, it is foreseeable that sales will continue to decline.

Even if Cooper was killed, he could not have imagined that he could rely on a novel to counterattack directly.

At this moment, he was still in a daze, as if in a dream.

Scott stretches,

"In a while, those two Japanese students come over, do you know what to do?"

Cooper calmly said: "Of course. I have already thought about it. Even if you don't consider the factor of buying a horse bone with a lot of money, just to objectively evaluate the level of "And There Were None". The manuscript fee of 50 pounds for a chapter is too low. It's more reasonable."

50 pounds doubled to 100 pounds,

This is undoubtedly a huge sum of money.

In 1900, a London citizen could have an income of 100 pounds a year, which was enough to live quite well.

And Lu Shi can earn 100 pounds per chapter.

Scott picked up a briefcase from his feet,

"By the way, I'll give you a favor, which is a good thing."

As he spoke, he patted the box and continued to introduce: "The Underwood No. 5 commemorative model has multiple functions, smooth typing, and low failure rate. It is not the kind of Oliver and Remington, but it is made in the United States."

Cooper heard the words "Underwood", "Oliver", "Remington" and knew that the box was a typewriter.

He was speechless, "Tsk tsk tsk... When did the British Empire start to worship American products? Don't forget, the typewriter is our invention."

Scott laughed,

"No, the facts are wrong. The typewriter was an Italian invention. Also, you are a Scot. Don't say 'We are the British Empire.'"

Cooper nearly kicked him in the ass,

"Fxxk, I can fuck you."

The two laughed.

Not long after, there was a knock on the door outside.

The clerk's voice sounded: "Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Lu and Mr. Xia Mu have arrived."

The two people in the room immediately sat upright,

Cooper said, "Please let them in."

Soon, Lu Shi and Natsume Soseki pushed the door in.

Cooper stood up and shook hands with the two,

Especially Lu Shi, he didn't intend to let go of his hand when he was holding Lu, and at the same time, he didn't forget to compliment him: "Mr. Lu, I have been reading "No Survival" these days, and I can't help feeling that there is such a magical thing in the world." The way the story is structured is amazing."

The flowery sedan chair is carried by everyone,

Lu Shi waved his hand,

"Fictions are only for entertainment, and Mr. Cooper deserves the prize."

They had a cordial, friendly, and in-depth communication for a while, and then they let go of their hands and sat down separately.

Cooper hesitated for a moment and asked: "Mr. Lu, your work is very popular, have you ever thought about republishing it? Of course, the royalties for republishing will not be low. There are also royalties for the following chapters. We are willing to give you 100 pounds a piece." Zhang, what do you think?"

This is the first time it is published and it will be republished?

Lu Shi looked at Cooper, knowing that the hesitation on the other's face was just a show,

A chapter of 100 pounds is not a small amount. Cooper must have thought about it a long time ago. If he is willing to pay this price, he must be planning to use "There Is No Survival" as a gimmick to boost sales and take the opportunity to gain a foothold in the red sea of ​​paper media shopping in London. heel.

Lu Shi didn't speak up immediately.

Cooper knows very well that children cannot be tied to wolves,

He pushed the toolbox over,

"Mr. Lu, I see that what you handed to the newspaper was a manuscript. If you write tens of thousands of words, your fingers, arms, and cervical spine may not be able to handle it. Would you like to try this?"

Lu Shi asked curiously, "What is this?"

Cooper opened the box, took out the typewriter inside, and introduced: "The Underwood No. 5 commemorative model has multiple functions, smooth typing, and low failure rate. It's not like Oliver and Remington, it's serious. Made in America."

Scott on the side blushed, thinking, isn't that what he said just now?

He spat, secretly despising Cooper.

Cooper ignored the contempt for his old friend, and continued: "I don't know if Mr. Lu will use..."

Before the words finished, Lu Shi had already taken over the conversation: "Of course I can use it. Typewriters can indeed improve work efficiency, but I don't know if this one is worth using."

It is an honor to see this cross-age product, his voice is full of excitement,

You must know that the Underwood No. 5 quickly became the best-selling typewriter after it was released, accounting for more than half of the market, and it is an absolute legendary product.

Lu Shi tried to press the button,

"Let me try."

Cooper reminded: "Mr. Lu, you... um... that... do you want to read the instructions for use?"

Lu Shi smiled and shook his head,

As a modern person, there are many opportunities to get in touch with QWERTY keyboards, not to mention that he is also engaged in translation work, dealing with text every day, and his typing speed is ridiculously fast.

He put the paper in place and tapped the keyboard of the typewriter casually: "Dinner is almost over. Good food and wine, and Rogers is very considerate. Everyone in the seat is in high spirits. The conversation between each other begins to be more comfortable and affectionate. "

This is the beginning of the third chapter of "And There Were None".

The two Brits were dumbfounded,

Cooper swallowed and said, "Mr. Lu, don't you need to look at the keyboard?"

Lu Shi said: "For a writer, touch typing is the most basic operation."

While answering, the fingers typing on the keyboard did not stop, even getting faster and faster, like a fast dance, accompanied by crackling, and then typed a whole long paragraph of the article.

Cooper and Scott couldn't help but look at each other,

The first time they met a suspense writer who started writing the main text without an outline,

Because suspense novels are very rigorous in logic, without an overall control and direct writing, it is easy to be inconsistent, making the donkey's lips wrong,

It can be seen that Lu Shi writes with divine help, but he doesn't look like he will eat books later.

Moreover, Lu Shi's typing speed was too fast, to the point where the two chief editors couldn't understand it.

Just as they were stunned, Natsume Soseki's voice suddenly came: "Lu! Wait! Lu! Is that machine... is it smoking?"

It was only then that Lu Shi noticed that a pick inside the typewriter was red and looked very hot.

He leaned over to observe,

"Well, it's the pick for the letter E. There's no way, E is used the most in English writing, so it's no wonder the pick is overheated. It seems that we can only wait. Alas, Underwood 5 is not as amazing as I imagined Well……"

Hearing this, Cooper and Scott were flustered by the wind,

Where did this god come from! ?