Chapter 31

Swish! Swish!

Yin Qi wrote furiously, the friction between the fountain pen and the paper making a swishing sound.

In one go, he wrote forty modern poems.

There were various themes, but more than half were patriotic poems.

Subsequently, he wrote fifty daily life tips and fifty scientific tips in one go, enough for a month of newspaper issues.

Finally, he started writing the novel, writing down the five characters: *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*.

The reason he chose this novel by Master Jin was not only because of its superior quality but also because of the phrase: "The great hero serves the country and the people," which was very fitting for this era.

In reality, there were many martial arts experts in this era, but very few who devoted themselves to the revolution.

Yin Qi wanted to use this novel to awaken their hot-bloodedness.

………

For the next five days, Yin Qi stayed at home practicing diligently.

In the morning, he practiced stance techniques, and in the afternoon, he practiced martial arts skills.

After dinner, he would write *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* for two hours, then take a medicinal bath, and practice the *True Martial Divine Art* mortal realm fist techniques and the Imperial Pole Saber Technique.

The manuscript grew thicker day by day, and his martial arts also advanced by leaps and bounds.

If he was at the initial stage of Bright Strength before, then now he was already at the intermediate stage of Bright Strength, and his strength had greatly increased.

In the courtyard, there were stone locks he had Yin Hai buy; he could swing a two-hundred-jin stone lock as if it were flying, and a large spear in his hands felt almost as light as nothing; I'm afraid even experts in Dark Strength didn't have as much strength as him.

On this day, Yin Qi received another letter from Tao Chengzhang.

It said that the machinery had arrived, and he invited him to go to the newspaper office tomorrow morning.

………

The next day.

Yin Qi brought Yin Hai to the newspaper office.

Tao Chengzhang and Lu Xun were both in the backyard, watching the foreign technicians install the machines.

There were also more than thirty workers around; next, they would receive training to learn how to typeset and print.

Although the machines had been bought, it would take at least ten days to put them into operation.

According to Tao Chengzhang's plan, they had to rush to publish the first issue by the Mid-Autumn Festival.

……

Second-floor conference room.

Yin Qi pointed to the large stack of manuscript paper on the table and said, "This is what I've written these past few days. The poetry and common knowledge sections are enough for more than a month, and I've also written one hundred thousand words of the serialized novel."

"So much?"

Tao Chengzhang and Lu Xun were both stunned.

One hundred thousand words—what kind of concept was that? The *Records of the Grand Historian* was only five hundred and twenty thousand words.

They couldn't help but feel uneasy in their hearts.

With Yin Qi's speed, could the things he wrote be readable?

Looking at their hesitant gazes, Yin Qi just smiled and didn't speak.

Tao Chengzhang and Lu Xun looked at each other, and could only grit their teeth and each take some manuscript paper; what was on it were all modern poems.

The first poem Lu Xun saw was *Rainy Alley*:

Holding an oil-paper umbrella,

Wandering alone in the long, long

And lonely rainy alley,

I hope to meet

A girl like a lilac

With sorrowful grievances.

She has

The color of a lilac,

The fragrance of a lilac,

The sorrow of a lilac,

……

Holding an oil-paper umbrella,

Wandering alone in the long, long

And lonely rainy alley,

I hope to drift past

A girl like a lilac

With sorrowful grievances.

……

He read it carefully; although it was vernacular Chinese, he felt a kind of incomparable beauty, carrying a quiet melancholy.

This poem seemed to show him a new world.

Lu Xun was extremely excited and continued to read the next poem without hesitation.

The first poem Tao Chengzhang read was *I Love This Land*:

If I were a bird,

I would also sing with a hoarse throat:

This land battered by storms,

This river forever surging with our grief and anger,

This wind of fury blowing ceaselessly,

And that incomparably gentle dawn from the forest...

——And then I die,

Even my feathers rotting in the land.

Why are my eyes often filled with tears?

Because I love this land so deeply...

……

After reading this poem, Tao Chengzhang only felt his blood surging, his eyes filled with tears, and a kind of tragic heroism accumulated in his chest, making him want to look up to the sky and roar.

Yes, why are my eyes often filled with tears?

Because I love this land so deeply...

Isn't this him?

If he hadn't met Yin Qi, he would have already planned to go to Beijing to assassinate Cixi, to kill that old witch.

If not successful, then become a martyr!

He tried hard to calm his agitated emotions and continued reading down; *Dead Water*, *Prison Song*, *Prayer*, and so on—each patriotic poem made him unable to restrain his emotions.

After a long while, Tao Chengzhang and Lu Xun finally finished reading the poems in their hands.

Their eyes were bright and their emotions agitated, but in the end, it only converged into one sentence: "Brother Yin is a great talent!"

They truly hadn't expected that vernacular poetry could also be written so beautifully, and could also be written so generously and tragically, making people's emotions agitated and unable to extricate themselves.

Yin Qi smiled gently and said, "It's fine as long as you think it's okay."

Lu Xun's voice couldn't help but rise, and he said excitedly, "It's more than just okay. Brother Yin, I now have even more confidence in our *People's Daily*. Once these vernacular poems of yours are published, they will surely cause a shock in the literary world and open up a new path."

Tao Chengzhang nodded repeatedly and said, "That's right. It can be seen that Brother Yin has been immersed in this for a long time; these poems are already very mature and definitely don't look like they were just written."

Sure enough, those rumors were all malicious slanders against Yin Qi.

Tao Chengzhang and Lu Xun thought at the same time.

Because writing poetry requires emotion, so many poems could absolutely not have been written in just six days.

Yin Qi naturally couldn't say that he was plagiarizing, so he nodded in tacit agreement.

Next, Tao Chengzhang and Lu Xun gathered together to read *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, and were soon attracted by the content inside.

Although there were martial arts novels in this period, they were not yet mature, and the plots were all just bookkeeping; how could they compare to the representative of mature martial arts novels, *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*?

It wasn't until evening that the two finished reading the novel and looked up reluctantly.

Lu Xun sighed, "Brother Yin, this novel of yours is written too well; it makes people obsessed without realizing it. I believe that after it's published, it will definitely be very popular, and everyone will be unable to resist continuously buying our newspaper."

Tao Chengzhang was also full of confidence and said, "Perhaps it won't be long before our newspaper can be sold to Hangzhou, Ningbo, and even Shanghai, Suzhou, and other places, spreading across the country."

Yin Qi smiled and said, "How the *People's Daily* develops next will be up to you. By the way, use my pen name, Ximen Yaochuixue, when publishing; you'd better use pen names too."

Using a pen name was not to be mysterious, but for self-protection.

Especially the *People's Daily*, which was testing the bottom line of the Manchu Qing; if things went wrong, they might offend the imperial court because of some article, and at that time, the newspaper office could shirk responsibility by saying they didn't know the author's true identity.

Tao Chengzhang and Lu Xun both nodded; they had naturally thought of this problem too.

Lu Xun said, "Then I will use Lu Xun as my pen name from now on."

Tao Chengzhang said, "I will be called Tao Ershanren."

The three chatted for a while longer, and then Yin Qi stood up and left.

………

Time passed leisurely, and in the blink of an eye, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Starting a few days ago, the Yin family had already been preparing, hanging lanterns and decorating.

The city was also filled with a festive atmosphere.

Yin Chengtao had been a bit irritable these days because it had already been half a month, and regarding the matter of the local militia, the Prefect was still procrastinating and even took the opportunity to demand another thousand taels of silver.

Being so insatiable, he could only grit his teeth and endure it.

His eldest son, Yin Xuan, wrote back saying he would be back later; he had made connections with a foreigner in Hangzhou, and the other party had the ability to obtain various mechanical equipment, so he wanted to take the opportunity to build a good relationship with the other party and expand the family business.

Fortunately, his second son was very honest now, practicing martial arts all day without leaving the courtyard, and not even eating his three meals with them.

This morning, Yin Chengtao, his wife, and Yin Shishi were eating breakfast.

The head steward walked over with three newspapers and said excitedly, "Master, Madam, Miss, we have a newspaper in Shanyin now; it was just published today, and I bought three copies back."

(End of chapter)