Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 5 Submission Intention
After receiving the novel's draft, Zhang Xingguo was initially quite excited, but after reading only the beginning, he couldn't help but frown.

Isn't it supposed to be a fan fiction based on Dream of the Red Chamber?

Why is the story set in the Kingdom of Qianxiang at the beginning, and the protagonist is a detective whose soul travels through time?

Fortunately, having just experienced the "novelty literature" of the mid-to-late 80s, Zhang Xingguo still has a strong ability to accept new things.

He suppressed his doubts and continued reading, only to find that the plot was quickly getting on track. On his way back to the capital, the protagonist, Sun Shaozong, happened to run into Jia Lian, who had just finished arranging Lin Ruhai's funeral and was preparing to take Lin Daiyu back to the Rongguo Mansion.

Thanks to the long-standing friendship between the Sun family and the Rongguo Mansion, the protagonist hitched a ride on the Rongguo Mansion's coattails, and by plagiarizing Nalan Rongruo's poems, he aroused Lin Daiyu's curiosity and attention.

After returning to Beijing, every case involved important characters from "Dream of the Red Chamber"—it turns out that "Dream of the Red Chamber" can actually be related to crime dramas!
As for the concept of souls traveling through time...

Although he was a little confused at first, Zhang Xingguo immediately felt a sense of identification when he saw the protagonist copying Nalan Ci's "Shenxian" (a famous Chinese poet).

The unprecedented structure, the fresh and exciting stories, and the endless stream of memorable quotes gradually immersed him in the story, to the point that he didn't even know when his wife, Sun Xiaohong, returned home.

Sun Xiaohong ignored her husband and prepared dinner on her own before calling out, "Honey, come and eat. We'll see what happens after we finish eating."

"Oh, oh~"

Zhang Xingguo agreed verbally, but didn't move until his wife urged him repeatedly. Only then did he move to the dining table with his novel, and listlessly pick up his chopsticks to eat his rice.

He had already seen the third case. The original book had a rather weak case, so Zhang Yan revised it, merging the later cases with this one into a case of murder due to resentment towards the rich.

When he saw the murderer being identified, hysterically shouting, "I'm going to trample these rich and powerful people under my feet," Zhang Xingguo couldn't help but secretly shake his head.

In the past two years, the gap between the rich and the poor has become increasingly obvious, and there have been quite a few cases caused by resentment towards the rich. At the beginning of the year, Hengjiang Daily followed up and reported on a case of murdering a family for money, and the scene was truly horrific.

Subconsciously, Zhang Xingguo shoveled another mouthful of rice into his mouth and continued reading. He saw the protagonist, Sun Shaozong, righteously refuting: "Then you should go and guard the tomb, instead of robbing and killing for money!"
"Pfft~ Cough cough cough!"

Zhang Xingguo suddenly spat out all the food in his mouth.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

Sun Xiaohong quickly went around to his back to pat him. After Zhang Xingguo calmed down a bit, he hurriedly wiped the rice grains that had sprayed onto the manuscript paper. Only after confirming that his son's draft had not been damaged did he breathe a sigh of relief.

"I am fine."

So he waved to his wife and buried his head in his books to continue reading.

After reading all the current content, it was already past 8 PM.

Zhang Xingguo put down the draft in his hand, frowned and looked at his son, his eyes filled with doubt, surprise and, more than anything, worry.

Zhang Yan, who had been looking forward to this for a long time, felt uncomfortable under his father's gaze. He awkwardly scratched his head and said dryly, "Dad, just say what's on your mind. I can handle it."

At the same time, his heart sank lower and lower, fearing that his father would directly reject the novel.

"Uh~"

Zhang Xingguo then realized that his son had misunderstood and hurriedly said, "The novel is very well written, especially the final case of the Heavenly Dog. I have read a lot of crime novels in recent years, but this case is one of the best in terms of both the method of the crime and the story behind it!"

As a newspaper editor—albeit an art editor—Zhang Xingguo reads a lot of popular novels and has a general ability to appreciate them.

My son's novel has a fresh theme and a fast pace. Each case has its highlights, and the writing is humorous and interesting, always making people laugh or have a lingering aftertaste.

For example, when the book first mentions Baoyu, it says: "This child occupies three of the twelve two-hour periods of the day—Shen, Zi, Xu [he is physically weak]."

For example, when the protagonist returns to the capital from Qianxiang Kingdom, his brother Sun Shaozu leads him to the ancestral hall and says: "Kneel down, I beg you to do me a favor."

For example, when the mandarin ducks were leading the way, after hearing the protagonist recount his experiences along the way, the mandarin ducks lamented that he didn't know if he would ever have the chance to see the outside world. The protagonist then encouraged them, saying: "You will definitely have the chance. Look at the word 'freedom'. It's full of rules and regulations, but there's always one stroke that can break free from the cage."

Thanks to these factors, the novel's readability and entertainment value were greatly enhanced, making it truly 'stunning' in 1990.

After hearing his father's comments, Zhang Yangang breathed a sigh of relief, but then his father pressed him, "But how did you come up with this 'Heavenly Dog Case'?"

"This one……"

Since the core content was copied, Zhang Yan felt guilty and couldn't answer immediately. Then he heard his father earnestly advise, "I know that young people these days are prone to extremes when they experience setbacks in relationships, but you and Zhou Nan have never..."

"dad!"

Zhang Yan then realized that his father was worried that his mind would also become distorted after seeing the twisted plot, so he quickly explained, "Right now, I only want to write a good novel, and I don't want to think about anything else!"

"It better be this way."

Zhang Xingguo remained vigilant, but seeing his son's resistance to the topic, he steered the conversation back to the novel itself: "Which magazine do you plan to submit it to?"

"I'm going to try the Popular Fiction Newspaper first."

"The Tianjin Popular Fiction Newspaper?"

Zhang Xingguo frowned slightly. After the major rectification last year, there were only a few popular fiction magazines left in North China. Popular Fiction Newspaper was the most famous among them, but it mainly published short and medium-length stories and rarely published novels.

Zhang Xingguo clicked his tongue and hesitated, "Actually, submitting the first three cases to 'Legend of Today and Yesterday' shouldn't be a problem."

If we're talking about the most sophisticated magazine in the current domestic popular fiction scene, then it has to be "Legend of Today and Yesterday".

In the mid-to-late 80s, countless magazines embraced "grotesque and violent" content in order to boost sales, but only "Legend of Today and Yesterday" stood out from the crowd.

They successively put forward slogans such as "to publish popular literature with a serious attitude and to reflect serious social content in a popular form" and "to reject vulgarity, to reject pandering to popular tastes, and to reject lowbrow culture".

As a result, after last year's major crackdown on vulgarity, "Legend of the Ancient and Modern Times" saw its sales and influence further expand, truly becoming an industry leader.

[By the way, after the major crackdown, "curiosity literature" did not disappear, but instead turned into street vendor literature.]

The sensationalist literature of the 80s, the street vendor literature of the 90s, and the online novels of the 00s are all, at least in terms of sensationalism and explicit content, in a common thread.

"But this fourth case is the main event."

Zhang Yan helplessly shrugged. If he could, he would naturally like to submit his work to "Legends of the Past and Present". The problem is that although the fourth case has been edited, it still has the suspicion of sensationalism.

And what about the love story that follows?
Even if 90% of the content is cut, some parts still do not meet the standards of "anti-vulgarity".

Should we cut them all off?
The reason he wanted to adapt the book was to make up for the regret of the abrupt ending in the dream. He couldn't make it even more regrettable than the dream, could he?

Although Zhang Xingguo felt somewhat regretful that he couldn't submit the case to "Legend of Today and Yesterday," he agreed with his son's assessment that the fourth case was indeed more exciting than the previous ones, and it would be a great pity to delete it.

"Then let's submit it to the Popular Fiction Newspaper. It's a pity that Great Wall Literature and Art in Hebei stopped publication last year, otherwise..."

At this point, Zhang Xingguo stroked the draft on the table and said to his son, "Let's make another copy. I'll take it to the newspaper office later and see if I can pull some strings, so it won't be rejected without us knowing why."

Zhang Yan didn't really think it was necessary, but seeing his father's enthusiastic attitude, he didn't want to object. So the father and son got right to it and started copying the novel in two parts.

Around 10 a.m., Sun Xiaohong, the mother, tried to persuade him to stop but to no avail, so she reluctantly joined in copying as well. She worked as an accountant at the farmers' market and was faster at copying than the Zhang family.

The family of three worked together until 2 a.m. before finally finishing the project.

The next morning, Zhang Xingguo, with dark circles under his eyes and carrying copies in three different handwriting styles, arrived at the newspaper office with great speed, much to the eager anticipation of his wife and children.

Because we arrived so early, there was no one in the editorial department.

Zhang Xingguo didn't go to his own workstation, but plopped down in the seat of Deputy Editor-in-Chief Zhou Zhenhua, arms crossed and an imposing manner.

He waited for half an hour, ignoring everyone who came during that time.

When Zhou Zhenhua, looking dejected, arrived at the editorial department and saw that his seat was taken, he asked in bewilderment, "Old Zhang, did you need something?"

"Humph~"

Zhang Xingguo then snorted, stood up to give up his seat, and spread the copy of the novel in front of Zhou Zhenhua, uttering two words succinctly: "Take a look."

Feeling that wasn't enough, he added in a stronger tone, "Take a good look!"

(End of this chapter)