March 1st.
Nine o'clock in the morning.
Peng Lan, the general manager of Qinzhou Huaxin Bookstore in Suzhou, went to the head office for inspection early with his personal assistant.
At this time, "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" had already been released.
She wanted to know how Chu Kuang's new book sold on the first day.
Due to the particularity of this situation, although all major bookstores in Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan and Han have adopted a conservative strategy, the total purchase volume is still not small. Everyone is worried about sales issues, so there are quite a few people like Peng Lan who personally go to a bookstore to check the situation.
However.
When Peng Lan and her assistant entered the Huaxin headquarters in Suzhou, they were shocked by the situation inside.
Inside the bookstore.
The different seats were filled with customers, sitting next to each other.
If you observe carefully, you will find that almost every customer in this group is holding a copy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes in their hands!
And in the front desk position.
The crowd was a little noisy. There were also a lot of customers holding "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". They were checking out at the cashier, and the crowd was very noisy:
"Where is Chu Kuang's new book?"
"Give me a copy of Chu Kuang's new book!"
"Me too, old thief's new book."
"Two copies of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, thank you!"
"Is this the new book of old thief Chu Kuang? Oh, yes, then I'll bring one, two, three, four, five... six copies, and bring a few copies for the five sons in the dormitory."
Peng Lan was stunned.
The assistant next to him was also stunned.
If Chu Kuang had written a mystery novel or something like that, the two would not be shocked by such a strong sales performance.
Lao Zei has this market appeal.
But the problem is that this is a martial arts novel!
When did readers of Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan and Han become so interested in martial arts
And this is even when he knew clearly that this martial arts novel was written by Chu Kuang for Zhaozhou’s readers
Just ask.
Peng Lan looked at a customer who was about to check out The Legend of the Condor Heroes and asked curiously:
"Young man, do you like to read martial arts novels?"
"Who wants to see this stuff?" the young customer answered casually.
Peng Lan almost asked a question: "If you don't like martial arts movies, why do you buy them?"
The young customer said as a matter of course: "Buy it and take a look at it!"
Peng Lan: “…”
Is someone forcing you to look at this with a knife
Seeing Peng Lan's reaction, the young customer said, "Your village doesn't have internet yet."
"Zhao Zhou's group of guys mocked us before. We want to watch with our own eyes how Chu Kuang tortures them to death with this novel. If we don't watch it, how can we know how they are tortured!"
ha
Is this even possible
Did you buy the book just to read how this novel tortures the Zhao people
Peng Lan's mind was a little confused, and she asked subconsciously:
"How do you know this book is cruel?"
"How can the writing of the old thief Chu Kuang not be cruel?"
A customer next to him who also came to buy "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" couldn't help but speak up, as if he thought Peng Lan's question was very strange. Isn't this common sense
A few customers who were waiting in line to check out also joined the discussion:
"This novel is going to be made into a TV series, and the director is Ding Xiao. Have you heard of Ding Xiao? He's the guy who won't feel comfortable unless he tortures the audience!"
"Chu Kuang plus Ding Xiao! This combination represents the Tiankeng!"
"I'm really looking forward to the scene where the people of Zhao are tortured and cry by the old thief!"
"Actually, that's not entirely the reason. It's mainly because I like reading Chu Kuang's novels."
"Yeah, it's been a while since this old thief Chu Kuang has published a new book. I finally caught up with this one. Even if it's a martial arts novel, I have to buy it and read it. I'm so hungry that I won't choose."
"When hungry, you can't choose what to eat."
“I can’t help wanting to read whatever he writes.”
Peng Lan and her assistant looked at each other, and then joy quickly spread across their faces!
Anyway, it’s a good thing that the novel sells well, and the batch of goods we imported should be able to be sold!
Chu Kuang, steady!
And at this time outside Huaxin.
Similar scenes occurred in other bookstores.
It is obvious that Chu Kuang writes martial arts novels, but major bookstores were surprised to find that the purchasing power of readers of Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan and Han is still very high!
Swish, swish, swish!
Our relatively conservative inventory perfectly coped with the situation, and there was no unsalable work!
This also made the heads of major bookstores breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness I have a big picture!"
"Yes, mainly because I have been taught a lesson by Chu Kuang more than once before, and I know that even if his book is conservative, it will take at least several hundred thousand copies to sell well."
“I never thought martial arts novels could be so popular one day.”
"The old thief Chu Kuang is still the old thief who ignores categories."
"In fact, it can't be said that they ignore the category. Although the readers' enthusiasm is very high, it is only relative to martial arts. If Chu Kuang's new book is a mystery, believe it or not, the bookstores will be crowded and hundreds of thousands of copies will not be enough to sell."
“That’s true.”
"After all, it is a martial arts novel. No matter how enthusiastically readers respond, The Legend of the Condor Heroes is not as popular as his mystery novels. The Poirot and Sherlock Holmes series were really hot sellers when they were first published. It was simply phenomenal."
…
Zhaozhou.
Major bookstores are also crowded with people.
Although Zhao Zhou's understanding of Chu Kuang was far less than that of Qin, Qi, Chu, Yan and Han, he had heard of the other party's name after all.
The martial arts novel written by Chu Kuang this time happened to be the category that Zhao Ren liked most.
Adhering to this kind of curiosity.
When people from Zhao passed by a bookstore, most of them couldn't help but buy a copy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes out of curiosity.
And in a small bookstore on a street corner.
There are also many newly published copies of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" on the bookshelf.
At this time.
An old man walked into the bookstore and picked up two copies of The Legend of the Condor Heroes to pay for them.
"You are..."
After collecting the money, the bookstore owner's eyes suddenly trembled, staring at the old man in front of him, his voice trembling:
"Teacher Canyang?"
“I didn’t expect anyone would recognize me.”
The old man smiled carefreely: "I am the setting sun."
The bookstore owner was instantly excited: "Teacher Canyang, I am your fan, can you sign for me? I have always treasured your works, especially the book "Flower Moon Order". By the way, I don't charge for these two novels. It is an honor for my idol to come to me to buy books!"
setting sun!
Zhao Zhou is the banner of the older generation of martial arts writers. The martial arts novels he created have influenced almost an entire generation, and he is a highly respected senior in the entire martial arts novel world!
Although Canyang officially stopped writing three years ago, his legend can still be found everywhere in the world.
The owner of this bookstore grew up reading Canyang’s martial arts novels. Canyang is the martial arts god in his heart!
"OK."
Canyang agreed to the agreement very kindly, and after signing, he left in the boss's respectful and admiring gaze. Of course, he still paid the money.
After going out.
Seto took a car to a manor.
An old man of similar age to Canyang was drinking tea in the manor. When he saw Canyang coming, he immediately stood up:
"Brother Canyang, how are you?"
Canyang smiled and said, "Brother Duan is still so energetic, why should he choose to stop writing like me?"
If there were other people present, they would definitely recognize the identity of the old man in the manor. He was Duan Qingyun, another top martial arts master in Zhaozhou's martial arts world.
In the martial arts world of Zhaozhou, there is a saying that there is the Northern Star.
The setting sun is Mount Tai, and Duan Qingyun is the Big Dipper.
Similar to Can Yang, Duan Qingyun has also stopped writing for two years and has not touched any martial arts novels in these two years.
"You still don't know why I stopped writing?"
Duan Qingyun sighed: "There are not many things that can be written about martial arts, and I can't explore new ways out."
Upon hearing this, Canyang fell silent.
Others only know that Blue Star martial arts has declined, and only the people of Zhao have always maintained a high enthusiasm for this category.
Few people only say:
Even in Zhaozhou, the market for martial arts is shrinking year by year.
Who knows, one day in the future, we may become like other continents and lose interest in martial arts novels.
Just like Duan Qingyun said.
There isn't much left to write about martial arts.
The reason why these two leading figures in the martial arts world chose to stop writing was definitely not because of lack of energy, but mainly because they felt the shackles of creation.
To be precise, it should be the shackles of martial arts.
Under such shackles, martial arts can't see a brighter future at all.
Even though these two recognized leaders in the martial arts world could no longer write works that surpass their own, this is the real reason why they chose to stop writing one after another.
The atmosphere was somewhat sad.
Duan Qingyun shook his head and said, "Let's not talk about this. We haven't seen each other for a long time. Let's sit down and have a cup of tea and play a game of chess. By the way, what are you holding in your hand?"
"Novels, martial arts novels."
Canyang took out the "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" that he bought from the bookstore and said, "How can I visit Brother Lu empty-handed?"
"Interesting, whose work is it?"
"Chu Kuang, you should have heard something."
"It's so well-known. His Journey to the West is such a hit that I can't put it down. He also wrote a martial arts novel? Let me take a look!"
Duan Qingyun became interested.
Canyang laughed and said, "Aren't you going to stop writing martial arts novels?"
Duan Qingyun rolled his eyes and said, "You're not going to write anymore? It's ok for me to read martial arts novels if you don't write them anymore."
"It means your martial arts heart is still alive."
Canyang said: "Like me, you often pay attention to the works of other martial arts writers."
"Don't talk about this useless stuff."
Duan Qingyun and Canyang are old acquaintances. At this moment, they don't care about being polite and courteous. They directly take a copy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes from the other party:
"Pour your own tea. I'm going to read."
"Let's go together. I remember that we used to sit together and drink tea and read novels. It was quite pleasant."
Canyang sighed.
The two were at their creative peak in the past. They constantly learned from the works of other famous martial arts writers in order to perfect themselves, so the martial arts novels they created were more exciting than the last.
It’s a pity that both of them started to lose their abilities in recent years.
At that time they understood that if martial arts novels wanted to make a breakthrough, someone had to open up a new path!
However, opening up new paths is easier said than done.
At least the two of them cannot imagine how to go on that new path at the moment. This is why they always keep an eye on other martial arts writers. They just expect someone to be able to do what they cannot do.
And in all kinds of moods.
The two of them have already opened the novels in their hands.
The mighty waters of the Qiantang River flow endlessly day and night around Niujia Village in Lin'an and eastward into the sea. Dozens of black cypress trees line the river bank, their leaves as red as fire, in the perfect August weather.
The world of The Legend of the Condor Heroes slowly begins.
——————
ps: I have been busy with many things recently, resulting in unsatisfactory update volume. Fortunately, I can go back to my own nest tomorrow and write with peace of mind. In two days, I will show you what a strong writer is. This post will be a proof!