Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1328 619: A Talent Worth 8 Dou (Part 3)

Boss Lu came looking for me?

The matter with Little Fatty still hadn't been settled. Li Banfeng was just planning to investigate Boss Lu, and hadn't expected Boss Lu to come knocking first.

"What does he want with me? When's this gathering set for?"

"Boss Lu said it's just to sit and chat, didn't mention anything specific. The time's not fixed either. He said he's only inviting you, you can arrange it as you see fit."

Li Qi thought for a moment and agreed: "Tell Boss Lu I'll go see him tonight at ten."

...

At seven-thirty, Boss Lu closed the bookstore, set up a writing desk, picked up his pen, and continued writing the sequel to the Xiu Shuang Collection. He wrote for two hours and barely managed to fill a single page.

After he finished, he read it through once himself, then tore up the manuscript.

A volume of the Xiu Shuang Collection costs eight Huan Country Banknotes. Each volume contains thirty-six stories. If the writing were only at this level, Boss Lu felt he'd be cheating the people who spent their money on his books.

Seeing it was nearly ten, Boss Lu brewed tea, warmed the liquor, prepared snacks and dishes to go with the drink. The "closed" sign was still hanging, but he opened the bookstore door.

He hadn't waited long when Li Qi stepped into the bookstore, and Boss Lu rose to greet him.

"Seventh Master, you're here!"

Li Banfeng nodded with a smile: "Since Boss Lu personally paid a call and sent an invitation, how could Li fail to come?"

"Please sit, Seventh Master. Will you have liquor or tea?"

"I'll follow the host's lead."

"Then we'll have both liquor and tea." Boss Lu poured tea with one hand and liquor with the other. The two of them sat in the main hall of the bookstore, keeping company with a dozen shelves of books, eating and chatting. They talked about new works by famous writers, and Boss Lu deliberately brought up Jade Fragrance Record.

"Seventh Master, what do you think—if you compare Jade Fragrance Record with Xiu Shuang Collection, which stands higher and which lower?"

Li Banfeng shook his head slightly: "Jade Fragrance Record is a long novel, Xiu Shuang Collection is a collection of stories; they're not the same kind of writing. How can you put them side by side to compare?"

"Let's leave genre aside and just talk narrative. Which book's stories are more engrossing?"

Li Banfeng first drank a cup of tea, then a cup of liquor, and carefully weighed his answer: "If we're talking by period, when Xiu Shuang Collection was completed, there were no similar works. It founded its own school; at the time, truly no one could stand shoulder to shoulder with it."

Boss Lu shook his head: "Let's not talk periods either. Regardless of when they were written, let's just put them together and compare."

"If you insist on comparing them together, the later writer has borrowed the earlier writer's methods and techniques, refining and innovating on them. What they produce will naturally be more appealing than what came before."

Boss Lu drank a cup of liquor and nodded repeatedly.

Though the words sounded a bit melancholy, Boss Lu accepted them. Jade Fragrance Record is more entertaining than Xiu Shuang Collection, and Li Banfeng's explanation also let Boss Lu accept that Zhang Xiuling had the advantage of coming later, not that her ability surpassed his own.

Boss Lu took Li Banfeng's critique very seriously, but Li Banfeng was still waiting for Boss Lu to get to the real topic.

He didn't invite me here tonight just to discuss literature—could it be he intends to lay bare the matter of Little Fatty?

Boss Lu produced a stack of paper: "Seventh Master, I'd trouble you to take a look."

Li Banfeng took the pages, assuming the main topic had finally arrived.

But once he opened them, he saw they were a manuscript for a sequel to the Xiu Shuang Collection.

Li Banfeng asked, "Who wrote this?"

Boss Lu smiled: "A friend of mine. Back in the day he was quite well-known in the literary world. These days, he's been moved now and then and wants to add a sequel to the Xiu Shuang Collection."

Still talking literature?

Could this friend he's talking about be the real subject of tonight?

Li Banfeng leafed carefully through the sequel and gave a single evaluation: "A dog's tail stuck on a marten's body."

Boss Lu gave a start, nearly dropping his cup: "Seventh Master, why do you say that?"

"Be so kind as to pass on a message to this friend of yours: tell him not to write anymore. The Xiu Shuang Collection is a classic and won't tolerate such a neither-fish-nor-fowl sequel.

Let's look at the original Xiu Shuang Collection: its storylines are strange and twisty in their structure, with the sensual parts drawing you in layer by layer. Where do you see so many needless detours?

Look at the first story in this sequel: the male and female leads can't even manage to speak clearly to each other. A simple matter is made to spawn all these misunderstandings. For this kind of hackneyed plot to be forcibly tacked onto Xiu Shuang Collection—does the writer perhaps think a bit too well of himself?"

Boss Lu pursed his lips and offered a defense: "A few leading writers nowadays, like Zhang Xiuling and Shen Rongqing, aren't they all writing this way? Jade Fragrance Record also has stories like this. This approach can make the twists and gains of emotion more clearly drawn."

Li Banfeng laughed: "Which is exactly why I'm saying your friend cannot write Xiu Shuang Collection. Since the master who wrote Xiu Shuang Collection founded his own school, do you think he'd care about other people's methods? Would he imitate anyone else's style? Would he cram the devices of long-form fiction into short stories?

Your friend is relying on this little bit of skill and wants to continue the Xiu Shuang Collection, wants to piggyback on a master of the age. Saying he's overestimating himself—does that wrong him in any way?"

Crack!

The liquor jug in Boss Lu's hand shattered.

"What's the matter?" Li Banfeng was stunned for a moment.

Boss Lu tossed the broken jug aside and fetched a new one. Once he'd cleaned everything up, he began vigorously rubbing his face.

His mouth had been twisted with anger. He rubbed for quite a while before he managed to straighten it out.

"Seventh Master is absolutely right—this man is overestimating himself!" Boss Lu fetched paper and pen. "I'd trouble Seventh Master to give detailed guidance as to exactly what's been written wrong. I'll pass it on to my friend verbatim."

Boss Lu kept on discussing literature, and Li Banfeng stayed with him in that discussion. He offered his opinions seriously, and Boss Lu just as seriously took notes.

...

In the blink of an eye, it was midnight. Mr. Kong Fang, wearing a bamboo hat, arrived at the bookstore door and pushed it open.

Ding~

Li Banfeng heard the door chime. He turned to glance back, but his line of sight was blocked by the bookshelves.