No. 372 Guizhou Street, Kowloon, Oriental Daily News Editor-in-Chief's office.
This office was very large, over five hundred square feet, with not only a desk for working but also a guest reception and tea table area of about two hundred square feet. The air conditioning, tea cabinet, bookcase, and other amenities were all complete; everything that should be there was there.
A man in his thirties, looking a bit disheveled, lay on the sofa with a cigarette in his mouth. He smoked and grumbled, "Big Brother, what's so good about running a newspaper? It's not nearly as fast as selling powder to make money. And even if it's just to cover our tracks, why don't we switch to selling fruit? Didn't Limpy Ho have a whole street of shops in the Yau Ma Tei fruit market specifically for selling fruit?"
The man sitting in the boss's chair, who was called Big Brother, glared fiercely at the other man, an expression of exasperation on his face. "You good-for-nothing, what do you know?!"
Suddenly being scolded, the smoking man's face turned displeased. He said unhappily, "Big Brother, let's talk nicely. Why are you scolding me?!"
"Talk nicely? Will you listen if I talk nicely?! Do you think I'm running a newspaper simply to cover my tracks? Do I, Ma Rulong, need to cover my tracks? Even if I sold powder at the Governor of All of Hong Kong's residence, I'd like to see who dares to arrest me!"
Ma Rulong's usually gentle face was now exceptionally ferocious, and his arrogant demeanor even startled Ma Ruhu, who was smoking. The cigarette he wasn't holding very tightly slipped from his fingers. Seeing the glowing tip on the floor, he quickly picked it up and extinguished it in the ashtray on the tea table.
Ma Ruhu, despite his usual fearless nature, was quite timid in front of his Big Brother, Ma Rulong. Seeing his Big Brother erupt, he cautiously asked, "Then, Big Brother, what's your intention in running a newspaper?"
Hearing this, Ma Rulong's earlier arrogance vanished, and his expression gradually became solemn. He said warily, "Illicit businesses are ultimately not as good as legitimate ones; sooner or later, something will go wrong. Recently, I heard that Lei Luo is preparing to apply for resignation and retirement. I think this matter is a bit strange. It seems the anti-corruption efforts constantly mentioned in the newspapers have affected him. Our Ma family should also find a more stable fallback and make plans in advance."
"Lei Luo is going to retire?!"
Ma Ruhu's face first froze, then he exclaimed in shock, "Big Brother, is it because of last year's events that the British are going after Lei Luo? Will this implicate us?"
"What are you afraid of!" Ma Rulong glanced at his still-unsteady younger brother and said irritably, "Who said the British are going after Lei Luo? My point is, we need to leave ourselves a way out! Running a newspaper might not make much money, but it allows us to control public opinion. From now on, I'd like to see who dares to make veiled attacks in the newspapers; I'll have a pen to speak for me too!"
Ma Ruhu completely missed the main point of his Big Brother's words, instead furiously yelling, "Who's talking about you in the newspapers? I'll bring people to burn down their newspaper office! From now on, I'd like to see who dares to talk about Big Brother in the newspapers!"
Looking at his younger brother's pathetic state, Ma Rulong covered his forehead, unsure what to say.
Ma Ruhu, having made his bold statement, saw his Big Brother covering his forehead and thought he had a headache. He instinctively asked with concern, "Big Brother, what's wrong?"
"If you have nothing to do, go home and spend time with Mother. Just don't cause trouble here!"
"But..." Before Ma Ruhu could speak, he heard someone knocking on the door outside. Ma Rulong gave him a look, and Ma Ruhu reluctantly got up to open the door, grumbling as he did so, "Who is it!"
The employee who had knocked on the door, seeing Ma Ruhu's fierce expression, swallowed hard and cautiously looked at Ma Rulong, who was sitting inside. "Boss... Boss Ma, there's someone outside who wants to submit a manuscript."
"Submit a manuscript?" Ma Rulong was slightly taken aback, then remembered that when he advertised for people on the newspaper, he seemed to have mentioned heavily inviting literati and writers to submit manuscripts. He just didn't expect someone to come so soon.
Under Ma Ruhu's murderous gaze, the employee stammered, "Boss Ma, do you want to see him?"
"Hmm... let the person who wants to submit a manuscript come in." Although Ma Rulong was running a newspaper for his family's fallback, since he was doing it, he certainly had to do it well, otherwise it would be a loss of face for him, Ma Rulong. Moreover, having an influential newspaper office was a very important matter for him.
At present, the newspaper industry lacked everything. Since someone had come to submit a manuscript, as long as the manuscript wasn't too bad, Ma Rulong thought it was acceptable.
"Yes." The employee quickly left after hearing the reply.
"Big Brother, are you really going to run a newspaper office?" Ma Ruhu saw his Big Brother's serious expression, and that he was even going to meet the person who submitted the manuscript. Only then did he realize that Big Brother Ma Rulong was truly going to run a newspaper!
"I'm too lazy to talk to you, get out!"
Ma Rulong laughed in anger, picking up a notepad from the table and throwing it.
It didn't hit Ma Ruhu, but it made him realize his Big Brother was in a fit of rage, so he chuckled awkwardly, "Alright then, Big Brother, I'm going home first."
Ma Ruhu turned around, opened the door, and just as he stepped out, he saw a refined young man approaching, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a white shirt, clearly a scholar.
Ma Ruhu looked at the newcomer, thinking this must be the person submitting the manuscript. He didn't even give the other person a proper look, simply brushing past him.
However, the young man, upon seeing Ma Ruhu, instinctively adjusted his glasses and didn't linger, following the employee directly into the office.
A moment later, the wooden door of the office was knocked, making a "thump-thump" sound.
Ma Rulong inside said, "Come in."
The young man knocking outside, carrying an old briefcase, smiled at the employee who had led him there, then opened the door and walked in.
People often say that the first impression when meeting someone is very important. Indeed, when Ma Rulong saw the young man's unique scholarly demeanor and very handsome appearance, he instinctively felt a good impression and proactively extended his hand, saying, "Hello, I am the Editor-in-Chief of Oriental Daily News, Ma Rulong."
"Hello, Chief Editor Ma, my name is Huo Yaowen. This morning, I saw your newspaper's recruitment advertisement in the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, which mentioned inviting writers to submit manuscripts. So, I, an untalented person, personally came to submit a manuscript with a draft in hand." Huo Yaowen maintained his usual smile, stepped forward, and shook hands with Ma Rulong, smiling neither obsequiously nor arrogantly.
Ma Rulong grinned, "Haha, Mr. Huo truly speaks quickly and directly. I really like confident young people like you. Regardless of whether our newspaper publishes your manuscript, based solely on your courage and decisiveness, I will definitely accept it!"
The newspaper office hadn't even finalized its most important Editor-in-Chief yet, and who knew when it would officially launch and be distributed. He, Ma Rulong, was just filling in temporarily. He didn't understand anything about reviewing manuscripts. However, since Huo Yaowen was the only person who had come to submit a manuscript, he felt it was only right and proper to give the first person a little attention.
Furthermore, Huo Yaowen had a good face, and his overall demeanor gave off an impression of gentleness and elegance, clearly someone with knowledge. So, Ma Rulong was willing to do him a favor.
If this person's article was well-written, it would show that Ma Rulong had a keen eye for talent; if the article was mediocre, it would still show that Ma Rulong was eager for talented individuals. In any case, it was a win-win situation.
"Chief Editor Ma, you're joking."
Huo Yaowen couldn't read minds and didn't know what Ma Rulong was thinking, but the polite words the other party spoke made him happy. He thought, no wonder this Ma Rulong could transform from "White Powder Ma," someone engaged in illicit business and not well-regarded, into a media tycoon whose newspaper was "All of Hong Kong's best-selling" for 29 consecutive years.
Huo Yaowen didn't say much more. He directly opened his briefcase and, with both hands, handed the tens of thousands of words of the novel manuscript he had written earlier to Ma Rulong.
Ma Rulong subconsciously took the manuscript. He originally intended to ask the other party to leave a phone number, and then, once a Editor-in-Chief was hired, have the new Editor-in-Chief review the article before making a decision. However, he noticed the somewhat strange title: "ghost blows out the light -- Tomb Raider's Notes."
ghost blows out the light -- Tomb Raider's Notes?
When Ma Rulong saw "ghost blows out the light," he thought it was a horror ghost novel. This genre was quite popular in Hong Kong, but newspapers rarely published horror ghost stories. Most appeared in literary weeklies or some tabloid weeklies, as these ghost stories were usually very short and not suitable for serialization in newspapers.
If it were just the three words "ghost blows out the light," it wouldn't have made Ma Rulong pause. However, the subtitle "Tomb Raider's Notes" caught his eye. He glanced at the dense text on the paper. At first glance, he thought the handwriting was good, but he didn't have time to read so many words, so he directly asked, "What does 'Tomb Raider's Notes' mean?"
"It tells the story of a family of tomb raiders lost in the old era."
"Tomb raiders have families?" Ma Rulong frowned. He could understand the term "tomb raider"; to put it harshly, it meant digging up ancestral graves, which was undoubtedly a major taboo in Hong Kong, a place that highly values feng shui.
However, that wasn't the main point. What was most important was that Ma Rulong had never heard of tomb raiders having families. Could it be that there really were families whose descendants, generation after generation, were all specialized tomb raiders who dug up ancestral graves?
Huo Yaowen saw Ma Rulong's interested expression and decided to elaborate.
The tens of thousands of words in the manuscript Huo Yaowen had just handed over were preliminary exposition, and reading them wasn't particularly captivating. He was afraid that if the other party didn't recognize its value and rejected the manuscript, it would be too embarrassing.
Huo Yaowen cleared his throat and began to slowly outline the novel genre of tomb raiding, which had emerged in later generations: "The tomb raiding I write about is not the narrow definition of tomb raiders that everyone thinks of. Instead, it's a type of lower-class livelihood, similar to making clay figures, performing opera, monkey training, pedicures, or barbering, passed down from ancient Times. This special profession of tomb raiding can be divided into four major schools: Mojin, Xieling, Faqiu, and Banshan..."