Culture Conquers Foreign Worlds

Chapter 41 Before publication

Harvey took a carriage to the address that Puran confessed to him. It belongs to another wealthy street in El Roy. The house itself is not a luxurious type.

He rang the doorbell, and an old woman dressed as a servant opened the door and led him in. Harvey was startled by the scene as soon as he stepped in with his front foot. It was not too spacious to walk to the piles of books. The space that can accommodate three people is squeezed to allow one person to pass through, and you have to be careful of the books scattered at your feet at all times.

Through the corridor, Harvey discovered that the owner of this mansion might not have arranged it intentionally. There is a circle of books around the lobby leading to the second floor. Only a little space is left on the carpet in the center of the lobby. Harvey visually inspected the book collection capacity. It’s as small as half the Elroy Library.

Before he went upstairs, a middle-aged man with old-fashioned glasses came down in a hurry. When he saw Harvey, he was taken aback and then hesitated and asked in surprise: “Mr. Alexander?”

Alexander is the pen name used by Harvey to write “The Count of Monte Cristo”.

Harvey looked at the person in front of him quietly. He was wearing a white shirt and traditional overalls, his face looked old because of the roughness, and overall he gave Harvey a kind of intellectual feeling.

“Harvey Adrian, whose pen name is Alexander.” Harvey’s hat was placed on his chest and leaned slightly.

“Oh my God, you are much younger than I thought. I can’t believe that the novelist who wrote “The Count of Monte Cristo” would be a young man. I am Scott Adams, the owner of this mansion. It is a great honor to receive the author of “The Count of Monte Cristo”.” He went down the stairs and shook hands with Harvey enthusiastically, without doubting Harvey’s identity.

The two went upstairs, and Harvey found that his reviewer Pulan had also arrived. The three talked for a while in the cleaned up study room, and a bell came from downstairs.

Scott did not go down to greet the guest, and briefly explained the situation to Harvey. The real patron of “Count of Monte Cristo” was a jeweler named Avry Hutt, who also belonged to an intermediary.

Soon Harvey saw the patron, a slightly fat, amiable, middle-aged man. The more conspicuous feature is the funny Mediterranean hairstyle. His every move is always easy when he doesn’t wear a hat. Can make people laugh.

“Oh my God, you are so young!”

Knowing Harvey’s identity, Al Fuli enthusiastically held Harvey’s hand and exclaimed like Scott. Harvey’s good image played a role. During this time, his stat panel increased so that his spirits and spirits seemed to change. A person, especially his light intellectual temperament, is easily reminiscent of the identity of a cultural worker.

There were only four people at this gathering, and Scott ordered them to prepare lunch when they were all there. What he was most interested in was that Harvey brought over the original manuscript of the novel “The Earl of Monte Cristo”. There must be “Leonard” in it. The unpublished part of “The Collection of Novels by the Publishing House”, both of them were a little eager to try when they thought of this.

Scott couldn’t help but curiously said: “Mr. Adrian, can we now take a look at the manuscript of the novel you brought? I mean I can’t wait to understand the plot of the novel.”

“Of course, that’s why I brought them here.”

As a reviewer, Pulan listened to their conversation and felt a little nervous. Time is running out. He has no time to review the manuscript. Harvey will write a copy. He doesn’t know what to do. In case the follow-up plot is messed up, this time he will sponsor it. Busy for nothing.

Scott and Ai Fuli each put on a pair of white gloves, and carefully took the manuscript out of the file as if facing a treasure.

The first thing they saw was the cover that Shirley drew for “The Earl of Monte Cristo”, a cover of Captain Edmond and the Earl of Monte Cristo. The lower left corner shows the protagonist Edmond’s embarrassed state when he was wronged and imprisoned. Sitting paralyzed in the corner of the dark cell in a tattered white prison shirt, his eyes were lifeless. In the upper right corner is the handsome and elegant Earl of Monte Cristo wearing a high-end suit. He vaguely saw the silhouette of the once Captain Edmond, with a gloomy and crazy smile on his face.

On the right side of the cover is the title-“Count of Monte Cristo”

“Oh!” Al Fuli exclaimed, his eyes widened and looked back and forth to check the cover. After a long time he raised his head and asked with some uncertainty: “Mr. Adrian, is the Count of Monte Cristo in the painting?”

“Yes, this is the cover image I asked a painter friend to draw, and her painting skills amazed me.”

“Indeed, this painting is really wonderful. It is completely different from the traditional sketch style. The shading method is not completely simple strokes, but the effect is unexpectedly good. She must be a master painter.” Scott stared at the cover. He praised that this is the result of hundreds of years of experience accumulated in the earth’s modern illustration and comics industry. Every subtle effect has been tempered by the artist.

“No, painting is just her hobby.” Harvey chuckled and came to the two of them to explain the content of the novel manuscript: “This manuscript has a total of 410,000 words, and it was predetermined by The Count of Monte Cristo. The entire content of the first half contains more than 200,000 characters previously serialized in “Leonard Press Collection of Novels”. The entire content has been revised again. Personally, I am quite satisfied with the results.”

“Four hundred thousand!”

Afry and Scott are so happy, nearly half the number of words, which means they can indulge in the strange and wonderful world of novels all day long. Afterwards, the two glanced through the content of “The Count of Monte Cristo”, looked at some of the previously published parts, and also found out all the illustrations and reviewed them one by one.

“Is this Melcedes? Although the style of painting is a bit weird, she is really beautiful.” Afuri couldn’t help but touch the characters on the illustration with his hands. The expressions and clothes of each character are extremely delicate. , The dressed-up Mercedes deliberately painted with more flexible lines, so her image of a lady leapt on the paper, as if she really saw a gentle and noble lady, and Harvey discovered Mercete. The silk temperament is actually Shirley’s lady version This painting was drawn by Shirley under his guidance.

After tasting it carefully, Al Fuli reluctantly sorted out the manuscript in his hand and said to Harvey: “Mr. Adrian, your work is really wonderful. I decided that it is not the time to read it, because I think It takes a lot of time to appreciate this excellent literary work, and I don’t even want to miss every word on it.”

Plant calmed down a bit, stood up and smiled and said: “Mr. Hutt, you can rest assured that tomorrow we can ask the publishing house to print a few copies first, and you will be the first reader to finish reading “The Earl of Monte Cristo”.”

Scott interrupted after hearing this: “Please be sure to count my share, I can’t wait.”

The four of them looked at each other and smiled.

The atmosphere of the next dinner was very harmonious. Afuri finished the “Count of Monte Cristo”, and the investment and publishing matters were completely finalized. The funder, Afuri Hurt, received 20% of the total revenue, which was originally needed for publishing at his own expense. The money is not very much, and in the eyes of the jeweler, it is not even a small amount. Therefore, the amount of profit he asks for is not high, and he cares more about the novel itself than money.

Pulan, as an intermediary and reviewer, can get 10% of the total revenue, Harvey personally holds 50% of the total revenue, and the rest of the benefits are basically distributed in a mess. As for Scott, who introduced “The Count of Monte Cristo” to Affrey, he got a rake from Affrey.

The four have been talking about the afternoon, all publishing matters have basically been finalized and a contract signed, and Harvey asked Prin to send the manuscript of the novel “The Earl of Monte Cristo” to the publishing house.

The manuscript of the novel he gave to Pulan is not considered a manuscript either. The real manuscript of the novel was given to Diana. Secondly, Harvey has a copy in his hand, so there is no need to worry about losing it.