Within wuxia literay circles, there are two famous authors who used to be roommates when they were students; they would stay up late every night, drinking and chatting. But once they graduated they didn’t communicate with each other. Later, when they were both popular among wuxia literary circles, they never helped promote each other but relied completely on their own talents to make their way in the world.

Those two wuxia authors were Sima Ziyan, original name Zhang Zuchuan, and Dugu Hong, original name Li Bingkun. At Tamkang University, Sima Ziyan was two grades higher than Dugu Hong. Sima Ziyan went on to enroll in the literature department and majored in Chinese literature.

After graduating, Sima Ziyan and his classmates had to perform mandatory military service. He was sent to the communications unit to work as a telegraphic dispatch. Because there was no war on at the time his days were mostly idle aside from hectic training exercises.

It was boring on duty when there were no telegrams to receive or dispatch, so Sima Ziyan took the opportunity during this downtime to write. He had already been submitting manuscripts to newspapers and magazines to earn a little money when he was in university, so his finances were a bit more comfortable than his classmates, and he usually had money to buy liquor.

What he was writing at that time was not wuxia, but typical youth literature. There was one story from those early publications he was particularly proud of, a story published in the Min Tsu Evening News called “Green Light”.

The story takes place in the green light district of Baodou in Wanhua District in Taipei and depicts a young prostitute leading a miserable life in that dark corner of town, as well as roving unruly hoodlums. The characters are vividly rendered, the plot is heartfelt and moving. His teacher, the famous author Xie Bingying, read the story and praised it highly. She felt it was a society novel of a kind rarely come by.

The well-established Spring & Autumn Publishing had published some of Sima Ziyan’s literary writings, though they mostly published wuxia novels. One day, Sima Ziyan returned home to Taipei on leave and dropped by Spring & Autumn’s offices to pick up his royalty money. The publishng house’s boss, Lü Qinshu, ran into him and it was like meeting one’s savior. He grabbed him and said he had something important to discuss with him.

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