The Shadow of Great Britain

Victor heard this, smiled, and covered for Eld, holding Balzac’s shoulder: ”No rush, brother, let’s find a quiet place to chat slowly.”

They walked into the France Restaurant, found a secluded private room on the second floor, and sat down. Coffee and brandy were quickly served.

Eld held his wine glass, speaking eloquently: ”Mr. Balzac, you must know that truly powerful companies often won’t let their names be heard casually during idle tavern talks. Our legal advisors in London have all written opinions for Parliament. Our translators, some of them teach at Oxford and Cambridge, some have drafted documents for the Foreign Office. As for printing equipment... Ha, you should know Fleet Street by the Thames River, right? We occupy thirty percent of the capacity there.”

”My God!” Balzac’s eyes lit up, as if he had already seen stacks of British Pounds floating into his pocket from the riverside: ”If what you’re saying is true... thirty percent? That’s not a small amount!”

Eld shook his head mysteriously, spread out his hands and said: ”To be honest, our company now only lacks a French Napoleon. A big ship sails relying on a helmsman, and we need someone who can plant flags all over the literary world of Europe. Like Goethe in Germany, Scott in Scotland, and in England... Mr. Dickens has indeed recently risen to fame, but in the end, he’s still young, and lately his focus has been on drama creation. We’ve thought about it and couldn’t find such a person in Britain, so we can only look to France. At least in my personal opinion, Mr. Balzac, you have great potential.”

”Sir, you truly have a discerning eye!” Balzac was immediately elated, even his belly quivered excitedly, he shook Eld’s hand heartily: ”I’m not flattering you, your words are a hundred times more fair than those sour literary critics!”

Victor watched on the side, his mouth twitching, if he didn’t know that Imperial Publishing Company was actually a cover for ”British”, just relying on Eld’s righteous appearance, even he almost believed it.

Balzac leaned forward excitedly: ”Then may I dare to ask, what is the relationship between the Imperial Publishing Company and... uh, those newspapers and magazines in London? Like ’British’, ’The Times’ and so on...”

”’British’?” Eld dismissed with a wave of his hand: ”That’s all past; nowadays ’British’ is barely upheld by that successor of Walter Scott, but in my view, not long after even he won’t sustain. Do you know what the upper class in London is reading now?”

”What are they reading?”

”Reading ’Spark’!” Eld swirled his red wine, his expression sincere: ”As for ’The Times’, that’s under our umbrella, as a listed company on the London Stock Exchange, we have shares in ’The Times’. Mr. Balzac, you must understand, ’British’ is in the end just a newspaper magazine company, while our Imperial Publishing Company can write your name into the entire cultural history of the world. However, while personally I support selecting you as the company’s representative writer in France, there is...”

Balzac’s heart leapt to his throat: ”Is there something not right?”

Eld steadily placed his cup down, calm like a genuine businessman: ”Of course, the copyright issue we can naturally discuss. But London readers have different tastes, they not only focus on the story but are especially sensitive to its origins. Particularly... since coming to Paris, I’ve heard rumors saying that the prototype of ’Beatrice’ is related to disputes in some famous salons in Paris. If launched rashly without clearing those relations, I’m afraid...”

Upon hearing this, Balzac hurriedly stood up to deny: ”Impossible, this book contains no allusions or implications, I assure you.”

Balzac thought he was absolutely secure, unexpectedly Eld frowned upon hearing this: ”No allusions? Then what’s the point of publishing this book? Mr. Balzac, you need to know, London readers love this kind of thing.”

Balzac almost choked: ”You... what are you saying? You’re suggesting that to attract London readers, a novel must contain allusions?”

Eld laughed heartily, reached out to refill Balzac’s brandy glass: ”I never said must, but you yourself are an expert, you should know, Parisians live off rumors, Londoners entertain themselves with scandals. Scandals are their breakfast bread, rumors their afternoon tea. If the story you write lacks hints, then it’s like a steak without pepper, no matter how good the texture, the flavor is bland.”

Balzac’s mouth twitched slightly, clearly hesitating, as he had promised George Sand to never disclose secrets.

”Sir, I never rely on scandals to catch eyes.”

”You may not need to, but the company does.” Eld immediately changed to a cold expression upon hearing this: ”The price of the agency agreement we offer you is not low, if there’s nothing to support the promotion, what if the sales don’t look good, the others lose money?”