Chapter 82: It’s revealed that Cheng Xuemin is Mr. Xu, the herdsman (please vote for me)
“Xuemin, haven’t you finished writing the novella yet?”
Cheng Xuemin had no plans to go to the Affiliated High School. Anyway, when he went to class there, he spent three days fishing and two days drying nets.
At the beginning, the school teachers were quite dissatisfied with him.
Instead of Cheng Xuemin speaking directly with his grades, the scores were there. In addition, he also explained to the head teacher of the repeat class at the High School Affiliated to Yanda that he had a pregnant wife with a pregnant belly to take care of at home.
In this way, the head teacher acquiesced.
You can skip classes occasionally, but you must take the monthly exams every month. This is a time to win glory for their repeat classes, and it is not a last resort for them to miss the exams.
So I simply didn’t bother to go there today and continued the library retreat.
I just sat down!
Chen Shumin, the library administrator, came over and asked straight to the point.
Calculating the time, the novella in Cheng Xuemin's hand should be finished! Although the last time he helped "People's Literature" to pry manuscripts, he was caught by Zhang Dening of Yanjing Literature, but Chen Shumin still wanted to fight for it.
"Teacher Chen... I just finished writing the novella..."
As soon as Cheng Xuemin spoke, Chen Shumin couldn't wait to say: "Is it finished!? Then hurry up and read it for me!"
"This... I just submitted it to Yanjing Literature this morning, and I don't have the manuscript in my hand now!"
"Ah?! You've already submitted it to Yanjing Literature?!" Chen Shumin was dumbfounded. Was Cheng Xuemin's move too fast?
You have just finished writing it, and now you are handing it over to Yanjing Literature? This means that he was not prepared to listen to his own advice and submit to "People's Literature" from the beginning?
"Ahem! Teacher Chen, you know that Dening from Yanjing Literature. He stares at that manuscript almost every day. There's nothing I can do about it!"
Cheng Xuemin smiled awkwardly and passed the blame directly to Zhang Dening.
In fact, at the beginning, when Chen Shumin suggested that he apply for People's Literature, he was very moved. After all, it is the highest palace of the magazine. Being able to publish articles in People's Literature is a kind of strength and reputation.
With the success of publishing People's Literature, any magazine or newspaper that Cheng Xuemin applies to in the future, as long as he mentions it, will be guaranteed a minimum price of six yuan per thousand words.
But then again, it’s still a question of royalties.
Even if Chen Shumin recommended him to submit the manuscript to People's Literature, he simply rejected it, so what?
Can People’s Literature give Cheng Xuemin, a pure newcomer, a royalties of seven yuan per thousand words?
One thousand words worth five or six dollars would be astonishing!
It would be fine if Cheng Xuemin only had a short story of 20,000 to 30,000 words, and it would not be a bad idea to give literature to the people, and he would not lose much if he wrote a story worth 5 or 6 yuan for 1,000 words.
But Chen Shumin was eyeing his own novella of more than 200,000 words!
More than two hundred thousand words!
The unit price of the manuscript fee differs by one or two yuan, which is a difference of three to four hundred yuan in manuscript fee. The entire manuscript fee for the two short stories "Female College Student Dormitory" and "Loess Plateau" in Cheng Xuemin's hands will have to be lost.
Literati should not be too philistine, but can Cheng Xuemin be considered a literati?
Whether it was Cheng Xuemin in the previous life or Cheng Xuemin in this life, they all wanted to take advantage of money and make him lose three or four hundred yuan. Wouldn't it be more uncomfortable than killing him?
So I’m sorry, Mr. Chen, but this novella has been given to Yanjing Literature. The price is seven yuan for a thousand words, which is really delicious!
"Oh! That's true!" Chen Shumin nodded and whispered, "Now Yanjing Literature is very fond of Lao Xu, the author of the Wrangler, and will definitely send special people to keep a close eye on you! "
"Don't look at me like that! Am I, Old Chen, that blind? Zhang Dening from Yanjing Literature comes here to see you every day, guarding me like a thief!"
"In addition to the Wrangler Lao Xu who has been making a lot of noise recently, he is a college student of our Yan University!"
"Wrangler Lao Xu is not your boy, who else could he be?"
When Chen Shumin saw Cheng Xuemin looking at him in shock, he really laughed and cursed in annoyance!
Don’t think you are hiding too much. In his eyes, Old Chen, you are the emperor’s new clothes. If you run around naked, he will see through it all!
"Ahem! I still can't escape Teacher Chen, your discerning eyes are all over the sky!" Cheng Xuemin was really dumbfounded. He didn't expect that the Wrangler Lao Xu, whom the Feng family had helped him hide so well, would have been caught by Chen Shumin in front of him. Pierced.
Then he asked with a wry smile: "Teacher Chen, I am Lao Xu, the author of Wrangler. You didn't tell anyone else, did you?"
If Chen Shumin had already passed it on to him, it wouldn't really matter. Anyway, he didn't really want to hide it forever.
"That's not true! I, Old Chen, have a very tight tongue! You don't want to reveal the identity of this popular Wrangler Old Xu, so you must have some hidden agenda. I won't be able to tell others about it!"
Chen Shumin shook his head, denying it on the spot, and then sighed, "You are so awesome, you can really keep your composure! You don't even show off in such a big limelight, you don't have the temperament of a hot-blooded young man at all!"
"On the other hand, I, Old Chen, am here in the library every day, listening to the discussions among the students, either guessing this or talking about that. I am so anxious that I feel itchy in my heart. I wish I could just point my finger in your direction and curse the author of Wrangler Isn’t Lao Xu just sitting there?”
"Think about that scene, it must be very exciting!"
This Chen Shumin is indeed a talkative person, but he is really embarrassed by this talkative person!
I had already guessed that the author of Wrangler, Lao Xu, was Cheng Xuemin, but I didn’t figure it out. This is really not easy for a person with tuberculosis!
"Thank you!" Cheng Xuemin was very moved, but when he mentioned the so-called hidden secrets, he smiled bitterly and shook his head and explained, "Actually, there are no hidden secrets!"
"When we first started, we submitted the manuscript "Wrangler" to Yenching Literature without telling my mother-in-law. We didn't expect the response to be so great, and we didn't even dare to let my mother-in-law know about it!"
"In this way, I didn't dare to let the classmates around me know, so I kept hiding it!"
"What does your mother-in-law do? Why do you hide it from her? It's so hot now, why don't you dare to tell her?"
Chen Shumin is confused!
Chen Shumin now knows a little about Cheng Xuemin's situation. His wife is a freshman at Yanda, but he did not take the college entrance examination and was accompanied by his family members.
My daughter is a college student at Yan University, but my son-in-law is a man from northern Shaanxi. It is understandable that my mother-in-law looks down on her.
That Cheng Xuemin wrote a manuscript for publication without telling his mother-in-law, to work hard to prove that he could understand. Anyone else would have been able to hold his breath and work hard to make progress.
But now, Cheng Xuemin's "Wrangler" has achieved great results. Logically speaking, he should tell his mother-in-law as soon as possible to prove that he is capable!
Why don’t you dare tell his mother-in-law? This seems a bit illogical!
When Cheng Xuemin wrote a manuscript and published it, shouldn't he be proving himself in front of his mother-in-law?
After getting the result, he didn’t dare to do it. He didn’t understand or not. Chen Shumin shook his head and became more and more curious, wanting to eat melon!
"My mother-in-law... is the chief editor of "October" magazine... Lao Li from Yanjing Literature used my article "Wrangler" to challenge them in October!"
Cheng Xuemin continued to smile bitterly. This was something he later heard from his mother-in-law. He also did not expect that behind the article "Wrangler", there would be an underground competition between Yanjing Literature and October. No wonder at the beginning, the mother-in-law went a little crazy and asked Feng Jiayou whether she had said bad things about their "October" behind her back, so that all the high-quality manuscripts from Yanda were lost and transferred to Yenching Literature.
"Oh... Xuemin, your mother-in-law is Teacher Gu Xueqing from "October"?"
"Uh...yeah!" Cheng Xuemin was dumbfounded and looked at Chen Shumin in confusion. Can you guess this with one sentence? Is his mother-in-law really that famous?
But he quickly realized what he was doing and smiled bitterly! By just mentioning it like this, Chen Shumin could directly reveal the identity of his mother-in-law. One can imagine the battle behind this. There are almost no secrets in the circle!
"That's no wonder you don't dare to say anything anymore. In the beginning, your mother-in-law, Teacher Gu, and their editor-in-chief, Liu Xinwu, kept asking us about Wrangler Lao Xu!"
"But I didn't expect that your kid would hide so deeply. Under the eyes of your mother-in-law, you would 'aid the evil' and go against her. If she knew about it, what would she do to your rebellious son-in-law?"
Big melon, big melon!
Chen Shumin didn't expect that he would hear so many secrets behind "Wrangler" without getting the novella!
If this was a manuscript, Chen Shumin could strike while the iron is hot and write it as a novella first!
He had already thought of the title of the book, it was "Reading the Wrangler - The Hidden Story Behind the Visiting Son-in-law and Mother-in-law"!
After it is written, it will definitely be more popular than Cheng Xuemin's "Wrangler".
"Teacher Chen, you won't sell us, will you?"
Cheng Xuemin looked at the excited Chen Shumin with contempt. Is it funny to be so excited?
"Uh... No, no, I, Old Chen, am quite tight-lipped! Don't worry, Xuemin, I will definitely keep your secret for you!"
"Old Li from Yanjing Literature is too unkind. Isn't he just adding fuel to the fire? Isn't he afraid of causing trouble when watching a show?"
Chen Shumin repeatedly waved his hands and promised to keep Cheng Xuemin's secret. He was also dissatisfied with Li Qingquan of Yenching Literature and continued, "I think this old Li just wants to tie you up and only provide him with manuscripts for Yenching Literature!"
"Xuemin, you too, you were really caught by Li Qingquan, so I gave him the novella I just finished!"
After thinking about it for a while, I finally figured it out!
It wasn’t that Cheng Xuemin had such a deep affection for Yenching Literature that even the Supreme People’s Literature Magazine could ignore it and finally handed over the novella to Yenching Literature.
There are also these unspeakable nastiness in this co-authorship!
"No, no! Teacher Chen was joking. Lao Li from Yanjing Literature is actually pretty good. He gave me seven yuan per thousand words for the manuscript fee, and he didn't say that this novella must be given to him!"
This cannot be misunderstood by Chen Shumin. Regardless of whether Li Qingquan of Yanjing Literature has other intentions, he is really not a threat.
If this gets out and the editor-in-chief is slandered behind his back, Cheng Xuemin will not be a good person.
"Then this manuscript was originally yours, and it's worth the price!" Chen Shumin was still aggrieved for Cheng Xuemin.
"I heard that Li Qingquan is going to hold a symposium for you? And he also said that you, the author of Wrangler, Lao Xu, have published a new book?!"
"Isn't that the novella?"
Chen Shumin thought of another thing. Not to mention the symposium, there was also a new one! But didn’t the novella in Cheng Xuemin’s hand say that it had just been submitted this morning?
"It's not this novella, it's another short story. The sample issue of this issue is out!" Cheng Xuemin nodded and said!
"Damn, what's going on with you, Xuemin? Is your output so high? Another short story?!"
"You haven't been in Beijing for a month, haven't you? A Wrangler, a short story, and a novella, how did you write it!?"
It’s not that he didn’t know, but Chen Shumin was dumbfounded on the spot.
In less than a month, I wrote three manuscripts in succession, including a medium-length novel with more than 200,000 words. The most outrageous thing is that all three manuscripts passed!
They were all given to Yenching Literature. Isn’t this enough to prove that Li Qingquan of Yenching Literature is an old thief, plotting to exploit Cheng Xuemin, a young new author? !
“Okay, okay, it’s been more than a month!”
Cheng Xuemin nodded and humbly corrected him repeatedly. It was not less than a month, but more than a month!
"Isn't that too fast and too powerful?" Chen Shumin continued to be dumbfounded and exclaimed.
"If you are familiar with it, your hands will be familiar with it. The more you write, the faster you will become familiar with it. It will be fast!" Cheng Xuemin continued to nod shyly and modestly.
"Okay! Xuemin, why don't you write a manuscript for me!? It shouldn't be too long, just give me a short story of 20,000 to 30,000 words, can you?!"
Chen Shumin didn't expect this kid's hand speed to be so terrifying. If he had known it, he should have directly asked for the manuscript, and wouldn't have waited for the novella!
"Uh...Teacher Chen, aren't you...for people's literature?"
Cheng Xuemin was confused. Isn't Chen Shumin the administrator of Yanda Library? Why did you make an appointment with him to write a manuscript?
"Xuemin, actually! I and a few like-minded friends are also planning to launch a magazine. We have already thought of a name, called "Today"!"
"So we urgently need a few good articles. If Xu, the author of the Wrangler, like you, Xuemin, writes one yourself, I think our "Today" magazine will definitely be an instant success with its first issue!"
Chen Shumin rubbed his hands and said embarrassedly.
""Today"?!" Cheng Xuemin was equally astonished. He didn't expect that the "Today" magazine that was once popular in major universities in Yanjing was actually founded by Chen Shumin in front of him!
"Xuemin, have you heard of it?" Seeing Cheng Xuemin's reaction, Chen Shumin asked doubtfully.
"No!"
Cheng Xuemin shook his head decisively and said, that was the memory in his mind, and it was indeed the first time he heard about it.
"What about the manuscript?" Chen Shumin couldn't help but look regretful, but he asked again.
"Okay! Teacher Chen, you have so many secrets of mine, aren't you just the second Lao Li? I can't justify not writing a manuscript for you!"
"How to calculate the royalties?"
…
(End of chapter)