1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 173 Pidgin

"Mom, why are you here?" Jiang Xian asked in surprise.

Rao Yuemei raised a letter in her hand and said, "Your brother-in-law sent you a letter from Shanghai."

"Brother-in-law?"

Jiang Xian was puzzled. Was Bian Huawei here to urge him to submit his manuscript? He really hadn't had time to hand him the manuscript he had just written.

"Come up to my room and sit down. I just want to talk to you about something." Jiang Xian dragged his mother to the guesthouse.

Rao Yuemei looked around curiously at the scenery in the Beijing Film Studio courtyard, "Can we run into any famous actors?"

"Who do you want to see? Tang Guoqiang or Chen Daoming."

"Who are they? I've never heard of any of them."

"Then who do you want to meet?" Jiang Xian was really curious about the idol of middle-aged women at this moment.

Rao Yuemei pondered for a while and said, "I think Tong Xiangling is good. Please don't tell your dad."

"No problem." Jiang Xianle agreed happily.

Tong Xiangling played Yang Zirong in the Peking Opera "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" and became famous all over the country. He was upright and brave, but he looked very miserable when he stepped off the stage and had to wash dishes for 600 people.

Entering his room in the guesthouse, Rao Yuemei took a look and said, "Your conditions here are really good."

He poured his mother a glass of water, quickly sat on a chair, opened the letter sent by Bian Huawei and took a look at it.

"My cousin Jiang Xian, I am very happy to see you. I am very happy to see you.
I want to share a good news with you. The total print run of Huo Yuanjia has exceeded three million. In response to the requests of readers, Story Club magazine intends to publish and distribute Huo Yuanjia.

I am writing this letter to solicit your opinion and also to invite you to Shanghai to discuss specific matters.

I wish you good luck in your work.”

He read it line by line, then folded the letter again and put it back on the table.

"What did your brother-in-law say?" Rao Yuemei asked.

"Ask me to Shanghai to discuss publishing."

"Going to Shanghai? Then you can also visit your sister." Rao Yuemei immediately thought, "I'll make a few pairs of insoles for her, and you can bring them with you when you go."

"Well, that's easy to say." Jiang Xian put the letter back into the drawer, turned around and said, "I plan to get the certificate."

"Take the evidence?!"

Rao Yuemei's expression immediately became interesting, "With that girl Zhu Lin?"

Jiang Xian put away all his cynicism at this moment. He had to discuss this matter with Rao Yuemei based on his parents' orders and the matchmaker's words.

"Let me tell you, after we get married, Zhu Lin and I don't plan to have children within the next two years."

"What?" Rao Yuemei couldn't sit still. "If you really become a couple, how can you not have children? This is too unreasonable. Was it her idea or yours?"

"It was our joint idea." Jiang Xian's face was serious.

Rao Yuemei was very angry, but there was nothing she could do about him.

Her eldest son has been looking forward to it for a long time. Finally, he has found a partner and is thinking about getting married. How could she possibly stand in the way?

But when I turned around and thought about it, I felt it was nothing.

If you make this decision before marriage, you have no control over it after marriage.

Zhu Lin's daughter is so pretty, can Jiang Xian control her? When the time comes, it will be like dry wood meeting a raging fire, or a long drought meeting a sweet rain, and sooner or later she will get pregnant.

No. 7 West Chang'an Avenue, Beijing Literature and Art Magazine.

Jiang Xian went up familiarly and caught a glimpse of Zhang Dening leaning over the table holding a manuscript.

Jiang Xian waited for a while, until she sighed, looked up and saw him, then he greeted her.

"De Ning!" Well, as he was going to be her leader soon, he naturally had to change his address.

"Jiang Xian! Have you finished writing the preface?"

"I wrote one article myself and asked someone to write another one." Jiang Xian took out a few thin pages of paper from his bag.

“Whom shall I ask to write it?”

"Wang Zengqi."

"Who?"

"My senior brother, Wang Zengqi."

Zhang Dening suddenly became excited. Wang Zengqi meant nothing to other magazines, but he had special significance to Beijing Literature and Art because he was one of their senior predecessors.

"Let me see it quickly!" She took it impatiently, opened the preface written by Wang Zengqi, and read it with relish.

"It's him. It's the flavor he can write."

After reading it once, Zhang Dening shared it with other editors. This preface quickly caused a small sensation in the editorial department of "Beijing Literature and Art".

"What do you want to name this collection of works?" Zhang Dening poured him a glass of water.

"What are you going to call it?"

Zhang Dening gave him a very official title, "Selected Short Stories of Jiang Xian from 1978 to 1980."

"Is there anything else?"

"Or you can use the title of the most representative novel. It depends on which one you want to use."

"Then let's use 'Selected Short Stories of Jiang Xian from 1978 to 1980'."

The several selected works are too different from each other, have no common core, and there is no need to spend time thinking about a collection name.

Naming it directly like this is actually more concise, clear and comprehensive.

After discussing some specific matters, Zhang Dening finally talked about Jiang Xian's favorite part, "I'll pay you the royalties."

Jiang Xian had already roughly calculated in his mind that there were four works in the collection: The Chess King had 14,000 words, Fierce Animals had 56,000 words, Fuxi Fuxi had 77,000 words, and Letter from a Stranger Woman had more than 32,000 words.

"17 words, but considering there are extra words, I'll count it as 9 words." Zhang Dening smiled, "This is the preferential treatment that our Beijing Literature and Art Magazine gives you."

"This is what I deserve." Jiang Xian didn't appreciate this favor.

He is a very clear-headed person. If you count these four novels word by word together, there are definitely 180,000 words. He may even have suffered a loss.

"Alas, when it comes to money, you don't recognize anyone." Zhang Dening sighed helplessly.

The standards for basic remuneration and print-volume remuneration were the same as those in other places. Jiang Xian was first given a basic remuneration of 1,800 yuan, and Jiang Xian's small treasury directly increased to more than 9,000 yuan.

Even when the foreign exchange from Hong Kong had not yet been settled for him, he had basically become a ten thousand yuan household in the early 80s, the kind of ten thousand yuan household with real ten thousand yuan of spare money in his pocket!
I asked for a week's leave from the Institute of Literature and Art, exchanged my Beijing food coupons for some Shanghai food coupons from Wang Anyi, then got a letter of introduction and took a train to Shanghai.

The train started, and not long after leaving the capital, the inspiration [leaving home] began to jump wildly, and the number 1000 seemed to be the distance in kilometers from home.

Before arriving in Shanghai, the inspiration [Leaving Home] had been collected (1000/1000), and only the inspiration for placing an order [Painting] was left to be collected.

The temperature in Shanghai is much higher than in Beijing, and the air is a bit more humid and sticky.

The person who came to pick him up at the station was Bian Huawei, who came on a bicycle. Jiang Xian wanted to take him with him, but he insisted that Jiang Xian sit on the back seat and take him back home.

He put his arm around his brother-in-law's waist, admired the foreign concessions, learned to speak Shanghainese, and spoke in pidgin English.

"Brother-in-law, I brought you a manuscript this time."

"what?!"

Bian Huawei, panting heavily, stood up and started kicking.

(End of this chapter)