1978: Female educated youth, don’t want an illiterate husband

Chapter 147: The manuscript fee has skyrocketed. Is my wife surprised? (Please order the whole book)
At Yanjing University, Chen Shumin insisted on inviting Cheng Xuemin to have lunch with him to calm his nerves.

So when Cheng Xuemin arrived at Renwenshe, it was almost three o'clock in the afternoon!
I immediately handed over the first two volumes of the comic book of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to Lao Pan.

When Old Pan saw Cheng Xuemin coming in, he had to tell him the good news about how popular Cheng Xuemin's painting of "Journey to the West" was.

In just one month, it sold over 400,000 copies, and it is still being reprinted again and again.

In response, Cheng Xuemin nodded and said he was not surprised.

Because Cheng Xuemin knew that in the alleys of Yanjing City, as long as there were children gathered, most of them would gather together and scramble to flip through the picture book of Journey to the West!

It was Feng Liwen, the little nephew of Feng Jiayou. Every time he ran home, he would keep shouting, "I am the Great Sage Equaling Heaven Sun Wukong, I am the Monkey King Sun Wukong, look at my golden cudgel."

Sometimes he would even pick up a wooden stick and yell directly at his aunt, "Hey, you monster, I'm going to beat you up!"

Just imagine!

A little kid who is just over three years old can read the comic book "Journey to the West" and imitate the Monkey King in the comic book very well, beating the little monsters with a stick.

It can be seen how popular the "Journey to the West" picture book drawn by Cheng Xuemin is.

However, Cheng Xuemin was only slightly surprised. Because no matter how popular the book was, what did it have to do with him as the original author? He didn't get any additional royalties for the copyright of the book.

After telling Cheng Xuemin the good news, Old Pan was very much looking forward to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" picture book that Cheng Xuemin would hand in, and he took a look at it on the spot as soon as possible.

Looking at it this way, I was so intoxicated that I forgot the time.

Seeing that Old Pan was so fascinated by the book, Cheng Xuemin did not wait in his office, but went downstairs directly to Zhang Guangnian's office of People's Literature and sat down.

After another round of pleasantries, it was inevitable that the son-in-law Cheng Xuemin would make fun of him. He really brought his mother-in-law, Teacher Gu, to life.

The teacher Gu they knew in their circle was the heroine 'An Jie' portrayed by his son-in-law in the movie "Parents' Love". They were exactly the same!

No matter how Cheng Xuemin explained and excused himself, Mr. Zhang just didn't believe it.

This further confirmed that "Parents' Love" was written about his mother-in-law and was written based on the portrayal of his mother-in-law.

The next thing to come is definitely the royalty bill, which Zhang Guangnian had already prepared. He had originally asked his mother-in-law, Teacher Gu, to notify Cheng Xuemin to come and collect it at any time.

Today, Cheng Xuemin made this trip specifically to deliver the manuscript of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" comic book, but his main purpose was to collect the manuscript fee.

After Cheng Xuemin received the payment for the manuscript of "Parental Love", he started talking to Lao Zhang about the topic of the united front again.

In this regard, Zhang Guangnian really thinks highly of Cheng Xuemin, or it may be that Zhang above him thinks highly of him.

So he directly confirmed the front-page headline with Cheng Xuemin again in person, which made Cheng Xuemin inexplicably touched and nodded repeatedly to express his gratitude.

The front-page headline of "People's Literature", such influence...this honor is really enough for Cheng Xuemin to brag about for the rest of his life.

If we wait until the day when we can directly take down the front-page headline of the People's Daily!
OK!
Anyway, up to now, neither Mao Zedong, Lao Ba nor Ding Shi have appeared on the front page of the People's Daily.

There were quite a few headlines on the front page of the supplement.

But can the front-page headlines of the supplement be compared with the front-page headlines of the main publication?
So, Cheng Xuemin just thought about it.

After getting the manuscript fee receipt from Zhang Guangnian, he returned to the office of Lao Pan from Renwen Press upstairs.

Old Pan had obviously just finished watching it and was still enjoying the aftertaste. When he saw Cheng Xuemin coming back, he quickly asked, "Xuemin, where have you been? I thought you went back without saying goodbye!"

"Alive, alive! Xuemin, you really brought the characters in the Three Kingdoms to life!"

"It's really beautiful! Xuemin, even I, an adult, am attracted and fascinated by the comic books you draw, let alone children!"

Old Pan kept greeting everyone, his face full of excitement.

"Teacher Pan, you are too kind. Actually, my painting is not that good!"

Cheng Xuemin quickly smiled shyly and modestly. Is it really that exaggerated?

"Xuemin, don't be too modest! They say excessive modesty is pride!"

"But you, Xuemin, do have the capital to be arrogant!"

Old Pan nodded at Cheng Xuemin and continued, "Xuemin, you may not know that when I said I gave the manuscript of Journey to the West to you, Xuemin, the art students at Qingmei were not convinced and said they were waiting to see your performance!"

"But when they saw the manuscript you handed in later, they were all dumbfounded. They couldn't help but admire your excellent painting skills. They even threatened to go to you to exchange painting skills!"

"By the way, did they go?"

Cheng Xuemin was a little surprised that such a thing actually happened, but he thought he could just talk about the art students from Qingmei University, as he didn't see them coming to his door!
"No, no, there is such a thing. Teacher Pan, why didn't you tell me before? I could have hidden it for a while!"

Then Cheng Xuemin said jokingly.

"There's none!?"

"It might be winter vacation, and everyone went back to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year!"

"Maybe after school starts after the New Year, they will definitely come looking for you!"

When Old Pan heard this, he was puzzled for a moment, but then he quickly realized that it was winter vacation, so it was understandable that he did not go to find Cheng Xuemin.

"Please don't do that! Teacher Pan, I'm really afraid I'll be beaten to death if I take their jobs like this!"

Cheng Xuemin shook his head repeatedly. Originally, the comic books and illustrations at Renwen Publishing House were basically contracted by Qingmei!

But who would have thought that Cheng Xuemin, a Cheng Yaojin, would suddenly appear and snatch their jobs at Qingmei. It would be strange if they didn't beat him to death when they met.

"Ha! Xuemin, you are really humorous!"

Old Pan nodded at Cheng Xuemin and was really amused by the kid's joke.

Then he waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about this anymore! Xuemin, we have used these two volumes of Romance of the Three Kingdoms! Please wait here for a moment, I will go find Lao Li to get you the manuscript fee bill!"

Cheng Xuemin quickly said politely that there was no rush and they could get married together next time, but Lao Pan was serious and decisive and he would not let Cheng Xuemin return empty-handed.

Cheng Xuemin can only say, righteous!
This is the case with Renwen Publishing House and People's Literature Publishing House. Basically, Cheng Xuemin can receive the royalties receipt on the same day he submits his manuscript.

Unlike his mother-in-law's October and Lao Li's Yenching Literature, they have to wait until the royalties settlement date before they can be issued uniformly.

So my mother-in-law only gave them the royalties for the manuscript yesterday.

However, it was just a short story with not much payment, which could not arouse any desire in Cheng Xuemin's heart.

Even the money-grubber Feng Jiayou was the same. When she received the royalty receipt from her mother, she felt dissatisfied and urged Cheng Xuemin to go to Renwen Publishing House to get the royalty receipt for "Parents' Love" to fill the emptiness in her little piggy bank.

Cheng Xuemin didn't have to wait long before Old Pan gave him the royalties for two volumes of the Three Kingdoms comic book.

There are sixty-two photos in one volume, and one hundred and twenty-four photos in two volumes!
Based on the fee of eight yuan per piece, the total is one thousand and twenty-four yuan!

Add to that the 1,852 yuan bill I just received from Mr. Zhang of People's Literature for the manuscript of "Parental Love". With this calculation, the total of the two bills is 2,876 yuan!

Cool!
He didn't know until he received two bills for his royalties. After doing the math, Cheng Xuemin was really dumbfounded.

More than 2,800 yuan in royalties!

Is this the highest amount of royalties he has ever received from his wife?

The highest amount I ever received was two thousand yuan for the script of "The Shepherd" I wrote for Xie Jin.

Really!

When Cheng Xuemin came to submit his manuscript today, he really didn't expect to receive the payment for "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in return.

So I was so happy just thinking about getting the more than 1,800 yuan in royalties for "Parents' Love" back to my wife, and I was looking forward to celebrating with her in the evening.

But who would have thought that Old Pan was so righteous that he was still able to help him get the manuscript fee invoice at three or four o'clock in the afternoon, which was beyond Cheng Xuemin's expectation.

"By the way, Xuemin, we have all read the Tianjin Daily report these days!"

"Originally, our art editing team could only watch and cheer for you from the sidelines, but we didn't expect that Mr. Wu from above would issue an instruction, which instantly gave our art team a task and allowed us to go on stage!"

Originally, Cheng Xuemin received the manuscript fee receipt, said a few polite words of thanks, and was about to leave!
Old Pan brought up this matter again.

Cheng Xuemin was also not surprised. Now, when his teachers in the industry see him, they will directly stand up and take the initiative to mention this matter to him.

Originally, Old Pan didn't mention it today, and Cheng Xuemin thought it was a different matter, so he didn't take it seriously.

But who would have thought that when leaving, Lao Pan suddenly took the initiative to mention this.

He also said that he got an instruction from Mr. Wu. What instruction?
What instructions or tasks can Lao Pan and his comic book art group give to help him show his support?
Cheng Xuemin immediately asked in surprise and confusion: "Teacher Pan, what instructions did Mr. Wu give us?!"

"Little comic book!" Old Pan didn't beat around the bush and said to Cheng Xuemin directly, "Old Wu gave us an instruction, that is, the promotion of the little comic book of "Old Joe" should be started immediately!"

"'Director Qiao's Taking Office' is also going to be published as a comic book? Is this true or not at this time?"

What Old Pan said made Cheng Xuemin stunned again.

Although I know that there was indeed a comic book version of "The Record of Director Qiao's Taking Office" in later generations, it shouldn't have happened so soon, right?

Moreover, at this critical juncture, Mr. Wu directly instructed Lao Pan Renwen Publishing House to immediately start the promotion of the comic book.

This……

Cheng Xuemin didn’t know what to say!
"Mr. Wu personally passed the message. I heard that he received instructions from above! And he also issued instructions on the royalties. Special matters will be handled on a special basis, and the amount will be ten yuan per copy!"

Lao Pan pointed his finger at it and continued, "So Xuemin, this is what I think. Since you are so good at comic books, why don't you just do the comic books for Lao Qiao yourself? How about it?"

Ten dollars per ticket, special treatment for special matters?
What the hell!

Cheng Xuemin cursed in his heart, the price of ten yuan per sheet was really an exception, because the maximum fee for comic books was eight yuan per sheet.

If he is given ten yuan directly now, Cheng Xuemin will have to calculate carefully.

The original manuscript of "The Record of Director Qiao's Taking Office" consists of more than 28,000 words. If it is simplified and abbreviated into a picture book, it will take up at least 100 pages.

Ten yuan per ticket means more than a thousand yuan, which is very profitable.

However, Cheng Xuemin quickly denied it. Now that "Old Joe" is in the limelight, Cheng Xuemin is also in the limelight.

It wouldn't matter if he published other manuscripts, but if he wrote a comic book called "The Record of Director Qiao's Taking Office", that would be a bit too much of a stretch.

So it's better to avoid suspicion and keep a low profile! Cheng Xuemin didn't want to eat this piece of fat meat, so he immediately rejected Lao Pan.

"That's fine. Xuemin, we understand that you have this concern, so just avoid it!"

Lao Pan also expressed his understanding that the comic book of "Lao Qiao" could only be drawn by other people. After exchanging some pleasantries with Cheng Xuemin, he left.

What should the daughter-in-law bring?

On the way back, Cheng Xuemin was thinking about what to bring back for his wife.

I had already bought new leather shoes and new clothes for the Chinese New Year by shopping at the department store.

Hers...Lao Feng Xiang!
While riding his bicycle, Cheng Xuemin looked at the street scenes of old Yanjing at that time and thought about what to buy.

But he saw Lao Fengxiang, and was immediately shocked. He went in to buy some gold jewelry for his wife.

When I watched the Japanese-translated film "The Chase" before, the heroine was not only eye-catching in her bell-bottom pants, but also in the jewelry she wore.

Of course, given the simplicity of women in that era, they did not yet have a materialistic consciousness and had no special pursuit for gold jewelry.

Because in this era, no woman would openly wear gold jewelry on the street.

Lao Feng Xiang seldom accepts private orders, so I don’t know whether private individuals can buy gold jewelry there now.

Just go in and ask and you’ll find out!
"Comrade, can we buy these privately?"

After Cheng Xuemin entered, he toured the layout inside and looked at many styles. He stopped at the necklace area, pointed to the gold necklace jewelry displayed on the counter, and asked the sales staff here.

Although Lao Feng Xiang has never closed down, in the past ten to twenty years, it generally supplied goods to government agencies, and private individuals could not buy them!

Fortunately, the salesperson's answer was affirmative. Now that the policy is good, individuals can also buy some gold jewelry in moderation.

Then there’s nothing much to say!

The money that his wife Feng Jiayou gave him to buy a TV has not been returned yet and is still with Cheng Xuemin. There is five hundred yuan in it!

Immediately, Cheng Xuemin picked out the most fashionable gold necklace, which was actually modeled after the one worn by the heroine in “The Chase”. It can be seen that although Lao Feng Xiang has been out of business for more than ten years, it has not fallen behind.

This gold necklace is priced at 386 yuan and weighs about 10 grams. Although it is slender, it is exquisitely crafted and not very expensive.

After all, the current price of gold is only about thirty-two or thirty-three per gram.

Then ask Lao Feng Xiang to pack it in an exquisite box and present it to your wife when you get back, but don't expect too much.

So, Cheng Xuemin almost whistled all the way home.

"Xuemin, how is it, did you get it back?"

Feng Jiayou at home had also been looking forward to it the whole day. When her man finally came back, she immediately stopped watching TV, pulled him into her room, and asked in a low voice!

"Wife, I brought it back. Guess how many are there?!"

……

(End of this chapter)