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

Chapter 228 I'm lost! Liu Xinwu, who gave you the courage to steal the manuscript? (Please subscribe)
Cheng Xuemin also didn't expect that Liu Xinwu of October was at Renwen Press.

This morning, his mother-in-law went to the company with medals and certificates, ready to show them off to Lao Liu and the others.

Faced with everyone's curious inquiries, Cheng Xuemin simply nodded and admitted that he had indeed received an award from the People's Hall yesterday, but he was not sure what the award was.

Li Shuguang and his friends did not dig too deep into the matter. Just knowing that Cheng Xuemin had won the award was already very impressive!
They also said that this gave them a cultural opportunity and earned them a wave of honor!
People always say that a person who is both civil and military is just like Cheng Xuemin, isn’t he?

"Xuemin, you are the absolute protagonist of this awards ceremony!" Li Shuguang said to Cheng Xuemin, "Not to mention Zhang Renmin Literature's "Director Qiao Taking Office", and Li Yanjing Literature's "The Shepherd" and "The Grass Heart"!"

"Xuemin, you may not know that your two manuscripts, The Horse Herder and Director Qiao's Taking Office, together with Lao Liu's Class Teacher, Lu Xinhua's Scars, and Yanhe Literature's Loess Plateau, are all strong contenders for the first prize!"

"And according to the votes from readers' letters, your The Horse Herder actually received more votes than Director Qiao's Taking Office. It can be said that it is far ahead!"

"It really made it impossible for our selection committee to make a specific judgment. In the end, Mr. Wu simply made the final decision not to award any first, second, or third prizes. All of them will be awarded the Excellence Award!"

"Xuemin, you have single-handedly broken the conventions of our award judging process. Great!"

Li Shuguang jokingly mentioned some inside information to Cheng Xuemin, which Feng's mother and father had mentioned to Cheng Xuemin before.

Now, after hearing what Li Shuguang and other judges said, Cheng Xuemin felt a little proud!

He single-handedly broke the conventions of previous awards. Isn't that awesome?
There’s even more awesome stuff to come!
From what Li Shuguang and Zhang Guangnian said, their jury only knew that Cheng Xuemin had published several manuscripts in "People's Literature", "Yenching Literature" and "October", and they all won awards!

I really don't know if several of his articles published in other places also won awards?
Especially since Li Shuguang just mentioned "Loess Plateau" in "Yanhe Literature". From his tone, I have no idea that it was written by Cheng Xuemin?
However, Cheng Xuemin did not dare to get cocky in front of these teachers. He smiled bitterly and said modestly, "Teacher Li, it's all luck! It's all because of your kindness and help that I, a new author, have achieved what I have today!"

"I really want to express my gratitude to Teacher Qingquan, Teacher Liu, Teacher Zhang, Teacher Li, and all the teachers here. Thank you very much!"

Li Qingquan of Yenching Literature is not to be mentioned. He was the mentor of Cheng Xuemin's debut novel The Horse Herder. It was he who, despite the pressure, decided to let a new author appear on the front page of Yenching Literature.

The same thing happened to Liu Xinwu of "October", who also faced great pressure and participated in Cheng Xuemin's "The Record of Director Qiao's Taking Office".

Although in the end it was intercepted by Zhang Guangnian's "People's Literature" and the manuscript was stolen!
This made Cheng Xuemin feel even more sorry for Old Liu!
Zhang Guangnian of People's Literature and Li Shuguang of Renwen Publishing House are also teachers that Cheng Xuemin must thank.

Because of the promotion of their "People's" brand name, Cheng Xuemin, a new author, has gained considerable influence and has become a unique new star among new young authors.

Also, among the "People" fonts, Cheng Xuemin earns the most in royalties!

Especially the Renwen Press under Li Shuguang, the single volumes they published almost made Cheng Xuemin pick up money for free, and they were all free at the maximum price of 7 yuan per thousand words.

Food and clothing parents ah!
In this age of buying out royalties, the editors-in-chief of these magazines and periodicals are like the readers' masters and godfathers, and they are truly Cheng Xuemin's breadwinners.

Therefore, these teachers are truly worthy of Cheng Xuemin’s respect and gratitude!

"Xuemin, you are just too polite and too formal!" Li Qingquan took over Cheng Xuemin's words and interrupted him directly, saying that there was no need to be polite anymore!
Then he led Cheng Xuemin to Li Shuguang and said, "Xuemin, last year you published "The Shepherd" and "The Grass Heart" in our Yenching Literature. We submitted them all for selection and they all won awards!"

"Old Li, help Xuemin sign in!" Then he greeted Li Shuguang.

"You guy...Xuemin and others are not arrogant, but you are!" Li Shuguang glanced at Liu Xinwu of "October" and said to Li Qingquan in a bad mood.

"It's not bad, it's not bad. Our Yenching Literature cannot compare to your People's Edition. Only Xuemin has brought us some glory!"

"We at Yenching Literature have indeed benefited from Xuemin!"

Li Qingquan did not lie. This time, they also sent ten manuscripts to "Yenching Literature". Unfortunately, only two manuscripts by Cheng Xuemin were selected and won the awards!

The other few articles all failed and did not win any awards!
However, because of Cheng Xuemin, two of their Yenching Literature articles were selected, making them the third among all the award-winning magazines and publications that have won more than one award!
The above "People's Literature" has more than a dozen articles selected, which is worthy of being the top hall of the "People" brand. Following closely behind are "Shanghai Literature and Art" and "Harvest".

Three articles from Shanghai Literature and Art were selected this time, and "Harvest" was only published once before the New Year, but it was also very strong and won two articles.

So Yenching Literature ranks third, tied with Harvest. When the Excellence Award is selected next year, Harvest will start to make efforts, and then Yenching Literature will be unable to catch up.

After all, "Harvest" dares to challenge "People's Literature".

"Look how proud you are!"

Liu Xinwu, who was standing next to him, retorted to this guy with mixed feelings.

Because Cheng Xuemin is the son-in-law of their "October", but at the crucial moment of selecting the grand prize, their son-in-law did not win a prize for them!

If we talk about how bad it feels, Liu Xinwu feels more aggrieved than anyone else.

"Lao Liu, Lao Liu, stop being so jealous! Didn't you win a single award for your October?"

Li Qingquan responded with another sentence, because he knew where Liu Xinwu's resentment was!

It is obvious that Cheng Xuemin is their son-in-law in October, but he helped them win two awards for "Yenching Literature". Who can they complain to?
But this is also because Liu Xinwu himself did not set a good example. The book "Class Teacher" he wrote also won an award!

It is also a pioneering work in scar literature and a strong contender for the first prize this time.

However, his article "Class Teacher" was published in "People's Literature", but not in his "October".

"It's easy to talk, but when I published that, our October magazine hadn't even resumed publication yet. How can it be the same?"

Liu Xinwu retorted to Li Qingquan, and what he said was indeed correct. When Liu Xinwu wrote and published "Class Teacher", he was still in the northwest and did not return to the city to resume work.

He was also bold enough to write "Class Teacher", becoming the first person to write about the scars of that era. It was also because of the special significance of "Class Teacher" that Liu Xinwu got the opportunity to return to the city and was reinstated to preside over the resumption of publication of "October".

Therefore, what Liu Xinwu said was absolutely correct. It was "Class Teacher" that came first, and then "October" was resumed. This is different from the situation of Cheng Xuemin.

After retorting to Li Qingquan in a bad mood, Liu Xinwu said to Cheng Xuemin in a sullen tone, "Xuemin, this time we will only select last year's manuscripts, and the deadline is December!"

"If you can finish by now, you will definitely have more manuscripts selected for awards. Your mother-in-law, Teacher Gu, and I are waiting!"

"Last year, let Old Li's Yenching Literature be proud and arrogant for a while. This year, you have to help our October magazine catch up and try to give your mother-in-law, Teacher Gu, a few more manuscripts, okay?!"

Cheng Xuemin was caught in the middle of the war of words between the two families. It was really hard to blame him. And after Li Qingquan of Yenching Literature said this, Cheng Xuemin also realized that this time, he, as a son-in-law, really didn't help his mother-in-law win an award.

And this time, "October" seems to have failed as well, with not a single manuscript selected. Just a zero?
After knowing this, Cheng Xuemin also sighed that his mother-in-law had indeed changed. Otherwise, she would have made a big fuss at home about the result of this award.

Especially his wife Feng Jiayou, who was a very filial daughter at the time. She insisted on not giving any manuscript to her mother's "October" in order to prove herself and for the extra dollar of royalties.

Now it’s all good. I didn’t expect that there would be the first award ceremony waiting here. So my mother-in-law didn’t get mad at home. She has really changed a lot.

Then, Cheng Xuemin also expressed his opinion to Liu Xinwu: "Thank you, Mr. Liu, for your kindness. In the future... Actually, my mother-in-law will give my manuscripts to my mother-in-law for proofreading as soon as I finish writing them."

Having said that, those who understand will understand that because Cheng Xuemin has a mother-in-law who is an editor at home, now all his manuscripts have to be reviewed by his mother-in-law first.

In other words, my mother-in-law has the final say on future manuscripts. Old Liu, will you still worry about not having manuscripts for "October" in the future?
"Okay, okay, Teacher Gu is helping with the manuscript? Then, Xuemin, how is the manuscript you wrote this time when you went south? Didn't Teacher Gu mention it?" Liu Xinwu became excited when he heard this, and quickly took the opportunity to show his true colors and asked.

Come on, come on, Liu Xinwu asked this question, and Zhang Guangnian beside him instantly understood what Old Liu was planning. Unfortunately, Old Liu, your wishful thinking was just like his People's Literature, and it was wrong!
The General Political Department Art Troupe doesn't even look down on People's Literature, so how could they look down on a second-tier publication of Liu Xinwu? Not even one of his manuscripts won an award this time. Who gave Liu Xinwu the courage to compete with Liberation Army Literature and Art for manuscripts?

Just because of Teacher Gu, Cheng Xuemin’s mother-in-law?
……

PS: I wrote this chapter on my phone on the train, so it's a little too short, sorry! By the way, I'd like to ask for the guaranteed monthly pass at the beginning of the month, thank you very much!
(End of this chapter)