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

There were some things that Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, heard, but she didn't explain to her sister on the spot, and it's unclear what her mindset was.

Anyway, Cheng Xuemin figured out something and realized that his mother-in-law was still the same as before, and that she was preparing a surprise for his aunt.

However, when Cheng Xuemin, Feng's mother, and Gu Xueqing heard that her aunt had mistaken her brother-in-law for someone working at the Foreign Languages ​​Press, she stopped pretending and took over the conversation, continuing:
"Qiu Na, your brother-in-law is no longer with the Foreign Languages ​​Press! He was transferred there at the beginning of last month!"

Speaking of her husband, Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, felt extremely proud, but she also glanced more at her good son-in-law driving in front of her, because she knew that her father-in-law's ability to jump twice within the year, and even jump into prison, was all thanks to this good son-in-law.

Sure enough, when Feng's mother mentioned this, her sister-in-law Gu Qiuna, who was sitting next to her, asked in surprise, "What? Sister, my brother-in-law has already infiltrated the gang?"

"Then...then wouldn't that make me a leader?"

This truly shocked and delighted Gu Qiuna. She never expected that after she and her older brother went abroad, her older sister and brother-in-law, who had stayed behind, would face great difficulties and their futures would be completely ruined!
But to everyone's surprise, my sister and brother-in-law have had a really tough time these past few years, but as soon as they returned to the city, they were immediately taken seriously. Now my brother-in-law is in the hospital. How could I not be surprised?
"What do you mean by 'sneaking in'?" When Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, heard her sister's words were a bit harsh, she immediately corrected her, "That's because your brother-in-law is capable, and we're giving him more responsibilities. How did you come up with 'sneaking in'?"

"Also, don't say that to Mom and Dad when you get back, or I'm afraid Mom will beat you up as soon as they see you!"

Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, knew very well that her mother doted on her husband. Now that her husband had entered the courtyard, her mother had been secretly praising him quite a bit behind his back.

Now, her husband, Lao Feng, is her parents' pride!

If her mother heard that Gu Qiuna, her sister-in-law, had spoken so carelessly about her brother-in-law as soon as she returned, that would be terrible.

"Oh yes, yes, yes, sis, you're right, you're right!" Gu Qiuna stuck out her tongue, still asking incredulously, "So, does that mean we have family now!?"

"That's still a long way off. Your brother-in-law just got transferred in, and he's just a minor leader in a department!" Gu Xueqing, Feng's mother, waved her hands repeatedly. Old Feng was still a bit short of that level and needed to keep working hard.

However, the "little leader" that Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, mentioned was definitely not something to be overly modest about; one shouldn't be too arrogant even in front of one's younger sister.

Immediately afterward, Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, added, "But your brother-in-law isn't even fifty yet; he's still very young..."

Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, stopped there. She swallowed back the words about the promising future, even though she had always thought so. She couldn't just say it to everyone she met!
"That's true! My brother-in-law was born in 1930, so he's not even fifty yet. He definitely has a bright future ahead of him, and getting promoted is a certainty!"

It was rare that Gu Qiuna, the sister-in-law, actually remembered the year her brother-in-law was born, which made Cheng Xuemin, the son-in-law driving in front, blush.

Are you someone born in 1930?

He was indeed not even fifty years old. Cheng Xuemin had always thought his father-in-law was over fifty.

In that case, Cheng Xuemin thought that his father-in-law's future was indeed promising!

My father-in-law is now in his prime, at the peak of his career, and has more than a decade of potential for advancement. He's really quite capable!

Therefore, Cheng Xuemin's efforts to promote his father-in-law, and the predetermined path he took to elevate him to that position, were not wrong.

It's better to rely on your own father-in-law than on someone else.

Sister Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, loved hearing her sister's words. It wasn't about getting by, but about getting promoted; it wasn't just something to look forward to, but something certain. That was exactly right.

The two old friends hadn't seen each other for twenty years, so they must have had a lot to talk about. Cheng Xuemin acted as their driver, but the Friendship Hotel was just a short walk from the Foreign Languages ​​Press, both located on Chang'an Avenue, so they didn't chat much before he arrived in no time.

"Qiu Na, what kind of manuscripts are you soliciting from the Foreign Languages ​​Press? Did one of our colleagues submit a manuscript to you before?" Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, already knew that her younger sister was now the editor-in-chief of the fiction section of a well-known magazine in the United States. The magazine's name was... well, it was just one English word, and she didn't quite understand it.

However, Cheng Xuemin, who was driving, thought to himself, "Damn, is it really such a coincidence?"

Because he had previously received a commission from the well-known American magazine Vanity Fair, and the signature on it was 'Ms Gu'. At the time, Cheng Xuemin joked with his wife Feng Jiayou, "Is this Ms. Gu the same surname as our mother?"

At the time, his wife, Feng Jiayou, was only focused on counting her money. Cheng Xuemin had just handed over a batch of royalties and had no time to think about this. She casually replied to Cheng Xuemin, "Maybe it's a homonym, or maybe it's an abbreviation of the word 'ancient' from the movie Nicholas."

Anyway, he didn't take it to heart. Cheng Xuemin also felt that he had some kind of fate with this 'gu', since he saw the letter of invitation to write an article, and the price offered in the letter of invitation to write an article was the highest among all the letters of invitation to write an article!

So Cheng Xuemin submitted his long novella in a foreign language directly to "Ms Gu," which is Vanity Fair magazine.

I never expected that such a coincidence could happen in this world. It really was my wife's aunt, her own aunt.

Now this aunt has returned and wants to personally commission articles from her nephew-in-law!
If this got back home and his wife, Feng Jiayou, found out, wouldn't she be shocked to death?!

After feeling incredibly proud of himself, Cheng Xuemin noticed that Feng's mother had also turned to him with a questioning look. He nodded slightly, almost bursting with joy at the thought of his mother-in-law's sudden laughter.

"Yes, sister. Previously, some of your authors from the Foreign Languages ​​Press submitted articles to many magazines in our country, and they were all published. We thought the quality of the articles was very good, so I started paying attention to this author."

"I never expected it to be written by a domestic author, so I tentatively sent them a letter of invitation. To my surprise, they accepted my request on the first try, and even gave me a novella!"

Gu Qiuna spoke with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment about the commission, continuing with great enthusiasm, "Sister, you wouldn't believe it, the first commission I received was for a novella, and the quality of the manuscript... I simply couldn't believe that we have a writer in China who is so fluent in English!"

"His English writing, whether it's the feel of the language or the grammar... even the local dialect, is written with vivid detail!"

"Seriously, when the manuscript reached our CEO, he was so astonished that he couldn't believe it was written by a Chinese author. He firmly believed it was written by a Chinese author from the US!"

"Seriously, that's amazing! The grammar and the feel of the language are something I could never achieve, even after living in the US for almost twenty years!"

"In our own words, it was written in a way that was... absolutely brilliant!"

Hearing her younger sister praising the author so enthusiastically, Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, felt extremely proud. If her younger sister knew that the author she was praising so much was standing right in front of her, she wondered what her reaction would be.

Cheng Xuemin couldn't stand Feng's mother's gaze, nor could he stand his aunt's flattery. He quickly reminded them that they had arrived at their destination and should get out of the car and go inside.
If his aunt keeps praising him like this, Cheng Xuemin doesn't know how he'll face her later! How embarrassing!

"Yes, yes, yes, that's right!"

"But not in your country, it's our America... If your parents hear you say that, they'll beat you up again!" How could Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, not be pleased?

My younger sister is a returnee from the United States, and she is such a proud returnee. How could any older sister or mother-in-law not be happy that she thinks so highly of her son-in-law?

However, since her younger sister had lived abroad for a long time, some of her wording was not to her liking, and her parents probably disliked it even more.

What do you mean by "your country" and what do you mean by "our eagle"?
After spending twenty years abroad, you really think you're American citizens? You've even turned your own country and home into yours?

"Okay, sis, I was just so happy to see you, I was just saying it too much!" Gu Qiuna playfully hugged her sister again, pleading for forgiveness.

Then she said to Cheng Xuemin, "Xuemin, wait in the car for a while. Your mother and I are going inside to take care of something. We'll be right back!"

They still treated Cheng Xuemin as their driver and didn't let him go in with them. Is this the high and mighty attitude of those who have been poisoned by twenty years of capitalism?

If it were my aunt back in China, wouldn't she usually invite me in too? There's strength in numbers, isn't there?

"This... Auntie..." Now that things have come to this, even an ugly daughter-in-law has to meet her in-laws!
Cheng Xuemin originally planned to be honest with his aunt, saying that the author she commissioned to write a piece after returning to China might be her nephew-in-law. After all, they would have to talk about it when they went in, and it would be so embarrassing for his aunt who wasn't prepared.

Before Cheng Xuemin could even speak, his aunt Gu Qiuna casually remarked, "That's right, that's right. Xuemin, I can tell from your voice that you have a bit of a literary flair. You must have a literary dream too, right?"

"Okay, okay, let your auntie show you around. Later, you and Jiayou can both try writing some articles!"

"No need for English, just use Chinese. Your aunt will proofread the drafts and translate them for you while she's at it!"

"If it's well-written, it can be published directly in my aunt's magazine and earn US dollars!"

Aunt Gu Qiuna is quite the chatterbox!

Cheng Xuemin wanted to be frank beforehand, but he didn't expect his aunt to be so charming. She kept talking and getting more and more excited, and finally even seduced him, saying, "Xuemin, I don't know the going rate for publishing articles in China, but you should know that in the US, an article of about 10,000 words can earn more than a thousand US dollars!"

"And do you know how many US dollars the author I commissioned this time earned from a single submission?"

"How many?!"

Now, without Cheng Xuemin even asking, Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, who had seen through the situation but didn't say anything, asked while suppressing a smile.

In fact, Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, also wanted to know how many US dollars her son-in-law had earned in royalties from her younger sister's writing this time.

"Thirty-five points per word, which is equivalent to 350 yuan per thousand words in China, in US dollars!"

"In addition, the sales revenue share is $150 per 10,000 copies!"

Gu Qiuna whispered to her sister, then continued, "This is a long novella with over 150,000 words. The copyright fee alone is over 54,000 US dollars, and we've initially printed 500,000 copies!"

"So in total, I gave him over 60,000 US dollars this time!"

Speaking of the royalties, Gu Qiuna was speechless. Although she was doing well in the United States and was in charge of commissioning and publishing novels for Vanity Fair magazine, her monthly salary was just over 10,000 yuan, and her annual salary was less than 150,000 yuan.

In the current economic climate of the United States, this is already considered a high-income group.

After all, the average salary of the general public in the United States is only around three thousand, while she has already earned over ten thousand.

But compared to this novella author in China, it's really... that person can earn 60,000 yuan just from copyright royalties, which is equivalent to almost half a year's salary for her.

Moreover, this is their first edition. But which issue of Vanity Fair hasn't sold over a million copies in the US and globally?

So, she also received sales commissions and royalties, which ultimately covered her annual salary.

of course!

It wasn't that she, as the editor-in-chief, was envious. In fact, she received a performance bonus for discovering this amazing author!
Gu Qiuna has already received a performance bonus of up to six thousand US dollars from this author, calculated as one-tenth of the author's royalties.

There are other authors, and she has always had more. This is why Gu Qiuna insisted on meeting and talking with this author during her trip back to China to visit relatives.

The reason is that this author is so popular in the US right now. Other well-known magazines are vying for him, but this novella, which he submitted to their magazine, hasn't even been published yet.

Otherwise, once it's published, and other competitors find out, it's not that they've gone silent and haven't followed up, but that they've kept such a big one quiet. By the time they realize what's happening, they'll be bombarded with requests for articles.
Therefore, for Gu Qiuna, this is her future major financial backer, and she must tie him down and be bound to him.

Moreover, she has a natural advantage: the author is Chinese, and she happens to be Chinese too, so people from her own country will definitely help those from her own country, right?

"Sixty thousand?" When Feng's mother, Gu Xueqing, heard that it was more than sixty thousand, she was happy but not so surprised or excited.

"Sister, what kind of tone is that? Sixty thousand...?"

But her sister's sigh made Gu Qiuna feel uneasy. This was a full 60,000 yuan in royalties, in US dollars!

Sis, is this your usual reaction and tone?
...(End of chapter)