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

Cheng Xuemin's eyes darted away, because every time he looked in the rearview mirror, he saw his aunt still looking at him with the same expression.

After leaving the Foreign Languages ​​Press, my aunt also learned that "My Heart Will Go On," a song that was very popular and trending in the United States and that she could already sing, was actually written by her sister's son-in-law, her own nephew-in-law.

They exclaimed in surprise on the spot, and saw that the international draft that Cheng Xuemin had taken had an amount of more than 260,000 US dollars.

Thinking about the $60,000 in royalties I brought her, it's not even a fraction of what she earned. And this is only the second one; she had already received $300,000 in copyright fees.

In other words, his nephew-in-law earned more than $500,000 from just one popular song.

What concept?
Anyway, Gu Qiuna has been in the United States for over twenty years, from graduating from university to now, and has only saved about a million US dollars in savings.

Moreover, she's in the US and earns an extremely high salary.

But what about his own nephew-in-law?

Given the backward conditions in China, he earned so much US dollars just by writing a foreign language song.

With the subsequent copyright management of this song and the royalties he receives for submitting it to himself, it's not impossible for him to earn up to one million US dollars.

Therefore, Gu Qiuna was severely affected this time.

Gu Qiuna originally intended to help her family, but now it seems that's not the case at all.

My older sister has such a powerful and capable son-in-law who earns hundreds of thousands of US dollars in foreign exchange. Why should she have to help him out?

After being so shocked, Gu Qiuna's feelings were extremely complicated. No matter how she looked at her nephew-in-law driving in front of her, she just couldn't believe it.

"Alright, alright! It was my fault, I should have told you beforehand!"

"But we haven't been able to get in touch. Actually, it was only when I picked you up just now that I heard you talking about going to the Foreign Languages ​​Press to solicit manuscripts that I guessed the domestic writer you were looking for was Xuemin!"

"So, wasn't this just to give you a surprise?"

Seeing that her younger sister kept staring at her son-in-law, who was driving in front of her, making him very embarrassed, Feng's mother, as the mother-in-law, had to help her son-in-law out of the predicament, so she said this to Gu Qiuna.

"Sister, I was thinking, should I become Xuemin's agent?!" Aunt Gu Qiuna finally looked away, and instead of mentioning the manuscript again, she suddenly made the suggestion.

"Agent? What's that?" Mother Feng was taken aback, not understanding what her sister wanted to do for her son-in-law.

"From now on, I will manage all of Xue Min's copyrights and operations overseas... Sister, you know, I've been in the US for twenty years, and I've been involved in both the literary and entertainment circles!"

"If my brother gives us a push, I think our Xuemin group will become incredibly popular in the United States!"

As Aunt Gu Qiuna spoke, her eyes shone even brighter, and she continued, "If I had known earlier that Xuemin was one of us, his novella shouldn't have been published in our Fame and Fortune magazine; I would have published it directly for him!"

"Sister, in my professional opinion, Xuemin's novella is definitely going to be a huge hit and a bestseller!"

"Perhaps, it's not as profitable as his pop song!"

When Feng's mother heard her younger sister say that she wanted to help her son-in-law manage overseas copyrights, she thought to herself, "If you manage it, you can make more money than what the Foreign Languages ​​Press invests in."

But when he heard Gu Qiuna's last sentence, "It won't earn less than that foreign pop song," he gasped in shock.

She exclaimed in surprise, "Qiu Na, it's not too late for you to help Xue Min publish his book now!"

"Sister, it's impossible now! Xuemin has already sold the copyright to our magazine. If it's published later, our magazine will make the lion's share, and he'll only make a small share, since our magazine has already paid the copyright fee!" Gu Qiuna shook her head upon hearing this. It was indeed possible to publish the book later, but the copyright had already been sold to their magazine, and whoever held the copyright would get the lion's share.

"Then what are you even saying?!" Mother Feng rolled her eyes and retorted to her sister in an annoyed tone.

"Sis, didn't I say the back?!"

"If Xue Min has any new works in the future, whether it's a novel or a song, you can hand them over to your auntie to manage and promote. What do you say, Xue Min?"

"Don't worry, we're all on the same side. Your aunt will definitely help you maximize your profits!"

Gu Qiuna said this last sentence to Cheng Xuemin, who was driving in front.

Did he make his aunt his agent overseas?

That's a very good suggestion. As my aunt said, we're all family, so why would she want to cheat her nephew-in-law?

Otherwise, my aunt would be the first to have trouble getting along with my maternal grandparents, unless she doesn't want to come back and doesn't want my maternal grandparents as her parents anymore.

To know!
Over the years, it has been her sister, who is also her mother-in-law's family, who have been taking care of her maternal grandparents.

In particular, Cheng Xuemin pulled his grandfather back from the brink of death this time, helping him recover a huge national loss from the Economic Commission.

Otherwise, the Japanese would have made an international joke about their flush toilets, enough to drive the old man to his death and ruin his reputation in his later years.

Therefore, the grandfather doted on his grandson-in-law Cheng Xuemin just as much as he did on his son-in-law Feng's father.

If this aunt ever does anything to offend her nephew-in-law Cheng Xuemin, the old man will surely pull up his cane and give her a good scolding.

Therefore, having one's aunt act as an agent overseas is indeed a very good and promising path.

Moreover, as my aunt said, she had worked hard in the United States for so many years and had her own network of connections, which was definitely much stronger than Cheng Xuemin, an outsider.

Of course, Cheng Xuemin also has a half-baked agent, Emily, the foreign woman who is in charge of helping Cheng Xuemin with the production of "My Heart Will Go On".

Immediately, Cheng Xuemin nodded and said, "Great, Auntie! It would be wonderful if you could help us with this!"

"Actually, I had already asked an international friend to help me with my foreign language song!"

"She was in charge of getting our music charting on The Music Radio in the US!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Qiuna quickly asked, "Really? Then Xuemin, what's your international friend's name? What does he do?"

“The New York Times correspondent stationed in Yanjing is named Emily, but she has returned to the United States for her shift and is not in Yanjing now!” Cheng Xuemin added.

That foreign woman was originally a resident reporter, and she was actually always in Beijing. Cheng Xuemin could still meet her from time to time, but when she returned to China last month, she was put on a rotating shift.

“Emily from the New York Times? Her? I knew it!” Aunt Gu Qiuna nodded repeatedly, then added, “I know her, we’re very close. She interviewed me in many of our related interviews and reports. We’ve had a lot of dealings with her, we’re very familiar!”

"Oh, it's Emily! I'll have to have a good talk with her when I get back, and also talk to her about helping you with your copyright matters, Xuemin!"

"With her influence and connections, I'm telling you, Xuemin, it's a sure win!"

When Gu Qiuna heard that it was Emily, a reporter from The New York Times, her face lit up with even more excitement and confidence. It was truly a delightful surprise.

Gu Qiuna's main purpose in returning this time, besides visiting relatives, was to discover outstanding writers outside of the United States, gather them together, and make them her own private domain.

However, they also knew that although their magazine was a well-known publication in the United States, it was definitely not as competitive as top publications such as Time, Reader's Digest, Metropolitan, and Playboy.

Moreover, as we all know, since the Republic of China era, we Chinese people only recognize the American magazine "Time".

In particular, it is an honor to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, and to date, there seem to be very few Chinese people who have been featured on the cover of Time magazine.

This further reinforces the common perception among Chinese people that overseas magazines only recognize Time magazine.

So, with such an outstanding and talented young writer emerging in our country, Gu Qiuna will have to put in a lot of effort to tie herself to their world of fame and fortune.

But to everyone's surprise, this exceptionally talented young writer turned out to be his own nephew-in-law, his own flesh and blood!
What else is there to say!

They're all family, yet they're still trying to restrict and control their own nephew-in-law?

They'll definitely handle the publishing and sales themselves!
He also said that his nephew-in-law is a complete novice in the American market, and if he were to publish a book on his own, it would be better to publish it in a magazine first.
I'm sorry!
My nephew-in-law is awesome!
Besides being an outstanding young writer, he is also an exceptionally talented lyricist and composer of popular songs.

That’s okay!

What's trending in the US right now? It's pop music!

If he were to link his nephew-in-law’s identity as a famous pop song lyricist and composer with that of an extremely talented young writer, would he still have to worry about his novels not selling?
"Alright, alright! You can explain this in detail later, anyway, we don't understand it!"

"Now, tell me about yourself."

"I heard from my older brother in his letter that you're still single, almost a spinster in your forties?"

"What are you going to say when you see your parents later?"

"What will you say when your parents ask you about it, and you don't bring your granddaughter back so they can meet her?"

What her son-in-law was talking about with his sister was interesting at first, but then Feng's mother lost interest in listening and couldn't understand it anyway.

They weren't home yet, and Feng's mother wanted to find out about her younger sister's personal life.

She's almost forty and still a spinster, that's really not right, that's not normal.

"Sis! What's there to say? I just don't want to look!"

The topic suddenly shifted to personal matters, and Aunt Gu Qiuna tossed her hair and replied casually.

"You can't manage alone!"

"You can be indifferent now because you're still young! But in a few years, when you're over fifty and old, what will you do if you don't have half of your children to take care of you?!"

Seeing how nonchalant and indifferent her younger sister was about her personal life, Feng's mother was truly worried.

"Sis, what's wrong with that!?"

"At worst, I'll just come back and live with my sister when I get old!"

"When I help your son-in-law earn so much US dollars in foreign exchange, surely he'll take care of us in our old age, right, Xuemin?"

My aunt, Gu Qiuna, is always carefree and makes jokes without a care in the world.

Cheng Xuemin realized that his sister-in-law had taken after someone else's personality, as all the sisters-in-law in his family seemed to be the same.

She immediately rolled her eyes inwardly and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, yes, Mom, Auntie is right!"

"That's true, but I think we still need to find someone quickly and have one while we can still have children!" Mother Feng shook her head with a wry smile. Relying on her nephew-in-law in the future, what was she thinking!

"Oh yes, yes, sis, I rarely come back, so let's not talk about these unhappy things, okay!?"

Gu Qiuna leaned against her sister, acting coquettishly. Cheng Xuemin parked the car on the side of the road, prompting Gu Qiuna to ask, "Have we arrived yet?"

"My aunt isn't here yet. You all wait in the car while I go buy something!"

After finishing his speech, Cheng Xuemin got out of the car and walked straight towards the Yanjing Roast Duck flagship store on the street.

"Wow, sis, it's Peking duck?! I want to eat Peking duck! I haven't had authentic Peking duck in over twenty years!" Aunt Gu Qiuna followed the direction Cheng Xuemin got out of the car and saw the Peking duck sign. Her eyes lit up and she shouted excitedly.

"I know, I know! Xuemin already went in and bought it for you, didn't he? I was wondering why we came all the way here!" Mother Feng was increasingly satisfied with her son-in-law. She knew that his aunt had just returned from abroad and must be thinking about her family, which was why she had made a special detour to come here.

To be honest, even Feng's mother, the head of the household, hadn't thought of this. She probably wouldn't realize it until she got home and was preparing to entertain her younger sister, and she would regret not having thought to buy some roast duck while in the city.

"Really? You went out of your way to come here?" Gu Qiuna was also taken aback when she heard this, and said, "Sister, your son-in-law is really thoughtful. He even thought of me when I just got back and thought of this!"

"What do you think? Your parents praise him more than they praise your brother-in-law!" Mrs. Feng thought to herself, "You don't need to tell me that." She was secretly delighted.

"Yes, yes, yes! Sister, you really found a good son-in-law. How did he and Jiayou meet?"

"Was it you, sister, who arranged the marriage through a matchmaker, or did Jiayou find the match herself?"

"Or is it because you, sister, have such a discerning eye that you found such an outstanding person for Jiayou?"

Gossip is a woman's nature. When the two sisters are alone together, they can't gossip for more than three sentences.

“That must be… Jiayou found him herself. She was sent to the countryside and found him there!” Of course, Feng’s mother wanted to say that it must have been her discerning eye that found him for her daughter, but when she thought about how she had firmly disagreed from the beginning and looked down on this peasant son-in-law, she immediately changed her mind.

"Jiayou found it herself? Then our Jiayou has excellent taste!" Gu Qiuna nodded upon hearing this, and then asked again as if it were a strange coincidence, "By the way, sister, have you read the novella that Xuemin submitted to our magazine?"

“Where have I seen it? I don’t speak English!” Mrs. Feng shook her head directly. She had indeed read all the manuscripts her son-in-law had written before, but she couldn’t read a single word of the foreign language manuscripts submitted to outsiders, and she couldn’t understand them at all.

Seeing her younger sister looking at her with such a flirtatious expression, Mrs. Feng became suspicious and asked, "What's wrong? Wasn't it written very well?"

"What kind of look is that? Is there some other problem? It passed the Foreign Languages ​​Press's review before being submitted, what problem could there be!"

"The novel your son-in-law wrote is about a love story between a young man and a married woman!" Gu Qiuna's tone was intriguing, and she added, "Moreover, this love story is incredibly dramatic and gripping..."

……

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