Siheyuan's Journey Through the Ages

Chapter 21 Smart Edit

Early in the morning of the weekend, Ma Qing went to another pigeon market, but couldn't find rice or wheat. Fortunately, Xiao Qi said that as long as the core of the rice, that is, the germ, was not damaged, he could grow rice. So why bother? Ma Qing bought a few kilograms of sorghum, millet, rice and other grains he could see, as well as a few common fruits such as apples and pears (Xiao Qi said that if he ate the fruits, he could cultivate the cores into high-quality fruit trees). Anyway, Xiao Qi's cakes could not be eaten up in recent years, and the fruits could be eaten in two years.

Then Ma Qing found a deserted place, opened the space door, threw all the things he had just bought into it, and then took a car to the Chaobai River, looking for opportunities along the river. As long as there was no one in the radar scan, he would open the space door in the river, on the riverbed, on the shore, and in the woods on the shore, and command the universal robot to search frantically, filling the canals dug in the space with water and various large and small fish, and planted trees along the river. All the microorganisms and insects needed in an ecosystem were alive. It was a tiring but fulfilling day.

On Monday, in the editorial office of China Youth Daily, Liu Zhigao was holding today's China Youth Daily in his hand, holding a teacup, and looking at the front-page article "My Motherland and I". As an editor, reading the newspaper at work is completely his job, and he recalled the memories with pride in his heart.

Last Tuesday, as the preliminary editor of the editorial department of China Youth Daily, Liu Zhigao liked "My Motherland and I" at first sight. However, as if his heartstrings were touched by the devil, Liu Zhigao did not report to his superiors immediately, but secretly kept the letter and took it home to discuss it with his eldest brother. As a wealthy class in the old society, the Liu family always felt that they were separated from the new society after liberation and it was difficult to enter the current political circle. When Liu Zhigao saw "My Motherland and I", a bold idea emerged. After discussing it with his eldest brother Liu Zhiqing, the eldest brother made the decision and the whole family mobilized: Liu Zhiqing first went to find out the details of Ma Qing, and if he could grasp it, he would act according to the plan; the eldest brother's son, the eldest grandson of the Liu family, Liu Xingyuan, who was in high school, rewrote it according to his family's experience and moved "My Motherland and I" to Liu Xingyuan's name.

The next day, which was Wednesday afternoon, Liu Zhiqing and Liu Zhigao, who had inquired about the situation, communicated and made up their minds. Liu Zhigao recommended Liu Xingyuan's "My Motherland and I" to the editor-in-chief of "China Youth Daily". Recommending articles from his own connections is actually nothing. As long as the quality of the article is good, others can't say anything. Is it necessary to spend 5 cents on the envelope stamp to be called a formal channel? The editor-in-chief did not doubt it and immediately decided to publish it on the front page of last Monday as part of this year's th anniversary National Day gift.

Liu Zhigao thought at this time: By now, my elder brother should have taken the newspaper and 500 yuan to find the original author of "My Motherland and I", that is, the orphan Ma Qing, and used threats and inducements. As long as he can temporarily stabilize him, it will only take a week to make this matter a reality.

500 yuan, to publish such an article in the newspaper, the manuscript fee is less than 2 yuan, and the profit of times will not stun him? How much knowledge can a little brat have? By the time he comes to his senses, it will be too late. No one will believe him if he shouts at that time. His nephew, with this song, will go to college and have a bright future. The Liu family's social class leap is just around the corner.

Liu Zhigao was immersed in his own fantasy and completely ignored the increasingly intensive whispers of his colleagues around him, until his leader, the editor-in-chief of the Social Department, woke him up with a stern face and knocked on the table.

"Come with me, the editor-in-chief wants to see you."

When Liu Zhigao walked into the editor-in-chief's office, he saw the editor-in-chief angrily slapping several newspapers on the desk in front of him. He shouted, "What's going on? Explain it to me clearly." Liu Zhigao went forward and picked up the newspapers. He found a total of three copies, namely "China Youth Daily", "People's Daily" and "Workers' Daily". What made Liu Zhigao desperate was that he saw at a glance that although the titles and layouts of the three newspapers were different, the front pages of the three newspapers all had the familiar Chinese characters "My Motherland and I" arranged in a row.

"Submitting the same manuscript to multiple places, damn it!" Liu Zhigao felt disappointed from beginning to end.

Let's not talk about what kind of future Liu Zhigao and the Liu family he fought for will have. When Ma Qing went out in the morning, he was stopped by a middle-aged man on his way to school. The middle-aged man was holding a newspaper and a thick envelope. The middle-aged man did not waste time and quickly explained his purpose. "Now that things have come to this, you may not be able to compete with me for the authorship of this article. The manuscript fee is only 2 yuan. I will give you 500 yuan. Just pretend that this has never happened. I have been asking about you and getting to know you since last Wednesday. Otherwise, I would not have stopped you here." The middle-aged man said with a hidden threat.

Ma Qing glanced at the man, shook his head and said, "Did you only buy the China Youth Daily? Go buy a copy of the People's Daily and the Workers' Daily, and then you'll understand. I dare not take your money." Ma Qing laughed wildly in his heart. There really was a fool who took the bait. It was so funny.

When the middle-aged man heard this, he suddenly felt a strong sense of uneasiness in his heart, so he turned around and left.

Ma Qing finally understood the consequences of becoming famous. When Ma Qing arrived at the school, he heard about it from the principal or from the teachers who came to read the newspapers early in the morning. In particular, the Chinese teachers mocked the whole class in their Chinese classes and said that it was the worst class they had ever taught. After praising Ma Qing, the newly minted young literary giant, to the skies, the news that Ma Qing, a plagiarist, had published an article in the newspaper swept the campus like a hurricane, and he became the biggest celebrity since the school was founded.

Teachers, classmates, and even the lady serving food in the cafeteria changed their attitudes towards Ma Qing. Ma Qing's whole world became particularly warm and kind. The eyes of female classmates became more moist than before, and the mouths of male classmates became more civilized than before. But for Ma Qing, who had other plans after having the space, the fame of the article became irrelevant. Instead, he made up his mind to eliminate the influence, keep a low profile, develop quietly, and avoid being rejected. This made Ma Qing more comfortable in dealing with people and gained more favor.

Since his article was published in the People's Daily and the Workers' Daily on Monday, Ma Qing became a celebrity at school, at the Red Star Steel Mill, and in the Nanluoguxiang area, and many things happened in the following week.

First, the China Youth Daily published an apology statement in the newspaper the next day, saying that due to internal management omissions and the editor-in-charge's lax supervision, the two articles were revised together. The most serious thing was that the author's name of "My Motherland and I" was wrong. The newspaper apologized and republished the original text.

Secondly, since Ma Qing thanked the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill, the street office and the police station where Nanluoguxiang is located in the previous article of "My Motherland and I", then of course all the beneficiaries in this article are: the secretary, director and a group of leaders of the Red Star Factory; the leaders of the street office, police station and other departments.

Maybe they would not benefit directly from this incident, but whether it was due to personal relationships or political needs, the cadres came one after another with various gifts and came to visit Ma Qing on behalf of their units. As a result, Ma Qing always had to receive a group of people when he went home from school, which made Ma Qing very annoyed.

(End of this chapter)