A Literary Life Starting from the First Year of High School

Chapter 126 "Hugo" and Propaganda

May 12th, Sunday, rainy.

The rain started in the morning, not heavy, not light, making a soft pattering sound against the car window. Lin Shubai sat in the back of the taxi, a thick stack of sketches in his bag, which Shen Yue had given him after school on Friday. From last November to this May, the complete version of this story was finally finished.

He bent down, unzipped his backpack, pulled out the brown paper bag, and flipped to the top page. It was a panoramic view of the old North Station platform, with the white smoke from the steam locomotives and the outline of the clock tower intertwined, the sky hazy, and the railway tracks extending beyond the frame. Lin Shubai checked each page one last time.

Thirty-six paintings, each one of which I've seen many times, but the feeling of printing them on paper and holding them in my hands is different. Before, Shen Yue showed him the original paintings, where you could see the pencil marks, the watercolor washes, and the white marks from the eraser.

Now these drawings have been scanned, printed, and cut into "printed" form. The lines are cleaner and the colors are more even, but the handmade texture is still there. Shen Yue's brushstrokes have a unique clumsiness and sincerity, unlike the smooth strokes of professional illustrators, but every stroke is full of energy.

After a while, the taxi stopped in front of the publishing house. Lin Shubai paid the fare, got out of the car, and the rain lessened, turning into a drizzle.

Upon entering Zhou Mingyuan's office, Lin Shubai sat down on the sofa, placed his backpack beside him, and took out the brown paper bag and the stack of manuscripts, placing them on the coffee table.

"Teacher Zhou's 'Hugo in the Clock Tower,' the text and illustrations are all here."

Zhou Mingyuan first picked up the drawing and looked at it. "Which of your classmates drew this?"

"Yes."

"It's really well drawn." Zhou Mingyuan put the drawing back, then picked up the stack of documents and began to read.

About twenty minutes later, Zhou Mingyuan put down his manuscript.

"Okay, this manuscript is fine." He said it decisively, as if he didn't intend to spend too much time on this issue. "I'll have the art editor take another look at the illustrations, just to go through the process. It shouldn't require any major changes. I'll ask the editorial department to expedite the scheduling and try to get it out before summer vacation."

"Thank you, Teacher Zhou."

"No need to thank me." Zhou Mingyuan picked up his teacup and took a sip. "You write well, I publish quickly, it's a win-win situation."

Next, we discussed the publishing terms. This process went much faster than Lin Shubai had anticipated. The royalties were increased from 10% to 12%, and the initial print run was set at 50,000 copies.

Lin Shubai didn't haggle. He and Zhou Mingyuan had been working together for so long that they both knew what was going on.

"Okay, it's settled then." Zhou Mingyuan made a note in the folder.

Meanwhile, in places untouched by this rain—on the internet—discussions about Lin Shubai's science fiction short story collection "Feed Out" are quietly brewing on the Weibo accounts of several book reviewers.

The sample copies were mailed out on Friday. The Science Fiction World magazine sent one copy to each of more than a dozen book reviewers and media outlets. Zhou Hang personally selected the list, which consisted of influential figures in the industry.

The first to speak out was Fang Yanqiu.

She updated her Weibo on Saturday afternoon. There was no long post, just a picture of the sample book cover. It was dark blue with a black hole in the middle and light rotating around the edge. The caption read: "Received the sample book. I'll post a long review after I finish reading it."

On Sunday noon, she posted another message, this time with a longer caption: "After reading 'The Long Life,' I thought about it for a long time. The topic of immortality has been written about to death, but Lin Shubai's perspective on immortality is different."

He doesn't write about how the immortals change the world; he writes about how the immortals are abandoned by the world. When everyone leaves, when your loved ones die one after another, when even grief becomes a mechanical repetition, immortality is not a blessing, but a curse.

This piece is less than 10,000 words, but its impact lasts longer than many longer works.

This post on WeChat Moments was screenshotted and shared on the Rongshuxia forum with the title "Fang Yanqiu is praising Lin Shubai again." However, those who clicked on it found that most of the comments weren't sarcastic, but rather asking, "Is it true?", "Is there the full text?", and "I want to read it."

Next up is Li Baibai.

He posted a Weibo post on Sunday night: "Feed Out," a collection of science fiction short stories by Lin Shu-pai. First, the conclusion:

This is one of the best collections of Chinese science fiction short stories I've read this year. There are twenty-one stories, some good and some bad, but the good dozen or so are absolutely top-notch, especially "The Dinosaur in the Afternoon" and "The Correspondence of Love." One is about the apocalypse, the other about loneliness; their writing styles are completely different, but both have a powerful impact.

Li Baibai has far more Weibo followers than Fang Yanqiu, and the comment section exploded as soon as this post was published.

"Li Baibai actually gave it a good review? Isn't he always so sharp-tongued?"

"It might really be good. His previous reviews of Lin Shubai's articles published in Science Fiction World were positive, and that hasn't changed."

"This is 'top-tier'? That's an exaggeration."

"Upstairs, have you read it?"

"No, but my intuition tells me that I can't write very deep science fiction at sixteen."

"Your intuition is more reliable than Li Baibai's reading volume? That's hilarious."

The official Weibo account of Science Fiction World magazine posted a pinned post with a picture of the cover of "Feed It Out," followed by the small print "Twenty-one articles, more than ten unpublished new works," and at the bottom it read "Coming soon, stay tuned."

The text is written with great restraint: "Lin Shubai, sixteen years old, has published several short stories in Science Fiction World in the past year."

Now, these works, along with more than ten previously unpublished new pieces, have been compiled into a book titled *Feed—Out*, a work of the same name. This book features dinosaur resurrection, artificial beauties, lonely immortals, and strangers falling in love across time and space. Coming soon, stay tuned.

The first comment below reads: "Finally! I've been waiting for this book for so long!"

Another comment asked, "When exactly will it be released? Give me a definite answer."

The official Weibo account replied to this: "Printing is underway, expected to be completed by the end of this month or the beginning of next month. We will notify you as soon as the specific time is confirmed."

This official announcement was forwarded nearly a thousand times. For a purely literary publishing house's Weibo account, this number is not low.

On the same day, the Douban page for "Feed—Out" saw a dozen more "Want to Read" entries. The page still only showed the cover, author, publisher, and expected publication date; ratings were not yet available, but there were already nearly a hundred "Want to Read" tags.

Before going to bed, Fang Yanqiu posted another Weibo message, this time with only one sentence: "I will start writing a full long review tomorrow and try to publish it before the book is released."

Someone asked from below, "You're promoting this so enthusiastically, how much did you get paid?"

Fang Yanqiu replied to that comment with just five words: "I didn't get paid, it's good."