The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

Chapter 95 (Reprinted)

After finishing "The National Conference of Combat Heroes," Zhao Shi'an was still somewhat unsatisfied. He searched the bookshelf for a while and discovered that it was a series.

In addition to well-known heroes, there is also the content of that top-level "gathering of heroes," which details the deeds of heroic role models.

Upon seeing these comic books, Zhao Shi'an wished he could buy them all and keep them as collectibles after reading them!

Unfortunately, this is a library, so you can only borrow books.

Fortunately, my home is not far from Xinhua Bookstore, so I can buy them anytime. These are all new comic books published in recent years, so I don't think they will be out of stock.

Thinking of this, Zhao Shi'an felt much more at ease. Just as he was about to continue reading the comic book, he suddenly realized that someone had hugged his leg.

Looking down, I saw my little cousin. The little girl rubbed her eyes, hugged my leg, called out "Big Brother," and then fell asleep against my leg.

"Xiao Le? Sleepy? Come on, let's go home!"

"Big brother, I'm going to take a nap!"

Zhao Xiaole mumbled something in a daze.

"Go home and sleep! It's easy to catch a cold outside, let's go home now!"

As Zhao Shi'an spoke, he picked up the little one, called to his younger siblings and the rest of the group, and quickly left the library.

At a nearby stop, they boarded the tram home. Unlike their excitement on the way there, the little ones were all exhausted. Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole, who were lively and active when they went out to play in the morning, were now fast asleep next to him, while Zhao Shijie and Zhao Shixiong were so tired that they kept dozing off.

Tian Qingshan was fast asleep in his sister's arms, while Tian Xiaocao fought off sleep to take care of her younger brother.

After the tram arrived at the station, Zhao Shi'an carried one of his two younger brothers in each arm and called for them to get off. Tian Xiaocao quickly woke up her younger brother.

When they got home, Liu Guiying saw how exhausted the children were and couldn't help but scold them, "Why did you play so late? Look how tired you are! If you had played any longer, you would have had to carry your two younger brothers back!"

"Shi'an, you must be exhausted! Xiao Le, give me some! I've already prepared lunch, and you guys didn't even come back. Look how tired you are!"

As they talked, Liu Guiying and Sun Cuilan took the two little ones from Zhao Shi'an's arms.

"Hey! Sweetie! You look so tired! Didn't you even come back from playing outside?"

Liu Hehua felt very sorry for her two children who looked so tired.

"Mom, Auntie, Aunt Tian, ​​there were so many people today. Xiaoyue and Qingshan had a blast. After watching the parade, they had a meal and then went to the palace for a visit."

They were chasing the butterflies so fast, they couldn't keep up with them at all —

Listening to their complaints, Zhao Shi'an briefly explained the situation.

"No wonder you're so tired! You're exhausted from running!"

"Exactly! This kid is nothing—"

The three of them kept muttering about the child after hearing this.

"Aunt Tian, ​​you gave me ten thousand this morning, you have five thousand left, here you go!"

As Zhao Shi'an spoke, he handed over the five thousand yuan in his hand. Tian Xiaocao and her brother Tian Qingshan drank two bowls of mutton soup and ate five shumai. In addition, they paid for the round-trip tram ride and the Forbidden City ticket, totaling five thousand seven. So, he was still slightly out of the red by seven hundred.

"Is there any left?"

Liu Hehua was somewhat surprised to hear this. Just now, she heard her daughter say that she had taken the tram both ways and even visited the palace. She was worried that 10,000 would not be enough, but she did not expect that there would be half left.

"Yes, Auntie, here you go!"

"What are you giving me? Shi'an, you can keep the flowers for yourself. I haven't thanked you yet because you took them out to play today!"

Keep this money for yourself!

As Liu Hehua spoke, she returned the money that Zhao Shi'an had handed over.

"No need to thank me! Auntie, you can keep it!"

"Don't take it, keep it for yourself—"

After a brief struggle, seeing that he couldn't persuade Aunt Liu, Zhao Shi'an rolled the money into a ball and stuffed it into Tian Xiaocao's hand before heading straight home.

"Oh! Shi'an, you child—"

Liu Hehua muttered something to herself and took the child home.

After arriving home, Tian Xiaocao told her parents everything.

After learning that Zhao Shi'an had lost 700, Liu Hehua felt somewhat guilty.

"Dad, look what you've done!"

"Scramble a plate of eggs and send it over tomorrow!"

Tian Fusheng thought for a moment and then said.

"Why!"

Liu Hehua agreed upon hearing this.

Zhao Shi'an went home, ate something, and rested. His younger siblings were exhausted, and he wasn't relaxed either. There were so many people during the celebration parade in the morning, and he toured the entire Forbidden City in the afternoon. After lying down, he quickly fell asleep.

The next day was Sunday, a normal day off with no classes. He slept until he woke up naturally and saw that his younger siblings were still fast asleep. He tiptoed out of bed, washed up, and then took out the breakfast his mother had left in the pot and ate it.

After May Day, the weather got hotter and hotter, so the cooking pot was moved from the stove in the inner room to the stove under the shed outside. This way, the kang (heated brick bed) wouldn't get hot while cooking, and the earthen kang could stay cool in the summer.

After breakfast, Zhao Shi'an put the remaining rice back in the pot, waiting for his younger siblings to wake up and eat it.

After tidying up briefly, he sat in the courtyard and thought about the royalty standards he had seen in the library yesterday. He needed to bring up the issue of paying royalties as soon as possible, since it takes quite a while for a suggestion to be made, approved, and implemented.

Without hesitation, Zhao Shi'an found paper and pen and began to write on the table.

After some time, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Shijie got up one after the other. Seeing their older brother writing something, the two little ones were very sensible. After washing up, they drank a bowl of soup, ate half a steamed bun, and ran out to play.

Zhao Shi'an wrote a lengthy article arguing from various angles that writers should pay taxes, and even heavy taxes.

From the example of farmers paying grain taxes to the state, to the business taxes of private enterprises, and then comparing it with the high income of writers.

Even someone who is completely illiterate would agree that these writers should also pay taxes if they knew this!

Of course, paying taxes is a term used in capitalist societies, so he would naturally not make such a mistake. Instead, he would align with the times and offer suggestions from the perspective of preventing special treatment and balancing income.

Zhao Shi'an first affirmed the glory of writers' labor, then changed the subject and said that creation is not a commodity and should not become a means for a few to make a profit; he pointed out that the current excessive royalties for a few people are out of touch with the workers and peasants and are prone to fostering special privileges and the pursuit of fame and fortune.

Then, suggestions were made: unify standards, set reasonable upper limits, register income, and prevent sudden wealth.

The starting point is not to "equalize poverty", but to distribute according to work, narrow the gap, unite the majority, and create for the people.

After finishing writing it, I read it through several times, revised it several times, and finally finalized the draft!

After copying it down, he put the article into an envelope, preparing to submit it later.

Suddenly, a bicycle bell rang in the courtyard, followed by Li Dahai's voice: "Shi'an, Shi'an, there's news for you!"

"My letter? Uncle Li, are you sure you're not mistaken? I haven't submitted any articles recently!"

Zhao Shi'an was somewhat surprised to hear this. His last submission was about the purification of crude salt, written more than half a month ago. He hadn't submitted many articles recently.

"No mistake! The address is your home address, the recipient is you, and the mailing address is the *Beijing Daily*. If you don't believe me, check it yourself!"

As he spoke, Li Dahai handed a letter to Zhao Shi'an.

"Let me see!"

Zhao Shi'an took the envelope with some skepticism, and saw that the information on it was indeed as Li Dahai had said. He hadn't submitted an article, so why was the newspaper sending him a letter? Could it be a request for an article?

With that thought in mind, he opened the letter and found that it was actually a royalty notification. Seeing this, he was even more confused, because he hadn't submitted any articles!

After carefully reading the royalty notification, I realized that it was an article titled "The New Look of Longxu Ditch" that had been reprinted by the Beijing Daily.

Information related to the article "Purification of Crude Salt," along with corresponding newspaper clippings and money orders.

The two reprinted articles earned a total of 35 yuan, which is exactly half of the original submission fee.

"Shi'an, congratulations! Your article was reprinted, you earned extra money!"

Upon seeing the royalty notification, Li Dahai immediately offered his congratulations. Zhao Shi'an didn't try to hide it from anyone, so he naturally saw it as well.

"Dahai, what's 'reprinted'? Shi'an, didn't you say you hadn't written any articles lately? How come you still have money?"

Tian Fusheng, who was weaving a winnowing basket nearby, was very surprised to hear this.

"I know that! Reprinting means another newspaper thinks the article is well-written and publishes it themselves, and then they pay the author afterwards! However, since it's a reprint, you usually only get half or a third of the original payment!"

Li Dahai began to explain.

"So, those three articles Shi'an wrote before could actually make money?"

"right!"

Wow! Being a writer would be amazing!

Tian Fusheng was very surprised when he heard this. He thought that making money by writing articles was impressive enough, but he didn't expect that he could still get money even if he stopped writing.

"Uncle Li, thank you! I wouldn't have known about this if you hadn't told me!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Shi'an suddenly realized that the Times newspaper was quite conscious of copyright! Although they hadn't given prior notice, they were very generous with the payment!

This 35 yuan was a pleasant surprise. If other newspapers also reprinted it, wouldn't they earn even more?

It seems that writers are much more capable than he imagined. After all, he only calculated the royalties yesterday and didn't include the reprint income. It seems that the reprint income alone is equivalent to an average person's monthly salary.

"Oh! Don't mention it. It's what I should do. Now that the letter has been delivered, I'll move on to the next one!"

Li Dahai waved his hand and pushed his bicycle away.

"Hey! Uncle Li, wait a minute! I just finished writing an article and was about to submit it for publication. Now that you're here, could you please take it with you?"

"Okay! Give it to me!"

"Okay! Just a moment!"

As Zhao Shi'an spoke, he went home, took out the letter he had just finished writing, affixed a stamp, and handed it to Li Dahai.

"Hey! Shi'an, you've switched newspapers? Are you trying to become a writer?"

Li Dahai looked at the address on the envelope with some doubt. He had sent several letters to Zhao Shi'an and knew that Zhao mainly submitted articles to the Beijing Daily and the Youth Daily. He did not expect that this time the address was the Guangming Daily.

"No, no, I just thought that there are many intellectuals who read the Guangming Daily, so my article is just right!"

Zhao Shi'an casually explained that the readership of Guangming Daily is mostly intellectuals, and its target audience is mainly cultural and educational workers, democrats, and teachers and students of major universities.

Submitting your work to them allows you to target a more precise audience!

"I see! Okay, trust me, I'll take it. I wish you success soon!"

Upon hearing this, Li Dahai left the courtyard with a smile.

"Shi'an, you're this guy!"

Listening to their conversation, Tian Fusheng gave Zhao Shi'an a thumbs up.