RBCT Chapter 14 The Telephone Number of Jiangnan Daily
Chapter 14 The Telephone Number of Jiangnan Daily
Seeing her embarrassed expression, as if she wanted to hide herself, Chen Zhiyuan couldn't help but laugh heartily. He stopped teasing her and turned around to ask loudly, "Auntie, how much are these slippers?"
Although Li Xiufen was struggling financially and made a living by setting up a stall, she was a warm and cheerful person.
Looking at the sunny and energetic boy in front of her, and then at her daughter's unusually uncomfortable expression, she roughly understood something, and her smile became even more gentle.
"Young man, you're Feifei's classmate, so give me five yuan."
So cheap?
Chen Zhiyuan immediately understood.
These shoes would normally cost between eight and ten yuan on the market.
The auntie was clearly only charging the cost price out of consideration for our classmate relationship, and might even have lost money.
"Auntie, you're being too generous," Chen Zhiyuan said with a smile. "You'd be losing money selling it for five yuan. I saw the stall next door selling it for ten yuan the other day, so I'll give you ten yuan too. I can't let you work for nothing."
As he spoke, he pulled a crisp ten-yuan note from his pocket and shoved it into the still-dazed He Fei's hand. Before she could give him change, he picked up his old slippers and waved to Li Xiufen, "Auntie, thank you for your slippers. We're leaving now! Goodbye, He Fei!"
Before he finished speaking, he had already pulled the still somewhat dazed Jin Liang along and walked away along the shade of the trees.
Li Xiufen watched the two boys' energetic figures disappear into the distance, then looked at her daughter clutching the ten-yuan note, gazing in that direction in a daze. She couldn't help but smile, her impression of the young man named Chen Zhiyuan improving even more.
Once Chen Zhiyuan and the others had walked a little further away, Li Xiufen couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. While tidying up the slippers that had been rummaged through, she softly asked her daughter, "Feifei, that little Chen... is he your deskmate?"
"...Hmm." He Fei responded softly, lowered her head, and pretended to tidy up the sun hats.
"You two...have a good relationship?" Li Xiufen asked tentatively.
"Mom!" He Fei's face flushed again, her voice filled with the shyness unique to young girls, "Why are you asking this..."
Seeing her daughter's expression, Li Xiufen understood even better and couldn't help but smile happily: "Okay, okay, I won't ask anymore, Mom won't ask."
Although she said that, she couldn't help but think to herself: This young man is really nice. He's good-looking and polite. He's easy to like. Standing next to my Feifei... well, they do look quite compatible.
Chen Zhiyuan returned home carrying his newly bought slippers. Just as he opened the door and bent down to change, his mother Zhang Hui's voice, tinged with obvious delight, came from the living room:
"Son! You're back! I just got a call from you, they said it was from the Jiangnan Daily!"
coming!
Chen Zhiyuan's heart skipped a beat, a small, expected surprise rising within him; the other party's speed was even faster than he had imagined.
"Mom, what did they say?" He changed his shoes and walked into the living room, trying to keep his tone calm.
"I told her you weren't home, and she said she'd call back later."
Zhang Hui put down her knitting and looked at her son with curiosity and anticipation. "Son, why would someone from the Jiangnan Daily call you? Did you... do something?"
Chen Zhiyuan smiled and didn't hide anything: "I wrote an article and submitted it to their newspaper. I guess they thought the article was okay and wanted to talk to me about it."
"Really!" Zhang Hui's eyes lit up immediately, and a surprised smile instantly bloomed on her face.
She suddenly understood everything—it turned out that her son hadn't been staying at home these past few days, spending all his time writing and drawing at his desk, and he wasn't just busy doing nothing, he was writing articles for the newspaper!
My son has made something of himself! He's really capable!
Zhang Hui felt as sweet as if she had drunk honey, and her smile was impossible to hide: "Son, you're amazing! What do you want to eat today? Mom will make it for you! We'll treat you to something nice!"
Seeing his mother's happy expression warmed his heart, so he said without hesitation, "It's been a long time since I've had your sweet and sour pork ribs. I'm craving them."
"Okay! Okay! Mom will go buy some pork ribs right away, and I'll make you sweet and sour pork ribs tonight!"
Zhang Hui happily agreed repeatedly, immediately got up, picked up her shopping basket, and rushed out the door, her steps much lighter than usual.
About thirty or forty minutes later, Zhang Hui, who had gone out to buy ribs, still hadn't returned. The old-fashioned red telephone on the coffee table in the living room rang, its sound particularly crisp in the quiet room.
Chen Zhiyuan perked up, immediately got up from the sofa, walked over quickly, took a deep breath, and picked up the receiver.
"Hello, who is this?"
A clear, capable, and professionally friendly female voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello, is this Mr. Chen Zhiyuan? I am Zhou Shutang, an editor at Jiangnan Daily."
Chen Zhiyuan smiled slightly and said humbly, "Hello, Editor Zhou. I wouldn't dare call myself 'Teacher Chen.' I am Chen Zhiyuan, the author of 'Those Things About the Ming Dynasty.'"
After confirming his identity, Zhou Shutang on the other end of the phone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and his tone became more enthusiastic and direct.
She first expressed great interest and appreciation for the manuscript, and then got straight to the point, chatting with Chen Zhiyuan about the book.
The two discussed the book's general framework, future developments, and estimated total word count.
When Zhou Shutang learned that Chen Zhiyuan had just finished the college entrance examination and was an eighteen-year-old soon-to-be college student, he was clearly surprised and full of admiration on the phone.
"I really didn't expect this... Chen, you've really surprised me."
Zhou Shutang's voice was filled with undisguised admiration, "To have such historical knowledge and writing skills at such a young age is truly remarkable."
Soon, the topic inevitably turned to royalties.
"Chen," Zhou Shutang's tone became more formal, "the quality of your book is outstanding. Our newspaper has decided to serialize it. Could we discuss the payment?"
"Of course," Chen Zhiyuan replied crisply.
His primary purpose in writing this book was to make money, so royalties were naturally his top priority.
Moreover, newspaper serialization is only the first step; the subsequent physical publication is the bigger pie.
"Our newspaper's standard fee for long-form serialized articles is generally between 30 and 100 yuan per thousand words."
Zhou Shutang quoted the industry standard: "Given the extremely high quality of your work, we can offer 80 yuan per thousand words, which is already a very generous offer."
Eighty yuan per thousand words was not low in 1999 for an unknown new author; it was a price many authors would have dreamed of.
........
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