Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 228: Brother-in-law is so good to you

When Tao Yushu left the editorial office of Yenching Literature, he carried a large package of letters from readers on the back seat of his bicycle. These letters were all feedback from enthusiastic readers about Chess Master.

She rode her bike back to Langrun Lake Apartment. She had been traveling for half a month. When she met her family, they naturally asked her about what she had seen and heard outside. Tao Yushu picked out the interesting ones and told everyone about them.

She came back in the afternoon and chatted with her mother and sister-in-law for more than an hour. Then Tao Yumo came back from outside.

"Ouch, why is it so dark?"

When he saw his sister, Tao Yushu blurted out something, which made the eldest brother Tao Yumo unhappy.

"You haven't gone anywhere for nothing!"

Tao Yumo's words were a bit against his will. It was true that Tao Yushu had been away from home for half a month, but his complexion was still fair.

After retorting, Tao Yumo looked at her sister's skin color and couldn't help feeling angry. She hadn't changed at all after being away for half a month, so why did everyone say I was dark after I went out for three days?

Tao Yushu didn't argue with her. He looked at her and said, "You have lost a lot of weight."

Hearing this, Tao Yumo immediately smiled. This actually sounded like a reasonable sentence.

While Tao's mother was preparing dinner, Tao's father, Tao Yucheng and Lin Chaoyang came back one after another.

As soon as Tao Yumo saw Lin Chaoyang, she said, "Brother-in-law, your novel has received a lot of attention recently!"

"Intense" is a neutral word. Lin Chaoyang chuckled and asked, "How intense?"

“There’s a lot of discussion!”

Tao Yumo has been busy for half a month since she returned from Beidaihe. She has been playing with her classmates from universities, middle schools and elementary schools all day long. Among today's young people, there are many literary young people, and her classmates and friends are no exception.

It has been more than half a month since "The Chess Master" was published, and the reviews in the publication have gradually come out. Naturally, the readers' feedback will be more rapid.

According to Tao Yumo, the opinions of her classmates and friends on "The Chess Master" are polarized. One side thinks that this novel starts with Go and has a novel approach, describing the legendary experience of a generation of chess master Jiang Nansheng who sacrificed his life for his country, and is very patriotic.

The other side believes that the plot in the novel of one against nine is pure fantasy that disregards the facts, and instead highlights a certain inferiority and paranoia. It is somewhat similar to the "narrow nationalism" argument of "Shanghai Literature", but not as intense as that article.

After listening to Tao Yumo's comments on the novel from his classmates and friends, Tao Yucheng asked worriedly, "Chaoyang, the reputation of this novel is mixed!"

"Everyone has different opinions and different perceptions of novels. This is normal." Lin Chaoyang looked calm.

If it were two days ago, Tao Yushu might have been anxious after hearing her sister's comments, but today, she had just finished visiting the editorial department of "Yenching Literature" and was not panicked at all. She seemed calmer than Lin Chaoyang.

"Are there many people with negative comments?" she asked Tao Yumo.

"Not much. My brother-in-law's novel is so well written. Even if they don't agree with some of the arguments in it, they can't deny the novel as a whole."

Tao Yushu nodded and said with satisfaction: "That's right. Let them argue. In the end, the magazine sales will speak for themselves."

Tao Yumo asked curiously: "Sister, do you know the sales of magazines?"

Tao Yushu said: "I just went to the editorial office today, and they said that the sales of this issue are good, which shows that the vast majority of readers still recognize your brother-in-law's novel."

"How many copies of this issue of the magazine were sold?" Tao Yumo asked.

The other people in the family also looked at him inquiringly.

Tao Yushu said calmly, "Not many, just 90 copies."

"90 copies?" Tao Yumo exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't that enough?"

Tao Yucheng calculated in his mind, "90 copies were sold in half a month, so that should be 200 million copies, right?"

Although the Tao family has little connection with the book industry, they still know basic common sense.

For a literary magazine these days, if it can sell tens of thousands of copies it is a good achievement, and if it exceeds 100,000 copies it is a magazine with regional influence.

If a magazine has a sales volume of 200,000 or 300,000 copies, it is basically a nationally renowned magazine. Those truly first-line literary magazines usually have sales of hundreds of thousands of copies per issue, and from time to time the sales volume will exceed one million copies.

"Isn't this higher than the sales volume of People's Literature?" Tao Yucheng made a comparison, his expression full of surprise.

"Not really. The first half month after a magazine is released is when it sells the fastest. After that, the sales rate drops. It would be good if we can sell more than half of the first half."

"Half of it would have to be 1.3 or 400,000 copies, right? This sales volume would be enough to show how popular this novel is," Tao Yucheng concluded.

Tao Yushu smiled and said, "How can it not be popular? I have a package of readers' letters tied to my car. It's only been published for a few days!"

When Tao Yumo heard the words "letter from readers", her eyes lit up and she leaned close to her sister and whispered.

After dinner, when they returned home, there was a little tail following the couple.

After returning home, Tao Yumo worked diligently as a worker, opening readers' letters one by one.

She had already talked to her sister about it, so today's pay was counted as a day's salary, so she made a profit.

Before going to bed at night, Lin Chaoyang said, "I'll take you to learn how to drive tomorrow."

Some time ago, Lin Chaoyang took Tao Yushu to the Friendship Store to look at motorcycles. The two had also discussed letting her learn to ride a motorcycle during the summer vacation, but she was delayed by the writers' meeting.

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang brought Tao Yushu to the Haidian Vehicle Management Office.

"Why are we going to the DMV?"

“Learn to drive!”

When they came, the couple rode a bicycle. Lin Chaoyang was riding the bicycle and Tao Yushu sat behind him.

Nowadays there are no driving schools, and the driving license test is conducted by the vehicle management office, which has an examination room in the yard.

But the examination room is not a place to practice driving. Before Tao Yushu could figure out what was going on, Lin Chaoyang had already registered, not only for her, but also for himself.

The examination room was deserted. Learning to drive nowadays is not as easy as it was in later times. If you want to learn to drive, you not only need a company, but also a master to teach you.

Lin Chaoyang and his wife are going to take a motorcycle driver’s license exam, which doesn’t have very strict requirements, as long as they can pass the exam.

At this moment, the administrator of the examination room was bored, so Lin Chaoyang ran to the administrator and muttered to him for a while, and then asked the administrator to hand over the motorcycle for the test to him. The motorcycle used for the driving test was a red Xingfu 250, and being able to ride it nowadays is definitely a symbol of status.

Lin Chaoyang got on the motorcycle, waved to Tao Yushu, asked her to sit on the back seat, and demonstrated to her various movements of riding a motorcycle.

Tao Yushu observed the movements several times, and then Lin Chaoyang switched positions with her, letting her try riding the bike in the front while he sat in the back to correct her.

After trying for a while, Tao Yushu rode the motorcycle in the examination room, but he was not yet familiar with turning.

After practicing for about half an hour, Lin Chaoyang went to say hello to the administrator and was about to take the exam.

Tao Yushu rode the motorcycle around the venue in a daze, and then went around a few poles. When she parked the motorcycle steadily, she was considered to have passed the test.

"Is this too fast?" Tao Yushu didn't react until he got the motorcycle license. He asked Lin Chaoyang in disbelief.

Lin Chaoyang thought to himself that this is too conservative. Do you believe that I can ask him to stamp your document directly?
No matter whether you are driving a two-wheeled motorcycle or a four-wheeled car, these things are very dangerous. You can't just hold them without learning how to drive, and then become a road killer when you go on the road.

So Lin Chaoyang spent an hour to train Tao Yushu.

After spending a morning at the vehicle management office and getting his driver's license, Lin Chaoyang took Tao Yushu out to have a meal and then went straight to the Friendship Store.

Back to the Friendship Store, Lin Chaoyang didn't call Amao because he heard that the Friendship Store had recently relaxed restrictions. It was said that Yanjing citizens could go shopping in the store as long as they held foreign exchange coupons.

When they arrived at the store, they showed a stack of foreign exchange coupons in their pockets, and the couple was successfully admitted to the Friendship Store.

Tao Yushu said happily: "This saves us a lot of trouble!"

The two came to the motorcycle counter again and saw the familiar salesperson, but after a few months, the salesperson obviously didn't remember them.

"Would you two like to take a look at the motorcycle?"

"Is there a red version of this motorcycle?" Lin Chaoyang asked, pointing at the black Yamaha 125.

"This is a Yamaha imported from Japan. There is a red one..."

Lin Chaoyang said cheerfully: "Open the tickets!"

The salesperson was slightly stunned. He asked for an invoice without even asking the price?
"Why are you standing there? Issue the invoice!" Lin Chaoyang urged.

"Oh, okay! Wait a moment, you two."

After paying the money and getting the ticket, the salesperson took out a brand new Yamaha 125 from the warehouse, filled it with gas, and handed it to Lin Chaoyang and his wife through the back gate of the Friendship Store.

Although Tao Yushu had learned to ride a bike in the examination room in the morning, today was her first time touching a motorcycle, and she was a little afraid to go on the road by herself.

Lin Chaoyang took her for a few laps on the road, and then she got on the bike tremblingly and ran two laps with Lin Chaoyang by her side.

In the end, Lin Chaoyang even got off the bike and let her ride around alone.

When Tao Yushu was almost familiar with the car, Lin Chaoyang took her back to the vehicle management office, took out the invoice and asked the vehicle management office to stamp it and put on the license plate.

Coming out of the vehicle management office again, Lin Chaoyang said with a smile: "Now both the driver and the car have licenses, so you can ride with confidence. You can ride the whole way home by yourself."

"Can I do it myself?" Tao Yushu had little confidence.

"It's okay, just slow down a bit."

There are basically no private cars on the road nowadays, so as long as you drive slower, you don’t have to worry about any problems.

On the way home, Lin Chaoyang rode a bicycle and Tao Yushu rode a motorcycle, following him slowly all the way.

When they were almost at the gate of the Overseas Chinese Apartment, Lin Chaoyang asked her, "How do you feel?"

Tao Yushu smiled, "I feel fine now!"

"Okay, then go home first. I'll practice with you tomorrow."

"it is good."

The shiny new Yamaha 125 arrived at the gate of the Overseas Chinese Apartment and immediately attracted the attention of the security guards. Lin Chaoyang and his wife were residents here, so they naturally recognized them and watched with envy as the motorcycle entered the yard.

The courtyard environment was quiet in midsummer, and the roar of the motorcycle engine was not loud, but in such a quiet atmosphere it still alarmed many residents. A red shadow flashed through the window glass, attracting everyone's attention.

The car stopped at the door of the unit. Tao Yushu stroked the body of the car. Ever since the salesperson handed the motorcycle to her, she had been extremely nervous, fearing that she would fall off the bike.

Now that she was home and the car was parked here, she could finally appreciate this motorcycle that was worth an entire courtyard house.

This Yamaha 125 cost the couple 2650 yuan in foreign exchange coupons, which is more than yuan in RMB. It is definitely a courtyard house with a single entrance.

While Tao Yushu was unable to let go of the motorcycle, Lin Chaoyang stood aside and looked at her quietly with a smile on his face.

The purpose of his spending money was to make his wife happy. Seeing that Tao Yushu liked the car, he was also very happy.

"Ah! A motorcycle!"

The quiet atmosphere was broken by a cute scream. The couple turned their heads and saw Tao Yumo standing at the door of the unit with a look of surprise on his face, his eyes fixed on the motorcycle under Tao Yushu.

"Sister, where did you get the motorcycle? How much did it cost? Can you ride it?" Tao Yumo asked several questions in a row.

"Your brother-in-law bought it for me and spent more than three thousand yuan on it," Tao Yushu replied.

"More than three thousand?"

Tao Yumo couldn't help but be shocked when she heard this number, and looked at Lin Chaoyang, "Brother-in-law, you are really willing to spend money!"

Lin Chaoyang smiled, Tao Yumo walked to the side of the motorcycle, stretched out his hand and touched the body greedily.

She said to Tao Yushu with a serious expression: "Sister, my brother-in-law is so good to you!"

Tao Yushu rolled his eyes at her and said, "Nonsense!"

(End of this chapter)