Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 245: Colleagues are enemies

"What conditions?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"The 5% royalty for 80 copies can only be earned after the sales of the work exceed copies," said Wei Junyi.

80 copies? Aren’t you too cruel, old lady?

Lin Chaoyang's eyes flashed with dissatisfaction, "Your request is too harsh. Ask yourself, how many works of your Renwen Press can sell more than 80 copies a year?"

"We at Renwen Press don't ask for 5% of the print run fee. Didn't you say that your novels have high sales?"

The boomerang hit Lin Chaoyang right in the middle of his forehead, leaving him speechless.

"Then you have to raise my basic remuneration to 12 yuan per thousand words." The more Lin Chaoyang thought about it, the more he felt that he was at a disadvantage, so he put forward another condition.

"Okay." Wei Junyi changed her previous reluctance and agreed readily.

"I……"

Lin Chaoyang didn't expect Wei Junyi to agree so readily. It was obvious that she had already made a plan in mind. He thought about it suspiciously, wondering if he had missed anything.

"Let's be clear. I mean that all sales after 80 copies will be calculated as 5% of the print run fee, not the 5% for the excess."

Lin Chaoyang thought for a long time and finally emphasized.

Wei Junyi glanced at him with disdain, "Can our state-owned publishing house play this kind of word game with you?"

"I haven't seen how generous you are."

Lin Chaoyang muttered to himself, which attracted Wei Junyi's sidelong glance.

"Since you're here, just sign the contract." Wei Junyi said.

The terms were agreed upon, and Lin Chaoyang no longer hesitated and signed the publishing contract on the spot.

After leaving Renwenshe, he couldn't help but sigh to the sky.

It's really difficult to spend so much time and effort just for this little bit of royalties.

It is better in later generations. Writers get royalties directly, and their base is not basic remuneration, but solid cash value.

As long as the work is a bestseller, one work can bring about financial freedom.

It's nothing like what he is doing now, wasting a lot of time and effort just to earn a few thousand more dollars.

Lin Chaoyang comforted himself in his heart. After all, given the current environment, he was earning much more than other writers. He would think of ways to increase his royalties when the time was right.

When he got home, Lin Chaoyang saw a strange figure standing on the balcony and asked Tao Yushu in a low voice, "Are there guests?"

Tao Yushu gave him a look, but Lin Chaoyang didn't understand what it meant.

Before he could ask again, the figure turned around.

"Brother-in-law, it's me!"

Tao Yumo's originally shoulder-length hair was gone, replaced by a head of short, densely curly hair.

She looked at Lin Chaoyang with a smile and asked, "Does it look good?"

Lin Chaoyang did not answer her question, but turned to ask Tao Yushu, "Did the lion dog become a spirit?"

"Brother-in-law~" Tao Yumo said angrily, "This is called cauliflower head. My brother said it is very popular in the south."

Tao Yushu scolded him, "What a cauliflower head, he is a monster at first glance. You should have less contact with him in the future, you will not learn anything good from him!"

"Hmph! So old-fashioned! Your aesthetic taste really needs to be improved."

Tao Yumo was attacked repeatedly by the couple and retorted angrily.

Tao Yushu was not angry and said, "We don't have good taste. You can go home and show it to your parents, okay?"

Listening to her sister's words, Tao Yumo felt a little guilty, "Your home is warm, I'll stay at your house for a few days."

Under the jurisdiction of their mother, Tao Yushu and her sister have had long hair since they were young. Their mother disliked braids as they looked too rustic and never allowed them to do so. The two sisters always showed off their beautiful long black hair, and would tie it up with a rubber band when they felt it was inconvenient.

Now that Tao Yumo has such an unconventional hairstyle, she will be scolded if she dares to go home, so she plans to stay at her sister's house to avoid the limelight.

"If you can avoid the first day, can you avoid the fifteenth? Are you afraid of what others will say after you did it?" Tao Yushu said sarcastically.

Seeing that Tao Yumo didn't say anything, she started to criticize Du Feng who was not present.

Tao Yumo got this hairstyle at the instigation of Du Feng, and it is said that he even paid for it.

Tao Yumo turned a deaf ear to her sister's teachings. After a while, she ran to the mirror to admire her beautiful hairstyle. The more she looked at it, the more fashionable it seemed to her.

"Yumo, have you ever thought about a question?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"what is the problem?"

"How do you sleep at night with this hairstyle? Aren't you afraid it will get pressed straight?"

Listening to Lin Chaoyang's question, Tao Yumo was stunned for a moment, then he began to think seriously. After thinking for a long time, he said distressedly: "Oh! It seems that it is really easy to be straightened. What should I do?"

She asked Lin Chaoyang, "Brother-in-law, do you have any ideas?"

“Not keeping it is the best solution.”

"It's the same as if I didn't say anything." Tao Yumo rolled her eyes at him, knowing that he was trying to undermine her confidence in her new hairstyle.

October passed quickly and the weather gradually became colder.

Taking advantage of the time in the morning, Lin Chaoyang went to the cultural relics store purchasing point in Xinjiekou, intending to buy some things. Unexpectedly, when he arrived, he saw someone chatting with several sellers who were queuing up to sell things.

Lin Chaoyang had encountered this situation more than once, so he was not in a hurry and slowly pushed the cart over. Lin Chaoyang thought he had run into another antique dealer as usual, but after taking a closer look at the man's features, he suddenly felt that he looked familiar.

Half eyebrows, small eyes, and a duck voice, these features were too obvious. Even though he looked 30 or 40 years younger, Lin Chaoyang still recognized him at first sight.

"My dear, the price I give you is absolutely fair, and it is definitely higher than the price given by the purchasing point. Once the goods are in their hands, they can give you five dollars for a ten-dollar item. If you sell it to them, you will lose a lot."

When the man was talking to the seller, he saw Lin Chaoyang approaching and immediately became alert and kept silent.

Lin Chaoyang then said, "Everyone, I am an antique collector. If you have anything to sell, please let me have a look. I can buy it with foreign exchange coupons."

After listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, the man realized that Lin Chaoyang was neither from the purchasing point nor from the investment office, but was here to challenge the bank.

The sellers around didn't care about the man's reaction and immediately surrounded Lin Chaoyang.

Few of those who come to sell things are not short of money, and foreign exchange coupons are definitely more attractive to these people than the RMB.

Banmei felt a little uncomfortable when he saw Lin Chaoyang surrounded by the crowd.

Is it a big deal to have foreign exchange certificates?
We are all Chinese, why are you pretending to be such a thief!
"Dude, we have to follow the first come first served rule, right? I'm negotiating a price with someone right now!" he said.

Banjiemei has just taken a fancy to a Ming Dynasty ivory-carved pen holder depicting a heron in a lotus pond and has already made an offer to the seller.

Hearing this, Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "I'm sorry. Okay, you guys talk first."

The seller said to Lin Chaoyang, "He has offered all his prices. I want to hear yours."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Look at this..."

Banmei looked unhappy and said nothing. But the seller ignored him and took out the item for Lin Chaoyang to look at.

After Lin Chaoyang finished looking at the items, the seller asked expectantly, "How is it?"

"It's good stuff, how about eight bucks?"

Hearing this, the seller frowned, but a look of joy was hidden on his half-browed face. He had just offered the seller a price of ten dollars, and the other party offered eight dollars. Wasn't that forcing the seller to sell the item to him?
He looked at Lin Chaoyang again, his eyes were less hostile and more contemptuous. He only paid eight dollars for such a good thing. What a poor taste!
As soon as this thought came to his mind, Banjiemei started to murmur in his heart again. He gave ten yuan and the other party gave eight yuan. Is it possible that this ivory pen holder is really only worth eight yuan?
Thinking of this, Banjiemei felt a little regretful that the price he paid was too high!

"Eight dollars is too low, people offer ten dollars!" The seller said to Lin Chaoyang with disdain.

Lin Chaoyang said calmly, "I'm talking about foreign exchange certificates."

The seller immediately became enthusiastic, "Foreign exchange certificates? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

After saying that, he pulled Lin Chaoyang aside and started chatting enthusiastically, meaning that he wanted Lin Chaoyang to add some more.

"That's the price. If you don't want to, you can sell it to this little brother, or go to the purchasing point and ask."

Lin Chaoyang's words made Banjiemei's expression slightly better, but the seller's words afterwards made him look ugly again.

"It's better to sell you than to sell him."

After saying this, the seller exchanged money with Lin Chaoyang for the goods, and Lin Chaoyang successfully bought the ivory pen holder with eight yuan of foreign exchange coupons.

Banmei, who was standing by, watched Lin Chaoyang look at one thing after another, then pick and choose and take all the good things from the hands of the group of people in front of the purchasing point.

When the purchasing point was about to open, Lin Chaoyang was about to ride away on his bike, but was stopped by Banjiemei.

"Comrade, I don't think you are a cultural relic dealer."

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "Have you ever seen a cultural relic dealer using foreign exchange coupons to buy things? This is purely a personal hobby of mine."

Banjiemei smiled and said, "What a coincidence. I also have this hobby. We are similar. What's your name?"

"Excuse me, my last name is Lin."

Seeing that the guy was getting close to him, Lin Chaoyang did not hide anything. He knew this guy's background very well and was not afraid that he would cause any trouble.

"My last name is Ma, and I like to collect things. Do you come here often?"

"Come once a week or so and see if there's anything good."

"Oh! That was my fault. I didn't know this was a place you often came to."

"It's okay, it's all fair trade."

During the conversation, Banmei had been observing Lin Chaoyang. He had an ordinary appearance and plain clothes, and there was no trace of the arrogance that he had shown when he used foreign exchange coupons to receive things.

You can't tell much from his appearance, but he has a rather elegant temperament and good conversation. He asked, "Are you engaged in literary and artistic work?"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "I work in the school library and write novels in my spare time."

"What a coincidence. I also write novels, and my main job is an editor for Youth Literature." When he said this, there was a hint of pride and boasting on his half-faced face.

"Young and promising, young and promising."

Banjiemei waited for a long time and only heard such a compliment, feeling a little disappointed.

He then said, "If you have any manuscripts in the future, you can submit them to Youth Literature. We have met today. I will give you priority in reviewing your manuscripts later."

"Okay, thank you very much."

After laying the groundwork for a few sentences, Banjiemei finally asked the question he wanted to ask: "Foreign exchange certificates are now hard currency. In fact, you can just use RMB to receive the goods, and they can still sell them to you."

Lin Chaoyang heard the subtext of Banjiemei's words, "Don't disrupt the market and drive up prices."

Isn't this to guard against purchasing points and peers like you?
Lin Chaoyang thought to himself, smiling, "Thank you for your reminder, I'll try it next time."

The two pairs of smiling eyes looked at each other, confirming that the other had gotten the message, and Banjimei said, "I still have to go to work, so I'll see you next time."

"See you next time."

(End of this chapter)