Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 252: Price Gouging, Industry Scum

At night, in the east wing.

Lin Chaoyang sealed the stove, went to bed, wrapped himself in a quilt, and said to Tao Yushu, "Let's move back to the Overseas Chinese Apartment in the next two days."

Tao Yushu looked at him and asked, "Why don't you stay longer with your parents?"

"They said they would stay with me for a few days, but it's been more than half a month now, and they've gotten used to it. The main room has earth heating, and we still have to burn coal stoves here. Aren't we asking for trouble by not enjoying the good heating in the apartment?"

The difference between earth heating and coal stove lies in the heat dissipation area. Even though both of them burn coal for heating, the temperature difference between the east wing and the main room is three or four degrees.

It's okay during the day, but at night the room is far less comfortable than a room with heating.

Tao Yushu nodded and said nothing. In terms of living comfort, the Siheyuan is indeed not comparable to the Overseas Chinese Apartments.

The next day, the couple said goodbye to the elderly Lin Erchun and his wife and moved back to the Overseas Chinese Apartment.

The couple has not lived here these days, but the house is not empty either. Tao Yumo has been living here.

Firstly, I can help look after the house, and secondly, there is someone to clean the house.

After returning, Tao Yushu inspected each room and expressed his recognition of the work results of Comrade Tao Yumo, a "double-guarantee personnel".

The next day, Lin Chaoyang met Chen Jiangong and Liang Zuo at lunch, and heard them talking about their inquiries about graduation assignments yesterday.

There is still a month before graduation and the assignment is far from being settled, so no one has heard any accurate information from the teachers.

However, it cannot be said that no information was obtained at all. At least several students in the class who had clear assignment preferences knew about it, but they were not assigned to their ideal units as they wished.

For the vast majority of Chinese majors, the best choice for graduation is of course cultural units, among which publishing houses and magazines are the most recognized.

In recent years, various literary journals have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. Leading literary journals such as "People's Literature", "Harvest", "October", "Contemporary" and "Huacheng" have a terrifying influence on the direction of Chinese literary world.

Such units are naturally sought after by young literary people.

Secondary ones, such as local literary associations or news organizations, are also quite popular.

As for being assigned to ministries and government agencies, isn't that a given? For college students like us, what's so special about that?

The opportunities that future generations of college students would love to have are not very attractive to today's college students.

Liang Zuo talked about Huang Beijia in their class. This girl was a typical literary youth. She wrote a lot during her four years in college, some of which were published, but they had little influence.

Her biggest wish is to stay in Yanjing, preferably to join Renwenshe, and she has made a lot of efforts to this end.

Not only did I express my intention to the department leaders, I also wrote a letter to the Humanities Publishing House. Unfortunately, it was of no use and I didn't even get a reply.

Later, Huang Beijia lowered her requirements and felt that as long as she could get a job in a publishing house, it would be fine even if she didn't stay in Yanjing.

In the end, she still couldn't get what she wanted. Although the teachers didn't say it explicitly, the meaning between their words was very clear.

"Oh! I heard that Huang Beijia cried for a while after returning to the dormitory!" Liang Zuo sighed.

Chen Jiangong teased, "You are quite kind to women."

A trace of embarrassment flashed across Liang Zuo's face, "Don't make such a joke."

"I was just kidding!"

Liang Zuo looked at Chen Jiangong's cynical expression and said enviously, "I really envy you!"

"What do I have to envy?"

"Don't think I don't know. Aren't you going to join the Yanjing Literary Association?"

Chen Jiangong looked surprised and turned his gaze to Lin Chaoyang.

"Why are you looking at me? What does it have to do with me?" Lin Chaoyang said unhappily.

There was something else he didn't say. Given the character of those people in your department, don't you know why the news was leaked?
Chen Jiangong thought he had done a good job of keeping the secret, but now that everyone knew about it, he no longer hid it.

"Well! I was just lucky."

Liang Zuo heard his humility as boasting. He was assigned to the Literary Association to specialize in creative writing right after graduation. For Chinese major students who aspire to pursue a career in writing, this was a dream start.

"Oh! I wish I could join a literary association or a magazine." Liang Zuo sighed.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and advised: "The jobs assigned to you Yan University students are what many people would rather beg for, but you are still picky when it comes to this."

His words did not change Liang Zuo's mind, but instead made him complain even more.

“Those jobs are good, but they’re not what I want.”

When he said this, two words were clearly written on his face: pretentious.

This kind of person really should be allowed to travel through time forty years later to experience the pain of contemporary college students who want to be slaves but cannot.

Another day passed, Lin Chaoyang got off work and was having dinner when Zhang Dening ran home.

"Oh! Are you here to eat for free again?" Lin Chaoyang joked.

Zhang Dening snorted disdainfully, "I came here after I finished eating."

"rare!"

Zhang Dening was furious and didn't want to argue with him. He pulled Tao Yushu to talk. She came here today for work.

She asked, "What do you think?"

Tao Yushu did not answer her question directly, but took out a manuscript.

"Is this Chaoyang's new novel?" Zhang Dening asked as he took the manuscript.

"Take a look first."

Zhang Dening didn't understand what it meant, so he lowered his head and read it carefully.

After reading only the first few hundred words, she knew that this could not have been written by Lin Chaoyang. Could it have been written by Tao Yushu?

She read on patiently, and it took her a long time to finish the manuscript.

Tao Yushu asked: "What do you think of this novel?" "Not bad. The style of the novel obviously borrowed from Chaoyang's stream-of-consciousness writing technique, and the writing style is a bit immature and green.

But the author seems to be a very thoughtful person, and the protagonist is particularly well-shaped, which makes people deeply impressed after reading it. "

After Zhang Dening finished talking about the advantages of the novel, he asked Tao Yushu: "Did you write this?"

"When have I ever written a novel? I never had that idea. It was a student who asked Chaoyang to help her look at the manuscript.

Is this manuscript of such quality that it can be published in your Yenching Literature journal? "

Listening to Tao Yushu's questions, Zhang Dening realized that this was obviously a test for her!
"Yes!" she said without hesitation.

Tao Yushu smiled, "Great! It seems my taste is not bad!"

Zhang Dening said sincerely, "You've been publishing reviews since college, so how could your vision be bad? Besides, you're also influenced by a great writer. Yushu, you're born to be an editor!"

Tao Yushu happily took out another manuscript and said, "Take a look at this!"

Zhang Dening: ???

She forced a smile on her face, "Yushu, although you haven't graduated yet, I can already fully feel your passion for editing!"

Tao Yushu said in a brisk tone: "Originally Chaoyang said he wanted to recommend these two novels to you, and it just so happens that you are here today."

"You two are definitely right. I'll accept these two manuscripts and let you know when they are confirmed to be published."

After accepting the manuscript, Zhang Dening asked again: "What do you think about the work?"

Tao Yushu pondered and said, "I would like to go to your unit, but it's such a big thing..."

Zhang Dening interrupted her and said confidently: "As long as you want to go, we will figure out the rest."

Seeing Zhang Dening so confident, Tao Yushu was delighted and said, "Okay, I'll wait for your news then."

"Do not worry."

After convincing Tao Yushu, Zhang Dening was in a good mood. She looked at the two manuscripts in her hands.

It would be a shame if such a talent as Yu Shu did not become an editor. He has already achieved some success in collecting manuscripts before even joining the editorial department.

The two chatted for a while, and Zhang Dening asked about the writing progress of Lin Chaoyang's new novel.

“I’ve only written over 50,000 words.”

“So slow!”

Lin Chaoyang said before that this novel would be a long one. It has been several months and he has only written more than 50,000 words, which is indeed very slow.

She then asked, "Chaoyang, your book "The Chess Master" has been published for half a year. Do you want to publish it?"

Hearing this, Lin Chaoyang became interested, "Are you still publishing Yenching Literature?"

"It's not us who publish it, it's Yanjing Publishing House."

"Yenching Literature" is a publication under the Yenching Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and is a sister unit of Yenching Publishing House.

"How much can they pay for my articles?" Lin Chaoyang asked a very direct question.

Zhang Dening showed disdain, "You only care about money."

Then she added: "Of course it's the highest possible fee."

"Just the maximum? That's meaningless!" Lin Chaoyang's tone was full of disappointment.

"Are you still not satisfied with the maximum? How much more do you want?" Zhang Dening said angrily.

"It's not about how much I want, but you have to be sincere."

"Isn't the top level sincere enough?"

Lin Chaoyang shook his head calmly, "Not enough, Renwen Society is more sincere than you."

It’s the Humanities Society again!
Zhang Dening secretly hated it and asked stubbornly, "No matter how sincere they are, how much can they give you?"

"The basic remuneration is 5 yuan per thousand words, and the remuneration for the number of copies printed is %."

As soon as Lin Chaoyang finished speaking, Zhang Dening was stunned, "Are they crazy?"

"What do you mean by crazy? This is called thirsting for talent, giving away silk and jade."

Zhang Dening had no time to attack Lin Chaoyang's bragging. She was still immersed in the shock of "the basic remuneration is 5 yuan per thousand words, and the remuneration for the number of copies printed is %". She muttered to herself: "Renwen Press... Renwen Press is driving up prices!"

Lin Chaoyang said sarcastically: "Jealousy makes people unrecognizable. Look at how ugly you are."

Zhang Dening glared at him angrily, then regained some of his senses and stared at Lin Chaoyang suspiciously.

"Renwen Publishing House gives you such a high standard of remuneration, so why don't you just give them the novel to publish? Why are you telling me all this?"

"Isn't that what you asked?"

"I asked whether you wanted to publish your novel. When did I ever ask how much money you would be paid for the novel?"

Zhang Dening narrowed his eyes, "Are you trying to take this opportunity to raise your royalties?"

Lin Chaoyang's expression remained calm after his little trick was exposed. "What do you mean by driving up the royalties? You are not willing to pay a high price, but you don't allow others to pay? You are not sincere!"

Having known each other for several years, Zhang Dening thought she knew Lin Chaoyang too well, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that this was the case.

"Does Renwenshe really set you such a high standard?"

"Why would I lie to you about this? He is much more sincere than you."

Zhang Dening snorted coldly: "I would like to be sincere, but the conditions must allow it! The Humanities Society is a big family with a big business!"

When it comes to "a large family and a big business", Zhang Dening's back teeth are almost broken.

Driving up prices like this is simply the scum of the industry!
(End of this chapter)