Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 339: This life is unbearable!

After chatting about "The Crossing" for a while, the topic at the dinner table turned to study and work.

Cha Haisheng is the youngest among the three of them, but he was the first to start working.

Therefore, when talking about work, Luo Yihe and Xichuan acted heartless. Only Cha Haisheng was nervous and felt sympathetic with Tao Yumo.

One of them is a flower in a greenhouse, and the other is too young. Cha Haisheng is only 19 years old this year, and both are in the stage of immaturity.

“Work is for living.”

"You have to balance work and life. If you can't balance both, then life should be the priority."

"When you first start working, you have to keep a calm mindset. It's normal to not do your job well. If you can do everything well, wouldn't you be a leader?"

……

Tao Yushu heard Lin Chaoyang go off the track more and more, and was afraid that he would lead the two good children astray, so he stopped him from continuing.

After the meal, Lin Chaoyang paid the bill and received thanks from Cha Haisheng and others, and then both sides said goodbye.

Luo Yihe has an eccentric personality. Looking at the backs of Lin Chaoyang and the other two, he said enviously, "If I were born in a family like Tao Yumo, I would be very happy, right?"

Listening to his words, Cha Haisheng couldn't help but feel the same way.

He comes from a scholarly family. His father is a university professor, his brother-in-law is a well-known writer, and he himself is an excellent student at Yan University.

Not only does she have a good family background, she is also beautiful and has a good personality.

He had been classmates with Tao Yumo for four years, and he had never seen her worry or get angry for any reason. Her life seemed to always be full of sunshine.

Cha Haisheng recalled Tao Yumo's worries about her work and felt that her worries were more like groundless worries, which were completely different from his own situation.

"The starting point of people like her may be our end point!" Xichuan said with emotion.

Cha Haisheng fell silent for a moment.

That night, Lin Chaoyang finished writing the novel and Tao Yushu finished reading the manuscript. The couple sat on the sofa in the living room discussing the article in the magazine, talking and laughing, in harmony, just like a pair of fairy lovers.

Tao Yumo, who had just coaxed her eldest nephew to sleep and came out of the bathroom after washing his diaper, couldn't help but grit her teeth when she saw this scene.

The masses who do not know the truth always see only the surface. In the eyes of Cha Haisheng and the other two, Tao Yumo is a gifted girl who won at the starting line.

But when she returned to her sister's house, she was just Dehua, and had to face endless diapers to wash every day.

If it weren't for the 1.5 yuan salary, Tao Yumo thought angrily.

Yes, she got a salary increase recently.

On the one hand, it was because she was taking care of her eldest nephew full-time, and on the other hand, she was about to start working, and fifty cents or one dollar a day was no longer enough to scare her, so Tao Yushu increased her salary a little.

Thinking about the RMB 1.5 salary, Tao Yumo felt a little better.

You guys can be as affectionate as you want, it won't stop me from making money.

Tao Yumo felt particularly uncomfortable watching the couple being so affectionate, so he went back to the house after finishing his work.

In the living room, Tao Yushu pointed to an article in a magazine and showed it to Lin Chaoyang, "Hey, have you read this author's novel? It's pretty good."

Lin Chaoyang looked at the familiar name in the magazine and fell silent. It was not just well written, it was quite good.

The magazine Tao Yushu took out was the local literary magazine Lotus Pond. Lin Chaoyang said, "If you think it's good, just ask him to write an article for you!"

Tao Yushu rolled his eyes and said, "Read the novel first."

Lin Chaoyang looked at her expression and knew that she must have some idea, so he asked, "What do you want me to do now?"

Seeing through her thoughts, Tao Yushu said tenderly, "Would you please write a review for me?"

"Writing a review is fine. But why don't you write it yourself?"

Tao Yushu has been writing literary reviews since college and has not stopped in recent years. When it comes to writing literary reviews, Lin Chaoyang feels that he may not be able to write better than her.

"Lao Wang transferred me to People's Literature. He thinks highly of me. I want to make some achievements as soon as possible."

When Lin Chaoyang heard this, he understood, but what does this have to do with writing reviews?
Seeing that he was still confused, Tao Yushu patiently explained:
"The fastest way to achieve results is to introduce influential new writers and new works. I have been reading works in various local literary magazines recently, hoping to discover some good seedlings among them."

Lin Chaoyang looked at the magazine in his hand and understood, "This is the good seedling you've chosen!"

"Yes."

"But his works haven't been published in People's Literature. If you ask me to write a review to praise him, wouldn't that be making things easier for others?"

"Who said you should write it now? Besides, you are so busy writing novels now. His novel will be published in our People's Literature later."

Tao Yushu had finally gotten Lin Chaoyang to help him, so naturally he couldn't refuse.

However, he did not rush to agree, but looked at Tao Yushu with a smile.

"Comrade Yushu, your operation is a bit against the rules. It's not easy to deal with in principle!"

Tao Yushu looked at him and knew what he was thinking. She cooperated and sat on Lin Chaoyang's lap, looking at him with a chuckle.

"It's difficult in principle, but it can be done." She exhaled sweetly.

Lin Chaoyang's hand gently climbed up her waist, "Well...it depends on your sincerity."

Tao Yushu pulled his hand and led him into the house.

Tao Yumo went into the room and lay down for a while. She was half asleep and half awake when she suddenly heard a sad voice in her ears. She vaguely thought that Xiaodongzi, who was sleeping next to her, woke up from hunger.

After opening her eyes, she immediately recognized the sound. When she realized something was wrong, her cheeks turned red and she was filled with resentment.

The child sleeps with me, you have no shame!

I can't live this day!

Time passed quickly and it was the end of the month. Lin Chaoyang received a letter from Huacheng, discussing the publication of Crossing the Boat with him.

Lin Chaoyang thought of "Little Shoes" and "The Garland under the Mountain" which he still has in his hands, as well as "Parents' Love" and "Lai Zi's Summer" whose contracts will expire in a few months.

He thought this was an opportunity for negotiation, so he called Li Shifei and briefly explained the situation to him.

Li Shifei really showed great interest and promised Lin Chaoyang that he would come to Yanjing as soon as possible to discuss the matter in detail. Within two days after the phone call, Li Shifei arrived in Yanjing, showing his sincerity.

His sincerity is certainly not groundless. The film "The Boat Ferry" helped "Flower City" to achieve sales of 208 million copies, not to mention how huge the impact was.

Judging from sales volume and sales value alone, the sales volume of 208 million copies is almost equivalent to the total sales volume of the previous three to four issues of "Huacheng" magazine. You should know that "Huacheng" is a literary bimonthly magazine. This issue of the magazine is equivalent to saving "Huacheng" more than half a year's efforts.

Speaking of the sales price, "Huacheng" is priced at 1 yuan, and 208 million copies means 208 million yuan.

Even if Xinhua Bookstore's order price is only 70% to 80% of the list price, it would still be 1.5 to 600,000 yuan.

Anyone who has studied economics and finance understands that the cost of a product is related to the total production volume.

The higher the output of a product, the lower the unit cost of its production will be. This is called diminishing marginal cost.

The first issue of Huacheng magazine in 1983, after deducting various costs, brought Huacheng Publishing House a net profit of at least 80 yuan.

Today, in the eyes of Li Shifei and everyone at Huacheng Publishing House, Lin Chaoyang is a money-giving boy, so his sincerity is not difficult to understand.

Li Shifei came with sincerity, but he still underestimated Lin Chaoyang's obsession with the royalties.

“You want royalties?”

Li Shifei looked at Lin Chaoyang in surprise. He was familiar with the royalty payment system, which was the system of payment adopted by most countries in the world today.

But just because most countries have adopted it doesn’t mean China must use it.

In the 1950s, when China still adopted the system of paying manuscripts per thousand words, writers in the literary world were criticized for their high royalties.

Nowadays, the country has adopted a system of basic remuneration plus remuneration based on the number of copies printed. The remuneration standard is close to the level of the 1950s. Considering the current income level in the country, the current remuneration standard is not low.

What's more, Lin Chaoyang's income is among the best among contemporary writers. Li Shifei really didn't expect that he would actually want royalties.

"Chaoyang, to be honest with you, I actually had a discussion with the president before I came here.

Now that we have reform and opening up, things are different from the past. Even the peasant comrades no longer eat from the same pot. It is not acceptable for our literary community to continue to follow the old standards.

Your works are popular and recognized by readers, creating benefits for our publishing house.

We talked for a long time and both thought it was only natural for you to get more royalties.

but……"

Li Shifei stopped talking here, with embarrassment written all over his face.

"But the royalties thing is not in line with the tradition of our country. Look, why don't we pay based on the basic remuneration plus the remuneration for the number of copies printed? I will try my best to give you a satisfactory price."

Li Shifei's tone was sincere and his attitude was humble.

He had obtained authorization from the president before coming here, and thought he had gotten a price that would satisfy Lin Chaoyang, but now he has no confidence anymore.

After all, royalties are directly linked to the sales volume, and the royalties that publishing houses have to transfer to authors are real profits.

But Lin Chaoyang also has his own opinion. Literature is, after all, a content industry, and naturally content is king. If even the creators cannot get considerable benefits corresponding to their achievements, what development prospects does this industry have?

His remarks are very much in the style of today's liberals. Li Shifei, who is in Guangdong, agrees with this argument from the bottom of his heart.

But he also knew that this gap could not be opened easily. The two argued for a long time and Li Shifei's attitude remained gentle but firm.

The manuscript fee can be negotiated, but the royalties cannot.

After Lin Chaoyang stopped talking, the atmosphere became deadlocked.

While Li Shifei was feeling anxious, Lin Chaoyang was silent for a long time.

Lin Chaoyang is well aware of how difficult it is to get royalties given the current domestic trends and policies.

But all things are difficult at the beginning. If everyone retreats because of fear of difficulty, who will change this situation?
In fact, he didn't expect to get the royalties all at once. Today's argument with Li Shifei was more of a prelude to give them some time to accept it.

"Okay!" Lin Chaoyang felt that the time was almost up, and sighed helplessly.

Li Shifei was delighted.

"This time, I will still pay you based on the basic fee plus the fee for the number of copies you print, but next time..."

Lin Chaoyang said this with a determined look in his eyes, and said to Li Shifei in a resounding voice: "The next novel you publish must be paid with royalties. If you don't agree, I can only find another company to cooperate with."

Li Shifei was very happy when he heard Lin Chaoyang compromise, but when Lin Chaoyang expressed his attitude, he became melancholy again.

Why can't I get past this royalty issue?

"Chaoyang, what can you do even if you change the publishing house? There is no precedent for this in China. Not only our publishing house, but other publishing houses will not agree to it."

Li Shifei's words were full of sarcasm, and Lin Chaoyang looked at him sharply.

"Lao Li, what you said about royalty payment is not a common practice in our country. This is true and not true.

Just because we did it this way before doesn’t mean we should do it this way in the future. We Chinese always like to talk about our ancestors’ laws. Let me ask you, if we still follow Confucius’s way of respecting Zhou rituals, would there be a new China today?”

Lin Chaoyang's tone was not very polite and his expression was very serious. Li Shifei didn't want to argue with him and avoided his gaze.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Lin Chaoyang said:

“Rules are meant to be broken. Of course, this kind of breaking must necessarily require results that exceed the norm.

Let's be honest, you should know better than me how much profit "The Boat" has created for your publishing house."

In terms of appeal among readers, Lin Chaoyang can be said to be the most popular writer in China today. Judging from the sales of the first issue of "Huacheng" this year, the most important factor in achieving such brilliant results is naturally "Crossing the Boat".

Li Shifei tried to find some words to refute Lin Chaoyang, but Lin Chaoyang didn't give him the chance at all.

"Old Li, without Huacheng Publishing House, readers will still recognize my works. But without my works, will Huacheng Publishing House still have such high sales?"

Lin Chaoyang always acts like a good guy, but today he showed off his true colors for once, and his words and expression were full of confidence that no one else could do it better than him.

If an ordinary writer said this, Li Shifei would probably refute it on the spot, but the person sitting in front of him now was Lin Chaoyang.

For a moment, he was speechless.

(End of this chapter)