Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 353 Don’t you know?
The next morning, Lin Chaoyang got up and opened the curtains. The outside world had become a world covered in silver, and the yard was covered with thick snow.

"It hasn't snowed this heavily in several years!" said Tao Yushu.

"Yeah, we have to clear the snow again."

As Lin Chaoyang spoke, he put on his clothes and went to the yard. He picked up a large broom specially used for sweeping the yard and started sweeping the snow.

This is the downside of living in a courtyard house. You have to clean the yard frequently, but the key is that their yard is big.

Tao Yushu went to make breakfast, while Tao Yumo stood under the eaves holding Xiao Dongdong and directed Lin Chaoyang to work.

"Brother-in-law, that place hasn't been cleaned yet."

"This piece, this piece looks like it was gnawed by a dog, you need to sweep it carefully!"

"My nephew wants to see a snowman. Build a snowman for him!"

Lin Chaoyang stopped and asked unhappily, "Is it your nephew who wants to see it, or you who wants to see it?"

"It's all the same, it's all the same."

Holding his nephew in his arms, Tao Yumo had the courage to "use the emperor to command the princes".

The habit of disobeying superiors should not be tolerated. Lin Chaoyang threw the broom and came over to take the child from Tao Yumo, "You go sweep!"

"Why should I sweep?" Tao Yumo asked unconvinced.

"Fifty cents!"

"Do I care about your five cents?"

Tao Yumo said that he was not happy about it, but his body was very honest. After all, working to earn money was not shameful!
When Tao Yushu came to call him to eat, Tao Yumo's head was smoking from sweeping the floor. It was really hard to earn these fifty cents!
After dinner, Tao Yushu prepared to go to work. Since it was easy to fall while riding a bike that day, she simply took the bus to work.

Before leaving, she suddenly remembered something, took out a set of Lin Chaoyang's old clothes from the closet, said hello to Lin Chaoyang before going out.

When she arrived at the editorial department of People's Literature, she greeted her colleagues and went upstairs. There were two rooms reserved for writers from other places who came to Beijing to revise their manuscripts. Yu Hua lived in one of them.

There were two iron beds in the room and a desk in the middle. The conditions could not be described as difficult, but they were indeed very ordinary.

"How was your stay last night?" Tao Yushu asked Yu Hua.

"It's pretty good. There's heating here. It's more comfortable than my home, but it's a little dry."

After staying here for one night, Yu Hua's lips were dry. He is from Zhejiang and it was his first time to come to the north. He was not used to the climate here.

Tao Yushu said: "If you feel dry, you can sprinkle some water on the ground, it will relieve a little. Have you had breakfast?"

"Ate."

After chatting about life for a while, Tao Yushu told Yu Hua some things to pay attention to when revising the manuscript. Yu Hua felt that it was very helpful and thanked Tao Yushu.

"Okay, I won't bother you anymore. Just revise the manuscript. If you have any questions, come find me downstairs, or talk to other people in our editorial department."

"Okay, thank you Teacher Tao."

Yu Hua was about to see Tao Yushu off. Tao Yushu stood up and pointed to the bag he had brought with him when he came in and said, "The clothes you brought are too thin. You can't wear them in Beijing. These are my wife's old clothes. You can wear them as an emergency."

Listening to Tao Yushu's words, Yu Hua felt warm in his heart. If he couldn't revise the manuscript well, he would be sorry for Teacher Tao's care.

After Tao Yushu left, Yu Hua picked up the clothes she had sent and gestured. He said they were old clothes, but they were newer than the clothes he wore when he came. The key point was that they were winter clothes, which were much warmer than his clothes.

Yu Hua tried on the clothes. Except for the cuffs being a little big, everything else fit him well. Considering the height of Teacher Tao's wife, it was normal for it to be a little bigger.

He took off his clothes and changed back into his own clothes. The temperature in the room was just right for him.

After trying on the clothes, he sat down at his desk and started to revise the manuscript.

Time passed quickly and it was afternoon. The editorial department of People's Literature was quiet. The editors were reviewing manuscripts carefully. Yu Hua knocked on the door and entered the office of the novel group.

When Tao Yushu saw him coming, she thought he had some questions, but she didn't expect Yu Hua to hand her the manuscript and said, "Teacher Tao, I have finished revising this manuscript, but I don't know if it's okay. Could you please help me take a look?"

New authors are usually at a loss when revising manuscripts, and it takes them two days to get into the right state. Tao Yushu thought he was a young and inexperienced person who made random revisions.

I didn't expect that when I picked it up and took a look, the changes were actually very good.

She read it carefully and seriously, and her surprise grew. After reading it over and over again, it seemed that the manuscript had really been revised.

Tao Yushu looked up, smiled with satisfaction and praised: "Great, Yu Hua, I really didn't expect that you could revise the manuscript so well for the first time, and the key is that you were so fast that you finished it in just one day!"

Hearing this, Yu Hua showed a delighted look on his face, "Teacher Tao, is it really okay?"

"no problem."

"Then...then..." Yu Hua hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

Seeing his expression, Tao Yushu knew what he wanted to ask. "Once you have revised the manuscript, you can publish it."

Yu Hua was immediately overjoyed, "Thank you, Teacher Tao!"

"Why thank me? You changed it yourself..."

Tao Yushu praised Yu Hua, which also aroused the curiosity of other colleagues in the office about Hua. It was rare for a newcomer to revise a manuscript with such efficiency when his work had not been published.

Cui Daoyi teased, "Xiao Yu, you revised the manuscript too much, you won't get the subsidy!"

The editorial department provides subsidies of two yuan a day to writers from other places who come to Beijing to revise manuscripts, and arranges accommodation for them, mainly to solve their food problems.

Cui Daoyi said this as a joke, but Yu Hua really regretted it after hearing it.

At this time, he had just started working for a short time and was earning more than 20 yuan a month. He could earn 2 yuan a day for revising manuscripts, so that would be 60 yuan a month, right?

This makes much more money than he does at work!

"Old Cui, can you teach the young people something good?" Tao Yushu complained to Cui Daoyi and said to Hua: "Don't listen to his nonsense. If the manuscript is revised quickly, won't you get the royalties earlier?"

Yu Hua felt that what Teacher Tao said made some sense, but he had to take the two yuan subsidy. Fortunately, he came here not to revise one novel, but two.

He was determined to revise the remaining novel slowly.

After get off work, Tao Yushu returned home and saw Lin Chaoyang walking in the yard with a refreshed look on his face. He then told him that Yu Hua had revised the manuscript in less than a day.

"I think his speed of revising the manuscript is about the same as yours."

"That proves that you are right. He is indeed a good seedling worth cultivating."

After dinner, Tao Yushu saw that Lin Chaoyang did not go into the study to revise the manuscript as usual, and asked, "Are you not going to revise the manuscript today?" "I will send it out tomorrow after I finish revising it!"

Tao Yushu said with surprise: "Ah! I was wrong, your efficiency is much higher than Yu Hua!"

Lin Chaoyang's expression was calm, "It's OK!"

They have been married for almost five years. Looking at his expression, Tao Yushu knew that he was pretending to be reserved and must be feeling very proud in his heart!
In the evening, Tao Yumo rubbed his wrist and found Lin Chaoyang, "Brother-in-law, the manuscript has been copied."

Originally, Tao Yushu was the one who copied the manuscripts, but now she is too busy with work and often brings manuscripts home at night, so this task was given to Tao Yumo.

So Tao Yumo is now working two jobs, taking care of the children during the day and transcribing manuscripts at night. It is a bit tiring, but the reward is quite good, three dollars a day!
One winter vacation earned her three months' salary, not to mention that she was still receiving the salary from school.

It smells so good!

However, there are side effects to making this money. Tao Yumo's shoulders and wrists hurt a lot from copying manuscripts recently. She said to Lin Chaoyang:
"Brother-in-law, I think you should buy a typewriter!"

Lin Chaoyang thought for a moment and said, "Your suggestion makes sense. The typewriter in our library is good enough for me to use. Unfortunately, I am not used to it when writing novels. I still feel better when writing by hand."

Tao Yumo said enthusiastically: "You can give it to me!"

Lin Chaoyang glanced at her and said, "For you? Then we need to renegotiate the price of the manuscript."

Hearing this, Tao Yumo's face fell, "Ah? How can there be someone like you?"

"What's wrong with me? Using a typewriter is easy for you, not for me. Otherwise, why don't you buy one? You can use it in the future anyway."

Tao Yumo immediately became alert, and almost held on to his purse tightly, "I don't have any money!"

Lin Chaoyang shook his head. "It's not that you don't have money, it's that you love money like your life!"

"Humph!"

There are still ten days before the Chinese New Year, and the Spring Festival atmosphere in Yanjing City has gradually become stronger. Yu Hua has been in the editorial department of "People's Literature" for five or six days.

This time he came to Yenching to revise two manuscripts, one was "Stars" and the other was "You Go, I Go", both of which were short stories.

It took him only one day to revise "Stars", but he found out that there was a subsidy for revising the manuscript, so he procrastinated when revising "You Go, I Go", and it took him three or four days.

This efficiency would be normal for other newcomers, but Yu Hua made a big splash as soon as he arrived at the editorial department, revising a manuscript in just one day.

When he came to the second article, he suddenly slowed down. Not only did Tao Yushu feel something was wrong, but he himself felt it was a bit fake.

Yu Hua felt tormented for that little bit of subsidy.

On Saturday evening, he was slacking off in his dormitory when Zhu Wei downstairs suddenly came to him and said, "Hey, Yu Hua, we have a party tomorrow, are you going?"

Yu Hua has been revising manuscripts upstairs these days. From time to time, he would go to the editorial department to look for opportunities to chat with the editors.

It was a rare opportunity for him to come to People's Literature to revise manuscripts, so of course he wanted to get to know these editors better and become familiar with them.

Zhu Wei was a few years older than him and was not very arrogant, so the two of them quickly became familiar with each other.

Hearing Zhu Wei's invitation, Yu Hua suddenly became happy. He was happy not only because he could follow Zhu Wei to meet some people and see the world, but more importantly, he had another reason to delay writing the manuscript for another day or two.

"What party?"

"It was just a gathering among a few friends, all of whom were local writers from Yanjing, including Li Tuo, Chen Jiangong, Zhang Chengzhi, and Zheng Wanlong."

Yu Hua's eyes lit up every time he heard a name. The people Zhu Wei mentioned were all well-known young writers today. If he remembered correctly, several of them had won the National Excellent Short Story Award.

Yu Hua couldn't help but feel happy at the thought of being able to attend such a party.

The next morning, Yu Hua followed the route given to him by Zhu Wei and arrived at Li Tuo's home near Dongdaqiao.

"You are Yu Hua, right?" As soon as Yu Hua entered Li Tuo's house, he was stopped by the enthusiastic Li Tuo.

Li Tuo's enthusiasm made Yu Hua, a native of Zhejiang, a little uncomfortable, but he was soon moved by Li Tuo's frankness and sincerity and put down the burden in his heart.

Yu Hua was the second person to arrive today. The first one to arrive was Zhang Chengzhi, followed by Chen Jiangong, Zhu Wei, Zheng Wanlong, Zhong Acheng, He Zhiyun, Chen Jianyu and others.

Yu Hua was pulled by Li Tuo to get to know everyone. Among these people were writers whose works he had only seen in magazines before, and editors whose identities made him feel in awe.

Standing in front of these people, Yu Hua felt very insecure.

"Yu Hua is a very talented writer. Yu Shu is very optimistic about him and specially asked him to come to Yanjing to revise the manuscript this time."

Zhu Wei brought Yu Hua to the party, and of course he had to praise Yu Hua a few words. These words gave Yu Hua some comfort, and his work would be published soon.

Except for Yu Hua, everyone at today's party can be considered old friends. Li Tuo proposed holding today's party because it is near the end of the year.

Li Tuo's house is not big, and with seven guests coming at once, the space at home seems a bit cramped.

Chen Jiangong then said nostalgically: "It's better to have a party at Chaoyang's house. The place is big and we can do whatever we want!"

Li Tuo was very unhappy to hear this, "You are so young and yet you are still pursuing pleasure. I don't think you will ever become a writer!"

"Do writers deserve to be poor? Mr. Lu Xun even lived in a courtyard house!"

The two of them were quarreling loudly, and the others were watching with joy. They were also talking nonsense, wishing that the two of them would have a fight.

After Chen Jiangong and Li Tuoyan finished their argument, everyone returned to their normal routine and started talking about topics of interest to them.

Yu Hua listened to the many words such as "Hegel", "Popper Theory", "Sartre" and so on coming out of the mouths of the crowd, and his face was a little confused. Obviously, everyone was talking in Chinese, but he listened for a long time and couldn't understand what these people were saying.

He couldn't help feeling a little ashamed of his ignorance, and felt more and more that these people were like stars in the sky, out of his reach.

Perhaps sensing Yu Hua's embarrassment, Zhu Wei smiled and said to him, "Don't be fooled by their cheerful chatter. In fact, none of them really understand anything. Let Chaoyang give you a lesson tomorrow. That's what it means to broaden your horizons!"

Zhu Wei's words comforted Yu Hua a little. He asked curiously, "Old Zhu, I always hear you say 'Chaoyang', 'Chaoyang'. Are you talking about Teacher Tao's lover?"

Yu Hua remembered that the day he came to Yenching, Teacher Tao's lover came to pick her up from get off work, but before he could finish introducing the two of them, he was interrupted by Liu Jianqing.

He only remembered that Teacher Tao's lover was called "Chaoyang". Today he heard everyone mention "Chaoyang" again. These people seemed to be very familiar with Teacher Tao, so he asked this question.

Zhu Wei looked at Yu Hua in surprise, with a subtle expression.

"do not you know?"

"what do you know?"

"Yu Shu's lover is Lin Chaoyang!"

(End of this chapter)