Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 385: Materialism
While Su Chen's face looked ugly, his eyes inadvertently fell on Lin Chaoyang, and then quickly moved away, making it hard for Lin Chaoyang not to suspect that this matter was related to him.

After the meeting, everyone stood up and chatted. Lin Chaoyang deliberately fell behind. When most people had left, he saw Su Chen walking towards him.

"What happened?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Su Chen sighed, "It's about royalties. A local Guangzhou media outlet got the news from somewhere and exposed you for taking royalties."

Lin Chaoyang joked: "Li Tuo is in Yanjing and knew about this more than half a month ago. Your local media is only reporting it now. This is not efficient!"

"We strictly enforce the confidentiality policy!"

"Is that how you keep it secret?"

Su Chen was speechless after being rebuked by Lin Chaoyang, and finally said: "Don't be happy. If it was just a truthful report, would I need to tell you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hehe?" Looking at Lin Chaoyang's cautious expression, Su Chen felt a little more pleased. He pulled Lin Chaoyang to the office, and then handed him the newspaper that was already on the table.

It was not until 1980 that it was resumed and soon became popular again among the people in Guangzhou. Its circulation ranked first in GD Province, and its influence should not be underestimated.

Lin Chaoyang flipped through the newspaper in his hand and soon found a report article on the second page.

"Manuscript remuneration turns into royalties, and money worship rises in the literary world."

Good guy!
Just looking at the title, the offensive power is so strong that it directly labels the topic as "materialism".

Lin Chaoyang continued reading. The article was not long, only about 1,800 words.

The main content is similar to the title. It first talks about the recent literary issue about Lin Chaoyang's super high royalties and fees, and then discusses the drawbacks of writers receiving high royalties and fees, and denounces this unhealthy trend.

"I've been made a sitting duck!" After reading the article, Lin Chaoyang showed no anger or fury, but instead spoke with a smile.

After he said this, he looked at Su Chen and said, "Old Su, your publishing house didn't leak this information on purpose, did it?"

Su Chen immediately defended himself hastily, "No, don't pretend to be a good person. What good will it do for us if we do this?"

"Why not? Now the entire Guangdong, even the literary circles and common people in Lingnan region know that Huacheng Publishing House is not short of money. Your act of buying bones with thousands of gold coins, from now on, all heroes in the world will be in your Huacheng Publishing House's grasp."

"Impossible, how could our Huacheng Publishing House do such a shameless thing?

Chaoyang, you can't wrongly accuse us!"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "I just said it casually, but you took it seriously."

Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief, "Don't make jokes like that!"

Lin Chaoyang shook the newspaper again and said to Su Chen, "Old Su, I'm not saying anything. It's fine if other local media call me 'materialistic', but why do you Guangdong media call me 'materialistic'?"

If we talk about the openness of the atmosphere these days, no place in the country can match Guangdong; even Shanghai is a little behind.

After all, it is at the forefront of reform and opening up, and is adjacent to the Hong Kong River.

Su Chen said helplessly: "How would I know what they are thinking? They are suddenly concerned about this kind of thing, really..."

As he spoke, his face showed a bit of anger. "But after all, Yangcheng Evening News is just a regional newspaper. It shouldn't have any big impact."

Lin Chaoyang shook his head, "You don't understand."

He glanced at Su Chen and said, "You are an old publisher, but you don't have a sense of news? The spread of news does not depend on who reports it, but on how eye-catching it is. Why did Yangcheng Evening News report on me? Isn't it because there are audiences?"

Su Chen thought about it and felt that it made sense. Lin Chaoyang had tens of millions of readers in China. He broke decades of domestic conventions and became the first writer to receive royalties since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Such news was bound to be discussed.

Especially in the literary world, the impact is bound to be significant.

"Alas! Your publishing house gets the benefits, but I am the one being scolded." Lin Chaoyang sighed with seemingly grief and indignation.

Su Chen felt a little embarrassed listening to his words. Judging from the discussion in the article "Manuscript remuneration becomes royalties, the rise of money worship in the literary world", Lin Chaoyang was portrayed as a greedy and money-worshiping villain.

Perhaps because they are both located in Guangzhou, Yangcheng Evening News was rather lenient towards Huacheng Publishing House, pointing out that they were also victims of this royalty payment system.

Comparing the two, Su Chen also felt somewhat sorry for Lin Chaoyang.

"I'll talk to the leaders of Yangcheng Evening News later."

"The report has already been published. Can they still slap themselves in the face? I can't bear the responsibility of this shit pot even if I don't want to."

Lin Chaoyang's sighs made Su Chen feel even more embarrassed. He was thinking about how to save the situation and make amends when he heard Lin Chaoyang say:
"I'll give you the next book. The royalties cannot be less than 15%. Just consider it as compensation for my mental damages!"

Hearing this, the guilt in Su Chen's heart immediately disappeared without a trace, "You get royalties for speaking, you deserve to be scolded!"

After chatting with Su Chen for a while, Lin Chaoyang returned to his residence and was surrounded by everyone as soon as he came back.

The influence of Yangcheng Evening News in Guangzhou is huge. In just a short while, all the guests had heard about the report.

Previously, the literary world was rumored to have received royalties from Lin Chaoyang, but those were just rumors and could only be used as gossip as they had not been confirmed.

This time it’s different. The credibility of the media is unquestionable these days, and the Yangcheng Evening News is one of the top newspapers in GD Province.

The issue of royalties has been proven to be solid. No one cares whether Lin Chaoyang will be scolded or not. They only care about how much royalties he can get.

Not only young and middle-aged writers such as Li Hangyu and Li Tuo, but also veteran comrades such as Feng Mu and Tang Zhi are very concerned.

Writers make their living from royalties.

A group of people who are at least famous and well-off were counting on their fingers how much money Lin Chaoyang could make from selling 10,000 books, and how much more from selling 100,000 books...

After all the calculations, everyone is depressed.

According to the consistent sales of Lin Chaoyang's works, after receiving royalties, he would earn at least six figures in royalties for publishing a novel. Six figures, when the vast majority of people in the country were still earning double-digit salaries, Lin Chaoyang was already receiving six-digit royalties.

Li Tuo said viciously: "You deserve to be scolded! If not you, who should I scold? Give me this money, not only will I be scolded, I can even be beaten!"

"You really should let the reporter from Yangcheng Evening News see your face. I guess I won't be included in the report."

“I didn’t get any royalties.”

Li Tuo's words were just a joke, and everyone began to lament the preferential treatment that the royalty payment system provides to writers.

With the royalty payment system, any work with decent sales will definitely bring writers much more income than before.

"The publishers won't lose out by doing this, and neither will the writers whose works sell well. The only ones who lose out are the writers whose works don't sell well."

"It's not bad, otherwise they would only get basic royalties before, and the royalties based on the number of copies printed wouldn't be much."

Feng Mu listened to everyone's discussion and concluded: "Chaoyang's move is a relief for Chinese writers!"

Feng Mu's comments made everyone sigh.

The remuneration system was restored after 77, but until now it has only just recovered to the level of the s.

Now that Lin Chaoyang has taken the lead in proposing a royalty payment system, it can definitely be considered a benefit to the literary community and even all those working in the literary field.

"I think we, the colleagues, should erect a monument for you in the future." Li Tuo said half jokingly, half seriously.

Regarding the issue of royalty payment, the media can scold Lin Chaoyang, and readers can scold Lin Chaoyang, but people in the literary world cannot scold him. Not only can they not scold him, they must also sing his praises.

In the near future, when domestic writers live a good life thanks to royalties, it will all be thanks to Lin Chaoyang.

The report in Yangcheng Evening News has been published, and all we can do is discuss it.

Silent all night.

The work seminar is over, but everyone’s itinerary is not over yet. Huacheng Publishing House has arranged two days of field trips for everyone.

It is said to be a field trip, but in fact it is just sightseeing.

At that time, there was no such thing as traveling abroad. When you came to Guangdong, you would definitely visit the Special Economic Zone. For many people, this was almost the same as traveling abroad.

The emerging Shenzhen is attractive and welcoming. The Shekou Industrial Zone is a business card of reform and opening up, and is also the focus of Lin Chaoyang and his party's visit.

The person responsible for receiving Lin Chaoyang and his party was a deputy leader of the Shekou Industrial Zone. Everyone saw what it meant to attract investment and what it meant to "cross the river by feeling the stones."

After spending most of the day in the Shekou Industrial Zone, the group was arranged to go to the Silver Lake Resort in the evening.

This is a resort that was recently built in Shenzhen in the past two years. It meets international standards and is also a leisure place for Hong Kong businessmen who come to invest in the mainland.

The dinner was Cantonese cuisine, which tasted great, but it didn’t quite suit Lin Chaoyang’s northern stomach, and he always felt hungry.

At night, Li Tuo couldn't wait to drag Li Hangyu to the dance hall in the resort, while Lin Chaoyang and several old comrades took a walk along the lakeside. The green trees, red flowers, clear water and evening breeze of the south were still intoxicating even at night.

After returning to the room, Lin Chaoyang saw Li Tuo there, introducing the disco here to everyone.

The laser strobe lights are flashing and changing constantly, and combined with the strong rhythmic electronic music that sounds like a bombing, even if you stand still, you will be turned into a lively grasshopper. This is probably the scene described by Li Tuo.

After this day, the trip came to an end and everyone said goodbye reluctantly.

Lin Chaoyang stayed in Shenzhen. He had promised Li Hanxiang to attend the Hong Kong Film Awards, so he had to go to Hong Kong.

However, there are still four or five days before the Academy Awards, so Lin Chaoyang has plenty of time. He plans to meet Er Maitai.

Since Lin Chaoyang returned to his hometown in 79, the two have never met again, but in recent years they have maintained a frequency of two or three letters a year.

Sometimes Lin Chaoyang wrote letters, but often received no reply, because Er Maitai worked on a construction site and had to move to another place every year or half a year, so he basically had to take the initiative to write to Lin Chaoyang.

The last time Er Maitai wrote a letter, the address he signed was the project department of the China World Trade Center which was under construction. I don’t know if the location has been changed.

With some anticipation in his heart, Lin Chaoyang found the large construction site of the China World Trade Center.

"Comrade, may I ask you, is there a worker named Yang Junda here?"

"Yang Junda? Wait for me to look it over. There is such a person. What do you want from him?"

"I'm from the same hometown as him. I came to Shenzhen on a business trip and came to see him."

As he spoke, Lin Chaoyang took out his work ID from his pocket.

The security guard was in his forties and was filled with awe when he saw the words "Yenching University" on Lin Chaoyang's work ID.

"Wait a minute, I'll have someone call him over for you!"

"Okay, thank you."

As he spoke, Lin Chaoyang handed the security guard a cigarette and started chatting with him.

The worker who was ordered by the security guard to call for help searched the construction site for a long time and finally found Er Maitai who was working on the rooftop.

"After all this time, I found out your real name is Yang Junda. This name doesn't really suit your appearance!" A co-worker teased Er Maitai.

"You know nothing! What do you want from me?"

"Someone is looking for you at the door, saying that you are from the same hometown, and he even has a work permit from Yenching University. Hey, I say you are such a jerk, you know such a big culture..."

Before the worker could finish his words, Er Maitai ran to the entrance and took the elevator downstairs.

(End of this chapter)