1987 My Era

Chapter 212,

Halfway through the meal, Li Heng, who was chatting with a few girls, picked up the braised fish with his chopsticks.

As luck would have it, Zhou Shihe's chopsticks just happened to reach out, and in an instant, the two people's chopsticks were intertwined and stuck tightly together.

Li Heng was dumbfounded and looked up across the table.

The two looked at each other, Zhou Shihe lowered his eyes a little, silently loosened his grip on the chopsticks, and then stopped there.
Li Heng, who was chatting happily with Sun Manning and Ye Ning, didn't think too much for the moment. He just picked up a piece of fish and put it in his mouth, chewing it and enjoying the delicious food.

But halfway through the meal, he suddenly froze and looked at the girl opposite him again. Did the friction between his chopsticks just now cause her saliva to stain him?
Feeling his gaze, Zhou Shihe paused, then moved her chopsticks again, picked up a small river shrimp from the bowl next to her, and ate it in small bites with the rice.

Her cute little mouth is as charming as cherry blossoms, so beautiful that people can't help but want to take a bite.

Li Heng guessed that the girl probably wanted to change the chopsticks, but she was embarrassed because he was staring at her, so she just struggled and gave in.

Otherwise, if I just changed the chopsticks in front of him, wouldn't that be a slap in his face?

Is it reasonable to do this when meeting someone for the first time or having dinner together? Will we be able to get along with each other in the future? Can we still be friends?

As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one will fear ropes for ten years. Ever since the chopsticks intersected, Zhou Shihe no longer picked up dishes beyond the center line of the table. At most, the tips of his chopsticks moved back and forth between the two bowls in front of him as he ate slowly and leisurely.

During the meal, Sun Manning noticed this phenomenon and asked curiously, "Shihe, is the food not to your liking? Why don't you touch other dishes?"

Ye Ning suddenly realized: "That's right! Why do you only eat two dishes? The other dishes are delicious, you should try them."

Zhou Shihe didn't look at Li Heng, and said gently, "I was just listening to you guys talking, I didn't pay attention."

Mai Sui glanced at Li Heng out of the corner of his eye, picked up a pair of chopsticks again, and picked up several pieces of food for Zhou Shihe. "Shihe, you really should try this braised fish and stir-fried pork with garlic sprouts. They are very down-to-earth dishes that go well with rice."

Zhou Shihe smiled and said yes.

Li Heng pretended to be unaware of the whole situation and continued to eat and drink as if nothing had happened, with his main message being, "I'm not embarrassed and no one should embarrass me."

After dinner, it was already late, almost 10 o'clock, and the five of them started rushing to school.

After passing through the school gate and entering, Li Heng, who was the last one to come in, took the opportunity to whisper to Mai Sui, "Come to Lushan Village tomorrow night."

"Yeah." Mai Sui agreed without asking the reason.

At the fork in the road, the five people separated.

The four lesbians returned to the dormitory.

Li Heng rushed straight to the rented house. For the sake of his writing task, he didn't dare to drink too much. He couldn't just let time pass by like this tonight.

When entering Lushan Village, Li Heng unexpectedly discovered Editor-in-Chief Liao and Editor Zou Ping chatting with the fake Taoist priest in the alley.

The fake Taoist priest Fu Yanjie was seen circling around several large sacks at the door, saying, "What a hidden treasure! What a hidden treasure! No wonder he was able to occupy Building No. 26."

Editor-in-Chief Liao and Zouping seemed somewhat depressed and helpless. When they were carrying the sacks filled with readers' letters from the van, they unexpectedly encountered an accident in front of Building 24. Zouping accidentally kicked a stone and fell.
Then the sack flew out, and the readers' letters inside were scattered all over the floor.

Just at this moment, the fake Taoist priest came out of the house, intending to visit another teacher's house for a drink. He had good intentions in helping to pick up the letter, but what happened?
The result was no result!

Li Heng’s identity as the writer December was revealed!

Seeing Li Heng appear, the fake Taoist priest didn't care and pulled Li Heng over to look him up, down, left and right. After a long while, he finally said, "Are you really that awesome?"

Li Heng said with a smile: "Old Fu, you are a professor after all, and a key talent trained by the school. How can you keep saying such a vulgar word like "awesome"?"

The fake Taoist adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and said, "Hey! What's wrong with me saying I'm awesome? What law stipulates that professors can't say I'm awesome? Who allowed you to be so awesome!"

Li Heng was speechless and lowered his voice and said, "Alright, alright, keep your voice down and don't shout everywhere. I want to live a low-key life."

The fake Taoist priest didn't care, "There's no one in this corner except Teacher Yu, who could have heard it?"

Li Heng pointed to the small building next to his, Building No. 27.

The fake Taoist priest looked up at Building 27 and asked, "Have you seen the door of this building open recently?"

Li Heng responded: "Why? Not at home?"

The fake Taoist priest put his hands behind his back and said with a mature look, "You probably don't know this. Professor Guo and his wife retired this year. They just completed the retirement procedures last month. They are now reuniting with their son and daughter abroad. It is unknown whether they will come back in the future."

Li Heng was surprised. He had met Professor Guo and his wife before and had greeted them more than once. They didn't look very old, but he didn't expect them to be retired. "Which country?"

"Which other country could it be? Of course it's the United States." The fake Taoist priest sighed. He himself had returned from the United States, but now his neighbor, with whom he had lived for six years, is heading back to the United States. He feels really sad.

After chatting for a while, when Fu Yanjie was about to leave, Li Heng pulled him aside and said, "Remember to keep it a secret for me, otherwise you won't see a neighbor with such good cooking skills in the future."

"Oh! You treat me like a three-year-old kid, don't you? Go ask Teacher Yu if I, Mr. Fu, am the most tight-lipped person in the world?" Fu Yanjie squinted his eyes, looking very dissatisfied.

Li Heng smiled and ignored him, inviting Editor-in-Chief Liao and Zou Ping into the house.

After pouring them a cup of tea, Li Heng asked, "Uncle Liao, why are you here so late today?"

Editor-in-Chief Liao took the tea and said happily: "This is all because your Cultural Journey is so popular. After this month's issue came out, it has been reprinted for the fifth time in less than half a month, and the print run has reached 260 million copies.

Do you know what this means? "After a pause, Editor-in-Chief Liao waved his hand and said with a commanding momentum: "This is the highest record since the founding of our Harvest magazine. Even the industry benchmark People's Literature has not achieved such a feat!"

A few days ago, Editor-in-Chief Liao went to Beijing to attend a meeting on behalf of Harvest magazine. When facing his colleagues and the editor-in-chief of People's Literature, he finally felt proud!
After so many years in the industry, this time is the most confident and glorious, which is why he wanted to meet Li Heng as soon as he came back from the capital.

Now Li Heng is a treasure in his eyes. If it weren't for the support of Mr. Ba, he would really worry that Li Heng would be poached by other colleagues.

Li Heng sensed the "satisfaction" in Editor-in-Chief Liao's expression and said modestly: "The success of Cultural Journey is not just my own achievement. If it weren't for Mr. Ba, Uncle Liao, and Old Zou, I can't imagine what the ending would be like."

There was something else he said, referring to the royalties.

If he hadn't had Mr. Ba's support, he wouldn't have been banned by the industry! He would have struggled for a long time. Didn't you see that in later generations, Lao Wang from Beijing went to the other side of the sea to hide for a while? Many bigwigs analyzed that it should be related to royalties.

As the first Beijinger to reap the royalties, Lao Wang is certainly in high spirits, but he also has to bear the consequences of the backlash that comes with it.

Editor-in-Chief Liao was an experienced man. His smiling eyes narrowed into slits. He pointed at the sacks and joked, "Too many letters are sent to the magazine every day. Two packages a day, more than when To Live was published. In less than two months, there are already nearly 30 sacks piled up in the office.

I asked Xiao Zou to pick out three sacks and send them to you. You can look through them for fun when you have nothing to do and feel a sense of accomplishment. "

Editor-in-Chief Liao’s meaning is clear: you chose to keep a low profile and remain anonymous, and now you cannot enjoy the glory brought by the outside world, so read more readers’ letters and see how popular you are now!
Li Heng bent down and searched, and found that these letters came from all over the country, almost from every province and city. However, after checking for four or five minutes, he stopped with a disinterested look.

He was afraid that there was another Huang Zhaoyi hiding here, which would make the trouble even bigger.

Editor-in-Chief Liao finished half a cup of tea and then started chatting with him about business.

The first thing is to urge for submission of manuscripts.

Without further ado, Li Heng immediately went to the study and took out six chapters for the other party.

Editor-in-Chief Liao read a few pages carefully and clapped his hands, saying, "Good! The quality is still as good as before. When can you finish it?"

Thinking that there were still about 140 books left to read out of the 60 books Aunt Zhao Jing gave him, Li Heng made some calculations and said, "The November estimate was a bit optimistic at first. I have to work hard on it later, so the progress may have to slow down. It should be finished by mid-December or the end of December at the latest."

Can it be completed in December? This has exceeded Editor-in-Chief Liao's psychological expectations, and he immediately expressed his support: "Good food is never too late. There is still time. You should be patient and finish the final stage. Then I will take you to visit Mr. Ba."

When he heard that he wanted to meet Mr. Ba, Li Heng happily said yes.

After talking about the manuscript, Editor-in-Chief Liao talked about the second important event of this trip. "Every day, many calls come to the magazine, strongly requesting that the single volume of "Cultural Journey" be published as soon as possible. This time, the call is even higher than when "To Live" was published. Among them are some old professors and well-known figures. Mr. Ba and the magazine attach great importance to this. I came back to tell you in advance so that you have an idea in mind."

Maybe, probably, Editor-in-Chief Liao calculated that he was somewhat dissatisfied with the 5% royalties, so he made a special trip to Lushan Village.

Editor-in-Chief Liao's words just now seemed to contain no real content. But as smart as Li Heng was, he still grasped the core of the other party's intention and found a glimmer of hope for increasing the royalty ratio.

When it comes to a talent like Li Heng, both Mr. Ba and Editor-in-Chief Liao cherish him. But the royalty ratio involves the core interests of Harvest Magazine, so it is better for Li Heng to take the initiative to make a request.

Editor-in-Chief Liao's visit is a gesture and a show of sincerity, so as to avoid a quarrel between the two parties over royalties in the future.

If it were other writers in the magazine, Editor-in-Chief Liao would be confident that he could handle it.

But as for Li Heng, Chief Editor Liao was a little unsure. After several contacts, he found that although this kid was young, he was very slippery, did not act according to the rules, and was a bit money-loving.

If the money is not in place, the so-called literary character of this guy would be pure nonsense, so it is better to make some assumptions first.

The other party took the initiative to make a gift, and Li Heng felt completely different. He felt very comfortable and felt that he was valued. He immediately said tactfully: "Uncle Liao, there is no rush for this. Let's talk about it after I finish writing."

Talk again?

What to talk about?
That means the royalties will definitely have to be increased.

However, given the sincere attitude of Harvest Magazine, he would not make excessive demands. Money is very important to him as a person who has lived two lives, but to some extent, it is not that important.

After all, his mind is filled with a lot of information about future generations. There will be plenty of opportunities to make money in the future. If he loses a little here, the worst that can happen is that he can earn a little more there.

After finishing their pleasant discussion about business, the three of them sat together and chatted for another 20 minutes.

At the end of the conversation, Editor-in-Chief Liao glanced at Zouping, who tactfully found an excuse to go outside.

After the people walked away, Editor-in-Chief Liao asked, "Can you play the piano?"

Hearing this, Li Heng immediately thought of Huang Zhaoyi, "I know a little bit."

Editor-in-Chief Liao nodded and continued, "She asked me about the piano. Would you refuse?"

With the foreshadowing of giving away plane tickets, flutes and erhu in the previous two episodes, Editor-in-Chief Liao did not beat around the bush this time, but started to test the waters directly.

Li Heng hesitated for a moment and shook his head: "Uncle Liao, the piano is no different from other things. It is too expensive. I can't afford it. Please thank her for her kindness for me."

"Oh, I knew you would refuse." Editor-in-Chief Liao sighed.

Li Heng didn't respond, but just forced a smile.

The two looked at each other, feeling a little awkward. Finally, Editor-in-Chief Liao stood up and said, "That's it. It's getting late. We'll leave first."

"Okay, go slowly." Li Heng stood up and saw him off.

(End of this chapter)