1979: Literary Master, Starting from the Return of Educated Youth

Chapter 162 The Contrasting Daughter-in-law

"My son asked me that, and I said I had never dated one in college."

Xu Qiang quickly explained, "You heard it wrong."

Seeing her husband's panic, Wu Yan just wanted to laugh.

"Oh, I really misheard."

She suppressed the corners of her mouth and couldn't help laughing as she turned around.

Xu Yuexin felt very relieved to see that his parents could still joke with each other at such an old age.

This shows that their relationship is very harmonious and their way of getting along has not changed with the father's promotion.

Things like this are easier said than done, and parents are very rare.

Of course, because of my mother's antics, my father refused to talk about the love affairs of college students in the Republic of China.

It was obvious that he was worried about accidentally exposing something.

Xu Yuexin saw through it but didn't say anything. He just thought his father's little thoughts were very interesting.

My father's refusal to cooperate with the interview had little impact on his subsequent writing, because the important information was about prices and customs.

When it comes to relationships between male and female college students, you can refer to TV dramas like "My Fair Princess" and "The Story of a Noble Family". After all, they are all young men and women and the differences shouldn't be that big.

After having lunch at his parents' house, Xu Yuexin returned to his eldest sister-in-law's residence in Tuanjiehu, where he learned that his wife would be back in the afternoon.

There is no fixed time limit for this field survey, and the location is not far away, in Hebei.

So Chen Qiaoqiao came back when she said she would.

"I'm going to pick her up at the bus station, are you coming?"

Xu Yuexin asked his sister-in-law who was following "Blood Ties".

"Of course I did."

The sister-in-law turned off the TV, looked at Xu Yuexin and said, "Come and stay at my place after you pick up Qiaoqiao."

"Like you said, the Duke's Mansion hasn't been cleaned yet. She might be exhausted and needs to rest."

“That’s very thoughtful.”

Xu Yuexin praised his sister-in-law.

With one hour left before Chen Qiaoqiao's scheduled arrival time, Xu Yuexin rode his Harley motorcycle and took his sister-in-law to the long-distance bus station.

The two waited outside the station for a while, and soon they saw a bus full of people who looked like students driving over.

Xu Yuexin and his sister-in-law saw Chen Qiaoqiao in the front row and waved to her.

Chen Qiaoqiao also noticed the two of them and smiled through the car window.

The bus drove into the station, and Xu Yuexin and his sister-in-law followed in.

Soon, the bus door opened and Chen Qiaoqiao got out of the bus.

"Sister, Xin Ge."

Chen Qiaoqiao greeted them.

"You must be exhausted."

"Let's go to your sister's house first. The food is ready there."

The sister-in-law stepped forward and took Chen Qiaoqiao's simple cloth bag. Xu Yuexin walked with her to the bus cargo hold and prepared to help her with her luggage.

"I don't feel tired."

"The theme of this trip is to investigate the living conditions of residents in poor rural areas and towns, and I feel I have gained a lot."

Chen Qiaoqiao said with emotion.

She spoke with a tired voice, but her eyes were full of spirit.

Xu Yuexin discovered that his wife had changed a lot during the time they had not seen each other.

She had her hair cut short to her ears, and wore a simple and elegant work shirt on the upper body and khaki pants underneath, instead of the long flowing skirt she often wore before.

Compared with before, my daughter-in-law speaks a little faster and her temperament seems unusually capable.

My wife has grown up.

Xu Yuexin sighed inwardly, and after the warehouse was opened, he took out her luggage and carried it on his shoulders.

Chen Yixiu could also clearly see that her sister was no longer the delicate little girl she used to be.

The three of them first rode Xu Yuexin's motorcycle back to the Duke's Mansion, put down their luggage, and then headed to Tuanjie Lake.

After arriving at the place, Xu Yuexin parked his motorcycle downstairs and went upstairs with Chen Qiaoqiao and Chen Yixiu.

After entering the house, Chen Yixiu poured hot water for Chen Qiaoqiao to wash her feet, and Xu Yuexin took a stool and sat behind Chen Qiaoqiao to give her a massage.

My daughter-in-law has been running around outside for days and now she has finally returned home. Everyone is serving her.

The daughter-in-law felt very comfortable with the massage from Xu Yuexin and closed her eyes to enjoy it.

"A little further down."

After pressing for a while, the daughter-in-law gave instructions.

Xu Yuexin then followed the instructions and moved his big hands from his shoulders to his back.

"Take off your shirt and press it, the pressure will be more precise and more comfortable."

During the massage, Xu Yuexin whispered a joke in his wife's ear.

"Oh, my sister is in there."

Chen Qiaoqiao blushed and whispered, "Don't talk nonsense."

Xu Yuexin chuckled and said nothing.

No matter how she changes, his wife will always be the girl who blushes easily and speaks softly in front of him.

After washing her feet, Xu Yuexin sat on the sofa with his wife and cut her toenails.

My daughter-in-law has beautiful feet. The insteps of her feet are white and tender, and there are small pink crescents on her nails, which are very beautiful.

This is really a pair of jade...

Forget it, it’s better not to worry about it. Worrying about everything will only hurt yourself.

Xu Yuexin put his thoughts aside and concentrated on cutting his wife's nails with the nail clippers.

Today my daughter-in-law has returned from afar, so I can’t let her cook.

So Xu Yuexin went into the kitchen after cutting his nails and cooked for everyone. After a while of pots and pans clattering, five dishes and a soup were brought to the living room one after another.

"time to eat."

Xu Yuexin brought the last dish of roast chicken with edamame to the table and spoke to his sister-in-law and daughter-in-law who were concentrating on watching TV series.

The two people were watching with great interest. When they heard the call, they just said "Hey" and nodded, without any other movement.

The daughter-in-law has been led into a trap by her sister-in-law.

Just like when he was a teenager and loved playing games, he refused to log off even when his mother called him to eat.

"You two, if you don't eat now, the food will get cold."

After Xu Yuexin finished speaking, he walked to the TV, picked up the remote control and turned off the TV.

"Hey, I just saw something exciting..."

The daughter-in-law stared at the TV screen which had turned black, her tone still full of regret.

"Eat, and continue watching tonight."

The sister-in-law reluctantly got up from the sofa and said, her eyes full of aftertaste.

The two sisters and Xu Yuexin walked to the table and sat down. The daughter-in-law picked up the chopsticks and took a bite first.

“The craftsmanship has improved.”

After eating a piece of dried tofu, my wife nodded and commented, "It's more flavorful after being fried."

"Thank you for the compliment."

Xu Yuexin was very happy to get the recognition from his daughter-in-law.

This is a personal certification from a high-level chef.

In the evening, my wife and sister-in-law continued to sit on the sofa and watch "Blood Ties", and they were all fascinated by it.

Xu Yuexin was sitting nearby, impressed by the two men's concentration.

Literary works with romantic themes are very powerful on women.

No wonder Zhang Henshui was ranked first on the list of richest writers in the Republic of China period, as his romantic works are so numerous.

Thinking of this, Xu Yuexin decided that he had to finish writing "Norwegian Wood" as soon as possible!
He also wants to become a national-level girl killer!
After watching TV with his wife and sister-in-law for a while, Xu Yuexin returned to the second bedroom, took out paper and pen and started writing.

I finished the outline yesterday and interviewed my parents today. All the obstacles on the road to writing have been removed.

Xu Yuexin picked up the pen and wrote quickly on the paper. Soon he had filled up the whole page.

Because he had an outline, he wrote faster than usual.

By the time his wife returned to the room after finishing watching "Blood Ties" late at night, Xu Yuexin had already written a full 7000 words.

……

In the following days, Xu Yuexin devoted himself to creation.

Apart from eating, he writes every day.

Finally, after more than ten days of writing, the manuscript of "Norwegian Wood" with a total of 20 words was officially completed.

At this time, Xu Yuexin chose to send the manuscript to "Novel Monthly" in Tianjin.

At present, magazines such as People's Literature still focus on serious literature, so Xu Yuexin chose to send the manuscript to popular literature leading magazines such as "Novel Monthly".

After sending the manuscript, Xu Yuexin took the initiative to call the editorial department.

A female editor answered the phone.

"It's Comrade Xu Yuexin, hello, hello."

"What? You submitted an article to our magazine? That's great."

"Don't worry, we will finish reading your manuscript as quickly as possible..."

……

The female editor was very welcoming to Xu Yuexin's manuscript and was very enthusiastic.

It is a happy event for any publishing house when a well-known author in the industry submits his or her work.

After ending the call, Xu Yuexin waited at home.

In fact, he had no other intention in making this call. He just wanted to ask "Novel Monthly" whether his manuscript could be reviewed as soon as possible.

Otherwise, waiting two or three months would be too long.

A few days later, Xu Yuexin received a call from "Novel Monthly", and the other party said that they had received the novel and completed the review, and would send him the royalties according to the highest standards.

20 words, calculated at 5 yuan per thousand words, is a royalty of 2050 yuan.

After receiving the reply from "Novel Monthly", Xu Yuexin breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally passed.

In fact, when Xu Yuexin had just finished writing "Norwegian Wood", he was always worried that the work might be difficult to publish.

This is not because he has no confidence in the content of the novel, but because the book involves a love triangle and the overall atmosphere is rather gloomy.

Xu Yuexin is worried that magazines of this era may not be able to accept it.

You should know that when the movie "Lush Mountain Love" was released last year, it was under a lot of pressure. Some people believed that love should not be the theme of film and television works.

The controversy was not settled until "Lush Mountain Love" won the Hundred Flowers Award this year.

When it comes to love between men and women, the scale of "Norwegian Wood" is much larger than that of "Lush Mountain Love".

The positive response given by "Novel Monthly" now really made Xu Yuexin feel relieved.

Now that the publication of the novel has been finalized, the next step is to consider publishing issues.

Romance works have always been very popular in terms of sales, and it can even be said that they are far ahead of other genres.

As long as the subsequent publication of "Norwegian Wood" is planned well, the financial benefits will be fantastic.

Xu Yuexin thought about it, walked from the bedside phone to the desk, took out paper and pen to plan the publishing matters.

This time, he still chose People's Literature as the domestic publisher.

People's Literature Magazine follows a serious literary style, but the subject matter and style of the books it publishes are much broader.

In addition, the two sides had cooperated many times, and Xu Yuexin had a close relationship with Wang Chaoyin, so he thought of them first.

(End of this chapter)