1979: The child's mother is a celestial being.

Chapter 5 Making Friends
"Phew, that was a really good night's sleep!"

After waking up, Chen Fusheng stretched and then picked up the watch on the bedside table to take a look.

The time is 4:30 pm.

He lay back down to clear his mind for a moment, then suddenly sprang out of bed.

"It's still early, I can go check if my manuscript has been approved, then come back to pick up my wife from get off work. Hmm, that's the perfect decision."

Chen Fusheng brushed his teeth, splashed some water on his face, and then went out.

But to my surprise, as soon as I went downstairs, I saw Xiao Xinghai, the editor of "Jiangcheng Literature and Art", on the stone bench downstairs.

"Old Xiao, what are you doing here?" Chen Fusheng asked, somewhat surprised.

The other person looked excited when they saw him: "Teacher Chen, I've finally been waiting for you to come downstairs."

"You came all this way just to see me?"

"correct."

"When did you arrive? Why didn't you go up and call me?"

“I arrived at 10 a.m. I went upstairs and knocked on your door, but no one answered. I guessed you were resting and didn’t want to disturb the neighbors, so I came downstairs to wait for you.”

"Surely not, I'm a light sleeper. Which apartment did you knock on?"

"402."

"How much?" Chen Fusheng thought he was hallucinating, so he asked again to confirm.

"402? Isn't that wrong?"

"I live in 302! Who told you I live in 402?"

"I asked the security guard at your community gate."

"Either you misheard, or the security guard misspoke."

Chen Fusheng continued, "Let's not dwell on this anymore. I feel bad for making you wait downstairs for so long. Let's go inside and have a seat."

"Next time...it's getting late today. Why don't you come to the magazine office with me first, Teacher Chen?"

What are we going to the magazine office for?

"Your novel 'Bullfight,' which you submitted this morning, received unanimous praise from all the editors at our magazine. So our editor-in-chief asked me to invite you over to sign the 'Notification of Acceptance.' Is that convenient for you?"

The so-called "notification of acceptance of manuscript" was actually a contract between the magazine and the author in that era.

Formal copyright contracts would not be implemented until after my country's Copyright Law was promulgated in 1991.

"It's been approved so quickly?" Chen Fusheng was quite surprised.

He thought it would be good enough if the first draft passed today.

Unexpectedly, they directly asked him to sign the "Notification of Acceptance of Manuscript," which meant that the first draft, the second draft, and the final draft had all been approved.

“Yes, good works will always have priority,” Xiao Xinghai said.

Chen Fusheng nodded. In this light, his novel "Fighting Bull" was even better than he had expected.

"Okay, let's go."

On the way to the magazine office with Xiao Xinghai, Chen Fusheng, being a common man, couldn't help but inquire about the novel's royalties.

"Teacher Chen, you should know the national standards for novel royalties, right?" "Yes, I know that, it's 2 to 7 yuan per thousand words."

"Yes, generally speaking, our magazine's standard payment for new writers is 2 to 4 yuan, while the standard payment for well-known writers is 5 to 7 yuan. However, Mr. Chen, your work is of very high quality, so I think the magazine should settle your payment for this time according to the standard for well-known writers."

After listening to Xiao Xinghai's analysis, Chen Fusheng naturally had a high expectation for what kind of manuscript fee he could get this time.

If 7 yuan per thousand words is the ceiling, then 5 yuan per thousand words is the lower limit he can accept.

If it goes any lower, then he'll have to consider switching magazines.

Meanwhile, within Jiangcheng Literature and Art, there was also discussion about setting a standard for the manuscript fee for Bullfighting.

“According to the established practice, it is considered very good for a new author to earn 4 yuan per thousand words. However, given the high quality of ‘Bullfight’, I suggest raising it to 5 yuan per thousand words.”

"Being a well-known author certainly boosts magazine sales, but I believe that quality is ultimately what matters. As for the quality of 'Bullfight,' I think it deserves the standard of 7 yuan per thousand words."

"I've summarized the statements of the two group leaders above and think they both make sense. So, let's set the price at six yuan per thousand words. This way, we can do justice to the excellence of 'Bullfight' and let the newcomers know that there is still room for improvement so they can continue to work hard without becoming too arrogant."

“I have a different opinion,” the last group leader said.

"Old Han, you say it."

"Let me ask you a question first: For a new author to write such an excellent work as 'Bullfighting' in their first creation, is it luck or skill?"

"There's luck involved, but also skill." The group leader, who had suggested 7 yuan per thousand words, seemed to realize something and pressed further, "Old Han, what do you mean?"

"My advice is to invest heavily in talent! Someone whose very first work reaches the pinnacle of a renowned author's level cannot be attributed to luck alone; they must possess extraordinary talent. So, I want to ask you all: if we don't cultivate relationships with such a genius writer while they are still unknown, are we just going to wait until they become famous and then watch them be snatched up by other magazines?"

The moment these words were spoken, the entire conference room fell silent.

Then the editor-in-chief, who had remained silent until then, made the final decision, raising the payment standard for "Bullfighting" to 7 yuan per thousand words.

So when Chen Fusheng arrived at the Jiangcheng Literature and Art magazine office, he immediately received a big surprise!

"You really gave me 7 yuan per thousand words?" Although Chen Fusheng had such expectations before coming, it was a different story when he actually heard it.

"Yes, Mr. Chen, you heard me right, it's 7 yuan per thousand words. Although this is actually a bit against the industry norm... I don't know if you know, Mr. Chen, but generally, for new authors like you who are unknown, we usually give 2 to 4 yuan per thousand words. The reason we've priced you so high is, on the one hand, because your 'Bullfight' is indeed very well written, exceeding the level of a new writer, and on the other hand, it's because we consider that you have a lot of writing talent. We hope to make friends with you, and we also hope that your next work, and the one after that, under the same conditions, can be given priority for submission to our 'Jiangcheng Literature and Art' magazine. What do you think?"

Since the other party had been so blunt, Chen Fusheng naturally wouldn't pretend to be crazy or stupid.

And they didn't ask me to sign any 'indentured servitude contract'.

Why wouldn't Chen Fusheng agree to such a win-win situation?
"Yes, even putting aside the interests, as a Jiangcheng native, I naturally hope that Jiangcheng Literature and Art will get better and better."

After speaking, Chen Fusheng signed his name on the "Notification of Acceptance" handed to him by the editor-in-chief.

You will also need to sign a pseudonym.

Floating life!

After hesitating for only a second, Chen Fusheng wrote down these two words.

Next, he went to the finance office to settle his royalties. When he learned that he actually had 280 yuan, he was stunned for a moment because he remembered that the word count of "Bullfight" was less than 40,000 words.

However, the magazine calculated his payment based on 40,000 words.

This is truly a sincere effort!

Although Chen Fusheng didn't say it, he still felt indebted to the Jiangcheng Literature and Art magazine for their kindness.

(End of this chapter)