Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 10 The Editorial Department's Cheers
[I was put in the dark room in the previous chapter]

Seeing how determined he was, another proctor curiously walked over to Liu Yimin's desk. To avoid getting his test paper wet with sweat, Liu Yimin carefully folded it and placed it in the upper left corner of the desk when he lay down.

The teacher who came specifically to check only saw the first question and couldn't see the rest, which made him very anxious. He paced around the seats several times, making the students next to him a little uneasy.

After a while, the proctor walked over to Liu Yimin and whispered, "Wake up! Remember to check your work after you finish!"

Upon hearing the sound, Liu Yimin slowly raised his head, rubbed his eyes, and looked up at the proctor. The proctor winked at him.

It was almost becoming a tourist attraction, so he reluctantly unfolded the exam paper and let the other person take a look.

Liu Yimin looked out the window and saw the woman he had seen at the school gate on the first day, breastfeeding her child. After finishing feeding, she handed the child to her in-laws and hurriedly ran towards the examination hall, with a proctor watching nearby.

"Ding~ Ding~ Ding," the Chinese exam finally ended with three rings.

When the proctor walked over to Liu Yimin to collect the exam papers, he asked in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Which high school did you graduate from?"

"From the county school!"

"Good, do your best on the exam next time. I hope you can get into university. Getting into university will change your destiny."

Outside the corridor, many candidates looked dejected, while others were loudly reciting their answers.

"For the second question, what does 'daomao ran' mean? I wrote 'daomao rongran' (meaning 'full of righteousness'), right?"

"No, it's arrogance!"

"Hypocritical, you're all wrong. But how do you write the next character, 'despicable and filthy'? I don't know!"

Liu Yimin had just entered the restroom when he heard someone say, "I've already finished writing. You wouldn't believe it, there were people sleeping in our exam room. Even after being reminded by the proctor, they still slept. What kind of university can people like that go to? They're just wasting the country's paper!"

Liu Yimin was just about to watch the drama unfold, but he ended up getting caught up in it himself, and shook his head helplessly.

The English exam was in the afternoon. The English score wasn't included in the total score; it was only for reference. The difficulty level of the English questions was equivalent to the junior high school level that Liu Yimin had studied. He started writing randomly after answering half of them.

The release of the 78 college entrance examination results was too shocking, which would have been a mistake. In high school, there were hardly any serious English classes; how could I possibly have done so well?

Since it doesn't count towards grades, giving up is the best option.

Looking to the side, most students were giving random answers, with only a few scratching their heads in confusion.

The foreign language exam was from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. At 4:00 pm, Liu Yimin handed in his exam paper, got on his bicycle, and rode home.

If I get home any later, I'll probably be riding until dark.

Inside the editorial office of People's Literature, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Cui Daoyi felt dizzy and overwhelmed by the mountain of manuscripts piled on his desk. Summer in Yanjing was even hotter than in Ruxian.

There were seven or eight editors sitting in the office, two to a desk. The desks were large and covered with envelopes. Everyone was sweating profusely from the heat; some had their trousers rolled up high, while others were fanning themselves incessantly.

"In the summer, our entire editorial department looks rather uncouth," one editor said, looking around and shaking his head with a smile. "More than the uncouthness, I'm annoyed that we haven't found any good manuscripts," Cui Daoyi said without looking up. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and he quickly took out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe them away.

"Old Cui, this is really strange. I haven't found a single decent draft. What kind of rubbish are they all writing? I think most of them are no better than the average junior high school student's composition."

"Who can argue with that! We can't blame them. Right now, we shouldn't be thinking about finding gold. If we see a useful stone, we should pick it up, wash it, and maybe we can use it after washing."

Cui Daoyi joked.

"Old Cui, your analogy is quite profound," an editor said with a smile.

As the deputy editor-in-chief, Cui Daoyi has his own office, but he still prefers to work outside with the editors. This way, he can review any controversial manuscripts immediately.

"Comrades, we've wasted too much time. We must cheer up. I think I'll find a good manuscript soon," Cui Daoyi encouraged.

Cui Daoyi stuffed the discarded manuscript into an envelope, tossed it aside, and picked up the unread manuscript. First, he checked the sender's name to see if it was a familiar author; if so, he would read it carefully. If it was a well-known author, he could basically cheer in advance.

"Liu Yimin? Shiling Commune, Ru County, Henan Province. Another newcomer. Hopefully, his writing is passable." Upon seeing the unfamiliar name, Cui Daoyi felt a chill run down his spine.

However, as a professional editor, and one of the four most famous editors in Beijing, he would still carefully glance at the works of new writers.

Editors read manuscripts very quickly; they can get a general idea after just a few glances. If it's interesting, they'll continue reading; otherwise, they'll just throw it into the discard pile.

"Donkey Water?" Cui Daoyi thought to himself, "Why does this name sound so strange?"

I looked at the main text with some doubt, and after reading a few lines, I found it somewhat interesting. At least the writing style was acceptable, and it was worlds apart from the manuscript I had just read.

Cui Daoyi nodded subtly and continued reading. When he came to the part about someone impersonating a donkey to embezzle funds, he found the absurd scene quite amusing.

Then came the speculation: what exactly was the author satirizing? Was it satire?

If Liu Yimin knew what he was thinking, he would definitely beg for mercy, saying, "Cui Daoyi, please don't get me into trouble."

"Interesting!" Cui Daoyi said in a low voice.

"what?"

"I mean, this novel is quite interesting. The writing style doesn't seem like that of a newcomer. It's humorous and witty, and the beginning is full of metaphors. I haven't finished reading it yet, but for a newcomer to write like this is already quite good."

As Cui Daoyi read through the document, he picked up a pen to approve it, marking any places that needed to be changed.

Upon reading to the end, Cui Daoyi exclaimed, "What a wonderful manuscript! Comrades, I've discovered a gem! The plot is tight, the writing flows smoothly, the logic is rigorous, and the characters are very well-developed. It's no less than a masterpiece. If it weren't for the fact that the envelope showed an unfamiliar author, I would have really thought it was written by a well-known writer."

"Really? Let me see!" an editor exclaimed excitedly. Any article that catches Cui Daoyi's eye must be a top-notch piece.

"No, I have to show it to Old Zhang!"

(End of this chapter)