I am not a literary giant

Chapter 162 Long Time No See

Editor-in-Chief Wu's speech was harsh and incisive. Yang Yin didn't even know where he got the courage to bring this manuscript, and he was already getting angry from being scolded.

"Editor-in-Chief Wu, this article is of very high quality..."

Editor-in-Chief Wu said, "High quality? 60 words, have you finished reading it?"

"without……"

"You dare to say it's high quality without even finishing watching it?"

Yang Yin was in a bind. Six hundred thousand words—he hadn't even finished reading it after the review meeting. If he had time to read it all, would he have needed to inform Editor-in-Chief Shen beforehand?

Editor-in-Chief Wu added, "I found the 60-word figure suspicious as soon as I heard it. What kind of article needs 60 words? This isn't online fiction. Our publishing house's payment standards are among the best in the industry. Are you sure there's not a single superfluous word in this 60-word article? Are you sure this author didn't try to cheat on the payment?"

Editor-in-Chief Shen finally couldn't sit still any longer: "Editor-in-Chief Wu, what you're saying is all baseless!"

Editor-in-Chief Wu didn't press the issue further, but immediately said, "Alright, then I won't talk about unfounded accusations, let's get down to business. Yang Yin, let me ask you, if 60 words were serialized, how many installments would it take to finish?"

Yang Yin said, "If each issue has 20,000 words, then it would take 30 issues; if each issue has 30,000 words, then it would take 20 issues."

"How long will it take?"

"Two to three years."

Editor-in-Chief Wu asked, "What is the standard page count for each issue of our magazine?"

"Pages 100 to 150."

How many words are on each page?

"One thousand to one thousand five hundred words."

What is the printing cost per page?

Yang Yin was silent for a moment, then said, "I don't know about that."

Director Wu said, "Let me tell you, the cost per page is 12.5 cents. Our magazine has a circulation of 80,000 copies. If we publish 30,000 words per issue as you said, that's 20 pages. Every month, the printing cost for this article would be 200,000! And for the next two years, it would be 200,000 every month!"

"That's why we rarely give newcomers a chance to serialize their work. There are just too many uncontrollable factors. Each issue only has a hundred pages. If you have more, others will have less. If everyone serializes your work every issue, how easy is it for problems to arise? Besides, you have to serialize it for two years. How much room is there for things to go wrong in that time?"

After Editor-in-Chief Wu finished speaking, even Yang Yin wavered. He knew that Editor-in-Chief Wu was right, and his own opposition proved how much resistance there would be at that time.

Editor-in-Chief Shen spoke up: "Editor-in-Chief Wu, you're only considering the small details, not the big picture."

Editor-in-Chief Wu was clearly unconvinced: "Then tell me, what is your main tent?"

"Firstly, although Wang Zixu is still a newcomer, once this work is published, he will no longer be a newcomer."

Editor-in-Chief Wu immediately protested: "You're just being argumentative!"

"Let me finish," Editor Shen interrupted him, raising his hand. "I've read the beginning of this work, and I can tell it's a very ambitious piece. Its potential is perhaps greater than we can imagine. Once published, this author will definitely be able to enter the literary world with dignity. Your concern about him being a newcomer is unnecessary, in my opinion."

Editor-in-Chief Wu sneered: "That's one thing, but what about the second and third?"

"Secondly, if we don't publish his article, he'll submit it to another magazine. If it's published in a smaller magazine, its impact will definitely be smaller, and it might even be buried. You should know about the story of 'Ordinary World,' right?"

Editor-in-Chief Wu objected: "This only benefits that author. What about us? What benefit does it bring to our magazine?"

Editor-in-Chief Shen said, "Your view is too narrow. This is an author we nurtured ourselves. If his work achieves great success, how many authors like him will it inspire? We will be able to attract more submissions from excellent authors and create a healthier creative environment. This is a subtle and pervasive benefit."

Editor-in-Chief Wu kept shaking his head; clearly, Editor-in-Chief Shen had not convinced him.

"All of this is based on the premise that this work can really achieve great success as you say. What if it's the other way around? We'll face criticism! Even if it only receives a lukewarm response, we won't get any credit and will be the subject of gossip."

That's enough.

After listening to the two arguing for a long time, the editor-in-chief finally spoke up.

"Editor-in-Chief Wu is right, but Editor-in-Chief Shen is also right."

When the editor-in-chief uttered the first half of his sentence, Yang Yin almost suffered a heart attack. He only felt better after hearing the second half. But he was still full of doubt.

The editor-in-chief added, "The outcome of this work, and whether it should be serialized as a long-form series, depends on its own quality. I've read the beginning, and it's good, but whether the rest will be just as good is something we need to study."

"Long-run serialization is a long-term battle, unlike publishing all at once. It must rise higher and higher each time to convince readers. If the later chapters are not better than the earlier ones, even if the quality remains the same, readers will get tired of it. After a while, they will forget what the earlier chapters were about, and eventually, the reputation will plummet."

Editor-in-Chief Shen asked nervously, "So what do you mean?"

The editor-in-chief stood up: "Then let's review it before deciding whether to publish it. Call all the editors who aren't currently out on fieldwork over. Put aside your work for now and let's all review this piece together! We'll try to finish reviewing it within a week, and then we'll discuss whether to publish it!"

Editor-in-Chief Shen's expression brightened, and he replied enthusiastically, "Great! I'll go get them right away! Yang Yin, go create a discussion group and distribute the manuscripts for collective discussion!"

Editor-in-Chief Wu pursed his lips, remaining silent and looking extremely distressed, yet unable to say anything.

When Yang Yin walked out of the editor-in-chief's office, his heart rate was still high. He set up a discussion group, packed up the 60-word manuscript, and sent it to the group. The chat box immediately became lively.

"It's been a long time since we had a group discussion on a draft. Whose draft is it this time?"

"Wow, Editor Yang has landed another phenomenal article; he's about to take off."

"You can open the compressed file and take a look. All I can say is that novels that make it into magazines may not be anything special, but those that are discussed in special sessions at conferences definitely have something special about them."

The message was sent by Editor Hou, the most senior colleague in the company. After seeing it, his colleagues opened the file that Yang Yin had sent, and the group chat fell silent for a moment.

A little while later, the group chat exploded with messages again.

"A 60-word manuscript, and published in its entirety? That's amazing!"

"Young authors these days are all incredibly talented..."

Yang Yin couldn't help but smile. He took out his phone, carefully considered his words, and sent a message to Wang Zixu:

[The report has been submitted to the editor-in-chief and has attracted the attention of the publishing house. If it passes collective review, it is expected to be published.]

He deliberately used rather conservative language, only saying "it is expected to be published." In fact, he felt that it was already a sure thing.

However, it's best not to make any promises before things are accomplished, otherwise, if something goes wrong, it's easy to incur resentment.

After a long while, a message came back from the other end: 【Awaiting good news.】

Yang Yin put down his phone, opened the part of the manuscript he hadn't read yet, and was about to continue reading when Editor-in-Chief Wu suddenly passed by his office.

"Hey, hey, you guys, hold off on the interrogation for a bit, wait a minute."

Yang Yin looked at him, wondering what kind of trouble he was up to now. Half annoyed and half sneer, he said politely, "But I've already sent out the manuscript."

"Sigh!" Editor-in-Chief Wu sighed and hurried to the editor-in-chief's office, holding his phone as if it were a priceless treasure, ready to report something to the editor-in-chief.

……

After sending the manuscript to Yang Yin in the morning, Wang Zixu took his umbrella and went out.

Weekends with continuous drizzle like this are always irritating. He arrived at Nanjing University and then remembered that he had given the key to Diao Yiwen. There should be no one at the magazine office today, so he was about to head home, but then he thought, since he was already here, he went to the office in vain.

To his surprise, someone from the organization was there. Chen Qingluo was there.

The gray-yellow rain, like watercolors, painted the windows of the room into several somber scenes. The girl sat alone in the center of the room, with a table and a chair, holding a thin book in her hands; the scene itself was picturesque.

Prince Xu held his breath, afraid of startling the characters in the animation.

Chen Qingluo still noticed him. She slowly raised her head from the book, then lowered it again, glancing at him as if brushing dust off her shoulders.

Prince Xu suddenly felt that his existence was insignificant. After hesitating for a while, he put the umbrella on the shelf by the door, dried the water off his shoes outside the door, and went inside.

Chen Qingluo was quietly reading. The clock ticked, the rain pattered, and the pages occasionally rustled. It was then that Wang Zixu remembered he should greet Chen Qingluo, but the opportunity had already passed. He sat in the chair for a while, feeling as if he were in prison.

"I recently learned a really obscure fact," Wang Zixu finally said as he entered the house, "When it rains, your shoes always get wet."

"Snap—"

The pages rustled softly, a sound that echoed in the room, as Chen Qingluo turned to the next page without any hesitation.

Wang Zixu realized that he was the one who was damaging the environment, and wisely shut his mouth.

Chen Qingluo lost her composure and put down her book: "Go on, please continue!"

"Hey, weren't you reading a book?"

What happened to your shoes when it rained?

"When it rains, no matter how far forward I hold the umbrella, my shoes always get wet, and it's always from the toes to the instep. Do you know why?"

Chen Qingluo blinked: "First of all, we can rule out that it's because the legs are too long."

As she spoke, she stretched out her long legs under the table. The prince pretended not to see.

"The correct answer is that the water on the soles of the shoes is splashed into the air when walking and lands on the toes of the shoes," Wang Zixu said.

"..."

After a long while, Chen Qingluo finally said, "I'm so bored."

Prince Xu was deeply affected.

Chen Qingluo stretched, her waist bending upwards, her clothes riding up to reveal her curvaceous figure. She yawned, turned her head and said, "How boring, let's go play cards."

"What, you play card games too?"

"Have you heard the saying, 'At Nanjing University, even dogs can play cards'?"

Prince Xu nodded: "I've heard of it."

He remembered that Chen Qingluo had also been a student at Nanjing University.

Chen Qingluo said, "I'm the one who started this trend."

The prince was speechless.

He had imagined himself getting into Nanjing University, with a touch of romance, "I came to your city, and walked the path you once walked." But what he didn't expect was that Chen Qingluo would remain at Nanjing University, lying dormant for years, and the thing that ultimately struck him accurately was Guandan (a card game).

So he went with Chen Qingluo to a restaurant at the end of the universe to play Guandan (a card game).

Guandan requires four people, and he and Chen Qingluo together only have two, not even enough to fill the gap with Sartre. He called Zhao Peilin, who said on the phone, "What, Guandan? I stopped playing a long time ago. I'm preparing to compete for the Fei Shi·Sui Han Literary Award. Aren't you preparing too? You're really slacking off."

After a while, he met Wang Zixu and Chen Qingluo at the restaurant entrance. He scratched his head sheepishly and said, "Let me play one last farewell match, otherwise I won't feel at ease."

So now they're one short. Zhao Peilin wanted to call Xu Rongrong, but Xu Rongrong went to see a movie with her best friend and said on the phone, "Who's still stuck at school on the weekend?" The three of them looked at each other in disbelief. That one sentence made them all furious.

Fortunately, thanks to the atmosphere set up by Chen Qingluo, even a dog at Nanjing University would play dirty. The three of them casually walked into the restaurant. Wang Zixu went in to find the restroom and passed by a single table. He glanced at it and saw Xiao Mengyin sitting there alone, drinking coffee.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!"

Wang Zixu pointed at Xiao Mengyin while waving towards Zhao Peilin.

Xiao Mengyin was very unhappy. She slammed her teacup on the table and said, "Are you visiting the zoo?"

Wang Zixu said, "Want to play Guandan? We're one short."

"Who are you? I don't know you."

Prince Xu gestured with his hands: "We've met twice already, how come you still don't recognize me?"

Xiao Mengyin's eyes darted around. At this moment, Chen Qingluo walked behind Wang Zixu. Xiao Mengyin stared at her, a look of confusion on her face.

"Alright, just one game."

Zhao Peilin was both excited and arrogant upon seeing Xiao Mengyin. During their last meeting, Xiao Mengyin had definitively declared they couldn't win the top prize at Fei Shi, which had left him resentful. He had been working hard at home lately to prove her wrong. However, Xiao Mengyin seemed to have completely forgotten about it; she didn't care at all.

After the four of them were seated, she stared at Chen Qingluo and asked, "Have we met somewhere before?"

Chen Qingluo said succinctly, "I don't know him."

Wang Zixu smiled inwardly, somewhat suspecting that Chen Qingluo was helping him get revenge for the arrow she had shot. But it could also just be a coincidence.

Zhao Peilin drew four cards, two hearts and two spades, shuffled them face down, and placed them on the table: "Come on, let's form groups."

Xiao Mengyin said, "No need to divide them. He was my partner last time, so let's just do it the same way as last time."

The prince thought to himself, "Don't you remember?"

Chen Qingluo said, "What last time? I don't know. I came with him; we're partners."

Xiao Mengyin said, "Weren't the three of you together? Wait a minute, is this a setup? You're plotting something."

"It's not like we're gambling, why are we setting up a game?"

"Although they don't gamble, they get pleasure from me."

"What vulgar talk are you spouting? You'll feel good doing that, so what are you afraid of?"

"You...you're the one who's vulgar!"

Seeing that their conversation was getting increasingly absurd, Zhao Peilin quickly reached out to stop them: "Listen to me, let's split into pairs. That's fairer."

The prince raised both hands in agreement.

In the end, Wang Zixu and Xiao Mengyin were paired together again.

Wang Zixu felt that Chen Qingluo's gaze was a bit scary. Just then, his phone rang. When he answered it, he saw that he had just received a message from Yang Yin.

He clenched his fist tightly. Zhao Peilin, who was beside him, asked, "What's wrong? Did something good happen?"

"It's nothing."

Zhao Peilin remembered and asked, "Didn't you submit your manuscript to 'Ancient City'? Was it accepted?"

Prince Xu shook his head: "I was rejected."

"Oh."

Xiao Mengyin gave a cold laugh: "You're still thinking about winning an award?"

(End of this chapter)