A Literary Life Starting from the First Year of High School

On Monday morning, when Lin Shubai arrived at the classroom, his schoolbag was more than twice as heavy as usual.

The three sample copies of "Charlotte's Web" have hard covers, silver-stamped titles, and thick paper for the inner pages; each one weighs more than half a pound.

He walked to his seat and put his backpack down with a dull thud.

Su Wan was looking down at her textbook when she heard the sound. She looked up, glanced at his schoolbag, and said, "You brought a brick?"

Sample book.

Lin Shubai unzipped his jacket and took out two books. He handed one to Su Wan, saying, "This is for you. You said you wanted to buy it yesterday, but don't. This one is for you."

Su Wan took it, flipped to the cover, and looked at the large gray spider and pink pig on it. "This is the final version? It's so exquisite."

"It's silver-plated, and it feels good to the touch."

Su Wan touched the words on the book title and nodded. "It is. Did you bring it for Liu Yang?"

"I brought it, but he hasn't arrived yet."

No sooner had he finished speaking than hurried footsteps sounded at the classroom door, followed by Liu Yang's signature loud voice: "Coming, coming, coming!"

The moment he entered, he saw Lin Shubai, his eyes lit up, and he sprang over like a spring. "Shubai! Where's the sample copy? Let me see it!"

Yesterday, after leaving the publishing house, Lin Shubai told Su Wan and Liu Yang about the matter, since they had been following this book from the very beginning.

Lin Shubai handed him a book.

Liu Yang received it as if it were an imperial edict, holding it with both hands. He flipped to the cover, touched the silver-embossed words, and exclaimed "Wow!" He opened the title page and saw the words "Lin Shubai" (林书白着), and exclaimed "Wow!" again. He turned to the page with illustrations and saw dewdrops on a spider web, and exclaimed "Wow!" once more.

"Can't you be normal for once?" Su Wan couldn't stand it anymore.

"I'm perfectly normal! This is my brother's book! What's wrong with me getting a little excited?" Liu Yang held the book up to his eyes, flipping through it several times, then leaned close to Lin Shubai. "Where's the autograph? You haven't signed it for me yet!"

"Sign now?"

"Sign now! Get a pen!" Liu Yang took a black pen out of his pencil case, handed it to Lin Shubai, then turned to the title page, pointed to the blank space, and said, "Write here, write 'Dedicated to Liu Yang—my best friend,' write it big."

Su Wan clicked her tongue beside her, "Is your skin made of a city wall?"

Liu Yang ignored her; he was used to it.

Lin Shubai picked up a pen and wrote a line on the title page: "Thank you for the chicken leg and spicy strips, and for your endless support." There was a parenthesis after that, which read "My best friend, no doubt." After writing that, he handed the book back.

Liu Yangyang carefully put the book away, zipped it up, and patted it to make sure it wouldn't fall out. Then she turned around with a satisfied look on her face. "When I'm old, I'll tell my grandson that when his grandpa was young, he was classmates with a great writer, and he gave me a copy of his first book, which was even signed. My grandson will definitely say, 'Grandpa, you're amazing!'"

"You're thinking about having grandchildren before you're even married?"

"That's called foresight."

During the second break, Lin Shubai took the sample book and walked towards the Chinese language group office.

The office door was open, and Old Chen was sitting at his desk with a stack of composition books in front of him, grading them.

"Teacher Chen." Lin Shubai knocked on the door.

Old Chen looked up, saw it was him, put down his red pen, and asked, "What is it?"

Lin Shubai walked over and placed two sample books on the table. "Teacher Chen, my book will officially go on sale next Saturday. Here is a sample book for you."

Old Chen glanced down at the cover: a light green background with a gray spider, a pink pig, and a silver-stamped title. He picked up a book, turned to the title page, saw the words "Lin Shubai," and remained silent for two seconds.

Then he turned to the inside pages and read a passage.

About five minutes later, Old Chen closed the book and put it on the table.

"It's very well written." Old Chen had a clear smile on his face.

"Don't get carried away after the book is published. Keep studying and taking exams. Peking University may be interested, but if you don't pass the first-tier university entrance exam, it's all for nothing."

"I know."

"Good to know." Old Chen waved his hand. "Alright, go back to class."

Lin Shubai turned to leave, but as he reached the door, Old Chen suddenly called out to him, "Lin Shubai."

"Um?"

"Thank you for your book."

Lin Shubai paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "You're welcome, Teacher Chen."

At lunchtime, Lin Shubai carried his tray to his usual spot, where Liu Yang had already reserved a seat.

"Did you have an extra meal today?" Lin Shubai sat down and saw that Liu Yang had made two servings of steamed egg custard.

Liu Yang pushed the steamed egg custard towards you, "I specially made this for you to celebrate your book's upcoming release. Eat it while it's hot."

Lin Shubai picked up a spoon and scooped up a spoonful of steamed egg custard. It tasted alright, but it was a bit salty.

"Shubai, do you think your book will sell out? Like, the kind that sells out as soon as it hits the shelves, with long lines outside bookstores and scalpers reselling it for a hundred yuan a copy?"

You're overthinking it.

"I think it's possible. Think about it, you are the first prize winner of the National Essay Competition, and People's Literature is preparing to publish your article. When parents see your book, they will definitely think, 'Wow, this author is a top student. I'll buy it for my child, and my child can also become a top student.'"

Su Wan, unusually, didn't argue with him. "Although this logic is flawed, it does make sense, and many parents think this way."

Lin Shubai picked up a piece of tofu and said, "Then I must write even better, so as not to mislead young people."

Liu Yang put down the chicken bone. "What you wrote isn't a textbook, so why are you misleading students?"

During the last self-study period in the afternoon, after finishing his homework, Lin Shubai took out his notebook to continue working on "Four Generations Under One Roof". He planned to finish writing this masterpiece during the winter vacation. He would try to retain Lao She's writing style, but change the background to be closer to the Beijing of this parallel world.

He had been writing for about half an hour when Su Wan suddenly leaned over and asked, "What are you writing?"

"New novel".

"How long?"

"About one million words."

Su Wan paused, her pen still. "One million? Are you crazy?"

"Take your time writing, there's no rush."

"Your 'The Little Prince' is only a few words long, this one is a million words, isn't that a huge leap?"

Lin Shubai thought for a moment, "The styles are different. 'The Little Prince' is a fairy tale, while this is a realistic novel that tells the story of an ordinary family after the fall of Beiping in 1937."

Su Wan was silent for a moment, then said, "Are you sure you can write it? A million words, just writing it would break your hands."

"Even if your hands are useless, you can still use your mouth for voice input."

"What voice input? Have you gone mad from writing novels?"

Lin Shubai paused for a moment, forgetting that it was still 2010 and voice input was not yet widespread. "Then write by hand, take your time, you'll eventually finish."

Su Wan glanced at him, said nothing more, and continued doing her homework.