Chapter 262 The Little Black Room That Cannot Be Rejected

The green ivy on the office windowsill is a little wilted, just like the editors who are busy working in the office.

In late August, the weather in Yanjing was still so hot that people felt uneasy.

Tong Zhonggui was sitting next to Lin Weimin's desk, listening to Teacher Lin's teachings attentively.

"With the sentence above, this paragraph is actually very redundant. It would only make it look cumbersome. Just delete it. Sometimes, the more you write, the better. One sentence may be enough..."

Tong Zhonggui nodded frequently as he listened, feeling that he had benefited a lot.

During the summer vacation, he showed up at the editorial office of Contemporary Magazine almost every day, running around behind Lin Weimin, doing a lot of miscellaneous, dirty and tiring work, but he really gained a lot.

With the unique condition of working in the editorial department of "Contemporary", he has been trying to write novels for some time. With the guidance of a group of editors, Tong Zhonggui feels that he is making rapid progress.

After Lin Weimin finished speaking, Tong Zhonggui very tactfully refilled his teacup with some hot water.

Then he took out a manuscript with a slightly shy look on his face.

"Teacher Lin, this is a manuscript I wrote recently. Could you please take a look at it for me when you have time?"

Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Oh, Xiao Tong is great. You have a work so soon."

"I just wrote blindly without any rules."

Lin Weimin took over Su Tong's manuscript, which was a short story titled "Memories of the Mulberry Garden". It was not long and Lin Weimin finished reading it in a short time.

Tong Zhonggui's expression was filled with anticipation and trepidation. "Teacher Lin, what do you think?"

Lin Weimin tapped his fingers on the manuscript paper, increasing Tong Zhonggui's anxiety.

After waiting for a long time, Lin Weimin said, "Well written!"

Tong Zhonggui's face suddenly showed some joy. He had been with Teacher Lin for such a long time. Although he was usually approachable, he was always very rigorous in reviewing manuscripts.

Among the manuscripts he came across, those that received a “good” rating basically meant that they had a chance of being published in Contemporary.

"Can it be published in Contemporary Magazine?" Tong Zhonggui asked with some anticipation.

"To go to Contemporary China..."

The few seconds that Lin Weimin hesitated seemed extremely long to Tong Zhonggui.

"If you modify it properly, it should be about the same."

Tong Zhonggui said excitedly: "Thank you Teacher Lin, thank you Teacher Lin..."

Lin Weimin waved his hand and said, "Hey, hey, hey, listen to me carefully. It has to be based on the improvement of the qualified level."

"I know, I know, I will definitely change it!" Tong Zhonggui said hurriedly.

Liu Yin beside him smiled and said, "Xiao Tong, don't be too happy too soon. It's not a good thing to revise the manuscript under your teacher Lin!"

Other colleagues in the office couldn't help but smile, and Tong Zhonggui also laughed.

He had been in the editorial department for quite a few days, so he naturally knew about some of Teacher Lin's "special hobbies".

Teacher Lin liked to take the authors he favored to the guesthouse on the third floor of the back building of the Chinese Literature Society and lock them in a small dark room to revise their manuscripts.

This seemingly inhumane method is what Tong Zhonggui has always dreamed of.

He felt that not only him, but any young person with a literary dream in his heart would not be able to refuse Teacher Lin’s little dark room, right?

"My reputation has been ruined little by little by you!" Lin Weimin joked.

Yao Shuzhi held a biscuit in her mouth and asked, "Do you still need us to ruin your reputation?"

She had just found out she was pregnant a few days ago, and her appetite immediately increased.

"Eat less. If you keep eating like this, your Zheng Guo will cry to death!"

"What is it to you?" Yao Shuzhi rolled her eyes at Lin Weimin.

The atmosphere in the office was relaxed, and colleagues' chatting and laughing made the afternoon sleepiness disappear, and the expressions on everyone's faces became lively.

Lin Weimin inexplicably thought of the article "Half an Hour for Lunch" written by Shi Tiesheng. It fits the scene in front of him so well!

Ding ding ding!

There was a knock on the door and everyone looked over.

With a flat head, round face, round neck shirt, and shorts, he can be called Flat Head Brother.

"I thought you didn't dare to come!" Lin Weimin teased.

"Why wouldn't I dare to come?"

Wang Shuo walked into the office with a swagger, revealing a sense of arrogance, and the look he gave Lin Weimin was even more disdainful.

"Look at you, have you finished writing the manuscript?"

Wang Shuo did not answer him directly.

With a "bang", a 500-word manuscript paper fell on the table.

Just like when this manuscript appeared half a month ago.

But this time, the offensive and defensive situations are different!

"Look, my editor-in-chief Lin!"

Wang Shuo's tone made people feel toothache. Lin Weimin wondered how this guy grew up. He had so many dimpled skin.

Lin Weimin picked up the scattered manuscripts on the table and said, "If it's not good enough for publication..."

The warning in the words is self-evident.

Wang Shuo was not afraid at all and held his head high. "If it cannot be published, that's your problem, Contemporary Magazine!"

"Look how crazy it makes you!"

Lin Weimin laughed inwardly, ignored Wang Shuo, and started flipping through the manuscript.

The novel is called "Stewardess" and it tells the love story between a retired navy soldier "I" and the stewardess A Mei. The story ends with the stewardess A Mei dying in a plane crash.

The whole piece has a touch of romanticism, which is very different from the style of Wang Shuo in later generations.

"Stewardess" is a novella. Lin Weimin didn't count it, but the whole thing has at least 60,000 to 70,000 words. After reading for almost two hours, Lin Weimin finally raised his head.

At this time, Wang Shuo was sitting on a chair, crossing his legs, with a cup of hot tea at hand, his face flushed, and he was talking excitedly with his colleagues.

“You…”

Lin Weimin suddenly spoke, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

Wang Shuo still had that cynical look on his face, but his calves, which were shaking constantly under his knees, betrayed him deeply.

“Not really!”

Lin Weimin expressed his opinion.

Wang Shuo's face flashed with disappointment, but he immediately pretended to be calm and shouted, "What's wrong with that? Can you see it?"

Lin Weimin pulled a face and said, "You are the editor, and I am the editor?"

Teacher Lin has been the deputy editor-in-chief for such a long time, and he still looks quite dignified when he really puts on a stern face.

Wang Shuo didn't dare to yell anymore, and muttered, "Don't try that on me, I don't know you!"

Lin Weimin glared at him, "Is it not allowed to be said if the writing is not good?"

Wang Shuo's momentum was completely suppressed, and he resigned himself to his fate: "You say, you say!"

Lin Weimin didn't say much nonsense and threw the manuscript at him, "Too much nonsense, delete a few tens of thousands of words and bring it back!"

The chair made a sound of being overwhelmed, and Wang Shuoteng stood up. "I think you just want to deduct my royalties!"

Wang Shuo's expression at this moment was like a dog that had finally picked up a bone and was desperately protecting its food.

"Your trifles, I don't care about them?"

The manuscript fee for a novella is at least several hundred yuan, and depending on the number of words and the length, it can be as high as one or two thousand yuan.

Saying that these royalties are just a drop in the bucket might seem like bragging to others, but to Teacher Lin, it's just exaggeration.

Wang Shuo glared at Lin Weimin indignantly, and Lin Weimin was equally unwilling to be outdone.

Tong Zhonggui, who was standing by, was still a student. He had never seen such a scene before and was trembling with fear.

Even colleagues in the office were a little worried. Would these two people start a fight?

Wang Shuo took a step forward angrily, making everyone's heart tighten.

"Then tell me, how do we change it?"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but then immediately became full of contempt for Wang Shuo.

That’s it?

Lin Weimin was fully confident throughout the whole process. He knew this guy's character very well and was not worried at all.

"Didn't I tell you? Delete it. Delete all the useless nonsense."

Wang Shuo looked at the thick stack of manuscript paper with a look of heartache in his eyes. This was all money!

"Really delete it?"

"What are you talking about? Do you still want to publish it?"

Wang Shuo hesitated for a long time and nodded.

"think!"

"Then delete it!"

Lin Weimin said it with absolute certainty.

The expression on Wang Shuo's face was distorted, as if he was wearing a mask of pain.

Then, Lin Weimin did not argue with Wang Shuo anymore, but patiently explained to Wang Shuo why he asked Wang Shuo to delete the novel.

The current length and content of "Stewardess" are actually not matched. The main plot is the love story of two young people, but there are too many contents that are irrelevant to the main plot, which distracts from the attraction that should belong to the main plot.

"You have to understand that words serve the content. Words alone are meaningless. Look at the paragraphs I circled for you. Will it have any impact if you delete them?"

Wang Shuo examined the comments on the manuscript paper and his face turned red. Although he felt embarrassed, he had to admit that Lin Weimin was not an editor for nothing.

"Then I'll change it!"

Seeing that this scoundrel was finally convinced, Lin Weimin patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't think of writing as something so simple. Anyone can do it. The difficulty lies in your current problem. Only after passing this test, you are qualified to embark on the road of writing."

Teacher Lin is a professional when it comes to making chicken soup.

When drinking chicken soup, it doesn’t matter whether it tastes good or bad, the key is that you have to be able to open your mouth.

Now, Teacher Lin had opened Wang Shuo’s mouth tightly and he couldn’t close it.

Tong Zhonggui watched Wang Shuo's back as he left. He was as arrogant as he was when he came, and as humble as he was when he left.

Thinking back to what Teacher Lin had just said to Wang Shuo, it seemed as if he was speaking to him.

It seems that we, the younger generation of creators, all tend to make this mistake!

(End of this chapter)