Chapter 125 Lu Yao who doesn't care about his life
Xie Mingqing came to the editorial office of "Contemporary" to symbolically seek Lin Weimin's opinion on the publication of "Farewell My Concubine". He is now a member of Guowen Publishing House. Unless Guowen Publishing House does not want it, it is impossible for him to give the production rights of the work to other publishing houses.
As for the last mentioned issue of royalties, Xie Mingqing blocked it before Lin Weimin could even fight for it.
"Don't even think about it. The company is already making an exception by paying you 12 yuan per thousand words. It's impossible for the price to go up any further. Any other publishing house, newspaper or magazine would be considered great if they could pay you 10 yuan."
What Xie Mingqing said was true. In 1981, ten yuan per thousand words was basically the ceiling. The substantial increase in the standard of manuscript fees occurred after the soaring prices in 1984 and 1985.
The Guowen Publishing House previously set a standard fee of 12 yuan per thousand words, which was entirely the result of the publishing house's leaders overcoming the opposition.
Lin Weimin wanted to negotiate the price purely on the principle of getting the best possible increase, but when he saw Xie Mingqing shut him up right away, he didn't hesitate.
The standard fee of 12 yuan per thousand words was already higher than that of most domestic writers at that time.
The country's "Interim Regulations on Book Royalties" formulated last year implemented the payment method of "basic royalties plus royalties based on the number of print runs", but the royalties standard is only at the same level as before the buzz.
Writers who hope to get rich through writing still have a long way to go.
After Xie Mingqing left, Lin Weimin sorted out the readers' letters piled up in the editorial office. He had taken a leave yesterday, so there were a lot more letters.
He was surprised to find Lu Yao's letter among a pile of mail. He looked at Liu Yin guiltily. Liu Yin was the editor when Lu Yao published the work "A Thrilling Scene" in "Contemporary".
This time, Lu Yao wrote the letter to complain to Lin Weimin.
"A Thrilling Scene" was published in "Contemporary" as he wished last year, which greatly encouraged Lu Yao's confidence in his creation.
Not only that, Qin Chaoyang is very optimistic about Lu Yao. At the same time when "A Thrilling Scene" was published in "Contemporary", he also published an article in "China Youth Daily" entitled "Have a Passionate Heart - To Comrade Lu Yao", recommending this work to readers, which shows his optimism about Lu Yao.
With these motivations, Lu Yao returned to Xi'an and after careful consideration, he decided to bid farewell to his wife and children and travel to Ganquan County, Yan'an to create the story about Gao Jialin and Liu Qiaozhen that he had been thinking about day and night.
Lu Yao said in the letter that he is now living in the Ganquan County Guesthouse and writing "The Music of Life". "I work almost 18 hours a day, and I can't tell the difference between day and night. When I feel sleepy, I smoke a few cigarettes. I feel like my whole body is on fire, and it's hot from my heart to my feet."
Lin Weimin saw Lu Yao's determination and perseverance in writing in the letter, but at the same time he was a little worried because Lu Yao also mentioned his physical condition in the letter.
"The facial features are ulcerated and urination and defecation are blocked," this was how Lu Yao described it in the letter, which made Lin Weimin a little worried.
He remembered that Lu Yao worked tirelessly and forgot to eat and sleep when he was creating the epic work "Ordinary World". His health was too poor and he passed away unfortunately.
Along with the letter was a new novella written by Lu Yao, "In Difficult Days". According to Lu Yao in the letter, this work was written during his time in Xi'an from the end of last year to the beginning of this year.
The story about Gao Jialin and Liu Qiaozhen was named "The Melody of Life" by him. The first draft of the novel had taken shape, but Lu Yao was not satisfied with the quality of the manuscript and he wanted to revise it.
Fearing that Lin Weimin would be anxious waiting in Yanjing, he sent "In Difficult Days" over.
Lin Weimin frowned as he finished reading "In Difficult Days". The work was well written, but Lin Weimin was more concerned about Lu Yao's physical condition at this time.
If Lu Yao was just a name he saw in a book, he might not feel anything. But now he is a living person, a friend who calls himself "Brother Weiminwen" in the letter.
Lin Weimin took the manuscript to Qin Chaoyang's office. The old comrade looked at Lin Weimin through his reading glasses and said, "Weimin, what's the matter?"
"Editor-in-chief, Lu Yao has a new work." He handed the manuscript to Qin Chaoyang.
Qin Chaoyang immediately became interested. He was extremely optimistic about Lu Yao, otherwise he would not have taken the initiative to speak for him and recommend his works in China Youth Daily.
After spending almost two hours reading the novel, he called Lin Weimin over and said, "The novel is well written. Lu Yao's ability has improved. It can be published."
Lin Weimin handed him Lu Yao's letter and said, "Take a look at this."
Qin Chaoyang frowned after reading the letter, "He is trying too hard."
"Yeah, I'm a little worried."
"What do you think?" Qin Chaoyang asked.
Since Lin Weimin came to him with the letter, he must have thought it through.
"I plan to go to Shaanxi to see him and check on the manuscript. If there is no problem, I would like him to come to the publishing house to revise the manuscript. He has been messing around in the guesthouse like this, and I am really afraid that he will ruin his health." Lin Weimin said worriedly.
Qin Chaoyang's expression was also not good. "It's not easy to cultivate such a potential writer. We can't just let him do whatever he wants. So let's do this. I'll give you a week to go to Shaanxi and bring Lu Yao back. With these old guys from our editorial department here, isn't it better than him messing around in the guesthouse?"
"Okay, then I'll leave tomorrow?"
"Can."
After discussing with Qin Chaoyang and arranging his work matters, Lin Weimin rode his bicycle to the train station, bought a ticket, and boarded the train to Shaanxi early the next morning.
In this day and age, people usually took trains on a daily basis. He took a train from Yanjing to Xi'an, and then transferred to a train from Xi'an to Ganquan County. This journey of thousands of kilometers took him two days.
When Lin Weimin found the Ganquan County Guesthouse mentioned in Lu Yao's letter, he was greeted by a middle-aged fat man who was disheveled and haggard.
"For...for the people?" Lu Yao stood at the door, looking at Lin Weimin in surprise.
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Don't you recognize me?"
"Why are you here?" Lu Yao asked in disbelief.
Lin Weimin put away his smile and said unhappily: "I'm afraid you'll die here!"
After saying that, he squeezed into the room without waiting for Lu Yao to answer.
The room in the guesthouse was not big. The house of more than ten square meters was filled with smoke and the beds were in disarray. Lin Weimin glanced and saw that the iron dustpan behind the door was full of cigarette butts.
The steamed buns on the table had become hard, and the twisted dough sticks and a few snacks were also hard.
Lin Weimin turned to look at Lu Yao again. His hair was disheveled, his face was pale, the corners of his eyes were red and swollen, and the corners of his mouth were also swollen.
He couldn't help but feel a headache for this man's reckless spirit. He threw the clothes scattered on Lu Yao's bed to Lu Yao.
"Walk!"
(End of this chapter)
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