Chapter 357 Praise It Well
Since 1984, the domestic standard of manuscript fees has increased significantly without anyone noticing.
A few years ago, the standard fee of ten yuan per thousand words was considered the limit, but now it is often more than ten yuan per thousand words.
Thirty-five yuan per thousand words certainly broke the record, but for Lin Weimin, this standard of payment is basically better than nothing.
Lin Weimin revealed some of his thoughts during the conversation, and Wang Meng looked at him strangely.
"Who do you think is Lin Baiwan?"
The old man killed Lin Weimin with one sword, leaving him speechless.
“Let’s go!”
There's no more chatting today.
After Lin Weimin left, Zhu Wei looked at his back with envy, "35 yuan for a thousand words is not enough?"
Wang Meng joked: "Otherwise, he is a millionaire. The richer you are, the more you have to be thrifty."
Zhu Wei thought about it and it seemed to make some sense.
At five o'clock in the afternoon, colleagues in the office packed up and left one after another. Zhu Wei was the last one to lock the door.
I went to the bicycle shed to get my Phoenix bicycle, and followed the crowd of people from the Guowen Society who were leaving get off work into Chaonei Street.
His home is in Baijiazhuang, just off the East Third Ring Road and very close to Tuanjie Lake.
After passing Chaoyang Gate, Zhu Wei found a newsstand and stopped.
"Give me a copy of People's Literature!"
Zhu Wei paid the money and took the magazine.
People's Literature has maintained the price of 40 cents for almost ten years, from its resumption of publication in 1976 to this year.
Zhu Wei has been working in the editorial department for two years. During these two years, the issue of publication pricing has been discussed, but the price has never increased.
After all, People's Literature is not just a publication that aims to create benefits. It also represents the highest standards of the Chinese literary world. Compared with economic benefits, the social and cultural effects it can produce are what the Guowen Publishing House and the higher-ups value more.
I returned home, made a bowl of noodles and was eating when someone knocked on the door. I opened the door and saw it was Li Tuo.
Li Tuo's face was filled with excitement, "I've seen it!"
The words were like a secret code, and Zhu Wei immediately understood what he meant. He asked while slurping his noodles, "How do you feel?"
Li Tuo shouted, "One word, awesome! Two words, really awesome! Three words, extremely awesome!"
Zhu Wei couldn't help laughing when he heard this, "Who taught you math?"
"It doesn't matter which teacher taught it..." Li Tuo pulled a chair over and sat down. He was about to say something when he saw Zhu Wei's People's Literature on the table. He picked it up and waved it, saying, "I tell you! Once this novel comes out, Li Zicheng and Emperor Kangxi will have to step aside. From now on, I will only recognize Ming Dynasty 1566 as a historical novel."
Zhu Wei finished his noodles in a few bites, put the rice bowl in the sink, brushed it a few times, and put it in the cupboard.
"Aren't you afraid of offending people by saying this?"
"Good is good, I'm telling the truth. I didn't say these two novels are useless, in fact, both are well written. The key is that the opponent is too strong!
This Lin Weimin, he...how did he write it?"
Li Tuo said with amazement on his face.
Zhu Wei finally sat down and said, "Yeah, we are curious too."
"You said, he really didn't know much about Ming Dynasty history before?"
Zhu Wei shook his head. "As far as I know, no. He is a humble person in the community and can talk to anyone. Anyway, I have never heard him talk about this before."
"So you really learned about the history of the Ming Dynasty just for writing this novel?"
As Li Tuo spoke, his expression became more shocked. He found it hard to believe that such an exquisite historical novel as "The Ming Dynasty 1566" was written by a writer who didn't know much about the Ming Dynasty.
"I heard that he spent most of the year in the library. You don't know him, but he's really fast at writing. It took him only a week to write Farewell My Concubine, which has more than 100,000 words. This time, it took him nearly a year to write The Ming Dynasty 1566, which is a record!"
Li Tuo couldn't help but reveal a bit of bitterness on his face when he heard this. "Of course I've heard of this. Damn it, it's okay that he's so talented, but he can also write so fast!"
"Otherwise, why do people say that he is truly blessed by God?"
Li Tuo nodded, agreeing with Zhu Wei's words.
Then he flipped through People's Literature and complained, "Tell me, you guys are the same, why do you have to publish it in two issues? It makes people wait so anxiously!"
Zhu Wei asked, "Have you finished reading it?"
"How can I finish watching it? It's such a good work, I have to savor it slowly."
Zhu Wei was speechless, "Then why are you urging me?"
"I have to finish it sooner or later. I can't just watch it for a month, right?"
"That can't be helped. It's too long! Over 400,000 words, it's hard to fit into one issue. You can't let us publish this novel at a loss, right? It's not even profitable now."
The space of a publication is limited, and the difference between issues is no more than a few or a dozen pages.
However, if the entire Ming Dynasty 1566 were published in one issue, it would not be just a few pages, but nearly a hundred pages.
Without raising the price, Guowen Press would suffer huge losses.
"Hey!" Li Tuo's expression was a little regretful, and he flipped through the People's Literature in his hand again, "It's good to write long. The longer a good book is, the better."
Zhu Wei smiled and asked, "Where's yours? Why are you looking through mine?"
"You're so stingy! Here you go!"
Li Tuo threw the People's Literature in his hand to Zhu Wei, opened his clothes, and pulled out an identical copy from his waistband.
"You smell too much!" Zhu Wei frowned and said with disgust.
Li Tuo fanned it twice deliberately, "Okay, now the smell is gone!"
Zhu Wei was speechless.
After the joke, Li Tuo sat on a chair, holding the "People's Literature" which had just been released today, and read it very seriously.
Zhu Wei took out several manuscripts he brought back from work from his bag, sat down at his desk to review them, and occasionally wrote down comments.
Nowadays, people don’t have mobile phones or telephones. When friends are in the mood to meet someone, they basically just ride their bikes to see them, without ever saying hello in advance.
Li Tuo's home is in Dongdaqiao, not far from Zhu Wei's home. He often rides his bike for more than ten minutes after work to get there.
At such times, Li Tuo usually found a good book or saw a good article in a newspaper, and then he couldn't wait to go to Zhu Wei to share it.
Although he has not written novels in the past two years, he has read more than when he was writing before, after all, he has more time.
The quiet atmosphere in the room continued until after nine o'clock in the evening. The sound of Zhu Wei getting up to pour water woke up Li Tuo who had been immersed in the novel.
"What time is it?" Li Tuo asked.
"It's half past nine!"
Li Tuo suddenly realized that he was so engrossed in reading that he didn't even notice the time.
He lowered his head and glanced at the "People's Literature" in his hand. Unconsciously, he had already read more than half of "The Ming Dynasty 1566".
Li Tuo felt uncomfortable when he thought that half of the content would have to wait until next month to be read.
Waiting doesn’t feel good!
“Hey!”
"what?"
"I want to discuss something with you. This is too uncomfortable to read. Can you let me go to your editorial office to take a look at the manuscript?"
After hearing Li Tuo's request, Zhu Wei's first reaction was to wonder, "Can I just show you the manuscript?"
"It's already been published anyway. I won't take it away. I'll just stay in your editorial office. I can just bring my own stool with me. I promise I won't delay your editorial work. How do you think?"
"this……"
Li Tuo's attitude was so humble that Zhu Wei felt embarrassed to refuse.
The next morning, Lin Weimin was reviewing manuscripts in his office when Liu Yin walked in.
"Hey, Weimin, have you heard?" she asked with a gossipy look on her face.
"What did you hear?" Lin Weimin looked up at her, somewhat puzzled.
"Is Li Tuo squatting in the editorial office of People's Literature?"
"What is he doing there?"
Liu Yin had a mysterious smile on his face, "To read your novel manuscript!"
Lin Weimin looked a little surprised. "Look at my manuscript? The Ming Dynasty 1566?"
"Yeah." Liu Yin nodded.
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "That's not the case. Hasn't it been sent out?"
"But not all of them have been sent out! I heard that he came this morning and specially asked Wang Meng to stay in the editorial department to read your novel. I didn't expect that your novel is so fascinating!" Liu Yin exclaimed.
After Liu Yin finished telling this gossip, she left Lin Weimin's office. Needless to say, she would spread the news after returning to the editorial office.
After a busy day, it was time to get off work. Lin Weimin was about to pick up his car and leave when he heard someone calling him at the door of the front building.
"Teacher Lin!"
He turned his head and saw that it was Zhu Wei, followed by Li Tuo.
Seeing that Lin Weimin was so excited that his facial features were distorted, Li Tuo rushed to Zhu Wei and held Lin Weimin's hand.
"Teacher Lin, Teacher Lin, you wrote a great work! Great work!"
Li Tuo shook Lin Weimin's hand with excessive enthusiasm, with admiration flashing in his eyes.
Lin Weimin smiled and exchanged a few words with him. The two had met at the "Furong Town" symposium not long ago, but they didn't talk much at that time.
"Teacher Lin, do you have time? Let's have dinner together!" Li Tuo took the initiative to invite.
Lin Weimin hesitated for a moment and said, "Okay."
Li Tuo was extremely happy. He called Zhu Wei and went out of the Guowen Society compound and went straight to a restaurant.
While waiting for the food, Li Tuo chatted and talked about "The Ming Dynasty 1566" every other sentence.
He spent the whole day today reading the other half of the novel, with a lot of ideas in his mind. When he came out, he happened to meet Lin Weimin, the author of the novel, who was just getting off work. Needless to say, he was very excited.
He talked incessantly about his feelings and opinions after reading the novel, and even the food and wine on the table could not arouse his interest.
Seeing this, Zhu Wei interrupted Li Tuo and said, "Can you eat something first?"
Li Tuo then realized his own gaffe and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Teacher Lin, I was a little excited."
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Brother Li, what are you talking about? I should be happy that my novel is so popular."
Zhu Wei also smiled and echoed: "It is not only Li Tuo who likes Mr. Lin's "The Ming Dynasty 1566". All colleagues in our editorial department were shocked after reading it."
Li Tuo slapped the table and said, "That's right! Zhu Wei is absolutely right, this is the feeling, stunning!"
Li Tuo's praise made Lin Weimin feel a little embarrassed, "Brother Li, you are too kind, too kind!"
Li Tuo's face was full of seriousness, and his tone was solemn, "It is absolutely not an exaggeration!"
"Teacher Lin, you have written an amazing work! It is really worth mentioning!"
Li Tuo seemed to be unsatisfied as he spoke. He raised the wine glass on the table and drank it all in one gulp.
"Amazing! So amazing! If a writer can write a work like this in his lifetime, he will be satisfied even when he dies!"
Li Tuo took advantage of the alcohol to behave in a dissolute manner.
Zhu Wei looked at his friend with a smile and explained to Lin Weimin: "Teacher Lin, he didn't mean that."
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "Of course I know!"
Lin Weimin was very happy that his work received such high recognition from his peers, and he raised his glass to drink.
Li Tuo added: "I must write a review of your novel and praise it highly!"
(End of this chapter)
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