Gu Yongnian told Grandpa Gu what he was thinking. Although Grandpa Gu did not expect Gu Weicheng to marry a divorced woman, he still said:
"Weicheng is a child with his own ideas. Since it's the person he likes, it doesn't matter if it's his first or second marriage, as long as he likes it.
This child can write letters at such a young age. He is obviously a smart and sensible child. Regardless of whether he is Weicheng's biological child or not, since his mother married Weicheng, he is my great-grandson. Yongnian, I have saved up the money Weicheng sent me over the years, but I don't use it. I want to use the money to buy something and send it to them. "
"Okay, grandpa, I'll accompany you to buy it then." Gu Yongnian said.
He felt relieved when he saw that Grandpa Gu was not angry because Gu Weicheng married a divorced woman.
After all, Grandpa Gu is a person of the older generation, and he was afraid that Grandpa Gu would not be able to accept it.
Li Xia and Gu Weicheng in the army were not aware of what was happening in Yongning Village.
Su Wenbin left the army, just as he came with a bag on his back when he first joined the army, and now he is leaving with a bag on his back.
No one saw him off when he left.
If it was a normal transfer or discharge, everyone would definitely send it off, but Su Wenbin's case was too serious. Knowing that his sister had done something illegal and still covering it up, this kind of behavior is a shame for soldiers.
On this day, Li Xia received a letter from the Beijing Military News.
The letter said that after discussion, the newspaper wanted to invite her to write a serialized novel in another newspaper under the newspaper, but didn't know if she was willing.
At the end of the letter, he left the editor's phone number, hoping that Li Xia would call him and have a detailed chat over the phone about the novel.
Li Xia knew a little about serial novels published in newspapers.
I heard that it became popular to publish serial novels in newspapers during the Republic of China period.
In Taiwan at this time, this should be the time when Qiong Yao, Jin Yong and Gu Long dominated the newspapers.
Li Xia also has the idea of writing a long novel, because short stories are actually quite useless.
The Beijing Military News is a newspaper that attaches great importance to the ideological content of its articles, so she has to ensure that every one of her stories is great and glorious, and makes the audience think deeply.
If this goes on for a long time, it will be very tiring.
This is also the reason why Li Xia can only write and send four or five articles a month.
But it would be different if she wrote a novel. Although the ideas and intentions of novels in this era are all positive, if she does a good job of character setting and outline, she can write for a long time, so she doesn't have to rack her brains every time to think about what kind of article to write.
Moreover, she felt that serializing novels in newspapers would be more profitable than submitting each article individually as she did now.
Li Xia wrote down the editor's phone number, put it in his pocket, and planned to go to the communications room to call the editor.
There is no telephone at home, but the Propaganda Department has one, but today is the holiday.
Moreover, it is really inappropriate to use a public phone for personal matters, and Li Xia is not the kind of person who likes to take advantage of socialism.
Arriving at the communications room, Li Xia dialed the newspaper's number.
The phone rang a few times and then someone answered it immediately.
"Hello, I'm Li Xia." Li Xia said.
"Comrade Li, hello, hello. I thought you would receive the letter sent by the newspaper in the next two days. I was afraid of missing your call, so I didn't dare to leave the phone for a moment. It's great that I finally got your call!"
On the other end of the line was a more lively female voice.
Li Xia was a little surprised to hear this. She thought the other party would be a middle-aged man or something like that. After all, the newspaper she applied to was a military newspaper.
The other party was obviously surprised by Li Xia's voice, because it could be seen from her voice that she was not very old.
"Oh my god, Comrade Li, can you tell me your age? I always thought that people who can write such profound and thoughtful articles should be of a certain age and have a certain amount of life experience, at least in their early forties, but when I hear your voice, it doesn't sound like someone in his forties."
Li Xia smiled and said, "I just turned 25 this year."
"What? You've been in the same school with me for a year! This is unbelievable. If my dad knew about this, he would definitely be surprised!" the other person exclaimed.
"By the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Qiao Ran, and I'm the editor of the New Evening News under Jinghua. My father, Lao Qiao, is your editor of the Jinghua Military News. You can call me Xiao Qiao or Xiao Ran."
"I believe you have read the letter I sent you. Our New Evening News wants to serialize novels and would like to invite you to write a serialized novel. However, I must tell you that the New Evening News has only been published for a short time and its reputation cannot be compared with that of the Jinghua Military News. Its sales volume is far lower than that of the Military News."
"But don't worry, we have discussed it internally. As long as you are willing to serialize your novel in our newspaper, the newspaper can pay you the same as the military newspaper, which is 8 yuan per thousand words."
"Comrade Li, I have finished what I want to say. If you have any ideas or requests, please feel free to raise them. We will try our best to agree to anything we can." Qiao Ran said.
The standard of eight yuan per thousand words is definitely a high price for a novel in this era.
After all, a short article in the Beijing Military News only costs eight yuan for a thousand words, so Li Xia understood that the other party was very sincere.
Li Xia groaned for a moment and said, "Editor Qiao, I know that the conditions you offer are very sincere, but I still have to fight for the interests that I should fight for.
This eight yuan per thousand words only buys my serialization rights in the newspaper, which means that when it is serialized, it will be published in the New Evening News, and the ownership will still be in my hands. If the long story is published in the future, the publishing fee will belong to me personally and will have nothing to do with the New Evening News. Of course, if the New Evening News wants to publish the long story, as long as the royalties are appropriate, the priority of publication will still belong to the New Evening News. "
Nowadays, many people write books and submit them for publication. After receiving the royalties, it is equivalent to buying out the copyright.
What Li Xia said is equivalent to charging two fees.
The eight yuan per thousand words only buys the serialization rights, and you can continue to charge for future publications.
Moreover, eight yuan per thousand words is only the initial manuscript fee. If the stories written by Li Xia receive good responses and the sales of New Evening News increase significantly as a result, Li Xia's manuscript fee will also increase accordingly.
Qiao Ran said truthfully: "I have received your request. I will tell our editor-in-chief about it after work tomorrow and ask him what he thinks. Call me at this time tomorrow and I will tell you the result, okay?"
"Okay." Li Xia nodded.
After hanging up the phone and paying the money, Li Xia went home.
When I got home, Gu Weicheng and An An were already there.
An An was doing his homework, and Ji Feng was right next to him.
Gu Weicheng asked Li Xia why she got off work so late today, and Li Xia told him that she had a phone call with the editor to discuss serializing her novel in the newspaper.
Gu Weicheng actually didn't quite understand these things. He didn't read any other newspapers except the Jinghua Military News, but he supported all the decisions made by Li Xia.
He also asked, "Will it be serialized in the Military Newspaper? Or some other newspaper? Let's subscribe to one when the time comes."
Li Xia couldn't help laughing when she heard it. "It's not the military newspaper, it's the new evening newspaper under the Jinghua News Agency. It's newly issued, and it certainly doesn't have as much influence as the Jinghua Military News. It's estimated that there are very few cities covered, and Yuncheng may not have them. But I'm not sure whether they can agree to my request. If they don't agree, I won't publish it."
Eight dollars per thousand words may seem like a lot at the moment, but she knows that when her novel is published in the future, the money she earns from royalties will be many times more than eight dollars per thousand words.
"Then we'll talk about it after it's confirmed." Gu Weicheng nodded and asked, "The army is having an open-air movie tonight, do you want to go and watch it?"
"Watch a movie? Sure." Li Xia agreed immediately.
She has had very few entertainment activities since she came here, and with what happened to Su Wenyan recently, it would be nice to go watch a movie and relax.
An An has never seen a movie in her life, so she is very passionate about watching movies and is looking forward to it from now on.
The movie didn't start until 7:30, and there was still about an hour after dinner, so An An pulled his parents to go out.
Li Xia said, "Don't worry, if you go too early, the movie won't start yet. Mom will make you some snacks that are suitable for watching the movie."
"What snacks?" An An was very curious.
"Popcorn." Li Xia said with a smile.
How can you watch a movie without popcorn?
"I know, I know. Just put the corn into the machine and shake it. Then with a 'bang' sound, the corn will explode!" An An used both hands and described it with great excitement.
He had seen popcorn before, and it was the most common way of making it in this era. Not only corn could be put in, but also rice, soybeans, broad beans, etc. Everything could be popped.
"But we don't have a machine at home." An An said.
Li Xia smiled mysteriously: "Mom has a way."
In fact, the method is very simple. You just use a pot to make popcorn. First, put some sugar and oil in the pot and fry them. After they become syrup, put the corn kernels in and fry them until the syrup evenly wraps each kernel of corn.
Cover the pot and it starts crackling!
The popcorn is ready.
An An smelled it and tasted it, and found that the popcorn made by her mother was a hundred times and a thousand times more delicious than the one made by the old man in the village!
While Li Xia and An An were busy in the kitchen, Gu Weicheng waited silently without urging them. He was not like other men who complained about their wives' slowness in their words.
When the popcorn is ready, he takes the initiative to scrub the pot and clean it thoroughly.
When we got to the training ground, there were so many people watching the movie.
Those who come early have seats, but those who come late can only stand at the back and watch. Li Xia’s family of three could only stand at the back and watch.
An An was too short to see, so Gu Weicheng let him ride on his neck to see.
He was watching a movie while eating delicious popcorn, which made the children around him very greedy. They stared at An An with drooling eyes, and watching the movie turned into watching popcorn.
After watching the movie, An An had a hundred thousand questions in mind.
"Mom, how are movies made?"
"It was shot with a camera, and it had to be exported for editing and so on. In short, it was quite complicated, and my mother didn't know much about it. But she knew that the first thing to prepare for a movie was the script, and then find actors."
"Mom, what is a script?"
“You can think of it like the essay my mother wrote, but the story of the script is longer.”
"Then can the story my mother wrote also be made into a movie?"
"That's a good idea. Mom will work hard to let An An see the movie written by Mom in the future."
“Yeah!!”
The mother and son were chatting enthusiastically, when suddenly An An saw a very familiar figure outside the crowd. He pointed to the distance and asked, "Mom and Dad, that person looks like Uncle Hu! There's an auntie following Uncle Hu!"