Chapter 3535 [Update 1]
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief: "Damn, I must not be awake yet!"
He slowly lowered his head and buried his face in his arms. Then he couldn't help but turn his face to the side little by little, resting it on his arms, his eyes quietly looking at the computer screen next to him.
Due to the sideways angle and the light from the computer screen, he couldn't clearly see what Jiang Ning was writing. It all seemed like an illusion in his imagination.
As he watched, he finally couldn't resist the sleepiness from staying up all night, and unknowingly fell asleep to the rhythmic tapping of the keyboard.
Two hours passed by unknowingly, during which time more people came to surf the Internet.
By nine o'clock, the Internet cafe was packed again. Students, social people, hooligans, all kinds of people gathered in this place, which is fashionable and avant-garde for today's young people.
In the entire Internet cafe, Jiang Ning was the only person from key high schools like Wuzhong and No. 1 Middle School. Because it was the weekend, she was not wearing a school uniform, but her and Wang Yong's presence still attracted some people's attention.
In addition, she was a little girl surfing the Internet with her hands typing away, and there was a follower sitting next to her. Many people were curious about their relationship. They were said to be a couple... Tsk, who would like a guy with a clean-cut haircut who looked like he had not developed and was neither male nor female?
If we talk about brother and sister, the young man's attitude towards the dwarf was a bit too attentive. He even helped her to pick up the soda bottle cap and placed it next to her, as if saying "Thank you for your hard work in writing, big brother" and preparing to feed her.
What makes them even more upset is that this guy is wearing something quite fashionable.
At this time, most of the clothes here were still imported from Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. For Wang Yong who came from Guangzhou, the normal clothes he bought there, when brought to this small county town, became a unique and bright addition to this undeveloped ancient town.
The scrutinizing and examining eyes around him made Wang Yong, who had always been a good student, feel a little uncomfortable. He wanted to shrink close to Teacher Ning Meng, but he was a boy and Teacher Ning Meng was just a little girl under fourteen years old, so naturally he had no intention of asking Teacher Ning Meng to protect him.
He waited until Jiang Ning had finished writing for two hours and almost finished four chapters. When Jiang Ning twisted his neck to stretch his muscles, he carefully handed him a bottle of soda: "Teacher Ning Meng, you have also written four chapters. Do you want to take a break?" He asked: "Have you finished your homework?"
Jiang Ning: ...
Jiang Ning glanced at him and said, "I wrote a chapter here last night. I came here early this morning to write. What do you think?"
Wang Yong carefully looked at the people around him who were looking at him from time to time, and said in a characteristic broad voice: "You have written so much, enough, it's getting late now, as students, we should still focus on studying, what do you think?"
God knows, when he found out that Teacher Ning Meng wrote so quickly and efficiently, he really wanted to stick Teacher Ning Meng in front of the computer with super glue and keep typing.
If every author had the same writing speed as Teacher Ning Meng, why would they be afraid of gaps in the magazine? One issue of the manuscript can be completed in one day!
Mom doesn't have to worry about my studies anymore!
Pooh! The director no longer has to worry about the gap in "The Great Song Dynasty"!
Jiang Ning did not reject his suggestion. He saved the four newly written chapters and sent them to the submission mailbox of "Wuxia" by email.
The 28,000 words accumulated during this period, plus today's 12,000 words, now I have a manuscript of 40,000 words!
Most people in the Internet cafe just play games by themselves and don't care about other people's business, but some people looked at the backs of the two people leaving the Internet cafe and couldn't help but whisper to their companions: "Where did that man come from? He's dressed like a peacock spreading its tail."
In other words, Wang Yong behaved properly around the dwarf and didn't flirt with him, otherwise he would have taught him a lesson.
"Let's play games." Soon, their attention was focused on the most popular games on the streets.
At the same time the next day, Jiang Ning and Wang Yong came to the Internet cafe again to write a 12,000-word manuscript. They left at the appointed time without staying for a second longer.
Wang Yong and Jiang Ning also kept their eyes straight ahead and avoided any conflicts with anyone.
Now Jiang Ning has accumulated a total of 52,000 manuscripts, plus the 55,000 he sent before, the manuscripts of "Wuxia" now amount to a full 107,000 words, which can allow "Wuxia" to be serialized for five issues. Five issues means five weeks, one month and seven days. Even if the mail is as slow as a snail now, it is enough for "Wuxia" to have plenty of time to wait for Ning Meng's manuscripts. What's more, now there is an email address, unlike before when it took a lot of time to wait for letters on the way, they can arrive in real time.
Especially Teacher Ning Meng’s typing speed made Wang Yong feel more at ease.
After he told Director Li the news, Director Li was overjoyed and felt that Wang Yong could end his business trip and return to Guangzhou.
Wang Yong told Director Li hesitantly about the chaos in the Internet cafes in Wucheng: "It's too unsafe for Teacher Ning Meng, a girl, to go to an Internet cafe. I'm afraid some bad guys will bully her."
In fact, it's not just Wucheng. Guangzhou and Shenzhen are much more chaotic than Wucheng, especially places like train stations. There are so many thieves that it affects local security. All kinds of fights and grabbing of resources are not uncommon. The initial accumulation of capital there was fought for in the most primitive and barbaric way.
If you don't fight for it, others will naturally come to snatch it from you.
Although Li Ang and those people were not on the same track, even in a purely literary job like founding a magazine, he could not avoid all kinds of bloody struggles such as undercover and poaching. He almost destroyed the "Wuxia" magazine. Coupled with the increasingly severe wave of layoffs in recent years, how could he not know the chaos in Wucheng that Wang Yong mentioned?
After thinking about it, he said, "Then you stay in Wucheng for the time being and be responsible for Teacher Ning Meng's manuscript. Ning Meng is a little girl studying outside. If there are any inconveniences in her life, you should take care of her. You are very thoughtful this time." Director Li praised, "I will reassign people to be responsible for the other authors and teachers."
There is no reason why Wang Yong should not respond.
For him, one Ningmeng under his command is enough to match several new authors who have not yet emerged.
Ning Meng's manuscript has stabilized, and Director Li has been in a very excited mood recently.
The weekly sales of the fourth issue have come out, and the first print run of one million copies has all been absorbed by the markets radiated by the three branches in Nanshi, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Director Li, who has greater ambitions, wants to take advantage of the current popularity of "The Great Song" to open another branch in Jinshi and further spread the influence of "Wuxia" magazine to the north.
It's not easy.
Because there are a lot of magazines in Jinshi with a very high market share, some of them are even not much worse than the "Wuxia" magazine which was about to be cancelled during its most glorious period, and will continue to be glorious in the future.
Therefore, if "Wuxia" wants to bypass the local giants in Jinshi and enter the northern market, it also needs to see whether the local magazines in Jinshi agree.
But the North is indeed a huge market.
The good thing is that although there are many famous magazines in Jinshi, in the field of martial arts, none can compete with the current popularity of "Wuxia" magazine, which is why he chose to enter the north now.
Now it is the fifth issue of "The Great Song Dynasty". Director Li has enough manuscripts in stock, so he serialized seven chapters at one time, which is more than 21,000 words. Taking advantage of the momentum of "Justice Bao" not yet being taken off the air, it will be much easier to enter the northern market now than at any other time.
He thought about it and called the editor-in-chief of a publishing house he knew.
Jiang Ning was stunned when she heard Wang Yong say that "Wuxia" magazine wanted to be the agent for her publishing rights and publish "The Great Song Dynasty".
Didn’t we just finish the fourth issue and prepare for the fifth issue? Why is it being published suddenly?
This is a very normal thing after the millennium. Many authors serialize their works in magazines first, and then publish them if they do well.
Others directly sign a publishing contract, then serialize the work in a magazine under the publishing house for preheating and publicity. When the magazine has serialized the work for several issues and readers are itching to read more, they release the complete work in one go, or divide it into three volumes, upper, middle and lower. This way of publishing has a very good publicity effect.
Director Li was in the same situation at this time.
"The Great Song" has been serialized for four issues, and tomorrow is the fifth issue. Based on the serialization volume of 20,000 words per issue, plus the fifth issue that will be released tomorrow, "The Great Song" has serialized a total of 120,000 words.
If "Wuxia" wanted to enter the northern market, it would not have started with the first issue of "Da Song" serialized in "Wuxia". Without the warm-up of the previous issues, readers would have directly entered the sixth issue of "Da Song", or even the seventh and eighth issues of the serialization. Without a beginning or an end, the market response would definitely not be good.
Moreover, it will take time for "Wuxia" to enter the northern market.
So he thought of cooperating with a publishing house to divide "The Great Song" into Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3 according to the number of words. Just like the works of Jin Yong, Gu Long, and Wen Ruian currently on the market, it can be divided into multiple volumes, each with 150,000 words. Then, "The Great Song" will be sent to the north through the publishing house's channels, and then the magazine's "Martial Arts" will follow closely. People who have read the first volume of "The Great Song" will naturally go to the publishing house to inquire about the subsequent content after the subsequent content is released. At this time, "Martial Arts" can take the opportunity to enter the northern market. As for whether it can grab a market share in the north in the future, it depends on the subsequent content output of the "Martial Arts" magazine.
At any time, high-quality content is the key to a magazine's survival.
With the current monthly sales of more than three million copies of "Wuxia", many publishing houses want to obtain the publishing rights of "Da Song". What Director Li has to do is to select from these publishing houses the one with the best northern market channels and the one that is most conducive to "Wuxia" entering the northern market.
This is not difficult for him who is inside the publishing system.
Jiang Ning was surprised that a publishing house took a fancy to "The Great Song" and signed a contract to publish it so quickly.
"Our director personally found the publishing house for you." Wang Yong pushed his glasses on his nose and said, "We will only publish the serialized parts, the first volume. Director Li has already negotiated the contract for you. Take a look."
At present, what Director Li sent him is only an electronic contract, or in other words, it is not a contract at all. It only has some general terms and mainly the publisher's quotation. The formal contract has to be sent by the publishing house. The specific details can be discussed with the publishing house after the contract arrives.
Because of the popularity of "The Great Song" itself, the publisher offered a price of 9% for the first print of 100,000, and the price would increase by one point for every additional print of 100,000.
The price is very generous.
Director Li's main purpose in finding a publisher for her was to open up the northern market, so he only charged her a symbolic agency fee.
At this time, due to the increase in the total monthly sales of "Wuxia", the printing factory cooperating with "Wuxia" was also working overtime to print.
As a printing factory in Guangzhou that had in-depth cooperation with "Wuxia", after entering the 1990s, the decline of "Wuxia" also caused a sharp drop in the printing factory's orders. Although it did not face bankruptcy like other factories, it was still difficult to maintain.
The popularity of "The Great Song" not only made the "Wuxia" magazine revive overnight, but also brought many orders to the printing factory. Not to mention other things, the total number of copies printed by the "Wuxia" magazine alone in their printing factory last month reached more than 3 million. This has greatly alleviated the current financial situation of the printing factory. Many wages that had not been paid before have also been paid, and the workers in the printing factory are also very happy.
The hot sales of "Wuxia" and the popularity of "The Song Dynasty" and "Judge Bao" have also set off a criminal investigation craze, which has inspired many authors who are interested in criminal investigation to want to write criminal investigation novels. It has also led magazines of the same type as "Wuxia" to leave notices in the article solicitation section to collect criminal investigation manuscripts. Some magazines have even begun to follow suit.
Many authors know that with the current popularity of "Da Song" in "Wuxia", other similar manuscripts submitted to "Wuxia" will definitely be overshadowed by "Da Song", so they rarely submit them to "Wuxia".
"The Great Song" is the work that "Wuxia" is currently promoting. Whether it is from the strength of publicity, the cover or the position on the inside pages of "Wuxia" magazine, it is undoubtedly the best. Director Li wants to take advantage of the current popularity of "The Great Song" to make "The Great Song" another signature masterpiece of "Wuxia", so that people will think of "The Great Song" when they see "The Great Song" in the future, and think of "Wuxia" when they see "Wuxia", and the two will be deeply bundled together to complement each other and achieve each other.
This is a win-win situation. Jiang Ning doesn't care how "Wuxia" magazine promotes it. She just submits her manuscripts regularly and doesn't delay her payment.
Because there had been no news from Story Club, she had revised the manuscript that she had previously sent to Story Club, changed the name, and sent it to Zhiyin.
This was the third manuscript she had sent to Zhiyin. During this period, she also sent one article each to Readers and Youth Digest.
She spent almost all of the rest of her time reviewing her high school textbooks.
She has never been a smart or clever person. In fact, because of the deep-rooted oppression since childhood, she feels from the bottom of her heart that she is a "stupid" person. She is not quick to react and lacks quick wit in daily life. The only thing she can do is to work harder than ordinary people.
She goes to bed on time at 10:30 every night and gets up at 5:00 in the morning. She recites what she had memorized yesterday while running to deepen her memory, and then reads new content after reading it in the morning.
For her, learning liberal arts subjects, whether Chinese, history, or politics, was effortless, both in terms of memory and comprehension. Her many years of working and studying experience within the system enabled her to learn politics and history with twice the result with half the effort. Moreover, she was already very interested in Chinese, politics, and history. While others viewed these three courses as studying, she was purely enjoying them.
Especially for history, you will find many interesting things and interesting people in history books, which makes her unable to help but go to the library to look up more historical materials, study history more deeply, and understand the political background and political significance behind historical events.
Political history has always been interconnected.
If Jiang Ning completely enjoys Chinese, politics and history, then English is a language that she has completely mastered. She mainly focuses on mathematics, physics and chemistry.
It has to be admitted that her talent in physics and chemistry is really limited. Even if she can make up for some of the gap through hard work and make it seem that she is doing better than most of the students in the class, only she herself understands that she has only learned the surface of what the teacher taught. It is impossible for her to learn in depth and master it like she did in Chinese, politics and history.
She is a little better at math and feels that it is not that difficult to learn. However, math does not make her feel "easy". It is also a subject that requires her to spend a lot of energy to study hard in order to get good grades.
In her previous life, she studied liberal arts and spent a lot of effort to improve her math and English scores. Her accumulated knowledge finally paid off and she got the best score she had ever taken in high school in the college entrance examination, becoming a lucky person in the eyes of others.
Perhaps it was because she had already learned high school math in her previous life. Even after many years, most of the math knowledge she had learned in high school had been forgotten and returned to the teacher, but after all, it was learned. When she tried it again, Jiang Ning clearly felt that it was much easier to learn. The knowledge points that used to require her to spend a lot of time repeatedly doing exercises to master, now seemed to be easily mastered and her understanding was deepened.
Jiang Ning understood that she did not become smarter, but as she relearned high school knowledge, the memories hidden deep in her mind were being unearthed bit by bit.
I don't know if it was the braised pork Jiang Ning gave He Xiaofang that day, or the fact that they both didn't go home on the weekend, that made He Xiaofang suddenly feel close to Jiang Ning. Specifically, when He Xiaofang saw Jiang Ning jogging in the morning, she also got up early and went jogging with him. When Jiang Ning went to fetch water, she also went to fetch water with him. When Jiang Ning went to get food, she asked Jiang Ning to sit down, holding her enamel pot, and said actively and enthusiastically: "You sit here, I'll help you get it!"
As if she was afraid that Jiang Ning would reject her, there was a hint of uneasiness in her expression. As she spoke, her thick ponytail swung half a circle, quite vigorously.
Jiang Ning thought she was quite cute, so she smiled and said, "That won't work. The serving lady likes me!"
He Xiaofang thought of the braised pork that was packed tightly in Jiang Ning's enamel pot that night. Her eyes lit up with envy, and she thought Jiang Ning was particularly cute.
After dinner, she had to wash the rice bowl for Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning avoided her outstretched hand. She looked quite lost and followed Jiang Ning. When they walked to the sink to wash the rice bowl, she asked Jiang Ning sadly: "Jiang Ning, don't you like me?"
Jiang Ning was surprised: "How could that be? I like you very much and I think you are very cute."
"Really?" She, who had been dejected just now, suddenly perked up with her eyes surprisingly bright.
She has thick hair, dark eyebrows, and a pair of clear black and white eyes, and all her emotions are clearly expressed on her face.
"Really, I like you very much." After a pause, Jiang Ning said sincerely: "Besides, you are very beautiful."
He Xiaofang's dark face suddenly turned red with shame, and she lowered her head shyly. No one ever said she was pretty, and everyone called her Heidan.
She didn't quite believe what Jiang Ning said, that she was very beautiful, but Jiang Ning's sincere eyes told her that she was really beautiful in her eyes.
Although she was three years older than Jiang Ning and half a head taller than him, she followed Jiang Ning like a shy little wife. When they reached the water-fetching place, she hurriedly picked up Jiang Ning's kettle and said, "There are a lot of people in there. You wait here. I'll go in and get some water!" As she spoke, she carried two kettles and squeezed in.
After coming out, Jiang Ning wanted to take the kettle from her hand, but she refused to let him, "It's okay, I can carry it!" Then she carried the two kettles and climbed up to the sixth floor in one breath. Even the ends of her ponytail were raised with a happy arc.
Seeing Jiang Ning take out the math book and do math exercises, she also did math. Seeing Jiang Ning get out of bed to drink water, she also wanted to drink water.
She moved so vigorously that the entire upper bunk seemed to tremble. Jiang Ning saw this and poured her a glass as well.
She held the enamel cup, lowered her head, her face full of shy joy, and couldn't help but look up at Jiang Ning. Seeing that Jiang Ning was studying, she also calmed down and read.
On Sunday afternoon, the roommates of Dormitory 610 came back one after another. When they got back to the dormitory, they saw the two test-taker were reading. They didn't want to disturb them, thinking about the monthly exam soon, so after putting down their luggage, they picked up the books and started reading.
By the evening, Xu Xiuli also came back.
Jiang Ning put down the book, stretched her neck, stood in front of the bed and stretched by the fence of the upper bunk, then walked to the balcony and looked down. She turned around and smiled at Xu Xiuli in the sunset: "Are you back?"
Xu Xiuli curled her eyes, took out a bag of spiced broad beans from her bag, handed it to Jiang Ning, and asked Jiang Ning to share it with everyone: "My mother made this, you can try it."
She spoke in a soft voice, always with a hint of coquettishness in her voice.
Jiang Ning didn't hesitate and picked up a piece and put it in her mouth, then handed the opened bag to other people in the dormitory. Of course, the first person she handed it to was the lower bunk closest to her and next to the balcony, and then to He Xiaofang on the upper bunk.
Seeing that she was the first to pass it to her, He Xiaofang happily took a broad bean and tasted it, then invited Jiang Ning: "Ningning, do you want to go downstairs to eat?"
She blinked her pair of dark puppy eyes, as if she was afraid of being rejected, and there was an expectation in her eyes that she herself might not even be aware of.
Jiang Ning was stunned for a moment when she saw this, then lowered her eyelids, ate some broad beans, and then looked up at her and nodded with a smile: "Okay." She then called to the other people in the dormitory, "Are you going to eat?"
So a group of little girls came together, some carrying water bottles, some carrying vegetable bottles, and walked towards the cafeteria in the next building.
Since the beginning of the school year, Xu Xiuli has gotten used to being with Jiang Ning and walks beside Jiang Ning very naturally. He Xiaofang also quickly walks over and takes the other side of Jiang Ning.
Because they have to attend evening self-study classes, almost all the students who went home on the weekend have returned to school, and the cafeteria is very busy.
He Xiaofang saw an empty table, and quickly took two steps and rushed to one of the empty tables. She waved to Jiang Ning excitedly while occupying an empty seat: "Ning Ning! Ning Ning! Come and sit here!"
One seat can accommodate four people, and if they squeeze together, up to six people can sit.
There were eight people in their dormitory, so they naturally couldn't sit at the same table, so they naturally split into two tables. Xu Xiuli naturally sat with Jiang Ning and the others.
As soon as Jiang Ning sat down, He Xiaofang took Jiang Ning's rice bowl and said, "You stay here and watch the seat. I'll go get the rice!" Then she ran excitedly to line up.
Xu Xiuli looked at He Xiaofang who was lining up, then looked at Jiang Ning, her face full of confusion: "Do we still need to check for seats?"
Generally, when others see that a seat is filled with several food bottles that others brought from home, they will know that the seat is already occupied and will consciously find another seat. It is rare to encounter a particularly overbearing person who will occupy the table even though he knows that the seat is occupied.
Jiang Ning stood up with a smile, went to He Xiaofang to ask for her own enamel pot, and went to queue up at the braised pork window.
Coincidentally, the person serving food at the braised pork window today was still Teacher Liu’s lover.
Teacher Liu's lover had actually forgotten what Jiang Ning looked like, but Jiang Ning's call of "Little Sister" suddenly reminded Teacher Liu's lover of her. He immediately smiled and scooped a large spoonful of braised pork for Jiang Ning, and as if it was not enough, he added three or four more pieces for her.
"Thank you, Miss." Jiang Ning was holding the rice bowl, and before she left the food window, she heard a voice above her head saying, "Auntie, one serving of braised pork."
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