Chapter 198
Wang Jiazhi officially joined their group. Due to limited funds for running the newspaper, they only rented one floor. They worked and lived there, which was quite crowded.
Not counting her, there were four men and two women in the group. The two women lived in the more spacious room. Originally, the three men lived in the other room, but one man decided it was too small and had relatives living there, so he temporarily stayed there. He lived in a smaller room by himself.
She had no choice but to live with the two girls. Putting in another bed wouldn't have been too much trouble, but with her suddenly appearing, how could they not mind? Especially since she remembered their strange behavior on the first day. She felt uneasy, wondering if they would start a secret rivalry again.
He smiled and said, "It's a bit crowded for three people. If you don't mind, you can live in the attic, but it's too small."
She said quickly, "I don't have much stuff, so it's okay if it's a little smaller."
He took her to the place, which contained a small bed, a chair, and a small window in front of the table. Although it was small, it was fine for one person to live in. It was clean and tidy, and looked very comfortable. It was like one of those exquisite and safe little nests in a fairy tale.
She said happily, "I want to live here."
He smiled and said, "That's the best. It's more comfortable to be alone."
Wang Jiazhi didn't have many things. She spread out light pink bedding, put books and pens on the table, and placed a pot of dark purple cineraria on the window, which instantly made the room warm.
The daily routine here is that two girls take turns cooking on odd and even weeks, and two boys take turns cleaning on odd and even weeks. They usually go to the printing factory to help out.
When Wang Jiazhi arrived, she worked with the two girls, each of them responsible for a week's meals.
She pawned most of her jewelry and used the money to pay her membership dues.
Originally she said she definitely didn't want the salary, but he said everyone got one and the money was only enough for daily simple expenses, and asked her not to be different from others, so she had no choice but to accept it.
The two girls I saw at that time, the one wearing a red skirt was called Duan Fengming, and the one wearing a yellow cheongsam was called Fang Jiejun. The other two boys, the one who greeted her that day was called Ruan Liang, and the other who lived outside was called Xu Huaxu.
Wang Jiazhi had just arrived, so she bought some snacks for them. She also helped them with any chores she could do if it wasn't her turn.
That day, the two girls went out to buy things. She saw that it was almost four o'clock, so she went to the kitchen to wash rice and cook.
He came in and said, "Do you want to cook?"
"Yeah, now that we're done, we can eat it when they come back."
He poured the rice from her rice washing basin back into the rice bag and said with a smile, "Just helping out for a few days is enough. From now on, whoever's on duty will do it. If you do something extra once, they'll assume that you'll be the one doing it from now on. If you don't, they'll be upset with you."
"Oh." She smiled, put away her things, and went back to writing.
Although her time there was short, her articles received very positive reviews. Their newspaper, while primarily focused on current affairs, also had a literary section.
Her new stories and literary reviews received great response, and she received many letters from readers.
She also realized that since she had just arrived, some people seemed friendly on the surface, but were actually secretly competing with each other.
That day he brought her two more stacks of letters, too many to read. The stamps on the letters also gave her a big surprise, asking her to collect as many as she liked.
On one letter was a fully blossomed white orchid. She smiled and said, "It's beautiful, isn't it? Like a string of wind chimes."
"Yeah, is your stamp album full? I have another one here."
"I still have half a book empty. I can't read all these letters. If you have time, read some for me and tell me if you find any useful."
"Your article has received really good responses, and many readers have provided very insightful insights."
"I was also worried that what I wrote might be too unconventional."
“No, it’s quite profound.”
At this time, the man came out of the house and said in a sarcastic tone: "We are a current affairs newspaper for the country and the people, but now it has become a lewd sound that mocks the wind and the moon."
Wang Jiazhi was furious and had been eavesdropping behind the door. Who was that person?
He smiled, and in his usual helpless, gentle, doting tone, he said, "Yuankai, what they wrote was clearly a profound and meaningful piece about the great principles of family and country. Fate has twisted it into something obscene. So, if you say that, then all the legendary novels in Chinese literature are obscene."
This was one of his tricks, using such a calm, almost joking tone to prevent you from taking it seriously, thus giving you no legitimate reason to get angry. But that man was an exception; he never gave a reason for his anger. But he hated him too much. Every time he flew into a rage, he still used this calm, nonchalant tone, like a barrage of punches hitting cotton, with no real impact at all.
The man snorted and said, "Anyway, as long as it's written by her, you always say it's good."
He laughed and said, "It's not me who says it's good, it's the readers. You're flattering me too much. I don't deserve it."
"Besides, national affairs are more important. Putting all your experiences into an article like this is quite inappropriate."
He smiled and said, "It's impossible for us to focus on state affairs all the time and nothing else. The two are not in conflict. Mr. Wang also needs to write some literary reviews occasionally."
The man said disdainfully, "I know you're Mr. *'s favorite, but it's best not to be too high-profile. It'll give people a reason to say you're relying on someone powerful to get to your position."
He laughed and said, "I'm just a team leader, and you're exaggerating my praise for me."
Wang Jiazhi said, "I can't reach the bottle on the cabinet. Can you help me get it?"
"Okay~" He finally got away and went to the kitchen with her.
The man sat there and heard these words.
"Um!"
Only then did I realize that there was something wrong with this sentence.
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