Chapter 80 "I have you, brother, that's enough."...
Chapter 80
Yu Pan was naturally happy to be able to publish his own work. After his initial excitement, he called the editor back the next morning, clearly stating that he was very willing to compile and publish the articles.
The editor smiled and agreed on the other end of the phone, and then arranged to meet with Yu Pan next week in Zhongzhou City to discuss the details and sign the publishing contract.
Finally, the editor specifically reminded him that he could also bring some unpublished new manuscripts, and if the subject matter was suitable, they could be considered for inclusion in the book.
Yu Pan did indeed have a lot of manuscripts that she had finished writing but had not yet submitted. However, these manuscripts were stored in different places, including her residences in Lanzhou and Qingyu.
However, this was not a problem for them. With just one phone call, Shen Yanzhou arranged for people to go to the two residences to organize all the manuscripts and deliver them over.
Three days later, Yu Pan's previous manuscripts were sent over, but he didn't plan to take them all. He spent some time first filtering out some early exercises that were still immature in writing, and then selecting the ones that he was more satisfied with, which he planned to take to the editor.
Looking at the manuscripts she had selected to take with her on her desk, Yu Pan decided to pack them into file folders so they would look neat and be easy to find.
"Brother, do you have any new file folders at home?" Yu Pan rummaged through the drawers in the study for a while and found that there were only two places left to put the file folders, which was not enough.
Shen Yanzhou was still looking at emails when he heard this, so he got up and said, "There should be some in the drawer under the coffee table, I'll go get it."
"No need, no need, I can get it myself." Yu Pan said, and quickly walked out of the study. He went to the living room, squatted down and opened the drawer under the coffee table. Sure enough, he saw several unopened kraft paper document bags inside.
He took a bag, pulled out two drawers, and intended to put the rest back in his study for later use. Just as he was about to close the drawer, he noticed a dark brown corner at the bottom.
"What is this..." Yu Pan pulled the thing out with some confusion, and was stunned when she saw the three words "Wu Zewen" on the envelope.
He should have received this letter during the summer after his freshman year. He casually placed it on the coffee table, and later Shen Yanzhou put it in a drawer, where it remained for almost two years.
Over the past two years, Yu Pan had indeed encountered the Wu family members several times near the school, but they did not rush up to acknowledge him as they did the first time. They simply watched from a distance, and Yu Pan never responded to their gazes, pretending not to see them.
Over time, he almost forgot about these people. Especially after hearing that Wu Chongzhi had gone abroad to study last semester, he seemed to have never seen the couple again and completely forgot about the matter.
Holding the still perfectly preserved letter, Yu Pan unconsciously rubbed the edge of the envelope with her fingers and breathed out almost inaudibly.
In the study, Shen Yanzhou finished processing an email and realized that Yu Pan had not returned. Thinking that he had not been found, he got up and went out to look for him.
As soon as I entered the living room, I saw Yu Pan squatting next to the trash can, holding the packaging of an empty document bag in her hand, while the trash can was filled with a pile of torn and shredded paper scraps.
"Didn't you find the file folder?" Shen Yanzhou approached and asked in a normal tone.
Upon hearing the sound, Yu Pan looked up, shook the new file folder in her hand, and smiled: "Found it."
The contract signing date with the magazine is next Wednesday. Over the next few days, Yu Pan's main task is to polish and revise her previous manuscripts.
Meanwhile, the script discussions at the film academy were already in their final stages. When Yu Pan went there on Friday night, they were already enthusiastically discussing finding suitable actors from the acting department.
Regarding casting, they plan to find familiar classmates and select those whose appearance and temperament match the character setting. Yu Pan had already clearly described the character's characteristics when he supplemented the character setting earlier, so he no longer needs to be involved in casting.
Considering that she would soon be busy with the manuscript revision work before publication, Yu Pan took the opportunity to tell Li Cheng that she might not be able to continue participating in the subsequent casting and filming stages because she had other things to do.
Upon hearing this, Li Cheng showed a regretful expression and tentatively asked Yu Pan if she could visit him again to talk if she encountered any problems in her creative work in the future.
“If there are any problems, we can just call and discuss them.” Yu Pan didn’t feel comfortable about what happened last time and really didn’t want to have unfamiliar people come to her home again. “We can talk about it in detail over the phone.”
“Okay.” Li Cheng twitched the corner of his mouth, seemingly somewhat unwilling. “I just feel that some ideas still need to be communicated face-to-face, so that they can be explained more clearly.”
Yu Pan stared at Li Cheng for a few seconds, until he seemed a little uncomfortable, before she said, "It's okay, talking on the phone is the same. If you're worried about the phone bill being too expensive, I can top up your phone credit."
-
The weekend passed quickly in a flurry of revisions.
Zhongzhou is quite far from Jingzhou and has no direct airport. However, it is very close to Lanzhou, and it only takes about three hours to drive there from Lanzhou.
On Monday evening, Yu Pan started packing her luggage. Summer clothes are light and simple, nothing more than short-sleeved shirts and casual pants. Yu Pan stuffed all her changes of clothes into Chen Yanzhou's suitcase.
His smaller suitcase was used to carry Beijing specialties he planned to bring to the magazine editors, as well as a briefcase containing manuscripts that needed to be submitted to the magazine for review.
Because Shen Yanzhou had an important meeting he had to attend in person on Tuesday morning, they booked a flight to Lanzhou for the afternoon.
It was evening when the plane arrived in Lanzhou. Although they lived in Beijing for a long time, Aunt Zhou regularly cleaned and maintained their home in Lanzhou.
After washing up, Yu Pan and Shen Yanzhou lay together on that familiar big bed, and they could still smell the sweet fragrance emanating from the quilt, the scent of it being dried in the sun.
“Brother, I suddenly thought of something,” Yu Pan suddenly said.
Shen Yanzhou turned to look at him.
Yu Pan snuggled against Shen Yanzhou, excitedly asking, "Would my trip to Zhongzhou to discuss the publishing contract count as... a business trip?"
Shen Yanzhou was amused by his adorable idea. "Yes, of course it counts."
Yu Pan couldn't help but laugh, a little smug: "Then I've been on business trips too!"
“Hmm,” Shen Yanzhou said, his fingers brushing across Yu Pan’s eyebrows and eyes with a touch of emotion, “Panpan has grown up and now has official business to attend to.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Pan immediately pouted and retorted defiantly, "I'm all grown up now, okay!"
Shen Yanzhou patted his back and smiled as he admitted his mistake: "Okay, okay, I was wrong. Our Panpan has grown up a long time ago."
Yu Pan then hugged Shen Yanzhou's waist again, satisfied, and quieted down. After a while, Shen Yanzhou thought he had fallen asleep and was about to reach for the bedside lamp to turn it off when Yu Pan in his arms suddenly spoke again.
"elder brother."
Shen Yanzhou paused in his action of turning off the light and replied, "Hmm? Still not asleep?"
"Do you remember the letter Wu Zewen gave me before?" Yu Pan asked.
“I remember,” Shen Yanzhou replied.
“Just a few days ago, when I was looking for my file folder, I found it at the bottom of the drawer,” Yu Pan said calmly. “Then… I threw it away.”
"Yes, I saw it." Shen Yanzhou's tone was equally calm, as if he were talking about something very ordinary.
When Yu Pan heard him say that, she belatedly realized that Shen Yanzhou usually took the trash out of the house with him when he left for work in the morning.
She hadn't tried to hide the fact that she tore up and threw the letter away that day, so he must have seen it long ago, but he didn't ask her anything.
Yu Pan tightened her arms around Chen Yanzhou, buried her face even deeper, and asked in a muffled voice, "Aren't you curious whether I've read the contents of the letter?"
Shen Yanzhou gently stroked the back of Yu Pan's head, saying, "I told you, whatever decision you make, I will support you. Whether you look at it or not, keep it or throw it away, you have your own reasons."
"No, this time you have to tell me, you have to guess." Yu Pan pinched Chen Yanzhou's waist.
"So domineering? Okay, let me guess," Shen Yanzhou pondered for a few seconds and said, "I haven't seen it."
When Yu Pan heard Shen Yanzhou's words, he felt a sense of satisfaction, thinking, "Indeed, only Shen Yanzhou truly understands me."
“Well, I originally wanted to just throw it away,” Yu Pan said, “but I was afraid that if I threw it in the trash can downstairs, some malicious person might pick it up and look at it, causing unnecessary trouble, so I tore it into small pieces so that it wouldn’t be visible.”
Shen Yanzhou chuckled softly, kissed Yu Pan's head, and praised him, "Hmm, our Panpan is very thoughtful and cautious."
“That’s right,” Yu Pan said. “Anyway, I feel that they’ve never been a part of my life. Whether they’re here or not makes no difference to my present or future. It’s better to avoid trouble, and besides…”
He paused, then wrapped his arms around Shen Yanzhou even tighter. "I have you, brother, that's enough. I have a home, a home given to me by Uncle Shen and Aunt Shen, a home given to me by you, that's enough."
“Yeah, brother too,” Shen Yanzhou tightened his arms, holding the person in his arms tightly, “With Panpan, brother has everything.”
-
The next morning, they drove to Zhongzhou City. After a night's rest, Yu Pan was particularly excited, even humming along to the car radio on the way.
The journey went about as expected. They set off from Lanzhou at seven in the morning and arrived in Zhongzhou city around ten o'clock.
The driver parked the car in a parking lot near the magazine office. Yu Pan and Shen Yanzhou got out of the car together, carrying briefcases containing manuscripts, and walked into the magazine office building.
After explaining their purpose to the receptionist, they were quickly led to a clean and bright meeting room. After sitting for a short while, a middle-aged woman with a capable demeanor and wearing black-rimmed glasses walked in.
After a brief introduction, Yu Pan learned that the editor who had been responsible for reviewing and publishing his manuscripts was surnamed Xu.
Editor Xu was somewhat surprised. When she entered, the first thing she saw when she saw the calm and composed Shen Yanzhou was that he was the author "Yu Pan" whose writing style was delicate and experienced. She was still marveling at how young he was.
Unexpectedly, the boy next to me who looked young and even a bit student-like was the real person.
However, as an experienced literary editor, she had seen all kinds of authors and had long since developed the ability to remain calm in the face of surprise. She quickly and gracefully suppressed her astonishment.
The following process was similar to what we discussed over the phone. It mainly involved discussing the specifics of compiling and publishing Yu Pan's articles that had been published in their magazine in recent years.
Starting from when Yu Pan first submitted his work to their magazine during his senior year of high school and it was accepted, he published twenty short stories and essays over a period of more than three years.
“Our initial plan is to select fifteen articles from these twenty published works,” Editor Xu said, “and then select five more from the unpublished manuscripts you brought today to make a collection of twenty articles.”
As she spoke, she handed over a prepared publishing contract.
Shen Yanzhou took the contract and carefully reviewed each clause. After confirming that everything was correct, he handed it to Yu Pan.
Since Shen Yanzhou didn't speak, it meant there was no problem with the contract. Yu Pan took the contract, glanced at the key information, picked up a pen, and signed her name in the designated place.
Then Yu Pan pushed the stack of unpublished manuscripts she had brought in front of Editor Xu: "Editor Xu, please take a look at these and choose whichever one you need."
Looking at the young author with his clear eyes, Editor Xu couldn't help but feel that he was a little too naive and had been too well protected.
She hesitated for a moment and said, "You should decide. Since we decided to publish your book, it means we trust your writing."
Upon hearing this, Yu Pan scratched her head a little embarrassedly, but didn't refuse any longer. She carefully selected five of her favorite manuscripts from the stack and handed them over: "These five will do."
Editor Xu accepted the manuscript with a smile: "Okay, the publishing house will organize and arrange all your manuscripts. If there's anything we need to discuss with you regarding proofreading or revisions, we'll call you promptly."
"Okay, thank you, Editor Xu."
When they walked out of the magazine building, it was only 12:30 in the morning. Yu Pan squinted in the sun, still a little incredulous.
It feels a bit like a dream.
In such a short time, he actually signed a contract himself.
It's still my own publishing contract.
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Author's Note: Panpan [Cat Head]: I've been on business trips too! [Cat Head]
I typed 8,000 words the day before yesterday, and my tenosynovitis finally kicked in... [crying emoji] [crying emoji] [crying emoji]
Small red envelopes will still be randomly given away in the comments section of this chapter.
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