Liu Ziyue felt increasingly uneasy as she read the letter. She had never heard of any consolation prize. Being hired was being hired, and not being hired was not being hired. What was the point of giving a consolation prize?
Based on her many years of writing experience, there's something strange about this!
Liu Zi returned to the post office: "Excuse me, could I ask where I can buy a phone card?"
She had seen it before: there were long queues at the coin-operated phone booths, but not many people at the card-operated phone booths.
"We have phone cards here. How much do you want?" The post office lady took out a box from under the counter, which contained a lot of phone cards.
"The smallest denomination here is 5 yuan, and the rest are 10 yuan, 20 yuan, 50 yuan, and 100 yuan."
"One hundred."
Liu Zi felt that she couldn't afford to install a phone at this stage, so using a phone card was more suitable.
The older woman glanced at Liu Zi with surprise and reminded her, "The phone card is valid until June next year. You can't get a refund if you can't use it!"
"I understand, thank you!" Liu Zi responded with a grateful smile to her older sister's kind reminder.
The older sister didn't say anything more, but took out a 100-yuan phone card from inside and placed it in front of Liu Zi.
"There are instructions on the back of the phone card. If you still can't figure it out, call me back and I'll teach you."
"Thank you, sister!" Liu Zi took out a hundred yuan and put it on the table.
"Um!"
The older woman coldly accepted the money without saying anything more.
After leaving the post office, Liu Zi went into a phone booth, locked the door, and dialed the number she had copied from a magazine.
"Hello, is this the office of Story magazine?"
"Yes, who are you?"
"I'm from Beijing Xingchen Media Co., Ltd., and I'd like to discuss some things with your editor-in-chief," Liu Zi casually made up an excuse.
"Huh? Okay, wait a moment, I'll go ask our editor-in-chief." The person who answered the phone was probably receiving a call like this for the first time and didn't know how to handle it.
"good."
Liu Zi waited for two minutes, then heard someone walking hurriedly towards her on the other end of the phone.
"Hello, I am Zhou Shi, the editor-in-chief of Story magazine. May I ask who you are?"
Liu Zi, of course, wouldn't directly ask about her own affairs. Instead, she politely smoothed things over with Zhou Shi and then indirectly inquired about how their magazine reviewed manuscripts and how it protected the rights of submitting authors.
Zhou boasted to her at length, and Liu Zi's heart sank. It seemed that her article had really been wasted!
No wonder that of the three magazines that went bankrupt later on, "Story" was the first to go out of business.
Having gotten the answer she wanted, Liu Zi found Zhou Shi's words rather dull, just empty platitudes with nothing of value.
"Editor-in-Chief Zhou, I need to report the situation to our general manager. We'll talk again later." Liu Zi hung up the phone immediately after saying that.
On the other end of the phone, Zhou was furious at the busy signal. What kind of person was this?!
They have absolutely no manners; they're just filthy with greed!
Zhou, his face dark, flicked his sleeves, turned and went back to his office, leaving a room full of editors staring at each other in bewilderment.
Liu Zi was also unhappy. She knew that some places had imperfect systems and corruption could occur, but she didn't expect to encounter it so soon.
She had put a lot of thought into the short article she sent to the "Story" magazine. Fortunately, this time she was just testing the waters and didn't send the prepared novel outline.
Otherwise, it would be like throwing a meat bun to a dog—gone and never to return.
well!
I just hope the other two magazines can step up their game; otherwise, I'll have to change my strategy and send my scripts to media companies.
Although they earn more that way, it's all one-off deals. Most of them buy out the copyright directly, but they don't have much fame themselves, so even if the script is good, they can't sell it for a high price.
Sigh~
It would be too painful to exchange them for money now.
This will be the capital she uses to establish a film and television company in the future, but right now she has to make some choices.
Liu Zi returned to Songzhuang in a daze, picked up her daughter, and went home.
She now has to prepare for two scenarios. On the one hand, if she can't get the royalties or the music composition money right away, she will have to contact film and television companies in Hong Kong or Beijing to sell the script.
These days she stays at home, rarely leaving her house, working on her script, hoping to have a complete work in hand so she won't be too passive.
That morning, Liu Zi had just gotten up when there was a knock on the door.
And then Song Yan's loud voice rang out: "Liu Zi, are you home?"
"They're here!"
Liu Zi wiped her face and quickly went to open the door.
"Sister Yan, what brings you here?"
"I just wanted to go to the county town for a stroll and asked you to come along! Do you have time?" Song Yan smiled and followed Liu Zi into the house.
Looking at the calendar on the wall, Liu Zi suddenly realized it was already the weekend and she needed to go to the city to call her parents to let them know she was safe.
I have to go to the post office again to see if there's a reply.
I had planned it all out beforehand; the address was at the city post office, which wasn't far from here, so she could come and visit from time to time.
However, she underestimated the existing modes of transportation. Public transportation was not widespread, and unlicensed taxis were everywhere. The most reliable option was to drive or ride a bicycle herself.
Given Liu Zi's current financial situation, buying a car is basically out of the question, so she can only choose between a bicycle or a motorcycle.
"I have some time. I'm going to the post office to mail a letter. Let's go together!"
"I'll take you and Qiqi on my motorcycle, we'll be there soon." Song Yan waved happily and told Liu Zi to pack the things they needed for the trip.
"Sister Yan, you said last time that you could find someone to help you take the motorcycle driving test, I wonder..." Liu Zi spoke up at the right time.
"I've already asked around for you. If you can ride, you can pay two hundred yuan to take a test and get your license." Song Yan even made sure she knew the cost.
"Thank you so much!" Liu Zi knew that if she were to take the motorcycle driving test in the future, it wouldn't be so simple; at the very least, she would need to have a certain amount of training time before she could take the test.
"When do you want to go? I'll watch over Qiqi for you!" Song Yan said warmly.
Liu Zi thought about it and decided to do it as soon as possible to avoid future trouble.
"This afternoon or tomorrow, Sister Yan, do you have time?" After all, the exam location wasn't very safe, and Liu Zi was worried that Zhao Qi might be in danger.
"Let's go now!" Song Yan said after thinking for a moment. Anyway, we can go shopping anytime. Let's take care of business first!
"Then let's not buy anything?" Liu Zi asked, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Buy it after the exam. Whether we have a big meal or noodles for lunch depends on your taste," Song Yan joked with a smile.
Liu Zi stopped being coy and decided to go take the exam since it wouldn't delay Song Yan.
"Okay, I'll treat you to a big meal after the exam."
Song Yan smiled and let Liu Zi sit behind her, and the two happily set off.
With Song Yan in charge, everything went very smoothly.
Shi Jianjun's friend even managed to get a motorcycle for the exam so Liu Zi could try it out beforehand.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
