Du Chen is not very satisfied with his current royalties. Over the past six months, he has published more and more manuscripts, but the magazine's royalties have not increased much, except for the initial twenty yuan for his essays. Later, the price of his stories was about forty yuan per piece.
Others may not understand, but Du Chen knows it well. Starting this year, everyone's salary has gradually increased, and prices have also begun to rise steadily. However, the manuscript fee remains unchanged, which makes Du Chen a little unhappy.
Moreover, the fact that the magazine plans to publish a collection of his stories speaks volumes: his stories are quite popular, and only if they are popular would they consider publishing a collection; otherwise, the magazine would not do business at a loss.
Du Chen was naturally upset that the magazine hadn't given him a raise for his popular stories, so he planned to discuss the issue of royalties with the magazine during his visit.
"Chenchen, that's pretty good, right? Thirty dollars a piece!"
Du Bin didn't think thirty yuan was too low. After all, it only took him about an hour to draw an illustration, and earning thirty yuan an hour was quite satisfying.
Ding Miaomiao remained silent. She believed Du Chen must have his reasons for saying so. Moreover, she had known Du Chen for so long, and every decision he made and said had always come true. So she reserved her opinion. Besides, it wasn't her turn to make the final decision on this matter.
"We'll talk about it later. It would be best if we could earn more, right?"
"Besides, the final exams are in two weeks, so don't let up! If you don't do well on the test, forget about going to Beijing and having fun. You'll be in trouble for the rest of the summer!"
Du Chen's mother noticed that Du Bin and Du Chen's minds were elsewhere, so she spoke up. She had to pour cold water on the two children. Even though she was happy that Du Bin's illustration had been approved, for her, studying was still the most important thing.
Du Chen didn't care, he was full of confidence, but Du Bin was shocked. He knew that his mother always kept her word, so he had to be careful.
"Mom, after the exam, should we go to the capital first or to Dragon City first?"
Du Chen asked his mother.
"Let's go to Longcheng first and finish the magazine business. If we have enough time, we can play in Longcheng for two days and then go to Beijing."
Du Chen's mother told him the answer without hesitation. She was of course planning to get the publication of Du Chen's collection done first. What if it took too long and the magazine got upset and gave up?
"Mom, are you going back to grandma's house this summer vacation?"
Du Chen was also bored and wanted to find out about the plans for this summer vacation. After all, the final exams were easy for him to deal with, and the summer vacation was so long, he had to find something to do.
"We'll see when the time comes, to see if the store is busy. If it's not too busy, I'll stay there for a few days. If it's busy, I'll find time to go back and visit. Anyway, now that we have a car, it's convenient to go anywhere."
The money has been spent and the car has been bought, so Du Chen's mother no longer thinks about spending money, but instead feels the benefits of buying a car.
…
"Du Bin, you have to take the exam seriously and don't hand in your paper early! Write slowly and recalculate when you check. Otherwise, you'll keep checking the mistakes and won't be able to find anything..."
"Chenchen, do you know the same thing?"
When Du Chen's mother woke up in the morning, she started nagging her two sons because today was the day of the final exam.
The most important thing is that the results of this final exam will determine Du Bin's class placement in the third year of junior high school. He will be assigned to a slow class and his teacher will be an average one. His third year of junior high school will be ruined.
Because in previous years, the students in the slow classes of the third year of junior high school had average performance in the high school entrance examination, and few students were able to get into the two key high schools, No. 1 and No. 2 High School in the city.
Being a student at City No. 1 Middle School or City No. 2 Middle School meant they had already set foot on the university campus, so Du Chen's mother was naturally nervous. Although it was a bit too early to be nervous.
"I know, Mom! I'll definitely study hard for the exam. I'm also thinking about visiting Beijing! I haven't been there yet, and I also want to see Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City..."
Du Bin has adjusted his mentality in the past half month, and has also been studying and doing exercises very hard. He also understands what being divided into classes in the third year of junior high school means to him. And as he said, he also wants to go out and have some fun during the summer vacation, because he will have no time to rest next year!
"Who said you haven't been to the capital? You were there when you were still in my belly, and you were there when you were two years old. There are still photos at home!"
Du Bin rolled his eyes at his mother's unusual train of thought.
"Mom, I'm full. I'm going to school!"
"Mom, I'm done eating too."
Du Chen followed up with this.
"Wait, let's go together, I still have to go to the store!"
Hearing that both her sons were going to school, Du Chen's mother didn't bother to clean up the dishes. She just put them in the kitchen, wiped her hands, and prepared to leave together.
Today, because her two sons were taking exams, Du Chen's mother didn't go to the store early as usual. So now was a good time for them to go together.
"Big brother, second brother, what do you want to eat for lunch? Mom will prepare it for you later."
For the sake of her two sons' exams, Du Chen's mother also
"No need, Mom. Just eat what you usually eat today. It would be even more troublesome if you change your diet and get an upset stomach."
Du Chen quickly rejected his mother's kindness, mainly because his mother was too busy every day. She went to the store from the morning onwards and made no difference in the two meals at lunch.
It's just a final exam, there's no need to ask mom to make something delicious. Instead of that time, it's better to let mom pay more attention to it.
"Okay, then wait until you finish your exams. If you do well, we'll have a good meal."
As they were talking, they arrived at the store. Du Chen crossed the road and reached the school, while Du Bin had to walk for a while before getting to school.
The exam was over in the blink of an eye, and Du Chen and Du Bin were finally liberated. Summer vacation was about to begin, which made the two brothers very happy.
"Lao Du, have you asked for leave from your company?"
At dinner in the evening, Du Chen's mother asked Comrade Lao Du.
"I've asked for leave. We'll leave early tomorrow morning."
"By the way, where's the car? Why haven't I seen it recently?"
Du Chen's mother suddenly asked in confusion.
"Ah? The car? I'll go drive it later. We're going on a long trip, so I checked the car thoroughly and had it serviced."
Comrade Lao Du stuttered a bit at first, but he spoke more and more fluently, and what he said later was well-reasoned and coherent.
"Really? You're not going to lend your car to anyone else, are you?"
Du Chen's mother was a little suspicious because Comrade Lao Du's behavior was too abnormal.
"Xiao Li, the car has been in the repair shop these days?"
Xiao Li, who was snickering, immediately spoke seriously.
"Sister, my brother-in-law has been maintaining the car at the repair shop these days."
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