Chapter 184: Submitting the manuscript in ten days - A short story for practice.
"The New Year is over, we've moved, isn't it time to start a new story?"
Pi Xiukang ignored the table downstairs, which was still cluttered with miscellaneous items and hadn't been dealt with yet. His eyes were fixed on Yao Xiaoyu, as if he wouldn't leave until he got an explanation.
Half a year! Does a little fish know how he got through those six months?
"I'll start writing tomorrow."
Yao Xiaoyu didn't waste any time and gave a precise time, but Pi Xiukang just sneered.
"I'll write the draft tomorrow, so when can I submit it?"
He was, after all, a veteran editor who had worked his way up in the newspaper industry for many years. He had seen plenty of authors' tricks, and Yao Xiaoyu's literary trap was practically transparent to Pi Kangxiu.
"..."
Yao Xiaoyu blinked guiltily. Taking a day or two off from writing can make a writer anxious, but in the long run it can be quite enjoyable. Her outline for the new story is still fragmented, and she needs time to get back into her writing rhythm...
Seeing Yao Xiaoyu's familiar appearance, Pi Xiukang narrowed his eyes and entered battle mode. Yao Xiaoyu, who had been corrupted by a comfortable life, was no match for the experienced editor who was firing on all cylinders. Before she knew it, she had given a definite submission date. Fortunately, Yao Xiaoyu still had some sense and set the initial submission date of 10,000 words for ten days later.
Finishing a 10,000-word outline and main text in ten days is difficult for a writer, but it's not particularly strenuous. At least there's still time for basic things like eating and sleeping... I guess?
After successfully turning Yao Xiaoyu's life around, Pi Kangxiu didn't linger in the Wutong Courtyard—he had to get away while the little fish was still fooled, otherwise, if Yao Xiaoyu regretted it, he would have nowhere to cry.
It's not that Pi Kangxiu is overly cautious; it's just that some things, unless experienced firsthand, are truly unimaginable. Authors can really do whatever they want to avoid submitting their manuscripts—they can treat their own words like farts and then cling to someone's leg, crying their eyes out!
Furthermore, Pi Kangxiu also had some PTSD regarding the author's invitation to dinner. Before the Lunar New Year, Pi Kangxiu went to urge the author to submit the manuscript and finally got the author to agree. Because he relaxed his guard for a moment, the author agreed to the dinner invitation. However, after the meal, the author did not want to submit the manuscript and even had the audacity to say that he was obligated to accept the author's invitation because he had eaten his meal.
When Pi Kangxiu heard this seemingly reasonable but utterly nonsensical reason for delaying the manuscript, he really wanted to slap himself: knowing how many tricks authors can use to delay the manuscript, why doesn't he learn his lesson!
If God gave him another chance to go back to the time before the invitation, he would rather starve to death, die of thirst, or seal his mouth with needle and thread than touch a single piece of food from that author's house!
But time cannot be turned back, and Pi Xiukang can only remember this lesson and carry out the three no's principle of not eating, not drinking, and not staying too long to the end, so as to avoid falling into a similar pit.
...
After having breakfast, Yao Xiaoyu sat at the table with her pen in hand, finding everything interesting—hair could be braided into a head full of little braids, paper could be folded into frog pagodas, the tabletop was suitable for tapping and creating with her joints, and even the dust motes dancing in the sunlight were in all sorts of shapes and forms… In short, apart from writing, everything seemed extremely interesting.
After dawdling for half the morning and working at a flurry of activity, only to find the output was a mere 0.5, Yao Xiaoyu stretched her creaking joints, realizing that reconstruction wasn't something that could be done quickly. She shifted her focus from the novel to the relatively simpler short stories. As is well known, short stories often express feelings and reflections, requiring a combination of theory and practice, so…
"Xiaoxiao, let's go out!"
With about ten days left until the deadline, maybe inspiration will come to me while I'm just walking down the street.
Yao Xiaoyu didn't expect to write any earth-shattering masterpieces. She just wanted to find a suitable short story topic, jot down a few thousand words to regain her writing skills, and successfully submit the manuscript to earn money.
There are now ten mouths to feed in the family. Each person eats one pound of rice a day, and one silver dollar isn't enough to feed them for two days. Yao Xiaoyu used to think that the wage structure was unreasonable, but now that the amount has increased, she understands how great the benefit of being provided with food and lodging is. She feels uneasy no matter how much money she has saved, as she has no income.
Shanghai's streets are bustling and lively, with both mobile and stationary vendors energetically hawking their wares. Yao Xiaoyu quickly became lost in the aroma of food and sat down in front of a pancake stall.
"Give me two 'offering cakes'."
Fengqin cake is actually Changzhou vegetable cake, also called rotten vegetable cake or Xiaogong cake, but the name given by the vendors is not entirely wrong, because the cake originated from filial piety towards elders.
It is said that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, a man named Xiao Gongliang from Changzhou had a mother who was old and had lost her teeth and could not eat much. Xiao Gongliang was anxious, so he made this vegetable pancake for his mother. Later, because it was delicious and appetizing, did not require much chewing, and was easy to digest, it gradually became popular and was called Xiao Gong Pancake.
The story of Xiao Gongbing, which is about serving one's parents and supporting one's mother, is just like that of Xiao Gongbing. It is easier to remember than Changzhou vegetable cake and more appetizing than rotten vegetable cake. Yao Xiaoyu thought this vendor was really a wonderful person.
The vegetable pancakes were served quickly. Yao Xiaoyu took a bite and found the taste to be good, but the filling was a bit too little. Spring hadn't arrived yet, and even the cheapest radish leaves were genuine local produce, much more expensive than wheat flour. Even though the stall owner sold them at a high price, he could only make a reduced-content version with a thicker crust and less filling, otherwise he would lose money.
As Yao Xiaoyu was eating her pancake, she saw a thinly dressed man walk over. He said something to the stall owner, but when the stall owner shook his head, he first made a pleading gesture, and then, for some reason, he raised his fist as if to hit him.
"ah--"
The screams didn't come from the stall owner. Before Yao Xiaoyu could tell Tao Xiaoxiao to rush over and help, the stall owner reacted quickly and hit the man with a shovel. After being hit, the man seemed to come to his senses and ran away in a panic.
"Two more 'Fengqin Bing' (a type of pastry), and what's wrong with that guy? Put in more vegetables."
Yao Xiaoyu was really curious, and since the pancakes tasted pretty good despite having less vegetables, she used the sandwich questioning method.
"Alright, that person wants to work for me, but I can't afford to hire him; at this time of year, I really can't put too much food in the dishes, they're too expensive."
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the stall owner also used a sandwich-like answer. Yao Xiaoyu asked a few more questions and finally managed to understand the man's story. In fact, it was just one sentence: The man failed to find a job and then got angry and attacked.
"Don't even mention that my little stall doesn't need to hire anyone. Even if I were to hire someone, I wouldn't hire a chain smoker!"
The stall owner said angrily, "Who would dare to work for someone who smokes opium? Aren't they afraid that if they get addicted, they'll sell their stuff and buy opium to smoke? Don't even mention being able to resist. Just the other day, I saw an old man who had almost lost all his teeth dragging his coffin into the pawnshop, taking the money and turning around to puff away on opium."
To put it bluntly, if she had known he was an opium addict, yet still hired him and ended up being swindled out of everything, then she deserved it!
Listening to the stall owner's words, Yao Xiaoyu inquired a few more times and learned that although opium was everywhere, unless it was someone with connections that couldn't be refused, decent jobs wouldn't hire opium addicts. This was an unspoken rule, not explicitly stated, but tacitly accepted by everyone.
Upon hearing this rule, something flashed through Yao Xiaoyu's mind. She quickly grasped it, and the more she thought about it, the brighter her eyes became. She looked at Tao Xiaoxiao with some excitement:
"Are you full?"
Tao Xiaoxiao, who had just taken a few bites of the pancake: ...
"That's about it."
As Tao Xiaoxiao spoke, she grabbed the pancake in her hand, and half a minute later she followed Yao Xiaoyu into the rickshaw, which sped back to the Wutong Courtyard.
"Buy whatever you want to eat, and don't knock on the door unless it's important."
Yao Xiaoyu stuffed two silver dollars into Tao Xiaoxiao's hand, rushed upstairs like the wind, slammed the door shut, grabbed a pen and wrote a series of messy characters, leaving Tao Xiaoxiao to sigh as she watched the stunned employees. She then took the money from the driver before going inside to clean up the mess.
"Keep doing what you're doing, Auntie Fatty. Don't call anyone when you put dinner on the table later..."
Tao Xiaoxiao took a bite of her vegetable pancake and said a sentence, slowly getting the stunned employees back to their places. This was not the first time Yao Xiaoyu had acted recklessly after having an inspiration, nor would it be the last. Tao Xiaoxiao hoped that the employees could get used to it as soon as possible.
After all, the girl in her family is a really, really good person. If the employees really lose their jobs because they can't adapt, it's definitely not Yao Xiaoyu who will regret it.
Yao Xiaoyu was unaware that Tao Xiaoxiao had briefly taken on the role of housekeeper. She was writing furiously, her hand speed still couldn't keep up with the speed at which the text was being generated in her mind. She could only become more and more engrossed, and the more engrossed she became, the faster the plot in her mind would develop, and the less she could keep up. Thus, Yao Xiaoyu achieved the internal cycle all by herself.
Night fell and then dawn broke again. Her aching hands could no longer hold anything, and the pen fell to the table with a thud, its nib slightly forked. Yao Xiaoyu finally snapped out of her state of flow or frenzy, belatedly realizing how tired she was.
"Gurgle—"
Her stomach was protesting, and Yao Xiaoyu instinctively tried to stand up, but heard a cracking sound from her bones, followed by a familiar blackout, a blackout that even made her feel a little nostalgic.
Ah, these aching fingers, these cracking bones, this dizzying feeling—how familiar it feels after pulling an all-nighter!
Although it had been half a year since she had experienced this feeling, Yao Xiaoyu still skillfully slowed her movements, slowly opening the door step by step, and subconsciously lowered her head...
Where is my food?
Yao Xiaoyu had previously fainted from hunger in her room due to writing for too long. If Tao Xiaoxiao hadn't found her in time, Yao Xiaoyu might have already reunited with her parents. However, she still couldn't get used to the regular knocking reminder service, so after mutual compromise, both parties reached an agreement:
If Yao Xiaoyu doesn't eat according to her biological clock within three days, Tao Xiaoxiao won't call her, but will leave food at the door. If Yao Xiaoyu still shows no signs of eating on the fourth day, Tao Xiaoxiao will break down the door.
Yao Xiaoyu considered the limits of human endurance and readily agreed. Until the move, her door was never replaced.
"The porridge is in the dining room, would you like me to bring it over?"
Tao Xiaoxiao's voice rang out from the side. Yao Xiaoyu turned her head and realized that although there was no food on the ground, the person was sitting right next to her, looking very serious. Using her limited brain cells to understand what Tao Xiaoxiao was saying, Yao Xiaoyu shook her head.
"I'll go wash up first."
She can't stand eating without brushing her teeth!
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