Chapter 35 of the new novel establishes that she is a career-oriented author...
"We don't have any meat at home, can I fry an egg for you to eat with your porridge?"
As Zhou Chunhua asked Yao Xiaoyu, she had already picked up a spatula, scooped out a small piece of lard and put it on. The spatula was about the size of an adult man's fist and was hemispherical. In the time it took to speak, the completely melted lard had soaked the spatula, and wisps of white smoke were rising from the top of the spatula.
Just two days ago, Yao Xiaoyu said that after she started working at the hospital, she would give an extra yuan to her family every month. Zhou Chunhua was not about to lose her precious eleven yuan a month.
"I...okay, just beat the egg yolk."
Zhou Chunhua was too fast; Yao Xiaoyu, who was supposed to be drinking porridge, swallowed it back down. Seeing that Zhou Chunhua had successfully beaten the egg with one hand, she simply specified the texture.
After having dinner of congee, pickled vegetables, and fried eggs, Yao Xiaoyu began to talk about the day's events. She had a talent for storytelling; even ordinary little things became fascinating in her words. After recounting the day's experiences, it was time for bed.
"Grandma, there might be some trouble at Tao Erniu's house, you..."
Yao Xiaoyu looked at Zhou Chunhua, who was about to go upstairs, with pleading eyes. Zhou Chunhua didn't hesitate and immediately reassured her granddaughter.
"I'll go to the Tao family's house tomorrow morning."
With her last worry gone, Yao Xiaoyu watched the last figure disappear upstairs. She went to the kitchen, washed her face with hot water, turned up the kerosene lamp, and solemnly took out paper and pen to refine the outline of her new article.
Before Tao Erniu appeared, Yao Xiaoyu only had a vague direction for her next story. But the moment she saw Tao Erniu, she knew what new story she was going to write—this kind of spirited image was perfect for carrying the epic of rural struggle!
It doesn't even need any novel tropes. The story of a poor farm girl's struggle to become a wealthy and virtuous businesswoman is enough to support a story. If you add some extreme or loving family dynamics, face-slapping or insightful observations, or the setting of a beloved or fake heiress, as long as the writing isn't too awkward, it's guaranteed to become a hit.
The only problem is, how do I get the editor to accept the fact that the number of male protagonists in her books is steadily decreasing?
Looking at the outline that had already been drawn up, Yao Xiaoyu was quite troubled—don't be fooled by the good response to Ding Xian's biography, those were achievements built on the backs of giants, and she was actually a career-oriented writer!
What is career stream?
This is the modern online literature perspective. In the 21st century, online literature has flourished due to the explosive flow of information, with various themes constantly emerging. However, if we only make a general classification, it can be divided into career-oriented and romance-oriented stories.
The so-called "emotional flow" genre is similar to the current "Mandarin Duck and Butterfly" genre. The main plot is romance, and the highlight is the emotional entanglement between the main characters. What you see is the emotional tension that stirs your emotions. One second the reader may be heartbroken and tearful, and the next second they may be blushing and smiling like a doting aunt.
From ancient tales like Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the White Snake and the Romance of the Western Chamber, to modern stories like the "wife-chasing crematorium" and the "battleground of heroes," they all belong to the genre of emotional drama.
The career-oriented genre, also known as the plot-driven genre, simply puts it as a story-based narrative, where romance may exist, but it does not play a dominant role.
To put it more directly—it's mostly about love and entanglement, it's an emotional drama; it doesn't have much emotional description, it's a career drama, a classic example is Journey to the West, where characters fight demons and monsters, do good deeds and finally achieve enlightenment. When the director was making the TV series, he searched the whole country for beauties, but Yao Xiaoyu still only looked at the monkey.
When authors create, they usually only choose one type as the focus of their writing. Those who dare to challenge the idea of balancing career and romance are generally either greenhorns or geniuses among geniuses.
Of course, there are also those who lack the ability but think they can succeed in balancing things; these people will usually be taught a lesson by the iron fist of the market.
In modern times, Yao Xiaoyu is a typical career-oriented writer. While there are romance scenes, it's common for the male lead to be relegated to the background. As for why "The Story of Ding Xian" became a hit because of its romantic interactions... it's mainly because Yao Xiaoyu stood on the shoulders of giants.
Ding Xian's two relationships, one a childhood romance and the other a stable, long-lasting love, were both very popular themes in modern times. Big data keywords can easily provide a lot of information about them. Yao Xiaoyu only needed to select the appropriate ones and then write them in according to the timeline.
Modern readers have read too many similar books and can guess what will happen next just by reading the beginning, but in the Republic of China era, these were all very novel.
In addition, Yao Xiaoyu cleverly shifted the focus of Ding Xian's biography to face-slapping rather than the development of romance, adding more emphasis to family and friendship, which she is better at, while subtly reducing the proportion of love scenes. At first glance, it is still a romance story, but upon closer inspection, it can be found to be very different from the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School.
The most obvious difference between the two is that in the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School of stories, the romance plot accounts for at least 90%, and even 95% is common. However, in Ding Xian's Biography, the heroine's romance plot only barely reaches 60%, and the focus is on slapping her face.
Even with the additions, subtractions, and modifications to the timeline, and the division of the romantic storyline into two segments to reduce interaction, Yao Xiaoyu still struggled to write Ding Xian's biography. Every time Ding Xian was present with her two men at the same time, she would have to pull out a lot of hair.
Ding Xian's biography did hone Yao Xiaoyu's ability to handle romantic storylines, but the longer she wrote, the more she longed to return to the comfort zone of her professional writing.
But people need to make a living. With romance novels still dominating the market, Yao Xiaoyu didn't consider herself a lucky star and couldn't simply turn the male lead into a background character. She could only gradually test the editor's bottom line.
Ding Xian's story has a 60% chance of being true, so reducing it to 30% this time should be acceptable, right?
Yao Xiaoyu thought uncertainly, but she had already started working on a detailed outline. Tao Erniu was her source of inspiration, but the protagonist could not be a one-to-one replica of the real person, otherwise it would not be a novel, but a documentary.
...
Yao Xiaoyu went to bed late, worried about being late on her first day of work, so she gave herself a mental pep talk to wake up early. It wasn't that it had no effect, but—
"It's barely dawn."
Yao Xiaoyu slapped her forehead and went downstairs to wash up, feeling somewhat helpless. There was no hot water in the kitchen, and she shivered from the cold while washing her face, but her sleepiness was completely gone.
"Why are you up so early?"
Zhou Chunhua asked with some surprise, "Since the weather has been getting colder day by day, this granddaughter has become more and more fond of sleeping in. Except for the days when she gets her manuscript fee, she can get up early. Otherwise, if Xiaoli doesn't drag her along, she would sleep through breakfast and lunch at the same time. It was only yesterday that she got up early because she was worried about being late for work at the hospital."
"I didn't get up early,"
As Yao Xiaoyu listened to her grandmother's question, a mischievous thought suddenly came to her mind.
"I didn't sleep at all."
She had actually slept, but only for two or three hours. Her head was still throbbing. If it weren't for the belief that she could rest once she got to the hospital, Yao Xiaoyu would have already gone to bed.
"What?!"
Zhou Chunhua's eyes widened, and she grabbed Yao Xiaoyu by the back of her collar, trying to drag her upstairs—but she missed.
"You've been staying up all night writing again!?"
After much thought, Zhou Chunhua could only come up with the reason that writing would keep her granddaughter up all night. She was both angry and heartbroken, but in the end, she attributed it all to her not earning enough money.
If she could earn more money to pay off the debts, Xiaoyu wouldn't have to shoulder the family business at such a young age. If the family wasn't short of money, Yao Xiaoyu wouldn't have needed to write so desperately...
Zhou Chunhua sighed, her whole demeanor slumped, which made Yao Xiaoyu, who was used to staying up all night in modern times, twitch – she'd gone too far!
It's fun to tease someone for a moment, but it leads to disaster.
Yao Xiaoyu went to great lengths to convince Zhou Chunhua that she really hadn't stayed up all night, but she still cooked her an egg to nourish her body before heading out.
"I'm going to check on the Tao family... Erniu, why are you here so early?"
Curious, Yao Xiaoyu walked over and, sure enough, saw a person squatting at the entrance of the Yao family's house.
"I was afraid of being late, so I ate at home and came over."
Tao Erniu looked up and smiled at the two of them. Her parents were not greedy enough. They took three copper coins and wanted Tao Erniu to go to the Yao family for a free meal. Tao Erniu was too lazy to argue. She took a bowl from home, filled it with rice, and went out with the bowl. After finishing her meal in a secluded place, she buried the bowl and waited at the Yao family's door.
She had it all planned out. After dropping Yao Xiaoyu off today, she would go to the street to see if there were any places to work. Although she couldn't work all day long, she didn't need wages, just meals. As for sleeping... she wouldn't take the bowl back, and her family wouldn't do anything to her; at most, they would just not give her any food.
A bowl is quite expensive.
...
Three members of the Yao family had to go out to work in the morning, so they cooked white rice with two scrambled eggs and pickled vegetables as side dishes. After Wenrou scooped out the eggs, she would pour a bowl of rice into the pot and stir-fry it. Then, this rice, which had absorbed the remaining oil in the pot and was covered with bits of egg, would be placed in front of Yao Tianrui.
Yao Xiaoyu didn't have time to care about these trivial matters. Tao Erni was still waiting at the door. She hurriedly ate her meal and went out. Zhou Chunhua tilted her head back and drank the last mouthful of porridge before following Yao Xiaoyu.
Her granddaughter came home so late yesterday, and her heart wasn't at ease until she saw her. If she didn't go with her to check on her today, she wouldn't be able to concentrate on her work.
With Zhou Chunhua by her side, Tao Erniu, who had finally relaxed a bit, reverted to her reserved demeanor. Fortunately, they came out late this time, and the streets were much more lively. Yao Xiaoyu looked around and wasn't bored, though she was a little disappointed that she couldn't shop freely.
But it's okay, there's plenty of time.
"Grandma, do you want to go in and take a look?"
The three arrived at Maria Hospital at what Zhou Chunhua considered a snail's pace. Yao Xiaoyu extended an invitation, which Zhou Chunhua found tempting, but she shook her head firmly.
“That’s where you work. I have nothing to do with that place. It wouldn’t be good for me to go there.”
Yao Xiaoyu liked Zhou Chunhua's sense of propriety!
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The author says: It's normal for family members to know where you work, but there's really no need to visit the company.
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