Chapter 59, the new article, was published and officially named Bai Yuzan (White Jade Hairpin).
The day after Yao Xiaoyu got her own wardrobe, she finally saw the latest issue of "Jin Chai Xu" at the newsstand. She asked the owner to take the magazine down, flipped through the table of contents, and didn't see any familiar titles. Only then did she belatedly realize that she hadn't named the article.
"How much is this book? I'll take it."
Yao Xiaoyu took out her money and bought the Golden Hairpin. The shopkeeper's burning gaze finally faded away. She casually tucked the magazine under her arm, picked a small stall that suited her taste, and sat down, planning to eat breakfast before slowly looking for her articles.
The pork and mushroom dumplings were the most expensive, but they tasted the best. Yao Xiaoyu ate thirty of them in one go. When she heard the owner say that their dumplings wouldn't fall apart or harden even when they were cold, she ordered more than twenty to keep on hand to fill her stomach when she got hungry—at thirteen, she was at the age when she was growing, and she was so hungry every day that she could eat a whole cow!
Yao Xiaoyu brought the dumplings into the pharmacy, placed them along with their packaging on a pre-prepared plate, and then opened the "Jinchai Xu" book, which still smelled of ink, and began reading from the first chapter.
The articles published in Jinchaixu were not bad by the standards of that era, and Yao Xiaoyu even got some scattered inspiration from them, until she read her own article... Yao Xiaoyu quietly put the magazine away and took out her notebook to start perfecting the outline.
I'll read the newspaper in the afternoon; by then I'll probably have forgotten most of it.
...
"Isn't four times the print run a bit too much?"
Hearing this sentence from Kong Fengming's mouth for the 183rd time, my friend couldn't take it anymore. He put down the magazine he had just bought, cupped Kong Fengming's face in his hands, and slammed his head against Kong Fengming's forehead.
Are you awake?
Forces are reciprocal. Ignoring her own burning forehead, her friend stared intently at Kong Fengming. She knew that Kong Fengming was under great pressure because the article he recommended had doubled the print run of the bi-monthly magazine, but that was no reason for him to torture his ears!
"The print run is decided by the editor-in-chief, not you!"
Li Fengming only has the right to recommend, not the right to decide, so there's no need for him to put so much psychological pressure on himself.
"Besides, it's already been printed, what's the point of you nagging about it anymore?" Can you even recoup the costs by nagging it out?
His friend sighed, looking at Kong Fengming. The risk of quadrupling the print run was indeed considerable, but the die was cast. Repeating the established facts over and over would only be frustrating, and besides—
"Aren't Pink Rabbit's articles good?"
Kong Fengming shook his head decisively. Even if everything else was bad, Pink Rabbit's articles couldn't possibly be bad.
"Then believe her article."
His friend's resolute statement infected Kong Fengming with emotion. He nodded solemnly and flipped open a thick stack of magazines beside him... A stack of magazines?!
Why did you buy so much?
Her friend flipped through the magazine, which still smelled of ink, completely baffled—as editors of Jinchai Xu, they had free sample copies, and even paid to buy the same book… Her friend hesitated, swallowing back the two words that were on the tip of her tongue.
Kong Fengming, however, was quite self-assured, introducing each book to his friend one by one:
"I read this one regularly, give this one as a gift, keep this one at home, lend this one out specifically, and send these copies to Beiping so they can send them to Shandong..."
Kong Fengming was born into the Kong family, a family that owned most of the land in Shandong. After escaping an arranged marriage, she settled in Shanghai. She missed her mother and sisters back home, but was also afraid of being taken back by the Kong family. Anything she needed to send or receive was transferred through Beiping before reaching each other.
These books would be seen as a monstrous threat by the corrupt and decadent Confucian family—the Confucian family of today is no longer what it was thousands of years ago, otherwise they would not have raised the banner of "Down with the Confucian shop, save Confucius" a few years later. But it doesn't matter, these magazines were just a cover.
What she truly wanted her mother and sisters to see was hidden in a series of concealed places, such as the layers of oil paper, the gaps in clothing, and hollow shoe insoles. After checking the large items, the people had no interest in these worthless little things. Even though they were all confiscated, she would leave coded messages with purchase information in the letters.
Kong Fengming was left with a little too little magazine after allocating it. Her friend hadn't thought much of it at first, but after hearing Kong Fengming's arrangement and considering the quality of Pink Rabbit's articles, she also felt that in addition to the one she usually read, she should buy another one specifically for her collection. She didn't need to borrow any, but she did have a few friends with whom she could share the articles...
Realizing what she was thinking, the friend was taken aback at first, and then she was no longer worried about the sales of the Golden Hairpin Ceremony. She, who had read many articles, had the idea of collecting and sharing them. What about the others?
The magazine "The Golden Hairpin" became a hit, with a print run four times that of the previous issue. To be precise, it was the article titled "White Jade Hairpin" that became a hit, which led to a surge in sales for this issue as well. People were discussing the plot everywhere, and even the author's name, "Pink Furry Rabbit," became a topic of conversation, giving everyone a strange sense of déjà vu.
"The literary star has been very popular in the last two years, which is why so many good articles have emerged one after another."
The blind fortune teller on the roadside was making solemn vows, but the people's tone was skeptical. He even counted on his fingers to show them. In fact, there weren't many people. The novel genre was just beginning to develop, and the only works that people were familiar with were five books and three authors.
“Mr. Xiaoyu’s biography of Ding Xian and the gold-patterned bowl, as well as the unfinished story of getting rich; Miss Qiu’s story of her siblings after the New Year, and the recent pink… Mao Mao Rabbit’s white jade hairpin.”
The old blind man stumbled over the last pen name. He couldn't understand why the author who wrote such good articles would choose such a name. It made him feel like he was burning his tongue when he tried to earn money. Fortunately, he only had to read it once. Otherwise, no matter how much money the pen shop owner offered, he wouldn't do it!
The name Jinchai gave to the joke about hell was not White Jade Hairpin, but just like this article cannot have a single word added or removed, the more people read this name, the less it fit the article. So the masses gave it another fitting nickname - ever since the heroine became rich, she has always worn a white jade hairpin in her hair.
"Five articles may not seem like many, but these are the topics that are discussed everywhere. Apart from major national and social issues, have there been articles of this caliber even decades ago?"
The last thing that was sung by everyone along the well and stream was the poetry of Liu Yong. The blind man was just trying to elevate his status, but since most of the people listening to him weren't very cultured, no one thought anything was wrong and they all nodded in agreement.
"It didn't exist before, but it does now. Isn't this a sign of the Wenqu Star (a star associated with literature and scholarship) flourishing?"
That old blind man is completely misrepresenting the facts. Modern vernacular novels are only just beginning to emerge, not to mention a few years ago. It's normal that there aren't any household-name works. Otherwise, we wouldn't have produced only one literary giant who went to the dentist and then went to buy sweets after so many years.
As for further back, that was still during the Qing Dynasty. If there were any outstanding figures, they would have been taken out to be used as human stakes to protect the fate of the nation!
"When the God of Literature moves, it's time for literate people to pick up money. If you have a literate daughter or son and you don't lack a few copper coins, why not buy a few pencils and notebooks and let the children try? Maybe their names will be printed on the paper, bringing glory to the family."
These words struck a chord with everyone. In their simple understanding, having an article published in the newspaper meant being remembered in history!
Speaking of which, there seems to be a shop nearby that specializes in pens, ink, and paper.
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Author's Note: Some readers have reported that the plot in Chapter 56, "Wenrou's Surgery and Yao Xiaoyu's Conflict with Her Family," lacks a smooth transition. This has been revised, and you can go back and reread it without affecting your reading of the rest of the story.
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