Chapter 18: Planning to Submit a Manuscript; Today's Role: An Illiterate Little Girl
Yao Xiaoyu spent five days writing the first 10,000 words.
She didn't voice her desire to pursue writing. Her daily writing schedule consisted of copying three thousand characters in the morning, followed by writing with a pencil after lunch—each pencil cost only two copper coins, while the ink for a fountain pen cost silver coins.
Yao Xiaoyu had a good plan: she could write 3,500 words in an afternoon and reach 10,000 words in three days. However, she neglected the time she would spend revising her writing.
She changed the beginnings one by one, deleted paragraphs one by one, and revised sentences one by one. The article's appeal increased day by day, but this led to a decrease in efficiency. Yao Xiaoyu wrote more than four thousand words every day, but she didn't finish the beginning of the article until sunset on the fifth day.
But this is not the end.
This process of revisions and alterations meant that many notebooks with holes from repeated erasures couldn't be sent out. The editors would throw them into the wastebasket the moment they saw them. So Yao Xiaoyu had to copy them again, and this time she couldn't use a pencil; she had to use a fountain pen.
This is another expense.
Yao Xiaoyu couldn't bear to spend silver dollars to buy ink, so after thinking it over, she dug out the previous ink bottles, scooped some hot water from the ceramic jar in the kitchen, poured them in one by one, tightened the screws, shook them well, and poured them together to make a decent amount of ink. Yao Xiaoyu poured it into a fountain pen and tried it. It was very good; apart from being slightly lighter, there was no difference.
Her manuscript has been secured.
"This is to be returned to Manager He..."
The gentle observer who witnessed Yao Xiaoyu's entire process said that, like toothpaste tubes and cigarette packs, used ink bottles also fall under the category of recycling and reuse.
When Manager He gave the ink bottles to the Yao family, he specifically instructed them to return them after use. It was only because Zhou Chunhua felt that giving them away one or two at a time was inappropriate that she temporarily kept them, intending to give them away together as a set.
"So I didn't break it."
Yao Xiaoyu was initially a little embarrassed by her actions, but the gentle tone, which she had used to break a taboo, immediately triggered her rebellious nature. The explanation she had prepared was swallowed back, and she only left behind a curt statement.
Using the ink mixed with this mixture, Yao Xiaoyu transcribed her ten thousand words. Although there were still a few typos that were crossed out while copying, she couldn't do anything about it—she had used up almost all the ink she had squeezed from the ink bottle and it wasn't enough to fill a page.
Manager He provided the Yao family with a considerable amount of ink for copying, but this ink could not be used for private work. Yao Xiaoyu could only believe that her story was compelling enough to make the editor overlook such minor flaws as crossing out a word or two.
"I've really gone all in."
While washing her face, Yao Xiaoyu muttered something quietly, and no one heard her except herself.
Five days of writing, three days of copying, and it just so happens to be another deadline.
"Grandma, I heard that the newspaper editorial department has cheap newspapers, I want to go and take a look."
Having received her payment and a new assignment, Yao Xiaoyu lied to Zhou Chunhua without batting an eye. However, she had already established herself as someone who loved reading newspapers, so Zhou Chunhua didn't find it strange. She just felt it was a pity to waste her precious holiday walking around.
With that effort, it would be much better to make a hat and earn some copper coins.
Which editorial department would you like to work for?
Zhou Chunhua still couldn't bear to refuse Yao Xiaoyu, who was looking at her expectantly. Her granddaughter just wanted to buy some cheap newspapers, and it was a good thing that she wanted to study. She should support her.
"I'm planning to check out the 'Complete Collection of Storybooks' newspaper. Their newspaper is full of stories, and maybe I can find the ending of that bride-swapping story from last time."
Yao Xiaoyu didn't read the newspapers for nothing. After dinner, she would select some stories from the newspapers to read to the Yao family, but she usually kept the time to within ten minutes. The short stories were fine, but many of the long ones were really tantalizing. However, because the newspapers were incomplete, she often had to switch to a different story while reading, which was quite unpleasant.
The story of the bride swapping was one of the stories that was forced to stop updating.
"Then you'd better look for it carefully."
Hearing that the story might have an ending, Zhou Chunhua immediately became interested, and her originally slow pace quickened considerably. Yao Xiaoyu had to jog from time to time just to keep up with Zhou Chunhua.
The editorial office of "The Complete Collection of Storytelling" was about 45 minutes away from He Family Bookstore. Yao Xiaoyu walked, ran, and stopped frequently, panting and expending more than an hour. By the time she reached the editorial office, she was drenched in sweat. After catching her breath for a while, she felt a little better when a gust of wind suddenly blew into her mouth, causing her to start coughing again.
This body is really a bit weak.
"Eat up, and you'll stop coughing after you finish eating."
As Yao Xiaoyu was pondering the feasibility of her exercise, Zhou Chunhua suddenly stuffed something into her mouth. She subconsciously tasted it; it was sweet.
"...My children ate my pear syrup candy, and their coughs disappeared in the blink of an eye—"
Yao Xiaoyu was still guessing what food she had just eaten when the shouts started up again.
Good, she understands.
Although the accordion vendors all sang the same tune, their skill in tailoring their songs to different people was truly first-rate. After coaxing Zhou Chunhua out of her copper coins, they went up to an old lady and changed their singing style.
"Clear hearing and bright eyes, safe and sound"—these words struck a chord with the old man, no wonder that among the several accordion-playing vendors selling pear syrup candy, his business was the best.
"This pear syrup candy is a bit expensive, but it really works. Your cough stopped right away."
Yao Xiaoyu was just putting the role of the pear syrup candy vendor in her mind when she heard Zhou Chunhua happily praising herself for making the right decision. She really wanted to tell her grandmother that she wasn't coughing because of the pear syrup candy, but then she thought better of it.
Why spoil the elders' little moment of pride?
After catching her breath, Yao Xiaoyu secretly made a few "uh-huh" sounds to make sure she could speak properly. Then she walked up to the second floor. The first floor was suitable for shops, but the rent was expensive. To save costs, it was common to rent the second floor as a workplace.
The editorial office was set up similarly to the workstations of modern office workers, except that the desks were larger and there were no computers, which are a must-have in the 21st century. Most people were busy, but a few were idle, which made Yao Xiaoyu breathe a sigh of relief.
It's good to have people with free time, because only those with free time have the leisure to look at unfamiliar works. Yao Xiaoyu is not afraid of being compared with others, but she is afraid of not even having the opportunity to be compared. That would be like drawing a sword and looking around with a blank mind.
"Excuse me, is this where the articles for 'The Complete Collection of Discourses' are collected?"
Even though the worst-case scenario hadn't happened, Yao Xiaoyu still didn't relax. She put on a timid demeanor and whispered something in a voice loud enough for many to hear:
"Is that what it's called?"
Yao Xiaoyu's acting skills were not good, but these people had not seen many actors before. They just thought that she was an illiterate little girl and that the person who gave her directions must have misheard, which is why Yao Xiaoyu found this place.
"Is there something you need from 'The Complete Collection of Sayings'?"
An editor who was free asked with a smile, his attitude friendly, but he did not answer Yao Xiaoyu's question.
The relationship between "The Complete Collection of Words" and "The Complete Collection of Stories" is not good; they are even somewhat mortal enemies. This is because "The Complete Collection of Words" was developed by building upon "Stories," and the imposter even wanted to take the place of the original author and claim himself as the legitimate one.
The fact that "Huaben" had lost half its territory was already frustrating, but "Huayu" was still pushing its luck. In this era, those who could run newspapers had a certain amount of intellectual spirit, so they directly fought back.
After being thoroughly insulted, the magazine "Words" naturally couldn't remain silent. As things have progressed, it's become commonplace for both sides to sabotage each other, and even the authors favored by the two newspapers have started to dislike each other.
Now, the submissions from people on the other side of the story have ended up in their own backyard. Once the authenticity of this matter is confirmed, they can keep the editors of the storytelling platform laughing for at least a year.
"My young master's rival had his article selected for 'The Complete Collection of Folk Stories,' but my young master, who is a very good writer, was not satisfied and made me submit his article to 'The Complete Collection of Folk Stories'..."
Yao Xiaoyu didn't say what came next, but everyone had already imagined it—once the article actually appeared in the newspaper, she would go and mock her rival to his face. It's a pity that the little girl is pretty but not very bright; she went to the wrong place.
Yao Xiaoyu deliberately didn't say that she wrote it herself. Being young and a woman, she was practically born to be a piece of trash. It didn't matter if she became famous, as profit-driven capital didn't care about such things. But she already had enough leverage, so there was no need to reduce it any further.
Actually, it would be better to use the title "Master," but the Master would not allow an illiterate little girl to take the manuscript away.
"What kind of article did your young master write?"
"The Complete Collection of Storytelling" is a mid-to-upper-level second-rate newspaper, but because it pays generously, it doesn't lack manuscripts, and usually no one wants to work overtime. But now it's different. With this young girl's manuscript in hand, the other side of the storytelling community has lost completely!
Upon hearing this, Yao Xiaoyu felt a little more at ease. It was worth it for her to rummage through all the best-selling newspapers and painstakingly find the perfect storybook that met her requirements and had a rival she disliked.
Every industry has its own drama. Yao Xiaoyu was unaware of the grudges and feuds behind these two extremely similar names, but the data didn't lie. Through those incomplete old newspapers, it was clear that only these two newspapers published articles in which one side always made a decision and the other side always had the opposite opinion.
So Yao Xiaoyu boldly speculated and carefully verified, confirming the conjecture that the storybook and the spoken language did not match through theory and many details observed today. She cleverly bypassed the unconscious blockade of the literary world and gave herself an opportunity.
Thinking of the tables she had copied by hand, the manual screening and analysis, and the various tree diagrams and pie charts, Yao Xiaoyu almost shed a lake of tears for her hard work.
It's too difficult, really too difficult!
"My young master said it was about mandarin ducks and little butterflies."
Yao Xiaoyu pretended to try hard to remember. People who do a lot of writing work tend to have a tendency to be teachers. Seeing that Yao Xiaoyu couldn't even explain the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly Piece, they were quite annoyed. So they didn't make things difficult for the little girl and let them eat pastries while they opened the manuscript they had brought.
As Yao Xiaoyu ate the mung bean cake, she mentally gave a thumbs-up.
A note from the author:
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