Chapter 40 Chapter 40 Letter from Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Xu Lele didn’t play the house game for too long.
The main reason was that Mu Mian, the "bitch bitch", refused to cooperate and went to feed the chickens while they were having fun.
Kids of this age are always talking about this and that.
When she came back, the children were discussing what to name the puppies.
Little Orange was very straightforward and said, "Its entire body is so black, so let's call it Big Black~"
Da Zhuang shook his head, "No, my cousin's name is Da Hei."
Xu Lele: "Then why not just call it Wangwang? It keeps barking."
Bone: "Isn't the newborn baby of Grandma Li named Wangwang?"
Xu Lele rested his elbows on his knees, holding his chin in his hand, "Really? He was so young and didn't play with us. I didn't even know his name!"
Little Chengzi looked at Mu Mian who was walking over and said, "This is the dog that uncle gave to Sister Mian Ya. He asked Sister Mian Ya to name it."
Mu Mian opened his mouth and said, "I just thought of it. Let's call it Eleven."
Da Zhuang was shocked, "What? This dog gave birth to eleven babies at once? How could it give birth to so many? Won't its belly burst?!"
It's no wonder that Da Zhuang thought so at first. There are indeed many families in the team who like to use rankings as nicknames for their children.
For example...Da Ya, Er Ya, Da Wa, Er Wa and so on. Some are even simpler, just calling them the eldest, the second and the third.
Mu Mian explained, "Eleven doesn't mean it has ten brothers and sisters before it, but because yesterday was the eleventh, November eleventh."
Xiao Chengzi was the first to agree with his sister Mian Ya, "This is good. No one in the team is called Eleven."
Da Zhuang: "Nonsense, who can have eleven children?"
I don’t know whether other teams have it, but their team doesn’t have it.
---
Before Xiao Shiyi got used to its new name, Mu Mian discovered that this dog did seem to have some hound genes.
Although it is still very small, it does not prevent it from being particularly interested in the chicks in the chicken coop. From time to time, it comes to the front of the chicken coop and makes a few fierce "woof" sounds.
These three little chicks were bought by the old lady when she and Aunt Li went to the commune some time ago.
There are now regulations that each household can only raise a maximum of three chickens.
There were three in her family before. One was eaten during the autumn harvest, and there were two left laying eggs.
However, when buying chicks, people generally choose to keep two more.
Because most of the time, one or two will definitely die in the middle of the process, and it is impossible to raise them.
If Xiao Shiyi continued to be so interested in them, her chicks would probably be dead by now.
Of course the little chicks are also very important. They cannot be scared to death. Their grandmother bought them with great difficulty.
Seeing that Little Eleven is very lively and active, Mu Mian doesn’t want to waste its good genes.
I even went to the Tang family to ask Mr. Tang how he trained his dog in the past.
The Tang family’s dog is a big yellow dog. Although it is old, it is in very good spirits.
Whenever a stranger approaches the door of the house, it stands up from its nest and stands in the yard, staring at the person vigilantly with its pair of dog eyes, looking very intimidating.
Little Eleven was so scared that he whimpered and crawled into Mu Mian's arms, which made Mu Mian's eyes twitch.
This little thing has two faces. It doesn’t look like this in front of the chicks.
Mr. Tang is not actually a very talkative person, but Mu Mian is. His main characteristics are that he is thick-skinned and does not hesitate to ask questions.
Plus, she's so cute, no old person can resist a little girl like this.
After staying at the Tang family for half a day, Mu Mian was able to learn some experience from them. When he had nothing to do, he would teach Xiao Eleven at home, and he did a pretty good job.
By the time Xiao Shiyi finally stopped thinking about the little chick, it was already late November.
Mu Mian realized later that she seemed to have forgotten something important...
Her picture book! !
It’s been a month and a half since I sent the letter, but there’s still no letter!
She had studied this before and found that it takes much longer to draw a whole book of comics than to write an article, so even if the manuscript is not approved, the publishing house will send the original manuscript back.
This way you can submit it to other publishing houses again, just in case one of them accepts it.
At worst, you can keep it as a souvenir.
As a result, up to now, she hasn't even seen the shadow of the letter.
However, some larger publishing houses, like the Pictorial Publishing House in Shanghai, pay more for their works, so they receive more submissions.
The manuscripts will probably be piled up and it will take a long time before they are seen.
I just don’t know whether her manuscript was piled up or lost in the mail?
While Mu Mian was making random guesses.
At the same time, Shanghai Stock Exchange.
It was afternoon working hours at Pictorial Publishing House. Bi Qin was preparing to go out with a bunch of things when he ran into his father in the corridor.
Father Bi asked casually, "Where are you going?"
Bi Qin raised the things in his hand and said, "Sister Zhang asked me to send something. It's the one Sihui wrote to me about last time. The sample book has been printed."
Father Bi was not responsible for this, he only knew that there was such a thing, "Hasn't it been a long time? Did you just figure it out?"
Bi Qin curled his lips and said, "Didn't I tell you that there are too many submissions, and I haven't read many of them yet. If Si Hui hadn't written to tell me, it would probably take another month or so before I could see them."
Father Bi took it and said, "Let me see what kind of painting is worthy of Xiao Nie writing a letter to tell you about it."
He hadn't read the manuscript before, but it must be a good thing to be able to pass it for publication.
Bi Qin: "The painting is quite good, but I still like the content more, it's so interesting!"
Father Bi flipped through it and asked, "Is it a painting of the countryside?"
Bi Qin nodded, "It's so lively, I can't imagine how there can be so many fun things!!"
Father Bi had read a lot of manuscripts before, but he hasn't read them much since he got promoted in the past two years. He smiled and said, "I can only say that this author is interesting and has something in his head."
After all, most of them are made up, and there are still few realists.
Father Bi couldn't stop reading and asked casually, "How old is the author?"
Bi Qin shook his head. "I don't know. Sihui didn't tell me. She just said it was a friend who helped her a lot. He was probably about the same age as us, about 18//19."
Bi's father commented: "It's great to be able to draw like this at this age."
At this time, another colleague passed by in the corridor and greeted the father and daughter.
Bi Qin just seemed to react, pulled his father's arm, and looked at the watch on it, "Oh, Dad, I won't talk to you anymore, it's too late, I still have a lot of things to do when I get back!"
As he said that, he took the sample book from Bi's father's hand, leaving Bi's father, who was just reading with great interest, to sigh. Then he turned and went into the editorial office. There must be more than one copy of the sample book printed, so he would go find it himself!
On the other hand, Mu Mian didn't know that the reply letter she had been longing for had already left Shanghai.
She was taking Little Eleven for a walk in the mountains, or to be more precise, the little black dog insisted on following them.
The old lady's words came true. This guy just likes to follow others. Wherever Mu Mian goes, he follows.
It may also be because Mu Mian is the one who feeds it every time, so it knows very well who its breadwinner is, so it has to stick close to her.
It's just that its short legs make it a little difficult to climb the mountain, so Mu Mian has to hold it every time. Once it reaches a place where it is easy to walk, it starts to have fun again.
Sometimes it chased insects, sometimes it scratched at the tree roots and barked at the birds in the tree in a fierce manner.
In the end, the bird was not scared because it was standing too straight and its two hind legs did not have enough strength to support its round body.
He fell down and did a backflip, rolling twice on the ground before getting up again. It was so cute and silly.
Although he looks silly sometimes, his nose is very useful.
After Mu Mian took it for a few walks, he discovered that this puppy had an excellent ability to recognize the road.
In such a short period of time, I actually already knew the way home from the foot of the mountain.
Every time they went back, Xiao Shiyi would run in front, and she and Lele would walk slowly behind.
It is now December and the temperature has dropped by a few degrees.
At this time, there is no work in the fields, and the villagers
I started living a hibernating life, staying at home and busying myself with this and that.
The Chinese New Year comes early this year, so we can start preparing for many things now.
For example...a jacket for the Chinese New Year.
That day, Comrade Liu Shuangcui took out the red cloth sent back by Mu Zhuo. Mu Mian stood in front of her mother and let her mother hold the cloth and gesture on her body.
Mu Mian raised her round face and said, "Let's do it now. Haven't we got the cotton yet?"
The bright red cloth made the little round face look white, although it had been tanned two or three degrees during the autumn harvest.
I stayed at home for a while and the fever was gone. Children recover quickly.
Liu Shuangcui took a pencil and made marks while saying, "Cut it out first. We don't know when your father can get the cotton."
Cotton is a rare commodity these days, especially where they live in winter where it is cold, so coats have to be thick, so more cotton is used.
The little bit of goods that the supply and marketing cooperatives stock each time is not enough to grab, and it is not easy to exchange them with others privately.
Comrade Mu Fugui knew many people in the commune, so this difficult task was naturally given to him.
Just as the mother and daughter mentioned Mu Fugui, Comrade Mu Fugui came back riding a bicycle, looking very happy.
Mu Mian turned her head and looked at her father, "You look so happy, Dad, did you get the cotton?"
Mu Fugui grinned, "I have some idea, but I haven't got the exchange yet."
Mu Mian praised without hesitation, "That's great too, you're such an excellent comrade!"
Mu Fugui laughed, "Hey~ your little mouth is full of honey, but it's not as pretty as ours."
As he spoke, he took out an envelope from his pocket and said, "Here, Xiao Zhang gave it to me this morning. He said it was a letter from Shanghai."
Mu Mian's eyes lit up, "Has the manuscript been approved?"
Mu Fugui: "I haven't opened it to look at it yet. Don't you want to bring it back for you to look at it together? It feels quite thick, probably the same as the previous two times!"
Mu Mian was still quite conservative. He tore the envelope as he spoke, "That's not necessarily true. The envelope I sent was also thick. It's possible that it was rejected."
Mu Fugui has unconditional trust in his eldest daughter, "It must have happened!"
His eldest daughter's painting is so beautiful, how could he possibly reject it? Where can I find a little girl who can draw so beautifully?
I don’t know what’s going on in his daughter’s head? Just look at other people's drawings and you can learn to draw by copying them.
He even felt that his daughter's drawings were more beautiful than those in the picture books he bought.
This little brain is really useful. His daughter asked, what do you call this?
Oh my god…what was that?
Oh yes, talent! !
Just like him, he was born to kill pigs for a living. He became very skilled the first time he tried it and no pig could escape from his hands.
Mu Fugui was still marveling at his daughter's intelligence, while Mu Mian next to him had already opened the envelope.
Liu Shuangcui leaned close to her daughter and said, "This doesn't look like the one you sent out."
Mu Mian narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Hehe~ It's over!"
It really wasn’t a rejection, it was worth it for her to wait so long! !
Zhao Meihua, who had just returned from visiting someone else's home, walked in from the doorway in confusion, looking at the family of three sitting side by side and asking, "What are you doing together? You haven't even brought out the food, and you're not hungry."
Mu Fugui gave up his seat and said, "I'm reading Mian Ya's book. The last comic book was accepted, and the publisher sent it back."
Zhao Meihua cried out, "Is it true? What did the letter say?"
Mu Mian handed the sample book to her grandmother, "I haven't read the letter yet, let me take a look at the remittance slip first."
The appearance of the little money-grubber is clearly visible.
Mu Fugui was also very excited. "Yes, yes, yes. There is also a remittance slip. How much did you transfer this time? This is much thicker than those two articles. It must be at least three..."
Mu Fugui was halfway through his words when he glanced at the amount on the remittance slip and the remaining half got stuck in his throat.
He originally wanted to say that it would be at least thirty yuan.
So, what did he see? ! !
Mu Fugui's eyes widened and he stuttered, "How much is this? My dear! Your father seems to be a little blurry. Why do I seem to see three, three digits?"
While he was speaking, Liu Shuangcui and her husband had already stretched out their fingers and started counting carefully.
Liu Shuangcui muttered to herself, "Ones, tens, hundreds, is this how you count? I remember it was counted like this, right? Then this is..."
Mu Mian added: "One hundred and ten!"
Every word she said was powerful. Her parents were not mistaken. It was exactly one hundred and ten yuan!
Zhao Meihua covered her chest and said, "Oh my God, why is it so much? Wasn't it only 10 or 20 yuan before?"
Mu Fugui: "I thought it would be good to get about thirty yuan at most. How can something like this, which is both written and drawn, be so valuable?!"
Liu Shuangcui: "Could it be that they called the wrong number?"
Mu Mian spread the opened reply letter in front of his parents and said, "Look! It says that the whole volume is 110 yuan, but when it is published, it will be divided into two volumes. Now only the first volume has been printed, and the second volume has not yet been printed."
The money was transferred all at once. As expected of a big publishing house, they are very open and honest in their work!
She will vote again next time! !
Mu Fugui squeezed in between his wife and daughter and said, "Let me see. Does the letter really say that? Does it really say 110 yuan?"
Mu Mian smiled and handed the letter to her father who was squeezing over. "It's true, Dad, look, I'm not lying!"
Liu Shuangcui also poked her head out, almost putting her eyes on the letter to read, "Oh my God, it's really written like this!"
Zhao Meihua: "How can you make so much money by writing and painting?"
It’s no wonder that the three adults were surprised. Their understanding of royalties all came from the articles Mu Mian had submitted before.
There is simply no one else to refer to.
They thought the money they received from the previous article was already enough, and never thought it could be this much.
Mu Mian patiently explained, "This is different. Last time, I only took up one page in the journal, but this comic book was drawn entirely by me, without anyone else, so the money must be more."
"And I've done some research. Publishers in big cities pay more money!"
It's normal for the whole book to cost a little over one hundred yuan, which is not high, but no one deliberately lowered the price just because she is a newcomer. This is the price of comic books published now.
Although the little girl's words were very reasonable, the three of them still felt like they were dreaming.
This way, you can get about a hundred dollars? ?
How can it be so unreal? !
This is even more unreal than the last time I dug up ginseng! !
Mu Fugui rubbed his daughter's head and said something similar to last time, "Daughter, do you think it's too late for your dad to learn these things now? When I can't kill pigs anymore, I can sit at the table and write and draw every day, and I can also earn some money for my retirement."
Comrade Liu Shuangcui, who thought her man was talking nonsense last time, nodded in agreement this time, and her eyes expressed the same meaning.
Thinking of his parents' ugly handwriting again, Mu Mian was very tactful and directly handed the remittance slip to Comrade Mu Fugui, "I will take care of you in your old age. Dad, keep this and you can take it out on the way tomorrow."
Liu Shuangcui looked at the remittance slip and seemed to be hesitant to speak.
If it was only ten or twenty dollars, she would let her daughter keep it herself as before, but this time there was more than a hundred dollars.
If the daughter accidentally lost it, or if some kid went into her daughter's room and accidentally found it.
I can't even think about it, it makes me sad when I think about it.
Mu Mian understood immediately, "Ask mom to keep the money for me."
She still has more than twenty dollars left in her hand, and she doesn't have much use for money on a daily basis.
Even if she was given so much money, she would still hide it. Her ability to hide money is definitely not as good as her mother's.
If you count it up, plus the money her mother had collected for her before, the total amount is five hundred yuan!
I earned more than 500 yuan in half a year. That’s great!
Over time, when the market opens up, she will have enough money to buy a house!
The future is really promising! !
---
Because the comic book was approved and his efforts were not in vain, Mu Mian was happy for several days.
When she was laughing foolishly, the villagers in the brigade were also very happy, because...
The team is going to slaughter pigs!
This is a great happy event, second only to the distribution of grain.
Every year there is a quota for pigs to be handed in, and the remaining ones are divided among the team.
The Qingfeng Brigade's pigs for this year were handed over a few days ago. Raising the remaining pigs will not yield much meat, and it will be a waste of feed.
When winter comes, when there is no more grass to harvest outside, there is suddenly much less food to feed the pigs.
So every year after the money is handed in, the remaining ones are killed immediately.
Anyway, it's cold now and there's snow everywhere outside.
The meat can be frozen directly and will not go bad even during the Chinese New Year.
Of course, the job of slaughtering the pig was given to Comrade Mu Fugui. No one in the brigade was better at it than him.
On Sunday.
There was a little snow outside early in the morning.
It wasn't very big, but it kept floating and fell together with the snow on the ground.
Mu Mian's early biological clock was not delayed too much by the arrival of winter, and he woke up at dawn.
As soon as she turned over, the old lady next to her also moved.
Since the weather turned cold, Mu Mian moved to her grandmother's room to sleep. There was no kang in her room or her brother's room, only a bed made of wooden boards.
The old lady's room has a kang. When the house was renovated, it was connected to the kang in Liu Shuangcui and her husband's room to make a double kang.
It looks like it is divided into two rooms, but in fact there is a wall separated by thick wooden boards in the middle, and the kang is still the same kang.
When it is burned at night, both sides are warm.
There was a little noise outside, and it was obvious that Comrade Liu Shuangcui had gotten up. Mu Mian followed suit and took out the clothes that had been kept warm by her all night long from under the quilt.
Zhao Meihua tilted her head to look at her granddaughter, "It's still early, why don't you sleep a little longer?"
Mu Mian shook his head, "I'm awake and don't want to lie down anymore. Lele said yesterday that he wanted to go watch the pig slaughtering early today."
Zhao Meihua yawned, "You little kids are not afraid of the cold."
Mu Mian chatted with her grandma while getting dressed, "Grandma, aren't you going to see it?"
Zhao Meihua shook her head. "It's just so noisy, nothing to see."
Mu Mian smiled innocently, "It's only interesting when it's lively. What's the point of watching it when it's deserted?"
Zhao Meihua sat up and said, "It's too noisy. It makes my head hurt. I might as well go to your grandmother Li's house and chat with her instead."
Mu Mian chuckled, "I'm not afraid of noise, I'll take Eleven with me later."
Take your dog to see the world!
When Eleven, who was sleeping on the edge of the kang, heard his name, he excitedly scratched the wall and whimpered several times.
After more than a month, the puppy has grown a little bit, but only a little. It is still too early for it to become an adult, and its whimpering is still childish.
Mu Mian got off the kang and rubbed the dog twice, "I'll take you out after breakfast."
Eleven could now understand the word "rice". Thinking that he was about to be fed, he excitedly began to circle around his owner's feet.
In order to avoid stepping on it, Mu Mian almost tripped and fell, which made her laugh. "What are you doing?! Are you spinning around? Aren't you dizzy?"
Zhao Meihua also laughed, "It's just like a donkey pulling a millstone."
Mu Mian raised his foot and gently touched Xiao Shiyi, "Did you hear that? Grandma asked you to pull the millstone."
It can be said that he is very good at conveying messages.
Eleven: "Woo woo woo woo hum hum hum hum ..."
I don't understand. I don't understand at all.
Just want to eat! !
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