Chapter 320 I won the prize, can I get a divorce?
Liu Xinwu looked at Zhang Zhonge, who looked heartbroken, and said calmly: "Old Zhang, things may be just as you said."
"Cheng Xuyuan won't win the short story award this time."
"But do you think he should beg those people for the short story award?"
Liu Xinwu's voice was even more annoyed: "Even a classic novel like The Pursuit of Happyness can't win an award!"
"Who gave them the courage to be so reckless?"
“It’s just ridiculous!”
Zhang Zhong'e looked at Liu Xinwu's expression and nodded slightly.
Just as Liu Xinwu said, even if Cheng Xuyuan compromised, he probably wouldn't get the award.
It’s better to explode than to endure it.
Let everyone know that he is not someone to be trifled with.
Even if I fail to win this round, what about the judges for the next round? I'm afraid no one will bother me again.
"Qiu Ju Goes to Court"! "Let's Talk It Out Nicely"! "It Never Ends"! He really dares to write.
"Okay, let's not discuss this matter anymore." Zhang Zhong'e said, "Anyway, the ones leading the way are Yanjing Literature and Art and Cheng Xuyuan."
"It has nothing to do with us."
Looking at Zhang Zhong'e who looked calm, Liu Xin said, "Editor-in-Chief Zhang, our plan..."
"Our plan remains unchanged." Zhang Zhong'e glanced at Liu Xinwu and said, "We will not participate in this matter."
"But our work plan remains unchanged."
After hearing Zhang Zhong'e say that his work plan remained unchanged, Liu Xinwu smiled and said, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
Looking at Liu Xinwu leaving, Zhang Zhonge sighed.
Today's young people are really full of enterprising spirit.
Just as Zhang Zhong'e expected, as the special issue of "Yenching Literature and Art" on Cheng Xuyuan's novel was published, all kinds of comments flooded in.
There are comments on "Qiu Ju Goes to Court"!
There are comments on "Never Ending"!
Similarly, there are also comments on "If You Are the One", "Let Us Talk Nicely"!
In these comments, many people, after affirming Cheng Xuyuan's work, even made some innuendos about the award.
To the extent that the fact that Cheng Xuyuan's "The Pursuit of Happiness" failed to win the short story award caused a lot of controversy.
However, Cheng Xuyuan was able to sit back and relax in this situation.
Just two days ago, he received the royalties for these three short stories from Yenching Literature and Art.
The total amount is more than four hundred and thirty yuan.
This was a considerable income at that time!
It is no exaggeration to say that this is almost a year's salary for young people who have just started working, but for Cheng Xuyuan, who is used to receiving royalties from Hong Kong, this is really too little.
Because the holiday is coming, Cheng Xuyuan plans to go back to his hometown.
Knowing that he was leaving, Fang Gengsheng invited Cheng Xuyuan to his house for dinner.
Cheng Xuyuan, who was already used to going to Fang Gengsheng's house, bought two bottles of good wine and arrived at Fang's house on time.
There were a lot of people in the Fang family at this time! Not only Fang Yuanfeng and Qin Wenhui were there, but even Meng Dezhi, who was rarely seen, appeared in the living room of the Fang family at this time.
Cheng Xuyuan felt that Meng Dezhi now seemed younger than before.
At this time, Meng Dezhi was talking to Qin Wenhui and others. When he saw Cheng Xuyuan coming, his voice suddenly became louder: "Oh, let me see, who is this person?"
"Isn't this the great writer Cheng?"
"Tsk tsk, Writer Cheng is incredible. He published three novels at once."
"Tsk tsk, another lawsuit, another 'Talk it Over', and finally 'It Never Ends'!"
"Master Writer Cheng is so amazing. I have so much respect for your amazing character!"
Cheng Xuyuan was already accustomed to Meng Dezhi's teasing. He smiled and was about to speak, but Fang Yuqing, who was standing behind him, was unwilling to do so.
She suddenly stood in front of Cheng Xuyuan and said angrily: "Uncle, how can you talk like that?"
"Cheng Xuyuan was bullied. It would be fine if you didn't help him, but you are still making innuendos here."
"What? You also think Xu Yuan is easy to bully, right?"
Meng Dezhi looked at his niece with her eyes wide open and an angry look on her face, and felt a surge of emotion in his heart.
This girl is easily emotional. She has only known a boy for a few days, but she has already turned her elbow outward so quickly! "He is easy to bully? Come on, he made me so angry that I was hospitalized!" Meng Dezhi said angrily.
"Being hospitalized? That's his own fault. He deserves it! He is narrow-minded and wants to bully others. He is simply overestimating his own abilities. He has no self-awareness and doesn't know his own weight."
Fang Yuqing said with a bit of gloating, "It would be better for someone like him to stay for a few more days. It would be a good time for him to calm down and reflect on himself! Find out whether he is sick physically or mentally!"
"But Xuyuan won't win the prize in this year's short story competition."
Meng Dezhi said: "Even if everyone thinks Xuyuan should get this award, in order to give an explanation to the old man who is hospitalized due to gas illness, this award cannot be given to Xuyuan."
"After all, we have to give them some face."
Fang Yuqing didn't care too much about this.
She snorted and said, "These people were not planning to give the award to Xu Yuan in the first place. Xu Yuan wrote this special issue just to teach them a lesson. Don't always treat young people as soft persimmons!"
Meng Dezhi was speechless for a moment after being interrupted by his own niece.
But in his heart, he agreed with his niece's words. After this incident, no one would dare to target Cheng Xuyuan again.
After all, the lessons from the past are already lying on the hospital bed.
"As a girl, don't be so sharp when you speak." Meng Fanjin came out wearing an apron. She glared at Fang Yuqing and said, "If you have nothing to do, come and pick some vegetables for me."
Fang Yuqing pouted and said, "Just pick the vegetables!"
"But this time, Xuyuan was indeed wronged."
Looking at Fang Yuqing who was still angry, Cheng Xuyuan smiled and said, "It's okay. Winning or not is a small matter. We just need to keep a happy mood."
"It's worth getting angry about this!"
After Fang Yuqing went to the kitchen, Qin Wenhui said to Cheng Xuyuan, "Xuyuan, you really don't need to care about this excellent short story award."
"The prize money is only a few dozen dollars, what kind of prize is that!"
"Do you know that your "Zhu Xian" is very popular in the "Wen Hui Bao" right now, and has completely overshadowed several famous martial arts writers."
"Some people have even called you the new Grandmaster of Immortal Heroes!"
"Some people also say that you have too few works now. Once you write a few more fairy-tale novels, you will be the top fairy-tale master in Hong Kong."
"Then, your royalties will be even higher."
Just as Qin Wenhui was talking excitedly, Meng Dezhi glared at him and said, "What nonsense!"
“What Xuyuan wants to do is to take traditional literature a step further.”
"Why write martial arts novels? That's not doing your job!"
"Let me tell you, Xiao Cheng, although making money is important, you can't put all your intelligence and talents into making money."
“If that happens, when you’re old, you’ll find that you haven’t gained much.”
"You wrote three novels at once this time. Although it's a bit too much, it's not a bad thing. At least it shows your writing ability."
Looking at Meng Dezhi who was saying "don't take a detour", Cheng Xuyuan didn't quite agree with his opinion, but he still said, "Uncle, don't worry, I will definitely remember your advice."
When Fang Yuanfeng heard the name uncle, he felt uncomfortable and frowned, but ultimately said nothing.
A few people chatted while waiting for Fang Gengsheng to come back.
However, Fang Gengsheng's meeting that day was a bit long. Several people waited for half an hour, but Fang Gengsheng did not come back.
Seeing that it was almost seven o'clock, Fang Yuanfeng turned on the TV. For them, "News Broadcast" was a program that everyone had to watch.
"You know what, after Yanjing TV changed its name, the pictures look a lot better!" Fang Yuanfeng said with a smile as he looked at the pictures on TV.
"It looks better on a color TV." Qin Wenhui said to this point, and turned to Cheng Xuyuan: "Xuyuan, I think it will be clearer on a color TV, what do you think?"
Among all the people present, only Cheng Xuyuan and he had a color TV in their home.
Hearing Qin Wenhui's question, Cheng Xuyuan smiled and said, "It's not that color TV is clearer, it's just that the picture is more comfortable to watch."
Meng Dezhi naturally ignored Qin Wenhui's little show-off.
To him, Qin Wenhui is just a junior.
However, Fang Yuanfeng curled his lips. He wanted to buy himself a color TV in the future, but his wallet just wouldn't allow it.
Just then, the news started playing.
Meng Dezhi watched the news quietly, and Qin Wenhui and Fang Yuanfeng stopped talking. For a moment, the only sound in the house was the TV.
The news continued to come out one after another. Cheng Xuyuan listened to the news and thought about returning to his hometown.
This time when I go back, I will buy more things for my family.
Although he had a lot of remittance vouchers, he could not use them at home, so he had to take some things back with him.
Just as he was thinking about how to make a large purchase, he heard his name on the news: "The latest news, ... the famous young writer Cheng Xuyuan's work "The Pursuit of Happyness" won the U.S. O. Henry Short Story Award, which was established in commemoration of ..."
When Cheng Xuyuan heard his name mentioned in the news, he suddenly raised his head.
On TV, the announcer was broadcasting the news with a serious expression, but Cheng Xuyuan felt different at this moment.
Because his name kept appearing on it.
"Mom, come and see, Cheng Xuyuan is on TV!" Fang Yuning shouted from the side.
Following Fang Yuning's shout, Fang Yuqing and Meng Fanjin also ran out. At this time, the news about Cheng Xuyuan's award was still spreading...
"...Latest news..."
As the next news was broadcast, eyes turned from the TV to Cheng Xuyuan.
Especially Meng Dezhi, his expression was full of surprise.
"Xiao Cheng, did you really win that award?" Fang Yuanfeng asked in disbelief.
He had only asked half of his question when he was interrupted rudely by Meng Dezhi.
"If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense here. That's the O. Henry Short Story Award!" Meng Dezhi said solemnly, "It's the largest short story award in the United States."
At this point, he looked at Cheng Xuyuan and said, "Xiao Cheng, congratulations!"
"Your award is a great thing for you now!"
Looking at Meng Dezhi who looked emotional, Cheng Xuyuan said casually: "If I win the award, can I get a divorce?"
Today is the first chapter. I wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival.
(End of this chapter)
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