Chapter 8 Received a Reply

Chapter 8 Received a Reply

Since sending the two manuscripts he had written to the post office a few days ago, Shen Anan has been having a very leisurely time recently.

When he had nothing to do, he would follow his brother Shen Yulin to the mountains to pick wild fruits and catch sparrows, or go digging wild vegetables with his two sisters-in-law.

Of course, she couldn't tell the types of wild vegetables even if she tried hard. Most of the time, she brought food with her, dug and played at the same time, just like she was on an autumn outing.

I have to say that the environment in the 1960s was really good. Not only was the air fresh, but the sky was full of shining stars at night.

Early this morning, Shen Anan planned to go to the post office in town to see if there was any reply.

Moreover, even though she strongly requested, Wang Sufen only added a little white flour when making the steamed bread for the food she brought back last time. She was the only one in the family who ate refined grains three times a day.

If the newspaper responded this time, she would have a reason to give out more supplies.

Apart from anything else, the Shen family was really good to her, and she also wanted everyone to recuperate.

She has saved up a lot of sign-in times these days. This time when she goes to the town, she can just replenish some supplies, as there are more types of sign-in supplies in the town.

"An Bao, why don't you ask your sixth brother to go with you and send some food to your fourth brother's house."

"It's okay, mother, just give me the food and I'll take it to my fourth brother."

Shen Anan took the backpack and looked inside. There were some melons and vegetables, a piece of bacon weighing about one pound, and five eggs.

After leaving the village, she put the backpack into the space, then took out her bicycle and rode towards Anqi Town.

Yes, she finally has a bike!

This is the bicycle I bought at the supply and marketing office the last time I sent in my manuscript. The White Rabbit cigarette she got last time was not given for free. The girl at the counter actually reserved one for her.

Although the 28-inch bicycles these days are a bit bulky, they are of very good quality and are indeed convenient. With a bicycle, it only takes about forty minutes to get to town.

Shen Anan went straight to the post office in town, and on the way, she just happened to sign in at the refresh points on the map. She got ten kilograms of noodles at the grain store, five kilograms of beef at the meat processing plant, and a carved cosmetic box at the second-hand store...

It feels so good to be able to get a lot of supplies just by signing in! Shen Anan simply couldn't stop.

After these few times, she also discovered that most of the first-level check-in points were basic supplies.

But she is already very satisfied. After all, in this era of material shortages, this is already the biggest golden finger.

Apart from refreshing the second-level check-in point at the town police station last time, she has not refreshed any other high-level check-in points.

Thinking of the camouflage gift pack she got last time, Shen Anan was also a little curious. There were such good things at the second-level sign-in point. She wondered what she would get at the highest level.

After entering the post office, there was only a clerk with short haircut behind the counter, sorting letters. He was wearing an old blue military uniform.

"Comrade, I submitted an article to a newspaper a few days ago. Can you help me see if there is any reply from the newspaper?"

"What's your name?"

“Shen An’an.”

The salesperson searched among the letters for a long time, found two and handed them over.

"Here, there are two envelopes. Why did you come to pick them up yourself? The postman will come to your village in two days."

Shen Anan happily flipped through the two letters in her hand, one was a reply from the People's Daily of Sichuan Province, and the other was from the Children's Daily.

After looking around, while no one was paying attention, Shen Anan took out a bar of soap from her bag and stuffed it into the salesperson's hand.

"Comrade, thank you for your hard work. I want to ask you for a favor. I am submitting articles to newspapers without my family's knowledge. I want to earn some money to save for my dowry."

"If there are any letters from me in the future, can you keep them for me? I can pick them up at the post office myself, and I don't need the postman to deliver them."

After all, Shen Anan planned to use the royalties as an excuse to take out the supplies later, and it would be inconvenient if she sent them to the village.

"Sister, just call me Sister Zhou. These are just trivial matters. How can Sister Zhou accept your things?"

Sister Zhou was about to hand over the soap, and Shen Anan quickly held her hand.

"Sister Zhou, I feel very friendly when I see you. We will have many more interactions in the future. Please put it away quickly. It will be bad if others see it."

Sister Zhou couldn't refuse and had to accept it.

She looked at Shen An'an's good looks and couldn't help but hold her hand: "An'an, I heard you say you want to save up for a dowry. Have you decided on a marriage? If you don't have a partner, the youngest son next door to our house, who graduated from high school, just joined the steel plant in our town this year. His family is well-off and he looks decent. Do you want me to introduce you to someone?"

Shen Anan quickly waved her hand, "No need, Sister Zhou, I'm still young and want to stay with my parents for a few more years. I still have to go to the town textile factory, I'll come to see you next time."

Sister Zhou looked at Shen Anan's fleeing back and smacked her lips with some regret.

There are not many girls who are so good-looking and can contribute to newspapers, but unfortunately there is no suitable boy in her family.

Shen Anan left the post office and couldn't wait to open the envelope. Taking into account the policy changes in the next few years, the content of her articles is relatively conservative.

I first opened the reply from the Children's Newspaper. What she submitted was a fable of about two thousand words. Inside the envelope was a manuscript fee of 19.2 yuan, a receipt for 10 yuan per thousand words, and a reply letter.

There was only a reply letter in the envelope from Sichuan-De People's Daily, saying that the article she wrote was good, but it did not quite fit the content of their newspaper.

In the reply, the editor also provided the submission addresses of several other newspapers and encouraged her to try more.

Shen Anan was not discouraged when she saw the rejection. She remembered that the article she submitted to People's Daily was a travelogue describing a scenic spot in the town, which might not be appropriate.

However, you can study these newspapers more later, as each newspaper has different types of manuscripts it accepts.

She carefully folded up the payment receipt for the children's newspaper and put it into the space.

No matter how many articles she had published, as long as she had the payment slip, she finally had an explanation for the source of the materials she later produced.

The royalties during this period were indeed very good. The royalties for this article were equivalent to half a month's salary for an ordinary worker.

But now that there is a sign-in system, Shen Anan doesn't want to be too aggressive.

I can write a few articles when I have free time. It doesn’t matter whether they are passed or not. The main purpose is entertainment.

The feeling of winning without doing anything is really addictive!

…

…

The textile factory is located in the north of Anqi Town. It is considered the largest factory in the town, with more than a thousand employees. Shen Yuanbang, the fourth son of the Shen family, lives in the tube building of the textile factory.

Relying on her memory, Shen Anan walked all the way to the downstairs of the tube building, and took out the vegetables, bacon and eggs prepared by Wang Sufen from the space with the help of the backpack, and added two handfuls of noodles, a roast chicken and two cans of milk powder.

As he remembered, when the original owner was studying in town, Shen Yuanbang would ride his bicycle to take him back to the village every Friday after school.

You need tickets to buy anything in the city, even vegetables, so Wang Sufen always asked Shen Yuanbang to bring some vegetables back.

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