Chapter 53 Tea, Drink Tea, Drink Good Tea
Opposite the outpatient department of Ruijin Hospital is Shaoxing Road. Walking 300 meters along this road covered by sycamore trees, you can see a small red brick European-style building with a house number 74 hanging on the door. Next to it are the signs of Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House and the editorial department of Story Club.
Gao Jialin walked in with the manuscript. He could clearly feel that the editors here were much busier than those at "Mengya", because the circulation of the two magazines were completely not on the same level.
The highest circulation of "Mengya" was just over 300,000 copies, and "Gushihui" now sells five to six million copies per issue. Next year, it will set a world record of 7.6 million copies per issue, becoming the world's best-selling magazine.
The threshold for collecting manuscripts for Story Club is not as high as that for literary magazines, so you can imagine the number of manuscripts it receives every month. It is normal that their editors are busier than those of Sprout.
There are so many manuscripts to read every day, so when editor Feng Jie sees people submitting manuscripts, he is not as enthusiastic as Niu Xinliang. There are so many people submitting manuscripts, and most of the stories they write have no highlights and are not attractive enough. Reading these manuscripts is a waste of time.
Feng Jie took a look at the thickness of the manuscript and asked directly, "What is your story about?"
If it's interesting, you can take a look at it. If it's not, just let him go back.
“This is a martial arts story!”
Hmm? Feng Jie looked up.
"When the young Emei warrior Li Xiaogang was paying tribute to his late father and friend, the great warrior Xiang, he was poisoned by the flower-stealing thief Jiang Shangfeng. Fortunately, he was saved by the great monk Dayong Zen Master of Emei, who gave him the unique skill of 'Golden Summit Magic'. This magic skill is so powerful that even if you practice it, you can spit fire from both hands!"
Flower thief? Eminent monk? Young hero? Divine power? Hearing the series of gimmicky elements, Feng Jie immediately put down the manuscript in his hand, "Don't worry, teacher, please take a seat, we will talk slowly!"
"In order to avenge her husband's death, the scum of Emei, Black Phoenix, devoted herself to the Soul-Stirring Sect and learned the sect's unique skill - the Soul-Stirring Technique. She also set traps everywhere to hunt down Li Xiaogang, and the martial arts world was suddenly in chaos..."
"Li Xiaogang met the female hero Xiang Chunhua. When Xiang Chunhua was newly married, her husband was assassinated and died suddenly. In order to seek revenge, she and Li Xiaogang traveled the world together. After experiencing many life-and-death disasters, the two secretly fell in love!"
A widow? Feng Jie's eyes lit up. He quickly got up, picked up the kettle, poured a glass of water and handed it to Gao Jialin, "Moisten your throat!"
"In order to crush the conspiracy of the lecherous Black Phoenix, Li Xiaogang led his men to the important place of the Ghost Cult, met the Ghost Cult Princess Jiaojiao, and together with the Ghost Cult Princess and Xiang Chunhua, they captured the Black Phoenix in one fell swoop."
Wow, another beauty! "Who would have thought that Black Phoenix would give herself to her old lover, the Holy Hand Monster, and join the evil sect, the Black and White Sect. The leader of the Black and White Sect, Xiu Xiu, was deeply attracted by Li Xiaogang's handsomeness, justice and chivalry, and wanted to marry him, otherwise she would lead the sect to become an enemy of the entire martial arts world..."
“In the end, in order to save the martial arts world, Li Xiaogang had no choice but to agree to the conditions of the Black and White Leader Nanshan Xiu and give up the two beauties Xiang Chunhua and Jiaojiao!” If it were an online novel in later generations, he would definitely accept everything and would not dare to be so arrogant at the moment.
"Jiaojiao was taken away by her father. Xiang Chunhua threw herself into Li Xiaogang's arms and burst into tears. She said, 'You are doing this to save the martial arts world. We have been together almost inseparable in the past few years. You are the god in my heart and my pillar. I really can't live without you. In this world, you are my only relative. I miss you day and night, those happy days, but... for the safety of the martial arts world, so that there will never be another killing each other in the future, I... I support you in doing this.'"
If this passage were put into an online article, it would be absolutely poisonous, and readers would criticize the author to death. However, people in the 1980s were accustomed to sacrifice, and the idea of giving up the small self for the sake of the big self was deeply rooted in their bones. After listening to it, Feng Jie not only did not find it poisonous, but was so moved that he almost cried.
At first, only Feng Jie was listening, but gradually all the editors in the office gathered around and pricked up their ears to listen to Li Xiaogang's great adventure.
The story had just been told, and the others were still immersed in sorrow. An editor who had recovered first had already set his eyes on Gao Jialin's manuscript. "Teacher, your writing is so good. Is the manuscript here? Can I take a look first?"
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? The teacher has already given me the manuscript! Why are you grabbing it?" Feng Jie quickly pushed his hand away, fearing that the manuscript would be snatched away.
"You can't even give the teacher a sip of tea, and you still have the nerve to ask for other people's manuscripts? Teacher, I've accepted your manuscript. Let's come over and talk in detail. I'll make you some tea. This is this year's new tea. I'm sure you'll like it!" The editor still didn't give up.
"Teacher, I have some West Lake Longjing tea that my friend just brought from Hangzhou." Feng Jie quickly opened the drawer of his desk and took out his treasured tea.
"Haha, what has happened since I came here reminds me of a folk legend." Gao Jialin laughed.
"What legend?" Feng Jie asked while making tea.
"This legend is about Zheng Banqiao: One day, Zheng Banqiao went to a teahouse to drink tea. The shopkeeper saw that Zheng Banqiao was dressed in plain clothes and casually said, 'Sit down,' and said 'Tea' to the waiter."
"After a while, someone came to talk to Zheng Banqiao. The shopkeeper heard that Zheng Banqiao was well-spoken, so he changed his words and said, 'Please sit down' and told the waiter, 'Bring us some tea.'"
"After listening to a few more words, I realized that this was the famous Zheng Banqiao, so I said with a big smile, 'Please take a seat,' and told the waiter, 'Bring me some good tea.'"
"He also brought writing brushes and ink to ask Zheng Banqiao to leave his calligraphy. Zheng Banqiao wrote it in one stroke. The first line was 'Sit, please sit, please take the seat', and the second line was 'Tea, serve tea, serve good tea'."
Some say this story is from Zheng Banqiao, while others say it is from Su Dongpo. Considering the history of the popularity of couplets, Gao Jialin thinks the probability of this story being from Zheng Banqiao is greater.
The editors were embarrassed. Wasn't this story about them? They didn't bother to respond to people who came in to submit manuscripts, but now they are scrambling for them, just like that snobbish teahouse owner.
Feng Jie blushed a little and then returned to normal. What was the big deal if he was ridiculed for doing something wrong? As long as he could keep the manuscript, it would be fine.
So he immediately clapped his hands and said, "Teacher, your story is really good. Readers will definitely like it. Can you publish it in our Story Club? If you find it troublesome, I can help you write it. Don't worry about the payment. I will definitely not give you a penny less!"
"Okay! Then come and help me write it! And I'll give you the manuscript as well!" It feels great to get paid for scolding people. Gao Jialin also let go of the grudge in his heart. Since the other person has done this for him, what else do you want?
"Okay, I'll take a good look at it now!" Feng Jie smiled proudly at the other editors, took the manuscript and started reading.
"The Story of Revenge in the Jianghu"? This is a good title, it will attract readers.
Look at the pen name again, Tang San? What does this mean? (End of this chapter)
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