Chapter 46 I also want to learn foreign languages
In the morning, I went out to eat some soy milk and fried dough sticks. As soon as I returned to the editorial office, the editor-in-chief called me over, "Jialin, I finished reading your manuscript overnight! The revisions are very good. I have arranged to publish it in the next issue. I will give you the royalties today."
Gao Jialin suddenly woke up, and the confusion he had in the morning disappeared in an instant. "Thank you, editor-in-chief. How much will the publishing house pay me for the manuscript?"
"You're not embarrassed at all!" the editor-in-chief joked. Nowadays, authors are always shy when talking about money. Even if they want to ask, they will beat around the bush. It's rare to be as direct as Gao Jialin.
"Sixteen dollars per thousand words. You're lucky to have caught up with a good time to apply for royalties. If it were last year, I would have given you eight dollars at most! The full text of "Young Friends Come Meet" has a total of 97,865 words, multiplied by 16, which is 1,565.84 dollars. Take this note to the finance office to get the money! Next time you have a work, remember to come to us!" The editor-in-chief had already calculated it.
In fact, for ordinary authors, "Mengya" would not offer such a high standard of remuneration, but Gao Jialin was only eighteen years old and his first novel was so excellent, so he regarded Gao Jialin as a key seedling.
If you give too little, they may not say it, but they will not consider Mengya next time if they have a good work. So it is better to give more to leave a good impression on them, so that they will come again next time! "That's for sure. Our manuscript revision environment is so good. Who else can I turn to if I don't come to you? Oh, by the way, I have something I want to ask the publishing house for help. I can't write a good article just by staying in school, so I plan to go out during the summer vacation to see if I can find any inspiration. Can the publishing house give me a letter of introduction?" Gao Jialin asked.
The winter vacation is too short and it’s almost the holidays. It would be a bit bad not to be at home with my parents, so I just stay at home. The summer vacation is nearly two months, and it would be too boring to stay in Gaojia Village all the time, so I have to find a chance to go out for a walk.
"No problem, just come over when the time comes." The editor-in-chief agreed readily. It wouldn't take much effort and it would also be a favor, so why not agree?
I went out to get the money, feeling particularly at ease with the thick stack of bills in my arms. I borrowed a bicycle from Niu Xinliang and went to a nearby shopping mall to buy myself some clothes. The weather was about to get cold, so I had to have some thick clothes.
You need tickets to buy clothes. A few days ago, Gao Jialin asked Niu Xinliang to help him find someone to exchange some commonly used tickets. Fortunately, he met such a capable person, otherwise Gao Jialin would have to find a way himself and it would take more time.
After arriving at the mall and buying clothes, Gao Jialin bought a Yanwu L1520 portable two-band single-card recorder for one hundred and sixty-five yuan.
This is the most popular tape recorder nowadays, with both recording and radio functions. In the advertisement broadcast by CCTV, Miao Haizhong, a young man from Liaoning, held an acoustic guitar and breakdanced, and finally shouted out Yanwu's classic advertising slogan, "Yanwu, Yanwu, one song brings one love!"
The advertisement made the Yanwu tape recorder quickly popular across the country. People lined up with money in hand to buy it. Its popularity far exceeded that of the later release of Apple's new mobile phone. If it had not been sold in the big shopping malls in Shanghai, Gao Jialin was afraid that he would not have been able to buy it even if he had money.
Young people nowadays love to carry this tape recorder, call a group of young men and women, find a place to play music and dance. It was not until last year when a severe crackdown occurred and many dancers were arrested that this trend faded a little.
Gao Jialin didn't buy the tape recorder for dancing. His bright future didn't need this bad luck, so after buying the tape recorder, he went to the nearby Xinhua Bookstore and bought a set of English learning tapes.
A few years ago, Xu Xiongxiong, the director of CCTV's Audio-visual Education Department, went abroad for inspection and saw the English teaching program "Follow Me" compiled by the British BBC. He was deeply attracted by the relaxed conversations between several men and women and the vivid teaching model.
After many twists and turns, he obtained the adaptation rights and collaborated with Beijing Foreign Studies University professor Hu Wenzhong and British teacher Kate Flower to adapt the program into "Learn with Me" for television broadcast.
Later, this episode was made into a tape and sold, becoming the best English listening and speaking tool nowadays. Gao Jialin's English level is definitely no problem, and he can be a teacher directly in school.
But it was a bit strange that a student from a poor mountain village could speak standard English. It would be more natural if he bought a tape recorder and listened to it in the dormitory for a while to show his English level.
After changing cars and taking the bus back to school, Gao Jialin calculated his current savings on the way. After deducting the expenses during this period, he still had nearly one thousand yuan in cash left, which was enough for him to get through this semester very comfortably.
But the copying of books cannot be stopped, because Gao Jialin plans to help his family build a few new kilns during the winter vacation. He can't eat crab feasts in Shanghai while his parents are still living a hard life in their hometown, right? Gao Jialin plans to build three brick kilns for his family, which is not cheap. Each kiln needs at least six workers; each worker needs four workers to serve, so three workers equals sixty-eight workers and four workers equals twenty-four workers; each worker gets five yuan and each worker gets two yuan. This alone costs one hundred and thirty-eight yuan a day, and the entire construction period costs at least two thousand yuan.
Each set of doors and windows costs 150 yuan from purchasing the wood to the craftsmanship. There's no other way. The environment in northern Shaanxi is not good and wood is much more expensive than in other places. So three sets of doors and windows cost 450 yuan.
Thirty thousand red bricks, two cents a piece, a total of six hundred yuan; five thousand catties of lime, two cents a catty, a hundred yuan; three catties of grain per person a day, a total of six bags of flour; each bag is bargained for sixteen yuan, still a hundred yuan, and there are cigarettes, alcohol and other expenses...
After a rough calculation, it would cost at least 5,000 yuan to build a three-hole brick kiln. If Gao Jialin wants to complete this goal during the winter vacation, he will have to copy more books.
When Gao Jialin returned to the dormitory, he immediately caused a sensation. In those days, walking around the university with a Yanwu tape recorder was even cooler than driving a BMW into the campus in later generations. Students from several surrounding dormitories all flocked in.
"Jialin, did you buy it? Did you buy it with your royalties?"
"Yes, I'm not good at English, so I bought a tape recorder and some tapes, and I'm ready to study hard." Gao Jialin gave a shot in advance, lest someone borrow it to dance and cause trouble for him. "If you also want to learn foreign languages, I can apply to the department to see if I can find a classroom in the evening to play it together."
"Yes, yes, foreign languages are very important. We must learn them well. I also want to learn a foreign language."
"Galin is so generous. He used the tape recorder that he worked so hard on to write the manuscript, and he gave it to us to use!"
The classmates responded one after another and regarded Gao Jialin as a great benefactor. For a while, no one mentioned the issue of royalties.
At this time, Wang Weihua pushed through the crowd and walked in. "Jialin, you are a new official and you are already thinking about serving everyone before you even take office?"
(End of this chapter)
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