Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

Chapter 919 A ​​New Manuscript
Yu Dong and his wife stayed in the duck blood vermicelli shop for more than an hour. Later, the boss and the proprietress were not busy in the back kitchen, and came to chat with Yu Dong and the others.

No one asked for an autograph, and no one yelled, and all influence was confined to the store from the beginning to the end.

Before leaving, the proprietress said with a smile, "Come back next time if you have time, I will definitely let you eat pie."

Cheng Yanqiu smiled, "Shortbread is also good."

……

On the way back, Yu Yi had already fallen asleep in Yu Dong's arms. The girl had been playing wildly in the mall, and she was a little sleepy when she arrived at the duck blood vermicelli shop. Just now, when Yu Dong was chatting with those customers, The girl fell asleep.

Cheng Yanqiu tugged Yu Yi's sleeve down, and said with a smile, "Today I ate again for nothing."

Yu Dong nodded and said, "Well, the boss is too polite."

Before leaving, Yu Dong and the others wanted to give money, but the boss refused. Not only did he not want Yu Dong's money, but he also waived the meal expenses of other customers present.

"Why don't you give them something else." Cheng Yanqiu said.

Since the money was not given on the spot, it would definitely not be appropriate to give money later, but some gifts could be given instead.

"What is good to give, even money is not good"

Cheng Yanqiu tilted his head and thought about it, "I'm going to write a picture for them, I think there is a place to hang it on the wall in their shop."

"Isn't it too self-important to take the initiative to send words?"

Cheng Yanqiu said with a smile, "You're thinking too much. What's wrong with taking the initiative to send letters? Don't you see that my dad just sends letters to everyone? After people get the letters, they hang up as much as they like, no Just hang it up and put it away.”

Yu Dong nodded. His father-in-law really liked to give calligraphy works to others. Basically, anyone who knew him had received his calligraphy works.

Before Yu Dong and Cheng Yanqiu were married, they received two pictures, one with "Diligence" and the other with "Meditation". These two pictures are still in a reception room in Luoyuan It is hung, but there is no signature or seal on these two words. Many people thought it was written by Yu Dong after they went there.

"Well, then write and send them."

After thinking about it, it is better to send letters. Other things have a market price. As long as letters are not sold, there is no price.

Cheng Yanqiu smiled again, "Since you want to write, what should you write? What kind of writing is more suitable for hanging in restaurants? Treasure land produces gold, elegant room orchid fragrance?"

Yu Dong smiled, "I think of one."

Cheng Yanqiu asked, "What?"

But Yu Dong put on a trick again, "I won't tell you yet, you'll know when it's finished."

Cheng Yanqiu turned her head, "I don't want to know if I like to talk or not."

……

On the morning of New Year's Eve, when Yang Dongyang was about to pack up the store and go home for the New Year, two men in suits and leather shoes walked into the store.

"Is the boss there?"

Yang Dongyang wiped his hands, walked out, and said with a smile, "You two, we are not open today."

"The boss misunderstood, we are not here to eat." One of them handed a long black bucket in front of Yang Dongyang, "Mr. Yu Dong gave it to you."

Hearing Yu Dong's name, Yang Dongyang raised his eyebrows. He took the long barrel in doubt and asked, "May I ask, what's in it?"

The man shook his head, "We don't know about that, we are only responsible for handing things over to you in good condition, but the things that are packed in this kind of bucket are usually calligraphy and paintings."

Yang Dongyang wondered, "I don't get rewarded for nothing, and I can't take things."

The two deliverers were also troubled, "Boss, if you don't accept it, we won't be able to complete our mission, and we won't be able to pay the errand when we go back."

Yang Dongyang pondered for a while, nodded and said, "Then let me see what's inside first, if..."

As he was talking, the two men bowed to him, turned and left.

"Hey, don't go."

When Yang Dongyang walked out of the store, the two had already walked to the side of the road and got into a car.

Yang Dongyang looked at his two legs and shook his head. If he was 20 years younger, he would definitely try to catch up. Now that he is in his fifties, there is no possibility of catching up.

Turning around and returning to the store, Yang Dongyang will open the long tube in his hand, which contains a roll of paper.

He quickly ran to find a piece and spread it on the table, then gently pulled out the roll of paper from the bucket, and spread it on the cloth.

This is obviously a calligraphy work, nearly two meters in length, with eight large characters written on it.

But seeing these eight big characters, Yang Dongyang fell into deep thought.

These eight characters were not particularly scribbled, and they were easy to recognize, but Yang Dongyang didn't dare to recognize them.

While he was looking at this picture, his wife also came into the store, and said as she walked, "How are you busy, don't forget to wipe the back of the freezer, it has not been taken care of for a long time." , so dirty... Hey, where did this come from?"

"Sent by Yu Dong." Yang Dongyang replied.

"Who sent it?"

"Sent by Yu Dong." Yang Dongyang repeated.

"Did Yu Dong come just now?"

"No, two people sent it over."

"You'll take it if I give it to you. Why are you so thick-skinned?"

"I can't help it. They don't give me a chance to refuse at all. I just put down my things and left. I can't even catch up."

The proprietress sneered, "Didn't you say every day that you used to be a good athlete, you can run 100 meters in 11 seconds, and you can't catch up with others."

"Of course I can catch up with people, but they drive away. My two legs can't run faster than those with wheels. Alas, the things have been collected. It's useless to say more. Please help me see , what is written on it."

"Hey, since you're still a middle school graduate, the writing isn't very scribbled. Doesn't it say that it's neither greasy nor bland?"

Yang Dongyang smiled and said, "It's really these eight characters, can I not recognize them? I just can't believe that Yu Dong, such a great writer, actually inscribed these eight characters."

"It's strangely simple, but it's well written. Our duck blood fans are not greasy or bland. The taste is moderate, which is very appropriate."

The proprietress smiled and compared the painting with her hands, and then compared the wall, "Go back and find a shop that can mount paintings, have this painting mounted, and then hang it in this position. The size is just right. I see, Yu Dong is According to the word written on this wall."

"Well, in a few years I will send this word to Wang Liezi's house in Erxiangzi, and let him frame it for me." Yang Dongyang said.

The landlady's expression changed, and she waved her hands again and again, "That's no good. Although Lame Wang is good at craftsmanship, he is not good at being a man. He has too many ghost thoughts. This word was written by Yu Dong, and the money was signed on it. Don't be caught by him when you send it to him." He blacked us out."

Yang Dongyang nodded, "That's true."

……

Here, Cheng Yanqiu knew that the writing had been delivered, so he said, "Can you tell me what you wrote now?"

Yu Dong smiled, "Didn't you say you didn't want to know?"

Before Cheng Yanqiu got angry, Yu Dong said quickly, "I just wrote eight characters for them, neither greasy nor bland."

Hearing these eight characters, Cheng Yanqiu asked suspiciously: "Why are these eight characters, is there any allusion?"

She really couldn't think of anything special about these eight characters, but since Yu Dong wrote them, there must be a reason.

Yu Dong explained with a smile, "Do you still remember that summer, when I got sick from the rain?"

"I remember, but I also lied to my mother that my colleague was sick and asked her to cook a lot of dishes, but then I met on Anren Street."

"Well, during that time, Feiyu said that he got the royalties to invite me to be a duck blood fan, and I asked him to treat me to a big meal, but he said that I just got sick and I am not suitable for a big meal, so it is best to eat duck blood fans. Well, because duck blood vermicelli is neither greasy nor bland, we joked at the time that we would write these eight characters in the inscription for this store in the future.”

Cheng Yanqiu said with a smile, "So there is such an allusion. There is nothing special about the eight characters just now. Now after listening to the allusion, it is much more interesting to read the eight characters."

"It is estimated that the boss and the proprietress don't understand why I wrote these eight characters."

"They don't care why you wrote these eight characters, they only care about whether you wrote these eight characters. As long as they are written by you, they will definitely hang them on the wall." Cheng Yanqiu said with a smile, and then looked at Looking at his watch, he asked suspiciously, "It's almost eleven o'clock, Jimmy and the others haven't come yet, didn't they say they're here for lunch?"

Yu Dong shook his head, "I don't know either, I'll call him later."

……

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, in the "Science Fiction World" magazine building, Tan Kai knocked on the door of her office as soon as Yang Xiao arrived at her office.

"Yo, Lao Tan, it's so early, happy new year."

"Happy New Year, you didn't rest at home for a few more days, and went to see relatives?"

"After walking for two days, I'm too tired. I might as well come to work. The main reason is that the work pressure in the agency is high recently. Come here early to deal with it."

"Well, the manuscripts for the next issue have not been settled yet. Recently, everyone has been lazy and has not published manuscripts."

Yang Xiao said with a smile, "Isn't it the same every year? Everyone is busy celebrating the New Year, so don't worry if you have time to write a manuscript. According to the situation in previous years, the manuscript will come in after a few days. If it doesn't work, just type it up." Call them up."

"If there is no manuscript in another week, I will call them one by one. And He Xi and the others are close, and I will go to their door to guard..."

While Tan Kai was talking, the phone in Yang Xiao's office rang suddenly. She nodded to Tan Kai, then walked over to answer the phone.

"Hi, hello... Yu Dong, happy new year, happy new year..."

Tan Kai originally wanted to go back to his office, but when he heard it was Yu Donglai's call, he stopped in his tracks.

"Well, I'm at work, and no one answers the phone at home... You want to submit a manuscript? Really?"

Manuscript?

Tan Kai couldn't help getting closer.

Yang Xiao was also very excited, "Okay, the novella is fine, more than 4 words, right? I'll show you more in the first issue, and post six or seven issues, what do you think... You don't need to read it, you can decide it directly, Hurry up and pass on the manuscript, and we'll upload it to you in the next issue... No, no, there's just time for the next issue... Well, okay, that's it."

When Yang Xiao put down the phone, Tan Kai couldn't wait to ask, "Is there a new manuscript for Yu Dong?"

Yang Xiao smiled and nodded, "Well, that's what he told me. There is a [-]-word manuscript, which will be sent to our mailbox in a while."

Tan Kai rubbed his hands, "The novella is also good, but didn't you ask him at the annual meeting last time, and he said he didn't have a new manuscript? It's only been a few days, and there is a new manuscript? This speed is too fast. Hurry up?"

"You don't know Yu Dong's speed. It's not difficult for him to write a 4-word novella in a week or two."

"I know his speed, but during the Chinese New Year, he must be busy, and he still has time to write novels."

Yang Xiao shrugged his shoulders, "No matter what, he did write it."

"Did you say what the subject matter is?"

"That's not true, I didn't ask, anyway, the manuscript will be passed on in a while."

"Then what are you waiting for, turn on your computer and log in to your mailbox."

Then the two of them fiddled with the computer in front of the computer.

Since Deep Space Corporation sent several sets of computers to "Science Fiction World", their working mode has completely changed.

The first is the delivery of manuscripts. Most well-known science fiction writers have their own computers, and they write manuscripts on computers.

Before the magazine had no computers, these writers needed to write manuscripts on the computer, then find a printer to print out the manuscript, and then send it to the magazine.

After the magazine has a computer, the intermediate steps are omitted, and the writers directly send the electronic manuscript to the official mailbox of the magazine through the mailbox, realizing paperless between each other.

However, Yu Dong's manuscript is more troublesome than others. He still insists on writing it purely by hand, so after his manuscript is written, he has to send it to a professional typist to type the manuscript into a computer to generate an electronic manuscript, and then send it to the mailbox of Science Fiction World. .

In fact, Yang Xiao and the others can feel the popularity of computers in China the most. Over the past year, more and more people have submitted electronic manuscripts, and the proportion has almost reached half.

Of course, this does not mean that half of the population has a computer.

First of all, the people who contribute to their magazines are highly educated people, and most of them are scientific and technological talents. The proportion of such people who own computers is much higher than that of ordinary people.

Secondly, even if many people do not have a computer, they will go to Internet cafes to submit articles in order to pursue efficiency. Now the Internet fee of most Internet cafes is stable at about two yuan an hour, and the night package is even only a few cents an hour. Some people can afford it.

Electronic submission is mainly because the feedback speed is fast enough. For traditional submission, it takes at least two weeks to know whether the manuscript has passed or not. Sometimes there may be no news for two or three months.

However, electronic submissions can basically tell whether the manuscript has passed within two or three days. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can even get feedback on the same day.

If you know if your manuscript has been passed, you can deal with it earlier. If not, you can continue to submit to other journals, or make revisions to the manuscript. Sometimes you can communicate with the editor to understand the problems of the manuscript.

(End of this chapter)