Rebirth of the courtyard, the start is 80s

Chapter 3 It's really unbelievable
When Cao Zhiqiang pushed his bicycle and strolled into the gate of the courtyard, he was immediately stopped by the third uncle Yan Bugui who was watering the flowers in the front yard.

"Cao Zhiqiang, wait a minute, don't leave yet!"

"Master San?" Cao Zhiqiang stopped and turned around, "Do you have something to do?"

"Hehe, I bought meat again." The third uncle first looked at the pork belly on the handlebar of the bicycle, "Is this at least three catties?"

"You are wise." Cao Zhiqiang smiled, "No more, no less, exactly three catties."

"Oh." The third uncle sighed, "Zhiqiang, since you went to work, every time you come back from get off work, you have to buy so much meat.

It's not that I'm talking about you, you're talking about you, ah, just started working, how much income do you just buy meat every day?

Even if you and your sister are the only two people in your family and the population is small, eating meat like this every day is still a big expense.

You can't just eat meat, can you?You have to buy clothes, buy daily necessities, pay tuition for your younger sister, and yourself, you also have to save money to marry a wife, right?

If you want to live a good life, you have to learn to calculate. If you can’t calculate, you will be poor. You can’t waste money, or you will have no money when you ask for money in the future. When you cry, you know? "

"Hehe." Cao Zhiqiang smiled, "I understand the truth, but I prefer to eat meat. I am the one who doesn't like meat, and I feel uncomfortable if I don't eat meat. There is no way.

What's more, when my sister is growing up, she also needs a lot of meat to supplement her nutrition.

As for marrying a daughter-in-law, I'm still young, so I'm not in a hurry. "

"Sure, your money, you can do whatever you want." The third uncle nodded, and then saw the tape recorder in the back seat of the car, his eyes immediately shrank, "Oh, this box, is it unopened? A tape recorder? A Shanghai brand?"

Speaking of this, the third uncle looked up at the smiling Cao Zhiqiang: "Here, it can't be a real tape recorder inside, right?"

"Of course it's true." Cao Zhiqiang had a refined and easy-going smile on his face, "A brand new tape recorder, from the original factory!"

"Hiss..." The third uncle gasped, "Really? Where did you get it?"

"Of course I bought it at Gulou Street." Cao Zhiqiang said with a smile.

"How much did you buy it for?"

"It's not expensive. I bought it from Erdao dealer and negotiated the price, three hundred and eighty."

"Three hundred and eighty is not expensive? You, where did you get the money?"

"It's earned."

"How did you earn it?"

"That's why you shouldn't worry about it?"

Hearing what Cao Zhiqiang said, the third uncle frowned, and then his face became serious: "Cao Zhiqiang, I don't mean anything else, it's just that you are still young and have a formal job, and you have a bright future. You can't do this illegal thing. , don’t take the path of crime.”

"Don't worry, third uncle." Cao Zhiqiang said with a smile.

"I've already changed my mind, and I've drawn a clean line from the gang of crooked friends in the past, and I will never associate with them again.

As for the illegal and criminal things, I certainly dare not do it.

Even if I don't do it for myself, I have to do it for my sister.

What if something happens to me, my sister is a child?
Anyway, the money to buy the recorder was earned by me in an open and honest manner. It was clean and there was no problem. "

The third uncle frowned again, then nodded: "You...forget it, since you think so, I won't say anything more, just do it yourself."

"Yes." Cao Zhiqiang nodded, "Is there anything else? I'm leaving."

"Oh right, yes, there is something else!" The third uncle Yan Bugui said quickly, "Look at me, I almost forgot the important thing."

Speaking of this, Yan Bugui said: "There is your letter again, but when the postman delivered it, you happened to be away, so I will sign for it for you just like before. Wait a minute, I will go back and get it for you. "

"Thank you, Third Master." Cao Zhiqiang smiled immediately.

"It's okay." The third uncle put down the watering can, "I'll get it for you."

Soon, the third uncle Yan Bugui returned home, and then came with a letter: "Then, your letter."

Cao Zhiqiang chuckled, took the letter, and took a look, the envelope was intact and had not been torn.

How should I put it, although this third uncle loves to calculate, his character is still acceptable.

At the very least, he doesn't bother to do things like sneaking around and secretly tricking people, which is pretty good.

Seeing that Cao Zhiqiang accepted the letter, the third uncle came over and said with a smile:
"Cao Zhiqiang, by the way, you have letters almost every day these days, and almost all of them are sent back from different magazines. Is it your manuscript fee?"

"Yes." Cao Zhiqiang blinked.

"I understand." Yan Bugui said, "You are eating meat every day with the manuscript fee, and you also bought this tape recorder with the manuscript fee?"

"Yes." Cao Zhiqiang blinked again.

The third uncle frowned: "Then I just asked you where the money came from, why didn't you tell me?"

Cao Zhiqiang shrugged: "I'm too lazy to talk about it."

The third uncle said: "Cao Zhiqiang, I shouldn't have asked, but today I saw that you actually bought a tape recorder for [-] yuan. I'm really curious. By the way, how much did you earn in manuscript fees?"

"It's hard to say." Cao Zhiqiang said with a curl of his lips, "I wrote a lot of articles and sent them to many magazines. I can't remember the details of how much the manuscript was paid for."

"That's it." The third uncle rolled his eyes and said, "How about, can you open this letter of yours and show it to me, so that I can see how much your manuscript fee is this time? That way I can have as much as I want." A spectrum?"

"This..." Cao Zhiqiang hesitated.

"Don't worry, I'll just take a look, I won't be jealous, and I won't ask you to borrow money." The third uncle said with a smile, "Besides, if you let me see your manuscript fee, if someone asks you about buying a tape recorder, I will It’s good to help you smooth things over, right?”

Cao Zhiqiang hesitated for a moment, then tore the letter open.

Sure enough, there was a text message inside.

The content of the text message is mainly a formulaic publication notice, informing you that your article has been included in Science Pictorial Magazine and will be published in the next issue of the magazine.

But that's not the point, the point is another money order.

When Cao Zhiqiang took out the remittance slip, the third uncle saw it, and his eyes immediately widened:
"This, this... 2280.60 yuan?"

After saying this sentence, the third uncle opened his mouth wide and looked at Cao Zhiqiang, as if he was looking at a monster, his body swayed: "You, you, you..."

"Third Master!" Cao Zhiqiang quickly supported the Third Master, "Don't get excited, Third Master, take it easy! I can't afford anything to happen!"

"Two, more than 2000?" The third uncle took two deep breaths and held Cao Zhiqiang's arm tightly, "Is this really your manuscript fee?"

Cao Zhiqiang sighed: "Of course it's true, Third Uncle, isn't everything clearly written on the remittance slip?"

"How could there be so many?" The third uncle frowned.

"Because this is a science pictorial!" Cao Zhiqiang said with a smile.

Indeed, Science Pictorial is the well-deserved No. [-] selling popular science magazine at this time.

In 1982 alone, the circulation of Science Pictorial reached 100 million copies, with a peak of more than [-] copies.

Maybe many people don't know how terrifying the magazine's circulation of 100 million copies is during this period, but for most people, especially urbanites, few people don't know Science Pictorial, and few people Never read Science Pictorial.

As far as this courtyard house is concerned, not to mention that every household has subscribed to Science Pictorial, but at least one-third of the households have subscribed to this thing, and at least two-thirds of the people have read this thing. From this, we can see the importance of this magazine. popularity.

Of course, because the current circulation of this magazine is the first, and the background is strong, it can be called a giant in the magazine category. one.

In the era when the manuscript fees of various magazines were generally still in the era of three yuan per thousand characters to ten yuan per thousand characters, Science Pictorial could offer manuscript fees of one hundred yuan per thousand characters or even one hundred and fifty yuan per thousand characters. no opponent.

Even "People's Literature", which was also known for its large circulation and high manuscript fees at the same time, was capped at [-] yuan per thousand characters at this time, and there was no remuneration above [-] yuan per thousand characters.

And those who can get thousands of words and hundreds of yuan are very rare great writers, who can count on one hand, and ordinary people can't get it at all.

At the same time, in the 80s when the scientific literacy of the public was generally low, and the quality of manuscripts was generally low, the quality of manuscripts of Science Pictorial was also the highest quality among similar journals, and the requirements were also the strictest.

To some extent, in the 80s when domestic professional academic journals had not yet become popular, Science Pictorial could be said to be the domestic "Nature" to a certain extent.

Even for a long time, many domestic scientific workers directly used it as the most authoritative academic journal in China.

At this time, many professional masters in the academic circles of universities are proud to publish their works on it, and even use it as an indicator for evaluating professional titles, which shows the weight of this journal at this time.

Therefore, being able to submit and publish an article in Science Pictorial at this time is not only rich, but also quite a face-saving thing, and it is also a worthy thing to show off.

Especially in 1983, the gold content of articles published in Science Pictorial was not ordinary.

"It turned out to be a science pictorial." The third uncle nodded after regaining his senses, "For a science pictorial, the manuscript fee is really high."

Immediately afterwards, the third uncle asked again, "Then what article did you vote for others?"

"It's nothing." Cao Zhiqiang said, "It's just some popular science articles."

"The popular science article is good." The third uncle nodded.

"Nowadays, people who can write popular science articles are truly high-level cultural people. If you learn mathematics, physics and chemistry well, you will not be afraid to travel all over the world.

But even if it's a science pictorial, the manuscript fee is relatively high, so it's not so outrageously high, right?
What did you write that people gave you so much money?
That's almost as much as my annual salary. "

Cao Zhiqiang smiled: "It's very simple, I just submitted a popular science article explaining genetic engineering, and I hope to open a column explaining genetic engineering in their place, and explain systematically what genes are.

They thought it was good, and hoped that I could continue to explain more in simple terms about genetic engineering, so they agreed to make a column.

So, they opened a special column on genetic engineering, and hired me as a special writer for this column, and the remuneration was sixty thousand words.

So I submitted another manuscript later, this time with a larger number of words, a total of more than 8000 words, and they will be divided into three issues.

Then, according to the remuneration of 60 yuan per thousand characters, isn’t it 2280.60? "

"Genetic Engineering?"

The third uncle frowned and thought about it.

"This word is so familiar...

Ah, I remember, there was indeed a new column in the last issue of Science Pictorial, which was devoted to genetic engineering and the future of mankind.

It said a bunch of DNA, chromosomes, paternity tests, virus vaccines, cloned sheep, etc. You wrote them all? "

"Of course." Cao Zhiqiang nodded with a smile, "It's me."

"Oh!" The third uncle gave a thumbs up, "You are a great talent, can you still understand the most cutting-edge high-tech biology abroad?"

"Where is it?" Cao Zhiqiang smiled modestly, "I read and write blindly, and I made money by accident, and there is nothing I can do about it."

"You are talented, you are indeed talented!" The third uncle nodded and sighed, "Sure enough, now that the reform has been opened, this cultural person is not short of money. I didn't expect you to have such a skill. You are really ugly. .”

Hearing what the third uncle said, Cao Zhiqiang was calm on the surface, but he was very straightforward on the inside.

Sure enough, low-key pretense is cool, second only to face slapping.

Of course, the reason why Cao Zhiqiang was willing to show him the salary of "Science Pictorial" was not to pretend to be coercive, but mainly to let the other party spread the news, and then let everyone know that Cao Zhiqiang's extra money came from a good source.

Cao Zhiqiang is rich now, and in the future he is destined to have a lot of fish and meat, and he also needs to eat well, wear clothes, and use well. Consumer spending is destined to increase, so he must have a reason.

Contribution fee is the best way to say it.

Because in this era, there is no extra money that can be cleaner than manuscript remuneration.

But it’s not enough to talk too much. Too much remuneration can easily arouse the jealousy of others.

The remuneration of two thousand yuan is just right.

"Master San, are you alright?"

Seeing that Yan Bugui was still in a daze, Cao Zhiqiang asked again with concern.

"No, it's all right."

Third Uncle Yan Bugui shook his head.

"That's good." Cao Zhiqiang nodded, "It's okay, I'm going back, I'm still waiting to cook."

After finishing speaking, Cao Zhiqiang ignored the third uncle, and pushed his bicycle home on his own.

Only the third uncle, Yan Bugui, was left there, looking at Cao Zhiqiang's back, shaking his head and sighing.

"I earn more than 2000 yuan a month from manuscript fees? That's more than my annual income!"

"This Cao Zhiqiang has really stood up. No wonder he eats fish and meat all day long. He really can't be judged by his appearance."

Cao Zhiqiang, who was walking towards the middle courtyard, couldn't stop walking after hearing this, and the corner of his mouth twitched, but he thought in his heart:

Where is this? It's just a small idea among my many manuscript fees.

If I let you know that the royalties I actually get now are over [-] yuan, wouldn't that scare you into a heart attack?

That's right, although the manuscript fee of more than 2000 yuan is very rare in this era, it can be called a huge sum of money.

But this amount of money, compared to the more than [-] manuscript fees that Cao Zhiqiang has already received, although I dare not say it is a drop in the bucket, it is really nothing.

What kind of households with ten thousand yuan is just a pleasure for him.

He is now a proper 10 yuan household!

It's just that he is low-key and doesn't like to show off everywhere.

(End of this chapter)