The literary era since 1979

Chapter 50 Spy War Fever
Dusk, Nanluoguxiang.

There was a loud "click" sound coming from the courtyard. Wang Meili was used to it and walked to her son's room unhappily:

"Your manuscript has been rejected!"

"Mom, why are you so sure that the manuscript will be rejected?"

Liu Jianjun blushed with shame. He couldn't hide the fact that his novel had been rejected. This was the fourth time it had been rejected.

"It's already been thrown outside my house, but it's still rejected."

Wang Meili urged Liu Jianjun to go get it quickly. As soon as Liu Jianjun stood up, he heard the postman shouting into the yard:

"Is Suya at home? There is your letter and manuscript fee slip!"

"Is the dialect teacher here? Here is your manuscript fee slip!"

Fangyan has another bill for his manuscript! ?

Even Su Ya has one? Doesn't that mean I'm the only one who doesn't have one?

Liu Jianjun was stunned at first, thinking he had misheard, but when he heard the postman repeat it again, he ran out in a hurry.

Yang Xia, Fang Hong, Su Ya and others were seen taking letters from the postman and chatting and laughing with passers-by in the alley.

"Aunt, how come your Yanzi is like robbing a bank, with royalties coming in every now and then? Is this how you make money by writing novels?"

"You're wrong. Robbing a bank is not as profitable as writing a novel!"

"Sister Yang, when Yanzi comes back, can you ask him to come to my house and teach my son how to write the college entrance examination essay?"

"........."

The frequent receipt of royalties made the Fang family a hot topic of discussion in the entire alley, and all the neighbors envied the Fang family.

Yang Xia and Fang Hong laughed and returned to the middle courtyard with Su Ya. Liu Jianjun followed them silently, listening quietly:

"Xiaoya, this royalty is earned from your poems, right?"

"Well, I have to thank Yanzi for this. Thanks to his guidance and help, my poems can be published smoothly."

"You are such a fool. You didn't even tell me that you published it. Tell me which journals it was published in."

"Poetry Magazine, Poetry Exploration."

"Xiaoya, your poem was published in Poetry Magazine!"

Listening to the conversation between Fang Hong and Su Ya, Liu Jianjun suddenly felt disappointed. He had never heard of "Poetry Exploration", but he was very familiar with the name of "Poetry Magazine".

The only middle-level poetry magazine in the country!
Firmly sitting at the top spot among mainstream poetry publications!
Being able to publish poems in Poetry Magazine is equivalent to having a novel published in People's Literature. Now, Su Ya has become a poet!

"Didn't Yanzi say that there was only one payment for the manuscript? How come there are two?" Fang Hong flipped through the slip and saw that it stated on the remittance slip that it was from the Shanghai Drama Theater, for a total of 200 yuan.

"Iwako's novel has been adapted into a play?!"

Su Ya shouted, which made Liu Jianjun, who was eavesdropping, tremble with fear. He immediately came forward to find out what was going on.

However, I didn’t see the remittance slip from the Shanghai Drama Theater, but I could see the remittance slip from "Harvest" clearly, which was 728 yuan.

That’s not right, why is there no decimal point?
After taking another look, Liu Jianjun couldn't help but scream:

"Seven hundred..."

"Shh!"

Fang Hong made a gesture to keep quiet. Fortunately, Fang Yan had given them a heads-up in advance, otherwise they would have been like Liu Jianjun now.

"Xiaoya, let's go to the post office together tomorrow to pick up the manuscript fee. One more person means one more safety. It's not peaceful out there right now."

Yang Xia patted the back of Su Ya's hand.

Su Ya didn't see the other remittance slip, but she saw Liu Jianjun's shocked expression, Fang Hong and Yang Xia's worried expressions, and thought of the "seven hundred" Liu Jianjun shouted. The answer was already obvious. She suppressed the shock in her heart and took a deep breath:

"No problem. Just call me when you go. I'll bring a rolling pin and a pair of scissors. I'll stab anyone who dares to rob me to death!"

"Count me in."

Fang Hong laughed heartily, then urged Yang Xia to go back to the house. Before leaving, she carefully asked Liu Jianjun to keep the secret.

After all, wealth should not be shown off.

"Ah, ah."

Liu Jianjun responded twice and only came to his senses after the people had gone far away.

My feet felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead and my head was buzzing.

728 yuan! Damn the dialect! What kind of novel can earn so much!

For a moment, even though I was extremely jealous and resentful, I was ready to wait for "Harvest" to be officially released and buy a copy to have a quick look at it.

On May 5, the latest issue came out as scheduled.

"Harvest" is delivered to thousands of households as usual.

Along with it came Shanghai newspapers such as the Jiefang Daily and Wenhui Daily, which focused on commenting on the novels by young writers included in this issue of Harvest.

Among them, "Infernal Affairs" received the most comments.

Soon, like overflowing water, the fame of "Dark War" spread from Shanghai to the entire East China literary world.

Jiangsu and Zhejiang, sea salt.

In this remote small county town in Jiaxing, Yu Hua was wandering aimlessly on the streets. Passing by a bookstore, he immediately spotted a familiar face in the long queue with his sharp eyes.

Isn’t this the guy from the Cultural Center?

I immediately went up to greet him, half-jokingly saying, "Shouldn't you be collecting folk songs on the street? Why are you queuing up at the bookstore?"

"Buy the latest issue of Harvest."

The man with glasses replied: "It will be gone if it's too late."

"No way? Your company doesn't subscribe to Harvest?"

Yu Hua was surprised.

"The ones in our unit have been robbed a long time ago."

The man with glasses curled his lips and said, "It will take at least ten days or half a month to wait for my turn to see it. It's better to wait in line like me."

"So anxious to see it?"

“Is this issue of Harvest so good?”

Since Yu Hua wanted to make a living through literature, he was transferred from a small clinic to a cultural center and began to slowly read literary journals.

"Of course!"

The man with glasses followed the team and walked forward. "The best one in there is the one called 'Dark War'. How can I describe it to you? If I don't finish reading it, I won't be able to sleep at all. It's like there's a bug crawling in my heart. It's that good."

"Is it so beautiful?"

Yu Hua was half-believing and half-doubting.

The man with glasses said seriously, "What else? I just finished reading the first half of the magazine, and it was taken away by my boss. I couldn't sleep all night, so I came here to queue up."

"What you said makes me feel itchy."

Yu Hua glanced at the team, which was so long that there was no end in sight.

"I advise you to come back tomorrow. It's not your turn today." The man with glasses pointed ahead and behind, "The people in this line are basically all here to buy Harvest."

"Fuck!"

After hearing this, Yu Hua became even more interested.

"If your family doesn't subscribe to Harvest, go to your workplace and look for it. Maybe if you're lucky, it might still be there."

The man with glasses kindly reminded them and stopped chatting, patiently moving in line. But when it was almost his turn, the clerk took a sign and placed it at the door of the bookstore.

"Harvest" is sold out!

In an instant, those in the line who didn’t get a ticket were in an uproar.

Seeing the angry scene, Yu Hua became more and more interested. Instead of going home as usual, he returned to the clinic.

There are a few young people in the institute who are more passionate about literature than himself. They subscribe to a lot of literary magazines, including "People's Literature", "Contemporary", "Shanghai Literature", and of course "Harvest", which is the most influential journal in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and the entire East China region.

After searching through all the boxes and cabinets, Yu Hua finally found it.

Sitting at the table, I would sit from dusk till night.

Yu Hua's eyes widened and he blurted out:

"Fuck, this is so awesome, holy shit!"

　Thanks to 20240103192313065 for the 500 Qidian coins.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)