Although the royalties were fictitious, the money was real, so his wife believed it. A few days later, she asked him how the novel was going. A week later, Wang Zixu suddenly felt that as he reached middle age, his life was getting better again.
His wife no longer cares about how late he comes home every day and how much living expenses he pays to his father-in-law. She became gentle, no longer cried for no reason, and no longer ordered him to do housework while he was reading. All these made him feel that he suddenly became very happy.
But he knows that such happiness is hard-won. If he cannot sustainably and make persistent efforts to create new royalties, he will soon face the previous situation again.
Based on their family’s conditions, every expenditure has a name. The 500 yuan is purely from living expenses. It is impossible to save another royalties by saving in the short term. He can only pursue to pass a novel as soon as possible and get a real royalties.
So he was extremely serious when he was writing a novel in the office. A colleague quietly watched him typing from behind for a long time without noticing. When he spoke, he was startled.
"What are you writing?" A colleague said, holding a tea cup, "Can you still write? I didn't know you could write before, how could you hide it?"
He was covered in cold sweat, his heart was still beating wildly, and he didn't know how to answer, so he just smiled without making a sound.
But what he was thinking was: for people like them who are just waiting to die, just being able to write is a great ability. This kind of praise is almost an insult to him, whose ambition is to win the Nobel Prize.
Colleagues said that being able to write is good. In the 21st century, being able to write is also a skill. Where is your writing published?
What he fears most is being asked this. He said he hasn't published much yet.
“Why not publish it?” He said, “What’s the point of just writing but not publishing?”
“Isn’t it embarrassing to show my level?”
“What,” a colleague said, “Do you know who is from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles?”
“Who is it?”
“That’s it, Lin Feng, yes, Lin Feng, whose pen name is Mu Yulin Feng, publishes articles in "Xihe Literature and Art" every day, He is almost half of the literary world in Xihe. I think you are much better at writing than him. If you write, wouldn’t you be better than him? ”
Wang Zixu knew this was flattery. Colleagues are all smooth-talking and have all kinds of flattery, but they don't mean it. My colleague didn't read his stuff carefully at all, so how could he be sure that he was better than others? But he still became interested in "Xihe Literature and Art".
Only now did he realize that he had entered a misunderstanding. In the past, he only set his sights on the best literary publications in the country. Those publications featured many legendary names. If his name was lucky enough to be listed alongside them, it would be enough to cause a huge sensation in the local area.
Of course, his ultimate goal is to have the opportunity to win the Nobel Prize for Literature 50 times, and to be published in the top domestic fiction journals, which is nothing in comparison. His grand dream was both his blessing and his curse. Because of this, he kept his eyes on the moon, ignoring the fact that there were sixpence on the ground.
The finance department allocates a literary and artistic fund to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles every year to support the development of local culture. Although the circulation of "Xihe Literature and Art" is as small as a morning star, and the typesetting and binding are not on the table, the royalties are not fictitious. If Wang Zixu gets this royalties, then the money will not only be a famous teacher, but also come gloriously.
"Is the manuscript fee for "Xihe Literature and Art" high?" he asked.
A colleague said: "I heard from Lin Feng that publishing an article should only cost 500? But the fee is not important. We usually spend 2000 on a meal. What is valuable is the opportunity to show up. You don't know how many people are trying to get into "Xihe Literature and Art"."
"Xihe Literature and Art" is a magazine run by the Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Every unit must subscribe to it compulsorily, and every current and retired leader has a copy. Wang Zixuneng understood what he meant by "an opportunity to show his face".
Speaking from experience, leaders have so many things to do every day that they don’t even have time to read the monthly economic reports. It is unlikely that they will make a special trip to read local literary journals, but they are afraid of everything. What if?
What if one day the leader happens to be flipping through "Xihe Literature and Art" on a whim, and happens to look at the right thing, and happens to glance at the author's signature, and this author happens to be in the promotion evaluation period, wouldn't he take a shortcut to the south?
This contingency alone is enough to make countless people flock to it. According to colleagues, "Xihe Literature and Art" magazine receives a flurry of submissions every day. Most of the mailing addresses are from units within the system, and the signatures are from the official pens of each unit. Each one is more talented than the last.
But Wang Zixu doesn’t care about this “in case”. He does not seek advancement, but only seeks to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, and this award is obviously not decided by local leaders. But when he heard that a manuscript was worth five hundred yuan, his eyes became red and he decided to give it a try.
The colleague said: "I have a nephew who is starting a business and needs someone who can write. I will ask him to find you later. Maybe he can make some money."
The prince nodded his head in gratitude and devoted himself to writing, but in fact he did not take these words to heart. After a week, both of them forgot about it. Until someone called Wang Zixu and asked if you were good at writing and if you wanted to come out and meet. He thought someone was calling specifically to taunt him.
…
A colleague’s nephew met Wang Zixu. He has a bald head, wears a black leather coat, and wears a gray-gold ring on his thumb. If he puts on a long gown, he will look like an Eight Banners young master.
The bald man held Wang Zixu’s novel, his eyes darting left and right at an alarming speed. He said, your writing skills are really amazing. If you come to us to write scripts, you will be overqualified. My uncle told me that there was someone there who could write, but I didn't even bother. I thought they were all on the same level as those in "Xihe Literature and Art". How could I have imagined that there would be talented people here?
Although these words were very useful to Wang Zixu, whether it was the other party’s coffee-colored sunglasses or the Sanskrit tattoo on his arm, it was revealed that he was not a scholar. This image was far from the image he originally imagined of a magazine editor.
Wang Zixu asked: "What do you do?"
Baldhead said, I make software. I now have a platform in my hand. I just created it a month ago and the response and index are very good. Now I need to expand quickly and need a lot of content. I like your content very much. Plus I have a relationship with my uncle. I will give you this price. You can take whatever you want, as long as your content is decent.
The bald head held out two fingers to express 200 yuan. Wang Zixu asked, 200 yuan? A manuscript?
“Yes.”
Wang Zixu’s interest immediately rose.
“I can do it, I can do it. But I have never written it before. How did you write the script you mentioned?”
The bald head said: "Actually, it's not difficult. It's almost the same as creating. Do you know about 'speech therapy'? Don't know? Hey, it's Xiaobai. I'm sorry, the Xiaobai I'm talking about has nothing to do with Duke Huan of Qi. This is the language of our users, and Xiaobai refers to it. Newcomers who don’t understand this circle.
“Most of our users are women, living in the urban forest. They are lonely and need someone to give them the courage to face tomorrow and heal their spiritual wounds. Our service is to provide a large number of lively and sunny chatters to accompany them through their lonely time late at night. ”
Wang Zixu felt his eyes were opened. He never thought that loneliness could become a business opportunity. Instead of chatting with people to relieve his loneliness, he would rather build a stegosaurus on the squatting machine downstairs. But think about it, in such a big city, not everyone may have a perfectly rusted iron bar, and not everyone like him doesn't mind the feeling of "big harvest".
But in any case, this is a solid step towards facing the spiritual problems of modern people, and its significance is no less than the Nobel Prize for Literature. He sincerely admires it.
Wang Zixu’s view of the bald head changed greatly. He stretched out his hand to shake his hand and announced: “I think you are doing a great thing.”
The bald man smiled, said thank you, and then added: "However, most of our speech therapists are not highly educated, so when communicating with high-end users, they are often... superficial. This is understandable. After all, the income in this industry depends on the bill, and we also We can’t recruit highly educated intellectuals. It’s also for this reason that our APP’s reputation has dropped, which is a very dangerous sign. But from your words, I see a turning point.”
Wang Zixu took a deep breath. Although he himself has a bachelor's degree, there is no academic discrimination. He always believes that "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art" is an important chapter in the history of literature. Literature needs to serve the people. Even if the people have low education, they still need to enjoy the beauty of literature. Therefore, he felt that he should do something for the bald man.
He asked solemnly: "What do you need me to do?"