Chapter 163 It’s always been like this, right? (5k)
Zhao Peilin ignored Xiao Mengyin’s sarcastic words and comforted him: “To be honest, I don’t think “The Ancient City” is suitable for you. “The Ancient City” seems to be more liberal. Be a little more doctrinaire, and you have promoted such sugar-coated literature in a big way, which doesn’t match your tone at all. I don’t know why you submitted it to this magazine.”
Of course I submitted it to this magazine because of Shi Tonghe. Of course, it’s hard to say this. Wang Zixu only asked: "What is sugar water literature?"
"It is the kind of literature that is very bourgeois, very superficial, very popular, and very caters to the narrow vision of the small people."
Wang Zixu slowly moved his eyes towards Xiao Mengyin. Luo Niang Xiao Mengyin, who was wearing a semi-transparent black lace that was still close to her skin, obviously fit all the above descriptions. Xiao Mengyin noticed his gaze and suddenly felt particularly humiliated.
Zhao Peilin also glanced at Xiao Mengyin, and immediately smiled and said: "Don't get me wrong, she doesn't write sugar-coated literature. Don't look at her like this, in fact, her writing is quite strong, and it is in the old industrial style of the rust belt. , the stories she wrote were all tragic, no one would have expected her to be this kind of person after reading her articles. "Haha." Xiao Mengyin sneered again and rolled her eyes.
Wang Zixu asked: "If you are not afraid of offending others, can you give an example?"
Zhao Peilin said: "If I have to give an example...well, Shen Qingfeng."
Zhao Peilin added: "Don't get me wrong, "The Ancient City" has not climbed Shen Qingfeng's Although the manuscript has not been published, they have praised several authors as being Shen Qingfeng, who are not even as famous as Shen Qingfeng."
Wang Zixu said: "If you say so, then I will. It’s obvious.”
Zhao Peilin smiled and said: “So it’s okay to be rejected. Even great writers have been rejected, so what if we were rejected once or twice? Reeds should be tenacious and not break when touched. "You can rest assured, I am also a copper pea."
The two looked at each other and smiled, but before they finished laughing, Xiao Mengyin said:
"In order to prevent anyone from comforting themselves, let me tell you a little trivia: it is wrong to think that great writers generally have their manuscripts rejected many times and finally become a blockbuster. Gauss was already a math prodigy in his teens, Mozart composed music at the age of 4 and played in the palace at the age of 7, wrote an opera at the age of 12, and Picasso painted at the age of 13. It has been able to kill many masters in an instant.
“There is no fundamental difference between the art of writing and other disciplines. It is a game of genius. Diligence can make up for weakness, but it cannot make up for genius. What’s more, genius works harder than you. Don’t comfort yourself if your manuscript has been rejected several times. There are always talents in the world. Unless there are personality reasons, those literary giants who shine in the sky will be very... explosive. ”
Wang Zixu was stunned for a while. At first, it felt like she was extremely humiliating herself. When he heard the last word "explosion", he suddenly understood and decisively threw out a bomb, which shocked his superior Chen Qingluo.
Zhao Peilin couldn't bear it: "Who said hard work can't make up for weakness? Isn't Balzac a literary giant who repeatedly failed to submit his manuscripts? And Proust, he still published at his own expense! And it is against the rules for you to deliver news like this! Wang Zixu, you are really crazy, where is your dignity?"
Wang Zixu said: "The explosion here is wonderful."
Xiao Mengyin covered her mouth with a card and snickered: "I didn't let him explode, I just said that literary giants explode when they make a move. How he understands it is his business."
Zhao Peilin looked serious: "Rule 13 of NTU, chatting during the banquet cannot involve playing cards, and you cannot use vague or suggestive words to remind teammates. If the opponent's question is valid, you can add one more card."
After saying that, he flashed one more card.
Xiao Mengyin waved his hands in astonishment: "Wait, wait, wait, where did you get this village rule? I have never heard of it!"
"This is that A woman ordered it, and it was pinned to the top of the NTU forum. If you don’t believe it, take a look.”
He immediately took out his mobile phone, opened the page and showed it to Wang Zixu and Xiao Mengyin. It was exactly as he said.
And the first rule of this rule clearly says:
"Everyone who cracks eggs at NTU must abide by this rule. Even if the international egg-breaking competition is held at NTU in the future, NTU's egg-breaking rules must be followed."
Xiao Mengyin's eyes widened: "It's unbelievable that our school has put the rules of egg-breaking at the top of the list. Oh, and it’s actually such a weird rule, and you actually memorized it!”
“Huh, this is the tradition left by that woman. How could a clever poker player like you understand it?”
That woman? Wang Zixu raised his head and looked in the direction of Chen Qingluo. Only then did he notice that her face was terribly dark, and he was startled.
Because there was one more useless card, Zhao Peilin showed his advantage and said while playing: "Continuing with the topic just now, have you submitted your manuscript to another one?"
Wang Zixu whispered: ""Yangtze River"."
""Yangtze River" is good, let's vote for the Yangtze River." Zhao Peilin also lowered his voice, "Did you know that the first-prize winning manuscript of the last Feishi Literary Award was published in "Yangtze River"?"
Wang Zixu said: "The last one? Wasn't that Xiao Mengyin?"
"Who else besides her?"
"I'm sitting here, can you please stop talking to each other in person?" Xiao Mengyin played a card, "I published "The Yangtze River" in order to quickly finish the manuscript. The upper limit of my novel is not the Yangtze River. Consider it. When you can’t get the first prize, I suggest you don’t be so anxious and try again.” He played his cards: "Just wait, I will definitely win the first prize."
"There is only one first prize."
"Junior brother If he's just a little bit behind me, he'll be sorry, and his skills will be inferior to others." "With all due respect, you both have no chance."
"Sister Mengmeng?"
There was a soft call not far away. Everyone looked over and saw Shi Shuqiu and a group of buddies looking for seats.
Xiao Mengyin whispered: "The opportunity has come."
When Shi Shuqiu saw Wang Zixu, his drunken memory instantly revived, his expression was a little stiff, and he seemed to still have lingering fears.
Then, his eyes flickered to Chen Qingluo's face again, and his eyes lit up, but when he saw her expression, he felt that she was thousands of miles away and not easy to get close to. He sat down on a seat one meter away.
"Last time, I made a mistake at the table. I looked up the pair later, and there were so many on the Internet. I didn't expect that anyone would specifically remember this."
Shi Shuqiu was still brooding over this matter, and Wang Zixu realized that he was naive. Because of the "Ancient City" thing, he didn't want to coax the young master to play anymore, and just said lightly:
"I didn't write it down specifically, I just glanced at it. As long as you follow the rules, you can still deal with it on the spot. It’s very easy. Of course, the result is the same, so you can think whatever you want.”
The second person Shi Shuqiu hates is the pretentious person, and the most annoying person is the person who is more pretentious than him. So his expression suddenly became unsightly.
His two buddies looked at each other and sat down next to each other. One of the buddies said: "I heard that Shi Shuqiu recommended you to "The Ancient City", but you were rejected?"
Zhao Peilin frowned: "Shi Shuqiu recommended it?"
< br>Wang Zixu also frowned: "How did you know that my manuscript was rejected?"
...
Editor-in-chief Wu entered the editor-in-chief's office for ten minutes, and editor Yang spent ten minutes in anxiety.
During this period, he kept urging the editors in the same group to review the manuscript quickly, hoping to have it reviewed and approved before Editor Wu came out.
Of course this is impossible. Wang Zixu's manuscript has 600,000 words, which is considered a tome anywhere. It may not be possible to finish reading it in a week, let alone review it.
The editor in the same group sighed while watching, and turned around and sighed:
"Damn it, Bian Yang is so strong, this Wang Zixu has something."
Another editor also joined the topic: "Last time he did " "Wild Weeds" is very good. I heard that no one wanted it, so we chose it and found something. I didn't expect him to have such great talent. Editor Yang, sometimes I really envy your luck. "
One of the editors asked: "Which magazine did he apply to and was rejected?"
"He was a newcomer at the time and didn't know the rules, so he ran to vote for "Acquisition" and "Modern Times"."
The editor stuck out his tongue: "That is indeed a cute new thing. Fortunately, it was submitted to these two magazines. If it were inferior, we would not be able to accept it. "
"So it is a big miss!"
Editor Yang whispered: "If you know it's a mistake, review it quickly. Otherwise, you'll have a long night and a lot of dreams. We may not be able to win this manuscript?"
Colleagues held it in their hands. His draft said: "Just by looking at the beginning, we can already see some clues. Why, is there resistance in the department?"
Editor Yang whispered: "It's too long."
The colleague lowered his head and looked again, and lowered his voice: "Length is indeed a problem, but we can't always stay in the comfort zone. Isn't it too conservative to reject such a good manuscript just because it is long?"
"That's right!"
Editor Shen's voice suddenly sounded behind the two of them, startling them. They turned around and found Editor Shen's brows furrowed.
“Our magazine used to be known as the ‘vanguard of literature and art’ and discovered so many new talents. Because of that incident, it turned out to be more and more conservative.”
Yang Yin and his colleagues were silent. The incident Chief Editor Shen said almost caused the fall of a rising writer, and also made the magazine's style more and more conservative. Therefore, that incident has always been a scar in the department, and few people usually mention it.
Finally, the door to the editor-in-chief’s office opened, and Editor-in-Chief Wu walked out proudly.
His face was expressionless and his eyes were twinkling, but Yang Yin always felt that he was not holding anything back and felt a little confused.
“Editor-in-chief Shen, and Yang Yin, the editor-in-chief invites you to come in.” Editor-in-chief Wu came over and said.
Yang Yin followed Editor Shen uneasily into the chief editor’s office. Editor Wu didn’t enter the door and closed the door for them. As soon as he stood still, the chief editor said:
“That manuscript, please suspend the manuscript preparation process first, take it back from other editors, and don’t spread it.”
“Why?” Editor Shen lost his voice. He knew that after the editor-in-chief said this, the hope published in this article would be eight out of ten.
Editor-in-Chief Wu said: "Editor-in-Chief Wu just received the news that this manuscript was not the first to be submitted to us. It was submitted to "The Ancient City" first, and was rejected before being submitted to us."
Yang Yin was silent, and Editor-in-Chief Shen spread his hands: "Isn't this normal?"
The editor-in-chief said: "It is indeed normal for authors to choose between magazines. We are not a feudal autocracy and do not engage in personal dependence. But you have to know that "Ancient City" is a magazine of the same level as our magazine. They There must be a reason for rejecting this manuscript."
Editor Shen asked: "What's the reason?"
The editor shook his head. It is difficult to spread the word about rejection of a manuscript, and it is taboo in the field of literary magazines. Knowing this news is already out of line.
Editor-in-Chief Shen said: "I have been working as an editor for 20 years, and I have experienced several rejection incidents. Many later masterpieces were rejected. The ending was not good for the editor and the author, let alone Lu Yao and "The Ordinary World", which had tragic endings.
"Chief Editor, no matter whether others reject the manuscript or not, if we follow suit, it will be equivalent to the rejection of the manuscript by both the first publisher and the magazine. If word spreads, it will have a heavy blow to the author and the manuscript, and it may even be buried. Think about it, this is a 600,000-word manuscript. How much effort has the author put in?"
The editor-in-chief was a little impatient: "You are an idealist. You always naively want to be good to you, me, and everyone, but the reality is that this manuscript was first submitted to "Ancient City" and then rejected. You sincerely wanted to accept it, but you didn't even finish it. You should also pay attention to consider the impact!"
Editor-in-Chief Shen said: "I don't know what impact it will have. I only know that if we don't accept this manuscript and repeat what happened to "The Ordinary World" back then, it would be very bad."
Editor-in-Chief Shen said: "Who would want to repeat the tragedy of Lu Yao? Who doesn't know that rejection will be a big blow to the author? But can the new editor be blamed for the tragedy of that year? Rejection is the right of every editor, and which writer doesn't? Was the manuscript rejected? Did Lu Yao have his own reasons for the blow he suffered after the manuscript was rejected? ” Editor Shen couldn’t bear it: “But the reason for our rejection should not be that ‘The Ancient City’ was also rejected? ’! Then let’s not review the manuscript and leave it to the editor of “Ancient City”!” The editor-in-chief slapped the table angrily: “Shen Minxing, you have exceeded the rules!”
After scolding, he felt a little embarrassed and lowered his voice: "I didn't say we were going to quit. I said, you take the manuscript back first, don't let too many people review it, and don't expand the influence. This is better for us, and it's better for the author, understand?" Said: "That's ridiculous."
Yang Yin lowered his head and said: "Each magazine will refer to the rejection status of other magazines when accepting manuscripts. This is also a common practice." Editor Shen turned to look at him: "This has always been the case, is it right?"
Yang Yin was speechless.
Editor-in-Chief Shen added: "It sounds grand, but in fact, it is nothing more than the belief that everyone is a magazine of the same level. If you return something you don't want, I will accept it, which makes me lose face. This idea is ridiculous."
Yang Yin said: " No one dares to say that. ”
“Yeah, I’m sorry to say it on the stage, but everyone does it, don’t you think it’s ridiculous?” …
"I have lived in a scholarly family since I was a child, and the people in my family are all literary celebrities and seniors. This is not my own choice, but my helplessness. So I have no choice but to get to know many writers and editors. Many well-known magazines, such as "Modern" and "September" , I call their editors uncle, so, you know, I can always know some news as soon as possible."
Shi Shuqiu shrugged at Wang Zixu, as if to mean, so what if I know that your manuscript has been rejected?
Wang Zixu really couldn’t do anything. He lowered his head and said, “Your helplessness is what others only dream of.”
At this time, the confession was being made. Chen Qingluo stared at the cards in her hand for a long time. When she heard this sentence, she raised her eyebrows and picked a card and handed it to him.
Zhao Peilin said in surprise: "Is this also a hint?" Then turned to Chen Qingluo: "Did you surrender to the enemy?"
Chen Qingluo said: "It's ridiculous, not worth refuting. The questioning failed, I have one more card."
"I object!" Xiao Mengyin immediately slammed the table, "How can you have such a rule in the same team!"
"Oh, so we are in the same team."
Shi Shuqiu asked again: "After your manuscript was rejected, where did you submit it?"
Wang Zixu and Zhao Peilin looked at each other and kept silent in a tacit understanding, but Xiao Mengyin on the side said for him: ""Yangtze River"."
Shi Shuqiu slapped his leg: "Oh, 80% of them will be kicked out too."
Wang Zixu suddenly came up with the idea of strangling him to death, so he used Xiao Mengyin's neck ring.
Shi Shuqiu said: "Let me declare in advance that it is not me who is trying to cause trouble, lest you misunderstand me and blame me for causing trouble in the future. "Yangtze River" and "Gucheng" are magazines from the same series, and they communicate with each other. A lot. Your manuscript has just been rejected by "The Ancient City". If "Yangtze River" finds out, it will probably be rejected as well."
Zhao Peilin stared: "Why is this?"
“There’s no reason, it’s the norm, you can understand it as an unspoken rule.” Shi Shuqiu took a sip of tea.
“Why is there such an unspoken rule?”
“Of course there is a reason. I don’t know the specific reason, but there must be a reason.”
After Shi Shuqiu finished speaking, he looked at Wang Zixu and shook his head: "What a pity."
"It doesn't matter if you quit and then vote again."
After speaking, Wang Zixu threw the bomb on the table, and Chen Qingluo shivered again.
Shi Shuqiu narrowed his eyes and smiled: "You are open-minded. Okay, I thought you liked to show off before, but I am narrow-minded. You also have a scholarly side. What happened at the last wine table has passed, and we have never known each other. Solved."
Wang Zixu held the cards in both hands and looked at the hand he extended, beginning to wonder: Was the scandal about the rejection of "The Ancient City" a personal act or his idea? Does he know or not? Did he not know how much trouble the rejection caused to him, or did he not care at all? Did the hand he extended out sincerely want to reconcile, or did it mean a bit of charity?
No matter what, he felt a little sick.
“Sorry, you shouldn’t offer to settle when a player is playing poker.”
The smile on Shi Shuqiu’s face gradually disappeared.
“Then if your manuscript is rejected, where will you submit it next time?” Shi Shuqiu asked pretending to be casual.
No one spoke, and there was silence at the table.
Zhao Peilin secretly raised his eyes to look at Wang Zixu and Shi Shuqiu. No matter how careless he was, he realized something was wrong at this time.
In the silence, Chen Qingluo suddenly said: "Vote for "Get"."
"Ouch!" Shi Shuqiu's eyes widened in surprise, "Sister, do you know what level of magazine "Get" is."
"I know."
Shi Shuqiu said: "Then you still said you would vote for "Get"? "The Ancient City" was rejected, so how could it be selected?"
"Because I said so." Chen Qingluo said.
(End of this chapter)