Chapter 174 Submarine at Night
From the time after the written examination to the release of the latest issue of "Get", the days between these two events were like being in the eye of a storm, unusually calm.
Except for Ning Chun Yan, Wang Zixu did not tell anyone that he had passed the draft of "Get". Some friends who knew he was going to vote for "Get" called and expressed concern for him. After hearing what he had to say, they all expressed their regrets unabashedly.
"I have already submitted for "Mountain Travel". You are too, why don't you stop competing and submit for a smaller magazine, and wait until you can be shortlisted." Zhao Peilin said to him.
Wang Zixu asked: "What kind of magazine is "Mountain Travel"?"
“It’s a very small magazine, and you wouldn’t know it even if I told you.”
Lin Feng smiled and comforted him, saying that his teacher Li Tingfang had commented on his new work and thought he had a good chance of winning the National Reportage Award. If it succeeds in the future, he will definitely support him well.
"Teacher Li Tingfang cares about you very much and has asked me many times. You haven't published a new work for half a year. What's going on?" Lin Feng said, "Publish your new work as soon as possible, even if it is published in a small magazine. You are the vice chairman of the Xihe Literary Association after all. If you don't publish a new work for a long time, some people will complain."
Wang Zixu smiled bitterly. Zhao Peilin and Lin Feng were strangers to each other, but they actually gave the same advice. Although their suggestions were well-intentioned, Wang Zixu could not accept them and could only respond indifferently.
However, the attitude of others is not friendly. Especially after Shi Shuqiu "accidentally" disclosed the list of seminar participants.
One day Wang Zixu was sitting at the "restaurant at the end of the universe" for dinner. Ning Chunyan and Lu Qingxuan were not there that day, so he ate alone. While scrolling through his phone, he glanced up and met Xu Rongrong's eyes a few tables across from him.
He nodded, then continued to eat with his head down. He had seen Xu Rongrong once or twice in the restaurant before, and he just nodded and said hello. This time, Xu Rongrong sat across from his table with her own plate.
“Have you visited the forum recently?” she asked.
Wang Zixu shook his head: "I have been avoiding online messages recently."
"Wise choice." Xu Rongrong said, "It's better not to read it. They said you... very much."
Wang Zixu lowered his head to eat. During this time, Shi Shuqiu was busy with publicity and publicity. The best way to unite his small group was to establish a common enemy. Wang Zixu naturally became this candidate.
For Wang Zixu, this is a child’s trick; for them, the enemy Wang Zixu is a bit comically weak. Both sides are dissatisfied, but in comparison, Wang Zixu should avoid it more. So he doesn't read the forum.
“Are you really going to attend the seminar?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing Well, I just think your nerves are very strong. "
"What is this description?"
Xu Rongrong smiled on her face, hiding the embarrassment in her eyes.
“You went to the seminar, did you really want to gain popularity as they said?”
Xu Rongrong is a very interesting person. Just now she said that it would be better for Wang Zixu not to go to the forum, and then she told him what others on the forum said.
Wang Zixu was a little shocked: "I'm just going to attend a seminar, what's the buzz?"
Xu Rongrong said: "It is said that the people going this time are all big names, even Yanzishan is planning to participate."
Wang Zixu asked: "Will Shi Tonghe participate?"
"He won't be exposed to that level. With Yanzishan participating, the standard of this seminar is already very high."
Xu Rongrong added: "Did you know? Yanzishan and Shi Tonghe are both from the northwest, and they are fellow villagers. Shi Tonghe promoted Yanzishan a lot, and Yanzishan will definitely spare no effort to support Shi Shuqiu."
Listening to Xu Rongrong's tone, it seemed that everyone already knew that Shi Tonghe was Shi Shuqiu's father. But what is their attitude towards this matter? He didn't seem to have heard of anyone denouncing the idea of "a son inheriting his father's legacy." So he felt a little weird.
Wang Zixu asked: "Do the classmates in the courtyard have any objections to the fact that Shi Shuqiu is Shi Tonghe's son?"
"What objections do you have?"
The prince stared at her in silence, Xu Rongrong understood what he meant, and said with a bit of sarcasm: "Your father is your father, do others have any opinions if they find out?"
After Xu Rongrong left, the prince thought to himself, I don't know if others have any opinions, but his mother must have them anyway. During the time when his mother and his father were arguing most fiercely, she often pinched him for no reason. If she had a choice, she probably didn't want him to be her father's son.
Other people’s misunderstanding of Wang Zixu is relatively easy. Confucius said that people who don’t know are not stunned. For those who “don’t know me”, Wang Zixu can already turn a blind eye. Only Chen Qingluo's eyes looked uncomfortable.
He went to work normally that day, but Chen Qingluo came to the magazine abnormally. When she saw him at the first sight, she walked straight towards him, stood in front of his desk and said:
"How is it?"
Ning Chunyan's dark eyes poked out from the pile of scrap manuscripts, staring at Wang Zixu with a warning look.
The prince pretended to be stupid: "How about what?"
"Submit the article." Chen Qingluo's tone was a little hasty, as if she thought he was stupid.
Wang Zixu shook his head.
Chen Qingluo asked: "What does shaking your head mean."
The prince remained silent with a guilty conscience.
Chen Qingluo stretched out her hand and slapped it on his desk: "What do you mean by shaking your head? Tell me!"
Her tone was as urgent as a patient's family member, as if the person shaking her head was not Wang Zixu, but the doctor who came out of the emergency room.
Wang Zixu cast a pleading look at Ning Chunyan, but Ning Chunyan withdrew his gaze irresponsibly. Chen Qingluo looked at the two of them, then returned to her seat coldly.
The back of Chen Qingluo’s hands is fair and her fingernails are not painted with nail polish, but they are very shiny. Her hand had been gone for a long time, and a faint fragrance seemed to still linger on the table.
Chen Qingluo didn’t talk to Wang Zixu again that day. Although she didn’t talk to Wang Zixu before, she used to talk to him simply because she didn’t want to talk; but she didn’t talk to him this time because she didn’t want to talk to him. She seemed very unhappy, and no one dared to disturb her. Before it was time to get off work, she said goodbye and left.
Wang Zixu is like a submarine sailing in the depths of the black ocean. He has entered silent mode and endures all loneliness. Only he knows his mission. Even Chen Qingluo couldn't tell Chen Qingluo about this mission, so he could only endure it alone.
Another incident that can be called an episode is that the magazine has begun to recruit employees, and Wang Zixu also helps with interviews. To his surprise, an acquaintance also came to apply for an editor job—it turned out to be Lin Luo.
Lin Luo seemed to have been completely given up by Shen Qingfeng after the disastrous defeat of the Xihe Literary Association last time. Later, he voluntarily withdrew from the Xihe Literary Association. Lin Feng said that he seemed to have disappeared from Xihe. When Wang Zixu met him and asked, he found out that he had transferred to the East China Sea to develop.
After the interview, Lin Luo pulled Wang Zixu out alone and asked in a low voice: "I heard that your new work is going to be voted for "Get"?"
Wang Zixu said: "Why don't you even Do you know? "
Lin Luo smiled and slapped him, and said: "You are the number one in our Xihe Literary Society! It is natural to pay more attention to your movements, so as to follow the latest trends in the literary world."
Wang Zixu was speechless. This man was a Kung Fu antelope with his horns hung up. If Lin Feng hadn't overheard the two of them plotting against Wang Zixu that day outside Qingfeng Ju, he knew that Lin Luo was a sinister villain, otherwise he would have almost been fooled by him.
“I submitted it. But there was no response.”
Lin Luo was surprised: “How long has it been since I submitted the application, but there is still no response?”
“One Months later. "
Lin Luo asked tentatively: "Is there no chance? I heard that "Get" will not return the manuscript. "Well, there should be no chance."
Lin Luo finally showed a relieved and sincere smile: "That's it, that's a bit of a pity. But your level is indeed not enough. After all, it is "Acquisition". It will take a few years of experience before you have a chance to climb up."
Wang Zi nodded: "Yes." After Lin Luo left, Wang Zixu asked Ning Chunyan if he wanted to admit him. Ning Chunyan stared at him in surprise: "Admit him? I remember he doesn't want to see you?"
Ning Chunyan waved his hands in disgust: "Forget it, we insist on putting morality first in our employment. And I get annoyed when I see him, don't force me."
Wang Zixu did not persuade her. Rather, it was quite refreshing to have such a leader who acted based on his own preferences and whose preferences were exactly the same as his own.
In a blink of an eye, the day before the seminar came, and it was a sunny and mild Sunday. Wang Zixu couldn't calm down. He put a book under his arm and went to the magazine office.
As he was walking on the road, he was still thinking that it was such a rest day last time, and he accidentally saw Chen Qingluo in the office. As a result, he pushed the door open and saw Chen Qingluo.
She was wearing a white suit and dress, with her hair hanging down to her cheeks. Under the sunlight slanting through the glass, she had a heart-stopping beauty.
Wang Zixu was stunned at the door for a while before he started to walk towards his seat. Because Chen Qingluo didn't talk to him these days, he couldn't decide whether to talk to her first.
Unexpectedly, Chen Qingluo took the initiative to speak: "Forget it, nine times out of ten things in life are not going as you wish. The most important thing is to have a calm mind."
Wang Zixu asked: "Are you talking to me?"
"Is there anyone else here besides you?" Chen Qingluo said angrily.
Wang Zixu took the book and sat down in his seat, feeling increasingly guilty. Chen Qingluo muttered: "Idiot."
Wang Zixu suddenly looked at her, and Chen Qingluo was confused. He said: "I have something to tell you tomorrow."
Chen Qingluo's face turned red for no reason: "What is it?"
"It's a surprise after all."
Wang Zixu asked: "Why?"
He planned to confess to Chen Qingluo tomorrow that he was on "Get". Is this a surprise? But Chen Qingluo's answer left him confused.
“Tell me after you win the Feishi Literary Award.”
Wang Zixu thought it might be his imagination: she seemed a little angry.
“It will be too late to tell you after I get the Fei Shi Literary Award.” He said.
She looked up at him: "So, do you still have the confidence to win that award?"
"Yes, yes, but my main point is that it is too late."
For some reason, he felt that she was happy again.
“What book?” she asked?
Wang Zixu raised the book in his hand and pointed the cover towards her: "One Thousand Cranes by Kawabata Yasunari. To be precise, it also includes "Hachidori"."
Chen Qingluo showed a surprised look: "No, you haven't even seen this?"
Here comes Luo Shi questioning again.
Wang Zixu blushed a little: "I think I have read it - I don't know if you have had such an experience. You clearly remember that you have read a book, but you have no memory of the content of the book."
Chen Qingluo was stunned. He said blankly: "No."
"That's me anyway." Wang Zixu turned a page, "The content of this book is particularly surprising to me. If I had read it, I would definitely have an impression, but I really have no impression."
Chen Qingluo said: "After all, there is a lot of content about infidelity, incest, love and desire."
"Yes. I clearly remember reading it. You see, there is dust in the seams of the book. This book has been in my house for a long time, but I have no impression of the content at all..."< /p>
Chen Qingluo said: "After buying the book, I treated it as if I had read it. This kind of thing also happens."
Wang Zixu wanted to refute her, but stopped because he saw that there was a line underlined on the page.
That is a sentence about the change of mentality after the husband cheated. Wang Zixu was convinced that he had absolutely no memory of underlining this sentence. With his personality, it was absolutely impossible for him to see this and underline this sentence, let alone to underline it without having any impression.
The book is placed at home. If you want to explain, only one person other than yourself can touch the book.
Is my wife.
Wang Zixu frowned.
In his memory, she was definitely not a woman who could read Kawabata Yasunari's books and underline them carefully.
What’s more, why did she underline this sentence?
Did she already have a plan at that time?
“Once the trouble passes, will it leave no trace?”
“Once it passes, sometimes it will still make people miss it.”
Those are the two sentences that my wife crossed the line.
What kind of distress does the wife miss? Are these two sentences made by her casually, or do they have some kind of metaphor? The prince has no way of understanding.
Because the topic stopped abruptly, Wang Zixu could not continue chatting with Chen Qingluo. After that, he turned the pages desperately, trying to get her attention and get her to say something else. It's a pity that she didn't talk to him again until she left.
……
The seminar on Shi Shuqiu’s works has gradually become an increasingly grand event for the entire NTU School of Liberal Arts.
The School of Liberal Arts is not monolithic, and not everyone is on Shi Shuqiu’s side.
Some students with arrogant personalities could not help but feel that Shi Shuqiu was a bit high-profile and looked down upon the so-called seminar. But as the seminar information was gradually revealed, these voices disappeared before they could make waves.
The people who came to participate in the seminar were more powerful than the others. No matter how disdainful Shi Shuqiu’s works were, the students in the School of Liberal Arts couldn’t help but lose confidence when they heard that their idols were coming to praise Shi Shuqiu.
In comparison, the students who supported Shi Shuqiu became increasingly arrogant. They planned to form a literary club and organized many activities to support Shi Shuqiu. They all wore white shirts, rode together in the school, or recited poems at the school gate, making them very impressive.
The seminar will be held in the auditorium in the afternoon. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Wang Zixu got up and went to the newsstand early, repeatedly asking whether "Getting" had arrived. At 10 o'clock, he finally bought a copy.
The title of "Fire in Stone" ranks high in the first line of the catalog with a decisive attitude.
He took the magazine and rushed to the school library again. "Acquisition" is placed in a very conspicuous position on the bookshelves of current literary newspapers and periodicals.
After reading it, he finally felt a little more relieved, but in comparison, his social network was very silent. Except for Pu Yuyang who sent him a message to remind him that the magazine was on sale, no one else discovered that his work had been published in "Get".
This is normal to think about: After all, "Get" is a print media, and the immediacy of dissemination is not as good as the Internet. It will not cause earth-shaking waves as soon as it is published in the magazine.
But he also knows that this does not mean there will be no waves. At the bottom of the black water, there are more turbulent waves brewing, steadily gathering potential energy.
(End of this chapter)