1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 401 Official Opening

Let’s turn back the clock a little.

"Old Zheng, here, here."

Early in the morning, Jiang Xian and Zheng Yuanjie met at the door of the snack bar in Longfu Temple.

"haven't seen you for a long time."

"Have you eaten?"

"what?"

"I haven't had breakfast yet. Let's go to the store and have something to eat."

Jiang Xian invited Zheng Yuanjie to come to the snack bar.

The snack bar is very large and mainly serves breakfast, but it is basically open around the clock.

It is said that during the busiest times, the number of people eating at this snack bar could reach more than 10,000 people every day.

Jiang Xian followed the crowd and queued up to get food. He asked the waiter for three taels of two-color steamed buns, a bowl of eight-treasure porridge, a bowl of fried liver, and two fried dough sticks. Zheng Yuanjie hesitated and only ordered two fried dough sticks.

"You are so big, but your appetite is so small?"

"Well, I've already eaten at home, so I'll just have a bite. The main thing is to sit with you."

"."

Jiang Xian looked at him without saying a word. He took his plate and found an empty seat to sit down with Zheng Yuanjie.

"I heard from Zhu Wei that you are planning to publish your own magazine?"

"Ah."

Zheng Yuanjie agreed, "I don't like to share the same 'big pot' with others. I am a very narrow-minded person, so narrow that I cannot tolerate sharing the same newspaper with other writers. I was a little rude when I was talking to your little brother yesterday. Don't be angry."

"It's okay."

Jiang Xian took a bite of the fried dough stick, which was obviously freshly cooked. It was golden in color, crispy and fragrant. One stick only cost 2 cents.

Even though he had traveled through time for a long time, Jiang Xian still couldn't help but be moved by the prices these days.

He raised his head and asked Zheng Yuanjie.

"You run your own magazine? Can you get a publication number?"

“I found a place to hang out.”

Zheng Yuanjie paused, thinking that this was not something he couldn't tell Jiang Xian, so he just told him:
"My mother has some connections in the Shanxi Youth League Committee. I discussed it with them and they agreed that I could register the magazine with them. Also, my father has a comrade-in-arms who is in publishing, so I can leave the publishing to him."

"sure."

Jiang Xian gave him a thumbs up and said, "A monthly pure literature magazine supported by one person's works has never been seen before in the history of literature and publishing in ancient and modern China and abroad. If this can be accomplished, you, Zheng Yuanjie, will be the first person to do it."

Jiang Xian's flattery is very effective with Zheng Yuanjie.

As I felt elated, I slowly let down my guard and started talking more quietly.

"During the Spring Festival this year, my son and I went back to Taiyuan to celebrate the New Year. I saw a man from Hong Kong holding a bowl and mixing something with boiling water and eating it. It tasted delicious.

My son asked me, 'Zheng Yuanjie, what is that?'

I don't let my son call me dad, he always calls me Zheng Yuanjie.

When my son asked me this, I was also confused.

I said I didn’t know what that was, so I’d go ask for you.

I asked the Hong Kong guy and he told me that it is called "Pong Tou Noodles"

The so-called doll noodles are actually instant noodles, but people in Hong Kong are accustomed to calling instant noodles doll noodles.

"My son said, Zheng Yuanjie, I want to eat instant noodles, too.

I said we don't have this here and if we want to eat it we have to go to Hong Kong, so my son asked me to take him to Hong Kong.

I looked at my royalties and realized that I had no way of taking him with me, so I felt very unbalanced.

I write so many fairy tales every day, and so many children including Pippi Longstocking, Luxixi, Shuke and Beta are reading the stories I write.

As a result, I couldn’t even take my son to Hong Kong to eat a bowl of instant noodles.”

Jiang Xian listened to him quietly. He had always heard rumors before, but now he finally heard the most authoritative reason for the founding of the magazine from Zheng Yuanjie. He gulped down the tofu pudding and ate until he was half full. He pushed the two remaining two-color steamed buns to Zheng Yuanjie and said, "I'm full. Old Zheng, if you don't mind, help me finish it."

"Oh, no, no, I'm holding on."

Zheng Yuanjie waved his hands quickly.

"Just eat it. Look at you, you are so big, you must eat a lot. I am full, let's not waste food."

"Alas, it's just a few double-colored steamed buns, you can't even eat such a small amount of food."

Zheng Yuanjie didn't even pick up the chopsticks, he just reached out and pinched a two-color steamed bun and stuffed it into his mouth.

Of course he was hungry.

To publish a magazine, you need to spend money on everything. How can you use the little money he earns from his writing?

This means saving where you can, being stingy where you can, and tightening your belt to save as much as possible.

After all, a snack bar is not a serious place to talk.

After eating, Jiang Xian followed Zheng Yuanjie to his home in the tube-shaped building.

I would like to mention here that the environment in the snack bar is not messy.

People nowadays are particularly particular about public order. No matter whether they are men or women, young or old, they all queue up in an orderly manner. When they eat, you rarely hear any noisy sounds.

Although the material conditions are not very good now, the overall quality of the people is still very good and they are all very simple.

Not only are the customers honest, but the people who run the shops are also honest. After all, at this moment, making money is not the top priority in doing business.

Take food for example, the ingredients used are absolutely real, and there is rarely any shortage of weight or cutting corners.

Like the eight-treasure porridge that Jiang Xian drank just now, it was very thick, with very little soup in it. It was basically made of various bean ingredients, very sticky and very delicious.

"Come, have some tea."

Zheng Yuanjie poured Jiang Xian a cup of hot tea. Of course, it was not a good tea, it was just Gao Moer tea, and the taste was "Pooh Pooh Pooh".

He spat twice and looked at Zheng Yuanjie.

"Are you still working in the factory?"

"Well, looking after the water pumps is an easy job and the pay is not bad," said Zheng Yuanjie.

Of course he was reluctant to quit his job where he had to press a button to go in and out of get off work.

And it's a stable job, with security.

On this point, Zheng Yuanjie and Liu Cixin made the same choice.

Liu Cixin also wrote novels while working at a power station. He has been doing this for more than ten years. His works "Ball Lightning" and "Supernova Era" have won a lot of awards. He is still very low-key and hides his identity.

My colleagues always say, "Lao Liu, there's a science fiction writer on the Internet with the same name as you."

Liu: “Haha, what a coincidence.”

Later, "The Three-Body Problem" came out, and Liu Cixin could no longer hide the truth.

So there is a saying: Following the report from a colleague, the power plant leadership "investigated" Liu Da's slacking off at work. In order to set an example, they decided to dismiss him, and Liu Da became unemployed.

This is of course a rumor and has no logic.

Anyone who has worked in the system knows that it is not easy to fire someone, let alone a senior engineer.

The actual situation is that in order to respond to the call for "energy conservation and emission reduction", the power plant was forced to close and Liu was forced to be laid off.

There is another saying that one morning, Liu Cixin received a letter in his mailbox urging him to make progress. The sender claimed to be President Obama of the United States and asked him to send the next part of "The Three-Body Problem" to him in advance so that he could have a sneak peek.

Well, let me clarify here, this is true.

"I don't have the confidence to resign now. What if one day I can't write anything? At least I can get a pension working in a factory. If I can live to be a hundred years old, I will definitely get ten or twenty thousand, right?" Zheng Yuanjie said.

"Yes, brother. Yes."

Jiang Xian thought that it was more than ten or twenty thousand. In the capital city, in later generations, the pension of an elderly person could be at least more than ten thousand a month.

It’s more than the combined salary of two or three young people.

“How much did it cost to run the magazine?”

"So far, it's about 5,000."

Zheng Yuanjie paused, "Jiang Xian, it's not that I'm not nice, I've really made up my mind this time, I must make this magazine a success, I've invested a lot of money, I can't give you my manuscript." "Then let's put it this way, I don't want your manuscript either."

Jiang Xian began to persuade him, "I don't need you to provide me with articles. Don't work at the water plant anymore. Why don't you come to my editorial department and be an editor?"

"As an editor?"

"Yes, you will be in charge of the fairy tale section. No matter if it is your manuscript or someone else's, it must be a good manuscript. You must do a good job of this column and get it started."

"."

Zheng Yuanjie was still a little hesitant.

Jiang Xian spoke again:

“How much do you earn in a month at the factory?”

"Over one hundred?"

Zheng Yuanjie said: "I am a level 88 worker, and my basic salary is 5 yuan, plus food allowance, meat, egg and milk allowance, bicycle fee, monthly bonus, night shift pay, and finally union fee. It's just over 112 yuan a month. Last month I received 8 yuan."

".The workers are treated well."

Jiang Xian was stunned for a moment, "Come to my place, I promise that your treatment will not be worse than your current one."

"."

"In fact, we serve the people wherever we go, just on different fronts."

"."

Zheng Yuanjie scratched his chin.

Seeing Jiang Xian looking so aggressive just now, he thought he was going to make some promises, and he was quite looking forward to it.

The result is just this sentence?
The gap is really quite big.

"Old Zheng, we are all family. It's not impossible for me to help you promote the magazine you publish." Jiang Xian said.

If Zheng Yuanjie wants to publish a magazine, then this magazine will start from scratch and will have no reputation at all.

But their People's Digest is different.

They have the support of the huge mountain of People's Literature.

"People's Literature" is an important cultural and public opinion platform!

It is the most authoritative cultural journal!
It is an important channel to publicize leadership ideas and spread leadership voices!

This is not only a reading habit, but also a manifestation of responsibility and mission!
Who dares not to order?

Not ordering?

If you don’t subscribe, it means you are not positive in your thinking!
All in all, as long as the content is up to standard, the distribution of People's Digest will not be too difficult.

Then Jiang Xian’s promise is very valuable.

In addition, Jiang Xian was not willing to promise Zheng Yuanjie too many benefits.

He can take advantage of others, but others cannot take advantage of him.

Zheng Yuanjie was also weighing the issue in his mind.

Of course, he had considered the magazine's popularity before and wanted to advertise in newspapers.

In recent years, due to the implementation of the contracting system, advertising has become popular in print media.

That price is outrageous.

China Youth Daily directly quoted him a quote of tens of thousands of yuan.

Jiang Xian was willing to make such a promise to him. In Zheng Yuanjie's opinion, this promise was worth at least several thousand yuan.

He only had 5000 yuan in starting capital to start "Fairy Tale King".

Having said that, Zheng Yuanjie was somewhat moved.

When he followed Jiang Xian to the People's Digest courtyard and saw the editorial office
I have long been eager to join People's Digest.

I have long been eager to become a member of People's Digest!

He's not stupid.

What are the working conditions in the factory?
What are the working conditions here?
Although when he was in the factory, he could stimulate his imagination and imagine the pool as the sea, and imagine himself as the protagonist of a fairy tale, and adventure with the princess in the belly of a whale.
But he chose People's Digest.

With the joining of Zheng Yuanjie, "People's Digest" is no longer just a partnership between Jiang Xian and Zhu Wei, and finally has a third member.

The Writers Association also sent Jiang Xian a plaque with the words "People's Digest" written on it.

"This is the plaque written for us personally by the famous poet and playwright He Jingzhi," Jiang Xian introduced.

He and He Jingzhi had never gotten along well before.

However, Mr. He is in a high position of power and is one of the leaders of the left wing. The fact that he sent him a plaque this time shows that he strongly supports Jiang Xian's business of starting a supplement, and he is also taking the opportunity to warn him.

Jiang Xian couldn't help but think with evil humor.

If Comrade He Jingzhi knew what he and Wang Meng had instigated behind the scenes, he would probably be so angry that he would smash the plaque he had carried with his own hands.

"Old Zhu, take it off and hang it up." Jiang Xian ordered.

"Editor-in-chief, that's too hasty!"

Zhu Wei: "I just looked at the almanac and picked an auspicious day. We'll hang it up then."

"What kind of era and society are we in now? How can you, an editor of People's Literature, believe this?"

Jiang Xian looked disdainful and said, "Reveal it now."

"Oh, tomorrow, how about that? Tomorrow is a good day, editor-in-chief, please listen to me." Zhu Wei advised earnestly.

"."

Jiang Xian had no choice but to postpone the date of unveiling the plaque to a later day.

After returning, he first wrote a letter to Da Feng in Tianjin, asking him to write an article.

He wrote another letter to Hong Kong, to Xu Xiaoming, in which he asked Xu Xiaoming to help him contact Tony Leung Ka Fai, saying that his magazine was willing to open a column for him and asked Tony Leung Ka Fai to write something.

Tony Leung has already won the Best Actor award at the Academy Awards for his role in "The Last Emperor", setting a record for the youngest Best Actor. Unfortunately, he was shelved because of his remark "I am Chinese".

They are all family, so Jiang Xian will naturally help if he can.

The next day, after breakfast, the three of them went out excitedly holding the vertical plaque covered with red cloth.

Zheng Yuanjie was holding the camera, and Zhu Wei got a string of firecrackers from somewhere and started setting them off with a crackling sound.

Jiang Xian stood beside the vertical plaque, lifted it up and shouted:
“People’s Digest is established!”

And then brush it open.

Zhu Wei clapped his hands for a while.

Jiang Xian took a photo with the two of them.

“Who’s taking the photo?”

"Hey? Auntie?"

Jiang Xian called out to the lady at the corner of the alley, and the lady looked over here from time to time, with a strong sense of stealth.

"Oh comrade, don't misunderstand, I'm just passing by," the old lady explained nervously.

"Auntie, please take a photo for us."

"What? Taking a photo?"

The old lady came over hesitantly, and under Zheng Yuanjie's guidance she roughly understood how to use it.

The three of them posed and waited to be photographed.

The old lady raised the camera, put it down after a few seconds, and waved her hands nervously.

"Comrade, comrade."

“You should find someone else to take the photo.”

"I come from a good family of three generations of poor peasants."

"Please don't let me break the rules!"

(End of this chapter)