1978: Female educated youth, don’t want an illiterate husband

"Xuemin, I've heard about what happened earlier!"

"I will personally look into this matter. If it is found that someone is indeed causing trouble, I will definitely deal with it seriously and without any leniency!"

After Zhu Lin finished treating her wound, Cheng Xuemin went directly to the office building and entered the old factory director's office.

Clearly, the old factory director was also well-informed. In just about half an hour, he had already received news from the filming location. Upon seeing him enter, he quickly stood up and expressed his opinion.

"Old factory director, please don't do this. I didn't come here to interrogate you!" Cheng Xuemin knew that the old factory director was caught in the middle and was in a difficult position, so he didn't really intend to complain to the old factory director and ask him to investigate and deal with the matter seriously.

Anyway, it still comes down to this: since there are already bad guys around, let's just not use any of them. The old factory manager has laid the groundwork by making a statement, and he will definitely plead for those people later.

But before he could even speak, Cheng Xuemin didn't give him a chance and continued, "However, I dare not use those people again. I wouldn't dare joke around with the lives of our actors!"

"Moreover, as you know, old factory director, we need to speed up our progress. We absolutely cannot let petty people cause trouble and delay our foreign exchange earning cause!"

"So, although I know it's difficult for you too, old factory director, I hope you can understand!"

Cheng Xuemin emphasized his stance without any room for compromise, but he also wanted to give the old factory director a way out, so he continued, "As for whether it was intentional or not, it doesn't really matter anymore. Don't put the old factory director in a difficult position."

What he meant was that this was the end of it; Cheng Xuemin would no longer pursue whether someone was targeting him. If the old factory director were to investigate in a high-profile manner, he probably wouldn't find anything.

So, it's better to just assume that the greyhound simply ran out of strength to break free of its leash and didn't do it on purpose.

I'll be more careful in the future.

This is a one-time thing; if Cheng Xuemin catches him again and there are any unexpected incidents, he won't give the old factory director any face and will pursue the matter to the end without any leniency.

But now, we have to rely entirely on Yanying Film Studio.

Of course, this also made Cheng Xuemin determined that if his old leader wanted him to continue his efforts and take on more responsibilities after he successfully completed this military order, he would be willing to do so.

Cheng Xuemin would definitely make demands; at the very least, he would have to start his own business. He didn't want to continue living under someone else's roof and having to be at the mercy of Yan Film Studio.

Given the achievement of ten million US dollars in foreign exchange earnings, this request should not be considered excessive.

"Xuemin, what are you saying!" The old factory director did indeed have some words of pleading to him, but this kid was also very shrewd. As soon as he made his stance clear, the kid took advantage of the situation and directly turned the tables, blocking his subsequent words of pleading.

Got it!

Those few dissidents in the factory really went too far this time, daring to pull some dirty tricks when filming high-risk stunts.

It was fortunate that Cheng Xuemin stopped her in time; otherwise, if Li Lianjie had really been seriously injured, Wang Yang even believed that the kid would have complained to his old leader.

Now that Cheng Xuemin has said it's over, that's fine.

However, we definitely need to give them a warning. If we let those people continue their underhanded tactics, Yan Ying Factory will be ruined by them sooner or later.

"Is your hand alright? Should I take you to the hospital to get it checked out?" Wang Yang, who had nothing else to say, quickly inquired about Cheng Xuemin's hand injury.

"It's nothing serious, just a minor scrape. It's been disinfected and bandaged!" Cheng Xuemin said with a smile, waving his bandaged hands.

"It's alright, I was really worried something might happen to you!"

"You're the pillar of strength now; nothing can happen to you!"

Wang Yang nodded, relieved that everything was alright. However, looking at the kid's wound bandaged with a pair of bows, his lips twitched violently. Who bandaged him up?
But he saw it all and didn't say much.

Uh……

Cheng Xuemin also noticed Wang Yang's strange look and quickly put his hands behind his back to cover it up.

I feel bitter inside!

Before anyone could notice, Queen Zhu Lin of the Women's Kingdom had wrapped his hands into two bows.

Is this how it should be?

If you're going to bandage it properly, why are you using a bow?
If he goes home and his wife questions him, he won't be able to explain himself no matter how he tries.

"It's nothing, old factory director. I came here to give you a heads-up. The manuscript about the Great Wall of Hong Kong might have to be postponed!"

"As you can see, I probably won't be able to hold a pen for days!"

Cheng Xuemin was about to stretch out his hands to show them off again, but he quickly withdrew them. The bow tie was a killer.

"That's only right, that's only right. Fu Qi from Hong Kong isn't in a rush either. Anyway, we'll give it to them before the end of the year, so there shouldn't be any problem!" Old Factory Director Wang Yang nodded repeatedly. With his hands bandaged like this, he really needed to stop writing and rest.

As for the new script that was promised to Hong Kong Great Wall, Fu Qi didn't say he was in a hurry, so a few days' delay wouldn't make a difference.

"Then, old factory director, could you please send a message to Hong Kong and explain the situation?"

Cheng Xuemin nodded. Since the Hong Kong Great Wall had put in a lot of effort to bring the Yuan brothers to Beijing, he felt he had to return the favor.

But what good gift could their Yanying Factory possibly give to repay this favor? The old factory director was getting anxious about it.

What a coincidence!

On the other side of the Great Wall in Hong Kong, they had read two scripts written by Cheng Xuemin: one was a martial arts film called "Tai Chi," and the other was "The Thousand Faces of Dunjia" for the Yuan brothers. They thought it was very well written and knew that their Yan Film Studio had a very talented screenwriter named Cheng Xuemin.

Moreover, Fu Qi, who was on the other side of the Great Wall, learned from Chen Wen, the director of "Shaolin Temple," that an extremely talented young man had emerged in the mainland.

He was not only a pioneer of reform and opening up appointed by the higher authorities and the official writer for the cultural sector, capable of writing excellent articles, but also possessed extraordinary talent in screenwriting.

His recently released mainland film, "The Herdsman," broke the China Film Group's decades-long distribution and sales record, prompting Great Wall Film Studio to try and establish a proper relationship with him through Yan Film Studio.

Also named Cheng Xuemin? What a coincidence!

So Fu Qi of Great Wall Pictures directly stated, "Old Wang, don't bother trying to repay this favor. Just let your screenwriter, Cheng Xuemin, write a great script for Great Wall Pictures."

It just so happens that Great Wall Film Company is facing a talent shortage, and its share of the Hong Kong film market is declining day by day. They urgently need good scripts like "Tai Chi" and "The Thousand Faces of Dunjia".

All it takes is a script to repay the favor, and the old factory director would definitely agree wholeheartedly. So he approached Cheng Xuemin and conveyed his wishes.

Moreover, it's not free; they'll pay you royalties, no less than what the Yuan brothers paid.

What's there to say? It's not like the old factory director alone owed a favor. This whole thing was Cheng Xuemin trying to evade responsibility, and that's why he owed a favor.

If I could repay the debt with just one script, I would still write one for them even without payment.

So during this time, Cheng Xuemin himself also started writing a script for the Great Wall team.

But before I've even finished writing this, I've already injured my hand today.

Although the problem isn't too serious, if I can persevere, I should still be able to write. But who wouldn't want to take a break and recuperate?

"so much?"

Cheng Xuemin stared blankly at the stack of royalty statements in his hand.

He wasn't really concerned about whether the Great Wall of Hong Kong would pay for the script, but when he was called to the PLA Literature and Art Center, he was completely bewildered by an envelope handed to him by Teacher Dong Ling.

Inside the envelope was a stack of royalty statements. Judging by the thickness, there were at least thirty or forty of them.

Although I was somewhat prepared on the way here, I was still shocked by these royalty statements.

"This is nothing! There's still a lot to come!" Dong Ling, the editor in charge of the PLA Literature and Art, glanced at Cheng Xuemin and continued to sigh, "During the National Day holiday, you wanted some peace and quiet, so you wouldn't let me forward those forwarding calls to you, leaving me to handle them myself!"

"But do you know how I, your teacher Dong, have been these past few days?"

Dong Ling continued, without exaggeration, "Anyway, almost as soon as I hung up the phone, I started getting calls. They were almost all from local newspapers and magazines, responding to the call from above and requesting that they reprint your 'Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain'!"

"I've estimated it for you, there are at least 140 or 150 companies! They're all going to repost the 'Garland Under the Mountain'!"

"Our editorial office phones were ringing off the hook; we simply couldn't keep up with the calls!"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xuemin quickly expressed his gratitude and said, "Thank you so much, Teacher Dong. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to write this 'Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain.' Thank you so much!"

"No, no, no, I'm not saying this to ask for your credit. The wreath under the mountain was written by you, Xuemin, who went to the front line and experienced the horror of life and death, which inspired your creative inspiration. I dare not take any credit for it!"

In any case, Dong Ling never expected that Cheng Xuemin's "Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain" would cause such a sensation, and even the higher authorities gave direct instructions to call on everyone to read it in the People's Daily, on the evening news, and on the radio.

Read it thoroughly!
What an unparalleled honor! To have created something under the editorship of Dong Ling!
So, putting aside any other merits or demerits, the title of editor-in-chief of "Wreath at the Foot of the Mountain" alone has already propelled Dong Ling forward two steps within the PLA Literature and Art Publishing House, making her the chief editor of their novel group.

Moreover, he was promoted one level in terms of rank and treatment because of "The Garland Under the Mountain".

The company is going to hold a celebration party, and I definitely won't receive any awards or commendations then.

"That wouldn't have been possible without your help and guidance, Professor Dong... So many?" Cheng Xuemin nodded politely, expressing his gratitude once again, before pulling out all the royalty statements and exclaiming in surprise.

"This is nothing! Didn't I just say that 140 or 150 companies called directly to specifically request to reprint this article? They'll probably all send over their reprint fee slips!" Dong Ling looked at the stack of fee slips and thought to herself that this kid's reprint fees alone would add up to several million-yuan households.

"Isn't it normal not to pay royalties for reprints?" Cheng Xuemin held the stack of royalty slips, feeling happy but also a little embarrassed.

After all, the current royalty system does not explicitly stipulate that reprinting organizations must pay reprint fees to the original authors.

The system for paying reprint fees will only be clearly defined two months after the National Congress of Writers and Artists, when the fee system is formally reformed and upgraded.

Now, it's possible not to give it.

"You said yourself that under normal circumstances you don't need to give it, but is your situation a normal situation? The instructions came from above, can the local authorities not give it in response?"

"Besides, for local newspapers and magazines, this reprint fee is nothing. They don't want to offend you, the pioneer, over something like this!"

"After all, they can't guarantee whether you'll remember the ones they gave you, but you'll definitely remember the ones they didn't give you!"

Dong Ling, standing beside him, used a very classic logic to analyze the situation for Cheng Xuemin.

"No, no, Teacher Dong, that's not what you said! Whether you gave me something or not, I'll remember your kind intentions!"

Cheng Xuemin's face flushed upon hearing this, and he felt even more strongly that the reprint fee was indeed a hot potato.

Moreover, Cheng Xuemin also took a quick look at these royalty slips, and found that some were over 500, some over 700, some over 900, and some even over 1,200!
This is this...

Some of these are reprinted at a rate of three yuan per thousand words, while others are reprinted at a rate of four yuan per thousand words. These are basically the current standards for reprint fees in China.

But those articles with a price of over 900 or 1200 are obviously being paid at 5 or 6 yuan per thousand words, or even 7 yuan per thousand words for reprinting based on the first publication at the maximum rate.

This won't do. It's a disguised form of bribery, a way to get on good terms with Cheng Xuemin, this young vanguard.

"That's fine then. It's just a small token of their appreciation. We'll remember it!" Dong Ling clearly hadn't realized that it was a bribe. She continued chatting with Cheng Xuemin, saying, "As long as you continue to create even better works, that will be the best reward for us!"

"By the way, have you started writing the manuscript you promised the old commander yet?"

"If we start writing, we can strike while the iron is hot and bring out a new style of writing by telling the stories of our People's Liberation Army's literary and artistic forces!"

Dong Ling was asking about the manuscript for "Youth," which specifically told the story of the General Political Department's cultural troupe's soldiers going to the front lines to offer their condolences.

Cheng Xuemin had mentioned this manuscript to the old commander before, and unexpectedly, the old commander approved it and asked Dong Ling from the PLA Literature and Art Department to continue to urge the manuscript forward.

"Teacher Dong, the outline for that manuscript is done, but I'm currently working on another task, so it might not be ready so quickly!" Cheng Xuemin said tactfully. He couldn't very well tell people that he hadn't even written a single word, could he?
He's been so busy lately, and probably will be busy until the end of the year. He promised the General Political Department that he would be working on "Youth" after the new year!

"Yes, yes, I heard you went to make a movie?"

"What's going on? Why did they assign you to make a movie? Why didn't they let you keep up the good work and finish that script as soon as possible?"

Dong Ling knew, of course, that Cheng Xuemin had been temporarily transferred to Yan Film Studio to film movies, which was what she couldn't understand.

The wreath at the foot of the mountain became so popular that it received high attention and recognition from higher authorities, who even issued instructions to promote reading among the general public. So why didn't Cheng Xuemin strike while the iron was hot and continue to write and release the manuscript?

Dong Ling had already foreseen that as long as Cheng Xuemin's manuscript reached the level of "Garland Under the Mountain," it would definitely be able to go even further.

But to her utter surprise, at the peak of Cheng Xuemin's career, instead of continuing his efforts, he switched careers and went on to make movies.

What the hell is going on?!
……

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