Restart life

Chapter 61 0059 [Essay collections all contain knock-offs]

"Classmate, what's your name?"

As soon as the proctors took the essays away, one of the contestants couldn't help but ask a question.

Another contestant chimed in, "What did you write, classmate? The two proctors were standing right next to you watching the whole time."

In the blink of an eye, Chen Guiliang was surrounded.

Milan and Rosanne, who had come by train together, silently walked to the door of the examination room.

There were too many people around Chen Guiliang, so they were too lazy to squeeze in.

"Chen Guiliang will definitely win first prize, right?" Luo Jin said.

Milan nodded: "The proctor stood for so long, so his writing must be exceptionally good, as good as Han Han's 'Peeping into People from a Cup'."

Luo Jin muttered, "There are only twenty-odd spots for the first prize in Group A, and now there's one less."

"What did you say?"

Chen Xiaoping walked in from the next examination room, followed by Lei Yujie and Li Zhen. The three of them were all from Dafu City and always stayed together.

Luo Jin pointed inside: "Chen Guiliang is surrounded."

"What's wrong with him?" Lei Yujie asked.

Milan recounted, "Halfway through the exam, the two proctors stood still next to Chen Guiliang and watched him write his essay. When they collected the papers, they even put Chen Guiliang's essay on top."

"It looks like we're going to win first prize!" Lei Yujie exclaimed.

The girl who came with them asked, "Who is Chen Guiliang?"

“Chen Guiliang is also one of our Sichuan contestants,” Chen Xiaoping explained simply, then introduced, “This student is Chen Xueyuan, from Rongcheng Foreign Language School. Chen, these two are Milan and Luo Jin.”

"Hello there!"

"Hello there!"

Milan and Luo Jin both carefully examined Chen Xueyuan.

Her school, Rongcheng Foreign Language School, is already quite famous in Sichuan Province—a prestigious school, the alma mater of Harvard girl Liu Yiting.

It's normal for students at elite schools to have cell phones. Chen Xueyuan made a call and said, "Hey, are you all here? Come over if you are. I'm outside the Group A exam room."

In the blink of an eye, seven or eight Group B contestants arrived, all of them first and second-year high school students from the foreign language school.

Group A has a total of 200 participants, with 199 actually present.

Group B had a total of 200 participants, with 196 actually attending.

Of the 395 participants, a total of 39 were from Sichuan.

There are also many contestants from Shandong, Hunan, Henan, Hubei and Zhejiang.

Shandong, in particular, ranks second only to Sichuan.

"When will he come out?" Milan looked into the examination room again and found that more and more people were surrounding Chen Guiliang.

I don't know how the news spread, and it became more and more outrageous, saying that Chen Guiliang was predetermined to win the first prize.

Even the students in the next few exam rooms knew about it.

Chen Guiliang was speechless and could only shout, "I chose the second question! The bird symbolizes the virtuous and righteous people throughout Chinese history. The tree branch symbolizes the indomitable spirit of Chinese civilization. The waves of the sea symbolize the calamities that China has encountered over thousands of years."

"That's a very insightful idea. How come I didn't think of that?"

"It's nothing."

"You're being vague; are you using a writing style like 'Peeping into People Through a Cup'?"

"Hey, what's your QQ number? We can discuss literature on QQ."

"..."

Chen Guiliang struggled to push his way out, saying, "Excuse me, please make way."

After fleeing the scene in a disheveled state, Chen Guiliang saw Milan and the others and quickened his pace, saying, "I'm going back to the hotel first!"

It was already 11:30 a.m.

The athletes had already booked set meals for each meal when they checked into the hotel.

Fearing further entanglement, Chen Guiliang took the food back to his room to eat, then sat by the window listening to music and dozing off.

Before long, the five contestants he had met on the train all finished their meal and came to ask him for information.

The girl named Chen Xueyuan also came along.

“I was eating downstairs just now, and I specifically asked around. Eight out of ten people chose the first question, and their essays were all pretty much the same,” Lei Yujie said.

Chen Xiaoping said dejectedly, "I also chose the first question, and I'm afraid it's going to be a bad one."

Milan asked, "Chen Guiliang, what exactly did you write? Be more specific."

The others cast curious glances at them.

Chen Guiliang said, "I wrote a poem and then wrote a preface for it."

Luo Jin exclaimed in surprise, "You're really bold! You actually dared to write poetry in the essay competition! No wonder the proctor was watching you the whole time."

They all assumed it was modern poetry and didn't ask any further questions.

Chen Xueyuan suggested, "How about we go for a stroll along the Bund? There's also Huaihai Road and Jinling Road."

Li Zhen asked, "Are these two roads far from the Bund?"

"I don't know," Chen Xueyuan shook her head.

Milan said, "Forget it, it started raining again just now, so I won't enjoy shopping."

"Boom boom boom!"

As everyone was chatting, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.

Luo Jin went to open the door, and a middle-aged man in a suit and tie was standing outside.

Thinking he was a staff member from the New Concept Writing Competition, he quickly bowed and said, "Hello, teacher, is there anything I can help you with?"

"My surname is Han, and I am an editor at the Petroleum Publishing House."

Seeing that there were six or seven people in the room, the middle-aged man was very happy and quickly took out a stack of business cards to hand out.

Lei Yujie glanced at the business card and asked, "What does the publishing house want with us?"

The editor, surnamed Han, said, "Here's the thing, our publishing house is planning to publish a book called 'Selected Works of Winners of the New Concept Writing Competition.' We accept all submissions from this year's winners. The royalties are very generous!"

Milan carefully examined the business card information and asked suspiciously, "I've bought the selection of winning works from the New Concept Writing Competition for three consecutive years. The publisher doesn't seem to be you, does it?"

Editor Han explained with a smile, "What we are publishing is 'Selected Works of Award Winners,' not 'Selected Works of Award Winners.'"

The winner's work.

Award-winning works.

A single word can change the meaning.

After careful consideration, everyone was left speechless, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Editor Han explained in detail: "The organizers of the New Concept Writing Competition only own the publication rights to your preliminary and semi-final articles. You can earn royalties from other articles. First prize articles are paid 200 yuan per thousand words. Second prize articles are paid 150 yuan per thousand words. Third prize articles are paid 80 yuan per thousand words."

When the price was announced, everyone except Chen Guiliang was tempted.

Although Chen Xueyuan, who attends a prestigious private school, never lacks pocket money, the royalties she earns from writing are a different story.

Chen Xueyuan quickly asked, "Do I have to submit the manuscript before leaving Shanghai? Do I need to sign a contract?"

Editor Han said, "You can submit your manuscripts before May. Of course, we do review them, and we don't accept manuscripts that are just written haphazardly. If you have any good articles, you can send them to our publishing house at any time. We are a legitimate company; you can verify this if you don't believe me."

It's definitely legitimate, and everything is legal. But every year it disgusts the organizers of the New Concept Writing Competition and the cooperating publishers.

The organizer published "Selected Winning Works of the Xth National New Concept Writing Competition", a title that is seventeen characters long.

And what about the knock-off version?
Simply add the word "者" to the title and change "Award-winning Works" to "Works by Award Winners".

Extremely difficult to distinguish, but not illegal.

When students or parents go to buy books, they may intend to buy the genuine article, but they may end up buying a counterfeit one if they are not careful.

"I won't bother you any longer. Goodbye!"

Editor Han quickly slipped away and ran to knock on the door of the next room.

Luo Jin peeked out, then closed the door again, beaming with delight, "What a great deal! One or two hundred per thousand words! I can earn one or two thousand if I write ten thousand words!"

Chen Xueyuan said, "Right now, I just want to write articles and earn my own royalties!"

"You all think you can win the award?" Chen Xiaoping asked with a smile.

Milan said, "At worst, it's a third prize. It would be too embarrassing to get a finalist award."

About ten minutes later, another magazine editor came to knock on the door.

It seems even the imposters are competing.

This time, the payment for the manuscript is 20 yuan higher per thousand words than the previous one.

The little ones in the room instantly forgot about Editor Han.

They were excited about earning money from the article, but also anxious about the outcome of the competition.

After finally making it to dinner time, everyone went downstairs to eat together, and then went back to their rooms to wait for their calls.

Luo Jin wished she could hug that landline phone to her chest!
He waited anxiously for a long time, then turned around and saw Chen Guiliang writing something. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "So eager to earn royalties already?"

"I'm so bored," Chen Guiliang said.

Luo Jin abandoned the landline and went over to see Chen Guiliang's article. After only one glance, she exclaimed, "Holy crap! You're actually doing a test paper, and you even brought your math book! Dude, we're here to participate in an essay competition. What are you doing with math problems?"

Chen Guiliang said, "To pass the time."

He wasn't lying; it really was incredibly boring.

Without a smartphone, all I can do is watch TV programs, which is worse than doing math worksheets.

Two days ago, when Chen Guiliang was on the train, he often lay in the soft sleeper to read math books.

"You're awesome. Absolutely amazing!"

Luo Jin gave a thumbs up, but it was hard to tell whether it was a compliment or a criticism.

For the next 50 minutes or so, one person was holding the landline while the other was working on a test.

"Beep beep beep~~~"

The landline rang.

Luo Jin felt as if she had been electrocuted. Her right hand shot out quickly, and she grabbed the phone, saying, "Hello, this is Luo Jin."

A voice came from the phone: "This is Zhao Changtian, editor-in-chief of Mengya. Is Chen Guiliang in his room?"

“Yes,” Luo Jin replied.

Zhao Changtian said, "You two come over together and meet the teachers from various universities."

Luo Jin trembled slightly with excitement: "Editor-in-Chief Zhao, did we win an award?"

“Yes, they are all first prizes,” Zhao Changtian said. “The official awards ceremony will be held tomorrow. Tonight, we will communicate with the admissions officers first.”

"Thank you, Editor-in-Chief Zhao. Thank you!" Luo Jin expressed her gratitude repeatedly.

He hung up the phone and jumped around in the room.

After venting her frustration, Luo Jin ran over and slammed Chen Guiliang's book shut: "What's the point of writing a math test? We all won prizes, and we all won first prize!"

Chen Guiliang looked slightly surprised.

To his surprise, his temporary roommate also won first prize.

The two left the guest room together, and after walking only a few steps in the corridor, they saw Milan also coming out.

"You won an award?" Milan exclaimed in surprise.

Luo Jin asked, "What prize did you win?"

Milan said, "First prize."

Chen Guiliang said: "..."

People kept coming to the corridor from the guest rooms on this floor.

They were all first-prize winners.

Chen Guiliang even saw Li Zhen from Dafu City.

This time, the contestants from Sichuan won four first prizes in Group A and four first prizes in Group B.

Just outrageous.

The group exchanged congratulations and chatted as they headed upstairs to the lobby.

Li Zhen said, "It seems that each school has a limited number of places. We can discuss it together to avoid competing with each other."

“I’ve also inquired about it,” Luo Jin said. “In recent years, Fudan University and Beijing Normal University have offered the most places for the New Concept Writing Competition, while Nanjing University, Xiamen University, and East China Normal University have all offered good conditions!”

Milan said, "I want to fight against Dan!"

“My grades aren’t that good, so I’m applying to Beijing Normal University,” Luo Jin said.

Li Zhen said, "Then I'll choose East China Normal University."

Where is Chen Guiliang?

The three of them looked at Chen Guiliang.

Chen Guiliang didn't know either; he wanted to check the situation at each school first.

Suddenly, a staff member shouted, "Group A, move to the left; Group B, move to the right."

Group B consists of first and second year high school students and a few junior high school students. Naturally, they wouldn't come to discuss admissions; they mainly inquired about information related to summer camps, winter camps, etc.

For example, Tsinghua University's winter camp is willing to offer spots to the New Concept English Group B.

If this system works well, it's possible to get into Tsinghua University through a shortcut.

Why are so many first- and second-year students from a prestigious school like Rongcheng Foreign Language School participating in the competition?

They're going there for winter or summer camps!

Singing a song at the winter camp might just get you a direct admission to Tsinghua University.

"Chen Guiliang, come here quickly."

Hu Weishi waved to him from a distance.

The writers went out for a good time tonight; the only people present were professors from various universities.

More than one key university offered Chen Guiliang favorable admission conditions!

Some schools haven't secured any spots yet, but that doesn't stop them from making a quick impression.

-

(The situation with the first prize winners this year is truly outrageous, with Sichuan Province, Zhejiang Province, and Beijing tying for the most first prize winners. These three regions account for 40% of the total first prize winners.)
(Thanks to echo axiu for the generous donation.)
(End of this chapter)