Return to the 1982 Staff Compound

Chapter 34: Another Road

After Qiu Huoming finished explaining the story of the Hobbits, Ding Yu had forgotten his initial anger and kept asking, "So, what happened to the Lord of the Rings? The Hobbits are so brave. You must be saying that his bravery is like mine!"

Qiu Huoming:...

Having arrived at school, Qiu Huoming walked into the corridor and put away his umbrella first. "I don't know what happened to The Lord of the Rings, because I haven't read the later movies, no... some books."

"Speaking of books, I remember that martial arts novel you told me about last time. My brother has it, but the font is so ugly, and it's vertical!"

"I flipped through a few pages, didn't read any further, and gave it back to my brother."

Qiu Huoming shook his head. "Illiteracy is terrible. Those are traditional Chinese characters."

"What Lord of the Rings? What traditional Chinese characters?"

A bright face popped out from above the corridor entrance.

"Student Gu!" Ding Yu called out and immediately felt better.

"Why are you on the stairs?"

"My shoelaces are loose. I just tied them up when I heard you guys talking about the Lord of the Rings and traditional Chinese characters..."

Several more students came up behind him.

"That's a long story." Qiu Huoming glanced at Gu Xiaoran, and remembered the childish things he did last night. His ears suddenly turned slightly red. Seeing that there was nothing unusual on her expression, he calmed down and walked upstairs with an umbrella.

There were some water stains on the stairs. The rain today was not heavy. After a few drops of water dripped from the tip of the umbrella, the rain slowed down.

When I entered the classroom, I saw He Xinxin, the top student, already sitting in her seat. She was already used to seeing the three of them walk in at the same time.

As soon as Qiu Huoming sat back in his seat, he saw Gu Xiaoran sitting in the front row twisting his body and looking at him with sharp eyes.

"It's a long story, let me first talk about the traditional Chinese characters. Fatty's brother got a copy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes but he got the original version, which is the traditional Chinese version, and Fatty couldn't understand it..."

Ding Yu shook his head. "It's not that I don't understand everything, I just find it difficult to read."

The country began to promote simplified Chinese characters in 56. The illiteracy rate was high before that, so it is normal that children born after that do not understand them.

"Fatty, if you want to read it, I'll bring you a simplified Chinese version later." Gu Xiaoran said smoothly and started to call him Fatty like Qiu Huoming.

Nowadays, all simplified Chinese versions of Jin Yong's The Legend of the Condor Heroes are pirated. After the TV series began airing in 83, the book became even harder to find.

Ding Yu was overjoyed, "Hey, thank you, classmate Gu."

"Go on, what is the Lord of the Rings?" Gu Xiaoran asked.

Qiu Huoming cleared his throat and began to talk from the moment the wizard Gandalf entered the village. When he talked about the hobbits preparing to set off with the "Lord of the Rings", the class bell finally rang. Teacher Huang came early today and pushed open the door and walked in shortly after the bell stopped.

The students gathered around the desks suddenly dispersed.

Ding Yu muttered quietly: "I really want to have a magic wand."

Qiu Huoming touched his nose. On the other side of the ocean, the Lord of the Rings trilogy had already been published, but the Harry Potter, which would later become famous all over the world, had not yet been born.

Rowling, the author of this future novel, is still a young girl at the moment. She probably did not expect that in the future she would become an idol worshipped by thousands of people and an example of how knowledge can change destiny. She went from being a poor single mother to becoming a wealthy person thanks to this novel.

"There's something even more exciting. I want to go to a magic school..." Qiu Huoming muttered softly as he recalled the plot in the novel.

Teacher Huang came early today because he had something to say.

"Dear students, the college entrance examination is approaching. You have all heard about the pre-examination. The pre-examination is the first hurdle of the college entrance examination. The Education Commission has issued a notice that this year our school's pre-examination will be held on May 5, 10, and 11. The subjects of the examination are the same as those of the college entrance examination..."

The students below immediately let out wails.

"Quiet! The names of the candidates who will take the preliminary exam will be reported in early May. Before that, everyone should prepare a one-inch bareheaded black-and-white headshot. After the next class, I will post the specific precautions on the blackboard at the back of the classroom. Everyone, take a look first. If you have any questions, feel free to come to me. Okay, let's start the morning class."

Teacher Huang probably also knew that these students were getting nervous, and that as the saying goes, one should have a balance between relaxation and tension, and emotions need an outlet to vent.

He put one hand behind his back with a smile, opened the classroom door with the other hand, and walked out quickly. It seemed that he would not watch over this morning class.

As he walked away, wailing sounds suddenly rang out again in the quiet classroom.

Ding Yu lay on the table, "Huozi, I'm so panicked."

"I..." Qiu Huoming glanced at him and comforted him, "I'm a little nervous too."

Gu Xiaoran glanced at him and said, "How come I didn't see that?" Then she took out a magazine from her bag and handed it to Qiu Huoming. "You can write a novel like The Lord of the Rings. I think you can try to submit it."

Qiu Huoming took it over and read the "Contemporary" issue 1982, 1, a double issue.

"Do you want to earn royalties? How much can royalties earn? Also, the story I just told you about was not written by me, but by a foreigner."

Gu Xiaoran didn't take it seriously and thought he was hiding his talent. She flipped through the magazine and randomly selected an article. "Look, this is a short story. Guess how much it's paid for?"

"5 yuan?"

"More than 300, which is about 30 yuan per thousand words. If the article is well written, the price can go up."

Qiu Huoming suddenly felt his heart beating violently. With so much money, it would be much easier than his hard work in business. He casually flipped through the articles, most of which were stories about life. The twists and turns of the stories were incomparable to the online articles of later generations.

"I can... I can try." Qiu Huoming looked at every page of the book that was opened and it seemed to become a great unity.

"There's the editorial address for submissions at the back, take a look for yourself."

Qiu Huoming nodded. There were no newsstands in Wucheng County at the moment, only book stalls along the streets. Most of the books sold were comic books, and one could pay a few cents and read them for a whole day.

The magazine in his hand was priced at 1 yuan, which was not cheap. There was a stamp on the back cover. He identified the handwriting on it and asked, "Did you bring this book from Shenhai City?"

"Well, I put the February issue in my bag after reading it and forgot to bring it back. I'll give it to you for free. The next one will be out in April. If you write quickly, you might see your name on it."

Qiu Huoming was really moved.

The royalties from one article can buy a washing machine!

In his previous life, he was able to work in the trade union because he was an excellent writer. However, he did not expect that after joining the trade union, he would only have to write official documents, and some of his good literary ideas were gradually worn away by daily life.

He was also teased by several college classmates who insisted on writing, saying that he had become a word craftsman and would never become a literary master in his lifetime as long as he continued to write official documents.

"Lend me this magazine for a few days, and I'll return it to you after I'm done..."

"I'll give it to you. I've finished reading it anyway."

"Okay, thank you, classmate Gu."

Ding Yu leaned his head and stared at Qiu Huoming flipping through the pages of the book. Just as he reached out to take it, he was dodged by Qiu Huoming.

"Are you still looking? Just do the questions. You have a good math foundation and it's not easy to lose points..."

"Okay, give me your English homework first." Ding Yu retracted his head aggrievedly and took out his homework book.

"The officials are allowed to set fires, but the common people are not allowed to light lamps..." Ding Yu muttered as he looked at Qiu Huoming who was indifferent and continued to flip through the magazine.

"Write it yourself. If you don't know how to do it, ask me." Qiu Huoming gave him a displeased look.

The rain is still falling outside the window.

The news of the preliminary exam made everyone nervous again. After the initial noise subsided, the whole classroom suddenly became quiet.

After reading a short story, Qiu Huoming knew what kind of manuscripts the editor liked, so he bought the magazine.

He had finished reading the biology textbook and now wanted to start memorizing politics. He spread out the politics book and began to read silently.

The morning time passed quickly and the third class was physics.

Qiu Huoming was listening to the class while flipping through the after-class exercises and calculating with a pen.

A Red Flag sedan was driving downstairs from the school gate towards the playground, probably heading to the office building.

Qiu Huoming heard the noise and looked out the window. The car window was dark in the rain and he couldn't see the person sitting inside. He just looked away.

But he saw Gu Xiaoran's face in the reflection of the window. She was also looking at the moving car below with her face half turned to the side.

The water stains flowing down the glass reflected on her cheek, and the girl's usually cheerful face seemed to be gloomy.

Please recommend and give monthly tickets~~~

Thanks to the family members who gave rewards:) Brother Huozi has greater confidence in starting his own business.