A 104,000-yuan manuscript fee receipt, thrown directly in the woman’s face.

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“Teacher Li, what are you doing here?”

At 166 Chaonei Street, in the office building of the People’s Literature Publishing House, Cheng Xueming arrived just in time to see Li Qingquan waiting at the entrance. Puzzled, he stepped forward to greet him and asked.

“Xueming, you’re here! I’ve been waiting for you!” Li Qingquan of Yanjing Literature waved at Cheng Xueming and greeted him as well.

“Waiting for me?! Teacher Li, if you needed something, you could have just asked Denning and the others to pass me a message. Why trouble yourself to wait here in this cold early morning for a junior like me?”

Now Cheng Xueming was even more confused. Li Qingquan must have overheard Old Zhang from People’s Literature telling him to come by this morning before leaving yesterday, so he was waiting here on purpose.

But what urgent matter could possibly require the editor-in-chief Li Qingquan to wait out here early in the cold for a young writer like him?

“It’s nothing major! Just happened to hear Old Zhang mention it yesterday, and since we’re coming to the Humanities Press, we wanted to talk to Uncle Li Shuguang about a standalone edition of ‘The Horseman’.”

“Right, this time Old Li plans to combine your ‘The Horseman’ with ‘Endless Tenderness’ into a single volume,” Li Qingquan explained. Publishing a standalone volume just for ‘The Horseman’ would be possible, but it might seem a bit too thin.

Fortunately, Yanjing Literature recently published a new short story, giving Cheng Xueming the front-page headline, so they could combine the two to make a decent standalone book.

“Is that so? That sounds great!” Cheng Xueming nodded happily upon hearing this.

“There’s one more thing, Xueming. We’ve completed the final review of your novella. Here’s your payment slip; take a look,” Li Qingquan said, pulling the payment slip for the novella from his briefcase and handing it over. “As usual, we’re paying seven yuan per thousand characters.”

“What?! Already?” Cheng Xueming was genuinely surprised. Taking the payment slip, he stared at the substantial amount of 1,623 yuan and was momentarily stunned.

“Not fast enough! If it had taken any longer, I had a feeling this novella might’ve slipped through!” Li Qingquan shook his head repeatedly, speaking his mind.

Now that the payment was settled, Li Qingquan felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. Otherwise, he really feared that Cheng Xueming’s mother-in-law, Teacher Gu, might storm into Yanjing Literature demanding her son-in-law’s novella.

So he thought it best to quickly settle the payment with his son-in-law. Then if the mother-in-law caused trouble at Yanjing Literature, he could use this as an excuse.

Once the payment is done, the manuscript belongs to Yanjing Literature, no matter who comes calling—that’s what Li Qingquan always says.

“Teacher Li, there’s no one competing with you for this!” Cheng Xueming was dumbfounded. He hadn’t expected this to be the push needed to get Li Qingquan to hurry and settle the payment.

“I’m just being cautious!” Li Qingquan laughed. “Yesterday I had a drink with Old Liu, and he explicitly said he was going to try to snatch it away, told me to wait and see!”

“No way, no way, Teacher Liu was definitely just drunk talk!” Li Qingquan wasn’t worried about Liu Xinwu; his real concern was his mother-in-law. Cheng Xueming smiled wryly at this thought.

He wondered if his mother-in-law would really show up to wrestle for the manuscript.

Probably not! Though his mother-in-law was usually proud and domineering, she was actually very understanding. When the manuscript was handed over to People’s Literature yesterday, she didn’t create a scene.

“That was definitely drunken talk!” Li Qingquan smiled and nodded, gesturing for them to go inside, then pointed upstairs. “Uncle Li from the Humanities Press is on the third floor, and Old Zhang from People’s Literature is on the second. Let’s go see Old Zhang first!”

Li Qingquan was naturally familiar with the place and led Cheng Xueming straight to Zhang Guangnian’s office.

“Old Zhang, I get it now. Old Liu and I have been fighting over this, but in the end, you got the better deal!” Without knocking, Li Qingquan entered and teased while holding the sample issue.

“Uh… Xueming, you’re here. We’ve been waiting for you!” Zhang Guangnian greeted Cheng Xueming but then grumbled at Li Qingquan. “Go on, Old Li, why are you bothering me here for no reason?”

“What do you mean ‘got the better deal’?! This is a task from above. Do you understand the pressure we’re under?” Li Qingquan retorted.

“Old Zhang, you got the better end of the bargain and still play innocent!” Li Qingquan set down his briefcase and was about to sit on the sofa but, seeing the sample issue in Zhang Guangnian’s hand, exclaimed, “Is this Old Liu’s precious treasure?!”

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“A sample issue already?! Give it to me, give it to me! I still don’t even know what we’re fighting over!” Li Qingquan had been eyeing this manuscript for so long but never managed to get any information. Now that the sample was right in front of him, how could he not eagerly snatch it?

“I’m not giving it to you! You’re killing me, Li Qingquan!” Zhang Guangnian teased him by withholding the sample issue, much to Li Qingquan’s frustration.

Cheng Xueming watched amusedly. There were several copies on the table; was it really necessary to fight over the one in Zhang’s hand?

But the teasing didn’t last long; Li Qingquan finally got hold of the sample and sat down to leaf through it.

“Not the front-page headline?” Li Qingquan frowned when he saw it wasn’t the lead story and casually asked.

“Old Li, have you lost your mind? Didn’t you look at the front pages?!” Zhang Guangnian rolled his eyes. The front pages were reserved for important speeches and conference directives. Who would dare put a story ahead of those as the headline?

This issue of People’s Literature was the opening salvo from their propaganda department; of course, the front page was for major announcements.

Putting a story like this upfront as the headline? Zhang Guangnian wasn’t crazy!

If Li Qingquan were to arrange it like that in print, would he dare submit it for review?

“Cough, cough, just a habit!” Li Qingquan was left speechless and awkwardly laughed before continuing to read.

“Xueming, what do you think?” Zhang Guangnian, after shooting a glance at Li Qingquan, turned to Cheng Xueming and asked once he finished reading.

“Teacher Zhang, I don’t see any problems. Honestly, you didn’t need to show me!” Cheng Xueming said modestly.

“Good, good! Are you the original author?” Zhang nodded repeatedly and continued, “Then I’ll send this to Old Wu for review. Xueming, come with me. If Old Wu has other instructions, you can hear them too.”

With that, Zhang Guangnian invited Cheng Xueming to accompany him to the department to submit the manuscript for approval.

“Let’s go together! It’s not far from here to Old Wu’s office.” Seeing Cheng Xueming hesitate shyly, perhaps feeling it was too formal or lacking confidence, Zhang reassured him. He didn’t know that Cheng Xueming was now the department’s top rising star.

“All right.” Cheng Xueming nodded. He had planned to visit Uncle Li on the third floor after dealing with Zhang, but clearly, going to Old Wu was more urgent and could not be neglected.

“Damn! Xueming, when did you finish this manuscript?” Li Qingquan, still engrossed in the sample issue, suddenly slapped his thigh in amazement and looked up at Cheng Xueming.

“Mid-month, I think,” Cheng replied.

“No wonder!” Li Qingquan nodded repeatedly.

“Old Li, what’s no wonder about?” Zhang Guangnian was tidying up the review materials and was puzzled by Li’s strange comment.

“No wonder that around mid-month, Old Liu was running to the department three times a day. Now I know why!” Li Qingquan exclaimed.

“Xueming, you’re really impressive!” Li Qingquan couldn’t help but admire him, thinking what a bold writer he was. No wonder Liu Xinwu was running to the department every day during that time.

Liu Xinwu was daring. Mid-month was when the plenary session was in full swing; who else would dare submit such a manuscript at such a critical moment?

If it had been Li Qingquan, he wouldn’t have dared—he’d wait until after the meeting to make a decision.

“Old Li, what exactly are you trying to say? What’s this no wonder about?” Zhang Guangnian asked, still a bit confused.

“I’m saying if Old Liu were just a bit bolder or just a bit more cautious, you, Old Zhang, wouldn’t have anything to do with this!” Li Qingquan chuckled and whispered to Zhang.

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Exactly as Li Qingquan said: if Liu Xinwu had been bolder, he would have taken the manuscript and published it himself without waiting—then Zhang Guangnian wouldn’t have gotten involved.

Or if Liu had been more cautious, holding onto the manuscript until after the meeting before submitting it, same thing—Zhang Guangnian wouldn’t have anything to do with it.

But Liu Xinwu’s courage was neither here nor there, and in the end, it benefited Old Zhang’s People’s Literature.

“What do you mean?” Zhang Guangnian wanted to ask before leaving.

“Can’t you figure it out yourself? Liu got the manuscript mid-month. If he’d been bolder and done it himself, or more cautious and kept quiet, would it have anything to do with you?” Li Qingquan murmured.

“Ah!” Zhang was momentarily stunned, then smiled and nodded. “Indeed, I should treat Old Liu to a meal sometime.”

“Let’s go! I’ll take Xueming to submit it, Old Li, you do what you need to do.”

And so, Cheng Xueming was once again roped in by Zhang Guangnian to accompany him to the department to meet Old Wu.

Old Wu was very satisfied with the rapid publication of this issue of People’s Literature and pleased with the selection of content. Only minor adjustments were made to some details, then he approved it for immediate release.

Then, jokingly curious, he asked Cheng Xueming if he had knelt on his mother-in-law’s washboard after returning home last night. Cheng wanted to laugh but dared not, and he reported her attitude from the night before in detail.

“Very good! Comrade Gu is truly conscientious and understands the big picture!” Old Wu nodded repeatedly. He also gave instructions regarding October magazine: they could add an extra issue this month and reprint the article from People’s Literature as a small compensation.

Just as Cheng Xueming was hurrying back to People’s Literature, Zhang Guangnian suddenly said to him:

“Xueming, Old Wu thinks highly of you! The instruction to add the extra October issue wasn’t given in front of Old Liu yesterday but told you today. Old Wu’s thoughtful way of making sure Old Liu has to acknowledge you a bit.”

“That way, you can at least report back to your mother-in-law, Teacher Gu!”

“Ah?!” Cheng Xueming found this quite reasonable. Was Old Wu really using him as the good guy in October?

“Anyway, today you can report back to your mother-in-law. No need to kneel on the washboard!” Zhang Guangnian joked. But who kneels on a mother-in-law’s washboard anyway? If kneeling, it’s for one’s wife.

“Teacher Zhang, the payment from October has already been settled!” Back at People’s Literature, Zhang Guangnian handed Cheng a payment slip, prompting his puzzled question.

“October is October’s business; we’re ours! Besides, Old Liu’s side is about to reprint it, so you’ll get paid again.”

“You can settle with Old Liu later, refund or top up as needed.”

Since October was reprinting, People’s Literature couldn’t just take it for free; payment was necessary.

As for the payment from October, consider it a reprint fee, though the rate would be slightly lower.

But that was between Cheng Xueming and his mother-in-law—People’s Literature had nothing to do with it.

“Well... I’ll keep this for now and settle with Teacher Liu later.”

Cheng took the payment slip without hesitation, glanced at it—it was 216 yuan, the same seven yuan per thousand characters as October had paid.

“That’s how it should be! If you have more good manuscripts in the future, remember to prioritize People’s Literature!” Zhang Guangnian nodded, then said, “This time it’s a special task from above, a last-minute project!”

“Otherwise, for a manuscript like yours, People’s Literature would surely give you a front-page headline. We’d never be stingy like Li Qingquan!”

“But there’s plenty of time ahead. Next time, we’ll definitely give you the same treatment!”

Before the story was officially published, Zhang Guangnian was already painting a rosy future for Cheng. The honest young writer was both flattered and grateful, nodding eagerly and promising to submit future works to People’s Literature.

Then Cheng went up to the third floor and found Old Li, the editor-in-chief of the Humanities Press, drinking tea in Li Shuguang’s office. After greetings from the two Lis, Cheng received another payment.

It’s worth mentioning that the payment for the standalone book was also calculated at seven yuan per thousand characters, meaning he earned double for one manuscript—a delightful prospect!

Counting all this, Cheng Xueming looked forward even more to the novella in Li Qingquan’s hands. Once Yanjing Literature published it, Humanities Press would likely follow suit quickly, adding another 1,600-plus yuan!

Wonderful!

Tonight, he’d surely flaunt these payment slips in Feng Jiayou’s face—it would be even sweeter and more satisfying!

…