In 1983, the first issue of "Flower City" magazine had been published for a week. There was still no time to respond to the external response and the sales of this issue of the magazine, but Li Shifei had his own way.

Today is the Lantern Festival, and it is also Sunday. Early in the morning, he came out of the narrow, dark room above the Taipingguan Western Restaurant on Yanjing Road, which was his home.

After leaving the house, Yanjing Road was bustling with people, and a flash of red not far away was particularly dazzling in the early morning sun.

Xinhua Bookstore on Yanjing Road is the earliest Xinhua Bookstore established in Guangzhou. It is located in the bustling city and has always been the most popular bookstore in Guangzhou.

The winter vacation was not over yet, and parents came to the bookstore early in the morning with their children.

Xinhua Bookstore on Yanjing Road has been open-shelf sales for almost two years. They don’t necessarily go into the store to buy books. Many parents bring their children to kill time and cultivate their children’s interest in reading.

Many children hold a book in their hands and often hide in a corner where no one is paying attention, looking at it for a long time.

Li Shifei is an editor and a publisher. He likes this atmosphere.

After entering the store, he walked around for a while and then started chatting with the salesperson Xiao Chen.

"How are the sales of our "Flower City" these days?"

"It's almost out of stock, and the manager said he still needs to place an order."

Hearing this, Li Shifei was a little surprised. As one of the most well-known literary publications in China, "Flower City" has always had good sales.

In the past year or so, sales have basically fluctuated between 600,000 and 700,000 copies.

In this issue, they published Lin Chaoyang's "The Crossing of the Boat". Out of trust in Lin Chaoyang's appeal among readers, the first printing was 700,000 copies.

As the base camp of "Flower City", Guangzhou's order share has always been second only to Yanjing and Shanghai.

Xinhua Bookstore on Yanjing Road has always been the most popular bookstore in Guangzhou. Every magazine order starts with at least 1,500 copies. This issue has only been on the market for a week, and 1,500 copies have been sold out?

Li Shifei checked with the salesperson again. When he heard that there were only more than 30 copies left in stock, he felt completely at ease.

While chatting with Xiao Chen, Li Shifei suddenly heard a burst of yelling and cursing, followed by the cry of a child.

He followed the salesperson's footsteps and went to check, and found that a lesbian with a gentle look on her face was scolding the child. At this time, the child was crying and looked a little pitiful.

At first, Li Shifei thought it was because the child was naughty and broke the book. After listening for a while, he realized that the parents were responsible because the child was reading a novel.

"Is this something you should be watching at your age?"

The parents were waving books in their hands and roaring angrily at their children.

"Comrade, comrade..." the salesperson comforted him helplessly, but it didn't seem to have much effect.

Li Shifei's eyes were fixed on the shaking book, which looked vaguely familiar. Isn't this "Flower City"?

Seeing the parents getting more and more noisy, several salespeople from the bookstore came over and suppressed the parents' anger.

After a while of commotion, the parents angrily led the crying child out of the house, threatening the child as they walked.

"If you read these books in the future, I will never take you to the bookstore again, do you hear me?"

The child, who seemed to be in junior high school, was afraid of being scolded, so he only agreed.

Li Shifei stepped forward and stopped the mother and son. The female comrade looked at him warily, "What's the matter?"

"Comrade, I am a staff member of "Flower City". I just saw you holding "Flower City" in your hand and said that our magazine is not suitable for children like them to read.

I just want to ask, which aspect of our magazine do you think is not good enough?

We run a magazine for the common people, and we really hope to get real feedback from readers like you, so that we can make improvements in the future."

Li Shifei had a kind smile on his face and was very polite in his words. The lesbian's face softened.

"Your "Flower City" is very good, and my wife and I often watch it, but the "City of Ferry" you released this time is really a bit unacceptable..."

When the lesbian said this, there was a bit of complaint in her tone.

Li Shifei asked in surprise: "What do you think is wrong with the novel "The Crossing Boat"?"

"This novel talks about cannibalism. It talks about children eating their mothers. Don't you know?"

Hearing this, Li Shifei was stunned for a moment and immediately understood what the lesbian meant.

At the same time, he also understood that this lesbian was probably the kind of reader who read novels through hearsay.

Li Shifei explained patiently: "What the author wanted to express in writing the novel "The Story of a Crossing Boat" is the vastly different consequences of people's different choices in desperate situations. The novel only lists this possibility, and it

It doesn’t necessarily happen. Besides, there are not many such things happening in history.”

The lesbian's understanding of "The Story of the Crossing Boat" was indeed obtained through other people's dictation, so when Li Shifei patiently explained, she could not think of specific words to refute.

He could only say: "It's okay for us adults to see these things, but it's inappropriate for children to see them."

Li Shifei said humbly: "What you said is that this is indeed a problem."

Seeing that he had a good attitude, the lesbian didn't say anything more, turned around and left with the child.

After the two left, Li Shifei shook his head helplessly, not knowing who to blame for this kind of thing.

Then he thought of the news the salesperson had just said, and he felt happy again. It seemed that the sales volume of this issue of "Flower City" was going to break a record. It would not be in vain for him to travel thousands of miles away and spend a lot of money to ask Lin Chaoyang for a manuscript.

He couldn't help but think of the discussion in the editorial department before the publication of "Crossing the Boat". Some people said that as long as Lin Chaoyang's novel was published, no matter which magazine it was, the sales volume of the current issue would not be less than 1 million copies.

Li Shifei didn't take it seriously at the time, but now it seems that this rumor is indeed not groundless.

After the Lantern Festival, it is also the day when universities, middle schools and primary schools across the country start school, and the happy winter vacation work of newly promoted Tao Yumo is also over.

Throughout the winter vacation, she earned nearly 50 yuan from her nephew, one set of winter clothes, 4 pairs of socks, 8 books and newspapers, and a Hero brand pen.

The more she calculated, the more reluctant she was to part with her nephew. This was not a fat baby. He was clearly her aunt's money-spinning boy.

So she discussed with her sister and said that if she took care of her nephew at night, her salary could be cut in half.

Tao Yushu agreed without hesitation. Anyway, Lin Chaoyang was planning to go out and it was not impossible for Tao Yumo to take this position.

She looked at her sister's tender face. She was so young, it would be a shame not to stay up late.

Another day passed, Tao Yushu prepared luggage for Lin Chaoyang, and he planned to leave for his hometown the day after tomorrow.

On the one hand, it was a request from the hometown government, and on the other hand, it was also because I needed to prepare some materials for my new work.

"Can you come back in the middle of the month? What about the library?" Tao Yushu asked him.

Lin Chaoyang pondered and said: "When I go back to the government, I think it will only take two or three days to deal with it. But I can't say for sure about the materials. I guess it will take a few months at least. If it doesn't work, I will go to the library to find the director tomorrow and then ask for it."

A holiday."

Tao Yushu hesitated and said, "Why don't you just resign?"

Lin Chaoyang looked surprised when he heard this, "Why do you suddenly have such an idea?"

Tao Yushu pulled him to sit on the sofa, "Actually, I have been thinking about this issue since New Year's Day."

"When my dad let you go to the library, he was afraid that you wouldn't have a job after you went to the city. It was actually quite good.

But even I didn't expect that you would have such great talent and potential in literature. With your current reputation in China, you don't need this job to rely on. On the contrary, work will distract your energy.

So it’s better to put down work, put all your energy into creation, and become a full-time writer.”

If you ask Lin Chaoyang whether working in the library has affected his creation, the answer is yes. No matter how idle the work is, it will have an impact, but to say how big the impact is, it is not necessarily.

Now he is not only more famous, but his income from royalties is also much higher than before. Last year, including royalties from publishing, reprinting and publishing many works, his income was more than 45,000 yuan, which is enough for an ordinary worker to live without food.

You can earn a hundred and eighty years by drinking it.

Considering the current income level in this era, there is no problem for Lin Chaoyang to be a full-time writer.

But people in this era are generally conservative in their ideas. For most people, a serious job not only means an income, but also represents a kind of social recognition.

Lin Chaoyang never expected that Tao Yushu would actually persuade him to resign.

"It actually doesn't matter whether you resign or not..."

While the two were talking, Lin Erchun suddenly walked in with his luggage.

Lin Chaoyang asked: "Dad, what are you..."

"Aren't you going back to your hometown the day after tomorrow? I'll go back and have a look too!" Lin Erchun replied.

"I won't stay in my hometown when I go back."

"You are busy with your business. I just haven't been back for a long time. It's strange that you should go back this time."

Lin Erchun seemed to have made up his mind to return to his hometown, and did not give Lin Chaoyang a chance to interrupt.

At this time, Zhang Guiqin came out of the bedroom with Xiao Dongdong in her arms and looked at Lin Erchun's duffel bag, with a look of envy flashing in her eyes.

If she hadn't been tied up by the little guy in her arms, she would have wished she could take this opportunity to return to her hometown!

As the old saying goes: Wealth that does not return home is like walking in brocade at night.

Her son, Zhang Guiqin, has become successful and is now a famous writer all over the country. This time, he was invited back by his hometown government.

Zhang Guiqin couldn't imagine how many New Year greetings Lin Erchun would hear if he returned to his hometown.

Just thinking about it made her feel so happy that she was about to fly.

When she came back to her senses, she couldn't help but feel disappointed when she thought that she was not involved in such a holy moment in front of others.

The next day, Lin Chaoyang came to the library and explained the situation to the director Xie Daoyuan, saying that he wanted to take a longer leave.

He has not yet discussed the resignation with Tao Yushu. Tao's father owed him a favor for his job. No matter what happened, he should discuss it with Tao's father first.
To be continued...