Chapter 029: A Treacherous Betrayal—Mother-in-law, Please Let Me Explain (Please Keep Following)

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“Old Zhou, this is the author of ‘The Horseman,’ Old Xu, also known as Cheng Xueming!” Zhang Dening quickly greeted them, introducing, “Old Xu, this is our group leader and editorial board member at Yanjing Literature, Teacher Zhou Yanru. You can call her Old Zhou along with me!”

“Hello, Teacher Zhou!” Cheng Xueming stood up promptly to greet her.

“Aunt Zhou, please don’t get me into trouble! Xueming really wrote his manuscript behind my mother’s back. If she finds out, both of us will be doomed!”

Obviously, Feng Jiayou was not very familiar with Zhang Dening, the young newcomer, but she was quite close with Zhou Yanru, and directly called her Aunt Zhou.

“You little rascal! I’ve heard you got married in the northern Shaanxi region, but I could hardly believe it! Gu Xueqing’s darling daughter, married off in Shaanxi?”

Zhou Yanru was clearly an enthusiast for gossip; almost everyone in their circle was a colleague, living in the same compound and bumping into each other all the time.

She’d heard from old neighbors and colleagues that Gu Xueqing’s daughter married herself off in northern Shaanxi. It had surprised Zhou Yanru greatly at the time; she didn’t think it was possible.

But now, seeing it with her own eyes!

The couple—Xu Lingjun and Li Xiuzhi—had both come to submit work to Yanjing Literature!

“Aunt Zhou, you’re teasing me too!” Feng Jiayou pouted, feeling a rare touch of shyness.

“No, no! Jiayou, I’m rooting for you. You’re definitely braver and stronger than your mother!” Zhou Yanru walked over, continuing, “Your husband is remarkable—‘The Horseman’ is excellently written. We at Yanjing Literature plan to feature him on the front page and give him our full support!”

This was the editorial stance set by Editor-in-Chief Li Qingquan: while the ripple effect of ‘Scar’ published in Shanghai Literary Arts hadn’t faded, Yanjing Literature planned to make another push and launch ‘The Horseman.’

“The front page?!”

Feng Jiayou wasn’t genuinely upset, but upon hearing that Yanjing Literature was giving ‘The Horseman’ such importance, she became instantly flustered, repeatedly saying, “Aunt Zhou, are you really going to push it so strongly? Please, whatever you do, don’t tell my mother that her son-in-law wrote ‘The Horseman’!”

“No, no, Aunt Zhou, could you return ‘The Horseman’ to us? Really, if my mother finds out, she’ll kill me!”

Even women can get flustered at times!

At first, she had encouraged Cheng Xueming to rebel and submit his work to Yanjing Literature instead of her mother’s ‘October.’

Now, hearing that Yanjing Literature was about to strongly promote ‘The Horseman,’ she was instantly thrown into panic—there’s fear too!

“Jiayou, ‘The Horseman’ is set by our editor-in-chief, so it’s impossible for us to return the manuscript!” Zhou Yanru, now aware of their couple’s situation, smiled and said, “At worst, we just don’t let your mother find out!”

“Anyway, if you have manuscripts in the future, submit them to Yanjing Literature. I promise your mother will never know! Even if she comes and tries to threaten or cajole us personally, we’ll never say a word!”

Hmm, with this leverage, it seems she could keep their couple for a lifetime—maybe that’s not entirely fair?

“Oh my goodness! Is ‘The Horseman’ really that good? Aunt Zhou, you don’t have to feature it on the front page. Just publish it and pay him the manuscript fee—that’s enough!”

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She really didn’t want him to become famous!

She thought that getting published in Yanjing Literature and earning a manuscript fee would suffice.

To quietly publish, quietly receive the payment—a little side project that wouldn’t be discovered by her mother.

But Yanjing Literature was set on featuring ‘The Horseman’ on the front page, essentially pushing the couple into the spotlight!

“That’s wonderful! Old Xu’s ‘The Horseman’ is so well written that our Editor Li estimates its influence may surpass ‘Scar’ and ‘The Class Teacher,’ so he decided to place it on the front page!”

Zhou Yanru explained further; Yanjing Literature truly valued ‘The Horseman’ and planned to promote it generously.

Yet Feng Jiayou felt the sky was falling. They were praising her husband’s writing, pushing him toward fame. It was clearly a good thing, but why did she feel so uneasy?

Nearby, Bai Ling, hearing the group leader’s enthusiastic praise, felt even more sour. This manuscript, this author, could’ve been hers!

She’d been forced by her mother to go on a matchmaking meeting that wasted half her morning, causing her to miss out on such a front-page masterpiece!

“Ahem!” Cheng Xueming listened on the side, and as Zhou Yanru spoke, he felt the same fear as Feng Jiayou—afraid his mother-in-law would find out.

But a submitted manuscript is like water tipped from a jug—he had no intention of taking it back, only to press on to the end.

Now his greatest concern was the manuscript fee—the money!

He coughed lightly, interjecting, “Teacher Zhou, how is the manuscript fee calculated for a front-page feature?”

“Five yuan per thousand characters! Yanjing Literature always encourages young and new authors to submit, and our support in terms of manuscript fees is much better than your mother-in-law’s ‘October’!”

Mentioning the fee meant there would be no demand to withdraw the manuscript. Before Zhou Yanru could reply, Zhang Dening, worried the prized manuscript might slip away, quickly answered from behind!

Although their editor-in-chief had set the plan, if the author insisted on withdrawing, Yanjing Literature would have no way to keep it!

Now, hearing Comrade Old Xu ask about the fee, she had to quickly tout Yanjing Literature’s advantages!

“Also five yuan per thousand characters?” Cheng Xueming’s expression visibly fell!

Dissatisfied with the five yuan per thousand fee?

Hearing his tone, Zhou Yanru was equally surprised, and quickly said, “Five yuan per thousand characters is our support rate for young and new authors. In your case, Xueming…I can decide to pay you six yuan per thousand characters. ‘The Horseman’ is truly worth it!”

“Of course, if you have new works in the future, be sure to submit them to Yanjing Literature; then we’ll pay you according to the new national manuscript fee regulations, at the top rate for established writers—seven yuan per thousand characters. How does that sound?”

With a mother-in-law at ‘October,’ Yanjing Literature had no advantage except in the fee; but that may not last long—better to secure him while they could!

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The prerequisite, of course, was not letting his mother-in-law find out. Otherwise, Old Xu the son-in-law would be dragged over to ‘October’ and become a long-term contributor!

“If you say so, Teacher Zhou, I happen to have a new manuscript. Could you see if both manuscripts can be paid at the established writer’s rate of seven yuan per thousand characters?”

Cheng Xueming pushed his luck, instantly producing his new manuscript—luckily, he’d prepared one.

“A new manuscript? So soon?” Zhou Yanru was surprised, taking the manuscript and beginning to read.

Zhang Dening and Bai Ling, the two young editors, were equally astonished, crowding in curiously to see what masterpiece Old Xu, the author of ‘The Horseman,’ had written this time.

Minute by minute, time passed; soon, the other colleagues in the editorial office sensed something was up and gathered around.

Nearly half an hour later, Zhou Yanru’s expression was extremely complicated as she said to Cheng Xueming, “Xueming, you two wait here—I’ll go find Old Li!”

With that, she hurried out of the editorial room and into the neighboring office.

“Old Li is our chief editor, Li Qingquan!” Zhang Dening added.

In Li Qingquan’s office, they waited another half hour. When Old Li finally finished reading, Zhou Yanru anxiously asked, “Old Li, what do you think?”

Li Qingquan, Editor-in-Chief of Yanjing Literature, first told Zhou Yanru not to rush, then picked up the phone and dialed.

The call was quickly connected. Li Qingquan spoke, “Old Liu, this time Yanjing Literature really owes you a big thank you. I’ll treat you to dinner soon!”

He hung up, leaving the other party to guess.

“That… Old Li, did you call Liu Xinwu from ‘October’?” Zhou Yanru seemed to sense something, asking in confusion.

“Shouldn’t we thank them?” Li Qingquan replied with a smile, “Come, let’s go meet Gu Xueqing’s excellent son-in-law—two consecutive masterpieces. I’m really worried for Comrade Cheng Xueming, with his mother-in-law…”

“Old Li, you called Liu Xinwu—you’re just enjoying the drama, aren’t you?”

…
PS: The book has been running for over half a month, but hasn’t received a trial recommendation yet. The next chapter’s readers will decide whether Little Fat Mama can get a trial slot next week, so I beg all dear dads and moms to please read the next chapter. Thank you, thank you!