Chapter 18: , Submission

On the other side.

After leaving the Xiao family, the mother and son separated.

Taking advantage of the market fair today, with many people selling chicks, Tian Run'e planned to go buy 12 fluffy chicks to take back.

Originally in the countryside, many families, in order to save money, used eggs produced by their own chickens to hatch them.

But the old Li family was good at feeding pigs and cows, but when it came to chickens, ducks, and geese, they had a bit of bad luck.

Not only was the hatching rate not high, but the survival rate was even more pitifully low; it was good if 12 fluffy chicks could survive five or six.

For this reason, the neighbors in the village were joking: Heaven has eyes, this is fair; you old Li family can't be the best at everything.

Li Heng's goal was clear, and he headed straight for the newspaper kiosk next to the old station.

To find the submission addresses for literary magazines.

Just as expected, although Qian Town was a town and couldn't even be considered a small city, the newspaper kiosk had all the magazines that should be there.

The variety was even more complete than he had imagined.

Not long after, Li Heng flipped through the submission addresses of many famous literary magazines such as "People's Literature," "Harvest," "October," "Contemporary," and "Huacheng."

The owner of the newspaper kiosk was a bearded man around 50 years old. He had been watching Li Heng for a while, seeing him flip through this book and then change to that one, having flipped through all the books, and even taking notes in the middle, but just not mentioning buying anything. He immediately became somewhat impatient.

He deliberately tapped his dry tobacco pipe and said: "Hey, hey! I say, kid, this isn't a library. These magazines are for sale. If you flip them until they're old, how can I sell them?

Are you buying or not? If you're not buying, go somewhere else; don't block the way here."

Hearing these unfriendly words, Li Heng, knowing he was in the wrong, didn't mind, but instead picked up a copy of "Story Meeting."

He asked: "Uncle, how much is this one?"

The bearded man was still somewhat impatient and answered casually: "Thirty cents."

Li Heng counted out three ten-cent notes from his pocket and handed them over: "I'll take one."

Seeing him actually take out real money, the bearded man's attitude immediately softened a lot. He took the money and, driven by curiosity, asked a question:

"What are you copying so many submission addresses for?"

"Oh, this? Yesterday afternoon I had a dream that I became a great writer, so today I came to try my luck." Li Heng had a skill, which was that he could talk nonsense at the drop of a hat.

The bearded man puffed on his cigarette holder, looked him up and down, left and right, seeing him so young and not learning anything good, just daydreaming. His loose eyelids immediately drooped, and he lost interest.

The post office was opposite the old station, not far away; he crossed a road and arrived.

Walking into the post office lobby, he suddenly felt a bit troubled. Because of the rush, he had only prepared two manuscripts for the first 40,000 words of "To Live."

And there were so many submission addresses he had copied, and they were all famous ones; for a moment, he had a choice paralysis.

In his previous life, he loved reading books and occasionally wrote articles to be published in newspapers in his spare time. He had also heard of the "Four Great Beauties" like "Contemporary," "Huacheng," and "October."

But after all, it was just hearsay; he wasn't a person in the cultural circle and lacked sufficient understanding of the preferences and foundations of various literary magazines.

The most critical thing was that due to the long passage of time, he couldn't remember which magazine Chen Xiaomi worked for.

The reason he was submitting to be a writer this time, besides making money to improve his family's conditions and earning a reputation to change his terrible image of "Ximen Qing," was also with the thought of venting his anger.

Which magazine did Chen Xiaomi work for? He searched his memory for a long time, but still couldn't find the thread. Li Heng suddenly felt a bit discouraged.

There was a moment when he impulsively wanted to run back and grab Chen Zitong to fish for information, asking her where her little aunt worked.

But as soon as this thought arose, it was extinguished in the next second. Forget it, too lazy to run; just submit it by fate.

Besides, Chen Zitong had been nicknamed "Little Loach" since she was a child, very slippery. In the current situation where the Chen and Li families were not on good terms, she wasn't easy to fool.

Anyway, as long as it didn't cause a butterfly effect and didn't change the trajectory of history, with the sky-high fame of "To Live," Chen Xiaomi would sooner or later know that a true dragon had emerged from our old Li family.

After pondering over the list of submission addresses for a long time, Li Heng finally decided to submit to "People's Literature" and "Harvest."

He had heard the most gossip about "People's Literature." It is said that it is backed by the National Literature Publishing House and has always held a very special status in the domestic literary circle; it is a rich second generation born with a golden key.

For him, who was ambitious, this was almost a mandatory choice.

As for "Harvest," hey! No particular reason, purely because the name sounded pleasing to the eye. Harvest, harvest, the meaning is excellent.

Once the decision was made, Li Heng gave himself a pen name: December.

To ensure safety and speed, Li Heng was extravagantly luxurious, spending a lot of money to mail the two manuscripts separately via postal parcel.

Afraid of mixing up "People's Literature" and "Harvest," he checked three times before mailing and added a sentence at the end: If interested in publishing, please mail back a contact phone number.

Thinking that he would be starting school in Shao City the day after tomorrow, he didn't use his own address as the sender's address, but filled in the English teacher's address and landline number.

The reason he used the English teacher's was that in his memory, the other party lived at school, was close to the class, and was good enough to him, so there was a natural sense of trust.

When filling in the English teacher's landline, he secretly thanked God that he could still remember the first phone number he had memorized in his life.

885708

He could really memorize it; just like the phone number of a first love girlfriend, a lifetime had passed, and although he hadn't deliberately reminisced in the middle, it was still quietly hidden in the bottom of his heart.

Watching the two postal parcels being taken away by the staff, a potential worry suddenly arose in Li Heng's mind: would submitting one manuscript to multiple places offend people?

If someone dared to be so ignorant of the heights of the world in the future, the editor would teach you how to behave in minutes and blacklist you in minutes.

However, his concerns dissipated afterward. The submission environment in this era was relaxed, not to mention that information didn't circulate, and as a nobody, others wouldn't know if he submitted multiple times.

Even if they knew, they could understand; after all, he was a pure novice, and the ignorant are fearless.

Or, perhaps they wouldn't even care at all.

Of course, if he became famous in the future, he definitely couldn't do this; it would be taboo.

Coming out of the post office, Li Heng instinctively went to the farmers' market. In his impression, Comrade Tian Run'e often liked to buy things here because there were many items of the same category, and she could compare prices and bargain well.

After searching for a while, he really found her in an area selling clothes.

"Xuemei, we are old acquaintances. I often buy clothes from you. Can this set of clothes be cheaper?"

Just after passing by, Li Heng saw his own mother using her hands to stretch and touch a set of white casual clothes, checking them very meticulously, not even missing the stitching.

"Run'e, this is already the most favorable price. It's precisely because we are old partners who have known each other for decades that I didn't call out a price to you. Look at this style, touch this material; can you buy it for 13 yuan elsewhere?"

PS: Seeking monthly tickets! Seeking follow-up reading! Seeking collection!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 19 =====