Chapter 185: The Most Handsome Guy in the County! (Seeking Subscriptions)

An invitation letter from Hong Kong stirred up the Guanzhong Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

A certain county-level high school outside Chang'an City welcomed several special guests today.

"Is Teacher Li Wenhua here?"

The high school freshman year teachers' office echoed with the excited shout of the grade director.

"I'm here, I'm here!"

Li Wenhua was somewhat bewildered, hurriedly standing up to greet them: "Is there something, Director?"

"Great news, the comrades from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles are looking for you!"

The grade director strode into the room, followed by several people from the provincial and municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

"Oh, the comrades from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles are looking for me?"

Li Wenhua was even more bewildered, even feeling a bit at a loss, and subconsciously said: "I don't have any acquaintances at the Federation of Literary and Art Circles!"

"Hahaha..."

These words made the visitors from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles who had just entered unable to help themselves, and they all burst into laughter.

"It's like this, Teacher Li!"

The visitor from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles hurriedly explained: "Didn't you write a novel called *Zhengde Anecdotes*, and it was even picked up and published by a publisher over in Hong Kong!"

"So it's that; that was just a little hobby of mine in my spare time. Is there a problem?"

Upon hearing it was this, Li Wenhua immediately felt relieved and asked curiously: "Could it be that there's been a change regarding the publication of this novel? But the other party has already sent the manuscript fee!"

Speaking of this, his originally calm mood fluctuated a little.

It is said that Wu Feng had been soliciting manuscripts from Mainland writers for over a year.

During this period, many Mainland writers benefited from this wave of good fortune.

To say nothing else, as long as a novel was selected, the author's manuscript fee was not low.

It was basically over eighty per thousand characters, and that was just the manuscript remuneration for *Novel Monthly*.

Novels published in *Mong Kok News* were at least one hundred and twenty per thousand characters.

If the published novels and comics sold well, there was also an extra bonus.

For newspapers in Hong Kong, these expenses were just small change and didn't count for much.

But for writers in the Mainland, that was a huge sum of money.

After all, when writing popular novels, it was easy to hit a baseline of one hundred thousand characters.

Through writing, many writers in the Mainland became "ten-thousand-yuan households"!

Although the purchasing power of a ten-thousand-yuan household at this time could not compare to the early eighties, it was still quite remarkable.

At the very least, it was no problem at all to let themselves and their families live a rich and satisfying life.

Not to mention, what they earned was all in Hong Kong Dollar, helping the country earn foreign exchange.

Many writers from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles in various places had become wealthy through this method, becoming objects of envy for everyone, and even sparking a quite active craze for writing.

The Federation of Literary and Art Circles, which originally belonged to a "clear-water yamen" (an office with little power or money), unexpectedly had quite a bit of surplus grain on hand.

They even took the lead in building staff dormitories, which caused quite a sensation.

As time passed, what was originally just a way for writers of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles to make money slowly spread.

At the very least, here in Chang'an, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles had already opened a mailing channel for popular novels to Hong Kong newspapers.

Of course, novels mailed to Hong Kong newspapers all had to be reviewed by the Federation of Literary and Art Circles first.

Teacher Li's family still had some connections, but they were all contacts within the education system.

He himself was young and quick-witted, and was a proper graduate of a normal university.

Because he liked history and was a history teacher himself, plus he had a quick mind, he wrote a popular novel of a historical-fiction nature, then mailed it to the Chang'an Federation of Literary and Art Circles for review, and finally it was forwarded to a Hong Kong newspaper.

After all, the Hong Kong newspaper had already listed the types of manuscripts they were soliciting, and historical fiction happened to be one of them.

In fact, there were really not many official writers at the Federation of Literary and Art Circles who could write popular historical fiction.

After all, they were used to writing serious novels, and being able to successfully transition to popular novels was already quite good; historical fiction was still a bit too entertaining for them, and they were very unaccustomed to it.

It was also because of this that Teacher Li's novel was not only approved, but also favored by the Hong Kong newspaper, successfully bought out at a price of one hundred per thousand characters, and soon appeared in *Novel Monthly*.

Teacher Li thereby became a ten-thousand-yuan household in one fell swoop, and even a five-fold ten-thousand-yuan household at that.

There was no other reason; the *Zhengde Anecdotes* he wrote was a full five hundred thousand characters long.

It was just that he had always hidden this matter well, otherwise it would have caused a sensation throughout the whole school and even the whole county long ago.

Although many writers in the Federation of Literary and Art Circles had higher manuscript income than him, he was just a history teacher who had only recently entered high school; such an income was truly too astonishing.

Fortunately, when the manuscript was bought out, it was the newspaper in Hong Kong that remitted the money directly through the post office without going through the hands of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, which was the main reason why the staff of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles did not recognize him.

They only knew that such a person existed, but they were not clear about other specific details.

After the mailing channel was opened, the number of novels by non-Federation writers that were accepted surged; they couldn't possibly get to know everyone one by one, as the Federation of Literary and Art Circles simply didn't have that many people.

As for the share that the Federation of Literary and Art Circles was entitled to, the Hong Kong newspaper also deducted it from the author's manuscript fee and gave it to the local Federation of Literary and Art Circles in the same way of postal remittance.

"Teacher Li, no need to worry, it's a good thing!"

The staff member from the provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles smiled lightly: "Your novel has been spotted by a television station in Hong Kong, and they want to adapt it into a TV series. They hope you can go over and participate in the script adaptation!"

As he spoke, he took out the invitation letter and handed it over.

"Oh, so that's it, you gave me a scare!"

Li Wenhua breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly took the invitation letter with both hands.

"This..."

Looking at the content in traditional characters on the invitation letter, he was again at a loss.

He had no experience at all in adapting scripts for television stations, let alone having to go to Hong Kong.

"Teacher Li, you don't need to have any concerns!"

The staff member from the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles smiled and said: "After receiving the invitation letter, we immediately contacted the office stationed in the Mainland by the Hong Kong newspaper, and have already understood the situation in detail!"

"The television station over in Hong Kong is inviting you to go over; not only are travel expenses, food expenses, and accommodation expenses all covered, but there is also a substantial screenwriting fee!"

When speaking of this, the tone of the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles staff member was filled with envy: "After all, you wrote the novel, so adapting it according to the television station's requirements will be the most effortless task!"

"In addition, the office over there also made it clear that if the television series adapted from your novel has good viewership ratings, they will continue to purchase other scripts from you!"

Li Wenhua listened in a daze, his heart already burning with excitement.

He was, after all, a young man, and he was quite curious about and yearned for Hong Kong.

If there was an opportunity to go, and it was for official work, then that would naturally be for the best.

However...

"This, this, this, am I the only one going to Hong Kong?"

He said with some worry: "That wouldn't be good, would it? I don't even know what procedures I need to handle!"

"Rest assured, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles will send someone to accompany you!"

The Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles clearly had already made arrangements; the staff member smiled lightly: "After all, this is the first time, and we also feel that we should be more solemn about it!"

"In the future, there might be other novels that get picked up for adaptation into television series, so this can also be considered a way to get a clear understanding of the situation; this is a good thing!"

Of course it was a good thing; not only could the Federation of Literary and Art Circles share in the tangible benefits, but it also counted as a quite decent achievement, and it was a very face-saving matter to talk about.

"That would be best!"

With someone from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles accompanying him, that would be for the best, and Li Wenhua agreed on the spot.

Soon, the staff from the provincial and municipal Federations of Literary and Art Circles left; they still had to go handle the travel documents.

"Good for you, Teacher Li, you didn't even tell us about such a big matter earlier!"

At this moment, a group of teachers, including the grade director, surrounded Li Wenhua.

"Hehe, I just wrote a novel casually out of interest back then; who knew it would actually be spotted by a publishing house over in Hong Kong!"

Li Wenhua said with some embarrassment: "I can only say, I was just a bit lucky!"

The other teachers looked at each other, naturally not believing that things could be so easy and simple.

Before long, some teachers asked if they could also take a look at what Teacher Li had written.

In fact, what they were most curious about was Li Wenhua's manuscript income.

As people in the education system, most of them had heard about the affairs of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

There was no helping it; the writers of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles earned too much, which had long since attracted the attention and envy of others.

At this time, the wages of workers in Chang'an were no more than a hundred, so one could imagine how high the income of those lucky writers in the Federation of Literary and Art Circles was.

Previously, hearing about it only brought envy, but it didn't have much to do with the teachers.

But now it was different; a colleague by their side had actually become one of those super-high-income people, so how could they not be envious and jealous, wanting to know the specific situation regarding the manuscript fees.

It was just that it was hard to ask about money, but they knew Teacher Li must have earned quite a lot.

According to rumors, as long as the novel was not short in length, one could earn at least ten thousand or more.

That was ten thousand; even for a dual-income family, it would be impossible to save that much money without twenty years.

The office was noisy, and before long, even the principal and vice-principal heard the news and rushed over.

Now, it was even more lively.

In short, Li Wenhua became famous; he became completely famous in the county where he was located.

Especially after certain news from the County Federation of Literary and Art Circles spread, the number of people coming to the Li household wanting to introduce a partner to Li Wenhua could be described as an endless stream.

Damn it, earning forty or fifty thousand from a single novel was practically like a fantasy.

This time, with the invitation from the Hong Kong television station, it was said that if the script was adapted well, at least another few thousand to ten thousand would be brought in.

At a time when wages were generally no more than a hundred, what kind of concept was that?

If one became Li Wenhua's wife, one would basically have no worries about food or drink in the future.

Not only were the neighbors and the school's teachers and colleagues actively running about for Li Wenhua's lifelong event, but even the Xi'an Film Studio and the Guanzhong Television Station sent people over to understand the situation.

They were well aware that the television stations in Hong Kong were very different from those in the Mainland.

The television stations over there did not have low requirements for viewership ratings.

A novel that could be spotted by a television station might very well have quite good adaptation potential.

At this time, many classic television series from Asia Television were already being broadcast explosively in the Mainland; for example, "Fearless" and "Chen Zhen" were quite shocking when they were first introduced to the Mainland.

(End of this chapter)