Chapter 552: The first salary payment, Zheng Juan blushed
After Shao Jingwen came out of President Wang's office, he introduced the publishing house to Zhou Chen.
"Our Jiangliao Publishing House is the largest publishing house in Jiangliao Province. It is a state-owned unit and has multiple departments. We are the editorial department of Golden Land Magazine. In addition to you and me, we are responsible for the Golden Land Magazine.
There are four editors, each performing their own duties and editing news for the magazine."
"As for colleagues from other departments, I will introduce them to you when we meet them later. Now let's go back to our office first."
The publishing house has more than just one magazine department: Golden Land Magazine. There are two offices in Golden Land Magazine. Shao Jingwen and another old editor have one office, and the rest of them have another office.
Zhou Chen followed Shao Jingwen to the office and met the other four editors. Shao Jingwen introduced them one by one.
The other four editors are all very young, the oldest is over fifty, older than Shao Jingwen, and the other three, the youngest are all in their thirties.
"It is true that a hero comes from a young age, Comrade Bingkun."
Although Zhou Chen is the youngest, none of the four people look down on Zhou Chen. They don't know Zhou Chen's details, but being brought here by Shao Jingwen personally and being an editor specially approved by the president shows that Zhou Chen is definitely not simple. They naturally
I won't be cold-hearted.
Zhou Chen greeted them very humbly and kept his attitude low.
Wherever there are people, there is a world. Zhou Chen wants to stay at the publishing house until he can take the college entrance examination, which means there are still eight or nine years left, so it is definitely beneficial to have a good relationship with his colleagues.
Of these four editors, the eldest one is named Liu Xingyuan, and the other three are named Hu Ke, Qian Zhenqing, and Ji Hongbo.
"Old Liu, you guys don't look down on Bingkun just because he is young. Let me tell you the truth. Although Bingkun is young, he is very talented. He is very good at writing poems and stories. Anyway, I am ashamed of myself.
Not as good as."
Liu Xingyuan and the others originally thought that Zhou Chen had a background, but after hearing what Shao Jingwen said, it seemed that was not the case. Could it be that this young man was really recruited because of his talent?
Shao Jingwen did not explain any more, but asked Zhou Chen: "Bingkun, those poems you wrote are very good. I would like to select a few for the next issue of the magazine. What do you think?"
Zhou Chen said: "Of course it's no problem, but I don't want to use my real name. Can I use a pen name?"
Shao Jingwen said happily: "Yes, you can use a pen name. Bingkun, I have already discussed it with the president. If I use your poems, I will give you a retouching fee, but it may not be much."
Literati also need to eat, so writing poems and books is not only to become famous, but also to make money.
If a publishing house like theirs invites some well-known poets and authors, they will definitely have to pay editing fees.
Today's publishing houses are all state-owned entities, not private enterprises, and there is little chance of exploiting employees.
Nowadays, the circulation of publishing houses is very average. For many contents such as magazines and newspapers, the editorial department needs to find them by themselves. If they cannot find them, they will edit them themselves.
If you can write well, there will be rewards in the society, not much, but it is also an unexpected fortune.
It's just that nowadays, the circulation of newspapers is good, but the sales of magazines are very average.
That is to say, everyone is a formal employee with a formal establishment. If we had put it in a few decades, we would have been fired by the boss with this kind of performance.
"It doesn't matter. I don't need to pay for the writing fees. If the agency allows me to work, I'll be satisfied."
Zhou Chen has gradually come to understand this era. Publishing publishing editing is already a very decent job with a good salary.
As for the retouching fee, he really didn't care too much whether he paid more or paid less.
The main reason is that this era is a bit special, money is not everything, and many things cannot be bought.
For example, the house that everyone cares about cannot be traded casually at this time, and food and clothing require tickets.
So in the past few years, having money is not a good thing. Even if you have money, you don't dare to spend it casually, otherwise you may be reported by someone who is interested.
"I want to use your song Facing the Sea, Spring Blossoms Blooming as the layout of the next issue of the magazine. What do you think?"
Among the many modern poems given by Zhou Chen, Shao Jingwen liked the two best ones the most, so he wanted to use one of them as the layout. He believed that once this poem was published, it would definitely make their Golden Land Magazine a hit.
Zhou Chen smiled and said: "I don't have a problem here. I don't write poetry for my own entertainment. If more people can recognize my poetry, it will be a happy thing."
"That's good."
After getting Zhou Chen's authorization, Shao Jingwen felt relieved, "You can think of a pen name in the past two days and let me know when you think about it."
"good."
Shao Jingwen called Hu Ke over: "Xiao Hu, in the past two days, you will first familiarize Bingkun with the specific affairs of our magazine."
"Okay, editor-in-chief."
Hu Ke responded, then took Zhou Chen to choose a desk, and then introduced their specific work and process to Zhou Chen.
Throughout the whole day, Zhou Chen did not participate in work, but followed Hu Ke to familiarize himself with the situation of the publishing house.
Hu Ke is thirty-one years old this year, the youngest among them except Zhou Chen, and is not married yet.
It is relatively rare in this era to be unmarried at the age of thirty-one.
However, Hu Ke is a very talkative and enthusiastic person. He took Zhou Chen to get to know him well up and down the publishing house and introduced many people to Zhou Chen.
For example, the logistics department, printing department, etc. It can be seen that Hu Ke has good connections in the publishing house.
Zhou Chen has worked in both state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, and has been the head of private companies many times. He is very familiar with all the leaders in the company.
Even now, in the late 1960s, many things can still see the shadow of the future, and it is natural to become familiar with them very quickly.
Coupled with his strong memory, he basically memorized everyone introduced by Hu Ke.
From now on, I will always be a colleague of a publishing house, and I will keep my head down but not my head up. I don’t seek to have a good relationship with everyone, but I will try my best not to offend anyone.
A few days passed, and Zhou Chen was already familiar with his work process. The work was not very busy, but there were many things to do.
Because he had just arrived, Shao Jingwen did not arrange much work for him. He was mainly responsible for the preliminary review and proofreading of manuscripts and articles, finding typos and sentences, etc.
In addition, Shao Jingwen's biggest hope is to allow him to express himself freely and write better articles and poems.
For this reason, Shao Jingwen also specially found a lot of books and articles collected by the publishing house for Zhou Chen to read. In his spare time, he also taught Zhou Chen what to pay attention to and so on.
The publishing house is not on the same road from the cinema, so Zhou Chen cannot take the long way to see Zheng Juan every day, but only goes there every now and then.
After the song "Facing the Sea, Spring Flowers Bloom" was published in Golden Land Magazine, it immediately caused a huge sensation in the literary circles of Jiangliao Province. It was then published by other magazines and newspapers at an extremely fast speed and circulated nationwide.
Zhou Chen still underestimated the influence of a good poem in this era.
Especially in this special era, because the school no longer enrolls students, it is a torture for many students and literati not to be able to gather together to discuss knowledge.
At this time, a good poem suddenly appears, and it will naturally be sought after by countless people.
The author of this poem, Zhou Chen, quickly became a celebrity in the literary world. Especially in Jiangliao Province, Zhou Chen was sought after by countless people.
Soon, Zhou Chen worked at Jiangliao Publishing House for more than a month and received his first salary of 53 yuan.
Of the 53 yuan, 26 is salary and the remaining 27 is writing fees.
In addition to the poem Facing the Sea, Spring is Warm and Flowers are Blooming, Zhou Chen subsequently published several more poems. Although they were not as good as that one, the publisher still paid a considerable sum of money for editing.
Getting a salary of RMB 53 a month is definitely a very high level in this era, and is more than some important cadres.
In addition to cash, the publishing house also issued food stamps, cloth stamps and meat stamps, as well as two industrial papers.
These tickets are all good stuff. It has been a few months since he came to this world, and Zhou Chen has eaten meat only a handful of times.
If you eat meat often, you don't think it is a good thing, but if you don't eat it for a long time, the feeling of nostalgia will be particularly unpleasant.
When he got off work, Shao Jingwen went to find Zhou Chen and stuffed him with a meat ticket, saying that their children were not at home and did not need so much meat.
Zhou Chen naturally declined, but Shao Jingwen was very determined and gave it to him, so he had no choice but to accept it.
After receiving his salary, Zhou Chen was in a good mood, so he rode his beloved 28-meter bar and headed to the cinema.
Zheng Juan and her mother, Aunt Zheng, were packing their things and preparing to go home. Taiping Hutong was a bit far from the cinema, so they needed to go back early, otherwise it would be more difficult to walk when it gets dark.
"Has the stall been closed?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Zheng Juan and her daughter raised their heads, and Zheng Juan even smiled unconsciously.
"Well, we're getting ready to go back. Do you want to buy candied haws on a stick?"
These days, Zhou Chen can be said to be their most stable customer. He alone has bought dozens of strings.
"Bring me five."
Zheng Juan asked in surprise: "Why do you want so many today?"
Zhou Chen smiled and said: "Happy, hey, this is money."
Zheng Juan wrapped the candied haws and handed it to Zhou Chen to borrow the money, but the next moment, she was stunned.
I saw that in addition to a dime, there was also a food stamp and a meat stamp.
"this?"
Zhou Chen said: "Take it, I got paid today, and I will use this to buy candied haws in the future."
"No, you take these two tickets back."
Zheng Juan quickly refused, took out the food stamps and meat stamps, and handed them to Zhou Chen.
She knew very well how precious food stamps and meat stamps were, especially the weight of these two stamps. These were good things that even money could not buy.
Zhou Chen did not accept it, but pushed it back and said: "Here it is, just accept it. Didn't I say it? I just got paid today. I work in a publishing house now. These food stamps and meat stamps will be collected every month."
Fa, it’s not a good thing.”
Zheng Juan pursed her lips and suddenly walked up to Zhou Chen, "Come with me."
Zhou Chen smiled at Aunt Zheng, and then followed Zheng Juan to the side.
Zheng Juan stopped, turned to Zhou Chen and asked, "Why are you so nice to me? Do you like me?"
"Well."
Zhou Chen didn't expect Zheng Juan to be so straightforward. Are all Northeastern women so bold?
"Yes, I just like you and I want you to be my wife."
You are straightforward and I am decisive.
Zheng Juan's face turned even redder, and the boldness she felt just now disappeared all of a sudden.
"I, I'm not worthy of your love, you can find someone better."
Zhou Chen smiled: "It seems that you have already inquired about me and know about my family situation."
Zheng Juan lowered her head. Although it was not her intention to ask about Zhou Chen, she did not stop her mother from asking.
But after asking about it, she felt even more inferior. Zhou Chen came from a working-class family, and his father was an eighth-level worker. Zhou Chen himself now has a job, and he still has a decent job in a publishing house.
As for her, she has no urban household registration, no job, and an elderly mother and blind brother at home.
She felt that she was not worthy of Zhou Chen at all, but she was reluctant to let him go. However, Zhou Chen's actions just now made her decide that she could no longer fantasize like this.
"Zhou Bingkun, you better not come here anymore. I'm not worthy of you. With your conditions, you can find a better woman, but I'm not worthy."
"Whether you are worthy or not is not up to you alone. Finding a wife does not depend on conditions. No matter how good other women are, I will not like them. No matter how bad your conditions are, I will like you."
Zhou Chen didn't beat around the bush anymore and asked straight to the point: "Zheng Juan, let me ask you, if I just want to marry you as my wife, will you agree?"
Zheng Juan did not dare to look directly into Zhou Chen's eyes, lowered her head and hesitated: "I, I don't know."
Zhou Chen smiled: "If you don't know, that means you don't object. Okay, I understand what you mean."
Zheng Juan raised her head in surprise: "What do you understand? I didn't say anything."
"There are some things that don't need to be said."
Zheng Juan looked at Zhou Chen blankly, her expression was silly and quite cute.
"Let's go. Your mother and your brother are waiting for you. We happen to be on the way and we can go together."
After saying that, without waiting for Zheng Juan's response, she turned around and went back to the stall.
Zheng Juan's expression was complicated. She originally wanted to persuade Zhou Chen, but without saying a few words, Zhou Chen made a gesture and didn't even give him any room for negotiation.
But she felt vaguely happy in her heart. Zhou Chen did not dislike her family, nor did he dislike her.
The two returned to the cart, and Zhou Chen said to Aunt Zheng: "Auntie, you go back to Taiping Hutong, and I'll go back to pick up the calligraphy tablets. I happen to be on the way, and I'll help you push the cart."
Aunt Zheng quickly refused: "No, no, young man, you go back first, we will push it ourselves."
Zhou Chen: "It's okay, aunt. I'm a man and I'm stronger than you. Zheng Juan, help me push the bike. You can put your brother in the back seat."
Then without saying a word, he took the car from Mother Zheng's hand and pulled it up easily.
The car is relatively broken and has a lot of things on it. Such a weight is not easy for Zheng Juan and the others, but for Zhou Chen, it is nothing.
Zhou Chen's movements were so fast that Mother Zheng couldn't stop her. By the time she reacted, Zhou Chen had already pulled the car several meters away.
"Juan'er."
Zheng Juan was moved and helpless. She realized that this man was too domineering. As long as he wanted to do something, he would never give her a chance to refute.
"It's okay, Mom, Guangming, come here, my sister will carry you in the car."
Zhou Chen took the lead and left. Zheng Juan could only push Zhou Chen's bicycle and put Zheng Guangming in the back. She didn't know how to ride a bicycle and she had her mother, so she just pushed it.
She had only seen other people's bicycles before, but this was Zheng Juan's first time pushing a bicycle by herself. Although it was not hers, she still felt very happy.
Zheng Guangming also rode a bicycle for the first time. He lay on the back seat and hugged the bicycle seat tightly.
Seeing Zheng Juan chasing after her, Zhou Chen slowed down and walked side by side with them.
"Young man, let me do it."
"It's okay, aunt. I'm a man. This weight is a piece of cake for me. You don't have to be polite to me."
"Young man, I heard from Juan'er that you work in a publishing house and are a cultural person. How can you help us push the cart? Stop and give it to me."
"Auntie, I work in a publishing house, but I'm not a cultural person. Besides, even if I am a cultural person, it doesn't matter. I have to eat and work."
"That's different. Cultural people can't do heavy work."
Aunt Zheng was in her fifties or sixties, and her thoughts were more feudal than those of today. In her mind, educated people were superior to others.
Zhou Chen did not argue, but said with a smile: "Mom, if I say that I like Zheng Juan and want to marry Zheng Juan as my wife, do you agree?"
"ah?"
Before Aunt Zheng could speak, Zheng Juan couldn't help but let out an exclamation, and then her face turned red.
‘Why did he just say it like this? This is too, too’
Aunt Zheng's face was filled with joy: "Young man, do you think it's true?"
It's not surprising that she was happy, it was because she had already inquired about Zhou Chen and learned about Zhou Chen's family background.
Judging from Zhou Chen's family, if their daughter could get married, their life would definitely be much better than it is now.
Not to mention, Zhou Chen now has a job, and it is a decent and well-established job in a publishing house.
If Zhou Chen is willing to marry Zheng Juan, she will definitely agree with her hands.
"Of course it's true. As long as you keep agreeing, I'll ask my mother to find someone to go as a matchmaker when I get back."
"well"
Seeing Zhou Chen and her mother talking about this kind of thing in front of her, Zheng Juan was so embarrassed that she wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl in.
"Mom, stop talking."
But Aunt Zheng didn't listen at all and continued to say to Zhou Chen: "Young man, let me tell you, although our Juan'er has no job and no registered permanent residence, she is actually dragged down by us. Juan'er is really hard-working and has a good personality.
Very good. If you marry Juaner, she will definitely serve you well."
Zhou Chen believes that Zheng Juan has shown this in the TV series. She can not only take care of one person, but also take care of a whole family.
In the plot, except for the flaw of being raped and giving birth to a child, Zheng Juan showed herself to be virtuous and virtuous at other times.
The old Zhou family can live such a good life because of Zheng Juan's silent efforts behind the scenes.
There are many educated and knowledgeable women, but there are really not many women like Zheng Juan who are hardworking and dedicated to their husbands and families.
"Auntie, I definitely believe what you said. When I go back, I will discuss it with my mother."
Zhou Chen fully agreed. Just in case, he really wanted to take Zheng Juan home as soon as possible.
It's just that he is just seventeen now, so it's too early to get married, but he can settle down first and get the certificate later.
"Okay, good boy, I believe you."
Zheng Juan didn't know what to say. She was obviously the one being talked about, but now she couldn't get a word in.
Zhou Chen sent Zheng Juan's family of three to Taiping Hutong. Originally, he wanted to send them to the door, but Zheng Juan refused to let them go, saying that he was afraid that someone would see them and gossip.
Zhou Chen knew that she was not afraid that he would be gossiped about, but that she was afraid that he would be gossiped about.
Just this small gesture made him see Zheng Juan's attentiveness and kindness.
Zheng Juan has not studied much and has a low level of education, but she is actually very smart and has good skills in dealing with people, but she doesn't show it off most of the time.
When Zhou Chen returned home, Li Suhua asked: "Kun'er, why are you so late today?"
"Something delayed me."
Seeing that the food was ready, Zhou Chen washed his hands in the basin and sat at the table.
After sitting down, Zhou Chen did not use his chopsticks immediately, but took out the contents of his pocket and placed them on the table.
"Mom, the company paid wages today."
Li Suhua was shocked when she saw Zhou Chen took out so much money, took it over and counted it carefully.
She was illiterate, but she could still recognize the money.
After clicking carefully, Li Suhua raised her head and asked in surprise: "What's going on, Kun'er, why is your salary so high? It's already over fifty. Is the salary in a publishing house so high?"
As the person in charge of the family's money, her husband Zhou Zhigang has worked for more than 20 years. Now he is an eighth-level worker and a third-line worker supporting the university, earning only fifty or sixty yuan a month.
Zhou Chen had only been working for a month, but she had already received more than fifty yuan. Of course she was shocked.
"How can this be such a good thing, Mom, my basic salary is twenty-six dollars, and the rest is the writing fee given by the agency when I write poems."
"What? Kun'er, you're not lying to your mother, are you? You can also write poetry? How much money can you make?"
Li Suhua already felt like her son was in a dream when she went to work in a publishing house. Now she heard that Zhou Chen also wrote poems and made money. Why does this feel so unreal?
Zhou Chen was unhappy: "Mom, you are looking down on others. I am not bragging to you. My current level, even my brother and sister combined, are not as good as mine. Your old ideas need to be changed."
Changed, from now on, your old son is your best son, you can be proud of me from now on."
Li Suhua rolled her eyes at him and said: "Why do you still want to go to heaven after complimenting you a few times? Kun'er, what you just said is true? Have you really written poetry?"
"I've been writing this for a long time. You think I'm joking with you? I wrote it. Of course I wrote it. The money is actually here. If I hadn't written it, would I have had so much money?"
"Then what poem did you write? Read it to mom." Li Suhua became more energetic.
Zhou Chen said: "Wait a minute. I brought back a magazine last time. My poems are on it. There are also newspapers. I'll find them for you."
Back in the room, Zhou Chen took out the magazine and newspaper from under the pillow and placed them in front of Li Suhua.
"Look, here, this, and that are all poems written by me."
"You kid, I can't read. Come on, read to me."
Zhou Chen laughed twice, and then read each song to Li Suhua one by one.
Li Suhua listened very carefully. After listening, she happily exclaimed: "Okay, it sounds really good."
"Mom, can you understand?"
"My mother doesn't understand whether it's okay to beat a dead child, but this is written by my son. It's good. It's well written and well read."
Zhou Chen was amused by the old lady's words.
"Mom, I'll keep some of this money, and you keep the rest. You also have these tickets, use them when you have time, especially the meat tickets. I've used them all. I haven't eaten meat for a long time."
Li Suhua: "You know how to eat meat. I still want to keep it for use at the end of the year and buy more meat."
"No need. The publisher's treatment is very good. They will give you some meat coupons every month. Besides, my dad and the others won't come back this year. The food during the Chinese New Year will be the same as what we eat now."
"Okay, okay, okay, Mom listens to you, I will buy it tomorrow, and I will make it for you to eat after I buy it. Who told you to earn this?"
"Let's eat together. There's also this industrial roll. If you see what's missing at home, take it and buy it."
"I'll take care of these things. Don't worry so much. Just work hard and leave a good impression on the leader."
"I know, Mom, you've said this eight hundred times."