Chapter 58

Before long, it was August 13th, and Xiao Fei's long novel "The Fish Walking on Land" had already reached over 200,000 words.

On average, he wrote 15,000 words a day, and he also had to write new columns, stories, and fashion magazine articles. Xiao Fei's daily work time exceeded 8 hours.

On his most productive day, he wrote 30,000 words.

He was really pushing himself to the limit.

Why not give it a shot while he was young?

If he had to talk about the hardships, they were truly immense.

On hot summer nights, when everyone else was asleep, he was still sweating profusely, writing furiously. During the day, he rarely left home, just staying inside to write non-stop.

Sometimes, after a day's work, Xiao Fei's back and waist ached, and his hands trembled.

Even amidst such intense writing, Xiao Fei did not give up his early morning martial arts practice or his evening music lessons at Lin Chunli's house.

Many times, he felt he couldn't keep going.

But the sense of mission deep in his heart urged him on, making him grit his teeth and push through.

Early on the 13th, the village loudspeaker started blaring, with Liu Zhenhai personally announcing a piece of news: Liu Xinmei had received her acceptance letter from University H the day before, and today, Liu Zhenhai was hosting a grand banquet to celebrate with friends, family, and villagers.

Xiao Fei, who was writing in the courtyard, just smiled wryly.

Liu Zhenhai was clearly using this opportunity to collect gifts.

The day before, his family had gone door-to-door, inviting everyone to the feast.

Could they eat for free? Those who came to congratulate her couldn't come empty-handed; they had to give a gift.

This year, due to the cotton crop failure, the villagers were even more impoverished, with many families owing a lot of money (for pesticides and fertilizers, which were mostly bought on credit). How could they afford to give gifts?

But if they didn't go, they would offend the Liu family.

So, most families would sell some eggs, a few chickens, or a sheep they raised at home, to gather some money to give as a gift to the Liu family.

In front of Liu Zhenhai's house in Xili Village, a tent was set up on the street, tables and benches were arranged, and a large stove was built in the courtyard. A professional chef was even hired.

The scale of the event was truly grand.

Since Liu Xinmei's confession to Xiao Fei was rejected, she hadn't come to see him again. Xiao Fei's family was initially worried that the Liu family might come to cause trouble, but in the end, they didn't, and there were no further conflicts.

When Liu Xinmei received her acceptance letter, Liu Zhenhai personally came to Xiao Fei's house to invite him to the banquet the next day. Liu Zhenhai was smiling, looking very happy, and even chatted casually with Xiao Fei, showing no sign of any grudge.

Xiao Fei's father, Xiao Youjin, had already taken 50 yuan as a gift to the Liu family.

His mother and his older brother and sister went to water the cornfields.

This year, due to the drought, corn, which requires a lot of water and fertilizer, needed to be watered every three to four days. Xili Village, being a sandy area, couldn't retain water, so frequent watering was necessary.

The good news was that the corn was growing well.

In just over a month, the corn plants had grown to about half a person's height.

Xiao Fei, who stayed at home writing every day and didn't help in the fields, was initially complained about by his mother. But after his older brother and sister persuaded her, she stopped complaining.

Xiao Fei's writing state wasn't very good today.

He was a bit restless.

Perhaps the noise on the street was affecting his mood, or maybe it was the regular time for receiving remittance slips, which made him expectantly anticipate the arrival of his payment?

Let's not talk about Xiao Fei's thoughts at home.

At Xili Village Primary School, at 9:50 AM, Lin Chunli had just finished a math class for the fifth grade and returned to the office next to the classroom when the postman from the township post office arrived.

"Teacher Lin, just finished class?"

"Mr. Wang, yes."

This time, the postman, Mr. Wang, didn't rush to take out the letters from his mailbag but instead asked in surprise, "Is there someone in your village named 'Xiao Fei'?"

Lin Chunli nodded when she heard Xiao Fei's name: "Yes."

"Wow! This guy is amazing! I envy him so much. My annual salary isn't even as much as one of his remittance slips!" Mr. Wang exclaimed.

"Oh, it's Xiao Fei's remittance slip," Lin Chunli said, not showing too much surprise.

In recent days, she had talked a lot with Xiao Fei. She knew he had been writing and submitting articles, and she was aware of his frequent publications in the H Province Daily and the Z City Evening News. Xiao Fei had also mentioned the remuneration to her.

Mr. Wang then took out a thin stack of letters and several remittance slips from his mailbag. He placed the letters on the desk but held onto the remittance slips, showing the top one to Lin Chunli.

Lin Chunli squinted to look at the amount Mr. Wang pointed to. It was a long string of numbers, six digits in total.

4428.38.

Her eyes widened.

So much?

When Mr. Wang said one remittance slip was worth his annual salary, she thought he was exaggerating. But she didn't expect the amount on the remittance slip to be so astonishingly high.

Her monthly salary was only a few hundred yuan.

Her annual salary was only about 3,000 yuan, which was far less than the amount on this remittance slip.

An ordinary family in Xili Village wouldn't earn more than this in a year.

Her first thought was: Could this be a mistake?

She looked at the slip again, and in the remarks, it said, "Storytelling 1996, Issue 7, Title: 'The Legend of the Kitchen Knife.'"

It was from "Storytelling" rather than the Z City Evening News or the H Province Daily. Xiao Fei was also submitting articles to "Storytelling"? She hadn't heard him mention this.

"Storytelling" was very famous in China. Even in the remote Xili Village, some families occasionally had a copy or two.

Now, someone she knew had published a work in this nationally renowned story magazine, which was truly amazing.

Moreover, Lin Chunli didn't know that the remuneration for "Storytelling" was so high. A single article could earn over 4,000 yuan, which was unbelievable.

"Not just this one, there are more here," Mr. Wang said, handing the other remittance slips to Lin Chunli.

Z City Evening News, July remittance slip, 8 articles published, total remuneration 1,200 yuan.

H Province Evening News, July remittance slip, 4 articles published, total remuneration 300 yuan.

People's Daily, July remittance slip, 2 articles published, total remuneration 200 yuan.

Qilu Evening News, 80 yuan.

Xinmin Evening News, 120 yuan.

Beijing Evening News, 100 yuan.

Yangcheng Evening News, 150 yuan.

In total, 8 remittance slips, with a total remuneration of 6,578.38 yuan. Lin Chunli silently calculated the total, which was a staggering amount.

Receiving over 6,000 yuan in remuneration at once, Xiao Fei's image in Lin Chunli's eyes became mysterious and profound.