Chapter 65

Before long, it was August 20th. Xiao Fei had already bought his train ticket to the Magic City. The train was scheduled to depart at a little after 8 PM, so he planned to set off after lunch, first taking a long-distance bus to City X, and then taking the train from there.

Xiao Fei's old house had been demolished, and the entire courtyard had turned into a large construction site. The foundation of the new building had been laid, and the walls were being constructed with great urgency.

Xiao Fei roughly estimated that at this rate, it would take less than ten days to complete the construction of their small building.

On August 17th, Xiao Fei received remuneration from three magazines: Zhizhi, Family, and Girlfriend.

He had published emotional short stories ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 words in these three magazines.

Even so, the remuneration was still quite substantial.

The remuneration for the article in Zhizhi was over 2,400 yuan, which was about 400 yuan per thousand words. For magazines like Zhizhi, which were more focused on factual content, the remuneration for fictional stories and emotional narratives was much less than that for factual articles. At this time, Zhizhi magazine was offering a high remuneration of up to 1,000 yuan per thousand words for top-tier factual articles, but the remuneration for fictional articles was less than half of that.

The remuneration from Family was also over 2,300 yuan, which was in the same range as Zhizhi.

However, the articles in Family were clearly different in focus from those in Zhizhi. Family placed more emphasis on emotional stories and had more sections dedicated to such content.

The remuneration from Girlfriend was much less, at over 1,200 yuan, which was about 200 yuan per thousand words.

The total remuneration from the three magazines was over 6,000 yuan.

This amount greatly alleviated the financial strain on the Xiao family, who were in urgent need of funds for the new building.

Lin Chunli personally delivered the remuneration to Xiao Fei's home. Since the Xiao family was building a new house, many people from the village had come to help. The fact that Xiao Fei had received a large remuneration again caused a stir in the entire village.

Many people were envious and almost driven mad with jealousy.

That evening, some of the village women brought their children to find Xiao Fei, persistently begging him to teach their children how to write and earn remuneration.

Xiao Fei was extremely annoyed.

At that time, he was in the middle of writing a crucial part of his novel, which was nearing its conclusion. He had no time to deal with such trivial matters.

Moreover, writing was a skill that had no shortcuts. It required insight, extensive reading, and practice. One had to think while writing, and with more writing, reading, and thinking, one's writing skills would naturally improve.

He explained this, but the villagers, both men and women, took it as an excuse and were very angry.

They believed that Xiao Fei must have a secret to quickly write good articles.

They felt that since they were all from the same village, if he was eating meat, he should at least let them have a taste of the broth, sharing the benefits.

It took a great deal of effort to get rid of these people, and Xiao Fei was left feeling agitated and restless.

In the days following the second large remuneration, people would secretly spy on Xiao Fei as he wrote in the backyard of the Xiao family's house. Their eyes gleamed with greed, like a pack of hungry wolves eyeing a piece of fresh meat.

They wished they could pounce and snatch the pen from Xiao Fei's hand, breaking it in two.

This was clearly a significant distraction for Xiao Fei.

Fortunately, he had strong self-control and managed to complete "The Fish Walking on Land" perfectly. The novel was 316,000 words long, making it a true epic.

Of course, compared to the million-word novels of the future, it was still a bit small.

After lunch,

Xiao Fei packed his bulging backpack and said to his father, "Dad, I'm leaving."

His father was still squatting under a sycamore tree in the courtyard, holding a large porcelain bowl and eating noodles. He looked up at Xiao Fei and shook his head helplessly, "Fei, I don't know why you have to go to Shanghai. You've never been so far from home before."

His brother put down the bowl and looked at his father, "Dad, if you're worried about Fei, let me go with him. I can take care of him."

His brother was eager and excited.

Shanghai was one of the most prosperous cities in China.

When young, who wouldn't want to travel and see the world?

"You forget it! Fei is going to take care of business. What would you do there? It would just be a waste of money. You can't go!" his mother interjected.

Xiao Fei smiled. He had informed his parents about his trip to the Magic City many days ago, and they had reluctantly agreed.

There was no need to say more now.

He waved goodbye to his family and walked out.

His father remained squatting under the tree, still eating his noodles, but his eyes followed Xiao Fei's back.

His mother, brother, and sister chased after him, giving him last-minute advice.

His mother said, "Fei, be careful. Watch out for thieves who might steal your money."

His sister said, "Fei, don't get into conflicts with others. It's better at home, but traveling is hard. If someone bullies you, just endure it if you can."

His brother said, "Fei, send a telegram when you arrive in Shanghai to let us know you're safe."

The villagers saw them off, and many joined in, forming a group of dozens of people.

In this era, before the migrant worker boom, very few people from the poor and remote village of Xili had traveled far. Many of the elders had never been farther than the county town.

So, they were all very interested in the mysterious and bustling city of Shanghai.

Even as Xiao Fei boarded the long-distance bus to City X, people were still asking him questions through the window.

Finally, the bus started, and a crowd of people waved their arms.

Xiao Fei let out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes, savoring the moment.

His backpack contained a few changes of clothes, and the money was in a pocket sewn into his shorts by his mother, right in front of his groin. With every movement, he could feel the stack of bills.

It was a bit awkward.

In such hot weather, it was almost impossible for the money to avoid picking up an unpleasant odor.

Most importantly, the manuscript of "The Fish Walking on Land" and the draft of "Literature is Dead, Please Burn Paper if Necessary" were wrapped in oil paper and placed at the bottom of the backpack.

The manuscript of "The Fish Walking on Land" was about 800 to 900 pages thick, each page containing 500 words, heavier than a brick.

Xiao Fei felt the weight and found it reassuring.

He believed that the novel was a success. He had poured his heart and soul into it, striving to make it as substantial as possible.

Would this brick of a manuscript open the door to success?

If it did, he would truly have entered the literary world.

Xili Village was over 100 kilometers from City X. Xiao Fei arrived in the city at around 1:30 PM and took a bus to the train station.

He realized he had arrived too early. The train was scheduled to depart at 8:35 PM, and it was only 1:41 PM, meaning he had to wait for over 6 hours.