However, what puzzled her was that of the twenty yuan, fifteen came as a money order, while the other five were cash in the envelope.
She had found it odd last time too, as magazine payments were usually sent as money orders in the letter.
Safer that way—only the author with ID could collect at the post office, preventing theft.
Last time, she thought since the amount was small and local to the Capital, they had sent cash.
But now, fifteen yuan by money order and five in cash… she really couldn’t figure it out.
Unable to make sense of it, Qiao Shu stopped dwelling and opened the letter.
Just like last time, her editor Weng Kanya lavished her with over-the-top praise and mentioned the payment again.
【Teacher Little Qiao, in my heart you are an author more amazing than anyone else! You are not inferior at all to those teachers in the fairy tale circle who receive the highest per-thousand-characters fee.
If I were the chief editor, I would definitely give you the highest fee of thirty yuan per thousand characters. Unfortunately, I am not the chief editor, but just a small editor. I do not have that much authority.
I do not even have the authority to raise it by ten yuan per thousand characters. Last time, I suggested to our chief editor that we raise your fee, but he rejected it. He said you had only published one work and had not met the magazine’s standard for raising fees…
Teacher Little Qiao, I am really sorry, but next time! I believe next time Editor Zhu will definitely agree to raise your fee! After all, the Star Adventures you wrote this time was really great! I believe that once this medium-length fairy tale story of yours is published in the magazine, it will definitely boost our magazine’s sales again!
By then, your fee will definitely increase…】
If not for Weng Kanya’s tone being too sincere, and the style of her first reply to her being like this, Qiao Shu really would have suspected whether this editor of hers was gaslighting her, completely making empty promises to her!
“If it really rises to ten yuan… then it would be better to keep submitting to this fairy tale magazine. A long fairy tale story is not impossible to write…”
Qiao Shu, who had originally wanted to submit to other magazines, immediately lost the desire to keep fussing with submissions.
She was inherently lazy about such hassles. Moreover, submitting to magazines now was not as simple as typing with her fingers and emailing the editor.
Instead, she had to handwrite thousands or tens of thousands of characters of story, put it in an envelope, and mail it at the post office. Then, after receiving the fee, she had to go back to the post office to collect it…
Just thinking about it was too troublesome.
So, she would… wait a bit longer???
Ever since she saw the sample issue sent by Joyful Children’s Fairy Tales Magazine, Qiao Shu had gained great confidence. She felt her manuscript was of higher quality than the other fairy tales.
Even if she could not get the highest thirty yuan per thousand characters, ten yuan per thousand should be achievable.
Unfortunately, Qiao Shu had run into a petty chief editor who loved to settle private grudges publicly.
“Shh! Let me tell you a secret. You must not spread it…”
“What secret?”
“Do you know how much Tiger King’s fee is?”
“Do I need to ask? For a big author of Tiger King’s level, it’s thirty yuan per thousand characters.”
“Wrong! It’s not thirty per thousand characters, but… forty yuan per thousand characters!”
“Forty per thousand characters?! Heavens! Isn’t this breaking the rules?”
“Yeah, where did you hear this rumor from? It must be fake. In our circle, the highest is just thirty per thousand characters.”
“Hey, do not doubt it. I heard our Editor Zhu mention it on the phone. Forty per thousand characters, absolutely true!”
…
Weng Kanya, who was proofreading for her goddess Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao over and over again, heard the shocked gossip from her colleagues. The smile on her face instantly vanished.
In its place was anger.
Good grief! That trash Zhu Hao was willing to break the rules and make an exception for Tiger King with a sky-high fee of forty yuan per thousand characters, but he would not agree to a reasonable request of ten yuan per thousand characters for her goddess Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao!
He would not even raise it to four yuan per thousand! He still paid the lowest three yuan per thousand! She had even been secretly supplementing one yuan per thousand characters for Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao herself!
She could supplement one yuan per thousand out of her own pocket, but she could not possibly supplement up to seven yuan per thousand to give Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao the treatment of ten yuan per thousand!
After all, her own salary was only so much. Even though her family was well-off, she had graduated and was an adult now. She could not keep asking her family for money.
But her goddess Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao was truly wronged…
At this thought, Weng Kanya felt herself about to explode with rage!
Without thinking, she rushed straight into Zhu Hao’s office to confront him.
“Editor Zhu!”
“Aiyo! You scared me! What is with the shouting!”
Zhu Hao, who had been idly reading a wuxia novel bought from Hong Kong, shuddered when Weng Kanya suddenly burst in.
He saw that Weng Kanya’s gaze was particularly hostile.
“I… hope you can agree to raise Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao’s fee!”
Seeing that Weng Kanya had come to him again about that author Qiao Xiaoqiao under her, Zhu Hao rejected it without thinking.
And his rejection was well-reasoned.
“Little Weng, did I not tell you? This Qiao Xiaoqiao has only published one story in our magazine, and her pen name is a newcomer author. She does not qualify for a fee raise.”
“Editor Zhu, I think you must not have read Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao’s story. I believe if you read it, you will change your mind. Moreover, I feel that the sudden sales spike in our last issue of the magazine was largely… because of Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao.”
Before Weng Kanya could finish, Zhu Hao ruthlessly interrupted her.
“Enough, Little Weng. We editors cannot work based on personal preferences. We must be fair and impartial. Rules are rules. Alright, you can go out now. I do not want to hear this again in the future.”
Hearing Zhu Hao’s words, Weng Kanya, who had already been upset for her goddess, now heard him talk about fairness, impartiality, and rules. The anger in her heart surged up instantly.
“Editor Zhu, is the fairness, impartiality, and rules you speak of referring to giving Teacher Tiger King a fee of forty yuan per thousand characters?”
As soon as she said this, the young and hot-blooded Weng Kanya knew she had spoken wrongly, but the words were already out. She could only brace herself and continue arguing.
“Although I am young and just started working, my grandfather and parents are both in this industry. I have been influenced by them since childhood, reading many ancient and modern stories from China and abroad. My university major was also in literature. My professional standards are no problem. I now sincerely and impartially hope that you will take a look at Qiao Xiaoqiao’s story. I believe that after you read it, you will understand that although Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao is a newcomer, her strength is not inferior to Teacher Tiger King’s!”
With that, Weng Kanya placed the copy of Star Adventure Chronicles that Qiao Xiaoqiao had written this time, which she had re-edited herself, on Zhu Hao’s desk.
“Editor Zhu, I hope you give Qiao Xiaoqiao a chance. I believe she will become our magazine’s new flagship. As long as Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao is here, our magazine’s sales will rise successively.”
After doing all this, Weng Kanya bowed to Zhu Hao and left the chief editor’s office.
The young girl who had just graduated felt she had done well. As long as Zhu Hao read Qiao Xiaoqiao’s fairy tale story, he would definitely agree to raise her fee next time.
However, Weng Kanya had miscalculated…
“Pa—!”
Zhu Hao’s face turned ugly as he slammed the stack of manuscripts Weng Kanya had just placed on his desk to the ground. Feeling it was not enough, he even stomped on them a few times.
“Weng Kanya, you want fairness and rules, right? Fine, just you wait!”
…
Qiao Shu knew nothing about these events happening at the magazine because of her. At this moment, she devoted all her energy to creating a long fairy tale novel.
With He Anning and Jiang Lekang as her inspirations nearby, Qiao Shu wrote her long fairy tale story particularly smoothly.
Of course, this also made Feng Xiao a bit jealous.
Through this period of interaction, if he had not heard Qiao Shu’s “deeply affectionate confession” that she liked him and would marry only him in this lifetime, he would have suspected that Qiao Shu did not like him at all.
He always felt that Qiao Shu treated his family, his two nephews, and even Aunt Sun at home better than she treated him.
Sometimes, he could not help but wonder if Qiao Shu chose to marry him because of his family???
Of course, this was just a casual thought. Feng Xiao did not take it to heart.
He just felt that Qiao Shu was probably simply kind, sensible, and filial to elders.
After all, he had heard that before he returned, Qiao Shu never cooked.
But for him, she cooked three meals a day every day…
“Qiao Shu, my body is already completely recovered. You do not need to specially prepare three meals a day for me anymore.”
Feng Xiao did not want Qiao Shu to work too hard, so he advised her.
However, upon hearing this, Qiao Shu smiled on the surface and said nothing, but inwardly she secretly grumbled that she was not specially preparing three meals for him. If anything, it was specially for the Feng Family members.
Of course, Qiao Shu only thought this in her heart and did not say it out loud.
Seeing that Feng Xiao seemed about to continue the topic, Qiao Shu deliberately changed the subject.
“The letter and package have been mailed back for a long time now. I wonder if my parents have received them…”
“They should have arrived by now.”