There wasn’t much entertainment in those days, so the best gossip was about who was dating whom.
Comrade Qiao Meiyang was a perfect example of this.
Bei Qinghuan put on a perfectly mysterious air. “Tao Su. The matchmaker just mentioned it in passing. We don’t know if that’s her full name. We haven’t started the matchmaking process yet, so it’s not appropriate to ask too many questions. Is she from your work unit?”
“Tao Su… No. There’s no one with the surname Tao in our unit, nor is there anyone named Tao Su. Could you have gotten it wrong?”
“Then maybe I got it wrong. Perhaps she’s from the textile retail department?”
“No one there either. There’s no one in our Supply and Marketing Cooperative I don’t know!” Qiao Meiyang puffed out her chest with great pride.
Bei Qinghuan said, “Ah, this… Could it be the girl’s nickname?”
“No nickname like that either! Don’t you know I’m the top busybody at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative? So many people ask me to be a matchmaker, and I’ve never heard that nickname. You must have it wrong. Why don’t you tell me her height, weight, and age, and I’ll find her for you!”
How would Bei Qinghuan know any of that?
All she knew now was that this Tao Su was neither Qin Zhenghua’s classmate nor his colleague.
So where could she have popped out from?
Puzzled, Bei Qinghuan said goodbye to Qiao Meiyang. “Then it’s really possible I got the work unit wrong. Maybe she’s not from our district. I’ll ask around again.”
But Qiao Meiyang wouldn’t have it and blocked her way. “Hey, hey, hey, don’t go yet. I can help you ask around in other districts too. As long as she’s in our supply and marketing system, just tell me her approximate height, weight, and age, and I guarantee I can even find out if she has a mole on her butt!”
Bei Qinghuan was speechless.
She hadn’t expected this woman to be a maniac obsessed with prying into others’ private affairs!
She didn’t dare to provoke her further.
In the end, Bei Qinghuan managed to escape only by relying on her nimble body and quick pace.
This nosy woman was really not someone to be trifled with.
However, this only made Bei Qinghuan more curious.
She had already humiliated Mei Suqin to this extent, yet Mei Suqin still didn’t want Tao Su as a daughter-in-law and had even gone to her grandfather’s to make a scene. Just how terrible was this Tao Su?
What kind of person could be worse than the current Bei Qinghuan—who had no money, no job, and no education—but was still connected to Qin Zhenghua?
On the bus ride back, while pondering this question, Bei Qinghuan took out the mail she had picked up today.
So, when she saw the amount on the money order, she was stunned for a good while.
Um… what did it say?
Six hundred and twenty-four yuan?
That much?
Who would have thought that her very first picture-story book could earn her so much.
It almost made the idea of opening an Acupuncture Treatment Room seem less appealing!
Bei Qinghuan was incredibly excited. She carefully put away the money order and then tore open the large envelope from the publishing house.
Inside, besides six brand-new copies of the picture-story book, there was a letter from the editor and a certificate:
“Respected Comrade Bei Qinghuan: Your picture-story book, Ginseng Baby, has passed our company’s final review and has been printed and published. We hereby inform you of the following regarding your remuneration:
Base manuscript fee: The entire manuscript consists of 52 illustrations. Calculated at a standard of 10 yuan per illustration, the total is 520 yuan. This payment will be sent to your address via the post office along with the souvenir samples of the finished publication (six copies).
Print run royalty: The first print run is 20,000 copies, with a payment of 1% of the total base manuscript fee (which is 104 yuan). If there are additional print runs, they will be calculated at a rate of 0.6% per thousand copies, and the finance department will mail a settlement statement each quarter.
Where the brush and ink shine, a world of spirit is revealed in a small space. The characters in your Ginseng Baby are lively and the compositions are exquisite. All our colleagues in the editorial department were full of praise after reading it. As we are in a golden age for picture-story book creation, we hope you will continue to use your wonderful artistic skills to depict excellent stories.
P.S. 1: The Idiom Story – The Man from Zheng Buys Shoes, which you submitted at the same time, has also passed the final review and is scheduled for publication. The manuscript fee will be settled at that time.
P.S. 2: Enclosed with this letter is our publishing house’s ‘Special Contract Painter’ certificate. You may present this document at any Xinhua Bookstore in Hai City to receive Specialized Draft Paper for special contract painters, to ensure the quality of your work.”
At this, Bei Qinghuan’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
So, this six hundred-plus yuan wasn’t even the full amount. If the publishing house did more print runs, there would be more money.
The other book would also bring in money.
Although that one was shorter, it was still thirty pages long. This meant, at this rate, she would get at least another three hundred and sixty yuan.
This, this, this… wasn’t this even better than her eldest brother, a seventh-grade worker?
The more Bei Qinghuan thought about it, the more excited she became.
She tucked everything securely into her cloth bag, hugged it tightly to her chest, and fidgeted restlessly in her seat on the bus.
In the end, she got off the bus early, went to the post office to collect the money first, then made a detour to the Xinhua Bookstore to pick up the specialized draft paper.
The specialized paper was indeed better than what she had before—smoother, finer, and more suitable for drawing.
Now that she had money, Bei Qinghuan was willing to spend lavishly on her art supplies. She immediately bought a complete set of calligraphy brushes at the Xinhua Bookstore.
She had initially used the Line Drawing technique for her creations, but later, she felt that using a pencil could also work.
Especially when drawing with a mechanical pencil, the work would have a unique style.
She wanted to buy all these drawing tools and try them all.
Carrying a pile of things home, Bei Qinghuan felt terrifyingly powerful.
Money was truly the best tonic; she felt she could pull an all-nighter painting without getting tired.
The matter of Tao Su, whether the name was a pun or not, had long been thrown to the back of her mind. Even whether to break off the engagement or not wasn’t worth worrying about.
After such a busy trip, it was long past lunchtime when she arrived home.
Yan Guifang was already home, having cooked some plain white rice, which she was eating with some homemade side dishes.
Seeing Bei Qinghuan return only now, she couldn’t help but say a few words. “Where have you been? You didn’t even cook. I was late today, so not only will I not get the perfect attendance bonus this month, but I’ll also have my pay docked. We can only eat plain rice.”
Bei Qinghuan took the money she had just collected out of her bag and placed it on the table. “What’s this about eating plain rice! From now on, we can eat dragon meat every day if we want.”
Over six hundred yuan was a truly thick stack of cash.
It completely startled Yan Guifang. She rushed to close the main door while asking, “Did you… did you find this?”
Bei Qinghuan said, “Mom, you tell me, where could I possibly find so much money?”
“Then hurry up and tell me, where did this money come from?”
“It’s a long story.” Bei Qinghuan spread the brand-new picture-story book open for her mother to see. “Why don’t you take a look at this first?”
At a time like this, how could Yan Guifang be in the mood to look at it? “I’m asking you where the money came from, why are you showing me a little picture book!”
But Bei Qinghuan kept her finger pointed at the title page of the little book. “Look, my name is right here. That’s where the money came from too.”
Yan Guifang finally came to her senses. “You mean, you drew this thing?”
Bei Qinghuan could finally share the story of her achievement with her mother proudly.
“That’s right! When I was little, Grandpa taught me to draw the ‘Hundred Herbs Chart’ to help me remember the shapes and characteristics of various medicinal herbs. But after drawing herbs for a long time, I got bored, so Grandpa taught me to draw deities. It was all done with a brush in the Line Drawing style. I was better at drawing deities than herbs.
Then, starting from the end of last year, all of us at the educated youth station were thinking about returning to the city, so everyone started slacking off. I had nothing to do, so I just started drawing things randomly.
Later, an educated youth said he had a relative who was a picture-story book artist and that you could mail your drawings to a publishing house to get paid. So I gave it a try. At the time, I sent them to a publishing house in Dian Province for a look. They suggested I could start by illustrating some books, bits and pieces, and I earned about twenty-something yuan…”