Moon

Chen Weidong's family is from Yanjing, so he knows more about the magazines and newspapers there.

The top-tier journal is People's Literature, followed by Contemporary and October, two of the four leading journals. However, Contemporary is still more than half a year away from its launch, and October has only been launched for a few months.

There was also "Yanjing Literature," which, before the rise of the Four Great Actresses, was definitely the second-best publication in China after "People's Literature."

In addition, Yenching University also has magazines and periodicals such as Poetry Journal, Youth Literature, Today, Literary Review, Modern Literature Research Series, and Chinese Literature.

"The Herdsman" is a novella, and it can be submitted to "People's Literature", "Yanjing Literature" or "October" magazines. However, "People's Literature" and "Yanjing Literature" are quite popular now, and he doesn't know if his article will be selected.

If he doesn't get selected the first time, he'll have to submit to other magazines, which wastes a lot of time.

He doesn't have as much time as Yu Hua to keep trying and making mistakes from high to low.

Finally, he decided to submit his work to "October." "October" had just been launched and was in need of manuscripts. Moreover, "October" mainly published novellas, and his "The Herdsman" was a perfect fit.

"Honey, I'm going out for a bit."

Chen Weidong told Su Man what was going on, and then went straight to the brigade headquarters, where Yang Shulin happened to be there as well.

"Secretary Yang, I'd like to send a letter home. Does anyone know if there are any horse-drawn carriages going to the county town today?"

"Wang Jianshui is going there in a bit, you can go with him."

"Thank you, Secretary Yang."

Chen Weidong thanked him and then returned the copies of "People's Literature" and "Story Club" that he had borrowed a few days earlier.

Before long, Wang Jianshui arrived.

"Captain Wang, I heard from Secretary Yang that you are going to the county. I'd like to go with you to the county town to send a letter."

"Sure, I happen to know someone on the way. Have you gotten your letter of introduction yet?"

"It's already open."

These days, you need a letter of introduction to go anywhere. Chen Weidong just finished discussing it with Yang Shulin.

The two strolled along together until noon before arriving in the county. Wang Jianshui needed to go to the county government, but the county post office wasn't on the same route. They agreed on a meeting place and then parted ways.

Chen Weidong arrived at the post office alone. It was quite chaotic inside, probably because it was the end of the year and there were quite a few people mailing letters. There were also several postmen and postal workers.

After queuing for a while, I finally got to the window.

"Hello comrade, I would like to send a letter. Please send this one to No. 17, Maoer Hutong, Yanjing, and please send this one to the office of the October magazine."

The sales clerk, who had been working with her head down, looked up at Chen Weidong upon hearing the words "October Magazine" and asked, "Would you like to make an appointment?"

"need."

"That's 36 cents in total."

Chen Weidong paid the money, and the clerk affixed a 5mm square "registered mail label" to the upper right corner of the envelope, which had a 5-6 digit red number pre-printed on it.

At the same time, a double-copy registered mail receipt was torn off and handed to Chen Weidong. The first copy had the same number written on it and was stamped with a date stamp. This was the "proof of mailing," which was the registered mail. The second copy would be kept at the post office.

After the letter arrives at the post office, the postman must find the recipient or a family member to sign it and take the signed receipt back to the post office for filing.

If the mail is not received later, the sender can fill out an inquiry form at the original post office with the receipt. The post office will then answer "who, when, and when" through the delivery record. However, no record can be found for ordinary mail.

Simply put, regular mail is just thrown in and that's it; if it gets lost, it's gone. Registered mail, on the other hand, has a number, signature, and record from the post office. If something goes wrong, you can trace it and get compensation. It's like having a lock on your mail, but it costs an extra 12 cents.

Chen Weidong carefully put away the registered letter, walked out of the post office, and looked around as he headed towards the place he had agreed to meet Wang Jianshui.

Although I had been to the county town before, I was always in the hospital and had never actually explored Lin'an County.

……

"Hey, Sister Wang, was that guy just now mailing a letter to the magazine?"

A girl in her early twenties peeked over and asked.

"Yes, it's the October magazine."

The clerk who just processed Chen Weidong's paperwork replied with a sentence.

"The October Magazine, this is a magazine from Yenching University, judging by its thickness, it must have written quite a lot."

"Writing it would be a waste of money. Not to mention our county, I've never heard of an article being published in the Yenching Magazine in the entire province. With that money, you might as well buy some eggs to supplement your diet."

Sister Wang pursed her lips, not believing at all that Chen Weidong could successfully submit his article.

……

Chen Weidong saw a supply and marketing cooperative, thought for a moment and went inside. There were many people coming and going. The New Year was coming soon and there were quite a few people buying New Year's goods. Judging from their clothes, most of them were from the county town.

He originally wanted to buy some eggs, but not only did he need meat coupons, the price was also quite expensive, with a retail price of one yuan per jin, and he had to pay one jin of meat coupons to buy one jin.

After paying the postage, he only had 2.14 yuan left. Even if he had meat coupons, he could only buy a pound of eggs at most.

Even a hero can be brought down by a penny. Chen Weidong slunk out of the supply and marketing cooperative and went straight to the agreed place without lingering.

"Weidong, didn't you buy anything?"

Wang Jianshui looked at Chen Weidong with empty hands and asked with some confusion.

"The supply and marketing cooperative needs ration coupons, but I don't have any at home."

Chen Weidong didn't hide anything. Nowadays, people are generally kind-hearted, and there isn't a huge gap between the rich and the poor. Even if he said it, he wouldn't be looked down upon for being poor. On the contrary, sometimes being poor is even considered honorable.

"That's true. There's a market in the brigade in a few days. If you need anything, you can exchange some of your things for it."

"Is there a local market this year?"

Chen Weidong looked at Wang Jianshui with some surprise, knowing that the market had been closed for several years.

"Yes, the conditions have been relaxed now. The Party Secretary and the brigade leader are discussing holding a gathering before the New Year so that everyone can buy some New Year's goods. They should notify you in a couple of days."

"Very good!"

Chen Weidong said happily that the supply and marketing cooperative required various coupons to sell things, but there were not so many requirements at the market, where people could barter or buy things with money.

The two chatted as they drove, until it got dark before they returned to Yangjiatun.

When he got home, he took some firewood from the yard and filled a basket with horse manure before going inside.

"Daddy~"

When Chen Xiaosui saw Chen Weidong enter, she immediately stood up from the kang (a heated brick bed) and walked towards him.

However, she stopped as soon as she got to Chen Weidong's side, a look of disgust on her face.

"Stinky~"

As Chen Xiaosui spoke, she took a step back.

Chen Weidong gave her a light pat on the buttocks, sounding annoyed.

"Your nose is quite sensitive."

"spirit!"

Chen Xiaosui giggled, ran behind Su Man, and peeked out to say something.

haha~

Upon seeing this, Su Man immediately laughed, which startled Chen Xiaoan, who was fast asleep, and he immediately burst into tears.