Chapter 50: A True Talent

The sequel manuscript of To Live was about 95,000 words long, divided into three sections. Each section consisted of roughly 30,000 words. Chen Xiaomi did not finish reading the first section very quickly, leaving Zou Ping with no choice but to wait anxiously. Seeing that the other person was bored, Li Heng took the initiative to strike up a conversation with him. The topics were unrestricted, ranging from astronomy and geography to economics, current events, and literature. They talked about whatever came to mind, and the conversation flowed continuously without a break.

You would never know until you tried; with this conversation, Zou Ping increasingly felt that something was amiss and grew more and more impressed by Li Heng's profound erudition. Knowledge was something tangible—if you had it, you had it, and there was no way to improvise or fake it temporarily. He couldn't help wondering: was the other person really only seventeen years old? Why did Li Heng's words, actions, demeanor, and foresight on many matters make him feel as though he were speaking with an eloquent, seasoned scholar? Why would an ordinary, casual conversation cause him to feel such immense pressure and make him feel so ashamed of his own inferiority?

Gradually, Zou Ping fully understood why Li Heng was able to write such a masterpiece as To Live. Zou Ping, who had always considered himself a half-intellectual, felt utterly insignificant at that moment. Compared to Li Heng, who plucked knowledge effortlessly from the air, he felt like a newborn child, ridiculously naive. Zou Ping lowered his posture more and more, and his conversation became increasingly lacking in confidence.

Chen Xiaomi, who keenly sensed this change, glanced up at him, then looked over at Li Heng, and slowly fell into deep thought: Could this be the real Li Heng? Did he simply not have the opportunity to show it before? She had also been secretly eavesdropping on their conversation just now, and the eloquent Li Heng had delivered a tremendous shock to her. She pondered secretly: So this bastard really is an all-rounder. Aside from sweet-talking women and running his mouth, he can put on an intellectual facade quite convincingly. No wonder Zijin still misses him to this day.

Zou Ping carefully asked a question that Chen Xiaomi had previously been rebuffed for: "Teacher Li, apart from your textbooks, how many books have you read?"

Oh! He was even politely calling him "Teacher"—he certainly knew how to handle people. Wang Runwen and Chen Xiaomi were also quite curious about this question and both raised their heads to look at him. Li Heng reminisced for a moment and said, half-truthfully, "I don't remember the exact number, but I’ve loved flipping through those hundreds or thousands of books my father kept in his collection ever since I was a child."

He was speaking the absolute truth. Influenced by his parents' love for reading since childhood, he really had read all those books that Comrade Li Jianguo treasured like precious heirlooms. It was just that those were things from his past life; the books he had selectively read in this lifetime amounted to at most a hundred or so, and even those were read during winter and summer vacations simply to avoid doing physical labor. He had dressed it up nicely as a love for learning.

In truth, Tian Run'e was fully aware of her son's little schemes, but harboring a preference for sons, he was the apple of her eye, and she simply hadn't bothered to expose him.

Hundreds or thousands of books? Zou Ping was somewhat surprised and couldn't help asking, "May I ask, what did your uncle—ah, your father—do?"

Li Heng caught the meaning immediately: "My old man used to work in education."

Ah, so that was how it was. Then many things suddenly made sense. Unlike when he faced Chen Xiaomi alone, he now generously shared the deeds of his Second Uncle back in his hometown and told them that this was the source of his inspiration. Chen Xiaomi came from the same place as him and was naturally very familiar with Second Uncle Li. Upon careful recollection and comparing it with the story in the book, well! She really did discover the shadow of Second Uncle in many places, except that reality had been given artistic processing.

At this point, she believed it. She was convinced that this book was truly written by Li Heng. She was convinced that Li Heng was immensely talented and possessed extraordinary literary genius. As she thought about it, a mixture of envy, bitterness, and a trace of regret welled up inside her. All these complex emotions tangled together, leaving her with a whirlwind of feelings.

Half an hour later, Chen Xiaomi received the first section of the manuscript in her hands. As Zou Ping eagerly immersed himself in reading, Li Heng stopped idling, pulled a Chinese language test paper out of his school bag, and began working on the problems. His action completely bewildered the two editors. During this time, Chen Xiaomi happened to catch sight of the test paper, which was marked at the top with Beijing No. 4 High School. She immediately realized that this test paper must have been sent to him by Zijin through some means.

Around 1:30 in the afternoon, Chen Xiaomi and Zou Ping finished reading the remaining manuscript of To Live one after the other. Observing them for a moment and seeing that both were still deeply immersed in the book, Li Heng knew the time was right. He put away his test paper at the appropriate moment, straightened his posture, and asked Zou Ping, "Editor Zou, is the latter part to your satisfaction?"

Faced with such a soul-stirring literary masterpiece, Zou Ping, as a veteran editor, did not play any tricks. He raised his head and said sincerely, "Wonderful! Aside from 'wonderful,' I cannot find any other words at the moment to describe its greatness."

Li Heng nodded with gratification and got straight to the point: "If it's wonderful, then since you are both very satisfied, I won't beat around the bush. Editor Chen and Editor Zou have traveled thousands of miles to get here, so you must be prepared. I’d like to hear what kind of royalty rate the two of you can offer."

Here it comes! He was talking about money again. Hearing this, the accompanying English teacher turned her head away. In her heart, this student possessed many attractive and brilliant qualities, but his persistent obsession with money truly ruined the romantic aesthetic of literature.

Just as Zou Ping was pondering what a reasonable offer would be, Chen Xiaomi glanced at him and preemptively spoke out: "The second half of To Live is even more brilliant than the first forty thousand words, and far exceeds my expectations. On behalf of People's Literature Publishing House, I can offer the industry's highest royalty standard: thirty yuan per thousand words."

Ever since the state reinstated the remuneration policy, royalty rates had increased a few times over the past decade. Currently, the standard rate for normal new writers was twelve yuan per thousand words. Just as Chen Xiaomi had stated, thirty yuan per thousand words was the absolute ceiling. Even for the most top-tier writers in the country, the royalty standard could not exceed this figure.

The reason Chen Xiaomi raised the royalty straight to the maximum limit in one breath was actually a move born of desperation. It was her last and only resort. She knew that Li Heng looked down upon her and held deep prejudices against her. The only reason he still tolerated her presence here and hadn't chased her away was to use her to drive up the bidding price.

As he wished, Chen Xiaomi, having seen through his intentions, directly hit the ceiling in one go, leaving Zou Ping no room for bargaining. She actually wanted to see this: since she had shown such sincerity and blocked all alternative paths before her competitor could even speak, would Li Heng still hand To Live over to her under identical conditions?

This was checkmate! She was checkmating Li Heng through her niece, Chen Zijin! You can hold a grudge against me, you can mock and satirize me with your words—I have endured all of this. After all, I once did the exact same thing to you, and I was in the wrong first. Therefore, as a mature member of society and a person pursuing a career, Chen Xiaomi tearfully accepted paying the price of humiliation for her past mistakes.

However, public is public, and private is private. Their personal grievances and hatred were private matters, whereas the publication negotiations currently underway were public business. If Li Heng failed to separate the public from the private, if he handed To Live over to the other party even when the offer was equally thirty yuan per thousand words, then she would have nothing more to say. Then she would grab her bag and leave! Then she would use every ounce of her life's energy, using this incident to mobilize all members of the Chen family to prevent Zijin from staying with him.

It wasn't just Li Heng who held grudges; as a woman, she held grudges too, and she always had. To put it bluntly, she was gambling—gambling that Li Heng had not forgotten Zijin and still cared about her. This was also her last remaining sliver of possibility and chance of winning.

Sure enough, Chen Xiaomi's all-in, blockbuster momentum caught Zou Ping completely off guard. He had been hesitating just a moment ago over whether or not to play all his cards at once, never expecting the other party to be even more decisive than him! This left Zou Ping, who had lagged a step behind, filled with profound annoyance.

Li Heng glanced at Chen Xiaomi and thought to himself that this woman was capable of both bowing and standing tall. To achieve a goal, she could endure what ordinary people could not; she truly was a formidable character.