Wen Jianning hesitated for a moment.

It is not trivial to meet a strange man, if you make an appointment in a public place, in a large place in Hong Kong, it is inevitable that you will not be able to explain it clearly, if you meet an appointment in a remote place, she always feels unsafe as a girl.

She didn't want the rest of the Wen family to know that she was in love, so it was impossible for someone from her family to accompany her. Wen Baiqing is far away in Guangzhou, and it is really inconvenient to come and go, and it is not easy to trouble him.

After pondering for a long time, Wen Jianning wrote back and asked if the other party could make an appointment to meet at the Blue Bird Cafe.

Located on the corner of Staircase Street near Queen's Road, this small café is at least a small place that they don't go to when they're tired of shopping, but it's located on a busy street in the city, so it's at least safe. There is a small bookstore next door, she used to occasionally go there to buy used books, and she knows the owner of the bookstore, and if the situation is not right, she can still take care of it.

After writing the reply, Wen Jianning remembered the original manuscript of the part, and immediately found it from the cabinet, spread the manuscript paper on the desk, and carefully examined the first popular book published in his life.

The love story she wrote is called "Returning the Pearl", which is based on the experience of her late father, but the ending is completely different from reality. The heroine in the story, Pearl, like Mingzhen, grew up in the Jiangnan water town since she was a child, and was later sent to a big family to be a personal maid next to his wife, and later fell in love at first sight with the little young master who came back from Liuyang. Their relationship was opposed by the feudal parents, and the two were eventually separated.

Pregnant Pearl, she returned to her hometown and gave birth to a son with the help of her brother and sister-in-law. Soon after, a wealthy businessman couple who claimed to be Pearl's biological parents came to the door and said that Pearl was their own daughter in exile. After the two sides confessed, Pearl came to the home of the wealthy businessman Shanghai with his son in his arms. Because the couple only had one of her own daughters, and they had been exiled for many years, they naturally taught her carefully after receiving them. Pearl also lived up to their expectations and gradually grew into a progressive new woman.

Later, after the persuasion of her parents, Pearl finally decided to go on a blind date, but she didn't expect that the blind date happened to be the young master who was in love with her before, everything was happy, and the story ended here.

Overall, the storyline is cliché.

At first, when she finished writing, Wen Jianning herself was not very satisfied, but she didn't plan to hit it at one time, anyway, she just threw stones to ask for directions, so she still sent it out.

But in the letter from the editor Fang, he did not hesitate to praise her, saying something that praised her for "concise and bright writing" and "the words are full of the protagonist's longing for a new life", which made Wen Jianning's face hot for a while, both a little fluttering, and inexplicably felt that this made her very embarrassed.

Wen Jianning originally wanted to write a letter to Mr. Qi, who was far away in Shanghai, and be the first to share the good news with the teacher. But after reading the original manuscript, Wen Jianning felt a little weak. This article is not well written, although it was a fluke, but it was embarrassing to show it to Mr. Qi. What's more, writing in popular terms makes it seem that she is not doing her job, so that Mr. Qi knows, maybe he will criticize her.

Thinking about it this way, Mr. Qi definitely can't tell him.

However, Wen Jianning wrote a letter to Wen Baiqing.

The letter did not explicitly say such a thing, but proudly told him that she had recently made a small fortune and could help him for the time being, and by the way, she also attached the bill that had not yet been hot.

Since Wen Baiqing went to the military academy, he has rarely returned to Hong Kong in recent years. Because he lived in the school, it was inconvenient to call him, and it was not cost-effective to send telegrams, so the two could only communicate by letter. The last time he saw Wan at the coming-of-age ceremony, Wen Baiqing said that he was looking for his mother and needed money urgently, but he didn't write back during this time, and he didn't know how it was going.

It's a pity that she can't help him, and the little money she earns may not be able to be used.

Thinking of this, Wen Jianning couldn't help but sigh, once again realizing the importance of money.

When she packed the letter, she remembered that she hadn't told Jianxiu about it. However, she had already told Jianxiu before, and she just wrote it casually, but in a blink of an eye, she had already published it, which would inevitably make Jianxiu think more.

- Forget it, let's wait.

...

On the day Wen Jianning received Editor Fang's reply, "Returning the Pearl" was finally published in the latest issue of "Sing Tao Miscellaneous".

On this day, when drinking afternoon tea as usual, only Wen Jingshu was asked out and was not at home.

The servants set up a large parasol in the garden, and a white silk tablecloth was laid on the round table, on which were placed all kinds of snacks, juices, tea, and a few newspapers to pass the time.

Mei Shan was the last to come.

She pulled out her chair and sat down, and casually asked, "What's there to see in today's tabloids?" ”

Over the years, as the girls have grown up, the variety of newspapers ordered by the villa has increased. In addition to the hottest tabloids on the market, there are also Hong Kong editions and several current newspapers. However, the most often talked about in the family is the tabloids, after all, this group of women who only know how to dress up can't talk about the national economy and people's livelihood.

Jianxiu smiled: "Only one tabloid has been revised, and the others are still those clichés." In this issue, there is only one "Returning the Pearl Yuan" written by an author named Ming Kan who can still watch it. ”

Wen Jianning was stunned and almost choked, but fortunately, she covered it up in time, and no one noticed her.

Jianwan on the side only felt that she had faintly heard this name, but she never remembered it, so she simply didn't think about it anymore, and said casually: "Looking at the author's pen name, it should be a lady with a strange temper." ”

Mei Shan chuckled: "Not necessarily, there are not some literati in the mainland, they are obviously men, but they like to use pen names such as 'Anna' and 'Pingyun'. It's not enough to use this kind of name, but also to add the word lady to the end, for fear that others won't know that they want to cover up. ”

When she said this, Jianwan also felt a little reasonable: "It doesn't matter if they are men or women, just write them well." ”

Mei Shan glanced at Wen Jianning, who was silent: "But it's a coincidence, this name happens to be exactly the same as the name of a person I knew before." ”

Wen Jianning didn't seem to hear their conversation, so he casually took a sandwich from the tray and lowered his head to eat it.

Fortunately, Mei Shan didn't dwell on this matter, but just mentioned it casually.

Everyone drank afternoon tea together and talked about the newly popular cheongsam styles and the new dresses in department stores. After a while, Jianwan's classmates came to call her out to play, she took Jianxiu with her, and Mei Shan also went back to the villa first.

For a while, only Wen Jianning and Jianyu were left in the same place.

On a summer afternoon, the garden is quiet, and the scent of roses blows in the wind, making you drowsy.

Jianyu suddenly said softly: "Everyone says that the eldest sister is a talented girl, and in my opinion, the third sister is the real talented woman." ”

Wen Jianning glanced at her and said, "Everyone says that your memory has been good since you were a child, and it seems that this is indeed the case." ”

She didn't like Jianyu's provocative attitude in this kind of temptation, so she was going to get up and leave.

After walking a few steps, she saw Yu stopping her behind her: "I heard Aunt Mei Shan say that I was ignorant when I was a child, and I once offended my third sister." Is it for this reason that the third sister has always only liked to play with the second sister, and is she prejudiced against me?"

Wen Jianning paused: "I said it was when I was a child, you don't remember, I don't remember, so why be prejudiced." ”

Although she is not broad-minded, she is not so resentful because of a few words from a child. It's just that for some reason, she hasn't liked this sister all the time, and she simply doesn't bother to be false with her.

When he returned upstairs, Wen Jianning thought about changing his pen name.

If it weren't for Mei Shan and the others who happened to be there today, I am afraid that it would take her some time to find out that it was really inappropriate to use her former name as a popular pen name. Not to mention that if Mr. Qi sees her writing this kind of thing, he will definitely think that she is not doing her job, and there are smart people like Mei Shan and Jianyu who know her details, always watching, she doesn't want to be caught by them and make fun of her.

But before she could think about it, the servant knocked on the door and delivered the letter.

Wen Jianning opened it and took a look, it turned out to be a reply from Editor Fang. The other party had promised to meet Wen Jianning at the Blue Bird Cafe in the afternoon two days later, and told her the details of what she was wearing when they met, so that they could recognize each other.

She let out a long sigh of relief and began to think about what she was going to wear on the day of the meeting.

...

On the day of the appointment, Wen Jianning arrived outside the Blue Bird Cafe twenty minutes early.

Because it was the first time to go out alone to meet outsiders, she deliberately dressed up before going out and put on a little lipstick to make herself more mature.

Led by the waiter, Wen Jianning came to the window seat, where a middle-aged man wearing a black robe and gold-rimmed round glasses was already sitting, and a newspaper was placed on the table in front of him.

Wen Jianning walked up to the other party and asked, "Hello, is it Mr. Fang?"

The other party stood up and looked at her carefully a few times before reaching out his hand: "You should be Ms. Ming Kan." ”

It was the first time Wen Jianning had heard someone call her a lady so politely, and she couldn't help but feel a hot ear, but she still nodded calmly.

When she sat down, the two ordered, and the other party sighed: "You are younger than I thought." ”

This middle-aged gentleman is the former editor surnamed Fang, his name is Fang Minghe, he is about 40 years old, he used to work for a newspaper in Shanghai, and only came to Hong Kong a few months ago to take up the post of editor of "Sing Tao Miscellaneous Talk".

Although from the handwriting of the letter, he had already guessed that this lady should not be very old, but he couldn't help but be a little surprised when he really met, although the young lady in front of him looked calm and generous, but he still couldn't hide the childishness on his face.

Wen Jianning said politely: "Mr. has won the award." I don't know if my husband specially asked me to come out to meet me today, but what happened. ”

Fang Minghe pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose and said slowly: "That's the case, our newspaper has recently been revised, and the style has changed a lot compared to the past, I think you have seen it from the latest issue of the newspaper." Your style fits our philosophy very well, and I wonder if you would like to continue to contribute to our newspaper in the future. ”

Although there was a faint guess before coming, Wen Jianning was still pleasantly surprised when the other party said it himself: "Of course I do." ”

After a preliminary chat, coffee was brought to the table.

Fang Minghe glanced at Wen Jianning before he said, "I suddenly had an immature idea, Miss Wen is so young and so talented. But I don't know if you would like to publish your jade photo in the newspaper, maybe this will attract more readers for you. ”

Fang Minghe's words were very tactful and subtle, but Wen Jianning understood the meaning of his words.

The other party wants to use her to hype, which is not uncommon nowadays. In order to gain the reputation of a talented man and a talented woman, some people can't wait to write a work and hype it up with tabloids to expand their fame, and it has indeed attracted some followers. Wen Jianning is a beautiful girl, and she also writes about this kind of mandarin butterfly, if it is operated properly, it is not impossible to become famous in one fell swoop.

But Wen Jianning did not hesitate at all, and decisively shook his head and refused: "No, I don't want what I wrote to affect my life and studies, and I hope Mr. Fang can understand." ”

Fang Minghe's face showed regret, but this was also expected by him.

This Miss Wen has a good family background at first glance, and writing is just a hobby. Wanting her to put down her body and cooperate with the hype of the newspaper is unrealistic, and it is indeed his whims.

This topic was brushed aside, and the two chatted about popular themes and several writers who are in the limelight.

Fang Minghe is a professional with a high attainment in literature. He did not despise Wen Jianning because of her young age, but seriously discussed with her, and also pointed out some problems in "Returning the Pearl".

After some conversation, Wen Jianning only felt that he had benefited a lot.

After coming out of the café and saying goodbye to Fang Minghe, Wen Jianning sat alone on the tram back, still excited. She looked out at the rapidly receding streetscape outside the tram, her still youthful face reflected in the windowglass, and her beautiful apricot eyes were shining with excitement.

(End of chapter)