After Wang Xie finished uploading the novel, he went home leisurely.

But not necessarily for others.

In the essay office of the "King of Short Stories" series, there are still people on duty.

The leader of the audit team left behind today is Tian Kai.

Tian Kai himself is the editor-in-chief of "Literature" magazine, and was seconded to the essay office by the magazine after the "King of the Short Story" series of essays officially began.

Perhaps it is precisely because writers have become more and more sought after by readers in recent years, or perhaps because the momentum of this series of essays is too huge.

In the first few days of submission, Tian Kai almost took the reviewers of his own team to rotate continuously.

But Tian Kai, who is full of expectations.

Soon I was dizzy by repetitive themes and redundant work.

Yes.

None of us are stupid, and these authors know better than anyone what kind of readers like to read.

Therefore, a large number of homogeneous and fantastical manuscripts have entered the review database in the guise of traditional culture.

After all, readers love it.

But Tian Kai has his own bottom line.

Almost all of the manuscripts he was able to pass had two distinctive characteristics:

First, the core of these manuscripts must be related to the traditional culture of Dahua District.

Second, the content of the manuscript should at least have a certain story and interest.

But Rao is so.

Tian Kai still experienced countless despair and nightmares in the review a few days ago, which led to his sequelae now, and he wanted to vomit when he saw the page of the audit library.

Luckily, though.

Those days are coming to an end.

Today is the 7th day of the essay competition, and most of the submitted manuscripts have been reviewed.

And there are almost no new submissions, which means that the submission stage is almost over.

So from yesterday.

The essay collection office has already begun to implement the stay-behind system.

Today, it happened to be the turn of Tian Kai's group to stay.

Looking at the group members chatting and farting in the office, Tian Kai also smiled and stopped talking, after all, everyone was tired a few days ago, and now there is no new manuscript delivery, so it is time to take a break and rest.

"This essay contest is really huge, and the number of submissions alone is more than 100,000."

"What can be done with a large quantity, and the quality of many manuscripts is not good."

"In fact, the base is large, so it seems that many manuscripts have been screened out."

"Yes, I think the top 100 manuscripts are all good."

"There are so many novel routines mainly related to traditional culture, and some writers want to write new ideas and find another way, but the result is that the tiger is not an anti-dog."

This sentence resonated with many editors, after all, the theme of this time is traditional culture, which is not easy to shine.

In this case, it is even more difficult when most people want to come out on top with novel routines.

"Alas, this theme is not easy to make a hit."

"Actually, I don't think it's easy to have a popular theme, but it's easier to make a hit."

"It's equivalent to everyone scoring 60 points, and if it scores 80, it will be particularly eye-catching."

"You taste, you taste."

"I think it makes sense."

“……”

Tian Kai did not participate in the discussion.

But he agrees with the words of the editors of the group, it is not easy to produce popular themes, but it is easier to produce popular themes.

Now, it depends on whether this hit can be born in your own hands.

Although I know it, this possibility is very low now.

After taking a sip of the tea on the table, Tian Kai silently opened the essay review library in the background again.

See if there are any new submissions.

After all, it's this time, and almost all the veterans have submitted.

Of course, this process is wrong.

Originally, the editors of the group who were chatting with them first reviewed them in turn from the vast review library, and took out the manuscripts that could be promoted and forwarded them to themselves.

Then make your own decision on whether you can officially qualify or not.

But looking at the group editors who were chatting happily, Tian Kai decided to review it directly from the library himself.

After all, my colleagues have been working hard lately, and Curry shouldn't have a few submissions.

As a leader, suffer if you suffer.

Looking at the big number 13 under the pending review option in the audit library, Tian Kai breathed a sigh of relief.

At present, there are only 13 manuscripts to be reviewed, which is still very fast.

Tian Kai opened a random manuscript and reviewed it carefully.

Fifteen minutes later.

Close the reading page and put a big X after the review opinion.

The review is not passed.

Tian Kai rubbed his head that was about to explode, and couldn't help but sigh secretly, until now, he had never seen an amazing manuscript.

I knew this earlier, when the magazine said that I was on assignment, I shouldn't have taken the initiative to ask for help.

I drank the very strong tea again, and forcibly cheered up.

There are only 12 articles left, come on!

Taking advantage of the stimulation of the bitter taste in his mouth, Tian Kai continued to click on the next article.

However, the novel opened this time made Tian Kai raise his eyebrows.

The title of this novel is not as bells and whistles as other novels, but a simple three words - "Nie Xiaoqian".

It looks like a personal name.

Tian Kai searched his memory carefully, and there didn't seem to be a celebrity named Nie Xiaoqian.

Read on.

But when he saw the first sentence, Tian Kai suddenly couldn't hold back.

Classical Chinese?

Although one of its own audit standards is indeed related to the traditional culture of Dahua District, it is also too characteristic of the traditional culture of Dahua District.

How many ordinary people can still read classical Chinese?

Don't you think that using classical Chinese to submit articles is to bet that editors can't understand it, so that it is easier to pass and can also cause gimmicks in the readership?

But I'm afraid I'm looking for the wrong person.

Unfortunately, the contemptible person is a graduate student majoring in ancient Chinese.

Although Tian Kai had thousands of thoughts in his heart in an instant, he still had the professional ethics of an editor, and he planned to make an evaluation after reading it.

After all, as a professional editor, you can't evaluate articles because of personal preferences, which is basic professional ethics, not to mention that if the writing is good, it will also be your own credit if you can find it.

Whether it is a god or a ghost, Tian Kai is a little impatient.

Click the Continue Reading button and the review officially begins.

[Ning Caichen, a native of Zhejiang. Generous and cool, inexpensive and self-respecting. Each pair said, "There is no difference in life." ……】

Since it is a classical Chinese text, it takes some time to translate, so Tian Kai's review is a little slow.

But he understands the content perfectly.

The first paragraph roughly talks about a scholar named Ning Caichen, who came to Jinhua because of the exam, lived in a quiet temple on the outskirts of the city, and met a scholar named Yan Chixia.

The writing is first-class, the writing is error-free, and the "life is the same" makes Tian Kai feel very interesting, so the translation is "I will never find a second woman for the rest of my life." ”

Tian Kai felt that he might be setting up a flag.

Continue the review.

[Rather a new home, not a long sleep. Smell the north of the house, if there is a home. Under the stone windows on the undulating north wall, a slight peek at it. ……】

The second section tells the story of Ning Caichen, who recognized the bed, when he heard a whisper next door, and then got up and looked through the window to see that it was a woman in her forties and an old woman chatting about a girl named Xiaoqian.

Then the seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl named Xiaoqian entered.

"Xiaoqian?"

Tian Kai nodded, this should be the protagonist of "Nie Xiaoqian". Before you see it, you can see its virtue first, this way of writing the protagonist through the mouth of others, it should be a veteran writer, and the writing is really good.

The story continues.

[Fang will go to sleep, and feel that someone has gone to the bed. Hurry up to interrogate Gu, then the woman in the North Courtyard is also. Surprised. The woman smiled and said: "The moonlit night is sleepless, I wish Xiuyan is good." ”……】

The third paragraph mainly talks about the fact that this little Qian girl who lives in the north courtyard broke into Ning Caichen's room in the middle of the night and asked to sleep with her, but Ning Caichen refused, and later gave Ning Caichen a large ingot of gold, which was also rejected by Ning Caichen, and finally the little Qian girl left in shame.

When he saw the third paragraph, Tian Kai felt that maybe he could already guess the ending.

This must be this girl testing Ning Caichen, Ning Caichen finally passed the test, and the two were happily together.

That's a bit old-fashioned.

Tian Kai looked down with great interest, he wanted to know if he guessed correctly.

[Jie Dan, Lan Xisheng came with a servant to wait for the test, lived in the East Chamber, and died violently at night. ……】

This paragraph is about another scholar who came to stay overnight was killed, and many people said that it was killed by demons, but Ning Caichen didn't take it to heart.

After reading this paragraph, Tian Kai felt that he was a little slapped in the face.

How can a good talent and beautiful woman play suddenly become a homicide? I probably understand that it must have been Nie Xiaoqian who killed them, but what is the reason for writing like this?

Tian Kai, who was a little unclear, continued to look down, he wanted to know the whole thing too much.

[At night, the woman returned, and Ning said: "There are many concubines, and there are no ones who are as rigid as a monarch." Juncheng sages, concubines dare not deceive. Xiao Qian, surnamed Nie, died at the age of eighteen, was buried on the side of the temple, was threatened by monsters, and served as a lowly ......]

Really.

In the evening, Nie Xiaoqian found Ning Caichen again and truthfully explained her life experience and being forced to harm people by ghosts. and told Ning Caichen that there would be a ghost sneak attack at night.

Ning Caichen asked for a way to save him, and Nie Xiaoqian told him to go to Yan Chixia, because Yan Chixia was a strange person and could protect him.

Subsequently, Nie Xiaoqianbai asked Ning Caichen to go to the place where there was a crow's nest in the poplar tree to remove his bones in order to escape the control of the ghosts.

Ning Caichen agreed.

That night, Ning Caichen tried to find a way to live in the same room with Yan Chixia, and sure enough, the ghost came to kill Ning Caichen at night and was driven away by Yan Chixia's sword.

The next day, Ning Caichen learned that Yan Chixia was a swordsman, and that ghost had been seriously injured by Yan Chixia's sword yesterday.

When Ning Caichen said goodbye to Yan Chixia, Yan Chixia also gave Ning Caichen a sword bag, so Ning Caichen returned home with Nie Xiaoqian's rotten bones and the sword bag given by Yan Chixia.

……

It turned out to be like this, Tian Kai was a little emotional.

An honest and self-loving scholar, a beautiful and intelligent female ghost, and a sincere and brave swordsman.

In a small temple, a twisted love-hate relationship was staged.

Unconsciously, Tian Kai has substituted himself into the reader.

And Tian Kai also found one thing.

Even if the story is so far, it's been very exciting.

But the whole story seems to be just over halfway through.

So what does the rest of the section talk about?

Tian Kai became more and more curious.

PS: These two chapters may describe in detail the original text of "Liao Zhai", so it may be a little watery. Mainly when I re-watched Liaozhai, it was really shocking, a lot of the content I watched when I was young, and now I watch it again is very different and moving, if you have time, you can also watch it.