Chapter 97

Lu Weiguo was unaware that his appearance had caused many men at home to receive a good scolding.

After returning home, he handed the letter to Shi Tingyu.

Seeing that it was from the publishing house, Shi Tingyu had a good idea of what it was about.

She opened the letter and, as expected, it was about the reprint of “Loyal Dog.”

The reprint quantity this time was quite shocking.

The initial reprint volume was doubled, from the original 100,000 copies to 200,000 copies.

When signing the contract, the royalty rate for reprints was two points higher than the first print, at twelve percent. This time, she would receive a royalty of 12,000 yuan.

The letter also urged Shi Tingyu to continue with the second volume of the story.

They hoped she would continue to submit her work to their publishing house, and they were open to negotiating the royalty rate.

After reading the letter from the publishing house, Shi Tingyu exhaled deeply. She looked at Lu Weiguo and said, “Loyal Dog is going to be reprinted, and I’ll be getting 12,000 yuan this time.”

Lu Weiguo was equally surprised, “That much?”

Shi Tingyu replied, “The reprint volume is double the original print.”

Originally, she was supposed to get 5,000 yuan, but now it had increased to 12,000 yuan.

Seeing his wife still in a bit of shock, Lu Weiguo comforted her, “It’s okay, you deserve it. If you sold your paintings individually, they’d be worth much more than this. Don’t feel burdened.”

Shi Tingyu wasn’t being pretentious, she just felt that the money was quite substantial, especially in the context of their times.

Millionaires were rare, and she was making that much from just one reprint.

This had to be kept a secret.

However, she recalled some reports from her previous life, noting that from the founding of the PRC until the Cultural Revolution, royalties were quite high.

For example, the Shanghai translator Qian Chunqi received an 8,000 yuan royalty for translating a collection of poems, at a time when worker wages were lower than now. It was said that one book could buy a Chinese-style house.

Thinking about this calmed her down.

As long as the neighbors didn’t find out, it would be fine.

The next day, Shi Tingyu went to the post office and called the publishing house, confirming that she had no objections to the reprint quantity and royalty rate.

After paying the fees, she also sent the sample books from the last batch to Lu Weiguo’s parents. She had told everyone that she had no more books, so keeping them there might cause trouble if discovered.

She also sent the second story of “Loyal Dog” she had completed to the publishing house.

If the second story was accepted, there would be another payment coming her way.

On this trip, Shi Tingyu bought some art supplies as she was running low on paints and drawing paper.

This time, she bought extra supplies.

She stored half in her space and kept the rest out in the open.

It was after the National Day holiday, and the weather was getting colder.

She thought that soon it would be winter, and she’d need to buy clothes for her parents.

When they were sent to the countryside, they couldn’t bring much. Some of the warmer clothes were later bought and sent by Lu Weiguo’s parents.

Although the clothes were new when purchased, Lu Weiguo’s mother had sewn patches on them to make them look old before sending them.

Seeing perfectly good clothes turned into “rags” had made Lu Weiguo’s mother feel heartbroken at the time.

She couldn’t just buy clothes for her parents, though. She had to consider both families, so she planned to go shopping with Lu Weiguo on one of his days off.

After all, she didn’t know Lu Weiguo’s parents’ sizes.

When she returned, Shi Tingyu brought back some art supplies and fruits.

She had gradually grown a variety of fruits in her space, and they were ready to eat. This time, she brought out quite a few.

She also brought out some wild chestnuts that had ripened.

When she returned to the housing compound, people greeted her more frequently.

Shi Tingyu responded to each greeting.

Seeing what she was carrying, some people were envious, some jealous, but no one gossiped behind her back like they did when she first got married.

Back then, buying a bit of meat would have people talking about her being wasteful. Now that they knew she made money from publishing books, they couldn’t say much about her buying some food.

In short, earning money commands respect.

When Lu Weiguo returned home, he was greeted by the sweet smell of roasted chestnuts. As he entered the living room, he also caught a faint scent of fruit.

He called out to Shi Tingyu, who was cooking in the kitchen, “Wife, did you buy chestnuts?”

Shi Tingyu replied, “Yeah, they’re still baking in the bread oven.”

Lu Weiguo checked the bread oven, then went back inside and saw several bags of fruit on the table.

To his surprise, he saw large, red, juicy strawberries.

Those were rare treats.

He thought to himself that his wife had incredible luck.

After changing his shoes, Lu Weiguo took the strawberries to the well and washed them.

These things didn’t keep well and had to be eaten right away.

Once washed, the strawberries looked even more succulent. He carried a plate of strawberries into the kitchen and popped one into Shi Tingyu’s mouth.

The strawberries from the special space were sweet and flavorful. One bite and she felt instantly refreshed.

Shi Tingyu swallowed the strawberry, and Lu Weiguo handed her another.

Shi Tingyu said, “You eat some too.”

Lu Weiguo didn’t say anything, just kept feeding her strawberries.

Eventually, Shi Tingyu ate them.

Seeing that he was only feeding her and not eating any himself, Shi Tingyu grabbed one and pushed it into his mouth.

The taste of the strawberry was incredibly sweet, making Lu Weiguo feel like all the fruit he had eaten before was a waste compared to this.

But when Shi Tingyu tried to feed him more, he refused, saying, “These strawberries are so rare. Who knows when we’ll see them again? You should eat them all.”

Shi Tingyu felt a bit uneasy and said, “These are for eating. Besides, I can’t finish so many at once, and they’ll go bad. If we want more, we can always get more.”

Seeing her slightly anxious expression, Lu Weiguo’s eyes softened, and he leaned closer to her, “Then you feed me.”

Shi Tingyu was rendered speechless by his sudden request but ended up feeding him the biggest one.

Then she said, “Alright, I need to cook. Stop causing trouble here.”

After eating the strawberry and sneaking a kiss, Lu Weiguo left.

After dinner, they both ate the remaining strawberries, one by one.

Despite being full, Shi Tingyu still wanted to try the roasted chestnuts.

Lu Weiguo peeled the chestnuts for her.

Chestnuts were tough to peel, but with someone peeling them for her, Shi Tingyu enjoyed them immensely.

Feeling a bit guilty, she eventually fed some of the peeled chestnuts to Lu Weiguo.

Chewing the chestnut, Lu Weiguo praised, “Everything tastes better when my wife feeds me. Regular chestnuts never taste this good.”

Shi Tingyu felt a bit guilty, thinking that perhaps her chestnuts weren’t ordinary chestnuts.

Seeing Lu Weiguo enjoying them, Shi Tingyu started peeling them herself and fed him more. As she did, she said, “If you like them, take some to the barracks so you can enjoy them during your breaks.”

Lu Weiguo smiled, “I can just eat them at home.”

He knew that if he took them to the barracks, they would disappear in seconds.