Chapter 264 China's No. 1 Genius Student
Chapter 264: China's No. Genius Student
"If you don't understand, just ask. I've finished reading Flatland. It doesn't seem like something a high school student could write. Are there any other popular science novels like this?"
Similar questions appeared on Bihu and Douban.
Yes, Gu Lu was originally in the T2 tier of discussion, and Yu Xin Yao also added fuel to the fire.
The effect cannot be described as one plus one, but definitely one minus one, turning it into the popularity of the T0 echelon.
It directly brought a lot of attention to popular science novels that had previously received little attention.
"Two or three popular science works similar to Flatland", "If we only talk about popular science, Flatland can only be ranked third, the first and second are...", "Ranking of popular science novels in the 21st century", and other posts.
In the final analysis, it is the spread of heat, not just making oneself ascend.
Within a week of the release of Flatland, the sales reached an incredible 46 copies.
With such exaggerated sales, only youth pain literature can compete with it at present.
The key is... the sales of youth pain novels are just a wave. For example, 500,000 in the first month, over a million in a year, but in fact, the sales of books are basically stagnant after the first half of the year.
But "Flatland" stands up to scrutiny and research, and seems to have great potential!
Of course, we can only predict the future, so let me tell you what we can be sure of at the moment. The recommended books for junior high school students and new works have been released, and the sales of The Little Prince have also increased. The Little Prince has great staying power.
“I originally thought that The Little Prince was Gu Lu’s pinnacle work, but I didn’t expect that.”
"His new work after The Little Prince is Hyouka, which does seem to be declining. However, if you look closely at his short stories in between, such as The Rural Teacher and Bring Her Eyes, the quality remains the same."
"Gu Lu's science fiction skills are extremely high. Even at a young age, his observations on society are extremely profound. It's no surprise that he could write Flatland."
"It's not strange, it's just amazing. No one should object to saying that Gu Lu is a first-line writer now."
The people who were whispering and discussing were the editorial department of People's Literature.
Lao Shu and Xiao Sen are chatting. They are both responsible editors. Due to the environment and the people around them, editors usually chat about books when they are on break.
It's similar when the editors of the website get together for dinner, they all talk about books, except that the former are physical books, while the latter are online novels.
"Hey, over there." While chatting, Lao Shu suddenly said.
Xiao Sen looked to the left and saw another editor, Liu Yong, coming. What a coincidence, isn't Liu Yong Gu Lu's editor?
"Liu Yong, have you chatted with Gu Lu?" Xiao Sen called out.
We have been working together for three or four years, so even if we don't have much personal connection, we are very familiar with each other.
"Not much." Liu Yong shook his head. "Teacher Gu is usually busy. Even if he sends a message, he will only have time to reply in the evening."
"What are you busy with?" Lao Shu just asked this question and he laughed awkwardly. Gu Lu is a student, so he must be busy with school.
"Do you have any more of "New Interpretations of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio"?" Lao Shu tried to ease his embarrassment by changing the subject. "Six chapters are not enough."
"Some of them have a June issue, and there's also a new version of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio," Liu Yong revealed with a frown, "but I heard from Teacher Gu that there are only thirteen articles in this series."
"Thirteen articles, so there are only six left?" As an editor, Lao Shu quickly realized another thing, "If each article has several thousand words, thirteen articles cannot make up a book."
"Unless it's a pocket book," Komori added.
"Yeah." That's why Liu Yong frowned. "Pocket books are not popular now."
In other words, it is difficult to publish the Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio series. The editors feel it is a waste not to publish such a good work.
"Look at it in a positive way. It's not like Gu Lu won't write other pure literary short stories." Xiao Sen said, "Just publish them together with other short stories."
"That makes sense." Liu Yong's worries were still there.
Because Gu Lu was so successful in popular novels, and his success was very presentable.
As for "Flatland", a popular science novel, it will most likely become the preferred choice in reading plans of many provinces and cities.
"If Gu Lu comes to Beijing, you must invite me to meet him." Lao Shu said the key point, "I really want to meet him."
"Oh? You have met authors like Jia Pingwa and Alai, but you are still curious about Teacher Gu?" Liu Yong said.
Liu Yong's words were a bit confusing, but it was normal for his words to not make sense in a normal conversation. What he was trying to say was, you've seen big stars, why are you still interested in small stars?
The reason why this little star is so young is, on the one hand, the author's age. On the other hand, Gu Lu's literary status cannot be compared with the above two.
"It's different. I want to see what China's number one genius student looks like." said Lao Shu.
As mentioned earlier, the literary literacy of the editors-in-chief of People's Literature is generally higher than that of the editorial departments of other magazines.
Even Lao Shu, Xiao Sen and others have this attitude, and other people in the publishing industry are even more so.
In invisible places, Gu Lu's popularity soared!
Wait, invisible popularity is not quite accurate. It should be called "reputation", and I don't know how to measure it, but it does exist.
From a genius in the Fog City to the most talented student in China.
There is a book in the middle.
The first to use this term was the official media.
News from Youth.net: "Take you to China's No. 1 Talented Student"
Youth.net is a website organized by the Communist Youth League. To the Communist Youth League, Gu Lu is one of their own!
"Neon's mainstream media, Asahi Shimbun, once called Gu Lu the strongest high school student in history. So why did they call him that?
Because Gu Lu is a model student, he is able to integrate the knowledge he has learned and write works that readers love to read.
The recently popular "Flatland" is the best proof of Gu Lu's mastery of the subject."
Youth.cn reposted the two pictures Yu Xinyao posted after his comment.
【image】
The table of contents of the history book for the second semester of high school contains two units.
Unit 9 "The Founding of Huaxia and the Path to Socialism"
Unit 10 "Reform and Opening-up and the Road of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics"
【image】
The catalog of the political textbook for the second semester of high school also contains two units.
Unit 1 "Basic Economic System and Planned Economic System"
Unit 2: Economic Development and Socialist Progress
Many netizens said that the photo of Yu Xinyao was posted by mistake. This is a bit thoughtless, because the netizen may have read the electronic version of the People's Literature Daily.
Yu Xinyao's comments were also published in print media.
These two pictures are also available in print media.
It turns out that the picture is correct, but most people don't understand the meaning.
The editor of Youth.net understood.
"Flatland has its own views on religion, human class, and social issues. And these views come from high school history and political books.
In particular, the supreme ruler of the monks of the Flat Country is a circle, which corresponds to the content about European religion in junior high school history books.
……
Now, standing at a new starting point, the young people of the new era should learn from Gu Lu, always be ready to accelerate again and show the demeanor of the new youth. "
It tastes just right, it really tastes just right, especially the last part.
In addition, regarding the knowledge involved in "Flatland", Youth.net has found the corresponding ones in the political history books of junior and high schools.
Many netizens who found it hard to believe that Gu Lu could write such a work suddenly realized.
A parent from Fog City left a message: "This is the true integration of knowledge. He is China's number one genius student. I agree with this kind of learning ability (thumbs-up) (thumbs-up)"
A parent from Shandong Province left a message: "I saw in the news that Gu Lu's science grades were not good. I thought geniuses also have shortcomings. Now I know, it's not shortcomings, it's that Gu Lu didn't study hard, otherwise he would have been able to write a popular science book about mathematical space in Flatland. And how could Gu Lu, who has such a good learning ability, not be able to learn mathematics?"
A parent from Guangdong Province left a message: "The history and politics of high school nowadays are actually similar to when I was in school. But I have never thought of writing the content of the book into a novel. This may be the difference between a genius and an ordinary person."
Wait, there are hundreds of messages that I won’t list one by one.
Anyone can leave a message on the Youth Network, and they don’t even need to apply for an account. However, the IP address will appear in the message, after all, it is managed by the Communist Youth League.
To be honest, the words of the editor of Youth.net were sincere. If Gu Lu didn't know where "Flat Country" came from, he almost believed it.
If you finish reading this news and then continue reading, you will find that there is another news on Youth.cn that is also related to Gu Lu.
Two college students donated 1.5 books including Flatland, The Little Prince, and Yesterday's Park. The books will be delivered to poor mountainous areas across the country by the China Charity Federation.
[Youth Net: Before donating 15,000 books, you must have thought carefully. How did you convince yourself?
Anonymous college student: By chance, I learned that there are many children in many places across the country who have no books to read. I also saw some photos of poor mountainous areas released by the China Charity Federation. The teachers and professors at East China Normal University also taught us that we must give back to society. So when I made the decision, I had no hesitation at all.
Youth.net: "Flatland" costs 28 yuan per copy, and copies costs yuan. In order to donate, did you encounter any financial difficulties?
Anonymous college student: It was a little difficult because we definitely couldn’t ask our families for donation money, so my friends and I took out the money we had saved since childhood, as well as the money we earned from working and studying.
Youth.net: So why did you choose these five books: Flatland, The Little Prince, Yesterday's Park, Hyouka, and Mr. Sherlock Holmes?
Anonymous college student: Because they are suitable, I have read all five books. The Little Prince is a fairy tale full of fantasy, Flatland is a popular science work with rich connotations, and Yesterday's Park is the best short story collection I have read in recent years. On the other hand, I am a fan of the writer Gu Lu. Gu Lu's works can bring another world to children. I am very excited to think that some of them can see the world through his works.
Youth Network: Did you share your donation with others right away? What feedback did your family, mentors, and friends get when they found out?
[…]
That’s right, Mu Xue and Zhao Mingming thought of helping with publicity by buying books and donating money.
Mu Xue's small treasury only had about 200,000 yuan, and the remaining small amount of money was subsidized by Zhao Mingming. Of course, buying so many books at one time actually had a discount, so it was not as expensive as the reporter from Youth Network said.
Rather than saying that Zhao Mingming is a very considerate good sister, it would be better to say that Zhao Mingming paid for fame.
If Gu Lu wasn't so famous, would a reporter from Youth.com come to interview him just by donating 15,000 books? What a dream!
What is the use of this news? It may not be useful to Mu Xue, because her family is in business. But it is quite useful to Zhao Mingming, because some of her family members are in business and some are in the government.
Gu Lu gained a certain fame, and although it didn't help in times of need, it was icing on the cake.
Zhao Mingming also gained fame.
What is a win-win situation? This is a win-win situation.
The campus of No. 8 Middle School was not so generous, buying thousands of copies at one time, but it also consistently bought hundreds of copies of "Flatland".
No. 8 Middle School is working hard to support the student writers trained by the school.
At school, Gu Lu was talking about a very interesting phenomenon he discovered. Logically speaking, the sales of Flatland upon its release were much higher than those of The Little Prince.
When the Little Prince came out, many students from other classes ran to Class 10, as if they were seeing a star.
But there was no discussion after Flatland came out. This may be because the students' threshold for Gu Lu has increased. But another major reason is that Flatland's readers are not really in school.
Think about it, good students don’t need popular science. Poor students, driven crazy by math in middle school and high school - “Hey, buy a book, it’s a popular science about math and space.”
Science?
Class 10 was calm, and only Qi Caiwei whispered, "I have added Flatland to my reading schedule, but will it feel different if I write a review after reading it and read other people's reviews of their own books?"
Gu Lu was not moved at all by this.
It is already hot in the foggy city in May.
There are still many students running around in the playground under the scorching sun.
Sometimes it is really strange to see this scene. Were we not afraid of heat when we were young? We were tanned and still enjoyed playing.
It’s not like in later times, where as long as the temperature is over 30 degrees, life is saved by air conditioning.
If there was nothing else, Gu Lu would never leave the air-conditioned classroom after class.
"Tangyuan, are you confident about the final exam?" Gu Lu asked Li Guyuan.
Final exam? When did you worry about studying? Li Guyuan was puzzled, but still responded, "Look at my steadily improving midterm exam results, isn't that enough to prove the problem?"
Also.
"Gulu, we have finished the cover of Dawn." Li Guyuan said, "I have selected several versions, take a look."
"...Where do you find so much time in a day?" Gu Lu was puzzled.
Logically speaking, since he didn't have to attend evening self-study classes, he should have more free time during the day, but it seemed like he accomplished less than Li Guyuan.
Is Li Guyuan’s time more valuable?
"There are 24 hours in a day, minus the six hours for sleeping, there are still 18 hours left," Li Guyuan said. "I can review, write, and read. There is so much time that I can never use it up."
“?” If someone else was acting so pretentiously, Gu Lu would definitely have tried to stop them, but the other person was Tang Yuan.
Tangyuan is an expert in time management and his achievements are verifiable.
"Can you spare two hours on Saturday and Sunday?" Gu Lu said, "I have a very troublesome favor to ask of you."
"Two hours? No problem." Li Guyuan agreed without even asking any questions.
"Don't agree so quickly. Listen to what's going on." Gu Lu said quickly. This matter was quite troublesome.
"Given our friendship, I won't refuse anything." Li Guyuan added, "No, if you ask me to accompany you to the basketball club, I refuse."
"My sister is about to take the high school entrance exam, but her math grades are still not good. She has been attending cram school, but it doesn't seem to be of any use." Gu Lu said, "I want you to help me."
Why did we find Li Guyuan? Because being good at math doesn’t necessarily mean you can teach well.
But Li Guyuan is really good at teaching, and he has a track record in this regard. Just the notebook he prepared for Gu Lu directly helped him improve his history, politics, and geography scores by more than ten points last semester.
"It's really a difficult task," Li Guyuan said. "It doesn't have to be that troublesome. I'm definitely not as good as the cram school teachers."
“My only advantage is that I’m a student myself.”
Li Guyuan organized his words as he spoke.
He continued: “I know what questions students tend to make mistakes on, so I can avoid some careless deductions.”
Yes, Gu Lu thought about the contents of the notebook.
"Gulu, give me your sister's test paper, and then I will take some time to count the types of questions that are easy to get wrong in junior high school." Li Guyuan said.
Counting the types of questions that are easy to get wrong in junior high school? It sounds like a big project.
"Will..."
Li Guyuan seemed to know what his friend was going to say, and interrupted him directly, "Not at all. In fact, I took statistics in junior high school, so I just need to update the question bank slightly this year."
"That's really troublesome." Gu Lu said.
"What's the trouble you're talking about? What's the relationship between us?" Li Guyuan pretended to be angry.
"The relationship between the twin stars of No. 8 Middle School." Gu Lu responded.
"Of course." Li Guyuan laughed.
In fact, there is one thing that Gu Lu does not know. Li Guyuan's parents, seeing that Gu Lu has no parents, are ready to adopt Gu Lu as their godson.
The matter was subsequently dropped because Gu Lu's writing career was so prosperous.
Li's mother and father were worried about being misunderstood, and afraid that Gu Lu would think that they were about to become rich and wanted to take advantage of them.
Kind people always think a lot and worry a lot. But bad people only need one reason to do bad things: "It's for my own good." From this perspective, most kind people cannot defeat bad people, which makes sense.
After school, I met Director Hu.
To say that something inappropriate happened was that Gu Lu was about to walk out of the school gate when he was stopped by Director Hu behind him.
Jog over.
People tend to sweat easily when they are fat. Director Hu is just a little fat, but Gu Lu saw that he was sweating profusely.
"Student Gu, the investigation into your cousin is about to end," said Director Hu.
"Oh?" Gu Lu really didn't know, because ever since Mu Xue invited Gu's father to dinner last time, the two of them had basically no contact.
"Is everything going well?" Gu Lu asked.
It is normal that one is so busy with writing that he has no time to take care of other things, Director Hu thinks.
He responded, "It went smoothly. Her manuscript was shown to Principal Chang and there was no problem."
"Okay." Gu Lu said, "It also caused trouble for the school."
The busy Director Hu specifically called him, it shouldn't be just to talk about this, right?
Gu Luxu waited for what happened next.
The sun was so bright that it was hard to open one's eyes completely. In this weather, Director Hu's small eyes were not so noticeable.
"Xiao Gu, if you don't use recommendation letters anymore, it will be hard to get a place in the next semester." Director Hu reminded, and explained, "Although our school is eager for students with literary literacy, after all, our No. 8 Middle School is a key school, and independent enrollment is not that free."
Director Hu remembered clearly that Gu Lu had a younger sister who was in junior high school.
Of course, you can't say it too bluntly.
"I know, but I really don't know who to give the letter of recommendation to." Gu Lu responded.
Hmm? Director Hu didn't show any doubt on his face. "Oh, then Xiao Gu, if you meet a student who is talented in literature and worth cultivating, you can recommend him next year."
Gu Lu agreed.
After finishing the serious business, Director Hu congratulated the hot sales of "Flat Country", and then left without saying a few words.
On the way home, Gu Lu called his cousin Mu Xue.
The investigation at No. 8 Middle School was over, and Gu Lu, as the host, also thought about treating everyone to a meal.
As for the cousin asking Gu's father to come and adjust the relationship between father and son... I can only say that it is similar to the image of the clear-headed and stupid college student in his mind.
"Okay, no problem. Forget about the hot pot. OK, see you then."
Zhao Mingming and Mu Xue couldn't understand why the Wudu peppercorns were free? Otherwise, why would the whole pot be filled with peppercorns?
After telling her where to have dinner, Mu Xue hung up the phone happily.
Mu Xue looked at the little sisters and said, "My cousin is treating us to a meal."
"Look, our plan was successful." Zhao Mingming said.
"You have a solution!" Mu Xue said, "Children in poor mountainous areas can now read books, and I have reconciled with my cousin. It's a win-win situation!"
The guilt in her heart disappeared, and the investigation that Mu Xue participated in was also completed. Good things come in pairs, and she was in a good mood.
"I heard that my cousin has found a Sichuan restaurant in Shanghebang tonight." Mu Xue said.
"What is the Shanghe Gang?" Zhao Mingming asked.
Mu Xue didn't know about this either. She heard her cousin say this on the phone.
The two searched online and found out that Sichuan cuisine is divided into three categories: Shanghebang, Xiahebang and Xiaohebang.
Shanghebang is known for its light dishes, and the famous boiled cabbage is a delicacy of Shanghebang. Putting genuine Sichuan cuisine and light dishes together feels very strange.
Still looking forward to it.
On the other side, Gu Lu hung up the phone and received a call from the agent.
Yao Xiaoju is indeed a capable person.
Why do I say that? Because Xiang Chuanshe saw that Gu Lu had so many black fans in South Korea and wanted to make some money.
But I don’t know what Yao Xiaoju said to convince Xiangchuan Society to become the “intermediary”.
He introduced the South Korean Changbi Publishing House, which he was originally planning to cooperate with, to Yao Xiaoju.
Directly publish the Korean version.
"The royalties offered by Changbi Publishing House are 11 percent, which is the highest price I can negotiate at the moment. The price is a bit low, but our focus is not on South Korea."
"The UK has reached an 8% royalty agreement. The editor of Puffin Books will probably fly to China next week to sign the agreement."
"I'll let Mr. Burns start translating it first, because as a fairy tale, The Little Prince should be published in other countries as soon as possible."
As soon as I arrived, I reported two things.
(End of this chapter)