After a dazed moment lasting more than ten seconds, Han Jimei finally snapped back to reality.
She never expected the outcome to be like this...
Madam sold her beautiful long hair to buy a golden watchband for her husband. In return, the husband sold his beloved golden watch to purchase a hair comb that his wife had long desired.
They sacrificed their most precious possessions for each other, yet the exchanged gifts simultaneously lost their inherent value.
Such a conclusion may be deemed excessively cruel, but it is undeniably a situation that elicits both laughter and tears—
In this humorous contradiction, the love between the husband and wife spills onto the pages, vividly displayed!
Truly, it is an enviable love.
Han Jimei, deep in thought, closed the magazine.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her:
This kind of wonderful story should belong in the literary section on tribe, just like Chu Kuang's "Artificial Beauty."
"Why did we eventually lose Chu Kuang?"
Clearly, he initially chose our platform.
A glint flickered in Han Jimei's eyes as she pressed the green button at the upper left corner of her desk: "Editorial meeting in five minutes."
Why has the literary section on tribe always been lukewarm?
Because the quality of the stories in the literary section does not match those available in mainstream magazines.
Ultimately, the root cause of this issue is that the literary section on tribe lacks sufficient appeal for excellent writers!
How can she change this situation?
It's simple—snatch stories, snatch authors!
Outstanding writers like Chu Kuang are worth the tribe's literary section's effort. Han Jimei believes she can eventually captivate excellent authors like Chu Kuang.
With this idea in mind, Han Jimei initiated the editorial meeting.
The first question she posed during the meeting was, "Why is tribe's literary section not the first choice for writers?"
This is, in fact, the most crucial question.
The editor on her right smiled, "Apart from the literary section being a relatively unique platform for online publication, the most important reason is that we do not offer sufficient remuneration to the authors."
Writers also need to make a living.
Relying solely on the meager rewards from the online platform is not enough.
Han Jimei stood up, placing both hands on the table, and slightly lowered her body, "I will apply for funding from higher-ups. Do you know what you need to do?"
"Poach talent!"
The chief editors understood tacitly.
Han Jimei smiled faintly, "Tonight, I want to see the list of targets you want to poach. The first batch of writers should be no less than thirty. Let's make a big move."
"It seems we'll have to compete with major magazines for talent."
The chief editors smiled; they were not lacking in writer connections. With sufficient funding, attracting excellent writers wouldn't be difficult.
"Very well."
Han Jimei straightened her back and said, "It seems you all have targets in mind. I'll recommend someone from the list of poachable talents."
"Who?"
"Chu Kuang."
The chief editors were stunned, thinking Han Jimei had made a mistake, "This relatively unknown short story writer, right? He writes young adult fiction novels. The last 'Artificial Beauty' was just an occasional short piece, though it was decent..."
"Take a look at this."
Han Jimei placed "Interesting Reads" on the table, then surveyed the room and said, "You can decide who you want to approach, but Chu Kuang is my first target."
...
As the magazine's cover feature, "The Gift of the Magi" attracted not only Han Jimei's attention but also many magazine buyers who gradually read the story.
Close to a week later, online discussions erupted.
The first platform of concentrated discussion was the official website's message board of the Silver Blue Library Magazine section.
This message board functioned similarly to a novel forum.
[]: "The quality of this issue is very high, especially 'The Gift of the Magi.' I really like it; it's very touching."
[]: "Worthy of being the prominently recommended cover story, it didn't disappoint!"
[]: "I haven't seen such a good story in a long time. 'The Gift of the Magit' is excellent."
[]: "During the New Year, I was fortunate to read a short story called 'Artificial Beauty' on the tribe. I remembered an author named Chu Kuang. I didn't expect to read his new work so soon. It's as wonderful as ever, and I even think it's more brilliant than the last one."
[]: "Such a good short story, unexpectedly written by Chu Kuang..."
[]: "Checked Chu Kuang's information and found out he's a writer of youth fantasy. Truly rare."
[]: "As someone who loves both youth fantasy and can't get enough of short stories, experiencing Chu Kuang's work in both areas is truly strange. I've become his fan."
[]: "..."
Soon, this wave of discussion began to spread, and "The Gift of the Magi" unsurprisingly received widespread acclaim.
This has led to a direct consequence: the first-week sales of the latest issue of "Interesting Reads" have increased by fifty percent compared to the previous issue! Perhaps the subsequent sales of "Interesting Reads" this month are also worth looking forward to.
And Chu Kuang, this pen name, has entered the view of short story enthusiasts for the first time.
Even some authors in the field of short stories, borrowing from "The Gift of the Magi," secretly took note of the pen name Chu Kuang.
At this time, Chu Kuang, in the circle of short stories, can be considered to have gained some fame.
Some say, wasn't Chu Kuang writing "Artificial Beauty" before?
Indeed, that's true, but at that time, Chu Kuang still had the label of a young adult fiction writer. The fame of "Tennis Prince" to some extent overshadowed the excellence of that short story.
When someone's identity in a certain field shines brightly, such a situation can occur.
So, it wasn't until Chu Kuang's second attempt at short story creation that everyone truly realized:
Turns out, Chu Kuang has this kind of talent.
However, an undeniable fact is that, whether in the field of short stories or young adult fiction, Chu Kuang is still a newcomer.
He has a long way to go.
Yet, the crowd-keeping expectations for this are gradually expanding.
Some might say, isn't "The Gift of the Magi" a very famous short story on Earth? Did readers just get shocked for a moment and move on?
This presumptuous view is understandable.
But those who say this should first consider how difficult it is to write a novel that shocks readers. And they should understand that, in reality, artistic creation is not an easy climb to success.
In fact.
Numerous classics, later hailed as masterpieces, could only generate temporary discussions when first released. When you hear that a certain work is a world-class masterpiece, you should first think about how long it has been since its official release—
There are too few contemporary gods of literature.
Unless they already had high influence at the time.
More often, it's time to brew classic masterpieces.
And at the time these classic masterpieces were born, the creators only possessed the potential for godhood. They were still far from truly becoming gods, perhaps lacking the recognition of a Nobel Prize or many other works of the same caliber.
Or maybe... lacking death.