"Nonsense, why don't you envy single people? Single people have it easier, without the trouble of a wife. If they die at home one day, no one will even know they've rotted. Stop your incessant chatter.
The children are already this old, and they're complaining to me.
Sigh, I'll worry for another two years. Once Dongde finishes college, we'll be free. We'll tell them then that we won't help them with their children, and we'll have a comfortable old age. We can't live our whole lives for them."
"Do you believe me or not, you'll be eating your words in a few years? You only say this to me. In a few more years, won't you still worry about their marriages? After they get married, won't you worry about when they'll have children? If they're really too busy to raise their children and dump them at our doorstep, can you really ignore them?
It's more comfortable to be a bit selfish.
Sigh, children are a burden!"
Li Qinghua sighed as he turned the car towards the fresh food supermarket nearby.
The couple then specifically picked out some dishes that Ding Yun liked and went back to busy themselves. When Ding Yun returned from school, they even greeted her with uncharacteristic warmth.
At the dinner table, they had a serious and candid conversation with Ding Yun, which somewhat resolved some of her inner turmoil. However, from then on, a period of life that Ding Yun found very unaccustomed to began.
This was because her mother was too concerned about her.
When she woke up in the morning, her breakfast was directly brought to her bedroom, forcing her to drink milk and some brain-boosting nutritional supplements. At the same time, her mother enthusiastically asked her what she wanted to eat for lunch and if she had slept well the previous night.
Lunch was much the same.
As for the evening, it was even more so. Not only was she provided with a nutritious late-night snack, but she was also bought a lot of bedding fragrances and other miscellaneous items that were said to promote sleep and help one enter deep sleep faster.
A glass of milk before bed was also indispensable.
This made Ding Yun very uncomfortable.
Ding Yun estimated that her mother's sudden increased concern for her, besides feeling a bit guilty and wanting to compensate her, and considering that she was in her final year of high school and indeed needed care, was mainly due to the fact that her eldest daughter could only return during holidays when she went to college, and her younger son attended a boarding high school, only returning for two or three days a month. Ding Yun was the only child who came home every day, so who else could her mother care about if not her?
In the end, Ding Yun couldn't bear it any longer and specifically had another frank discussion with them at the dinner table, which finally eased things up a bit. Although their three meals a day were still meticulously prepared, at least they were no longer as attentive to every detail, as if she were a national treasure.
...
As Ding Yun's final year of high school studies got on track.
Many magazines, seeing the rise of Zhutian Entertainment Group's literary and comic websites, cried "wolf" and actively worked to deal with the wave.
Qingchang Literary Company, Conference Room.
Editors-in-chief and general editors of the company's three women's magazines and five men's magazines, specializing in wuxia, sci-fi, and other genres, were gathered at the company's behest.
"I've always heard people say that what defeats you might not be a competitor, but a cross-industry disruptor. Back then, I always thought such a thing couldn't happen in our literary world, but now the facts prove I was too naive.
In the past six months, I won't talk about average highs and lows, but just the total sales. Compared to the same period last year.
The total sales of all your magazines combined.
Have decreased by two million.
That's two million, not two hundred.
However, considering the industry as a whole is in this situation, with sales declining, I won't scold you or deduct your wages. But you must understand that if sales continue to drop, it won't be a small issue like salary deductions anymore.
It will be a matter of everyone losing their jobs.
I think everyone knows why sales are declining. It's nothing more than that Zhutian Literary Network that appeared on the internet less than a year ago. Even the sales of the two comic magazines that are not here today have dropped significantly because Zhutian Literary Network opened a comic section. I've called you all here today for no other reason than to have everyone speak freely and offer suggestions.
If anyone can propose constructive advice.
Or suggestions to resolve the current predicament.
Shares in the publishing houses can be used as rewards.
Speak now, or I'll give you some time to think. Don't hesitate. If you have an idea, speak it directly. While we haven't reached a critical juncture of life and death, any magazine could easily fall into the situation of traditional literature today. Those publishers and magazines specializing in traditional literature receive subsidies from above.
We have no subsidies.
If we incur serious losses, we will directly go out of business.
So, we must strive to solve the problem!"
The company's boss, Liu Yunxiao, spoke to everyone with genuine sincerity and helplessness. Although he could see the data, he didn't have a deep understanding of the industry's inner workings, so he was clueless about how to resolve the crisis. He could only trust that these experienced editors could find solutions and deal with the crisis.
Then there was silence.
After a long while, the editor-in-chief of the sci-fi magazine said:
"Boss, have you ever heard the saying, 'The tide of the times rolls on mightily; those who follow it prosper, those who resist it perish'? Many changes are irreversible, and many societal advancements cannot be reversed. Even if they can be temporarily blocked, they cannot be permanently stopped. You should know that there are already small electronic devices that can be used to read novels, such as those three- or four-inch video players.
They can play music, read novels, and watch videos.
You just need to download them.
I think it won't be long before devices that can connect to the internet to read novels and watch videos are developed. When that day comes, Zhutian Literary Network will no longer be just a website on a computer. Therefore, the impact we are facing now is only the first wave. The future impact will inevitably become greater and potentially irreversible.
So, my suggestion is, if you can't beat them, join them.
For example, try to cooperate with Zhutian Literary Network, help them publish some excellent works, or even select some excellent works from the website and cooperate with Zhutian Literary Network to serialize them directly in our magazines.
Or perhaps we can start a similar website.
With the manuscripts our magazines have accumulated over the years, we should be able to support a small online literary world. In any case, my suggestion is that we must change. Only by changing can we survive. Resisting stubbornly without change leads only to death.
Of course, the specific choices.
It depends on your own decision, boss.
In the short term, at most, our sales will decline slightly, and we will definitely not go bankrupt. But in the long run, magazines will definitely be at a disadvantage."