Licking Dog Ancient Wind Chime

The gatekeeper was an old man; it seemed most gatekeepers were not young.

"Who are you looking for?" The gatekeeper cautiously scanned Zhao Dongchuan, sizing him up.

"Hello, I'm invited to your magazine. I'm looking for Editor Zhang Jian!" Zhao Dongchuan smiled and handed the invitation to the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper took the invitation, didn't read the words, and went straight to the bottom, finding the red seal of Yan River Magazine, looking at it repeatedly.

"Hmm, it's real!" The gatekeeper nodded.

"Please register!" The old gatekeeper took out a ledger and had Zhao Dongchuan fill it out.

After Zhao Dongchuan completed the registration, he was allowed inside.

The biggest use of this invitation was actually for Zhao Dongchuan to get an introduction letter, but later he directly used his connections to join the Cultural Center, transferred his household registration back to the city, and received a work permit, so the invitation was not used.

Zhao Dongchuan walked to the front of the small building and was about to enter when a woman's voice called out.

"Hey, hey, where are you from? I haven't seen you before?"

He turned his head to see a young girl, fashionably dressed, looking at him warily.

Zhao Dongchuan had a face full of question marks.

"I'm here to see someone, to discuss something!" Zhao Dongchuan said helplessly (What kind of trouble is this now?).

"Did the gatekeeper let you in?" The girl asked another nonsensical question.

"Yes, why else?" Zhao Dongchuan was a bit puzzled too. What was this about, guarding against thieves?

Hearing this, the girl was half-believing, sizing up Zhao Dongchuan and muttering, "Hmm, he doesn't look like it!"

Then she said to Zhao Dongchuan, "Don't blame me for asking so many questions, it's just that we've been so bothered, we have no choice!"

She then explained to Zhao Dongchuan that ever since their magazine resumed publication, due to its significant influence and high visibility in the province, and because other national publications were closely monitored by the authorities and couldn't resume publication, their magazine became a hot commodity.

There were always some nervous people whose submissions were never accepted, who would use various methods to sneak in and "talk" to the editors.

Methods included bribing the gatekeeper, climbing walls, crawling through dog holes, and so on!

Because of this, the magazine had already fired several gatekeepers. The current gatekeeper had only been here for a few months, and so far he seemed quite alert, with no incidents.

The girl thought Zhao Dongchuan was also there to "talk" to an editor, which was why she stopped him.

"Then how did you know I wasn't one of those people?" Zhao Dongchuan felt a new question arise.

Could it be that my impressive aura was discovered? Zhao Dongchuan thought to himself, pleased.

"I saw you're young, so you wouldn't have such poor psychological resilience, and I saw your invitation!" The girl pointed to the invitation in Zhao Dongchuan's hand, which he hadn't put away yet.

...

Then why did you make such a fuss and ask so many questions??? Zhao Dongchuan silently complained!

"Don't misunderstand, I really didn't notice at first, and you don't look very local!" The girl explained.

"Damn it, I'm being discriminated against regionally!" Zhao Dongchuan's inner monologue!

Was there regional discrimination even back then??

Zhao Dongchuan glanced at the young girl, feeling offended and quite speechless. He said, "Thank you!"

Then he turned and entered the building.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait for me! Don't run!" The young girl saw Zhao Dongchuan turn and leave and hurried to catch up, saying.

Zhao Dongchuan didn't look back, pretending not to hear, and went straight in.

Based on his experience at the Cultural Center, each office would have a sign, so he could find someone by asking.

"Hey, you, wait for me! Who are you looking for? I'll show you the way!" The girl persistently chased after him.

Zhao Dongchuan pretended not to hear and saw an office ahead that seemed to be labeled "Editorial Office," so he walked towards it.

Before he had walked a few steps, he heard a whooshing sound from behind. Zhao Dongchuan quickly dodged to the side.

"Slap!" A pen fell in front of him.

He stopped and looked back, finding a man wearing glasses staring at him fiercely, while the young girl also ran over, panting.

"Xiao Fei, are you alright? This person dared to bully you, I'm going to teach him a lesson!" He said, looking ready to strike.

The girl called Xiao Fei quickly pulled him back and said, "Gu Fengling, what are you doing!"

"He didn't bully me, I just wanted him to stop!" Xiao Fei quickly said, catching her breath.

"Huh? Don't be afraid, no one here can bully you." Gu Fengling thought Xiao Fei was saying this because she was afraid of trouble, so he quickly put on a look of willingness to go through fire and water.

"Give it a rest, this person is here to discuss a commission for our magazine!" Xiao Fei rolled her eyes and said.

"Huh? He's here to discuss a commission?" Gu Fengling finally reacted.

Zhao Dongchuan watched from the side, truly flabbergasted!

He had become a tool for someone to show off.

"It's a good thing you threw a pen, if you had thrown a knife~~ haha!!!" Zhao Dongchuan smiled meaningfully.

Gu Fengling saw that smile and felt a sudden chill, but quickly became furious out of embarrassment.

"If you weren't doing anything bad, why were you running!"

...

Zhao Dongchuan looked at him speechlessly. This person didn't apologize but instead blamed him, truly ill-mannered.

Just as he was about to turn towards the editorial office, Xiao Fei hurried over and said, "I'm so sorry, he misunderstood you. Come on, I'll take you to the editorial office. Which editor are you looking for?"

"No need, I saw the sign, thank you!"

"It's nothing, that just now really wasn't my fault, I..."

Watching Zhao Dongchuan and Xiao Fei walk away, leaving him aside, Gu Fengling's face alternated between green and pale.

"I'm going to see what this person is up to!" Gu Fengling thought to himself.

Then he also followed.

Zhao Dongchuan ignored Xiao Fei, who was chattering beside him, and went straight to the editorial office. The door was open, and several staff members inside were either reviewing manuscripts, revising or writing something, or looking at documents.

Zhao Dongchuan peered inside from the doorway and knocked on the door.

At this moment, a short-haired woman in the seat nearest the door looked up, noticed Zhao Dongchuan, and after sizing him up, asked, "Hello, who are you looking for?"

"Hello, I'm looking for Editor Zhang Jian!" Zhao Dongchuan replied with a slight smile.

"Oh, you're looking for Zhang Jian!" The short-haired woman nodded, then turned and called out to a middle-aged man with thick, black-rimmed glasses sitting by the window in the back row, "Zhang Jian, someone's looking for you!"

Zhang Jian was currently frowning at a manuscript, feeling a bit annoyed, when he suddenly heard someone call him, so he looked up.

"Sister Wang, what's wrong?" Zhang Jian asked.

Sister Wang gestured with her eyes, "Xiao Zhang, someone's here for you!"

Zhao Dongchuan looked at Zhang Jian and smiled, "Editor Zhang, hello, I'm Zhao Dongchuan!"

"You're Zhao Dongchuan?" Before Zhang Jian could react, a female voice suddenly exclaimed from beside Zhao Dongchuan.