New Concept Semifinals Notification Arrives

Monday.

After school in the morning, many boarding students didn't rush to the cafeteria but stayed in the classroom to watch "News 30 Minutes."

During the monthly exam period, Saddam was captured by the Americans!

They weren't allowed to watch TV at the time, but now that the exams were over, they had to catch up.

On the TV, the capture footage was repeatedly shown, along with reports of the Americans' subsequent actions.

Xu Haibo ran over to Chen Guiliang, staring at the news and asking, "Chen the Hero, do you think Iraq really has weapons of mass destruction?"

"If they did, they would have used them already," Chen Guiliang said.

Zhao Cong from Dorm 301 was very interested in current affairs and couldn't help but interject, "Maybe they're still in the experimental stage. Didn't Powell show a sample tube?"

Chen Guiliang chuckled, "It might just be filled with laundry detergent."

"Hahahaha."

Several classmates nearby burst into laughter at his words.

"Let's go, let's get some stir-fry. My treat!" Chen Guiliang shouted.

Hearing that someone was treating, the brothers from 302 immediately sprang into action.

Walking on the road, Li Yulin asked, "Chen the Hero, are you being kept by a rich woman? Your life has improved a lot recently."

Xie Yang hesitated, feeling incredibly stifled.

He really wanted to blurt it out and brag about Chen Guiliang making a fortune from private servers. But he had already promised to keep it a secret, so he could only keep his mouth shut about it. He was practically suffering from internal injuries from holding it in.

Xu Haibo followed up with, "Chen the Hero, is the one keeping you the big rich woman or the little rich woman?"

The big rich woman was of course Bian Guanyue, while the little rich woman referred to Tao Xue.

Both beauties were rich and had good relationships with Chen Guiliang, which made his roommates green with envy and hate!

Chen Guiliang smiled, "I found a few hundred yuan the other day."

"Do you think we'll believe that?" Li Yulin said.

Li Dongqiang suggested, "Let's do the Aruba torture again tonight to make him confess!"

Chen Guiliang turned and walked towards the cafeteria, "I'm not treating anymore."

"Don't let him run away!"

"You said you'd treat, no backing out!"

The guys quickly grabbed Chen Guiliang, twisted his arms behind his back, and escorted him to a small restaurant outside the school.

After eating their fill, they returned to school to continue doing practice problems.

Tao Xue quickly ran into the classroom, saying mysteriously, "Do you know? Guo Xiaosi is suspected of plagiarism!"

"Really?" Chen Guiliang pretended to be very surprised.

Tao Xue's eyes widened as she started gossiping, "Absolutely true, it started last week. I read How Much Do Flowers Fall in Dreams, and yesterday I went to the Tianya forum and read Inside and Outside the Circle. The two books have many similarities, and Inside and Outside the Circle was serialized earlier."

Chen Guiliang said, "Then it's probably just borrowing."

"What borrowing? It's clearly plagiarism. I can't believe Guo Xiaosi is this kind of person!" Tao Xue's tone was filled with anger and disappointment.

Chen Guiliang smiled, "Aren't you his fan?"

"I support justice, not relatives, okay? Besides, he's not my relative," Tao Xue became more and more depressed as she spoke. "I could have gone to City No. 2 High School, but because I liked Guo Xiaosi, I came to County No. 2 High School to be his schoolmate. It's making me so angry, so angry!"

Chen Guiliang comforted her, "We should also thank Guo Xiaosi, that's how we got to know each other. If you didn't admire him, you wouldn't be studying here."

"That's true," Tao Xue was taken aback.

Guo Xiaosi had hit a wall this time, because the author he plagiarized was not some nobody, but a returned overseas editor from Oriental Outlook!

When he chose his target for plagiarism, he probably didn't expect that a novel with little fame on Tianya would have an author with such a background and connections.

If he had known, Guo Xiaosi would definitely have plagiarized a different book.

Haha.

Tao Xue asked, "Nephew, what about your cyberpunk novel?"

"I've only written the first chapter," Chen Guiliang said.

Tao Xue was a bit speechless, "You finished the first chapter half a month ago, why is it still the first chapter now? I'm waiting to read the rest!"

Chen Guiliang said, "I have to cooperate with your brother, and I'm busy reviewing and doing problems. Where do I have time to write a novel?"

"Forget it, the college entrance exam is important. I'll urge you for the manuscript when you get to college." Aunt Tao was quite understanding.

Seeing Chen Guiliang take out a practice paper, she voluntarily waved goodbye so as not to delay her nephew's studies.

Chen Guiliang was very slow at doing the papers.

Whenever he encountered a problem he couldn't solve, he would stop and slowly flip through books, or ask Xu Haibo for help.

Until he mastered the knowledge point of that problem.

Whether he could finish the practice papers given by the teacher, he felt, was secondary. It didn't even matter if he didn't hand in his homework.

Another hour passed, and Bian Guanyue arrived at the classroom.

She bought three portions of small potatoes at the school gate. One was for Zheng Feng, who accompanied her to school, one was for Wu Meng, who helped her with her studies, and the other was specifically for Chen Guiliang.

The cold little rich girl who had just transferred schools had now learned to unite with her classmates.

Of course, this was limited to those she was relatively familiar with.

Facing classmates she didn't have much interaction with, Bian Guanyue still didn't like to talk.

Zheng Feng was happily eating his small potatoes, but when he saw Bian Guanyue specifically give a portion to Chen Guiliang, the small potatoes in his mouth instantly lost their flavor.

They were both small potatoes, but if he wasn't there, Bian Guanyue definitely wouldn't buy them for him.

But if Chen Guiliang wasn't there, Bian Guanyue would specifically bring a portion!

"Your uncle called and said the Apple laptop screen arrived this morning," Bian Guanyue placed the small potatoes on the desk.

Chen Guiliang picked up a toothpick and ate a piece. "I'll go with you this weekend."

Bian Guanyue said, "Then let's meet at the bus station at nine o'clock on Saturday morning. We'll contact each other by phone then."

After speaking, Bian Guanyue returned to her seat to study.

"Alright, Chen the Hero, another date with the class beauty," her deskmate Qin Shanshan teased, while also freeloading a piece of potato as she spoke.

Chen Guiliang asked, "You want to go too?"

"I'm not interested. I've already made plans to go rollerblading this weekend," Qin Shanshan said. "Oh, right, can you rollerblade? When can we go together?"

"We'll see when I have time," Chen Guiliang replied perfunctorily.

Rollerblading was particularly popular at this time, even considered a fashionable sport in small towns.

In another two years, it wouldn't be as popular, and roller skating rinks would close down one after another.

"Class representative, hand out the test papers."

The geography teacher, Zhong Dahe, arrived at the classroom a few minutes early. Without bothering the student on duty, he picked up the eraser and personally wiped the blackboard.

Besides being a geography teacher, he also held two other positions: vice principal and director of political education.

He would be the principal of County No. 2 Middle School in the future, and under his leadership, the school would surpass City No. 2 Middle School.

Later, he also held a bunch of titles such as part-time professor at a certain key university, master's supervisor, and external expert for master's thesis review.

"Have you all heard? Saddam has been captured."

After wiping the blackboard, Zhong Dahe suddenly blurted out.

It turned out he had arrived early today just to brag to the students.

"We've heard!"

The whole class answered in unison.

He picked up a piece of chalk and casually drew the outline of the Middle East map. "This area is the junction of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and there have been continuous wars since ancient times. When you study geography, it's best to study it together with history. We won't talk about the monthly exam papers today. Taking advantage of Saddam's capture, let's review the geographical knowledge points of the Two Rivers region..."

Zhong Dahe's lectures were humorous and engaging, and he had a wealth of knowledge, citing extensively enough to be listened to as stories.

Of course, he also often bragged.

One was about his glorious feat of quitting smoking. A heavy smoker for over twenty years, he quit cold turkey. He quit that very day and hasn't touched a cigarette since.

The second was about his brother who immigrated to the United States, saying how successful he was.

Occasionally, there were other things to brag about.

For example, last year, the youth environmental protection project he led was guided by specific teachers for the students to carry out. Eight award-winning projects were selected nationwide, and No. 2 Middle School ranked first. Two of the students received awards in the Great Hall of the People, were received by leaders, and were both recommended to prestigious universities.

This broken school was not just home to one Guo Xiaosi.

This year's top science student in the province also came from County No. 2 Middle School. Everyone knew that the 2003 math paper was leaked, and the backup paper caused widespread wailing among students. This student from No. 2 Middle School scored 137 in math.

In the blink of an eye, it was the weekend again.

During the peak hours on Friday and Saturday this week, "Legend of the Abyss" still maintained nearly 9,000 concurrent online users.

Many players were attracted away by similar private servers that followed the trend.

Many new players also joined, mainly from internet cafes and readers of "Popular Software".

Shanda still hadn't made a move.

But on Thursday, Tao Chenggang called. "Something big has happened. Five ministries and commissions of the state have jointly issued a notice, announcing a special crackdown on private servers and plug-ins. The special crackdown action is scheduled to officially start on New Year's Day, which is thirteen days from now."

"What's the reaction of the private server peers?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Tao Chenggang said, "They're all scared. A joint action by five ministries and commissions, the scale is huge! I heard that two private servers that followed the trend and made dungeons have directly canceled their server opening plans and plan to hide for a while. The 17577 forum also received a lawyer's letter from Shanda, and the site owner Can Ying doesn't dare to show up now."

"How does Brother Gang plan to deal with it?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Tao Chengang said, "On December 31st, the day before the special action, we will cancel the game download link and stop all promotion from then on, which is giving face to the authorities. I've asked a lawyer, and as long as we don't cause any more trouble, there shouldn't be any problems."

"Then we'll listen to Brother Gang," Chen Guiliang readily agreed.

Those who ran private servers and plug-ins were indeed quite scared these past two days.

The names of the five ministries and commissions sounded intimidating!

Some of the more timid ones even directly shut down their private servers, not daring to wait until the day of the special crackdown.

The cheats in the legitimate game also quieted down a lot; at least no new cheats emerged.

Shanda also took the opportunity to build momentum. Zhang Yingfeng, the head of legal affairs and copyright, successively accepted interviews with more than ten media outlets, talking at length about Shanda's zero tolerance for cheats and private servers.

Chen Guiliang, hiding at school, turned a deaf ear to all this.

On Saturday evening, Chen Guiliang specifically took a shower and stood in front of the dressing mirror choosing his clothes for tomorrow.

He was going to accompany Bian Guanyue to fix her computer again.

"302 Chen Guiliang, come answer the phone quickly!"

The dorm supervisor stood in the third-floor hallway shouting.

"Coming, coming." Chen Guiliang threw down his clothes and ran towards the dorm supervisor's office on the second floor.

The entire dorm building only had one landline phone in the supervisor's office.

"Hello, this is Chen Guiliang," Chen Guiliang said.

A female voice came from the phone: "Did you submit a manuscript to the New Concept Writing Competition?"

"Yes." Chen Guiliang instantly understood what it was about.

"I'm Hu Weishi, an editor at Sprout. I was afraid you wouldn't receive the notification for the semi-finals, so I'm calling you in advance. Your semi-final notification has already been mailed out. If you don't receive it, you can check the details for the semi-finals in the first issue of Sprout magazine next year. At that time, you can just take the train to participate in the semi-finals, and we can reimburse your train ticket. Only hard seat tickets can be reimbursed."

"Okay, thank you, Editor Hu."

"Haha, you're also from Fushi No. 2 Middle School. I thought you'd call me 'Sister Weishi' like Guo Xiaosi."

"Thank you, Sister Weishi."

"If you have a novel you want to submit, you can mail it directly to my office. Make sure to clearly write that I am the recipient. Remember, no plagiarism!"

"Alright."

"When Guo Xiaosi asked me to serialize How Much Do Flowers Fall in Dreams, I asked him repeatedly if he had plagiarized, so it wouldn't be as troublesome as Ice Fantasy. He kept saying he didn't plagiarize, and now there's trouble again!"

"Understood."

"I'll hang up now, I still need to notify other contestants."

"Goodbye, Sister Weishi."

"Goodbye."

Chen Guiliang had heard of this female editor, Hu Weishi.

She was the "boss" Han Han talked about, and she was the one who called Han Han about his makeup exam.

Guo Xiaosi called her "Sister Weishi," at least he did before they fell out.

Every revision of Sprout magazine was also done by Hu Weishi.