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January 3 is still within the New Year holiday. However, when Shimizu Shizuo hurried back to Tokyo and came to Hayami Study, he saw that almost everyone in Hayami Study appeared here.

The leader was naturally President Hayamikatsu. His thin and wrinkled face was trembling, and he stood on the table and bowed deeply.

"Qimizu, I am so grateful this time! I have been founded by Hayami Study for so many years... This is the first time I am lucky to publish a work that was shortlisted for the Naoki Award. It's really... it's really..."

"President, this is the result of everyone's efforts."

He hurried forward to help the President Hayami who was so excited that he couldn't help but feel in love. In order to prevent him from continuing to salute, Shimizu Tetsu turned to Masaaki Kishida who was standing beside him.

"Kishada, I don't know the specific situation yet. Can you please explain it?"

"good!"

Masaaki Kishida pulled out a huge whiteboard from the end of the office, which was covered with various information. The bloodshot in his eyes was not much less than those information, and it seemed that he had been staying up all night for it.

"First of all, the Naoki Awards are selected for popular literary works published in magazines, newspapers or single-line books, short stories or long articles, and the best ones can be called the highest award in the field of popular literature. You must know this Shimizu."

"In order to encourage the development of literature, it is mainly aimed at unnamed, new or backbone writers. Writers who have won the Naoki Award are not included in the selection range. Shimizu, you have just gotten rid of the unnamed state, and you are considered a new writer and meet the requirements."

"The selection rules are to evaluate every six months, and the selection committee selects the best works. However, because the judges cannot read all the literary works within half a year, they are usually pre-selected by the people of the Literary Spring and Autumn Press. The selection committee then compares and selects these works. When it reaches this stage, it is considered to be shortlisted for the final Naoki Award. "The Story of the Boat" is currently at this stage. I heard the news from the Literary Spring and Autumn and was shortlisted with the other five works."

After talking a lot of words, Kishida Masaaki stopped to breathe, grinned again, and his tired face was filled with excitement.

"So Shimizu, as long as you defeat five more opponents, you can win this time Naoki Award and become the first winner under the age of 20, the youngest winner ever!"

"Wait," listened to his introduction, Shimizu Tetsu couldn't help but his heart beat faster, but he quickly calmed down and said, "Sang Kishida is already sure I will win the award? Although "The Legend of the Boat" has a good sales volume, there should be a little gap between the selected works of other famous writers, right?"

"Qimizu-kun cannot be without confidence," Aya Uami also arrived early. "In order to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the works on this waiting list, I have read all these works overnight."

“The result is…”

When he came to Qingshuichi, he went up to the well and said word by word.

"Nothing can compare to you."

Surprised at her high praise for herself, Shimizu Tetsu was stunned for a moment, and then heard Masaaki Kishida again.

"In addition to the quality of the work, Shimizu, you have the greatest advantage," Kishida's eyes emitted, "You are young enough!"

"Is this an advantage? It should be that the famous writer has a wider connection, right?"

"You can't look at it so simply," Kishida shook his head repeatedly, strode to the whiteboard, and wrote a series of names on it with a marker.

"…Kao Kitamura, Joe Sasaki, Kyoko Nakajima, Tsuke Kinet, Jun Ikei Ikeido, many winners are older. Kaori Kitamura and Joe Sasaki even won the award at the age of 59, which does not meet the purpose of encouraging new writers at the age of 59! Where is a 59-year-old newcomer? Although there is a 35-year-old Hidesuke in the middle who won the award at the age of 35, it is far from enough. To change the public's impression that the Naoki Award winner is too old, it is not the best thing to let Shimizu, who has just turned 19, win the award!"

"But even if you think so, the judges may not have the same idea."

"The judges are not without the power of fighting!"

Kimizu Tetsuki could even see the veins bulging around Kishida's neck.

"I have also inquired about the list of judges this time. Now Junichi Watanabe is only the idea of ​​supporting the backwards, and no one can easily influence his point of view. However, Miyuki Miyabe should be fine. Didn't she write a recommendation for "The Story of the Boat"? Teachers Adaoda and Masahiko Miyagi are also from the Department of Literature of Waseda University. As long as Shimizu, you can think of a way to ensure these two votes. In addition, there are two more votes, which can occupy the majority of the total nine judges, thus winning the award."

He obviously calculated carefully, so it sounded quite good to win, but Shimizu Tetsuki raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Kishana, first of all, I don't want to assume that the judges will vote for me because of personal relationships and some relationships with their seniors. Secondly, even so, our public relations ability is not as good as the large publishers of Literature and Spring and Autumn and Xinchao Society? Who can guarantee that there is no closer relationship between them and the judges? Speaking of which, our only advantage as a small publisher is the work itself, and then we can only rely on whether the judges are fair. How can we take the initiative to enter the field that large publishers are good at and do things that undermine fairness?"

As if he was hit by a vital point, Kishida's expression was stiff, twitching his dry lips, but he couldn't say anything.

Kishimizu Tetsu continued: "Compared with these, Kishida Sang, you were not so anxious to mention the Naoki Award before. Even persuading me to win the award too early may not be a good thing. What happened this time?"

Kishida stood there without saying anything. Hayami president coughed lightly and stood up: "I asked Kishida to do this. We have seen the study for so many years... We have never trained a famous writer, and have only won some inequality awards... This time, I thought it was an opportunity, but I didn't consider these..."

Halfway through the explanation, a sound came from the side.

"President, let me say it..."

Shimizu turned over, and Kishida had a piece of paper in his hand.

"This is a list of shortlisted works, Shimizu, take a look."

There were only six works, Shimizu Tetsuki finished his first glance and found nothing special. He raised his head and heard Kishida's explanation.

"You should have heard from Irie before that we took the blame for Yamakoto, and one of them resigned. Yamakoto forced the recommendation of a nine-rate writer's work, but after printing 500,000 copies, Kotanshe suffered serious losses, so he had to hold him accountable."

"Then this list..."

"The one at the bottom, named Shin Sekawa, is the ninth-rate writer. At that time, Kotanshe covered this matter, and not many people outside knew about it. That guy changed his pen name and continued to be free and easy. Unexpectedly, his ability to write books has increased a little over the years, and he can be shortlisted for the Naoki Award, hum."

Listening to Kishida's sarcastic laughter, Shimizu Tetsu took a look at the list again.

Shin Sekawa, whose work "July Mountain" is written in the Publishing House column.

"Why is it still Kotanshe?"

"There are not many people who knew about that incident now," Kishida said of his own speculation. "But they came to Yantanshe again, and it is likely that they would collude with Yamaaka again... Maybe there are things we don't know about that incident back then..."

“So that’s what it is…”

"Qimizu, sorry, I'm too anxious," Kishida held the table and dragged his tired body deeply. "On the one hand, I thought... I could have the Naoki Award for the works I was editor after leaving Kotansawa, but on the other hand, I was still thinking about revenge. Sekawa, Yamaaka, Kotansawa, how are they qualified to win the Naoki Award for you than Shimizu!"

"If this happens, I understand."

Calm down from the full anger, Kishida's eyes were deep and the wrinkles on his forehead were filled with decay. "Sorry, this is my own business, I shouldn't have involved you in Qingshui."

"No," Shimizu Tetsu folded the paper with the list in half and put it in his pocket. "Since you are shortlisted, you have to work hard."

"Qingshui, you..."

"But don't do anything that undermines the fairness of the selection, just promote it normally. The rest... I will find a way."

"Ah, this... Qingshui, you don't have to..."

Without taking care of Kishida's thoughts, Kishimizu shook his head, walked through the crowd around him, and left Hayami's study.
Chapter completed!