Chapter 145 Foreign Guests Visit

The next morning, Lin Weimin showed up at the Guowen Society in high spirits.

Uncle Zhai in the message room was rinsing tea cups early in the morning. "Hey, Weimin, I haven't seen you for a few days. What have you been doing?"

"I've been tinkering with a novel."

Uncle Zhai shook his teacup and said, "Everyone says you're a quick shooter. How come you've already written a novel in just a few days?"

"I'm just inspired. Come on, Master Zhai, I won't talk to you anymore. You're going to be late for work."

Lin Weimin pushed the bicycle to the bicycle shed and went into the back building.

As soon as he entered the office, Liu Yin teased him, "Hey, where did this energetic young man come from?"

Lin Weimin knew that she was teasing him for his unkempt appearance yesterday, so he joked for a while, and then everyone asked with concern, "Weimin, has your novel been adapted into a TV series?"

"It's settled. I've been waiting for several days, it would be embarrassing if it's not settled!"

Yao Shuzhi gloated, "It's what he deserves! I've never seen anyone dare to run to the director's office and blatantly ask to skip work to do a side job."

Zhu Changsheng said, "Shuzhi, you deserved it. What you said is wrong. This is a good thing for Weimin. With the TV series adaptation, his novel may have to be printed hundreds of thousands more copies."

Yao Shuzhi agreed when she thought about it. Nowadays, few TV dramas are made and ordinary people watch few of them. Almost every TV drama that is above a certain standard can be extremely popular.

Isn’t that what was happening in the “Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp” broadcast by CCTV at the beginning of the year?

"The Cliff" is also a novel about spy warfare, and its plot is much better than "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp" and it is more innovative. It will definitely cause a bigger sensation than "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp".

Colleagues chatted while working. After a while, the atmosphere in the office became quiet and everyone got into working mode.

"For the people!" Meng Weizai's voice came from the door.

"Director, what's the matter?"

"Come out for a moment."

Seeing his mysterious look, Lin Weimin came to the door of the office, and Meng Weizai said, "Comrades from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought foreign guests to visit and inspect, and they asked to see you."

Foreign guests want to see me?

The first people that came to Lin Weimin’s mind were Mark Meng and the other foreigners, but that shouldn’t be the case, as these people were not at that level yet.

"Let me go first."

Meng Weizai led Lin Weimin to the conference room in the front building. Outside the conference room, Lin Weimin first met the foreign affairs personnel who were accompanying the foreign guests today.

Before meeting with foreigners, they had to explain the discipline to Lin Weimin.

Seeing the foreigner in the conference room, Lin Weimin asked in surprise: "Mr. Williams?"

Qiao Sen stood up with a smile on his face, "Lin, we meet again!"

Lin Weimin glanced at the foreign affairs officer and another foreigner accompanying him and asked, "What are you doing..."

"Didn't I tell you before? We at Random House are planning to introduce a batch of books about Chinese culture. This time we are here to investigate and plan to cooperate with several large publishing houses such as Guowen Publishing House and Commercial Press.

Just now when I was chatting with President Yan, I mentioned that I met you that day, and your foreign affairs staff said that there happened to be an acquaintance who could accompany us. "

So that's how it is.

Lin Weimin glanced at the foreign affairs staff next to him and said nothing. Are you taking me as your companion?

He was not in a good mood, but he couldn't say anything because the president Yan Wenjing was next to him.

Qiao Sen and his colleagues came to visit the Guowen Press just for show; the real cooperation takes place on the desk.

At that time, the country had just opened up, and foreign publishers came to us hoping to publish books about domestic culture. The government departments were of course happy, and they directly brought out several large state-owned publishing houses and let the foreigners choose. This style was very common in the early days of reform and opening up.

Because of this style, many domestic units and enterprises have suffered losses. Later, they finally learned their lesson and knew to be on guard.

During the visit, Qiao Sen chatted with Lin Weimin and said, "The other day Keith recommended to me the mystery novel you published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Coincidentally, my colleague brought a copy. You wrote it very well. It is hard for me to imagine that such a strong British-style mystery novel was written by a Chinese writer."

Lin Weimin smiled and said, "In fact, that mystery novel was just a game. I was studying at the time, and the school organized us to exchange with foreign students, so I casually told this story. Unexpectedly, Keith was particularly interested in this novel and kept urging me to write it. Later, he helped me send it to the United States for publication. If it weren't for him, this novel might not have had a chance to be published at all."

Qiao Sen exclaimed: "This world is so wonderful!"

Qiao Sen then said, "There is also the People's Literature that Keith gave me that day. He said that another of your works was also published in it. You know, I don't understand Chinese, so I asked your foreign affairs staff to help me with a simple translation."

Lin Weimin became interested after hearing what he said and asked, "What do you think?"

"He just gave me a rough outline of it, and I thought it was very interesting, and it reminded me of John Luther Long's short story, 'Madame Butterfly.'

"Madame Butterfly?"

Lin Weimin remembered having seen this movie. He had also read related information and knew that the novel came first, then the opera, and finally the movie, and that there was more than one version of the movie.

To put it simply, the story is set in mud bombing and tells the story of the heroine Cio-Cio-Sang who married the U.S. Navy officer Pinkerton and stayed in her boudoir alone, only to be abandoned. In the end, Cio-Cio-Sang committed suicide.

In Lin Weimin's opinion, this work is not friendly to Asians.

He looked displeased and shook his head, saying, "Excuse me, you shouldn't compare Farewell My Concubine with Madame Butterfly."

Qiao Sen saw Lin Weimin's dissatisfaction and asked, "Why?"

"Nothing, I just don't like Madame Butterfly."

Lin Weimin didn't say much. After all, the other party was a foreign guest and was accompanied by foreign affairs personnel.

Qiao Sen pressed on, "Lin, did I offend you?"

Seeing that he was determined to ask, Lin Weimin said, "Qiao Sen, in my opinion, Madame Butterfly is a work written from a Western perspective. As an Oriental, it is full of arrogance, prejudice and fantasy. But Farewell My Concubine is different. It is rooted in Chinese culture and the history of recent decades. It is an epic of suffering."

Lin Weimin's words may sound a bit self-boasting, but he knows that people like Lao Mi will not understand if you talk in a roundabout way and will instead take advantage of you.

He expressed his displeasure so directly that Qiao Sen did not dare to act rashly.

The Lin Weimin he had met before was always a polite, humorous and nice guy. Today was the first time he saw Lin Weimin frowning, and he realized the temper of this popular Chinese writer.

"Sorry, Lin, I was just giving an example and didn't mean to offend your thoughts," Qiao Sen said.

Lin Weimin nodded slightly, "Forget it. We don't need to dwell on this kind of thing, let it go."

But Qiao Sen seemed to be more interested. He asked, "Lin, after hearing what you said, I am more interested in Farewell My Concubine."

He suddenly leaned close to Lin Weimin's ear and whispered, "Is it because their translation for me is not accurate enough?"

Lin Weimin heard the subtext behind Jordan's "precision" and glanced at the foreign affairs staff next to him.

I was very sure that they must have deleted some content when translating it for Qiao Sen. That's how it is these days.

Lin Weimin said: "If you are really interested in Farewell My Concubine, I suggest you find a serious translator to translate it for you."

"Lin, can you translate it? Your English is so good. If this novel is really as good as you say, I can recommend it to you. Maybe it can be published in the United States."

Lin Weimin complained in his heart that Lao Mi's skills of taking advantage of others were really a skill passed down from his ancestors.

Are you trying to get something for nothing by telling me?

"I'm busy. If you want to read it, you'd better find someone to translate it yourself." Lin Weimin said impatiently.

He finally realized that Qiao Sen was a typical American. The kindness he showed at the Yanjing Hotel that day was probably more because of Lao Ma.

Qiao Sen felt a little uneasy when he saw him look unhappy again. He could clearly feel that Lin Weimin was different from the government officials he had met before and would not tolerate his temper at all.

The pleasant interaction between the two of them at the Yanjing Hotel that day was probably entirely due to Keith.

However, the more Lin Weimin showed this arrogant character, the more interested he became in Lin Weimin.

He has already read Knives Out, and in his heart he thinks it is an above average mystery novel.

Lin Weimin said that this novel was just a temporary work of his. Judging from how much he valued Farewell My Concubine, the time and talent he spent on this novel must have far exceeded that of Knives Out. Qiao Sen actually felt a little itchy for a while.

The foreign affairs staff in charge of reception watched for a long time and finally couldn't help it.

Pulling Lin Weimin aside, he said, "Comrade Lin, you should be more polite to the foreign guests."

"Am I not polite enough? Did you hear what he said just now? If it were a Chinese, I would have scolded him if he asked me to translate Farewell My Concubine for him. It's only for the sake of maintaining diplomatic relations between the two countries that I am holding back my temper..."

Lin Weimin pretended to be nonchalant. The foreign affairs personnel never expected that this famous writer would have such a bad temper. They did not dare to provoke Lin Weimin anymore. Instead, they found Yan Wenjing and talked to him in private.

Lin Weimin watched from the side and shook his head. These foreigners were all spoiled by the officials!

Yan Wenjing came over and said a few words to Lin Weimin for the sake of face. Lin Weimin nodded and said nothing more.

Qiao Sen and his team's visit was not long, it was just a symbolic visit, and they would go to several other publishing houses in Beijing next.

After sending Qiao Sen away, Yan Wenjing said, "Don't take what happened just now to heart."

"President, I'm not stupid. I know you are doing this for others to see." Lin Weimin didn't care.

(End of this chapter)