Chapter 175 A New Story
Lin Weimin observed Yan Wenjing's expression and excluded him from the list of suspects in his mind.
He thought to himself that no matter if it was Random House causing trouble or someone in the country was behind it, Lin Weimin would never agree to let him hand over the publishing rights of Farewell My Concubine in such a cheap way.
"Leader, please ask the agency to reply. I absolutely cannot accept the price of 5,000 US dollars. If they are sincere, let them quote a new price according to the US manuscript fee standard. Otherwise, there is no need to discuss."
Yan Wenjing frowned when he heard this. Lin Weimin's behavior was a bit youthful and impetuous, but he could understand Lin Weimin's current mood by putting himself in his shoes.
This matter certainly cannot be communicated in such a blunt manner as Lin Weimin said. The tone should be more tactful and the intentions of Guowen Publishing House and the author Lin Weimin should be fully expressed.
"Okay, I understand. Let's talk to them later and try to get them to offer a reasonable price. It would be best if we can make this happen."
Lin Weimin nodded. "I think so too, but Random House needs to show sincerity!"
Yan Wenjing glanced at him unhappily, "Got it, don't use your words to judge me."
Lin Weimin laughed twice.
Not long after coming out of Yan Wenjing's office, Lin Weimin was surrounded by his colleagues in the office. Everyone was looking at Lin Weimin as if he were a rare protected animal.
"For the people, is Farewell My Concubine really going to be published in the United States?"
Lin Weimin was speechless. Wasn't this rumor spreading too quickly?
Facing everyone's expectant eyes, Lin Weimin said: "It hasn't even started yet, but I have this intention."
Things haven't been decided yet, so Lin Weimin thinks he should keep a low profile.
"If he has the intention, then it will be quick, right?" Yao Shuzhi said excitedly.
For this reading comprehension, I would believe you if you said you got 100 points in primary school Chinese.
"Really not."
Lin Weimin's flat denial did not interrupt his colleagues' gossip. Instead, everyone became more interested. When they got excited, they even put aside Lin Weimin, the protagonist of the incident, and started to speculate.
There are two focuses of everyone's attention. One is the impact caused by the publication of "Farewell My Concubine", and the other is the royalties that the publication will bring to Lin Weimin.
You should know that since before the founding of the People's Republic of China, there have been very few writers or scholars whose works have been published abroad, and even fewer who are popular.
Therefore, once Lin Weimin's "Farewell My Concubine" can be successfully published in the United States, it will definitely create a storm in the domestic literary world. Even if it does not make any impact abroad after publication, the four words "published in the United States" alone will be like a golden signboard, which can firmly send Lin Weimin to the throne of the first new generation of domestic writers, and he will be unshakable.
As for royalties, since a certain system was established, rice and knives have become the world's universal currency in just a few decades, and their strength is comparable to that of gold.
Although everyone has never been to the United States, they have all heard about it. It is rumored that even an ordinary worker there can earn tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Not to mention the exchange rate, according to the current market conditions, 1 meter of knife is about RMB 8.
Many people dare not imagine that Lin Weimin's "Farewell My Concubine" has more than 100,000 words. Even if the publishing house offers 10,000 US dollars, it would be 80,000 yuan in RMB!
Eighty thousand yuan!
In 1982, it was an astronomical figure. Workers in state-owned factories only earned 30 or 40 yuan a month. This amount of wealth was something that ordinary people could never dream of in their lifetime.
But now, this money is indeed within Lin Weimin's reach.
Everyone fell silent at the end of the analysis.
Although they were all intellectuals, they were not beyond the reach of vulgar tastes. Faced with such a huge fortune, they could not help but turn their eyes to Lin Weimin.
At this moment, he was calmly reviewing the manuscript with his head down, as if the huge amount of royalties that were within his reach was as light as a feather to him.
Even Yao Shuzhi, who usually liked to argue with Lin Weimin, couldn't help but look at Lin Weimin with admiration.
"Hey, what do you think, is Weimin just pretending or does he really not care?" Liu Yin asked everyone.
Everyone looked at Lin Weimin.
He Qizhi said: "If it were me, I definitely wouldn't be able to pretend. That's tens of thousands of yuan, enough for me to spend even if I don't work for the rest of my life."
"That's right." Yao Shuzhi couldn't help but fantasize, "If I were given this 80,000 yuan and I deposited it in the bank every year, the interest alone would be almost six or seven times my salary. Why would I still need to work?"
"You'll be so beautiful!" Liu Yin teased her.
After discussing for a long time, we only came to one conclusion.
Weimin is now really rich and doesn't even care about tens of thousands of dollars.
As the afternoon get off work was about to end, Lin Weimin received an email from Shanghai.
When I opened it, I found it was a sample book of "Collection of Award-winning Works from the 1982 National Excellent Novella Selection".
Every year, the National Excellent Short and Medium Story Award will be published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House after the award ceremony. This year is no exception. The royalties are symbolic and not much, so Lin Weimin did not care.
Stuffing the book into his bag, Lin Weimin left the office.
Lin Weimin rode a motorcycle to the People's Art Academy and entered a practice room in the building.
Han Zhuangzhuang was rehearsing with Liang Guanhua. When he saw Lin Weimin coming here, he put down the script in his hand and said, "Uncle, you are here!"
"Well, we'll be done soon after we rehearse the lines. You can see how we perform later." Han Zhuangzhuang seemed a little excited.
"Okay, I'll wait then."
Lin Weimin moved a chair and sat near the door.
He and Liang Guanhua had been rehearsing the skit script he wrote for Han Zhuangzhuang for more than half a month. When Lin Weimin asked about it, Han Zhuangzhuang was mysterious and refused to say anything until this morning when he said he would invite Lin Weimin to the People's Art Theatre to inspect their work over the past half month.
Lin Weimin was also very curious about how this popular work would perform under the interpretation of his eldest nephew and the little fat boy Liang Guanhua.
Han Zhuangzhuang and Liang Guanhua are almost ready and are ready to start the performance.
Lin Weimin asked, "What's missing? A director?"
The first two people who appear at the door are Han Zhuangzhuang and Liang Guanhua, but there is also a tool person in the script.
"Wait a moment, we'll start from the moment we enter the door, the person is outside."
Han Zhuangzhuang said this as he and Liang Guanhua walked outside the practice room. This was equivalent to a play within a play in a skit. They left the scene and would come back in later, and it would officially begin.
Lin Weimin looked down at his watch, and then the door of the practice room was pushed open.
He looked at the pretty lady in front of him carrying a director's bag, and the corners of his mouth twitched wildly.
"Hello, everyone. I am a director. Our theater is currently filming The White-Haired Girl. It is not easy to rehearse a play nowadays. If you are a leading actor, who doesn't act in a TV series outside?
Look, I, the director, have been here for quite some time, but the actors haven’t arrived yet!”
Song Dandan was speaking her lines seriously, her eyes unconsciously glancing at Lin Weimin, this man was the famous Mr. Lin Weimin, who was quite handsome. He was daydreaming during her performance.
Like Liang Guanhua, Song Dandan is a student in the actor training class of the People's Art Theater. She is recognized by the teachers in the academy as the most talented actor in this class.
In the skit "Yang Bailao and Huang Shiren", the director was just a tool, and the focus of the play was all on the two male actors. If Liang Guanhua hadn't begged her and promised her a meal of mutton hotpot, she would not have agreed to act.
She couldn't even use 1/3 of her strength to play such a role, and her mind was wandering during the performance.
"Hey, director, director, director, I'm here, I'm here!" Liang Guanhua trotted in from the door, his movements were quick but his tone was nonchalant.
He played the role of Fan Wei in the sketch.
"Where have you been?" Song Dandan asked angrily.
"I'll go to the door and have some food."
While speaking his lines, Liang Guanhua deliberately moved closer to Song Dandan and blew a breath at her. Song Dandan turned her head away with a look of disgust and held her breath.
This girl was adding drama to herself, and Lin Weimin immediately saw through Song Dandan's intention.
“Are the roles clear?”
"It's clear, it's clear, I'm going to play Yang Bailao."
"What about Huang Shiren?"
"Huang Shiren is paying for me in the back!"
This is the first funny point in the sketch, which uses the identity swap between Yang Bailao and Huang Shiren to create a contrast effect. This method is also the main means of creating effects for this sketch.
Liang Guanhua and Song Dandan both performed naturally and delivered their lines fluently, which made Lin Weimin smile knowingly.
Quite interesting!
They are truly worthy of being the leading figures of the People's Art Theatre in future generations. Their current performance abilities alone are enough to rival many actors of the People's Art Theatre.
"Call him over!" Song Dandan shouted.
"Yang Bailao!" Liang Guanhua called out towards the door, "Huang Shiren! Huang Shiren!"
The tone was just like calling the house watchdog.
"Here it comes! Here it comes! Here it comes!"
Han Zhuangzhuang appeared at the door of the training room. In order to shape the character, he deliberately bent his shoulders and trotted into the training room slowly.
Combined with his muscular body, the contrast is quite striking.
Lin Weimin's originally relaxed body unconsciously straightened up and leaned against the back of the chair.
My nephew's acting skills have improved!
With the appearance of all three actors, the plot of "Yang Bailao and Huang Shiren" officially begins.
The plot can be summarized very simply. Yang Bailao, a poor man who originally owed money, turned into a rich man who owed money, while the landlord Huang Shiren became a poor man who could not get his money back.
This is a new version of the story.
The structure of this novel is not complicated, and the techniques are not advanced. It completely uses the contrast of identities to create laughs.
After listening to the performance of the three young people, Lin Weimin found that the performance quality of this sketch was not inferior to the one performed by Teacher Huang Hong.
Even my eldest nephew’s acting skills have improved so much now.
He turned his eyes to Liang Guanhua and Song Dandan. This change was definitely inseparable from these two extremely talented actors.
Saturday, two days off. It's still you guys, 4600 monthly tickets in the morning, 5300 in the evening, I'll give you 3 updates, and I owe you another 6000 words.
(End of this chapter)
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