Chapter 189 "Farewell My Concubine"
Lin Weimin had a playful smile on his face, "Hello, Comrade Ma Yun."
After shaking hands with him, Ma Yun excitedly introduced the two foreign boys and girls, “David, Susan, let me introduce you to this gentleman, a very famous writer in our country, Mr. Weimin Lin.”
Of course, the boy and girl had never heard of Lin Weimin's name, but after hearing Jack Ma's introduction, they suddenly became interested and shook hands with Lin Weimin.
They were even more surprised when they heard Lin Weimin's authentic American West Coast accent. There is also a contempt chain for accents in the English world. Americans are ridiculed by the British, but Australians have no right to laugh at Americans. The boys and girls spoke with an Australian accent.
"You actually know English?"
Lin Weimin smiled reservedly, "I happened to learn a little bit."
Ma Yun exclaimed: "Teacher Lin is really amazing!"
Teacher Lin called out this name extremely skillfully, as if he had practiced it thousands of times.
"David! What happened?"
Just as they were talking, a middle-aged man's voice came from not far away, but he was speaking English.
A few people turned to look, and David called out, "Nothing, Dad, we met two new friends."
While they were talking, two middle-aged foreign men and women had already approached Lin Weimin and his group of young people.
The middle-aged men and women were both a little fat. David stepped forward and briefly told him what had just happened. Jack Ma added a few words at the right time. He did not tell David what Lin Weimin criticized him for after Zhang Qiang said he was ugly.
After listening to what the two said, the middle-aged man showed appreciation and extended his hand to Lin Weimin, "Sir, you are an upright gentleman."
After shaking hands and greetings, the middle-aged man’s wife suddenly seemed to remember something and asked Ma Yun, “Yun, what was the name of this gentleman you just introduced?”
Ma Yun repeated: "For the people, Mr. Lin."
A look of surprise appeared on the wife's face. She whispered a few words to her husband and went to rummage through her travel bag.
"Mr. Molly, what happened?" Ma Yun asked.
Mrs. Molly rummaged for a while and finally found a book in her bag. She took the book and handed it to Lin Weimin with anticipation and joy on her face.
"Sir, is this book your work?"
The book that Mrs. Molly handed over had an English name on the cover. Lin Weimin couldn't help rolling his eyes when he saw the name "Farewell My Concubine".
This is the level of Lao Mi’s translation!
"Farewell My Concubine" has become "Farewell, My Concubine", so what we mean is, where did the King go?
Just take a look at it.
Lin Weimin took the book and looked at the Chinese pinyin of his name in the lower right corner. This was how he insisted that Random House print it.
It’s not for anything else, I just want people who understand Chinese to be able to understand it at once. As for whether foreigners can understand his name, does it matter?
Anyway, Lin Weimin's name is just a symbol to them.
Lin Weimin touched the cover of the book and chuckled, "This font is really ugly."
Then he returned the book to Mrs. Morley, "Yes, it's my book. What a coincidence, this book should have just been published in the United States not long ago."
When Mrs. Morley heard him say that, she covered her mouth with excitement and said, "It's really you, oh my god!"
The surprise on her face was beyond words, and she spoke incoherently: "This book... This book was bought when my family traveled to the United States. Our original plan was to go to Europe next. But, oh, dear, your book is so fascinating. I fell in love with it on the first day I read it. At the same time, I was full of curiosity about China, this mysterious and ancient country, so our family temporarily changed the itinerary and came here. We have been to Yanjing before..."
Lin Weimin couldn't help but feel a little surprised when he heard what Mrs. Molly said. Ma Yun had just introduced that their family was Australian.
A novel written by a Chinese writer and published in the United States can actually travel across the ocean and be brought to the country where it was born by a traveler from another country on the other side of the ocean.
Fate is truly wonderful!
When Mr. Morley and his family learned that Lin Weimin also came to Hangzhou from Yanjing, he happened to be visiting West Lake today.
"E Meijing!" The whole family muttered this magical word with exaggerated expressions.
Lin Weimin smiled and recited: "We Chinese have an ancient poem: Fate brings us together even though we are thousands of miles apart. This is probably fate."
Lin Weimin spoke this in Chinese. The Morley family all looked at Jack Ma. He scratched his head, racked his brains for a while before he stammered out the translation.
Mr. Morley and his family nodded repeatedly, their expressions full of disbelief.
Mrs. Molly also did not forget to ask for an autograph from Lin Weimin, the author of the novel. This trip to China was so worthwhile and full of legendary meaning.
When they signed the contract and heard that there would be a drama of Farewell My Concubine in Yanjing, Mr. and Mrs. Morley were very upset that they had missed it.
"It's okay. The crew of Farewell My Concubine should have been invited to Shanghai. If you go there now, you should be able to see the drama." Lin Weimin kindly reminded.
"Oh my God, this is great! I'm going to Shanghai tomorrow!" Mrs. Morley said excitedly, her face full of longing.
Lin Weimin didn't feel comfortable interrupting her fantasy. "Have you forgotten that you are a foreigner?"
Lin Weimin doesn't need to worry about such things. After all, he has read the English version of the novel. Besides, he can find a translation and just read the general idea and get a sense of the experience.
This is our one-stop service!
The arrangements are clear and explicit.
After the emotional uproar, Mr. and Mrs. Morley finally regained some of their sanity.
Lin Weimin also asked about the sales of the novel "Farewell My Concubine" in the United States. Unfortunately, Mrs. Molly and her family were only in the United States for a short time and did not know the specific situation, so Lin Weimin did not ask any further questions.
After chatting for a while, Lin Weimin deliberately changed the topic to the little guide Ma Yun.
I just learned that he had just finished the college entrance examination this year, and his results were terrible. He only scored 1 point in mathematics. He is a genius, and he shouldn't have scored so low a score even if he had guessed two multiple-choice questions!
However, Jack Ma was not discouraged and he planned to fight again next year.
Coming to the West Lake to serve as a guide for foreigners was a way of working and studying. When he was a child, his father bought him a pocket radio. He listened to English broadcasts every day and began to become interested in English.
One summer vacation, I went to the West Lake and saw some foreign tourists there, so I offered to be their guide. I wanted to learn and practice my English, but I didn’t expect that I could earn tips at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.
From then on, serving as a guide for foreigners at the West Lake became a compulsory course for him during summer vacations for many years, even after he failed the college entrance examination this year.
After listening to Ma Yun's experience, Lin Weimin patted him on the shoulder and said, "Xiao Ma is very hardworking. Keep up the good work. He will definitely get into a good university in the future. His future is limitless!"
Ma Yun was overjoyed by the compliment and said, "Thank you, Mr. Lin."
Lin Weimin thought to himself, you really need to keep up the good work. I remember you took the college entrance exam three times, right?
At the end of the conversation, Mr. Morley sincerely invited Lin Weimin to have lunch together.
Ma Yun and Zhang Qiang looked at Lin Weimin eagerly, waiting for him to agree. Since Lin Weimin was invited to dinner, it was impossible for them to be left out. It couldn't be too bad for a foreigner to invite him to dinner, right?
Lin Weimin had no interest in having dinner with the foreign family. When the gorilla was on display for people to see, he pretended to raise his hand and look at his watch.
"I'm so sorry, I have something to do later."
Mr. Morley and his family were disappointed to hear what he said.
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "Meeting is fate, let's take a photo together."
"That's a good suggestion!" Mr. Morley laughed and glanced at the people around him to see who would be suitable to take the photo.
Ma Yun volunteered and raised his hand and said, "I will take pictures for everyone."
Everyone agreed readily.
Lin Weimin shook his head and said, "Xiao Ma, come with us to take the photo. We'll find a passerby."
Ma feels highly respected.
Lin Weimin looked around and saw a woman reading a book on a bench not far away.
Without waiting for Lin Weimin to speak, Jack Ma quickly ran over and invited the woman to help them take photos.
Before the photo shoot began, they had to stand in position. Mr. and Mrs. Morley naturally sandwiched Lin Weimin in the middle, and Zhang Qiang had to stay in a corner.
There were three younger ones standing in the front row. Ma Yun was less than 1.7 meters tall and was called by Lin Weimin to stand in front of him.
"Come on, tell me about eggplant." The woman holding the camera shouted to the crowd.
"Eggplant!" is what the Chinese shout.
"Cheese!" was shouted by several foreigners.
The "eggplant" that everyone shouted when taking pictures is the transliteration of the "Cheese" that foreigners shouted when taking pictures. Mr. Morley and his family do not understand Chinese, but they can guess the general meaning of this word.
This photo was taken with Zhang Qiang's camera. Mr. Morley took out his family's camera and took another photo.
Then Ma Yun found Lin Weimin and hoped to take a photo with him alone, and Lin Weimin readily agreed.
When taking the photo, Lin Weimin naturally put his hand on Ma Yun's shoulder.
Jack Ma was excited. Not only did he take a photo with Teacher Lin today, but the pose was so intimate. He would have something to brag about in the future!
After taking the group photo, Lin Weimin said goodbye to Mr. Morley and his family, and Jack Ma continued to serve as their guide.
Zhang Qiang followed Lin Weimin and saw him heading towards the broken bridge. He asked, "Teacher Lin, don't you say you have anything else to do?"
Lin Weimin glanced at him and said, "Xiao Zhang, sometimes when someone says they have something to do, it can be a euphemistic way of saying no."
Zhang Qiang was immediately ashamed, he lost another person!
(End of this chapter)
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