Chapter 198 Good News from Across the Ocean
Two days later, it was the weekend. Lin Weimin went to the market to buy some mutton rolls and came to No. 26 Lama Temple Street, with a man following him.
"Tiesheng! Tiesheng!"
Lin Weimin entered the yard and called Shi Tiesheng's name, and Xiaojian pushed him out.
"Xiao Jian is here?"
"For the people!"
The two greeted each other.
Lin Weimin brought the mutton he brought into the house and said to Shi's father, "Uncle, don't cook for lunch today. Let's have mutton hotpot."
"Okay." Father Shi replied with a smile.
It was a sunny morning in early autumn.
Shi Tiesheng's wheelchair was pushed to the jujube tree in the yard. Xiao Jian leaned casually against the tree. Han Zhuangzhuang brought a stool, but he refused it, saying that he had been sitting in the house for too long.
Several people were sitting or standing around the jujube tree in the yard.
Lin Weimin asked Shi Tiesheng jokingly, "How is it? How does it feel to be famous?"
At this time, more than four months had passed since the publication of Shi Tiesheng's "My Distant Qingping Bay". The novel caused quite a stir across the country. Through this work, many literature lovers learned that there was a disabled but strong-willed writer named Shi Tiesheng in Yanjing.
"That's just the way it is." Shi Tiesheng said casually, and then added, "The only benefit is that the royalties may increase in the future."
He asked again, "How is the novel you mentioned last time going?"
"I've finished writing it and will publish it early next year."
Xiao Jian asked: "Why wait until the beginning of the year to publish? Is the space so tight?"
"I can't help it. The publishing house said that I took up too much space in People's Literature every year and they don't give young writers a chance. They told me to wait for the supplement."
Lin Weimin spoke in a helpless tone and pretended to be impressive, which made Shi Tiesheng want to hit him.
"Aren't you also a young writer?" Xiao Jian asked foolishly and naively.
Shi Tiesheng said dimly: "You don't understand what he means. He means that he is now a generation older than all of us."
Xiao Jian finally reacted, "You are so shameless!"
Lin Weimin said aggrievedly: "What does this have to do with me? I didn't say that."
After joking for a while, Shi Tiesheng said seriously: "This time we published a supplement, what will we do in the future? Will we publish a supplement as well?"
Lin Weimin spread his hands and said, "Who knows? Anyway, I have to earn the royalties. If the publishing house really doesn't want to accept my works, then I will publish them somewhere else. Harvest, October, Zhongshan, and Huacheng are all good."
Shi Tiesheng teased, "You are betraying your life, your leader's blood pressure must be rising."
"That can't be helped."
Shi Tiesheng added: "By the way, since you mentioned Harvest, Xiaojian also wrote a novella and submitted it to Harvest."
It is true that Xiaojian is a student of Yan Ying, but he has been engaged in literary creation for a longer time, dating back to the early 1970s.
Lin Weimin has also read what he wrote. If we have to comment on it, it can be summed up in four words - limited talent.
Lin Weimin pretended to be unhappy, "What's going on? You didn't vote for me, but voted for Harvest. This is considered betrayal!"
Xiao Jian waved his hands quickly, "It's not that I didn't vote for you, but I voted for Contemporary, but you didn't accept it, and you were on a business trip at that time."
"We didn't accept it, so you submitted it to Harvest? When did our standards for Contemporary become so high? Only the rejected works will be accepted by Harvest?"
Shi Tiesheng and Xiao Jian laughed out loud because of his amusement.
Xiao Jian said: "I am just casting a wide net."
"It's okay. Every editorial department has a different style. What works in Contemporary doesn't necessarily mean it won't work in other publications," Lin Weimin comforted.
"I've gotten used to submitting manuscripts over the years. Being rejected is the norm."
After chatting for a while, Xiaojian talked about graduation again. He actually graduated this year and was assigned to Hainan. But because he had to help his teacher Xie Fei with the script, he stayed in Yanjing for the time being.
Lin Weimin became interested when he heard about Xie Fei, as he had had several contacts with Xie Fei before.
"It's called Our Fields, and it's a film that reflects..."
Xiaojian gave Lin Weimin a brief introduction to the movie. The script has been almost completed and filming can start next month.
Lin Weimin thought about it and realized he had no memory of this film, so it seemed that the quality was probably very average.
Following the topic of the movie, Lin Weimin asked about the whereabouts of Xiaojian and other graduates of this class. Xiaojian was a classmate of Tian Zhuangzhuang and Zhang Yimou.
"Everyone was basically assigned to film studios in various places. For example, many of our editing and directing classes were from Yanjing and stayed directly at the Yanjing Film Studio, such as Cheng Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang."
These days, the principle of distribution based on proximity is implemented, and those who can return to their hometown will return to their hometown.
"Where's Zhang Yimou?"
"Zhang Yimou?" Xiao Jian thought for a long time before a weathered face emerged in his mind.
Although Zhang Yimou was good at his major in school, he was a low-key person and could not be compared with a celebrity like Cheng Kaige. Xiaojian's impression of him was limited to his good photography skills.
"Is he from the photography class? I remember he went to the Xi'an Film Studio."
Everything is just like history.
While they were chatting, Shi's father prepared lunch.
Shabu-shabu is Shi Tiesheng's favorite. Lin Weimin has been in Yanjing for two or three years and now also likes it very much.
With the presence of Han Zhuangzhuang, a big eater, the meal was very enthusiastic and even eight kilograms of mutton rolls were not enough.
Before the National Day, Lin Weimin received a reply from Tao Huimin.
Seriously speaking, Lin Weimin and she only met once. Although they didn't say it explicitly, they both confirmed the other's position in their hearts.
Tao Huimin's reply was not as bold as Lin Weimin's, but the girl's shyness and love between the lines were indeed uncontrollable.
Especially when she mentioned the love poem that Lin Weimin wrote specifically for her, a kind of joy and excitement was evident on the paper.
Tao Huimin also mentioned in the letter that the performance in Hong Kong had been successfully completed, and they have now returned to Hangzhou and are rehearsing a new play.
The response to the performance in Hong Kong was very good. Starting next month, the troupe will plan to perform in several cities in Zhijiang Province. Next year, they may also perform in other cities in the country, and may even go to Yanjing.
When she said this, Tao Huimin's tone was both excited and lost.
What makes me excited is that the troupe’s performances are becoming more and more influential, and it is very likely that I will come to Yenching to meet Lin Weimin next year.
The disappointing thing is that there is little hope of meeting Lin Weimin this year. Most of her time every day is now occupied by practice and rehearsal, followed by performances, unless she quits.
Tao Huimin had strict family education and a conservative style. She would never dare to do such a rebellious thing.
Lin Weimin thought of the girl's slightly frowned brows and her worried look, and a knowing smile appeared on his face.
He spread out the letter paper and wrote her a reply, the general idea of which was naturally to let her perform with peace of mind. In his heart, he also wrote a very corny love poem to Tao Huimin.
The girl likes this, so Teacher Lin must arrange it for her.
After replying the letter, Lin Weimin sighed.
This was only in the 1980s. If it were in later times, when lovers didn't see each other for several months or a year, and had to rely on letters that only came once every ten days to maintain their relationship, they would probably have broken up long ago.
Lin Weimin had also thought about calling Tao Huimin.
But the problem is that neither of them is in a position to make a phone call.
Lin Weimin does have a phone at work, but can he go to Lao Meng or Lao Tan's office to chat with his girlfriend?
As for installing a telephone in your home, it is even more unrealistic. Nowadays, not everyone can install a telephone. You need a certain level of qualifications to be qualified.
Tao Huimin lives in an art school, and the school has a telephone, but she definitely can't use it. She can go to the public phone on the street to make a call once or twice, but the girl's financial situation doesn't allow her to use it more than once.
Lin Weimin had no way of giving her money directly. He knew very well that with Tao Huimin's personality, giving her money would probably backfire.
Alas, it was not easy to have a relationship in the 1980s!
On the last day before the National Day holiday, Meng Weizai found Lin Weimin in his office.
Lin Weimin thought Meng Weizai wanted to talk to him about the Yanbing Literature Award, but he was stunned when Old Meng opened his mouth.
"There's news from the US that they're going to print more copies of Farewell My Concubine."
"More printing? Is this because it's selling well?"
Random House contacted Guowen Publishing House in June. Because the manuscript had been translated in advance, typesetting and printing were completed very quickly and appeared in bookstores in the United States in late July. The Morley couple, whom Lin Weimin met by chance at West Lake, bought the English version of "Farewell My Concubine" when they were traveling in the United States in early August.
Calculating the time, from late July to late September now, two months, the first print run of 30,000 copies of "Farewell My Concubine" has to be reprinted. Lin Weimin has no idea about this sales volume.
"Leader, is this sales volume considered very good?"
Meng Weizai said, "From what Random House said, it should be pretty good. If we reprint it and sell it a bit, it might have a chance to be on the bestseller list of their New Village Times."
After hearing what Meng Weizai said, Lin Weimin had an idea.
The New Village Times' bestseller list has a history of several decades and is a weather vane for the U.S. book industry.
The works at the top of the list are all popular in the United States, and some of the heavyweight works have had a great impact worldwide.
The fact that it can be ranked on the bestseller list, even at the bottom, proves that "Farewell My Concubine" has a group of loyal readers in the United States and has some influence.
Come to think of it, the mysterious and charming East, the chaotic political background, the darkness and betrayal of human nature, the distorted homosexual relationship under repression, the poignant and beautiful love...
Putting together so many factors that interest Lao Mi, it is not surprising to achieve such results.
After the fact, any analysis will be correct.
Lin Weimin asked, "How many more copies does Random House plan to print?"
"One hundred thousand."
Lin Weimin was surprised. "This is quite a big step."
Meng Weizai said with a smile: "This proves that your book is popular!"
"This amount of printing is far from being a big hit. At most, it helps the publisher make a little money."
Then he asked happily, "The standard of manuscript fee is the same as what we agreed on last time, right?"
Meng Weizai laughed and teased: "I knew you wouldn't forget this."
"That's right. After we responded, they wired the money immediately."
"As usual, change it to foreign exchange certificates."
"You are such a good kid who never suffers any loss."
"Leader, I'm not at a disadvantage. Why don't you go out and ask around and find out what the price is for rice knives among the people?"
Meng Weizai didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Okay, I got it. I'll exchange them all for foreign exchange certificates for you. I'll report to the president later."
Lin Weimin then said with a playful smile: "Thank you, leader."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
