Chapter 316 Naoki Prize
After breakfast, the news in the morning newspapers seemed to have changed the atmosphere of the entire Yanjing City.
Young people waved the five-star red flag, walked on the road without any hesitation, and sang loudly. Passers-by on the street also smiled knowingly when they saw this scene.
Everyone is full of vitality and joy. They walk on the streets, turning the streets into the color of the rising sun.
Lin Weimin drove to the Guowen Publishing House and as soon as he got out of the car, he saw Uncle Zhai from the mailroom standing at the door of the front building.
"Weimin, the Chinese team won the gold medal!"
Lin Weimin smiled and replied, "I see. This morning, a kid ran from one end of the alley to the other end holding a newspaper."
Uncle Zhai's words resonated with his colleagues who had just entered the hospital. Everyone started chatting while leaning on their bikes. More and more people gathered at the door, and it was very lively.
"The Chinese team won the gold medal! The company should give us a day off to celebrate so that everyone can watch the Olympics!" a young colleague shouted.
"Okay, I'll give you half a month off so you can watch as much as you want!"
"That would be great! Hey! Half a month..."
As he was talking, the colleague realized something was wrong and turned around to look.
Comrade Lao Yan stood on the steps at the door, looking down with a death ray.
The young colleague was like a mouse seeing a cat, shrinking his neck and not daring to say anything.
The discussion meeting in front of the building came to an abrupt end because of Lao Yan's appearance.
Lin Weimin joked: "Young people are ignorant. If you want to watch the Olympics, why don't you skip work and go home to watch it? Ask your boss to give you a day off. Aren't you asking your boss to make a mistake?"
Yan Wenjing glared at him and said, "Stop playing dumb here. Don't let me know that any of you are absent from work!"
"Leader, look at what you said. In our Guowen Society, is there any comrade who loves his job more than me? Even if someone is absent from work, I can't be absent from work!
I just think that young people nowadays are so unreasonable. Instead of thinking about working hard all day long, they just think about having fun.
What does the Olympics have to do with you? What does the Chinese team winning the gold medal have to do with you?
..."
Lin Weimin spoke in a sarcastic tone, and the more he spoke, the darker Yan Wenjing's face became.
"Go back to the back building if you have nothing to do. Why are you running to the front?" Yan Wenjing scolded.
"Okay, boss, you're busy, I'll go to work first."
Lin Weimin left amid the laughter of his colleagues.
After entering the office, Yao Shuzhi started teasing Lin Weimin about the scolding he had just received.
"You don't understand. This leader loves me deeply and blames me severely!"
"Yes, yes, people like us don't even have the chance to be scolded by our leaders!"
"Jealousy, naked jealousy!"
The colleagues laughed and the newspapers on the table were flipping through the pages.
The news that Xu Haifeng won China's first gold medal made the front pages of People's Daily, Guangming Daily and Sports Daily.
This morning, no one was in the mood to work. The topic was all about the Olympics and Xu Haifeng's gold medal. Everyone was also guessing in which event and by which athlete China's next gold medal would be won.
Just as we were about to have dinner, my colleagues who had been away for half a month to attend a writers' conference in Yantai came back.
After reporting the work and having lunch in the cafeteria, the group of people ran away again.
Under the pretext that he had finally returned to Yanjing after a half-month business trip, he needed to take a good rest for two days. He would probably go home and watch the Olympic Games broadcast on TV.
Don’t be fooled by what Lao Yan said, which sounded harsh, in fact, it was more of impotence and rage.
The Olympics is such a grand event, and it is China's first time to participate, so the people are naturally very excited. It is conceivable that in recent days, there are definitely quite a few cases of absenteeism in large and small units and schools in Yanjing City.
Lao Yan is just talking nonsense, the law cannot hold everyone responsible.
The Olympic Games on the other side of the ocean are in full swing. As Olympic athletes continue to achieve great results, Yanjing in August is also bustling with activity.
Amid the frenzy in the city, Guowen Society received a call from Nihong.
The call was from Shinchosha, the publishing house responsible for publishing the Japanese version of "Farewell My Concubine".
"Won an award?" Lin Weimin listened to the plastic Chinese on the other end of the phone and struggled to decipher the words on the other end. "Mother of All Prizes Award? What kind of award is that?"
After listening for a long time, he couldn't help but complain in his heart, couldn't such a large publishing house find someone with a better command of Chinese to make this call?
The person speaking on the other end of the phone was a translator, and there was a person speaking the Nihong language next to him who was also speaking.
Every time someone speaks a sentence in Nihong language, the translator follows.
It turns out it’s not the Mother of the Year Award, but the Naoki Prize.
The Naoki Prize is the most influential literary award in Japan and is known for its popularity. It never selects works by famous authors, but instead pays more attention to the works of newcomers and unknown writers. It always has a special preference for works with strong storytelling.
The Naoki Prize is very different from many literary awards in the world in that it is awarded twice a year, in February and August respectively. It relies on frequent awards to attract readers' attention.
This year's Naoki Prize is a bit special. There were no winning works in the February award ceremony in the first half of the year, so there is a vacancy.
"Farewell My Concubine" has been published in Nihong for almost two years, and it is not a novel written by a Nihong person, so it should not be included in the selection range of the Naoki Prize.
But when the awards were given in the second half of the year, perhaps because there was a lack of talent this year, some judge suddenly had a brain cramp and nominated "Farewell My Concubine".
Everyone just look, it doesn’t matter if you just look at it.
Damn, this thing is so damn suitable for our taste!
It would be unreasonable not to give an award since there aren't many decent works this year.
Okay, it’s you!
The muddled language on the other end of the phone was translated into broken Chinese, which then went around in Lin Weimin's mind and became like this.
"Lin Jun, the Naoki Prize award ceremony will be held on the 15th of this month. Please be sure to attend."
"Number 15?" Lin Weimin pondered.
Deep down, he was a little reluctant to go because the translator had just revealed a crucial piece of information on the phone: the prize money for the Naoki Prize was 1.2 million yen.
Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?
But this thing is not valuable. Lin Weimin converted it in his mind and it is roughly equivalent to 20,000 RMB.
You want to invite Teacher Lin to perform for a fee of 20,000 yuan?
I’m afraid it’s a bit difficult!
Besides, I just heard the translator say a lot, and he was almost praising the Naoki Prize to the sky. But if you analyze it carefully, no matter how much you hype it up, it's just a rookie award.
Going all the way here to receive a newcomer award?
I've won the Yanbing Literature Award, and I can't afford to lose the Newcomer Award!
"I'm afraid it's too late, so please let your publishing house take me to pick it up!"
Lin Weimin directly rejected Xinchaoshe's request, and the Japanese on the other end of the phone said a lot of gibberish.
The translator pleaded again, but Lin Weimin said impatiently, "No, no. Just tell him I'm too busy at work and can't spare the time."
He said that and hung up the phone.
Yan Wenjing asked, "Why did you die?"
He listened from beginning to end and heard everything he was supposed to hear.
"Why not hang up? Let me go to receive the award, it's just a crappy newcomer award! It's so far away, it's not worth it."
Yan Wenjing said, "What the hell is this newcomer award? It's true that the Naoki Prize is for newcomers, but not just any newcomer can win it. It has a significant influence on the domestic literary world. All authors who have won this award have become heavyweight writers in the domestic literary world."
"Two heavyweight writers in one year?" Lin Weimin asked mercilessly.
Yan Wenjing showed a bit of embarrassment, "There are also those who are useless. The key is that the newcomers get this award and their royalties jump three levels, and people rush to ask you to publish their works."
"Then there's no need for me to travel all the way to receive the award!"
Yan Wenjing said helplessly: "Everyone is eager to go abroad, but for you, going abroad is like asking for your life, so difficult? Lao Meng told me before that Mr. Arthur Miller from the United States also invited you to go there, and you have the same attitude!"
"Why go abroad? People are inferior when they leave their hometown. You don't even understand this truth!"
"I'm not telling you not to come back after you go. Isn't it nice to receive an award and get to know the customs and practices of foreign countries?"
"No matter what you say, the Naoki Prize is just a newcomer award. After all, I've won the Yanbing Literature Prize. Wouldn't it be devaluing myself to accept the award?"
Yan Wenjing shook his head, "You are really good at fighting!"
"What do you mean by arguing? I mean self-respect and self-love."
"Okay, okay, okay. I can't convince you. If you don't want to go, then don't go. Don't regret it later."
"Why regret? It's not like there won't be opportunities in the future. Hey, old...President, it seems like you can't wait to send me away?" Lin Weimin looked at Yan Wenjing suspiciously.
"Bullshit! I did that for your own good. It was obviously a good thing, but when you said it, it sounded like a huge sin."
Lin Weimin waved his hand, "That's not necessary. If we want to go abroad in the future, we have to let them treat us like masters and invite us over."
Yan Wenjing looked impatient, "Go away, go away, I get annoyed just by seeing you."
"You old man..."
Yan Wenjing glared at Lin Weimin, who stopped talking and left the office in disgrace.
"Tsk, you're worshipping foreigners!"
There is no impenetrable wall in Guowen Society.
Lin Weimin won the most influential literary award in the country. The news spread throughout the company within just half an hour, and a lot of people came to congratulate Lin Weimin.
This incident quickly spread in the literary circles of Yanjing.
Lin Weimin regards the Naoki Prize as a newcomer award, but others do not see it that way.
These days, the moon in foreign countries is always rounder than the moon in China. And the Naoki Prize is indeed the largest literary award in Japan, and this is indisputable.
Upon learning that Lin Weimin and "Farewell My Concubine" won the Naoki Prize, newspapers immediately came to interview us.
During this period of the Olympic Games, Olympic athletes won gold medals one after another, and people were so excited that they loved to watch this kind of drama that brought glory to the country.
Lin Weimin did not let the reporters succeed and simply closed the door to refuse visitors.
Finally, I would like to say something to the reporters: It’s just a newcomer award, why are you so excited?
Reporters: ???
(End of this chapter)
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