Chapter 355 Lin Baiwan
It was already past nine o'clock in the evening when I sent Lu Yao back to the Chinese Literature Society.
Tao Huimin looked at Lu Yao's back and said, "I used to think all writers were like you, but after meeting so many of your friends, I realized that everyone is so different."
"Indeed, it's hard to find another one as handsome as me."
Tao Huimin rolled her eyes at him and said, "You are so rude!"
As the car drove along Chaonei Street, Lin Weimin said to Tao Huimin in a serious tone, "The TV series co-produced by CCTV and Hong Kong's TVB should start filming next month. I've asked for a role for you, female No. 4. The filming of The Sound of Wind will be finished soon. I'll tell CCTV and have them inform your troupe."
Tao Huimin was surprised and asked, "Really?"
What made her happy was not that she had another role to play, but that she could be with her boyfriend again.
The script of "Legend of Female Doctor" was written almost two months ago, and CCTV and TVB finally confirmed the cooperation.
Tao Huimin's role as the fourth female role was not very important, so he talked to CCTV and TVB, and both parties were willing to do the favor, so he got the role without any effort.
The role issue that was previously the most hotly debated was ultimately won by TVB, which secured the four main roles of male lead, female lead, second female lead, and third male lead, while the rest were played by actors from the mainland.
After all, the funds invested by wireless television stations far exceed those of CCTV.
Besides, the main purpose of the cooperation between CCTV and TVB is not to train actors, but to take the opportunity to learn from TVB's experience in TV drama shooting.
Other TV stations produce more than a thousand episodes every year, while the total number of TV dramas produced by domestic TV stations last year was only more than 500 episodes.
Such a TV station is worthy of CCTV's cooperation and learning.
As a female-centered drama, the female lead in "The Female Doctor" has the most important role, which was given to one of TVB's current leading actresses - Liza Wang.
She participated in the Spring Festival Gala last year and is a pro-mainland artist. CCTV also recognizes this candidate.
Liza Wang’s appearance was not the best choice for the female doctor Tan Yunxian, but she had a stubborn and tenacious temperament that is unique to Chinese women.
Considering her appearance, temperament and acting skills, she is one of the most suitable candidates, and Lin Weimin, as the screenwriter, also agrees with this.
As for the choice of the male lead, TVB has yet to announce it. According to CCTV, they seem to have been contacting a Hong Kong male star who they have been wooing for a long time.
In late September, Lin Weimin received another payment for his royalties from Random House.
It had been more than a year since Random House last took away several of his novels.
During this period, three novels, "The Horse Catcher", "The Lover" and "Chasing the Murderer", were published one after another.
The first print run of the three novels was 100,000 copies each. At the beginning, "The Lover" was the best-selling one, and it attracted many readers with the gimmick of "Far Eastern version of "The Great Gatsby"".
But soon "The Horse Tamer" came from behind and the first print of 100,000 copies were sold out half a year after it was on the market. Random House reprinted an additional 200,000 copies, which were almost sold out some time ago.
Selling three hundred thousand copies in one year proves the great potential of this novel.
Random House printed an additional 500,000 copies and decided to promote "The Horse Tamer" to the vast English-speaking countries and regions.
For the book "The Horse Catcher" alone, Random House paid Lin Weimin a whopping 850,000 US dollars in royalties.
"The Horse Catcher" sold 300,000 copies in one year. Compared with the annual sales of 100,000 copies of "Farewell My Concubine", it has already shown a trend of becoming a hit.
Lin Weimin had to sigh at the power of inertia. Even after he adapted "The Kite Runner" into "The Horse Lassoer", it was still popular among Michael Jordan.
If this trend continues, this novel will become his next cornucopia.
Compared with the popularity of "The Horse Catcher", "The Lover" lacked stamina after the initial false heat. It took a year for 100,000 copies to be sold, and another 100,000 copies were printed this year, with royalties of 100,000 US dollars.
Among the three novels, the one with the worst sales is "Chasing the Murderer". The first print of 100,000 copies has not been sold out yet.
Qiao Sen had previously written to Lin Weimin specifically to discuss this matter. According to a reader survey initiated by Random House, they had to admit the fact that reading really does require a threshold.
Among a thousand survey samples, only 35% of readers said that they fully understood the author's intention after reading "The Murderer" for the first time, and 38% of readers chose to read it a second time before they understood the story.
The most frightening thing is that 27% of readers choose to give up reading after they feel reading difficulties.
Buying books but not reading them is what makes Random House most uncomfortable.
What made them even more uncomfortable was the last question of the survey, "Would you recommend this novel to your friends?"
Surprisingly, only 24% of readers chose "yes".
This is way off the mark. Clearly, 35% of readers are able to understand the intention of the entire novel after the first reading, but the number of readers who choose "yes" is far lower than this number.
Random House was puzzled by this result and had no choice but to find several readers to consult them face to face about why they chose this option.
The answer given by readers is: they recommend books to friends for social purposes, and do not want their friends to have negative emotions during the reading process, so they choose not to recommend.
Seeing this answer, Qiao Sen cried out that it was a mistake.
When he introduced Lin Weimin's novel, he only thought about the quality of the novel, but did not expect that it would cause such a phenomenon.
Fortunately, the sales curves of "The Horse Snatcher" and "The Lover" are very good, and the print run of 100,000 copies of "The Murderer" is not too large, so there is no loss, but the profit is less.
In addition to these three books, the sales of "Farewell My Concubine", which was introduced to English-speaking countries, also began to gradually increase. The reprint of 600,000 copies has reached the bottom, and this time another 500,000 copies were reprinted.
So this time, the three novels "The Horse Catcher", "The Lover" and "Farewell My Concubine" brought Lin Weimin a total of 1.6 million yuan in royalties.
The more than 400,000 US dollars from Broadway in the second quarter of this year arrived not long ago. Counting the money in the account before, Lin Weimin already has more than 3.5 million US dollars in foreign exchange.
The foreign exchange income he created and owned alone was more than that of most state-owned factories in the country at that time.
When the balance of Lin Weimin's foreign exchange account exceeded one million US dollars at the beginning of this year, the employees of Bank of China secretly gave Lin Weimin a nickname.
——Lin Baiwan.
This nickname was circulated privately in Yanjing City, but it had not yet reached Lin Weimin's ears.
At the end of the month, the filming of "The Sound of Wind" happened to be completed, and Tao Huimin had time, so Lin Weimin took her to the high-rise building of Muxidi.
Before entering the door, Tao Huimin grabbed Lin Weimin with a nervous look on her face.
"Don't be nervous, just call 'teacher' or 'teacher's wife' when you enter the door. The old ladies are very kind, so just chat normally." Lin Weimin comforted.
Tao Huimin calmed down and exhaled twice, "Okay!"
"Teacher! Teacher's wife! Oh, Senior Sister is here today too?" Lin Weimin greeted them warmly as he entered the room.
Mr. and Mrs. Wan responded with a smile, but their eyes skipped over Lin Weimin and stared at Tao Huimin behind Lin Weimin. Tao Huimin felt a little shy when she saw the look in the eyes of the two elders.
When Wan Fang saw Tao Huimin, her eyes lit up immediately. Before Mr. Wan and his wife could ask any questions, she said, "Oh! Are you here with your girlfriend?"
Lin Weimin smiled and pulled Tao Huimin over, formally introducing her: "This is my girlfriend, Tao Huimin, an actress from the Zhijiang Xiaobaihua Yue Opera Troupe."
After the introduction, Wan Fang joked: "My girlfriend has been hiding for so long, and she finally decided to bring her out for us to see."
"I can't wait to bring her here. This is a foreign place, and I finally managed to get her to Yanjing this year."
"So you're not leaving this time? Where are you being transferred to?" Wan Fang asked.
"She is in Yanjing for now. She was in the TV series The Sound of Wind before. The TV series The Female Doctor, co-produced by CCTV and Hong Kong, will start filming in a few days. I asked for a role for her. She should be in Yanjing this year."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Wan nodded with relief. It is always not good for young people to be separated.
He reminded: "You still have to transfer the job back later."
"Yes. Hasn't she graduated yet?"
"Haven't graduated yet?" Wan Fang was a little surprised and asked, "How old is your sister now?"
Tao Huimin felt a little embarrassed and whispered something to Wan Fang.
After hearing this, Wan Fang's eyes widened, and there was something wrong with the look she gave Lin Weimin.
Lin Weimin ignored her and let Tao Huimin chat with her while he chatted with Mr. Wan.
"I heard that your novel has received very good reviews!" said Mr. Wan.
"It hasn't been published yet. How did you know about it?" Lin Weimin felt a little surprised.
Mr. Wan joked, "Why, as an old man, I can't make a few friends?"
"Look at what you said." Lin Weimin smiled and said, "My novel may have an advantage in subject matter. It is different from panoramic historical novels like Li Zicheng, so it is more fresh for everyone to read."
Mr. Wan chuckled and said, "Not bad, now you know how to be humble."
"I've always been humble, okay?"
Wan Fang chatted with Tao Huimin for a while and asked about Lin Weimin: "Hey, Weimin, I heard that you are the vice president of the Chinese Literature Foundation."
"How did you know? This news hasn't been announced to the public yet!"
"The news from the Literary Association is all over the place, but you are the only one who turns a deaf ear to what's happening outside." Wan Fang said.
Wan Fang was not wrong about this. Apart from his literary creation, Lin Weimin rarely paid attention to the news of the Writers Association and the literary world.
Wan Fang continued: "You are really showing off a lot!"
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if it's big. Let those people be envious and jealous!"
Wan Fang clapped her hands and laughed, "This is a great use of 'envy, jealousy and hatred'!"
Lin Weimin did not tell Wan Fang what was behind this "vice president", but Mr. Wan saw it very clearly.
The old man looked at his disciple's wings becoming stronger and stronger, with a happy smile on his face.
(End of this chapter)
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