Chapter 408 This kid is not authentic
New York, USA.
Inside an old tenement building in Manhattan's Chinatown.
The weekly literary salon is still going on. Cheng Danqing, Li Quanwu and others are still sitting on the floor as before, listening to Mu Xin's endless exposition of his unique literary ideas, and everyone is fascinated.
After Mu Xin finished his lecture, everyone prepared dinner together.
Li Quanwu said: "Have you heard about it?"
"What did you hear?" Everyone looked curious.
"The last person who came back, Lin Weimin, wrote a novel specifically criticizing us after returning from the United States."
"What?" Everyone was surprised. "Why?"
Li Quanwu sneered, "Who knows! We treated him with courtesy last time he came, but this guy turned his kindness into hatred! Not only us, he even scolded the United States, criticizing this place as worthless!"
"Is this true? That's too mean, isn't it?"
"The last time he came, he didn't fit in with us. I thought he was just not used to the United States, but I didn't expect that he actually looked down on us. There's no need to write a book specifically to curse him, right?"
"Who knows? These scholars are so cunning and deceitful, so evil!"
"He only dares to write these things to please people in China. Why don't you ask him to write one in the United States?"
Everyone was talking about it, all with a bit of anger.
Cheng Danqing looked unhappy as he listened to his friends' discussions. It was he who invited Lin Weimin last time. He thought he was a fellow villager, but he didn't expect to shoot him in the back.
Cheng Danqing was also angry and a little irritated. He looked at Mu Xin who was sitting in the living room.
The old man was not affected by the crowd at all. He sat there smoking his pipe with a calm expression.
Cheng Danqing was just about to say a few words to Mu Xin when someone knocked on the door, so he went to open it.
A young man with yellow skin and black eyes stood at the door. "Hello, I'm looking for Mr. Cheng Danqing!"
The young man spoke unstandard Chinese. Cheng Danqing looked a little puzzled. His interpersonal relationships in New York were simple, and he was sure that he didn't know the young man in front of him.
"That's me. What do you want from me?"
When the young man learned that he was Cheng Danqing, he smiled and said, "Hello, my name is Huang Guangsheng. I am entrusted by Mr. Lin to deliver something to you."
Mr. Lin?
Lin Weimin’s face immediately flashed through Cheng Danqing’s mind. He suppressed his anger and took the thing that Huang Guangsheng handed to him.
The two men nodded, and Huang Guangsheng said goodbye and left.
Cheng Danqing closed the door and walked back to the house. His friends asked, "Danqing, who was that just now?"
Cheng Danqing did not answer his friends' questions, his eyes were on the envelope in his hand.
Everyone looked at the thing in his hand curiously, "A letter from home?"
Cheng Danqing opened the envelope, revealing a dozen beautifully printed tickets and a piece of letter paper.
Others came over, "What is this?"
Cheng Danqing handed the tickets to everyone and unfolded the letter in the envelope.
The letter was written by Lin Weimin and was not long.
He just said that he was invited to attend a party with Cheng Danqing and others last time, and a story came to his mind. After writing it down, he thought that people might feel uncomfortable after reading it. It happened that his play was about to be performed, so he specially gave some tickets to the play.
After reading the letter, Cheng Danqing's anger subsided a little, but he still felt a little aggrieved.
You wrote a novel to scold us, and now you think of it as an apology by buying some tickets to a play?
No, this guy never said a word of apology in the letter from beginning to end.
Thinking of this, Cheng Danqing's anger returned.
This boy is so dishonest!
After everyone looked through the tickets, they became interested in the letter in Cheng Danqing's hand, so he handed it over.
After Dahua finished reading the letter, Lu Zhifang said, "At least this guy has some conscience!"
"He has no conscience!" Li Quanwu was indignant. "He didn't say a word of apology from beginning to end. What's the point of getting a few tickets? He wants to bribe us with this little favor? He thinks we have never seen money. Who does he think he is?"
Lu Zhifang looked at the tickets and said, "These are Broadway tickets. They are not cheap."
Hearing her say this, Li Quanwu's expression turned even uglier. "How cheap can it be?"
"All of these added together should be worth two thousand swords." Lu Zhifang said quietly.
Li Quanwu stopped talking.
Two thousand dollars is definitely not a small sum for Li Quanwu and his group of people who stayed in Japan. They worked in their spare time and most of them only earned a few hundred dollars a month.
When the others heard Lu Zhifang's words, their expressions brightened up a lot.
Intellectuals are all very concerned about their reputation. Although they didn't say anything to apologize, sending these tickets is actually a kind of sincerity!
"We have been in the United States for more than a year and have been living in Manhattan, but we have never been to Broadway!" someone said dejectedly.
In the United States, going to Broadway to watch musicals and plays is not a cheap entertainment activity. Tickets start at hundreds of dollars, which is too luxurious for international students like them who are in difficult financial circumstances.
After this sentence was said, the atmosphere became a little subtle.
Everyone thought of what Cheng Danqing and Li Quanwu said after they saw Lin Weimin off that day. Lin Weimin left in a Mercedes-Benz.
When we met before, everyone was more or less proud in their attitude when talking to Lin Weimin. Even though you are famous in China, we are already abroad.
But now everyone has finally discovered the uniqueness of Lin Weimin.
In the past, everyone only knew that Lin Weimin was very famous in China and his novels were published abroad, but they had no idea about these things.
The Mercedes Benz used for transportation and the two thousand meter swords given out at will finally made everyone realize that their pride in being in the United States did not seem to be worth mentioning in Lin Weimin's eyes.
Thinking of this, an indescribable feeling crept into everyone's heart.
Humiliating? A little bit, it seems. But when I think about how successful they are both at home and abroad, I don't seem to have any right to criticize them.
The people there have been very nice from the moment we arrived until we left, and now they've given us valuable tickets.
But I just feel a little uncomfortable in my heart. I can’t describe the feeling, but it’s a bit depressing anyway.
"Don't be silent! What should we do with these tickets?" Li Quanwu yelled.
Everyone was silent for a long time, and finally someone reached out and pulled out two tickets. "It would be a waste if you don't go! After all, the tickets are only a few hundred dollars, and it's just right for me to take my wife to see it!"
"That's right. Why not go? I want to see what's so great about this Lin Weimin!"
The group of people quickly divided up the tickets, leaving two tickets for Cheng Danqing and Mu Xin.
"Teacher, are you going?" Cheng Danqing asked.
Mu Xin said with a smile: "We have the tickets, so let's go and see it! The play written by us Chinese is being performed on Broadway in the United States, so of course we have to go and show our support!"
After Mu Xin finished speaking, everyone's eyes lit up. Didn't the overall situation suddenly open up?
Yes! We are not here to support Lin Weimin, but to support the Chinese people!
The next evening, Broadway.
The Nederlander Theatre, located at 208 West 41st Street, was built in 1921 and is one of nine theaters owned by the Nederlander Theater Organization on Broadway.
The premiere of "The Kite Runner" was chosen here, not only because a play had just been withdrawn here, but also because the Netherlands Theater Organization happened to be one of the investors of this play.
The success of "The Intouchables" fully verified Arthur Miller's vision. After hearing the news that Arthur Miller was going to make "The Kite Runner" again, many Broadway theaters, production companies, and copyright companies took the initiative to offer investment.
Arthur Miller was a mature playwright who was well versed in the rules of Broadway, so he did not refuse the investment that came to his door, even if it would share the profits that he should have received.
Previously, he persuaded Lin Weimin to invest in "The Kite Runner" because he had so many investors and he did not lack Lin Weimin, the original author and screenwriter.
But Lin Weimin was more shrewd and sensible than he thought. He decisively rejected his suggestion and only sought his own share of the box office.
Arthur Miller had to admit that it was a very comfortable thing to work with someone like Lin Weimin.
As night fell, New York's skyscrapers covered the sky near Broadway. The theater's neon lights lit up, and the audience was lining up at the theater entrance. Cheng Danqing and his group followed the line into the theater.
The tickets and seats that Lin Weimin arranged for Cheng Danqing and the others were in the front rows of the theater, which was a very good location.
Lu Zhifang was one of the few people in the group who had experience watching a play on Broadway. After arriving, she realized that her previous estimate of 2,000 meters was too little. Considering this position, 3,000 meters was about right.
Everyone sat in their seats and looked around. At this time, the theater was already half full, but more people were still coming in.
After a few more minutes, almost all the empty seats in the theater were occupied.
Everyone knows that the play "The Kite Runner" will premiere today, but no one expected that there would be so many audiences to support it.
Are Lin Weimin's works so popular in the United States?
"It must be aimed at Arthur Miller!" Li Quanwu said to everyone.
"The Kite Runner" is adapted from Lin Weimin's "The Horse Lassoer", which is marked on the American version of the drama poster. Everyone has come to the United States in the past two years and is naturally familiar with "The Horse Lassoer".
On the contrary, Mu Xin, an old man who has been in the United States for almost ten years, has never heard of the name of "The Horse Lassoer" at all.
Cheng Danqing repeated the plot of "The Horse Lassoer" to him in his ear, which helped Mu Xin understand the play "The Kite Runner".
The lights dimmed, the curtain opened, and the show began.
Cheng Danqing had seen the drama "The Horse Catcher" in China and recognized at a glance that Amir on the stage was Bayin and Hassan was Bater.
He also had some understanding of the background of the Afghan war, and after the first ten minutes or so, he was easily immersed in the charm of the drama.
"The Kite Runner" is a big play. A few hours passed by in a flash, and before we knew it, the performance was coming to an end.
On the stage, the actors were taking their curtain calls and the audience in the theater stood up and applauded. The applause echoed throughout the theater, deafening.
It was obvious that the audience was extremely satisfied with the performance just now.
The applause reached a climax when Arthur Miller, the producer, investor and one of the screenwriters, came on stage.
The applause lasted for a long time, and it was obvious that it was not just out of politeness but came from the audience's sincerity.
When the audience left, everyone followed them out of the theater.
Everyone was still somewhat excited and was talking loudly about the plot and actors of the drama that had just been performed.
"There was a female actress on the stage just now, was it Chen Chong? The more I look at her, the more she looks like her!"
"I don't know. How come she's acting on Broadway?"
"She went to study in the United States before, so it's normal for her to act on Broadway. After all, that's what she does!"
"This play is based on Lin Weimin's original work, so it's normal to use an actor from China."
After everyone chatted for a while, Cheng Danqing heard Li Quanwu say, "That Arthur Miller, his ex-wife is Marilyn Monroe, did you know that?"
Some of the companions looked a little surprised, "Marilyn Monroe?"
"Don't you know? He is a famous American playwright, with a similar status to Mr. Wan in China. He married Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s and divorced a few years later."
Li Quanwu had a smug look on his face when he was explaining science to his companions. He had specially looked up information in order to watch the drama.
"The person Lin Weimin found is quite powerful!" everyone exclaimed.
"He's just lucky!" Li Quanwu suddenly said indignantly, with a very contradictory attitude.
Everyone looked at Li Quanwu with a strange look. You got the tickets, you watched the play, and now you turn around and curse others like this. It's a bit unkind.
This has nothing to do with whether or not one is Chinese; it is purely a question of character.
Everyone chatted as they walked. They had finally made it to Broadway. Although it was almost midnight, it was the busiest time on Broadway.
The theaters were disbanding one after another, and the audiences poured out like a tide. Some of the audiences, still immersed in the atmosphere of the drama, were reluctant to leave, which made it possible for the small vendors here to leave.
Cheng Danqing and the others had had dinner five or six hours ago and were a little hungry. When they passed by a hot dog stand, someone suggested buying something to eat, and everyone readily agreed.
Walking on the streets of Broadway, there are neon lights of theaters on both sides. The lights are reflected on the posters, which are full of artistic atmosphere and make people intoxicated.
In the past, when they walked alone on the streets of this strange country, they always felt nervous and humble.
But today was different. They had just finished watching a wonderful play in a Broadway theater and were eating hot dogs. Because they were accompanied by their companions, they walked around without restraint, talking loudly and laughing.
This is the life they dream of studying in the United States!
Cheng Danqing and Mu Xin fell behind the crowd. He was also happy, but also a little sad at the same time.
Because he knew that moments like tonight were like Cinderella's crystal shoes and pumpkin carriage, which were only a fleeting possession for everyone.
Thinking of this, he felt somewhat dissatisfied with Lin Weimin again.
The feeling of having something and then losing it is even more painful.
As everyone was walking, Lu Zhifang suddenly stopped, and the others stopped as well.
"What's wrong, Zhifang?" everyone asked.
Lu Zhifang looked at the theater not far away and said, "Lin Weimin's other play, The Intouchables, is still being performed here."
Her words suddenly made the originally warm and cheerful atmosphere become dull, and everyone seemed to be a little bored.
Li Quanwu, who had always been dissatisfied with Lin Weimin, looked at the Barrymore Theater not far away with complicated eyes and muttered to himself.
Cheng Danqing was closest to him and heard the faint voice, "That's fucking awesome!"
(End of this chapter)
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