Chapter 410 Self-ICU
After the National Day, the weather becomes clear and cool in autumn, which is a rare good weather in Yanjing in a year.
But the good days didn't last long, only about half a month. When the weather in Yanjing started to get cooler in late October, winter was about to come.
Lin Weimin was at work that day, and Acheng came to the editorial department after a long absence.
"How come you have time to come to our editorial office?" Lin Weimin asked happily.
After the publication of his masterpiece "Three Kings", Ah Cheng stopped creating new works and devoted more energy to movies.
Last year, when Xie Jin was going to shoot "Furong Town", Ah Cheng showed off his skills at the film symposium and amazed everyone.
Ah Cheng said, "Danqing wrote to me to complain, saying that he met you in New York and kindly invited you to visit him, but after you returned to China, you wrote a novel in which you severely criticized the group of overseas students."
Lin Weimin smiled and asked, "Is that how he understands it?"
In response to Lin Weimin's question, A Cheng also laughed and took out a book from his bag.
It was the English version of "Burning". This novel was published by Random House last month. The first print run was 100,000 copies, with a royalty of 13%, which brought Mr. Lin an income of more than 100,000 US dollars.
"If I say that's how he understands it, would you be angry?" Ah Cheng asked.
Lin Weimin said calmly, "It's normal for him to be angry. After all, this novel to some extent alludes to this group of people. Why should I be angry?"
Ah Cheng then took out another letter from his bag, "This letter and the book were sent to me by him, you can take a look."
Lin Weimin took the thing, feeling a little curious, and unfolded the letter.
——
After reading the novel and performing the drama, Cheng Danqing had some complicated feelings towards Lin Weimin.
Recently, Lin Weimin and his new novel have become hot topics in the Chinese study abroad circle in New York.
Everyone has relatives and friends in China. The novel "Burning" is said to be extremely popular in China now. After reading it, many people will naturally mention it when writing to their relatives and friends studying abroad.
It is difficult to get the full picture from the few words in the letter. Many international students have preconceived that Lin Weimin has ill intentions towards them, and they often curse Lin Weimin in private gatherings.
He was clearly still making money from the Americans, but he turned around and cursed these international students and the United States.
He is really the kind of guy who "eats when he picks up the bowl and curses when he puts it down"!
In Cheng Danqing's small circle, most people who went to see the drama that day chose to avoid the topic when it was mentioned after they came back.
He knew very well that everyone was actually very contradictory. After all, people are grateful for what they have received and feel obliged to return the favor.
You can just give away tickets for a play worth three thousand dollars. You can't say bad things about others against your conscience.
Cheng Danqing's malicious guess does not mean that everyone is noble.
It’s because if anyone really said something bad about Lin Weimin, it would be easy for him to become the person with “character problems” in their small group.
After all, everyone saw that you took advantage of the situation, but instead of appreciating it, you cursed others behind their backs. That was really unkind of you, and no one dared to trust such a person too much.
For a period of time, the discussion about Lin Weimin became a topic that many international students could not avoid when they got together to discuss.
Cheng Danqing sometimes feels annoyed. Everyone has come here to study abroad with great difficulty, so why should they create trouble for themselves because of someone who is still in the country?
He regarded Mu Xin as his father. The two often chatted and visited various attractions and bookstores in New York together.
One day, the two of them went to a bookstore, and Mu Xin noticed a sample book placed in the best-selling section of the bookstore.
"Burning".
"combustion".
Cheng Danqing followed Mu Xin's gaze and saw the book, and the Chinese translation of the book subconsciously flashed through his mind.
This is……
Cheng Danqing was a little bit unbelieving. He leaned over, picked up the book and opened it.
After two years in the United States, he had already mastered fluent reading and writing in English, and reading novels was no problem for him.
He flipped through a few pages of the book at a glance and was sure in his heart that this was the novel written by Lin Weimin.
He closed the book gently and saw the author's name on the cover of the novel, and couldn't help but smile.
I was so anxious that I didn't even see such an important name.
Cheng Danqing studied the title and author's name on the cover of the novel, and suddenly thought of what Li Quanwu said that night - "He only dares to write these things to please people in China, why don't you let him write one in the United States?"
I suddenly felt a little ashamed of this sentence.
He wrote a novel criticizing the United States. It was not only written for Chinese people, but also published in the United States.
Cheng Danqing couldn't help but raise his head and look at the customers in the bookstore. What would these people do if they saw the contents of this book?
He glanced at the boss who was doing nothing on the side and spoke out of curiosity.
"Boss, how is the sales of this book?"
The boss was an old white man with a kind face. "It's just so-so, but the book is well written. I suggest you take a look."
"It's well written? Have you read it?" Cheng Danqing was a little surprised.
The old white man nodded. "I read most of the books in the bookstore, but I only read a little bit of some of them. Only a few of them I will finish reading. It just so happens that I just finished reading the one you picked a few days ago."
Cheng Danqing was surprised that his boss had actually read the book and even gave it a positive review.
"Don't you think this book might be offensive to Americans?"
The old white man looked a little surprised, then he looked at Cheng Danqing's skin color and seemed to understand that the author of this novel seemed to have the same skin color as the young man in front of him.
"I am only speaking from the perspective of a reader, not an American. If I were British, would I also feel offended by Dickens's words?"
The boss's words left Cheng Danqing speechless.
At this moment, he seemed to have an epiphany.
This white boss can to a large extent represent American readers who like the novel "Burning". They do not regard the criticism of national and social phenomena in the novel as humiliation or slander.
The reason why they have such a view is that when the author Lin Weimin wrote this novel, he did not have the intention to simply criticize the United States or the international student community.
Lin Weimin's criticism is more directed at the system itself.
Including the publishing house that published "Burning", they also did not overly avoid the critical tendencies in the novel, but simply looked at the problem from a literary perspective.
On the contrary, it is this group of international students from China who inevitably look at the novel "Burning" with tinted glasses, perhaps for political reasons or perhaps out of cultural inferiority.
At this moment, Cheng Danqing felt ashamed.
He finally understood why the letter Lin Weimin sent him contained only a polite greeting but no apology.
It's just a literary creation, why should I apologize?
Apologizing turned the incident into a disguised humiliation.
After figuring this out, Cheng Danqing's mind suddenly opened up.
"Boss, I want to buy this book!"
The old white man smiled kindly again, "Young man, you have good taste!"
Cheng Danqing smiled and felt an unprecedented sense of confidence.
——
Cheng Danqing wrote a long paragraph about his thoughts on "Burning". After reading it, Lin Weimin couldn't help but smile knowingly.
Although Mr. Lin’s ICU skills are rarely used in battle, he still uses them occasionally and their charm remains the same.
The letter was written by Cheng Danqing to Ah Cheng, but he also wrote in it that Ah Cheng must show the letter to Lin Weimin.
He wrote a paragraph at the end of the letter.
"I saw you off at the foot of the apartment building and watched you get into the Mercedes. At the time, I thought to myself, this guy is such a f*cking pretentious guy.
But since you can publish novels criticizing the United States in the United States, I have to admit that you are not pretending.
But it’s really awesome!”
After reading the last paragraph, Lin Weimin folded the letter and handed it back to Ah Cheng.
"How is it?" Acheng asked.
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "I am glad that he thinks this way. At least someone understands my hard work."
Ah Cheng had no doubts and said happily: "It's really gratifying to see that you understand each other."
He added: "This English version of Burning was specially sent back by Danqing. I leave it to you as a souvenir."
Lin Weimin nodded and accepted the book.
After talking about Cheng Danqing, Lin Weimin asked, "What are you busy with recently?"
"I have written a script before and it has been filmed now. I am currently writing another script called "Yueyue"."
"Yueyue" is a love-themed movie that tells the story of the heroine Yueyue who is torn between two men, Menmen and Caicai and cannot make a decision.
Lin Weimin listened to Ah Cheng's explanation of the content of the script. It sounded like a very common subject matter in later generations, but in the domestic film industry in the 1980s, this style was actually very avant-garde.
Three novels were published in succession, and a collection of them was published before. The royalties from his works greatly improved Acheng's financial situation.
So when Lin Weimin asked him if he had written any more works, Ah Cheng shook his head and said, "I don't have any inspiration for the time being."
He has been influenced by and loves movies since he was a child. Now that he has the opportunity, he focuses all his attention on movies.
For him, literary creation is more like a means of making a living.
Lin Weimin said with some regret: "It's a pity that you don't write novels!"
Ah Cheng smiled and said, "I know my own strengths and weaknesses. The impression left by the readers of "King of Chess", "King of Trees" and "King of Children" is so deep that I don't believe I can write such a good work again."
What Ah Cheng said is also one of the reasons why he doesn't want to write novels anymore.
Some people reach the peak as soon as they debut and amaze everyone at a young age. Throughout their lives, they may constantly try to break the barriers they draw for themselves.
"You won't write anymore in the future?" Lin Weimin asked.
"Of course not." Ah Cheng smiled jokingly, "It's not that I won't write, I just won't publish it. Unless I'm particularly satisfied with it, I won't publish it."
Lin Weimin suddenly realized, pointed at him and said with a smile: "You kid, you are such a thief!"
(End of this chapter)
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