Chapter 444: Serve the People
Teng Jinxian and Zhang Zhongpei both breathed a sigh of relief that the problem of cultural relics protection in the Forbidden City was solved without bloodshed, especially Zhang Zhongpei, the director of the Palace Museum.
Before Lin Weimin came, he had a headache for several days because of the problems with the script and filming.
The filming location for "The Last Emperor" was directly approved by the higher-ups, and the crew readily agreed before coming in. But when it came time to implement it, they often chose to ignore the relevant regulations of the Forbidden City for their own convenience.
He won't listen no matter what you say, and he can't be driven away. Forget about punishing him. He just dealt with the other crew, and now he will be dealt with by others.
Now, this big problem was easily solved by Lin Weimin, and Zhang Zhongpei felt very happy.
I was so happy that I drank too much.
Well, except Zhang Zhongpei.
At ten o'clock in the evening in Yanjing City, a group of greasy middle-aged men in their forties and fifties were staggering on the road. Teng Jinxian and Bertolucci hugged each other's shoulders, as close as brothers, and did not forget to sing.
"Arise, you starving slaves,
Arise, you suffering people of the world!
My blood is boiling.
Fight for the truth!
The old world is in ruins,
Slaves, arise, arise!
Don't say we have nothing.
We want to be the masters of the world!
This is the final struggle.
Unite, until tomorrow,
The Internationale must be realized.”
The howling of ghosts and wolves on the street made the young people passing by occasionally look sideways.
Comrade Lao Bei showed his true colors as a well-known Italian Communist Party member today. Not only passers-by, but even Thomas, his long-time friend, was surprised.
"He's so crazy!" Thomas complained from behind.
Lin Weimin was drunk and said, "Old Tuo, let me teach you another ancient Chinese poem: I am an old man, but I am still as wild as a young man. I hold Huang on my left and Cang on my right."
When he recited this sentence, Thomas was on his left and the translator Xiao Jia was on his right.
"What does this mean?" Thomas asked.
Lin Weimin thought for a long time and shouted to the translator beside him: "Xiao Jia, how do you translate this sentence?"
Xiao Jia, who had zero presence throughout the dinner, finally found his place and carefully translated this sentence to Thomas.
Thomas shook his heavy head and said, "Not bad, not bad. I am still as wild as a young man, holding Huang in my left hand...hiccup..."
As he spoke, he exchanged positions with Lin Weimin.
The three of them walked together, with Thomas standing in the middle, Lin Weimin on his left, and Xiao Jia on his right.
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "You are not drunk, kid!"
"I can finish a whole bottle of vodka, this is nothing, ugh..."
Thomas didn't finish bragging. He rolled his eyes, leaned over, opened his mouth, and plunged down three thousand feet. His whole operation was smooth and flowing.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Lin Weimin jumped up and escaped from the attack range just as he was about to lean over.
Xiao Jia, who was a little slow to react, didn't have time to escape from the fight. Looking at the dirt on his trouser legs and shoes, he felt like crying but had no tears.
I served you all night long. Even if I have no credit, I have worked hard. It’s okay that I was scolded just now, but you wouldn’t let me go even for spitting something out!
Thomas was about to fall headfirst onto the curb after vomiting, but Xiao Jia quickly caught him and said, "Teacher Lin!"
"Coming! Coming!" Lin Weimin responded, but he kept moving his feet and muttered, "Is this vodka? I'll drink both of you!"
Xiao Jia couldn't help but complain in his heart, "Don't you know how much you drank? I just listened to you bragging all night!"
Well, actually I’m not bragging, what Teacher Lin said is all true, he is really awesome.
Comrades Lao Teng and Lao Bei in the front were so drunk that they almost ran away while singing.
Lin Weimin and Xiao Jia supported the unconscious Thomas and chased him from behind, shouting, "Slow down, both of you!"
Zhang Zhongpei followed behind a few people calmly and leisurely.
Young people, each one is more arrogant than the other.
It’s a pity that my alcohol tolerance is just average!
The next day, Lin Weimin came to work at the Guowen Press with a slight hangover, and received an international wire transfer from Hong Kong at noon.
It was the royalties from the Hong Kong publication of "The Ming Dynasty 1566". The first print run was 200,000 copies, and Lin Weimin received a royalty of HK$780,000.
Compared with other overseas regions, this remuneration is a bit not enough. Some time ago, the French version of "The Lover" was published, with the first print run of 500,000 copies. Lin Weimin received nearly 600,000 US dollars in royalties.
But Hong Kong is, after all, a city with a population of only a few million.
The first print run of 200,000 copies is already a very high number. At that time, the peak sales of Jin Yong's martial arts novels were only about 300,000 to 500,000 copies. What's more, "The Ming Dynasty 1566" is a serious historical novel.
In the afternoon, Shi Lan rode her bicycle to the Chinese Literature Society with a happy look on her face.
Her sister-in-law Cheng Ximi got a job as a teacher at Yenching University of Electronic Science and Technology, and her family couldn't be more satisfied with the result.
In the past six months, Cheng Ximi and Shi Tiesheng traveled back and forth between Yanjing and Xi'an for their marriage and work. Now that the work is finally done, the couple can be reunited.
"My dad and my brother asked you to come to our house for dinner to celebrate!"
"Okay, got it!"
After get off work in the evening, Lin Weimin came to No. 26 Lama Temple Street.
Although Lin Weimin had already rented the small courtyard in Shichahai to Shi Tiesheng, Shi Tiesheng was still unwilling to move there because Cheng Ximi did not come to Yanjing.
"When can Ximi come over?"
Lin Weimin asked while eating.
"It will be ready soon, in about a month." Shi Tiesheng couldn't help but smile when talking about this.
"We'll have to move to Shichahai when we have time. The house has been empty for too long and no one is around. It will be uncomfortable to live in it all of a sudden. I'll let my uncle move there with me." Lin Weimin said.
Father Shi immediately waved his hand and said, "It's fine for me to live here."
"If you don't go, it will be inconvenient for Ximi to take care of Tiesheng alone." Lin Weimin found a reason.
Father Shi was also a little worried and said, "You can't leave! This house was allocated to you by the street. If you don't live in it, they will take it back."
Lin Weimin pointed at Shi Lan and said, "Isn't there Shi Lan here?"
Shi Lan was speechless. I also want to live in a big house, okay?
"The rent is two hundred yuan a year. Think about it carefully. Wouldn't it be a big loss if you don't live in such a big yard?" Lin Weimin tempted.
Father Shi's face immediately showed pain when he heard this. The annual rent of this yard was equivalent to his three months' salary. It really hurt to think about it.
However, Shi Tiesheng can now earn at least one or two thousand yuan a year from writing, so it is not difficult for him to pay the rent. The biggest expense for the family is actually Shi Tiesheng's illness.
"Then let's move there this weekend, Dad, and you can come with us." Shi Tiesheng said.
Father Shi nodded hesitantly.
Only Shi Lan was chewing meat with an unhappy look on his face.
On the weekend, Lin Weimin drove his car to help Shi Tiesheng move.
Many people came today, including the Liu Shuhua brothers, whom I haven't seen for a long time, Zhou Meiying and his wife, Qu Xiaowei and his wife, Zheng Guo's family...
Everyone has heard the news that Shi Tiesheng is moving, so they came today to help.
A crowd of people gathered in the courtyard early in the morning. Shi Tiesheng's family had not been so lively for a long time, and everyone was very cordial when they met.
After chatting for a while, they started to make arrangements for moving.
Everyone thought that there was strength in numbers, so they rolled up their sleeves and were about to get down to work, but were stopped by Lin Weimin.
"I have everything I need. Just ask Tiesheng and his father to bring some spare clothes and bedding."
After hearing what he said, everyone had no choice but to pack up their things reluctantly. When they divided the things in the end, some people were still left with nothing.
He pretended to run to Lin Weimin's car, took down two books and put them on his own bicycle, which made the move worthwhile and made everyone laugh.
"Shi Lan, take care of the house. I'll come and pick you up for dinner later." Lin Weimin shouted to Shi Lan.
Shi Lan agreed reluctantly.
Before leaving, Shi Tiesheng looked at the courtyard with nostalgia.
In order to get these two rooms, of course he dragged his sick body to run around various government departments in Yanjing City. It took him two years to finally get the houses.
"Okay, stop feeling sentimental. It's not like you won't come back!" Lin Weimin said one more word to Shi Tiesheng, then pushed him out of the alley without looking back.
Shi Tiesheng was carried into the car, the wheelchair was put away, and the Mercedes-Benz drove straight to Shichahai, followed by a long line of bicycles.
A distance of two or three kilometers is not far. When the car entered Baimixie Street, the originally quiet alley suddenly became lively. The Shichahai courtyard, which had been silent for a long time, was filled with voices again.
After entering the yard, everyone first helped to move things into the house, and several female comrades helped to clean up the house.
Others walked around the yard and finally came to a conclusion.
You really don’t need to bring any belongings!
"You can use anything in this yard as you like. Just tell me if you need anything," said Lin Weimin.
The Shichahai Courtyard looks like a quadrangle courtyard from the outside, but the decoration style inside the house is very modern. It has been five or six years now, but it still looks very trendy.
The house was well furnished, even with a TV and a refrigerator.
Not to mention other daily necessities, the mountain of coal piled up in the back room that served as a coal shed alone weighed at least one ton.
These coal blocks can at least last for two winters. Coal blocks are hard to buy these days.
Lin Weimin's move of using the back house as a coal shed surprised everyone and seemed a bit extravagant.
When everyone heard that Shi Tiesheng rented Lin Weimin's yard and paid 200 yuan a year in rent, they thought it was a bit expensive. It wasn't that the rent was expensive, but that renting a house itself was expensive.
Nowadays, everyone lives in houses allocated by their work units, or simply in dormitories. Not many people pay to rent a house, let alone spend two hundred yuan a year to rent a house.
But now, after seeing the decoration, layout and supplies in this small courtyard, everyone felt that the rent of this house was too affordable. The things prepared by Lin Weimin could save Shi Tiesheng a lot of money in living expenses alone.
After a little thought, everyone understood Lin Weimin's thoughts. He wanted to rent a house to Shi Tiesheng, but it would be inappropriate not to charge rent. Shi Tiesheng would definitely not be willing to do that, so they exchanged the rent for supplies for Shi Tiesheng's daily life.
Caring for the people!
Everyone praised Lin Weimin in private, deliberately avoiding Shi Tiesheng and his son.
After chatting for a while, the female comrades had almost finished cleaning the house. Actually, there was not much to clean, it was just that no one had lived there for a long time, so there was a lot of dust in the house.
Everyone started to prepare food. Today was Shi Tiesheng's first day in his new home, so naturally he had to be happy.
Everyone was busy, Shi Tiesheng was smoking under a jujube tree in the yard, and suddenly asked, "Weimin, did you forget something?"
Lin Weimin was holding a bag of mutton head meat in his hand. Just now, he heard the hawker's call outside the yard, so he went out specially to buy one.
Although it is called mutton head meat, there are many kinds of mutton head meat on sale, including mutton head meat, mutton feet, mutton ribs, mutton liver, mutton tripe, mutton soup, mutton offal, bitter intestines...
The most delicious is the sheep's head meat, which is made from the sheep's forehead, chin and neck. It is elastic, fat-free and full of fragrance.
Lin Weimin reached into the thick paper bag, pinched out a piece of mutton head meat dipped in pepper salt and stuffed it into his mouth, eating it happily. Then he handed a bag of meat to Shi Tiesheng.
"Try it! It tastes really good!"
Shi Tiesheng took the meat and tasted it, "Mm, delicious!"
Lin Weimin asked: "What did you say just now?"
Shi Tiesheng chewed something in his mouth and said, "Nothing."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
