Chapter 524: A Gentleman
Han Zhuangzhuang's call lasted only half an hour when Zhang Yimou got down from the yellow hair and entered Han Zhuangzhuang's house.
"Teacher Lin, you are finally back!"
Zhang Yimou was delighted to see Lin Weimin.
The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Lin Weimin asked, "I heard from Zhuangzhuang that you had something to talk to me about."
Zhang Yimou nodded, "Yes, there is something."
Last year, under the guidance of Lin Weimin, Zhang Yimou chose Tong Zhonggui's novel "Wives and Concubines" and planned to adapt the novel into his second directorial film.
He has been preparing for this matter for more than half a year.
Since winning the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, Zhang Yimou has become a well-known director in China. His position in the domestic film industry is crucial. His every move is watched by countless people, and his new films have no shortage of investment.
But at this time, investors from Wandao found Zhang Yimou and expressed their desire to invest in his movie.
Zhang Yimou was in a dilemma for a while, so he decided to ask Lin Weimin for advice.
Since the thawing of cross-strait relations in 1987, the two sides have begun to have continuous contacts and exchanges in the fields of politics, economy, culture, etc. in the past two years, and exchanges in the film industry have also begun.
The investor who wants to invest in Zhang Yimou's new film is called Qiu Fusheng. He founded the Era Film and Television Company in 1982. He made his fortune by renting videotapes in recent years and then participated in film and television production. Last year, he invested in and produced "A City of Sadness" directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien.
"Teacher Lin, do you think I should accept their investment?" Zhang Yimou asked with a frown.
Lin Weimin asked with a smile: "Isn't it a good thing that someone is begging to invest in your movie? What is there to worry about?"
"I don't lack investment!" said Zhang Yimou.
Lin Weimin's smile faded and he looked at Zhang Yimou, "You hit the nail on the head. Remember, you are now a famous director who has won the Golden Bear Award, so you have to show some of the aura of a famous director!"
"Momentum? What momentum?" Zhang Yimou was puzzled.
"I use your money to make a movie, it's your honor. After you invest the money, just watch me make the movie and don't make any comments!"
Lin Weimin said with a serious expression, pretending to be serious. After he finished speaking, the smile on his face reappeared, "That's the momentum."
Zhang Yimou was a reserved person and could not say what Lin Weimin had just said. He understood what Lin Weimin meant and asked, "So you agree that I want their investment?"
Lin Weimin said: "You are the director, you can make the decision on your own. I only have one thing to say to you, never let investors lead you by the nose. Remember, it is you who makes money for them, not them who make money for you!"
Feeling the unbridled arrogance and confidence in Lin Weimin's words, Zhang Yimou felt unprecedented peace in his heart.
He could make the decision on his own whether to invest or not, but he couldn't help but want to hear Lin Weimin's opinion.
Zhang Yimou's mind flashed through Lin Weimin's words. With his current status, he had no shortage of investors, and he would give face to whoever he took investment from.
In fact, Zhang Yimou was inclined to accept Qiu Fusheng's investment.
The reason is very simple. While Qiu Fusheng is investing, he can also help him solve the problem of film shooting equipment.
For example, the old-fashioned cameras used by domestic studios are very noisy and cannot meet the needs of on-site synchronous sound recording at all.
The silent Arriflex BL4s camera is now available abroad. If this camera is used, his new film can be recorded with synchronous sound, and the finished film will surely be quite shocking.
This is good for filmmaking.
With an idea in mind, Zhang Yimou stopped worrying about it.
He talked to Lin Weimin about some matters related to the filming, and specifically said to Lin Weimin: "There is no role that is particularly suitable for Zhuangzhuang in this movie..."
Lin Weimin waved his hand, "I was the one who recommended the novel to you, so don't mention these things again. You two are a director and an actor, and cooperation is your own business, so you don't need to tell me."
Zhang Yimou nodded and stopped explaining.
After sitting and chatting for a while, Zhang Yimou said goodbye and left, and Lin Weimin also took Tao Huimin home.
Another day passed, and on the weekend, Lin Weimin and his wife went to Mr. Wan's home and delivered the gifts they bought from the United States.
In the afternoon, Lin Weimin came to the Shichahai courtyard.
When he entered the yard, Shi's father and Shi Tiesheng were sitting under a tree enjoying the cool air.
"You're finally back!" Shi Tiesheng saw the bright smile on Lin Weimin's face.
Lin Weimin sat casually under the tree and started chatting with Shi Tiesheng.
He had been in the United States for more than three months, and when we met after coming back, it seemed like we had endless topics to talk about.
Lin Weimin told Shi Tiesheng about his experiences and observations in the United States, and Shi Tiesheng listened with great interest.
"It seems that you have a great reputation in the United States!" Shi Tiesheng exclaimed.
"That's all!" Lin Weimin said casually.
After chatting for a long time, he didn't see Shi Lan, so Lin Weimin asked, "Where is Shi Lan?"
"I went out on a date with Qin Gang."
"Didn't you say you were going to get married this year? Why haven't you done anything yet?"
Shi Tiesheng said, "I was just about to tell you! It's almost time. I plan to do it on the 11th."
Continuing the topic, Lin Weimin took out a few books from his bag and said, "Let me show you some books I brought back from the United States this time."
Shi Tiesheng took the book, and Lin Weimin reminded him: "The gift has just been given, this is not for you!"
"After your trip to the United States, why are you becoming more and more stingy?" Shi Tiesheng joked.
"You may not be able to buy these books of mine even if you go to a bookstore in New York and search through all the boxes and cabinets."
Shi Tiesheng's English is average and he has no obsession with collecting original English books. He just took a few glances at the book and then returned it to Lin Weimin.
“Some writers have never heard of it.”
"That's normal. How many works of foreign writers have been introduced into our country? Especially for writers who have emerged in recent years, there are too few introduced into our country. We can only see some of this from those magazines that specialize in introducing foreign literature."
Shi Tiesheng said with some regret: "I wish my English was as good as yours, so I could read all the latest foreign literary works."
"Now that you know English, do you want to know a little French? Do you want to learn a little Spanish? We would be exhausted if we relied on our own abilities to read through all these books. We have to rely on translation and introduction."
"This depends on your publishing house!" Shi Tiesheng joked.
Lin Weimin said seriously: "Don't tell me, I really have this plan."
He held up a book and said, "This time when I went to New York, I found a few books by Richard Yates. I read them carefully and found them to be really good. His style is realistic and cold, which is not very popular among American readers. I think we can try to introduce it to China."
The idea of bringing in Richard Yates had been in Lin Weimin's mind for some time, but he had never mentioned it to anyone until he met Shi Tiesheng today.
Shi Tiesheng clapped his hands and said, "This is a good thing. If you can accomplish this, it will be a meritorious deed. Have you told your community about this?"
"No, I just got back. Wait until Monday when I go to work. I'll talk to my boss about it."
Lin Weimin was happy to get Shi Tiesheng's approval.
The next day at work, Lin Weimin ran to Cheng Zaochun's office and expressed his idea of introducing Richard Yates's works.
The way Cheng Zaochun looked at him can be roughly described in eight words - a dog trying to catch a rat, meddling in other people's business.
Lin Weimin was in charge of "Contemporary". Apart from the publications of "Contemporary" and occasional series of books, he had no say in other publishing businesses of the publishing house.
"You're really nosy now!"
"I'm doing this for the good of the publishing house!" Lin Weimin said kindly as he pushed the books by Richard Yates in front of Cheng Zaochun. "Let someone in the publishing house take a look at them first to see if they are good enough. If they think they are not good enough, just pretend I never said anything."
Cheng Zaochun glanced at the books on the table. They were all original English books. Lin Weimin said, "I bought these with great difficulty."
Lin Weimin then talked about Richard Yates's situation in the United States. After listening to him, Cheng Zaochun couldn't help but sigh.
After all, he was a writer who had been famous for decades and had won recognition from the mainstream American literary circles, but his later years were so miserable.
"So, capitalism is a bad thing!" Cheng Zaochun sighed.
Lin Weimin also sighed, otherwise you would be able to be a leader, look at your awareness!
Of course, he understood Cheng Zaochun's train of thought. We oppose what the enemy supports, and we support what the enemy opposes. This is probably the ideological thought.
Cheng Zaochun patted the books on the table and said, "Okay, I'll ask the foreign language editing department to take a look later."
"Okay, thank you, leader."
Lin Weimin left Cheng Zaochun's office and just returned to the editorial office in the back building when he received good news from Tong Zhonggui that Alai had finished revising the manuscript of "Dust Settles".
The content of "Dust Settles" is extremely mature, and there are very few parts that need to be changed. In addition, with the guidance of Lin Weimin and Tong Zhonggui, the revision work was completed in such a short time.
"Okay, hurry up and proofread and typeset it, and try to send it out early next month."
Lin Weimin said this and Tong Zhonggui stayed up all night for several days, and finally finished the manuscript of "Dust Settles" before printing at the end of the month.
On the last day of the month, Lin Weimin received a call from Liu Yichang.
Wang Xiaobo's "The Golden Age" was sent to Hong Kong some time ago. Liu Yichang just received the manuscript two days ago. After reading it through, he made this call to Lin Weimin.
There is no doubt about the quality of the novel, but there is one problem that Liu Yichang wants to discuss with Lin Weimin, which is the description of ** in the novel.
That’s a bit too much!
"This writer's style is so unique!"
Liu Yichang's words were very subtle. Lin Weimin laughed and teased him for being naive.
Liu Yichang smiled bitterly, "It seems that I am really out of date. I didn't expect that the creative styles in your mainland are so diverse now."
Lin Weimin then said seriously: "That's not the case. The style of the writer I introduced to you is indeed unique."
Lin Weimin briefly introduced Wang Xiaobo to Liu Yichang over the phone, and then said, "Why don't I give you his contact information so you can have a detailed discussion. This is worse than me passing messages in between."
"Well, I'm actually very curious about him."
“He’s really an interesting guy.”
Two days after ending his phone call with Liu Yichang, Wang Xiaobo excitedly found Lin Weimin.
In recent years, with the vigorous construction of communication facilities by the Yanjing Telecommunications Department, making and receiving long-distance and international calls has become much more convenient than before.
Wang Xiaobo received a call from Liu Yichang yesterday. After communicating with him for a long time, he finally confirmed that the novel could be published.
As for the problem of ** description mentioned by Liu Yichang before, after discussing it with Wang Xiaobo, Liu Yichang did not worry too much about it.
"Teacher Lin, thank you so much!" Wang Xiaobo said gratefully.
The publication of the novel in "Hong Kong Literature" not only solved the problem of publication, but also earned Wang Xiaobo a royalties of 41,000 Hong Kong dollars, which greatly solved Wang Xiaobo's financial difficulties and made him more confident in his writing career.
"Since I promised you that I would publish it, I will definitely publish it. It's just a few months late, please don't mind it!" Lin Weimin said to Wang Xiaobo with a smile.
Wang Xiaobo looked at Lin Weimin and felt deeply moved, Teacher Lin is truly a trustworthy gentleman!
(End of this chapter)
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