Chapter 528: Simple Hobbies
September was almost halfway through, and colleagues in the editorial department were sitting together again to discuss sales issues.
The eighth issue of "Dust Settles" was published and released at the beginning of last month. It has been fifty days now, and bookstores across the country have not reported any need for reprinting, proving that the remaining inventory should be sufficient to digest.
The ninth issue was released at the beginning of this month, and it has been twenty days since then. The first print run was 1.5 million copies. According to the feedback, the sales speed is faster than the issues in the first half of the year. This is obviously affected by the eighth issue, which has led to a recovery in sales.
However, even though the eighth issue had the blessing of "Dust Settles", the sales of the eighth issue were still much inferior compared to the high-selling months in previous years.
Seeing this situation, everyone couldn't help but sigh, "Sales volume really dropped suddenly, catching us off guard."
He Qizhi sighed and said, "It's actually OK. After all, sales have recovered. It's definitely not as high as the peak, but at least it can be maintained."
Liu Yin said: "Didn't you listen to Weimin? It's not that easy to maintain it. We don't know what will happen in the future!"
"Change the subject! Change the subject! This is too unlucky!" Yao Shuzhi yelled.
While everyone was taking advantage of the situation in the editorial department, Lin Weimin had just returned from a meeting outside. As soon as he got off the car, he heard Uncle Zhai calling him, saying that the post office had notified him of a wire transfer.
Some time ago, Guo Feng from Wandao took the opportunity of cooperating with Guowen Publishing House to propose to publish Lin Weimin's works, packaging all the remaining works except the earliest spy war trilogy.
This time, Wandao Xindi Publishing House wired the royalties paid to Lin Weimin, totaling more than 1.6 million US dollars.
This amount of income from royalties can hardly make any difference when it is transferred to Lin Weimin's foreign exchange account.
Last year, Lin Weimin donated 10 million US dollars to the China Youth Education Development Foundation, and the foreign exchange in his account was reduced to 45 million US dollars. Now, less than a year later, the foreign exchange balance in his account has returned to the level before the donation.
It is estimated that by the end of the year, it will be at least 60 million.
There is so much money, I can’t spend it all!
When it was almost time to get off work in the evening, a Daihatsu stopped at the National Literature Society College. Li Guangfu got out of the car, with a mobile phone on his waist, and walked sideways.
Lin Weimin couldn't help laughing when he saw his look, "Wow, where did this rich guy come from?"
When he met Lin Weimin, Li Guangfu's nouveau riche temperament was somewhat restrained.
"Teacher Lin, I am doing this for the convenience of doing business."
"I understand, I understand!" Lin Weimin said this, but there was still a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
In the past few years, Li Guangfu first helped Lin Weimin clean up the house and earned his first pot of gold.
Later, Lin Weimin entrusted the house he had saved to him and asked him to open an agency to help Lin Weimin rent houses. After a period of development, the business of Li Guangfu's agency was no longer limited to Lin Weimin's real estate, and its scale was one of the best among real estate agencies in Yanjing City.
After talking about the developments during this period, Li Guangfu said to Lin Weimin, "Teacher Lin, would you like to go to the Prince's Mansion?"
"What's going on? Is the work about to be completed?" Lin Weimin asked.
In a blink of an eye, the reconstruction of Prince Yongji's Mansion has been going on for two years, and the money Lin Weimin invested in it is more than the money he spent on buying the mansion.
Except for the first year when Lin Weimin occasionally visited, he seldom cared about the progress of the reconstruction project afterwards.
"I have lived up to your trust. It is almost done. You can go and take a look at it first. If you have time, please point out any problems. We will then make some repairs. It should be ready for winter. You can leave it to dry for another winter and it will be ready for use next spring."
Lin Weimin followed Li Guangfu to Prince Yongqi's mansion, where Guo Daiheng was already waiting.
"Professor Guo, long time no see!" Lin Weimin greeted Guo Daiheng with a smile.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, they walked towards the gate of the mansion.
He hadn't been here for a long time, and as soon as he arrived at the door, Lin Weimin noticed that this mansion was different from before.
The originally mottled and old vermilion gate with gold pillars has now regained its brilliant red and yellow colors. The paintings on the galley board have also been repainted, and the brick carvings on the eaves have been restored to their original form.
After entering the courtyard, I found that many of the bluestones originally paved on the ground were broken and missing. Now they have been replaced with new ones, and the color and texture are not much different from the original ones.
When Lin Weimin looked around, he saw that the originally dilapidated and shabby environment had become clean and comfortable.
The renovation and reconstruction of Prince Yongji's Mansion took more than two years and cost millions of dollars. It was by no means a simple renovation. While some modernization efforts were made inside, the original appearance of the mansion had to be restored.
After walking around the yard and going into a few rooms to check, Lin Weimin felt very happy.
“Good job!”
Li Guangfu had been worried when Lin Weimin was visiting, but now he felt relieved after hearing his words.
"I feel relieved with your words. It proves that your money was not wasted!"
Lin Weimin added: "I am quite busy with work, so Professor Guo will be responsible for the subsequent acceptance. You should cooperate with Professor Guo in rectifying any issues he raises."
"No problem, don't worry!"
On the weekend morning, Lin Weimin took Tao Huimin to visit Prince Yongqi's mansion again.
It has been several years since Prince Yongji's Mansion was purchased from Lin Weimin. Tao Huimin only knew that he bought such a mansion, but had never seen what it looked like.
This time, Lin Weimin took her to the Beile Mansion, which was nearing the end of its renovation, and walked her around inside and out. The whole morning had passed in the blink of an eye.
Tao Huimin felt a little dizzy after visiting the Prince's Mansion. When Lin Weimin bought this place, she didn't have much feeling except that it was huge.
But now, after spending millions on renovation and reconstruction, this place has regained its former glory, which makes Tao Huimin couldn't help but feel amazed.
After strolling around for a morning, Tao Huimin and Lin Weimin stood in the center of the mansion. The five northern rooms had corridors in front and back, which looked magnificent.
"What's the point of buying such a big house?" Tao Huimin had been holding this question in her heart for the whole morning, and finally couldn't help but ask it out loud.
Lin Weimin was calm and composed, and said calmly, "Since the founding of the country, there have been only a handful of mansions like this that have been sold publicly. I am so happy to see such a great opportunity!"
He added, "It's too big for the two of us to live in such a big place, so I plan to move all my collections here. It's a big place, so it can hold a lot of stuff."
From purchase to renovation, this Beile Mansion cost at least two million yuan in RMB. Now that it has finally been completed, it is used to store things. Tao Huimin finds it difficult to understand Lin Weimin's train of thought.
I wanted to call him a spendthrift, but when I thought about my husband's income, I couldn't open my mouth.
He doesn't like smoking or drinking. He usually likes to read books and collect antiques and calligraphy and paintings. There is really no place to put so many things at home. The nice house becomes crowded because of the existence of those things. It would be better to put them all here.
Forget it, forget it, it’s just such a simple hobby, let him do whatever he wants!
After lunch, Lin Weimin and Tao Huimin went to Yanjing Hospital. A few days ago, Mr. Wan was admitted to the hospital due to poor health caused by his bad mood for many days.
After a few days of hospitalization, Mr. Wan looked much better and was happy to talk to Lin Weimin when he saw him.
Seeing that there was still paper and pen on the bedside table next to Mr. Wan's bed, Lin Weimin said, "You should rest more if you are not feeling well. There is no time when you can't write."
Mr. Wan waved his hand, "Alas, it's not something I want to write, it's all a favor."
Wan Fang on the side explained the reason.
Mr. Wan's hometown is Qianjiang, Hubei. Last year, the county was abolished and a city was established. This year, Qianjiang City set up the "Wan Jiabao Works Exhibition Hall", which will be completed and opened on National Day. The city invited Mr. Wan to return to his hometown to attend the opening ceremony.
If it was an invitation from somewhere else, Mr. Wan might have refused it directly.
But this was an invitation from his hometown, and he couldn't refuse it outright. However, he was ill and couldn't go back home, so he decided to ask his wife Li Yuru and daughter Wan Fang to go to his hometown on his behalf.
Mr. Wan plans to write an essay praising his hometown and let Li Yuru take it back to her hometown when the time comes.
"The older I get, the more things I care about, and the more I miss this world," Mr. Wan sighed with a complicated tone.
Lin Weimin comforted him with a few words, chatted with him for a while, and then left the hospital.
When I got back to the doorstep, I saw Zheng Guo waiting there.
"How come you have time to come here?" Lin Weimin asked as he opened the gate.
Zheng Guo followed Lin Weimin and his wife into the yard, "Of course I have something important to talk to you about."
After entering the house, Tao Huimin wanted to make a pot of tea for Zheng Guo, but Zheng Guo said, "No need, I'll just say a few words and leave."
He turned to Lin Weimin and said, "The first batch of Hope Primary Schools of our foundation has been built. The foundation plans to hold a ceremony on October 1st. We would like to invite you to go to Xihaigu, Ningxia, and promote it!"
"I won't go. The people from your foundation can go by their own!" said Lin Weimin.
Zheng Guo said again: "No, you have to go. If you don't go, what will the reporters write about?"
Lin Weimin said helplessly: "I'm not a star, what's worth writing about?"
"That's better than nothing. Weimin, you don't know that the current situation of the foundation is not optimistic!"
Lin Weimin frowned when he heard Zheng Guo's tone, "What do you mean?"
The foundation was just established at the end of last year. With the strong support of the government and the sensation caused by Lin Weimin's generous donation of tens of millions of dollars, it attracted large-scale coverage by domestic news media and people rushed to donate.
At that time, colleagues at the foundation optimistically estimated that the foundation could raise at least 20 to 30 million yuan in donations this year.
In fact, everyone still optimistically estimates the difficulty of doing charity in the country today.
Over the past six months, apart from a wave of donations from the public initially triggered by overwhelming media coverage, the foundation has not received much donations subsequently, barely reaching 11 million in more than half a year.
Judging from the current situation, if the foundation’s fundraising funds do not increase next year, the foundation will be in a situation where it has to live off its past capital.
Since the beginning of this year, the Foundation has visited remote mountainous areas and poverty-stricken areas across the country, and has successively launched the construction of 120 Hope Primary Schools in five batches.
In more than half a year, eight or nine million yuan has been spent on the construction of Hope Primary Schools alone, not including the operating costs of the foundation and subsequent expenses of these Hope Primary Schools.
According to the blueprint initially planned by the foundation, it will take the next five years to increase the number of Hope Projects built each year to 600 to 800.
Ideals are full of hope, but reality is skinny.
(End of this chapter)
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