Chapter 909: Face-to-face urging
The model of Under the Banyan Tree destined them to be small and beautiful websites, but this did not affect its influence in the field of domestic online literature in the future. Especially in the wild development stage of online literature, Under the Banyan Tree was almost the only one in the market.
After the second round of financing, Guowenshe had become a de facto major shareholder of Rongshuxia, but Lin Weimin did not directly interfere with Zhu William's management.
Under the Banyan Tree is still developing rapidly today. For Internet companies, profitability is not a problem. As long as growth does not stop, losses are acceptable.
After the Lesser Heat, the construction of Guowen Group’s headquarters building began.
Last winter, Guowen Group signed a contract with the Yanjing Municipal Government before the New Year and spent 360 million yuan to acquire a 128,000 square meter piece of land located south of the East Third Ring Road and outside Jianguomen.
After nearly four months, the demolition of the land was completed in May. In June, Yanjing officially handed over the land to Guowen Group.
As early as March, the construction project of the Guowen Group's headquarters building was approved, and a series of preliminary procedures and bidding work were proceeding in an orderly manner.
The top priority is the overall planning and architectural design of the entire plot of land. To this end, under Lin Weimin's insistence, Guowen Group spared no expense to convene many well-known architectural firms at home and abroad to participate in the bidding.
Finally, the design by British architect Zaha Hadid was selected from fifteen designs.
Zaha Hadid is an Iraqi-British architect who shot to fame in an international architecture competition held in Hong Kong in the 1980s. Her designs have always been praised by the world for "deconstructivism", but because of this avant-garde and bold design style, her works were once criticized by the industry for being difficult to construct and lacking practicality.
It was not until the mid-1990s that Zaha Hadid's works were gradually accepted by the world.
At this time, although she has some fame in the international architectural community, she is not yet a world-renowned architectural master.
The headquarters building she designed for Guowen Group is very distinctive. It consists of three towers, the lowest of which is 65 meters and the highest reaches 95 meters. The exteriors of the three buildings are mainly arc-shaped, and flexible lines are used to outline dynamic and elegant architectural curves, forming three intertwined mountains. From a distance, they look like hidden mountains, which are very artistic and full of a sense of the future.
The three buildings cover an area of more than 28,000 square meters, with a total construction area of 250,000 square meters. With a surrounding public park of more than 30,000 square meters, the landscape and architecture are completely integrated into one, which is much more vivid and closer to nature than ordinary office buildings.
Among the three buildings, except for the main building which is the future office location of Guowen Publishing House, the rest will be mainly rented and sold, becoming the cash cow of Guowen Group.
In addition to the three headquarters buildings, the headquarters plot of Guowen Group still has 70,000 square meters of unused land. The remaining land will be divided into two phases to develop apartments, small office buildings and supporting facilities, which have been fully reflected in Zaha Hadid's design.
In the future, the total construction area of the entire plot will exceed 600,000 square meters. According to the housing prices in Yanjing 20 years later, the value of Guowen Group’s headquarters building will be an astronomical figure, bringing huge benefits to Guowen Group.
The three headquarters buildings in the first phase require an investment of 400 million yuan and a construction period of more than 27 months, which is a considerable pressure for Guowen Group.
After attending the groundbreaking ceremony, Lin Weimin received an email from Roger Strauss. The translation, review and editing work of "Li Jianguo" in the United States has been going on for two months and will be available in major bookstores in the United States at the end of this month.
After spending a few minutes replying to the old man's email, Lin Weimin looked at the time and prepared to go for lunch, when the phone on the desk rang.
Lin Weimin picked up the phone and listened to a few words from the other end, his expression slightly surprised.
"Whenever I am free, I am free."
"But I should be the one visiting you. Why should I trouble you to come all the way?"
"Well, I will be waiting for you."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Weimin looked strange. After thinking for a moment, he stopped thinking about it and decided to focus on eating.
The next morning, Lin Weimin stood at the door of the Guowen Society building, apparently waiting for someone.
A black car drove into the National Literature Society Institute, and an elderly man in his seventies got out of the car with a cane.
"Nice to meet you again, Mr. Qi Gong." Lin Weimin stepped forward and greeted with a smile.
Qi Gong shook hands with Lin Weimin and said, "Long time no see, Comrade Weimin."
Last September, the General Office of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Chinese Red Cross Society, and the China Charity Federation jointly held a charity gala titled "Riding the Same Boat, Rebuilding Our Homeland." Both Lin Weimin and Qi Gong attended.
Lin Weimin invited Qi Gong into his office, served him tea, and after some pleasantries, Qi Gong explained the purpose of his visit without Lin Weimin asking any questions.
The call yesterday was from Qi Gong. The old comrade only said on the phone that he would come to visit Lin Weimin today, but did not explain the specific reason, so Lin Weimin could not ask further on the phone.
The old comrade came today and the purpose became clear.
The purpose of Qi Gong's trip was to invite Lin Weimin to join the National Academy of Literature and History.
The National Academy of Literature and History, just by hearing the name, you can tell that it must have a great background. It was originally initiated by the first generation of leaders and officially established in 1951. It was managed by the then State Council and now the State Council. It is an honorary literature and history research institution established by the government to unite and arrange senior scholars, celebrities and experts and scholars.
How awesome is this research institute?
Its previous directors were Fu Dingyi, Zhang Shizhao, Yang Dongquan, Ye Shengtao and Xiao Gan, and the sixth director was Qi Gong, who is visiting Lin Weimin today.
Speaking of deputy directors and librarians, there are even more well-known ones.
Qi Baishi, Zhang Henshui, Chen Yinke, Zhu Jiaqi, Wang Shixiang...
Wang Meng, one of Lin Weimin's old acquaintances, used to be a cadre at the Shangshu level and had a high status in the literary world, but he could only be considered a junior in that circle.
To put it simply, being selected into the National Research Institute of Literature and History is equivalent to becoming a member of the two academies in literature and history, and all members of the National Research Institute of Literature and History are personally appointed by successive prime ministers.
In short, the National Research Institute of Culture and History has been established for more than 40 years, and all of its staff are senior and learned people with both moral integrity, talent and prestige.
To be an elderly scholar, you must first meet two requirements. One is that you must be old enough, and the other is that you must be knowledgeable enough.
There is no quantitative standard for how profound one's knowledge is, but there are official statistics on age. The average age of librarians in the library is 79 years old.
Lin Weimin naturally knew the name of the National Academy of Literature and History, but he did not expect that Qi Gong came today for this matter.
"Am I a little young to go in at this age?" Lin Weimin asked.
Qi Gong said with a smile: "It's okay. This year, the museum is recruiting new members, and we want young people. Not only you, but also Huo Da."
Huo Da is the writer of "A Muslim Funeral" and both he and Lin Weimin have won the Yanbing Literature Award.
Lin Weimin was speechless when he heard this. If he remembered correctly, Huo Da had already retired. You call him a young person?
Lin Weimin felt that with his age, he could at least lower the average age of the Museum of Literature and History by one or two years if he joined the museum.
Thinking of this, he suddenly felt the arduous task on his shoulders.
"Sir, I'm usually very busy with work..." Lin Weimin said again.
"Do you think we old men have time? Don't worry, the Museum of Literature and History is a place to honor scholars, and there is no mundane business. If there is occasional mundane business, the young people in the office will take care of it. If there is really a big thing, at your age..."
Qi Gong glanced at Lin Weimin and said, "It's not very useful."
Feeling a deep sense of age discrimination, Lin Weimin secretly complained in his heart, you probably don’t know how I, Lin, started my career.
So that's how it is. Lin Weimin was still wondering why the Museum of Literature and History thought of him.
It’s not that he is not confident in his own abilities, but his physical conditions are quite poor. He just turned 40 this year, and that’s based on his age in Chinese lunar calendar.
"In that case, I won't refuse." Lin Weimin said.
Qi Gong smiled with satisfaction and said, "Great. With the addition of a famous writer like you, the strength of the Museum of Literature and History will be further strengthened."
Lin Weimin joked: "Shouldn't my greatest contribution to the Museum of Literature and History be to lower the average age?"
Qi Gong laughed out loud upon hearing this, "Not bad, not bad!"
Half a month later, Lin Weimin was invited to the Hai Ziguang Pavilion in Zhongnan. Today, the appointment letter issuance ceremony of the National Academy of Literature and History will be held here.
At 9 a.m., a heavyweight leader read out the appointment notice from the State Council. Amidst warm applause, Zhu Xiang presented the appointment letters to the newly appointed members of the National Academy of Literature and History. Today, three members of the National Academy of Literature and History and five counselors of the State Council were also hired along with Lin Weimin.
This year's appointment ceremony for the Museum of Literature and History set a record, which is the age of the new librarians.
The average age of the four new librarians is only 66 years old. Among them is Lin Weimin, a young librarian who is only 39 years old, becoming the youngest librarian of the National Research Institute of Culture and History since its establishment.
After the appointment letter presentation ceremony, Zhu Xiang presided over a symposium held in the small auditorium.
The two-hour symposium passed in a flash. On the way to lunch, Zhu Xiang walked together with many librarians and consultants.
Among a group of elderly men who are at least in their sixties, Lin Weimin, with his black hair and youthful face, stands out.
Zhu Xiang joked, "A young man has come to the Museum of Literature and History!"
Wang Meng is also here today, and Zhu Xiang's words are paraphrased from his famous work "A Young Man Comes to the Organization Department."
Everyone present laughed when they heard this.
During the meal, Prime Minister Zhu asked Lin Weimin to sit next to him. This special treatment made everyone envious.
Zhu Xiang smiled and asked, "How do you feel today?"
"Well, now that we have entered the Museum of Literature and History, our ancestors' graves are filled with smoke."
Zhu Xiang savored his words and asked, "Your words don't sound good."
"You can't misunderstand me like that. I speak from the bottom of my heart."
During this year's Spring Festival Gala, Zhao Benshan's "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" was performed. Bai Yun's line "From the bottom of my heart? I really want to meet Zhao Zhongxiang!" became popular all over the country, and the four words "from the bottom of my heart" have been played out.
"No wonder Northeast China has a skit king. Your dialect really has its own characteristics."
Lin Weimin joked, "Leader, you are really good at joking. I have been in Yanjing for almost 20 years, and I still have an accent!"
The people around couldn't help laughing when listening to the conversation between the two, and Zhu Xiang also laughed.
"Okay, stop playing tricks. I'm not going to blame you."
Lin Weimin showed a sly smile on his face.
At this time, Zhu Xiang asked, "But have you started writing the second part of your novel?"
Lin Weimin said with embarrassment: "I'm busy with work! I haven't started writing yet, but I'll be there soon."
"How long will it take?" Zhu Xiang asked.
"Maybe next year!" Lin Weimin said with difficulty.
After urging the author to update the book in person, Zhu Xiang nodded with satisfaction, "You still have to hurry up and don't let the readers down."
"Yes, yes, yes." Lin Weimin nodded repeatedly.
The old comrades around looked at this scene with envy in their hearts.
The leader personally urged me to submit my manuscript. This treatment is unprecedented in the domestic literary world.
(End of this chapter)
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