Here, when Jiang Yucheng was about to be hit on the head with a broom by Mr. Herman and kicked out, Zhuochuan sat on the sofa in the hotel, crossed his legs and told Chuli the little-known story about Herman.
…
Indeed, long before "Moon City", Mr. Herman had a book called "Sky Tracks Carved by Dragons", which was his first published book in the true sense. According to the routine of internationally renowned writers, even if his debut work is not so exciting, it will definitely be reprinted more than a dozen times, translated into various national languages, adapted into various movies and stage plays, and spread all over the world.
Just like Zhuchuan's "Fated with Peach Blossoms and Swords", even if it is indeed not as good as his current works, readers can't help but love to read the youthful flavor... It's as if he, as a reader, is honored to be on your writing journey.
But the amazing thing is that the situation is different for Herman. After the first publication of "Sky Tracks Written by Dragons" in a small range and small print run, there was no follow-up action at all - there was not even a second edition. For all those who bought the book intentionally or unintentionally at the time, the book in their hands became the last one...
Today, the price of this book is very high on eBay.
——All this is only because Mr. Hermann himself now resists and even stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the existence of this book...
As for the reason, it all started from his young age, with a close friend named Ymir.
At that time, Mr. Herman was still very young and full of enthusiasm for creation. He had just entered the writing circle and he and Imir, who was also a beginner at the time, hit it off immediately. The two exchanged writing experiences and discussed story plots every day, from day to night, as if they had nothing to talk about...
Finally, one day, Ymir proposed: Herman, our imaginations are so big and so compatible, we can build a grand worldview together, and then each of us will write stories under this worldview, gradually perfect the worldview, and create a great cause!
When Herman heard this, he thought it was a good idea. If one person wrote a worldview and it didn't become popular, then if two people wrote a worldview, the chances of it becoming popular would at least double, right? So he readily agreed.
Later, "The Sky Traces Carved by Dragons" was officially serialized in newspapers. During the serialization period, it was not very popular, but people responded well. At the same time, Ymir, who started writing "The Sky Traces Grown by Twigs", did not find a publication platform for the time being, so he just buried his head in writing at home...
During this period, the two of them still communicated about the storyline normally. In the process of writing Hermann's book, the main plot referred to a lot of Ymir's suggestions. At the same time, "Sky Tracks Grown by Vines" was born based on the storyline of "Sky Tracks Carved by Dragons", just like a little chicken standing on the shoulders of a giant dragon. It was another independent work written from Hermann's perspective by taking a supporting character out of his book.
To put it in today's terms, it is simply an official fan fiction.
Everyone lived in peace and harmony, writing happily until a year later, when Herman's book was serialized and published as a physical book, and Ymir also signed a contract for the physical publication of "Sky Trajectory of Growing Vines". Herman didn't even have time to feel happy for Ymir, because one night, the editor from the newspaper called him late at night and slapped him in the face -
The editor said, why didn’t you tell me that “Sky Trails Carved by Dragons” has such strong religious implications?
The young Hermann was a little dumbfounded at the time.
He just wrote a book, what does that imply?
Before the confused Hermann could even get ready, he was met with letters from thousands of angry readers questioning him. Those readers who had bought and followed "Trails in the Sky Carved by Dragons" for a year, every word was heartbreaking: We are just following a novel, and religious belief is free. Why do you want to brainwash us with your religious ideas? This is terrible!
In those days, "book reviews" for authors were not written online, but letters. How angry and humiliated must one be to pick up a pen and write these profound accusations to the author in angry and sloppy handwriting?
Herman was confused and could only ask the editor what was going on. Then he found out that in the "official fanfiction" "The Sky Trails of the Growing Narrow Branches" published openly with the "same world view", the behavior of the protagonist in "The Sky Trails Carved by Dragons" was fully interpreted from the perspective of religious belief in a comprehensive and imaginative way.
And because many of the plots in the book "Dragon" were suggested by Ymir, the interpretation of these plots in "The Twig" can be said to be very reasonable and well-founded nonsense...
Because this was prepared by Ymir early in the morning.
The publication of "The Twig" immediately tied up with "The Dragon" and became a popular publication among religious people. Turkey happened to be a country with a huge proportion of religious beliefs. Imir stepped on Herman's shoulders and became the object of pursuit by some people...
Some even say that
"Thank you, Mr. Ymir. I had no interest in "The Sky Traces Written by Dragons" until I read "The Sky Traces Grown by Vines". I found this book so interesting!"
As it happens, Mr. Herman himself has no religious beliefs.
Now, he has been manipulated by Imir to become an ambassador for the promotion of certain religious ideas. He has completely misinterpreted the meaning of his books. His exquisite writing style of "writing to convey the truth" has suddenly become a curved gun, with the muzzle pointed at Mr. Herman himself.
The young Hermann was betrayed by his family and friends, questioned by his readers, and criticized by the publisher. His life seemed to have fallen into an abyss...
Even though he has achieved great success today, there are still people who ask him about this matter. Every time he mentions it, Herman regards it as an humiliation and ridicule to him.
He once stated in a public interview that he was influenced by others when writing the book, and that it was not his own wish. He also said that he never wanted to mention it again, either in the past, today, or in the future.
…
above.
When Zhuchuan ended his story, Chuli was stunned.
“6666666666 is there such a thing?!” Chu Li was shocked. “I’ve always been very confused as to why there is no translated version of “The Sky Tracks Written by Dragon”. I can’t even find an electronic version… It turns out that the author doesn’t want to admit that he wrote it!”
"That Ymir is still very famous in Turkey as a writer of religious works. Borrowing Herman's reputation, religious propaganda works with the same worldview are published one after another. This is the most outrageous thing." Zhao Chuan glanced at her, "From then on, "Dragon" was regarded as a great shame by Herman."
Chu Li thought about it. Because the promotion of Turkish is limited and the domestic environment does not care much about Turkey, this matter is completely unknown in China.
When people occasionally mention the book "Dragon", they always say that they have never read what the book is about and don't know where to get a translated version.
If it weren't for the presence of Zhaochuan, the real - Herman - brainless fan who learned Turkish for him, she would probably have no idea about this matter, and the probability of saying the wrong thing during the meeting would be almost 100%.
……………………scared.
Chu Li patted her chest, quickly picked up the information that Zhuochuan had prepared for her, and read it carefully... The man leaned beside her, and was quite satisfied to see her look of being convinced of defeat and not resisting at all.
"Do you think Gu Baizhi and the others know about this?" Chu Li flipped through the documents.
Zhuo Chuan paused, stood up straight and thought for a while, "He should have known it before the collaboration on "The Other Branch". Gu Baizhi is very smart. Before he signs an author, he will find out everything his ancestors have done. It is not normal that there is no translation for the book "Dragon". How could Gu Baizhi, who is as smart as a person, not investigate it? Only you, an idiot, didn't take it to heart."
First Li: "……(｀_′)#"
Chu Li: "Who are you scolding?"
Being stared at with a bitter and vengeful look, Zhu Chuan said "Aiya" and walked over to pat Chu Li on the head: "You don't have to be so smart, you have me, and I will protect you, it's okay to be a little stupid."
Chu Li dodged the man's hand with a look of disgust.
Zhuochuan smiled indulgently, put down his coffee cup, turned back to his room to change clothes, and prepared to go sightseeing.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I entered the room, my cell phone rang.
I picked it up and saw that it was Jiang Yucheng.
Zhuochuan thought to himself, this international roaming, is this person crazy? He picked up the phone, said "Hello", and asked in a tone that was not very cooperative: "What's going on?"
"We're done here." Jiang Yucheng's voice was flat and he could not hear the rise and fall. "Will you come over tomorrow?"
Zhuo Chuan took the phone away from his ear and took a look... He seemed to vaguely hear what Gu Baizhi was saying over there, but he couldn't hear it clearly, so he had to interrupt Jiang Yucheng: "You guys are talking so fast, it's only now? Herman is a bit stingy, he didn't even leave you a bite for lunch..."
"..." There was silence on the other end of the phone. "So it's over - in the true sense of the word, it's over."
Zhuchuan: “…”
This time, it sounded a bit mournful.
Zhu Chuan asked "What's going on?" and the man in the living room heard the news and tiptoed into the room. When he saw Zhu Chuan was on the phone, he raised his hand, stood on tiptoe, grabbed his ear and forced the man to bend down, then came over and snatched his phone to take a look. When he saw that the caller was Jiang Yucheng, his eyes widened slightly.
Zhuchuan patted her head to get her to go away, but the little claw holding his ear would not let go. She came closer and leaned next to his phone with a gossipy look on her face...
When you get close.
I just happened to hear the man opposite me say slowly in a low voice: "Everything was fine at the beginning, but we let down a translator we hired from who knows where... He messed up everything for no reason. Although he later forced an explanation, Herman still didn't look very happy - he even stayed for lunch because he was afraid that he would poison the bread."
Chu Chuan, Chu Li: "..."
"When you come tomorrow, be careful. Don't even mention the book 'Sky Tracks Carved by Dragons'. This is a tiger's whisker. Don't even touch it or even look at it." Jiang Yucheng said, "I don't know if you have done your homework. If not, I will explain it to you later. Anyway, I am dead. I am telling you this because it is a good thing. So, just be happy."
Zhuochuan held the phone without saying anything.
Gu Baizhi's voice came from the phone, and she and Jiang Yucheng started arguing.
"You told him? Why would you tell him? I spent nearly a thousand dollars on Taobao to translate the news and find out what the book "Dragon" was all about! A thousand dollars!"
"Zhuchuan knows Turkish, so maybe he already knew it..."
"What if I don't know? I'm still waiting for someone to be buried with me!"
"What kind of mentality do you have, you vicious woman!"
"Yes, we are going to visit the underground cistern built in my image, which is full of my head (*The underground cistern is a famous tourist attraction in Turkey, also known as the "Medusa Palace", which has the famous columns with inverted Medusa's head carved on them)... The phone was hung up on me, I'm not dead yet!"
"The look in Herman's eyes made me feel that I was not only dead, but also cold."
"Are you going to hang up or not?"
"No."
"Hang up on me!"
The phone was (probably) snatched away and hung up shortly after.
Chu Li and Zhu Chuan were left staring at each other in bewilderment in the room.