Chapter 271 Big Brands May Not Be Suitable (Two Chapters in One)
Li Ye didn't know that Pei Wencong believed in him so much that he was willing to invest the 4 million US dollars he had just received into the foreign exchange market, following the trend of his benefactor.
If he knew, Li Ye might have advised Pei Wencong a few words.
I'm a time-traveling emperor who can make it back even if I lose all my wealth. You're a poor grassroots who has only just made it to your early thirties. If your position gets liquidated, can you bear the anger and the mental attack?
Li Ye spent two hours reading the analysis report at Talang Literary Publishing House, focusing on the data of several translated versions with the best sales performance.
For example, regional sales, reader reviews, and delivery speed.
Finally, he called Pei Wencong over. "Old Pei, which version do you think is the most suitable?"
Pei Wencong smiled and said, "I think they are all good, so we still need you, Mr. Li, to select the first prize winner of the essay contest, and then we will send someone to sign the subsequent translation contract with them."
Pei Wencong was very humble and left the decision-making power entirely to Li Ye.
Because in his opinion, the son of luck can create a mountain of gold just by talking. It is better for mortals not to disturb the destiny and just follow his lead.
Li Ye pointed at the six documents and said, "Contact these six translators! Ask them to come to Hong Kong Island to receive the final award, and then draw up a strict translation contract."
Li Ye selected six translators, who were the translators of the top two versions in terms of sales and reviews in America, Europe and Asia.
Pei Wencong took a look and found that they were indeed the six translators who received the best response in the market trial. They had different styles, but all had strong writing skills and received a lot of praise from readers.
However, he still said to Li Ye: "Mr. Li, should we select the first prize now? Because if he is not sure whether he can get the prize, Mr. Wood may not be willing to come to Hong Kong Island."
At the beginning, Li Ye offered a reward of 30,000 US dollars for the essay contest. There were first prize, second prize and several outstanding prizes. The first prize was the highest, almost 20,000, the second prize was only 1,000, and the rest were purely consolation.
If you can get a few hundred thousand dollars just by sitting at home and writing, of course you can, but if you ask people to fly across half the world and there is a chance that they will only get a consolation prize, then famous writers like Wood may not come.
After all, it's just a writing competition with prizes organized by a magazine, not some influential literary award. Who wouldn't come for the money?
A thousand bucks? That's not even enough for gas.
Li Ye smiled and said, "If they like the story, then they will come. If they just treat this as a translation job, then that is not what we need."
Although Li Ye has completely constructed the background, characters, and plot of "A Song of Ice and Fire", if he wants to make this book a global best-seller and reach the same level of book reviews as the original, he needs more than just a translator.
Li Ye gave "A Song of Ice and Fire" flesh and blood, and now it needs a suitable writer to give it a soul.
So big brands may not be suitable.
Mr. Wood from America may be an excellent writer, but if he does not love this story very much and does not have an urgent desire to translate "A Song of Ice and Fire" "that cannot be stopped", he is not the person Li Ye is looking for.
"Okay then! I'll arrange it right away."
Pei Wencong understood what Li Ye meant and immediately asked Amin to contact several translators and ask them to come to Hong Kong Island as soon as possible.
Although Li Ye did not say that he wanted to meet these translators in person, Pei Wencong tacitly acknowledged Li Ye's right to make the decision and wanted to do the best he could.
Because of the time difference, it was four or five in the morning in America at this time, so before leaving get off work, Amin only contacted the other four translators.
Two of them clearly stated that they would come as soon as possible as long as round-trip tickets were provided, and one said that he did not have time recently.
The other one, however, was a little strange.
. . . . . .
Summer in the British Isles is the most comfortable season of the year. The temperature is moderate, neither too cold nor too hot, and the highest temperature will not exceed 30 degrees. There is no need for air conditioning or electric fans to help cool down.
Moreover, in the summer in Britain, the days are long and the nights are short. You don’t need to turn on the lights from 6 am to 9 pm, which is a blessing from heaven for those who like to bask in the sun.
Many people will set up a bed in their own yard and enjoy the warm and bright sunshine comfortably.
But in Jonina's world, the sunshine disappeared two years ago, leaving only the cold darkness surrounding her.
"Mom, can we have lunch early? Dean is really hungry."
"Luisa, there are still four hours until lunch time. Can you take your brother to read yesterday's storybook again?"
"But mom, we've read it many times. Okay mom, we're not actually that hungry right now."
Jonina looked at her eldest daughter and lowered her head as her youngest son went to their little room, and she couldn't help but feel a sharp pain in her heart.
Johnina was so hungry, how could she not know that Louisa was comforting her incompetent mother?
Jonina opened the cabinet at home and looked at the eleven potatoes of different sizes. She really didn't dare to be "soft-hearted".
It will take another three days for unemployment benefits to arrive! These eleven potatoes will last three days.
But even if the unemployment benefits come, what can we do?
Two years ago, after a long struggle, Jonina divorced her domestically violent husband and moved out with her two children.
Because the children, one five years old and the other two, required a lot of time and energy, which made Jonina exhausted and busy in the following days.
In one year, Jonina changed seven jobs, and the longest job she worked in was less than a month.
Landlords don't have surplus food, capitalists don't keep idle people, and no kind-hearted capitalist is willing to employ an employee whose working hours and working conditions cannot be guaranteed.
Eventually, Jonina began to fear looking for a job and communicating with people, and everyone around her advised her to see a psychologist.
But Jonina didn't dare see a psychologist because she was afraid that once she was diagnosed with a mental illness, her ex-husband would deprive her of custody of her two children.
Although he was poor, at least the children were well fed and well clothed. If he had left the two children to that drunkard, I'm afraid the five-year-old sister would have to cook for her two-year-old brother and her thirty-year-old father.
Jonina moved from London to Manchester, where the living standards were lower, and settled down reluctantly.
Her relief money was barely enough to cover the rent for two rooms, but she had to work hard to pay for her living expenses.
With the help of several classmates and friends, Jonina found a job as a paid contributor for a newspaper reporter.
If the reporter needs a sex scandal, then Jonina needs to use all kinds of metaphors to describe the scandalous atmosphere that makes the readers itch.
If this reporter is a fighter for justice, then Johnina will let readers see a knight of justice who stands tall and upright, riding a skinny and bony warhorse, fearlessly charging at the enemy in tattered armor.
Many reporters' requests were very demanding, and Jonina often felt like she was being driven crazy.
But at least she could earn money without going out, and she could also have free time to accompany her children's growth, so she endured it.
But the income from this kind of work was very meager, barely enough for the three of them to have bread and mashed potatoes every day, and their life was very difficult.
But hemp ropes tend to be broken at the thinnest points, and misfortune tends to favor the unfortunate. Two months ago, Jonina hit an old lady while riding a bicycle and owed a bill of more than 700 pounds in medical expenses plus a fine.
How could Jonina afford the repayment when she had no savings? She had no choice but to find some odd jobs to earn money, but she found that staying at home for more than a year seemed to make her social phobia even worse.
Jonina locked herself and her child in the room, looking for any writing opportunities that could make money. She only ate two meals a day, hoping to get through the difficult times by increasing income, reducing expenditure and tightening her belt.
But no matter how hard she worked, her monthly income was only a little over 100 pounds, and she had to pay off her 700 pounds debt, and she didn't know when this hard time would end.
"Ring, ring, ring~"
The phone at home rang.
Jonina, who was secretly wiping her tears, didn't bother to wipe her tears and walked towards the phone.
Having a phone means having work. If it weren't for maintaining contact with those reporters, Jonina would have turned off her phone long ago.
"Hello? I'm Jonina."
"Hello, Ms. Jonina, congratulations on entering the final round of the A Song of Ice and Fire essay contest. The organizer now invites you to Hong Kong Island."
Jonina was stunned for a moment, then she was overjoyed and the tears that had just stopped began to flow again.
“Did I win first prize?”
"I'm sorry, Ms. Jonina, you haven't won the prize yet. The final result needs to be announced in Hong Kong Island."
Jonina felt lost and asked, "Hong Kong Island? Where is it?"
The person on the other end of the phone was also stunned for a moment, and then said, "Hong Kong Island is in East Asia, and it is the Oriental Pearl of our Great Britain. Ms. Jonina, don't you watch the news?"
“.”
“Sorry, I haven’t been paying attention to the news lately.”
Jonina was very ashamed because she no longer had a TV at home and didn't even subscribe to a newspaper. She had no idea that Great Britain was currently competing with the Flower Planters for the ownership of Hong Kong Island.
"Ms. Jonina, Hong Kong Island offers round-trip tickets. If you are interested, please prepare your luggage and passport. The flight is expected to be tomorrow afternoon or evening."
"Can I not go?"
"What? Ms. Jonina, you just said you couldn't go?"
“.”
"Yes, can I not go to Hong Kong Island? Just give me the final selection results and the prize money."
Jonina felt a surge of panic in her heart, and her voice dropped by more than ten decibels.
Now she thought about the fact that she had to take her child across half the globe, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and take part in the final selection in an unfamiliar place.
How many people do you have to interact with during this period? How many polite words do you have to say?
The problem is that her two children now have few decent clothes.
In two years, both children have grown up. Their old clothes now show their trouser legs. Isn't it embarrassing enough to throw a huge stone into the Pacific Ocean?
"Ms. Jonina, are you going to give up the final selection of this essay contest? You should know that your work is very popular and it is very likely to win the final prize."
“Heh~”
Jonina smiled silently.
When she first started translating "A Song of Ice and Fire", Jonina thought she had done a great job.
She felt that Daenerys Targaryen inside was like another shadow of her.
But after her initial translation, she was criticized by many people.
Because Jonina translated A Song of Ice and Fire into a "female protagonist novel",
More than 70% of the content is about the heroine, while the rest of the characters are just mentioned briefly, even deviating from the original plot outline.
Jonina was devastated and thought about not translating the subsequent chapters. However, she couldn't help but like it very much, and finally completed the translation of all the chapters of the essay contest.
However, during the subsequent translation process, Jonina no longer dared to read book reviews in newspapers or letters from readers sent by the organizing committee.
She was afraid that she would never be able to muster up the courage to translate this work that she loved so much.
So now the organizers said that the final result would not be announced until we arrived in Hong Kong Island. Jonina felt that she had heard another ridiculous lie.
In the past few years, she had heard too many lies, and she felt that her life had been ruined by believing in lies.
"Hello? Ms. Jonina, are you listening?"
"I'm listening," Jonina said after a moment's silence, "What are my chances of winning the first prize?"
"I can't be sure about this, I can only say that there is hope."
"What about the second prize?" Jonina asked hastily, "What are my chances of winning the second prize?"
“.”
"Ms. Jonina, I can't answer your question exactly, but if you win the second prize, you have a good chance. But I still suggest you go to Hong Kong Island."
Jonina was silent for a long time again, and said a little nervously and humbly: "Then I only want the second prize money. If I don't go to Hong Kong Island, can you remit it to me as soon as possible?"
The second prize was one thousand dollars, enough to pay off Jonina's debts and get her out of her imminent predicament.
"Ms. Jonina, why don't you want to go to Hong Kong Island? Many people are vying for this opportunity."
"Third prize, can you make sure I can win the third prize? I have two children. If we fly ten thousand miles and get nothing, the children will be disappointed."
“.”
"I'll ask for you. Please wait for my call."
After the call was disconnected, Jonina suddenly felt a little dizzy and quickly squatted down, holding onto the table.
Then, she suddenly began to regret whether her response on the phone just now was appropriate.
Since you are not going to Hong Kong Island, why should people give you the first or second prize?
What readers' comments? Do you think this is a prime ministerial election?
But what if I went to Hong Kong Island and didn’t get the bonus?
Haven't I seen enough of this kind of thing in recent years? The manuscript is clearly a bunch of shit, but he is a gold medal reporter.
Everyone has believed that I have a talent for writing since I was in school, but now I am still counting potatoes to make a living?
In this world, talent is worthless.
"Ring, ring, ring~"
The phone rang again, and Jonina, who was squatting on the ground, was suddenly awakened, but found that she could not stand up.
My legs are numb.
She didn't know how long she had been squatting on the ground.
Jonina stretched her arm as far as she could and snatched the phone away.
"Hello, I'm Jonina."
"Hello Ms. Jonina, do you have a bank account now?"
"Bank account?" Jonina was surprised, then said happily: "I have a bank account. Did they agree? When will the results be announced? When can the prize money be remitted to me at the earliest?"
"No, Ms. Jonina, the organizer is willing to advance you two thousand dollars and cover the round-trip airfare for you and your children, but you must go to Hong Kong Island.
Believe me ma’am, this is an opportunity, a great opportunity.”
The person on the other end of the line no longer spoke in a formulaic tone, but enviously said, "In fact, I also tried to translate this novel, but I didn't get the opportunity to go to Hong Kong Island."
Jonina finally felt certain that she might win the first prize. After all, the second prize was only one thousand dollars.
"Okay! I'll go!"
Jonina agreed with great difficulty. The temptation of $20,000 overwhelmed her inner social phobia.
"Two thousand dollars will be in your account this afternoon. Please prepare your luggage and passport. I wish you all the best."
"Wait a moment, is there anyone who would accompany me?"
"No, but someone will pick you up at the airport in Hong Kong Island."
The phone was hung up again, and Jonina seemed to have lost all her strength, but something seemed to be growing again in her heart.
That was her confidence. Although it grew slowly, it came back after all.
"Mom, it's already eleven o'clock. Can we have lunch now?"
When Jonina looked up, she found that her daughter Louisa and brother Dean were already standing in front of her, eagerly waiting for their mother to start eating.
Jonina hurried to get up, but her numb legs made it extremely difficult.
"Mom, take a rest. I can cook."
The sensible Louisa turned around and moved a stool, stepped on the stool to take out two big potatoes from the cupboard, and then started washing them under the faucet.
Her hands were still small and the potatoes slipped out of her hands several times.
"We're not having potatoes today, Louisa."
"What mom? But it's already eleven o'clock."
Louisa stared at her mother blankly, unable to hold back the grievance in her heart any longer.
She woke up very early this morning because she was hungry.
But the watch hands moved so slowly that it was never time for lunch.
Finally, she had to ask for her brother's help to have lunch earlier in the morning.
But in the end, I failed in the face of my mother's persistence.
Now I am about to eat the delicious boiled potatoes, but why does my mother want to go back on her word?
"Louisa, can you please bring me your piggy bank?"
Louisa: “.”
Seeing her daughter was a little dazed, Jonina said softly: "Luisa, we will have money soon. Mom will lend you some money today and then pay you back double, okay?"
Jonina felt very ashamed. She was so confident when she left her ex-husband with her children, but now she has fallen to the point of using her daughter's piggy bank.
But Louisa suddenly jumped three feet high.
"Mom you should have done this a long time ago, just wait for me to get it."
"Rub~"
"Bang~"
"Mom, look how much money we have!"
The ceramic piggy bank smashed to the ground, scattering silver glitter all over the floor.
All coins.
The daughter was sticking her butt out to pick up coins, while her son Dean hugged his mother's legs and asked in a baby voice, "Mom, what are we going to eat today?"
Before Jonina could say anything, her sister Louisa said, "I'll treat you and mom to Chinese food. It's in Chinatown two blocks ahead. It smells so good every time I pass by."
For the British who can have a meal with two slices of bread and jam, it would be strange if Chinese food was not delicious!
. . . . . .
"Jingyao, have you sent money home again?"
"Yeah, I sent a little."
"Didn't you send it once in the spring? Why send it again in the summer? You should always keep some money on you when you are out there by yourself."
"Sister Liqin didn't send much. She only sent two hundred pounds in total."
"Ah, Jingyao, you are really..."
Yang Liqin stood in the corner of Dongshan Restaurant, chatting with Lu Jingyao beside her.
Due to the recent situation in Britain and Flower Planting, there were fewer customers in the restaurant, so the two of them were able to take a break from their busy schedule to chat for a while.
"Xiao Yang, Xiao Lu, come here for a moment."
The restaurant proprietress suddenly called over Yang Liqin and Lu Jingyao who were chatting.
"What's wrong, Sister Sun?"
"It's like this. As you can see, there are fewer customers in the restaurant recently, so it's not that busy.
From now on, you two can either take turns coming every other day, or just one of you can stay. I have no choice, the rent has increased again this month."
Yang Liqin and Lu Jingyao's expressions suddenly changed.
Because of the summer vacation, Yang Liqin discussed with her boss and adjusted her working hours to daytime. Although the working hours were extended, she no longer had to walk at night.
But after only a few days of peace, the boss's wife discovered that there were "overlapping positions".
If two people take turns to work as one person, they can be paid the salary of one person. Every penny saved is a penny earned.
"Sister Sun, you see, we just agreed with Brother Zhao, it's not easy."
"I'm sorry that you, Brother Zhao, are so thin-skinned, but we have to have a conscience, right? This restaurant's business is obviously not doing well, so let's just say it."
Yang Liqin only said one sentence, but the boss lady scolded her eight times.
Boss Zhao is kind-hearted, but the boss’s wife is very shrewd!
"Don't just stand there like an idiot. There are more guests coming. Go and greet them."
The proprietress glanced at the two of them and turned away.
Yang Liqin and Lu Jingyao looked at each other and saw each other's helplessness.
Especially Lu Jingyao, who was introduced by Yang Liqin. It is reasonable and emotional for her to be "humble" at this time.
Yang Liqin waved her hand and said, "Okay, we'll each take a day, and maybe we'll be fine after this period of time. You go and greet the guests first, and I'll go find the boss."
Lu Jingyao sighed and asked Qiao Nina and her family of three who had just entered the room to sit down.
Before Jonina ordered, her daughter Luisa rushed in and said, "I'm treating mom and brother to dinner today. We're going to have sweet and sour chicken, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, and seafood soup."
Lu Jingyao turned around to give orders to the kitchen, while Jonina looked at Louisa lovingly. The mother and daughter looked at each other and smiled.
Although Louisa was young, she knew her mother's temperament. They only had coins in their hands, and if the daughter invited her mother to dinner, it would save Johnina from embarrassment.
The food arrived quickly and Jonina and her family ate it with great relish.
At this time, news about the negotiations between Britain and Flower Planting appeared on the TV in the restaurant.
Qiao Nina and Lu Jingyao both paid attention to the news.
When she saw the residents of Hong Kong Island rushing to buy goods because they had lost confidence in the Hong Kong dollar, Jonina suddenly realized that the place she was going to might not be so peaceful.
But when she saw the flower-growing family's strong pronunciation, Jonina realized that she didn't understand the flower-growing language. If something happened, she would have to take care of the child.
After the news ended, Lu Jingyao turned around and found that the guest who had just arrived had a strange expression on his face.
So she walked over and asked, "Hello ma'am, how can I help you?"
Jonina shook her head and lowered her head to eat her lunch.
But she only took a few bites before she suddenly looked up at Lu Jingyao and asked, "Excuse me, are you flower growers?"
Lu Jingyao sighed and said, "Yes, but we are just students, not politicians."
Jonina said, "Please don't misunderstand me. What I want to know is if anyone is willing to be my translator for a few days. I need to go to Hong Kong Island."
Lu Jingyao was stunned, thought for a moment and said, "Can you be more specific?"
Jonina explained her situation and finally said a little embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, my reward won't be too high."
"You are Jonina? Jonina Walls?"
(End of this chapter)
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