1980 My literary era

Early the next morning, Lin Weimin appeared at the Chinese Literature Society in high spirits.

Uncle Zhai in the reception room was rinsing a cup of tea early in the morning, "Hey, I haven't looked at Weimin for several days. What have you been doing?"

"Making a novel."

Uncle Zhai shook the tea cup and said, "They say you are a quick shooter. How can you write a novel in just a few days?"

"Isn't this an inspiration? Come on, Uncle Zhai, I won't tell you anymore. You should be late for work."

Lin Weimin pushed the bicycle to the carport and entered the back building.

As soon as he entered the office, Liu Yin teased him: "Hey, where did this energetic young man come from?"

Lin Weimin knew that she was making fun of his unkempt appearance yesterday, and he joked for a while. Everyone asked with concern: "Weimin, has the TV series adaptation of your novel been decided?"

"It's decided. I've been waiting for several days, so I'm sorry!"

Yao Shuzhi gloated: "You deserve it! I have never seen anyone dare to go to the director's office and blatantly skip work to work on a side job."

Zhu Changsheng said: "Shu Zhi, you deserve it. This is a good thing for the people. With the TV series adaptation, his novel may have to be printed in hundreds of thousands more copies."

Yao Shuzhi thought the same thing. These days, there are few TV dramas produced and the people watch them. Almost every TV series above the standard can be extremely popular.

Isn't that what "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp" broadcast on CCTV at the beginning of the year was like this?

"Cliff" is also a spy-themed novel, and the plot is much stronger and more innovative than "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp". It will definitely cause a bigger sensation than "Eighteen Years in the Enemy Camp".

Colleagues were chatting and working. After a while, the atmosphere in the office became quiet and everyone got into working mode.

"For the people!" Meng Weizai's voice sounded at the door.

"Director, what's the matter?"

"Come out for a moment."

Seeing his mysterious appearance, Lin Weimin came to the door of the office. Meng Weizai said: "Comrades from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought foreign guests to visit and inspect, and they asked to see you by name."

Foreign guests want to see me?

The first thing that came to Lin Weimin's mind was Mark Meng's little foreigners, but that shouldn't be the case, these people haven't reached this level yet.

"Let me go there first."

Meng Weizai led Lin Weimin to the conference room in the front building. Outside the conference room, Lin Weimin first met the foreign affairs personnel accompanying the foreign guests today.

Before meeting foreigners, Lin Weimin had to be taught discipline.

Seeing the foreigner in the conference room, Lin Weimin was surprised and said: "Mr. Williams?"

Qiao Sen stood up with a smile on his face, "Lin, we meet again!"

Lin Weimin glanced at the foreign affairs staff and another foreigner accompanying him, and asked, "What are you..."

"Didn't I tell you before? We at Random House are planning to introduce a batch of books about Chinese culture. This time we are here to inspect and plan to cooperate with several large publishing houses such as the Chinese Literature Society and the Commercial Press.

When I was chatting with President Yan just now, I mentioned the meeting with you that day, and your foreign affairs staff said that there happened to be an acquaintance who could accompany us. "

So that's it.

Lin Weimin glanced at the foreign affairs staff next to him and said nothing. Why did he take me to accompany him?

He was not in a good mood, but since the president, Yan Wenjing, was nearby, it was difficult to say anything.

When Qiao Sen and the others came to visit the Chinese Literature Society, it was more of a show-off, and the real cooperation was more on the desk.

At this time, the country had just opened up, and foreign publishers came to the door hoping to publish books about domestic culture. Of course the government departments were happy, and they directly pulled out several large state-owned publishing houses and let foreigners choose. This style of work continued during the reform and opening up. Very common in the early stages.

Because of this style, our domestic units and enterprises have suffered a lot. Later, I finally learned to be more proficient and knew how to be more defensive.

During the visit, Qiao Sen chatted with Lin Weimin and said, "Keith recommended to me the mystery novel you published in "Ellery Quinn Mystery Magazine" that day. It happened that my colleague brought a copy, and you wrote it very well. It’s hard for me to imagine that such a British mystery novel was written by a Chinese writer.”

Lin Weimin smiled and said: "Actually, that mystery novel was just a game. I was studying at the time, and the school organized us to communicate with foreign students, so I casually told this story. Unexpectedly, Keith was particularly interested in this novel and kept urging me After writing it, he later helped send it to the United States for publication. If it hadn't been for him, this novel might not have had a chance to be published."

Qiao Sen sighed: "This world is really wonderful!"

Qiao Sen then said: "There is also the "People's Literature" that Keith gave me that day. He said that another of your works was also published in it. You know, I don't understand Chinese, so I came to you. The foreign affairs staff gave me a brief translation."

Lin Weimin became interested when he heard what he said and asked, "What do you think?"

"He just gave me an outline, which I found very interesting. It reminded me of John Luther Long's short story "Madame Butterfly."

"'Madama Butterfly'?"

Lin Weimin remembered watching this movie. He also read relevant information and knew that this movie was a novel first, then an opera, and finally a movie was made, and more than one version of the movie was made.

Briefly described, the story is set in Nihong. It tells the story of the heroine Qiao Qiao Sang who stayed in the boudoir after getting married to the American naval officer Pinkleton. What awaited her was betrayal, and finally ended with Qiao Qiao Sang's suicide.

In Lin Weimin's view, this work is not friendly to Asians.

He looked displeased and shook his head: "With all due respect, you shouldn't compare "Farewell My Concubine" and "Madama Butterfly."

Qiao Sen saw Lin Weimin's dissatisfaction, "Why?"

"It's nothing, I just don't like "Madama Butterfly"."

Lin Weimin didn't say much. After all, the other party was a foreign guest and was accompanied by foreign affairs personnel.

Qiao Sen asked, "Lin, did I offend you?"

Seeing that he insisted on asking, Lin Weimin said: "Qiao Sen, in my opinion, "Madame Butterfly" is written from a Western perspective. From my perspective, as an Easterner, it is full of arrogance, prejudice and obscenity. "Farewell My Concubine" is different. It is rooted in Chinese culture and the history of recent decades. It is an epic of suffering."

Lin Weimin's words were a bit boastful, but he knew that people like Lao Mi would not understand if you talked to them in roundabout ways, and would instead get angry with them.

He showed his displeasure so openly that Qiao Sen didn't dare to make a mistake.

The Lin Weimin he had met before had always been a polite, humorous and good man. Today, he saw Lin Weimin's face turned down for the first time. Only then did he see the temper of this popular writer in China.

"Sorry, Lin, I just gave an example, and I didn't mean to offend you." Qiao Sen said.

Lin Weimin nodded slightly, "Forget it. We can't afford to worry about this kind of thing, so let it pass."

But Qiao Sen seemed to be more interested. He asked: "Lin, after hearing what you said, I am more interested in "Farewell My Concubine"."

He suddenly leaned close to Lin Weimin's ear and whispered: "Did they translate for me not accurately enough?"

Lin Weimin heard the subtext behind Jordan's "precision" and glanced at the foreign affairs staff next to him.

I was pretty sure in my heart that they must have deleted the content when translating it for Qiao Sen. This was the case these days.

Lin Weimin said: "If you are really interested in "Farewell My Concubine", I suggest you find a serious translator to translate it."

"Lin, can you translate? Your English is so good. If this novel is really as good as you say, I can recommend it to you and maybe it can be published in the United States."

Lin Weimin complained in his heart that Lao Mi's kicking the nose and face was really an ancestral skill.

Why don't you and I play this game with nothing?

"I don't have time. If you want to read it, you should find a translator yourself." Lin Weimin said impatiently.

He finally figured out that this Qiao Sen was a typical Lao Mi, and the goodwill he showed at Yanjing Hotel that day was probably more because of Lao Ma.

Qiao Sen felt a little uneasy when he saw him showing displeasure again. He could clearly feel that Lin Weimin was different from the government workers he came into contact with, and they were not used to his temper at all.

The happy relationship between the two of them at the Yanjing Hotel that day was probably entirely due to Keith.

However, the more Lin Weimin showed this arrogant character, the more interested he became in Lin Weimin.

He has already read "Knives Out" and his inner evaluation is that it is an above-average mystery novel.

Lin Weimin said that this novel was just a temporary work of his. Judging from the importance he attached to "Farewell My Concubine", he must have put far more thought and talent into this novel than "Knives Out". Qiao Sen temporarily It was a bit unbearable.

The foreign affairs staff responsible for the reception watched for a long time and finally couldn't bear it anymore.

Pulling Lin Weimin aside, "Comrade Lin, you should be more polite to foreign guests."

"Am I not polite enough? Did you hear what he said just now? He asked me to translate "Farewell My Concubine" to him. If this was a Chinese, I would have scolded him on the spot. In order to take care of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, I have such a bad temper..."

Lin Weimin pretended to be generous. The foreign affairs staff never expected that this well-known writer would be such a bad-tempered person. They did not dare to tease Lin Weimin anymore. Instead, they went to find Yan Wenjing and whispered to him.

Lin Weimin looked on and shook his head. These foreigners were all used to being officials!

Yan Wenjing came over and said a few words to Lin Weimin for the sake of face. Lin Weimin nodded and said no more.

Qiao Sen and his team's visit was not long, it was just a symbolic visit. Next, they would go to several other publishing institutions in Beijing.

After seeing Qiao Sen off, Yan Wenjing said, "Don't take what happened just now to your heart."

"President, I'm not stupid. I know you did it for others to see." Lin Weimin didn't care.