Back to 80: My Literary Life

Unexpectedly, it will still be like this in Haidian Book City tomorrow!

Shanghai and Huacheng. During this period, Fang Minghua was either at the bookstore signing table or on the plane. The rest of the time he lay on the hotel bed and slept. He was so damn tired!

It is now 5:30 in the evening. Fang Minghua finished signing the last book at Xijing Bell Tower Bookstore and let out a long sigh.

it is finally over.

After the event, Manager Zhang from the Bell Tower Bookstore invited everyone to have dinner at the Bell Tower Restaurant not far away. Fang Minghua declined with a smile.

"Manager Zhang, you go with Mr. Shu and Mr. Jin. I want to go home. My wife is still waiting at home."

What’s so delicious about the hotel’s food?

How can a daughter-in-law eat a bowl of fragrant and spicy fried noodles, followed by a plate of pickled cucumbers and a clove of garlic? This would be a wonderful day!

Fang Minghua came here in his own car. Now he drove back and rubbed his sore shoulders and wrists while going upstairs. When he opened the door, he found that the person sitting in the living room was not his daughter-in-law, but his daughter-in-law's cousin Li Li.

Wearing a black turtleneck sweater, he was watching TV intently, and it turned out to be CCTV showing "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck"!

Is such a big girl still looking at this?

You haven’t watched enough in the United States. Are you going to watch it again after winter vacation?

When Li Li saw Fang Minghua come in, she quickly stood up and smiled sweetly: "Brother-in-law, are you back?"

"Well Lili, where is your cousin?"

Fang Minghua took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack.

"She drove to pick up Lele Rui. She is going to take a day off tomorrow, so she brought the child back to take care of her."

Fang Minghua listened and sat down on the sofa.

"Brother-in-law, have you eaten?"

"Not yet, I'll make fried noodles later. Have you eaten?" Fang Minghua said and rubbed his right wrist.

"I've eaten at home, I'll cook it for you." The girl said.

"You know how to make fried noodles?" Fang Minghua was very doubtful.

"Of course I will. I've done it myself in the United States. Just wait." After Li Li finished speaking, she walked into the kitchen.

Fang Minghua didn't stop him either.

To be honest, he didn't want to move anything right now.

"Lili, your cousin has already kneaded the dough, just pull it apart." Fang Minghua thought for a while and shouted towards the kitchen.

"I saw it."

The girl was boiling water in the kitchen, while Fang Minghua was bored watching TV in the living room. There was no remote control for the TV these days, and he was too lazy to go to the TV and manually adjust the channel.

Cartoons are just cartoons, right?

Just look at it.

But "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck" is not as good as "Tom and Jerry".

Oil-spreading noodles is not too complicated. The main thing is to knead the dough and ferment it, then pull it into long strips and put it into the pot. After the noodles are cooked and taken out of the pot, sprinkle with dried chili noodles, and then pour the cooked oil on top. The oil will be fragrant. Just pour the noodles and take it out of the pan. Add soy sauce, vinegar, salt and MSG according to your taste, and you're ready to eat.

Li Li was busy in the kitchen for a while, then came out with a large bowl of noodles, not forgetting to give Fang Minghua two cloves of garlic.

Um.

It smells delicious.

It seems that the oil is burning at about the same temperature.

Li Li put down the big bowl and went to the kitchen to get soy sauce, vinegar and other seasonings. After Fang Minghua mixed it, he picked up a noodle and took a bite.

Oh my God

Why is the noodles so thick? !

It's obvious that his noodle-making skills are not up to par.

If you don't use force, either one noodle will break, or like now, it won't be long and will be very thick.

Fortunately, the girl knew that the noodles were thicker, so if she cooked them for a while, they would at least be cooked.

"Brother-in-law, how is it? Is it delicious?" Li Li asked.

"Yeah, it's quite delicious. You're really good at pouring chili oil on it." Fang Minghua praised.

Li Li was very happy when she was praised: "How about I give you another bowl?"

"No, one bowl is enough. You can't eat too much at night."

"I'll scoop you another bowl of noodle soup." Li Li said and entered the kitchen.

The old Qin people pay attention to the original soup and original food when eating.

Fang Minghua didn't care and tried his best to bite the thick noodles.

At this moment, the door opened and two children ran in, followed by her mother Song Tangtang.

"Dad, dad, mom said my aunt is here?" Ruirui asked as soon as she entered the room.

"Yeah, in the kitchen."

"Auntie." The little girl immediately ran to the kitchen.

His son Lele called daddy and sat down on the sofa to watch TV.

Song Tangtang was carrying big and small bags of things - all given by her mother back home. When she saw Fang Minghua eating noodles, she asked while changing her shoes, "Did you do it yourself?"

"No, it's from Lili."

"Lili can make fried noodles?!"

Song Tangtang took a closer look, and a look of sympathy suddenly appeared on his face.

That's it? !

Just take your time and enjoy it.

When the mother and son came back, the living room suddenly became lively, especially when Ruirui lay in Li Li's arms and chatted non-stop. The little girl had a good relationship with her aunt since she was a child.

After Fang Minghua finished eating, he took the initiative to wash the pot, then sat in the living room and chatted with everyone.

"Minghua, Li Li has brought back all the English translations of your books published in the United States.

"Song Tangtang hugged her son Lele and said to Fang Minghua: Lili also organized a small group in San Francisco with Mr. and Mrs. Grant and two other people to translate the works of our country's writers."

"Really? Lili?" Fang Minghua looked at the girl.

"Yes, since the reform and opening up, a large number of young and middle-aged writers have emerged in our country, and they have written many excellent works. I think they should be translated into English for readers in Europe and the United States to see. I told Professor Howard Goldblatt about this idea, and he agreed very much. He contacted several translation scholars and began to systematically translate the literary works published in our country in recent years." Lili explained.

"Good thing," Fang Minghua expressed his appreciation.

He thought about it and suddenly asked: "Lili, how much money do I have in my account in the United States now?"

Li Li didn't expect Fang Minghua to suddenly turn the topic to this. She was stunned for a while before saying: "I checked the funds in your account last month. There are about 7 million US dollars. In addition to the dividends from your investment in Sun Lizhe's company in the United States and the royalties from books, it mainly comes from Japan, and Japan accounts for the majority."

Not bad. All the funds were invested in the Nasdaq stock market the year before last, and now there are so many again. Fang Minghua is very satisfied.

Since Fang Minghua opened an account in the United States, he has required that all the royalties from books and movies in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan be deposited into his account in the United States, and all this was handled by Li Li.

The book "Our Journey is the Sea of ​​Stars" written by me a few years ago was published in Japan and adapted into comics, movies and TV shows, making a lot of money.

After hearing what Li Li said, Fang Minghua thought for a while and said, "Lili, when you go back, take out 200,000 US dollars from my account and set up something similar to a fund to reward and subsidize translators who translate domestic literary works. As for how to do it, you should consider writing something and then tell me. If it is not enough in the future, I will add more."

"Then I thank you on behalf of my colleagues." Li Li did not refuse.

Translation requires payment.

But these domestic writers are relatively poor, so where can they get US dollars to pay translators? Generally, when translated works are published, the royalties are used to pay the translators, and this takes a long period of time. Fang Minghua's funds solve this problem.

Main translators will be paid immediately!

"No need to thank us. We not only need cultural input, but also cultural output." Fang Minghua smiled.

"Hey, brother-in-law, I heard from my cousin that your new book has been published?" Li Li said again.

"Yes, I forgot, I'll give you one." Fang Minghua went to the study and took out a brand new copy of "Skywalker" and gave it to Li Li.

"Brother-in-law, I'll take it back and read it carefully first. After I finish translating your science fiction novel, I will start translating your book." Li Li said as she put the book into her small purse.

Li Li said that she was very interested in the space science fiction drama "Our Journey is the Sea of ​​Stars" by Tor Books, the largest science fiction publisher in the United States. After translating it, she was going to give it to them for publication. It is estimated that it will be completed in another month.

"Thank you."

The two chatted about Li Li's work and life in San Francisco for a while. Fang Minghua was about to ask her how her conversation with the rich second-generation Chinese was going, but he felt that this question seemed difficult to say.

Ruirui pestered Li Li to talk again, so Fang Minghua had to give up.

Li Li wanted to go back when it was almost ten o'clock, and Song Tangtang did not try to stop her, so she said she would drive her back.

Ruirui was reluctant to leave, and she leaned in Li Li's arms and said, "Auntie, come to my house tomorrow, and we will go to the zoo to see the giant pandas, okay?"

"Don't bother your auntie all the time, mom will take you there tomorrow."

"No, I want my auntie to take me there!" The little girl was not happy.

Seeing this, Li Li hurriedly said, "Cousin, you are very tired at work, and I have nothing to do when I come back. I will take Lele and Ruirui to the zoo tomorrow, and you can rest."

"Then let's go together, you don't have a domestic driver's license and you can't drive, it's so cold outside." Song Tangtang made a decision.

"Okay, you go, I need to have a good rest, I'm tired this day." Fang Minghua stretched.