Back to 80: My Literary Life

Seeing that Li Li was a little depressed, Fang Minghua comforted her: "It's okay, you go to school, I'll check it myself."

"Okay then." Li Li went into the bedroom, put on a down jacket, put on a scarf and prepared to go out. Suddenly, she thought of something: "Brother-in-law, if you want to go out, the key is under the coffee table in the living room, and there is Longjing tea in the bookcase. I asked my grandma to send it from Hangzhou."

"Okay, I know, you go, be careful on the road."

After Li Li went out, Fang Minghua took out the barrel of tea bags from the bookcase, opened it and smelled it. There was a faint tea fragrance, which seemed to be top-grade.

He made himself a cup of tea, drank it and started surfing the Internet comfortably.

The browser in this era is not IE or 360, but the very famous Netscape Navigator, which is the Netscape browser developed by Netscape Communications Corporation.

Although it is a bit uncomfortable to read the full English, Fang Minghua still reads it with great interest.

This is the first time I have surfed the Internet since I came to this era.

I don’t know if Altavista’s functions are not as powerful as Google and Baidu in later generations, or if Ashley Press is too small. Fang Minghua searched for a long time, but he couldn’t find any trace of it on the Internet.

After thinking for a while, he turned off the computer, left the study, picked up the key under the coffee table in the living room, and prepared to go out.

He was going to the nearby post office.

When he got on the street, at the second traffic light intersection, Fang Minghua found a building with the words "USPS" written on it. He went in and bought a San Francisco Yellow Pages.

In the era when the Internet was not popular, this thing was a living dictionary with various corporate information, including corporate names, addresses, phone numbers, and descriptions of services or products provided by the company.

Fang Minghua looked carefully and soon found the book publishing house of Ashley Press: it mainly publishes poetry and serious novels, and there are addresses and phone numbers on it.

OK!

Fang Minghua left the post office with the Yellow Pages.

Fang Minghua did not rush to find the publishing house, but walked around the nearby streets, supermarkets, community hospitals, barber shops, bookstores and even hardware stores - since he was going to live here for a while, he should be familiar with the surrounding environment.

The public security here seems to be good, and it is rare to see black people.

After a long walk, Fang Minghua went to the supermarket to buy lean meat and potatoes, tofu, carrots, etc. He wanted to buy noodles. After walking around for a long time, he did not see Chinese noodles or the like, only Linguine Italian flat noodles, so he bought some to take back.

When he got home and saw that it was already past four o'clock, he went into the kitchen, put on an apron and started cooking.

What he was going to make today was Qishan steamed noodles.

Stir-fried meat whistle, egg slices, stir-fried diced vegetables, and finally thickened the saozi soup. Soon there was a fragrant smell in the room.

"Wow, it smells so good."

Li Li's voice came from behind, it turned out that she had finished class.

"I'm making steamed noodles, you take a break first, it will be ready soon." Fang Minghua answered without turning his head.

Then, water was boiled and noodles were cooked. Half an hour later, Fang Minghua served two bowls of steaming noodles.

Li Li was not polite. After washing her hands, she sat in the living room and ate a large bowl of noodles. She ate a big bowl of noodles cleanly and rubbed her stomach gently with satisfaction.

"I haven't eaten such delicious noodles for a long time!" She sighed.

"Like to eat? That's easy. I'll make it for you every day until you get tired of it." Fang Minghua smiled.

"Okay." Li Li smiled happily, and suddenly thought of something and her face turned red.

After dinner, Li Li cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks. After dinner, the two sat in the living room and chatted.

"Brother-in-law, have you found the Ashley press?" Li Li asked while holding the cat in her arms.

"I found it. I went to the post office and bought a yellow page and found the address of this publishing house." Fang Minghua answered truthfully.

"The book you want this publishing house to publish?"

"Yeah," Fang Minghua nodded.

"Ah? Why?" Li Li was surprised: "I have never heard of the name of this publishing house. Is it special? Or do you know their boss?"

"No." Fang Minghua shook his head: "Because, I want to buy this publishing house."

What? !

Li Li was shocked.

Fang Minghua went to Shanghai a few months ago to chat with Su Bin of Shengshi Books. He mentioned the situation of this San Francisco publishing house that was about to go bankrupt.

"Since Simon Company is unwilling to publish, it just so happens that I will buy a publishing house and publish my own. As long as it complies with US laws, I can write whatever I want." Fang Minghua finally said with a smile.

"Wow, brother-in-law, you are so amazing! I admire you so much!" Li Li looked admiring.

"This is just my idea. I don't know if it will work. Lili, do you know a lawyer? I want to ask about the legal matters of acquiring the company." Fang Minghua asked again.

Li Li thought for a moment and replied, "I know a senior lawyer, a Chinese named Meng Dawen, whose English name is Davon. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and opened his own law firm. I used to consult him about legal knowledge related to the publication of your book. I will take you there tomorrow morning."

"How is your credibility?" This is what Fang Minghua mainly considered.

"Very good, especially in the Chinese community in San Francisco. His ancestral home is from Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. His grandfather came to San Francisco. He used to be a lawyer in China. After coming to San Francisco, he also helped poor Chinese write lawsuits for a living. His father is also a lawyer. Being a lawyer is a tradition in their family."

"That's fine."

"Okay, brother-in-law, you watch TV. I'm going to work." Li Li stood up after saying that.

"Work?"

"Yes, in addition to translating novels, I also have to do my job. Not long ago, American Literature magazine asked me to write an article on comparative literature. I have to prepare." After saying that, she stuffed the cat in her arms to Fang Minghua.

"Give it to you."

Li Li was working in the study. Fang Minghua was watching TV with the cat in her arms. There was no purpose. She picked up the remote control and changed the channel out of boredom. Unexpectedly, there was an adult channel!

Fang Minghua took a look and quickly switched to it.

This is too loud, too much performance.

At nearly ten o'clock in the evening, Li Li finished her work, went to the bathroom to take a shower, and changed into pajamas. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became a little subtle.

Li Li sat in the other corner of the sofa a little awkwardly, not daring to look at Fang Minghua.

Fang Minghua looked at her.

"Lili."

"Hmm?" Li Li looked up at her.

"Come here."

Li Li sat next to Fang Minghua obediently.

Fang Minghua gently hugged her shoulders, feeling that her body seemed to be trembling, so he gently held her face and kissed her.

Li Li responded awkwardly.

After a while, Fang Minghua hugged Li Li, who was already weak, and walked towards the bedroom. Not long after, a low moan sounded.

The north wind was howling outside, but the room was full of spring.

The next morning, Fang Minghua woke up and opened his eyes, and was immediately startled. A pair of big round eyes were looking at him.

And the cat was curled up on the quilt.

Damn!

Did you see everything last night?

It doesn't matter if you see it, you can't understand it anyway

Fang Minghua got up, put on her cotton pajamas and left the bedroom, and heard Li Li humming a song in the kitchen, with a little bit of a loli voice, which was quite nice.

After washing up, Li Li also brought out breakfast and greeted with a smile: "Minghua, come and have breakfast."

A bowl of oatmeal porridge, a piece of French toast, a piece of incense and a boiled egg, a typical American breakfast.

"Minghua, I'll take you to Meng Dawen's law firm after the meal." Li Li said while helping Fang Minghua peel the egg.