1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 632 Building momentum
Do you think I'm suitable for the role of Guo Yan?

Lu Liping sat on the European-style bed and asked Feng Xiaogang for his opinion. "Guo Yan and I have the same experience. We both came from China and have suffered hardships and worked odd jobs."

"Guo Yan."

Feng Xiaogang leaned against the door, hesitated for a long time, and said, "I think it might not be suitable for you. The role of Guo Yan is a bit old and is more suitable for married actresses. You are still young."

"What about Ah Chun?"

"Ah Chun, Ah Chun's experiences don't quite match your own life experiences, do they?"

"So who do you think is better?"

Lu Liping was a little unhappy, but she couldn't show it, so she could only put on a pitiful look and stare at Feng Xiaogang:
"The others are all supporting roles. How about Guo Yan? What do you think? I'll play the female lead."

"this."

"Old Feng, don't be heartless."

Seeing Feng Xiaogang hesitate, Lü Liping immediately resorted to her signature tactics of crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide: "I've sacrificed so much for you, and I'm even left with health problems. I don't even know if I'll be able to have children in the future. And what about you? I don't know how you'd be doing in America without me. You promised me everything, but now you've changed your mind. Are you going to be a heartless man like Chen Shimei? You're not a real man. This isn't how a man behaves."

"OK OK."

Feng Xiaogang was at his wit's end, so he had to resort to a delaying tactic: "Stop making a scene. It's not like I'm the only one who can make decisions for the production team. Anyway, I'll try my best to help you get the role of Guo Yan."

"Really?"

Upon hearing Feng Xiaogang's agreement, Lü Liping immediately turned her sorrow into joy, wiped away her tears, stood up, tied her hair up, and said, "Old Feng, we haven't done 'that' for several days. I... I miss you."

"."

Feng Xiaogang looked troubled.

At first, Feng Xiaogang thought his relationship with Lü Liping was a romantic encounter, but as time went by, it became somewhat boring.

Moreover, Feng Xiaogang is about to return to China and resume his original life and family. The matter of Lü Liping is like a time bomb around him, which could shatter his peaceful family and life at any time.

Therefore, at this moment, Feng Xiaogang's psychological pressure is definitely greater than his physical impulse.

After some thought, he decided that now was not the time to break off relations, so he simply played along and had another wild time with Lü Liping in the hotel room.

However, this time Lü Liping seemed much more enthusiastic than before, coming up with all sorts of tricks, leaving Feng Xiaogang with no choice but to grit his teeth and bear it.

Afterwards, Feng Xiaogang lit a cigarette and saw that Lü Liping showed no intention of leaving. He was lying on the bed, leaning against the cushion, eating snacks and watching TV, as if he was preparing to stay with him for a few days.

"Aren't you going back?" Feng Xiaogang asked bluntly.

"go back?"

Just as Feng Xiaogang had predicted, Lü Liping looked up and said, "This room is so big, are you going to stay here alone? It would be nice if I stayed with you for a few days."

"Uh, you should go back," Feng Xiaogang stammered.

Lu Liping's face immediately fell. "What? Old Feng? Are you even human? You're just going to kick me out as soon as you've pulled up your pants?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Feng Xiaogang was caught off guard, but he didn't admit it. He casually made up a reason: "Think about it, I'm the director of this TV series and you're the female lead. If people find out that we've had this kind of relationship for a long time, that would be terrible. People would gossip about us behind our backs."

"How could you have found out?" Lu Liping's tone softened considerably after hearing his words.

"How could you not notice?"

Feng Xiaogang followed up, saying, "It's fine with other people, but what if our boss happens to run into you? How embarrassing would that be? What would he think of me if he arranged for you to join the crew?"

"."

Feng Xiaogang's words successfully persuaded Lü Liping. After discussing it, Lü Liping finally compromised and said that he would go back to the hotel to stay for a while.

"Anyway, filming isn't something I'm doing right now; I need to go back to China to prepare for it."

Feng Xiaogang said that when he returns to the United States to film, he will ask Lü Liping to audition so that Lü Liping can get into character in the United States and prepare for the TV series.

Lu Liping excitedly agreed, his heart filled with his "American Dream," as if it would be realized soon.

Iowa City.

"very nice."

"Your novel is really well written."

After reading the edition of *The Little Prince* published by Sanlian Bookstore, Nie Hualing excitedly shared her feelings with Jiang Xian:
"Within a faint melancholy lies a whole set of philosophical ideas. Your novel is suitable not only for adults but also for children."

That's a very interesting point. Every adult was once a child. You wrote it beautifully. However, in my opinion, we shouldn't blame adults. Children should be more tolerant of adults.

Nie Hualing's comment made Jiang Xian laugh. "Your statement is also very good, 'There's no need to blame adults; children should be more tolerant of adults.' I will definitely include this sentence in the book when I republish it—no, when I publish it in the United States this time."

"I have one more thing to say."

Nie Hualing said, "What I also want to say is that although it is despicable to forget a friend, not everyone has a friend."

"If that's the case, I really can't help but ask you to write a literary review for me," Jiang Xian said with a smile.

The task of publishing "The Little Prince" in the United States was naturally entrusted to "Today Publishing House". Since they have their own publishing house, there is no reason for them to hand it over to another company.

However, publishing in the United States naturally requires some promotion.

When it was published in China, it had prefaces written by renowned figures such as Ye Shengtao and Bing Xin. Coupled with Jiang Xian's reputation in China, "The Little Prince" achieved great success immediately upon publication, selling over a million copies in less than three months.

In the United States, although Jiang Xian has a certain degree of fame and several best-selling works, he still needs to manage his career. That's for sure. This is the case in the arts and culture world. Not to mention the literary world, even singers in the music industry have to promote their songs when they release them, and movie stars have to boost their box office when they release movies. How can the literary world escape this trend?

Jiang Xian had few connections in the American literary world, and Nie Hualing was one of the few he could find, so naturally he had to ask her for help with this matter.

Furthermore, the Writers Guild that Jiang Xian recently joined also brought him some benefits. Because he chose to stand on the same side as the Writers Guild and did not help Samuel Jr., McKlain of the Western Writers Guild readily agreed to help Jiang Xian invite several well-known literary figures to endorse his book and promote its release, thus contributing to its bestseller status.

"Besides the matter of 'The Little Prince,' there's something else I'd like to talk to you about," Jiang Xian said.

"Oh? Is there anything else?"

"That's it."

Jiang Xian told Nie Hualing that he was very grateful for the help he received from the Iowa International Writing Program and was also deeply aware of how much the program had helped him and the writing level of domestic writers. Therefore, he wanted to participate in sponsoring the Iowa International Writing Program through the magazine "Today".

"sponsor?"

Nie Hualing thought Jiang Xian had asked her for something again, but when she heard that Jiang Xian wanted to sponsor the book, she immediately felt that this was Jiang Xian's way of repaying her for asking her to help promote "The Little Prince".

"You don't need to do that, Jiang Xian. I'm just helping you with a small favor."

"Teacher Nie, you're too kind."

Jiang Xian said with a smile, "That's really what I plan to do. In my opinion, it's not a waste of money for 'Today' magazine to participate in the international writing program. It's very beneficial to spread the reputation of 'Today' magazine. And I have another request, which is that there should be at least three Chinese writers in the international writing program every year."

“That’s easy to say.” Nie Hualing was very happy.

After all, only by doing it yourself can you know how much manpower and resources it takes to lead an international writing program.

Moreover, this is a money-losing charity deal, making it difficult to raise funds from outside sources.

Now that Jiang Xian is willing to invest, this is certainly a very good thing.

"How much money do you plan to invest?" Nie Hualing asked.

"About $20 a year."

Jiang Xian thought for a moment and then gave a number that he felt was reasonable.

“Two million dollars?!”

Nie Hualing couldn't help but feel excited again; this was roughly the cost of each of their international writing programs.

In other words, Jiang Xian took care of everything by himself!
At this moment, looking at Jiang Xian, Nie Hualing felt an irresistible urge to rename the Iowa International Writing Program to the Jiang Xian International Writing Program, and simply name it after him.

She did indeed make this suggestion, after all, Nie Hualing was quite embarrassed to receive a sponsorship of $20 at once.

However, Jiang Xian refused, but not entirely. He couldn't just donate $20 for charity; he had to recoup some of the costs. So he proposed renaming the International Writing Program to "Today - Iowa-sponsored International Writing Program" and incorporating "Today" into the name.

Nie Hualing found this perfectly acceptable and immediately gave him a positive reply.

After spending some time in Iowa with Zhu Lin, experiencing life as a couple in this small American city, the two of them left Iowa once again.

However, Zhu Hong stayed. She will be working at Today magazine and Today Publishing House in Iowa, and this house in Iowa will serve as her residence.

Zhu Hong was both expectant and a little scared.

Growing up, the four of us in my family always lived in cramped conditions; I've never lived in such a big house by myself before!
One person lives in a 400-square-meter apartment, which spans several floors!
Zhu Lin had a good idea for this, telling Zhu Hong that it was simple: find a partner quickly, have a few more children, and the house would soon become lively.

“Then I’ll move out too,” Zhu Hong said. “After we get married, how can I still live in your house?”

Jiang Xian greatly admired her refinement. The daughter of a scholarly family was very individualistic and had a strong personality. She knew that this was her brother-in-law's house and that she was only staying here temporarily.

"Just stay here and relax."

Jiang Xian told her that his family didn't live in the house often, and it would just be left unused. But for Zhu Hong, it was at least a comfortable place to rest, and it could be considered her home in the United States.

After boarding the plane, Jiang Xian and his companion first returned to New York to meet up with Feng Xiaogang. Then, they flew together to Los Angeles and from Los Angeles, they flew back to Beijing.

This trip to the United States was very fruitful, especially the Oscar. It's unlikely that Jiang Xian will be able to win any other award that surpasses the value of this one anytime soon.

The journey was long, so Jiang Xian took a short rest before taking out the manuscript from his bag.

After a long and tiring journey, and a brief period of relaxation, he finally had the desire to continue writing "The Miracles of the Namiya General Store".

There's nothing we can do; writers are all lazy.

Especially for someone like Jiang Xian, it's almost impossible to dedicate a lot of energy to writing novels.

Moreover, masterpieces are generally born when writers are starving and freezing.

In order to make a living, they would work themselves to the bone to create words that would stand the test of time.

This is a very real thing. Just like F. Scott Fitzgerald, who wrote "The Great Gatsby," because he came from a poor aristocratic family, he was very sensitive to money and eager to make money. Under this pressure, his novel "This Side of Paradise" was published and became an instant hit because it conveyed a vivid sense of the times. It sold out in just a few days, and various magazines began to compete to commission articles from him.

As a result, Fitzgerald's annual income reached $25000, while the average annual income of a teacher at the time was only $1299.

So he and his wife indulged in a life of luxury, spending money like water, behaving like true nouveau riche. Their outrageous behavior frequently made headlines in tabloids, such as jumping into a fountain in a public square, dancing on a table while completely soaked, or being evicted by their landlord for being too noisy.
Seduced by fame and fortune, Fitzgerald gradually became immersed in a life of luxury. He and his wife attended balls and parties day after day, enjoying a life of extravagance and debauchery. However, this lifestyle gradually robbed him of his inspiration for literary creation.

So when he realized he was broke, he started writing frantically again and created "The Great Gatsby". Unfortunately, the book did not sell well when it was first published and did not attract much attention from the world.

The writer ended his life in poverty.

Of course, this doesn't include him alone. Despite his bestselling works and ever-growing wealth, Balzac, the "father of the modern French novel," was also extravagant. In order to maintain his luxurious lifestyle and remain in the aristocratic circle, he even borrowed money to make ends meet.

His residence was often besieged by debt collectors, but he continued to write in order to pay off his debts. It was this pressure that inspired Balzac's powerful writing motivation and led to his literary status.

In short, this is a common phenomenon in the literary world.

As for Jiang Xian, this kid has achieved great success and is living too comfortably, so it's natural that he would find it difficult to generate any creative motivation.

Fortunately, he has a system.

God feeds him; all he has to do is open his mouth.

(End of this chapter)