I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 684 Retreat!

There's not much to say about the subprime crisis.

To put it bluntly, it's a product of the economic system under American hegemony, or it can be understood as Jewish capital using American hegemony to acquire global influence. However, no one seems to bother to explain this.

Liu Jin wouldn't know either!
When you're on someone else's turf, you have to abide by their rules.

Therefore, the subprime crisis must have been, and could only have been, a conspiracy by those vampires on Wall Street.

This is consistent with America's usual style.

When in doubt, Wall Street takes the blame.

Of course, Wall Street isn't exactly a saint either, so it seems like there's nothing wrong with wrongly accusing them.

If you execute ten Wall Street professionals one by one, there will definitely be some who are wrongly accused. But if you kill one and release one, there will definitely be some who escape.

They were all instigators; there's no point in trying to whitewash them.

From the day the Chicago boy was born, this kind of economic crisis has been bound to recur, and there's nothing to discuss about it.

All Liu Jin had to do was secretly harvest some韭菜 (a metaphor for exploiting people) within the rules.

what?
You said that America would push him out as a scapegoat?
Please, I published "The Big Short" back in 06 and warned you all, but you just didn't believe me.

……

With the early warning mechanisms of various countries being triggered, Unit 731 does not seem to have had a significant impact.

After a period of turmoil, they got busy dealing with the economic crisis.

After all, every time an economic crisis occurs, Asia is the hardest hit area, where people are easily exploited.

The Poles made a fuss for a while, then fell silent. France, on the other hand, stood firm for a moment, but only briefly.

Soon, their attention was drawn to other things.

On August 15th, Xiao Rizi went to worship at the sacred toilet as usual, but without making a big fuss like in the original timeline.

I guess their American daddy told them to keep things secret and not make too much of a fuss.

Therefore, few people know this.

After all, the new prime minister did not appear.

Although he secretly found a representative to participate.

China did not over-publicize the matter, after all, at this time, it still needed to cooperate with the local government.

After a protest and some criticism, no one said anything more.

Liu Jin could only sigh at this.

My dad called and gave me a big compliment.

But you're a retired person, powerless and without influence, so praise doesn't mean anything.

Liu Jin gave a few perfunctory words and then hung up the phone...

Good news!
Before Sunset has been selected for the Venice Film Festival again.

Sophie was very excited and warmly invited him to attend.

But Liu Jin refused!

He needs to settle down and focus on writing; he simply doesn't have time to go out and cause trouble anymore.

Eva agreed and will attend the film festival.

Marco Müller even called to try and persuade him again. After all, Liu Jin and Eva had won a Best Kiss award for "Before Sunrise" back then, and he wanted to use that as an excuse to generate more buzz.

Liu Jin firmly refused.

This year, he really doesn't want to travel around anymore.

……

The lawns at the Gruson Estate have begun to be laid, and construction on the artificial lake has also started.

The villas next to the artificial lake also started digging foundations, turning the estate into a large construction site, which Liu Jin was too lazy to go over.

So he moved back to his house in the Saint-Étienne neighborhood, and also brought the two big kids and Eva back with him.

During the day, I write at home, and in the evening, I take my two big kids and Eva with me, riding that Ural sidecar through the streets of Toulouse.

Every now and then, I go back to Abel's boxing gym to box and get some exercise.

Or you could call up Lao Zhong and head to a shooting range in the suburbs to practice your shooting skills; life would be quite comfortable that way.

Before we knew it, August had passed.

The University of Toulouse II has also started its new academic year.

However, Liu Jin did not rush to report for duty. Instead, he patiently stayed at home and completed the writing of "Theron".

The novel is divided into two parts.

In addition, there are 40 pages of illustrations and comics, totaling 300,000 words.

In his previous life, before his rebirth, this animated film had two parts produced, grossing a total of 1.4 billion worldwide.

Therefore, Liu Jin has great confidence in this work.

The academic group, on the other hand, was willing to offer a 27% royalty plus a $1 million signing fee.

Liu Jin expressed his satisfaction.

"Nemo 1/2" brought him nearly $200 million in royalties.

Disney also purchased the animation adaptation rights for seven million US dollars.

I believe that this book, "Theron," will bring him even more substantial royalties.

Having finished writing "Theron," I was just about to send the manuscript to Ottilie when Ottilie arrived with Old Zhong.

"Amos, don't you think your French novel writing has slacked off a bit in the last two years?"

"Have it?"

Liu Jin looked completely bewildered.

"I just finished Les Misérables last year."

"Please, is that kind of book something a publishing house of Singer's size can even touch? You need to write something like 'Amélie'..."

Does anyone still watch "Amélie" these days?

"Of course there are many... In July, your Paris Trilogy was reprinted, and the sales were quite good."

Liu Jin scratched his head and handed the newly printed copy of "Theron" to Ottilie.

Ottilie glanced at it and said, "Another English novel. It will take at least six months to translate. I need a purely French novel."

"You're really hard to please."

Liu Jin closed his eyes and thought for a moment, when suddenly a movie came to mind.

Blues of Adele?
Works by Léa Seydoux.

Well, judging by the timeline, Léa Seydoux should have debuted by now.

However, this movie is a work about lesbian love... Damn it, how am I, a grown man, supposed to write this?
However, there aren't many French novels that I can recall that I can be proud of!

Oh, and there's also Midnight in Paris, a Woody Allen film, which is the final installment of the Midnight Trilogy, following Manhattan and Barcelona.

Midnight in Barcelona has already been written, and filming was completed this year.

Well then, I might as well just write "Midnight in Paris" and then just hand it over to Woody Allen.

This movie seems to be a work by Rachel McAdams.

It just so happens that I know Rachel too!

After Liu Jin made up his mind, he said to Ottilie, "Give me a month, and I'll give you the manuscript."

"You've already made up your mind?"

"You've been pressuring me to write this, if I don't, I reckon you'll get Lao Zhong to cause me trouble!"

"Tch, I can't order him around now."

He's been praising you to the skies lately.

"is it?"

Liu Jin smiled and looked at Old Zhong.

Old Zhong chuckled but remained silent.

"Of course, he really likes your Unit 731."

"Old Liu, you've done something that all Chinese people will thank you for."

"Maybe not. Didn't you see some idiots shouting that I'm inciting hatred?"

"You already said they're idiots, why do you still care about them? It's only because those idiots are in China. If they were abroad, I'd teach them a lesson in no time."

"I really wish someone would do that."

Liu Jin sighed as he spoke.

"By the way, I've already transferred that money to you."

As soon as she finished speaking, Ottilie suddenly looked up, staring at him and Old Zhong, "What money?"

Old Zhong frantically winked at him, and Liu Jin immediately realized what was going on...

Old Zhong has been taken advantage of!
"Ha, I owe him money. I was a little short on cash before, so I borrowed some from him."

"You want to borrow it from him?"

Ottilie had a look on her face that said, 'I don't believe it.'

But Liu Jin insisted that he was just borrowing money, only a few hundred thousand.

Ottilie then stopped asking further questions...

There is a poor man whose finances are locked up by his marriage!
This is one of the reasons why I would never want to get married.

……

After entering September, the weather began to cool down.

Having had his fill of being a foreman, Mella returned to Toulouse from Grução.

Upon returning to Toulouse, she immediately flew to America and signed a deal with Lionsgate for the adaptation rights to "Sicario".

Charlize Theron spotted the film and found Lionsgate to collaborate on it.

The adaptation fee is 300 million!
This is only because of Theron's influence.

SNEG secured 30% of the investment.

For this reason, Theron made a special phone call to express his gratitude to Liu Jin.

She asked Liu Jin over the phone when he would return to America. Liu Jin replied that he had no plans to do so in the short term.

There's just too much to do!
Midnight in Paris is just beginning to create.

There are also two more works to come: Assassin's Creed and Night at the Museum.

I reckon I won't have time to go out before the end of the year.

Moreover, my mom and Qianqian are coming from China at the end of this year.

I had planned to go back to China to visit them in August, but I got too busy and ultimately couldn't make it.

My mom was also missing him, so we decided to spend New Year's Day and Chinese New Year in Toulouse.

In my mom's words, "You've spent your whole life with your dad for the New Year. Let him spend next year by himself. I can't be bothered to see him anyway."

Hearing this, I guess they had a fight!

But since his mother didn't say anything, and his older sister and Qianqian didn't reply either, Liu Jin didn't ask any more questions.

My mom happened to be visiting, so I accompanied her to Switzerland to have the old gentleman examine her.

As far as I can remember, my mother developed a tumor in the last two years. If the tests reveal anything, she can have surgery and recuperate here for about six months.

Yeah, that's pretty good!

……

(End of this chapter)