Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 254: Four books were published in France.
Outside the courtyard gate, Liu Yimin saw Liu Peiran off. Liu Peiran was very satisfied with the plot of the first four episodes she had written, and felt that the filmed version would definitely be more interesting than "Xu Mao and His Daughters".

It's clear that Liu Peiran still harbors resentment over the Beijing Film Studio's snatching of the script.

Wang Yang of Beijing Film Studio took the initiative and started filming ahead of schedule. Wang Yan has already finished filming almost completely, and his film will definitely be released earlier than that of August First Film Studio.

They've made up on the surface, but they're definitely feeling resentful inside.

After seeing Liu Peiran off, reporter Pierre arrived in the courtyard, accompanied by staff from the Foreign Affairs Department's Press Office.

As for the French publisher's Marseille Dani, Liu Yimin didn't ask where he went; he guessed he was communicating with someone else again.

Liu Yimin invited them into the house. The staff member from the Information Department, surnamed Yang, named Yang Zhi, spoke French. He told Liu Yimin that Pierre wanted to go to Saihanba to see if it was really as Liu Yimin had said, that the desert had turned into an oasis.

Liu Yimin looked at Pierre and said with a smile, "It's a good thing, but the conditions are rather tough. I hope you, a French gentleman, won't complain about the sand and dust getting your suit dirty."

"Liu, do you think my trip to Saihanba will be a success?"

"Of course it will, because it really is true!"

Comrade Lao Yang from the Information Department said to Liu Yimin: "We have informed our comrades in Saihanba and the Ministry of Forestry about Pierre's interview, and we have approved it."

The colleagues from the Ministry of Forestry and our Information Department expressed a desire to find someone to accompany us, and to bring along our own reporters.

Old Yang spoke to Liu Yimin in Chinese, but Pierre, who was standing nearby, couldn't understand.

Old Yang told Liu Yimin that Pierre had been granted a six-month period of activity in China, and that his superiors had instructed him to provide the necessary cooperation, hoping to use Pierre's visit to China to help promote China in France.

We should spread the message of China's current development and reform and opening-up policy to attract more foreign investment.

“I would like to recommend someone to you, Yu Jiajia, a reporter from China Youth Daily. She has been to Saihanba and is very familiar with the place. I believe that with her accompanying you, Pierre’s interview will definitely be a great success.”

Old Yang nodded, making sure he remembered Yu Jiajia's name, and then said, "But Pierre wants you to come along. He said if it's fake, he'll expose your lie on the spot!"

Liu Yimin looked at Pierre, never expecting that this guy, dressed so respectably, would have such sinister intentions.

Pierre muttered a curse under his breath, then, while drinking tea, gave Liu Yimin a friendly smile.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, Pierre is, after all, a journalist, so we should treat him better," Old Yang said tactfully.

"I've been good enough to him, Comrade Yang. This tea is top-quality Pu'er!"

Old Yang smiled helplessly, then muttered to himself, "If I send Liu Yimin, won't he mess it up?"

"I'm willing to go, but it will definitely be during summer vacation!"

“We’ll take Pierre south for a while, so he can see the results of our reforms!” Old Yang said.

"Then it's settled. I'll go to Saihanba with you during the summer vacation!"

Pierre toured Liu Yimin's courtyard house and then wandered around the study. Seeing the dense Chinese characters, Pierre rubbed his head in exasperation.

"Liu, I think I should learn some Chinese!"

"I can give you a dictionary!"

Old Yang, standing nearby, smiled and told Pierre in French that he could teach Pierre Chinese during his time in China.

Taking advantage of the situation, Pierre made another request.

Liu Yimin said to Yang Zhi, "We can't spoil these foreigners, or they'll cause a lot of trouble."

"Comrade Yimin, be careful what you say. Protecting Pierre is part of my job," Yang Zhi said.

Before leaving, Pierre said to Liu Yimin, "Marseille Dani from the publishing house has recently read almost all of your novels. He thinks many of your books can be published in France and will have a good market. Liu, I believe your novels will be popular in France again."

"Thank you!"

Liu Yimin waved to Pierre.

The exams for the third year are almost over, and the fourth year will be even more comfortable. Liu Yimin has already chosen a topic for his thesis: the impact and integration of Western literary thought with Chinese indigenous literary thought after the reform and opening up, as well as the future development trends of literature.

After finishing his last exam, Liu Yimin returned to his dormitory.

Li Lanyong was looking at the economics exam papers. He said to Liu Yimin with a headache, "I really regret not studying harder before. Some of them are just too difficult to understand."

"Economics courses are quite difficult to learn; you have to put in a lot of effort to master them."

Li Lanyong was completely lost when it came to courses in the economics department that required mathematics. He preferred the more humanities-oriented professional courses within the economics department.

Li Lanyong can read books like political economy and "Capital," but he finds them a bit difficult to understand.

Liu Zhenyun placed his bag on the bed and said with a smile, "I met with a junior from the economics department yesterday. He told me that Lan Yong is even more hardworking than the students in their economics department. His understanding of reform and opening up is so good that even the professors thought it was good."

“Comrade Zhenyun, you don’t know this. I learned it from Yimin and Yu Jiajia, a reporter from China Youth Daily,” Li Lanyong hurriedly explained.

Li Xueqin and Chen Dazhi started discussing their summer vacation plans, intending to write a rough draft of their thesis during the summer break.

Several people looked at Liu Yimin's chosen topic and all felt it was too difficult.

Chen Dazhi said, "Yimin, I can't write about this topic. I might accidentally write something off-topic."

The five of them chatted in the dormitory for a while. Li Lanyong called Liu Yimin out and said to him, "Yimin, I've already written to my parents about my situation. They've probably seen it already. I wonder what they'll do!"

"Did you send a telegram to Qingping, asking him to come to your house and take a look?" Liu Yimin asked.

"No, I'm too embarrassed to trouble Qingping with this!"

"Hey, now you're even more of a nag than I am!"

Liu Yimin pulled Li Lanyong to the school's post office, intending to send a telegram to Tian Qingping.

As it turned out, Li Lanyong's letter did indeed cause a great uproar in Maiji Brigade.

Li Dashan was overjoyed to finally receive a letter from his second son after so long. He eagerly opened it after receiving it from the postman.

Upon opening it, a military medal slipped into his hand. Seeing the medal, Li Dashan exclaimed "Good!" several times.

This old militiaman has finally raised a son who has made a name for himself.

Li Lanyong's older sister teaches at the village school. When she heard that Li Lanyong had written a letter, she said "get out of class dismissed" and ran home. When she got to the door, she didn't see her happy father. The door was wide open. When she went inside, she saw Li Dashan sitting on the ground, disregarding his appearance, with his mother wiping away tears beside him.

"Dad, what happened to Lan Yong?"

"What's wrong? Tell me!"

"Lanxia, ​​your brother, your brother's arm is gone!" Li Dashan finally burst into tears!

"Where did my arm go?" Li Lanxia hadn't even realized what was happening.

Li Lanyong's mother said with trembling hands, "He was bombed by mortars during the war. Your brother, your brother... my third son!"

Upon hearing the news, Liu Fuqing and Yang Xiuyun rushed to the Li family home, where they continuously comforted Li Dashan and his wife.

Li Lanxia wiped away her tears and was about to go to Yanjing to find Li Lanyong when Li Dashan shouted, "Come back!"

Li Lanxia turned to look at Li Dashan, puzzled. Li Dashan said angrily, "The reason your brother hasn't come back is because he's suffering. He has someone to take care of him in Yanjing, and he also has a job. He'll naturally come back when he's feeling better. Let's not go!"

Li Dashan grasped Liu Fuqing's hand again and said sorrowfully, "Old Liu, we are so grateful to Youmin!"

"Oh, Dashan, why are you saying this? Oh, I'll write to Yimin and make sure he takes good care of Lanyong. The two children have been close since they were little, so don't worry!" Liu Fuqing felt indescribably sad when he thought about Li Lanyong losing his arm.

The whole brigade gradually found out, and many people came to visit Li Dashan and his wife.

As a strongman in the brigade, Li Dashan didn't want anyone to see his discomfort. The next day, Li Dashan carried his hoe, tilted his head back, and went to work in the fields as usual.

When passing by and greeting the members, everyone felt that their village secretary had aged considerably compared to before.

In the field, Liu Fuqing was working silently in the adjacent plot. The two plots were next to each other. Looking at Liu Fuqing who was following him, Li Dashan laughed and said, "Old Liu, you don't need to follow me around. You've already hoeed your plot twice, haven't you?"

"It's illegal to hoe it twice!"

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine! Lan Yong is a soldier, that’s what soldiers do. Our child lost an arm and we’re crying and wailing, what are those families of martyrs who receive compensation thinking!” Li Dashan propped himself up with a hoe, his eyes looking at the mountains behind him.

"Old Li, it's good that you think this way. Your three kids are all good. Speaking of which, you should thank me. If I hadn't carried you back home back then, you wouldn't be where you are today!"

Li Dashan picked up a clod of dirt and threw it at Liu Fuqing, laughing and cursing, "Don't mention this! Just thinking about it makes my butt hurt!"

"Hahaha!"

Liu Yimin and Li Lanyong received a telegram from Tian Qingping, and then a letter from Liu Fuqing. Li Lanyong remained silent for a long time after reading it.

“You underestimate your father and mother!” Liu Yimin said to Li Lanyong.

With red eyes, Li Lanyong took out a pen and paper from his bag, preparing to write another letter home.

After finishing the letter, he pulled Liu Yimin along to invite him to dinner.

After the summer vacation, Li Lanyong, a temporary worker, asked the security department for two months' leave, preparing to follow Liu Zi to do odd jobs in the streets and alleys to experience it.

Li Lanyong was unwilling to live in Liu Yimin's own courtyard house, saying it would be too much of a disturbance.

Liu Yimin had no choice but to let him stay in the courtyard house next door. The courtyard house had been renovated when it was bought, and it was fine for Li Lanyong to live alone.

After moving in an electric fan and some other household appliances, Li Lanyong officially settled in.

Liu Yimin had originally planned to bring Liu Fuqing and Yang Xiuyun, the elderly couple, to Yanjing for a while during the summer vacation, but unfortunately, he had other things to do during the summer vacation and had to postpone it.

"Lan Yong, if you need anything, just come find me in the yard next door. It's much closer than you have to walk across the Kuye River in your hometown to come to my house," Liu Yimin said with a smile.

Li Lanyong chuckled: "Don't worry, I definitely won't let your yard sit idle!"

In the days that followed, Li Lanyong began to work with Liu Zi and others, going from street to street. Because he was missing an arm, Li Lanyong asked to take a smaller share of the money.

After some initial hesitation, Liu Zi and the others agreed. While working, they chatted with Li Lanyong and learned more about the stories from the battlefield, and the group got along quite well.

Li Lanyong studied and worked while observing the changes in society, finding joy in it every day.

"How many books do you want to publish?" Liu Yimin asked, looking at Marseille Dani, the French publisher.

Marcel Dani placed the three novels, "The Flames of War in Beiping," "Red River Valley," and "The Kite Runner," on Liu Yimin's tea table, the meaning of which was quite clear.

Three books?

“No, there are four books, including ‘The Green Book’!” Massey Dani said with a smile. “The book ‘The Flames of War in Beiping’ reflects the changes in China over the years. I have discussed with the publisher that we will find the famous Mr. Li Zhihua to translate this book. If possible, he will translate all of these books.”

Li Zhihua is a Chinese-French translation expert and a native of Yenching. He went to Lyon, France to study in the late 1930s and has lived there ever since. His wife is a French classmate of his in France.

The two men have been engaged in translating Chinese books into French, including novels by Ba Jin, Lao She, and Lu Xun.

He had chatted with Ba Jin in Lyon last time.

It took him twenty-seven years to translate "Dream of the Red Chamber" into French.

Liu Yimin trusted Li Zhihua and his wife's translation skills.

"Okay!" Liu Yimin nodded in agreement. After discussions, the royalty split was increased by one percentage point.

The royalty rate we previously discussed with Liu Yimin was 12%, and increasing it by one percentage point would make it 13%.

The translation fees were entirely covered by the publisher.

“Liu, I’ve read several of your novels that won the Mao Dun Literature Prize this time, and I found the historical novel ‘Li Zicheng’ to be very interesting. I’m very interested in it. Could you help me contact its author?” asked Massey Dani.

Fernando, standing nearby, looked at Liu Yimin and said, "Liu, this is also one I recommended to Danny!"

"I'll give you credit for that!" Liu Yimin joked, then continued, "I'll give you Comrade Yao Xueyin's telegram address. He's in Hubei Province. You can communicate with him via telegram first!"

“Okay, Liu, thank you!” Massey Dani smiled, looked up at the ginkgo tree, then draped his arm over the back of the chair and said wearily in French.

Fernando said, "Danny is referring to a French proverb: 'Reputation is not gained by lying on a bed of feathers.' It's the same as the Chinese proverb, 'You reap what you sow!'"

"Fernando, your Chinese is getting better and better! You might even become a translator between China and France!"

"Oh? Really? Liu, I'll work even harder!"

(End of this chapter)