1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 363 The story is subverted again!

“Great royalty system!”

Jiang Xian couldn't help but sigh that royalties can indeed stimulate authors' creative enthusiasm.

Dickens was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the royalty system.

The huge royalties not only stimulated his creative passion, but also prompted him to actively campaign for international mutual recognition of copyright.

The current prosperity of the European and American publishing industry is also inseparable from the royalty system.

The royalty system's extraction method can closely tie together the interests of publishers and authors, so that risks are shared. The publishing market is therefore prosperous, and the progress of literature and culture is correspondingly promoted.

The current domestic remuneration system is still too restrictive.

And this is the "directive" principle mentioned above, not "guidance".

It is quite difficult to break the royalty system.

On the same night that Jiang Xian received the check, the fire alarm in the Mayflower Apartment went off again.

The family stood at the door, hesitating whether to run downstairs. They felt that it was impossible for two fires to occur in succession, and the atmosphere in the building did not seem like that of a fire.

As I was hesitating, the alarm stopped by itself.

After Jiang Xian inquired, he found out that the alarm was not caused by a fire, but by a typhoon.

All in all, Jiang Xian had to buy this house.

Lu Jiaxing cleaned up quickly.

Just one week after the formalities were completed, he vacated the house for Jiang Xian.

"Believe me, Jiang, this house is so clean now, as if no one has ever lived there."

"How come you move so fast?" Jiang Xian said.

"I have been prepared for this. When you said you wanted to buy it, I was already looking forward to this day."

“When are you leaving the United States?”

"Leave tomorrow."

Lu Jiaxing was so eager to go home.

"Jiang, thank you."

"no need thank me?"

“Thank you for buying my house.”

Lu Jiaxing said, "I can't breathe the air in the United States for even a second. I have only one thought now, to go back to China, to my hometown, to my real home."

"."

Jiang Xian was also surprised.

While people in China are trying their best to go abroad, Lu Jiaxing and his wife are doing the opposite and only want to return to China.

"If you go to Beijing in the future, remember to come and find me." Jiang Xian left him an address.

Lu Jiaxing nodded and said, "I will definitely visit you."

The next day, Lu Jiaxing and his family boarded a plane to China with boxes of luggage.

On this day, Jiang Xian led a large group of children and moved from the "Mayflower" apartment to this small villa on the hillside behind the apartment.

Including the front and back yards, the house covers a large area of ​​more than 400 square meters.

The house has three floors and five bedrooms, one master bedroom, one children's bedroom and three guest bedrooms.

The rest are the common areas of the living room, entertainment room, family room, kitchen and dining room.

"Wow, this TV is really big!"

Rao Yuemei excitedly toured the place and finally became interested in the 24-inch floor-standing remote-controlled color TV in the lobby on the first floor.

Well, twenty-four inches!

Mother Zhu stroked her chin and said, "This TV must be expensive."

Rao Yuemei nodded in agreement, "Of course, it's so old, why didn't they move away?"

"They thought they couldn't get much money from selling it, so they left it to us," Jiang Xian said.

In addition to the TV, Lu Jiaxing also left a lot of furniture for Jiang Xian, including some tableware and clothes.

He wanted to go back to China, and couldn't take anything with him, but it would be a pity to get rid of it, so he left them all to Jiang Xian.

Rao Yuemei sat down on the sofa, in a trance. "Oh, the life at the Mayflower was quite modern. This place is too luxurious compared to the Mayflower."

"It's not that luxurious actually," Jiang Xian said.

"Jiang Xian, you can't think like that."

Mother Zhu said, "Even if it's not luxurious, it's comfortable enough, and it can be said that it's so comfortable that it's close to luxury."

Rao Yuemei nodded, "Yes, now it really feels like the life of a Z-class J-class person. We need to reflect on ourselves!"

"Yes." Jiang Xian sat comfortably on the ground and stretched. "As expected of Comrade Rao Yuemei, you are so conscious."

"What are you so weird about, little brat?"

Without waiting for the old lady to throw her slippers at him, Jiang Xian ran away, went up the stairs and entered the master bedroom on the third floor.

"Jiang Xian, look, you can see the Iowa River from here." Zhu Lin pointed outside the floor-to-ceiling window.

"The name Iowa River doesn't sound nice, so Chen Yingzhen gave the river a new name."

"what name?"

"Love River."

"."

Holding hands with Zhu Lin and standing shoulder to shoulder, Jiang Xian watched the slowly flowing "River of Love" for a while, then he impatiently pulled her to sit on the bed and reached out to untie her clothes.

"Oh, why are you in such a hurry?" Zhu Lin complained.

"I just miss our little Majesty." Jiang Xian smiled and half squatted down, putting his face on Zhu Lin's belly. This was his favorite thing to do recently.

"What do you mean by little Majesty? What name did you give our daughter?"

"You are the Queen of our family, and your daughter is of course the Little Majesty of our family."

Zhu Lin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Jiang Xian, are you going to raise our daughter like an emperor?"

"."

Jiang Xian didn't reply, he just half-knelt down and gently put his arms around Zhu Lin's waist, quietly enjoying the happiness of the moment.

After the house was cleaned up, Jiang Xian invited several Chinese writers to have dinner in the house.

"Come and warm my room for me."

Ru Zhijuan and the others still found it unbelievable.

"Did you really buy Lu Jiaxing's house?" Ru Zhijuan asked.

"Teacher Ru, look at what you said. How can I live in it if I don't buy it?"

"Oh my God!"

Ru Zhijuan said something very trendy in English, "How much did it cost?"

"$15 million."

“15 million dollars?!”

Ru Zhijuan was shocked. "That must be more than 30 RMB! Where did you get so much money?"

"I published some novels in the United States and they paid me royalties," Jiang Xian said.

"Really?"

Ru Zhijuan was even more shocked.

"Jiang Xian, you are amazing!"

Ru Zhijuan was very excited to hear the news.

Not long ago, she visited the "Writing Class" at the University of Iowa under the arrangement of Edwin, the director of the "Writing Program".

This "writing class" was established before the "writing plan". To be precise, it was an "academy" similar to a literary institute or Lu Xun Academy of Literature. A large number of today's world-famous writers came from there.

After visiting the "writing class", Ru Zhijuan wanted to ask Edwin to show some of her novels to the teachers of the "writing class". As a result, Edwin just refused vaguely and hesitantly: "I have shown it to the teacher there. Maybe because it was translated from Chinese to English, some things are not clear."

As they were all adults, Ru Zhijuan immediately understood what Edwin meant.

These teachers were not satisfied with her work and felt that it was not up to standard.

This incident depressed her for a long time.

After thinking about it, Ru Zhijuan felt that domestic writers did not communicate enough with the outside world.

Therefore, she wanted to let foreigners know as much as possible about Chinese writers and works. But after coming to the United States and Iowa, she felt that these foreigners did not want to or desire to learn about Chinese literature, but instead kept showing them the American way.

Ru Zhijuan felt that they should find opportunities to express themselves, but she was not good at this.

Moreover, the "China Weekend" event in the "International Writing Program" was also cancelled due to financial constraints.

Also, there is a language barrier.

Ru Zhijuan could be said to be extremely discouraged.

And at this time, she heard from Jiang Xian that he had published his work, and she was so excited.

"Jiang Xian, I'm so proud of you!"

"."

Jiang Xian thought what she said was strange.

At six o'clock in the evening, all the writers came, bringing gifts in their hands.

Chen Yingzhen brought a pot of braised pork that was not cooked through or red, Pan Yaoming brought some shredded ham, another writer from Taiwan, Qi Dengsheng, brought some fish floss, Ru Zhijuan brought some dried rice noodles that she cooked herself, and Wang Anyi brought a portion of "Italian biscotti", or pizza.

"congratulations."

"Please come in please come in."

Jiang Xian greeted them and invited them in.

Several people were looking around. Although it was not the first time they came to this house, the meaning of it was different now. They didn't know if it was a psychological effect or it was really rearranged, but they all felt that it was not the same as before.

"Ms. Nie Hualing asked me to tell you that she will not come today, and I will make up the gift later," said Chen Yingzhen.

"What's up with her?"

"She has to take care of her husband, Angel."

Chen Yingzhen said, "The doctor misdiagnosed it before. Angle did not have rheumatism transferred to his ears, but was infected with a bacteria."

"."

Jiang Xian was speechless. "It seems that the level of doctors in the United States is also very limited."

"Yeah, we can only pray that Mr. Angel is okay."

"May he be well."

Jiang Xian silently gave his blessing.

He still likes Ingres very much.

He is a friendly and humorous foreigner, and he treats Chinese people very well.

"You know, the American flag is flying at half-mast today," said the seventh-class student.

"why?"

"There was a plane crash in South Korea."

"what?"

"We have investigated it thoroughly. It was shot down by the Russians. It is said that there are more than 20 Americans on it."

"."

After sitting at the dining table and chatting for a while, all kinds of food filled the table.

"If I keep eating like this, I'm bound to get fat," said Wang Anyi.

"Yes, what Americans fear most is getting fat."

Chen Yingzhen said, "In order to maintain their figure, they have to work hard on long-distance running and dieting. Stores sell sugar and beverages that have been specially de-sugared, and fat-free milk and beef."

Pan Yaoming concluded: "Weight loss is a social activity in the United States."

Jiang Xian felt it was very dreamy when listening to it.

After staying in the United States for a long time, he sometimes really forgets that he is in the old 20s.

While eating dinner, the writers drank some wine together.

It's a rare opportunity for us to get together.

The seventh student clinked his glasses and said, "It is truly a historic moment for writers from the mainland and our Taiwanese to drink together!"

Chen Yingzhen said, "We are all from the same country. Blood is thicker than water. This cannot be changed no matter what."

Everyone raised their glasses and clinked them together.

"Long live China!" Wang Anyi shouted excitedly.

The others smiled and said a few words as well.

"Long live China!"

"Come to think of it, why are you called Qidengsheng?" Wang Anyi asked, "This name seems a bit strange."

Qi Dengsheng smiled and said, "No reason. When I was in junior high school, I was bored at home, so I published a magazine every week. I drew some pictures and wrote some things. Some of them were made by myself, and some were copied. I published one page a week, one white newspaper, and I published more than 50 pages. Anyway, when I wrote this magazine, I gave myself a pen name: Qi Dengsheng. It was just for fun."

"For fun?"

"For fun."

"Is this publication still available?" Chen Yingzhen asked.

"It's gone. It was washed away by the flood during a severe flood."

"it's a pity."

"Teacher Chen, what is the current situation in Taiwan Province?"

Jiang Xian took this opportunity to learn about the situation in Xiatai Province with Chen Yingzhen.

Chen Yingzhen smiled bitterly and said, "Western music and songs are everywhere. Occasionally, I hear something with an oriental flavor, and when I listen carefully, I find it's from Japan."

Chen Yingzhen hated Japan very much, and this was also reflected in his literary works.

After dinner, the writers sat together in the living room, took a group photo, and then said goodbye one by one.

Ru Zhijuan was about to leave when Jiang Xian called her, "Teacher Ru."

"What's wrong? Jiang Xian."

"If you don't mind, you and An Yi can move in with us. We still have two empty rooms."

"No, no, no."

Ru Zhijuan quickly refused, "That's so embarrassing. We can't live in someone else's house. It's too troublesome."

"No trouble."

Jiang Xian persuaded, "Look, we are both new to the United States. If you come and live here, we can take care of each other."

"Oh, how can this be possible?" Ru Zhijuan said embarrassedly.

"It doesn't matter, no one will mind." Jiang Xian said with a smile.

It's not that he has to be a pushover, he does have some considerations because besides him, his family also lives in the house, and it's a detached villa with few neighbors.

If the same surprise attack as the one Smith had done before happened again and he was not there, Rao Yuemei would not be able to handle it.

But if Ru Zhijuan and Wang Anyi moved in, if something like this happened, they could help Rao Yuemei contact the servants and think of a solution.

After Jiang Xian finished persuading her, Rao Yuemei and Zhu's mother also came over to persuade Ru Zhijuan. They were of the same generation and had been friends before.

"It's such a big house, it would be so lonely if we were the only ones living there. It would be more lively if you came over."

".Sorry to bother you then."

Ru Zhijuan couldn't refuse the kindness, so she agreed and moved in with Wang Anyi that same day. The next day, she returned to the "Mayflower" apartment and packed up her things, thus completely moving in.

A few days later, Jiang Xian and Ru Zhijuan went to visit Nie Hualing and Ingres again.

When they learned that Angel was going to have surgery, they, as friends, comforted Nie Hualing.

Before leaving, Nie Hualing handed a manuscript to Jiang Xian.

"I was afraid that I would be too busy taking care of Ingres in a few days and would not be able to finish the translation. I rushed to finish it. You can take it back and check if there are any mistakes."

"Teacher Nie, thank you for your hard work." Jiang Xian said gratefully.

"It's not hard at all. I feel it's my honor to be able to participate in the dissemination of this novel," said Nie Hualing.

"You're welcome."

"That's not polite at all."

Nie Hualing said with admiration.

"I originally thought that the first two stories of the novel were the main content of the novel, but I didn't expect that after reading the last part you wrote, the novel was subverted once again."

(End of this chapter)