A widower's entertainment

Chapter 355 [International Influence] (Please Subscribe)
Regardless of what path Lin Youcheng's child takes in the future, it depends on the child's own thoughts. As the child's father, all Lin Youcheng can do is provide for him, but of course, Lin Youcheng also has his own path to walk.

Although the novel "If Love Has a Destiny" received mixed reviews from literary critics after its publication in People's Literature magazine, it undoubtedly generated a great response among readers. Otherwise, People's Literature Publishing House would not have been so keen to publish a standalone edition of "If Love Has a Destiny".

Lin Youcheng naturally wouldn't refuse, as it would mean a new royalty for him. Crucially, People's Literature Publishing House clearly had high hopes for Lin Youcheng's novel, printing an initial print run of 150,000 copies. This was undoubtedly due to the influence of Lin Youcheng as the author and "If Love Has a Destiny." It's worth noting that when Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain" was published as a standalone book, the initial print run was only 15,000 copies, and that was only because of the sensational effect caused by Lin Youcheng's previous novels.

This is why, after Lin Youcheng's novel was published, various publishing houses rushed to release a standalone edition.

There's nothing that can be done; Lin Youcheng's works are loved by the people. If it weren't for the rampant piracy of his books, Lin Youcheng's royalties would be unimaginable.

Of course, even with piracy, Lin Youcheng's previous novels would still sell at least a million copies each. Each of his works was a bestseller upon release, and would be reprinted from time to time. Otherwise, publishers would not have been so eager to publish Lin Youcheng's novels.

Zhang Wei would naturally deliver the letters that readers sent to the editorial department of "People's Literature" to Lin Youcheng. He would also talk to Lin Youcheng about the readers' reactions to his work "If Love Has a Destiny". In addition, Zhang Wei would also hear that Lin Youcheng had written a movie script and would be collaborating with director Hou Xiaoxian from Taiwan. Moreover, this movie script was related to the novel "The Reader", which naturally made Zhang Wei very curious.

"Youcheng, I heard that the screenplay 'Love' you wrote for director Hou Xiaoxian is a story hidden in the novel 'The Reader'?"

Actually, Lin Youcheng had only told Xie Shuhua the story of "Love" before, but Wang Xiaobo and Yu Hua also knew about the foreshadowing novel "Love" hidden in the novel "The Reader".

Hou Xiaoxian is now collaborating with Lin Youcheng on a film, and the script is amazing; it's called "Love."

When this news came out, Wang Xiaobo and others naturally thought of the story that Lin Youcheng had mentioned might be written.

It must be said that such a rumor naturally makes people in the literary circle even more curious about what the story of Lin Youcheng's "Love" is all about.

When Lin Youcheng heard Zhang Wei ask this question, he didn't keep hiding it. After all, he had already given the script to Hou Xiaoxian, which meant that he had written the story of "Love". He then told Zhang Wei the name of the novel "Love", which was the last novel that Jiang Xia read in "The Reader".

Zhang Wei was stunned by Lin Youcheng's words.

He really didn't expect that Lin Youcheng had hidden such a novel, "Love," within his own novel. The key was that he did it so subtly that no one noticed it at all. It was just mentioned in a few strokes of the pen. To Zhang Wei and other ordinary readers, the simple title might have just been another novel, and they didn't pay much attention to it. They never imagined that it was actually a story that Lin Youcheng had hidden within the novel "The Reader."

Zhang Wei was amazed to think that Lin Youcheng had actually included Jiang Xia reading his novel in the novel "The Reader." This subtle design really impressed him.

What shocked Zhang Wei even more was that the story of "Love" told by Lin Youcheng was absolutely amazing!
"Holy crap, Youcheng, this is fucking awesome!"

Well, editor Zhang Wei really couldn't help but swear, thankfully no children nearby heard it.

Zhang Wei's eyes widened. He really hadn't expected Lin Youcheng to come up with such a terrifying story. Indeed, the word that flashed through Zhang Wei's mind was "terrifying".

Although the story sounds simple, as a literary editor, he naturally knew very well how terrible the humanity and love in Lin Youcheng's story "Love" were, and to what extent love could lead a person to kill their lover with their own hands.

The key is that this story sounds so real!

Zhang Wei thought about it carefully and felt the hairs on his body stand on end. Looking at Lin Youcheng, he asked anxiously, "Why don't you write this story into a novel? Such a story can be written as a short story!"

Clearly, as an editor at the magazine and the director of the fiction section of People's Literature, Zhang Wei was well aware that Lin Youcheng's incredibly moving story could be written as a short story and published in the magazine.

Lin Youcheng naturally understood what Zhang Wei meant, smiled, and said, "It's the same whether it's written as a script or made into a movie."

Hearing Lin Youcheng's words, Zhang Wei understood that Lin Youcheng's story would be quite impactful if made into a movie, but he still felt a little regretful and couldn't help but say, "Those critics said that your 'If Love Has a Destiny' wasn't profound enough. They didn't know that your truly profound stories hadn't been published."

"Youcheng, your novel 'Love' is absolutely amazing!"

Zhang Wei thought of the elderly couple in this story. In the end, because the wife could no longer maintain her dignity, he smothered his beloved wife with a pillow to death, for the sake of her dignity and her wishes. Thinking of this story and the final scene, Zhang Wei really felt his scalp tingle. He couldn't help but exclaim, "Director Hou Xiaoxian, if you make your story into a film, it will definitely be very shocking."

The story may seem simple, but it was just as impactful to Zhang Wei as Lin Youcheng's original novel, "The Devotion of Suspect X."

Lin Youcheng smiled upon hearing Zhang Wei's words and said, "Director Hou naturally doesn't need to worry."

Looking at Lin Youcheng, Zhang Wei thought about the story of "Love" that Lin Youcheng had told him, and his heart was filled with shock and admiration. After all, no one would have thought that there was such a story called "Love" hidden in the novel "The Reader". "If a director were to make a movie based on your 'The Reader' and have Jiang Xia read your 'Love', I'm afraid it would be quite incredible."

"That depends on whether the director who makes the later version of 'The Reader' will do the same."

Lin Youcheng didn't pay much attention to it. After all, although it seemed like foreshadowing, the two stories were actually completely independent, and you could even say they had nothing to do with each other.

Zhang Wei only mentioned it casually, thinking that it would be very interesting if it were really handled that way. Of course, deep down he still admired Lin Youcheng's imagination and couldn't help but say, "No wonder everyone says that the movie script you collaborated on with director Hou Xiaoxian is quite amazing. Now that I see it, it's really not an exaggeration at all."

Lin Youcheng naturally knew that this script would definitely be passed on from Director Hou Xiaoxian, since Director Hou Xiaoxian still needed to select actors.

While Zhang Wei and Lin Youcheng were chatting, someone else came looking for Lin Youcheng outside the courtyard.

Powers from Time Publishing also approached Lin Youcheng to discuss the translation and publication of his other novels. It must be said that the fact that several of Lin Youcheng's works were made into films in the United States undoubtedly made this Eastern author and screenwriter more famous and popular.

"Lin, this is incredible! You have no idea how popular your stories became after they were made into movies!"

"The Time Traveler's Wife has grossed over 500 million, and The Lake House has grossed over 200 million. The most impressive one right now is the movie you wrote, Every Day, which is still going up in box office. Some media outlets are even saying that it might surpass The Time Traveler's Wife."

Lin Youcheng wasn't particularly surprised by Bowers' excited words, because he knew it wasn't that exaggerated. After all, several movies released in 1990 in another timeline were either related to romance or science fiction, and their box office results were all in the top ten. For example, "Ghost" grossed $5.05 million worldwide. This classic romantic fantasy film tells the story of a bank clerk who is murdered, becomes a ghost, rekindles his romance with his girlfriend, and eventually brings the murderer to justice. Thanks to the brilliant performances of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, this film became the highest-grossing film worldwide last year.

Keep in mind that this is a romantic movie, and it is followed closely by "Home Alone" with a global box office of $4.76 million. As for another classic romantic comedy, "Pretty Woman," it also has a global box office of $4.63 million. Keep in mind that this movie is just about how a beautiful and lovely woman of the night conquers a domineering CEO.

In addition, the film "Total Recall," adapted from a short science fiction story about a construction worker on Earth who often dreams of scenes on Mars, grossed $2.61 million worldwide. The last film in the "Back to the Future" trilogy, "Back to the Future Part III," grossed $2.45 million worldwide. Almost half of these films are romance and science fiction movies.

It's easy to imagine how well "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "The Lake House" did in the market. This is why Universal and Warner Bros. were willing to spend such a hefty sum to buy the film adaptation rights. Ultimately, it was because the novel adaptations had very good box office potential, and both film companies were very optimistic about Lin Youcheng's two novels.

Hearing Bowers' words, Zhang Wei was very excited. He had heard that Lin Youcheng's novel was very popular after it was made into a movie in the United States, but he didn't know the specifics. However, seeing Bowers' excited expression and the specific box office figures, he could imagine that the box office results were absolutely excellent.

Lin Youcheng could understand why Bowers was so excited. Besides the excellent box office results, the most important reason was that the production costs of these films were not high. Even a sci-fi romance film like "The Time Traveler's Wife" had a lower production cost than a sci-fi film like "Back to the Future," not to mention low-budget romance films like "The Lake House" and "Everyday."

If Bowers were to say that "Everyday" were to actually gross over $500 million worldwide, Warner Bros. would probably be waving their dollars and clamoring to come back to him for a collaboration.

Lin Youcheng was unaware that not only Warner Bros. and Universal wanted him to collaborate on screenwriting projects, but other film companies and producers in Hollywood also wanted to work with him.

It's worth noting that besides commercial romance films like "Every Day," Chen Aige's previous film, "Atonement," also won two major awards at the Cannes Film Festival and had its overseas distribution rights bought by many overseas film distributors. The fact that such a powerful film as "Atonement" won the Jury Prize and is now aiming for the Oscars is enough to demonstrate how excellent the film is.

The key point is that Lin Youcheng also served as the screenwriter for this movie, "Atonement," which was adapted from a novel of the same name. This naturally made overseas film companies even more aware of the brilliance of Lin Youcheng, an Eastern screenwriter.

Bowles's visit was naturally to discuss Lin Youcheng's "Atonement," as well as the overseas publication of "The Reader" and his latest novel "If Love Has a Destiny." After all, Lin Youcheng's current fame is such that even if he were to write an autobiography or a collection of essays, it would absolutely be worthwhile for Time Publishing to translate and publish it overseas, because Lin Youcheng's fame is now truly incomparable to what it used to be.

Lin Youcheng would naturally not refuse to let Shidai Publishing Company translate and publish his other novels, because the overseas royalties are truly a case of "there is gold in books."

"Lin, maybe your screenplay for 'Everyday' will be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay."

Lin Youcheng raised an eyebrow. This surprised him somewhat, but if the box office performance of "Everyday" was truly outstanding, Warner Bros. would naturally give it a boost. After all, films like "Ghost" were nominated for an Academy Award and won Best Original Screenplay, and "Pretty Woman" was also nominated for multiple Academy Awards. Such romance films might not necessarily be excluded from awards, although whether they would win was another matter entirely.

However, Lin Youcheng didn't seem to care much, and just said with a smile, "If that's really the case, then that would be great."

Bowers noticed that Lin Youcheng didn't seem to care much, and he didn't know how to make Lin Youcheng understand how important he was to the Hollywood film companies. Of course, this was all because the box office performance of the films related to Lin Youcheng was outstanding.

The fact that low-budget films can achieve such explosive box office returns is bound to drive capitalists in the capitalist world to pursue them relentlessly.

(End of this chapter)