Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 431 Goodbye, John Morgan!
Zhang Chao didn't care how this farce would develop. He only knew that this American named John Morgan would never appear in China again.

As for how he would leave, Zhang Chao was not interested. There were only a few ways he could leave, and it was not his turn to interfere in any of them.

The main reason I came to Shenzhen to join in the fun was to meet the "mastermind" - but I was greatly disappointed when I saw him.

It’s still the familiar routine, still the familiar feeling, except that the person has changed from Carlson to Morgan.

When he left the venue, he saw Cai Daying standing in a corner, shivering, away from the crowd.

This "new and emerging painter" who had just fallen from the clouds stretched his neck to look at Morgan and Lin Chusheng on the stage, as if he still held on to the last bit of hope, hoping that Morgan could turn the tables, so that his painting that was auctioned for 10 yuan would have a place to go.

But this will never happen.

After tonight, the artists who participated in this auction will probably have to be depressed for a long time before they get the next opportunity.

Although Zhang Chao did not sympathize with this person, there was nothing to despise about him.

Being an artist is such a dangerous and dangerous path. The career path of avant-garde painters is even narrower than that of novelists like him. Most of them will never have a chance to succeed in their entire lives.

Even though those who study these generally have good family conditions, there is still an insurmountable gap in assets between them and being able to make their works famous.

The actual income of most of them is even lower than that of the oil painting craftsmen in Dafen Village in Shenzhen, who can paint several world-famous paintings a day, from Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" to Van Gogh's "Sunflowers", and are charged by piece, and have no worries about food and clothing.

The mass-produced oil paintings there not only meet the needs of most people in the world to use oil paintings to decorate their homes, but the purchase price of each painting can rise from a few dozen yuan in Dafen Village to hundreds of euros.

So people like John Morgan were pretty much the only straw they could grab.

Being able to sell a work at such an auction means that more galleries are willing to recommend their paintings to customers, and it also means that it is possible to make some connections with people with greater purchasing power.

It’s unknown how long Cai Daying worked to get this opportunity.

But before he could be happy for a few minutes, this opportunity was wiped out before his eyes, and even the person who gave him the opportunity was also wiped out.

I can only say that the ups and downs in life are really exciting.

When the elevator door was about to close, Zhang Chao vaguely heard John Morgan's roar, but it was in English: "I am an American! I am an American! You can't do this to me! I want to find the consulate!..."

The next morning, Zhang Chao went downstairs to eat a bowl of beef rice rolls, then ran to the newsstand to buy a few newspapers, hoping to read the relevant media reports.

As a result, when he went home and looked through the reports, he found that although there were reports, the language used was mostly restrained, even a bit "too calm", which made Zhang Chao smile.

For example, the title of the report in Southern Metropolis Daily is a bit confusing: "The Cracks Behind Cross-Border Cultural Exchanges"

Recently, a technical failure occurred at a charity auction dinner in Shenzhen, and a recording involving senior executives of an overseas foundation was accidentally played publicly. The recording repeatedly contained intriguing phrases such as "cleaning up the battlefield" and "guiding the direction of public opinion", and both parties in the conversation showed extraordinary concern for the influence of a certain writer's work on public opinion.

It is reported that the foundation once claimed that its purpose was to "support young artists", but many of its recent funding projects involved public opinion analysis. A reporter from this newspaper asked whether the foundation had cultural consulting qualifications, and the spokesperson only responded that "all processes are in line with international standards" and hurriedly left. 】

Since the newspaper's deputy editor was deeply involved in the matter, the use of cryptic language is understandable.

The report in the Financial Daily also lacks substantive content - "The Butterfly Effect of Nonprofit Organizations"

[…The Videl Asia-Pacific Cultural and Art Exchange Foundation is quite active in the art markets in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, holding more than 10 auctions last year alone. In the recording incident exposed yesterday, the executive chairman of the foundation repeatedly mentioned sensitive public opinion topics with the intention of suppressing a young Chinese writer.

This is in subtle contrast to the foundation’s official website’s statement that it “promotes cross-cultural equal dialogue.” It is worth noting that many contemporary art works in the foundation’s auctions entered the secondary market in the form of anonymous commissions in a short period of time.

The report in China Youth Daily is slightly better: "Cognitive Misalignment Under the Halo of Charity"

[…This incident exposed the blind spot of supervision of foreign cultural exchange activities. The foundation involved declared a project of “art exchange and appreciation”, but it was actually an auction, and the funds involved were as high as one million.

Experts suggest establishing a "blacklist" for cultural exchanges, and implementing penetrating supervision on foreign funds involved in sensitive areas such as public opinion guidance and public opinion research, to prevent the charitable cloak from becoming a disguised camouflage uniform.

Only the Legal Daily was not so obscure: "Another Alarm Bell on the Compliance of Foreign-related NGOs"

[An overseas foundation's auction business that was not legally registered has attracted attention. In the "Asia-Pacific Cultural and Art Bridge Project" displayed on its official website, 87% of partners are involved in public opinion surveys and public relations. Legal professionals pointed out that the statement in the recording "let them fight each other" may have violated national laws...]

Each report was very short and tucked into the corner of the page, making it inconspicuous.

Zhang Chao roughly knew what was going on, but didn't take it seriously. He folded up the newspaper and turned on his computer to see if there was any discussion on the forum.

The result is... a blank.

Not to mention "popularity", there is not even a photo or a text description.

Zhang Chao was feeling a little depressed, so he took the ball from the house and prepared to go to the playground to vent his anger.

At this moment, my cell phone rang. I picked it up and saw that it was Wang Meng. This old man hadn't contacted me for a long time, but every time he showed up, it was usually on behalf of some people to talk to him.

Zhang Chao thought about it and picked up the phone.

Wang Meng's voice was still old and vigorous, full of power. He did not beat around the bush, nor did he test the waters, but asked directly: "Zhang Chao, do you feel a little wronged?"

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "I don't feel wronged, but I just feel unhappy and unhappy. After all the hard work, we ended up firing a stupid shot ourselves!"

Wang Meng was silent for a while on the other end of the phone before he said, "I understand you're upset, but the timing is not very good now. After all, the results have just come out in the Pacific, and it's not a good time for us to report it now."

Zhang Chao laughed and said, "I understand."

Wang Meng finally couldn't help it and asked, "Aren't you curious about what happened to Morgan?"

Zhang Chao curled his lips - although Wang Meng couldn't see it, he could still hear the disdain in his tone: "What else can we do? We just send someone to talk to him, and then he goes back to America.

What he did can only be considered as "skirting the line" - oh, it seems to cross the line, but it actually hasn't - so at least from the current legal point of view, there is really no way to do anything to him. The real blow to him is actually from within his own ranks. Now we are firing a few weak shots in public opinion, and they will have room to turn things around when they go back, just by writing a few pages of reports.

So I say this is not pleasant or satisfying! "

Wang Meng didn't expect Zhang Chao to see through the matter so clearly. He was speechless for a moment, but he still had to do his job. He continued to comfort him with a few words and asked him to come and see this "old guy" after returning to Yenching.

In addition, he mentioned the Mao Dun Literature Award ceremony at the end of the year. This is also the first time that the committee has awarded the Mao Dun Literature Youth Award. Wang Meng said, "Aren't you going to present the award? Remember to come back early. There are many procedures that need to be discussed together."

Zhang Chao could naturally hear the subtext of this sentence, which was that he should not use his connections and power to stir up the matter again - whether on this side of the Pacific Ocean or the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

You should know that Zhang Chao is not only a writer, but also an influential opinion leader in both China and the United States. He is also the favorite of various publishers and has two social media platforms with a huge number of users.

If he wanted to, he could make this matter known to everyone - in fact, he did so last night.

That's why Wang Meng made the anxious phone call to put out the fire, because he was worried that Zhang Chao would get angry.

Zhang Chao had no opinion about Wang Meng. He knew that he was just doing his job, so he reluctantly responded with a "OK" in a nice tone.

When Wang Meng heard Zhang Chao agree so readily, he became a little less confident. In his impression, if Zhang Chao felt that he was "wronged", he would definitely try to get some benefits.

But this time Zhang Chao agreed very readily, but his voice was full of fatigue.

Before Wang Meng could say anything more, Zhang Chao said on the phone: "Teacher Wang, is there anything else?"

Wang Meng's heart skipped a beat, but he couldn't think of anything else to delay the conversation, so he said, "There's nothing else to do. You should return to Beijing as soon as possible."

Zhang Chao said "hmm", then said "see you then", and hung up the phone.

In Beijing, Wang Meng also put down his phone and complained to Tie Ning beside him: "What kind of thing is this? Zhang Chao did nothing wrong from the beginning to the end, but he ended up being the one who needed to be appeased."

Tie Ning's face was not looking good either, but as the president of the association, she had to obey the overall situation, so she comforted him: "The timing is special, the timing is special."

Wang Meng sighed, said nothing more, turned around and left Tie Ning's office.

Tie Ning did not hear Zhang Chao's voice, so he didn't know what Zhang Chao's mood was; but Wang Meng knew that this time Zhang Chao must have had some grudge against the Writers Association.

In fact, no matter who made the call, it should not have been made by the Writers Association. Firstly, Zhang Chao had cooperated with the Writers Association in many ways, but he never joined the association, maintaining a state of being close yet distant.
Secondly, if someone is wronged, you should always think of ways to compensate them, right? But whether it is fame or money, it seems that Zhang Chao has no shortage of them, which makes Wang Meng feel very uncomfortable when he makes this phone call.

Zhang Chao, who was far away in Shenzhen, sweated on the court for most of the day and finally felt a little relieved from the depression in his heart.

When he sat down to rest, he flipped through his mobile phone and found that a reporter with whom he had a good relationship had sent him a "MMS" which was a blurry video.

However, Zhang Chao could still see that John Morgan was being held on the left and right by two men in black work jackets, and was being escorted onto a passenger plane that was about to take off.

Judging from the size of the passenger plane, it should be flying to the United States.

Just as Zhang Chao expected, John Morgan will disappear from China forever - as for what kind of punishment he will receive in the United States, Zhang Chao has no idea.

After seeing off one American "friend", Zhang Chao also welcomed another American friend.

David Miller from Simon & Schuster Publishing. He has now been promoted to the position of editor-in-chief of the international department of the publishing house and is one of the top people in Simon & Schuster.

He came to China with only one purpose, which was to discuss the contract for his new book with Zhang Chao.

Speaking of which, Zhang Chao’s last novel officially published in the United States was "Homeland" a year ago, but the publishing company was "Random House".

It took only one year for Homeland to sell over 200 million copies in the United States, becoming almost a must-have "Bible" in every Chinese family. It made a lot of profit for Random House and became the hottest bookseller in the United States this year.

Many book reviewers have praised Random House as the "most visionary" and "most diverse and inclusive" American publishing house.

This greatly annoyed the top management of Simon & Schuster Publishing House, especially since the inspiration for "Homeland" came from the "Journey on the Orient Express" they prepared for Zhang Chao.

This was also regarded by David Miller as a shame in his career - he vowed to take down Zhang Chao's new book to "avenge his previous shame."

Zhang Chao met David Miller in the small living room of the hotel room where he stayed. David Miller did not come alone, but brought the company's legal counsel.

He didn't want tedious email exchanges, he just wanted Zhang Chao to sign the contract as soon as possible!
Looking at the other party's formation, Zhang Chao asked, "Why are you so anxious? Wasn't the last volume of "The Great Doctor" published just over a year ago?"

David Miller shook his head and said: “For other writers, I would not be anxious if it takes more than a year, two years, or even several years, because that is their creative rhythm.

But you are different... You are the most talented and fastest-creating writer I have ever seen. I am afraid that if I am not careful, I will miss your masterpiece!"

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Oh? A masterpiece? You didn't seem to view the previous book, "Homeland," in that way."

David Miller's face turned red, and he said, "Last time... last time... let's not talk about last time, okay? Let's just talk about this time. I hope you can sign the next book to us. We can discuss any conditions!"

Zhang Chao was surprised and said, "I have no plans to write a new novel at the moment. I'm afraid you will be disappointed!"

David Miller pulled out several magazines from his briefcase—October, Contemporary, Harvest, and Youth—and said anxiously, “What about these short stories? I already know what they are about, and I also know the impact they have caused in China.

If you don’t have long stories, these short stories will do too!”

Zhang Chao still smiled and said, "These short stories...are too localized. I'm afraid American readers won't like them very much, right?"

David Miller said firmly, "No! They will like it!"

This attitude really surprised Zhang Chao.

(End of this chapter)