Exciting 1979!

Chapter 353 Wei Ming: The Wei family has problems with its family traditions, but the root of the problem definitely doesn't lie with me.
Melinda was enthusiastic and proactive, and Wei Ming had rested for several hours on the plane so that he wouldn't disappoint her at this moment.

Driven by their passion, the two did some rather unsafe things.

Finally, Melinda, having had her fill, looked up at the ceiling and said in a hoarse voice, "My mother is upstairs. I wonder if she can hear me."

Wei Ming: "Usually, people downstairs are more likely to hear this."

Melinda: "But it doesn't really matter, she rarely cares about me anyway."

"I never knew your mother was an editor at Penguin Books."

“My maternal grandmother was an editor at Oxford University Press, so I’m practically from a prestigious family,” Melinda joked.

Wow, Oxford University Press, Penguin, and Macmillan are all top-ranked publishers in the UK.

The two embraced tightly. They had important business to attend to tomorrow. Melinda had already put her underwear back on. That was it for today, but they couldn't fall asleep yet because they were enjoying the afterglow.

"When did you arrive?" Wei Ming asked.

“I arrived yesterday, so I’ll take this opportunity to tell you about this year’s book fair,” Melinda said. “You know that the Frankfurt Book Fair started having a theme every year a few years ago, right?”

Wei Ming shook his head. He didn't know much about Germany, and the reference book he was reading was more than ten years old.

Melinda said, "In 1976, we had a Latin American literature theme. Márquez and his 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' were already very successful and had countless fans in the literary world, but they were not as popular in Europe as they were in the Americas. Ordinary readers did not like them very much. After the Frankfurt Book Fair that year, 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' completely opened up the European market, and sales doubled. It reached a new level every year. Now the total sales should be more than 20 million copies. In recent years, the calls for Márquez to win the Nobel Prize in Literature have become louder and louder."

Hearing that more than 2000 million copies had been sold, Wei Ming was really envious. It was truly worthwhile for a creator to reach this level.

The key is that its sales and popularity have remained strong for over a decade and will continue to do so. For decades, it has been a leading work of Latin American literature. Once the Chinese version is officially released, regardless of how many years of pirated copies have been sold, it will easily surpass 10 million in sales.

Melinda continued, "It's a pity we missed the 'Children and Books' theme three years ago, and we don't know when we'll be able to do another children's literature feature."

Each book fair features a special section, and the support for these types of books is substantial.

"So what's the theme this year?" Wei Ming asked.

Melinda laughed and said, "It's more to your advantage, since this year's theme is 'Black African Culture'."

Wei Ming understood: "You want 'The Lion King' to ride on this theme."

Melinda nuzzled Wei Ming: "How can you call it nuzzling? Isn't The Lion King about the story of Africa? We naturally belong to this theme."

Both Melinda and Macmillan Publishing were extremely optimistic about the future of "The Lion King". Melinda then told Wei Ming some good news.

"The total sales of the English hardcover and paperback editions of The Lion King have officially surpassed two million!"

"Wow, that's two million already! When did it reach one million?" Wei Ming remembered that "Brave Game" was an English version with a few other languages, and it only just broke the million mark this year. Melinda told him this at the charity concert. At that time, "The Lion King" hadn't even broken the million mark yet.

"Last month, we launched the distribution in English-language markets such as Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Singapore at the same time, so we broke one million last month and two million this month."

Wei Ming leaned closer to Melinda's face: "But why do I feel like the royalties they sent me weren't that much?"

Melinda kissed him: "I was just about to tell you. Wei Lingling and I discussed it and decided to divide your income into three parts. Sixty percent will stay in the company as start-up capital for future growth, another twenty percent will be placed in Hong Kong, and the last twenty percent will be sent to the mainland."

Because of communication difficulties with Wei Ming, Melinda consulted directly with Wei Lingling, who also agreed.

"Oh, I see," Wei Ming roughly calculated the income of his mainland account, then deduced it backwards, and suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Then the company account must already have nearly a million US dollars!"

“It’s already over a million,” she said proudly. “Before leaving the UK, I had already distributed the first-print revenue from Jurassic Park and Rubik’s Cube. Now the company has $115 million in its account, enough to buy a small publishing company. If we can sell some of the copyrights this time, we can make a lot more money.”

Wei Ming immediately praised Meimei for being very capable. She said, "Come on, what was I about to say? You interrupted me and I forgot. Oh, right, I wanted to ask how many copies of 'The Lion King' sold in China?"

Wei Ming said, "150 million copies of the standalone edition have been printed, and they should be sold out soon."

Originally, The Lion King wasn't very popular in mainland China, not as much as Black Cat Detective. But after it gained more popularity overseas, Chinese people started buying the book to support it.

Melinda's eyes lit up: "200 million plus 150 million, okay, tomorrow we'll announce that The Lion King has sold over 500 million copies worldwide, which is almost the best result in the children's book industry this year!"

Wei Ming exclaimed in surprise, "Is your product really that much water content?"

Melinda retorted confidently, "More than half are actual sales, isn't that enough?"

Wei Ming had no way to refute it; let the professionals handle the professional matters.

Melinda then told Wei Ming about the Frankfurt Book Fair. Since she had attended last year and this was her second time, she had a fairly clear understanding of it.

"China's booth is in Hall 6, Macmillan Publishers' booth is in Hall 5, and Africa's booth is in Hall 7. They are all quite far apart, so you'll probably have to run around to different places."

Wei Ming: "It turns out it's physically demanding. I should have saved my energy earlier."

Melinda said seriously, "No, I have to give it my all every time, after all, I don't know where my next meal will come from."

Wei Ming was amused by the proverb and reacted a bit, wanting her to have another meal.

However, Melinda, seeing that it was already past midnight, forced herself to say, "There's plenty of time, let's go to sleep tonight."

"Well, okay."

As for the Chinese restaurant where the Chinese delegation was staying, when Deputy Director Liu returned and learned from the restaurant owner that Wei Ming had not yet returned, he waved his hand and said, "Never mind, don't leave the door open for him."

~
Wei Ming was thinking about getting up early the next day, but he was still woken up by the knocking on the door. He and Melinda were sleeping soundly in each other's arms.

Wei Ming, still wearing his bathrobe, went over to take a look, then quickly ran over and nudged Melinda: "Wake up, your mom!"

Melinda opened her eyes, but remained calm: "My mom is my mom, so what? I'm an adult now."

"Wait a minute, I'm coming!" she called out to the outside.

Wei Ming quickly got dressed. If it were him, Sister Xue, or Sister Lin being blocked at the door by a mother-in-law, it would be a huge problem.

But it was no big deal for Melinda. She then opened the door and let her mother, Charlotte, in.

This is someone with equally fiery red hair, also very beautiful, and somewhat similar to Melinda, only with a more capable and sophisticated air.

Ms. Charlotte brought over the clothes Melinda had left in her room the night before, then calmly introduced herself to Wei Ming and mentioned that she had seen his work.

The calm demeanor of both mother and daughter greatly eased Wei Ming's anxiety.

The three of them then went downstairs together for breakfast and ran into Minford from the previous night. The four of them sat down together for a meal.

Breakfast is buffet style, with various sausages and breads, as well as a lot of sauerkraut. Germany is also a country that produces sauerkraut, which is eaten with sausages and pork knuckle.

In addition, there were desserts such as Black Forest cake and apple tart. Wei Ming wanted to eat something he had never eaten before after going abroad, so he still had to stay in this kind of foreign hotel. He would find an excuse to move over tonight.

Oh, and he even booked a room for Xiaohong. He can't forget his sister even while he's enjoying himself.

During dinner, Minford and Wei Ming started chatting about "Dream of the Red Chamber" in Chinese, and unexpectedly, Melinda joined in using Chinese as well.

She began reading "Dream of the Red Chamber" while studying Chinese in England, initially reading it alongside the first volume translated by Hawkes, Minford's father-in-law. Later, she was able to read the complete Chinese version.

Charlotte rolled her eyes as she listened to them all speaking Chinese. She couldn't participate at all; she only had a basic understanding of Chinese culture, but her language skills were far inferior.

After dinner, Charlotte drove them to the Frankfurt Exhibition Center, where the opening ceremony would be held.

In addition, a large number of German publishers are gathered here.

After all, this is a book fair held in Germany. Of the 3900 exhibitors this year, more than 1400 are from Germany, including 52 from East Germany. Publishers from West Germany have almost all come.

In a country with 6000 million people, there are over a thousand publishing houses; Germans really love reading.

According to Charlotte, the populations of the UK, US, Germany, Japan, and France account for just over 10% of the global population, but they account for more than 50% of global book sales and copyright trade at trade shows.

Therefore, apart from the host country West Germany, the UK, the US, Japan, and France occupied the most booths and displayed the most books.

At the opening ceremony, Frankfurt Mayor Walter Walmann and Book Fair Chairman Gerhard Wilhelm delivered speeches, highlighting the guests from this year's theme, "Black Africa."

Although Africa is poor, it does have a publishing industry and literature, but it is mostly unknown to outsiders, and of course, the quality is indeed somewhat lacking.

Wei Ping'an laughed and said, "Oh, this chairman is actually from our clan, he also has the surname Wei."

Wei Ming was taken aback: "You've arrived!"

Besides Wei Ping'an, there are also Wei Hong, Liu Gao, Ye Junjian, and others.

Wei Hong stared intently at her brother and Melinda beside him, her mind filled with thoughts of where and how her brother had slept since he hadn't come home last night.

Melinda waved to Wei Hong across Wei Ming and they started talking quietly.

Then Wei Hong found out the answer.

"The company has already booked rooms for you and Wei Ming at the Batsoden Hotel for five days. We just didn't expect you to already have a place to stay. We chatted a bit late last night, so we let your brother stay in his room there." Wei Hong was a little excited; it was a big hotel! "Wouldn't it be a waste if I didn't use my room?"

Melinda: "Yes, it's such a pity. We booked it two months in advance."

Then Wei Hong looked at Wei Ping'an. When you're out and about, Uncle Ping'an is like a parent, so you have to listen to him.

"Why are you looking at me? I'm not the team leader," he said, pointing to Deputy Director Liu.

Deputy Director Liu thought to himself that if the two of them stayed somewhere else, they could save on food and lodging expenses. But he was always worried about the possibility that Wei Ming might stay in Europe and not return, which would be an international incident.

So Deputy Director Liu said, "Director Wei, why don't you stay there with them? That way you can look after each other."

He thought that Wei Ping'an was a seasoned veteran party member and a former soldier, so he couldn't possibly make a mistake.

Wei Ping'an nodded: "Okay, Xiaoming, you don't mind, do you?"

"I don't mind, anyway, mine is a standard room." Wei Ming thought to himself, even if it's a double room, it's fine, I can squeeze in with Melinda.

Wei Ping'an was about to talk to his nephew about Melinda when they were walking out after the opening ceremony. He specifically pulled Wei Ming aside.

"You, when you came over today, everyone was talking about you and your foreign ex-girlfriend, saying you two rekindled your old flame."

Wei Ming insisted, "We were just discussing work as usual."

This wouldn't fool Wei Ping'an; these two probably often talked about work day and night.

"Okay, just say the same thing when others ask. In short, don't let your comrades think that you want to stay abroad. You should keep some distance from your ex-girlfriend, the editor, in public and not be too intimate."

"I'm sure I'll be fine, but I'm worried that foreigners might be too enthusiastic, you know what I mean."

“What do I know? I don’t have a foreign ex-girlfriend,” Wei Ping’an blurted out.

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than someone behind him called out, "Wei Ping'an?"

Wei Ming saw her; she was a middle-aged foreign woman with brown hair, not yet forty years old, and quite attractive. She actually knew Uncle Ping An?
Wei Pingan turned his head stiffly, and after seeing the foreign woman, he frantically searched his memory before calling out uncertainly, "Wei Linlang?"

The woman named Wei Linlang laughed: "I thought you had long forgotten me."

After saying that, she opened her arms and hugged Wei Ping'an tightly, even giving him a cheek kiss.

Wei Ping'an was stunned, Wei Ming was dumbfounded, Wei Hong's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, and Liu Gao and the other comrades were all petrified, especially Deputy Director Liu, who was extremely worried. This Wei Ping'an was not someone to be trusted!
What kind of family tradition does the Wei family have? How come everyone in them is like this?

Wei Ming also wanted to say, "Uncle Ping An, how could you do this? You have my Aunt Xiaoyan at home, you dated someone in high school, another one in college, and now you've added a foreigner to your list. You're more than me..."

No, he's even more amazing than my grandpa!
Wei Ping'an realized something was amiss and quickly and politely pushed Wei Linlang away, asking, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the book fair. Oh, let me introduce myself. I'm the head of the National Publishing House of East Germany."

Wei Ping'an: "I stayed at my alma mater to work. I came here this time to promote the printing and typesetting system produced by Peking University."

"Oh, Peking University, my alma mater. I really miss the days there. I'm craving old-fashioned Yanjing fried noodles again." Wei Linlang's eyes crinkled with laughter.

There are too many people around to talk here, so Wei Ping'an said, "Let's catch up after we're done with this. I'll give you my contact information."

"Okay, you can call me at room 303 of the Frankfurt Hotel. That's where I stay."

After Wei Ping'an said goodbye to Wei Linlang, Wei Ming and Wei Hong grabbed his arms on either side: "Uncle, what's going on!?"

Wei Ping'an: "Oh, there's nothing wrong with him. He's just a former East German student at Peking University."

Wei Ming: "Then why is her surname Wei?"

Wei Hong: "Wei Linlang, it sounds so nice, I'm even thinking of using that name."

“I admit that I was rather perfunctory when I named you. I also admit that I helped her choose the name Wei Linlang. At that time, she was learning Chinese and I was learning German. We often helped each other. She wanted to choose a Chinese name, so she asked me for help. She said that my surname was good, so she followed my surname Wei.”

"Oh my, she has your surname, how can we be just ordinary friends?" Wei Ming chuckled, and Wei Hong nodded in agreement. Even she, who was slow to understand emotions, felt that something was amiss.

Seeing that he was already quite far from Deputy Director Liu, Wei Ping'an admitted, "We did have some feelings for each other back then, and we were attracted to each other, but she returned to East Germany after studying abroad for a year, and nothing happened between us."

Wei Ming thought a year wasn't enough; he and Melinda had gone from being ordinary friends to knowing each other inside and out in just one month.

Wei Ping'an, looking like an honest man, said, "Anyway, Wei Linlang and I are completely innocent and can withstand the test of the Party and the country. Don't go back and talk nonsense."

Wei Ming, ever the gossip, asked, "Uncle, you have quite a romantic history. Besides these women, have you had any others?"

"No, that's all," Wei Ping'an hesitated for a moment, then changed the subject, "Oh dear, I still have to go to Hall Six to test the equipment, are you coming with me?"

Wei Ming said, "Tell Director Liu that we're busy at McMillan this morning and will go over this afternoon."

"Alright, I'm off." Wei Ping'an said guiltily as he turned and left.

Hall 5 is also home to Penguin Books. It's practically an ocean of books, mostly in English, primarily from British and American publishing companies.

Therefore, Wei Ming not only saw Penguin and Macmillan, but also famous publishing brands such as Random House, HarperCollins, and Andrew Nuborg, each of which could offer hundreds of books.

Besides new books, the main focus is on timeless classics.

There aren't many people in the morning because it's reserved for professionals to exchange ideas and discuss business. It's only open to the general public in the afternoon.

Wei Ming asked Melinda, "If I want to buy a book, can I buy it directly from the stall?"

He took a liking to "Lady Chatterley's Lover" at the Penguin booth. This old book has stood the test of time, and although it has been banned in several countries, it has sold over 100 million copies worldwide!
This is certainly not just the power of pornography, but sex must have played a significant role in it; later, the book "Lolita" also sold tens of millions of copies.

Lady Chatterley's Lover was later published in China, reportedly with more than 50% of the content removed.

Wei Ming had seen and experienced a lot, and he wasn't reading the original English version out of mere curiosity, but rather to learn about the descriptions and phrases related to sex in English, something that was difficult to learn in the classroom.

With sales reaching tens or hundreds of millions, he was even considering abandoning his writing career.

Melinda shook her head: "They usually don't sell them, since there aren't many sample books. However, there are large bookstores near several exhibition halls, and they sell not only German books, but also English books. As long as the books aren't too new, you can basically buy them."

Wei Ming was relieved and went back to get an opaque bag to sweep the books.

The Macmillan Publishing booth was already set up. Macmillan has a history of over a hundred years and has achieved remarkable success in professional academics, English education, bestselling literature, and children's books.

When hundreds of beautifully bound books from Macmillan are displayed on the shelves, the feeling can be summed up in two words—depth and heritage.

However, with so many books, there must be important and unimportant ones.

Melinda was in charge of the children's book section, with The Lion King being the main focus. Not only were ten hardcover English editions of The Lion King displayed in a row, but there was also a huge lion poster with the words "500 million copies sold worldwide" and "inherited from Shakespeare's Hamlet" written on it, which was very eye-catching.

His new book, Jurassic Park Part 1, was placed in the bestseller category. This time, instead of a poster promotion, a very realistic Tyrannosaurus Rex model was displayed there, making quite a spectacle, and a crowd had already gathered around it.

As for "Rubik's Cube? Anyone Can Play It", a collaborative creation by siblings Mr. Why and Miss. Wei, it is also a key project of this book fair, with an initial print run of 30 copies in English.

To attract customers, McMillan prepared more than a dozen Rubik's Cubes at its booth, and Melinda directly asked Wei Hong to demonstrate how to solve them.

Soon, people nearby were drawn over. The Rubik's Cube has become a globally popular toy in the last two years. Some people find it difficult, while others have gradually figured out some patterns.

Now, Macmillan Publishing has cracked the Rubik's Cube's mystery and put the method for solving it in this book.

A Hungarian publisher felt a sense of familiarity upon seeing the Rubik's Cube and said to the person next to him, "This was invented by us Hungarians!"

Upon hearing this, Melinda immediately invited him to come and take a look at the book: "It contains more than a dozen solutions to the Rubik's Cube, and it's illustrated with pictures. I'm sure there are many Rubik's Cube enthusiasts in Hungary, and this book will definitely have a great market among them!"

Finally, she pointed to "Mr. Why" in the book title, which is the latest work by a world-renowned author and musician.

“But there are too few Hungarians,” the businessman said shrewdly, “unless you are willing to sell me all the European translation licenses.”

Melinda smiled. That's definitely impossible. You're just a Hungarian publisher; you don't have the resources to develop multiple translations at the same time. If you miss the deadline, there will definitely be imitations, which will affect sales.

Melinda then included a few less common European languages, such as Romanian and Czechoslovak, which finally got the other party to sign a letter of intent. The authorization for these languages ​​was reserved for him, and a detailed contract would be signed later.

Wei Hong asked excitedly, "Sister Mei, how much money can we make by selling four less commonly taught languages?"

Melinda said, "70% of the translation licensing fee goes to the author, so you'll probably only get around $20,000. There's also a share of the royalties after publication, which depends on how much it sells. These countries together have a population of about 50 million, so the royalties shouldn't be less than $50,000. We'll try to increase your share later."

Hearing that there were so many, Wei Hong became even more motivated to solve the Rubik's Cube, and she even created afterimages while solving it. It's too easy to make money off foreigners!

She wasn't just solving a Rubik's Cube; she was envisioning her own future!
At this moment, someone came up to the poster of "The Lion King" and examined it carefully...

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(End of this chapter)