Exciting 1979!

Chapter 356 Wei Ming Makes the Headlines, His Works Enter Taiwan in Large Numbers
"Brother, this is it!"

Wei Hong led everyone to the restaurant where she and Melinda had lunch, called Wagner German Restaurant. She thought it was quite good and that she hadn't had enough.

Mike said, "The cider here has a very unique flavor."

Wei Ming asked, "Mike, have you been here before?"

Mike replied, "I came here once with the ambassador and guests; it's just that the prices are a bit high."

Wei Ming: "Then that's it."

There were only about fifteen or sixteen people in total, and Wei Ming wasn't worried at all about being eaten out of house and home.

The restaurant was packed with people, mostly publishers, writers, and onlookers from all over the world.

Once inside, you'll see vintage wooden tables and chairs surrounded by German style, with beer mugs decorating the walls.

The waitress, an older woman who speaks English, saw that there were so many people and led them directly to the last empty private room, which had two tables to avoid being too crowded. She then handed them two menus.

Wei Ming handed the food to Elder Ye and Director Liu, letting them order. They were well-traveled and knowledgeable, having traveled abroad frequently.

However, the two tacitly handed the food to Wei Ping'an and his nephew Wei Ming, since it's not customary for someone to order their own food when they're being treated.

As the menu was being passed around, others glanced at it. They couldn't understand the names of the dishes, but they could make out the prices. The cheapest dish cost several marks, while the most expensive could cost over ten marks. There was no limit to the price of drinks, with some costing hundreds.

They couldn't help but swallow hard, looking forward to tonight's meal even more, while also feeling a little embarrassed about getting a free meal.

The two elders insisted, so Wei Ming sighed and said, "Then let my uncle order; he's quite knowledgeable about German cuisine."

Wei Ping'an: "Go away, go away, this is my first time eating German food, you order."

Everyone laughed and looked at Wei Ming. They were all hungry after a long day, so Wei Ming didn't stand on ceremony.

"Then I'll just order directly. Please bear with me if you like it or not. Crispy roasted pork knuckle and Wagner pork chop for each person, multigrain bread... well, never mind the bread, we can fill up just on the meat. Also, sausage platter and large portion of braised pork chunks with mushroom sauce for each table."

"Brother, dessert." Wei Hong whispered a reminder. She couldn't stop thinking about the Black Forest cake she had at noon. It had chocolate, cherries, cream, and came with a small glass of cherry liqueur. It wasn't intoxicating and was very sweet.

So Wei Ming ordered a Black Forest cake for everyone as dessert, but Old Ye said he didn't want his, as he was too old to eat sweets.

"Finally, drinks. One bottle of your champion cider per table, one bottle of grape juice per table, half a stack of stout, half a stack of wheat beer. Order more when you're done."

Then Wei Ming asked Uncle Ping An and Mike to see if there was anything else to add.

Mike shook his head; it was already a very large meal, and he was afraid he wouldn't be able to finish it all.

Wei Pingan: "How about a whole grain bread? It'll help cut through the greasiness of the meat."

Wei Ming: "Then let's have another serving of multigrain bread at each table."

That's all. They roughly calculated that this meal would cost at least 300 marks in foreign exchange. Their group's daily meal allowance was only 200 marks, averaging less than 70 marks per meal.

It has to be Teacher Wei!
Before the dishes were even served, people immediately started praising Wei Ming's brilliant achievements that day.

"I walked around Hall 6 from top to bottom. It mainly features books from Asian and Middle Eastern countries, but no one here is as popular as Professor Wei!" said Lao Song from the International Bookstore. He was also responsible for importing books, so he had been wandering around the hall.

"That's right. The German translation licenses are basically all sold out. That alone is something that not every writer can do."

"The key is that our Teacher Wei has so many works, and they are so diverse. I didn't know that Wei the Madman was actually you!"

"I'm just writing something simple, please excuse my poor writing."

Director Liu shook his head: "What surprised me the most was Wei Kuangren and 'The Battle of Qin Terracotta Warriors'. I didn't know about this novel before, but I didn't expect it to be the best performer today."

Wei Ming: "Just like when we talk about Rome, we think of the Colosseum, and when we talk about France, we think of the Louvre. When foreigners talk about China, they first think of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. But in recent years, there is another one: the Terracotta Army. When I was doing research in Xi'an, there were a lot of foreign tourists at the Terracotta Army site. This is a label that foreigners have given us, and it is very worthwhile to make use of it. Director Wu Tianming of Xi'an Film Studio had thought about making this novel into a movie before."

Then the beer arrived first, and everyone except Wei Hong poured themselves a glass. Wei Ming raised his glass to celebrate the good start of the day.

After a glass of wine, the atmosphere gradually relaxed.

Director Liu then asked, "Has it been filmed yet? When can we watch it?"

Wei Ming: "The reason it didn't pass the review might be due to concerns about historical nihilism."

After a brief chat, the main course began. Germany is a carnivore's paradise, and the first main course served was a sausage platter.

There are local specialties like Frankfurt sausage, thumb-sized Nuremberg sausage, white sausage that doesn't look very appetizing but is full of veal, blood sausage made with pig's blood and offal, and so on. Each sausage is surrounded by a dipping sauce, with different sauces for different sausages.

A publisher from Northeast China laughed and said, "We also have blood sausage in my hometown!"

Mike also said, "Germany also has sauerkraut stew with meat, and the sauerkraut tastes very similar to that in Northeast China."

"Why is that?" the guy from Northeast China asked, puzzled.

Wei Pingan said, "It's probably because of the same latitude that similar eating habits have evolved. Also, Germans really like stews."

Wei Ming took a sip of his drink. "Uncle, you really know a lot about Germany."

Wei Ming and Uncle Ping An sat at two separate tables, acting as hosts and taking care of everyone to ensure they ate, drank, and chatted well.

Next came crispy roasted pork knuckle, Wagner pork chop, and Black Forest cake for each person. Seeing such a large portion, everyone exclaimed that they couldn't possibly eat it all!

Before, even those with high salaries had to be careful when eating meat back home. Now, with two large plates of meat in front of me and vegetables like potatoes as garnishes, the aroma is so enticing that I don't know where to start.

Wei Ming picked up a pork chopstick and started eating. Once he started, the others immediately followed suit, and then no one spoke.

When the cider was served, Wei Hong asked her older brother for permission, as she also wanted to try it.

Wei Ming took a sip; it was both sour and sweet, and not very strong, so he let her have a sip. However, he still preferred German beer.

Next, Wei Ming chatted with Lao Song from the International Bookstore about which books he had bought and was planning to import.

"It's not that fast. We can't compare with those big international companies. We have limited foreign exchange reserves, so we have to be careful. We didn't buy any books today, but we did shortlist a few. We don't have any competitors, so we can study them slowly."

What about Taiwan?

“They and the Hong Kong publishing companies are both asking for traditional Chinese characters, so it doesn’t constitute competition,” Lao Song said, referring to Taiwan. “However, I would like to import a book written by a Taiwanese author.”

"Oh, is this in accordance with the rules?"

"That Taiwanese man is now an American citizen."

“Then that’s not a problem,” Wei Ming said. His aunt, Wei Lingling, used to be Taiwanese, but now she’s an American and can travel freely in and out of mainland China. The same goes for the female lead in “Romance on Lushan Mountain.”

Wei Ming asked curiously, "Which writer is it?"

Old Song: "You know Pai Hsien-yung's 'The New Yorker,' right?"

Wei Ming nodded: "Bai Chongxi's fifth son."

"Wow, you even know his birth order! I only knew he was Bai Chongxi's son."

Wei Ming said quietly, "When I was writing 'The Right Path in the World,' I checked the genealogy of Bai Chongxi's family."

Old Song laughed and continued, "Ever since the 'Message to Compatriots in Taiwan' in 79, the mainland has always wanted to have some cultural exchanges with Taiwan, but it is afraid of taking responsibility and dares not take the initiative to introduce them. Today I saw that an American publisher holds the traditional Chinese and English copyrights of Pai Hsien-yung's 'The New Yorker,' so I thought I would take the Chinese copyright, so that I can advance or retreat as needed."

Deputy Director Liu, who was at another table, also knew about the situation. He put down his wine glass and said to Lao Song, "Then could we ask that publishing house to import Xiao Wei's work into Taiwan? That would be fair."

Old Song slapped his thigh: "Director Liu is right. I'll ask them about it tomorrow."

Wei Ming asked, "What's the name of this publishing house?"

"Tangren, Tangren Publishing House".

Wei Ming: "..."

~
Gong Biyang felt that today was a complete failure; he was utterly defeated in the competition with global publishing giant Penguin.

He lost the competition for "Black Cat Detective" and "The Legend of the Heavenly Book" as well. In "Animal Ferocity", the novella he had his eye on, "The Shepherd's Spring", was also picked up by the discerning Minford. He said he would translate the novella himself.

In order to complete his boss's task, Gong Biyang planned to take a closer look at Wei Ming's other works tomorrow.

Or just buy it without looking closely, forget about sales targets, the most important thing is that the boss is happy.

Just as the thought of giving up crossed his mind, the receptionist at the Frankfurt Hotel said someone was looking for him.

"He is Chinese."

Gong Biyang immediately went downstairs, but instead of Wei Ming, whom he had been longing for, he met a man named Wei Ping'an who claimed to be Wei Ming's uncle.

"I'm here on some business, and I'd like to take this opportunity to visit Mr. Gong and discuss the licensing of Wei Ming's works with you."

Gong Biyang sighed and said, "Mr. Wei, please have a seat. We are indeed a small publishing house and cannot compare to the influence of Tencent."

"Mr. Gong, there is no need to belittle yourself. As far as I know, your organization has a very strong influence in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia."

“Those areas are indeed within our business scope.”

Wei Ping'an smiled and said, "That makes things easier. Let's talk about the traditional Chinese character licensing for Wei Ming's works."

"Traditional Chinese copyright?" Gong Biyang's eyes lit up. "That's right, traditional Chinese copyright!"

I was so focused on getting the English version that I forgot there was also a Traditional Chinese version. Taiwan has 20 million people, and Hong Kong has several million, but Malaysia, where a third of the population is Chinese, now has both Simplified and Traditional Chinese characters, while Singapore has long since completely adopted Simplified Chinese, just like mainland China.

But this is also a market of 30 million traditional Chinese books!
Seeing Gong Biyang's eagerness, Wei Ping'an said, "Mr. Gong, please don't rush. We have one more small condition: Wei Ming's works must be placed on the bookshelves in Taiwan."

If it weren't for the need to achieve a balance—introducing Pai Hsien-yung's works to the mainland and Wei Ming's works to Taiwan—the traditional Chinese copyrights of Wei Ming's works could have been handed over to Joint Publishing (Hong Kong), using Hong Kong as a center to radiate to traditional Chinese-speaking regions.

After hearing Wei Ping'an's request, Gong Biyang hesitated for a moment before asking, "Does it include 'The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes'?"

Wei Pingan shook his head: "Not included, we'll have to issue this ourselves."

The traditional Chinese version of "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes" will definitely be reserved for Sanlian Bookstore; state-owned enterprises are more reassuring.

Gong Biyang breathed a sigh of relief. As long as they didn't demand that "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes" be sent to Taiwan, it was fine. The novel was quite objective, and some of the truths were very sharp to the authorities.

Apart from "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes", Gong Biyang felt that there would be no major problems, thanks to Tangren Publishing House's connections in Taiwan.

Of course, just to be on the safe side, he added, "We can test the waters with picture book versions of The Lion King and Jumanji first. If they are successful, we can develop other works by Mr. Why."

Wei Pingan waved his hand: "Mr. Gong can talk to the person in charge tomorrow. Actually, I'm not in charge of publishing. I'm just here to deliver a message. I have other things to do."

As they were talking, Wei Linlang, who had been getting ready upstairs, came downstairs: "Ping An, let's go. I'll treat you to coffee. The coffee shop is right next to Goethe's house. We can also chat about the sorrows of young Werther."

Wei Pingan waved to Gong Biyang and then went out with Wei Linlang.

~
At the Wagner-style restaurant, a dozen people devoured all the food and drinks on the table.

They originally had some food left over, but they were taught from a young age to save food, so they would eat and drink everything even if they were stuffed.

We can always just walk back to the hotel.

Wei Ming and Wei Hong parted ways with Director Liu and the others here. They were leaving because the distance wasn't too far, but the Bartsoden Hotel was much farther away and they would need to take a taxi.

Wei Hong asked worriedly, "Brother, do you think Uncle Ping'an will be back tonight?"

Wei Ming: "I believe in Uncle Ping An's party loyalty; he certainly won't make a mistake."

"Brother, is it so you can easily make mistakes if you don't join the Party?" Wei Hong asked, slightly tipsy.

Wei Ming patted her on the head: "Insubordination, you're asking for death!"

"Hey, don't press my head down, it's all your fault I'm not growing taller."

Wei Ming thought to himself, "You're much better now than you were in your previous life. You should thank me."

In her previous life, Xiao Hong was less than 1.6 meters tall. In this life, she is well-nourished and is now over 1.6 meters tall. However, when she stands next to Zhou Huimin, who is a year younger than her, she appears to be less developed.

How can that brat compare to my Amin?

Later, the two returned to the Bartsorden Hotel, where Wei Ming helped her and Uncle Ping An check in. It was Xiao Hong's first time staying in such a grand hotel, and everything was new and exciting to her. She even experienced an elevator for the first time.

"Brother, should we tell Sister Mei?"

"Let's talk about it tomorrow. Go to sleep first. Look how red your face is. You must never touch alcohol again. Don't open the door to anyone at night. If you need anything, just shout. I'm next door."

After pushing Xiao Hong into the room, Wei Ming immediately opened Melinda's door. The red-haired enchantress on the bed had been waiting for a long time, freshly bathed.

Wei Ming and Melinda were exhausted but also very excited all day. With the sale of numerous copyrights, Mr. Why's international influence will undoubtedly grow, which will be of great help to them in starting their own business in the future.

Later, Melinda cupped Wei Ming's face and said, "You must not use up your talent too quickly. You must save some for when our own publishing company is established."

"Don't worry, I have lots of good stories here, both at the top and bottom of my head." Wei Ming pointed to his head and the bottom of his head.

Melinda patted him a few times with glee and said, "I also talked to some small publishing companies today. Some of them have distribution channels, but they have poor judgment and are having a lot of trouble running their businesses. I think we can just buy a few small companies and then reorganize and integrate them into one, which can save us the time of starting from scratch."

"It seems you're eager to make your mark."

Melinda: "I'll wait until the Jurassic Park series is finished before I leave. I don't want to leave a bad impression on my old employer."

While bringing the Jurassic series to a new company isn't out of the question, it would severely offend the former company. Macmillan is a large international corporation spanning Europe and America with operations in dozens of countries worldwide, and its owner is a former British Prime Minister. Why bother?

Wei Ming has already finished writing the next two books: "Including the translation time, it will probably be next year."

"Well, next year, or at the latest the year after, so next year you must produce a work that is internationally renowned enough as our opening masterpiece."

It must be either a new children's literature work that can be sold globally, or a literary work that can be accepted and loved by international readers.

However, Wei Ming's pure literary works have not yet had the opportunity to be presented internationally. A few short and medium-length translations may be published next year, but the most important translation of "China Past" (The Right Path of Man is Full of Vicissitudes) may have to wait a few more years.

~
The next day, Wei Hong woke up early and went next door to find her older brother, asking him to take her to Sister Mei for breakfast.

After knocking on the door for a while, it was Uncle Ping An who came out. He was a little later than Wei Ming and the others, and he had just finished drinking coffee before returning.

"Uncle, where's my brother?"

Wei Pingan rubbed his eyes: "Oh, he went out for a run early this morning. Let's go downstairs and have breakfast first."

Do you know where to have breakfast?

Wei Pingan: "I found out about it when I came last night. Let's go."

Out of an unspoken understanding between men, Wei Ping'an pushed Wei Hong downstairs. The two were eating when Wei Ming and Melinda came in.

"Brother, Sister Mei, over here! You've all gone for a run, you're all sweating so much, your hair is all wet."

Wei Ming saw Uncle Ping wink at him and hummed in agreement: "Morning exercise, morning exercise."

After the two sat down, Charlotte and Minford came in, so there were two more people at the table.

Minford kept talking, "Mr. Why, I love your 'In the Heat of the Sun' so much that I've decided to finish translating this novella while I'm translating 'Dream of the Red Chamber'."

Wei Ming asked with some unease, "Are you familiar with the historical background of this novel?"

“I know, it happened in Yenching in the 1960s or 70s, when I was learning Chinese.”

Charlotte said, "And we will ask Mr. Hawkes to be our literary advisor. He studied at Peking University and witnessed the founding of New China. He even got married in Yenching. In your words, he is a true China expert."

"Oh? Mr. Hawkes attended the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China?"

Charlotte: "One of the people standing in the audience."

With this promise, Wei Ming felt much more at ease; this was yet another cast from "Dream of the Red Chamber".

When Wei Ming left the restaurant, he noticed that many people picked up a newspaper from the door.

Melinda quickened her pace and grabbed two portions as well.

"what is this?"

Melinda: "The Book Trade Journal, a newspaper that is only published during the book fair."

Wei Hong exclaimed, "Oh my! This is my brother!"

Melinda smiled and nodded: "Your brother is on the front page."

At the very center of the front page is a photo of Wei Ming wielding his brush, next to which you can see a Black Cat Detective doll and a book with terracotta warriors on the cover—a fairly complete set of elements.

As its name suggests, the "Book Trade Newspaper" is a newspaper that reports on book transactions at the book fair. It can objectively show whose works are more popular and provide some guidance for publishers.

On the first day of the event, Mr. Why's two English picture books and two new books translated into English received a huge number of orders in Hall 5, and multiple copyrights were also sold.

In addition, at the Chinese booth in Hall 6, almost all of Wei Ming's works were snapped up by German publishing giants. A fantasy work about a love story during the time of the First Emperor of Qin even sparked a bidding war among several French publishers, including Bertelsmann, Penguin, and Hachette.

This year's book fair features nearly 6 titles, with 5000 of them brought by the Chinese side alone.

Wei Ming's collection of more than ten works, known as Mr. Why, is undoubtedly the most successful and dazzling.

In addition to reporting on Mr. Why and his works, the newspaper also praised his approach of befriending publishers through Chinese calligraphy at the book fair, saying, "This performance art has brought back the fragrance of ink to the increasingly commercialized book fair."

Upon overhearing Melinda and the others' conversation, the publisher, who was staying at the same hotel, immediately looked over.

Some people even came up directly to Wei Ming to chat and get to know him.

Of all the people, Wei Ming only remembered one, not only because he was fluent in Chinese, but also because of his Chinese name—Ma Yue Ran.

This Swedish sinologist and translator also studied in China and later served as the Swedish ambassador to China. He is now a professor of Chinese studies at Stockholm University and has been elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Wei Ming's understanding of him mainly stems from the fact that he is one of the eighteen lifetime judges of the Nobel Prize in Literature and is keen to recommend Chinese writers to the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Unfortunately, Shen Congwen died just before receiving the award, and Gao Xingjian was already French when he won the award. In the end, Mo Yan won the award amidst controversy for works such as "Frog".

Ma Yueran hadn't read Wei Ming's serious literary works before, only heard that he was a children's author and musician, but today he learned more about Mr. Why and was surprised to find that he had so many works and was so young.

The two exchanged a brief introduction. Wei Ming did not offer him a book, but he would take the initiative to read it if he was interested.

Melinda has already arranged Wei Ming's schedule for today. This morning, he will go to Hall 7 to participate in the African-themed event and promote "The Lion King" back to its homeland in Africa.

However, upon arrival, the doors to Hall 7 were locked!
(End of this chapter)