In the evening, Li wanted to drink and chat with Bai Su in the tavern. The proprietress of the wine house came over to pour Li Xiang full of rice wine made by herself, glanced at the liquor in Bai Su's cup, there was still half a glass left, did not disturb them to talk about things, and left quietly.

Li Xiangmu saw her leave and said, "Teacher, "The Old Man and the Sea" has been fully translated, and today I am already talking about the publication of the publishing house. ”

Bai Su's eyes lit up and asked, "Have you made contact? Which one are you going to entrust it to?" I remember that you entrusted it to Huaxia Bookstore and Ding Ding Book City in China, and they have a wide range of connections. ”

Li Xiang said: "For the time being, the French Laroux publishing house has been decided, but the North American side has not been decided, and the conditions given by the other party are too harsh." ”

Bai Su asked, "What are the conditions?"

Li Xiang explained the conditions given by the Laroux Publishing House, and then talked about the conditions he proposed.

Bai Su couldn't help but be stunned when he heard Li Xiang talk about the Goncourt Literary Award, but he didn't expect Li Xiang to link the conditions with the award. This award was told to Li Xiang a few days ago, saying that this is the closest award in time, and it also asked Li Xiang to prepare and strive for it, but in fact, this is mostly encouragement. Once a year, one is judged at a time, how difficult it is to win the award, and there are a lot of luck components, he himself has hoped for it, and he has fought for it, but so far he has been empty-handed, and he has no hope.

He pondered for a moment and then said, "I've heard of it, I remember who had a lot of dealings with this publishing house, you know?"

Li thought: "Who is that? I don't know. ”

Bai Su thought about it for a long time, knocked his head again, grabbed his hair again, and finally slapped the table, and finally remembered, happy, and said, "Old man Yang!"

"......" Li Xiang didn't know who the old man Yang he was talking about.

Bai Su said: "It's Yang Kun! His fairy tale book was published by them." I'll ask him, if his old face works, can he talk and make the conditions better for you. ”

Without waiting for Li Xiang to speak, he dialed Yang Kun's phone, so that Li Xiang could only hold back the words. This kind of business thing, foreigners will not talk about any human feelings, one yard is one yard.

The phone rang twice and it was connected, Bai Su chatted with Yang Kun for a while, and said, "He wants to talk to you." ”

The mobile phone was placed on the table, and the voiceover was turned on, and Yang Kun's voice came out of the mobile phone: "Li Xiang, you signed a contract with Larousse Publishing House?"

Li Xiang pillowed his left elbow on the dining table, leaned forward, lowered his head, and said to his mobile phone: "Hello Mr. Yang, I'm bothering you at night, I'm negotiating terms with Larousse Publishing House, and I haven't signed a contract yet." ”

Yang Kun said: "I just heard Lao Bai say that I used to have a book published by Larousse Press, but only that one was published, and then I found another publisher because of some other things, and I have no connection with Larousse. ”

Li Xiang said: "Teacher Yang, it doesn't matter, this is a business matter, or leave it to professional people to discuss, we will not participate in this." ”

He said it politely, but Bai Su said unceremoniously: "Lao Yang, you didn't say that when you brags. ”

Yang Kun's voice on the phone immediately rose an octave: "You also said it, that's the time to brag, and now it's the time to talk about business with Li Xiang, can you brag?!"

White Su is extremely angry.

Yang Kun said again: "Li Xiang, I know the jury of the Goncourt Literary Award, that is, the vice president of the Goncourt Literary Academy, I can recommend "The Old Man and the Sea" to him, and write another letter of recommendation, but I don't know if it is useful, but at least I can let him know that there is such a book." What do you think?"

Li Xiang: "Thank you, Mr. Yang, thank you so much, I will send you a copy of "The Old Man and the Sea" early tomorrow morning." ”

Yang Kun said: "There is no need to send them, I have two books on the shelf, just send one to France." Okay, I'll hang up if there's nothing else to do, and I'll have to think about how to write a letter of recommendation. ”

Li Xiang: "Goodbye, Mr. Yang, I'm sorry for you." ”

Hanging up the phone, Bai Su said to Li Xiang: "Although Lao Yang likes to brag, he is still reliable when he is serious, with his recommendation, I believe that Gong Guer Academy will notice you and "The Old Man and the Sea", but this is not enough, do you know that there is an overseas promotion plan for Chinese culture?"

Li Xiang: "I haven't heard of it, what?"

Bai Su said: "This is an overseas promotion plan led and promoted by the central government, covering multiple links in the overseas promotion of Chinese literature such as publishing, translation, and dissemination. ”

Li Xiang asked: "What is going on? Which department is pushing?"

Bai Su said: "Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Culture, I don't know anyone, do you know anyone?"

Li thought about it for a moment and said, "I don't know either, but I know the Huaxia Daily, I ask them, maybe I can catch up with them." ”

Bai Su nodded and said, "I'll also ask, there should be someone in the writers' association who knows about this plan." ”

Bai Su immediately called to find a relationship, and asked several people who had heard of it but had not been contacted, and did not know how to intervene.

Li Xiang said: "It's okay, I'll ask the people in the government." ”

Bai Su was not discouraged and said: "Let me ask Chairman Deng again, he is the vice chairman of the Huaxia Writers Association and the chairman of the Shengjing Writers Association, and he may know about overseas cultural propaganda." ”

Chairman Deng is Deng Boxiao, and Li Xiang has seen him a few times, but he has no friendship, far inferior to Bai Su.

Li Xiang himself also called to contact the people of Huaxia Daily. He has a deep connection with them, and in the summer, the premiere of "I Am Not the God of Medicine" specially invited Fang Zheng, deputy editor-in-chief of Huaxia Daily, to participate, and after returning home, Huaxia Daily wrote a film review in the culture section the next day, recommending it positively.

Li Xiang directly called Director Huang of the General Office of Huaxia Daily and told him this. The other party was very enthusiastic, hung up the phone first, and called again after 5 minutes, and gave Li Xiang a phone number, saying that it was a director of the Ministry of Culture, who was specifically responsible for the overseas promotion plan of culture, and he had already made things clear to the other party. Li Xiang thanked Director Huang again and again and asked him to have a light meal tomorrow night.

Li Xiang immediately called the other party, and quickly connected, first briefly introduced himself to show his intentions, and the other party said: "Director Huang has told me just now, as far as I am concerned, I have no problem." I have read the book "The Old Man and the Sea", which is indeed very good and very popular in China. However, this matter is not something I can do if I say it, it still needs to be decided democratically. We have an expert group for overseas promotion, and the day after tomorrow we have a monthly meeting of the expert group, and I will talk about this matter at the meeting to see what everyone thinks. The specific time is 9 o'clock in the morning the day after tomorrow, at Yunji Hotel, if you have time, it is best to come over. I will tell you about it at the meeting, but you will definitely have questions after listening to it, and I may not be able to tell, so it is better for you to answer them. ”