Chen Kaige was also very happy, but he couldn't help but think that it would have been better if he had been invited to the first session.

As March approached, Tao Yushu flew to the United States for a business trip.

She has many things to do in the United States this time. The first is "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", which is invested by Lam Pictures and distributed by New Line Cinema, and is scheduled to be released in the United States in early March.

Secondly, the Academy Awards are about to be held. "Parasite" has previously won two New York Film Critics Association Awards and two Los Angeles Film Critics Association Sentinel Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. It has received very good reviews.

But at the same time, "Parasite" also faces a strong opponent, and that is "Cinema Paradiso" directed by Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore.

At last year's Tuena Film Festival, there was a scuffle between "Parasite", "Sex, Lies and Videotape" and "Cinema Paradiso".

"Parasite" and "Sex, Lies and Videotape" were lucky enough to win the Palme d'Or, but that doesn't mean that these two movies are better than "Cinema Paradiso".

This time at the Oscars, the two films are once again facing each other on a narrow road. It is still unclear who will win, so it is inevitable that Tao Yushu does not pay attention to it.

"Parasite" has not been released in several important box offices such as the United States and Japan so far, just to bet on the outcome of the Academy Awards.

Once you win the prize, the benefits will definitely be huge.

The day after Tao Yushu left, Tao's mother also made arrangements to return to Beijing. School was about to start. Tao Xiwen and his brothers still had to go to school, so they had to reluctantly leave Xiangjiang. Zhang Guiqin also followed the three of them.

Lin Chaoyang persuaded her to stay a little longer, but she said, "I'm afraid your dad will starve to death!"

Lin Chaoyang had no choice but to let her go.

The family had been busy for a month, but suddenly it became deserted, and the children were taken care of by a nanny. Lin Chaoyang was somewhat uncomfortable with it.

In his spare time, he finally remembered his own job and thought about writing a new novel.

Just two days after he started writing, Lin Chaoyang received a call from Miyu Kitamura, saying that he was going to Xiangjiang to visit him.

After several years of cooperation, Lin Chaoyang went to Japan and sent his sister-in-law to Japan. This was the first time that Kawade Study House took the initiative to visit him.

Lin Chaoyang was a little confused, but still expressed his welcome.

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang received Miyu Kitamura at Kai Tak Airport. She brought a translator with her this time, as well as an important person from Kawaide Study Room.

"Lin Sang, this is Ms. Yamakawa, the editor-in-chief of our publishing house."

Yamakawa Asako was the editor of Kawade Shobo in the 1950s, and was responsible for the publication of Kawabata Yasunari's works at Kawade Shobo. Later, after Kawade Shobo Shinsha was established, she became the chief editor.

She comes from a literary family. Her father is the poet Nishide Chaofeng. After her husband passed away, she has been using her husband's surname to work outside the home.

After saying hello, Lin Chaoyang sent the three of them to the hotel first.

Yamakawa Asako is over seventy, and flying cross-country is a big burden for her. Lin Chaoyang asked the two of them to rest for a night, and then invited them to have dinner at home tomorrow.

The next morning, Asako Yamakawa and Miyu Kitamura formally visited Lin Chaoyang with their translators.

Yamakawa Asako, Kitamura Miyu and the others are all women. In order to avoid suspicion, Lin Chaoyang specially called Liu Yizeng and Li Bihua today.

After meeting and introducing each other, a few people took their seats.

Among the two groups, only Lin Chaoyang and Miyu Kitamura were relatively familiar with each other, and all communication was through translators. It was a little awkward at first, but after chatting for a while, everyone gradually relaxed.

The main reason why Asako Yamakawa and Mihiro Kitamura came to Xiangjiang with so much force this time was because of the huge response caused by "The Master of Chess" in Japan.

In 1988, the Japanese team suffered three consecutive defeats in the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament. Kawade Shobo took this opportunity to introduce "The Master of Go" with an anti-Japanese plot to the Japanese public.

According to normal circumstances, Kawade Shobo's operation will inevitably cause a lot of trouble. The most likely thing that will happen is that the sales of the novel will be extremely poor.

And it was scolded by the public and became a hot search topic. But the actual situation is that "The Chess Master" was indeed scolded a few months before it was released, but the sales of the novel hit a record.

800,000 copies were sold in just half a year.

"The Chess Master" can create a sales miracle under such circumstances, which is inseparable from Kawade Shobo's aggressive publicity.

The slogan "The secret of Chinese Go's victory" was openly displayed when Japanese Go lost three consecutive games to Chinese Go. No matter how fiercely the Japanese scolded them, as long as they were Go enthusiasts, who wouldn't want to see this?

What kind of magic does "Chess Master" have?

Don't worry about the anti-Japanese plot, let's first understand the secret of the Chinese team's victory.

For Japanese Go fans, watching "The Great Go" is a very painful experience.

It was obviously an anti-Japanese novel, but they had to read it.

Many Japanese people even think of Japan's national destiny when reading novels. Over the centuries, hasn't our Empire of Japan gone through this process of being bullied by the strong, showing weakness, learning, and surpassing?

With this thought in mind, they felt that a mere anti-Japanese novel was nothing.

This is not weakness on our part, we are courageous after knowing our shame.

It is with this mentality that the novel "The Master of Go" has been miraculously accepted by many Japanese Go enthusiasts.

Until the end of 1988, the fourth China-Japan Go Tournament ended in a fierce battle. Nie Weiping's magic was no longer there, and the Chinese team was defeated by the Japanese team 7:2.

The scores swept.

For the first time in four years, the Japanese team won the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament. When the news spread back to Japan, there was a sudden burst of joy in the Japanese Go community. In addition to the excitement, some people thought of the publication and publication of "The Master of Chess" in Japan.

spread.

These people believe that it is precisely because Japanese Go was able to realize its shame and then be courageous, abandoning prejudices and introducing works such as "Chess Master", which successfully aroused the morale of the domestic Go community and achieved this hard-won victory.

At a time of great joy in Japan, this argument actually won the approval of many people.

So much so that the sales of "Chess Master" continued to increase after the Japanese team won the victory, and they have been growing rapidly.

After winning the victory, Japanese Go fans' perception of the novel "The Go Master" also had subtle changes.

The Japanese team always lost in the past, so they naturally felt even more uncomfortable when they saw the ugly faces of the Japanese characters in "The Master of Chess".

But it’s different now. The Japanese team won, and they stood in the position of the winner. Watching "The Master of Chess" again, I can’t help but feel a bit like a winner’s superiority.

After reading the novel, I felt less uncomfortable, and naturally became more rational, and could better discover the advantages of the novel itself.

Ever since, for more than a year, the sales of "Chess Master" have been rising steadily.

As of January 1990, the sales volume of "Chess Master" in Japan has exceeded 2 million copies.

Such terrifying sales are rare for Tokuma Shoten, which started out as an entertainment publication, let alone Kawade Shobo, which is known for publishing purely literary works.

The popularity of the novel has also increased Lin Chaoyang's reputation among Japanese people, and is even as good as some local Japanese writers.

Of course, this is just fame.

In terms of recognition and acceptance, Lin Chaoyang cannot be compared with local Japanese writers.

After listening to Yamakawa Asako and Kitamura Mihiro introduce the situation of "Chess Master" published in Japan for more than a year, Liu Yi and Li Bihua on the side were filled with wonder.

In the past, everyone only knew that Lin Chaoyang's works were popular overseas, but no one had seen the specific reasons for their popularity. This time, the two of them had an eye-opener.

One and a half years after publication, sales exceeded 2 million copies!

You must know that "The Chess Master" is a foreign novel in Japan, and the content is not friendly to Japanese people. This situation completely broke the two people's understanding, making them always feel a bit strange and unreal.

When the two of them were shocked, Yamakawa Asako and Kitamura Mihiro solemnly bowed to Lin Chaoyang to express their gratitude.

Then the two of them took out a commemorative medal. This medal was specially made by a craftsman from Kawade Shofu. It was engraved with the Japanese words: ""The Master of Chess"" and "2 million sales."

The medal is made of pure gold, weighing more than 200 grams at least, highlighting a wealthy man.

The two million sales of "Chess Master" created more than 4 million US dollars in royalties for Lin Chaoyang. Hechu Study Room will only earn more than Lin Chaoyang, not less.

Making a medal of more than two hundred grams of gold as a gift to Lin Chaoyang was nothing to them.

"Lin Sang, thank you for your support of our Kawaide Study. We very much hope to continue to cooperate with you in the days to come, so that more Japanese readers can read your works." Yamakawa Asako said with a sincere expression.

"Ms. Yamakawa, you are very polite. The writer and the publishing house are in a relationship of mutual help and support."

After some polite exchanges, Lin Chaoyang accepted the medal given by Kawade Study Room.

He knew that Asako Yamakawa and Miyu Kitamura came this time not only to give away medals.

Sure enough, after he accepted the medal, Yamakawa Chaozi mentioned the introduction of Lin Chaoyang's new works.

We have been cooperating for several years and have always been very happy. Lin Chaoyang readily agreed.

Lin Chaoyang hosted a banquet for Shanchuan Chaozi and several others at noon, and sent them out of the house in the afternoon.

After all the guests from Japan left, Liu Yi and Li Bihua also said goodbye.

The two of them came today as company guests, and they could see Lin Chaoyang's influence in the Japanese literary world.

Lin Chaoyang wanted to keep the two of them mainly to keep Li Bihua. He would chat with Li Bihua about the adaptation of "Farewell My Concubine".

Her novel was written in 1985. It has been made into a TV series before and will be adapted into a play recently. Now it is going to be made into a movie. Li Bihua is very happy.

She was even more happy when she heard that the director was looking for Chen Kaige, who had won two Silver Bear Awards at the West Berlin Film Festival.

Two days later, the Huo family held a banquet and sent the message. Tao Yushu was not at home, so Lin Chaoyang had to go by himself.

The Huo family's mansion is located on the top of the Peak, not far from the western mid-levels where Lin Chaoyang's family lived before.

The two-story garden villas, all covered in cement and gray, may not look impressive, but the value of a single-family villa on Victoria Peak is not much lower than that of a villa in Deep Water Bay.

The Huo family's banquet was not luxurious. Lin Chaoyang observed it and found that the invitees seemed to be wealthy businessmen and celebrities with relatively inferior backgrounds or positions.

After Comrade Zhou from New H Company appeared, Lin Chaoyang probably understood that this banquet should be held for him. It was his first official appearance in the Hong Kong business community.

At the banquet, everyone talked a lot about the series of immigration policies recently introduced by the UK for residents of Hong Kong.

Last year, the UK first announced that it would grant British residency to up to 50,000 Hong Kong families, totaling 225,000 people, by 1997, and then this year began promoting the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990 in the House of Lords.
To be continued...