Chapter 416 is gaining popularity!

Chapter 416 is gaining popularity!

Chapter 416 is gaining popularity!

Pohnpei was not a fast reader. After all, the fiction section of the Chicago Tribune had been declining day by day and had been entirely handed over to the deputy editor-in-chief. In all his years in the industry, he had reviewed fiction manuscripts only a handful of times.

There is a big difference in the reading techniques between press releases and novel manuscripts.

It took almost an hour to read the content of 20,000 to 30,000 words.

Eddie's refusal to give up on himself and his pursuit of freedom are fascinating, but what impressed him more was Old Bu in the library. Decades of prison life had assimilated him into the bricks and tiles of the wall. There was also a sentence that Ponape would silently repeat in his heart - these walls are interesting. When you first enter prison, you hate the high walls around you; slowly, you get used to living in them; eventually you find that you have to rely on them to survive...

"With only 20,000 to 30,000 words, it is able to describe seven or eight three-dimensional characters, including the protagonist Eddie, Red who regains hope, Old Bu who is tamed by the system, Cullen who likes to take advantage of the name of Chinese philosophers, and Robert who likes to collect coins..." With Bonaparte's praise, it is understandable why it is so popular.

Gu Lu's current writing ability is not bad. At least a few revisions will not only make the novel more eye-catching, but also not drag it down. Take this novel for example. The original version of the novel did not have the plot of Old Bu being released to commit suicide. Gu Lu felt that the adaptation of this plot in the movie version was very good, so he added it directly.

At the end of The Old Man and the Sea, the old man fell asleep due to exhaustion, and the story suddenly changed - "The old man was dreaming of a lion." This ending made the readers feel deeply moved, and the ending of Old Bull was handled in a similar way.

But Gu Lu was also very smart and never thought about making a work of his own. It was immoral not to use the cheat code.

"I am sorry for this article. If I had been able to calm down and finish reading it, perhaps the result would have been very different."

He wanted to share it on Twitter, out of habit. Ponapei usually likes to share beautiful scenery, delicious food and beautiful articles. But when he thought about the public's feedback after the tweet was sent out... Ponapei paused.

Everyone in the circle knows that he was transferred because of "The Shawshank Redemption". Wouldn't it be admitting defeat if he continued to share it?
"It's easy to find out that you are wrong, but it's too difficult to overturn your own words." At least Pohnpei couldn't do it, so he deleted the letters flashing in the input box on his mobile phone bit by bit.

Ponape searched for keywords on Twitter and the most popular tweets about #ShawshankRedemption# popped up.

The author of the post is still known to Pohnpei.

Wynton Yakori: [#Shawshank Redemption# I am sorry to know Laotze, one of the greatest philosophers in China, in this way.]
Wynton Yakori: [I want to be the laotze of the world.]
Wynton Yakori: [@Huaxia Embassy in the United States_Can you recommend some works by Laotze? I want to know more.]
Yakoli is an American Wall Street tycoon, known for his love of criticizing current affairs and his big mouth. His main business is real estate and housing.

The most impressive achievement was that he actually sang the opposite tune in a certain "Black Gold" incident, went against the tide, and was criticized by the media, and even said to have been sued a lot. Even so, he, Ya Keli, still did not fall from the realm of Key Immortal.

"They often look crazy, but they are doing well. It even makes people wonder why such crazy people are millionaires and very smart. Winton is a typical example." Ponape said, "He is one of the major shareholders of the Shijing Group."

The Times Group is the holding company of the Los Angeles Times. Therefore, although Winton posted three consecutive articles, which looked like he had just read a serialized work in a newspaper or magazine and had a sudden inspiration, it actually had a lot of publicity effect.

We can get a glimpse of the situation from the comments under the three tweets.

"Is this really so brilliant? I saw many tweets saying that it is the most brilliant article of 2019." "It's hard to believe that there is such a genius among Chinese writers?!" "Isn't China very backward? How can a closed country produce such a great philosopher? I wonder where I can buy yesterday's Los Angeles Times." and other discussions.

Pohnpei’s expression is - it’s 9012, why do Chinese people still have stereotypes about the Eastern giant?
Never mind, it doesn’t matter, he is just an ordinary journalist and has no obligation to do these things.

We can only draw a conclusion indirectly from these comments, that Winton is using the Chinese writer Gu Lu as his publicity gimmick. "The Shawshank Redemption" is so good that an unknown Chinese writer can become a gimmick!

Obviously, the popularity should wane as time goes by. The Los Angeles Times has updated it twice, but the popularity of the work does not go according to common sense.

Many links appeared on the Internet, leading to the official website of the Los Angeles Times. Most young people do not read newspapers, and this is consistent both at home and abroad.

But young people are very curious. When they see many newspapers, literary critics and tycoons praising the book, they think, "Let me see what it is like" and "Novels are so free." Anyway, they can see the electronic version on the Internet, which is very easy.

As a result, the heat spreads further.

The Los Angeles Times bundled The Shawshank Redemption with the publication, and the number of times it was mentioned on the Internet skyrocketed, and the number of hits on the official website increased by a single digit!

Does it sound particularly scary? In fact, this is related to the weakness of traditional media and the popularity of platforms - think about reading news now, either through APP push or by clicking on websites such as TikTok and Kuaishou. America is similar.

"Why is it that it's been three days and there's still no new work by this Chinese writer in the Los Angeles Times? Sir, do you want to fly to China in person to talk to us in person? May I ask if you have arrived in China?" As a major shareholder, even if Winton does not participate in the company's daily management, he must participate in important decisions.

He was currently chatting with the editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times, a man nicknamed "Magnifying Glass". Magnifying Glass means that the editor is very good at reviewing manuscripts and will find out even the slightest problem in the manuscripts of the contributors.

The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass immediately responded, "Sir, we have communicated with Mr. Gu's agent Tom (Yao Xiaoju), and Mr. Gu has no inspiration. I..."

"Inspiration?" Winton almost laughed out of anger.

Noticing the other party's mocking smile, the editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass felt that his professionalism was insulted.

He immediately said, "Mr. Yakori doesn't understand writing. Gu is not a new writer because he wrote The Shawshank Redemption. He has long been famous in Asia. If a writer like him is not satisfied with an article, he will definitely not publish it."

"Tom's reply was to try to get back to me within a week. If Mr. Yakori has any opinions about my work, please go to Mr. Straw," said the editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass.

He is a qualified editor-in-chief, but not a qualified businessman. No wonder he has been the third in command for so many years and is still the third in command now. It is useless to give you opportunities. Winton calmed down his anger. The Los Angeles Times needs this kind of half-useless and half-treasure people.

"I really don't understand literary creation, but you don't understand human nature either. The motivation for creation is just not enough. Now that he is very popular, you have to tell him that we have the same interests. Pay him at the same time and set the highest fee for the next article. The key is to allow the Los Angeles Times to realize Shawshank's popularity as quickly as possible."

Of course, if the next issue of the newspaper contains a new work or new series by the author of "The Shawshank Redemption", sales and attention will definitely soar.

By then, the popularity will exceed that of the second and first place, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Even if it is not long-lasting, the influence of newspapers is accumulated time and time again.

“The highest remuneration? That’s $2.1 for a word coined by James Patterson?!” The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass was shocked by the huge amount of money.

As mentioned above, the average writer's serialization fee in a newspaper is 0.35-0.7 US dollars. Super 1 word is a top-tier writer in the United States, such as Patterson, whose Alex Cross detective series is very well-known in the United States, and can even be said to be a household name.

"Fifty thousand words only cost $10. It's not worth comparing with the profits the newspaper gets. Our newspaper just wants the next work. It doesn't matter if it's a good work or not. No writer's works are all good works." Winton said, adding at the end, "With a person in between, sincerity will be weakened."

The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass disagrees with this approach. He believes that if writers are given more time, perhaps "Gu Lu + Los Angeles Times" can become a brand.

At the end of the call, Winton left a sentence with a hint of yin and yang: "You can really buy a plane ticket to China, watch the writers create, and if they write works, you can give them food. I believe Mr. Musi, who knows a lot about literary creation, can definitely do it."

Wait another week? The daylilies are cold.

Even though more and more American netizens are watching, it is unlikely to be popular for more than five days.

The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass also understood the meaning of Yin and Yang, and he called Tom again. Anyway, let's get the writer's contact information first. "I don't have this kind of talent, tolerate you..." The phone rang. I don't know why, when King Guru listened to very sad and EMO songs, he felt very hot and excited - even the dog-licking song "Faith" was exciting.

Could it be that if you are not one of the people in the song, you will be excited by everything you hear?
Back to the topic, King Gollum answered the phone.

"Okay, okay, I'll definitely remember it."

He hung up after a few words. Given Gu Lu's personality, it was difficult for him to chat on the phone with others for a long time.

He put down his phone, stood up and stretched, his joints making crackling sounds. He didn't know which bone in his waist was making the sound, but Gu Lu crossed his fingers and stretched them.

Things must be prioritized, just like he put the school activities at the end. He was just plagiarizing, and since there is such a good opportunity, he should not miss the opportunity to enter America.

He chose what is probably the most discussed work in Black Mirror.

I sat down again. I still had three thousand words to finish. There was still more than an hour until six o'clock, so I would definitely have enough time.

The call just now came from the rebellious son Jia Xu, who was worried that Gu Lu had forgotten the time so he called to remind him not to forget the afternoon party.

A social gathering, in simple terms, is about making friends in the dormitory. It is usually organized by freshmen and sophomores. This social gathering also involves freshmen. The reason why Gu Lu was invited is that the freshmen begged and pleaded to see the legendary "godman", so they specially invited Gu Lu.

"Gathering, gathering! I've been in college for so many years, but I've never been to a gathering." Gu Lu felt that this gathering would definitely trigger the golden finger, so he agreed.

Another reason is, "Am I catching the tail of my youth?"

In his previous life, Gu Lu never went to high school, and of course it was impossible for him to go to college. In his previous life, he was like a goblin in a cave, spying on the campus life of netizens during their college years.

High school and junior high school were interesting, leaving many memories, but I was mostly a spectator. But with only one year left before graduation, Gu Lu still felt a little unwilling.

Anyway, you have to try something you haven't tried before, so just give it another try.

Does it mean that once you are no longer childish, you will no longer have youth? Doesn't that mean that precocious children have a shorter youth? Gu Lu didn't want to agree with this point of view.

After a while, crackling sounds were heard in the room again.

Gu Lu didn't know that he would have been urged to submit his manuscript by the foreign editor, but Yao Xiaoju stopped him...

On the third day after The Shawshank Redemption was published in the Los Angeles Times, #I want to be laotze# became a trending search.

The popularity of a certain sentence is very coincidental. Currently, this sentence has a strong presence on Twitter.

"Laotze's ideology seems to advocate following nature, and no one should interfere with the operation of nature and the state. Is it similar to Sachs shock therapy?"

"I heard that Laotze's most powerful theory is that the weaker the smaller, the stronger the power. Everything has two sides and needs to be debated."

"This is a bit like Hegel's dialectical thinking, right? Was Laotze a person from the 18th century?"

and many more.

Some readers, after reading the novel, have shifted their focus from the novel. How should I put it? The characters who are servile are quite attractive to readers, especially in a high-pressure environment like prison.

Even good netizens need to learn more first...

The official Twitter account of the Chinese Embassy in the United States is “Chinese Embassy in US”.

Last tweet: Global #PandaPartners (#GPP) 2019 kicked off today in #Chengdu! Before the meeting, the "Global Panda Partners" explored the Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone...

After all, China has a panda diplomacy, and every year it seeks cooperation from more than 20 countries to raise giant pandas. As one of the diplomatic strategies, the embassy will definitely forward it.

The Chinese Embassy in the United States, which has received many private messages and many AT messages, is also full of confusion.

Why is the Internet suddenly so interested in Lao Tzu? You know, there are dozens of Confucius Institutes in the United States, with a lot of funding, but Confucius has never been discussed so much on Twitter.

The specific situation is very easy to find out, because it comes from a short story by the Chinese writer Gu Lu.

The truth: This sounds too much like news from a marketing account!

After repeated confirmation, and even understanding the whole process clearly, the staff were willing to believe it.

"Could it be that my name has really become a popular meme?" The embassy staff couldn't help but mutter after learning the whole story.

Lao Tzu, maybe the name is advantageous, but the deeper reason is the attraction, which makes more Americans willing to "stay" and even spend more time to understand it.

Just like the American netizens who sent private messages to the account asking for detailed life stories.

Ambassador Li opened his mouth and was about to say something when his secretary found some information.

"Expert Gu Lu is an expert from our country's core think tank," said the secretary.

Even though they are national experts, their actions were too forceful.

"Teacher Gu Lu's communication strength is equivalent to that of an entire department." Ambassador Li said with emotion, "The stage has been set, and we must keep up."

I ordered some things, first of all, to send a message to introduce Laozi to the curious netizens in America. At the same time, I immediately prepared to carry out offline activities to introduce Laozi's works.

Finally, Master Li said: "In the name of our embassy, ​​we would like to send a letter of thanks to the Great Diplomacy Think Tank to thank the think tank experts for their contributions to overseas cultural promotion."

(End of this chapter)