Chapter 422 Small Explosion

Chapter 422 Small Explosion

Chapter 422 Small Explosion
The story of "White Bear" reveals a fantasy color from the beginning. A white woman wakes up and finds herself being chased by a masked man holding "truth (rifle)".

What is very strange is the attitude of the people around. Even in free America, if there is a shooting, they will definitely scatter like birds and beasts.

But the people around seemed to be sure that the masked man would not hurt them, so they stopped to take pictures and witnessed this strange incident of man biting dog.

"Could it be that they are playing a game? This heroine is the one chosen by the game."

"Like Vincenzo's "The Cube", this area should be a cleared game scene."

"Then what position do these onlookers who are filming with their phones as if to post to their social media?"

When many people buy a newspaper, they first turn to the literature column at the end of the Los Angeles Times, even if the front-page headline today is a major event like "National State of Emergency Lifted."

When they saw the suspenseful beginning, they had this idea in their minds that the heroine Amy was thrown into a game, just like "The Hunger Games", but there was no Hunger Games book in the parallel world, so the readers' reaction was like the movie in the late 1990s.

The subsequent plot development seems to be both true and false.

The "yes" part is that there is more than one masked man chasing her. Even if she gets rid of one, there are still others chasing her. On the way to escape, she also met people who seemed to be being chased as well. Several people walked together, and the strange thing was that the companions seemed to know the heroine Amy.

But they are all riddlers, just telling Amy that there is a mobile phone virus that controls anyone who looks at the phone. The only way is to go to a place called White Bear Park and destroy the signal tower.

More sensitive readers feel that their companions’ words may be false and that their companions may also be their opponents.

The "non" part is that many images flashed through the mind of Amy, who had lost her memory, including a family of three, and she seemed to have a daughter.

After going through so much trouble to get to White Bear Park, the ending was a reversal. It was...

I can’t say how dramatic the reversal was, but it was very refreshing to read due to the length limitation of the novel.

"Not bad, good things get rewarded and evil things get punished in the end. I like this kind of ending."

“It’s not as exciting as The Shawshank Redemption, or the two works are not of the same genre. After reading Shawshank, people will think about the meaning of freedom, while this work will provide a little pleasure after reading it.”

"I was a little disappointed, as I went to buy the newspaper so early in the morning, but after reading it I can understand it. Gu's short stories are definitely at the level of a first-tier best-selling author."

"White Bear scored 7.9 points, and The Shawshank Redemption scored 8.7 points. I forgot to mention that I am a train attendant in Chicago. According to our train's excellent assessment system, the score is a nine-point system."

From the comments, you can tell that the ideas of American readers are quite interesting. Even though White Bear's level is slightly inferior, most readers still think it's okay.

Think about some awards in Europe and America called "Meteor Award", which is taken from the flash of a meteor. In China, people often use "meteor" to lament the lack of successors of a certain celebrity. The cultural difference comes out. In Europe and America, it is very difficult for a person to be awesome once, because most people can't be so brilliant in their lifetime.

"The Shawshank Redemption" is regarded as Gu Lu's brilliant moment, the kind that can be printed on the book jacket every time he publishes a book, and he can brag about it for the rest of his life.

Having said that, "White Bear" has not been without controversy. After all, the traffic of Shawshank is high enough, and it attracts a wide range of viewers, including white leftists.

"This is how criminals should be treated. It has a good ending. I hope it can be introduced in reality. Is it technically possible?"

"Disappointed, so disappointed! Criminals also have human rights. I thought the author of The Shawshank Redemption must be a human rights fighter, but I didn't expect him to be such a person! The ending of White Bear is simply a trampling on human rights. Except for God, no one can control a person's life!"

"My grandfather baked a cake today and it was burnt. There was no way to save it, so he threw it into the brain upstairs. He said something mentally abnormal on the Internet. A criminal who abuses children still has human rights?! Don't let me see you on the street."

"Rednecks don't have much education, so they don't know what human rights are. All they have in their minds are beer and farms, and I have cake. The federal constitution belongs to citizens' rights, and protecting human rights is a kind of protecting private rights. Why do some people always not understand? This writer Gu Lu's thinking obviously retains the backward and barbaric thinking of the great Eastern country."

And so on.

In fact, among those who can read the Los Angeles Times, there are relatively few rednecks in terms of class. It is not a stereotype, because rednecks are more concerned about practical interests, such as whether to pay more for medical insurance, and whether the federal government can increase tariffs on imported agricultural products.

So they usually read USA Today and Chicago Tribune. The former has news about celebrities and sports, as well as cartoons, for entertainment. The latter has more local news and can see real news.

But the truth is not important anymore. The opponents label people as rednecks, while the supporters label people as brain-damaged liberals (the term "white left" was invented by the Chinese Internet), and they just label each other.

The above debate has become a hot topic on Twitter, Facebook and other channels. In addition to the Shawshank legacy mentioned above, there are also vested interests fueling the flames. Yes, it is the Los Angeles Times.

It also attracted a lot of onlookers.

“Are there more calls?”

The head of the Los Angeles Times editorial department, the magnifying glass editor-in-chief, asked the office secretary, lowering his glasses as he spoke.

The office secretary, a Latina female, responded, “No.”

Realizing that such a response seemed to mean that the topic was not as popular as before, she added, "Maybe readers are too busy arguing on the Internet."

"I know that The Shawshank Redemption is his masterpiece, and I'm afraid even he himself can't surpass it..." said the editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass.

The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass froze in the middle of his words, and he was thinking about whether he should continue serializing the works of Chinese writers.

Ask Mr. Winton, the editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass, to deny this idea. Winton is only a director of the Time Mirror Group and does not have much management power.

As mentioned before, the era of serialized novels in newspapers to attract readers is over. If the quality and rhythm of "White Bear" are maintained, there is nothing wrong with starting a column.

"Let's send an invitation." The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass said to the secretary.

The secretary was also quite sensible and knew that the invitation was for the Chinese writer Gu Lu. After confirming that the editor-in-chief had nothing else to do, the secretary left the leader's office unnoticed.

The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass put on his reading glasses. The page on his computer was still about the battle between liberals and rednecks. He frowned when he saw the one behind him.

Dragging the mouse, the editor's anger level soared. After a long time, he took off his glasses and took a sip of black tea, as if he wanted to use the tea to calm his emotions.

Why? It’s not because he has a good conscience, but because he feels that the future of the country is bleak when he sees the escalation of the verbal war among his own people.

Instead, it’s “These bastards, why don’t you add the two keywords “White Bear” and “Los Angeles Times” when you insult each other?!”

Doesn't the development of such a war of words deviate from the original purpose of propaganda?
There is a gap only when there is a comparison. The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass felt the gap between himself and Winton. He is really good at attracting people's attention. The editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass sighed that the popularity of Winton Yakori last time was eaten up by the newspaper from beginning to end.

Very quickly, the secretary contacted the overseas agent Yao Xiaoju.

I don’t know if America is realistic enough, or if the editor-in-chief of Magnifying Glass is too straightforward and unwilling to even put in superficial work.

When the editor was in a hurry to get new works, he took the initiative to make phone calls. Now that the work is done, he asked the secretary to make the contacts.

Yao Xiaoju received the call, his tone did not change, but his face was obviously unhappy. In his opinion, America is a capitalist country, and those who can help make money are the boss, but because of the relationship between the Chinese and those who cannot make money, they will immediately turn hostile, without any human feelings.

He has talked to the writer and there are suitable short stories to come, so the price is being negotiated.

The previous highest serialized payment in America of US$2.2 per word will definitely be reduced, and the specific amount still needs to be negotiated.

"Okay, I know roughly. If the price is right, we can serialize it. After all, the US dollars are there, and it's a waste not to make money." Gu Lu responded when he learned about this situation on the phone. In his heart, he thought, plagiarizing foreign works and then making money from them is reasonable!

"I understand, Xiao Gu, you are now a think tank expert. You need to maintain a certain degree of fame abroad so that you can help with publicity at any time." Yao Xiaoju said on the phone, "I think the bottom line is 1-1.4 US dollars per word. This price is the level of first-line writers in the United States. The article "Shawshank" did bring the price to the top, but in America, there is no foundation in Great Britain."

The roots in Great Britain are definitely deep, and with the promotion of the Doyle family, Mr. Holmes still has sales of around 10 copies a year, and he also has the title of King of Cthulhu.

To measure it in terms of money, a British university would pay him several thousand pounds for each lecture (this is also the price paid to famous professors).

"If we can't reach an agreement with the Los Angeles Times, we have other options. Don't worry, Brother Gu." Yao Xiaoju comforted.

After saying this, Yao Xiaoju hung up the phone.

Gu Lu on the other end of the phone was silent for a long time. Indeed, he had to maintain his high popularity abroad. He personally had no desire for high positions, so he did not move from the Writers Association to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and then to become a government committee member (Tang San's way).

At the same time, I want to have a freer position so that I can choose not to do something.

We must improve our own united front value.

Among Chinese writers, Gu Lu's value is second only to the one who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

It is very popular in Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, etc., especially in Japan.

In the European region, Norway, Spain, France and Britain are all well-known.

"I should be considered a world-class writer. Even though I lack a world-wide bestseller, I am becoming famous in small and medium-sized enterprises without realizing it, which is not bad." Gu Lu thought to himself.

If Chinese writers want to become famous in Asia or even in the world, it seems that there is only one way: to "win awards" or foreign awards.

Not to mention the Nobel Prize in Literature, there are others such as the Booker International Prize, the Kafka Prize, the Femina Prize, the Nonino International Prize in Literature, etc.

I believe you have also realized that this is the path of serious literature. If Chinese popular literature wants to go to Asia and even the world... there is no example.

The cultural hegemony dominated by the United States has led to Europe and the United States being "high and mighty". Like flowing water, it is easy for popular European and American literature such as "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Man Who Steals Shadows" to come to China. Gu Lu can be said to be a counter-current!
“Black Mirror is a little weak, how about going straight to “Intestines”… Never mind.” Gu Lu denied it, saying that “Intestines” was still too strong.

Let's wait for "The Fall of Giants". Gu Lu went back to read yesterday. After reading about half of the book, he figured out a puzzle.

That is, it was triggered by what the delivery guy said during the chat: "That's all I want, a house, enough food and drink, and we can rest every day after the sun goes down. Life will get better day by day." This sentence is a classic quote from the book, and the guy said something similar.

For now, America’s popularity will be maintained by the Black Mirror series, and the rest… Gu Lu was thinking about it when the bank sent a text message saying that a sum of money had been received.

Look at the payee.

"The identity of a think tank expert is really impressive." King Guru sighed.

White Bear has more than 20,000 words, and Gu Lu earned nearly 40,000 US dollars. The speed at which the royalties are paid in the United States is quite fast, which is better than that in Britain and Japan.

Professor-level math skills can tell that I paid thousands of dollars in taxes, all of which were deducted by the IRS, the most powerful department in America. I had to pay it domestically, even if there was a policy to deduct personal income tax already paid overseas, but the amount was too large.

The reason for letting it go is that Gu Lu serialized the "Practice for the Country" of think tank experts abroad, and Gu Lu enjoyed tax exemption for any serialization in overseas newspapers.

"The tax rate in America is really high, much higher than in Japan and Britain." Gu Lu has also studied it in detail.

The taxes paid by part-time writers and full-time writers in the United States are different. If you take writing as your main job and join the Writers Guild of America as a full-time member, you will pay less tax.

Correspondingly, part-time writing will pay a lot of taxes. For example, the autobiography "The Pursuit of Happyness" published by stockbroker Garnard was purchased for film and television rights, and the tax paid was very high. As long as Gu Lu does not join the Writers' Union, he cannot prove that he is a full-time writer, even if he has published many works.

[At which table?] The WeChat message came out.

"Coming?" Gu Lu put down his phone and looked towards the door.

A familiar figure at the door was looking around.

Gu Lu wanted to yell "this way", but he held back and made a WeChat call. After the call was connected, he said, "It's in front of you on the left, table 14. Yes, right, under the big red ball."

The place where the two met was a coffee shop, mainly because of its fame, so Gu Lu chose this place. The decoration here is "abstract" + "Internet celebrity" style, and it does not work hard on the basic experience of customers, but only requires "production".

For example, at Gu Lu's table, the big red ball above the table is so big that it can cause some people's gigantic fear. But taking pictures from a distance and sitting down to see the contrast between the big and the small is suitable for checking in and uploading to social media.

Someone was indeed asked to design it, but the aisle flow was extremely unreasonable. Li Guyuan walked half a circle before sitting down at table 13.

"I'm so tired. What's the matter that requires me to come here?" Li Guyuan sighed as soon as they met. "Do you know that I'm very busy recently?"

It can be seen that Li Guyuan has dark circles under his eyes. Gu Lu said, "I need to pick up a car. You know I can't drive. Don't you have a driver's license? Help me drive home."

You don’t know how to drive, and you want to pick up the car today?
Do you want to listen to what you are saying?
Li Guyuan choked.

(End of this chapter)