Chapter 482: Not Him
Chapter 482: Not Him
A man and a woman under the candlelight.
One steak was medium rare and the other was well done.
"Didn't you like it medium rare before?" Gu Lu asked.
"I'm getting old, almost 30, so I can't eat too much raw food." Zhou Lin sighed, glanced at the opposite side, no reaction, so he sighed again, "Well, the anxious style is not suitable for me. Mainly because a friend who cooks Western food told me that well-done food can best test the chef's skills, so I spent a lot of money this time and I must give it a try."
Well done? Gu Lu pondered, but since he didn't know much about Western food, he didn't comment.
"What piano piece is this?" Zhou Lin listened to the melodious piano music.
"I'm not sure, but from the sound of the style, it sounds a bit like Tchaikovsky?" Gu Lu responded.
The two chatted, and the topic was quite jumpy. One second they were talking about music, and the next second they might be talking about a popular variety show. But even if the topic was jumping, the two of them could connect with each other.
It’s not that they are on the same wavelength, but that they both choose to listen to each other’s ideas and insights in areas that they don’t understand.
After the main course, there is dessert. The restaurant’s pudding is pretty good and tastes sweet in the mouth.
"Gu Lu," Zhou Lin called out first, and then the moment the other party looked up, she lowered her head first, and it took a lot of courage to say the words, "I want you to confess to me."
Zhou Lin felt that her head was very heavy. Her usually bright mind could only hang down. It was a bit difficult to lift it up. But at the same time, she pricked up her ears - it felt as if her ears had grown a section.
This corresponds to what Sonya said to Ove in his book, “I want you to propose to me.”
If Gu Lu was calm, he would be able to react.
But now he felt like he was hit by fireworks. Fortunately... Fortunately, Gu Lu's brain started working rapidly after a brief jam.
It must have taken a lot of courage for Zhou Lin to say this. If he chose to remain silent at this time, it would easily cause misunderstanding.
His mouth was faster than his brain, "Zhou Lin, I like you."
Gu Lu took a deep breath after his brain realized he had to speak out loud and then spoke in a more organized manner.
"I like you who are fearless and resolute in executing your goals."
"I like the way you show off your skills at the UN headquarters."
“I like the way you cry.”
After speaking out all the thoughts in his mind, Gu Lu's words were still a little messy.
"It's love, not habit. Although I'm used to having you by my side, I'm also used to having dinner with you whenever something happens. It seems that having dinner with you can solve all negative emotions." Gu Lu said very earnestly.
"But these habits are just one part of the relationship. There are also many things we have experienced together." Gu Lu wanted to say something else, "Finally, thank you for giving me the opportunity to confess my love. Zhou Lin... please be my girlfriend."
A long list.
Zhou Lin didn't expect that the other party's confession could contain so many words, and at the same time, she could hear the nervousness and sincerity in his words.
I don’t know if it was the sincerity or the nervousness in the words that infected Zhou Lin, but she was no longer nervous.
When expressing love or dating, there is one thing that makes people uncomfortable, that is, the "handsome guy (beautiful girl)'s frankness", speaking with confidence, as if they will not be rejected.
On the contrary, Zhou and Gu's reactions made both of them feel at ease.
Zhou Lin didn't respond. She stood up and walked to Gu Lu. The latter also stood up subconsciously, and then without any warning, he threw himself into his arms.
"I've been waiting for this confession for five years," said Zhou Lin.
Five years? Gu Lu's mind was slow to think, but his hands were not slow, hugging tightly.
……
I almost forgot another thing.
Bilibili bought the copyright of the anime "From the New World" produced by Hegemony Studios half a month after the Niconico animation was broadcast.
The banner raised [Bilibili up master Guru King, work adaptation]
Original anime tend to fail, so Neon Gold now likes to adapt comics, games, and light novels.
This is similar to the current situation in Hollywood. The main reason is that it is easy to make money with the fame of the original work as a backing.
Adapting "Gu Lu" is a safer option, because no matter how popular the Japanese are, the investment will be recovered at the beginning.
Because of Gu Lu's high popularity, there are platforms in China willing to purchase it.
Bilibili paid a high price for the “exclusive” and it didn’t lose out, with over one million reservations [want to watch].
You may not know the value of this data. There are only six movies on Bilibili that have received more than one million reservations.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Haikyuu!!", "Soldier Assault", "Ultraman Tiga"
One can imagine!
After the broadcast, it received a lot of discussion.
Three episodes were aired in the first week.
Although it didn't become as popular as Attack on Titan, it also became a small hit anime.
Langcuihua: When the original novel was a bestseller last year, I didn’t buy it because I’m not interested in science fiction. Now I’ve watched three episodes. Do you call this science fiction? Or is it that there are too many adaptations?
Mr. Cai: Judging from the first three episodes, the plot has hardly been adapted. Besides, I am a fan of the original novel, so there is no doubt that "From the New World" is not only a science fiction novel, but also hardcore science fiction.
It All Starts with Death: In fact, it’s a little complicated at the beginning, but as long as you can get through the first few episodes, the subsequent plot will be like exploding candy, crackling and jumping, with one plot after another.
Electric Shock Mouse: Gu Lu’s novels are really suitable for adaptation into anime. I read the new book Ovi because I liked it, but I didn’t expect it to have a completely different story style.
In addition, Fog City Tourism also registered an account to post a video titled "A few things you don't know from New World Animation."
First: The first time that Hegemony Society went abroad to shoot was in the Fog City Ferry District.
Second, the very stunning straw painting comes from the municipal intangible cultural heritage of Dukou District. There are also the very expressive curse powers of the protagonists in the animation, such as Chu Xunge's sika deer, Li Nai's tiger, Wang Chaoyue's elephant, etc. Many netizens are very interested in this part of the special effects, that is, Yanxing paper-cutting, which is also the municipal intangible cultural heritage of our Dukou District.
Third…the video is not long, only about thirty or forty seconds, but it would be quite long to turn it into text. To summarize, all the elements of the ferry area are listed.
In short, the effect is good, and many netizens left messages saying they want to visit the Fog City.
By the way, the Dukou District originally planned to set up a separate account, but unfortunately it was rejected by the publicity department of the Fog City.
Seizing the opportunity and not wanting to be left behind, Dukou District is preparing to launch new activities to exhibit the city-level intangible cultural heritage that appears in the animation. Many performances will not require tickets and are free to visit.
This is very normal. We learned from last year's "Little Prince Day" that tourists should be lured here first, and the flow of people is the first priority.
Except for those guys who travel on a budget, Chinese people are generally willing to spend money when traveling, especially on souvenirs, entertainment and food.
The ferry also sent people to Neon to learn some experience on how to maintain "large-scale events". One of the few advantages of Neon is that it is quite organized in organizing events, such as the Fireworks Festival, Summer Festival, Cherry Blossom Festival, and many shrine events, each of which can attract many tourists, including a certain number of foreign tourists.
Li Minghai's ideal situation is to hold two activities a year, one during the winter and summer vacations, in the first half of the year and the second half of the year respectively.
In order to revitalize the economy of the ferry area, Li Minghai is also preparing to introduce a check-in mode in the near future - "Charming ferry, check-in at Gulu". As long as you visit all the 17 attractions related to Gulu, you can receive a special "Little Prince Medal" for free.
Each medal will pay Gu Lu a copyright fee of 5 yuan, and taking into account the cost, the cost of the medal is about 6 yuan.
After calculation, Li Minghai thought the expense was well worth it.
It’s true that Gu Lu is trying his best to help the place where he once lived, but matters like copyright authorization still need to be settled one by one.
It is precisely because of clear calculations that we can persist.
To sum up, recently, not only are Gu Lu's books best-sellers around the world, but the adapted anime "From the New World" is also highly discussed.
The two of them become each other's assistants, because there are also cases where they don't usually read books, but after watching the anime, they think the story is well written, so they want to buy the author's new book to take a look.
Of course, you buy it, but whether you will actually watch it...that's not certain.
Among writers, Gu Lu is one of the few who can compete with celebrities in terms of exposure, sparking discussions every other day.
But there is no need for a writer to have too much exposure, so Gu Lu has not appeared in public recently.
Inside the apartment.
"Have the first-day sales in more than a dozen overseas countries finally been counted?" Gu Lu checked the email carefully.
It is much more convenient now than before. Mobile phones can basically read most formats. Gu Lu downloaded the attachment, which was the statistical table of "A Man Called Ove".
According to statistics from the Statistics Department of Hachette Publishing Group, the first-day sales in overseas countries reached 97.8 copies, which is close to one million copies. In today's physical industry, this is not only rare, but also terrifying!
The Japanese version sold the highest amount of 21 copies on the first day. In fact, this data has declined. Whether it is the little man who borrowed things two months ago or this one, it is difficult to reach the height of the suspect.
From 2019 to 2020, in just one year, the global publishing industry further declined.
"The sales volume exceeded 150 million in three days, and it was released nationwide."
"Channels are still king. With channels, sales can be greatly increased."
Gu Lu suddenly felt that he still needed to work harder, because in China, his personal fame was more common than the channel. It was even said that the channel (Dangdang.com) opened a website and used his name as a signboard.
When the two names Gu Lu are ignored in all channels around the world, it will be almost time for me to retire.
"Don't rush me, don't rush me. I'm writing it now." Gu Lu responded on the phone.
Because of the good sales in many countries, we have to write thank you letters. Thank you readers, blah blah, Gu Lu still has seven or eight letters lined up.
"Finally, it's finished ahead of schedule. We're going out to see a movie tomorrow." The two people who are in the honeymoon period are still very affectionate, but King Gollum will not affect the specific work, so it is completed ahead of schedule.
We’ll talk about how the two of them get along in their relationship next time.
Two days later, Kaijuanyi announced the domestic new book sales rankings for July and August, as of the end of August.
[A Man Called Ove Decides to Die, New Youth Publishing House, sales: 124 million copies
If the Forbidden City Could Talk, Boji Tianjuan/Xiang Province Literature and Art Publishing House, sales: 26 copies
"The Teutonic Knights" New Classics/Sijiucheng October Literature and Art Publishing House, sales: 23 copies
"Fear and Freedom: How World War II Changed Us" Huaxia Publishing House, sales: 19 copies
[…]
The gap in the top ten list is really too shocking.
Seriously speaking, this is only two months of books, so the sales of subsequent books are good. At least at the moment, sales of 50,000 copies can be called a bestseller, which is definitely impressive.
But compared to Gu Lu’s new book, which sold over one million copies in the country after only about a week on the market, the gap is really huge.
The editor-in-chief of Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House commented, "I am very happy that our book If the Forbidden City Could Talk has become the best-selling book recently - Gu Lu? I'm sorry, maybe I didn't make it clear. We don't count Gu Lu in the book because he seems to have stopped in time, and the book sales data stopped at around 2003. But I must add that even in , such sales were still top-notch."
The editor-in-chief's words made it very clear that Gu Lu is not simply at the top or the ceiling in the field of best-selling books, but is not in the same time and space and has already jumped out of the three realms.
This also points out an interesting situation in the publishing industry, that is, many publishing houses have the goal of "making a best-selling book this year." Just like the signature of some website editors in their circle of friends is "I want to make a hit this year."
The “best” in the best-selling category does not include Gu Lu’s.
The domestic map has been developed, but the overseas map is full of ups and downs. Ever since Yao Xiaoju said that at the press conference, there have been constant disturbances.
"The public has the right to know the truth, and we also have the right to conceal the truth!"
A reporter from the Chicago Tribune said this, and the editor-in-chief personally wrote an article.
"Why do we say Mr. Gu Lu is smart?"
Looking at the title, I thought it was a compliment, but it's not. The whole story is about Gu Lu's lack of skills and how he took shortcuts.
Let me excerpt a little:
[Looking through Gu Lu's short stories and latest novel, it is obvious that his perspective is very narrow. Good at microcosmicizing grand themes, Ove frames love in the short period of time when the old man committed suicide. It can only give a momentary touch.
This kind of creative ability is like Morden Hughes's work this year, "The Pilgrim's Way: My Bucket List". Gu Lu's creative ability can only be a simplified version of Morden.
Compared to him, the only advantage may be that Gu Lu is young enough. ]
Morden Hughes is an American bestselling author, about 35 years old. In terms of book sales, he is not as good as Stephen King on Earth, but he can barely touch the level of Dan Brown on Earth.
Many newspapers quoted this evaluation and called Gu Lu "Little Morden".
Anyway, they concluded that there was nothing interesting about "A Man Called Ove Decides to Die" and there was no need to dwell on it.
There were also media outlets that wanted to watch the fun and distorted the situation, saying that Gu Lu didn't care about American readers at all.
Next comes the nitpicking. Ove is just an ordinary bestseller. It is good in the field of bestsellers, but if you nitpick it based on literature, it will definitely be as bad as a sieve.
Denigrating the world-famous Chinese talent is a feast for the American media...
(End of this chapter)