Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

Chapter 323 A Famous Person's Twice
The world cuisine is in the UK, and the British cuisine is in London. This statement is indeed true. Yu Dong and the others walked around, and the most they saw was the world's top cuisine - fish and chips.

"What's wrong with British tongue designation."

Yu Hua lamented that although they didn't really want to eat fish and chips, they later found that compared to other foods they saw on the street, fish and chips were the most suitable for dinner.

Bi Feiyu also lamented, "I've only been here for less than a day, so I miss my hometown."

Yu Dong smiled and said, "Don't worry, it will be better after going to France in two days."

Yu Hua shook her head, "I hope so."

……

The next day Campote, the head of Deep Space America's books department, came to London.

When he went to the United States before, Yu Dong met Campote and knew that Campote used to work in Bantam.

Jimmy didn't come to England this time because he was busy, so he told Yu Dong that he would send someone over. At that time, Yu Dong didn't ask much, but he didn't expect that it was Campote himself.

In fact, Yu Dong felt that it was a bit of a fuss, but it was just a simple signing event, and there was no need for Campote to make this trip.

Before Jimmy said he would come, Yu Dong also told him not to come.

Deep Space America is already very busy. "Resident Evil 2" has just been released in the United States, and "Deep Space" and "The Martian" will follow up soon.

Moreover, Yu Dong is not the only writer in Deep Space Company, but also George Martin and several young writers with potential.As the person in charge of the library department, Campo should sit in charge of the company and preside over the overall situation.

It is worth mentioning that the first volume of George Martin's novel "A Song of Ice and Fire" "Game of Thrones" has been written, and George Martin took the manuscript to Campote last month.

When talking about George Martin's new book, Campote couldn't help shaking his head, "That was the first time I had contact with George Martin after taking over the book department, and I only knew from the handover materials that he was a writer under our company. At the beginning, he told me on the phone that the content of the first volume had been completed, but I didn’t take it seriously at the time, and when he came to me with the manuscript, I was shocked.”

"Are there a lot of manuscripts?" Yu Dong asked with a smile.

Campote nodded, "Yes, there are hundreds of pages in total. You know, this is only the first volume. And he told me that [-] pages have been removed and put in the second volume."

"With such a length, there is no problem with the negotiation with the publishing house, right?"

"It's not a problem. Bantam wanted to hit the first run of Game of Thrones, but we ended up talking about 30 copies."

"30 volumes?" Yu Dong raised his eyebrows, "You guys are really ruthless."

Martin has won many science fiction and fantasy awards, but there are many winners. From Martin's debut to the present, there are at least two to three hundred authors who have won Hugo Awards and Nebula Awards.

But among these authors, not many books sell well.

Moreover, it is not that Martin has not published novels before, and the sales volume is average. After the release of his "Doomsday Song" ten years ago, the sales volume was astonishing, and it almost made him give up writing.

In view of this, it can be regarded as a small miracle that Campote can get the first printing to 30.

"Of course, their request is that they hope you can help write a short paragraph on the cover of "A Song of Ice and Fire." Campote laughed, "Bantam Company does not deny the quality of this book , but they believe that the book will sell better if there is a writer who has been at the top of the bestseller list for a long time to help write a eulogy."

"Of course." Yu Dong readily agreed, and then suggested, "However, if possible, I suggest that I also ask Robert Jordan to write a paragraph. After all, in the field of fantasy, Robert Jordan is more influential Some strength."

"It's not a problem at all. I will try to do it, and I believe that Robert Jordan will also agree." Campote nodded with a smile.

But Campote didn't feel that after Yu Dong's praise, Robert Jordan's was needed.Although Robert Jordan has a lot of influence in the fantasy world because of "The Wheel of Time", it is obvious that Yu Dong has a wider audience.

And among Yu Dong's readers, there are many who like fantasy.

Readers are not "either or not". People who often like fantasy will not reject novels such as "Resident Evil" and "Second World".

The point is, when promoting later, you can also write on the poster: "Second World" is strongly recommended by the author of the original novel.

The words "Second World" alone are enough. After all, this is the highest-grossing movie in the world so far.

Yu Dong quickly wrote the "Comment" and handed it to Campo.

Campote opened the note, and there was only one sentence on it: I hope this novel will be made into a TV series or movie soon, I can't wait.

Well, a very casual sentence, but it can indeed express my appreciation for this novel.

Campote made no comments, and it didn't matter what the tribute was, what mattered was who wrote it.

……

In the next two days, Yu Hua and the others found a poker friend.I took my poker friends to play poker in the house for two days.

Originally, Yu Hua wanted to pull Campote into a fight, but Campbot still has some work to do when he comes to England this time, so he needs to contact several local publishing houses to prepare for the follow-up novels, including "To Live" Published in English.

Upon hearing that it was related to her, Yu Hua immediately dismissed the idea of ​​pulling him to play poker.

They didn't get to Campo, and Yu Dong and Cheng Yanqiu didn't want to play with them, but they didn't give up. Later, they even got a Spaniard in the hotel.

This Spaniard is also very courageous. He came to London alone to play, and several Asians dragged him to play cards. He really dared to follow.

It doesn't matter if he is brave, his English can be read and heard, but his spoken English is a mess. When communicating with Yu Hua and the others, he can only use half-baked English, and then ask Jiang Jie to translate.

But even so, they still had a lot of fun.

Yu Dong and Cheng Yanqiu ignored them, and the husband and wife spent two days in London freely.

……

On the night of NO.17, when Yu Hua and the others were having fun, the Spaniard Antonio said regretfully, "I won't be able to play cards with you tomorrow."

"Why?" Yu Hua asked.

In the past two days, they were busy playing cards, and talked less about other things. The main reason was that chatting was a bit difficult, and Jiang Jie had to translate, and Antonio's spoken English was really bad, sometimes Jiang Jie couldn't understand.

Jiang Jie couldn't understand it, and Bi Feiyu couldn't understand it even more.

So after playing cards for two days, they only knew that Antonio was from Spain and had come to England to play, and they didn't know anything else.

"Because tomorrow is YU's signing event, I have to queue very early."

Jiang Jie translated Antonio's words with a smile, and Yu Hua and the others laughed too.

"It's said that no coincidence makes a book, and I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence. We just randomly recruited someone to attend Yu Dong's autograph event." Yu Hua laughed.

Bi Feiyu shook his head and said, "It can't be regarded as a casual pull. First of all, Antonio is young. We thought that young people are quick-witted, fast-learning, and willing to trust people. But young people are more likely to be Yu Dong's book fans. .Secondly, when we found him, he was reading in the lobby, which proves that he is a book lover."

"Young people who love to read can't all be Yu Dong's book fans, so it's a bit of a coincidence."

"That's true."

Antonio blinked at Yu Hua and the others, completely unable to understand what they were talking about, but judging from their expressions, it seemed that they were talking about an interesting thing, and it was probably related to him.

"What are you talking about?" Antonio couldn't help asking.

Bi Feiyu laughed, "We're talking about how to keep you from going to YU's signing event."

Antonio shook his head again and again, "It's impossible. Although playing poker is very interesting, participating in the YU signing event is also one of the main purposes of my coming to the UK. It is impossible not to go."

Yu Hua smiled, "I still think it's possible."

"He still thinks it's possible." Jiang Jie translated Yu Hua's words to Antonio, and added: "Just like him, I also think it's possible, and the possibility is very high."

Antonio scratched his head, not understanding what they meant.

Seeing his puzzled look, Yu Hua said again, "You went to YU's autograph, didn't you just want a book signed by YU? If we give you one, you don't need to go to the autograph. gone?"

"Do you have YU's signed book?" Antonio looked excited, and then shook his head, "No, even if you give me a signed book, I still want to go, I want to see YU up close, until now I Haven't seen him yet."

"That's quite a lot to ask." Yu Hua smiled, "That's fine, we'll arrange for Yu to meet you, so it's okay now, right?"

After listening to Jiang Jie's translation, Antonio's eyes widened, completely confused about what was going on.Are these people joking with themselves?
Perhaps a cultural difference?He didn't think the joke was funny.

Seeing Antonio's blank expression, Yu Hua stood up, "I'll go see if Yu Dong is back."

Yu Dong's room was on the same floor as theirs, within a few steps.

After knocking on the door several times, but no one answered, Yu Hua shook her head in disappointment and walked back, but halfway there, she saw Yu Dong and Cheng Yanqiu walking towards this side holding hands.

He greeted him with a happy face and shouted, "Yu Dong."

Seeing his surprised face, Yu Dong asked a little strangely, "Why are you so happy to see me? I haven't seen you for a day, and you miss me?"

As soon as these words came out, Yu Dong was secretly pinched by Cheng Yanqiu.

Yu Hua didn't notice the little gestures of the couple, and said with a smile, "I'm here to claim credit from you."

"Credit?" Yu Dong showed doubts.

"Yeah, we played poker with your book fans for two days. It made my back hurt, and my tongue was numb from the fish and chips I ate for the past two days. Now I'm going to France , you have to arrange a big meal."

"Are you playing cards with my book fans?"

"Yes, I'll take you to have a look." Yu Hua grabbed Yu Dong's other arm and said to Cheng Yanqiu, "Sister and sister, lend it to him."

Cheng Yanqiu could only let go of Yu Dong's hand, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Go, go, borrow or not."

Yu Dong was dragged into their room by Yu Hua, and wrinkled his nose as soon as he entered.

The room was filled with smoke, and I don't know how much they smoked in it. I have to say that Jiang Jie is quite tolerant, he can play cards with them in this room for two days as a non-smoker.

Yu Hua pulled Yu Dong and pointed to Antonio who was sitting, "This is your book fan. He came here specially from Spain and is going to attend your book signing tomorrow."

Yu Dong looked at Yu Hua cautiously, "Really?"

He just had an oolong two days ago, and now he still has sequelae. This guy Yu Hua is a bad guy, so maybe he deliberately asked someone to tease him.

So Yu Dong looked at Jiang Jie again, unexpectedly Jiang Jie also nodded, "Yes, Teacher Yu, Antonio is indeed your book fan, he just said that he will attend your book signing meeting tomorrow. Teacher Yu Hua and the others I want him to play cards with us tomorrow, so I want you to sign him so that he can play cards with us..."

"Ah, ah, don't talk about it later." Yu Hua waved her hands repeatedly.

Hearing Jiang Jie's words, Yu Dong was a little surprised. Yu Hua didn't lie to himself. It was a coincidence that these guys randomly picked someone who was his book fan, but he was still a little puzzled, "No, even if this If Antonio is not going to the signing event tomorrow, Jiang Jie will also follow, aren’t there still a few of you?”

Upon hearing Yu Dong's words, the three of Yu Hua and the others froze. They were too busy thinking about Antonio just now and forgot about Jiang Jie.

Yu Hua patted his head, "Mistake, mistake. But it's good news, at least keep Antonio, we can play other things."

"Didn't you guys say you were going to see the signing?" Yu Dong asked.

"Go, go and see if it's okay in the morning, can you stay there for a day?"

Antonio listened to their conversation, the whole person was in a state of emptiness, he had no idea what was going on now.

He has seen the young man who came in before, and he has been here before, but why pull him here now?

In fact, considering the context, it is not that Antonio did not think about the possibility of YU, but he dismissed this idea as soon as it came up, which is too unrealistic.

Yu Dong chatted with Yu Hua and the others, and then greeted Antonio in English, "Hi, Antonio, I'm YU."

I am YU, I am YU, I am YU...

Yu Dong's last words kept echoing in Antonio's ears, and it took a while before they entered his brain from his ears.

"You are YU?!"

Yu Dong smiled and said, "I'm YU, do I need to show you my passport?"

In fact, it was useless to show Antonio his passport. Although there was YU in the passport, Yu Hua and Bi Feiyu also had YU in their passports.

Of course, Antonio couldn't ask for Yu Dong's passport. In fact, he already believed in Yu Dong's identity. He couldn't have played poker with him for two days just to wait for this moment to find someone to lie to him.

And if they didn't take the initiative to say it, they wouldn't know that they were going to attend the signing event tomorrow.

"Do you have any books with you?" Yu Dong asked.

Of course Antonio knew what book Yu Dong was asking about, so he hurriedly opened his backpack and found a Spanish version of "Resident Evil 1".

Yu Dong took the book with a smile, took out a pen and wrote his name on it, and then wrote "To Antonio".

When he was done, he said to Antonio, "Would you like these two to sign for you? They're writers too."

Antonio took the book excitedly, then looked at Yu Hua and Bi Feiyu, "Are you also writers?"

Bi Feiyu nodded, "That's right."

Yu Dong then said, "They are better writers than me, Antonio, where are you from?"

"I am Spanish."

Yu Dong nodded, "I believe it won't be long before you can see their works in Spain."

Hearing what Yu Dong said, Antonio took out the notebook again and signed it for Yu Hua and the others.

After Yu Hua and the others "reluctantly" signed their names on the book, Antonio laughed and said, "I will definitely support your works after they are published in Spain. No, even if your works are not published in Spain, I will definitely support you." I will support it, I have decided that I must learn Chinese in the future.”

……

The next morning, instead of playing cards, Yu Hua and the others followed Yu Dong to the Hatchards bookstore in Piccadilly Circus.

This is a bookstore that was born in 1797 and has a history of nearly 200 years. It has three royal guarantees and provides books for the queen. Great poets and writers such as Wilde and Byron used to be frequent visitors here.

Since it is known as an aristocratic bookstore, it naturally has a bit of aristocratic atmosphere. The inside of the bookstore is surrounded by wooden structures, filled with a British classical style.

Hatchards Bookstore used to be a rare and second-hand bookstore, but after being acquired by Waterstone Bookstore a few years ago, it changed its appearance. Not only did it sell new books, but also changed a lot in the layout of the house, and many traces of modernization can be seen.

Yu Dong's "work" place today - on the second floor by the window, there are two modern high-back chairs, which are in sharp contrast with other things in the room.

In fact, Hatchats is not suitable for holding a signing event, because it is not spacious. Although there are many floors, the old-fashioned central staircase structure allows people to only see a little space on the same floor when they come in, and the sight line It will also be blocked by the stairs in the middle.

When Yu Dong and the others arrived, the stairs were full of people, so they could only go upstairs next to the shoulders of the readers.

After arriving at the place, without saying a word, Yu Dong waved his hand and said to William, the person in charge of the bookstore, "William, let's start directly."

Of course, William couldn't wait for it, and immediately beckoned someone to let the reader come over.

That's how the sale started.

Yu Hua and Bi Feiyu looked at it for a while and felt bored, so they went back to the hotel first, while Cheng Yanqiu sat by the bed with a book in his hands.

Today's signing is very different from the past, because at a glance, you can see that there are many fans, because they are all wearing football uniforms, there are all colors, red, white, red and white, blue of……

It didn't look like he was here to attend a signing at all, but rather to watch a football match.Of course, in general football games, there will not be so many jerseys.

And most of these readers wearing jerseys are holding "Second World".

The most outrageous thing is that when a fan wearing a Chelsea jersey came up to sign, he asked Yu Dong directly: "YU, do you like Chelsea?"

Yu Dong replied with a smile: "I like Gullit very much."

Gullit just ended his contract with Sampdoria this summer and joined Chelsea.

After the Chelsea fan heard Yu Dong's answer, he clenched his fist and said to the Arsenal fans behind, "Did you hear that, Yu likes Chelsea."

Yu Dong couldn't help curling his lips, what was the purpose of this kind of action like a child showing off a toy.

Later, as soon as the Arsenal fans came up, Yu Dong laughed before he could ask, "I also like the Bergkamp you introduced this year."

The Arsenal fans were ecstatic when they heard it, and hurried to chase the Chelsea fan just now, trying to win back.

Seeing this, Yu Dong stopped talking about football with them and focused on signing.He has some understanding of British football culture, and he is afraid that if he talks too much, he will stir up the emotions of these fans and cause unnecessary trouble.

Half a day passed quickly, Yu Dong had a meal at noon, and after a short rest, the signing resumed.

At around three o'clock, a tall young man with curly hair came up.

As soon as Yu Dong saw the curly hair that was not flourishing, he recognized who it was.

Curly-haired Sherlock Holmes, referred to as Curly Fortune.The current Juan Fu is still very young, he looks about 20 years old, but it is not very different from his later appearance.

Yu Dong didn't expect to meet him here.

"What's your name?"

Before Benny could speak, another boy standing behind rushed to say, "YU, his name is Benedict Cumberbatch, and my name is Charlie Wood."

"Are you classmates?" Yu Dong smiled and reached out to take Charlie's book.

"We were classmates in high school and now I'm at university in London and Benny is in Manchester."

Yu Dong smiled, didn't say much, signed their names and his own on the title pages of the two books, and returned the books to them.

There is nothing to say mainly, Juan Fu is still in college, and it is not certain whether he will become an actor or not in the future.

It's just that seeing Juan Fu at this time is really interesting, so Yu Dong took a few more glances.

Although Charlie and the others were quite surprised that they got two special tickets and even said a few words to YU, they didn't think too much about it. They just thought that they were lucky and YU was more friendly.

……

After seeing Juan Fu, Yu Dong was also thinking about whether he could meet other celebrities.

But what he didn't expect was that there really was one behind.

Yu Dong looked at the blonde woman in front of him, and asked with some uncertainty, "What's your name?"

The woman smiled and said, "Hi YU, my name is Joanne Catherine Rowling"

Considering that her name might be too long for a Chinese, Rowling said thoughtfully, "If you want to write my name, just write Rowling."

(End of this chapter)