1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Not many days after Zhou Yan returned to school, it was time for the holiday.

Although the school is on vacation, Zhou Yan is not idle at all. The Piano Youth Orchestra is about to start a new round of tour and has been intensifying rehearsals during this period.

Zhou Yan himself did not slack off and took some time out almost every day to practice with them.

Although Zhou Yan is very busy, he will still practice musical instruments whenever he has time.

Even if you cannot guarantee the intensity of practice, as long as you can touch the instrument every day, it will be of great benefit to maintaining your condition.

Moreover, Zhou Yan himself went to rehearsal every day, setting a good example for the students in the orchestra. Seeing that Zhou Yan was so persistent, they naturally felt embarrassed to slack off.

On the afternoon of July 2nd, Zhou Yan had just finished rehearsing with the orchestra and returned to the office when he saw Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng.

Because he has come here so many times, Yu Hua no longer considers himself an outsider. Every time he comes here, no matter whether Zhou Yan is there or not, he treats this place as his own home.

When Zhou Yan saw the two people, they had already made tea for themselves and were chatting around the coffee table.

Seeing Zhou Yan coming back, Yu Hua smiled and said, "Would you like a cup of tea?"

With this behavior, people who don’t know the situation might think that he is the owner of this office and Zhou Yan is the guest.

Zhou Yan was already used to it. He waved his hand, returned to his desk and sat down, then asked with a smile, "Why are you here today?"

"It's too hot today. You have air conditioning here."

Air conditioners are no longer a novelty these days. After entering the 1990s, the domestic home appliance market developed rapidly. Cities like Yanjing were also among the first to popularize household air conditioners. Many families have installed air conditioners in recent years.

However, most people still don’t have air conditioners at home. Even if they do, they may not be willing to turn them on, after all, electricity is not cheap.

Here in the studio, we don’t skimp on air conditioning.

In fact, their studio has to pay a lot of money for electricity every month, especially in the summer, because the electricity here is much more expensive than residential electricity, but Zhou Yan never saves money on this. The weather is hot, so it's time to turn on the power.

Zhou Yan joked, "Remember to settle the tea and air conditioning fees later."

Yu Hua said with a bachelor's face, "We have no money."

"It doesn't matter. I can just deduct it from your royalties later. It should be enough."

Although the sales of the collection of the three of them, "Zhou Yan, Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng", did not explode, it sold quite well in Japan, and they still received some royalties from time to time over such a long period of time.

The royalties from the collection will first be deposited into Zhou Entertainment’s account, and then Zhou Entertainment will pay them separately, so Zhou Yan can deduct their money.

Yu Hua shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter. I'll write a novel called "Brahms and Grandet" to specifically accuse you, Zhou Bapi. I think there will be many magazines willing to publish this novel. Maybe some tabloids will also rush to pay for it, which is enough to offset the royalties you withheld."

Shi Tiesheng gave Yu Hua a thumbs up and said, "You are the one with the most ideas."

Zhou Yan smiled and shook his head, "You can't afford to lose anything, so you better be generous. I won't give you a penny less in royalties. But speaking of royalties, I have something else to tell you."

"what's up?"

"Shueisha invited us to hold a book signing event in Japan. The time is up to us. My idea is that while the band is on tour in Japan, you two can join me in holding a book signing event." Zhou Yan explained the situation to them with a smile, and then added, "Shueisha is very sincere."

He said it implicitly, but his meaning was very clear. The "red envelope" given by Shueisha this time was quite large.

The two were somewhat moved by what Zhou Yan said. It didn't matter the size of the red envelope, the key was that being able to go abroad for a book signing was a very attractive thing.

"Zhou Yan, Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng" sold well in Japan, and I heard that many Japanese readers liked them very much, so they also wanted to go to Japan to experience it.

If you go abroad for a book signing, you will suddenly become an "internationally renowned writer".

However, Shi Tiesheng smiled and shook his head, "You guys go ahead, I'm not going."

He didn't say the reason, but Zhou Yan and Yu Hua both knew that he was probably considering his legs.

After all, he is in a wheelchair and has various health problems, so it is inconvenient for him to go anywhere. It was okay for Yu Hua and others to take him around the country before, but if he goes abroad, he will encounter many problems.

Yu Hua patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "What are you afraid of? At worst, Zhou Yan and I can carry you onto the plane. We are a team now, and it won't work without you."

Zhou Yan also chimed in, "He's right. Shueisha invited the three of us this time. If one person is missing, the red envelope will be greatly reduced. Even if you don't care about your own pocket, you should also care about ours."

"Hey, Zhou Yan is extremely wealthy, so you don't have to worry about his wallet, but you have to pay attention to my wallet. Haiguo is getting older now, and he has more and more places to spend money. I have to make money."

Shi Tiesheng was silent for a while, and finally nodded and said, "Okay, I'll have to trouble you then."

Of course he also wanted to go to Neon, but the main reason was that he trusted Yu Hua and Zhou Yan very much, and because of their relationship, he was willing to bother Zhou Yan and Yu Hua.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "You are overthinking things. To be honest, going to Neon is much more convenient than going to Shenyang."

In the past, Yu Hua and his friends took Shi Tiesheng to Shenyang, but they took a train for more than ten hours. In terms of time and riding environment, it was definitely not as good as taking a plane to Neon.

After hearing what Zhou Yan said, Yu Hua's mind also turned around, "Zhou Yan is right, going to Nihong is faster than going to Shenyang, it only takes a few hours."

Shi Tiesheng nodded gently, "Yeah."

"Since you all have no problem, I will reply to Shueisha and have someone do the paperwork for you."

Zhou Yan then looked at Yu Hua and said, "There is one more thing. The Goryeo Green Forest Publishing House wants to publish the Goryeo version of "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood". I heard that a professor who studies Chinese literature in their country is very interested in your work, so he asked Green Forest Publishing House to contact him, and Green Forest Publishing House found Zhou."

"Goryeo? Xu Sanguan selling blood?" Yu Hua was a little confused.

It was normal for him to have doubts, because he had no contact with Goryeo before, and "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" had just been published and had not even been published as a single volume in China.

Now suddenly a Goryeo publishing house wants to translate this book into a Goryeo version and bring it to Goryeo. He will definitely be confused.

"Did you do something?" Yu Hua asked again.

The only possibility he could think of was that Zhou Yan did something in the middle.

Although I haven't heard that Zhou Yan is doing well in Goryeo, Zhou Yan is very famous throughout Asia after all. Naturally, he can do things that others can't do, such as helping him contact a publishing house.

Zhou Yan said with a smile, "Even if I do something, I will only do it to bring your novel to Japan. After all, Japan is more familiar to me, and so are you."

Yu Hua definitely has more connections with Japan than Korea. Before the publication of "Zhou Yan·Yu Hua·Shi Tiesheng", Yu Hua's novels had already appeared in Japan.

Earlier, Professor Rong Iizuka, a Japanese sinologist, translated his short story "A Long Journey at the Age of Eighteen" and published it in the Japanese magazine "Modern Chinese Fiction".

Although that novel did not cause any waves, it was indeed the first time that Yu Hua's novel appeared in Japan. Later, Iizuka Rong came to Yanjing and met Yu Hua.

The last time Shueisha was going to publish "Zhou Yan·Yu Hua·Shi Tiesheng", Yu Hua also recommended Iizuka Rong to translate it, but in the end this suggestion was not adopted.

Hearing Zhou Yan say this, Yu Hua smiled and said, "You are not greedy for credit, so what do you think I should do when Green Forest Publishing House comes to me this time?"

"Of course I agreed. No matter what, I can always make some royalties."

"Will this book have a market in Goryeo?" Yu Hua asked uncertainly.

Zhou Yan curled his lips and said, "Do you need to care whether there is a market or not? I noticed that since the sales of your novels have increased, you have started to have idol baggage."

"Oh, the term 'idol burden' is interesting. But you're right, whether the book is popular or not, I won't suffer any loss. So this matter..."

"If you agree, I'll let Zhou help you with the operation, and you don't have to worry about anything else." Yu Hua laughed heartily, "To be honest, you're too nice to us. Sometimes I even wonder if you're trying to get something from us."

Zhou Yan couldn't help but roll his eyes, "What do you want from me? Do you want me to eat and drink with you every day?"

"I am embarrassed by what you said."

Although Yu Hua said this, Zhou Yan did not see any embarrassment on his face.

Zhou Yan smiled and shook his head, and said nothing more.

The fact that "Xu Sanguan Selling Blood" was going to be published in Goryeo had nothing to do with him. It was Green Forest Publishing House that contacted him first.

The reason why Green Forest Publishing House contacted them was indeed because of a Chinese professor in Goryeo, who was said to be a female professor, but no one knew her specific name, Zhou Yan.

However, Green Forest Publishing House does not seem to be very optimistic about this book, so the first print run will definitely not be very large. It would be considered good if they can get 7,000 to 8,000 copies.

Zhou Yan’s attitude towards this is that having something is better than having nothing. As long as Yu Hua’s novels can appear in Goryeo, there is always hope that they will take root.

After sitting in Zhou Yan's office for a while, Yu Hua pushed Shi Tiesheng to the rehearsal room.

Of course, they like to come to the studio so much not just to drink tea and use the air conditioning, but mainly to listen to music.

Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng are loyal listeners of the Piano Youth Orchestra. They have listened to all the pieces performed by the Piano Youth Orchestra many times.

When the orchestra rehearses, they will listen along. It is normal for them to listen for a long time, and sometimes they will stay for the whole day.

……

Not long after Yu Hua and the others left, Han Zhen, the head of the administrative department, knocked on Zhou Yan's office door holding a piece of paper.

"Boss, MCA-VICTOR sent me the lyrics for "Snow Flower"."

"Oh?"

Zhou Yan took the lyrics and took a look at them. Perhaps influenced by the song title "Snow Flower", the version of the lyrics written by MCA-VICTOR has a lot to do with snow.

The theme is "Waiting for Love", which probably describes a woman waiting for an endless love in winter, and the person she loves has not appeared yet.

These lyrics have nothing to do with Mika Nakashima's original version, but Zhou Yan thinks the lyrics are okay. The key is that he doesn't understand Neon language, so he doesn't know how these lyrics will sound when sung.

He said to Han Zhen, "Call them back and ask Akina Nakamori to sing a demo, and then send it to me for me to listen to."

Han Zhen nodded, "I understand."

After saying that, Han Zhen turned around and was about to leave, but Zhou Yan stopped him again, "Wait."

Han Zhen turned around again and waited for Zhou Yan's instructions.

Zhou Yan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Tell the other party to ask Akina Nakamori to call me and sing it to me over the phone."

Recording a demo is still a bit troublesome.

"What time can I call you?"

"Call this office number before eight tonight, or tomorrow morning."

"Ok, I see."

……

At six o'clock in the evening, Zhou Yan had lunch in the cafeteria and returned to the office. Not long after he sat down, he received a call from Akina Nakamori.

After the call was connected, Akina Nakamori first said in Chinese: "Hello, Mr. Zhou."

Then she spoke some Japanese language, and then another female voice came from the other side, saying in not particularly fluent Chinese, "I'm ready. Shall I sing "Snow Flower" for you now?"

This woman should be the translator hired by Akina Nakamori.

"Hold on."

After Zhou Yan finished speaking, he went to get the tape recorder, pressed the switch, and then pressed the hands-free button.

“You can sing now.”

After he finished speaking, he heard Akina Nakamori clear her throat and start singing.

Because they were singing in Japanese, Zhou Yan couldn't understand it.

But it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t understand. He mainly listens to the rhythm of the lyrics. In addition to expressing emotions literally, the lyrics must also have a rhythm that fits the melody.

The most direct way to fit the melody is through rhyme, but it is more than just rhyme, it includes many other things, nothing complicated, it mainly depends on the listening experience.

Akina Nakamori is worthy of being called the Diva of the Showa era. Her singing skills and voice quotient are impeccable, and her voice is varied and very contagious.

She must have gotten the lyrics in advance and sang them many times. She sounded very familiar with them and it didn't sound like she was singing a new song.

While listening, Zhou Yan wrote down the parts that he thought were problematic.

After Akina Nakamori finished singing, Zhou Yan said, "I think there are some problems with the lyrics, such as the second line..."

Although Zhou Yan didn't know the lyrics, he could remember what was wrong in which section.

There aren't many problems. Even if they don't need to be changed, it's okay. After the lyrics came out, Akina Nakamori and the record company must have studied them. They will only send them to Zhou Yan if they think there are no problems.

However, in line with the principle of continuous improvement, Zhou Yan still raised these issues.

On the other end of the phone, Akina Nakamori listened to the translator next to her translating the questions raised by Zhou Yan. While taking notes, she secretly sighed that Zhou Yan was too harsh.

She had never seen a composer who was so meticulous about lyrics.

Now she wrote down the questions and would communicate with the lyricist later, but she was not afraid of the trouble and was not angry with Zhou Yan because of it.

No matter what, it would definitely be better for her if Zhou Yan was more meticulous.

After finishing the question, Zhou Yan asked, "Have you written it down?"

The tone was like a teacher confirming with students after assigning homework. Although Akina Nakamori didn't understand Chinese, she could feel Zhou Yan's tone.

Akina Nakamori also curled her lips. When she was talking to Zhou Yan, she felt like she was back in her student days. Zhou Yan had a strong sense of teacher.

"take note of it."

"Just write it down. We'll talk about it after you've made the changes. That's all for today."

"it is good."

Afterwards, Zhou Yan didn’t talk much with Akina Nakamori and just hung up the phone.

The translator listened to the dead tone on the phone, looked at Nakamori Akina, and couldn't help but be surprised. Mr. Zhou Yan is really a cool guy. This is Akina. Mr. Zhou Yan hung up the phone too quickly. (End of this chapter)