Near the Paris Opera House, there is a restaurant called Drouant.
In the minds of some literature lovers, this restaurant is a holy place. Because two of France's four major literary awards are voted for here, and the award ceremony is also held here.
One of them is the Prix Goncourt, and the other is the Prix Renaudeau.
It's funny to say that just four years ago, a group of reporters who were waiting for the voting results of the Goncourt Literary Prize were really impatient, so someone suggested that we might as well organize a literary prize.
Thus, the Renaudeau Literary Prize was born. It was initiated by a group of journalists and specifically opposed the Goncourt Literary Prize. It was held in the same restaurant, voted on the same day, and was held on the same day as the Goncourt Literary Prize.
Award ceremony.
This is French humor.
At eleven o'clock in the morning, the Drouant restaurant became lively. Not only were there more diners than usual, but there were also reporters from all over France.
The judges of the Goncourt Literary Prize and the Renaudeau Literary Prize entered the restaurant one after another. They each disliked the other, and amidst people's applause, they entered their respective awards rooms.
Then the on-site reporters had to make a choice. They had to choose one of the rooms to enter and could only cover one of the award ceremonies.
Well, the newspaper also has a response plan, usually sending two reporters at the same time.
At about 11:25, the winner of the Renaudeau Literature Prize appeared and entered the private room of the restaurant surrounded by reporters. The door was then closed tightly so that no one outside could see what was happening inside.
Another wave of reporters are still waiting, waiting for Zhou Hexuan's arrival.
At 11:30, an Asian man wearing a blue labor uniform, a labor hat, and a large shovel on his shoulder appeared.
The reporters didn't pay attention and continued to look outside the door.
The waiter in the restaurant came up and said, "Sir, we don't have any workers here."
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "I'm here to receive the award."
"Receive the award?" The waiter didn't respond.
"Yes, the Goncourt Literary Prize." Zhou Hexuan said.
"Oh, God, are you the Asian winner?" the restaurant waiter covered his mouth and exclaimed.
Zhou Hexuan smiled and asked: "Can you take me to receive the award?"
"It's a great honor," the waiter shouted to the reporters, "Gentlemen, the person you are waiting for is here!"
More than a dozen reporters turned around and looked at Zhou Hexuan in confusion, then became ecstatic and seemed to be very satisfied with Zhou Hexuan's strange clothes.
Reporters immediately gathered around, and one of them said: "Mr. Zhou, I am Mino, a reporter from "L'Ouest de France". Is there any special meaning to your outfit today?"
"Of course, you will know in a moment." Zhou Hexuan said.
Another reporter asked: "You are wearing worker's clothing, are you representing the proletariat?"
Zhou Hexuan sweated furiously: "Friend, you think too much."
"Mr. Zhou, how do you feel about winning this award?"
"I am very happy."
“Can you elaborate on magical realism?”
"This does not need to be explained, you just need to feel it in the work."
"You accurately predicted the stock market crash in the United States. Did you make a lot of money from this stock market crash?"
"It's a pity that I only made a little money."
"..."
Surrounded by reporters, Zhou Hexuan entered the private room of the restaurant belonging to the Goncourt Literary Prize.
To be honest, this is the first time Zhou Hexuan has witnessed such an unusual awards ceremony.
There is no host, no live audience, no trophies, and no singing and dancing performances, just tables full of food and judges.
The moment Zhou Hexuan entered the private room, the nine judges stood up collectively. They planned to applaud Zhou Hexuan to welcome him, but when they saw how Zhou Hexuan was dressed, they were all stunned.
what's the situation?
"Hi, gentlemen judges!" Zhou Hexuan put down the big shovel, waved and smiled at the nine judges.
The judges said: I have never seen such an unusual winner.
Despite the embarrassment, applause still rang out.
The judges sat on both sides of the round table, leaving the center seat to Zhou Hexuan, while reporters started taking pictures of them.
The chairman of the jury took out an award certificate and a gold franc with a face value of 50 yuan, and handed it to Zhou Hexuan with a smile: "Congratulations, Mr. Zhou, you have become the winner of the 27th Goncourt Literature Prize."
"Thank you." Zhou Hexuan took the golden franc.
After the crazy depreciation of the franc, this French banknote, worth only 2 oceans, was the entire prize money of the Goncourt Prize.
No winner will spend the 50 francs. They usually put it in a photo frame as a souvenir and place it in the study as an honorary trophy.
The chairman of the jury asked jokingly: "Mr. Zhou, how do you plan to use this bonus?"
Zhou Hexuan's answer was obviously beyond the other party's expectations. He said: "I am going to build a cemetery and monument in France, and I will donate the 50 francs."
"Donate it?" The chairman of the jury was stunned.
"Yes." Zhou Hexuan nodded affirmatively.
The chairman of the jury smiled awkwardly, nodded and said, "Please give your acceptance speech."
According to the traditional process, after the acceptance speech, reporters are allowed to take photos and ask a few questions, and then the award ceremony officially ends. Then comes the meal. All the reporters leave, leaving only the winners and the judges to enjoy lunch and chat a little by the way.
Literary topics.
Zhou Hexuan stood up and smiled and said: "I like France very much, especially Paris. Every breath of its air is filled with the atmosphere of culture and art. At the same time, I am also very grateful to the judges for allowing me to receive this honor."
Well, his speech was quite satisfactory, and he even flattered the Frenchman.
Just listen to Zhou Hexuan continue to say: "I am Chinese, from the other side of the earth. China and France have always had friendly exchanges. Our country's traditional drama "The Orphan of Zhao" was adapted by your country's great writer Mr. Voltaire.
It is called "Chinese Orphans". This is an exchange in the cultural field. More than ten years ago, there was a country-to-country exchange between China and France. During the European War, the German invaders were like wild beasts, constantly devouring France.
territory, and as an ally, China sent 140,000 Chinese laborers to France to shoulder the most arduous and arduous combat tasks. This time when I came to Paris, I met a surviving Chinese laborer from the European War. He confided in me his
s story……"
In front of reporters and judges, Zhou Hexuan told in detail the history of blood and tears of the French aid workers. He narrated the story told by Chen Ying with a little artistic processing, and each vivid image of the Chinese workers was presented in front of everyone.
The judges were stunned, and the reporters were also a little dumbfounded. They finally understood why Zhou Hexuan was dressed like this.
And as Zhou Hexuan told them, they gradually became immersed in those tragic stories...
