Zhang Zhong sat on the balcony of the guest room, looking at the Seine River below and the Eiffel Tower opposite. They went to the top of the tower last night, and there was no queue as expected.
In fact, standing on the top of the Eiffel Tower and looking down at Paris, although it is beautiful, is actually nothing special. It is no different from looking at Paris from other high places.
Even in summer, the morning on the bank of the Seine is a bit cold. The scenery that catches the eye is covered with a layer of warm light gray, and the Parisian sky reflected on the river is active and subtle, like the face of a girl about to smile.
If it were a hundred years ago, this city would have woken up long ago, and the people living by the harbor would have been busy.
But now, the city still looks sleepy.
Zhang Zhong took a sip of water in the cup, but he was already energetic.
Parents and Pengpeng were still sleeping. After a tiring trip yesterday and the excitement of arriving in Paris for the first time, they were exhausted when they returned to the hotel in the evening.
But they don't have to worry, they have plenty of time to appreciate the scenery of Paris.
There are only three words to the ultimate secret of travel - don't worry.
Xu Yuhan said she wanted to see the Louvre this morning. She had already been there twice, but when she came here again, she wanted to go there the most.
Toot toot.
The mobile phone on the table rang. Zhang Zhong put down the water glass and picked up the mobile phone. The number displayed was He Kelan's.
Zhang Zhong was a little surprised. Could it be that He Kelan was so well-informed that he already knew that he had arrived in France and called him specifically?
In fact, when he came to Paris before, Zhang Zhong thought about visiting He Kelan, but after all, the two of them only met once. Although they exchanged phone numbers, they didn't exchange a few words in total.
Unexpectedly, He Kelan took the initiative to call.
"Hello?" Zhang Zhong answered the phone and spoke in French, but this was one of the few French languages he knew, and he didn't know what to say next.
But He Kelan said in English, "Hello, is this PZ?"
Zhang Zhong breathed a sigh of relief. Although He Kelan had a heavy accent, there was absolutely no problem in communicating. He also said in English, "Hello, Mr. He Kelan, I am pz."
"Good afternoon, pz, have you eaten?"
He Kelan's words stunned Zhang Zhong, "Good afternoon?" He raised his head and looked at the Paris sky where the sun had not yet come out. Am I out of time?
However, he quickly realized that He Kelan probably didn't know that he was in Paris and thought he was in China, so he said this because of the time difference.
This made Zhang Zhong even more confused. Since he didn't know that he had arrived in Paris, He Kelan had no reason to call him.
"I haven't eaten yet." I didn't know the purpose of He Kelan's call. Zhang Zhong didn't take the initiative to say that he was in Paris, and he didn't lie. He had indeed not had breakfast.
"That's right pz. I'm calling you this time because I want to talk to you about the carrier pigeon award." He Kelan said.
"Pigeon Award?"
"Yes, I am the head of the judging panel of the Pigeon Award this time. After the selection, your "Xu Sanguan Sells Blood" has basically been determined to be the winning work of the Pigeon Award Foreign Novel Award. The tradition of the Pigeon Award is in
Before the awards are determined, the members of the jury will communicate with the winners. Because I know you, I took the initiative to contact you."
Zhang Zhong knew about the Pigeon Award, but he didn't know that the Pigeon Award still had this tradition.
But it is also understandable that communicating with the winning author before confirming the award can avoid unnecessary troubles, such as the winner rejecting the award.
He Kelan probably called Zhang Zhong to ask about Zhang Zhong's wishes. If Zhang Zhong was unwilling to take the award, they would probably let the award change hands. Although it is very explicit, this is the reality.
"I am very grateful to the judging panel of the Carrier Pigeon Award. It is an honor for me to win this award." Zhang Chong said with a smile.
He Kelan also laughed, "In fact, it is an honor for our French literary community to publish an excellent work like "Xu Sanguan Sells Blood" in China. The awards will be held at an award ceremony on August 16 and announced on the spot.
If you have time, of course I hope you can come and receive the award in person. If you don’t have time, it doesn’t matter. You can entrust others to help.”
August 16th... Zhang Zhong thought for a while, there was still more than a week left, he could go and receive the award, either stay in Paris for another week, or go to other countries first, and then wait until the 16th
Come back again, since European countries are very close to each other anyway, they may go back to benefit from it next, and it will be very convenient to come here, even closer than when he went to Yanjing to receive the award in Jiangyang.
He smiled and said, "Actually, I am in Paris right now. The Eiffel Tower is right in front of me. I can even hear the sound of the Seine River flowing."
He Kelan was surprised, "Really? How could it be such a coincidence?"
"Yeah, it's really a coincidence. When you called me, I thought you knew I had arrived in Paris. I didn't expect it was because of the carrier pigeon award."
He Kelan said loudly, "In this case, I will not mail the invitation letter. Can you find a time for us to meet? I will give you the invitation letter in person. And as the host, if there are distinguished guests coming, I should also express my gratitude."
Sincerely, I’ll treat you to dinner.”
Zhang Zhong calculated the time and said, "We can't have dinner anymore, we can have some coffee."
"Okay, I'll wait for you on the left bank this afternoon?"
Zhang Zhong nodded and said, "Okay."
…
After chatting with He Kelan for about ten minutes before hanging up the phone, Zhang Zhong thought of the words Pigeon Award.
The Pigeon Prize is not a heavyweight literary award in the literary world. Even in France, it is not even ranked among the top three.
Of course, it is not a trivial award. The reason why it is not famous is because this award is still relatively young. It has only been more than 20 years since its establishment in 1996.
From a time point of view, of course it cannot be compared with literary awards such as Goncourt, which lasted for more than 100 years.
However, in recent years, the Foreign Fiction Award of the Pigeon Award has become more and more famous. The winners of the previous foreign novel awards are all very powerful. Zhang Zhong remembers that the British Jack Jones won the Pigeon Foreign Fiction Award last year, and Jack
·Not long after Jones won the Pigeon Prize for Foreign Fiction, he won last year's Nobel Prize for Literature.
The most amazing thing is that another winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature last year, the Austrian novelist Peter Hanke, also won the foreign novel prize in 2003.
The reason why there were two Nobel Prize winners in Literature last year was because the Nobel Prize for Literature was suspended due to the scandal the year before. When it was reissued last year, it was officially announced that Peter Hank won the prize the year before.
Of course, no matter which year the prize is awarded, two consecutive Nobel Prize winners have won the Pigeon Prize for Foreign Fiction, which is indeed a coincidence and very eye-catching.