(Thanks to Alstonke for being the leader. Please see the end for more details about the alliance.)
Austria,
World Cultural Heritage, Melk Abbey.
At this time, the sky is still dark and bright,
The morning rain was falling lightly over the valley town. A couple who had just flown to Austria from Los Angeles yesterday were waiting in a cafe on the edge of the town with a bit of excitement and a bit of nervousness.
Opposite them sat a business agent wearing a gray formal suit.
"The wedding ceremony officially started at 7:45 in the morning and ended at 8:15. We borrowed the right to use the marble hall for 30 minutes. A monastery priest will attend. No photography is allowed during this period..."
The business agent looked at the time schedule on his mobile phone and checked the process for the last time with great excitement, and sounded quite proud.
About half an hour is a bit too tight for a wedding ceremony.
However,
This is Melk Abbey.
Known as one of the most gorgeous churches in the world, it is the largest medieval art collection and ancient library in Europe and the official monastery of the old Habsburg royal family.
Everything in Melk Abbey was built according to the standards of a royal palace.
The magnificent Baroque decoration, amber palace, wall decals made of gold powder carvings, twenty-four bronze archangel statues, and master-level art murals - it is hailed by fashion magazines as the most dreamy wedding occasion in the world.
Being able to make an appointment to hold a wedding here, even if there are many rules and it only lasts for half an hour, is a reflection of the capabilities of their wedding agency.
Rich country bumpkins can wave banknotes casually and decorate their wedding banquets with gilded plates.
Being able to swear a marriage contract in Melk Abbey is a symbol of status.
The melodious sound of the pipe organ coming from outside the cafe attracted the attention of the business agent.
It shouldn’t be time for the wedding to start yet?
He loosened the Armani tie at the collar, turned his head, and looked at the church behind him.
The two heavy dark oak doors in front of the main hall of the church suddenly opened at some point.
The staff rolled out the thick red carpet from the slope at the entrance of the church to the marble square in front.
Choir children in white vests and dark overalls were lining up to the sound of the organ.
"OMG, this link is not on the schedule. Is this a surprise arranged by your firm?"
Seeing such a formation, the newcomers were moved.
They were a little dissatisfied with the fact that they spent such a large amount of money to get an appointment in Melk Abbey for just half an hour.
But now it seems that the entire formation is full of ceremony.
"No...this is not our arrangement, this is...some big shot is coming."
The business representative murmured to himself. He took off his glasses and wiped them hard with the hem of his suit.
"Wait, that's..." He couldn't believe what he saw.
At the gate of the monastery, a fat old man wearing a small round hat who looked like Santa Claus appeared at the steps in front of the monastery.
He looked plain-looking, but he was wearing a Roman purple robe. On his chest was a solid gold cross the size of an adult's hand, which glowed like molten gold under the sunlight.
Purple has always been one of the most noble colors in European culture.
Among the millions of clergy and billions of believers around the world, those who are qualified to wear purple robes are all the most distinguished high-ranking priests in the church.
This is an archbishop!
The only person the wedding agency can arrange to witness the marriage is an ordinary priest.
archbishop?
Do not make jokes,
If it were the Middle Ages, an archbishop would even have the right to participate in the voting of emperor electors to decide whether the ruler of the empire should go or stay.
Even in modern times, there are only a handful of cardinals and the pope himself who are more noble than the archbishop in the entire Roman Church.
The business agent took out his mobile phone to read the news.
He wondered whether there might be some state visit to Austria today and whether the Prime Minister was here. Otherwise, why would the abbot of Melk Abbey personally greet him at the gate.
Suddenly, he heard the heavy sound of an engine coming from far away.
A convoy of two dark-colored Mercedes GLS off-road vehicles and a Rolls-Royce stopped at the entrance of the monastery.
The man who looked like a butler directed the caregiver to take out the wheelchair from the trunk of the vehicle in front, and helped the distinguished guest out of the double door of the limousine in the middle.
The business representative could only vaguely see the profile of the distinguished guest, who seemed to be a young girl.
A princess from a European royal family?
…
"Anna, welcome."
The abbot of Melk Abbey walked to the bottom of the steps, bent down and politely hugged Anna in the wheelchair.
"I received your call yesterday. To be honest, I was quite surprised. According to the tradition of Elena's family, I thought the next time I saw you would be at your wedding."
The archbishop said with a smile.
Many aristocratic families with a long history in Europe have their own traditional family culture.
For example, the Welf family, an old-school German prince, has a very oriental style. Traditionally, they like to place a pair of stone lions in front of the family property. There is also the Hunter Duke family, which is accustomed to eating a quail before its male members enlist in the army...
The Elena family is an artistic aristocracy.
The family tradition is also very artistic - every family member comes to Melk Abbey when they are baptized at birth, when they fall in love with someone and get married, when they die and when important decisions need to be made.
They will think under the famous dome mural of "Athena Riding the Lion Chariot" in the monastery, make important decisions or place the coffin.
But Anna seems to have a very general interest in religion.
She is not a devout believer.
Even though she was baptized according to family tradition when she was born, Anna rarely went to church and only went to church a few times since she was a child.
From this point of view, she is not even a qualified believer.
The last time I came to Melk Abbey was because of my aunt's funeral.
"Miss Elena, do you want to confess, or do you need God's guidance on something? I will be happy to arrange the sacrament for you myself."
Dean Melk, wearing a purple robe, asked with a smile.
This kind of veteran nobleman has always been the most important patron of the church.
Even if Anna is not keen on church activities, the dean's attitude is very good.
"No, I just want some peace and quiet. Please give me a prayer room."
Anna shook her head.
…
Melk Abbey, royal prayer room.
In the grand hall, according to the girl's request, there were no nurses or priests.
Anna did not pray in front of the statue of Jesus.
She just sat quietly in her wheelchair, looking at the goddess of wisdom driving a lion chariot on the towering dome.
yesterday,
Anna felt unprecedented happiness.
The so-called gravity of the soul means that two people are far apart from each other, but they can still beat together with the same breathing and the same heartbeat.
This is both a tacit understanding and a miracle.
"Impressionism is nothing more than inner emotions and pure visual enjoyment. We don't depict gods, we just record sunlight and air. We don't follow dogma, because beautiful things will remain, and pain will eventually pass away."
This passage from Detective Cat is so perfectly in line with her understanding of Impressionist art.
The moment those words entered her ears, Ana felt a faint shiver of electricity running through her whole body.
that moment,
Anna felt that she had never been so close to the soul of the female painter she had never met.
It feels so good.
From this moment,
She no longer regretted her lack of talent for painting.
Because Anna knew that she had found the painter she was destined to be.
She silently thought about the thoughts that had been lingering in her mind for a long time under the mural of Athena.
Perhaps this goddess who rode a lion chariot and fought in all realms gave Anna strength, and she finally made up her mind secretly.
She took her cell phone out of her pocket and found a number in her address book that her aunt had left for her.
"Uncle Osborne, I want to ask you something..."
Anna made a phone call.
The Uncle Osborne she said was an old friend of the Elena family.
The other party and his aunt were college classmates, and Elena's family was kind to him. Anna's grandfather arranged for Osborne, who was still a poor boy, to work at the Scholastic Publishing Group.
Scholastic Publishing Group - a dominant publishing group, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, with annual net revenue of more than $2 billion.
You can tell the heavyweights of this publishing house by looking at the names of the agents and painting artists it has worked with - Andy Warhol, Stephen King, Sylvia Plath, and "Harry Potter" "J.K. Rowling, author.
Osborne is now the Vice President of Scholastic Europe and one of the most important contacts left to Anna in the art circle by her aunt.
"Ana? It's you." A serious man's voice came from the other side of the phone.
"Well, Uncle Osborne, can you please speak?"
Anna heard some noise from the other side of the phone.
"You guys go out first. We will discuss the report at the board meeting in the afternoon..."
The man ordered, and then his voice became softer: "Anna, why did you remember to call your Uncle Osborne? Is there something wrong?"
"Yes, I do have something to ask you."
Anna didn't deny it.
"It must be Van Dorn's fault. You are indeed immature in this matter. If the art world can't offend others, then it will be done without offending others. It is very irrational to offend such an artist on an internet celebrity video."
The man accused Anna unceremoniously.
Anna listened quietly.
"But... Oil Painting magazine kicked you out. It's Sir Brown's fault. No matter what, your last name is Elena. It's too much to bully the last heiress of the Elena family out of the magazine."
Osborne's tone became colder.
"Well, now that Anna has spoken, I will talk to Sir Brown. I can also solve it with De Jong Vandoorne. Since he is an illustrator, he will not fail to give me this face no matter what. How about just pretending it never happened...?"
Osborne sounded confident.
Big fish eat small fish. As the European head of a large publishing group, Osborne is equivalent to Party A in the interest chain.
To say that he can kill DeJong Vandoorne may be an exaggeration.
However, now that Osborne has spoken out, Van Dorn will not have any more entanglements with Anna.
"Thank you, but I called you today... It's not actually about this matter." Anna hesitated for a moment, and for some reason, did not agree immediately.
"Um...what else?"
Osborne's tone was a little strange.
"Can I recommend a painter to be an illustrator for a book?" Anna asked.
"Oh, it's a small matter. This kind of thing only requires one sentence." Osborne smiled, "Tell me, my child, which book is it?"
"Scholastic Publishing Group is preparing to re-publish "The Little Prince", right?" Anna asked softly.
""The Little Prince"... uh..."
This time it was Osborne's turn to fall into a brief silence.
The Scholastic Group publishes tens of thousands of books a year.
Such a trivial matter as appointing an illustrator for a book is theoretically not worth mentioning to Osborne.
But "The Little Prince" and other books are not the same concept at all.
"The Little Prince" is a famous children's (adult) fairy tale written by French writer Saint-Exupéry in 1942. It is also one of the best-selling books in the world.
In Europe and North America, where books are generally extremely expensive, the cumulative sales of "The Little Prince" have exceeded 100 million copies in 50 years, and are still increasing by the order of millions every year.
Basically, the only books with larger print runs than "The Little Prince" are the Bible, and even the total sales volume of "Harry Potter" is slightly lower than that of "The Little Prince".
The original copyright of "The Little Prince" was in the hands of Scholastic Group's competitor, Townsend Mann Publishing Group, which brought astronomical revenue to the publishing house for decades.
This kind of book is a hugely profitable cash cow, and it is also the core business interest of a publishing house.
It is basically impossible to acquire copyright.
But as half a century passed, the copyright of "The Little Prince" expired around the turn of the millennium, and it officially entered the realm of public books.
This also provides an opportunity for other eager publishers to enter the market.
Scholastic Group has started preparations for the reprint of "The Little Prince" very early, and has not only re-translated it into 17 languages including German, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese and Danish.
Moreover, as the English version that is the main sales volume, Mr. Hawke, the director of the English Literature Department of Oxford University, a master of translation, was invited to write the book.
This short story took five years to translate and polish, and it can be called a classic, reaching a model level of honesty, expressiveness and elegance.
The publisher's internal review committee, which has seen Mr. Hawke's translation, believes that the new version of The Little Prince, in terms of language beauty, fluency, and closeness to the original author, is better than the previous version translated by Catherine Woods. There are many versions.
If it goes well as expected, it may even become the most classic translation of Little Prince in the next half century.
The significance of this kind of work is extraordinary.
Mr. Osborne's hesitation is understandable.
Thank you, great leader.
I overslept today and just finished writing now.
There will be extra updates, I guarantee it.
But it will take a few days, and I can only promise what I can complete. The writing is getting later and later these days, so I have to adjust it.
(End of chapter)
