Exciting 1979!

Chapter 220: Opening soon, making a fortune
The photos have been taken, and the next step is to make them bigger so that they can be posted above the store to attract customers.

Due to the limitations of current technology, it is impossible to enlarge photos directly unless an amplifier is used when taking pictures, but developing them is also very difficult. At this time, an artist is needed, which was also one of Wei Ming's jobs in his previous life.

In his previous life, he was often responsible for drawing posters for the People's Art Theater's dramas. The posters were very large and were particularly eye-catching when posted outside, serving the purpose of spreading the word.

The same is true for movie posters today. Ordinary cinemas may not have posters, just a few movie names, but top cinemas in big cities have artists who are responsible for drawing large posters to attract audiences.

Wei Ming could turn the photos of Sister Xue and Sister Lin into large posters, but because he required a larger size, it would require more labor and materials, and he was afraid that he would not have enough time, and he also had other work, so he was prepared to spend some money to entrust it to someone else.

The first person Wei Ming thought of was Zhong Acheng and others whom he had met at the Xingxing Art Exhibition.

But after thinking about it, I realized that these guys consider themselves artists and probably wouldn't be willing to accept such non-creative work. Besides, their basic skills are not solid enough and I'm worried that they won't be able to do it.

"Hey, there it is!"

He remembered that when he passed by Dazhalan yesterday, he saw a poster of "The Stars Shine Tonight" outside the Daguanlou Cinema. This is a war-themed movie directed by Xie Tieli and starred by Li Xiuming and Tang Guoqiang at the invitation of the August 1st Film Studio. It was recently released.

The artist at Daguan Tower was of good quality, and he planned to discuss the matter with him.

After Sister Lin recovered, Wei Ming reluctantly sent her back to her unit, then went to a photo studio to develop the photos at his own expense, and then came to Dazhalan.

"Who are you looking for?" Wang Qiankun, a waiter at Daguan Tower, stopped the handsome young man in front of him who wanted to enter the work area.

"Hello, comrade. I'd like to find the artist in our cinema."

"Oh, Master Wei, someone is looking for you."

"Master Wei, what a coincidence, my last name is also Wei, we were from the same family five hundred years ago!"

Master Wei gestured in the air: "I am this Wei."

Wei Ming: "I am Wei from Wei, Shu and Wu. Let's not try to be friendly. I have a job for you. I wonder if you would like to take it or not."

The artists in movie theaters have relatively free time. They draw posters when there is a new movie released, and don't have to draw if there is no new movie released. They can also not draw posters for small and unpopular movies. After all, paint and fabric cost money.

Teacher Wei and Master Wei came outside, handed over cigarettes and started discussing in a low voice.

Wei Ming wanted to draw two large posters. He first showed some photos to Master Wei, one of Gong Xing and one of Zhu Lin, both of which best reflected their personal characteristics and clothing features.

Master Wei looked at it with admiration and said, "This is the actor Gong Xian. I don't know this one."

"Oh, you also know Gong Xing?"

"I read every issue of "Popular Movies." Master Wei has a photographic memory. It has been almost half a year since Sister Xue last appeared on "Popular Movies".

Wei Ming introduced: "The other one is Zhu Lin, who played in Xi'an Film Studio's "Traitor", which has not been broadcast yet, and he is not a professional actor."

"Oh, I've heard of this movie. Comrade Zhu Lin also has an outstanding image." In Master Wei's opinion, these two are as good-looking as many of the current popular and active actors, and may even be more beautiful.

Master Wei looked at Wei Ming and thought that this self-employed person had something special. Where did he find these actors?

However, when he heard the size Wei Ming requested, three meters by four meters, two paintings, and such a delicate work as figures, Master Wei waved his hand.

"I can't do it, it's too big!"

"Our newly opened storefront is relatively large. If it's too small it won't stand out." Wei Ming could imagine how congested Xidan would be when two beauties were hanging on the left and right of Oriental Plaza.

"I can draw, but Love in Lushan is about to be released, and I have to draw a poster for them. It's not small, and I don't have the time."

Wei Ming originally wanted to ask the artist to paint two pictures for 100 yuan, but now he has changed his mind.

"One hundred yuan for one painting, but I want it to be completed before Love in Lushan is released," Wei Ming tempted. "This price is not low. If Qi Baishi were alive, a painting would cost this much."

Of course, it has to be a small painting by Qi Baishi, and the fabric and paint needed for these two huge posters are not cheap, but you can earn more. Being able to paint is a strong skill these days.

Master Wei, who was in his thirties and the breadwinner of the family, immediately brightened up. He ran into the Grand View Tower and asked his manager for three days of personal leave.

"I'll take the job, but you have to pay half of it as a deposit first!" he said after he came out.

Wei Ming paid directly: "Deal!"

I'll report the bill to Xiaomei later, and the two hundred yuan will be paid into the company's account.

After finishing this matter, Wei Ming drove home and happened to meet the postman. First, he received the manuscript fee invoice for "Jumanji" published by "Youth Literature and Art", and at the same time he received a package from Amin from Hong Kong.

The manuscript fee is 600 yuan, which will definitely provide me with enough living expenses for the next period of time.

Then he brought Amin's package into the house. After opening it, the first thing he found was some snacks. Xiaohong and Yunyun, two greedy girls, were in luck.

Then there was another tape. Wei Ming thought it was another song sung by Amin. He put it into the tape recorder, and then a young girl's voice came out of it, speaking Cantonese.

"Hello, Ming. How about we communicate by voice, just like making a phone call? I wonder if you can understand Cantonese. I believe you are so smart that you can understand it."

Wei Ming could almost understand it. After all, when A-Long first transferred here, his Cantonese accent was very strong, and he was used to it.

Amin: "Hehe, maybe you can write a Cantonese song for me in the future. Thank you for the gift you promised. Of course, I will accept any song you write for me in the future."

Wei Ming smiled slightly. It is true that the market for writing Cantonese songs for Hong Kong is bigger. He also has too many Cantonese classics in his mind. It is not a problem for him to create a few platinum kings of songs. However, Cantonese is not the language he has been using since he was a child, so he is not so fluent in using it.

Amin: "And I also want to learn Mandarin from you. After your introduction, I became curious about you in the mainland. Even if you don't come to Hong Kong to find me in the future, I plan to go to the mainland to find you."

There was some ambiguity in these words, but Wei Ming didn't hear it. In his mind, a 13-year-old girl had nothing and was not as attractive as her sister.

He had decided to buy some blank tapes and use them to communicate with the girl.

Amin continued, "Alan's Mandarin album has not been completed yet, so don't worry. However, the album "Liuliu De Ta" is said to have received a very good response in Taiwan. Brother Mingmin also told me that it will soon reach the gold record. When the time comes, he will entrust me to give you the share of the lyrics and music. I won't take a cut of this."

"Now our family's life has changed tremendously. My mother made a lot of money selling snacks before, and now she wants to open a store. I still have hope of becoming a rich second-generation." The little girl giggled as she said this.

But this snack bar couldn't be the same one that Lao Gui owned, right? Were they partners? Did Lao Gui have any plans?

There are obvious pauses in the tape, so it should not have been recorded in one day. A tape can record for an hour. The little girl also shared with him a lot of interesting things about her school, as well as her experiences in entertainment, music and movies.

This girl really treated him as a close older brother, but considering that the girl had a sweet voice and should not be ugly, Wei Ming still listened to the whole thing.

I'll record a Mandarin version of my reply for her later. Looking at the time, I guess Xiaohong and the others should be back by now. Wei Ming tidied up the house. Fortunately, there were two bathrooms at home.

You can introduce Sister Lin to your younger sisters later, but it’s better not to let the children know about living together before marriage. It will be too shocking.

After eight o'clock, the two little girls came back.

Wei Ming asked them how they came back.

Wei Hong said: "Our bus dropped us off at the entrance of the community."

Wei Ming nodded: "Tomorrow is the last day of this trip to the capital. Have fun. You will have to go to work next."

Working means being able to earn money, and they are all very happy.

What made me even happier was Amin’s package.

"Oh my, these fries are so delicious!"

“I prefer potato chips.”

"This chocolate tastes weird!"

“This candy is delicious!”

The two little girls tasted it excitedly, but before they ate it, they let Wei Ming taste it first. They didn't ask him to try it for poison, but to show respect to the head of the family.

However, Wei Ming is good at keeping in good health and doesn't like to eat snacks.

Since they were talking about Amin, Wei Ming asked the two girls to listen to Zhang Mingmin's tape again.

"Brother, these songs were all written by you!" Xiaohong was once again shocked by her brother's talent, while Yunyun was so shocked that she was speechless.

“Not all of them. The best-sounding ones were written by me,” Wei Ming said modestly.

Xiaohong suddenly felt it was such a pity that such an excellent song could not be heard in China and it had not been officially released on Pacific yet.

"Brother, how about we put a tape recorder in our store and play these songs on a loop? That should be able to attract customers to come in." Xiaohong suggested.

Unexpectedly, Xiaohong is not only good at mathematics, but also understands business, and uses the tricks of later barber shops.

Wei Ming encouraged: "You can mention it to Manager Mei."

Yunyun envied Xiaohong's brain and wished she could be smarter.

~
The Gouzitun elementary school student tour group arrived on the last day. The children were becoming more and more lively and energetic, and had already made the residents of Li Guangfu's house very upset. Old Li was apologizing and laughing at the same time.

The last day was to climb the Great Wall at Badaling. After all, one is not a true man if he has not climbed the Great Wall. Wei Ming has been a hero too many times, so he will not be one this time. Xiaomei is still the team leader, and he loves her very much.

The plan was to finish the climb in half a day and start the return journey at noon. Wei Ming used the morning time to continue to run the house procedures. When the bus dropped Xiaohong, Yunyun and Mei Wenhua off at the Overseas Chinese Apartment at noon, Wei Ming immediately got out with his bag on his back and got on the bus.

He brought them back himself. He felt that he needed to bring them back intact, for fear that something might happen on the way, so he escorted the car himself. If Lao Wei was there, this would have been his job.

"Xiaohong and Yunyun, you guys should follow Brother Wenhua to attend the training for the next two days. I will be back soon." Wei Ming gave his final instructions.

Xiaohong waved her hand: "Don't worry, brother. Oh, and Brother Wenhua agreed to my proposal. He is going to buy a tape recorder!"

~
In the Yimeng Mountains in southwest Shandong, the crew of "Cow and Cow 2" has started filming for a week. In fact, the filming of the cows has not started yet. Wu Tianming is worried that the cows will not adapt to the local climate, so he asked Lao Wei to bring them over in advance to help them acclimate, and also to check how the cows are trained.

Old Wei was a little unhappy. If you are not making a great movie now, why should I come here? This caused him to miss his daughter's college entrance examination. The most important thing was that he was unable to present awards to students as an honorary principal and lead the team to travel to the capital.

This is such a huge pity!
After seeing how obedient the three cows were in Lao Wei's hands, Wu Tianming lowered his posture in front of Lao Wei. Whenever local leaders invited them to dinner, they let Lao Wei sit in the guest of honor seat, and the fish heads were facing him.

Upon learning that Lao Wei was actually the father of the great writer Wei Ming, the local leaders were shocked and came to visit the crew every now and then.

Since Wu Tianming had to take care of a lot of crew stuff, the reception work was handed over to Lao Wei, who was like a duck in water.

Moreover, today Liu Xiaoqing officially joined the crew after finishing filming "The Mysterious Big Buddha", and the leader once again prepared a banquet for him.

Liu Xiaoqing can be said to be a top actress today, with much more status than director Wu Tianming and leading actor Li Baotian, but tonight the fish head is still facing Comrade Lao Wei, that's status.

After Lao Wei came back from drinking, he received a letter from his hometown.

After Minghong and his sister left, Xu Shufen wrote this letter to her husband, reporting on her daughter's exams, village primary school grades and other issues.

Seeing that Xiaohong did well in the college entrance examination, Lao Wei was very happy and immediately wrote a letter back to his wife.

After thinking about it, he wrote another letter to his son in Yanjing, carefully asking him if he was very familiar with Liu Xiaoqing.

"She just arrived at the crew today, and she kept asking about you during dinner. Let me tell you, at her age, I would call her a big sister, and she already has a husband..."

The world of flowers and beauties is fascinating, but you have to give those bad boys a lesson.

When Old Wei wrote to his son, Wei Ming had already returned home. He would stay there for the night and return to Beijing tomorrow.

Wei Ming slept soundly that night, but more than a dozen families in Gouzitun could hardly sleep all night.

Jia Zhengdao was lying on the kang, talking incessantly to his father Jia Saner about his experiences in the capital.

"That building is so tall, and the lights are on. It's so beautiful! We also took some photos on the Great Wall, but they haven't been developed yet. The Great Wall is too long!"

Shen Xiaobao took out the Tiananmen group photo that Wei Ming had hastily developed and showed it to his mother and grandmother. This was the first photo of this extremely poor family.

"We also took photos at Peking University," he swore to them solemnly, "I want to get into Peking University and Tsinghua University. Mom, grandma, I will work hard, for sure!"

Qi Delong also solemnly told his mother: "I want to be a Yanjing person!"

Fan Chunhua felt a lump in her throat when she heard this. Because of the policy, her father had a chance to become a Yanjing citizen again, but because she was from the countryside, the son she gave birth to could only be a rural citizen.

"Son, then you should study hard and get into Yanjing by yourself. Don't be like your useless father."

Qi Kexiu: "How can I be useless? Just wait until my novel is published. Qi Delong, you are a second-generation troublemaker, you know that! From now on, even your farts will smell good!"

That night, many families in Gouzitun were determined to send their children to college and let them go out into the world, even if it meant selling everything they had!
After tonight, this idea will have a profound impact on the entire Gouzitun and even the surrounding villages through those inspiring group photos and the stories told by the primary school students.

Early the next morning, Wei Ming's mother packed a big bag of local specialties for him, and he followed the village donkey cart into the county town.

What they didn't expect was that many uncles, aunts, and grandmas whom he was not familiar with came out with their children to see him off. It was a spectacular scene.

The old Party branch secretary Zhou Xingbang even held Wei Ming's hand and said, "Xiao Ming, you must continue this study tour, even if it means asking the village to pay for it."

Wei Ming patted the old branch secretary's hand and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Afterwards, Wei Ming waved goodbye, smiling all the way, and soon arrived at the county bus station. Taking the bus was one thing, and he also had to pay the balance.

It took a total of four days and a driver and a car, but the charge was not high. This was all due to his celebrity effect. Some local newspapers were already planning to go to Gouzitun to interview and research Wei Ming's study tour.

Afterwards, Wei Ming went to the district to take the train, and on the way he bought a copy of the Hebei Daily.

He saw his article on the second page of the newspaper, but the content related to bandits and road bullies had been removed, and it became a positive article about rural primary school students' study tours.

But at the same time, in a village leading to Yanjing, a roadblock toll point set up by the villagers was successfully destroyed by Uncle Hat, and the relevant personnel and village leaders were taken away for criticism and education.

Wei Ming returned to the capital smoothly. He first went back to his home in the Overseas Chinese Apartment. There was no one at home as the two girls should have gone for training.

It was getting late, so Wei Ming rode his motorcycle to the store in Xidan. Sure enough, he was there. Xiaohong and Yunyun were all wearing new clothes, a uniform, but not seductive.

The decoration is completed. Since there are no synthetic chemical materials, it can be put into use after two days of drying.

"Brother, you're back. We were just about to go out for dinner."

Wei Ming: "What's the matter, Manager Mei wants to treat you?"

"It's my treat. My two sisters want to eat meat, so let's have barbecue today." Mei Wenhua patted his purse. He finally understood why Wei Ming loved to treat so much. It felt so good to splurge and enjoy the admiring looks of others, especially the admiration of little girls.

Wei Ming helped Xiaomei with this meal. During the meal, he told Mei Wenhua: "I have inquired. On the 16th, Love in Lushan will be screened in Yanjing. We will start the trial operation on that day, without making it public. We will officially open on the 20th to make it more lively."

Xiaomei was puzzled: "Why do we have to wait until the 20th?"

Yunyun: "What do you call it a trial operation?"

Wei Ming: "Because the 20th is Sunday, there are many people taking a break and shopping, which can create a hot herd effect. At that time, the popularity of "Lush Mountain Love" should have risen, and the trial operation in the first few days is to discover and solve problems."

Xiaohong listened very carefully. She didn't expect that there is so much knowledge in doing business.

Mei Wenhua once again realized the gap between himself and Brother Ming. It was from Wei Ming that he first learned the word "service awareness". Salespeople these days don't have service awareness at all. They are all just like girls.

After returning home, Xiaohong and Yunyun, who had undergone a day of service awareness training, went straight to bed without turning on the TV.

However, Wei Ming continued writing in the study for a while. He always remembered that writing was his main direction. However, he had been busy recently and could only use some spare time to create.

Looking at the gradually thickening manuscript paper, Wei Ming was very pleased. He would soon be able to send letters to Melinda and earn foreign exchange!
~
The next day, Wei Ming returned to Peking University's magazine. After being away for nearly half a month, he finally returned to work. However, as there were not many students, the update cycle of the magazine became longer and the workload was greatly reduced, so everyone was slacking off and there was nothing serious to do.

So Wei Ming plans to take another leave to complete the house procedures.

Wei Ming also told Yang Hao, with whom he had a good relationship, that a clothing store was going to open in Xidan soon and he could go there to shoot footage.

"Oh, ok, when?"

"number 16."

~
On the 16th, "Lush Mountain Love" officially landed in Yanjing, Shanghai and other cities.

Wei Ming bought tickets for the evening and asked Zhu Lin to watch the movie together.

But at noon he rode his motorcycle to her workplace to pick her up.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Oriental New World had already opened its doors for business, but Wei Ming did not come at that time. He was slacking off at work and writing a novel.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Yang Hao came to Xidan Street on his bicycle with a camera hanging on his shoulder. Wei Ming said that the new store without a sign was the one he was talking about.

It was actually quite easy to find, after all, he came here often. When he arrived outside the store, there were already quite a few customers who had walked in out of curiosity.

In Xidan, there are many idle people even on weekdays. Not to mention opening a shop here, you can make a lot of money even by opening a paid toilet.

What is most curious is that there are two beautiful women in uniform standing at the door. Xiaohong and Yunyun have to act as greeters because their Mandarin is not standard enough.

However, because of her good looks, she is still very attractive, and many male customers went in after seeing her.

Yang Hao was still rational. He also noticed a few big words posted on the door of the store: "16% off for all items during the trial operation period from the 19th to the th!".

"Trial opening?"

Yang Hao was able to figure out the new words when he heard them, and he quickly understood what they meant.

Oh, so it’s just a trial operation. No wonder there’s no fanfare and no signboard.

After entering, Yang Hao's first feeling was that the place was bright and spacious. There were three women in the same attire, greeting customers with smiles on their faces and introducing clothes to them.

Mei Wenhua herself is responsible for collecting money and keeping accounts at the counter.

He has already started collecting money. Today is the trial operation. He originally thought that he could just earn enough to cover the rent and employee salaries, but he didn't expect so many customers. He sold three pairs of men's jeans, a women's top and a scarf within an hour of opening, and the turnover just exceeded 100 yuan!
Even with a 20% discount, the profit is still astonishing. At this rate, today's profit will definitely not be less than 100.

Looking at Mei Wenhua, who was baring his teeth and looking genuinely happy, Yang Hao exclaimed: Damn, it turned out to be him!
They are all Wei Ming's friends. Yang Hao certainly knows Mei Wenhua and has also heard that he has resigned.

He was just about to sigh that Mei Wenhua was bold and determined to become successful, when suddenly Yang Hao realized, wait, who is the real owner of this store?
……

(Yesterday's guaranteed win! Please give me a monthly pass!)

(End of this chapter)