Exciting 1979!

Chapter 261 What? My pen pal is my aunt?
After finishing "Mom, Love Me Again," Wei Ming's life became more relaxed and carefree. She usually spent her mornings revising her manuscripts and her afternoons shopping with Gong Xue. Fortunately, she didn't reach the level of popularity of Chen Chong or Zhang Yu, so she could still go out if she covered herself up a little.

After dinner, when it got dark, the two would sneak off to the old villa at No. 12 Huating Road.

The door was locked. I'll only go in to check after I'm sure the renovation team has left. There's a bed here now!
However, the lack of hot water was inconvenient, and they had to go back to their respective homes to clean up afterwards.

Wei Ming hugged Xue Jie, whose legs were trembling, and asked, "Did Dad say when the house will be renovated?"

Gong Xue: "He said there would definitely be no problem before the Lunar New Year."

Wei Ming sighed, knowing he definitely wouldn't be able to actually move in before he returned.

Wei Ming originally planned to finish revising the manuscript in December before returning to Beijing, but a long-distance call came from Beijing and he might have to go back immediately.

The call was from Mei Culture, but Wei Ming could also hear Biaozi's voice, so it seemed that filming for "Heroes Have Always Emerged from Among the Young" had already wrapped up.

"Big Brother!" Mei Wenhua now calls him Big Brother just like Yunyun does. "Can you go back to Beijing on the last day of this month to attend our wedding?"

Biaozi: "Yes, attend our wedding."

Wei Ming laughed: "What's wrong, Biaozi? You went to Sichuan and now you want to marry Xiaomei?"

Biaozi: "Go away, go away. It's me and Yanzi getting married, and Xiaomei getting married to your cousin. We'll celebrate together."

Wei Ming became serious: "No, why are you getting involved? You're not even old enough yet."

Although Biaozi is a few months older than Wei Ming, he is not yet twenty years old.

Mei Wenhua snatched the phone, her tone laced with schadenfreude: "They have no choice but to get married now."

Wei Ming was shocked: "Someone has died?"

Mei Wenhua: "That's right. Luckily, we only found out after the movie was finished, otherwise Yanzi would have had to take the baby with her while filming the action scenes."

Biaozi was so ashamed he wanted to disappear.

Wei Ming then asked, "Can they get a marriage certificate?"

Biaozi chimed in, "I used my connections to change my age, so I'm the same age as Xiaomei now."

Good heavens, is that even possible? We absolutely mustn't let Sister Lin and Sister Xue find out!
Later, Biaozi also told Wei Ming that when he returned to Beijing, he brought his father and Wei Ming's maternal grandmother's family with him.

"They're living in your courtyard house now."

Wei Ming: "Well, it's fortunate that there's such a courtyard house. I'll go back as soon as possible."

The thought that two of his good friends were getting married, and one of them was going to be a father, made Wei Ming feel very strange.

The next day, Wei Ming finished revising the manuscript to 50,000 words, went to Harvest magazine to deliver the manuscript to Editor Li, and asked Ba Jin to write a letter of introduction to buy plane tickets. He didn't know if he could buy them in a few days. If not, he would have to go through the trouble of taking the train.

On his way back, he met the postman who was waiting for him; he had a letter from overseas.

Sending the message here, it must be Old Ghost!
After signing for the package, Wei Ming couldn't wait to return to his room and open the letter.

To his surprise, there was also a photo in the letter. It looked like a birthday celebration, with cake remnants visible on the table.

The person on the left in the photo is Lao Gui. With that nose, those eyes, those eyebrows, he's clearly Wei Ping'an's uncle.

On the right is a woman of similar age to the old man, with average looks and a weathered face, clearly someone who has lived a hard life.

The person in the middle should be the main character of this birthday party, a little girl with cake smeared all over her face. Although you can't see what she looks like, she is quite tall, has good proportions, and fair skin.

Wei Ming already had some guesses in his mind. After opening the letter, he confirmed that it was indeed Amin, who had recently celebrated her birthday. Old Ghost had even sent his birthday wishes to Wei Ming from afar.

This photo was taken by Liu Bin. When Lao Gui received Wei Ming's letter from Shanghai, Amin also received a gift from Wei Ming, especially the hulusi (a type of flute). The little girl liked it very much and often showed off her talent in front of them.

Old Gui felt that he was likely to have a granddaughter-in-law soon after seeing Amin's appearance, so he thought of showing his grandson Amin's picture.

However, he then thought that since he hadn't obtained Amin's consent, perhaps Amin wanted to keep it a surprise for him.

So, after weighing the options, Lao Gui sent out this photo of Amin, whose face was not shown.

But when Wei Ming saw the three people in the photo looking happy and harmonious, he couldn't help but let his thoughts wander.

"They look like a family of three. Could it be that this old man has taken a liking to Amin's mother?"

"Is little Amin going to become my aunt?!"

Wei Ming was inwardly cursing. "Old man, don't you still have a family in Taiwan?!"

After his great-grandfather brought him back to Taiwan from North Korea, he finally recovered after a long period of treatment, but he longed to return to the mainland.

To protect himself, and also because he was worried that his younger brother would be seen as a traitor if he returned to the mainland, the great-grandfather tried every means to keep him here, including using a honey trap.

That is, Wei Ming's aunt's biological mother, a young and beautiful nurse, who used some means to make Lao Gui have children in Taiwan, thus delaying his return.

It wasn't until a few years ago, when his aunt went to study in the United States, that Lao Wei finally made the difficult decision to leave those people in Taiwan and go to Hong Kong, bringing him one step closer to the mainland.

Next, Lao Gui mentioned this little aunt in the letter.

"I also know about what you said about No. 2 Jueyuan Courtyard. I believe your great-aunt would be very gratified to know. Back then, in order to protect comrades, I used your great-aunt's family, which led to them being suspected of being communists by the Kuomintang. So they had no choice but to go to the United States. Because of this, your great-aunt has always held a grudge against me and refused to see me..."

It turns out there was such a past event. Not only was he implicated because of this, but his property was also confiscated after liberation. No wonder he never returned to China afterward.

Old Ghost also wrote: "However, I have already conveyed this matter to her through your aunt. Although she harbors resentment towards me, she has always treated your aunt like her own daughter."

Finally, Lao Gui mentioned Holiland's recent situation again, but he didn't mention the matter of Liu Bin's undercover work at McDonald's, as there was still no result.

Wei Ming put the letter away and immediately bought a plane ticket, and he actually managed to get a flight for two days later.

~
Wei Jiefang has been back in Yanjing for over a week, during which time he has been given a new "official position"—Director of the Gouzitun Liaison Office in Beijing.

Two days ago, the old Party Secretary Zhou Xingbang came to Beijing with County Chief Qin and others to inspect the Sijiqing Commune. Old Wei received a phone call at home looking for Wei Ming, and immediately ran to the Sijiqing Commune to join in the fun.

Old Wei is now wealthy and highly respected by the people of his hometown. He originally wanted to invite everyone to the city for a nice meal, but he declined due to time constraints.

However, Zhou Xingbang entrusted him with a task: to maintain contact with the Sijiqing Commune and to discuss farming with them after returning home. He might relay the message through Zhou Xingbang.

The old Party Secretary said in his own words: "After all, you are the person we know best and are closest to in Yanjing."

Old Wei was deeply moved. Although he hadn't achieved as much as Ping An, he felt closer to his fellow villagers!
After seeing off the Ping'an County inspection team, Wei Jiefang was greeted by his mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law.

Because Mei Wenhua is now so wealthy, he doesn't care about the cost of train tickets at all, so he invited everyone and even exchanged a large number of Yanjing grain coupons in advance.

Grandma, uncle, aunt, Pingping, Fangfang, my eldest aunt, my eldest uncle, and Long Xiaoyang, a total of eight people.

There were definitely not enough people to stay in the Overseas Chinese Apartment, so Lao Wei settled everyone except his mother-in-law in a courtyard house in Beichizi. He also brought a truckload of honeycomb briquettes for heating, so they could burn them as much as they wanted.

Wei Ming installed heating when he renovated his place. Although it's not as warm as the Overseas Chinese Apartment, it's not cold either, and Yanjing hasn't reached its coldest time yet.

Now, the most important thing for the couple is to take good care of their relatives from Sichuan and ensure the wedding goes smoothly.

Early in the morning, Lao Wei and Xu Shufen rode a bicycle to the courtyard house. After knocking on the door, Long Xiaoyang opened it from the inside.

Then a little yellow dog crawled between Long Xiaoyang's legs and hugged Lao Wei's leg.

This is a Tussong puppy that he brought back from Shandong after overcoming many difficulties. He had already developed a bond with it in Shandong and was waiting for his son to name it. For now, it's called "Zuozhuozuo".

Long Xiaoyang said, "Second Aunt, Uncle, have you eaten yet? We're just about to eat."

Old Wei said angrily, "Why are you even cooking? I'll treat you to fried liver."

"Brother-in-law, no need to trouble yourself, it's all ready." Auntie greeted her with a smile, with Yunyun, who was helping her, beside her.

With her family all arriving, Yunyun moved out of her husband's house and they would marry her from there on their wedding day.

It had been almost a year since they last saw her. When she arrived yesterday, her parents and younger siblings almost didn't recognize her. This stylishly dressed girl with a blessed face was actually their Yunyun!

Wei Ming's uncle and aunt were overjoyed at their decision to bring Yunyun to the North; the child was now completely free from suffering.

With only a few days left until the wedding, today, besides taking them shopping, we also need to buy dowry for Yunyun.

Her second aunt had already bought her some, and she also had a good salary, so she could buy some more.

When they returned from their stroll, it was almost dark, and they found Mei Wenhua waiting at the door. Old Wei laughed and said, "Little Mei, you don't know we can't see each other before the wedding? You can't even stand being apart for a day!"

Mei Wenhua said, "Uncle, I have important business to attend to. Yunyun, your wedding dress has arrived."

"Wedding dress? What's a wedding dress?" Everyone was confused.

Mei Culture, who runs a clothing business, now has a certain understanding of fashion trends both at home and abroad.

He said, "It's what the bride wears at her wedding. We're planning to take a set of wedding photos."

This is probably unique, if not in China, but at least in Beijing.

Yunyun was also very much looking forward to it. She had already seen wedding dresses in the fashion magazines that Amin mailed to her. The white lace was completely different from the plain white of the wedding dresses. It gave people a very holy and beautiful feeling.

Old Wei asked, "So who's going to film it?"

Mei Wenhua said, "If Biaozi found a photographer at Da Bei Photo Studio, then I'll find one in China."

Da Bei and China are both well-known, long-established photo studios, both located in Wangfujing.

Old Wei thought of his younger brother and immediately said, "Why are you looking for them? I'll introduce you to someone who's incredibly good at taking photos; he's a professional filmmaker."

In everyone's opinion, the cinematographer's skills are definitely superior to those of a photographer. Upon hearing Lao Wei say this, Mei Wenhua immediately asked his uncle to help make the contact.

"However, the person I'm talking about is in a difficult situation, so you'll have to give him extra money."

"Money is not the issue; the key is the results."

Old Wei: "Okay, I'll make a trip to the Film Academy tomorrow."

~
Film Academy.

Liu Rulong has just received a letter from Gong Ying in Shanghai.

They had already established their relationship through letters, and the correspondence continued.

In today's letter, Aying talked about how she and her father were designing an old villa, and also revealed that this house would be Wei Ming and her sister's future love nest.

"But Dad didn't know."

The focus of Aying's letter was her confused father and her carefree second sister, but what Along was thinking was, Aming has already bought so many houses, when will he be able to buy one for himself and Aying?

The entire comic series "Heroes Have Always Emerged from Among the Young" earned him over a thousand yuan and also helped him build a four-person team. He was richer than most students, but it was far from enough to start a family and establish a career.

Now we can only hope for that comic that Amin mentioned that has gone global.

Just then, he heard a bicycle bell in front of him. Ah Long, who was deep in thought, immediately stepped aside, but the bicycle stopped right in front of him.

"Ah Long, what are you thinking about?"

Ah Long looked up: "Uncle Jiefang? You, you came to see me?"

Wei Jiefang: "I'm not looking for you, I'm looking for Zhang Yimou. Could you call him for me?"

"okay."

Zhang Yimou, who had just finished teaching, was called over. With a憨憨 (simple and honest) face, he called Wei Jiefang "Uncle".

Old Wei told Zhang Yimou about taking wedding photos. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yimou knew what a wedding dress was. After hearing the price that Old Wei had helped him negotiate, Zhang Yimou was pleasantly surprised and grabbed Old Wei's hand.

"Uncle, thank you so much! I was just thinking of getting a new camera! Now I finally have a solution!"

After telling Zhang Yimou about this, Lao Wei then told Liu Rulong about the wedding.

"Remember to go then. They say it's going to be held near Tuanjiehu. You should know the address, right?"

“I know, Uncle.”

Old Zhang was very efficient. He went into the city with Old Wei that same day to film the scenes for them. There were quite a few exterior shots, and Wei Ming's courtyard house was also used to film some interior and courtyard scenes, as it was decorated quite nicely.

Although it was indeed very cold to take outdoor wedding photos in late November, the weather was kind to us, with blue skies, white clouds, and clear skies, so the newlyweds were beautiful even though they were freezing.

When Mei Culture saw the final result the next day, she exclaimed that the hundred-plus yuan was well worth it!

These photos are simply works of art, especially the ones taken outdoors, where the two people blend perfectly with the environment.

Then he immediately took the photo and ran to Biaozi to show it off.

Biaozi and Yanzi's wedding photos were very conventional: Biaozi wore a Zhongshan suit, and Yanzi wore all red. They were all taken indoors while sitting, which was very uncreative.

Upon seeing Xiaomei and Yunyun's wedding photos, before Yanzi could say anything, Biaozi immediately objected. He insisted that marriage was a once-in-a-lifetime event and they couldn't afford any regrets; they wanted to have what others had.

So the next day they also brought in Zhang Yimou, for the same price, also wanting to shoot outdoor scenes.

Zhang Yimou: I think I can buy a better camera now!
However, they didn't have a wedding dress. Instead, Biaozi's mother brought out a red wedding dress with gold embroidery, which was somewhat similar to the Xiuhe dress of later generations. It was very beautiful and festive, and the Chinese style suited Yanzi's temperament better.

While Zhang Yimou was taking photos of them at the Summer Palace, Wei Ming returned to the Overseas Chinese Apartment with his bag and saw his grandmother holding the police chief in the sun.

After a month apart, the sheriff had grown a lot, his fur was shiny and oily, and he clearly had been eating a lot of fish and meat.

Cats seem to really like the elderly; the sheriff is now even closer to his grandmother than to Wei Ming.

Fortunately, Grandma didn't think that way. When she saw her eldest grandson return, she put the police chief on the radiator, pulled him aside, and talked to him, listening to him tell her about his interesting experiences in Shanghai.

"Grandma, my parents have gone out. Why aren't you going?"

"Why go there? I've been to those places before. There's no need to spend money again. Just let your uncle and his family broaden their horizons."

Wei Ming: "How about you stay in Yanjing with us for the New Year this time? Yunyun will be there too."

My mother had already spoken to my grandmother about this. Although she felt it would be a bit of a hassle for the children, Xu Shufen insisted, and my grandmother eventually agreed.

"Okay, are you hungry? I'll heat up some food for you, and you can also have some of the chili sauce that Grandma brought."

"With Grandma's chili sauce, what do I need any other dishes for? Just heat up a steamed bun for me," Wei Ming said with a smile.

Grandma had made chili sauce in Gouzi Village before, and it tasted similar to what my mother made. However, the chili sauce that Grandma made in her hometown had a more unique flavor, probably due to the different origin of the chilies. Wei Ming thought that the chili sauce made by his grandmother was tastier.

After finishing his meal, Wei Ming went to look through the phone book next to the phone. It contained records of the time he had been away, which his mother remembered in great detail.

The most recent one is a commission from the magazine "October". It seems that all four famous actresses want to collect Wei Ming's work.

In addition, the Beijing Film Studio informed us that filming for "Heroes Have Always Emerged from the Young" had wrapped up. According to my mother's records, it says that post-production was done in Hong Kong, so Xu Xiaoming and the Hong Kong team have already returned to Hong Kong.

There was even a phone call from Wu Tianming of Xi'an Film Studio. Old Wei answered it, so he didn't record it and doesn't know what they talked about.

When Lao Wei and Xu Shufen returned in the evening, Wei Ming finally found out.

"Oh, Director Wu wants to make a film called 'The Terracotta Warriors and the Qin Terracotta Warriors.' He knows that Wei Kuangren is you, so he wants to discuss the adaptation with you. He tried calling you long distance but couldn't reach you. He said he would write to Shanghai and discuss it with you in detail in the letter."

I never expected that Director Wu would actually be interested in "A Terracotta Warrior's Tale". He is a very staunch art film director who has never made any commercial films in his life. His last works were all about outdated themes like "Song of the Phoenix". Why is he trying to keep up with the times this time?
However, Director Wu has just finished a film, so there shouldn't be a rush. It's better to write to him and discuss it later.

The day after tomorrow is Xiaomei and Biaozi's wedding. The next day, Wei Ming visited the newlyweds at Tuanjiehu and saw the marriage certificate that Biaozi had obtained after changing his age.

Wei Ming was very curious: "Biaozi, will Li Lianjie and other old friends from Shichahai come to your wedding?"

Biaozi said, "I've invited them. Except for Xiao Li, almost everyone can come. Xiao Li is currently filming 'Shaolin Temple,' and I heard it won't be finished until next year."

He became competitive and asked, "Ming-ge, do you think their movie is better, or ours?"

Wei Ming laughed and said, "Do you guys think I'm some kind of fortune teller? I haven't even seen what they filmed, how would I know? But since it took so long to film, it might be more refined. However, if we release it earlier, we'll definitely have a first-mover advantage. Also, a good movie definitely needs a catchy theme song. I'll help write one later."

After talking about the wedding tomorrow for a while, Wei Ming added, "There's one more thing. Zhu Lin will be attending your wedding tomorrow."

They knew that Zhu Lin's "house" was also in Tuanjiehu, and said they would definitely treat Zhu Lin as a VIP.

Wei Ming added, "Gong Xue will also participate."

~
(End of this chapter)