Exciting 1979!

Chapter 289 Wei Ming's New Serious Literary Work

Yanzi found out about this, since he wasn't her husband, but she didn't dare tell Yunyun yet, as she didn't know how serious the injury was.

Wei Ming and Biaozi tiptoed downstairs, afraid of being discovered by Yunyun.

On the way, Biaozi echoed Wei Ming's sentiment: "If only I were on the night shift tonight, the murderer would be the one who gets hurt."

Wei Ming: "Don't even mention you. Even if it were me, the one who would get hurt would definitely be the murderer. Xiao Mei is still too weak."

Biaozi was even more frustrated: "I'm already twenty years old, and I have all the strength I need, but I've never done anything to help others. Even someone like Xiaomei did something heroic. Sigh!"

Wei Ming sighed, "It would be better if there were no opportunities for people to act bravely and righteously, as it would indicate that society is stable and people are living in peace and contentment. But now even Xiao Mei has encountered theft and murder, and I'm afraid such incidents will become more frequent in the future."

"Murder? Someone's dead!" Only then did Biaozi realize what Xiaomei had gone through.

Wei Ming nodded: "I heard from Director Sun that a man ran into Xidan Shopping Mall to steal things. He was discovered by two mall staff members on duty, so he stabbed them. One died and the other was seriously injured. When he came out, he was still holding a knife and covered in blood. Xiao Mei happened to run into him on her way home from get off work."

Biaozi hissed, "He still dared to go after Xiaomei with a knife. I'm really impressed. I always thought he was a coward. He could be scared by a cat when he was on patrol at night."

Wei Ming thought for a moment: "It's probably because I'm going to be a father. I'm growing up from a boy to a man."

The two arrived at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and after inquiring, went upstairs and found Mei Wenhua's ward, where Mei Wenhua was alone.

Seeing that he looked pale and his eyes were vacant without his glasses, the two of them were terrified.

"Xiaomei, are you alright? Where are you hurt?"

Upon seeing the two of them, Mei Wenhua pointed to the spot under the blanket where his legs were.

Wei Ming: "Your leg is broken?"

Biaozi: "Your legs are gone?"

Just then, a nurse came in, holding a hospital gown: "Bed number 13, here are your pants. Change into them quickly, or you'll get wet."

Mei Wenhua quickly and deftly pulled his pants under the covers, then glanced warily at the nurse.

After the nurse left, he changed into his hospital gown and took off the wet pants from under the blanket and threw them aside. Wei Ming could smell that they still smelled a bit like urine.

Regardless, this kid still managed to be a hero, and neither Wei Ming nor Biaozi laughed at him.

"So where exactly are you injured?" Wei Ming couldn't help but ask.

Xiaomei said, "I don't know either. Anyway, I threw up. Oh, don't even mention it, it was so scary. I need to check my whole body first."

Biaozi realized that the kid was perfectly fine.

"That's not right. You caught the murderer and he didn't even break the skin?" Biaozi found it unbelievable, especially since the other party was holding a knife.

"How come there's no broken skin? It's broken, isn't it?" He pointed to his elbow, which looked like it was slightly scraped. "And my glasses even flew off."

Wei Ming was speechless: "Tell me the details of what happened."

Xiaomei recalled painfully, "It wasn't even the end of the month yet, and May Day was just around the corner. There was a lot going on at the shop. After the employees got off work, I was busy for another half hour. When I was riding my bike past Xidan Shopping Mall, I saw a man holding a knife and covered in blood. I was terrified... I knew something was wrong with him, so I floored the accelerator and crashed into him, then jumped off..."

Biaozi's expression started to twitch as he jumped around on the moving motorcycle. Could you be any more ridiculous?

"He jumped off the motorcycle, which landed right on top of him. Then he saw the Xidan Shopping Mall, which was already closed, with its doors wide open. He saw a man clutching his stomach and screaming for help, and another man lying on the ground. There was blood everywhere."

Wei Ming and Biaozi understood that Xiao Mei had bumped into the fleeing murderer in a fright. In her panic, the motorcycle fell over, and she accidentally subdued the murderer. She didn't actually have the subjective intention of acting bravely, but in fact, she did act bravely. The police were summoned by her shouting.

"I haven't asked yet, how are those two people at Xidan Shopping Mall doing?" Mei Wenhua asked again after recounting his heroic deeds.

Wei Ming: "You don't know yet? One person died and another was seriously injured."

Upon hearing that one of them had died, Mei Wenhua's expression immediately froze, and his body stiffened.

"Who the hell is this guy? A professional killer? So ruthless!" He couldn't understand it, and even now, thinking about it, he still feels terrified. This was the closest he had ever come to death.

Wei Ming: "Alright, since you're alright, we'll head back. Are you sure you don't want to come with us? Your wife doesn't know about this yet."

Mei Wenhua hesitated, "I just changed my pants, do I have to change them back?"

Biaozi: "We can go take a bath, scrub ourselves, and get rid of the bad luck."

"Oh, this is good, this is good!" Xiaomei finally agreed to be discharged from the hospital.

However, just after the formalities were completed, Director Sun arrived and told Wei Ming and the others, "The murderer is also receiving treatment for his external injuries at this hospital. We just finished interrogating him."

"What!" Xiaomei shuddered again upon hearing this; that person was too ruthless.

Wei Ming asked curiously, "What is this person's background? How could he be so ruthless?"

Director Sun shook his head: "You would never guess, you would never guess even if you were beaten to death."

Biaozi: "Could it be someone in your line of work?"

“Go away, you’re really something,” Director Sun said. “He’s a student from Beijing Foreign Studies University, studying French, and he’s excellent in both character and academics. He’s preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam.”

"What? A student? This student is too ruthless!" All three of them found it unbelievable.

Director Sun said, "According to Feng Daxing's confession..."

Feng Daxing? Upon hearing this name, Wei Ming was stunned. His dead memories began to assault him. So it was him!

This person was very famous in the early 80s and sparked a great deal of discussion in society.

Initially, in order to study and prepare for the postgraduate entrance examination, he stole a French-Chinese dictionary from Xinhua Bookstore and was not discovered, so he became bolder and bolder.

If you're broke but want good stuff, then steal it.

He was caught stealing at Xidan Shopping Mall. In order to avoid being caught and ruining his promising future, he attacked two staff members on duty, resulting in one death and one injury. He was sentenced to death a few months later.

This incident is seen as a typical case of value clashes during the early stages of reform and opening up, sparking a major discussion in Chinese society about whether "talented and successful people can cross moral boundaries?" and prompting society to re-examine the balance between material pursuits and spiritual development.

In his previous life, Wei Ming had heard of this name and this event in many newspapers, but he never expected that his brother-in-law would encounter it.

What Director Sun told them was similar to what Wei Ming knew. On behalf of the people, he thanked Xiao Mei: "Push your motorcycle over tomorrow, and also get a banner."

Mei Wenhua understood the value of the banner and quickly shook Director Sun's hand to express his gratitude, but he still had a question: "How much is the stuff that Feng Daxing stole worth?"

"It's just some pens and notebooks, worth at most ten yuan."

Hearing this, the three of them fell silent. Ten yuan—their profit from a single garment was almost ten yuan—but to Feng Daxing, it was worth half a life, and the other half was still being rescued.

The bathhouses now are for actual bathing; you can't see a single member of the opposite sex in them.

The three of them rinsed themselves off first, then soaked in the pool. Biaozi even bought a bottle of wine. Today's events were quite upsetting, and everyone wanted to have a drink. Since they didn't have any wine glasses, they each drank straight from the bottle.

Xiaomei took the bottle and glanced at it: "38 degrees, not bad, not too strong."

Wei Ming suddenly said, "Xiao Mei, I've noticed that you don't seem to be affected when you walk or see things without your glasses? What's your prescription?"

Wei Ming originally just wanted to determine the probability that his nephew would be born nearsighted, but Xiao Mei picked up the wine bottle and took a big gulp, her face turning red: "Actually, I'm not nearsighted."

"What!" Wei Ming and Biaozi exclaimed at the same time. Biaozi said, "So you wear glasses to pretend to be cultured?"

Mei Wenhua closed his eyes and poured water on his head: "Can you guys stop laughing at me for telling the truth?"

Wei Ming: "You know, we're all brothers, who doesn't know each other's embarrassing stories?"

Biaozi: "Yeah, just like I'm a simp and Ming is a scumbag. Nobody's perfect."

Wei Ming rolled his eyes: Why do I feel like you're a simp and you're quite proud of it? I'm teaching you a few new terms and you've finally learned them.

With Biaozi's words, Xiaomei took another sip: "Today, I'll just let you all know the real Mei culture. Didn't I say that I participated in the battle to wipe out those little rascals when I was eight years old?"

"Said."

"Actually, my brother dragged me there. He was on the outside waving flags and shouting. I didn't see the people when they were alive, but I did take a peek when they were dead, and I was so scared that I peed my pants."

Wei Ming comforted him, saying, "You were still young back then."

Mei Wenhua: "Don't comfort me. Actually, I'm just a coward. I grew up in a military compound. The kids in the compound liked to play with dangerous things, but I didn't like them at all. But in order to appear to fit in and to make myself seem cool, I still foolishly followed those older kids to fight and play."

"Actually, I think they're pretty stupid. The boss in the gang isn't someone who's capable, but someone whose dad has a high rank. But I followed them and was willing to be their lackey. I'm even more stupid."

At this point, Wei Ming called out to the bathhouse attendant, who soon brought over a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, which the three of them lit.

With the help of cigarettes and alcohol, Xiaomei's self-analysis became even more thorough.

"Actually, I preferred playing with girls when I was a kid. It didn't matter what we played, the key was that it wasn't dangerous to play with girls. At most, we'd just pull each other's hair. But when I hung out with those bastards, I had to get stitches twice and broke my bones three times. It still hurts to think about it now."

"When we were kids, the boys could bully you to death if you played with girls, unless you were as good at fighting as me," Biaozi said proudly. He loved playing with Yanzi since he was a child.

"Later, when we got a little older, hanging out with them had some advantages. These kids from the compound were knowledgeable and loved to talk big. In junior and senior high school, they were especially popular with girls. Quite a few girls liked to hang out with us. Do you remember Mi Qing?" Xiao Mei exhaled a smoke ring.

Biaozi gestured to his chest: "I remember, after all, it's so big." Wei Ming thought of Lizhi, whose chest was about the same size, but whose face was prettier and whiter.

"I haven't seen her at school recently." Wei Ming works in the library and sees many students, but not her.

Xiaomei said, "She went abroad to study in Japan. Her parents came to my wedding and were very proud of her."

Biaozi laughed and said, "You used to like her quite a bit, didn't you?"

Xiao Mei confessed, "Back then, she was the most popular guy in our little circle. All the guys liked to hang around her, probably thinking they could take advantage of her. But she was closest to the leader of our circle. One time, that guy beat me up in front of everyone for no reason, making me feel embarrassed. Now that I think about it, it was probably because I was close to Mi Qing. He wanted to show off in front of Mi Qing and act like the boss. That day, I put on a brave face in front of everyone and pretended to be nonchalant, but I cried my eyes out on the way home. I remember it was raining heavily that day, and I'll remember that rain for the rest of my life."

Biaozi took a sip of wine and handed the bottle to Xiaomei, whom he was reminiscing about.

He thought Xiaomei was really manly at that moment. Everyone has embarrassing moments during puberty, but Xiaomei was able to say it out loud, which was awesome.

Xiao Mei continued his story: "Later, I went to the countryside. I asked for it myself because I wanted to get away from those people. When I came back, my father hoped that I could join the army. After all, our whole family had served in the army. He felt that only the army could train me to be like the men of the Mei family. But I didn't dare to because we were fighting the Vietnamese devils at that time. I was afraid to go to the battlefield and I was afraid to die. So I became nearsighted from that time on."

Wei Ming and Biao Zi realized that being nearsighted was just a way to avoid joining the army, so he came to Peking University and became a temporary worker.

Wei Ming patted him on the shoulder: "So, will you still wear glasses from now on?"

Xiaomei thought for a moment, then firmly shook her head: "I won't wear it anymore. After what happened today, I feel like I've grown up. Maybe next time I encounter something like this, I'll take the initiative to ride my motorcycle and rush up to the scene."

Wei Ming nodded: "It's good to regain your courage, but sometimes you shouldn't be reckless. Don't forget you have a wife and you'll soon have a child."

When talking about her wife and the baby in her belly, Xiaomei exclaimed, "Oh dear, I think I'll just keep wearing my glasses."

"What?"

“Yunyun likes the way I look when I wear glasses, saying that I look like a cultured person.”

Wei Mingbiao: "Tch!"

After talking enough and soaking in the bathhouse, the three of them had the bathhouse attendant scrub them clean. Wei Ming was the cleanest; Sister Lin had scrubbed him clean back in Shanghai.

On the way back, Xiaomei rode in Biaozi's car. Just as Wei Ming was about to part ways with them, Xiaomei suddenly called out to Wei Ming.

"Brother, you wrote Biaozi's childhood story into 'Heroes Have Always Emerged from the Young,' do you think someone as ordinary as me will never become the protagonist?"

“You don’t deserve to be called ordinary,” Wei Ming glared at him. “Stop thinking nonsense. Go home, cuddle with your wife, and get a good night’s sleep. Biaozi, slow down, or you might kill Xiaomei instead of the murderer.”

"Don't worry, I can be fast or slow."

The bathhouse was near Beichizi. Wei Ming arrived home quickly. Yinxing barked twice and went back to sleep. The sheriff didn't show up at all.

It was almost midnight. Wei Ming lay in bed, thinking about Xiao Mei's genuine emotions after experiencing life and death today, but he couldn't fall asleep. The children of the compound were really an interesting group.

During those ten years, they were well protected. While other children were either fighting against the heavens or being implicated by their parents, they were idling around, eating, drinking, and having fun. They even enjoyed rock and roll music more than a decade earlier than the general public.

Once the dark clouds disperse, they will reap the benefits of the times by taking advantage of their early access to information. They will either quietly make a fortune or make a high-profile impact on the nation through the cultural market, becoming idols of all kinds.

This is a group with a natural dramatic flair, and this era needs a novel that accurately portrays them, a novel not written by them, but by outsiders with a more objective perspective.

Thinking of this, Wei Ming suddenly sat up in bed, took out a blank notebook from the bedside drawer, and wrote a few large characters on it.

Estimating that Biaozi and Xiaomei should be home by now, Wei Ming picked up the phone that had been installed in the courtyard house not long ago and called Mei Wenhua's house.

The call connected: "Hello."

"Yunyun, is Xiaomei back?"

Yunyun: "Wenhua, my brother is looking for you."

Mei Wenhua answered the phone: "Brother, I just got home and I'm changing my clothes."

Wei Ming: "Nothing else, I just wanted to say that you could also be the protagonist, the protagonist of my next novel."

"What!" Mei Wenhua's voice suddenly rose.

"Let's talk more tomorrow. Okay, time for bed." Wei Ming hung up the phone after saying that.

Mei Wenhua held the microphone; how could he possibly sleep?

Those childhood experiences were embarrassing enough, but now my brother-in-law wants to write a novel about it, essentially creating his own biography. That's going to be embarrassing for the future; people in 2025 will probably know about my bedwetting incident.

But this is Wei Ming's novel after all. With his brother-in-law's influence, maybe people will still be reading his novel a hundred years from now. By then, many of his contemporaries may be forgotten, but some people will still remember him.

In order not to disturb the pregnant woman Yunyun's sleep, Xiaomei, who was tossing and turning, simply went to sleep in the second bedroom and imagined how she would ask her brother-in-law to beautify her tomorrow, and try not to mention the matter of wetting her pants.

Wei Ming not only wanted to mention it, but he wanted to talk about it extensively. The next day, he went to Xintiandi, called Xiaomei to the warehouse, and started talking about her from when she was a child in kindergarten.

“Back then, we all went to kindergarten in a collective setting. Our parents would just drop us off and then leave us to our own devices. The government took care of us, and our parents could focus on working for the country. There were hundreds of three- or four-year-old children, and it was like a small society.”

This kindergarten experience is indeed quite unique, and it's hard for a rural child like Wei Ming to understand.

Wei Ming asked detailed questions and forbade Xiao Mei to hide anything, including the embarrassing incident of him drawing maps at kindergarten.

"Brother, tell me the truth, are you sure you're not kidding me? You really want me to be the protagonist in your novel?"

Wei Ming: "How could this be fake?"

Xiaomei: "Is it also called plum blossom culture?"

Wei Ming: "Do you want this name?"

"No, think of another name."

Wei Ming smiled and said, "Alright, I'll think of something else."

Actually, Wei Ming wanted to use the first person this time. It is now the mainstream to write short stories in the first person, but Wei Ming has never used it before. This time, he wanted to tell the story directly from the perspective of "I", the youth and pain of a child from a compound.

Using the first person perspective creates a greater sense of immersion, giving a feeling of personal pain.

The first-person perspective also needs a name, but that doesn't matter. Whether it's Fang Qiangqiang, Ma Xiaojun, or Zhong Yuemin, it's not the point.

The key point is that this will be the first novel to expose and brutally dissect the group of children of high-ranking officials in military compounds for the entire nation to see.

Wei Ming not only wants to write about the past and present, but also wants to predict some things about the future, such as what will happen after the dual-track pricing system.

This novel will have many adaptations and creations by Wei Ming based on Xiao Mei's experiences, but there is a foundation underneath, which is a secondary creation based on this foundation.

And the original work is called "In the Heat of the Sun".

The two were chatting enthusiastically when Wei Ming asked Xiao Mei to take him to his parents' house, the place where he had lived since childhood.

Just then, Director Sun arrived, bringing a banner on his motorcycle.

He quickly ran out to greet them, temporarily escaping his brother-in-law's persistent questioning. The incident later made it into the newspapers, and Mei Culture and Oriental New World became famous once again.

Just as Wei Ming was preparing for his new work, the May Day holiday arrived, and Li Aiguo, Li Kui, and other international students were planning to go to Beidaihe for a trip.

Just before his departure, Li Aiguo received a package from his hometown in the United States.

It was the "Moonlight Shadow" record that his father mailed to him. Due to the time lag, when Li Aiguo's father talked about this record, he said that it had good reviews, but its performance was average and it did not enter the Billboard Hot 100.

However, Li Aiguo and other international students said after listening to the song that it was the most moving song they had heard this year, and that a song of this quality would definitely make it onto Billboard.

When Li Aiguo gave the record to Wei Ming, he also conveyed to him the students' love and gratitude for the song, and their gratitude for everything he had done for Lennon.

Wei Ming's first reaction after receiving the record was to share it with others.

Unfortunately, her parents didn't really appreciate English songs, and Wei Hong's praise was rather perfunctory.

Fortunately, Zhu Lin called home at that moment. She had finished filming and was home!

"Why don't you come to my house? I'll tell you something good."

"What good stuff?"

"The English song I wrote."

Zhu Lin was indeed tempted: "Will anyone be home tomorrow morning?"

"Nobody's here. My parents and grandma are all in the courtyard house."

The next day was May Day, and Wei Ming didn't need to go to work. However, in the morning, he first received a package from Melinda in the UK.

To everyone's surprise, Melinda also mailed her a record and tape of "Moonlight Shadow," and the record even had Sarah Brightman's autograph on it.

That's not all; Melinda also has a photo with Sarah Brightman, who was young and hadn't gained weight at the time.

Unexpectedly, these two had ended up together, and when Melinda wrote this letter, "Moonlight Shadow" had just entered the Billboard charts in the United States. Wei Ming couldn't wait to read the letter...

(Today's guaranteed minimum)
(End of this chapter)