Exciting 1979!

Chapter 308 Zhu Lin: This King is Going to Be Famous!

Zhu Lin called out to Gong Xue, and two heads popped up that looked somewhat similar, so Gong Ying was also invited by her.

Gong Ying only thought of Zhu Lin as her sister's good friend in Yanjing, and was surprised by the quality of her sister's friends. Sure enough, a great beauty's friends are also great beauties.

"Sister Zhu Lin, how did you and my sister meet?"

Zhu Lin: "We met in bed together."

Gong Xue was utterly embarrassed. What a loose-tongued female hooligan from Yanjing, and she's supposed to be a medical worker!

The shy Xiaoxue quickly added, "I stayed at Sister Zhu Lin's house in Yanjing before, so we gradually got to know each other. We first met at the Beijing Film Studio, where she also acted in films produced by the studio."

"Is it the movie we're watching today?" Gong Ying asked again.

Zhu Lin laughed and said, "No, the Beijing Film Studio is making 'Regret for the Past,' which was finished a long time ago, but it will be shown on the centenary of Lu Xun's birth. Today's film is 'Joyful Reunion,' made by the Shanghai Film Studio, a rural-themed film."

Although it is a rural-themed film that is rare and not popular these days, the film received an excellent response when China Film Group held a screening. Film companies from various provinces placed orders for copies, making it the film that sold the most 35mm copies in the first half of the year.

The people in charge of screening these films at these film companies have a keen eye; the number of copies already foreshadows the blockbuster potential of "Joyful Reunion".

When Yanjing was officially released, the film had already been playing for several days in its "birthplace" Shanghai and "filming location" Shandong, receiving a very enthusiastic response with almost every screening sold out, and it was mentioned by many newspapers.

However, seeing is believing. After Zhu Lin and his two companions entered the cinema, the audience members who had already watched "Joyful Reunion" were exchanging ideas and praising it as a great movie.

Suddenly someone shouted "Shui Lian," and then all the audience's eyes were focused on Zhu Lin, their eyes full of curiosity and goodwill.

Shui Lian is her character in "Joyful Reunion". She was stunned for a moment, and then Gong Xue nudged her: "I'm talking to you."

Gong Xue also went through this stage. During "Good Things Take Time", the audience called her Liu Fang, but by the time of "The Herdsman", more and more people started to call her "Gong Xue".

The film's leading lady exchanged a few pleasantries with her fans. When they learned that the actress playing Shui Lian was actually a native of Yanjing, the old Yanjing residents were delighted, saying that her portrayal of the virtuous second sister-in-law was truly authentic!
Their show was about to start, and after waving goodbye to her fans, Zhu Lin happily entered the venue with the Gong sisters.

Only then did other viewers realize that they had just seen Gong Xue.
The movie begins with the scene of the female lead, Shui Lian, getting married to Ren Wu. From then on, she is the second daughter-in-law of the Chen family. She has an older sister-in-law, a younger sister-in-law, a grandfather, and a mother-in-law.

The film's main conflicts and joys revolve around the relationships between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, sisters-in-law, and other female relatives.

This is the second time Lao Mao has gotten married in the movie, so he's quite adept at it.

The first time with Gong Xue was rather simple and hasty, but this time it was at least somewhat proper, with playing instruments and singing, making it lively and fun.

Although rural weddings are not grand, Zhu Lin felt that she would be content if she and Xiao Wei could have such a wedding.

Gong Xue, staring at the big screen, exclaimed: Me too!
Laughter began to erupt in the audience shortly after the movie started, ranging from quiet chuckles to loud laughter.

Although the film is not a comedy, it has many funny moments. The dialogue is the result of years of polishing by the screenwriter and director, making it concise and interesting.

It's been a long time since mainland cinemas have seen a film that makes people laugh out loud while also prompting them to think.

Even after emerging from the era of model operas, film remains an extension of politics, either reflecting or criticizing, with themes mostly related to those years.

That kind of thing has an audience, but it's not easy; profound things often fail to reach the widest audience.

Although the story of "Joyful Reunion" takes place in the countryside, it is essentially about interpersonal relationships. Relationships such as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, sisters-in-law, and sisters-in-law also exist in the city, and taking care of the elderly is a problem that most people will eventually face.

The eldest sister-in-law, Qiang Ying, is the opposite of Shui Lian in how she treats the elderly. She cooked dumplings without telling her grandfather and made him eat cornbread instead, which can be described as a famous scene of this era.

Many people were both angry and amused while watching, but some viewers felt ashamed and lowered their heads after watching.

Gong Ying and her two older sisters whispered to each other that this scene was filmed really well, and they started crying while laughing.

The film ends with the eldest sister-in-law, Qiang Ying, having a dream that makes her realize her mistakes and repent, which feels like a forced family reunion. But since the film is already titled "Joyful Reunion," why make things difficult for the audience?

This film has grasped the essence of family-friendly movies, but such films have always been a minority in Chinese-language films.

As soon as the movie ended, Zhu Lin pulled the Gong sisters away from the cinema, afraid of being surrounded by onlookers.

Soon after, Gong Ying parted ways with the two of them. Today, Oriental Plaza's staff had a dinner party, and she, as an unofficial employee, was among those invited.

"You're treating me to a movie, so I'll treat you to dinner," Gong Xue suggested.

Zhu Lin readily agreed, as she also wanted to ask Gong Xue what actresses should pay attention to after becoming famous.

She had a feeling that once "Joyful Reunion" was widely released across the country, she would probably become famous. She couldn't guarantee a Golden Rooster Award next year, but she could at least get a nomination for the Hundred Flowers Award.

Gong Xue actually wanted to talk to Zhu Lin about Wei Ming.

“Yesterday, Ah Long sent a telegram to Xiao Ying saying that Xiao Wei had gone to England, and Ah Long also had to handle some work matters in Hong Kong.”

"Ah Long? Ah Long who draws?"

“Yes, he is Xiaoying’s boyfriend,” Gong Xue said.

Zhu Lin stared with his mouth slightly open, filled with regret. It was a pity that his older sister was already married, and Xiao Wei didn't have any more single male friends around him.

"He's finally going to England," Zhu Lin sighed. "I hope he can withstand the sweet talk from the foreigners."

Gong Xue's demands weren't that high: "Even if we eat the sugar coating, the cannonballs will come back to hurl at us."

~
In an apartment in London's West End, Wei Ming is peeling away Melinda's sugar coating, while the cannonball is devoured by Melinda, who has fiery red curly hair.

Wei Ming had been on a plane for more than ten hours, rested in the hotel for three hours, and when it got dark, he couldn't wait to find Melinda's address and gave her a big surprise.

Then another three hours passed, and the energy that had been restored during those three hours of rest was completely depleted.

It was a closely contested battle, and both fighters thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Wei Ming exclaimed, "After flying for more than ten hours, even if we didn't accomplish anything else, it was still worth the trip."

"Can your good sister in China compare to me?" Melinda asked provocatively.

Wei Ming: "There are two, two good older sisters."

She only knew Zhu Lin, but she didn't know there was another Gong Xue.

Melinda shifted slightly, her eyes brimming with curiosity: "Leonardo, you've really impressed me. Tell me more."

Wei Ming is a person with a sense of shame. He had no intention of using his two kind older sisters to show off his charm. He knew it was wrong, but he couldn't help himself.

He declined the suggestion to have a conversation and instead asked, "When do you plan for me to meet with Weber?"

Melinda: "Thursday, there's a performance of 'Cats' on Thursday. You can meet Mr. Webber and Sarah after watching the musical. But before that, you need to come to our company with me. The head of the children's book department really wants to meet the mysterious Mr. Why from the East, and also to discuss the new revenue sharing for the new book."

Having accumulated experience with two bestselling children's books, "Jumanji" and "The Lion King," Wei Ming is already an internationally renowned children's book author and naturally deserves the treatment afforded to such authors.

"Okay, I'll bring my lawyer with me then. What does your supervisor think of 'Jurassic Park'?"

"This novel hasn't been translated into English yet, so what does he know? I have high hopes for it, but it's a science fiction adventure novel with too many technical terms. I've already found a suitable person to do the translation."

Wei Ming was happy that Melinda hadn't been stubborn; translating this novel would indeed have been difficult without some knowledge of paleontology.

“In addition, I think this novel could focus on the United States. Americans, who don’t have much historical background, love these kinds of massive things from millions of years ago. This perfectly hits the sweet spot of the American book market,” Melinda analyzed.

Melinda changed the subject after finishing her sentence: "Where did you find this amateur lawyer? Don't you believe me?"

"How could that be? My work is your work. It's just that this lawyer is free, so why not take advantage of it?"

"What kind of lawyer? Male or female? How old?"

"A woman, about your age, an American of Chinese descent, and quite beautiful."

"Could she be the second 'good older sister'?"

"Not a good older sister, but a good aunt, my father's half-sister." Wei Ming only went this far, offering no further explanation.
The Göring Hotel in London.

When Wei Ming's good aunt, Wei Lingling, had adjusted to the time difference and was about to go out with her nephew to enjoy the London night view, she found that no one answered the door.

Needless to say, he must have gone to see his ex-girlfriend. Humph, I shouldn't have come here!
So after eating a British meal that was worse than nothing, Wei Lingling went back to her room to sleep. At that moment, she wished that Lao Gui could open Holiland in England, or even just McDonald's and Burger King.

The next day, Wei Lingling was woken up by Wei Ming knocking on the door.

"You're back," said a woman in pajamas with messy hair.

"You knew I went out?"

"Talk about something."

Wei Ming: "Melinda knows you're here, and it's your first time here, so she suggested we show you around London today."

The meeting with senior executives at Macmillan Publishers has been postponed.

Wei Lingling's lifeless eyes instantly lit up: "Where is she?"

"Waiting in the lobby."

"You guys have some breakfast first, I'll change my clothes."

Gong Xue and Zhu Lin's change of clothes was just a simple change of clothes. Zhou Huimin's change of clothes also included the time spent on clothing matching and makeup. Wei Lingling's change of clothes started from the time she took a bath.

So Wei Ming and Melinda had a leisurely hotel breakfast.

The Göring Hotel is a well-known and historic hotel in London, offering French breakfast, so Wei Ming and Melinda enjoyed their meal very much.

When they returned to the hotel lobby and had some tea, they finally met Wei Lingling, who, while not dressed to the nines, was very refined and elegant, and whose style was very much in line with London.

She didn't take those two big suitcases for nothing.

Upon seeing Wei Lingling, Melinda, who was well aware of Eastern aesthetics, was relieved that they were aunt and niece, otherwise this guy would definitely not have been paired with her last night.

Wei Lingling also admired Melinda, especially her naturally curly, fiery red hair. Although the British considered this hair color a synonym for barbarians from the north, Wei Lingling liked it very much. Chinese people have a natural fondness for bright red.

She even suspected that the reason her nephew's first love was Melinda was because she symbolized Chinese celebration.

Melinda first expressed her regret: "If you had come a few days earlier, I could have invited you to Cannes, where the film festival had just ended."

Wei Lingling: "Isn't that Cannes, France?"

Melinda: "The British want to go to French territory, do the French dare to object?"

Wei Lingling and Wei Ming, aunt and niece, exchanged a glance. Here it comes! The traditional breast massage method is back!
That was just a joke. The main point is that traveling between Britain and France is much easier, similar to traveling between provinces in China. Although the EU hasn't been established yet, its predecessor, the European Community, was established long ago, and Britain joined in 73.

Movies are a topic of interest to everyone, even more so than the weather in London.

Melinda drove the two of them straight to the British Museum, and on the way they talked about Isabella Adjani's award-winning film "Possession," which had just been released in the UK.

"It's quite a unique film; you can check it out if you have time."

Wei Lingling: "I really like French films. The one that impressed me the most in recent years is 'La Boum'."

Melinda: "Starring Sophie Marceau."

"Yeah."

Listening to them discuss two generations of French national treasure actresses, Wei Ming couldn't get a word in edgewise or keep up.

However, once you arrive at the British Museum and see those Chinese artifacts, you enter Wei Ming's area of ​​expertise.

Although he doesn't collect antiques himself, his family has a lot of old objects in their courtyard house, and because he writes novels and screenplays, he has a great deal of knowledge about history, which far surpasses that of the two young women.

Looking at the numerous Dunhuang murals and scriptures, of which only a few could be selected for display, Wei Ming sighed: "They were bought by Stein at the end of the Qing Dynasty."

Chinese historians who want to study Dunhuang culture have to come to London.

Upon seeing the Shang Dynasty bronze double-ram zun, Wei Ming sighed: "It was taken away from the Yuanmingyuan by the Anglo-French allied forces."

Moreover, it has inscriptions; the value of bronze artifacts varies drastically depending on whether they have inscriptions or not.

Wei Ming then walked up to the Tang Dynasty copy of "Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies". As a lover of paintings, Wei Ming couldn't help but examine it closely and sighed, "It's still the Yuanmingyuan."

In addition, one can see jade cong from the Liangzhu culture, a large cloisonné jar with dragon patterns from the Xuande period, and a bronze sword hilt cast in gold during the Eastern Zhou dynasty, among other things.

Seeing these cultural relics from their hometown on display here, Wei Ming felt mostly regretful, but Wei Lingling felt it was fine; it was good to have them displayed here for the world to appreciate.

"If these antiquities had gone to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek, they might have become the private collections of the powerful and wealthy, with no chance to be displayed. It would have been even worse if they had stayed on the mainland; they might not be visible now. Besides, look how well they've been preserved."

Wei Ming was speechless for a moment. It would be fine if she were just being unreasonable, but the fact that she had a little bit of a point made it even more unbearable.

Melinda then acted as a guide, leading Wei Ming and his companion on a tour of the Egyptian pavilion, which instantly made Wei Ming feel better.

We only had our artifacts stolen, but our Egyptian friends even brought back ancient people, and I heard that many of them were used in medicine and eaten. These are the leftovers.

Of course, the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon sculptures from Greece will also be included in the final part.

The British Museum’s most precious artifacts were almost all looted and purchased from the three ancient civilizations of China, Egypt, and Greece.

It's hard for Chinese people visiting London to resist coming here to see their ancestors' treasures. It's infuriating that they're taking your things and then trying to make money off your entrance fee.

So Wei Ming also wanted to make some money through the British Museum to balance his mindset; of course, directly robbing it would be inappropriate.

You can't see everything in a day at the British Museum. Considering they wouldn't be staying long, they only briefly visited the most essential parts. Then they took the subway to see Big Ben and the Tower of London, and the day was over.

That night, Melinda went straight to Wei Ming's hotel room, which was next to Wei Lingling's room. She listened for a long time but didn't hear any noise.

Thinking that the two of them were quite reserved, Wei Ming and Melinda started to make a fuss in the middle of the night after they had recovered from shopping. Wei Lingling could hear faint creaking sounds, and her sleep quality was greatly reduced.

The next day, the three of them went to the headquarters of Macmillan Publishing in London.

This family business, headed by a former British prime minister, is considered a global publishing giant.

Just to give you an example, the prestigious academic journal *Nature* is published by Macmillan Publishers.

As Melinda has come this far, looking at those covers and book titles, Wei Ming and Wei Lingling have truly felt the strength and heritage of this long-established international publishing house.

Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince, The Jungle Book, Lost Horizon, and many others.

Children's books are also a flagship category for Macmillan Publishers, with many books selling millions of copies and long-term collaborations with numerous children's book authors.

While Wei Ming's "The Lion King" has not yet officially launched its global marketing campaign, it has already sold over 10 copies in the UK and is considered a work with the potential to sell a million copies.

Of course, they are referring to the picture book version of The Lion King published by Macmillan, which will be developed based on whether a French or German version is released in the future.

The new contract and revenue sharing we're discussing today not only refer to "Jurassic Park," but also to "Rubik's Cube? You Can Play It with Your Hands," for which the translation and illustration work has already been completed.

Moreover, given the recent global Rubik's Cube craze, and the fact that preliminary work on this book has been completed, today's focus will actually be on this book.

The head of the children's book department also sincerely invited Wei Ming to participate in the Frankfurt Book Fair this October, where "The Lion King" and "The Rubik's Cube" will be Macmillan's key recommended works.

"Can I go abroad again?" Wei Ming verbally agreed and asked Mei Lin to send him an invitation when she arrived. He would definitely go if he had time, and he also wanted to try the German sausages and beer.

Finally, the discussion turned to the revenue sharing for the new book. The most obvious point was that Wei Ming's royalty share increased by five percentage points...

(End of this chapter)