Exciting 1979!

Chapter 358 Meeting an Old Friend in a Foreign Land, Wei Ming Starts Selling Goods

Wei Ming always dialed the same number, and over time, Xu Shufen could even memorize the number just by watching him dial it.

If she guessed correctly, the person opposite her should be Gong Xue. After hesitating for a long time, she felt that only Gong Xue, the actress who played Hehua, could keep her mother in check in this situation.

As for whether this would disrupt her son's schedule, she couldn't care less. To be honest, she really wanted to meet her future daughter-in-law and get her autograph.

At this moment, Gong Xue was writing a letter to Wei Ming, explaining that she needed to go back to Shanghai for an audition before Wei Ming returned.

In "Love in the Pen", the female lead Wenjuan doesn't have many scenes, but her character is very good. She is virtuous and talented, beautiful and intelligent. She really likes her. Moreover, the Shanghai Film Studio is urging her to participate, so she doesn't wait for Wei Ming to discuss it.

In her letter, Gong Xue told Wei Ming not to worry, that she would come back after spending two days with her parents after her makeup test, as there was still some time before filming began.

As I was writing, the phone rang. Strange, the phone hadn't rung since Xiao Wei left. Who could it be?

"Hey?"

"Hello, is this Xiaoxue?" Xu Shufen thought for a moment and still felt that calling him Comrade Gong Xue was too formal, so she called him "Xiaoxue" instead.

This completely baffled Gong Xue. She called herself Xiaoxue, but it didn't sound like her mother at all.

"I am Gong Xue, and you are?"

It really was Gong Xue. Xu Shufen smiled and said, "I'm Wei Ming's mother. Are you available now?"

Gong Xue felt a jolt of electricity run through her body, a mix of nervousness and excitement. It turned out to be Aunt Xu, who was more like a mother than her own!

"Auntie, is there anything I can help you with? I'm available right now." Gong Xue's voice trembled slightly.

Hsu Shu-fen: "That's right."

She explained the whole story: "I was just thinking that you might be able to help talk to Xiaoming's grandmother."

Gong Xueyi replied without hesitation, "I'll go right now!"

Once she knew Gong Xue was coming, Xu Shufen didn't tell her mother yet. She asked her sister-in-law to take care of her mother while she tidied up the house and prepared dinner.

Before dark, Gong Xue rode his bicycle to the Overseas Chinese Apartment.

When the gatekeeper, Old Sun, saw that the person was wearing a mask and acting suspiciously, he stopped him.

As soon as she took off her mask, Old Sun immediately stood up: "Nan Gongxue, you are Nan Gongxue, right!"

Old Sun hadn't had a chance to watch the movie yet, but he'd read plenty of newspapers. There had been a lot of news lately about the two beauties from the North and South being linked together, and it had really taken root in people's minds.

"Sir, I'm here to visit a friend. May I come in? I can register," Gong Xue said sincerely.

"Why bother registering? Just come in, come in."

Watching Gong Xue's retreating figure, Old Sun couldn't help but feel proud. Our Overseas Chinese Apartment is truly a place where learned scholars gather and no commoners come and go; we even get to see celebrities!

Bei Zhulin used to frequently visit Xiao Wei's house, but I don't know who Nan Gongxue is looking for.

"Dong Dong Dong~"

After Gong Xue knocked on the door, someone opened it quickly, and she saw Xu Shufen dressed in formal attire. She had changed into her New Year's clothes and was dressed very formally, though it was a bit hot.

"Aunt Xu." Gong Xue didn't come empty-handed. She bought some New Zealand kiwis when she passed by the Friendship Store. Xiao Wei had more foreign exchange certificates at home than he could spend.

"Xiaoxue, please come in quickly. What else do you need?"

Xu Shufen was finally able to get a close look at Gong Xue again. The newspaper said she was 28 years old, but she didn't look it at all. Her skin was so tender, like a girl in her early twenties. She looked even younger and more radiant than when she saw her last year.

Is this what they call "red energy nourishing the body"?

Gong Xue nervously endured Xu Shufen's head-to-toe scrutiny, but she was still confident in her makeup and clothing.

"Mother, sister-in-law, look who's here!" Xu Shufen quickly called out to her mother and sister-in-law.

Xu Shufen introduced her: "This is Wei Ming's maternal grandmother."

Gong Xue quickly greeted politely, "Hello, Grandma."

"This is Wei Ming's aunt."

"Hello, aunt."

Xu Shufen: "I am Wei Ming's mother."

"nia..." She almost blurted out the word, then blushed and quickly corrected herself, "Auntie, hello Auntie."

Xu Shufen didn't mean to tease her; who would have thought she was so naive? She just couldn't help but like her.

Grandma Wei Ming had already fallen asleep from crying, but her daughter woke her up. Then she saw Gong Xue calling her "Grandma." The tragic fate of He Hua in the movie, along with those heart-wrenching songs, flooded her mind, and tears streamed down her face like they were free.

Xu Shufen thought to herself, "Oh no, I seem to have messed things up."

Gong Xue already knew what was making her grandmother sad before she arrived, so she quickly hugged her grandmother's arm and offered targeted comfort.

"Grandma, don't be sad. Although Lotus suffered a lot, she was eventually reunited with her son. I believe you can too."

Grandma shook her head: "I know, movies are all lies."

“This time it’s no lie. The newspapers all said that Little Gourd in real life found his biological mother, and Lotus became much more normal after seeing her son.”

"Oh? Really?" Xu Shufen asked as well.

Gong Xue took out the newspaper he had put in his pocket before leaving the house. Ever since the Chengdu Evening News published its follow-up report, media outlets across the country have been reprinting and following up on the matter. The latest development is a heartwarming scene of Hehua dressed neatly and cooking for her son. It is said that Hehua's mind has become much clearer.

Grandma said awkwardly, "I can't read."

Gong Xue said, "Grandma, sit down and I'll read to you."

Seeing how gentle and sensible Gong Xue was, Xu Shufen pulled her sister-in-law to the kitchen to finish up the dinner preparations.

The sister-in-law was puzzled: "Shufen, why did you invite a big star to our house?"

"Sister-in-law, this movie script was written by Xiaoming. He and Gong Xue are friends, of course. And you forgot, Gong Xue even came to Yunyun's wedding."

"Oh? You're here? I don't remember." The older sister-in-law said embarrassedly. At that time, "The Herdsman" hadn't been released yet, and Gong Xue's fame was still far from enough. If Liu Xiaoqing had gone, the older sister-in-law would definitely remember her.

Hsu Shu-fen: "I even took a picture with her."

"Gong Xue is really beautiful, even more so than in the movies. Her face is only half the size of mine," the sister-in-law exclaimed, then nudged Xu Shufen, "Shufen, what's the relationship between Gong Xue and our Xiaoming?"

Because there was also Zhu Lin, Xu Shufen didn't dare to say anything definitively. She said, "He's just a good friend with similar interests. Come on, let's serve the food."

By the time they had set out the food, Gong Xue had already finished reading the news. Grandma was indeed comforted, and she felt too embarrassed to cry in front of such beautiful guests.

Gong Xue helped her to the table and sat down next to her so she could easily pick up food.

Gong Xue even asked, "Auntie, where's Uncle?"

"No need to wait for him, he's at the Beijing Zoo. There are bamboo shoots, bananas, live chickens and fish there, he won't go hungry."

Gong Xue smiled; this was all food for the animals.

"So you brought Steel Egg back this time too?" the intelligent and perceptive Gong Xue guessed.

Xu Shufen nodded, thinking that her son had even told her this, and wondered if he had told her about the old man in Hong Kong.

"Xiaoxue, when you have time, you can go to the zoo to play with Gangdan. It can put on a show."

Recently, Gangdan has learned many skills under Lao Wei's tutelage. The boy has a strong desire to perform and is particularly good at creating entertaining acts. If it weren't for the decision to send him to Hong Kong, the Chengdu Zoo would be reluctant to let him go.

Gong Xue nodded with a smile.

Then Grandma asked some questions about filming. Apart from Biaozi and his wife, this was the first time she had met movie stars, and she was quite curious about filming.

"You looked much thinner in the movie than you do now."

Gong Xue asked worriedly, "Grandma, have I gained weight?"

Grandma: "No, you're perfect now. Look at the four of you in this room, you're still the slimmest. You were just too thin in the movie."

Gong Xue was relieved: "That was a weight loss he did specifically for the role; he lost more than ten pounds."

"Good heavens, you're already so thin, how could you lose another ten pounds? That's too much suffering!"

Gong Xue laughed and said, "How can the audience sympathize with me if I don't get that thin?"

Grandma and Xu Shufen simultaneously picked up meat and vegetables from the table: "Let's replenish ourselves quickly."

The four women enjoyed the meal very much. The grandmother and aunt even tasted foreign pears for the first time and praised their taste. Gong Xue and Xu Shufen tacitly avoided mentioning the price.

After dinner, Aunt Wei Ming called Yunyun again, saying she would visit her the next day. She was so busy comforting the old lady that she didn't even tell her daughter she was coming to Beijing.

Gong Xue checked the time: "Grandma, Aunt, Auntie, it's getting late, so I'll head back now."

Xu Shufen stopped her: "Why go back? It's too dangerous for a girl like you to sleep alone at night. There are plenty of rooms here. You can sleep in Xiaoming's room."

"This isn't a good idea." Although she had slept with him before, it was always just the two of them, Wei Ming and her.

Her maternal grandmother and aunt also joined in trying to persuade her, and the security situation was indeed bad, much worse than when Gong Xue first came to Yanjing.

She was eventually persuaded and lay on Wei Ming's bed, thinking how wonderful it would be if she were sleeping here as Wei Ming's wife.

She hugged Wei Ming's blanket as if she were hugging Wei Ming's young body, thinking, "I miss you so much."

Meanwhile, it was just past noon in Frankfurt. In the morning, Wei Ming wandered around the various exhibition halls, taking a liking to many new and old books. During this time, he also ran into Lao Song from the International Bookstore.

Old Song has already bought a lot of books for the country. Wei Ming asked him, "Did our country make a profit or a loss on this trip?"

Old Song understood what he meant: whether selling would generate more profit or buying would cost more.

He sighed: "Let's put it this way, last year when we participated in the Frankfurt Book Fair, we spent more than a million US dollars on translation licenses and original books. Foreign exchange is indeed very precious, but we have reached a critical juncture where we must see the world as soon as possible. We have fallen behind too much in the past ten years. Literary works are okay, we can buy less and read them later, but scientific reference books are really urgent."

Therefore, countries have never officially imported the Latin American novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude," which is a global bestseller. In fact, the country was ridiculed by Márquez for piracy because it was relatively unimportant. In difficult times, it is important to spend precious foreign exchange wisely.

This is due to both the fact that we need to buy too many books and that other countries buy too few books from us, resulting in a huge trade deficit every year.

Wei Ming asked, "And how is the situation this year?"

Old Song laughed and said, "Thanks to you two, uncle and nephew, your book sold well and you earned hundreds of thousands of dollars. Also, the technology from Peking University is of interest not only to African countries, but East Germany is also preparing to purchase it. This time, we will definitely be able to reduce the trade deficit to less than 100 million!"

The connection with East Germany is through Uncle Ping An, so it's relatively reliable. The connection with Africa is through Wei Ming's connections. It's just unclear whether we'll receive the final payment from the African side in addition to the advance payment.

However, even if there's a profit, it goes to Peking University, not the State Administration of Press and Publication. The Chinese book market performance is indeed rather mediocre. The book fair is now in its fourth day, with tomorrow being the last. Wei Ming alone is still generating half of the total sales.

You should know that they brought thousands of books this time, but most of them were ignored and no one even looked at them.

Wei Ming felt that the book lacked attention to cover and book design, and there were no promotional materials, so its visual appeal was only average.

Another major reason is the shortage of manpower. How could a dozen or so people possibly introduce all the thousands of international publishers who were pouring in?

But it's too late to talk about this now.

Wei Ming said, "I won't go anywhere this afternoon. I'll just stay at the booth and help them sell books, and see if I can sell more."

After having lunch outside, Wei Ming immediately pulled Wei Hong towards Hall 6, but they were stopped by someone on the way.

"Comrade Wei Ming?"

Upon hearing the familiar accent, Wei Ming turned his head and saw several young Chinese men. The man who had called out to him looked very familiar.

"You are……"

The other party gave a hint: "Bu".

"Bu Suanzi!" Wei Ming remembered.

"Is my dad's motorcycle still running well?" he asked.

"It's fine, but I let my dad ride it. I bought a new Harley."

"Wow, an American brand," the other person chuckled, but didn't seem particularly surprised that Wei Ming could afford it; he had often heard of Mr. Why in America.

Wei Ming asked in surprise, "Weren't you studying in the United States?"

Bu Suanzi said, "I came to Frankfurt University with my mentor to attend an international biomedical conference. I heard that the book fair was very popular, so I came with them to take a look."

"So you're quite valued," Wei Ming praised.

Bu Suanzi smiled and was about to introduce the people behind him, but some of them rushed over before he could even introduce them.

“Professor Wei, do you still remember me? I’m Zhao Bin from the Department of Physics, Class of 78, Peking University. I just came to Frankfurt University to study at the beginning of this year.”

"Oh, I remember. Once I was showering in the dormitory's washroom without any clothes on, and a female classmate saw me. Was that you?"

"Professor Wei, I am Cai Huahuang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I have heard of your great reputation for a long time."

"Professor Wei, I'm from Tsinghua University..."

"Teacher Wei..."

Wei Ming counted them; there were six in total. Three were from the University of Frankfurt, and two were from the University of Heidelberg. Like Bu Suanzi, they were also there to attend an international academic conference.

This group represents the entire Chinese student population in Frankfurt. There are still too few Chinese students studying abroad. These days, government-sponsored students are mostly sent to countries like the UK, the US, and Japan. Even if they come to Germany, Frankfurt University isn't their first choice.

Wei Ming asked, "Are you free this afternoon?"

Bu Suanzi laughed and said, "We must be alright since we were able to come out."

Wei Ming laughed: "Then can you do me a favor? I'll treat you to dinner tonight."

As he spoke, Wei Ming led them into Hall 6 toward the Chinese booth, and introduced Wei Hong to them along the way.

Bu Suanzi exclaimed, "So young and already studying math, amazing!"

"That's right, and she also wrote the best-selling book at this year's book fair, 'Rubik's Cube? Anyone Can Play It,' which earned her a lot of foreign exchange," Wei Ming said.

Wei Hong pouted and said, "But my brother said he would keep it for me, and I haven't seen a single penny yet."

Several students who had studied at Tsinghua and Peking Universities exclaimed how amazing their junior sister was, which greatly satisfied Wei Hong's vanity. Forget about money; being awesome was the most important thing.

Upon arriving at the booth, Wei Ming immediately introduced the international students to Deputy Director Liu and shared his thoughts.

“We are short-staffed. Some publishers leave when they see that no one is there to help them or introduce their books. We don’t know how many potential deals we are losing.”

Deputy Director Liu said, "Who can argue with that? This time, we earned more foreign exchange in three and a half days than last year. Next year, I will apply for more funding and try to bring more people out."

Wei Ming: "Now let's give the students a brief training session, which should be helpful. Are you all willing?"

"no problem!"

"Obligated!"

"Teacher Wei, please take care of it!"

With six more people joining, the number of people at the booth suddenly exceeded 20, making the situation look a bit better.

However, there were many people in the afternoon, including professionals and tourists. Although the young men were international students, some had only come to study this year, while others had buried themselves in research after studying abroad, and their conversational abilities had deteriorated somewhat. Only Bu Suanzi had decent spoken English, but he was still a bit inferior to Wei Ming.

You can't reach Wei Ming's level without dating a few foreign girlfriends.

Now, Master Ye is also starting to attract audiences with his calligraphy, but it's estimated that the old man isn't as appealing as a young, handsome man, so the effect is only so-so.

During this time, Wei Ming began browsing the bookshelves at the Chinese booth.

"Mr. Why, what are you doing?" Minford appeared here on his own. As a sinologist, he only needed to visit the booths of mainland China on the first floor and Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore on the second floor, so he had been wandering around Hall 6.

Upon seeing Minford, Wei Ming smiled and said, "Old Min, would you be willing to do me a favor?"

"What kind of help do you need?"

"To act as a shill."

"A shill?"

Even with his proficiency in Chinese, he couldn't understand the term, so Wei Ming explained it again. Minford exclaimed, "Wonderful!" It seems he still needs to travel to China more often.

After Wei Ming pulled out some works that he thought were relatively easy to sell and that he was also familiar with, he said to Director Liu, "Could you please prepare a table and two chairs for me? I need to sell some goods."

"Huh? Live-streaming e-commerce?"

"To earn foreign exchange!" Wei Ming said bluntly.

Director Liu immediately made arrangements, emphasizing that the matter of earning foreign exchange must be pursued actively.

Wei Ming had watched many live-streaming sales events. One person can't do it alone; you need a straight man. Wei Hong's spoken English wasn't quite there yet, so Wei Ming asked her to run errands and call Melinda over for him.

Melinda has already met her KPIs, so she's relatively free now.

"Help you sell your goods?" Melinda asked, hands on her hips. "What's in it for me?"

Wei Ming: "I'll give you several hundred million tonight."

Melinda: "I want several hundred million."

Wei Ming, supporting his back, declared, "Deal!"

Wei Hong listened from the side. Even if they were talking about Japanese yen, Sister Mei was being far too greedy!
After everything was ready, Wei Ming and Melinda sat at the table, which was covered with books, while Wei Hong took pictures of them with a camera in a very professional manner. It would have been more effective to have a video camera at this point, but unfortunately, they didn't bring one.

Passersby were drawn to their strange behavior, and some even stopped in their tracks.

When the first person asked, "What are you doing?"

Wei Ming replied, “Today, I, Chinese author Mr. Why, and my partner, Melinda Gaskell, a top editor at Macmillan Publishers and born into a century-old family of editors, will introduce a selection of the finest Chinese books to the guests at the book fair.”

“Yes,” Melinda said. “Some readers and publishers have said that there are too many books here, and some are even on the floor because there are not enough shelves. They have no idea how to choose. Let alone you who don’t understand Chinese, even I, a China expert, don’t know where to start.”

Wei Ming: "So today we have selected ten of the best books from the Chinese publishing industry for this book fair. After reading these books, you will understand what China is all about."

These exaggerated and extreme statements immediately piqued the interest of the onlookers. It would have been a long time since someone had helped us select the best from this vast sea of ​​books!
The Chinese team members also looked at the two performing artists. Some members said to the team leader, Director Liu, "Deputy Director Liu, doesn't this seem like we're putting others down? How come he's the best, and the others are just trash?"

Deputy Director Liu: "If we can't sell them, we have to ship them back to China intact, which will cost us money and manpower. In some ways, they're not even as good as garbage."

Ye Junjian also said, "That's right, let's take another look and see how it goes."

Wei Ming took out a large volume, a set of books, and carefully held it up to face the audience, revealing the title: "The Complete Works of Lu Xun".

This is the revised and republished edition of "The Complete Works of Lu Xun" by People's Publishing House this year, after many years of editing and revision. It consists of sixteen volumes.

"Wow, it's the latest and most complete collection of Lu Xun's works, and it's so beautifully presented!" Melinda exclaimed in surprise.

Seeing this, even Europeans and Americans were so surprised, and everyone was curious about who this "Lu Xun" was.

Then Wei Ming began to popularize and introduce Lu Xun, and the best way to do so was by analogy.

For example, the most famous writer in Russian literature is Leo Tolstoy, so Lu Xun is China's Leo Tolstoy.

The Chinese literati most familiar to foreigners is Confucius, and Lu Xun is the contemporary Confucius.

This statement is certainly not accurate or rigorous, but it can give viewers an initial impression in the shortest amount of time.

Oh, the No.1 in Chinese literature.

Even publishers can use it directly for advertising.

Simply introducing how amazing Lu Xun was is not enough. There are countless amazing aspects to Lu Xun's works, but to systematically introduce a novel, even a short story, would take too much time, and they might not even be able to understand it.

Therefore, Wei Ming chose to directly promote "Lu Xun's Quotations".

Lu Xun's works had previously been published in complete English versions, translated by Yang Xianyi and Dai Naidie.

There are no complete versions in other languages, but the version by Mr. and Mrs. Yang is quite old, dating back to the early 60s, emphasizing academic rigor and serving research needs.

Later, in the 21st century, Penguin released a well-received complete English translation.

Wei Ming was slightly disappointed that he didn't see Melinda's mother, but he still enthusiastically introduced Lu Xun's quotes.

For example, "Time is like water in a sponge; if you're willing to squeeze, there's always some left."

"Time is like a sponge in the water, as long as willing to squeeze, the total is still there."

"Great, that's very well said!" Todd Minford immediately cheered, showing both a sense of duty and genuine appreciation.

Whether or not Lu Xun actually said this is no longer so important at this moment.
……

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