Exciting 1979!

Chapter 362 Losses and Financial Prospects

Wei Lingling abandoned her biological mother to her biological father and ran away in order to create an opportunity for them, but unexpectedly, her biological father sent her biological mother back.

"And he even tried to take my retirement money!"

Lin Ni was furious, while Li Zhi stood aside, trying hard to suppress her laughter and yawns.

Wei Lingling: "Xiaoli, you go and rest first. Mom, come in with me."

Lin Ni followed Wei Lingling into the room like a child who had done something wrong, and obediently closed the door.

"You guys came back so late, I thought you had already reconciled."

Linni said shyly, "We just sleep in separate rooms."

"What did I tell you? Men need to be coaxed."

"But this man is so hard to please!" Lin Ni felt wronged. She hadn't been humble enough, and she had taken off almost all her clothes, but couldn't he take the initiative?

Wei Lingling asked, "Since you were already asleep, why did he send you back? Did you say something unpleasant?"

“No, oh, he said he was going to meet a friend,” Linni said worriedly. “Do you think he’s found someone else in Hong Kong?”

"Meeting friends?" Wei Lingling suddenly picked up a newspaper from the table. It was a report about Wei Ming at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and she had mentioned to Lao Gui a couple of days ago that Wei Ming and his two companions were transiting through Hong Kong.

"I see."

"You know he has a mistress in Hong Kong?!" Lin Ni stood up, slightly angry.
Wei Lingling pushed her down. Wei Lingling had the typical tall figure of a northern girl, while her mother was a local from Taiwan and was more than half a head shorter than her.

"It must be my nephew who came to Hong Kong. He'll probably leave tomorrow, so I rushed over to meet him in the middle of the night."

"You mean his grandson? That writer!"

"Ah."

Linni said worriedly, "How come they get along so well? They've only known each other for a short time. Your uncle also admires him. Lingling, you can't let that branch of the family outdo you."

Wei Lingling picked at her ear, and Lin Ni quickly said, "I won't say anymore, I won't say anymore."

Then she added, "Your dad wants my retirement money, so I'll give it to him. That way, I can get some extra points for you."

Wei Lingling laughed: "I don't need your extra points. You can keep that little bit of money for yourself."

She is very confident now because the technical difficulties of Transformers have been largely overcome, so she also wants to meet Wei Ming, who still owes her several Transformers figures.

"Alright, you can sleep here with me," Wei Lingling said. "Just make do for the night, and I'll send you back tomorrow."

"Oh, can't I stay here with you? You're comfortable here, but his place is a slum."

Wei Lingling: "I'm not comfortable with you moving in. You can't cook, and you're not good at housework. Besides, I only have two beds, so you should go find your man. It's settled then. Go to sleep."

Lin Ni pursed her lips, ultimately not daring to resist. She could only hum and lie down with her back to her daughter, even farting in front of her to express her dissatisfaction.

~
In the hotel room, Lao Gui Wei Senhao helped the three children up, looked at his granddaughter, then at Ping An, and had so much to say.

Wei Ming: So you have nothing to say to me.

Wei Ming succinctly stated, "We're one step closer to a grand family reunion. Congratulations!"

Wei Ping'an wiped away his tears: "Yes, yes, Brother Jiefang will probably be coming over in a while."

Old Ghost was taken aback: "How did an ordinary commoner like him get here?"

Wei Hong laughed and said, "My dad is really something now, he's a giant panda keeper."

Old Ghost immediately realized: "Could it be the one that was prepared to be given to Hong Kong?"

Wei Ming: "Yes, he found a giant panda at his maternal grandmother's house, and they reunited when he went back this time. This is a good opportunity for him to come to Hong Kong for a while."

"Great, that's wonderful!" Old Ghost said happily, "This liberation is mine."

After saying that, he looked at Wei Ping'an and said, "Ping'an is just like me. I was smart when I was young. If it weren't for the war years, I might have been the first person in our Wei family to go to Peking University."

Listening to Lao Gui's boasting, Wei Ming's sadness was somewhat alleviated, but he still felt that there was something strange about what he was saying. Did he really follow in Lao Gui's footsteps? They seemed a bit distant from each other.

"Ping An and Xiao Hong are both excellent. Actually, Xiao Ming isn't stupid either. If he were stupid, he wouldn't have been able to make such a big splash in the literary world. It can only be said that each has their own strengths," Lao Gui concluded.

Wei Ming: "I understand now. So, my dad is the only idiot in our family. I'll pass that on to him later."

"Go away, go away," Old Ghost waved his hand, then looked at Wei Ping'an. He wanted to ask him about his and his mother's life in their later years, but he changed his mind before he could finish. "Ping'an, I know you have twins. How did you and your wife meet? Tell your uncle."

Wei Ming interjected, "Before talking about my Aunt Xiaoyan, why don't we also talk about high school and college? That would be very interesting."

Wei Hong, without any hesitation, added, "There's even an aunt from East Germany among them!"

Old Ghost's eyes widened, his heart pounding with excitement. This kid is just like me!
Wei Ping'an was so angry he wanted to roll the two little ones into balls and throw them away. He warned, "Don't mention her to your aunt when you get back."

Old Ghost asked curiously, "You actually dated a German woman?"

“They’re just classmates of international students, Uncle, don’t listen to their nonsense,” Wei Ping’an quickly changed the subject. “Xiaoyan and I were introduced by someone. After graduating from Peking University, I joined the army. Later, a leader took a liking to me and introduced his daughter to me.”

"Your wife's surname is Lü. What's her father's name?"

Wei Ping'an told him his father-in-law's name and military rank, and Lao Gui laughed: "So it was him. I never thought we would become relatives."

The old ghost swallowed a sound without anyone noticing.

"Uncle, do you know my father-in-law?"

“He was about my age. I passed on intelligence to him back then, so we met a few times. He looked very young and immature at the time.”

"Yes, yes, yes, my father-in-law has a baby face!"

"I even teased him when we first met, making him mistake me for a high-ranking official." Old Gui recounted the amusing incident with great enthusiasm.

Wei Hong quickly made herself a cup of coffee. She had miscalculated; she hadn't slept during the day and was extremely sleepy now.

Old Gui, who hadn't smoked in a long time, used the aroma of cigarettes to keep himself alert. As he puffed out smoke, he casually asked, "Ping An, your mother didn't suffer much when she passed away, did she?"

Speaking of his mother, Wei Ping'an, who has no smoking habit, lit a cigarette: "She had a heart condition and passed away quite suddenly. She didn't suffer much, but she didn't get to enjoy any of the good things in life with me either. At that time, Xiaoyan and I had just gotten married and we lived in a modest house. We couldn't afford to bring my mother to the city, and she didn't get to see her grandchildren. She was just one year short of getting to see them."

Old Gui patted the boy on the shoulder, and Wei Ming lit a cigarette: "Uncle, don't say that. You went to college, joined the army, and were finally assigned to Peking University. Second Grandma can hold her head high in the village. Everyone envies her for raising such a good son."

Old Ghost's hand, which was smoking, trembled slightly: "You call Ping An's mother 'Second Grandma'?"

"Yes, that's what Grandma told me to call you, so it's easier to distinguish between you."

Old Gui exhaled a puff of smoke to conceal the subtle change in his expression.

Since the topic of his mother had come up, Wei Ping'an said, "Uncle, there's something I'd like to ask you privately."

Since they were alone, Wei Ming immediately pulled Wei Hong to her feet: "Ah Long should be here soon, Xiao Hong, let's go see your Brother Long."

"Huh? Oh."

As soon as the two left, Old Ghost leaned back on the sofa, feeling a little guilty. "What did you ask?" Wei Ping'an said, "My mother has a photo, but only half of it is in it. My mother told me that the other half is my father, and it was cut off because he was doing underground work."

Old Gui had almost burned his fingers with the end of his cigarette.

"Oh, go on." He quickly lit another one.

Wei Ping'an said, "I went to Shanghai with Jiefang before and took over Aunt Lindy's Jueyuan No. 2. It turned out that the background of my mother's photos was Jueyuan. Uncle, is my mother from Shanghai?"

"Excuse me."

At that moment, Wei Ming knocked on the door and came in: "I'm here to get something."

He opened a bag, pulled out several stacks of comic books, and hurried out and downstairs. He hadn't heard anything interesting.

Down in the lobby, Wei Hong was chatting with Liu Rulong and Gong Ying. Wei Ming was also surprised that A Long had brought his sister-in-law along.

Ah Long chuckled憨厚ly, "I woke up Ah Ying when I went out. She knew I was coming to see you, so she didn't even go back to sleep."

Gong Ying laughed and said, "It's okay for me. I can do my job from home."

Wei Hong was currently flipping through the third and fourth issues of "Madman's Comics" that A Long had brought.

Although he would send Wei Ming a copy of each new magazine, Wei Ming probably hadn't seen these two issues yet.

"Brother, this 'Qin's Moon' drawing is so beautiful!" Wei Hong said, pointing to the characters in "Qin's Moon".

Ah Long pushed up his glasses: "I originally thought this comic wouldn't be read by girls, but I didn't expect it to be so popular among female readers. On the contrary, 'Happy Ghost' is more popular among male readers."

Wei Ming wasn't surprised. Compared to the current trend of Hong Kong comics that cram in muscular men, the art style of the characters in "Qin's Moon" is quite beautiful. Both men and women are beautiful and appeal to both genders.

Wei Ming smiled and picked up the fourth issue, which premiered on "Fengyun".

The previous three issues of "Qin's Moon" had exclusive cover space, but this issue's cover gave "Feng Yun" half the space, which can be said to be a strong recommendation of the work. "Feng Yun" is the typical Hong Kong comic that Wei Ming just thought of.

However, taking the Hong Kong comic style to its extreme can attract a large number of readers.

"How's the reception of 'Storm Riders'?" Wei Ming asked.

Ah Long said, "The fourth issue has only been out for a short time, so it's too early to tell anything. However, we've sold 80,000 copies this time, and it seems like there's no pressure at all. The market can still handle it."

It really is a step-by-step process, with the print run increasing with each issue.

With a single issue of a comic magazine costing 80,000, Wong Yuk-long probably won't be able to sleep soundly.

"So what about the next issue? How many are you planning to print?" Wei Ming asked.

The price of the fifth issue will increase from two yuan to four yuan. Previously, it was a half-price special offer for new issues.

However, in order to retain users, although the price has doubled, the fifth issue will also have more pages and be thicker, and a new comic, "Fight Back to School" illustrated by Gan Xiaowen, will be launched.

Ah Long said, "My dad and I calculated that when the print run reaches 95,000 copies, the expenses will break even, so I set the target at 100,000 copies!"

The price doubled, but the print run actually increased. It has to be said that Ah Long has some guts; he was indeed a gangster in his past life.

After saying that, Ah Long added, "After all, you've already lost too much money. I hope the company can make some profit."

"Brother, you're losing money on this business?" Xiao Hong asked, looking at the comic.

Ah Long sighed, "We've already lost almost 300,000."

Because the magazine's sales increased so quickly, the figure exceeded his expectations; he had originally thought he would only lose a few hundred thousand.

Hearing the figure of 300,000, even knowing it was in Hong Kong dollars, still shocked Wei Hong greatly. She really wanted to help her brother earn money as soon as possible.

Wei Ming laughed and said, "It's nothing. In business, you have to be willing to put in the effort to get the return. Next period, we'll break even and have a small surplus. The next step is to start selling individual books and reap the profits."

Ah Long asked, "I've been waiting for your news. When will we be able to release the standalone volume? The readers are all eagerly waiting to read it."

"No rush. We're not on par with Wong Yuk-long yet. We'll consider this when 'Madman Comics' breaks through the sales ceiling of Hong Kong comics."

The reason why several popular comics have been serialized in the magazine is to expand the upper limit of the comic market through this magazine and to build "Madman Comics" into the Whampoa Military Academy of Chinese comics. Otherwise, how can a small Hong Kong with a population of a few million compete with Japan?

“Ah Long, I met a Chinese-American publisher in Frankfurt this time. I mentioned ‘Madman Comics’ to him. I’ll send him a few more issues once I’ve finished them and see if there’s a market for it among overseas Chinese communities.”

Liu Rulong said, "If we can really go overseas, even if we don't make money, it will be good. Hong Kong is too small. What I crave most right now is readers. Even if these readers are silent at the moment, as long as they read, they will leave a trace."

"We're on the same page!" After that, Wei Ming handed those Japanese and American comics to A Long, asking him to display them in the company so that the company's cartoonists could see them, to see the differences, and to see the advantages.

Ah Long flipped through "Dr. Slump": "It's either in English or Japanese, so I definitely can't understand the story. But the technique is really amazing. Any random Japanese manga artist can have this kind of skill. There is definitely a difference."

Akira Toriyama is a young manga artist in his early twenties. It's normal that Liu Rulong hasn't heard of him. The current masters of Japanese manga are Osamu Tezuka and Fujiko Fujio. However, this young man is not just any manga artist. Wei Ming has selected representative works of Japanese manga from this period.

Seeing that the two men were chatting so enthusiastically about work, Gong Ying began to write a letter. After finishing the letter, she said, "You two have finished talking, right? Teacher Wei, please give this letter to my sister. There are some Hong Kong dollars in here, so please have my sister give it to my parents."

Gong Ying couldn't bring herself to call Wei Ming, who was so much younger than her, "brother-in-law," but she could call A Long "brother" at times.

"Ok."

Gong Ying then asked, "How is my sister now?"

She wanted to ask about the progress of their relationship, but Wei Ming said, "Your sister? Let Xiao Hong tell you."

Wei Hong put down the magazine: "Sister Gong Xue is just one word right now, famous!"

Wei Ming: "She's become incredibly popular!"

Wei Hong chimed in, "As soon as 'Mom, Love Me Again' was released, it caused a nationwide sensation. No one who watched it could help but cry!"

Gong Ying's focus was also drawn to this movie: "My sister suffered so much to film this movie, it's a pity that it can't be seen in Hong Kong."

Wei Ming smiled and said, "I will talk to China Film Group and get Hong Kong to import it as soon as possible."

However, Hong Kong audiences may not necessarily appreciate these sentimental blockbusters. But regardless of box office performance, movies that are popular in mainland China will generally be released in Hong Kong, albeit with delays.

While they were chatting, the conversation upstairs about Wei Ping'an's mother was also coming to an end.

According to Lao Gui, Ping An's mother was from Nanjing. She came to Shanghai to escape the war. She was a movie actress, but only a minor one who never played a leading role. Later, she met Wei Ming's great-aunt and became her tutor. She also met Wei Ping An's father.

"No wonder, no wonder Xizi is so good at making movies, it turns out it's a family talent!" Wei Ping'an said with some surprise. "What movies has my mother acted in?"

He wanted to look for old movies, hoping to find a video of his mother. Neither Xizi nor Lele had ever seen their grandmother in motion.

"I can't remember that, but I do remember that she acted in a movie with Hu Die," Old Ghost said.

Wei Ping'an nodded, and said he would go back to the Beijing Film Studio to ask Hu Die what films she had made.

"Uncle, do you have a picture of my dad? We don't even have a single picture of him in our family."

“Back then, conditions were limited, so there was no chance to take photos. Later, when we were doing underground work, we couldn’t keep any photos,” Lao Gui said. “If you miss your dad, think of me. People say that my brother and I look very alike.”

Wei Ping'an was somewhat disappointed, and it seemed like his uncle was taking advantage of him.
(End of this chapter)