Exciting 1979!

Chapter 365 Wei Ming's English Debut Work Released with a Bang
Wei Ming knew that Wu Yuru, Wu Zuoren, and Wu Zuxiang were collectively known as the Three Wus of Maolin.

It is indeed rare for a small village to produce three great artists with the surname Wu: Wu Zuxiang in literature, Wu Zuoren in fine arts, and Wu Yuru in calligraphy.

As for how good his calligraphy was or which style he was good at, Wei Ming was not quite sure.

So Wu Zuoren gave this fellow villager, who was ten years older than him, a proper introduction.

"Wu Yuru learned calligraphy from his father from a young age, taking Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi as his foundation, and deeply copied the 'Preface to the Orchid Pavilion' and the 'Preface to the Sacred Teachings'. His calligraphy style is elegant and vigorous, ethereal and graceful. He is proficient in regular script, running script, cursive script and clerical script, and his small regular script is especially considered a masterpiece."

Wu Zuoren added: "Qi Gong's calligraphy skills are certainly not bad, but his understanding of the spirit of the Wei and Jin dynasties may not be as good as Mr. Yu Ru's. Moreover, Qi Gong also highly praised Mr. Yu Ru, saying that there has been no such master in the past three hundred years."

After hearing Mr. Wu Yuru's experience, it seems that it is indeed more appropriate.

In fact, there wouldn't be many scenes of a female lead practicing calligraphy, and it could easily be glossed over with camera work. But Gong Xue has a background in calligraphy and painting, so he didn't want to fudge it. Of course, he chose the most suitable one.

In her previous life, she practiced swordsmanship and calligraphy diligently in order to play the role of Qiu Jin.

Wei Ming then asked, "Where does Mr. Wu Yuru live?"

"Although Mr. Yu Ru and I share the same ancestral home in Maolin, he was born in Nanjing and has lived in Tianjin for a long time."

"Tianjin~" Wei Ming immediately backed down. He and Sister Xue didn't have much time to spend together, and going to Tianjin would be even more difficult. For unmarried men and women, accommodation would also be a problem.

Wu Zuoren laughed and said, "Although he has been living in Tianjin since the founding of the People's Republic of China, he has recently been staying at his eldest son's house. His eldest son is in Beijing, and you probably know him too."

"Huh? I know him?"

~
In the afternoon, Wei Ming returned to the library's book storage room, put down his bag, and then went to the adjacent rare book storage room.

The people here are mostly elderly scholars with gray hair, and apart from the library staff, they are mostly from the Chinese Literature and History departments.

Professor Wu Xiaoru teaches in both the Chinese Literature Department and the History Department, and has profound knowledge in literary history, ancient literature, popular literature, and drama studies.

However, because the courses he taught, "History of Chinese Opera" and "History of Chinese Poetry," were not of interest to Wei Ming, he and Professor Jin Kaicheng were among the few Chinese literature professors that Wei Ming did not visit much.

However, because Professor Wu Xiaoru was a frequent visitor to the Ancient Books Archive and the Archive Room, Wei Ming often ran into him and they would occasionally chat about interesting anecdotes in literary history.

Wei Ming never expected that he was actually Mr. Wu Yuru's eldest son. What kind of father and son would name their children like that? Dumas père and Dumas fils?

Later, he realized that neither of these names was actually his real name. Professor Wu Xiaoru probably chose these names for herself out of admiration for her father.

"Professor Wu, I brought back some German sausages from Germany this time. I've brought you two; please try them." Wei Ming bought far too many; he hadn't finished giving them all away even after two days of gift-giving.

"Teacher Wei, you're too kind," Wu Xiaoru, who was reading a book, was taken aback, then declined, "but I can't accept such a favor without having done anything right."

Wei Ming: "Actually, I have something to ask of you."

Wu Xiaoru said, "I can accept it, but let's talk about the matter first, and see if I can do it."

Professor Wu has achieved great academic success. People who can immerse themselves in academic research are rigorous and should never accept gifts before doing favors.

Wei Ming explained the matter with Gong Xue. Although Lao Wei also mentioned that he knew Qi Gong, he estimated that it was just a casual acquaintance. However, he and Professor Wu were colleagues, so he chose Wu Yuru.

"My father is quite old now, over eighty years old, and it's uncertain whether he'd be willing to teach. I'll go back and ask him," Professor Wu said, thinking he would inform him once he had a definite answer.

"Okay, you can take this sausage. Once it's outside this door, my colleagues at the library will have to take it all. I can't keep it." Wei Ming handed it to Professor Wu and quickly ran off.

That evening, Wei Ming stayed at the Overseas Chinese Apartment to wait for Wu Xiaoru's call.

We agreed to meet at Wu Xiaoru's house at 5 pm tomorrow. He lives in the Zhongguancun residential area near Peking University, which is not far away.

Wei Ming went out again, and Xu Shufen whispered to Old Wei, "He's probably helping Xiaoxue."

Old Wei sighed: "It's so good to be young!"
~
The following afternoon, Wei Ming brought Gong Xue to meet Professor Wu Xiaoru downstairs in a residential building. Professor Wu was quite surprised to see Gong Xue, who was the most popular movie star at the time. He and his wife had also been fooled into shedding many tears by that movie.

He introduced himself to Gong Xue, and the three of them went upstairs.

Mr. Wu Yuru is eighty-three years old this year. Wei Ming does not know the exact dates of Mr. Wu's birth and death, but although he looks old, he is not sick.

The old man likes to laugh, probably because he has lived in Gengdu for too long; his speech even has a bit of a crosstalk accent.

"I ate your sausages yesterday, and they were indeed delicious, so I'll definitely help out. It's great that you're learning calligraphy for the sake of making a movie. However, I'd like to ask about the movie's background and the characters' identities first." Mr. Yu Ru was clearly trying to teach me in a targeted way.

Gong Xue immediately gave a brief introduction to the characters and stories in "Feelings in the Brush".

"Zhao Xuzhi?" Wu Yuru smiled upon hearing the male lead's name. "Could it be taken from Zhao Mengfu, Zhang Xu, and Wang Xizhi?"

Gong Xue also studied the script: "The screenwriter probably intended this, but the male protagonist's experiences are mainly taken from Wang Xizhi, such as writing on a bamboo fan, being a son-in-law, and liking geese."

"Then you'll be playing the role of Xi Xuan, a woman with a beautiful pen. You really need to have excellent handwriting to make this character believable."

Wang Xizhi's wife, Xi Xuan, was also a renowned calligrapher from a family with a strong scholarly tradition. It is said that her calligraphy skills were comparable to those of the men in her family, earning her the title of "female master calligrapher."

Gong Xue respectfully replied, "That's right."

Wu Yuru said, "Write a few words first to see your basics. You don't have any basic knowledge, do you?"

Wei Ming quickly replied, "Comrade Gong Xue's father is a painter."

Wu Yuru felt a little relieved. Calligraphy and painting are inseparable; at least one must be familiar with brush and ink. If someone doesn't even know how to use a brush, he would rather buy two more sausages to compensate them.

Wei Ming immediately took out his writing implements from his schoolbag; he had brought his own.

However, Wu Xiaoru opened a room with a desk, writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, and told Gong Xue to write there.

After all, he is the son of a great calligrapher, and he also enjoys it. There are many works by the father and son hanging in his study. However, neither of them calls themselves "calligraphers." They just write for the sake of enjoying it.

Wei Ming is the same in this respect. He doesn't aspire to become a master; he just wants to write calligraphy so that he can enjoy it and feel good.

Under the watchful eyes of the two masters, Gong Xue was slightly nervous, but he still managed to demonstrate his skill by writing the three small regular script characters "笔中情" (meaning "emotion in the brush").

After she finished writing, she obediently stood aside, and her gaze happened to fall on another piece of calligraphy next to her, also in small regular script, but the difference in skill was like heaven and earth, several levels apart.

Mr. Wu Yuru didn't say anything harsh. He looked Gong Xue up and down and asked, "How long can you learn from him?"

Gong Xue originally planned to return to Shanghai in a week to learn calligraphy and etiquette with the crew.

However, the opportunity to meet such a renowned teacher is rare, so she gritted her teeth and said, "The movie will start filming around this time next month, and then I will have to go to Shanghai."

"If you come to learn for an hour every day and practice for four or five hours at home, you should be able to make it in a month."

Gong Xue said, "After filming begins, it may take another month or two before we start shooting the calligraphy parts."

She discussed with the director that after filming begins, the crew will continue to find teachers to teach calligraphy. They will film other scenes first and then film the calligraphy part last, giving the main actors ample time to learn and improve.

Wu Yuru smiled and said, "Then twenty days will suffice, and you can practice for three or four hours every day."

Then he asked his son to find a few more to post.

Wei Ming hurriedly followed Wu Xiaoru and asked in a low voice, "Professor Wu, can I learn along with her?"

"sure."

Wei Ming then asked, "Should I prepare some tuition fees?"

According to Wu Zuoren, Mr. Wu Yuru did not sell his calligraphy much and lived a rather frugal life.

Wu Xiaoru waved her hand: "No need, no need. My father is not short of food and drink. His retirement pension is several tens of yuan, and he can sometimes get some writing tips. That's enough."

Wei Ming wanted to say that he had just earned more than a million yuan, but that would sound like he was showing off. Seeing that the Wu family had so many calligraphy books, he figured that Mr. Yu Ru must also like them. He thought he could look for some of these things to give to the old man in the future.

A little while later, Mrs. Wu Xiaoru returned from grocery shopping. She was so excited to see Wei Ming and Gong Xue that she insisted they stay for dinner.

This is a two-bedroom apartment of several dozen square meters, with a layout similar to Uncle Ping'an's house. With Wei Ming and the other person in it, it feels crowded and lively.

The old lady loves watching movies, and now she's particularly obsessed with Gong Xue (from the South) and Zhu Lin (from the North), constantly inquiring about Gong Xue's new film.

She also asked, "Comrade Gong Xue, are you familiar with Comrade Zhu Lin? I watched 'Joyful Reunion' several times recently."

Gong Xue blushed slightly and glanced at Xiao Wei: "We're close friends. I even visited her at home yesterday."

"I knew it! Beautiful people love to hang out with other beautiful people." The old lady was very enthusiastic, chatting non-stop with Gong Xue, forgetting all about cooking. Gong Xue also shared with her Zhu Lin's recent filming activities.

So Wei Ming silently went to the kitchen and skillfully tied on an apron.

"Hey, Teacher Wei, stop! Let me handle this. You two should focus on your studies and strive to contribute more great movies to our film industry."

After finishing their calligraphy lesson and having dinner, Wei Ming and Gong Xue returned to the Beichizi courtyard house. They had left many brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones there. They would stay there for the night, transport some to Tuanjiehu tomorrow, and then go to Liulichang to buy some Xuan paper.

Practicing for several hours every day must consume a lot of energy; Wei Ming used to write for at most half an hour a day.

Gong Xue practiced calligraphy for a while, then sat down to write a letter because his wrists were getting sore.

"I wrote a letter to the film crew to explain the situation here and request that we go to Shanghai later."

When I went to Shanghai, I studied with a teacher from the Shanghai Film Studio. At this stage, it's impossible for the Shanghai Film Studio to find a more authoritative Wei-Jin calligraphy teacher than Wu Yuru.

If the old gentleman weren't so old, Wei Ming would have suggested that the Shanghai Film Studio invite him to Shanghai to give lectures.

Besides Gong Xue, the two male leads, Bai Longma and Tang Sanzang, also have many scenes involving calligraphy.

Wei Ming hugged Xue Jie from behind: "It would be awkward if your calligraphy skills were better than the male lead's when filming starts."

Gong Xue didn't understand at first, but then she realized: "Don't say that. They must be practicing hard too. If all else fails, they can use close-up shots or hand doubles." For the next few days, Wei Ming and Gong Xue went to Professor Wu Xiaoru's house for lessons every afternoon. Wei Ming also had to work during the week, so he didn't have much time to practice, but he still found it very helpful.

On the fifth day, Wei Ming told Gong Xue to go study on her own and asked for leave for him.

Because Yunyun is about to give birth!
That day, Wei Ming's family and Mei Wenhua's family gathered at the obstetrics and gynecology department. Wei Ming had brought Xiao Hong along. When they arrived, everyone else was already there. Mei Wenhua was pacing anxiously outside, as the baby had been in the ward for several hours.

After a while, even Biaozi came over after hearing the news, and Mei Wenhua quickly asked him, who had been through it all.

How long did it take for the swallow to give birth?

"She came out in less than half an hour. The doctor even said that my daughter is tall, otherwise she would have come out even faster."

Wei Ming quickly coughed.

Xiao Mei felt a little dizzy when she heard this, as Yunyun had been inside for more than two hours.

Sister-in-law Mei Wenhua spoke the most effectively: "Although I've never given birth, I've seen it all in our hospital. It's not uncommon for babies to be in the ward for four or five hours without giving birth."

Wei Ming also said, "That's right, Yanzi is a martial artist with a special physique. She could still jump around during the first month after giving birth. We can't compare ourselves to her."

He then asked Xu Shufen, "Did you call your uncle and the others?"

"No, I forgot in my haste."

Wei Ming: "Then I'll go to the post office and make a long-distance call to let them know, and ask my uncle and aunt to come and see if they can."

"Brother Ming, wait a minute, what's my son's name?" Xiao Mei grabbed Wei Ming, and actually prepared a bulging red envelope, worth at least several hundred yuan.

Wei Ming immediately took out a red envelope as well: "The name is inside. We'll open it after the baby is born."

"well."

About an hour later, Wei Ming returned. There was no one outside the delivery room. Had she given birth?
After finally finding the ward, Biaozi, Xiaohong, and the others were outside.

Upon seeing Wei Ming return, Sister-in-law Mei Wenhua hurriedly said, "Uncle is here! Let him see our Mei Changsu."

After Wei Ming went in, he glanced at the quiet and gentle Xiao Mei Changsu, but didn't dare to hold him. The child was too soft. He also waited until Xiao Fenghuang from Biaozi's family was a month old before he dared to hold him.

Brother Mei, Sister-in-law Mei, and Mother Mei were all very satisfied with the name Wei Ming had chosen. Sister-in-law Mei, a die-hard fan of Wei Ming's books, said, "My nephew's name is so nice, what will my son do in the future?"

Wei Ming smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, I've already thought of everything for you."

Sister-in-law Mei was overjoyed: "What's your name?"

Wei Ming: "How about Mei Changhai, Mei Changsu's younger brother?"

Sister-in-law Mei thought for a moment and said, "So Su is the Su of Jiangsu, and Hai is the Hai of Shanghai? What a great name!"

Wei Ming shook his head: "Let your imagination run wild a bit more."

Mei Shengli, the elder brother of Mei Culture, thought for a moment and said, "Could it be the 'Su' of the Soviet Union, and Zhongnanhai...that sea!"

Seeing Wei Ming smile and nod, the couple liked the name even more and wished they could create a person right now and put "Mei Changhai" on his head.

Only Mei Heping (Mei's father) muttered to himself, "Changhai, why does he sound so much like Ershazi from our hometown?"

Moreover, he was not very satisfied with the name "Mei Changsu," feeling that it had a bourgeois feel to it and did not fit the tough style of their military family.

Actually, he had thought of several names, such as "Mei Warship," "Mei Dongfeng," and "Mei Atom," which sound very imposing.

Unfortunately, he was outnumbered and isolated, and even his two sons were on the opposite side, so he had no choice but to listen to this young literary giant.

The mother and child needed to rest, so their mother-in-law and mother stayed behind to take care of them for the time being, and Xiaomei also came out with them.

Then Wei Ming handed him a red envelope.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Wei Ming: "Do you really think I can make money by naming babies? My nephew was born, so as his uncle, I definitely have to show my support."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry." Xiaomei took it and looked at it, then was pleasantly surprised. It was a stack of US dollars, each bill a hundred dollars, worth at least a thousand!
He couldn't even come up with that much foreign exchange; this money would have been enough to buy Yunyun a lot of high-end supplements at the Friendship Store.

"Brother, you..." Mei Wenhua was very embarrassed. "Give me back the red envelope I gave you before, and I'll give you a bigger one."

Wei Ming waved his hand and took out the red envelope with his other hand: "How big is it? It's probably less than a hundred sheets thick. I'd guess it's eight hundred and eighty-eight, right?"

However, when he opened the red envelope and saw a neatly arranged one-cent coin inside, Wei Ming exclaimed, "Damn, eight yuan and eighty-eight cents! They probably don't even issue one-cent coins anymore!"

"What? Eight dollars and eighty-eight cents!" Biaozi fanned the flames from the side. "You should at least slip in some small change! Xiaomei, you're really shameless! Where can you find such a good brother-in-law?"

"Brother, dear brother, I was just joking, I was wrong." Xiaomei quickly and sincerely admitted her mistake.

Wei Ming had already forgiven him, but Biaozi wouldn't let it go: "If admitting your mistakes was enough, what would we need the police for? Xiaomei, you've gone too far! I'm very disappointed in you!"

Mei Wenhua hurriedly said, "Here's what we've got. A French artist is coming here to hold a concert next weekend. As for the inner circle tickets, just name your name, and I'll get you as many as you need!"

Biaozi: "What kind of artist? Maybe some scoundrel?"

Xiao Mei ran away, and after a while he came back and said, "I asked my mom, and the man's name is Jean-Michel Jarre. She said he's very famous abroad, like Ming Ge, a great musician."

Upon hearing the name, Wei Ming became interested: "Okay, you can make the arrangements then. I have plenty of friends."

Biaozi smiled happily, thinking that this friend must include himself.

Because it was a natural birth and she had no other symptoms, Yunyun was discharged from the hospital on the third day. Even so, the Mei family had to pull some strings; otherwise, she would have had to leave the next day.

After Yunyun was discharged from the hospital, Gong Xue made a special trip to visit her. It was quite a coincidence that Gong Xue was in Beijing when Yanzi and Yunyun gave birth, while Zhu Lin was not.

On this day, Wei Ming's maternal uncle and aunt also arrived in Yanjing. Long Xiaoyang did not come this time; he was with his father looking after the family's feed mill.

Wei Ming also said that he would let his uncle stay at his place and let them make do in the courtyard house in Beichizi.

Xiaomei said no, "I also bought a courtyard house. Although it's not furnished yet, it's not bad to live in."

Biaozi got anxious: "How big is the courtyard house?"

"It's a courtyard of just over 200 square meters."

Seeing that Ming and Xiaomei were actively buying property, Biaozi, who had some spare money, also got the idea. These days, you'd be embarrassed to even greet them if you didn't own a couple of houses.

As November approached, before the French arrived, a report from the British caught the attention of Xinhua News Agency.

Xinhua News Agency not only sends its own reporters abroad, but also pays attention to the latest developments of other media around the world, whether it is television or print media, and sometimes reprints popular articles from abroad.

The Times is one of the top newspapers in Britain, and together with The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph, it is known as one of the "Big Three" newspapers in Britain. It is also the oldest of the three, having been founded in 1785.

In 1785, Emperor Qianlong was still in good health.

The article, which was featured on the front page of The Times with a bold and large title, was titled "Glorious Years – Sixty Years of a Fighter!" and told the story of Nelson Mandela, the South African national fighter.

In protest against apartheid in South Africa, Mandela was imprisoned by the authorities in a remote island prison, where he lived an inhuman life.

Xinhua News Agency knows about this person and this matter, as do many official and non-official media outlets internationally, and it has been reported before, so it's not surprising.

At most, this article is better written, with more detailed information, and is more inflammatory.

What truly drew Xinhua News Agency's special attention to this news story was its author—Mr. Why.

It must be said that Professor Wei Ming is quite well-known internationally now, and with such a unique pen name, it's unlikely that anyone would intentionally choose the same pen name as him.

Moreover, judging from the content of the article, the author had just participated in the Frankfurt Book Fair, which matches the experience.

If this was written by Wei Ming himself, why is there no translator's name after the author's name?

A major newspaper like The Times wouldn't make such a basic mistake.

Unless, unless this article has no translator!
Many people familiar with Wei Ming know that he speaks English quite well, but his listening, speaking, reading and writing skills are still somewhat lacking, let alone the ability to write such powerful articles.

Especially the line "His black skin meant that he dedicated his life to the struggle against skin color," which made people of other races, even those who were not related to him, feel a deep respect for this guy named "Mandela."

Xinhua News Agency immediately sent a telegram to inquire whether this "Mr. Why" was their Chinese counterpart, and also wanted to ask about the reprint issue.

By the time they noticed, the article had already been published in the UK for three days and had sparked considerable discussion in Europe and America.

Seeing this attitude from their leader, many British territories and countries reposted or published articles supporting Mandela and criticizing the South African authorities.

International discussions about South Africa's apartheid policy grew louder, and the name "Mandela" became increasingly well-known.

Choosing British media was the right decision. Britain and the white ruling class in South Africa are sworn enemies, and with an internationally renowned writer leading the way in speaking out for our black brothers, they are naturally happy to promote it as much as possible.

Even Hong Kong's Ming Pao reprinted the article, listing the author as "Mr. Why." They even inquired with Xinhua News Agency's Hong Kong branch to see if they had the original Chinese manuscript by Mr. Why, so they wouldn't have to translate it.

They were told, "We don't have any, find it yourself~"

Ming Pao dutifully translated it themselves, while Xinhua News Agency cleverly contacted Wei Ming directly, asking him to translate it himself and reserve space in the People's Daily for him once he finished.
……

(Guaranteed minimum today~)

(End of this chapter)