Exciting 1979!

Chapter 369 Welcome Teacher Wei Ming to Japan
Wei Lingling led Lizhi and Zhou Huimin into the Baiyun Hotel. At this time, the density of foreigners in the hotel was very high, with many foreign businessmen staying there to do business at the Canton Fair.

The Canton Fair is held twice a year, in spring and autumn, and serves two main functions: attracting foreign investment and generating foreign exchange through exports. In recent years, it has been growing larger and larger.

Wei Lingling came to the Canton Fair with two purposes: first, to find cheap and reliable OEM manufacturing sites, and second, to find cheap and stable raw material supplies.

The former might need to wait until Langning Toy Factory's products become a hit before formally considering it, while the latter needs to start making preparations now.

Wei Lingling booked two adjacent rooms; she stayed in one, while Zhou Huimin and Lizhi stayed in the other.

Vivian Chow treats Lizhi very well; after all, Lizhi is from mainland China, so it's a case of loving someone because of them.

Ke Lizhi was cold towards Zhou Huimin. She already knew that Wei Ming had written a song called "First Love" for Zhou Huimin and even took her to a charity concert. His intentions were obvious!
When she thinks of Vivian Chow, she thinks back to the time when she was delusional and thought he was lusting after her body, only to find out that he preferred "younger" women.

While sleeping, Vivian Chow secretly glanced at Rie, and it was huge!
It was already dark when they arrived at the hotel. The three women had a simple meal and then rested.

Vivian Chow had stayed at the Peninsula Hotel once before. This place is not quite the same as the Peninsula Hotel, but it is much better than her own home, and she felt very comfortable there.

The next day, Wei Lingling took the two of them to eat rice noodle rolls on the street early in the morning.

Guangzhou's prosperity is certainly not as great as Hong Kong's, but Lizhi thinks it's no worse than Shanghai. There are many businesses here, and you can tell at a glance that they're not government-run businesses because the vendors are very active in their sales pitches.

The three beauties attracted a lot of attention on the street. Each of them was beautiful in her own way: the cool and sophisticated overseas Chinese, the alluring voluptuous maid, and the innocent 14-year-old high school girl. Moreover, their clothes and appearances clearly indicated that they were not locals.

Vivian Chow looked around at the people and shops with curiosity. She was also pleasantly surprised to find that many shops on the street were playing Hong Kong songs. Along the way, she heard several songs that Ah Ming had written for the charity gala.

While eating rice noodle rolls and listening to "I Just Like You," Vivian Chow asked the restaurant owner, "Have you ever heard a song called 'First Love'?"

The proprietress shook her head. "Vivian Chow's song was released as a single by PolyGram. Without an album, its influence in mainland China is still too small."

However, once Armin writes a few songs for himself, he can release an album, which will be called "First Love".

As Amin was enjoying her sweet moment, the song playing in the shop changed to "Melinda." Zhou Huimin immediately thought of Amin's first love and the days they spent together in Frankfurt, wondering what they did together.

Sitting opposite Vivian Chow, Li Zhi noticed Amin's expression and immediately provoked her, saying, "Teacher Wei really can't forget her first love. She even opened a company for her to manage. It's so touching."

She had only heard about DreamWorks from Wei Lingling.

Hearing this little-known fact made Vivian Chow feel even worse. Were they planning to get back together?
Wei Lingling glared at Lizhi: "Even rice noodle rolls can't shut you up, huh? Want another one?"

These words sounded a bit serious, and Lizhi was startled. She felt like she had lost her mind. The boss had told her about DreamWorks, treating her like one of his own, and she had blabbered it to others. Wouldn't he think she was unreliable?

Lizhi quickly and carefully served her: "President Lingling, would you like another one? I'll go order it for you."

Wei Lingling wiped her mouth: "No need, I'm full. If you're full too, come with me to the venue. Remember not to leave my side for more than ten steps. I can't afford to lose you."

Zhou Huimin asked reluctantly, "Aunt Ling, are you really not going to Yanjing?"

“It’s only because we’re only in Guangzhou for two days that I feel safe bringing you along. If we were really going to Beijing, your mother wouldn’t dare take you with me without her.”

Zhou Huimin gazed northwards, saying, "Amin, we'll have to see each other again next month."

She suddenly remembered something: "Aunt Ling, can we watch a mainland Chinese movie, like 'Mom, Love Me Again'?"

The rice noodle roll vendor immediately gave a strong recommendation: "Look, you definitely have to see this! Both Nan Gongxue and Bei Zhulin's dramas are very good."

Gong Xue in the South and Zhu Lin in the North? The last time Amin heard this kind of naming was when Qiao Feng in the North and Murong in the South. Interesting, interesting.

~
"nice shot!"

"Pretty!"

"Let's have a go!"

Wei Ming felt that it would be more lively to watch the game with more people, so he invited Biaozi and Xiaomei to the Overseas Chinese Apartment, along with Lao Wei and his wife, and Wei Hong, who had returned from Peking University for the weekend. They all watched the Women's Volleyball World Cup together.

The coffee table not only had braised pork, sausages, and peanuts, but also unlimited beer and Arctic Ocean soda.

This time it was China vs. the Soviet Union. In the first game, China won 15-4.

The second set was quite close, reaching 14-14 at one point. Just now, at a crucial moment, Lang Ping delivered a powerful blow to win a key point for the Chinese team. Then, her teammates scored another point, making it 16-14, and the Chinese team won another set!

The third set was pretty much a foregone conclusion. The Chinese women's volleyball team completely overwhelmed their opponents, winning 15-0 in the end!
The competition ended just like that. Wei Ming asked Xiao Mei, "Grandma and the others have left. Are you under a lot of pressure?"

Wei Ming's uncle and aunt came to visit Yunyun for a few days. They were relieved to find that Yunyun was healthy and the baby was eating and sleeping well. Grandma also felt that she was too old to help much here, so she went back to her hometown with her son to stay for a while.

“And there’s my mother-in-law too, and my mom comes over often. Besides, Yunyun isn’t spoiled at all. I tell her not to get out of bed to do chores, she just can’t stand being in bed.” Mei Wenhua’s face was beaming with a happy family smile.

"Things at home are actually fine, but at the store, another private clothing store recently opened in Xidan. Now we have four or five competitors. Although we are still the leader and have new products every month, our sales volume is not as high as it was at its peak."

Wei Ming said, "I see you sponsored the Beijing Film Studio's costumes for the calendar. You can promote it in the newspapers and use the four beauties of the Beijing Film Studio to advertise for Xintiandi."

Biaozi quickly interjected, "Brother Ming, this wasn't sponsored by Xiaomei; it was my decision."

Mei Wenhua said, "At the time, I was at home, and it was indeed Biaozi who made the decision alone."

Wei Ming was surprised: "I didn't expect you to have such a business sense, Biaozi."

Biaozi said honestly, "Actually, I didn't think that much about it. I was just hoping that if the Beijing Film Studio had any roles in the future, they could think of me."

Hey, so he's just having a dramatic moment.

~
Wei Lingling was very efficient. She found a plush toy material supplier in just two days. Although it was a township enterprise in Guangdong, the quality was good and the price was much lower than similar products in Hong Kong. This would greatly enhance the market competitiveness of Langning Toy Factory.

On Sunday, she took Vivian Chow and Rina back to Hong Kong.

Facing her mother's impending anger, Vivian Chow sang: "There's only one mother in the world who is good, a child with a mother is like a treasure..."

Zhou's mother snorted, "Go away, go away. She sings this song every time I make a mistake. I'm sick of hearing it."

Vivian Chow immediately changed to another song: "Oh, Mother, Mother in the Candlelight..."

This is a new song for Zhou's mother, and it's even a new Mandarin song.

After singing this song, Vivian Chow also sang, "The stars in the sky don't speak, the children on the ground miss their mothers..."

"Where did you learn all this from?" Zhou's mother's eyes welled up with tears as she listened to her singing.

Then Zhou Huimin smiled and took out the cassette tape of "Mom, Love Me Again," which was covered with Wei Ming's name.

~
Today is Amin's birthday, and it's also the third match for the Chinese women's volleyball team, against South Korea.

Old Wei even took leave for this match. Although his father is still alive, he can't forget the grudge from back then. Today, he will take down the Koreans first, and then continue to fight the Americans.

South Korea still has some strength. The first game was quite close, reaching 15-12. However, both the players on the court and Yuan Weimin on the sidelines remained calm.

The second game ended 15-9, securing another victory!
When the game reached the third round, someone knocked on the door. Wei Ming went to open it and found it was the postman.

"Teacher Wei, look, watching the women's volleyball team! There are two packages for you, one from Hong Kong and one from Japan, plus overseas remittance slips." The other person craned their neck to look.

Upon hearing about Hong Kong, Lao Wei craned his neck, and then his eyes met those of the postman, both of them feeling somewhat awkward.

After Wei Ming signed for the package, Old Wei came over and asked, "Is this your grandfather?"

Wei Ming: "Pen pal".

"What about that one?"

Wei Ming: "Masashi Sada, that Japanese singer."

He patiently watched the third match, which ended in an easy 15-5 victory. The women's volleyball team has not lost a single match since the start of the season, and they haven't even lost a single set, which is truly inspiring.

Wei Ming had already entered the study with the package. Today was Amin's birthday, and she should have already received her gift.

He glanced at the remittance slip first. It was from Masashi Sada of Japan. Good heavens, how many zeros were there? Why were there so many?
The count was a bit messy, so Wei Ming decided to look at Amin's package first.

The first thing you see is a greeting card, a hard card. When you open it, you see that it's full of birthday wishes written by Amin herself, along with cartoon illustrations, photos of the two of them, and some clippings about Wei Ming. It's very thoughtful.

It's a pity that I didn't hear the Happy Birthday song when I opened it.

Huh? When did birthday cards with music first appear?

He remembered that the thing was very popular in mainland China around 2000, and it was quite fashionable and expensive. It must have appeared outside of China even earlier.

However, given Amin's willingness to spend money on herself, if she hasn't bought it, it's highly likely that she hasn't bought it yet.

Besides this heartfelt greeting card, there was also a photo album, or rather, a photo book, of Amin, which seemed to have been taken recently for her birthday.

However, Wei Ming didn't think much of the photographer's skills. Only Amin had a good foundation. He would definitely take a set of photos for her himself when he had the chance, and it would be far superior.

I'll put this photobook in the safe later.

Then Wei Ming opened Masashi Sada's package and first saw a videotape, which should be the movie "Yangtze River", which CCTV has not yet broadcast.

However, it has already aired in Japan, and it flopped.

Masashi Sada mentioned this in his letter.

"The response to 'Yangtze River' in Japan was lukewarm. It seems I really don't have the talent to be a director. I was hoping to sell the rights to more companies, but now it seems unlikely. I can't rely on this film to pay off my bank debts."

As expected, history followed its original course. This film saddled him with a loan of 28 billion yen. The Chinese side provided manpower, material resources, and policy support in exchange for his copyright, so it is highly unlikely that they would give him money. In fact, they made a lot of money from him, such as from a large amount of aerial photography.

The royalties he received from selling the copyrights in Japan were probably not much, and he still has at least 2 billion yen in debt, equivalent to 10 million US dollars. No wonder it took him decades to pay it off. He continued, "The heavy debt made me lose all inspiration for songwriting. Fortunately, I had you. Thank you, my friend. You said I could adapt any of your works as long as I paid you. After the success of 'First Love,' I adapted several of your songs and put them together on an album. Unexpectedly, there was no cultural barrier as I had imagined, and the album sold very well!"

Nonsense, you've modified works that were originally by Japanese musicians, like "Friends" and "Melinda," oh, and "How Much Wind and Rain" which was adapted from a Korean song.

To make money, this self-accompanied singer-songwriter has started doing dance and singing. "Monica" is one of Koji Yoshikawa's signature dance and singing songs.

In short, the album sold like hotcakes, and the 4000 million yen on the remittance slip belonged to Wei Ming's share, which was close to 20 US dollars, and it was all transferred to Wei Ming's account in China.

During this period, Masashi Sada actively held concerts, and since he wrote the lyrics for some of the songs himself, he earned at least 100 million yen.

In his letter, Masashi Sada concluded by saying, "I believe that I will be able to pay off my debts in ten years. Thank you again. If you have the opportunity, please come to Japan as a guest. I will do my best to entertain you."

Seeing Masashi Sada's sincere invitation, Wei Ming thought to himself, "Why wait for an opportunity? It's so much better to invite me now!"
I really want to go to Japan to see the exciting moment when the women's volleyball team wins the championship!

So Wei Ming immediately went out to send a telegram to Masashi Sada, otherwise he might miss it.

Sending one is the same as sending two.

Wei Ming sent another one to his aunt, Wei Lingling, telling her about a business opportunity in music greeting cards.

He remembered that the Langning Toy Factory itself produced toys that could make music, so this shouldn't be too difficult for the Langning Toy Factory.

It's actually quite challenging. Music chips for toys can be larger, but those for greeting cards must be very thin, and Japan is definitely a leader in this field.

So Wei Lingling decided that she would go on a trip to Tokyo with her mother, Lin Ni, to check out the technology and price of music chips.

As clever as she is, she immediately saw the huge commercial value hidden in this, since everyone has a birthday, and the middle class is especially willing to spend money on birthday celebrations.

Hong Kong has a huge middle-class consumer market.

Wei Lingling sighed with admiration. Her nephew was truly brilliant. Even if he didn't pursue a literary career, he would excel in business.

But how did he come up with the idea of ​​a musical greeting card? Did someone send it to him?
While Wei Lingling was preparing for her trip to Japan, Lin Ni had already spread the good news far and wide.

"Sister Zhou, my daughter and I are going to Japan. I heard that Ginza in Tokyo is the most bustling place in the world!" Lin Ni couldn't help but show off to Zhou's mother when she saw her.

Zhou's mother retorted, "Just the two of you? Where's Ah Gui?"

“He refused to go, saying he would never set foot in Japan unless he was leading troops to attack.”

Zhou's mother chuckled and told Zhou Huimin about it as a joke when she got home.

Amin praised Guibo for his ambition: "I'll just go there for a trip at most."

Speaking of this, Amin has never been abroad. The furthest she's ever been is to Guangzhou with Wei Lingling for two days.

Zhou's mother also thought of this. In the past, when Amin's class wrote an essay on the topic of a trip, many students went abroad, but only Amin and a few other students went on a trip to Hong Kong Island.

She then thought of Amin's birthday yesterday, which was just a simple birthday cake celebration, and they didn't even go to Ocean Park.

Could it be that because my daughter has never seen much of the world since she was a child, she was easily deceived by some scoundrel from outside?

That day at work, Zhou's mother said to Lao Gui, "Lao Gui, do you think it would be okay if I took a few days off?"

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Then Zhou's mother told him about her idea of ​​taking her daughter on a trip abroad. Now, with her income, traveling abroad is not a problem at all, and she is even planning to take out a loan to buy a house.

Old Ghost laughed and said, "Then why don't you go to Japan with Lingling and the others? You can look out for each other."

"Is this appropriate?"

"If there's anything inappropriate, I'll talk to Lingling about it."

~
"Won!"

"awesome!"

That day, at the invitation of Wei Hong's roommates, Wei Ming watched the Chinese women's volleyball team's match against Bulgaria in the TV room of the girls' dormitory with the girls from the classes of '80 and '81. They still achieved a perfect score of 3-0, which was already their fourth consecutive victory!

The country's propaganda campaign intensified dramatically, with reports about the women's volleyball team appearing everywhere.

It looks like the men's volleyball team will have a tough time reaching the top four, while the women's volleyball team is on a winning streak, aiming for second place and even first. The only teams that can rival China are the Japanese and American women's volleyball teams, both of whom have won all four of their matches.

This tournament was a round-robin format, with each team playing against the others. The Chinese women's volleyball team played four matches without losing a single set, while Japan and the United States each lost a set.

The girls were thrilled, some even dragging their friends to the sports field for a game, while others exclaimed: "I really want to be there to cheer for the women's volleyball team!"

They could only dream that Wei Ming could actually go.

The next day, Wei Ming received a fax from Masashi Sada, who sent him an invitation to attend his concert in Tokyo as a surprise guest.

The core message is simple: welcome Professor Wei Ming to Japan!

Although Masashi Sada is not an official Japanese citizen, he is a prominent figure in Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges and is a left-wing figure. With his endorsement, Wei Ming quickly applied for a visa.

Finally, on the 14th, Wei Ming boarded a plane to Tokyo amidst the envious gazes of Xiao Hong and a group of friends, though the flight required a layover in Shanghai first.

At this point, the Chinese women's volleyball team had already defeated the Cuban team, and on the same day, the United States defeated Japan, bringing the Chinese women's volleyball team one step closer to winning the championship.

Because of the tight transit time, Wei Ming did not inform Xue Jie when he arrived in Shanghai. At that time, Xue Jie was sitting opposite Zhu Lin in her old house.

"Du Shiniang" has finished filming, but "The Love in the Brush" hasn't even started filming yet. Zhu Lin couldn't help but complain, "If you had finished filming a few days earlier, I could have gone back to Yanjing to celebrate the bad boy's birthday."

Before Zhu Lin could even rest, the crew of "Middle Age" started setting up in Shanghai. The male lead was her old partner, Da Shichang, and then she came from Suzhou.

She had a key to Gong Xue's house, but she never expected that someone was home.

Gong Xue: "So you're going straight to the production team?"

Zhu Lin leaned back on the sofa: "The crew gave me a week to get out of my previous role since I just finished filming another movie. So I'm going back to Beijing tomorrow. I probably won't be back until Chinese New Year."

"Then you should go back quickly, he must miss you." Gong Xue could say this very naturally now.

Although the thought of Xiao Wei and Sister Lin's intimate moments still brings a pang of sadness, there is a sweet aftertaste after the sadness.

Zhu Lin also misses the bad boy. I haven't seen him for the duration of one drama. Last time I went back to Beijing, he went to Germany again. I could only catch a glimpse of him at the concert broadcast on TV.

"Your relationship must have progressed by leaps and bounds during this time. I even saw you two at that French artist's concert."

Fortunately, there was no internet at that time, otherwise observant netizens would have already started digging up details of Wei Ming and Gong Xue's date at the concert.

"Is it that obvious? My mom didn't even see me," Gong Xue asked weakly.

"It's probably because I'm so familiar with the two of you. When I see him, I think of you being by my side, and then when I look, you're there."

Yes, the three of them are very familiar with each other. Several times, Zhu Lin even asked Gong Xue to scrub her back while she was taking a bath. In the next stage, Zhu Lin wanted to scrub Gong Xue's back, but unfortunately, the southern girl was too shy.

"Speaking of concerts, Yale's last concert in Shanghai is today. Do you want to go? We can go together!"

"You have a ticket?"

"No, this concert is outdoors. You can see it from outside even without buying a ticket. The lights alone are beautiful, even without listening to the music."

So the two set off immediately, while Wei Ming, who had been resting briefly at Hongqiao Airport, was also about to depart.

The cabin had a different group of passengers, and coincidentally, the person sitting next to him recognized him.

"Is this Teacher Wei?" asked someone with a strong Shanghai accent.

Wei Ming nodded in agreement, and even found the other person somewhat familiar.

"Have we met somewhere before?"

"Yes, I've met him. I was an animator at Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and I even participated in the 'The Legend of Sealed Book' project."

"Oh, oh, I remember now, Master Guo, right!"

"It's me. They say important people have bad memories, but I think important people have excellent memories, hahaha."

Wei Ming asked, "How's the progress of 'The Legend of the Heavenly Book' going? Will we be able to see it next year?"

“No problem, we’re already 80% done,” Master Guo said, “and the quality is very high.”

Wei Ming then asked, "So, was your trip to Japan a business trip?"

When this was mentioned, Master Guo's expression darkened for a moment, then he shook his head: "I resigned and went to work in Japan."

It's simple in theory. To earn money, Master Guo is a typical person with elderly parents to support and young children to raise. His wife is in poor health and unable to work, and the entire family of seven depends on him alone. The few dozen yuan salary he earns at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio is simply not enough to support them.

So he accepted an invitation to work for a Japanese animation company. Because he had achieved some success in China, his starting salary was 20 yen per month, which is roughly equivalent to a monthly salary of 1000 US dollars.

Faced with $1000 on one hand and 70 or 80 yuan on the other, Mr. Guo had no choice but to leave his hometown.

Wei Ming knew that Master Guo was just the beginning; in the future, more and more people would choose to leave the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, either to Japan or Guangdong, for money, for a living.
……

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