Exciting 1979!

Chapter 389 1981 years have passed, and I miss it
Students in the 78 acting class at Beijing Film Academy have already started congratulating Zhang Tielin, saying things like "Don't forget your good fortune, my dog."

"I will certainly not forget everyone when I become rich and powerful." Zhang Tielin smiled and cupped his hands in greeting, as if his future was already bright.

However, when Fang Shu asked him what movie he acted in and what role he played, he stammered, "The director and Teacher Wei haven't talked to him yet. They should have another meeting. Wei Ming is the screenwriter, and Li Hanxiang is the director. It can't be bad."

They were all from the film academy, so they knew Li Hanxiang's status. He was one of the four great directors of Hong Kong and a Shaw Brothers director with countless classics. In their hearts, it was even more exciting than making Xie Jin's films. This was going to be an international success.

Just then, Zhang Fengyi returned. Zhang Tielin looked over nervously, and Xie Yuan patted his good friend on the shoulder and asked, "Fengzi, what kind of movie are you guys filming?"

"Oh dear, I forgot to ask the movie title, but I play the second male lead."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Tielin revealed a subtle expression of arrogance. When Zhang Fengyi was chosen to star in "Camel Xiangzi," the whole class thought he would become the most promising student in the class, but now he's just a supporting actor to him.

Zhang Tielin patted Zhang Fengyi on the shoulder: "Fengzi, let's work together and show the Hong Kong director what our film academy has all to offer."

Zhang Fengyi nodded: "I'm playing a prince, and I don't know if I'll have any scenes with you."

Wang Yue, who had been mostly silent, asked, "If you're playing a prince, what will Tie Lin be playing? A minister? Or the emperor?"

"Oh, him? He plays a eunuch."

The entire room fell silent, then burst into laughter. Zhang Tielin's face turned ashen. Zhou Lijing, knowing Zhang Fengyi's mischievous nature, said to him, "Fengzi, be serious."

Zhang Fengyi said innocently, "I'm not joking. I'm just playing a eunuch. Oh, they've already left. They asked me to tell you that we'll meet at the Beijing Film Studio at nine o'clock on the last day of this month to test the camera. If everything is fine, we'll sign the contract."

Seeing Zhang Fengyi's serious expression, Zhang Tielin touched his delicate face and was a little confused. Could it be a movie with eunuchs as the main characters?
And what's wrong with being a eunuch? It's just acting, it's not shameful. So, is it Wei Zhongxian or Li Lianying?
~
You're all wrong. It was An Dehai, Li Lianying's predecessor, and one of Empress Dowager Cixi's early confidants.

Wei Ming wasn't trying to humiliate Zhang Tielin. Zhang Tielin was indeed a pretty boy with a good image in the class. He had starred in the first TV series produced after the establishment of Yanjing TV last year. He would make it sooner or later. Wei Ming didn't mind being a talent scout and helping Zhang Tielin choose a path in life.

When people play a certain role a lot, their speech will carry that flavor.

After going downstairs, Wei Ming ran into Zhang Yimou again. Zhang Yimou had heard that Wei Ming had come to the school and had come specifically to bump into him.

Then Wei Ming introduced Zhang Yimou to Li Hanxiang: "He is the first generation of photographers trained by China Buzz. He was specially recruited because of his talent, and he is now the most professionally capable in the class. You praised him before."

"Me? Did I ever praise you?"

“You once praised a scene in ‘Niu and Niu Er’, and that was shot by him.”

"Oh, it's the place where Liu Xiaoqing's long white leg is sticking out from among a sea of ​​corpses, right? The color contrast is very strong. Nice to meet you. So you're a student at the film academy?"

“Yes, I’m an older student, graduating next year,” Zhang Yimou said modestly. “I was just a photography assistant back then, and I only filmed that one part. The key is that Teacher Wei wrote it well.”

Wei Ming waved his hand and asked again, "Have you heard anything about the allocation results?"

“Xi’an Film Studio should be about the same,” Zhang Yimou said. “Director Wu Tianming wants to bring me along.”

"Then you've gotten what you wanted."

Zhang Yimou smiled, though the smile seemed somewhat forced. He was an ambitious man, and for him, the best places to make movies were, of course, Beijing and Shanghai.

But it was too difficult. Of the directing and cinematography majors in this year, only Tian Zhuangzhuang went to Beijing Film Studio and Zhang Jianya went to Shanghai Film Studio. The former was the son of the studio director, and the latter was originally an employee of Shanghai Film Studio. He had studied for a few years and then returned to his original unit.

Wei Ming patted Lao Zhang on the shoulder: "Let's cooperate sometime, bye!"

Wei Ming, Li Hanxiang, and Biaozi returned to the Yanjing Hotel. Old Li wanted to treat them to dinner, but Wei Ming said, "I've already made plans with my family. Let's do it another day."

"Okay, the two actresses will arrive tomorrow. Are you coming to audition?"

Wei Ming pointed to the Yanjing Hotel: "Here?"

Li Hanxiang: Is that okay?

Wei Ming got on his motorcycle: "You should stay at the Beijing Film Studio. Otherwise, if things get complicated, I won't come."

Old Li: "Hey, I'm not that kind of person, and my health isn't what it used to be."

Indeed, he had just undergone heart surgery a couple of years ago and almost thought he was going to die, which led to his desire to return to his roots and come to the mainland, which resulted in the collaboration on "The Empress Dowager".

Wei Ming and Biaozi took a detour to Xintiandi. It had been a long time since Boss Wei had visited his clothing empire.

Along the way, I saw several similar clothing stores, but the customer flow was not as large as in Oriental Plaza. However, Oriental Plaza was not as crowded as it was during its peak, except for major holidays.

At this time, the large poster at the entrance of Xintiandi was changed to "Nan Gongxue Bei Zhu Lin". They were no longer unknowns, but the two most popular actresses in China.

This is also a newly customized poster. They are now considered the spokespeople for Xintiandi. They don't get paid, but they occasionally receive hundreds of millions.

Because they provided costumes for the calendar shoot, the store also has small posters of Liu Xiaoqing, Li Xiuming, and Zhang Jinling hanging inside.

It was only after arriving here that Wei Ming realized he still had several hundred thousand yuan in the company's accounts belonging to him.

The total cash reserves in Xintiandi's public accounts have exceeded one million. Xiaomei has been eager to expand the scale. He feels that if the store is expanded several times, the money earned will also increase several times. After a few years of reform and opening up, people actually have more money in their hands, and their desire to consume is growing.

When they met today, he brought up the old topic again. Thinking of the mural at the airport, Wei Ming was a little reluctant to offer any advice.

"Then why don't you start looking for a suitable store now?" he said.

Mei Wenhua: "Great! That money will finally have a use! Big brother, you can focus on your creative work, and Biaozi, you can go and make movies. Your godmother and I can handle things here!"

Xiaomei recognized Biao's mother as her godmother. Although Biaozi is the third shareholder, his mother does most of the work. If they expand this time, they will probably take control of the upstream garment factory.

After chatting with Xiaomei for a while, Wei Ming went back to Beichizi to get some things, and then headed straight for Peking University.

He first went to Professor Wu Xiaoru's house. Old Wei helped him find a calligraphy copybook in Hong Kong. It was an item from the early Republic of China period, and he thought he would give it to Professor Wu Xiaoru.

Mr. and Mrs. Wu Xiaoru received him: "My father has already returned to his old residence in Tianjin."

"Oh dear, that's such a pity. Please pass this on to Professor Wu, along with my and Comrade Gong Xue's gratitude."

Wu Xiaoru asked, "Comrade Gong Xue has already started filming, right?"

"Hmm, they might have already started filming the calligraphy portion."

~
In a guesthouse in Suzhou, Gong Xue returned to her room, which was filled with the smell of ink. Because of the price, the ink was fragrant and much better than the ink used by the film crew.

Upon entering, she first took out a letter, which was a letter she had just received from Zhu Lin.

One of them lives in Shanghai, and the other in Suzhou, so it's easy for them to communicate by letter.

In her letter, Zhu Lin recounted anecdotes from her conversations with the original author, Professor Chen Rong. For example, she mentioned that Wei Ming had composed a new song for Professor Chen Rong's son's class of Peking University students, and that the literary world was worried that Professor Wei would focus on the music industry from then on, which would be a regret for the literary world.

Of course, Chen Rong also praised her, saying that this role was Zhu Lin's comfort zone.

Gong Xue also replied to her letter, first asking if she had received the birthday gift he had given her.

Zhu Lin also received a birthday music card and a plush toy from Wei Ming, sent from Hong Kong.

Gong Xue told Zhu Lin that filming on location in Suzhou for "Love in the Brush" would wrap up before the new year, and then they would return to Shanghai to film interior scenes.

“Then we can live together again.” She sent this letter directly to the old house, where Zhu Lin would stay every few days.

~
After leaving Professor Wu's house, Wei Ming went to Peking University again, intending to pick up Wei Hong directly. However, Xiao Hong had already set off for Uncle Ping'an's house, and instead ran into Li Aiguo.

"Leonardo, you're finally back! You haven't forgotten our promise, have you? I'm going back to America in a few days."

Wei Ming laughed and said, "I remember the date. Come to my house tomorrow and I'll play it for you myself."

"Great, great!"

Li Aiguo was accompanied by several international students who were also interested in Wei Ming's new song. They asked, "Can we go listen to it?"

Since they already knew each other, Wei Ming readily agreed, "No problem."

Electronic music, where sheet music isn't readily available, isn't so easily leaked. Besides the staff notation and chord markings, there are also various effects parameters. Wei Ming had to communicate and learn from Teacher Gu before painstakingly writing this song.

When Wei Ming arrived at Uncle Ping'an's house, Xiao Hong was watching TV with Xi Zi and Le Le.

"Brother, you're finally back! Let's go home and stay today!"

"Alright, alright," he glanced at the TV, "Oh, this is episode two of 'Black Cat Detective'!"

Lü Xiaoyan: "Yes, it's been airing for a while now. There are only three episodes in total, and it's been playing on a loop. Xizi's classmates are complaining that the filming is too slow."

"Two new episodes are pretty good. I thought they only filmed one episode in the last six months."

The episode, which lasted less than half an hour, ended quickly, and Lele's singing came on the TV. The same song played at the end of the episode, but only the chorus was played.

During the meal, Aunt Xiaoyan reported to Wei Ming on the December circulation of "King of Fairy Tales".

"We've already reached 50 this month! We're now on par with Children's Literature!"

“But you seem to have far fewer editors,” Wei Ming said with a smile.

Lü Xiaoyan: "Not only are there few, but they are also very capable. They are both editors and authors, and yet some people still want to poach them."

Wei Ming knew she was referring to Zheng Yuanjie: "What's wrong?"

Lu Xiaoyan said angrily, "That old Song from the Beijing Writers Association, the Beijing Writers Association is currently launching a children's magazine called 'Oriental Youth,' which is aimed at students in the upper elementary, junior high, and high school age groups. They wanted to transfer Xiao Zheng there, but luckily I managed to keep him."

Old Song is Song Fan, Song Dandan's father, who was entrusted with the important task of serving as the editor-in-chief of this new publication. Wei Ming thought Aunt Xiaoyan was going to complain, but she changed the subject: "However, after I strongly objected and made a fuss, I was eventually promoted to the same level as the editor-in-chief of Children's Literature."

Wei Ming was somewhat surprised: "Auntie, you've been promoted to section chief!"

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing.” Lü Xiaoyan said modestly, feeling proud of herself. Previously, she was only a deputy director-level official, serving as the editor-in-chief of the new magazine.

Wei Hong exclaimed excitedly, "Does that mean we have two division-level cadres in our family now?!"

Wei Ming said to Uncle Ping An, "Uncle, you have to work harder. Auntie was promoted to the division-level position at a much younger age than you."

Wei Ping'an smiled and remained silent, saying, "Wait until next year and I'll show you what it means to be young and promising."

Now this family has no secrets about Hong Kong. However, because they were worried that the children might say something inappropriate, Wei Ping'an asked about the scene of Hong Kong Jiefang Ge and his uncle recognizing their relatives after dinner when Lü Xiaoyan took the two children into the bedroom.

Wei Ming said, "The scene was so tragic, everyone was crying their eyes out. When have you ever seen my dad cry? Oh, when my two grandmothers passed away, that was the only time I've ever seen him cry."

“That’s all. Your dad is a heartless person, or you could call him optimistic. But finding your father again is definitely something worth crying about,” Wei Ping’an said.

Put yourself in his shoes. If you found out one day that your father wasn't actually dead, you'd probably cry even harder than Jiefang Ge.

Then Wei Ming talked about how popular the two pandas were in Hong Kong, and how his aunt made tens of millions of dollars from musical greeting cards, which amazed the two of them.

He also took out a card from his bag for them to play with. When closed, it was silent, but when opened, the melody of "Christmas Carols" played, the one called "Jingle Bells".

After taking it, Uncle Ping An studied it carefully. He now wanted to make money for Peking University and build it into the number one university in China, surpassing Tsinghua University. What doesn't cost money these days?

“It’s so easy to make money abroad. But I doubt this will sell well in China, since the cost of living isn’t that high,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve been running the school-run enterprise for so long and I haven’t made this much.”

Wei Ming asked curiously, "How much did you earn?"

Uncle Ping An countered, "The tens of millions you mentioned, are you referring to profit?"

"Yes, not yet, but we made several million Hong Kong dollars during the Christmas season, so ten million shouldn't be far off."

Wei Ping'an sighed, "The four factories run by Peking University haven't been finalized yet, but I have a rough idea. The annual output value is probably over 800 million yuan, and the profit is around 100 million yuan. That's already 150% higher than last year!"

Wei Ming laughed and said, "That's impressive. It's all thanks to your skillful management, Uncle. As for the overall business environment, there's no need to force it."

Wei Ping'an nodded helplessly. Moreover, they were also under restrictions, unable to freely enter the competition in the livelihood industry. They could only do business related to the scientific research of various departments of Peking University, and in this respect, Peking University was not as good as Tsinghua University because of its humanities focus.

Wei Hong smiled and said, "Brother, you came up with the idea of ​​a musical greeting card, could you also come up with one for Uncle Ping An?"

"It's impossible to make as much profit as music greeting cards, because the income level of Chinese people is what it is. Ten million would require one million people to each contribute ten yuan, sigh..."

Wei Ming suddenly remembered something: "Uncle, is it possible to take the TOEFL in China recently?"

"Yes, as you know, the TOEFL test was first offered in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou at the beginning of the month."

TOEFL is a transliteration of the English abbreviation "TOEFL". Its full Chinese name is "Test of English as a Foreign Language". In the past, Chinese students who wanted to study abroad had to take this test abroad, and many people got stuck at this hurdle. Now, they can take the test right at their doorstep.

Wei Ming gave him an idea: "Peking University doesn't only have science departments that can make money. If we can make use of the advantages of the foreign language department, compile TOEFL textbooks, and do TOEFL training, given the current trend of studying abroad in China, it might make more money than those science research achievements in less than two years."

Because Teacher Yu has already set an example with his personal success, if you don't do this business sooner or later, there will be plenty of people doing it, and it can be done on a very large scale, with profits that can last for at least forty years.

"Is that even possible?" When Wei Ping'an heard this idea, his first thought was that his nephew's thinking was too unconventional. Normal people who want to develop factories and enterprises would not even glance at the foreign language department. Yet he managed to combine it with the recent hot topic of TOEFL and its application in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

However, upon closer reflection, how can TOEFL test materials and training not be considered a scientific research achievement?
"Xiaoming, your brain is just too sharp!"

Wei Ming: "It's just an idea. Whether it can be successfully implemented depends on the school's determination and your skills, Uncle."

It was getting late, so Wei Ming said goodbye to Xiao Hong. On the way home, his sister said, "Brother, these past two days we've only heard about two songs at school."

"The Strong Rose and the Safe Journey, right?"

“Hmm,” Wei Hong said, “they’re all so beautiful. Do you think you should write a farewell song for our graduating class?”

"Assigned essay topics are really difficult, okay? At most, the class of '78 can write another one, and you guys can just say goodbye with old songs."

Wei Hong hummed and hawed as she talked about other interesting things that happened in class, and asked about some details about her parents and grandfather in Hong Kong. Wei Ming also told her the good news that Teacher Yang was expecting her second child.

"She's so lucky. If she had gotten pregnant here, it would have been very difficult to give birth." The situation regarding childbirth is becoming increasingly serious. Xiao Hong has already heard of cases where people have lost their secure jobs at school because of this.

Wei Ming shook his head, saying he wouldn't talk about it; it was too taboo.

The next day, Wei Hong continued to attend classes, while Wei Ming went to Beichizi, where he had arranged to meet Li Aiguo. The electronic synthesizer and other electronic instruments he had equipped for the synthesizer were all located there, as the Overseas Chinese Apartment could not accommodate them.

Actually, it's a bit cramped in Beichizi. After a while, he plans to move all his things to the two-courtyard house in Nanluoguxiang, and leave this one to his parents.

On his way there, he ran into Li Chengru's mother. The old lady was pushing honeycomb briquettes on a tricycle and reminded Wei Ming to remember to buy some.

It's already winter.

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll go in a bit."

They were waiting for Li Aiguo and his group. When they arrived, Wei Ming led the group of foreigners to buy honeycomb briquettes.

The street workers were terrified by the scene, especially by the two men and women whose skin was as dark as coal.

Foreigners are really useful; not only can I use the flatbed cart freely, but they also gave me a lot of honeycomb briquettes and coal balls as extra.

Wei Ming's original intention was not to take advantage of others, but to make reasonable use of free labor. Look at the mess this has made.

So, a strange sight appeared on Beichizi Street: a white man pushing a cart, two black men holding the front, and a circle of white and yellow foreigners around him. Many old men and women from the courtyards came out to see the spectacle.

When he saw Wei Ming, who seemed the most relaxed, walking ahead with his hands behind his back, an old man born in the Qing Dynasty chuckled and said, "The world has changed, it really has!"

Once home, he quickly closed the door. The sheriff was a little scared of so many people, so he quickly hid.

This wasn't Li Aiguo's first visit. Everyone else was very interested in these traditional Chinese houses, but unfortunately most of the doors were locked. They had no choice but to lock them; they were worth millions in the future.

After unloading the coal, everyone washed their hands. A Congolese exchange student noticed a Japanese exchange student staring at him, so he waved his hand and said, "Don't look at me, buddy. I was the first to wash my hands. This is my Japanese."

The Japanese exchange student quickly bowed, looking embarrassed; if there were a knife there, he'd probably have to commit seppuku.

After observing Wei Ming's mansion, Wei Ming led them into the music room, which was placed next to the ping-pong room.

"Alright, now let's begin Mr. Why's unconventional musical performance. Everyone, please focus on appreciating the electronic melodies."

Wei Ming sat in front of the synthesizer with an electric guitar in his arms, and the song was called "Wake Me Up," which woke me up.

"Walk through the darkness, searching for my direction."

Guided by a beating heart.

I don't care where this trip will end.

But I know where it begins.

Hey, they say I was young and naive.

They say I'm living in a dream...

Electronic music has seen good development in recent years, but it is still relatively niche, with a larger audience among young people. Several international students from Europe and America have been exposed to electronic music.

Wei Ming's song felt less electronic to them and had a bit of an American country music feel to it.

Li Aiguo knew that American country music was a genre that Wei Ming really liked, so he actually fused electronic music with country music to create a very comfortable electronic music style.

This comfortable style and catchy lyrics made him sense the potential for explosive sales!

He had a good eye. Wei Mingxuan's song can be said to be a small peak of electronic music more than 30 years later. The single sold more than 20 million copies. It is a crossover masterpiece of electronic and folk music. It also won the Grammy and topped the music charts in more than 20 countries around the world.

Of course, most of the sales 30 years later are digital music sales, which is a different standard compared to the record era.

After Wei Ming's song was released, the nascent house electronic music genre found its direction for development.

Wei Ming doesn't know much about electronic music, only a few of the top tracks.

As the song ended, Wei Ming stood up and paid tribute, saying, "This is dedicated to my young and courageous friends. I hope you will not lose yourselves!"

The lyrics of this song have a very good meaning, and they immediately burst into applause. They even wanted to sing it again.

Wei Ming waved his hand: "Due to limited conditions, we couldn't bring out the song at its best. Let's hope that Comrade Li Aiguo can return to America and record the song as soon as possible. Then we can play some ping-pong."

Upon hearing this, the Japanese exchange student perked up, and half an hour later he declared that he refused to participate in pornography, gambling, or table tennis!
At this moment, his mental state is probably: I really want to commit seppuku in front of him right now!

The international students all arrived by bicycle. After demonstrating his new work to them, Wei Ming went back to school with them, though he rode a motorcycle, which was faster.

This was also Wei Ming's last class at Peking University in 1981. After taking so many leave of absence, he had to stand firm at his post until the very end.

1981 has passed, and Wei Ming feels that he has had a very fulfilling year; it was truly an unforgettable one!

……

(Guaranteed minimum today~)

(End of this chapter)