Exciting 1979!

Chapter 399 The Red Envelope That Shocked the Entire Audience

It's a pity that Sister Xue didn't come today.

Afterwards, everyone put the yellow croaker and Yuan Shikai silver dollar that they had worked so hard to get back into the box and buried them simply.

Wei Lingling carefully put away the jewelry and jade, and then had her two older brothers divide them up later.

Huang Binhong's painting was simply hung in Wei Ming's bedroom; it's more meaningful to take such things out and appreciate them.

Before going to bed, Lizhi put on the pearl and gemstone necklace. She listened to Wei Lingling's instructions, arranged it properly, and then came out to show it off. Not to mention Wei Ming, even Wei Lingling couldn't help but swallow her saliva when she saw it.

That night, Wei Ming couldn't get that white figure out of his mind as he slept, so he deliberately went to wander around the door of the little red room, hoping that Sister Lin would understand what he meant if she heard him.

As expected, they were in sync. In the middle of the night, Sister Lin came out and quietly slipped into Wei Ming's room.

She threw herself into Wei Ming's arms and asked first, "Won't this delay tomorrow's wedding?"

Wei Ming: "Then let's finish this quickly."

Wei Ming's speed was relative; in the end, it still took a full half hour, and Sister Lin didn't dare to make a sound, covering her mouth with her eyes watery.

Finally, as Wei Ming pressed down on her, he heard Sister Lin weakly whisper in his ear, "I'm going to die."

Wei Ming knew she was having a blast, and he was impressed that she could keep quiet. What a dignified person.

Sister Lin went back after resting for about ten minutes, but Wei Ming couldn't sleep. His mind was blank, filled with nothing but darkness. What should he do with that old black gun?

~
The next day, Wei Ming got up early again and called out to all four women one by one.

Zhu Lin was going to Gong Xue's house, as she was a relative of the bride. Wei Lingling and Wei Hongli were going with Wei Ming to the groom's house at the Peace Hotel.

At the restaurant entrance, you can still see hand-drawn life-size standees of the two, guiding guests to where to dine. Ah Long himself drew these, and although they are cartoon versions, anyone who knows the two can recognize them.

When they arrived, Zhang Jianya was already there. Wei Ming asked Xiao Hong and Li Zhi to help out, while Zhang Jianya struggled a bit on his own.

When Zhang Jianya saw Lizhi, his eyes widened. Although Lizhi didn't show off her pearl and gemstone necklace, the fashion sense of Hong Kong and her own advantages still had a huge impact on Zhang Jianya.

Compared to these beauties who have returned from overseas, domestic female celebrities seem rather lackluster. This huge shock even made him feel that Gong Xue and Zhu Lin were insignificant.

They first photographed the exterior of the Peace Hotel and the Bund across the street, then went inside the Peace Hotel to take pictures, using the scenery to highlight the solemnity of the wedding.

Afterwards, when they went upstairs, they saw that Ah Long was already wearing a suit. Wei Ming told him to take it off and put it back on, as he hadn't taken any pictures yet.

"Take off... how much?" Ah Long blinked, wondering if he was supposed to go shirtless.
Wei Ming: "Just take it off to your shirt. Then we'll reshoot the scene with you in a suit and tie. Also, don't laugh. You'll look too silly if you laugh. If you want to laugh, wait until you see your wife."

Wei Ming applied the standards of filmmaking, demanding meticulous attention to detail and having a clear vision of the final product. As a result, he avoided shooting many unnecessary scenes, saving film as much as possible.

At this time, there were no monitors or playback options during filming, so Wei Ming had to personally watch the camera to ensure that the effect met his standards.

After messing around with Ah Long, Wei Ming went to the old man's and Ah Long's parents' place to shoot some more footage.

Uncle Liu Bin was willing to invest, so he borrowed two cars from the Peace Hotel to serve as wedding cars. Ah Long didn't have any relatives or friends here, so two cars were enough. The groom rode in one car, and the photography team rode in the other.

The photography team's car led the way, filming a clip of the groom's bridal car passing by some landmark buildings in Shanghai. Then Wei Ming told the photography team to speed up and head to the bride's house first.

The area around the bride's house is now crowded with people watching the spectacle. Because the area is quite narrow, cars can't drive all the way in and have to stop at the entrance of the alley.

A while ago, a girl got married in this alley. The groom came to pick her up on a bicycle. Compared to that, the neighbors were even more envious of the Gong family's daughter.

And after asking around, I found out that it wasn't the groom who came, but the wedding photography team. Wow, getting married is like making a movie, with a photography team too.

Gong Xue's house was on the second floor, and she and Zhu Lin saw Xiao Wei arrive from upstairs.

Zhu Lin pointed to Gong Xue and said, "That's her aunt's assistant. They've been staying together these past few days."

Gong Xue: "I think I've met him before, he's also from Shanghai."

"Ah."

Gong Xue: "It doesn't matter, I'm going back to Hong Kong anyway."

"Second Aunt, Uncle Wei Ming and the others are coming up!" Gong Xue's little nephew came over to deliver the news.

"Okay, let's go see how she's going to film it."

Because my younger sister is getting married and also has to film a segment, my sister-in-law has been staying at her parents' house for the past few days, while my older brother is staying at a friend's place. They gave up their room for my younger sister to stay in temporarily so that it would look better on camera.

Gong Ying was already wearing her wedding dress and was sitting on the bed waiting for her groom. She was unaware of what was happening outside. When she heard someone coming, she quickly covered her face with her veil, only to be greatly disappointed.

"Sister...Teacher Wei, it's you!"

Wei Ming: "I'll come over and shoot some footage first. You strike a pose as I tell you to."

Wei Ming arranged Gong Ying according to the painting that A Long had drawn yesterday. When he saw Gong Xue and Zhu Lin arrive, he turned the camera on them again.

Gong Xue chuckled and said, "Stop filming us, save the film."

Wei Ming: "It's alright, there's plenty of black and white stuff."

And we've never seen Sheryl and I appear together on screen before; that would be an absolute beauty overload.

After filming Nan Xue and Bei Lin enough, Wei Ming finally turned the camera on Gong Ying, who asked, "So what lines should I say?"

Wei Ming: "Say whatever you want."

Zhu Lin: "Wait a minute, you don't have any recording equipment here. Are you planning to dub it in post-production?"

Currently, due to technological limitations and considerations of saving film, filmmaking mainly relies on post-production dubbing. Of course, most of the time, the actors dub their own lines, and everyone can speak their own lines, unlike when filming TV series, where many actors cannot speak Mandarin well.

Zhu Lin thought he had guessed correctly. In fact, he had no intention of having any sound here at all; he was filming it like a silent film.

After filming on and off for more than ten minutes, the car behind arrived. Wei Ming shouted from the window, "Don't come out yet, wait for me to get down."

Then Wei Ming and his team moved down to the ground, where they filmed both handheld and fixed shots. Unfortunately, they were running out of time to lay the tracks, so many of their ideas for showing off their skills had to be put on hold.

Wei Ming felt somewhat unsatisfied, as if he had been limited in his performance.

When Ah Long finally met his bride after overcoming numerous obstacles, Wei Ming silently changed into color film.

When Ah Long led Gong Ying, dressed in all white, out, it still had a certain impact on the perceptions of some people in Shanghai. However, this is Shanghai after all, one of the most modern places in mainland China. Some people calmly said, "Foreigners dress like this for their weddings. Do you know Princess Diana? She dressed similarly."

"I know, I know, this is called a wedding dress."

"So beautiful, Mommy! I want to wear a wedding dress when I get married!"

"Silly son, wedding dresses are for girls."

Amidst the chatter and laughter of the crowd, the bride was taken away. Gong Xue, as a relative, got into the bride's car, while Zhu Lin had to take a taxi with other relatives and friends to the Peace Hotel for a meal.

On the way back, Wei Ming didn't film much; they would move directly to the Peace Hotel to film the wedding ceremony.

Moreover, film stock is limited, so you can just shoot the most crucial and moving scenes directly.

When Wei Ming returned, Wei Lingling and the other literary youths who had eaten together earlier were already seated at the table.

When Zhu Lin arrived, Wei Ming arranged for her to sit at that table, which once again drew gasps of amazement – ​​they had seen a big star!

Aside from Wang Anyi, she and Zhu Lin already knew each other because they had worked together on "The Courtyard".

She was just curious about the relationship between Wei Ming and Zhu Lin, as they seemed to be quite close.

Wang Anyi asked, "Professor Wei, how much did you give as a gift?"

"I haven't given a gift yet, so don't feel guilty about how much you give. We're all friends, so it doesn't matter."

Ah Cheng, standing to the side, said, "Yeah, and you can't compare yourself to Teacher Wei, or we wouldn't be able to make ends meet even if we sold everything we own."

Aside from female writer Cheng Naishan, her grandfather Cheng Muhao was a senior executive at the Bank of China in Hong Kong and participated in the construction of the Bank of China Tower. The family was quite wealthy. However, she was also curious about how much of a gift Wei Ming had given to his good brother.

Wei Ming patted his pocket: "You'll find out soon enough, so don't blink."

After the bride and her family entered, Wei Ming got busy again.

Wei Lingling asked the writers at the table, "Is that Gong Xue next to the bride?"

"Hmm, Gong Xue of the South and Zhu Lin of the North, truly living up to their reputation." Tie Ning sighed as she looked at the two beautiful women in the distance and sitting next to her.

Yan Geling felt that she was actually quite good herself. She used to be in a performing arts troupe, but she disdained to achieve success through her looks and wanted to rely on her talent instead.

Upon learning that Wei Lingling was American, she immediately leaned over to inquire about things in America.

After a while, Wei Ming's composition "Only Time" began to play, and the entire venue fell silent, as this signified the official start of the wedding.

Many people at the scene had heard this world-famous song by Wei Ming, which had not entered China through official channels, but this was the first time they had heard it at a wedding. The feeling was indeed very different, instantly drawing people into a sacred atmosphere.

Next up on stage was Gong Xue.

Although there was no priest at the wedding, someone still needed to guide the proceedings, and the second sister, Gong Xue, volunteered to take on this responsibility—which was essentially being the emcee.

Sister Xue had worked in the army before; one of her main jobs was as an announcer.

Gong Xue's opening performance immediately drew everyone's attention. Almost everyone in the audience had seen "Mom, Love Me Again," proving that she is the most popular active female star.

Wei Ming immediately turned the camera towards them, showing her relaxed demeanor befitting a veteran actress. She first thanked the guests for attending her younger sister Gong Ying and brother-in-law Liu Rulong's wedding, and then recounted how the two met and fell in love.

This process was witnessed by Wei Ming and her together. To a certain extent, A Long met and got to know Gong Ying in order to cover for her and Wei Ming. They were like matchmakers.

Gong Xue mainly speaks Mandarin, occasionally interspersed with some Shanghainese. His calm demeanor is full of deeply moving sincerity, and he can even occasionally elicit laughter from the audience.

"Alright, I'm sure everyone is eager to start the feast, so let's give the bride a round of applause!"

Gong Ying appeared on the opposite side of the red carpet wearing a wedding dress of her own design. After obtaining Gong Xue's permission, A Long walked up to her with a bouquet of flowers, took her hand, and led her to the stage. As they walked, people threw red flower petals at them.

These are all wedding details that Wei Ming and A Long discussed. They are very common in later generations, but they are considered innovative now. Many people even remember them carefully and plan to do the same in the future.

The wedding also included a segment where the couple asked each other questions. These were lyrics written by Wei Ming for her, which haven't become popular in China yet.

"Liu Rulong, do you take this woman to be your wife, to marry her, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, to love and to cherish her, to care for her, to respect her, to accept her, and to remain faithful to her until the end of your life?"

Ah Long looked at Ah Ying behind the veil and said firmly, "I do!"

Then the music changed to Wei Ming's "I Do". Those who understood English explained to the people next to them that the song was called "I Do", which was indeed very suitable for a wedding.

When the same set of words was asked of Gong Ying later, she received the same firm affirmative answer.

Finally, Gong Xue smiled and said, "Then, Liu Rulong, lift the bride's veil and kiss your bride."

"Whoa!" A murmur rippled through the crowd. Right here? Aren't they going to carry him?

Fortunately, "Romance on Lushan Mountain" set a precedent for kissing scenes, and the scale of domestic films has been getting bigger and bigger. Recently, there have been quite a few kissing scenes in the cinema, such as "Not for Love", "Love in the Valley", "Awakening" and "Hidden Web". In just two years, the audience has already become accustomed to kissing scenes.

So the shock was limited to that, but not to the point of being hard to accept. Even Wei Hong was eagerly waiting to see what would happen.

Besides, reporting it won't do any good; they're Hong Kong compatriots, and right now they're proper foreign guests.

Ah Long and Gong Ying have been in Hong Kong for so long, so they weren't shy about this kind of thing; they just gave each other a light kiss.

Right next to him was Wei Ming, who was holding a camera. He had already filmed it, but he exclaimed "Oops!" and said regretfully, "I didn't film it well just now. Can we do another take?"

Gong Xue covered his mouth and laughed, while Ah Long's cousins ​​cheered, "One more time! One more time!"

So Ah Long kissed her again, this time for a longer time, and they were still kissing while hugging. Some people even started whistling excitedly. There's no such level of intimacy in movies.

Kissing scenes are now limited to three seconds.

It's a pity there were no tracks, otherwise I would have definitely given them a 360-degree spinning kiss, making all the melodramatic romance movies of later generations call him the progenitor.

After filming the scene of the bride and groom kissing, Wei Ming asked Zhang Jianya to pack up their things and prepare for the banquet.

"Aren't you going to film the feast with your relatives and friends? It's so lavish!"

Wei Ming laughed and said, "Then this task is yours. Use up this roll of film, and save the last roll for me to shoot our wedding night."

"Huh? Filming the wedding night too?" Zhang Jianya's head buzzed for a moment, and at the same time he thought, isn't ten minutes a bit too much for one roll?
Lin Jie's table was already full, and Wei Ming sat at the table next to it. They were all friends from the film industry invited by Gong Xue, mainly actors from Shanghai Film Studio, including Guo Kaimin and Zhang Yu.

However, once Wei Ming arrived, he became the center of attention at the table. Even Zhang Yu took the initiative to get close to him. She had only finished filming "Romance on Lushan Mountain" a year and a half ago, but she felt like she had become outdated.

After eating and chatting for a while, Zhang Jianya came over. Wei Ming didn't actually intend to introduce Zhang Jianya to Zhang Yu, but he couldn't resist Guo Kaimin's enthusiasm.

Before Zhang Jianya went to the film academy, he was a colleague of Zhang Jianya at the Shanghai Film Studio. So after Zhang Jianya sat down, he solemnly introduced Zhang Jianya to the unmarried actresses from the Shanghai Film Studio present, including Zhang Yu and Zhao Jing, and even patted his chest to guarantee, "This is the future great director!"

When Zhang Yu heard that Zhang Jianya was a top student in the 78 directing class at Beijing Film Academy, she was indeed somewhat tempted. Although Wei Ming was a great writer and a very wealthy writer, the rich were in danger in this era, and actors actually relied on directors the most.

If one could have a husband like Director Xie Jin, how could one not surpass Gong Xue in the South and Zhu Lin in the North?

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu became a bit more enthusiastic towards Zhang Jianya.

Despite his earlier comments that Zhang Yu wasn't as pretty as Gong Xue, Zhang Jianya got carried away and lost his bearings after a few kind words from a real big star.

Wei Ming smiled without saying a word. At this moment, A Long brought his bride over to toast, and Wei Ming took the opportunity to hand over his red envelope to him for safekeeping.

The writer at the next table and the actors at this table were all staring longingly at the red envelope. It didn't look very thick; could it only contain one ten-yuan note?

Of course, ten yuan was far more than their usual gift amount; they usually gave one yuan. But they felt that ten yuan was not worthy of Teacher Wei's status, nor his friendship with the groom.

Gong Ying was also very curious about what was in the red envelope, but she refrained from asking. However, Guo Kaimin was a bit talkative: "Why didn't Teacher Wei write it down in the gift book just now?"

"Oh, I didn't give cash, so it's inconvenient to record it in the gift register."

Guo Kaimin exclaimed in surprise: "It's not money, is it a painting? I know, the groom is a cartoonist, so you drew a painting for him, right? It's very meaningful."

Ah Long knew that Guo Kaimin probably didn't mean any harm; he was just low on emotional intelligence and didn't know how to speak properly, making people feel that he was being sarcastic. So he opened it and took out what was inside.

He thought it would be a hundred-dollar bill, but, uh, it was even more exciting than a hundred-dollar bill.

These people were a bit confused. What was this? It wasn't banknotes or comics, just a thin, thin piece of paper.

Cheng Naishan muttered to herself, "Checks~"

"What is that?" Yan Geling asked from the side.

Cheng Naishan glanced at it again: "HSBC."

Yan Geling still didn't understand.

Ah Long looked at the numbers on the screen and said, "Ah Ming, no, this is too much, it's far too much."

Wei Ming: "I told you, once we're married and I've received the wedding gifts, that'll be enough to buy a house. Just keep it, I don't need it."

Wei Ming told him to keep the check safe, as he could cash it at HSBC when he returned to Hong Kong.

He pointed to his grandfather's table: "Go over there and offer a toast. Mr. Zhang is very interested in you."

Mr. Yang Songqiao has some connections in Shanghai. He invited Mr. Zhang Leping, the father of Sanmao, and other senior figures in the Shanghai comics and comic strip circles to attend his grandson's wedding. Zhang Leping has been Ah Long's idol since childhood.

With immense gratitude and trepidation, Ah Long went over to toast his grandfather and Mr. Zhang Leping, and earnestly told Mr. Zhang about his work in making Chinese comics bigger and stronger.

Over here, Zhang Yu couldn't help but ask Wei Ming, "What is that piece of paper?"

Wei Ming replied truthfully, "Checks."

What are checks?

At this point, almost everyone at both tables had this question: due to historical policy reasons, the check function, which had been tried in mainland China in the 50s, was later withdrawn from the mainland's economic stage, and young people today don't know about it.

Wei Ming looked at Cheng Naishan at the next table: "Sister Cheng, your family is in this business, can you explain it to me?"

Cheng Naishan smiled and said, "Simply put, a check is a negotiable instrument issued by the account holder, instructing the bank to pay on demand. In other words, whatever amount Teacher Wei writes on that piece of paper, the groom can take it to the bank and withdraw that amount."

"Huh?!" Everyone was surprised. Was it really that simple?

“Of course, it needs Mr. Wei’s signature and seal. The bank has a way to verify its authenticity,” she pushed up her glasses. “And the amount on the check must be lower than his bank deposit.”

Now that everyone understood, Guo Kaimin asked, "How much is written on your check?"

If Wei Ming hadn't said anything, they would probably have felt bad, but since he did, they would have felt even worse. For everyone's sake, Wei Ming smiled and said, "This stir-fried eel is really good. If you don't eat it, I'll eat it all."

He wanted to gloss over the issue, but someone was deliberately preventing him from doing so.

Ah Long's uncle insisted on giving his nephew a thick red envelope and even put it in his pocket himself.

If this thickness is ten yuan per sheet, it's at least a thousand yuan. The uncle's son is also in Hong Kong and his family is wealthy, so he asked his nephew to give it to him when toasting, so as to show off the strength of the Cantonese people in front of the people of Shanghai.

As a result, when putting the money in, she accidentally pulled the red envelope out of her pocket and it fell to the ground.

Uncle Liu couldn't help but laugh. Who was it that gave him such a thin package, and even gave it separately? Northerners are so stingy.

Before Ah Long could speak, he took the contents out of the box. What he found was not banknotes, but checks, specifically HSBC checks.

"Ten thousand dollars!"

Everyone noticed what was happening over there and heard the words "ten thousand yuan".

Then they all looked at Teacher Wei Ming. Goodness, he gave a gift of 10,000 yuan to his friend's wedding. It is said that Wei Ming is the richest writer in China. It is indeed true!

I really want to be his friend!
Very few people there had a savings of 10,000 yuan. Most of them earned only a few dozen or a hundred yuan a month. How could they possibly save up 10,000 yuan?
But then Uncle Ah Long let out another scream: "This unit is still US dollars!"

Ah Long quickly took the check back and put it away. Seeing Ah Ying's nervousness, fearing that her uncle would tear or twitch it, Ah Long laughed and said, "It's okay, if it's torn, just have him give us a replacement."

He meant that Wei Ming should make up the difference, and the old one would naturally be torn up. The uncle thought he was going to have to pay an extra ten thousand US dollars, so he was so scared that he quickly sat down and ate his rice.

Ten thousand, in US dollars!

At this moment, Wei Ming radiated a divine light in their eyes, like a holy radiance.

Wei Ming wiped his mouth and called to Zhang Jianya, "Old Zhang, time to get to work, let's go decorate the bridal chamber~"

……

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(End of this chapter)