Exciting 1979!

Chapter 401 A Duel of Two Dragons, A Battle of Dragons and Phoenixes (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

"This is 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'!"

Gong Xue took the magnifying glass from Wei Ming: "This isn't a photocopy, is it?"

"Of course not, these are artifacts from at least several hundred years ago." Wei Ming's batch of goods opened Gong Xue's eyes.

Gong Xue looked again: "It's not quite the same style as the one in the Palace Museum, but it's equally full of detail and has a natural style. Could it really be an authentic work by Qiu Ying?"

Wei Ming: "After returning to Beijing, I will first do a carbon-14 dating. If it is confirmed to be from the Ming Dynasty, I will then go to Rongbaozhai to take a look. Qiu Ying painted more than one 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'. My version may well be an authentic work."

"Wait a minute, what is carbon-14?"

"Oh, you can read the next episode of 'Black Cat Detective' for more details. There's a description of the detective using carbon-14 dating to solve a case. Simply put, it's a scientific method that can determine the year, but it has a certain margin of error, and it's basically useless when the date is too recent."

Gong Xue nodded admiringly; her little man was so knowledgeable!

She continued admiring the paintings. Xuejie had seen them once before at the Forbidden City, but they were behind glass and crowded, so she only caught a glimpse of them and couldn't see them clearly. Unlike now, she could even touch them, though she knew the rules and couldn't touch them.

But some people don't follow the rules. Wei Ming quietly closed and locked the door, but Xue Jie was still unaware. Suddenly, she was bumped by something and touched by a pair of unruly hands.

"Hey, why did you just take your clothes off like that?!"

Wei Ming hugged his older sister from behind and nibbled on her earlobe: "The night is too short, it's time for us to consummate our marriage!"

"Won't they hear us?"

Anyway, Sister Lin wasn't discovered yesterday.

~
The next day, Wei Ming and Gong Xue saw off the newlyweds, A Long and A Ying, and their family. A Long reminded Wei Ming, "Don't forget my new story."

Wei Ming laughed and said, "You should train an apprentice who can handle 'Qin's Moon' first, so as not to ruin this company's trump card."

"That's definitely not the case. I have to review every page of the script and every single drawing."

Wei Ming patted A Long on the shoulder: "Don't be in such a hurry, you two should enjoy your honeymoon first."

Gong Xue also said a few practical words to A Ying.

"You and Ah Long shouldn't rush into having a child. After all, your mother-in-law is pregnant too, and the house will definitely be in chaos. You'll need to help out a lot. If you get pregnant again, the two men can forget about focusing on their careers."

"Oh dear, sister, why didn't you remind me sooner!" Ah Ying was extremely embarrassed. She and Ah Long had always used protection, but they couldn't resist on their wedding night.

"If it really happens, there's nothing we can do. It's fate that it's here. We'll try to get Mom to come and help out. If I have the chance, I can come and see you too."

"Yes," Gong Ying nodded, somewhat moved. "Sister, I hope you and your husband will get married soon."

Gong Xue smiled and said, "True enlightenment? They've already gone astray."

After seeing them off, Wei Ming and Gong Xue parted ways. She went to the film crew, while Wei Ming took Xiao Hong to the Shanghai Animation Film Studio.

With Wei Ming as witness, Hong Kong Langning Toys and Shanghai Animation Film Studio signed a contract, and Wei Lingling promised to make payment immediately upon returning to Hong Kong.

Wang Bairong also received the official script and began to assemble a team. The number of people in this crew was three times that of "Black Cat Detective", and it included many elite personnel, all of whom were recruited by Wang Bairong.

Having signed the contract, Wei Lingling prepared to return to Hong Kong without any hesitation, as Hong Kong was about to experience its first wave of blind box shopping.

Lizhi was somewhat reluctant to leave, but there was nothing she could do; her decision didn't count.

Wei Ming, on the other hand, stayed in Shanghai to write scripts for Jackie Chan. Jackie Chan was probably quite anxious about it. At the same time, Wei Ming also had to assist Wang Bairong in controlling the style of the animation, since this was a subject that Shanghai Animation Film Studio had never touched before.

~
This is the first time Wei Jiefang hasn't spent the Spring Festival in his hometown. How can I put it? It's awesome!

He has now learned to drive, so during the Lunar New Year, he drove the car his sister gave him and took Shufen around Hong Kong Island, letting her do whatever she wanted and eat whatever she wanted. Even though his son is so rich, he can't just eat whatever he wants in Beijing.

However, when her younger sister returned, she brought back a photo of Xiaoming and Xiaohong, who had taken in their hometown during the Spring Festival. Shufen couldn't bear it and burst into tears, saying that she missed her daughter, her son, and her home.

Wei Lingling: "Don't worry, Xiaoming will be here in a few days. He's going to the United States to receive an award and needs to transit through Hong Kong."

"What about Xiaohong?"

"Xiao Hong had no choice."

~
Xiao Hong is so happy right now. She finally saw the legendary "Shaolin Temple". On her way home, she kept saying how handsome Li Lianjie was!
Wei Ming was not surprised by this. In her previous life, she had been infatuated with Leonardo DiCaprio for a while because of "Shaolin Temple". However, her standard for choosing a partner was that he was tall, and DiCaprio obviously did not meet that standard.

In early February, "Shaolin Temple," which had already stirred up a storm of Li Lianjie in Hong Kong, officially landed in mainland China. Although there was a masterpiece like "Heroes Have Been Born Since Ancient Times" before it, "Shaolin Temple" had a very charming and popular male lead, and the theme song "Shepherd's Song" was also deeply rooted in people's hearts. Moreover, the filming was more meticulous, after all, it took more than a year to complete.

Even though people have started working after the Lunar New Year, movie theaters are still packed during the day, and long queues can be seen at night.

That morning, Huang Qiuyan saw that Biaozi was still asleep and didn't react even though her daughter was crying. She leaned close to Biaozi's ear and said, "Still sleeping? Little Li is famous all over the country."

"What, what!" Biaozi woke up with a start.

Seeing the man's reaction, Yanzi clutched her stomach and burst into laughter, and even Little Phoenix was infected by the laughter.

Biaozi said embarrassedly, "I stayed up too late reading yesterday, I had to prepare for the role."

Actually, I went to see "Shaolin Temple" all night by myself last night. There were so many people, and the atmosphere was so enthusiastic. Only "Mom, Love Me Again" can compare to this feeling.

Then Biaozi had a nightmare all night, dreaming that he and Yanzi were not married yet, but then Leonardo DiCaprio became a national idol with "Shaolin Temple", and even Yanzi was crazy about him, which scared him a lot.

"I understand," Huang Qiuyan said, picking up her daughter. "Hurry up and go to the North Pond to feed the cats and dogs. It's your turn today."

"Sigh, when is Ming-ge coming back?"

"You're already impatient after only feeding me for a few days."

"That's not what I meant. I just miss him. It's been ten days since I last saw him during the New Year."

~
Wei Ming: I am so happy here that I don't miss the capital.

As the saying goes, home is where your girlfriend is. However, after a week, it was time to return to Beijing.

The Lantern Festival is just around the corner, and Xiaohong will be starting school soon, while Weiming will start work even earlier than her.

Moreover, their correspondence course students also have to take an exam.

Wei Ming inquired about the two's filming schedule and estimated that it would be next month, meaning they would likely be spending the next two weeks together.

Before leaving Shanghai, Wei Ming finished the script for Jackie Chan, but since he would be passing through Hong Kong in a few days, he didn't mail it and decided to have someone deliver it to him directly.

~
However, Cheng Long was really anxious. Since it was inconvenient to contact Wei Ming, he simply went to "Madman Comics" under the guise of visiting, but in reality, he wanted to ask Ah Long, Wei Ming's representative in Hong Kong, when he would come to Hong Kong.

There's no way around it, Jackie Chan is feeling a lot of pressure right now, all because of this Lunar New Year film season. "Aces Go Places" easily surpassed 2000 million at the box office and is still going strong.

Meanwhile, the leftist film "Shaolin Temple" has now grossed over 1000 million yuan. That kid named Li Lianjie is about to surpass his best-performing film, "Young Master". Moreover, it is said that the Japanese film company has also developed a strong interest in this movie.

As for his self-written, self-directed and self-acted film "Young Master Dragon", it has only grossed more than 700 million yuan in more than half a month. Its momentum has also declined. It is estimated that it will not even surpass "Young Master". The four new films can only barely beat Liu Jialiang's "The Eighteen Kung Fu Masters". It's embarrassing!
He always felt that as long as the action was exciting, that was enough. However, after "Young Master Dragon" came out, it received a lot of criticism on the script. Now, not to mention him, even Raymond Chow is looking forward to Wei Ming's new script coming soon.

Just a week ago, "Madman Comics" released five standalone volumes of "Qin's Moon".

Because of its high quality and reasonable price, it was well received by comic book fans, and its total sales in Hong Kong reached 60 copies, which exceeded Ah Long's expectations.

Although the quality of the paper and layout of the individual volumes was improved to make them more collectible, the 60 copies still made a considerable profit. This was the largest profit made by "Madman Comics" since its inception, and it was getting closer and closer to making up for the money lost by Wei Ming.

However, before the money had even warmed up, "Madman Comics" was already planning the "Hong Kong-wide Comics Creativity" competition to discover potential new talents, which would cost them a lot of money again.

At this moment, Jackie Chan arrived. Jackie Chan calmly said, "Brother Chan, please wait a moment, I still have a few strokes to write."

Only after the painting was completely finished did Liu Rulong formally entertain Cheng Long.

"Brother Long, what brings you here?"

Jackie Chan didn't mince words: "Ah Ming promised to write me a script, I wonder if he's finished it yet?"

"Oh, I actually know that. If I hadn't gotten married in Shanghai recently, I probably would have finished writing it a long time ago."

Cheng Long was furious. "Couldn't you have chosen a different date for the wedding?"

"So it's not finished yet?"

“He said there’s still one tail left,” Ah Long said, “but he’ll be coming to Hong Kong within a week, and there should be results.”

"That's great!" Cheng Long exclaimed with delight.

After saying that, he took off his Rolex and stuffed it into Ah Long's arms: "We're all dragons, so Brother Long wishes you a happy marriage. Keep it."

This watch looks expensive, and Ah Long refused to accept it, but how could someone who only knows how to play with a pen compare to the double-bone Cheng Long?

Feeling that if he continued to be dramatic, Jackie Chan might beat him up, Ah Long had no choice but to accept it.

Jackie Chan laughed and said, "Remember to let me know when he comes to Hong Kong. Here's my contact information. Bye!"

“Wait a minute,” Ah Long picked up a Historical Cat blind box from the table and handed it to Cheng Long, “Brother Long, you can take this one too. Historical Cat blind boxes are very popular lately.”

Is it popular? Jackie Chan didn't really care; toys were things only girls played with. But since he had a lot of women around him, he figured it would be easy to sell, so he accepted it.

Although there is some anxiety due to the poor response in the Hong Kong market, it remains the strongest player in Taiwan, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia.

Whether it's making kung fu movies or dating.

Among his girlfriends recently, Lin Fengjiao is the most well-behaved, so tonight he went to Lin Fengjiao's apartment in Hong Kong.

Upon seeing the exquisite gift box, Lin Fengjiao was overjoyed. Sure enough, even the most dissolute playboy has a heart that can be warmed.

"Brother Long, how did you know I like History Cat blind boxes?!"

Huh? Cheng Long was taken aback, but luckily he reacted quickly. Seeing several historical cat plush toys densely packed under the TV, he immediately said, "I saw them when I came last time, so I bought one for you. Hurry up and open it to take a look."

Lin Fengjiao felt a little disappointed. She hadn't bought any blind boxes when he came last time. This kind of game was only recently introduced.

Because this scumbag dragon hadn't come to see her lately, she was bored. That's why she noticed a lot of people buying it while shopping. She happened to have read the comic and tried it once, and couldn't stop. She bought dozens of them and really enjoyed the feeling of opening the box. However, she gave away the duplicates.

Lin Fengjiao skillfully unpacked the blind box, which was wrapped in cardboard.

Even after opening it, you still can't see anything because there's an opaque storage bag inside. Pull the bag open, and you'll see a beautiful calico cat.

"Ah!" Lin Fengjiao exclaimed with delight, "It's Xi Shi!"

Jackie Chan slumped on the sofa: "Is Xi Shi really that rare?"

"Of course, the Four Beauties are second only to Qin Shi Huang in rarity. This is the first time I've ever gotten one!" Lin Fengjiao looked around. There was a note in the bag with an introduction to the characters. If you encounter an unfamiliar historical cat, you can learn history. It's a toy that combines cuteness and education.

Lin Fengjiao is usually gentle and quiet in Qiong Yao's movies, but at this moment she has a cute and childlike feeling, which makes Jackie Chan quite fond of her.

He lifted Lin Fengjiao's chin: "What Xi Shi? She's nowhere near as beautiful as you."

Lin Fengjiao had never heard such direct praise from Cheng Long before; she was usually the one flattering him.

Soon, the eldest brother Long pinned Feng Jiaoniang down on the sofa. It happened so suddenly that they didn't take any safety precautions since they were in the bedroom.

At the last moment, Brother Long came to his senses. He didn't want to be tied down by a woman at such a young age, nor did he want to give up the whole forest for a woman. However, at this moment, Feng Jiao's legs really tied him up, tied him up tightly.

Finally, the dragons roared and the phoenixes sang, their lingering melodies echoing in the air.

Lin Fengjiao looked at her elder brother Long and said, "I will take my medicine later."

The eldest brother, Long, nodded and stepped aside, saying, "I have an appointment with my senior brother, so I'll be leaving now."

Walking downstairs and looking at the lights upstairs, Cheng Long felt like a complete jerk, so the next day he went to that store and bought up all the blind boxes.

He didn't know which historical cat Lin Fengjiao was missing, but he was sure she was missing the Three Beauties and Qin Shi Huang, so after buying them, he frantically unpacked them, while also learning more about history and culture.

Damn, so Emperor Wu of Han wasn't the founding emperor? And Liu Bang wasn't that much younger than Qin Shi Huang!

I bought over a hundred of them, spending over a thousand yuan, but none of the three beauties were there, and Qin Shi Huang was nowhere to be found.

So he gave those not-so-rare historical cats to his stunt team members.

Then he called Liu Rulong and asked him if he had any rare cats.

“Brother Long, this toy wasn’t produced by our company. We’re just the licensor. You need to contact Langning Toy Factory; that’s Aunt A-Ming’s business.”

"Never mind then, I'd better stay away from that woman." She's too beautiful; he's afraid he won't be able to control himself and will definitely offend Ah Ming.

However, Wei Lingling's mainland assistant had a unique charm.

Then Jackie Chan asked his underlings to buy blind boxes, promising a reward of 1,000 yuan for anyone who could open one containing the Three Beauties and Qin Shi Huang.

As it turned out, he didn't find the three beauties, but his subordinate Mars dismantled a Qin Shi Huang. This hidden Emperor Qin Shi Huang model was a size larger than the other historical cats and looked very majestic.

After looking at it over and over, Cheng Long ultimately couldn't bear to give it to Lin Fengjiao. He kept it for himself and placed it on his bedside table. He still respected the First Emperor very much. Of course, if it was necessary for filming, he wouldn't mind cuckolding the First Emperor.

Soon, media outlets reported that Jackie Chan was obsessed with blind boxes and dolls. Paparazzi photographed two historical cats in Jackie Chan's car, one Qin Qiong and the other Yuchi Gong. It was as if he was putting door gods in his car to protect himself.

Even without Jackie Chan, the sales of blind boxes were basically as Wei Lingling had predicted, and could be considered quite successful. The new gameplay stimulated the gambling instincts of Hong Kong citizens, but in a much more moderate way.

However, as soon as the Jackie Chan incident occurred, Wei Lingling immediately intensified the hype, associating the superstar Jackie Chan with the Historical Cat blind box, making the Historical Cat blind box a fashion trend, and triggering a bandwagon effect among movie fans.

When Zhou Huimin saw that Cheng Long had started helping Ah Ming sell goods, she also did her best to open blind boxes a few times in class, introducing this trend to the middle school.

Later, teen idols such as Alan Tam, Leslie Cheung, and Danny Chan also became promoters of blind box toys, simply because they asked in some interviews who had Zulong cats and whether they would be willing to sell them.

This time, the History Cat blind box became a huge hit in Hong Kong, and it was spread to Taiwan by celebrities from both Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as Lin Fengjiao, Brigitte Lin, and Sylvia Chang. It became an absolute sensation, and once the trend took hold, it was unstoppable.

The popularity of the History Cat doll even boosted the already peak sales of "Madman Comics". The second issue in February sold 180,000 copies, which made Wong Yuk-long cry out in despair!
Liu Rulong was happy, but Wei Lingling was in trouble because she originally intended to reserve the subsequent production capacity for the Japanese and American markets. However, the demand in the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets is now extremely strong, and there is even a shortage.

So she had no choice but to grit her teeth and buy a factory in Taiwan. Now she has three toy factories in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and she is hiring a lot of workers. Three shifts are not enough, so she is working four shifts!
Because it recruited many people from mainland China, it provided stable jobs for some gangsters who were about to go astray, and to some extent maintained Hong Kong's public order.

The excitement in Hong Kong had nothing to do with Wei Ming, who was attending the tenth anniversary commemoration of Edgar Snow's death as a representative of Peking University.

Edgar Snow is very famous in China and is an old friend of the Chinese people. He was a journalist who went deep into Northwest China during the War of Resistance Against Japan. His masterpiece was "Red Star Over China," which was the first book to introduce the Long March and Chairman Mao to the West.

Snow was an American, but he moved to Switzerland due to McCarthy persecution in the 50s. He passed away in Geneva around this time ten years ago. In accordance with his will, his descendants buried some of his ashes in China, specifically on the shore of Weiming Lake at Peking University, next to the Temple of Florence.

When Wei Minggang was on patrol, he heard his seniors talk about the origin of Snow's tomb and Snow's life.

The 10th anniversary of Snow's death was commemorated with a high-level ceremony. Snow's wife and daughter were present, along with Liao Gonghe, Vice Premier Huang in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some American guests in Beijing, and more than a thousand Peking University faculty and students.

Wei Ming was specifically chosen by higher authorities to participate. Now, he is not only a representative of Peking University to the outside world, but also a banner and a major achievement of China's international cultural exchanges.

The government strongly encouraged him to participate in this year's Grammys, and the expenses for his trip to the United States were all reimbursed by the government.

Of course, this is on the premise that someone accompanies him.

You said it's not necessary, and I'll go by myself at my own expense? Young people shouldn't act impulsively.

After the event, Liao Gong called him over.

"Little Wei, you're amazing! After only half a year, you've already caught the eye of one of the world's most prestigious music awards. What a young hero!"

Wei Ming humbly said, "The emergence of heroes among the young is not as popular as the 'Shaolin Temple' you directed. I've been dragged to watch it three times by different people in the past two weeks."

"Hahaha!" Hearing Wei Ming's praise, Liao Gong was a little proud, then said modestly, "I didn't do much. It was the director, screenwriter and actors who were really good."

The two chatted about movies for a while, mainly action films. Liao Gonghai had practiced martial arts since childhood and was very interested in this genre, while Wei Ming was also quite accomplished and even revealed that he had written a script for Jackie Chan in Hong Kong.

Liao Gong greatly appreciated Wei Ming's frankness.

Seeing that it was almost time, Liao asked again, "Are you confident of winning the award this time in the United States?"

If Wei Ming wins the award, the difficulty of China's domestic and international propaganda work will be reduced by an epic margin.

Wei Ming said seriously, "My works have a high probability of winning awards, and the people who sing my songs also have a good chance of winning awards, but the chances of me winning an award are not very high."

"Oh, tell me more about it, I don't really understand this award."

Then Wei Ming explained that some of the nominations related to him belonged to two singers, some were awards for a certain album, and only the Best Single of the Year was given to the songwriter.

This is also one of the most prestigious Grammy Awards. Even though Wei Ming knew how excellent the song was, he didn't have the confidence to win the Grammy crown for a Chinese person. After all, this song had never won it in his previous life. At that time, the United States had its own pop culture trends.

"It would be wonderful if your song, and the person who sings it, could win an award," Liao Gong encouraged him a few more times before leaving.

Then Wei Ming was called over by Vice Principal Wang, who also discussed the trip to the United States.

After hearing this, Wei Ming breathed a sigh of relief. The country still trusted him and did not send bodyguards from Zhongnanhai to guard him closely. Instead, they let Wei Ming go to the United States with a Peking University student who was studying abroad. The student was very good at English and asked him to accompany Wei Ming to receive the award. Then Wei Ming would accompany the student to his university to register.

Wei Ming readily agreed. A little while later, the international student arrived. Upon seeing him, Wei Ming understood: they were supposed to keep an eye on each other.

Lin Zhengyi, who is skilled in swimming, fighting and basketball, is from Taiwan. In order to protect his wife, children and elderly parents who are still in Taiwan, he studied at Peking University for two and a half years under the pseudonym Yifu.

He has now completed his master's degree in political economy at Peking University ahead of schedule and is about to go to the University of Chicago for further studies.

"Hello, Teacher Wei, I've long admired your name."

"Hello Lin, me too."

The two people, each with their own secrets, got to know each other briefly and agreed on a departure time. This time, they would be able to use a bus, and Mr. Liu would personally take them to the airport.

On that day, Wei Ming talked to Xiao Hong for a long time at home and told her, "Don't worry, I'll be back in a week. You'll stay at school these days, so don't stay home alone. Also, keep an eye on the carbon-14 test results in the lab for me."

When the car arrived, Wei Ming said to Master Liu in the driver's seat, "Master, please go to the passenger seat and let me touch it!"

If you can't touch your girlfriend, touching the steering wheel is just as good; they're both things men love anyway.
(Second update today, please vote with monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)