Exciting 1979!

Chapter 407 The battle for the successor

"Who is Mr. Why?" a somewhat balding man asked.

The screaming middle-aged woman said, "Brother Jiawang, you're in charge of Tangren Bookstore, and you don't even know who Mr. Why is?"

"Authors? I'm just a bookseller. What's so strange about me not knowing them?" the bald man said matter-of-factly.

"Not only does he write books, but he also won a Grammy Award yesterday. He's a great musician, you know. Little musician, can I see your trophy?" The heavily made-up middle-aged woman winked.

Wei Ming spread his hands: "I didn't bring any."

Then the woman's eyes fell on his lower body.

With just one look from her, Wei Ming felt tainted, while Wei Lingling decisively shielded her nephew behind her.

Although she knew that Xiaoming might have more than one girlfriend, compared to the number and variety of boyfriends Shi Jiahui had, he was as innocent as a naive newbie.

At this moment, Shi Jiaxing, the eldest member of the Shi family with a fierce face, asked a crucial question: "Auntie, where did you get this grand-nephew? Doesn't your elder brother in Taiwan not have a son?"

Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Wei looked at the other party with an air of authority despite her lack of anger: "Shi Jiaxing, you're investigating me, aren't you?"

Although the old lady had a smile on her face, Shi Jiaxing broke out in a cold sweat: "No, absolutely not, I just happened to hear about it from a friend in Taiwan."

“Auntie, my eldest brother didn’t mean that. He was just worried that you would be scammed by some poor relative who suddenly appeared out of nowhere,” said the youngest member of the Shi family.

Grandma Wei scoffed, "Then you can rest assured, in terms of poverty, he is the richest among the relatives present."

These words embarrassed the four members of the Shi family, who were somewhat resentful. Fortunately, the butler came over to remind them that dinner was ready, breaking the awkward silence.

However, before sitting down at the table, Shi Jiaxing used the excuse of going to the toilet to call his younger brother Shi Jiazhuang aside.

"Youngest brother, the Empress Dowager has suddenly had a relative appear. This is not a good sign."

“We still need to figure out how close this grand-nephew is to the Empress Dowager. If he is her biological grand-nephew, then things will not be good.” Shi Jiazhuang pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and said. He was only in his thirties and was the most human-like of the four.

Regarding Old Mrs. Wei's estate, the Shi family felt that it rightfully belonged to them. Especially after their fathers' repeated efforts (pleading), the old lady finally agreed to let them work at Zhiyuan Group, which gave them the illusion that they could inherit this huge fortune. After all, the old lady had no children, and they were her closest relatives.

But then a new girl named Wei Lingling appeared in the family. She was said to be a niece from Taiwan, a top student from Stanford, studying law!

This was already a huge challenge for the brothers, but considering that Wei Lingling was a woman, her appearance only made them try harder to impress the old lady.

But Wei Ming is different; he's a male heir. They're worried that the old lady might want to transfer the Shi family's assets to the Wei family, which they won't allow.

Shi Jiazhuang added, "However, we still need to prepare for the worst. If she really has this idea, we can't be soft-hearted. Brother, aren't you very familiar with Zhigongtang?"

Shi Jiaxing had been involved in the underworld in his youth. Seeing the fierce glint in his younger brother's eyes, he nodded: "I understand what you mean. If the Empress Dowager only has relatives with the surname Shi, then the ownership of this vast fortune will be simple."

Shi Jiazhuang nodded: "But we still need to investigate first to see who is behind him. Just like Wei Lingling, it's fortunate that we investigated the Taiwanese forces behind her. Otherwise, if we acted rashly, we might suffer a backlash."

Their investigation revealed that Wei Lingling was the illegitimate daughter of Wei Muchun and his sister-in-law. Wei Boss had done a good job of keeping it a secret, and few people knew about Wei Senhao's existence.

After discussing it, the two brothers decided not to offend the Empress Dowager or make enemies with Wei Ming. At least they would show a friendly attitude at tonight's dinner.

However, Shi Jiawang was already furious in the restaurant because the old lady who held the power of life and death over them told him to leave Tangren Bookstore and that this business would be handed over to Gong Biyang to manage in the future.

"Why should I, Auntie? He's an outsider. It's not enough that the publishing company is paid to him; he also wants to take over my chain of bookstores!" Shi Jiawang said aggrievedly.

Grandma Wei: "This is an adjustment made for strategic purposes. The publishing house and the chain bookstore need to be managed in a unified manner. If you don't want to leave, fine, you can go and work as his assistant."

"Me? To him? To be his assistant!" Bald Shi thought to himself, who does he think he is? He's just a dog of the Shi family!

The old lady added, "You don't need to be in charge of the bookstore anymore, but your share of the profits will still be substantial."

"Ah? Then it's alright." Shi Jiawang was very happy. Shi Jiazhuang, who wore gold-rimmed glasses, just wanted to say that he was stupid. Now it was like taking away his power. From now on, he would be a useless person who could be discarded at any time.

He and his elder brother exchanged a glance, indicating that they were determined not to relinquish their power.

To prevent the old lady from speaking, Shi Jiazhuang changed the subject and looked at Wei Ming, saying, "Little Wei, you look very handsome. Which university did you attend?"

Shi Jiaxing immediately boasted, "My younger brother went to Harvard."

Wei Lingling looked disdainful. "Don't you know how you got into Harvard? If it weren't for your great-aunt donating money to Harvard for her deceased cousin, would you have been able to get in?"

"Oh my, Harvard University? I can't compare to that. I'm from Peking University, but I'm a professor there."

"Peking University?" The men looked at each other in bewilderment. Taiwan has Tsinghua University, but does it have Peking University?

Shi Jiahui knew him better: "He's from Peking University in mainland China, Mr. Why is a famous mainland talent, right?"

Wei Ming humbly replied, "I dare not call myself a genius; I am merely skilled in literature, music, fine arts, and film."

Bald Shi Jiawang shook his sparse hair: "Well, you're quite versatile. How about we have a friendly spar?"

Wei Ming rolled up his sleeves a little, revealing his biceps that made Melinda swallow hard and Wei Lingling take notice: "I'm on good terms with Wu Bin, the head coach of the Beijing Wushu Team, and I'm also good friends with kung fu star Jackie Chan. So I know a little bit about martial arts."

Wei Ming spoke with great confidence. This Shi Jiawang was half a head shorter than him, and judging from his complexion, he was clearly exhausted by women, unlike himself, whose yin and yang were in harmony and who was at the peak of his physical condition.

Shi Jiawang originally just wanted to scare the scholar, but he didn't expect the scholar to know martial arts. How despicable!
Shi Jiawang was left feeling awkward, but the old lady was delighted. She thought her grand-nephew was too outstanding, and if Xiao Ning were still alive, he would probably be just as good.

"Xiaoming, why don't you stay in San Francisco for a few more days and spend some quality time with your great-aunt?" the old lady said.

The four members of the Shi family felt a chill run down their spines upon hearing this, and they looked at Wei Ming nervously.

Wei Ming: "Grandma, I'd like to too, but we have to talk to MGM about film adaptation rights tomorrow."

The four men breathed a sigh of relief. "Luckily you ran fast, kid. You know what's good for you."

Wei Lingling added, "Yes, we've already postponed it once. This is a great opportunity for Xiaoming's novel to be adapted into a Hollywood film."

The four of them exclaimed happily: Oh, you're leaving too!
Seeing his aunt's disappointed look, Wei Ming added, "But don't worry, my sister will be coming to San Francisco to study at university soon, and I will come with her. We'll have plenty of time to spend together in the future."

Upon hearing this, the four members of the Shi family became even more conflicted. Good grief, you're planning to come back as a group again, aren't you? You're really eyeing our Shi family's assets!
Apart from Shi Jiazhuang, who is young but shrewd, the others are already showing signs of unease.

"Is your dad coming?" the old lady asked curiously.

Wei Ming: "My dad is in Hong Kong right now. If I have the chance, I would like to bring him to visit you."

The four people exclaimed: "What?! He has another father?!"
The old lady nodded. Although she had a problem with Wei Senhao, she wanted to be close to these nephews. After all, what did the Shi family have to do with her? But the Wei family were truly related to her by blood, and the key was that each of them was of good character and intelligence.

“And your uncle, let him come along if he has the chance,” the old lady added.

"Yes, my uncle said that he will definitely come to visit whenever the school sends him to the United States on official business." Speaking of Uncle Ping An, Wei Ming remembered something, but he hesitated because there were outsiders present.

The four outsiders surnamed Shi exchanged glances, barely able to eat anymore. He not only had a father, but also an uncle! Did this uncle have any descendants?
How come there are so many remnants of the Wei family? Their investigation clearly shows that the Empress Dowager no longer has any direct male relatives!
It seems that even if Wei Mingren disappears, it won't help. We need to find out exactly how many people with the surname Wei are still around!

So after finishing their meal, they didn't linger and left the manor directly, finding another place to plot their scheme.

Grandma Wei said to her grandnephew, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you; they're all good-for-nothings."

Wei Ming spoke frankly: "Although the Shi family comes from a merchant background, they are extremely strict in managing their household and have a good reputation in their hometown and Shanghai. These people look quite different from their grandfather."

The old lady chuckled and said, "My father-in-law passed away early and didn't come to America with me. Once he arrived in this dazzling world of America, free from the constraints of China, and with some ill-gotten gains, some people can fall into depravity very quickly. These are all descendants of your great-uncle's brothers. However, your great-uncle's cousin's branch has a strict family tradition and is very successful. The pharmaceutical company under Zhiyuan is a joint venture between our two families."

Clearly, she valued her husband's cousin's branch of the family more, and supporting these Shi family members was merely to put her deceased husband at ease in the afterlife. They didn't have much money anyway, and she wasn't joking when she said Wei Ming was richer than them.

Wei Lingling knew exactly how much wealth Wei Ming had. If Lingling knew, then she knew.

The fact that she was able to earn millions of dollars in just two years through literature and music, industries she hadn't previously valued, even made Wei Lindi re-examine the cultural and entertainment industry, which led to the decision to merge Tangren Publishing Company and Tangren Chain Bookstore under one management.

Furthermore, she plans to take back Shi Jiahui's chain of audio-visual stores.

"Xiaoming, what's your opinion on the current US financial market?" Wei Lindi asked. The core of Zhiyuan Group, and the industry she has never delegated to others, is the financial and insurance sector. She also owns a bank, but it mainly serves the Chinese community and has branches in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto.

Wei Lingling laughed and said, "Auntie, he just came to America, what does he know about American finance?"

Wei Lindi: "Just chatting, you can also chat with that red-haired girl."

Melinda thought to herself, "I don't know anything about US stocks. I only know about butts, Armin's."

Wei Ming laughed and said, "I don't understand either, but I have indeed made some money in Hong Kong stocks recently. In my opinion, as long as you stand in the right place at the right time, even a pig can fly." "Hahaha." Wei Ming's clever analogy made everyone burst into laughter.

Wei Ming continued, "I saw an IBM personal computer that an American student bought in China a while ago. It's called an IBM 5150. Before I leave this time, I will definitely buy two to take back with me. Although there are no Chinese characters, it will be much more convenient when I write English novels in the future. I have been writing this English novella for four or five months and it is almost finished. If I had a PC, the speed would definitely be greatly improved."

"Are you optimistic about the computer industry?"

"This will definitely be a trend, and it will continue to rise over the next twenty years. For example, Dr. Wang An's company has patents on magnetic core storage that form the basis of the computer industry. I am optimistic that his wealth will explode in the next few years."

As a fellow Chinese American, Wei Lindi naturally knew Wang An, and he was a Harvard student like her daughter. The two had even met. However, since Zhiyuan Group had not previously ventured into industries like computers, she didn't understand.

However, young people always seem to have a clearer view of future trends, so she plans to have someone buy one for her to take a look.

What's your opinion on Coca-Cola?

“I am very optimistic. Coca-Cola is now available for open sale in Beijing and will soon be rolled out across the country. Although the price is high for Chinese people now, this is a market worth 10 billion yuan!” Wei Ming then began to express his views on the new economic policies of the Li Gen government.

"Li Gen's new policies mainly involve tax cuts and deregulation, which will inevitably stimulate consumption. Therefore, food and beverage, daily necessities, and retailers that sell these products, such as Walmart, have great potential."

Over the next decade, Walmart stores grew rapidly, eventually surpassing Sears, then North America's leading retailer, and its stock price soared.

This viewpoint coincides with that of Grandma Wei, so it seems I should increase my Walmart holdings.

They then went on to discuss the US-Soviet rivalry and the US's influence on the Middle East. Wei Ming's views were very bold, like prophecies, and insightful predictions.

Wei Lingling looked at Wei Ming in surprise. "We're not brothers, but you really know a thing or two!"

I feel like he understands American politics better than I do, even though I'm an American citizen. Is Peking University's education really that good?

After chatting for a while, the housekeeper came over and said that the photos had been developed and framed. These were the photos they had taken in the back garden at noon.

The old lady picked and chose, finally selecting the group photo with all four people in it, and said to the housekeeper, "Hang it in the study."

Melinda was delighted to see herself in the photo. In fact, the old lady knew perfectly well about her relationship with Wei Ming.

"Grandma, there's a photo in the study that I'm quite curious about."

Which one?

“Come here, let me show you,” Wei Ming said, pointing to a black and white photo of two women. The older one should be his great-aunt, and the other one was younger. “Who is this person? She looks familiar to me.”

"Her name is Cheng Ziyan, and she is a film actress."

“Cheng Ziyan? My second grandmother!” Wei Ming suddenly realized. “No wonder she looks so familiar. You haven’t changed much since you were young, but you looked much older when my second grandmother passed away.”

“Of course. Although I’m mentally exhausted here, I have enough to eat and wear, and am well-equipped with medical care. As for her,” Grandma Wei shook her head, “she’s just silly. She insists on going back to her hometown.”

Wei Ming also realized, "That's right, why does Second Grandma insist on taking Uncle Ping An back to her rural hometown?"
He had previously thought that his second aunt was struggling to survive in Shanghai, but now it seemed that was not the case at all. The fact that his great-aunt had specially placed this photo on this wall showed that their relationship was exceptionally good.

This also explains why my great-aunt gave part of her old house in Shanghai to Uncle Ping An.

Why didn't Second Grandmother stay with Great Aunt and instead went back to her rural hometown? You have to understand that North China hadn't been liberated yet when she went back. She was risking her life, especially since she had a child who was just over a year old with her.

"Grandma, can I take a picture of this and bring it back to Uncle Ping An? He probably hasn't even seen his mother when she was this young."

"This photo isn't very clear. Wait a moment, I should have another picture of her here, in my album," the old lady said.

As people get older, they like to reminisce about people and events from the past. The old lady often looks through old photos.

She quickly found it; this one was much clearer, but it wasn't quite right because there was another man in the photo, Wei Senhao.

"Grandma, if you can't find it, then forget it." Wei Ming saw that the old lady wasn't moving, probably because she was tired. It was getting late, so he prepared to take his leave.

"No, I found it." The old lady, who had her back to Wei Ming, suddenly revealed a mischievous smile and then pulled out the photo.

"Here, you should just take the original photo back to him and show it to him. It'll be clearer then."

Wei Ming hurriedly took it out of curiosity. He not only saw the young female celebrity, Second Madam, but the background seemed to be Jueyuan No. 2 Residence.

He also saw a tall and handsome man next to his second grandmother. Judging from the intimacy of their photos, their relationship was obviously not ordinary.

This, this, isn't this Old Ghost?!

Or is it that Lao Gui's cousin looks very much like him?

"Grandma, who is this person next to you?" he asked.

Wei Lindi said, "You can't even recognize your own grandfather?"

Wei Ming touched his slightly numb scalp. It really was him!

No, what's the meaning of you joking around and standing so close to your brother and sister-in-law in the photos? Don't you think you're being a bit inappropriate as their brother-in-law?
Wei Ming checked the year again: 1940. Was it possible that his second grandmother and Uncle Ping'an's father didn't know each other at that time?
No matter how many reasons there are, a son would definitely feel uncomfortable seeing such a photo.

Wei Ming felt the photo was burning his hands, and hesitated whether to hand it over to Uncle Ping An.

Because of this, he was criticized by Melinda for not being focused when they made love that night.

Wei Ming: "Isn't this my elders' house? Am I afraid of being overheard?"

“Your worries are a bit unnecessary,” Melinda scoffed. “It takes several minutes to drive from here to my aunt’s room.”

"But my aunt lives right next door."

"Even if it's something, she's not an outsider, why are you afraid she'll hear it?"

"The way you put it, even if we're not strangers, we're still elders."

Melinda: "It's a good thing I broke up with you, otherwise I would have to treat her with the respect due to an elder, and I would have lost my job at the company."

Wei Ming did it as soon as she finished speaking.

~
The next day, Wei Ming said goodbye early in the morning. His flight wasn't that early, but since he was already in San Francisco, he thought he might as well go to Stanford University to take some photos of Xiao Hong and let his aunt visit her alma mater. It was only a little over an hour's drive anyway.

"Alright, then I won't keep you any longer. I'll have Gong Biyang drive you there. Remember to come back and visit often." Wei Lindi waved goodbye to them at the villa entrance.

Not long after they left, Shi Jiazhuang received the news. The eldest brother, Shi Jiaxing, asked, "They're finally gone. What should we do now? Should we continue to go to the old lady's place?"

Shi Jiazhuang: "We still have to go. We must do a good job of making appearances. Even if we take a step back, Zhiyuan Group is such a big business. If she leaves it all to her family, do you think the other uncles and elders will agree? We should get a share too. If we are more proactive than Shi Jiawang and Shi Jiahui, we might be able to get a bigger share."

~
This time, Wei Ming finally had the opportunity to see the scenery of the West Coast highways. In fact, many places in China have beautiful scenery, but unfortunately the roads are not good, and there is no opportunity to drive.

This short trip made Wei Ming somewhat nostalgic for the experience of driving his girlfriend to Xinjiang.

Soon they arrived at Stanford University. Before they even realized they had arrived, their car had already entered the Stanford University campus.

This university is very large, covering an area about ten times that of Peking University. In Wei Ming's eyes, Peking University was already very, very large.

In fact, Stanford doesn't need that much land. Large areas are vacant and undeveloped. So decades ago, the university leased some of the land at a very low price and a symbolic rent to businesses or alumni to set up companies, which then partnered with the university. The most typical example is Hewlett-Packard.

In addition, Stanford University is surrounded by companies such as Apple, Sequoia Capital, and Intel, which can be considered a broader Silicon Valley.

Besides taking photos and his aunt returning to her alma mater, Wei Ming also thought about the people he knew at the school.

However, the school was too big. Fortunately, he had Wei Lingling with him. Through her connections, Wei Ming finally found Bu Suanzi, an international student from Tsinghua University.

Upon seeing Wei Ming, Bu Suanzi was overjoyed and excited, as if seeing a family member.

"I knew you were in America, but I never expected you would come all the way to see me!"

Wei Ming: "It wasn't a special trip. I just came to San Francisco to visit relatives and took the opportunity to see some things."

“You’ve come just in time. I have some things here that I need you to take back to Peking University for me, and then give them to our department head!” Bu Suanzi said seriously.

……

(Yesterday was the minimum update, but I've been having writer's block lately, so please don't have too high expectations for updates. Go to bed early tonight.)
(End of this chapter)