Exciting 1979!

Chapter 432 Wukong appears again!

Yanjing.

Lu Xiaoyan had already gone to sleep, but Wei Pingan couldn't fall asleep as he looked at the two gift boxes on the bedside table.

What's his mindset in giving such an expensive gift? Is it a way of making amends?

But what exactly happened? Wei Ping'an was now itching to rush to Hong Kong and find out the truth.

What am I to you?

Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaoning, who have settled down in Hong Kong, are also having trouble sleeping.

Zhang Yimou glanced at the brightly lit and bustling scene downstairs: "It's already ten o'clock. Don't Hong Kong people need to sleep?"

Feng Xiaoning was looking at the madman comics that Liangzi had brought them: "It's probably still a problem with the lighting. If all the lights were turned off, they would probably all be asleep."

"Dong dong dong." Someone knocked on the door.

Zhang Yimou asked around and, upon hearing it was Liangzi, opened the door. It turned out that Liangzi had seen their lights on from the balcony and had come downstairs to buy them some late-night snacks; he lived next door.

Feng Xiaoning asked, "You don't usually sleep at this time?"

"I just drew a few comics and watched TV for a while."

Zhang Yimou asked, "Do you still have to work when you get home?"

"That's right. Apart from the basic salary, all other income is calculated based on the number of pages in the artwork. The more you work, the more you earn."

Feng Xiaoning pointed to the comic magazine in her hand and asked, "Are there any of your drawings here?"

Liangzi pointed and said, "I drew the title page, I drew this short story, and I also drew this part of 'Qin's Moon'. Now Brother Long is focusing on training me and wants me to take over as the main writer of 'Qin's Moon' in the future. It is the most popular comic in Hong Kong right now. The single volumes are selling like hotcakes, and they are about to release character figurines. Even Jin Yong is following the updates."

They couldn't understand some of what she was saying, but they could both tell that Ryoko was riding high on her success.

Feng Xiaoning finally couldn't hold back her question: "Liangzi, you must be making a lot of money every month now, right?"

Liangzi doesn't shy away from her income: "It's only a few thousand, with the exception of one time at the end of the year when it exceeded ten thousand."

"Several thousand? Tens of thousands!"

Although there is an official exchange rate of three times that of Hong Kong dollars and RMB, they also know that in reality, one Hong Kong dollar is more useful than one RMB. This is also true in the black market in mainland China. And Liangzi's monthly income is what they would need to earn in ten years!
Seeing their dejected expressions, Liangzi laughed again: "Don't just look at how much I earn. Things are expensive in Hong Kong. You can't just spend what you earn in Hong Kong. I'm better off than the average wage earner, but buying a house is still a long way off. I might consider buying a car for commuting in a while."

"You want to buy a car, one of those sedans on the road?!"

"Yes, several of my younger colleagues have already bought cars."

Liangzi was also afraid of discouraging the two of them, and that if they stayed in Hong Kong and didn't want to go back, it would cause trouble for Wei Ming. So she added, "Don't worry, work hard, and you'll definitely have a house and a car. I believe that the mainland will develop better and better. Now Teacher Wei's factory has started to build a factory in Shenzhen. In the future, there will definitely be more and more factories built on the mainland."

"What? Teacher Wei also owns a factory?"

"Oh, a toy factory? That's amazing! Our comic book company is also his. Brother Long is just a small boss; he's the real big boss," Liangzi said with admiration.

Old Zhang and his companion were dumbfounded. There might be development opportunities on the mainland, but following Teacher Wei would definitely lead to even greater development. It was a pity that he wasn't the director of a film studio.

Although they went to bed late, the two of them got up early and were waiting for Wei Ming's summons.

It was Liangzi who called them: "Come on, let's eat, then go to the company."

"Yes, thank you for your trouble, Ryoko."

~
Today, Wei Mingzheng used Lao Gui's car, took Xiao Hong, and went downstairs to find Amin.

"Ah Ming, Hong, Sister Hong," Zhou Huimin greeted them, then waved goodbye to her mother.

The car started, music started playing, and Wei Ming immediately recognized Zhang Mingmin's voice.

Zhou Huimin said, "This is Mingmin's new album, 'The Chinese Nation,' which is full of patriotic songs, seemingly aimed at boycotting the island nation."

"Is it about the textbooks?"

Zhou Huimin nodded. This matter aroused dissatisfaction among patriotic youths throughout Hong Kong.

Wei Ming snorted. He felt that since he couldn't use force against them, the best punishment was to make money off them, and even more so, to make money off their things!
As soon as Wei Ming arrived at Kuangren Comics, Zhang Yimou, who lived upstairs, spotted him. He saw Wei Ming get out of the car, and besides Wei Hong, there was an even prettier girl.

The three went upstairs, and the male employees of the company blushed when they saw Vivian Chow. Most of them didn't dare to look directly at her. How could a fairy have descended to earth?

Even the girls wouldn't feel the same hostility they would have towards Lizhi.

A few people, after seeing her face clearly, wondered to themselves, "Hey, isn't this the 'first love goddess'?"

Because she became famous for singing "First Love," Zhou Huimin earned this nickname among some fans. However, she has never appeared on television programs, and only had a few photos of her face in newspapers at the beginning of the year. She is considered to be a singer who is more famous than she is.

Wei Ming had other things to discuss, so he asked the female colleague at the front desk to show Amin and Xiaohong around the place.

Amin is a loyal reader of "Madman Comics," especially fond of "Qin's Moon" and "Happy Ghost," and is very curious about the comic production process.

Wei Ming first explained to Zhang Yimou and his companion that he had drawn a picture: "Find a similar architectural scene to the one in the picture. This will be our main filming location."

These are two buildings facing each other across the street, both over ten stories high, with various signs hanging on the side facing outwards.

Such a place shouldn't be hard to find in Hong Kong, since the original story is set in Hong Kong. However, since Lao Zhang and his group were unfamiliar with the area, Wei Ming asked Liangzi to borrow Niu Lao's car to take them there, and Niu Lao was very happy to help.

Although Transformers was a commissioned creation and his share of the profits was even smaller, he was invited to visit the Transformers toy production workshop, and he felt that these things would sell even better than the History Cat.

Wei Ming said, "I'll take the photos and choose the ones. Okay, you guys go ahead and get busy."

Then Wei Ming went into A Long's office.

"You were in such a rush yesterday, you didn't even notice how big the office area has gotten, did you?" Ah Long asked with a smile.

“I can still feel it; there seem to be more people, but it doesn’t feel crowded. You rented the unit next door too,” Wei Ming asked.

"Yes, and we've hired ten new employees, including four comic artists. Two of them have already started creating long-form works, which are original works by themselves or the company's writers. However, there's no longer room for them in the magazine, so they can only wait until they have enough new works to start as a weekly magazine!"

Li Zhiqing's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" has already been drawn into several chapters, revised countless times, and constantly improved. It has not been serialized yet, which is also in preparation for changing to a weekly magazine.

Wei Ming reviewed the manuscripts of the two newcomers. Their drawing skills were not bad, and could even be said to be comparable to Ma Rongcheng, who was second only to Ah Long. As for the story, it was just passable. It needed to be tested by the market. If the market did not accept it, it should be canceled.

Many of these cartoonists previously worked independently, but now they've chosen to join Madman so they can benefit from being under his wing.

Or perhaps they hope to be able to draw in Wei Ming's sketchbook.

“For example, this young man, whose English name is William, is a British exchange student. We selected him through a comic competition. He is very good at drawing science fiction. Now he is working as Niu Lao’s assistant. However, he is a rich second-generation and his temper doesn’t quite match Niu Lao’s.”

Wei Mingdao said, "You could have him adapt 'District 9'."

"Haha, that's what I was thinking too. I was going to write to you to ask for your permission, but since you're here, it's settled then."

Ah Long focused on the person he poached from Yulang International.

“Zhang Wanyou is one of Wong Yuk-long’s most valued disciples. He was the chief writer of “Wild Wolf Legend” before. He left Yuk-long International for better development and to have a masterpiece like “Storm Riders”. He is good at martial arts and is the strongest among the four newcomers.

Zhang Wanyou was indeed highly regarded by Wong Yuk-long. He participated in "Dragon Tiger Gate" and later served as the editor-in-chief of "Chinese Hero". If Wong Yuk-long hadn't frequently attacked "Madman Comics", Liu Rulong wouldn't have been able to poach his apprentice.

"Are you sure he wasn't sent by Wong Yuk-long to spy on the enemy?" Wei Ming joked.

"That's really uncertain, but if you can come up with a work that can keep him loyal, I believe he'll be willing to switch sides." Ah Long has his own way of managing his subordinates, and he doesn't care whether his subordinates are loyal or not. As long as there are interests involved, loyalty can be fickle.

Wei Ming took a notebook out of his bag: "You're right. It seems I'll have to give him the story I prepared earlier."

A glint immediately flashed in Ah Long's glasses: "This, this is the Journey to the West themed book you were talking about! It's for me?"

Wei Ming: "Let's give it to Zhang Wanyou. Retaining talent is the most important thing."

"No, no, no, we can let him draw Jin Yong's martial arts novels. We can't let Li Zhiqing draw the entire Condor Trilogy by himself. He probably won't be able to draw anything else for the next ten years. I've decided, let him draw The Return of the Condor Heroes. Let me see it quickly."

Wei Ming had prepared this work fairly well, but because it was so important, he still needed to continue to improve it, and he wanted to help A Long sort out the plot of the first volume before he left.

The first page Liu Rulong saw featured a cartoon character drawn by Wei Ming, with his character design next to it.

"Sun Wukong?" Ah Long looked at the child's appearance again. Apart from having a tail, how did he resemble Sun Wukong at all? Moreover, he was cross-eyed.

Fortunately, Ah Long had lived in Hong Kong for a year. If he were from the mainland, he would probably think it was fabricated and disrespectful to his ancestors. However, he felt it was alright. Hong Kong people's adaptations of some traditional stories are even more outrageous, so such adaptations might actually appeal to Hong Kong people.

Arlong continued looking at his character's description: 12 years old. What? He's an alien? From Planet Vegeta, a berserk and warlike Saiyan.

Because of his weak fighting ability, he was banished to Earth. Originally, he was given the mission of ruling the Earth, but he lost his memory and was found and adopted by a martial artist named Sun Qiafan, who named him Sun Wukong. Ah Long thought this made sense. The old man's surname was Sun, and the kid even had a tail. The name Sun Wukong just came to mind.

In the original version, the grandfather was named Son Gohan, and the sons were named Goten and Gohan, which didn't quite fit the naming conventions of Chinese people, so Wei Ming changed it.

With a suspicious look in his eyes, Ah Long turned to the second page. This time, instead of character introductions, he saw seven gleaming golden beads.

Each of the seven beads contains a star, ranging from one to seven.

There's also an explanation next to it: this thing is called Dragon Balls. In its initial state, they were scattered all over the world. If you collect all seven Dragon Balls, you can summon Shenron and make a wish to him.

Ah Long scratched his chin, seemingly finding something interesting. "Collecting" is a very useful technique in popular literature. Through "collecting," many interesting stories can be generated, increasing readers' expectations.

Just like collecting Dragon Balls, so too does collecting beautiful women.

He asked Wei Ming directly, "Isn't the main plot of this story about collecting Dragon Balls to fulfill one's wishes?"

"This is one of them, but it's not the most important one. The main storyline is actually the protagonist Goku's path to becoming stronger."

Wei Ming turned to the third page, which introduced Master Roshi, also known as "Turtle Master," who was the world's top martial artist and was hailed as the "God of Martial Arts."

This lecherous old man is over 300 years old. He was not only the master of Sun Wukong's grandfather, but also became Sun Wukong's master, teaching him martial arts such as the "Kamehameha".

Wei Ming has read both the manga and the anime of "Dragon Ball". Initially, the manga was not particularly popular in Japan because the plot of finding the Dragon Balls was rather scattered, like a road movie. It only became popular after the World Martial Arts Tournament was added, and the transformation of Goku into a Super Saiyan shocked the world, gaining a considerable audience worldwide.

To avoid taking detours, Wei Mingrang will make the name "World Martial Arts Tournament" appear as early as possible and compress the earlier part of the storyline involving collecting Dragon Balls.

Of course, Dragon Ball is indispensable. Summoning Shenron is also a highly anticipated highlight of Dragon Ball. Moreover, with alien powerhouses fighting to the death on Earth and destroying planets at will, it would seem too dark without the existence of the seemingly overpowered Shenron.

Continuing to flip through the pages, the fourth image shows a beautiful silver-haired girl named Bulma.

Bulma was initially 16 years old. She was the daughter of Dr. Brief, the chairman of Capsule Corporation, and a genius scientist with an extremely high IQ.

Is this the female lead?

Wei Ming: "In terms of screen time, yes."

Although she is not Goku's love interest, it is certain that she has the most screen time among the female characters. In fact, among the female characters, Wei Ming likes Android 18 the most.

The fifth drawing by Wei Ming depicts Piccolo, also known as Piccolo Daimaō II. This is the first time Goku and the main characters have encountered an opponent with superhuman strength.

"Don't think about the piccolo yet. My plot outline hasn't reached that point yet. This is the second chapter of the story." Wei Ming only drew five pictures in total.

Now they are going to discuss the first chapter of the story, namely the "Search for the Dragon Balls" chapter, which is based on the two main storylines of the 21st and 22nd Martial Arts Tournaments and the search for the Dragon Balls.

As for the characters that appear later, such as Kobayashi, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Master Shen, Wei Ming left it to A Long to create himself.

Ah Long picked up the text at the back and started reading the plot, conjuring up images in his mind.

Through these words, he gained a deeper understanding of the characters of Goku and Bulma. Goku is a clueless, straightforward man who only cares about martial arts. He seems silly, but he is also exceptionally capable, which easily creates humorous contrasts.

Bulma is beautiful, sexy, a bitch, and extremely rich—characteristics that are so distinctive that she's unforgettable at first glance.

“I think this comic seems to be more in line with the tastes of contemporary people,” Ah Long said.

First of all, the story is set in modern times, and the main storyline is both exciting and lighthearted. Moreover, the character designs are cute, and even girls would like this little Goku.

Wei Ming had high hopes for this comic, and he was even willing to let A Long put aside the now-on-the-track "Qin's Moon" for it.

"Ah Long, do you believe we can create a world-class comic?"

"World-class? Are there any world-class comics now?" Ah Long became a little unsure. Nowadays, Asian comics are dominated by Japanese comics, and European and American comics are dominated by American superhero comics. However, apart from "Superman" which has a global influence through movies, other superheroes are still somewhat lacking.

Wei Ming: "I heard that 'Qin's Moon' is doing very well in Japan."

"Yeah, it's already number one in popularity for Tokuma Shoten's magazine. Even among all serialized comics, it would probably rank in the top ten or so," A-Long said. As for "Storm Riders," it's not quite there yet; it's probably ranked outside the top twenty in terms of popularity among serialized comics.

Wei Ming added, “The Transformers comics are also doing very well in the United States, so our stories have already established a foothold in the two major comic book markets of the United States and Japan. When the mainland market opens up, as long as we can capture these three markets, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a world-class comic.”

Ah Long shook his head: "Let alone the mainland, even if we can only win over the US and Japan, plus Hong Kong and Taiwan, we'd still be considered world-class."

“Okay, let’s work towards that goal. Once you’ve made this comic world-class, you can try to make it animated.” Wei Ming patted A Long on the shoulder. His initial dream was to become an animation master.

Speaking of animation, Liu Rulong recalled something.

“Amin, there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you, something I wanted to say yesterday.”

"Oh, you say."

Liu Rulong said, "Didn't three people from Shanghai Animation Film Studio come to Hong Kong with me? Some time ago, they met some of the studio's employees who had come to Hong Kong a few years ago."

"Oh? The staff of Shanghai Animation Film Studio have been leaving for a long time?" Wei Ming perked up.

"Yes, they are all like me, with overseas connections. There are probably five or six of them. Among them, the leader, Professor Feng Yusong, participated in 'One Night in the Gallery'."

This was the first time Wei Ming and Along saw an animation from the Shanghai Animation Film Studio on the television at Along's maternal grandfather's house. It was a work directed by Ada (Xu Jingda).

"Several of them are currently working in TVB's animation department, but this department isn't very profitable, and TVB plans to shut it down. The head of this department is named Li Sen, who is from Taiwan. He plans to lead these teams to establish an animation company and introduce Taiwan's experience in producing long-running animated series to Hong Kong. Right now, they are actively seeking investment."

Wei Ming understood what A Long meant: whether or not to get involved. The current "Madman Comics" had not only recouped Wei Ming's previous investment costs, but had also long since turned a profit, and the profit situation was quite good, so he had spare money on hand.

He stroked his chin and pondered for a moment, then finally shook his head: "Making animation in Hong Kong is difficult, and even making comics is a struggle."

He had studied history, including future history, and had hardly seen any successful animation companies in Hong Kong. More than a decade later, there was a film produced by Tsui Hark that influenced Hayao Miyazaki's "A Chinese Ghost Story," which received great reviews. But what did it matter? It didn't make any money at all.

Later, there was even a movie version of "Astro Boy" that bankrupted Imagi Animation, which was also made by Hong Kong animators.

The market is too small, heavily reliant on overseas markets, and has high wages, all of which make Hong Kong an unsuitable place for developing the cultural and entertainment industry.

“But don’t lose contact with them. You can invite them to visit Kuangren Comics often for guidance,” Wei Ming said to A Long. “I went to Shanghai Animation Film Studio recently. The studio’s model is still too rigid. They were doing a good job with Black Cat Detective, but suddenly they stopped allowing us to continue. So sooner or later I will set up my own animation company to film my novels. I might build a studio in Shenzhen to facilitate communication with Hong Kong, but the cost of living and labor will be lower there.”

Low cost means strong market competitiveness and low risk. It is easy to lose money to produce animation with Hong Kong's labor costs. Even the animation of the famous Hong Kong IP, Old Master Q, was made in Taiwan.

Ah Long nodded, indicating that there was still a lot of hope in Shenzhen.

The two talked for a long time, and A-Long said, "Next, I'll try to draw a section of 'Dragon Ball'. Once I pass your test, I'll hand it over to Ryoko."

"Oh, and one more thing," Wei Ming said before leaving, "Contact your junior brother Xu Jinjiang and have him come over tomorrow. I'll have him audition."

"what?"

As Wei Ming left the office, he saw that Amin and Xiaohong had received many autographed hand-drawn illustrations from cartoonists. He thought it would be very meaningful if they became famous in the future.

"Alright, let's go to the next stop."

"Where are we going next?" Wei Hong asked.

"You want to open an account, so of course you should go to the stock exchange."

Upon hearing that she was finally going to trade stocks, Xiao Hong was the first to rush to the door.

Ah Long pulled Wei Ming aside and said, "The stock market seems to have reacted recently, and my dad and I have already run away."

Although China and Britain have not yet officially started talks, some things do not need to wait until the day of formal talks. Smart people can see them well in advance, and the wind direction is often hidden in newspapers and news.

Almost immediately after the chief architect of the "one country, two systems" principle was mentioned last year, everyone knew who it was aimed at.

Therefore, after the Hang Seng Index reached a high of 1800 last year, it stopped rising and then fluctuated down to 1400.

Even the stocks recommended by Wei Ming haven't risen much.

Wei Ming patted his heart: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

The Hang Seng Index is about to plummet, but knowing these trends can also lead to profits.

Hong Kong currently has four stock exchanges: the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Far East Stock Exchange, the Gold and Silver Exchange, and the Kowloon Stock Exchange.

This was very inconvenient, so two years ago, the four companies formed a joint venture, but it has not yet officially merged and started operating.

Wei Ming is a HSBC customer, but he chose the Far East Stock Exchange, which has the highest trading volume and is located in Central, so the car returned to Hong Kong Island.
……

(This is a guaranteed minimum update for today; there will be an extra chapter as compensation later~)

(End of this chapter)