Exciting 1979!

Chapter 435 Ouroboros (Seeking monthly votes!)

It seems that Li's mother was already used to this living environment. She pressed down on her two daughters, especially Li Jiaxin's head, making her lower her head and walk through the corridor into her home.

Before entering the house, Li Jiaxin glanced up in Wei Ming's direction. She had seen many men who frequented this place, but this was the first time she had seen one so handsome and not sleazy.

After going downstairs, Wei Ming saw an Indian man selling snakes. He had dark skin and wore glasses.

Wei Ming immediately stopped to look: "Is this snake poisonous?"

“I don’t have those. But if you want venomous snakes, I can get you cobras.” The Indian man pushed up his glasses.

“No need,” Wei Ming asked again, “Are they controllable? I’m a director, and I need to use an obedient snake when filming.”

Ah San said, "Aren't you a writer?"

Wei Ming thought to himself, "Holy crap!"

"You know me?"

“I like reading books and newspapers,” Ah San pulled a copy of District 9 from under his buttocks, then asked Wei Ming, “How do you need them to behave?”

Wei Ming: "The snake coils itself up and bites its own tail."

The Indian man shook his head and said, "I've seen this kind of thing before, but I don't know why they do it, or how to make them do it."

"Alright." Wei Ming stood up. It seemed he had no choice but to ask Old Ghost for advice.

It's getting late. I'll check out the wedding invitation street tomorrow. I still need to rent two houses for decoration, so it'll be difficult to start filming in the next couple of days.

Wei Ming escorted the three grown men home and gave Zhang Yimou and the others some cash, telling them to watch movies in their spare time, remember where they lived, and not to get lost.

When Wei Ming returned to Lao Gui's place, he found that Amin was also there; she was still waiting for him.

"Why are you back so late?"

Wei Ming: "We were scouting locations. This afternoon we also visited the injured Cheng at the hospital..."

As they were talking, Wei Ming saw a slender little girl wearing a short skirt.

"Xiaohong?"

Vivian Chow said smugly, "Don't you all recognize me now?"

Wei Hong awkwardly stretched out her skirt. Actually, the skirt wasn't short, reaching her knees, but it was a bit flashy, not the simple, bright blue and green style typical of mainland China.

In addition, Amin gave her a complete makeover from head to toe and even did her hair, making Xiaohong feel like she didn't recognize herself anymore, and she was very uncomfortable.

Wei Ming thought it was pretty good.

"Now that's more like a young lady, I want to give special praise to Amin for helping people dress up."

Lin Ni immediately jumped in to take credit: "I taught Amin how to dress; she never knew how before."

Wei Ming suddenly realized: "So that's how it is, no wonder, no wonder."

So Amin Xiaohong's style should be considered Taiwanese fresh and clean.

Wei Hong: "Then brother, take a picture of it for me."

Zhou Huimin immediately put her arm around Wei Hong and said, "Take a picture of the two of us."

After filming, Amin was about to leave, and Wei Ming escorted her downstairs to her home.

However, Amin didn't press the eighth layer, but the first layer: "Let's take a walk before going back, it's still early."

"It's still early, it's already past nine o'clock."

Amin: "You know, I waited for you for three hours. If I had known I would be busy until this late, I should have come with you."

"It's a good thing you didn't come with us. We went to a nightclub to scout locations today. It's a shady place, so girls shouldn't go there."

"Huh? You're going to film in a place like that?" Amin asked suspiciously. Was this some kind of legitimate film?
"When filming, you can film anywhere. We're just making a short film. If the budget were higher, we could just build a nightclub."

"Hmm, that makes sense." Amin quickly accepted this theory. She decided to follow Sister Hong's stock trading advice. She was looking forward to Monday, but tomorrow was Sunday.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" she asked.

Wei Ming: "I still need to check out the venue tomorrow, confirm the female lead, rent equipment, and recruit people. I'll be busy. Don't wait for me tonight."

“Then Hongjie and I will go record a song tomorrow, ‘Pink Memories’.”

"Amin, sing me one more song."

Zhou Huimin looked around and, seeing no one passing by, slowly swayed and sang softly in front of him. Sure enough, it was much more natural than the first time, and she was very playful and cute.

The next day, Wei Ming went to Kuangren Comics, where Xu Jinjiang, Zhang Yimou, and the other two had already gathered.

Wei Ming thought for a moment and said, "Come with me."

Today they are going to visit Ms. Xia Meng. After meeting, they explained the reason for their visit.

"I never expected you to adapt this novel yourself. You really have the courage to do that. I really like that work and I look forward to seeing your work. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Wei Ming smiled and said, "The short film I'm currently shooting needs a female lead, so I wanted to ask about Ye Tong's current salary?"

“You’ve come to the right person,” Xia Meng said. “We collaborated on another film in the first half of the year, with Cecilia Yip as the female lead, and it was her first film after winning the Hong Kong Film Award. I gave her 15 yuan, and the male lead was Leslie Cheung, for which I gave him 20 yuan.”

"150,000." Wei Ming stroked his chin. Considering the time required for filming his short film, 50,000 would be reasonable, though a little expensive.

"But you don't need to worry about the pay. Ye Tong is very grateful to you and will probably give you a friendly price."

"What movie is this?" Wei Ming asked curiously. He remembered that in his previous life, Bluebird only had three movies.

Xia Meng said, "It's director Tan Jiaming's new film, 'Burning Youth.' You've come at the right time; filming just wrapped up recently. Let me contact her agent for you."

Wei Ming nodded. It seemed that Qingniao was quite different from its previous life. It had made money and had the potential to grow stronger.

However, after finishing the call, Xia Meng regretfully told Wei Ming, "She went on vacation to Europe after filming the movie. Even if we find her, it will take some time and luck."

Wei Ming: "Okay, do you have any other suitable actresses for your film 'Burning Youth'?"

“What a coincidence,” Xia Meng told Wei Ming, “The other female lead in the crew is the same age as Ye Tong and has a similar figure. Her name is Xia Wenxi. Let me show you her picture.”

Wei Ming thought to himself, "It really is her." He had seen this movie starring Zhang Guorong, which was also Ye Tong's debut film in the original timeline.

Although Xia Wenxi also has a slender figure, her body is much more alluring than that of teacher Ye Tong.

"The Unrestrained Woman of the Tang Dynasty" is forever a goddess!
This time, Xia Wenxi had the time, and upon hearing that it was Wei Ming, the legendary Wei Ming, she showed a strong willingness to cooperate.

So Wei Ming arranged a time and place to meet her.

Xia Wenxi is 19 years old this year and mainly works as a model. She has a rather aloof and cool temperament.

"Nomadic Youth" was her first film role, and she really had to thank Ye Tong for her trip to Europe; otherwise, how could this opportunity have fallen into her lap? This was the leading role in the directorial debut of a great writer! Having already seen photos in the car, Zhang Yimou was once again impressed upon seeing her in person—a different kind of beauty. Hong Kong truly was dazzling.

Wei Ming brought several of them with him this time and introduced their roles.

Upon hearing that Xu Jinjiang was the male lead, Xia Wenxi glanced at him a few more times; he seemed quite shy.

Wei Ming first asked the two lead actors a question: "Are you two willing to have some nude scenes?"

Xu Jinjiang tensed up: "Yes, how revealing?"

Xia Wenxi replied directly, "I'm perfectly fine with it. I can completely let the director do what he wants with my body."

Xu Jinjiang quickly added, "I'm fine with it too, I just want to be mentally prepared."

Wei Ming: "The upper body is exposed, but the female lead can wear a bra."

Wei Ming requested that the content be less explicit than the original, since this was to be shown to the leaders of the Children's Film Studio and the Beijing Film Studio in China. There was no need for a one-to-one replica, nor was it possible to do so, as there are differences between animation and live-action.

The first season of the animated series "Love, Death & Robots" caused a sensation on Netflix, sparking much interpretation and discussion around the world.

Wei Ming brought the third episode of the first season of Love, Death & Robots, titled "The Witness," a story similar to Triangle, though this type of story was probably a first for this era.

Wei Ming didn't give them the script, after all, the film didn't have many lines, and he was also afraid that the two main characters would be even more confused after reading the script.

"When filming starts, I will tell you what to shoot each day. You just need to do as instructed. Ms. Xia, your fee is also 10,000 yuan. Is that alright?"

Xia Wenxi was very satisfied, considering that the shoot only lasted for about ten days.

Wei Ming then asked, "Miss Xia, do you know any makeup artists? Could you recommend one to us?"

"OK."

In addition, Wei Ming also obtained the contact information of several crew members, including lighting technicians, sound engineers, and editors, from Xia Meng. These were basically the teams of director Tan Jiaming, who had worked on "Seven Days of Wrong Love" and "Burning Youth".

The fees for behind-the-scenes staff are not that high, after all, they are not exactly top-tier professionals.

What? You say your name is Cheung Suk-ping? That's no use. You can only barely be an art assistant in the crew, and you can also participate in the editing work with the director.

Cheung Suk-ping's first role as art director was in Patrick Tam's "Love Massacre," and he also participated in "Nomad."

Wei Ming spent the whole day interviewing people, and everyone was happy to take on such a short-term job. Soon, the crew members were basically in place.

Before dark, Wei Ming took Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaoning to Xitie Street to rent houses. They rented one on each side of the street for a week, and wouldn't rent any more than that.

Wei Ming instructed, "Tomorrow, Lao Feng, you and Zhang Shuping will tidy up the two rooms. This is the girl's room, and that is the man's room, which is also the room where the murder occurred. Lao Zhang, you come with me to rent equipment."

The next day, which was their fourth day in Hong Kong, after renting the equipment, Wei Ming took Zhang Yimou and the camera to Holiland Company to pick up Lao Gui. They also bought a non-venomous snake, and the group drove to a deserted and empty place.

Zhang Yimou didn't know who the old man was either; Wei Ming didn't introduce him, and he didn't ask either.

"As you said, the snake farmer was starved for two days."

Old Ghost: "Pour it out."

Wei Ming took charge personally and instructed Zhang Yimou to prepare for filming.

After the snake came out, it started to dart around, trying to escape, but the old ghost used a stick to intercept it.

Snakes move very fast, otherwise there would be no such thing as a snake-shaped hand. However, Old Ghost was even faster, always managing to block the snake's head accurately, forcing it to change course. It was as if the snake was trapped in an invisible net.

Zhang Yimou could tell that the old man was skilled in martial arts.

After being repeated more than ten times, the snake's movements slowed down under the old man's snake-beating stick technique.

At this moment, the old ghost took out the gourd flute that he had prepared beforehand and began to play a tune. The tune seemed to make the snake nervous, and it began to twist its body violently.

Slowly, slowly, its head saw the swaying snake tail, and suddenly, it lunged and bit down.

Ouroboros, success!

Zhang Yimou successfully captured this scene, and the snake, with its head and tail connected, was now particularly round, so he took photos from several angles.

After completing the filming task, the snake was released. Lao Gui explained the reason behind it: "Snakes are not very intelligent, and it's not easy to make them obey. However, they will exhibit tail-linking behavior when they are hungry and stressed, so you understand why I did this."

Wei Ming nodded. This is playing mind games with the snake!
"You understand? Then I'd like to ask you, why did you film this scene?"

Wei Mingdao: "This is the first shot of the whole film, and it is a prophetic shot."

Old Gui still doesn't understand, and neither does Zhang Yimou, but they'll understand once they see the film.

Wei Ming took the old man back, then went to Wedding Invitation Street to check on the decorations of the two houses. Even Xu Jinjiang was helping out.

The three art students came together, each representing a different aesthetic style. Xu Jinjiang had a background in traditional Chinese painting, Feng Xiaoning was trained according to the orthodox film art style in China, and Zhang Shuping loved painting since childhood and later went abroad to study film. Wei Ming was most satisfied with the room he was in charge of.

However, Feng Xiaoning's room can be modified and used as well.

"Alright, everyone gather here tomorrow, and our filming will officially begin!"

Wei Ming then notified the female lead and other crew members.

When he got home, he saw Xiaohong and Amin downstairs, both of them expressionless, looking as if they had lost their parents.

He remembered, the Hong Kong stock market was open today: "What, did you lose money?"

Xiao Hong said sadly, "One day! Four thousand yuan is gone in just one day! Four thousand!"

Vivian Chow: "I also have four thousand."

It seems the Hang Seng Index has risen.

"That's normal. There are risks in the stock market. So what did you gain from losing four thousand yuan?"

Wei Hong: "Today I learned about many financial newspapers and also learned a lot of Cantonese terms related to the stock market."

"As long as there's progress."

After complaining to her older brother, Wei Hong went upstairs; she still had some newspapers to read.

Xiao Hong is becoming more and more sensible; she's creating some alone time for her older brother and Amin.

“That song has already been recorded,” Amin said. “I met Alan and the others while recording it. Now my friends in the music industry know that you’re in Hong Kong and they all want to ask me to meet you so they can talk to you about electronic music.”

The electronic music craze has reached Hong Kong, with Wei Ming's "Wake Me Up" topping the Billboard Hot 100 for two consecutive weeks.

"Filming officially starts tomorrow, I don't have time now, let's talk about it after filming is finished."

However, the news of Wei Ming's arrival in Hong Kong has even reached Uncle Shao's ears. He immediately ordered Lai Siu-tin to invite Wei Ming to serve as a judge for the New Talent Singer Competition!
……

(Bonus chapter on the first day as usual! Please vote with your monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)