Exciting 1979!

Chapter 436 Emptyed out, squeezed dry

"Uncle Jiefang, are you home, Uncle?"

When someone came to the door late at night, Lao Wei thought to himself, "What's wrong? We've been talking all night and all day and we still haven't finished our conversation?"
He opened the door: "Hey, Zhu Zi, what's up?"

"Uncle Jiefang, what was that coffee you gave us yesterday? What was it again?"

"Coffee," Old Wei said in a very sophisticated tone.

"Yes, yes, yes, do you still have that coffee? Tomorrow I'm going to use a mule to transport timber, and I'll be working very late. My old mule is getting old and goes to sleep on time, so I thought I'd use this coffee to keep it awake. This stuff really works; I didn't sleep a wink last night!" Zhu Zi said with a simple, honest smile.

Old Wei immediately got angry and said, "Can't you be nicer to your mule or horse? Let it sleep when it wants to, why are you making a fuss about it? And do you think this is your corn porridge? The two cups you drank yesterday cost at least several yuan."

"Wow, that's so expensive!" Upon hearing this, Zhu Zi's leg, which had been about to step into the yard, automatically retreated. However, the yard smelled wonderful; what delicious food were they making now?

When it was time for dinner, Qi Delong would automatically come to his uncle's house for a free meal, this time carrying his one-and-a-half-year-old brother Qi Dongqiang.

"Uncle, why did you stew such a big pot of meat?" Qi Delong was very surprised. It wasn't that his uncle's family couldn't afford it, but they probably couldn't finish it. Could it be that he was to take it to his parents?
Old Wei laughed and said, "Isn't tomorrow the college entrance exam? I'm planning to provide lunch for the students in our village. Come with me tomorrow morning and get a feel for the atmosphere of the college entrance exam."

"Do you provide meals?"

"Nonsense, there's plenty of stewed meat!"

"Okay, I'll go!"

After the meal, Xu Shufen asked Qi Delong to take some food back to his parents.

Since Wei Ming started doing educational charity work in his hometown, the learning atmosphere among the village children has become increasingly strong, and several who originally planned to take the vocational school entrance exam have ended up taking the high school entrance exam instead.

Because of his high school and college entrance exams, Wei Ming gave him a higher scholarship.

This year, Gouzi Village produced five students taking the college entrance examination. As the honorary principal of the village primary school, Lao Wei generously offered to provide meals for the students during the exam, which earned him praise from everyone in the village. Some even called for him to come back and take on both the roles of village secretary and brigade leader.

Enjoying the villagers' admiring gazes, Lao Wei and Qi Delong drove Xiao Erhei and Xiao Qin in two donkey carts to the county town before dawn.

One bus carried students, while the other carried breakfast and lunch. On the bus, Lao Wei told the students stories about the outside world and taught them to be like Brother Wei Ming, "worrying about the world's troubles before enjoying its pleasures," and to become useful people to society, the times, and the world.

~
Hong Kong.

Early in the morning, before dawn, Wei Ming went downstairs, knocked on Zhou Huimin's door, and took her out of her home.

Filming was about to begin, and Amin wanted to go over and check on things, and maybe buy some tea for everyone. Wei Hong wasn't going; she had to keep an eye on the stock market to see if she could make back the money she'd lost today.

When Wei Ming and Zhou Huimin arrived at Wedding Invitation Street, Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaoning were already there, bringing all the filming equipment. Liangzi had driven them there.

During filming, the van that Wei Ming bought first became an important means of transportation.

Wei Ming said, "Today we'll film the female lead's room first."

A short while later, Xu Jinjiang arrived, and as Wei Ming had instructed, he brought several live pigeons.

"Amin, you wait here for the actresses and makeup artists. Old Zhang, let's go release the pigeons."

Wei Ming needed a shot of pigeons flying over two buildings, which would occur when the gunshot rang out.

Zhang Yimou was downstairs, while Wei Ming and Xu Jinjiang were responsible for releasing pigeons, but they failed.

Xu Jinjiang took action by climbing to the rooftop to release pigeons, determined to make the 10,000 yuan given to him by Wei Ming worth every penny.

As a result, when the cage was opened, five or six of the birds flew away in the opposite direction and did not appear in the sky between the two buildings, failing to achieve the effect Wei Ming wanted.

Zhang Yimou reluctantly put away the camera, feeling a little regretful. Those were all plump and tender pigeons; they had all flown away.

Wei Ming asked Xu Jinjiang, "Do people in Hong Kong keep homing pigeons?"

Yes, I think so.

Wei Ming: "Then tomorrow we'll find someone who owns homing pigeons and borrow some from them. Homing pigeons are relatively obedient."

Seeing Xu Jinjiang's troubled expression, Wei Ming knew he definitely didn't have any connections in this area, so he said, "You don't need to look for it, I'll have the producer look for it."

"Our crew also has a producer?" Xu Jinjiang asked, somewhat surprised.

Wei Ming: "The Miss Lizhi you met that day."

I need to call her after filming this morning. She's been in Hong Kong for so long and is my aunt's friend, so she might have connections in this area.

When they came downstairs, the female lead, Xia Wenxi, was already getting her makeup done, chatting with Zhou Huimin as she did so. The makeup artist was applying makeup based on the concept art given to her by Wei Ming, and she was also complaining: "They're using too many materials. It takes as much time and effort to do one of their makeup looks as it does for several others."

Vivian Chow quickly replied, "But it's really special, unforgettable."

The makeup artist asked, "Director, is the face okay?"

Wei Ming gave an OK sign, and the makeup artist said, "Take off your clothes, let's start the body makeup."

Xia Wenxi boldly wanted to take off her clothes, and Zhou Huimin hurriedly tried to push Wei Ming out.

The makeup artist then said, "This design is a bit difficult to do; it's too complicated. I'm not a painter, how am I supposed to do it? It'll probably be noon by the time I finish."

That won't work; Wei Ming wants to film in the morning.

Makeup artist: "Why don't we do the makeup together with the director? That could speed things up a bit."

Xia Wenxi glanced at Zhou Huimin. She didn't care, but she was afraid the little girl would be jealous.

Amin is more than just jealous, he's practically going crazy. So, does Amin want to see another woman's body?
He hasn't seen mine yet!

Wei Ming was undoubtedly the best choice. He designed the pattern himself; it wasn't a random design or a copy of the original. Instead, he incorporated many traditional Chinese cultural symbols into the female lead's design.

For example, the Sanxingdui elements, calligraphy elements, and red elements were drawn in great detail by Wei Ming, and the design was also very visually appealing. The fact that the female lead often appeared in only underwear was also for the purpose of display.

Under Amin's worried gaze, Wei Ming called Xu Jinjiang over: "I am not a painter, but this is a real painter, and a descendant of a famous master. Master Guan Shanyue is his teacher."

Guan Shanyue has a high profile in Hong Kong because of her deep roots in Lingnan. She has held several art exhibitions in Hong Kong and was appointed as an external committee member by the Chinese University of Hong Kong this year. It's quite impressive, at least she knows the makeup artist.

Wei Ming then consulted Xia Wenxi's opinion, and she had no objections. She and Xu Jinjiang already had many close-quarters combat scenes, so what was there to be embarrassed about?

On the contrary, Xu Jinjiang hesitated for a while. He had not studied Western painting, so he had never drawn the human body. When Xia Wenxi undressed him, he shamelessly became even more aroused.

Outside, Wei Ming was recalling and searching. Lao Xu and Xia Wenxi were very famous in the industry, and Lao Xu had an excellent reputation. He had worked with Shu Qi, Li Lizhen, Weng Hong, Ye Zimei, Ye Yuqing, and Chen Baolian, but it seemed that he had never worked with Xia Wenxi before. He wondered if there would be any sparks between the two.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Zhou Huimin waved her hand in front of Wei Ming's face.

"Of course I'm thinking about the upcoming filming," Wei Ming said with an upright air.

With Xu Jinjiang's help, the full-body makeup was completed quickly; he did an even better job than the makeup artist.

Wei Ming: "Okay, now A Jiang, take off your shirt and lie on the bed to help out for a bit."

"Oh, there are other people in this room?"

"Yeah, someone who spends the night with a girl doesn't need to find someone else. You're capable, so you should do more."

"Then I'll turn my back so you don't take a picture of me."

"It's okay, turn around, we can cut it out if we capture it."

However, Xu Jinjiang still covered his face with his arm, but Wei Ming secretly said to Zhang Yimou, "Take a picture of Ajiang's face later, but it doesn't need to be too clear."

The male and female protagonists are in the room opposite, and this room is also occupied by the male and female protagonists.

Xia Wenxi appeared fully made up, wearing only a bra on her upper body. Her first shot was of her applying makeup in front of a mirror. Suddenly, she heard something, turned her head, and purple lipstick smeared across her lips...

After the morning session ended, the scenes in this location were considered finished; it was actually only about a minute of actual footage.

At first, Xia Wenxi was still herself, not outgoing enough, not a tomboy enough. But after Wei Ming tormented her again and again, she finally became unlike herself.

Zhou Huimin took care of lunch for everyone, and the filming continued in the afternoon. Xia Wenxi had basically finished filming her scenes in this scene.

Wei Ming told her to get away, and then had Xu Jinjiang stand shirtless by the window while Zhang Yimou filmed him from the house across the street.

This left Xu Jinjiang somewhat bewildered. Fortunately, he wasn't Liang Jiahui, who hated directors who didn't have a script and didn't explain the story clearly. So Xu Jinjiang cooperated and acted however he was told.

Then Wei Ming had Xu Jinjiang put on his clothes and run to the next room, where Xia Wenxi stood by the window. Wei Ming wanted to take a picture of the two of them together through the window.

In the afternoon, Wei Ming had Xia Wenxi run over to the male lead's side, where he was lying in the blood, and pretend to be a victim there.

Both of them did as instructed, still puzzled.

Before wrapping up work in the afternoon, Lizhi drove to the film set, wearing sunglasses, a white top and pants, looking very capable and mature.

Zhou Huimin stared at the other person, while Lizhi smiled and greeted the little girl before going over to talk to Wei Ming.

"I've found someone who can supply pigeons. How many do you need?"

Wei Ming: "Only twenty?"

"No problem, will you use it tomorrow morning?" she asked again.

"Yes, the same place tomorrow morning."

“Okay,” Lizhi said again, “I’ve helped you so much, would you do me the honor of having dinner with me tonight?”

Wei Ming: "What do you mean by 'helping me out'? You're the company's legal representative and the producer of this short film; this is what you should be doing. But dinner is fine, what do you want to eat tonight?" Li Zhi was about to be disappointed when, unexpectedly, she said, "How about French food?"

"Sure, you choose the location, I'll pay the bill."

Lizhi was overjoyed until she saw Wei Ming leading Zhou Huimin over after work.

He said to Lizhi, "I have to take Amin back, so let's eat together."

This is also why Wei Ming said he would pay for it himself, and there was nothing Li Zhi could do about it even if she was unhappy.

"Okay, welcome," she said, though she didn't mean it.

"Sister Xiaoli, so you're our producer? That's amazing," Zhou Huimin said meaningfully.

"You're not bad either, big star." Lizhi looked at the little girl and gave her a not-so-sincere smile.

During the meal, Wei Ming was clearly closer to Amin, but he didn't neglect Lizhi either, since she had genuinely helped and done something.

If DreamWorks Pictures has any other production work in the future, they could try letting Lizhi take over. The toy factory is nothing like the glamorous entertainment industry, which is more suitable for her.

Lizhi actually wanted to be someone useful to Wei Ming. She felt that if a woman could help a man in his career and had a good figure and a pretty face, the two of them could potentially get together. For example, Melinda from England. She didn't believe that Wei Ming and Melinda had a clean relationship.

After finishing the expensive French meal, Lizhi watched Wei Ming and Zhou Huimin drive away.

On the way home, Amin, who was very satisfied with Wei Ming's performance today, did not mention Li Zhi again. She could not let herself be flustered by a big-breasted woman. No matter how big Li Zhi's breasts were, could they compare to Melinda's?

She happily told Wei Ming about her enjoyment on set, except that the plot was incomprehensible.

Wei Ming: "You'll understand it once the filming is finished. There's no rush. Even if you don't understand it, it's okay. Some things are like that; you may not understand them, but you'll still be deeply moved."

Back in the neighborhood, I saw Wei Hong downstairs again, returning from closing time. Her outfit was different from yesterday's, but they were from the same style – Taiwanese fresh and clean, clearly styled by Ni Nai Nai.

No wonder my aunt has such great taste in clothes; it turns out she has a mother who has always loved dressing her up.

However, Xiao Hong still seemed unhappy today. Zhou Huimin asked, "Sister Hong, how much did you lose today?"

She said, "We made a profit today, each earning 2000 yuan more than the initial investment."

Two thousand yuan is a huge sum of money for Wei Hong, but she spoke of it calmly today, without any sign of excitement.

Zhou Huimin, who made money through stocks for the first time, jumped up happily: "Xiao Hong, you're amazing!"

"It has nothing to do with me; it's just normal market fluctuations."

Wei Ming asked, "What did you learn today?"

Wei Hong: "I learned not to borrow money to speculate on stocks."

"Oh?"

Wei Hong said, "Today I met someone who borrowed money at high interest rates to speculate on stocks, lost it all, and then jumped off a building."

"Huh? Where is that person?" Vivian Chow asked, covering her mouth.

"There were too many people surrounding it, I didn't see it, but it was so tall, it probably won't survive," Wei Hong sighed.

Then she asked, "Brother, why is the stock market so scary?"

Witnessing someone jump off a building, even without seeing the mangled body, was still a huge shock to the sixteen-year-old girl.

He must have been a middle-aged man, probably with children still in school. What will happen to his family if he dies?

Wei Ming said seriously, "The stock market is indeed terrifying. Sometimes you may not even lose to the market or to the rules, but to people who don't follow the rules. So you must learn to control your desires. Two words: 'calm down,' three words: 'don't get carried away.' Finally, let me give you a piece of advice: 'Where there's life, there's hope.' As for whether you still want to play the stock market, we still have time. You can make a decision when you leave Hong Kong."

Wei Hong lowered her head. If it weren't for that incident, she would have been very happy to have earned two thousand yuan today and even seemed to have figured out some patterns.

When Lin Ni got home, she told Wei Ming, "A Long called, he's looking for you."

Wei Ming quickly returned the call, and A Long said, "Li Xiaotian came to the company to see you today. I told him you were filming and asked where you were filming."

"Do you know why you're looking for me?"

"He didn't say, but I can tell he's very determined to find you. I guess he'll come again tomorrow."

Wei Ming: "If he comes again, tell him to come find me on Lidong Street."

“Okay,” Ah Long said again, “I’ve been drawing Dragon Ball these past few days. Come over and give me some pointers when you have time.”

"Don't worry, I won't leave after filming. We'll talk later."

The next day, filming continued. Early in the morning, Lizhi brought 40 pigeons, double the number Wei Ming had requested. The shot of the pigeons scattering in all directions after being startled by the gunshot was finally captured.

Then Lizhi stayed to continue watching everyone film, and she immediately took care of any needs that arose, turning the producer into the production manager.

However, as an adult who has entered the workforce, she is indeed much more mature and efficient than Amin in handling matters, which makes the filming process more efficient for the crew.

The setting is the male protagonist's small house.

"The rest of the plot involves the male lead chasing the female lead. As they run, she ends up in his house, where they start fighting. In the chaos, the female lead shoots, and the male lead dies in a pool of blood..."

"Are there two corpses here?" Zhang Shuping asked.

Feng Xiaoning exclaimed, "I should have known better than to clean up yesterday. It looks like a brand new house now, and there's no blood left."

Wei Ming: "No, no, no, let's just pretend it's a new house where no murder has happened, and film it like that."

During filming, Lai Siu-tin had already arrived. When Lai Chi arrived, Amin even felt superfluous on set. Fortunately, Lai Siu-tin came, and Amin was the only person he knew besides Wei Ming, so Zhou Huimin was responsible for entertaining her.

During their conversation, Vivian Chow mentioned TVB's singing competitions, and that's when she learned that Joseph Koo was the director of TVB's New Talent Singer Competition.

"Actually, I came here to invite Ah Ming to be a judge. In addition to him, Uncle Zhan, Uncle Hui, and Ah Rong will also be judges and guests."

"The judges~"

Zhou Huimin pointed to Wei Ming, who was following behind Zhang Yimou and controlling the camera.

"He's filming a movie, and he's also the director. He doesn't have time to be a judge, unless all your competitions are held at night."

"The final is in the evening, about ten days from now."

Vivian Chow: "But Ah Ming only plans to stay in Hong Kong for half a month, and he has been here for almost a week."

"Ah, couldn't we have stayed a few more days?" Li Xiaotian said regretfully.

"Cut, thank you for your hard work, dinner's ready."

Lizhi arranged for someone to deliver boxed lunches. Wei Ming took two boxes and walked up to Fatty Li, handing one to Amin: "Brother Xiaotian, what's up?"

"I'm here on behalf of Mr. Shao to invite you. I hope you can serve as a judge for the New Talent Singer Competition. After all, it was you who proposed this program."

Wei Ming asked directly, "When are the recordings scheduled?"

Hearing that Wei Ming seemed to agree, Li Xiaotian was overjoyed and said, "The preliminary rounds will be held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so there will be more people. Then next Friday is the semi-finals, which will be broadcast on TVB on Saturday. The finals will be the Saturday after next, and TVB will broadcast it live."

Wei Ming said, "Okay, I can attend the semi-finals. I have to film this week and can't get away. I'll be back in mainland China the week after next. I was originally planning to leave next Thursday, but I'll stay a couple more days for you guys."

Li Xiaotian readily agreed, thinking that even Mr. Shao wouldn't be able to persuade Wei Ming to stay an extra week for the show.

"Does your production team need TVB's help with publicity?" Lai Siu-tin asked again. "If so, I can ask someone from the entertainment news department to come and interview you."

Wei Ming smiled and waved his hand: "No need for that, it's just a short film, it won't be released."

Li Xiaotian did not linger and hurried back to report. Although Run Run Shaw felt it was a pity, he could accept the outcome.

When Amin learned that Wei Ming was going to be a judge, her little brain started working like crazy.

We basically finished filming the interior scenes of the two rooms in the morning, and in the afternoon we filmed the scenes where the male lead chases the female lead into this room, as well as the two scenes where the female lead escapes from the room earlier.

These are mostly dynamic shots, and the cinematographer has to run alongside the characters.

Zhang Yimou, carrying the camera, reassured Wei Ming: "My hands are very steady. There might be a little shaking, but I can control it to the minimum."

"No, no, if I want image stabilization, I'll use a Steadicam. I want this part to be a bit shaky, to create a sense of urgency and pressure through the shaky footage."

Zhang Yimou understood; he had learned these techniques in school and later used them extensively in "Keep Cool and Talk".

However, Wei Ming refused to let him pass the test after several attempts, complaining that the shaking was too intense or that the shaking lacked aesthetic appeal.

In the end, Wei Ming took a picture and gave a demonstration. Only then did Zhang Yimou realize that he could not simply follow the script. Wei Ming's handheld photography style was clearly different from that of the French New Wave group, and it appeared very passionate.

I never expected that Teacher Wei would also be so skilled in photography. This makes Zhang Yimou even more eager to film "The Shepherd's Spring" later. He must drain him dry!
After filming that day, all the scenes on Wedding Invitation Street were finished. Almost half of the film was completed. Tomorrow we can go to Chungking Mansions.

"Amin, are you going to write me a song before you leave?" Amin asked on the way back.

“Yes.” Wei Ming had promised before that there would be a song every time they met and parted.

Vivian Chow asked, "Could you give it to me earlier? I... I can't wait!"

……

(Today's guaranteed minimum)
(End of this chapter)