Exciting 1979!

Chapter 448 Wei Ming is playing both sides again.

At Shanghai Airport, Wei Ming met Qiao Feng, which was a bit unexpected, but more than that, he was pleasantly surprised.

The organization's decision to send someone from Peking University to accompany Wei Ming abroad, rather than choosing active-duty military personnel, demonstrates a sense of trust.

Qiao Feng is not only Wei Ming's friend, but also a seasoned veteran.

Qiao Feng was even happier than Wei Ming about this. He flew directly from Beijing to Shanghai, and this was his first time flying. He was also about to experience his first trip abroad!

"Hey, I, Old Joe, am also very happy thanks to you. I'm so happy for my sister-in-law and the others."

There are subsidies for going abroad, and the subsidies are all in foreign currency. As long as you spend less abroad, you can spend more on your wife and children.

"Brother Feng, you've recently become a leader, have you still gotten your kung fu back?" Wei Ming asked.

Qiao Feng showed off his biceps: "Look at what you're saying, how about we practice a bit later?"

Wei Ming entered Peking University mainly to practice military combat with Qiao Feng and martial arts with Biao Zi to improve his physical fitness. He felt that his physical condition was much better than at the same time in his previous life. No matter how many times he had sex in one night, he could still be full of energy the next day.

He waved his hand with a smile: "As long as you still have kung fu skills, that's fine. I've heard there are a lot of thieves in Italy."

"Huh? Isn't that a developed country? How can there be thieves there?" Qiao Feng was incredulous. Nowadays, information about foreign countries is already rampant in China, and it's all about how good foreign countries are.

Wei Ming: "In short, we still need to be careful."

In his past life, he had been to Europe, including Italy, France, and Spain. Good heavens, he stole from me three times a day. I wonder if things will be any better in the 1980s.

Wei Ming had a very short layover in Hong Kong and didn't have time to meet with Amin, so he treated Feng Ge to a meal at Holiland at the airport. Feng Ge ate the food and praised it repeatedly. He didn't know the connection between the restaurant and Wei Ming; he just liked eating meat.

With the hit premiere of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", the brand value of Holiland, which sponsored the show, has increased sharply. They arrived outside of peak mealtimes, but the airport restaurants were the most crowded.

Lao Gui and Liu Bin are now planning to open a branch in Macau, and of course, the number of branches in Hong Kong will continue to increase.

Next, we'll start conquering the Taiwan market.

After dinner, they embarked on a long-haul flight. Feng remained vigilant, wary of anyone who tried to get close to him, including the beautiful flight attendants who admired him.

Don't go near it!

Because the organizing committee had already notified them, Xu Jinjiang was holding a sign and waiting to welcome them when they landed at Marco Polo Airport.

The reason we didn't see director Wang Shuchen was because the organizing committee didn't notify them to stay for the closing ceremony, which meant that "The Legend of Sealed Book" didn't win an award, so they left early.

However, "The Legend of Sealed Book" has achieved good results in the trading market, selling the rights to several countries. This is due to three reasons: first, it has the backing of Mr. Why's original work; second, its artistic quality is indeed international; and third, the story is simple and easy to understand, with a low barrier to entry for viewers. However, all of these profits belong to the BBC.

Upon arriving here, Wei Ming learned from Xu Jinjiang that Ah Long and his wife had also come to Italy for their honeymoon.

“But they should be in Milan right now,” Xu Jinjiang explained.

"Okay, let them have fun. Let's go to the hotel first."

Towards the end of the film festival, there were more hotel rooms available, but Xu Jinjiang and Xia Wenxi still shared a room, not because there were fewer rooms, but to save money.

After settling Wei Ming and Qiao Feng in, Xu Jinjiang went next door to call Xia Wenxi over, and the four of them planned to go for a walk outside.

If you come to the city of water, you should at least take a boat ride and then stroll around St. Mark's Square.

“Xiao Wei, I didn’t believe it before we came, but now I do,” Feng said in St. Mark’s Square.

"What do you believe?" Wei Ming was taking pictures, taking a group photo of Xu Jinjiang and Xia Wenxi. These two have been here for so many days and they haven't taken a single photo together yet. I wonder what they've been doing all this time.

"There's more than one thief."

Qiao Feng pointed to a young man with curly hair diagonally in front of him. He was standing next to a couple who were probably foreign tourists. Judging from their obese figures, they were probably rich and foolish Americans.

Wei Ming: "Don't worry about it, just don't let them steal from us. These thieves might be organized."

Feng nodded. If it were him, he might have meddled, but the organization sent him abroad to protect Wei Ming. Let alone thieves, even if it was a murder, he would prioritize escorting Wei Ming away from the scene.

However, this incident has indeed dispelled his fascination with foreign countries.

"Ah Jiang, take a picture of me and Brother Feng here."

Wei Ming struck a pose at the foot of the winged lion statue in St. Mark's Square, a statue that is said to have stood there for nearly a thousand years.

The golden lion of the Golden Lion Award originates from this, and the trophy is also a replica of this lion. It can be said that it is the most iconic sculpture in Venice and a symbol of the Venetian spirit.

Wei Ming asked Xu Jinjiang, "Jiang, have you noticed that this lion looks a bit strange?"

"What's so strange about it? Is it because it has wings?" Xu Jinjiang laughed. "Europeans really like to add wings to lions."

Wei Ming: "The wings are fine, they are very European, but do you think its face and overall shape resemble a European lion statue?"

Qiao Feng listened attentively, eager to hear his insightful opinions, after all, Xiao Wei had a very deep understanding of lions.

"Ah, I can't see this clearly?" Xu Jinjiang looked up; the lion was placed too high, and he could only make out a rough outline.

However, Wei Ming, being from a later era, knew that this lion had wisps of hair hanging down its chin, a large nose with flared nostrils, bared fangs, and a fierce expression. These elements were very similar to the design of tomb guardian beasts from the Tang Dynasty in China, but had nothing in common with typical medieval Roman or Gothic lion statues.

Later, an Italian research team used lead isotope analysis and other methods to test and analyze the original casting material samples of the bronze lion, and confirmed that the copper used to cast this bronze lion originally came from mines in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China.

This cultural symbol, which Venice has been proud of for hundreds of years, was originally a Chinese lion, or perhaps a tomb guardian beast. It has undergone many modifications and has become the unique creature it is today, although this view is not yet widely accepted.

At this moment, Xia Wenxi suddenly took out a small telescope and handed it to Xu Jinjiang. Xu Jinjiang immediately stepped back and back again until he could finally see the face of the flying lion clearly. However, Xu Jinjiang regretfully discovered that he was not familiar with what other European lion statues looked like, nor did he know what Tang Dynasty lion statues looked like. Xu Jinjiang sighed that he was still far behind the erudite Professor Wei.

Wei Ming then discovered that there were life-size models of St. Mark's Flying Lion for sale in the square, and he immediately bought two, feeling that he could write a paper about it when he returned to China.

When they returned to the hotel, they were stopped in the lobby before they even went upstairs.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Why?" A bald, middle-aged white man approached. He had also deduced Wei Ming's identity based on Xu Jinjiang's assessment.

Wei Ming nodded and answered him in fluent English. The other person introduced himself as Gilles Jacob, the artistic director of the Cannes Film Festival, who would later become the president of the Cannes Film Festival for fourteen years. His influence on Cannes had lasted for nearly forty years, and the influence of the Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, Wong Kar-wai, and others in Europe was inseparable from him.

Jacob had already seen "The Witness" several times, and he was amazed by the first film by the great writer who had transitioned to directing. He even invited Wei Ming to visit Cannes sometime.

He believes that such an all-around genius will definitely continue to produce works.

Wei Ming smiled and said, "I am currently filming a feature film in China, which is also my first feature film."

He only got this far when Jacob's eyes lit up: "Film now? It should be finished in six months, right? Please contact me as soon as it's done!"

Jacob spoke very sincerely, which can be considered a formal invitation. Cannes started later than Venice, but now its global influence is the top three, thanks to the combination of art and commerce.

As a renowned writer, activist, and musician with international influence, Wei Ming's film, even if it turns out to be utter garbage, would still have considerable commercial value and generate significant buzz. Moreover, judging from the quality of "The Witness," it certainly wouldn't be inferior to those previous mainland Chinese directors.

Wei Ming was also waiting for him to say that. Cannes was the best choice for "The Shepherd's Spring" in terms of both the timing of its completion and its style.

Not avant-garde enough, so it's not suitable for Venice; not politically dark enough, so it's not suitable for Berlin.

Then Jacob inquired in more detail about the type of film it was, and Wei Ming said it was adapted from his own novella, "The Shepherd's Spring".

This novel is the earliest of Wei Ming's animal series to be translated into English. However, Jacob is French and has not yet read this work. I plan to find it and read it later.

He added, "Cannes places great importance on world premieres, so we hope that after the film is completed, it will be submitted to Cannes first, and then we will consider the issue of distribution and release."

Venice and Berlin are a bit more lenient in this regard, but it will become increasingly strict in the future, with exceptions only made for big-name directors.

Having been warmly invited to Venice, but then choosing Cannes for his next project, Wei Ming, being a straightforward person, always felt a little embarrassed.

When he returned to his room, the Venice Film Festival officials sent someone to greet him, as tomorrow was the closing ceremony and awards presentation.

Wei Ming had never felt this kind of guilt about having two relationships with Xue Jie and Lin Jie, but now he finally understood it, so he was very kind and friendly to the staff at Venice.

As soon as everyone left, Brother Feng immediately came over to gossip: "Little Wei, were Ah Jiang and Xia Xia a couple just now?"

"What couple? They're just business partners."

"Really?" Feng asked, puzzled. "Then why did I see them staying in the same room?"

"what!"

~
While Wei Ming and Feng Ge were gossiping, Wei Hong and her classmates were attending the unveiling ceremony of the statues of Li Dazhao and Cai Yuanpei on the Peking University campus. The statues were built with donations from the 77 and 78 graduating classes, but unfortunately, Wei Ming, the proposer, was not present.

Many high-ranking leaders from Peking University came that day; it was quite a grand occasion.

After the ceremony, Wei Hong's classmates discussed with her the matter of Wuhan University fully implementing the credit system.

Wuhan University was the first in China to implement this policy, allowing students to graduate as long as they complete the required credits, with early graduation often taking place a year or six months ahead of schedule.

Later, Lei Jun, a student from the class of '87, completed the required university credits and finished his graduation project in just two years.

Wei Hong was filled with envy upon hearing this. Although Peking University also has a credit system, it is not a completely credit-based system and is still somewhat conservative.

She wished she could fly straight to Luojia Mountain. If it weren't for the school rules, she might have finished her studies in two years and gone to study in the United States.

She was mainly concerned about her stocks in Hong Kong, wanting to manage them herself, and even wanted to try her hand at trading US stocks.

Since her trip to Hong Kong, she feels she has changed.

Wei Hong was very wary of this change, so she didn't skip today's Ideological and Moral Cultivation class and attended it, which was quite a rare occasion.

In fact, Wei Hong's yearning for the outside world was a common phenomenon among college students in China at that time, as books, information, and ideas from outside were flooding in.

Wei Hong is relatively good; she simply wanted to help her brother earn money. However, many college students are more deeply influenced by her.

Frog-eye sunglasses, bell-bottoms, and Sartre were known as the three major sources of spiritual pollution in the 80s.

Along with Sartre's works and ideas, his "lifelong partner" Simone de Beauvoir was also introduced to China in the 80s. Her novel "The Second Sex" began to spread in prestigious universities such as Wuhan University, which had an open atmosphere.

~
"The recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award are Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Luc Godard, and Luis Buñuel..."

At the Venice Film Festival awards ceremony, a total of 12 directors received this honor. This was the first time Venice had awarded a lifetime achievement award, so it was a grand celebration.

Wei Ming listened carefully, but his name wasn't among them.

So what award did you choose for yourself?

The answer then became clear: it was the Best First Feature Award.

This award was originally for the main competition, but this time it was exceptionally given to the film "The Witness" in the screening section, which is a short film. This shows how highly recognized "The Witness" is as an avant-garde short film.

Wei Ming went on stage and received a silver lion, which was about the same size as the one he had bought in St. Mark's Square the day before.

Wei Ming sincerely thanked Venice for its support: "To be honest, I was very surprised to be standing here. I consider myself a storyteller at heart. Thank you for recognizing my stories, and I hope to bring you more stories, whether in writing or in images."

In addition to this debut film award, Wei Ming also won the FIPRESCI Critics' Award for Best Film. This award is not an official award, but rather an award given by international film critics, and its rules are more lenient.

After coming to Venice and winning two awards, Feng said as he left, "Don't you feel fulfilled and have no regrets?"

Wei Ming thought to himself, "I have such a big regret. I came to Italy but didn't sleep with Monica Bellucci. It's like I came for nothing!"
Monica Bellucci at 18!
~
The plane flew back to Shanghai, and Wei Ming and Feng Ge parted ways. He was going back to Beijing to report on his work and to praise Wei Ming for bringing glory to the country. He would also take the trophy back with him first.

Wei Ming went to Suzhou, firstly to visit Sister Xue on set, and secondly to take Xizi with him.
……

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