Exciting 1979!

Chapter 473 She's your nephew's wife!
The crew of "Journey to the West" is currently resting in Yanjing, so the next day Wei Ming came to CCTV as the chief consultant to check on the filming progress, mainly to see off Her Majesty the Queen.

Unexpectedly, he only made a brief appearance before being caught by Yang Jie.

"Teacher Wei, could you do me a favor?"

"Oh, please go ahead," Wei Ming said politely.

Director Yang Jie pulled out a sheet of music: "This is the music that Xu Jingqing composed for the episode 'The Kingdom of Women.' Please write the lyrics for it, since it's about love between men and women, and I feel you should be quite good at that."

Wei Ming felt there was something hidden in her words. How come I'm so good at romantic relationships?

Besides, wasn't "Daughter's Love" a song with lyrics she wrote herself? Why did she approach me?

After confirming several times that Yang Jie didn't intend for him to write it, Wei Ming took on the job, but he couldn't help feeling that she seemed a little guilty when she looked at him.

On the train to Suzhou, Yang Jie told Zhu Lin about it as a joke.

"Actually, we've already asked Yan Su to write the lyrics for this song," Yang Jie said. In fact, apart from the ending theme written by Wei Ming, the interludes in the other stories of "Journey to the West" were basically composed and written by Xu Jingqing and Yan Su.

Xu Jingqing is not very well-known in the industry, but Yan Su has been famous for a long time. His works such as "Ode to the Red Plum Blossom," "I Love the Blue Sky of My Motherland," and the opera "Sister Jiang" have already given him a certain status in the industry.

"Then why did you still have Xiao Wei write it?" Zhu Lin asked back.

Yang Jie: "I'm preparing for both possibilities. I have a lot of confidence in Yan Su for other songs, such as 'The Great Sage Song,' 'Five Hundred Years of Change,' and 'How He Wants to Be a Grass,' all of which fit the story and characters very well. However, I have some less confidence in Yan Su for this song written for the Queen of the Women's Kingdom."

After all, Yan Su was getting old, over fifty, and a grown man. Yang Jie was worried that he wouldn't be able to write about Tang Sanzang's struggle when facing the Queen of the Women's Kingdom, and that he might write something too righteous, which wouldn't fit her vision for this episode.

So she invited Wei Ming, who knew the Queen of the Women's Kingdom best, to write a version as well, and she would use whichever version was better.

In fact, in his previous life, Yan Su did write a poem called "It's hard to meet and hard to part" based on Xu Jingqing's melody.

"Meeting is hard, parting is even harder, how can I express the myriad words in my heart? My tenderness is boundless, but his will is even stronger, I can only lament that we are destined to be apart in this life... He has gone far away, he has gone far away, from now on he will haunt my dreams, from now on he will haunt my dreams, he will haunt my dreams..."

Actually, for a military musician of Yan Su's age, this is quite impressive; he is fully capable of conveying the entanglement between Tang Sanzang and the Queen of the Women's Kingdom in the script.

But Yang Jie felt that this was still not enough, so she wrote "Daughter's Love" herself, which is more direct and explicit than "It's hard to meet and hard to part" and has a wider reach.

After explaining things to Zhu Lin, Yang Jie said, "No matter whose work we end up using, we will still pay the full amount of labor we are owed. Besides, even if we don't use it, we can still record and release it, so it won't cause any delays."

Zhu Lin nodded. She casually flipped open a copy of "Harvest" that Wei Ming had given her at the train station before they parted, and then saw a piece of paper slide out of the book.

Zhu Lin picked it up and looked at it, his expression filled with surprise and delight.

"director."

"Ah."

Zhu Lin: "It seems that Xiao Wei has already finished writing it."

"What have you written?"

"Daughter's Love," Zhu Lin said, "is the theme song for the episode about the Kingdom of Women that you asked him to write. Here, take a look for yourself."

"What?!" Yang Jie exclaimed incredulously. Their conversation also attracted the attention of Li Chengru, Liu Xiaoling Tong, and other members of the crew, who all gathered around.

Because she was very familiar with the melody of the song, Yang Jie sang it herself: "Mandarin ducks swim in pairs, butterflies fly in pairs, the spring scenery in the garden is intoxicating..."

After singing just one line, Yang Jie nodded secretly, thinking it was just right. As she sang the rest of the song, she became more and more satisfied; this was exactly the feeling she wanted!
The key point is that Wei Ming only took the short time from CCTV to the train station to complete this job. No wonder the legend that he can compose a poem in seven steps is truly true!

"What do I care about royal power and wealth? What do I fear about rules and regulations? I only wish for eternity, to be with my beloved forever..."

Although it might seem a bit old-fashioned for Director Yang Jie to sing this song, the crew members all applauded it, praising Xu Jingqing's composition, Wei Ming's lyrics, and especially Director Yang's singing voice.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Yan Su would find it difficult to surpass this poem, and Yang Jie wanted to carefully preserve Wei Ming's lyrics.

However, Zhu Lin reached out and said, "Director, I'd like to make a copy for my collection."

"Okay, here you go."

Then Zhu Lin made a copy and returned it to Yang Jie, while she kept the copy written by Wei Ming herself.

This little trick of yours naturally didn't escape Yang Jie's notice. She shook her head and put away the copy: "You'd better not have made any typos."

Zhu Lin: "Don't worry, I checked it three times."

At this moment, photographer Wang Chongqiu came over and reminded director Yang Jie that it was time to take her medicine, and also prepared warm water.

Seeing Director Yang, who is over fifty, and Cinematographer Wang, who is forty, Zhu Lin felt as if she were seeing her future self and Xiao Wei. They were more than ten years apart and were still so loving. She and Xiao Wei were only nine years apart, and she was sure they could grow old together.

Yes, definitely!

~
After seeing Zhu Lin off, Wei Ming felt empty, so he went to the post office again to see if there were any letters from overseas.

I don't know if the reply from Cannes was addressed to the Children's Film Studio or sent directly to myself.

Moreover, he and Amin have been communicating frequently during this period, so he might have received letters from her as well.

He was lucky this time; apart from not seeing the letter from Cannes, he saw letters and telegrams from Melinda, Zhou Huimin, and Gong Xue.

Melinda's Wei Ming really doesn't want to read this; it's definitely a letter urging him to finish his work.

A week ago, she wrote to report on the success of "Dear, I Shrank the Kids," especially its popularity in the United States, and urged him to send a new manuscript as soon as possible. However, Wei Ming was delayed by the script in Hong Kong.

"Dear, I've Shrunk the Kids" had an initial print run of 500,000 copies in North America, and was published incredibly quickly; Melinda received the manuscript at the end of February, and it was published in April.

She felt that this was the right way to do the "Goosebumps" series: quickly release books to build brand awareness, and then slow down the pace appropriately later.

Fortunately, Wei Ming has already finished the second article, and he can send it to her later.

Next, he read Amin's letter.

"I got to know Tsui Hark through Teddy Robin to shoot this music video, so getting him to do it shouldn't be a problem..."

Goodness, hiring Tsui Hark to shoot a music video, my Amin is really going to set a new benchmark for music videos.

"However, the male lead hasn't been decided yet. The plot includes a wedding ceremony and the wedding night, and both Rong Shao and Alan are vying to play the role. Amei even wants to cross-dress, but I'd like to leave it to you. Is that alright?"

Wei Ming stroked his chin, feeling that Anita Mui's cross-dressing performance was more interesting.

At the end of the letter, Amin also mentioned that the costumes used in this music video were all designed by Long Sao herself.

Gong Ying designed clothes for Amin. Wei Ming looked at this passage and then at Sister Xue's unopened letter. His heart beat faster. Could the two of them have already met in Hong Kong?

Wei Ming finally opened Xue Jie's telegram. It didn't mention Amin. She briefly explained that Xia Meng had invited her to try out the role of the female lead in "Paper Butterfly" and also expressed her desire to take on the challenge.

So she's going to spend some time experiencing life in Hong Kong and won't be coming back for the time being.

Wei Ming really doesn't know what Gong Xue, with her Hong Kong style, will be like, even though the original female lead was already good enough, and in the end, it was Siqin Gaowa's character who won an award.

However, Gong Xue is someone who is very dedicated to acting and longs for a bigger stage. Lin Jie is not as good as her in this respect. Most of the time, Lin Jie is quite laid-back, except when it comes to being very active in bed.

So since Sister Xue wants to take on the challenge, all Wei Ming can do is support her and offer his own opinions.

He first wrote a letter back to Gong Xue, and then sent a telegram.

This is a long letter, containing Wei Ming's analysis of the character Shan Shan, as well as methods to bring Gong Xue, a mainland Chinese, closer to Shan Shan.

"You need to fill in the gaps in your own twenty years of living experience in Hong Kong. So you need to observe not only 30-year-old Hong Kong women, but also teenage immigrant girls. Then gradually enrich your role: how did they go to school at ten? How did they date in their teens? How did they take the college entrance exam? What can they do when they enter society at twenty? And what is it like to marry a Hong Kong man?"

"If you get married for several years but still don't have children, and your marriage is unhappy, and you have no choice but to divorce, how can you become self-reliant?"

"After living in Hong Kong for twenty years, your image will definitely be basically Hong Kongized, and you won't see any trace of the mainland in your appearance. But don't forget that you also have ten years of experience in rural mainland China. That's your whole childhood, so don't let yourself become a completely Hong Kong woman."

When Gong Xue received Wei Ming's telegram in Hong Kong, she couldn't help but feel distressed, saying, "So many words, how much money must this cost?"

However, Wei Ming's support and suggestions were indeed very useful, igniting Gong Xue's fighting spirit.

She was 20 years removed from the character due to her life in Hong Kong, so she had to find more real-life examples to bridge that gap.

Finding so many samples on her own was not easy, so she had to use Ah Ying and Ah Long's connections. They knew many mainlanders living in Hong Kong, some of whom had just settled there, while others had lived there for twenty or thirty years or even longer.

Ah Long also offered his second sister some advice: "I remember that the manager at Langning Toy Factory who liaises with Madman Comics looks a lot like the Shan Shan you mentioned. She's in her thirties, recently divorced, and has a daughter who lives with her. She immigrated to Hong Kong with her parents when she was young."

So Gong Ying drove her second sister directly to the Langning Company office building. This time, Gong Xue had prepared a gift in advance, after all, Wei Lingling was an elder, even though she was a few years younger than her.

~
Langning's CEO office.

Wei Lingling was looking at some sketches. After deciding to create Langning's own gift shop, she realized that Langning lacked cute characters like Hello Kitty.

There are too many historical cat characters, which makes the focus somewhat scattered, and other toys are too masculine, so she hopes to launch more new toy characters that are cute and appealing to female users.

So Lang Ning advertised in "Madman Comics," and the generous reward motivated people in Hong Kong who could draw and design to take action, including many cartoonists from Madman and Yuk Long who submitted their work.

However, after looking at them, Wei Lingling was basically not satisfied. She needed cartoon characters with simple lines that were distinctive and touching enough.

Do I really need to trouble my nephew with such a small matter?
Seeing that the boss was not satisfied, Lizhi quickly brought over a new stack of drawings.

"Hmm." Wei Lingling stopped flipping through the pages when she saw the first one.

Lizhi took a closer look and saw that it was a pig, a little spotted pig, as simple as a child's doodle.

Wei Lingling put the pig named "McDull" aside and continued looking through the pages.

At this moment, Lizhi's secretary came over to report, and then Lizhi told Wei Lingling, "Gong Ying has arrived, and she brought a beautiful woman with her. I think it must be her sister, Gong Xue."

"Oh, Gong Xue?" Wei Lingling immediately put down her work. "I was just about to look for her."

This wasn't their first meeting, and Wei Lingling and Gong Xue weren't being polite.

"Could you come with me to Shenzhen at the end of the month?"

"what?"

Wei Lingling: "The first phase of our factory in Shenzhen is about to be officially put into use. I want to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony. I invited Zhang Mingmin and Liang Xiaolong to attend. They are representatives of Hong Kong stars. I think the mainland also needs a representative."

Gong Xue agreed without Wei Lingling even having to beg her. Although she had never done such a thing before, she dared not refuse her aunt's request.

Wei Lingling also said with a smile, "How about a service fee of 50,000 Hong Kong dollars?"

Gong Xue was surprised, then quickly waved his hand to refuse. He was just going to cut the ribbon; how could he accept money, especially 50,000 yuan? He was afraid he wouldn't be able to explain himself when he got back to his workplace.

Gong Xue insisted, so Wei Lingling stopped insisting and naturally helped Gong Xue find the supervisor so they could talk privately and thoroughly.

Afterwards, Wei Lingling treated the sisters to a meal and explained the specific time and arrangements for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Gong Xue had no problem with that, as long as Wei Lingling could handle the immigration process.

In addition to understanding the mental journeys of mainland immigrants with similar experiences, Gong Xue also needs to learn a skill.

At the restaurant, while Wei Lingling went to the restroom, Gong Xue asked Li Zhi, "Xiao Li, do you smoke?"

"Why are you asking this?" Lizhi subconsciously touched her bag. She didn't smoke much, but she did smoke, and there were women's cigarettes in her bag.

Gong Xue said, "There are scenes in the script where the female lead smokes. Smoking is very helpful in shaping this character, so I want to learn how to smoke now."

Lizhi thought for a moment and said, "It's not good to smoke here. Let's go to the restroom."

However, when they arrived at the restroom, Wei Lingling was smoking. The way she turned her head and looked back as she exhaled smoke was very beautiful, and her eyes told a story. Gong Xue's eyes lit up. This seemed to be the feeling he was looking for.

After hearing Gong Xue's request to experience smoking for the role, Wei Lingling handed her a women's cigarette.

Gong Xue didn't light her cigarette. After she lit it, Li Zhi was about to light it for her when Wei Lingling tilted her head and lit the cigarette butt against hers.

Gong Xue hesitated for a moment before starting to smoke, but was quickly ignited by Wei Lingling's cigarette.

Lizhi, who witnessed this scene, only regretted that she did not have a camera with her. She should have taken a picture and shown it to Wei Ming, who would definitely feel a sense of crisis.

Lizhi usually lives this kind of life, so she dresses even more conservatively at home than outside. Even so, Lingling would tease her from time to time when she was in the mood.

To be honest, the first child she breastfed was Wei Lingling.

Of course, Lizhi was happy to accept it.

After they parted, Gong Xue blushed a little, feeling that she and her aunt had become somewhat ambiguous.

Wei Lingling didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Men light cigarettes like that too, and she didn't think they were being ambiguous.

Then she taught Gong Xue how to smoke, and finally reminded him: "Once you've learned it, just practice by holding a cigarette in your mouth. You don't need to actually smoke. Smoking is harmful to your health."

Seeing Gong Xue looking at her with surprise, Wei Lingling said, "I only have one when I'm feeling upset. A pack of cigarettes can last me a month."

Gong Xue hurriedly asked, "Is something troubling you? Can you tell me about it?"

"It's nothing, I've just been a bit busy with work lately."

The main business of Langning Factory includes the idea of ​​opening a flagship gift shop, as well as its upcoming involvement in the commercial real estate industry.

At just over twenty years old, and having graduated from university less than two years ago, Wei Lingling felt pressure from all sides and urgently needed to release it.

No, I need to send Lizhi out tonight and let off some steam.

~
Gong Ying has already delivered several sets of women's ancient costumes to Zhou Huimin, and the finished garment samples are also complete. Zhou Huimin was very satisfied after trying them on, and even took a set of photos, which she will send to A Ming later.

Gong Ying told her second sister that she earned HK$20,000 from Zhou Huimin. Although the income was high, it had taken her nearly a month to earn it.

Twenty thousand yuan. Gong Xue couldn't help but think that he could earn fifty thousand yuan just by cutting one scissors.

However, she did not regret it. Now that she had chosen Xiao Wei, money was no longer a concern for them. She had seen Wei Ming's account balance in Hong Kong, and money was just a string of numbers to her now.

Soon it was the end of the month, and Gong Xue left her mother and sister behind and went to Shenzhen with Wei Lingling and others. The first phase of the Langning factory in Shenzhen officially went into production.

On the previous bus, she had already formally met Liang Xiaolong and Zhang Mingmin.

"Huo Yuanjia" made Liang Xiaolong a household name across mainland China, while Zhang Mingmin's "My Chinese Heart" has not yet spread throughout the mainland. However, everyone in Shenzhen has already heard of it. After listening to it in the car, Gong Xue strongly wanted to recommend it to the Spring Festival Gala program team.

So in addition to the ribbon-cutting ceremony, each of them also had to sing a song. Liang Xiaolong sang "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" and performed kung fu, while Zhang Mingmin sang patriotic songs such as "My Chinese Heart." Their wages also included singing and performing.

Gong Xue hurriedly asked Wei Lingling, "President Wei, do I need to sing?"

Wei Lingling asked curiously, "Aren't you an actress? Why are you singing? Just cut the ribbon."

This is her nephew's wife, so she'll naturally be treated differently.

Gong Xue still wanted to do his part, so he said, "Actually, I also have an album that sold over a million copies."

"What!?"

Zhang Mingmin, the only real singer in the entire event, was the first to break down.

"One album sold over a million copies?"

Gong Xue nodded, and Wei Lingling asked with a smile, "So what's your signature piece?"

Gong Xue suddenly became righteous and said, "My People, My Country".

~
A few days later, in Shenzhen, including in Guangdong's mainstream newspapers, the grand opening ceremony of the international toy giant Langning's factory in Shenzhen was being reported.

Not only were all the major local leaders present, but two Hong Kong superstars, Leung Siu-lung and Cheung Ming-man, also gave a passionate performance.

The town government and investors extended a warm invitation to Gong Xue, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Award-winning actress, to give a stunning performance of "Me and My Motherland".

The report also included details about the total investment, expected scale, and expected production capacity of the Langning plant. In short, the Langning plant is awesome!
As a result, Langning became a well-known and conscientious enterprise among migrant workers in Shenzhen, and everyone wanted to work there, only regretting that they didn't have the connections.

Wang Shi, 32, saw the news while eating at a restaurant. Seeing the scale and investment of the Langning factory, he secretly sighed, "These Americans are really damn rich. How long will it take me to earn enough to open such a big factory?"

Official reports about Wei Lingling, the owner of the Langning factory, have always focused on her being a patriotic Chinese American, without mentioning that she grew up in Taiwan. This is because Wei Lingling did not hide this fact before entering mainland China, but there is no need for the public to know this.

Actually, Wang is doing quite well now. He's currently dealing in corn, bringing corn from Northeast China to Shenzhen to be processed into animal feed. He buys and sells it, making a considerable amount of money.

He's only been working for a few months, and his net worth is already over 100,000 yuan, whereas his previous salary at the Guangdong Provincial Commission of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation was only a little over 100 yuan. Who can he complain to?

This is also inseparable from his work experience at the Guangzhou Railway Bureau after graduation. It would have been impossible to transport goods from Northeast China to Shenzhen without connections at the railway crossing.

However, the newspaper he had was only on the second page about the Langning factory, while the first page was dedicated to a man named Bu Xinsheng.

In Yanjing, Mei Culture also saw reports about Bu Xinsheng, the director of a state-owned shirt factory.

Since becoming factory director in 80, Bu Xinsheng has boldly reformed the company, implementing a unique management system that has made the small factory's products sell well in major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, making it a professional shirt factory in the province.

Even the People's Daily has now published a report about Bu Xinsheng, clearly indicating that he is being portrayed as a typical figure in the reform of state-owned factories.

Mei Culture had been paying attention to Bu Xinsheng for some time, because many of the self-service clothing stores in Yanjing that imitated Xintiandi sold shirts produced by Haiyan County Shirt Factory, and they sold very well.

He wasn't too impressed with Bu Xinsheng's other business management strategies, feeling they weren't as advanced as his own. However, there was one thing he thought Bu Xinsheng did very well: brand awareness.

“Brother, this is a Tangren men’s shirt, this is a Shuangyan women’s shirt, and this is a Sanmao children’s shirt,” Mei Wenhua placed three shirts in front of Wei Ming and Biaozi. “These are all produced by Haiyan Shirt Factory. They have three brands. I think our own clothing should also have a well-known brand, or even several brands.”

Wei Ming nodded: "The apparel industry will definitely need to segment into different areas in the future. Different areas will need to have different brands to make it easier for consumers to distinguish them, such as men's wear, women's wear, children's wear, sportswear, casual wear, etc. Your suggestion is very good and timely."

If we can establish a clothing brand now, even if it doesn't succeed in the future, the brand will still have a certain emotional value.

"Suggestions are just suggestions, but you'll still have to choose the name," Mei Wenhua said. He had great faith in Wei Ming's naming skills; Mei Changsu was such a good name.

Wei Ming looked at Biaozi: "What are your thoughts?"

Biaozi: "If it's a shirt, then let's call it a cultural shirt. If it's men's clothing, then let's call it Debiao, just use a person's name."

Mei Wenhua: "Tch, what kind of nonsense is this? It's too childish."

Wei Ming shook his head: "Actually, that's really the case abroad. You guys remember that French designer named Pierre Cardin, right? His clothing brand in France is called Pierre Cardin~"

……

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