Chapter 103

Being able to hear Latin American music in China in 1979 was truly a very novel experience.

Several Latin American international students who were homesick ran over one after another to dub this tape, including those from the boys' dormitory, because many of them were songs they had never heard before.

Wei Ming asked Melinda: "How did this auntie get a Latin American music tape?"

"She said she had been there for an inspection, and this was all dubbed by herself," Melinda said. "We met at the South Pavilion Art Team."

Wei Ming nodded. She was probably a music teacher, but being able to go abroad was also impressive.

After the international students dispersed, Melinda also returned to her room. She had to sleep early and recharge her energy; after all, there was still a tough battle tonight.

Wei Ming continued to read the newly released *Yanjing Literature and Art* magazine. By nearly ten o'clock, Zha Jianying, Xia Xiaohong, and Wang Xiaoping, the accompanying students from the same class, returned together.

After teasing Wei Ming in the dormitory manager's room for a few sentences, Xiao Zha let the other two go upstairs first; she wanted to chat with Wei Ming for a bit.

"Wei Ming, are you going to the UK with Melinda?"

Wei Ming said angrily: "Xiao Zha, is that how you think of me? Can't I just be after her looks!"

"No, I was just asking casually. Actually, I plan to study abroad. If you and Melinda both go to the UK, then I'll choose to study in the UK. Alright, nothing else, I'm leaving."

As a result, she had only walked two steps when she came back: "One last question, do I need to leave the door open for Melinda at night?"

Wei Ming narrowed his eyes and made a throat-slitting gesture on his neck.

Xiao Zha giggled and hurried upstairs.

Wei Ming was a bit worried. Would Xiao Zha gossip about him and Melinda on *Qiang Qiang* in the future? She knew too much; this person must not be left alive!

After locking the door, Wei Ming also went to sleep. After all, he didn't know when Melinda would come down. However, before sleeping, he took out three of the safety products Melinda had stored there previously.

At two in the morning, a red figure crept downstairs. Wei Ming opened his eyes keenly.

Two hours later, Melinda fled in a panic. Yesterday was her first time, but today she started to take the initiative and teach him how to be a person.

Was he faking it before? Or did he see some ancient secret manual in the library?

It was said that China had a divine book called *Jin Ping Mei*, which seemed to be about men and women. Unfortunately, she had never had the chance to see it.

Melinda fell asleep while thinking. This was bitter for Xiao Zha on the other side, who tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. Just how interesting is this thing, to be tossing and turning so late every day?

The next day, Wei Ming completed his first martial arts novel, *Heroes Emerge from Youth*, in the library, which was only about 50,000 words.

Now it was just missing Ah Long's illustrations. Although the plot wasn't too convoluted or bizarre, considering that there were basically no martial arts novels in the mainland now, such a simple plot was enough.

Since he hadn't decided what to write next, Wei Ming prepared to focus on attending classes for two days. Anyway, he wasn't short of money now—he had over a thousand yuan. At most, he couldn't afford things that were too expensive, but he was already very well-off in terms of daily life.

Besides eating meat at every meal, he now even wanted to drink milk—not Melinda's, he just felt he should supplement some high-quality protein to avoid living beyond his means.

However, at the current stage, cow and sheep milk were scarce resources, and Wei Ming wasn't qualified to order them, so he had to eat more eggs. Expensive was expensive.

At noon, Wei Ming returned to the dormitory. Brother Feng wasn't there, only Xiao Mei and Seeing Biaozi. The two were lying on the bed like two sun-dried salted fish, looking lifeless.

These past few days, the school was tearing down old houses, and they had to help out, which exhausted them. Even so, they didn't miss bringing food for Wei Ming.

What a great sentiment, what pure class feelings!

So Wei Ming shouted: "Brothers, I'm treating at the Long March Canteen at noon. Who's going?"

Hearing Wei Ming's words, the two immediately resurrected on the bed, calling him "Brother Ming" this and "Brother Ming" that.

Even though the two had already eaten, there was still room in their stomachs to stuff a few more pieces of meat.

Unexpectedly, while eating, they ran into Sister Dandan's future ex-husband, Ying Da from the Class of '79 Psychology Department. There were four or five men and women at their table, from different departments.

Listening to them, they were all like-minded people who liked drama, and it seemed they wanted to establish a drama club.

Peking University used to have drama organizations, but they had all been wiped out before. After the resumption of the college entrance examination, the May Fourth Literature Society had only just been restored last year, and other student organizations were still waiting to be revived.

Compared with literature, drama was slightly more niche, and the requirements for professional ability were higher.

However, Ying Da had family learning in this regard. His father, Ying Ruocheng, was also an excellent drama actor, having performed in *Dragon Beard Ditch* and *Rickshaw Boy* earlier.

Because Ying Ruocheng graduated from the Tsinghua Foreign Language Department, his English level was also very solid. This year, he translated *Teahouse* into English, and later translated Arthur Miller's *Death of a Salesman* into Chinese and brought it to the stage of the People's Art Theatre.

Being able to translate forward and backward, this level was indeed high, so it was no surprise that he could star in the all-English dialogue *The Last Emperor*.

Someone among Ying Da's companions recognized Wei Ming, so he asked in a low voice: "Should we go over and say hello?"

Regarding the fact that Wei Ming, a gatekeeper, had become a true man of the hour at Peking University, most students actually didn't care. Without Wei Ming, it wouldn't be their turn to stand out anyway.

But for high-knowledge children like Ying Da, who originally had hope of being in the limelight at Peking University, this was too uncomfortable.

Why is it him and not me!

So regarding his companion's proposal, he coldly said: "I won't go. I don't like to kiss other people's asses."

He spoke so unceremoniously that the one who made the proposal felt very embarrassed.

At this time, a girl said: "But he can write. If he could write a drama script for us, that would be great!" Hearing this, Ying Da was a bit tempted. An excellent new script could indeed quickly expand influence. But in the end, he still refused: "So many masters have left behind so many time-tested excellent scripts, do we still need him? Besides, I can write scripts too."

The scene was awkward for a moment. What's wrong with this Ying Da? Did Wei Ming steal his wife?

At this time, the food on Wei Ming's table had been served, and they had also ordered three bottles of Arctic Ocean soda.

Seeing Biaozi and Xiao Mei, who had regained their vitality at the dining table, once again cared about Wei Ming's feelings.

Wei Ming: "Let's talk about something else. I don't want to stimulate you."

Actually, they just wanted to hear about the bed scenes, but how could Wei Ming's character allow him to tell them just how "moist" Melinda was.

Especially her great figure—tsk tsk, it was simply something else. Wei Ming had seen his fair share in his previous life, but Melinda's figure could be considered one in a million. You know Alexandra Daddario, right? It was about that level.

"Then let's talk about *Heroes Emerge from Youth*. Is it finished?" Mei Wenhua asked. They hadn't heard the end of the story yet.

Wei Ming: "Coincidentally, I just finished it."

Seeing Biaozi said excitedly: "How did it end? Did you wipe out the Manchu dogs?"

His voice was a bit loud. Ying Da at that table heard it, his eating motion paused, and his face looked a bit ugly.

!

Wei Ming smiled: "Of course, the protagonist and his group beat the Manchu dogs until they were looking for their teeth all over the floor."

Ying Da was even more depressed, feeling that the guy was deliberately scolding him, but he had no evidence. After all, they didn't know him, and it was even more impossible for them to know he was Manchu.

And they were scolding the Manchu Qing, not the Manchu ethnic group. Although he was unhappy in his heart, he couldn't go up and claim the scolding. It was just that the meal tasted worse and worse to him, and as the person who organized the dinner, he was the first to withdraw.

As soon as he left, the remaining few immediately went over to greet Wei Ming. Wei Ming also responded very politely, gaining a very high impression score.

After eating and returning, his colleague at the guard post told him someone was looking for him.

"Comrade Wei Ming, here," Luo Yihe, a student from the Class of '79 Chinese Department, pointed to the gentle-looking middle-aged man beside him. "This comrade is looking for you, so I brought him to the South Gate."

"Writer Wei Ming, I've finally met the true god. Hello, I'm from *October* magazine. My name is Xie Dajun."

What a coincidence. Later, after Luo Yihe graduated, he joined *October*, but he was in the poetry group, and this Xie Dajun coming to find him was obviously from the fiction group.

"Oh, Editor Xie, hello."

"Then shall we find a place to sit?"

After thanking Luo Yihe, Wei Ming took the person directly to the underground dormitory, which made Xie Dajun frown.

"You are already famous in the literary world. Does Peking University let you live in this kind of place?" He seemed to be very indignant for Wei Ming.

Wei Ming laughed: "I am originally a security guard. A four-person room is already not bad."

"But you can't see the sun."

"I'm not a sunflower; I don't need to be bathed in sunlight all the time," Wei Ming said optimistically. In his previous life, he had lived in basements quite a bit, and the population density was even higher, and the conditions were far worse than this.

Xie Dajun immediately expressed his admiration. Actually, he didn't have any new ideas for coming here; it was just to solicit a manuscript.

*Harvest* magazine had already broken records, and anyone with a discerning eye knew it was Wei Ming's credit.

There was also the previous *Yanjing Literature and Art*, and even the earlier *Wenhui Daily*. Wei Ming's works had effectively driven the sales of newspapers and periodicals.

It could be said that in the field of literary journals, he who gets Wei Ming gets the world.

So they were very eager for Wei Ming's next work.

"Sorry, I've already given it to *Contemporary*."

"We know this. If you have any new works, we hope you can consider our *October*. We are willing to pay the highest level of manuscript fees!"

This was indeed very sincere. Wei Ming hadn't received the top-tier manuscript fee in all newspapers and periodicals so far because this didn't just depend on quality, but also on the author's seniority and status in the industry.

If they gave you seven yuan per thousand words and gave Ba Lao seven yuan per thousand words, how could they reflect the specialness of Ba Lao and the others?

"I will consider it, but I don't have any clue for a new work yet."

The other party wasn't surprised. Since his debut, Wei Ming had written three novellas, one short story, and two poems—one long and one short. This frequency was considered very high, and it was normal to have some bottlenecks.

Before leaving, he left Wei Ming the phone number for *October*, indicating that they could communicate by phone at any time.

Now, among the major publications, only *Flower City* hadn't sent anyone to make contact yet.

However, they were already brewing...

(End of chapter)