Chapter 151: The Greatness of Wisdom (Guaranteed Second Update)

At the same time that The People’s Literature achieved an issuance of 1.1 million copies, the Pacific Audio & Video Company released one million cassette tapes of The Shepherd Class’s Spring onto the market, and they began selling hotly in state-owned audio stores and select Xinhua Bookstores!

Pacific Company’s internal team initially had reservations about producing one million tapes, considering it too risky—after all, The Shepherd Class’s Spring was an album primarily featuring children’s songs, and how large could the market for children’s songs possibly be?

Previously, Zhu Fengbo’s Where the Roses Bloom Everywhere had also sold over a million copies, but at least that could be reasonably called pop music, with strong appeal among young listeners.

Yet reality proved Liao Mingzu’s decision correct: the cassette showed no signs of stagnation; after two days of sales, the most enthusiastic response came from Xinhua Bookstore channels.

Wei Ming had attracted a large group of literary youths through his novel The Shepherd Class’s Spring; when they saw the same-named cassette at Xinhua Bookstores, their desire to buy was extremely strong—even though not everyone owned a tape recorder, many knew someone who did, and as long as they had the tape, playback was never a problem.

When many people began buying this cassette and songs like Where Is Spring? Little Grass and On the Field of Hope could be heard everywhere, a bandwagon effect quickly formed across society; despite the high price of the tapes, more people joined the rush.

Especially the song On the Field of Hope, which perfectly aligned with current political correctness, received massive promotion from official media—newspapers carried commentary articles discussing it, and even at the rural administrative level, listeners were plentiful.

Magu.

Gong Ying, Gong Ying’s younger sister, bore the heavy responsibility of buying The Shepherd Class’s Spring cassette—not only fulfilling her sister’s request amid her busy rehearsal schedule, but also carrying the family’s expectations.

Her parents loved old songs like On the Field of Hope and Farewell, her sister-in-law enjoyed Little Grass, and her young nephew was obsessed with children’s songs like Where Is Spring? and Planting the Sun.

She first went to the Xinhua Bookstore, but it had already sold out—the newly arrived copies of The People’s Literature had sold out too, along with the cassettes; this was normal sales—if they’d bundled them together now, they’d have sold out instantly.

Helpless, Gong Ying rode her bicycle to nearby audio stores and finally found one—but had to queue.

After years of listening to old songs, music audiences adored every newly released original album; although The Shepherd Class’s Spring was only half original, its quality was high, and behind it lay the touching story of the original novel, making it highly talkable.

While queuing, Gong Ying suddenly felt something bump against her back—soft, with an astonishing texture.

She turned around and saw a tall, curvaceous girl shouting at those behind her in line: “Stop pushing!”

Gong Ying quickly averted her gaze, savoring the sensation, and a wave of inferiority welled up inside her.

After buying the cassette, Gong Ying hurried away; the girl behind her, Li Zhi, also bought one—her grandmother had given her ten yuan, and after the purchase, she still had four yuan left; this errand had been a windfall!

Nineteen-year-old Li Zhi bought the cassette for her grandmother, who especially loved listening to On the Field of Hope and Farewell; after hearing the tape through a neighbor, she insisted her granddaughter buy it.

But Li Zhi thought it was ordinary—after all, her family had many Hong Kong and Taiwan music cassettes sent by her father; compared to those songs, this album sounded utterly outdated to her, and she, who considered herself at the forefront of Magu’s fashion, looked down on it.

Born on the last day of 1961, Li Zhi wasn’t a particularly happy person; her parents divorced when she was three, and she was awarded to her father, but raised solely by her grandmother, since her father remarried and later moved with his new family to Hong Kong.

Although her father, who performed on stage in Hong Kong, never stinted on money for her, she knew what she needed went beyond that.

When she returned home, her grandmother hadn’t come back; Li Zhi tossed The Shepherd Class’s Spring aside and put Chen Baixiang’s album First Love into the player.

She listened with pleasure—yes, Hong Kong music sounded better; this was real music—if only she could live in Hong Kong.

Lu Xiaoyan had originally planned to buy The Shepherd Class’s Spring cassette herself, but Pacific Audio & Video Company mailed her one along with Yuele’s royalty payment.

Although Yuele earned only ten yuan per song, the cassette itself wasn’t cheap, so the total was still substantial.

She didn’t know how much Xi Zi earned for acting; Director Xie said actors received a daily allowance of one yuan during filming, and the final pay depended on how long Xi Zi stayed on set.

Unfortunately, the two kids were staying with their grandfather, so Lu Xiaoyan could only enjoy the music alone.

Only when her husband Wei Anping returned home at night did she relax—he hadn’t yet returned to Peking University, but he’d already started work.

As soon as Wei Anping took off his coat, Lu Xiaoyan threw herself at him; without the electric light bulb around, the two had become inseparable, using plenty of contraceptives.

No sooner had their lips parted than Wei Anping asked: “Oh, you’ve already started listening? That’s Little Grass, right?”

Lu Xiaoyan: “Mm-hmm, wait a moment—I’ll rewind it so you can hear Where Is Spring? It has instrumental backing, even better than live singing.”

Listening to their daughter’s childish voice, the two leaned on the sofa and began talking about Wei Ming.

Wei Anping said: “This morning I got a call from Xiao Ming—they’ve boarded the train home.”

Lu Xiaoyan hurriedly asked: “Did his sister-in-law find her family?”

“She did—but her younger sister was also lost back then and never found, and her father had already passed away.”

Lu Xiaoyan sighed: “Alas, nine out of ten things in life go awry.”

Wei Anping added: “And this time Xiao Ming brought back his grandmother and a cousin—he asked if the guesthouse has enough rooms.”

“Is there enough?”

Wei Anping slipped his hand into his wife’s collar: “Of course there’s enough—Manager Wang cares more about Xiao Ming’s affairs than I do.”

Lu Xiaoyan gently pressed her husband’s hand, deciding to delay dinner.

“I’ll eat later—you go ahead,” Wei Ming said, lying on his bunk writing an article.

This family-reunion journey could yield at least four or five articles; once split up, they could be submitted to Yanjing Literature, Contemporary, and China Youth Daily—he wasn’t just a novelist.

The six of them occupied six bunks in the same compartment: the grandmother and mother on the bottom tier, Wei Ming and Lao Wei on the top tier.

Looking down at his cousin Yunyun, Wei Ming saw she’d completely shed her earlier heartbreak; this was her first long trip, and she was even more excitable than Xiao Hong had been on the way here, cheerful as a little bird, and noticeably more talkative. After the elders finished eating, the three young people went to the dining car.

After more than thirty hours of travel, the group of six finally arrived at the heart of the motherland—Yanjing—on a morning.

Yunyun stared wide-eyed at the two towering clock towers of the train station, looking utterly awestruck.

The old lady, despite having spent so long on the train, still looked energetic and asked her daughter and son-in-law: “Can we go see Tianmen?”

“Of course,” Lao Wei chuckled, “but first we must see a doctor; after that, we’ll spend a few days sightseeing.”

Wei Ming spotted a bus arriving and hurriedly called everyone to board.

Although Xiao Hong had transferred trains in Yanjing before, this was actually her first time there; she and Yunyun pressed their heads together against the window, gazing out at the world—everything seemed new.

Although Wei Ming thought Yanjing at this time was terribly outdated, to them it felt like the center of the modern world; he patiently explained to them what each place was and its historical background.

The bus stopped at the west gate of Peking University; Wei Hong gazed at the distinctive west gate and sighed: “This is the university I’ll attend!”

Hearing this, Yunyun exclaimed: “You’re going to apply to Peking University?”

!

“Of course—didn’t you see me studying on the train?”

“I didn’t notice—I was looking out the window,” Yunyun shook her head.

Wei Hong: This sister is a bit dim.

“Mingge, you’re back!”

The gate guards at the west gate were thrilled to see Wei Ming; when they spotted Yunyun and Xiao Hong behind him, they became even more excited—Mingge had two such beautiful sisters!

Wei Ming greeted the guards and borrowed two bicycles from them to carry their luggage.

At the North Guesthouse, Manager Wang had already prepared the rooms: one triple and one double.

“Congratulations, Writer Wei! Your work has sparked another nationwide craze!” Manager Wang bowed to Wei Ming in congratulations.

Although Wei Ming had been away from campus, his legend spread everywhere; even the campus workers read newspapers, and whether it was The Shepherd Class’s Spring or Wei Ming’s phrase “No matter how poor, don’t let education suffer; no matter how hard, don’t let children suffer,” they were constantly featured in the press, heavily promoted.

The key point was that he’d achieved great success in music too—many colleagues were singing his songs.

Rumor had it that the south gate guard received several calls daily asking for Wei Ming; the school was discussing installing a phone in their dorm to avoid inconvenience.

South Gate Guard.

When Zhao Debiao and Mei Wenhua returned from patrol, they heard several gate guards whispering.

Seeing them return, the guards quickly told them: “Wei Ming’s back!”

The tired Biaozi immediately perked up: “Where? Where?”

“At the North Guesthouse.”

Someone added: “And he brought two sisters—both extremely beautiful, and their skin is especially pale!”

Biaozi was about to ask more when he saw Mei Wenhua dash off like a whirlwind.

“Xiao Mei, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to the North Guesthouse to meet my big brother-in-law!”

Biaozi cursed him as shameless, then chased after him.

But they couldn’t enter the North Guesthouse or meet Wei Ming’s sisters—because Wei Ming came out and happened to meet them on the road.

“Oh, so eager to see me? Come on, let’s head back to the dorm.”

Mei Wenhua: “Mingge, we haven’t greeted Uncle and Aunt yet.”

Biaozi: “Right—we heard Grandma came too.”

Wei Ming: “No rush—we’ll have plenty of chances later. Before I left, I asked you to watch for letters from Hong Kong—did any arrive?”

“Yes, two!” Mei Wenhua said.

“Two?” Wei Ming was surprised. “Let’s go check!”

…

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(End of chapter)