Chapter 173

After a night's sleep, Zhou Huimin ran to Eternal Records again the next morning, Sunday, and found Uncle Zhang Mingmin.

"What kind of person is your friend Ah Ming?" Yesterday was too rushed, and Zhang Mingmin hadn't had a chance to ask.

"He seems to be a university teacher."

"A university teacher?" Zhang Mingmin was astonished. "At HKU or CUHK?"

Zhou Huimin: "Peking University."

"Bei? The Peking University on the mainland?!"

Seeing Zhou Huimin nod, Zhang Mingmin felt a sense of awe; he must sing this song, and he must sing it well!

Afterward, Zhang Mingmin took the girl to find the company boss, Deng Bingheng.

Deng Bingheng had been in the record business for many years; although he had always been lukewarm, he was a veteran and understood music.

He saw the quality of the song at a glance; to help raise the price, Zhang Mingmin also stated that the song was created by his friend and he hoped to be the one to sing it.

"Little sister, please wait outside for a moment; let us discuss this."

After Zhou Huimin went out, she waited anxiously for over ten minutes, then she was called back in.

"My company will buy this song; 1,000 dollars for the lyrics, 1,500 for the melody, and sales royalties will be calculated separately."

A total of 2,500 dollars, plus sales royalties—this surprised Zhou Huimin greatly; this was the price for a moderately famous musician.

However, the sales royalties were currently just empty words, because Boss Deng hadn't thought about releasing a record for Zhang Mingmin; he just thought about recording the song, then taking it to the radio station to hit the charts, and also performing the song at cabarets to see if it would be popular, and then making other plans.

After signing the contract on Ah Ming's behalf, Zhou Huimin immediately received 2,500 Hong Kong dollars; she immediately pulled out a bill to return to Zhang Mingmin.

Zhang Mingmin left his home phone number for Zhou Huimin: "If you need any help in the future, just ask. If your friend Ah Ming has any new works, you can also find me."

Zhou Huimin nodded and left the company.

She felt she should pay for the membership registration herself, so 150 Hong Kong dollars of this belonged to her, and Ah Ming could get 2,250 dollars.

150 dollars was enough to cover the postage, and she could also buy Ah Ming some Hong Kong snacks and movie magazines; he had said he liked watching movies.

Material life on the mainland must be very scarce, she thought; she wondered if he had heard of chocolate and coffee. Zhou Huimin then returned to Hong Kong Island and started shopping at a supermarket near her home.

This time she got home earlier and had plenty of time to cook for her mother.

While eating, her mother took money out of her pocket and gave Zhou Huimin one hundred dollars.

Zhou Huimin was stunned: "My usual pocket money is enough."

"Aren't you going to send some things to your pen pal on the mainland? How can you send them without money?" Mother Zhou pushed the money over and added, "But it's best not to do this too often; once every month or two is enough."

Giving this money was still a bit of a strain for Mother Zhou; after all, she wasn't young anymore, and she had to support her daughter through university.

Zhou Huimin felt moved, her eyes moistening; her mother had given birth to her at 43, and now she was nearly sixty, only able to do odd jobs, which was actually very hard work; she couldn't even earn one hundred dollars a day.

Zhou Huimin pushed the money back, then pulled a bag of snacks out of her room.

"Actually, I've already bought them."

"Where did you get so much money? Did you save your usual pocket money?" Mother Zhou was very surprised.

"Because I helped Ah Ming sell a song, and he gave me a ten percent commission." To make her mother believe her, Zhou Huimin took out the letter Wei Ming had written and showed it to her.

Anyway, there was nothing in the letter that couldn't be seen.

Mother Zhou was very surprised: "Writing songs? Isn't he a student at Peking University?"

The identity of being a Peking University student was an important reason why Mother Zhou supported her daughter in being pen pals with him; after all, "near vermilion, one gets stained red."

Zhou Huimin: "I just found out, he's not a student, he seems to be a teacher, and he's also a writer; he learned music specifically to write novels, so he can write songs too!"

Zhou Huimin's eyes shone when she introduced Ah Ming.

Mother Zhou was even more surprised, but after reading the letter, it did indeed say so.

She asked again: "How much did that song sell for?"

"Two thousand five hundred dollars!" Zhou Huimin said proudly, "I took a ten percent cut."

Ten percent was two hundred and fifty; Mother Zhou believed that Ah Ming was a university teacher. Even in the environment of the mainland, he could earn more than her monthly income with one song; this was clearly no ordinary person—he must be so talented!

"Wait, you went to sell the song today? You went alone?" Mother Zhou's expression suddenly became serious.

Zhou Huimin knew her mother was worried about her, so she said: "Mom, I'm already a big girl, and you have to work too."

Mother Zhou gently stroked her daughter's curly hair; this child had been wild since she was little, like a tomboy.

"In the future, tell Mom if you have something like this; Mom can coordinate her time to accompany you."

"Mm!" Zhou Huimin nodded heavily.

Afterward, Mother Zhou asked which singer the song was sold to and when she would be able to hear it.

Zhou Huimin smiled and answered: "You should be able to hear it on the radio very soon; remember to listen to the music station. The title is 'The Slippery Her,' and the singer is Zhang Mingmin."

Having successfully sold the song for Ah Ming, Zhou Huimin started writing him a letter that night, and she would send the package tomorrow.

Yunnan, Yuxi, near Mount Ailao.

On the first day of April, the Cui Cuicui family finally received the letter and package Wei Ming sent from Yanjing. The little girl had waited a month for this letter; she thought Brother Wei Shenme had forgotten her. A while ago, she had already seen the March issue of "Children's Literature" and also saw "Black Cat Detective," confirming that Wei Ming was the Brother Wei Shenme she admired.

Wei Ming's package was very rich, including a group photo of them and this family, a signed edition of "Strange Tales of the Heavenly Book" for Cui Cuicui, a signed edition of "Animals Are Fierce" for Brother Cui, and some Yanjing delicacies—it was a huge package anyway.

Cui Cuicui was overjoyed, and what made her even happier was that Sister Zhu Lin was visiting their home again today.

Because they didn't live far apart and both had backgrounds in medicine, Zhu Lin often came to find Physician Xu Yingying to exchange ideas and learn, and she had already become familiar with their family.

However, hearing Zhu Lin's words, she couldn't be happy anymore.

"Our filming at Mount Ailao has finished; we are returning to Yuxi City tomorrow."

"Sister, I will miss you!" Cui Cuicui said sweetly.

Zhu Lin smiled and hugged Cui Cuicui: "If you miss me, you can watch our movie when it comes out."

"Mm!"

Physician Xu said again: "Linlin, take some of these dried mushrooms back with you; they are delicious. Don't worry, they are all non-toxic."

"Haha, I'm not worried about that; these mushrooms are amazing for soups and stews."

!

Physician Xu said again: "Send some to Ma Xiaowei when you get a chance; just write Peking University as the address, right?"

"Mm," Zhu Lin replied. In fact, she had also received a package from Wei Ming recently, heard the cassette tape from Wei Ming, and heard him talk about his recent trip to Guangzhou.

Zhu Lin in the Great Southwest and Wei Ming could only understand each other's latest situations through letters.

And Gong Xue in the Great Northwest, besides corresponding with Wei Ming, could also hear the word-of-mouth updates from Lu Xiaoyan and Xizi.

So she not only knew that Wei Ming had taken a trip to Guangzhou, knew that Wei Ming had bought a motorcycle, but also knew that Wei Ming was preparing to take the entrance exam for Peking University's correspondence course.

"So Ma Xiaowei will be considered a university student in the future, right?"

"Yes, although not an undergraduate, having this diploma will make it easier to take the postgraduate entrance exam for Peking University later."

"Oh, he's even going to take the postgraduate exam?" Gong Xue exclaimed.

Lu Xiaoyan smiled: "With Little Ming's current skills, he's actually more than qualified to teach students in the Chinese Department at Peking University. His uncle and I hope he gets a higher diploma so he can be a teacher at Peking University in the future."

Gong Xue nodded: "That would indeed be great; he is so excellent, he will certainly be able to do it."

Then Gong Xue thought about how she hadn't even been to university, and couldn't help but feel a bit regretful; she had gone to the countryside to join the production teams since middle school, and even if she wanted to take the exam now, she couldn't.

As the two were talking, a dirty, energetic little boy came in from outside.

"Real Mom, Snow Mom!" It was Xizi; to get into character, he didn't call her sister anymore, and when Lu Xiaoyan wasn't around, he called her Mom directly; when his real mom was there, he called her "Snow Mom."

Lu Xiaoyan looked at her son; it had only been the second day, and it felt like he had already integrated into the local area and even made a few local friends.

However, Director Xie probably just wanted a rustic feeling, and being this filthy wouldn't do.

"Little Xue, is there any work to be done around here? Take Xizi to work tomorrow."

Xizi's happy expression immediately froze.

Gong Xue smiled: "Then come with me tomorrow to take care of the farm's little horses and lambs."

Xizi became happy again: "Great, I love little foals and lambs the most!"

In Gouzitun, Xizi often helped his uncle take care of the brigade's livestock.

When sleeping at night, Xizi slept with both moms, and by the time Xizi and Lu Xiaoyan were both asleep, Gong Xue still wasn't.

Now she and Lu Xiaoyan and her daughter lived and ate together, inseparable; she didn't know when she would be able to avoid them to write a letter back to Wei Ming.

The letter was a normal letter, she was just afraid that Sister Xiaoyan would overthink it; she was used to teasing people, which made one very embarrassed.

While Gong Xue was still conceptualizing this letter, Wei Ming in Yanjing received another special letter.

"Brother Ming!"

When Wei Ming was working at the school journal office, Biaozi, who was on patrol, found him.

"Biaozi, come in and talk."

Biaozi said mysteriously: "Brother, you'd better come out to talk."

After Wei Ming went out, Biaozi handed him a letter like a secret agent meeting a contact: "A letter from England!"

Wei Ming's expression immediately brightened; could it be that his foreign exchange had arrived!

He took it and looked—it was indeed Melinda; he had waited so long!

He hurriedly opened the letter, but there was no foreign exchange or remittance slip inside.

However, in the letter, Melinda reported the situation of "Jumanji" to Wei Ming.

"I have finished translating this novel and submitted it to our company's children's book department. The head of the department appreciates it very much, but because the length is too short, they suggest finding an illustrator to launch this story in the market as a picture book."

"At that time, the royalty income will be shared by the original author, the translator (me), and the illustrator in a 5:3:2 ratio, or it could be 4:3:3, or even 3:3:4, depending on the illustrator's fame and strength. Of course, the copyright still belongs to you. If you agree, you can send me a telegram. If this works out, my loan will be paid off!"

(End of chapter)