Chapter 189

"What, you've already settled on the house!"

Lu Xiaoyan heard this exciting news the moment she sat down.

Wei Ming joked: "That's right, now we finally have a place to store the readers' letters."

Lu Xiaoyan asked again: "How much more do you still owe?"

Although they had spent too much money on the flight this time and she was prepared to make the two children live frugally for a few days, the family wasn't actually in that much trouble; supporting Wei Ming in establishing his home and career was still a priority.

Wei Pingan waved his hand: "You underestimate him; he still has money left over after buying this house."

Lu Xiaoyan was very surprised: "Isn't it a house in the Overseas Chinese Apartments? It shouldn't be cheap, right?"

If it were just buying a courtyard house, Lu Xiaoyan felt Wei Ming could probably afford it, but the Overseas Chinese Apartments were high-rise buildings—one of the only two types of commercial housing in Yanjing, making them a scarce resource.

The location was also key; whether going to Peking University or entering the core area of Yanjing, it took less than half an hour by bicycle, and only a dozen minutes or so by motorcycle.

Wei Pingan held up two fingers: "It cost this much."

Lu Xiaoyan gasped; twenty thousand yuan—to be able to take it out all at once, could it be that writing under three pen names really made his efficiency equivalent to three people?

Consequently, Lu Xiaoyan began to urge him to update his work again.

Wei Ming had just handed over the text manuscript and illustrations for the second installment of *Black Cat Detective*, and now she was already urging him for the third.

In fact, after *The Game of the Brave*, *Youth Literature* had also called him several times to solicit manuscripts, hoping to cooperate again. Although the public feedback for *The Brave* wasn't as massive as *Black Cat Detective* or *Heavenly Book Legend*, it had truly increased the circulation of *Youth Literature* and could be considered the magazine's annual blockbuster.

Additionally, *Storytelling* had published the final installment of *Heroes Come from Youth* this month, and Xie Dao was also thinking about continuing to cooperate with Wei Kuangren to publish a new novel.

Moreover, after buying the house, he still needed to buy furniture and appliances, and he feared his savings would be wiped out, so Wei Ming also began to consider whether he should produce some popular literature or children's literature in the gaps between preparing his long-form novel.

Next, Wei Ming told Aunt Xiaoyan about the filming progress of *Heavenly Book Legend* that he had gathered, as she was quite concerned about it.

After finishing dinner, Wei Ming returned to the dormitory. Biaozi and Xiao Mei were both there. Seeing him enter the room, Biaozi closed the door and asked: "Brother Ming, how did the house viewing go?"

Wei Ming glanced at the room he had lived in for more than half a year: "It's already been settled."

Hearing this, Mei Wenhua took out a prepared envelope: "Brother Ming, this money might not be much for a house, but it's our heartfelt gesture. Take it."

Wei Ming touched the thickness of the envelope and knew how much money was inside; for the two of them, this was not a small sum.

He was just feeling moved when Mei Wenhua, fearing he would misunderstand, added: "This is a loan. Just pay us back once your royalties arrive. No rush, no rush."

Wei Ming laughed and handed the envelope back: "Having this intention is enough. Who said I'm short on money for buying a house?"

"Not short?" the two said in unison.

Wei Ming: "Not short, bought it with full payment."

"Hiss!" The two were shocked and at the same time felt a sense of relief.

Wei Ming added: "But I'll still need your help when it's time to move."

Wei Ming didn't have much else, but he had plenty of books, plenty of letters, and the tape recorder that Mei Lingling had left him.

Furthermore, he planned to sell the furniture in the original owner's house and then buy some that suited his own tastes to fill the new home; these things also required his brothers' help.

Especially the room intended to be the study; at the very least, it needed to be fitted with bookshelves on three sides.

Thinking of the price of good furniture these days, Wei Ming suddenly felt he should have accepted that envelope earlier.

That night, Wei Ming didn't read or write; he just discussed with Biaozi and Xiao Mei what needed to be added to his new home.

"A television, you must buy a television!" Biaozi said, "That way I can go to your place to watch TV."

Wei Ming made a note of it in his small notebook.

Mei Wenhua: "I think a telephone is more important. In the future, you can call home directly, and it'll be useful for business too. How convenient!"

Wei Ming nodded; a telephone was indeed more important than a television, but this would still require the school's help, as it wasn't that convenient for ordinary residents to install telephones these days.

As Biaozi and Xiao Mei talked, they suddenly became sentimental.

"Brother Feng is gone, Brother Ming is also leaving; in the future, it will just be me and Xiao Mei left here."

Mei Wenhua: "Yeah, suddenly it feels like there's no point."

Wei Ming: "Don't worry, I'll still be resting here at noon usually, and Brother Feng's mother-in-law will be coming in a while; he'll have to move back to live here then."

"Really?!"

"Of course. His place is too small, and it's a bit inconvenient for three people to live there, so he'll probably be living here for a while," Wei Ming said.

It was just as well that he had bought a house, so he wouldn't have to occupy Brother Feng's bed anymore.

The next day, Wei Ming first went to the school journal office to ask for leave; today he had to go run the transfer procedures with Xiao Wang, and it might not even be finished in a day.

Yanjing would only restore the deed transfer procedures for private house sales after 1983; it was from that time on that courtyard house transactions began to flourish. But in this year of 1980, buying and selling houses still required applying to relevant departments, and transactions could only proceed after approval. It was common to get stuck without connections, but fortunately, Uncle Pingan's connections were extensive enough, and he had already spoken to friends in the relevant departments for him yesterday.

Today, Xiao Wang had tidied himself up; he probably hadn't been drinking last night. When he saw the Suzuki motorcycle Wei Ming was riding, Xiao Wang suddenly felt that his asking price had been too low—this kid definitely wasn't short on money!

However, he didn't do something as low-class as raising the price at the last minute; he sat directly on Wei Ming's motorcycle and went with him to the relevant unit.

On the way, he curiously inquired about Wei Ming's identity; what kind of background must he have to be able to take out so much cash and foreign exchange certificates in one go?

Wei Ming asked him: "Have you really never heard of Wei Ming?"

Xiao Wang shook his head: "Are you a celebrity?"

Wei Ming: "I'm quite famous. If you love reading novels or are interested in poetry, you should have heard my name."

Xiao Wang shook his head: "I don't like reading novels, and I'm not interested in poetry, but I do like listening to songs."

He originally had a tape recorder at home, but now he had given it directly to his girlfriend. A major reason why their home looked so empty was that he had basically given everything away.

Wei Ming: "Then have you heard of *On the Fields of Hope*?"

!

This was Wei Ming's most well-known song.

"What, you wrote this song?"

Wei Ming laughed: "Looks like you really have heard it."

"I quite like it; I can even sing it." Xiao Wang immediately demonstrated.

Wei Ming was even happier: "Then can this house be a bit cheaper?"

"That won't do. I'm planning to leave this money for my partner; it doesn't look good if it's not a round number."

Then Wei Ming began to praise her: "You are really generous; such a large sum of money, you gave it just like that."

"To her, it might just be money. By the time I get to the United States, this won't be anything. I just hope she can remember my kindness and always leave a place for me in her heart."

Chatting with this romantic hero, they arrived at the place.

Today they ran all the necessary government offices, and Xiao Wang's property certificate and Wei Ming's Yanjing identity had already been verified; now it was just a matter of waiting for notification.

If the house sale application was approved, Wei Ming could withdraw the money to complete the transaction. With Uncle Pingan's connections, this process should be accelerated.

Next, Wei Ming also had to accelerate. At the faculty sports meet, Wei Ming signed up for the 100-meter dash. Although he wasn't in the same group as Uncle Pingan, the elderly Wu Zuoren was in the same group.

At 72, he wasn't the limit for this sports meet; the oldest person at this year's meet was a 73-year-old gentleman.

"Ready..." A student referee held the starting pistol, "Bang!"

"Go, Vivian, go!"

At St. Stephen's Church College in Hong Kong, the students were also holding their spring sports meet.

Because of her long legs, Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin was arranged to participate in the women's relay race, but the overall strength of the four girls was limited, and they ultimately failed to achieve a result.

She was also very disappointed. The most hateful thing was that a girl in the class who hadn't participated said she ran the slowest in this leg and called her "Fatty Ann" based on her English name "Vivian," which made her furious.

Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin looked in the mirror in the school restroom for a long time; she was indeed a little bit chubby, but it was mainly in her cheeks, but this had absolutely nothing to do with being "fat"!

When she returned home, Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin found a package from Yanjing on the table, and her unhappy mood immediately vanished—Ah Ming had replied to her!

After opening the package, she read Ah Ming's letter first.

In the last letter, she had tested him with a bottle of cosmetics; she didn't know what he would say. Hey, why is there money in the letter?

Ah Min read carefully. He first replied about the works and also sent his own novel collection to her. Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin had already seen *Fierce Animals*.

To make it easier for Ah Min to understand, he also explained the creative background of these works. As for the issue of simplified and traditional characters, she would have to overcome it herself.

Then Ah Ming asked if those songs of his were popular.

Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin couldn't answer this for the time being because the record company was planning to release the album, so these few new songs hadn't been exposed during this period.

Next, Ah Ming talked about the cosmetics issue. Seeing this, Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin smiled happily—he didn't have a girlfriend!

Moreover, this handsome young man was quite attentive to skincare and even asked her to help him buy whitening products. But wasn't he a Peking University teacher? Why was he going to the frontier? Could it be for field research?

At this time, Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin took out the photo of Wei Ming that she had tucked in her book. At that time, Wei Ming had sent two photos, and she had only used one; she had kept one for herself.

Looking at Wei Ming's magnificent beauty, she suddenly understood why he asked her to purchase cosmetics for him—handsome guys have very high standards for themselves.

Watching and watching, Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin suddenly ran into the restroom again to re-examine herself and even lifted her school uniform to pinch her little belly.

"Seems like I am a bit fat," Zhou Zhou Zhou Huimin sighed, and suddenly appearance anxiety emerged.

So the next day, she applied to join the school basketball team, hoping to make her figure slimmer.

In addition, she also said "no" to her mother's fish balls and Ghost Uncle's pancake fruit—don't even think about making me finish what you can't sell, don't even think about it!

(End of chapter)