Chapter 192

"Broke up?"

Wei Ming hurriedly pulled Sister-in-law Southern Murong aside and asked her to elaborate.

Southern Murong laughed: "Do you have to be so obviously happy?"

Wei Ming had a worried look: "Is there? I'm clearly feeling very sorry for Sister Lin!"

Southern Murong curled her lips and then told the situation she learned from her former colleague.

"Actually, before the New Year, they had already decided to get married this National Day. After all, they aren't young anymore. But Sister Lin went filming, and they were separated for half a year. They barely even communicated. That man started to get suspicious. After all, the male actors filming aren't bad-looking, and he suspected Sister Lin developed feelings because of the play."

Wei Ming: "She didn't have any romantic scenes in this play."

"But he didn't know that. However, although he was suspicious, he didn't say he wouldn't talk anymore; he just demanded to get married early and get the certificate."

Wei Ming: "Sister Lin didn't agree?"

"No, she said she wanted to take the performance training class at the Film Academy."

This year, the Beijing Film Academy started recruiting amateur performance training classes. Zhu Lin also got the news from Ma Jingwu. She hoped to change from amateur to professional.

Southern Murong said: "Hearing this, that man got anxious. He actually didn't want Sister Lin to continue being an actress, but Sister Lin was very persistent, and then they argued and broke up."

Wei Ming fell into deep thought. In his previous life, Zhu Lin also filmed this *Traitor* and then formed a family, and she also got into the Beijing Film Academy amateur performance class.

But in this life, the same experience turned into this. The biggest variable should be him.

Maybe she used her extra energy to write letters to him, and didn't take care of her fiancé's feelings.

As the saying goes, it's better to tear down a temple than destroy a marriage. How could he compensate Sister Lin?

Southern Murong added: "And because of this, Sister Lin had a very unpleasant time with her family. Now she has moved to the unit dormitory, which is where I used to live."

"Ah!" It actually got this serious.

But thinking about it, it's normal. A girl approaching thirty, finally about to settle down, but obsessed with being an actress and wanting to go to school.

Probably her parents were suspecting that their daughter had something going on in the crew.

Wei Ming shook his head. Sister Lin was too pitiful now. He would find her later to comfort her.

The news had been conveyed, and Southern Murong continued to help Aunt Lu Xiaoyan in the kitchen.

The two of them, who were washing vegetables, discovered a problem.

"You don't even have bowls, chopsticks, or plates in this house. How do you cook and eat?" Southern Murong said.

Wei Ming: "I originally had some, but I didn't want to use other people's, so I threw them away."

Aunt Xiaoyan immediately denounced him for being wasteful.

However, these things would come. Not long after, Zhao Debiao and Mei Wenhua returned, holding two stacks of plates, bowls, and chopsticks, all brand new.

These were bought with their own money, as a housewarming gift for Brother Ming.

Aunt Xiaoyan looked and praised: "Good, there's even a 'double happiness' character on these plates."

Mei Wenhua said slyly: "This style is expensive. We thought that since we bought it now, Brother Ming won't have to buy it when he gets married in the future."

Lu Xiaoyan laughed: "You guys think quite far ahead."

Not long after, Liu Zhenyun also came. He not only brought his girlfriend Guo Jianmei but also brought a Liang Zuo.

Little Fatty Liang Zuo wanted to mooch a meal, but he also brought enough sincerity, giving Wei Ming a color TV coupon that his family didn't need as a gift.

Worthy of being the eldest son of the *People's Daily* deputy editor-in-chief; his actions were generous!

Although Wei Ming didn't have the money to buy a color TV now, this gift was still very precious; otherwise, he would only be able to exchange foreign exchange certificates to buy it at the Friendship Store in the future.

Liang Zuo looked at Wei Ming's new home. Awesome, too awesome! It wasn't inferior to his home. He had to tell his mom later. She was also a novelist; why was the gap in making money so big!

Liu Zhenyun teased: "Brother Liang's gift is a color TV coupon, and my gift is Brother Liang. It's full of weight, right?"

Guo Jianmei pinched him and then took out the real gift from the two of them at the door.

Guo Jianmei bought a pair of bright red thermos bottles. This bright red festive look matched those plates quite well; there would be no need to buy them again when getting married in the future.

Liu Zhenyun bought a teapot set with four teacups. He felt that for a contemporary celebrity like Wei Ming, drinking tea was definitely an essential item.

This made Wei Ming think of Gu Hongming's famous remarks about men, women, teapots, and teacups.

But were four teacups a bit too few? There were many guests coming today.

After the Liu Zhenyun trio, Liu Rulong also came. He held a big box and said: "The guard here is really responsible; he even had to check what I brought."

"Then what did you bring? It wouldn't be a TV, would it?!" Seeing Biaozi asked. He saw the box was square.

A-Long: "How could I afford that? And I don't have a coupon."

Liang Zuo: "I have one."

A-Long: "..."

Wei Ming opened the box himself. It turned out to be a wood carving, a wood carving of Black Cat Detective, and Black Cat Detective was riding a motorcycle, and the motorcycle was the same model as his own.

"I spent more than two months in my spare time making this," A-Long said. He originally wanted to give this to Wei Ming, the father of Black Cat Detective, on his birthday after finishing it.

Today happened to coincide with Wei Ming's housewarming, so he gave it early. Because it was a bit rushed, it hadn't been colored, and the eyes hadn't been dotted, but the form was vivid and very realistic, especially the details of the motorcycle, which were excellent. A-Long said: "I'll give it to you today, but I'll take it back when I leave. I'll bring it to you after it's colored, polished, and finished."

Wei Ming liked this gift very much, but the one who appreciated this work the most was Xizi, the number one fan of Black Cat Detective. He started pestering Brother A-Long to make one for him.

"I don't want one this big, a smaller one is fine."

A-Long spread his hands: "But I didn't bring wood or a knife. Next time, next time for sure."

"I brought it!" Xizi took a plastic bag out of his mother's bag, which actually contained a big lump of clay.

No wood, but there was clay, and he could mold it directly with his hands. This didn't stump A-Long. He couldn't help much with cooking, so he would help take care of the children.

So he and the two children started mixing mud and molding people in the restroom.

Because there were two children, he couldn't favor one over the other, so besides molding a Black Cat Detective for Xizi, he also wanted to mold a Dansheng for Lele.

Lele was very disgusted. Dansheng looked the same as Xizi; she didn't want that. She would rather have Little Nezha.

While A-Long was taking care of the kids, Wei Ming and the others were discussing who would be the chef. Finally, they discussed that everyone who could cook would show off their skills, one signature dish per person, so that everyone had a sense of participation.

In addition, plus the pork knuckle, pig head meat, sausage, and other deli foods Wei Ming bought, it was enough.

!

Liu Zhenyun said with regret: "My specialty is carp noodles, but unfortunately you don't have carp here, which limits my performance. Then I'll make braised noodles."

Guo Jianmei: "Then I can make scrambled eggs with tomatoes."

Liang Zuo thought it was bad; the only dish he knew how to make had been snatched by someone else, but it didn't stump him: "Then I'll make scrambled eggs with tomatoes."

Mei Wenhua: "Cucumber salad."

Seeing Biaozi: "Potato salad."

It could be seen that these two were little experts at cold dishes.

Wei Ming: "I'll make the Mapo Tofu my mother taught me. You can't eat spicy, so I'll make a mildly spicy one."

Southern Murong said: "Don't bother. Put as much as you want; I can eat spicy very well now."

Lu Xiaoyan teased: "Sour for a boy, spicy for a girl. You couldn't eat spicy before. Looks like you're going to have a little girl this time."

Speaking of this, Northern Qiao Feng behind them sighed slightly. Although he felt he would love a daughter very much, both he and his wife wanted a son to carry on the family line. This concept was deeply rooted in their thinking.

At this time, someone knocked on the door again. It was probably the leader who had arrived. Northern Qiao Feng hurriedly opened the door, and it was indeed Wei Pingan.

"Little Qiao, come help." Behind Wei Pingan were two other people, and they were carrying a super large piece of furniture—it was a bookshelf!

Wei Pingan came late just to do this. He ran to several trust stores before buying this antique-style bookshelf. This was his housewarming gift to his nephew.

A great writer, how could there not be a decent bookshelf at home?

This bookshelf had a good shape, large capacity, and was well-maintained. Although it was an old thing, one could only see that it was old, not broken; instead, it appeared elegant and grand.

It was also fortunate that the door of Wei Ming's house was quite high, so the bookshelf could barely be pushed in. When he came before, Wei Pingan had estimated the height of the door frame, and the bookshelf he bought was just right.

Wei Ming hurriedly came over to take a look, carefully touching the bookshelf, liking it immensely.

"Seems like it's red sandalwood too. Uncle, this thing isn't cheap, right!"

Wei Pingan waved his hand: "Bought it at a trust store. The seller was in a hurry to sell, and the price was lowered several times. It doesn't count for much."

Wei Ming saw that there were characters on it. Although they were a bit blurred, they could still be identified. According to his knowledge, this was at least an antique from the Qing Dynasty.

It seems there are still good things in the trust store. As long as you visit a few more times and get familiar with their manager, you can always wait for good things.

Wei Ming's attitude toward collecting was relatively calm, but who wouldn't like to have some good-looking things at home?

Just the appearance of this bookshelf immediately raised this empty big house by a grade. In the future, he would definitely have to get some furniture and porcelain calligraphy and paintings of the same level to match it.

Several men were commenting on the bookshelf when a shout from Lele suddenly came from the restroom.

It turned out that Xizi accidentally knocked over her Nezha, face-down, and now it was a flat-faced Nezha. A-Long was trying to find a way to remedy it, but after molding and fiddling, it was still an ugly and cute child.

Wei Pingan hurriedly picked up his daughter to comfort her. A-Long sighed that clay sculptures were still unstable, and he would make a wooden one for her later.

After busy for a long time, dinner was finally served at six o'clock.

Counting the two little ones, there were 13 people in total. If it were a long table, they could cosplay *The Last Supper*.

Fortunately, the round table bought was big enough, and everyone could barely sit down. However, Aunt Xiaoyan, Sister-in-law Southern Murong, and Guo Jianmei finished eating early and took the two children to play in another room, letting the men drink, smoke, and chat to their hearts' content.

At first, Seeing Biaozi and Xiao Mei were a bit reserved in front of school leaders like Wei Pingan, but after a few drinks, they let go, and they talked about their experiences going south in a very organized way.

A-Long, who was half Cantonese, didn't steal their thunder. He sat next to Wei Ming and told him quietly.

"We have already completed the first part of *Heroes Come from Youth*, and I have brought the drawings for you. Take a look later."

"Okay, if there's no problem, leave it. I'll submit it for you."

Anyway, Sister Xue was going back to the Magic City, so let her take it back; it would be safer.

These drawings were the hard work of several big boys for a month, worth several hundred yuan.

After eight o'clock, when the old men and big boys finished their last glass of wine, the housewarming banquet ended. Wei Ming turned off the soft music played by the tape recorder, the song ended, and the people dispersed, to gather again another day.

Everyone left, and Wei Ming cleaned up the mess at home alone. Only then did he feel the loneliness of the house being too big; it really needed a woman here.

Tomorrow, should I find Sister Xue first, or see Sister Lin first~

(*Nezha Conquers the Dragon King* is too good, definitely not a loss!)

(End of chapter)