Chapter 242

The ticket only wrote the time and address, tomorrow night at eight o'clock, Yanjing Exhibition Center, admission by ticket.

Now everyone is talking about China-Japan friendship and China-US friendship, but in the past year, Wei Ming hadn't seen American or Japanese singers come to China to hold concerts.

"This should be the first Japanese singer to hold a concert in the country, right?" Wei Ming asked.

"Seems like it really is. It is estimated that it is difficult for political review to come to the country," Uncle Ping'an analyzed.

Wei Ming recalled the Japanese singers who were popular in the 1980s. The first one he thought of was Yamaguchi Momoe, who was active in film, television, and song.

However, when she was popular in China, she had already retired in Japan. It seems it was this year.

Still remember her song *Autumn Cherry*, it was really good to listen to. Wei Ming still remembers that tune to this day.

Thinking of *Autumn Cherry*, Wei Ming had a flash of inspiration. He probably knew who was holding this concert. It was still worth listening to.

When leaving, Wei Ming also took away a large bag of letters from young readers addressed to him, collected by *Children's Literature*.

It seems he has to choose a few to reply to in the evening.

In order to finalize Zhu Lin's time, the next day at noon, Wei Ming specifically ran to the Beijing Er Yingchang. They should be about to start filming *Regret for the Past* soon, and Zhu Lin was basically waiting for orders at the Beijing Er Yingchang.

Sure enough, he found her in the canteen. Sitting with her were Zhang Zhang Jinling and Cai Ming.

Many years ago, Zhu Lin had met Cai Ming once. When Cai Ming's masterpiece *Haixia* was recruiting actors, Zhu Lin had gone for an interview and was selected. However, later, because she had no acting experience, she backed out and missed the opportunity.

Later, when the movie was released, she specifically went to watch this film and was convinced by the little Haixia played by Cai Ming. So after entering the Beijing Er Yingchang, she took the initiative to approach her and could be considered to have made a friend.

When Wei Ming came over, Cai Ming was asking Zhang Zhang Jinling about the adaptation of *Xu Mao and His Daughters*.

This Sichuan novel, which was very popular last year, had been adapted into Sichuan opera and TV series. Recently, there were rumors in the factory that it would be adapted into a movie, led by director Wang Yan.

Zhang Zhang Jinling had cooperated with director Wang Yan on *From Slave to General* and had a very good relationship. So Cai Ming wanted to inquire from her to see if she had a chance. After all, Xu Mao had nine daughters.

Just as Zhang Zhang Jinling was about to speak, she saw Wei Ming sitting opposite her, next to Zhu Lin.

"Writer Wei." Zhang Zhang Jinling said. She and Cai Ming had both seen Wei Ming, but rarely had the opportunity to face each other so closely. He was indeed more handsome than Tang Tang Guoqiang.

"Are you here at the Beijing Er Yingchang for official business?" Cai Ming questioned.

"Oh, looking for Sister Zhu Lin for something." Wei Ming didn't hide it either.

Gossip light shone in the eyes of Zhang Zhang Jinling and Cai Ming. They had long heard that Zhu Lin was recommended by Wei Ming to director Shui Hua, and the relationship between the two was not shallow.

Wei Ming said there was something, but didn't say what it was. Zhu Lin didn't ask what it was either, but asked him if he had eaten.

"Not yet."

So Zhu Lin took out the Beijing Er Yingchang meal ticket and let him go get food. If it weren't in a public place, they could eat one portion, and even feed each other mouth-to-mouth.

After they finished eating slowly, Zhang Zhang Jinling and Cai Ming had already been boiled away. Only then did Wei Ming say the matter.

Zhu Lin thought it was about the house, but Wei Ming said it was a concert by a Japanese singer and asked her if she wanted to listen.

"If you don't listen, I'll go with Xiao Hong."

Zhu Lin was very interested in trendy music. Although she couldn't understand Japanese, she couldn't understand Cantonese either, but it didn't affect her listening to Cantonese songs. So she agreed immediately and set the time.

When leaving the Beijing Er Yingchang, Wei Ming ran into factory director Wang Yang at the entrance, and there was an old man next to him.

He introduced: "This is director Ling Ling Zifeng, one of the four handsome men of our Beijing Er Yingchang."

Wei Ming immediately expressed his admiration. Of the four handsome men, three were still alive, and the only one who could still shoot classics was the grandfather of this "Hello, pervert brother".

"Yesterday I saw in the *Yanjing Xin Xin Wan Bao* that the Beijing Er Yingchang is preparing to shoot *Rickshaw Boy*, and is worrying about the candidate for Camel Xiangzi, right?" Wei Ming asked.

Wang Yang nodded. There was indeed such a thing. The role of Camel Xiangzi could be said to be the most famous in Lao She's works, and he was also a young man, young, with good acting skills, and had to fit the image of a rickshaw puller. Such a candidate was too rare.

They had searched through several major film studios and couldn't find a suitable one. Previously, Tang Tang Guoqiang, Zhou Zhou Lijing, and director Ling Ling Zifeng's son, Ling Feifei, the father of Ling Xiaosu, had all entered the candidate list and were excluded one by one.

So the Beijing Er Yingchang simply posted a national audition, with the title *"Rickshaw Boy*, where are you?".

Wei Ming said: "I do have a suitable candidate here. The two of you can take a look. Whether to listen or not is up to you."

Wei Ming really didn't interfere at all with the choice of the heroine for *Regret for the Past*. The rumors in the streets were purely rumors. However, Wei Ming really wanted to help the Beijing Er Yingchang take fewer detours for *Rickshaw Boy*.

"Oh, who? You wouldn't be talking about yourself, right." Factory director Wang Yang teased. He knew clearly that Wei Ming loved Lu Xun and Lao She's works the most, especially *Diary of a Madman* and *Rickshaw Boy*.

Wei Ming laughed: "I'm not recommending myself. When selecting roles for *Two Cows* before, an undergraduate from the Film Academy entered our backup list, class of '78, named Zhang Zhang Fengyi. The two of you might as well take a look. I think he has the charm of Camel Xiangzi."

The two looked at each other. They hadn't heard of him. For the class of '78, they only knew Zhou Zhou Lijing and Fang Shu.

Wei Ming didn't say much either, just left such a name and drifted away.

Ling Ling Zifeng simply treated a dead horse as a living horse doctor and let deputy director Li Tang make a trip to the Film Academy to bring this Zhang Zhang Fengyi over.

As a result, after a trip, Zhang Zhang Fengyi was not at school. It was said that he ran to the northwest to film some Hong Kong martial arts movie.

However, Li Tang brought back a photo of Zhang Zhang Fengyi. Ling Ling Zifeng was overjoyed. This was the feeling he wanted.

"Tell their teacher to let this child come to the Beijing Er Yingchang immediately after returning!"

Wei Ming just did a favor. The role of Camel Xiangzi would belong to Zhang Zhang Fengyi sooner or later. His image was simply the chosen Camel Xiangzi.

After four o'clock in the afternoon, Wei Ming locked the door of the Repository Room and got off work early.

As a result, when he went out, he saw Wei Hong at the entrance, and she was carrying a child.

"Big Brother x2!"

"Xiao Hong? Xizi?"

Wei Hong couldn't hide her joy to Wei Ming: "Brother, you hid it deep enough. You were going to take me to the concert today, but you haven't told me yet. But Xizi already told me."

Wei Ming looked at the little guy Xizi.

Xizi explained the situation in a chattering way: "Mom's bicycle is broken. Now there is only one bike, one in the back and one in the front. Lele and I competed for a long time before I got the chance to go with you, Big Brother!"

Wei Ping'an knew Wei Ming was focused on creation, so he put Xizi in the library directly, letting him go with Big Brother Ming and Sister Hong.

Then Xizi was run into by Wei Hong, who came to the library to save a seat. Hearing such a good thing, several roommates were all envious, cursing Wei Hong to fail the next exam.

Wei Ming scratched his head. Xizi was not a big problem. He had a ticket himself. At most, he was a bit of a light bulb, but Xiao Hong was a bit redundant.

"Hong, you just started school, it's the time when you need to study hard. You can't skip class. Don't you have classes in the evening?"

Now classrooms are tight, and evening classes are common, especially for freshmen, who have a lot of courses.

Wei Hong laughed: "There are no classes this week except tonight!"

You have no class, but I have no ticket!

Saying the truth is afraid of hurting Xiao Hong's heart. After all, she is a relative. So Wei Ming decided to go to Shaoyuan to try his luck.

"Hong, you guys wait for me at the Nanmen. I have something to do. I'll come find you in a moment."

After speaking, Wei Ming hurriedly ran to Shaoyuan. Generally, for this kind of activity, tickets would definitely be issued to Japanese international students, and usually, even the accompanying students of international students would be issued one, but they wouldn't necessarily want to go.

After all, you said friendship is friendship above, but many people below have hatred with the little devils, and they can't get over this hurdle in their hearts.

For example, a brother in the Physics Department that Wei Ming knew, from Zhang Jinling, was an accompanying student, and he was accompanying a Japanese international student.

Once he told Wei Ming that sometimes he was afraid that he would sleepwalk and suffocate his roommate with a pillow, so he could only use "I'm here to monitor him" to explain it to himself.

Thank God, this kid really had a ticket and didn't plan to go, so he tore it up.

He flipped through the trash can and helped Wei Ming find it.

"Wei Laoshi, if you want it, just stick it yourself. But I hope you don't like Japanese culture because of this."

Wei Ming patted his chest: "I will listen to songs with a critical heart!"

When leaving the international student dormitory, Wei Ming also saw several Japanese female students and their accompanying students dressed up for an outing. It is estimated that they were also going to watch the concert.

At the Nanmen, Wei Ming took Xiao Hong and Xizi straight to the Yanjing Exhibition Center located on Xizhimen Outer Street. The performance was held in the Beizhan Theater. Wei Ming had been there several times with Melinda to watch musicals.

It was still early before the start. Wei Ming let Xiao Hong take Xizi to eat something first.

"After eating, you guys go in directly. I still have something to do." Then Wei Ming handed the re-glued ticket to Xiao Hong.

"This ticket?"

"Accidentally got it. It's okay, it can be used."

After settling them, Wei Ming went to the Beijing Er Yingchang again. Zhu Lin had been waiting at the entrance for a while, and the two still had to have a meal.

To save time, they didn't go to any big restaurant and ate noodles directly.

"I came and went in a hurry at noon today, and haven't asked you how you did in the exam yesterday." Wei Ming asked while slurping noodles.

"I feel good about myself, but I have to wait until next week to know the results. By then, our crew will start filming, and I don't know if I have time to watch."

"It's okay. By then, I'll make a phone call and A Long will know the result."

After eating, it was already seven o'clock. Wei Ming and Zhu Lin hurried on the road. On the way, he also told her about the little episode before coming.

"When you meet Xiao Hong, my uncle, and my aunt, you should be generous."

"Don't need you to say, I'm not nervous either." Zhu Lin said hard, but her heart was a bit panicked, more panicked than when she helped Wei Ming manually shift gears in the alley that day.

Zhu Lin, who was hugging Wei Ming's waist, suddenly shrank her hand. Just now, she almost instinctively slid her hand down. Oh my, too dangerous.

Wei Ming was touched warmly by Sister Lin's little hand, and was considering whether to go to the renovation house to see the progress after listening to the concert.

When they arrived at the venue, most of the audience had already entered. The 2,000-plus seats were almost full. When Wei Ming and Zhu Lin entered, there were no good seats left, and they could only sit in the corner of the last row.

There were no seat numbers on the tickets, and it was first come, first served. The venue was too big, Wei Ming didn't find Xiao Hong, Xizi, and the others, and didn't see Uncle Ping'an, Aunt Lu Xiaoyan, and Lele.

At this time, Wei Hong didn't see her big brother either. She and Xizi were surrounded by a group of Peking University alumni. There were Chinese and Japanese. When they saw everyone wearing school badges, they sat together.

Hearing that Wei Hong and Xizi were Wei Ming's younger brother and sister, several Japanese women were very enthusiastic, patting their chests to be translators for Wei Hong and them.

Wei Hong: "Then Senior Sisters, tell me first whose concert it is today?"

It was already certain whose concert it was.

Zhu Lin asked: "Is this Sada Masashi very famous in Japan?"

Wei Ming: "Can be considered very famous. He is a singer-songwriter who covers lyrics, composition, and singing himself. Last year, one of his albums sold 1.5 million copies."

Including *Autumn Cherry* by Yamaguchi Momoe, who is not very famous in China now, was written and composed by Sada Masashi.

Wei Ming had also heard the best-selling album *Kanpaku Sengen* when he was in Shaoyuan.

Zhu Lin thought about it: "He is not as good as you."

"Hmm?"

"Once I read the newspaper, it said that the tape of *Spring of the Sheep Class* had sold 2 million copies, so you are still more amazing."

Wei Ming smiled modestly: "Can't say that either. After all, we have a larger population."

Of course, the ownership of tape recorders in China is not enough. It is estimated that it is not as good as Japan, so *Spring of the Sheep Class* can be considered the ceiling of tape sales.

"Can't say that either. Our country's tape recorders are not popular enough, otherwise *Spring of the Sheep Class* would definitely sell more."

Abruptly, a listener next to Wei Ming joined their topic.

Seeing Wei Ming and Zhu Lin looking at him in surprise, this person reached out to Wei Ming: "Wei Laoshi, hello, I am Sha Qing, a literary and art reporter for the *Yanjing Xin Xin Wan Bao*. I wrote the music review for *On the Hopeful Fields* before."

"Oh, Reporter Sha, hello." Wei Ming shook hands with him.

Zhu Lin also sat upright. What kind of bad luck is this? You can meet a reporter while listening to a concert. That is to say, her and Little Wei's conversation must revolve around music and art, be serious, and cannot be out of line, cannot chat.

Sha Qing said: "I have interviewed Teacher Gu Gu Jianfen before. She is one of the consultants for this concert today, and her evaluation of you is very high."

"Teacher Gu praised me too much. I just learned some fur and wrote some children's songs."

"Can't say that either. The popularity of your few songs is still very wide, suitable for all ages. In fact, our *Yanjing Xin Xin Wan Bao* is also preparing a concert, and several tracks on the song list are your and Teacher Gu's works."

"Oh, is that so." So what, it doesn't give me money.

This reporter Sha was very good at talking, making Wei Ming and Zhu Lin have no chance to speak later. I really want to change seats.

Fortunately, the concert officially started. There was also a host on stage introducing the performer of the day, Mr. Sada Masashi's musical achievements.

In short, he is a first-line folk male singer in Japan.

Added a prefix, indicating that the dominance is not enough, just like Wei Ming is also a first-line young male writer in the current literary world.

Sada Masashi himself also went on stage. He was not old, wore glasses, held a guitar, and was not tall. He was about the same as the female host who didn't wear high heels, about 1.6 meters. He looked gentle and refined.

He also had a translator behind him, responsible for the communication between him and the host.

In the conversation, Sada Masashi expressed that influenced by his family, he had yearned for China since he was a child and longed to come here. His attitude was very humble.

"Because I was busy with this performance, I haven't been able to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City after landing. However, my schedule tomorrow will definitely be very full. If possible, I also want to go to Modou to see the Yangtze River."

Wei Ming: Go, and then owe a debt, until you are old to pay it off.

In later generations, besides the extremely related Chinese version of *Kanpaku Sengen*, the most famous one of Sada Masashi in China is the documentary *Yangtze River* filmed by bankrupting his family.

Not only did he lose all the money he earned from singing, but he also owed a huge debt of 2.8 billion yen, and didn't pay off the debt until his twilight years.

The Japanese blockbuster *Godzilla* of those years only cost 1.5 billion, and Kurosawa Akira's epic film *Ran* only cost 2.6 billion.

However, this documentary *Yangtze River* is really good, completely filming regardless of cost.

In his previous life, Wei Ming just owned a TV set and watched the documentary *Talking About the Yangtze River* rebroadcast by CCTV on TV. Later, he learned that most of the shots were clips used from *Yangtze River*.

And *Yangtze River* was filmed with 35mm film, with a huge number of aerial shots, which were still shocking and moving even after more than ten years.

What is rare is that the Chinese countryside filmed, even if poor, had more beauty and happiness. The perspective was level, making people feel comfortable, and there was also reflection and repentance for the invasion of China.

After talking with the host, the concert officially started. Sada Masashi sang his representative works *Morning of Snow*, *Spirit Flow*, *No Edge Slope*, *Kanpaku Sengen*, etc. in turn.

Although they couldn't understand the lyrics, for most of the audience, listening to the melody was enough. This was an expression of music style that was very different from the current domestic one.

However, Xiao Hong could not only listen to the melody, but there were also Japanese senior sisters next to her to introduce the general meaning of the lyrics, which helped her better understand the artistic conception in the songs.

Wei Ming might not understand other things, but when singing *Kanpaku Sengen*, Wei Ming could explain the meaning of the lyrics to Zhu Lin.

"I've heard this song before. The song title can be translated as *Declaration of a Man*. Do you want to know what it sings?" Wei Ming whispered in Zhu Lin's ear.

"You know?" Zhu Lin was suspicious. She knew Wei Ming was proficient in English. After all, he had a British ex-girlfriend. However, he didn't have any Japanese connections.

"Not only do I know, but I can also sing it to you."

Seeing Zhu Lin moved, Wei Ming leaned closer and sang softly: "Before you marry me, there are some words to tell you. Maybe these words of mine make you feel uncomfortable after listening. Anyway, you have to listen carefully, listen to my heart words..."

Zhu Lin was sweet for a while. Oh, it turned out to be a love song for marriage!

At this time, a head gradually tilted towards Wei Ming's direction. Reporter Sha felt that Teacher Gu Gu Jianfen's praise for Wei Ming was a bit too much before. His songs were indeed widely spread, but there were only a few, and there were no works after that.

Unexpectedly, he could even adapt foreign songs. Although he didn't know the general meaning of the lyrics, Wei Ming's lyrics and Sada Masashi's melody were completely matched, which was very amazing.

Under Zhu Lin's expectant gaze, Wei Ming continued to sing: "You can't go to bed earlier than me every night. You are not allowed to get up later than me every morning. The food must be very fragrant and sweet, and the dishes must be very delicious. Dressing up must be generous..."

The more Zhu Lin listened, the more wrong it felt. The male protagonist in these lyrics was also too... He didn't see how much ability you had, but the requirements for women were really high.

You are such a man? This is clearly male chauvinism!

This song made Zhu Lin afraid of marriage.

Zhu Lin was now a bit suspicious, is it really what the original singer meant? Or did this kid make up a set of lyrics borrowing this song, wanting to make her a gentle, obedient, uncomplaining, infinitely tolerant little woman?

Although this song was super popular in Japan and helped Sada board the Red and White Song Festival, it was indeed accompanied by the controversy of male chauvinism.

Some people said that this song was promoting male chauvinism, and some people said it was mocking male chauvinism.

Wei Ming was actually mainly teasing, and he could sing so smoothly, mainly thanks to Jiang Kun, the one who talked crosstalk.

Because *Kanpaku Sengen* was popular in China for a while, the next year, Jiang Kun launched the crosstalk *Declaration of a Man*, used this song as a burden to write a script, performed with Li Mei Wenhua, and had high popularity in the 1980s. You could often hear it on the radio.

Later, a writer named Han Han changed his career to be a director and filmed a movie called *Duckweed*, and adapted this song, which was sung by Deng Chao.

When Sada Masashi finished singing, Wei Ming also finished singing, and today's performance was declared over. The audience below were applauding, but the reporter Sha next to him was mainly applauding for Wei Ming.

Later, he wanted to chat with Wei Ming, chat about the concert led by the *Yanjing Xin Xin Wan Bao*.

However, he was a step late. Gu Gu Jianfen searched for a circle and finally found Wei Ming at the end of the concert, then patted him and called him to come over with her.

When Wei Ming turned his head and saw Teacher Gu, he also saw a person holding a camera.

"What is this for?" Wei Ming asked Teacher Gu.

Gu Gu Jianfen: "This is CCTV. This concert will be recorded and broadcast on TV."

Wei Ming thought: The scene where he and Sister Lin whispered and sang just now was not recorded, right? Should not be, right?

Wei Ming hadn't seen Teacher Gu for a while. However, a few days ago, he dubbed two tapes of the *Water Flower* album, one for Aunt Lu Xiaoyan, and one entrusted her to send to Teacher Gu.

His progress surprised Teacher Gu very much, so this time she wanted him to come over and communicate with Japanese peers.

"Later, do you want to get to know Sada Masashi? I invited him to listen to the few songs you wrote for Hong Kong, and he praised them endlessly, saying he didn't expect that there would be such a pop musician in the mainland, and he really wanted to get to know him."

Wei Ming actually didn't want to get to know him very much. After all, he didn't have deep attainments in music, and language communication was not smooth.

But thinking of the huge music and comic market in Japan, he still surrendered. More friends, more roads.

I'm coming, Sada-san!

(Yesterday's minimum guarantee)

(End of chapter)