Chapter 277

"I have an impression. This person is very low-key, and the principal also valued him very much, helping to formulate many strategies. He was injured in his early years, otherwise, he would have been a good hand at fighting on the battlefield. I heard that after we left Changsha, his eldest son died in the Battle of Changsha. Why did you mention him?"

Shen Zui explained: "I just feel that the other protagonist, this Jiang Limin's eldest brother Jiang Lizhong, is a bit like Officer Wei. I am also good friends with Officer Wei's younger brother Wei San'er. However, that kid seems to have died in the Magic City. I heard it was killed by the Communist agent Yan Shuangying. It's a pity, a pretty good little brother."

The plot Shen Zui turned to was the follow-up impact of the Zhong Shan Warship Incident, which happened to be when the fourth cohort of Whampoa had just enrolled, so it mentioned Tang Shengming.

Tang Shengming simply continued reading from there and saw many familiar names, such as the very fierce Biaozi, who was his classmate.

Seeing these people appear in the novel, one has to sigh at the author's detailed information. Every old classmate's words and deeds are very consistent with the person himself, making Tang Shengming feel as if he had returned to the time of enrollment in 1926. It is truly nostalgic, his own lost youth.

Suddenly, seeing a name, Tang Shengming was happy: "Little Shen, hurry up and invite the little cousin, invite him to read this story together."

The little cousin he mentioned was Wen Xiaoqiang, one of the three thorns of Gongdelin, who was also in the fourth cohort of Whampoa and was even the class monitor. His identity was special, and his experience was quite bumpy.

He was the 23rd generation descendant of Wen Tianxiang, and the Great Man's mother was his aunt, so he and the Great Man were cousins. At the same time, he was the proud disciple of the Premier, and the person who introduced him to the Party was the Premier. During his time at Whampoa, he slept in the upper and lower bunks with 101 and even fought. 101 had to call him Third Brother.

Just such a person, he was actually the last batch of stubborn war criminals released from Gongdelin.

Speaking of which, he was also unlucky. He was originally on the Communist side, but later betrayed by a traitor. After being caught, he managed to escape with great difficulty, only to be misunderstood by his own people. So, in a fit of anger, he joined Old Chiang, entered the Military Statistics Bureau, and was finally captured together with Du Yuming.

After entering Gongdelin, he firmly refused to write a confession letter and stated: Mao is my cousin, Zhu is my superior, Zhou is my teacher, Liu is my fellow villager, and Lin is my subordinate. I became like this because they didn't teach me well. If a confession letter is to be written, they should be the ones to write it.

So it wasn't until 1975 that he was pardoned in the last batch with Huang Wei and others, and was able to see the Premier for the last time. And now he doesn't live far from Tang Shengming's house.

Once Shen Zui left, Tang Shengming turned to the first page of this novel and noticed that the name of the novel was "Humanity's Righteous Path is Vicissitudes."

He couldn't help but sit up straight and sighed softly. Teacher Mao, it's been almost five years since you left.

Wen Xiaoqiang was the Great Man's cousin, and Tang Shengming also had a deep relationship with the Great Man. He was naughty as a child, so his elder brother Tang Shengzhi sent him to the Primary School Affiliated to Hunan First Normal School, asking Teacher Mao to strictly discipline him. Moreover, the two lived and ate together, forging a deep friendship. He was also disciplined by Teacher Mao into a "Three-Good" student. Teacher Mao still remembered the embarrassing incident of him wetting the bed when he was a child even when he was old.

When Shen Zui invited Wen Xiaoqiang over, the little cousin said he would eat here today. Tang Shengming's beloved wife had already passed away, and he was an old bachelor. Wen Xiaoqiang had married a shrew after being pardoned, and his life was a mess, so he was happy to eat with his old friends.

Seeing them come, Tang Shengming said to Shen Zui: "You said this Jiang Limin is based on you?"

"Ah."

Tang Shengming: "I see it's clearly based on me!"

"Ah?"

"Look, this Jiang Limin's personality when he was a child is exactly the same as mine. And my brother is also a high-ranking official of the Fruit Party, and we are both Whampoa students. He is the third cohort, I am the fourth. Most importantly, when this Jiang Limin was lurking in the Magic City, he was also entangled with movie stars. Isn't this clearly me!"

Shen Zui: No, boss, you want to fight with me over this!

Wen Xiaoqiang was confused: "Who is Jiang Limin? Is there such a person in the third cohort?"

Shen Zui explained: "A novel character."

Wen Xiaoqiang: Are you crazy?

"Of course, there is more than one prototype. I think there is also the shadow of General Chen. He later worked underground. Some of Jiang Limin's performances in the Zhong Shan Warship Incident were clearly borrowed from General Chen." Tang Shengming even began to analyze seriously.

He and General Chen were also close friends. At the beginning, when he enrolled in Whampoa, General Chen was his company commander and protected him a lot. Later, when General Chen came to the Magic City for treatment, he also protected him in secret. The two could be said to be as close as brothers.

Hearing the two chatting lively, Wen Xiaoqiang finally couldn't help asking: "What novel, how did it get involved with the Zhong Shan Warship and General Chen?"

"Just this one, 'Humanity's Righteous Path is Vicissitudes, Part 1.' Wait a minute, is this half a novel?" Tang Shengming became depressed, a bit hesitant about whether to continue reading.

Hearing this poem from his eldest cousin, Wen Xiaoqiang was also filled with emotion, as if he had been pulled back to that era all at once. This poem really has some special magic.

"Old Tang, are you still reading? If you don't read it, I'll read it."

"Just let me read it, why are you being shy."

In the living room, Liu Yurong and Gong Ying were flirting, and Wei Ming and Wei Hong were just watching them flirt.

Today A-Long went to the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang. He continued to use his vacation time to intern at the studio without pay. Now he doesn't even need to be provided with a dormitory, just to learn, just to witness the "Egg Birth" of "The Book of Heaven" with his own eyes.

After work, he definitely had to date Sister A-Ying. Now it's good, no need to walk the streets in the middle of winter; they can talk about love in the old Western-style house.

Learning that A-Long was drawing new comic characters, A-Ying wanted to see, but A-Long refused.

Mainly because he didn't dare. Now he was drawing Chi Lian, one of Wei Zhuang's disciples, which was a character that needed some sexiness.

At first, he drew it too conservatively, aiming for the Chi Lian Fairy Li Mochou. Wei Ming even criticized him and told him to open up and draw, anyway, he didn't intend to publish it on the mainland.

As a result, now that it was drawn, he didn't dare to let A-Ying see it.

Wei Ming teased: "Actually, I'm still not very satisfied. Why don't you let A-Ying help you come up with ideas."

Unexpectedly, his brother also backstabbed him. A-Long hardened his heart: let her see, and when the time comes, he would just say that A-Ming told him to draw it like this.

Just seeing this big-breasted, leg-baring ancient-style beauty drawn by A-Long, A-Ying was indeed a bit shy and glared at A-Long, but she didn't say anything, instead examining it from a professional perspective.

She asked: "This is a Qin Dynasty story, shouldn't the clothing also conform to the Warring States style?"

A-Long said: "That doesn't matter, mainly for it to look good and dazzling."

At first, he wanted to completely follow the Qin and Han styles, and even studied relevant books. Later, he found that it was too difficult to stand out, so he chose to improvise on the basis of the Qin and Han styles.

A-Ying nodded: "Tell me about this character."

So A-Long simply started from Wei Zhuang to help A-Ying understand what kind of person "Chi Lian" was. Xiao Hong was also very interested in this strange story, so he went downstairs to listen. A-Long felt that the light downstairs suddenly brightened.

Wei Ming returned to his room to continue revising the manuscript. Sister Xue couldn't come back for the time being, so he definitely had to seize the time. When she returned, they could have more time to talk about love and make love.

And what he thought was to revise the second part of the manuscript before the New Year, so that he could be debt-free during the New Year.

Oh, no, there was also "Behind the Curtain." He had basically completed "Burning the Old Summer Palace," and there was still "Behind the Curtain" left. This could wait until after the New Year to be done slowly.

After a while, Gong Ying was leaving, and A-Long went to see her off. Wei Ming smiled and said: "This is your sister's house. Actually, it's okay for you to live here."

Gong Ying was very embarrassed, thinking that Wei Ming was letting her live in the nanny room on the first floor. At this time, Xiao Hong said: "That's right, Sister A-Ying, you can share a room with me." She already knew that this was Gong Xue's home, but she didn't know more details.

Gong Ying realized she had thought too much, but still refused. She hadn't told her family before, and suddenly staying out all night, her parents would be worried to death.

A-Long naturally had to be responsible for sending his girlfriend home. As soon as he returned, he immediately sought out Wei Ming.

"Brother Ming, look, this is the revised Chi Lian, how is it!"

Wei Ming took it and looked. The face was still that face, and the figure hadn't changed, but the clothes had some changes.

"Did A-Ying revise this?"

"Yes, I found that she has a lot of insights into clothing design. The clothing in this version is more beautiful than what I drew."

"Girls really understand better what beautiful clothes are. Plus, our dad is also an artist at a clothing company, so A-Ying can be considered to have a family heritage," Wei Ming smiled.

A-Long was stunned for a moment before he realized what "our dad" meant, and couldn't help but feel a bit shy and awkward: "Then what do you think about letting her join us?"

"Sure, remember to pay her a salary. Actually, with A-Ying's skill, she is more suitable for designing new clothing for Oriental Plaza. The style of the down jacket they made this year is a bit ugly; they just lack a designer. If you want a long-lasting relationship, you still have to live together," Wei Ming gave A-Long advice.

A-Long nodded. This made sense. If there was a chance, he had to tell A-Ying. And if she went to Yanjing, she could also keep her sister company.

Wei Ming was prepared to provide an opportunity. He told A-Long: "Tomorrow during the day, Xiao Hong and I are going out, and I guess we won't be back until the evening."

"Ah? Oh."

January 29th, the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, is also the day of the Southern Little New Year.

Early in the morning, Wei Ming and Xiao Hong went out. At this time, the Magic City already had some atmosphere of the New Year.

For breakfast, Wei Ming first took Xiao Hong to eat pork rib rice cakes, and then went to the Bund. After waiting for a while, Old Fei, whom he had made an appointment with yesterday, arrived.

Wei Ming introduced them to each other and also let Xiao Hong follow him to call him "Uncle."

"Hello, Uncle."

"Haha, hello, hello." Hearing Wei Ming say that his younger sister was a student in the Department of Mathematics at Peking University and the top science student in the whole province, Old Fei couldn't help but look at her with admiration. So smart, but a good seedling to enter Tilanqiao University.

Inviting Old Fei to gather today was, first, to let Old Fei take the brother and sister to visit the financial street of the old Magic City and act as a tour guide.

Another purpose was the matter of the Juyuan No. 2 house. He needed someone who knew the ropes to help him run this matter, and he would naturally give him a labor fee at that time.

"You still need me to lead you? I see that you are very familiar with the Magic City Bund in your novel," Old Fei smiled.

He didn't expect that he had also seen Wei Ming's new work.

"I only know some superficial things," Wei Ming said modestly.

As a result, Old Fei was not modest: "It is indeed some superficial things, for example, the part where you wrote about Old Chiang playing the stock market..."

Then he began to say where what he wrote was different from the real situation at that time. He didn't expect this old man to read so carefully. Wei Ming suspected that he had also written a letter to "Harvest."

They walked around the Bund while talking.

"Speaking of the financial street, the Bund is one place. In those days, foreign banks like HSBC, Citibank, and Chartered Bank were basically all in this area."

Chartered Bank is Standard Chartered Bank, the owner of No. 18 on the Bund in those days, now called Chunjiang Building.

Old Fei knew these banks and their office locations like the back of his hand. Later, he took them to Jiujiang Road, which was a concentration of Chinese-funded banks and financial institutions. For example, Zhejiang Industrial Bank, Zhejiang Industrial Bank, etc., all had offices here. It seems that the bank of the grandmother's in-laws was also here.

However, these banks had long since disappeared. How could there be private banks now? The four major banks hadn't even been gathered yet. Minsheng Bank would have to wait until the 90s.

Xiao Hong liked to hear Old Fei tell stories about the financial war on the Magic City Bund in those days, especially the part where prices soared during the War of Liberation. Wei Ming also had a detailed description in the third part of "Humanity's Righteous Path is Vicissitudes."

The old and the young chatted very congenially. Wei Ming saw a newsstand nearby, so he went over to ask, and found that "Harvest" was sold out. He saw that there was actually "Youth Digest," so he bought one.

This was the inaugural issue. Wei Ming knew that it was launched this month because he had received the manuscript fee for "Youth Digest" before. They reprinted part of the content of "Black Cat Sheriff: The Dove Occupies the Magpie's Nest."

It's a digest, so it's all picked from other places. It seems that another famous "Reader's Digest" was also launched this year.

"Youth Digest," which would have a peak circulation of 3 million per issue in the future, is still a newborn, and it is a cluster publication model, founded by China Youth Publishing House, mainly aimed at the youth group.

It can also be seen from the section design, which is divided into sections such as "Society and Life," "Learning and Exploration," "Wishing You Success," "Literary Garden Stroll," "Science Corridor," and "Natural Mysteries." Of course, the "Foreign Customs," which would be quite criticized in the future, is also indispensable.

Wei Ming's "Black Cat Sheriff" was placed in the "Natural Mysteries" section. As for "Foreign Customs," there were two articles, "New Year Customs of Various Countries in the World" and "Various Meeting Etiquettes."

Wei Ming flipped through it. It was a very objective introduction, far from the pungent taste of later generations.

It only cost twenty cents. Wei Ming bought one. At this time, Old Fei had already begun to tell Xiao Hong about the financial impact our country had suffered since the founding of the People's Republic. Xiao Hong felt it was more interesting than what the teachers in the university taught.

Wei Ming looked at the Magic City brand watch on his hand: "It's getting late. Let's find a place to have a light meal."

Old Fei was about to introduce what small restaurants were nearby, but Wei Ming said again: "It's not far from the Peace Hotel, right."

Old Fei couldn't help but feel a shock, his mood a bit rippling, and then he heard Wei Ming say: "I remember there is a place selling xiaolongbao nearby. Why don't we go there to eat something."

Old Fei's face collapsed: "I know which one you are talking about. Follow me."

Now the dividends from Oriental Plaza have become less, and if Juyuan can be taken down, renovation will also require money. Even Wei Ming cannot be too extravagant. Restaurants can be visited, but the Peace Hotel is really not cost-effective.

While eating various flavors of xiaolongbao, Wei Ming told Old Fei about Juyuan No. 2.

"My grandmother sent a letter from the United States, and she sent back the land deed from those years."

"There is a land deed!" Old Fei's movements paused, "This still has some hope. Do you want to take the house back?"

Wei Ming: "I have this idea. I also hope that the old lady can have a chance to step on the land of the motherland again. It's not good to stay in a hotel."

Old Fei: "Then I can help you ask, but according to my guess, you still need documents that can prove the relationship between you and the hostess of the Shi family."

"This is difficult." Wei Ming frowned. There was no grandmother's household registration in the hometown.

Old Fei asked: "What about the letter she gave you? Maybe it can work."

Wei Ming: "The letter was not written directly to me; it was transferred."

Old Fei: "Then you let her write a letter directly to you, and then come with a power of attorney, entrusting you to handle it with full authority. It should be about the same."

Wei Ming pondered: "Well, you help me ask what procedures are needed first."

"Brother, this crab roe bun is delicious!"

"If it's delicious, eat more." Wei Ming laughed.

Just after eating and going out, Wei Ming was preparing to take Xiao Hong to see the old house of the grandmother, and then he bumped into a short man in sunglasses.

Wei Ming walked face-to-face with him. When Wei Ming looked at him, he also pulled his sunglasses down.

"Wei-san!"

"Sada-san!"

Japanese musician Sada Masashi lived in the Peace Hotel next door. After eating, he came down to stroll around, and happened to bump into Wei Ming, who was also strolling.

"We are really destined," seeing an old friend, Sada Masashi was very happy, "Not long after I returned to Japan, I heard that Yanjing held a grand new star concert, and there was also your new work."

"Yes, we are also working hard to catch up with the international level in pop music. What are you doing in the Magic City this time?"

"I am preparing to hold my second Chinese concert in the Magic City," Sada Masashi said, "And I will officially sing 'Declaration of a Man' written by you. This is a secret gift I give to Chinese listeners."

Wei Ming smiled and asked: "When will it be held?"

"Three days later at the Magic City Gymnasium," Sada Masashi also asked, "Will you still be in the Magic City then?"

Wei Ming calculated and nodded: "Yes."

"That's great. Please be sure to attend my concert." As he said that, he took out three tickets from his body.

Wei Ming smiled and took them, then said: "Not enough."

"Ah?"

Wei Ming: "I have two other friends who also like your songs very much."

These three were for him, Xiao Hong, and Sister Xue, but he didn't forget A-Long and A-Ying. After all, he was the future brother-in-law.

Sada Masashi hurriedly muttered with the Japanese translator behind him, and then snatched her two tickets from the reluctant translator.

Wei Ming couldn't understand, but he could probably guess from their expressions.

"Isn't this given to me?"

"I'll make it up to you when I return to the hotel. Just take it for an emergency first."

"You must give it to me!"

Just like that, Wei Ming got five concert tickets, and they were VIP seats. By then, Sister Xue should be back. After listening to Sada Masashi's concert with Sister Lin, Sister Xue couldn't be worse.

Then Sada Masashi asked Wei Ming if he had any musical creations recently.

Wei Ming replied: "I wrote an English song recently."

"Nani!"

Sada Masashi was shocked. Is this person so talented? He asked uncertainly, "Lyrics? Composition?"

Wei Ming nodded: "Lyrics and composition."

"What song? Can I listen to it now?"

Wei Ming: "I sing it just so-so. It's a song suitable for women. John Lennon passed away last month, and I wrote a song to commemorate him with this as inspiration. Now I have submitted it to MCA in the United States. I don't know if it can be kept."

Sada Masashi was even more surprised. It was actually an American music company, the parent company of Universal!

He was even more interested in this song and hurriedly asked about the song name. Japan's record industry is very developed, and you can hear pop music from all over the world. If this "Moonlight Shadow" could be adopted and released by MCA, he would definitely have a chance to hear it in Japan.

After exchanging some thoughts, the two parted ways. Sada Masashi even jokingly made an appointment with Wei Ming to write Japanese songs.

Wei Ming couldn't do anything about this. If he wrote songs with the Japanese words he knew, it would be unbearable to listen to. It would be okay to just write the music.

On the same day, Los Angeles.

Li Aiguo, whose original name was "Thomson White," returned home on vacation and immediately asked his father, the famous lawyer Jason White, about the situation of his song "Moonlight Shadow."

Jason didn't take it seriously. It was just a song. Not to mention that the quality itself was good, his face alone was enough to send it into the recording studio.

Li Aiguo was very happy after hearing this, "Which singer is singing it?"

"I'm not too sure about this. It seems like they are looking for a British female singer who likes the Beatles to sing it."

Li Aiguo: "Then when can I get the finished product? Can I hear it before returning to China?"

"Maybe it won't be that fast."

Li Aiguo said helplessly: "Okay, then let's talk about the price. After all, I have 10% of the author's income for this song. I hope you don't set any traps in the contract."

Lawyer White put down his knife and fork: "Why didn't you say so earlier? It seems I have to redraw a contract."

On the first day of February, Gong Xue finally returned to her loyal Magic City from Northern Jiangsu.

It was the afternoon. A-Long went to work at the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang. Wei Ming tricked Xiao Hong out in advance, bought her a movie ticket, and let her go to the Grand Cinema to watch "The Legend of the White Snake."

"No one will disturb us within three hours!" After going upstairs, Wei Ming immediately pressed Sister Xue on the bed and deliberately used force. Well, the sound can be ignored; this bed is not bad.

Gong Xue had also missed him terribly for a long time, and her hand reached for Wei Ming's pants.

However, she wouldn't tell him that the first person to sleep on this bed was her and Zhu Lin.

More than an hour later, the smoke dissipated. Gong Xue was worried that Wei Hong would return, so she forced herself to put on her clothes, pretending to be the hostess returning home.

Wei Ming smiled: "I guess A-Ying will be back earlier. You wait at home, and I'll go to 'Harvest' to deliver the revised manuscript."

The manuscript for the second part had already been revised by 100,000 words, so he could deliver it once first.

When he arrived at the editorial department, Editor Li first gathered the letters for him and handed them to him. This time it was letters from readers across the country, and a large batch was sent directly to Peking University.

Fortunately, there is also a home in the Magic City, and there is a place to put the letters.

Wei Ming was chatting with Editor Li when the deputy president walked in and announced one thing: "Can't hold on anymore, this issue of 'Harvest' needs to be reprinted."

Reprinting was expected. Editor Li asked: "How much to add."

The deputy president said: "Let's round it up, add another 400,000!"

(January 2000 monthly tickets, 3000 monthly tickets added!)

(End of chapter)