Chapter 286

The rescue doctor came out and asked the family to prepare, but it was not until the next morning that the gentleman was declared dead.

At this time, Wei Ming had already returned home. In order not to disturb his parents, he stayed directly at the courtyard house in Beichizi. Sheriff guarded the bed, and Ginkgo squatted outside the house.

On the same day, Xinhua News Agency issued an obituary: Famous Chinese writer, translator, and social activist Shen Yanbing (pen name Mao Dun) passed away in Yanjing at the age of 85.

And introduced his life, joined the Left-Wing Writers League in 1930, was elected vice chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles in 1949, chairman of the Writers Association, and served as the first Minister of Culture and positions in the CPPCC, etc.

His works include long novels *Midnight*, *Rainbow*, *Frost Leaves Red Like February Flowers*, *Corrosion*, etc.; novella *Eclipse* trilogy; short story *Lin's Shop*, rural trilogy *Spring Silkworms*, *Autumn Harvest*, *Residual Winter*; essays *Ode to the Poplar*, *Landscape Talk*, etc.

Finally, his status as one of the founders of modern Chinese literature was emphasized.

Gong Xue knew this news in northern Jiangsu. Because she starred in the movie version of the gentleman's most important work *Midnight*, she couldn't help but feel sad and regretful in her heart, and wrote a letter to Wei Ming.

And the Shanghai Film Studio has begun to step up the production of copies, preparing to let the national audience see this work of Mr. Mao Dun as soon as possible. At that time, he also personally filmed a shot for the crew.

In addition, many people in the national literary circle wrote articles to commemorate Mr. Mao Dun, and Mr. Ba Jin also left the words "The fire is not extinguished, the heart is not dead, never put down the pen."

Wei Ming is no exception, writing an article to commemorate and thank this great writer who only met him once.

Thinking about it, he finally submitted the manuscript to *People's Literature*, the first national literary magazine in New China founded by Mr. Mao Dun himself.

And soon he received the manuscript approval notice from the editor of *People's Literature*. Articles written with emotion can be seen by experts at a glance.

The key is that they didn't expect that the gentleman's last text was actually to write a preface for Wei Ming's novel. This is what kind of attention and expectation!

However, being able to write a long novel *The Human Righteous Way Is Vicissitudes* at the age of 20, the potential is so great and obvious, it is indeed worth looking forward to.

In the national craze to commemorate Mr. Mao Dun, there were also reactions overseas.

Singapore's *Nanyang Siang Pau* published a memorial article, calling Mao Dun's death a huge loss to the Chinese literary world and even the world literary world.

Japanese media also gave Mr. Mao Dun a high evaluation, publishing about 17 articles about Mao Dun in just 18 days, highly affirming his literary value and historical status, and conducting in-depth comments on his representative work *Midnight*.

And at Mr. Mao Dun's memorial service, the Mao Dun Literature Prize, with Mr. Mao Dun's 250,000 inheritance as the prize pool, appeared in front of the public for the first time. The award aims to encourage the creation of long Chinese novels, and at the same time, Mr. Ba Jin serves as the director of the jury, and specific rules will be announced subsequently.

250,000!

In an era when ten-thousand-yuan households are rare, 250,000 is undoubtedly a huge sum of money.

If calculated based on the fact that 20,000 yuan can buy a very decent property in Yanjing now, this money is roughly equivalent to 60 or 70 million in later generations.

And this is the first literary award named after an individual in China. It can be expected that this award will become the highest award for Chinese long novels without accident, at least one of them.

Domestic news is reporting the news of Mr. Mao Dun's death and the Mao Dun Literature Prize, while in terms of international news, the United States' Reagan took the lead.

Because this new president followed in John Lennon's footsteps and was shot, but he was a little lucky and was finally rescued.

At first, domestic reports omitted many details. Peking University students were curious about the political truth hidden behind this incident. Was it done by political enemies or the people who were dissatisfied with his policy? Or the Soviet Union...

I am afraid they would never have thought that it was a brain-dead fan of a female star who imitated movie characters to attract her attention and did this.

Even Wei Hong and other freshman girls were discussing this matter. When she went home on the weekend, she also discussed this matter with her parents.

They realized again that the United States is really a dragon's den and a tiger's den. Big stars will be shot, and presidents will be shot. Is there any safety?

Even if Wei Ming followed Xiao Hong to study abroad, they wouldn't be at ease. At least the two of them had to follow.

Wei Ming sat on the sofa and ate melon seeds with his grandmother. Hearing that his father also wanted to go to the United States to accompany his studies, he laughed: "Then our whole family went to the United States. What if the country thinks that I will never come back from now on."

"Oh, this won't work," Xu Shufen hurriedly said, "My son is also a big writer with a face now, representing the image of the country. Don't let the country worry about this. The two of them can go. We will guard the house here and wait for them to come back."

Lao Lao Lao Wei heard that it was the same truth, so he could only regretfully dispel the idea of entering the tiger's den.

Then he continued to ask his son and daughter about the story behind the assassination of President Li in the United States: "You said, is this really done by the Soviets?"

Wei Hong looked at Wei Ming: "This has to ask my brother. He is close to those international students, and I guess they know more inside information."

Wei Ming didn't let them down: "I really know some about this. What you guessed is wrong. This matter has nothing to do with politics."

"Oh?" Several people quickly surrounded him.

Wei Ming: "However, before talking about this incident, I must first talk about a movie called *Taxi Driver*. This is a movie from a few years ago. The director and the male lead are very famous. The male protagonist is a retired soldier who drives a taxi, and he is depressed all day..."

"Depressed while driving a taxi?" Lao Lao Lao Wei, Old Mother, including Xiao Hong, felt incredible. That is a taxi driver!

Now four-wheeled taxis only exist in high-end hotels. Not only is the income high, but it is also very prestigious. They are all in contact with guests from abroad and often receive foreign exchange.

Wei Ming knocked on the coffee table: "The national conditions are different. Driving a taxi abroad is just a general job. He mainly participated in the Vietnam War. This is the pain of a generation of Americans."

"What, they don't feel pain in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea?" Lao Lao Lao Wei was unconvinced.

Wei Ming smiled helplessly. This really had far less impact on Americans than the Vietnam War quagmire. Even in the comprehensive intervention period, the Vietnam War was fought for eight years. Before and after, it added up to 20 years. It started almost after withdrawing from Korea. It was only completely gotten rid of in recent years. The troops invested, the casualties, and the military expenses spent were quite terrifying.

However, now is not the time to give Lao Lao Lao Wei a lesson. "Pain, pain, pain, also pain. Anyway, this taxi driver is quite decadent. Later, he fell in love with a girl. She is beautiful, has a decent job, and works for a presidential candidate. As a result, she didn't want him, so he made a decision..."

Taking a sip of water, Wei Ming continued: "He wants to assassinate that presidential candidate, but he didn't succeed in the end. Then he accidentally destroyed a group of bad guys who forced good women into prostitution, and saved a little girl, becoming a hero in the mouth of the media. The key is this little girl."

"Could this little girl be the real big bad guy?" Wei Hong's brain turned quickly.

Wei Ming knocked on her head: "You think too much. The actor of this little girl is called Jodie."

Lao Lao Lao Wei and Xu Shufen looked at each other. Yo, it's the same family as Zhu Lin.

"Jodie is a child star. Not only is she beautiful, but she is also very smart. The person who assassinated President Li likes her very much, but he can't get it, so he wants to imitate the male protagonist in the movie and kill a president to show her."

"This shouldn't be a lunatic!" Lao Lao Lao Wei sighed.

Wei Ming liked Lao Lao Lao Wei's keenness: "Listen to me slowly. Originally, he had planned to kill the president long ago. He almost succeeded with the previous president Carter. However, later Carter lost the election and Reagan took office, so the one who got shot became Reagan."

The good man Carter can be considered to have blessings and misfortunes.

Wei Ming summarized: "The situation is such a situation. The assassin has been caught. His family also has some money and is trying to save him, and the only way is to say he is a mental patient, so he might be able to escape death."

"Ah, can it still be like this? Can a mental patient be fine?"

Lao Lao Lao Wei and the others felt incredible. If that's the case, then this President Li is too tolerant and generous. In the Chinese way of thinking, not destroying the nine clans is already a benevolent king.

Wei Ming smiled: "Lock him up for a lifetime, and then torture him slowly in a mental hospital, making him worse than dead."

Of course, he was only locked up for 40 years and was released in 2021. And the guy who killed Lennon was still locked up when Wei Ming was reborn.

These people in the Wei family listened dumbfounded, feeling like a story, but Wei Ming's expression was serious: "If you don't believe it, Xiao Hong, you can go and ask the international students in Shaoyuan. Your English should be able to communicate this matter."

"Of course, I have also taken a lot of classes in the Spanish Department, and of course I believe you," Wei Hong said, "Then Jodie, this actress, is she also affected?"

"Of course. Although there is no such word as 'beauty is a disaster' abroad, this matter started because of her, and she also endured great pressure. Fortunately, she is studying in university now, and she can just take advantage of the academic study to be silent for a few years. By the way, she is at Yale University."

Lao Lao Lao Wei: "What night road university?"

Wei Hong: "Dad, Yale is a very powerful university in the United States, ranking in the top few. However, Yale seems to be stronger in liberal arts and social sciences."

Because her brother said that she would study abroad in the future, Wei Hong also learned about which foreign universities were suitable for her. Yale was not in her consideration.

The next day, Lao Lao Lao Wei saw Old Sun at the door reading the newspaper, and immediately stepped forward to chat with him about the truth behind the assassination of President Li in the United States, which made Old Sun stunned.

Xiao Hong also began to popularize the crazy and distorted story behind this incident to her classmates. Compared with political assassination, falling into the devil because of love is more in line with the tastes of these girls, and their eyes are shining when they listen.

However, after all, it is a foreign president, and he didn't die, so the popularity soon dropped.

But abroad, especially in the United States, this matter is too big, and the popularity has remained high. Old Bush was ready to take over at that time, but never expected that Ling Zong survived.

And in the United States, there is nothing that cannot be hyped and used. MCA had already completed *Moonlight Shadow* last month, preparing to wait for Sarah Brightman to collect an album, or wait until the first anniversary of John Lennon's death at the end of the year to launch it.

Never expected to encounter the sensational news of Reagan being assassinated, so MCA immediately launched the media power in its hands and pulled out the John Lennon assassination incident a few months ago, and hyped it up.

After the popularity came up, it immediately launched this song *Moonlight Shadow* in the global market, and tied this song and Lennon's death together.

Just like this, in early April, the first English single created by Wei Ming was officially launched.

Black singer Michael Jackson was still a young black man at this time, only 23 years old.

And two years ago, he relied on the album *Off the Wall* to stay on the US Billboard album chart for 84 weeks, of which four singles all entered the top 10 of the chart, and one of them won him the Grammy Award for Best R&B Male Singer.

However, he was a bit annoyed now. He was very dissatisfied with the new album *Thriller* created by the company. The arrangement was rotten, and they were all strange songs. For this reason, he had a serious disagreement with his owner, and he wished he could smash the master tape.

Now the work of this album has been suspended. Friends advised him to go out to relax. In fact, he wanted to go abroad more, but the agent did not agree.

That day, he was riding a bicycle and strolling on the streets of Los Angeles. When he walked into an audio-visual store, the store was playing the Beatles' classic song *Yesterday*.

He liked the Beatles very much, and he also liked Lennon very much. Damn Mark Chapman, he made the world lose so many excellent musicians.

After this record was finished, the boss changed another one. Michael Jackson was ready to leave, but as soon as he walked out of the store, he was attracted by the melody coming from the record, and when he heard the first line of lyrics sung by the singer, he turned back. What a moving voice.

Although it is not the same path as his music style, MJ is still very inclusive. He is willing to listen to such a moving voice more.

"When she and he last met, the light and shadow swayed under the moonlit night..."

The lyrics are also written very beautifully and movingly, but while listening, he realized a problem. This song, is this song singing about him and Yoko Ono on the night Lennon was killed?

After playing for more than four minutes, MJ immediately requested: "Can you play it again."

"I originally planned to play it again." The boss smiled. He liked this gentle music, which seemed to have the magic to soothe people's hearts.

After listening to it again, MJ confirmed that this song was singing about what happened on the night of December 8th.

This was a night that made music fans all over the world extremely painful and angry. Whenever he thought of this, MJ's heart couldn't be calm, but the calm and peacefulness revealed in the song soothed this restlessness.

Amazing!

Amazing melody, amazing lyrics, amazing singing!

"Who sang this? Who wrote it?" He immediately asked the boss.

The boss looked at the cover: "Sarah Brightman sang it, Mr. Why wrote the lyrics and music, never heard of it."

Michael Jackson is still knowledgeable and knowledgeable. He recalled that there is a Hot Gossip group in the UK, which released a good album *I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper*, and one of the members seems to be called this name.

However, this "Mr. Why" is unheard of, and it doesn't sound like a serious name, obviously it is a stage name.

"Give me one." Michael Jackson decisively took down this record and went back to taste it slowly.

And after listening to it ten times, because of the annoyance of the new album, his heart was finally calmed down. At the same time, he made a decision that violated his ancestors. Even if he paid the liquidated damages, he had to remake the album *Thriller*. He couldn't let his hard-earned reputation be ruined by a terrible album.

Thriller means thriller, or it can be translated as "trembling."

Relying on the traffic of the two major celebrities being assassinated, and the heavenly voice of the young singer Sarah Brightman, *Moonlight Shadow* quickly opened up the situation in the global music market.

Not only the United States, the UK, but even Asia.

In Hong Kong, there was once a band that was famous for imitating the Beatles' styling and music style in the 1970s, and imitation stems from love. The popularity of the Beatles also inspired many musical youths to pick up guitars and fight.

Later, this band named Wynners disbanded, and the members developed separately. The two major lead singers, Tan Tan Yonglin and Kenny Bee, all developed well in film, television, and singing, especially Tan Tan Yonglin developed extremely well in his music career, and both Cantonese and Mandarin songs had representative works.

At this time, Tan Tan Yonglin was preparing his third Cantonese album. It is a pity that he failed to invite the mysterious musician A Ming.

That day, he just came out of the recording studio and was called to his home by his good brother Kenny Bee. Not only him, but also Chen You and other old partners of Wynners were there.

Although the band disbanded, the business was scattered but the friendship was not. They would occasionally combine to engage in music.

Tan Tan Yonglin thought that Kenny Bee wrote some songs, and prepared for a few people to sing together, but he shook his head.

"Just want to invite you to listen to a song."

"What song?"

"Didn't I just come back from the United States? Brought from there, called *Moonlight Shadow*."

"Is it popular?" Peng Jianxin asked.

"It's not popular yet, but I believe it will be soon." Afterward, Kenny Bee began to play.

American music is very dry now, rock music is prevalent, but this song is unexpectedly peaceful, and the singer's voice has a classical temperament.

This kind of song might have a larger market in Europe, but the United States?

Several people were not optimistic, until they finished listening to the whole song, tasting the lyrics, Tan Tan Yonglin was the first to react: "This is singing about the night Lennon was assassinated?!"

Xiaosa Ge nodded: "That's right, this is a song created specifically to commemorate Lennon, and the lyrics and melody are all very high-quality."

In fact, after Lennon passed away, whether out of sincere love or wanting to ride the popularity, many singers used music to miss Lennon, including Tan Tan Yonglin, who had some creative talent, also tried to write it, but he was not very satisfied with what he wrote, so he didn't send it.

To talk about quality, Tan Tan Yonglin admitted that this *Moonlight Shadow* is much stronger than the song he wrote, and it can also be said to be the best in this theme. After all, Lennon passed away for only more than three months, even if he was as talented as Paul McCartney, he has not yet launched a song to commemorate Lennon.

Writing a good song requires time and precipitation.

Even if there is no background of Lennon being assassinated, the quality of this song is quite capable, and it was also a song that swept the top of the music charts in many European countries in the previous life.

Soon Tan Tan Yonglin's attention was placed on the lyricist and composer "mrwhy": "Never heard that there is such a musician in the United States?"

"The United States is so big, the music market is so big, it is normal for a talented newcomer to jump out suddenly." Chen You laughed.

However, Kenny Bee shook his head again and took out an English picture book: "He is not jumping out suddenly, in fact, he is a fairy tale writer."

"What, fairy tale writer?!"

In the United States, because *Jumanji* already has a little fame, the total distribution volume of the hardcover and paperback editions exceeded 100,000 copies, so more people in the United States found that the lyricist and composer of *Moonlight Shadow* had the same name as the author of this fairy tale.

However, this discovery had limited improvement on the popularity of *Moonlight Shadow*. After all, the public's attention to the lyricist and composer behind the song was originally extremely low.

And what really made *Moonlight Shadow* embark on the fast lane, and the record sales and radio broadcast volume began to explode, had to be an interview with Yoko Ono.

She revealed that she had heard a song called *Moonlight Shadow* recently. At first, she was unwilling to listen when she learned the meaning of this song. She was afraid of recalling that night.

But in the end, under Paul's strong recommendation, she tried to listen to it, and her heart got rare peace.

Under the recommendation of Lennon's widow and another representative figure of the Beatles, Paul, this song, which was originally trying to jump in the back of the Billboard single weekly chart top 100, directly landed on the 48th place of the Billboard single weekly chart.

Far away in London, Sarah Brightman, who was rehearsing for a new musical *Cats*, heard that the song she recorded a while ago had actually entered the Billboard single top 100, and was so excited that she meowed.

She was very grateful to MCA for choosing herself, and also very grateful to mrwhy, this talented creator.

She knew that this musician was actually a fairy tale writer, because the children of her relatives had *Jumanji* and *The Lion King* in their hands, and they especially liked *The Lion King*.

So she decided to visit this creator if she had the chance. Of course, before that, she had to visit Macmillan Publishers, otherwise she couldn't find anyone at all.

One week after the Wynners band heard *Moonlight Shadow* for the first time, this song also successfully reached Hong Kong and was very popular on the radio.

Zhou Huimin also heard it. The first thing she did was to turn out an English version of *Jumanji* from her drawer. This was given to her by A Ming before.

Looking at the author's name on it, A Ming's eyes widened. No way, no way, could this song that is popular in Europe and America also be written by A Ming?!

The second thing she did was to sit at her piano and start playing and singing this song.

Unfortunately, limited by talent and training, there is still a big gap with the original singer.

The third thing is to insert a blank tape into the tape recorder and "write a letter" to A Ming, asking if the author of this song is him.

At this time, Wei Ming, who was in the mainland, was relatively closed in communication and didn't know that *Moonlight Shadow* was already a little famous internationally.

He is now excited about another thing.

The March issue of *Harvest* just reprinted 200,000 copies.

The total distribution volume of 1.2 million in a single issue broke *Harvest*'s own record, and also broke the highest distribution record of Chinese pure literary publications!

And this record, *The Human Righteous Way Is Vicissitudes·Middle* should be the first merit!

(End of chapter)