Chapter 312: Mr. Why Wei Ming?! One Million Is a Modest Way of Saying It

When Wei Ming and his little aunt stepped onto the flight back to Hong Kong, time had already reached July.

At the beginning of July, a wave called *Joyful Reunion* swept through major and medium-sized cities across the country. This film with comedic colors about rural family trivialities almost moved the national audience and was widely loved by the audience. Its momentum even overshadowed the hit from the beginning of the year, the drama special effects film *The Legend of the White Snake*, also from the Shanghai Er Yingchang.

Even in a big metropolis like the Magic City where petty-bourgeois style was prevalent, it was said that 50 laughs could be heard in every screening.

And in the north, the popularity of this film was even greater. It was said that the audience's laughter reached 80 times in Jinan, and as high as 100 times in Yantai, where it was filmed.

The director and screenwriter had even taken the copies to the rural areas where it was filmed to show them to the villagers. The rural audience's reaction was even more enthusiastic; the laughter almost didn't stop from beginning to end.

At this time, there were more and more reports about *Joyful Reunion*. Because it explored problems like mother-in-law and daughter-in-law conflicts and supporting the elderly, it was even called "a film that changes social customs" by the media. Many audience members saw their own shadows in different characters in the film.

And as the spokesperson for the perfect daughter-in-law and perfect sister-in-law in the film, the female lead "Xue Shuilian," naturally received much attention. Many newborn girls were named "Xue Shuilian" by their parents.

The name and photo of the late-blooming actress Zhu Lin also frequently appeared in major newspapers and periodicals. Only then did the world know that there was actually a bright pearl covered in dust that hadn't been discovered until today.

In view of the excellence of this film, as well as the special relationship between the female lead Zhu Lin and her son, Xu Xu Shufen decided to watch this film for the third time.

The first time was after she finished her work meal, when she accidentally saw the poster and Zhu Lin's name while passing by a cinema. She watched it alone.

The second time was watching it with Wei Wei Jiefang. After watching the movie, the two went to the courtyard and tossed until very late.

The third time, she prepared to watch it as a whole family, calling Little Hong and her grandmother over. It was mainly waiting for Little Hong, who had just finished her final exams for the second semester of university today. So the family of four went straight to the Daguanlou Cinema in Dashilan.

Four people, the ticket money was a full 1.2 yuan. Xu Xu Shufen didn't feel it was a pity. The tickets had long been prepared. Now Lao Lao Lao Wei had a very good relationship with Wang Wang Qiankun, a clerk at Daguanlou, and buying tickets was very free.

Little Wang often took a thumb ring or a snuff bottle to show Lao Lao Lao Wei. Being able to get a "big opening" evaluation from Lao Lao Lao Wei was very satisfying.

It had been half a month, and every time *Joyful Reunion* was shown in the cinema, it was still crowded, and the audience's enthusiasm didn't diminish. And *The Intimate Friend*, starring Zhang Yu, which was a bit earlier than *Joyful Reunion*, had no audience in big cities at this time.

This time, family trivialities won over heroes and beauties.

Grandmother and Wei Hong, who were watching this movie for the first time, watched it very seriously, occasionally letting out bursts of laughter.

From "Xue Shuilian," Grandmother saw the beautiful qualities of Wei Ming's sister-in-law. Although she was a disabled person, Grandmother was very glad that her son had found such a daughter-in-law. With a virtuous wife at home, everything goes smoothly.

Like the scene in the movie where the eldest daughter-in-law wrapped dumplings and hid them from the elderly, in her family, it would only be the other way around. The daughter-in-law would only lie to her that she had already eaten, letting the elderly eat more.

Thinking of her hometown in Sichuan, the old lady thought that when her grandson came back, it would be time to go back to her hometown.

And Wei Hong identified more with the younger sister-in-law Renfang. Thinking of the eldest sister-in-law's obstruction of Renfang, while the second sister-in-law tried her best to help facilitate it, she knew that in a family, the virtue of the sister-in-law was directly related to the happiness of the younger sister-in-law!

No, when brother looks for a sister-in-law, he must strictly check it. Find a sister-in-law who is as virtuous and beautiful as "Xue Shuilian."

Then she thought of the actress who played Xue Shuilian, Sister Zhu Lin. Sister Zhu Lin was quite good, it's just that she was too much older than brother. What a pity.

Zhu Lin: Sister, you don't understand the goodness of big sisters at all!

After coming out of the cinema, Lao Lao Lao Wei decided immediately: "This movie is good, very educational. After the students enter the city, watching this movie can be taken as a project."

The final exams were over, and the Gouzitun Village Primary School had arrived at the annual scholarship awarding session. Lao Lao Lao Wei was about to set off back to the village.

Last time he didn't catch up; this time he couldn't miss it no matter what. And this time he still chose to bring the students to Beijing. Li Li Guangfu's family was counting on this group of bear children to drive people away.

Xu Xu Shufen asked: "When do you plan to leave?"

"Wait until my son comes back. I wrote a letter to the old branch secretary, telling them not to announce the results for the time being, waiting for me to go back."

Grandmother sighed. Then it was better to wait for her son-in-law to come back from his hometown before she left.

Wei Hong asked: "When is brother coming back? He's been gone for almost a month? He won't not come back, right? I heard Hong Kong is a drunken, dreamy flower world."

Xu Xu Shufen poked her daughter's finger, blaming her for being a crow's mouth.

Lao Lao Lao Wei thought it was hard to say. After all, there was the old man over there. Who knows what kind of good life his son was living over there.

And Zhu Lin didn't worry about Hong Kong; she worried more about the UK. She had thought that going to the UK to talk about things would only take a day or two, at most three or four days to end, but how long had it been.

"Alright, cut. Zhu Lin's performance is very good. Let's take a break."

In a small courtyard in the suburbs of Beijing, the graduation work of the 78-level students of the Beijing Film Academy, *Small Courtyard*, officially started filming, with three directors and three cinematographers.

Watching Zhu Lin drink water quietly, Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang and the other two directors looked at each other, feeling happy in their hearts. This female lead was chosen too well. When she was chosen, she was unknown and didn't ask for money at all. When filming, she was already famous. A *Joyful Reunion* directly changed Zhu Lin's star path, making her a household name five years ahead of schedule.

Two days ago, Zhu Lin and Gong Xue went shopping. In Dongcheng, the passersby who recognized her could already catch up with Gong Xue.

However, as Wei Ming delayed his return, her anxiety grew day by day, which happened to match her character's state in the movie at this time.

After finishing work, Zhu Lin ran to the Beijing Er Yingchang to find Gong Xue again. Gong Xue shyly went downstairs. What is this called? The boyfriend doesn't accompany her to go shopping, but the boyfriend's girlfriend comes to accompany her.

And Zhu Lin was truly hateful. Since she became famous, she especially liked to ask her out for shopping. Two days ago, the fans who could recognize them on the road were already fifty-fifty. Now it was estimated that Zhu Lin had more popularity in Beijing.

Little Zhu Lin, you are very proud, aren't you?

Today, Zhu Lin not only wanted to go shopping with her but also wanted to ask her if she had any filming plans at the Beijing Er Yingchang. As a result, Gong Xue just shook her head.

Although she joined the Beijing Er Yingchang, her foundation was shallow. When competing for the female lead of the myth film *Peacock Princess*, she lost to Li Xiuming again.

"A while ago, I also auditioned for Little Xiao Fuzi in *Rickshaw Boy*, but because I was too old, I was eliminated."

Speaking of this, Gong Xue was depressed, but she had read the original work. Her acting as Little Xiao Fuzi was indeed too mature. She was suitable for acting as Little Xiao Fuzi who had been a prostitute for a few years; both her age and experience fit.

Speaking of experience, she felt her experience was about to return to zero. She hadn't known the taste of meat for a long time.

Zhu Lin sighed: "After all, we're both approaching thirty. I'm also taking scripts like *Middle Age* now."

She had long shown off to Gong Xue that Wei Ming had personally reserved the female lead of *Middle Age* for her from Chen Rong, and the Changchun Er Yingchang had already sent people to contact her before, and they were very satisfied with her.

Gong Xue glanced at her sideways: "How popular is the novel *Middle Age*? Don't be cheap and still sell well. You treat me to dinner tonight."

"Alright, I'll treat. But you have to accompany me to sleep tonight," Zhu Lin made a request.

Gong Xue gave up: "Sleep then."

Zhu Lin was not only lonely in Tuanjiehu, but also afraid. Having more people meant more courage.

When the two returned to Tuanjiehu, they also saw the two pregnant women, Xu Xu Yunyun and Huang Huang Jiaoyan, walking together, among whom Huang Huang Jiaoyan's belly was already very big, and the distance to Little Biaobiao's birth was already very close.

The four exchanged pleasantries for a while. Although she had seen Zhu Lin and Gong Xue together long ago, Huang Huang Jiaoyan still felt that this matter carried a strange feeling. Reasonably speaking, it shouldn't be so harmonious. This was too un-socialist.

Going upstairs, Gong Xue took out her pajamas placed here and prepared to take a shower. As a result, just after entering the door, she heard the phone in the living room ring. She hurriedly stopped her steps, poked her head out, and eavesdropped on Zhu Lin answering the phone openly.

What if it's Ma Xiaowei?

It was Chen Rong. She made an appointment to meet Zhu Lin tomorrow, and didn't say what it was about.

This made Zhu Lin feel a bit uneasy. Could it be that there was some change in *Middle Age*? She had just shown off to Little Xue today.

The next afternoon, after filming *Small Courtyard*, Zhu Lin didn't make an appointment with Gong Xue again. She and Chen Rong met at the Beijing Library.

"Little Zhu, do you know Du Du Shiniang?" Chen Rong asked directly after meeting.

"The one who sank the hundred-treasure chest in anger?"

"That's right. Then you've read this story, right?"

"Hmm, read the novel." She even read it from Wei Ming.

Like the Ming Dynasty novel *Stories Old and New*, which was at the level of a poisonous weed, it wasn't easy to find these days. Zhu Lin read them all as romance novels. Sometimes seeing those colorful descriptions, she felt quite exciting.

"That's too great," Chen Rong said. "It's like this. The Changchun Er Yingchang is preparing the movie *Du Du Shiniang*. Coinciding with the national hit of *Joyful Reunion*, the deputy factory director remembered that you were slated as the female lead for *Middle Age*, so he suggested to director Zhou Yu, can you try it?"

At this time, Zhu Lin didn't have any ancient costume image. The other party purely felt she was beautiful, could dance, and was currently popular, so he called Chen Rong to ask her to help contact her.

"But what about *Middle Age*?"

"Don't worry, I haven't finished the script yet. It's not bad if it can be filmed next year, but *Du Du Shiniang* has to be filmed this year," Chen Rong said.

Zhu Lin muttered, why is Teacher Chen Rong so slow? Ma Xiaowei is always very fast.

But Zhu Lin had some worries. Du Du Shiniang—that's a prostitute. Even if she's a top courtesan, she's still a prostitute. As a girl from a scholarly family, acting in such a role, she couldn't pass this hurdle in her heart.

At this time, she couldn't help but admire Little Xue a bit. She had the courage to try a role like Little Xiao Fuzi. She felt miserable just thinking about it, let alone acting it.

Zhu Lin expressed her worries. Chen Rong persuaded: "People from the Changchun Er Yingchang will be in Beijing soon. In addition, others have gone to the Magic City and Chengdu film studios to select people. Trying it doesn't hurt. You can look at the script then. If you don't like the script, don't act."

Zhu Lin thought of Gong Xue, who had no plays to act in now. As an actor, having no plays to act in was indeed very miserable. She was prepared to be a professional actor; how could she retreat because of a small problem?

"Then, then okay. I'll meet them." Zhu Lin agreed temporarily. She thought that by then, Ma Xiaowei should have come back, right? She could discuss it with him.

"Ah, Hong Kong, I'm back!"

On the plane, Wei Ming first pulled Wei Wei Lingling to chat about the bright future of DreamWorks, and afterwards, Wei Wei Lingling pulled him to ask about the story details of Transformers.

The two chatted all the way and were now a bit tired. Wei Ming supported his little aunt: "How about we find a hotel to open a room?" Other passengers behind heard this and looked at Wei Ming with some envy.

Wei Wei Lingling: "What hotel? Let's go home."

The house Wei Wei Lingling rented in Kwun Tong District was very close to Kai Tak Airport, only a ten-minute drive away.

And she also wanted to catch Li Zhi off guard, to see if she was well-behaved at home and if she had brought any messy people home. So she had to bring A-Ming. In case she really brought a man home, she couldn't fight four hands with two fists.

"You think quite a lot. Fine, but where do I live when I go? Isn't yours two rooms?"

Wei Wei Lingling: "You can live in a room with Li Zhi, or live in the living room, or let her live in the living room. Three choices, as you wish."

Anyway, letting her big nephew live in a room alone, and her and Li Zhi living in a room, was impossible.

Wei Ming, who arrived at this residential area for the first time, took a look. The environment was not bad. It was clear that high-income people were the majority. He asked about the housing price again.

Wei Wei Lingling: "60 square meters, 550,000."

The area had public sharing, and the price unit was Hong Kong dollars. Public sharing was a unique invention in Hong Kong, starting from the Fok family in the fifties and carried forward by Li Ka-shing and others in the sixties.

Wei Ming calculated his savings. It wasn't enough. Although there were tens of thousands of US dollars in the account, they still had to be invested in the early operation of Madman Comics.

Before the revamped comic magazine came out, it was pure loss. A monthly salary of tens of thousands, it should lose less after the magazine comes out.

This price was also an unbearable weight for Wei Wei Lingling. Don't look at the jewelry on her body, which might be worth millions of Hong Kong dollars in total, but that was a gift from elders and couldn't be cashed out.

From now on, the toy factory would give her a monthly salary of over 10,000, but buying a house was still out of reach. And she was thinking about buying a house independently in the US.

So for Wei Ming's proposal to build a media empire together, she was a bit moved. Keeping a business is harder than starting one, and starting a business is more heart-moving than keeping one.

Going upstairs, Wei Wei Lingling made a "shh" sound and gently turned the doorknob. After the door opened, she happened to see Li Zhi, who was wearing pajamas but couldn't hide her good figure, sitting on the sofa in the not-so-big living room. The television was playing a TVB program, and she was still writing and drawing on her hand.

On the program, there was a foreigner, as well as Danny Chan and Leslie Cheung. The three were all speaking English. After all, Chen and Zhang were one who studied in the US and one who studied in the UK.

"Boss Wei Lingling, you're back! Wei... Young Master Ming, hello." Li Zhi hurriedly sat up,

Young Master Ming? Wei Ming was slightly stunned; what a capitalist form of address.

Wei Wei Lingling looked around the room; compared to the messy state it was in when she left, it was much neater and cleaner. The layout of some areas had also changed, becoming more comfortable, and there were even a few more beautiful green plants.

In the week or so that they had been away, Li Zhi had certainly put a lot of effort into this home.

"What are you writing?" Wei Wei Lingling looked toward Li Zhi's small notebook again.

Li Zhi said, "I'm following the foreigners on TV to learn English."

The notebook was indeed full of English words; she would write down any words she heard that she felt she recognized, all of which were the simplest ones.

Wei Ming put down his luggage, and Wei Wei Lingling asked, "Then do you know what they are saying?"

"If it's just listening, I don't understand, but fortunately there are subtitles," she glanced at Wei Ming, "they are talking about Young Master Ming."

Wei Ming got the feeling of being "Young Master Ming" and sat sprawled on the sofa: "Little Li, what are they saying about me?"

Li Zhi said, "This foreigner should be a singer from abroad, and he's quite famous."

Wei Wei Lingling said directly, "Elton John."

Wei Ming sat up straight: "So he is Elton John!"

Li Zhi looked at the expressions of the two: "Is he very famous?"

That goes without saying. Although this "Auntie of the Music Scene" has been a bit sluggish recently, his past achievements were very dazzling, and he will create brilliance again in the future.

To name just a few, in the future film version of "The Lion King," he sang songs like "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "Circle of Life," and "Hakuna Matata," and won the Oscar for Best Original Song that year.

There was also the time when his good friend Princess Diana passed away; he was invited to perform "Candle in the Wind 1997," which was specially adapted and created for Diana, at the funeral. This song stayed at the top of the Billboard charts for 14 weeks, and with over 33 million copies sold worldwide, it is the highest-selling single in the world!

Compared to him, the sales of "Moonlight Shadow," which might have just broken one million at this time, are really not worth looking at.

These are Elton John's achievements in the 90s; he was equally brilliant in the 70s, with nearly ten Billboard number-one singles, making him a treasure of a musician in the UK, second only to The Beatles.

And John Lennon also had a mentorship role toward Elton John; in fact, the "John" in Elton John's stage name comes from John Lennon.

Because of a global tour, Elton John came to Hong Kong and accepted an invitation to record a program on TVB, and even invited Danny Chan and Leslie Cheung, these two sea-turtle musicians, for a conversation.

At this time, Danny Chan already had quite a few representative works, while Leslie Cheung still had a long way to go.

Because of the connection between the two "Johns," the conversation naturally touched upon John Lennon, who had passed away half a year ago, which led to "Moonlight Shadow," the song commemorating John Lennon that had recently become a global hit. The program confirmed that the global sales of this single had already broken one million last week, reaching the standard for a platinum record.

Elton John stated that he had met the singer, Sarah Brightman, in the UK and had also seen her musical, and he did not stint on his praise for this young singer.

"It's a pity I couldn't meet the one who wrote this song; he is a gentle musical genius."

Danny Chan and Leslie Cheung immediately echoed this, highly praising the strength of this musician.

Then Elton John asked back: "You are also Chinese; don't you know him either?"

"What?!"

Both were shocked; he was actually a Chinese musician?

"That's right. I learned from friends in the musical industry that his main job is writing fairy tales, and writing songs is just an expression of his feelings. His fairy tales are very popular in the UK, called 'The Lion King'," he then recalled and said, "Oh, I remember now, his Chinese name seems to be Wei Ming."

"Wei Ming? Wei Ming!" Leslie Cheung's voice suddenly rose.

In front of the TV, Vivian Chow, seeing this, felt as refreshed as if she had taken a sauna.

Great! Finally, someone has cleared A-Ming's name; he is just that amazing!

A-Min expressed that from now on, she is a fan of Elton John, and she will go buy a few of his records tomorrow, even if he is gay, she doesn't care.

Mother Zhou looked at A-Min's uncomposed expression, and the unease in her heart grew more intense; this A-Ming really makes A-Min crazy.

TVB occupies more than half of the Hong Kong television landscape; at this time, it is conservatively estimated that over a million viewers across Hong Kong saw this program and witnessed this scene.

Some time ago, a tabloid sparked a fuse, and then major right-wing newspapers all joined in to disparage the "extravagant style" of the mainland writer Wei Ming, causing his image to be greatly damaged.

However, Wei Ming completely ignored it, and while the left-wing press wanted to fight back, they were troubled by not being able to find the person involved, Wei Ming, who had already gone to the UK by that time, so they could only hold back their frustration.

During this period, only Zhang Mingmin spoke up for Wei Ming through the media, but the volume was too low, and no one cared.

Unexpectedly, after more than a week, a world-renowned superstar actually cleared Wei Ming's name on TVB!

That's right, the author of "Moonlight Shadow," which exploded globally and sold a million records—a feat unreachable by the Hong Kong music scene—is exactly Wei Ming.

One million in sales; you tell me, can this one song earn one million Hong Kong dollars?!

At Wei Wei Lingling's home, the program had already ended, and she and Wei Ming only learned what happened on the program by listening to Li Zhi's retelling.

Li Zhi had also seen that report; although she was Wei Ming's friend, she vaguely felt that Wei Ming might have been bragging. Perhaps a million meant nothing to his family, but how could one song be worth a million?

After all, even at the official exchange rate, one million Hong Kong dollars is over 300,000 RMB. At this time, "ten-thousand-yuan households" in the mainland were rare, let alone "hundred-thousand-yuan" households.

This amount of money could buy an apartment in Hong Kong; it was truly a large sum of money beyond Li Zhi's imagination.

"Young Master Ming, can you really earn a million from one song?" she asked eagerly.

Wei Wei Lingling chuckled: "Just the share from record sales alone is more than a million."

Wei Ming smiled: "It's only a little over a million now; in the future, there should be several millions."

The important thing is that this song allowed Wei Ming to successfully break into the European and American music circles, and even big shots like Elton John have noticed him.

At this moment, the look in Li Zhi's eyes when she looked at Wei Ming had become somewhat dreamy; they were both from the mainland, so why was he so terrifyingly strong?

Wei Wei Lingling patted her nephew's shoulder: "I reckon after today, the newspapers will be full of reports about you again. Go to sleep early, you big celebrity."

Wei Ming looked at the sofa in the living room, and Wei Wei Lingling teased: "Little Li, are you planning to let Young Master Ming sleep on the sofa, or on your bed?"

Li Zhi immediately said tactfully: "Young Master Ming sleeps on the bed, I'll sleep on the sofa."

Actually, she really wanted to sleep on the bed with Wei Ming, but now that an elder was here, she understood the principle that one cannot eat hot tofu in a hurry.

Wei Ming declined a few times, but Li Zhi was very firm; the bed and the quilt were full of her scent, which could be considered indirectly sleeping in the same bed.

"Then thank you, Little Li."

Don't say, Li Zhi's bedding was quite fragrant; it wasn't the kind of scent from perfume, after all, she was only 20, still very fresh.

Before dawn, Wei Ming got up in the night. There was no bathroom in the bedroom, so Wei Ming came to the living room, and then he saw Li Zhi on the sofa.

Is her pajama neckline this big!!!

(End of chapter)