Chapter 353: Meeting the Mother-in-Law

"Xiao Ming, is that them?"

Wei Ping'an pointed toward an old man and a young girl standing at the entrance.

Wei Ming's jaw dropped. How did she come too!

Lao Gui stood there without moving. Seeing Wei Ping'an, his eyes welled up with tears and he waved his hand, signaling that he would stay put and that Wei Ping'an shouldn't come over.

For the sake of his son's future and to ensure he wouldn't be suspected by the organization, Lao Gui suppressed the urge to run over and embrace him.

But Zhou Zhou Huimin didn't have those concerns. With her long, slightly wavy hair and dressed in a youthful school uniform, she sprinted through the crowd, her graceful figure catching the eyes of many passengers, including Wei Hong.

She recognized Zhou Zhou Huimin immediately; the girl looked very familiar.

Before the thought could fully form, the girl was already right in front of them.

"A-Ming, why didn't you tell me you were coming to Hong Kong?" Zhou Zhou Huimin spoke in Cantonese. She realized the people around Wei Ming were likely his companions, and she felt she might have been a bit impulsive.

"You're in school, and I'm just passing through on a layover; I'm flying out immediately."

"Where are you flying to? London again?"

"This time it's Frankfurt, Germany," Wei Ming said. "There's a world-renowned book fair there, and Melinda will be attending as my editor."

Zhou Zhou Huimin pouted. She thought to herself that he didn't need to be so honest about her.

Wei Ming then added, "Let me introduce you. This is my sister, A-Hong. A-Hong, this is A-Min."

Wei Hong finally remembered—the little girl who sang the lead, her brother's pen pal!

"Hello, A-Hong sister," Zhou Zhou Huimin said, patting her pockets in embarrassment. "I came in such a rush, I didn't bring a gift."

Wei Hong had initially felt quite favorably toward this pen pal, but hearing her call her "A-Hong sister," Wei Hong crossed her arms: "A-Min, I've heard my brother mention you. If I recall correctly, you should be a year younger than me, right?"

Zhou Zhou Huimin looked at Wei Ming, who nodded, even though it looked like the opposite.

"Oh, A-Hong sister." Zhou Zhou Huimin pulled Wei Hong's hand and called out sweetly. Everyone had their own way of addressing things.

Wei Hong was satisfied; the little sister was quite sensible.

The line for security was starting to move. Wei Ming gave Zhou Zhou Huimin a quick update on the new store location and waved goodbye. Turning around, he saw Uncle Ping'an and the other middle-aged and elderly folks looking at him curiously.

Oops, he forgot to introduce her to the others.

Wei Ping'an wasn't actually concerned about that. He felt that in Beijing, Wei Ming was already tangled up with two older actress "sisters," and now he had this beautiful young girl in Hong Kong. If this continued, he was going to run into serious moral issues.

He still hoped his nephew would pursue a career in government. With Wei Ming's status in the literary world—having top-tier translators working on his English editions and receiving the same level of respect as the Great Helmsman and Lu Xun—if he kept this momentum, he could potentially become a Vice Minister of Culture by his forties or fifties.

Wei Ming gave a brief introduction about his relationship with Zhou Zhou Huimin, calling her a pen pal. Everyone just smiled knowingly.

Especially the two comrades who understood Cantonese; judging by the tender atmosphere during their chat, it was clearly not just a "pen pal" relationship!

As the passengers entered and disappeared from sight, Lao Gui said to Zhou Zhou Huimin, "Stop looking, let's go."

Zhou Zhou Huimin sighed, "It was too short. There was so much I didn't get to say."

"What did you two talk about just now?"

"I met his sister, oh, and one more thing!" Zhou Zhou Huimin remembered the important part. "A-Ming said that if Holiland wants to open a new store, they could consider the airport."

Hearing this, Lao Gui turned back immediately to size up Kai Tak Airport.

The passenger flow was dense—incredibly dense!

People who could afford to fly had a certain level of wealth, and they were always in a rush. This was perfect for Holiland!

Fast food and airports were a match made in heaven!

Wei Ming's group was taking a Lufthansa flight direct to Frankfurt. On the plane, before takeoff, Pan Pan Yaoming from Hong Kong's Joint Publishing introduced Wei Ming to an elderly gentleman.

"This is Mr. Liu Liu Yichang, he's traveling with us."

Pan Pan Yaoming was about to introduce Liu Liu Yichang further, but he didn't expect Wei Ming to already know him.

"Hello," Wei Ming said, shaking the hand of the slightly gray-haired old man. "I've read your *The Drunkard* and *Intersection*."

Liu Liu Yichang laughed heartily. "My books aren't bestsellers, and they aren't as fluid or relaxing as Jin Yong's novels. I didn't expect you to enjoy reading them."

Wei Ming said, "I wouldn't say 'enjoy' exactly."

Liu Liu Yichang was stunned, and Pan Pan Yaoming was also taken aback, about to step in to smooth things over.

Wei Ming continued, "My motives were quite utilitarian. To quickly understand Hong Kong for the sake of writing scripts and songs, I read a massive amount of Hong Kong literature. And honestly, Hong Kong doesn't really have 'true' literature—except for your works, Mr. Liu."

Wei Ming's assessment was quite high. The saying that Hong Kong was a "cultural desert" wasn't entirely false; the foundation was shallow, and popular literature—represented by Jin Yong—reigned supreme.

There were very few who delved into serious literature. In the realm of serious literature in Hong Kong, the only one who could be mentioned in the same breath as Jin Yong was Liu Liu Yichang.

He was hailed as the "Godfather of Hong Kong Literature," and *The Drunkard* was considered the first stream-of-consciousness novel in Chinese. Wong Kar-wai was a die-hard fan, deeply influenced by his work.

Films like *In the Mood for Love* and *2046* felt like visual adaptations of Liu Liu Yichang's work.

This was why Wei Ming didn't "enjoy" them—they weren't exactly easy to understand.

Wei Ming was sincere, and Liu Liu Yichang wasn't offended. He also expressed his opinion on Wei Ming's work.

"What I like most is your latest novel, *In the Heat of the Sun*. It's blurry between reality and illusion, just like youth." The novel had been serialized in *October* and soon reprinted in *Wen Hui Bao*, which was available in Hong Kong.

As the plane took off, Pan Pan Yaoming switched seats to let the young and old literary figures chat comfortably.

Pan Pan Yaoming, who would later join *Ming Pao* and become editor-in-chief of *Ming Pao Monthly*, was also a major promoter of Hong Kong literature.

Liu Liu Yichang was from Shanghai, a fellow townsman of Xue-jie. He had started writing in Shanghai before the founding of the PRC, though he was obscure then, only achieving greatness after coming to Hong Kong.

His works introduced many Western writing techniques, which were very helpful for Wei Ming to understand the landscape of Western writers. The old man and the young man chatted happily for the entire journey.

Because it was a German airline, Wei Ming got to eat German sausages and drink German beer ahead of schedule.

Germany was the land of sausages, with a vast variety and different ways to eat them. They had the classic grilled sausage with bread, topped with a squeeze of mustard.

The sausage was beef-based, without any gamey smell, and packed with meat. Wei Ming, a lover of meat, ate happily, already thinking about bringing some back.

Due to the time difference, they departed at noon and arrived in Frankfurt, West Germany, after 12 hours, just as it was getting dark.

Frankfurt Airport was massive, reportedly the third largest in Europe after London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle. It was also Germany's largest passenger and cargo hub.

Before landing, Wei Ming's group could see the dense rows of planes on the tarmac. Wei Hong let out a "Wow," marveling at the spectacle, all of them hoping that their motherland would one day have such large airports and so many planes.

Arriving in this unfamiliar place, everyone was both excited and nervous. Wei Ming told Hong to stay close.

It was crowded—more crowded than at any other time of year, with many people here for the book fair, whether publishers or cultural figures.

After landing, Team Leader Liu exchanged some Deutsche Marks at the airport. Wei Ming followed suit; he didn't want to spend the state's money, so he exchanged some of his own.

Team Leader Liu was embarrassed to find that Wei Ming had exchanged more Marks alone than the entire team combined. This kid was too rich!

At the time, 1 USD was worth about 2.5 Marks. Wei Ming exchanged 10,000 Marks and kept some USD for emergencies.

They were met by a cultural attaché from the embassy. China and West Germany had established diplomatic relations in the 70s.

"Comrade Mike, hello." Team Leader Liu shook hands with the attaché. It wasn't a foreign name; his surname was Mai and his given name was Ke, with the English name Mike.

Mike greeted everyone, showing particular excitement when meeting Wei Ming. Even abroad, hearing about a fellow countryman's brilliant achievements was incredibly inspiring.

Mike had not only bought two of Sarah Brightman's singles but also had English copies of *Jumanji* and *The Lion King* picture books.

He was surprised to see Wei Ming's sister had come along.

Wei Ming explained, "My sister and I co-wrote a book about the Rubik's Cube, published by Macmillan, which will be showcased here."

Mike marveled at what a scholarly family they were, with Wei Ming's uncle, Section Chief Wei Ping'an from Peking University, also present.

Wei Ming asked, "Mike, do you know where the Macmillan people are staying?"

Mike said, "Macmillan is a major British publisher; they'll likely be at the Frankfurt Hotel or the Bad Soden Hotel."

Wei Hong asked, "What about us?"

Mike's face flashed with a hint of awkwardness. "Follow me, everyone."

Wei Ming's group parted ways with Liu Liu Yichang and the other Hong Kong publishers, who had already made their own arrangements.

During the Frankfurt Book Fair, hotels became incredibly scarce, with prices rising by 30% to 50%, and without advance booking, rooms were impossible to find. Some even booked for the following year.

Mike had prepared a minibus, which drove them into the city.

Although it was night, the streets were brightly lit, giving the feeling of a modern city. Everyone was dazzled.

In truth, there were many ancient buildings here—Europe protected its historical architecture well—but for high-rises and modernity, Hong Kong, New York, and the future Shanghai were the benchmarks.

Crossing the Main River and passing St. Paul's Church, they arrived in less than half an hour at a street in the Bornheim district, where they were pleasantly surprised to find a Chinese restaurant.

Frankfurt didn't have a large population, and there were even fewer Chinese, so there was no dedicated Chinatown. This area had a higher concentration of Chinese residents, with two restaurants, one of which operated a small inn on the second floor—dumplings downstairs, sleeping upstairs.

Two to a room. Wei Ming shared with Uncle Ping'an, and Wei Hong shared with Aunt Suo from Zhonghua Book Company.

"Hot dumplings are here! Everyone eat while they're hot!" a Northeast Chinese woman who had lived in Germany since childhood served them.

They were delicious—classic pork and scallion filling. Although the woman had never been to China, her skills and accent were passed down from her parents.

But Wei Ming could eat dumplings at home. If he traveled abroad just to eat dumplings, wouldn't that be a wasted trip!