Chapter 390: 1981 has passed, and I miss it dearly

In the Beijing Film Academy's Class of '78 acting program, classmates had already begun congratulating Zhang Tielin, saying things like, "When you're rich and famous, don't forget us."

"Once I'm rich and famous, I certainly won't forget everyone," Zhang Tielin said with a chuckle, cupping his hands in a salute to them, as if his future were already bright and promising.

However, when Fang Shu asked him what movie he was acting in and what role he was playing, he stammered, "The director and Wei Laoshi haven't said yet. There should be another meeting. With Wei Ming as the screenwriter and Li Hanxiang as the director, it's bound to be good."

Being from the Film Academy, they all understood Li Hanxiang's status. As one of the former four great directors of Hong Kong and a legendary director for Shaw Brothers, he was even more exciting to them than working on a film by Xie Jin. This was a path to the international stage.

Just then, Zhang Fengyi returned. Zhang Tielin looked over nervously. Xie Yuan patted his good brother on the shoulder and asked, "Fengzi, what kind of play are you guys actually filming?"

"Oh, I forgot to ask the name of the movie, but I'm playing the second male lead."

Hearing this, a subtle look of arrogance appeared on Zhang Tielin's face. When Zhang Fengyi was first chosen to star in *Rickshaw Boy*, the whole class thought he would become the most successful student. As it turned out, he was now just a supporting actor for him.

Zhang Tielin patted Zhang Fengyi on the shoulder: "Fengzi, let's cooperate well then. Let's show that big Hong Kong director the skills we learned at the Film Academy."

Zhang Fengyi nodded: "I'm playing a prince. I don't know if I'll have any scenes with you."

Wang Yue, who hadn't said much, asked: "You're playing a prince, then what is Tielin playing? A minister? Or the emperor?"

"Oh, him? He's playing a eunuch."

The room fell silent, then burst into laughter. Zhang Tielin's face turned livid. Zhou Lijing knew Zhang Fengyi's mischievous personality and said to him: "Fengzi, be serious."

Zhang Fengyi said innocently: "I'm not joking. I really am playing a eunuch. Oh, they've already left. They told me to let you know to gather at the Beijing Er Yingchang at nine o'clock on the last day of this month. We'll have to test the camera, and if there are no problems, we'll sign the contract."

Seeing Zhang Fengyi's serious expression, Zhang Tielin touched his own delicate face, feeling a bit dazed. Could it be a movie with a eunuch as the protagonist?

And what was wrong with being a eunuch? It was just acting; it wasn't shameful. So, was it Wei Zhongxian or Li Lianying?

Both were wrong. It was An Dehai, Li Lianying's predecessor and a confidant of Empress Cixi in her early years.

Wei Ming wasn't trying to humiliate Zhang Tielin. He really was the "pretty boy" type with a good image in this class. Last year, he starred in the first TV series filmed after the establishment of the Beijing Television Station. He would make it sooner or later, and Wei Ming didn't mind being a talent scout for once, while helping Zhang Tielin choose a track.

People, once they play a certain role too much, will have that flavor in their speech.

After going downstairs, Wei Ming ran into Zhang Yimou again. He had heard Wei Ming was at the school and had come specifically to "run into" him.

Then Wei Ming introduced Zhang Yimou to Li Hanxiang: "This is the first generation of cinematographers trained after the founding of China. He was specially recruited for his talent. He is currently the most capable student in the class. You even praised him before."

"Me? Did I praise him?"

"You once praised a set of shots in *Ox and Ox Two*. That was filmed by him."

"Oh, that part where Liu Xiaoqing reveals a big white leg in a sea of corpses, right? The color impact was very strong. Nice to meet you, nice to meet you. So, you are a student at the Film Academy?"

"Yes, an older student, graduating next year," Zhang Yimou said modestly. "At that time, I was just a camera assistant. That part was filmed by me, but the key was that Wei Laoshi wrote it well."

Wei Ming waved his hand and asked again: "Is there any news about the job assignment results?"

"The Xi'an Er Yingchang should be about right," Zhang Yimou said. "Director Wu Tianming wants to keep me by his side."

"Then you can consider your wish fulfilled."

Zhang Yimou smiled, but the smile was a bit strained. He was an ambitious person. When it came to making movies, the best places were naturally the two centers: Beijing and Shanghai.

But it was too hard, too hard. In this year's directing and cinematography department, only Tian Zhuangzhuang went to the Beijing Er Yingchang, and Zhang Jianya went to the Shanghai Er Yingchang. The former was the son of the studio head, and the latter was already an employee of the Shanghai studio, essentially returning to his original unit after studying for a few years.

Wei Ming patted old Zhang on the shoulder: "Let's cooperate if there's a chance. I'm off."

Wei Ming, Li Hanxiang, and Biaozi returned to the Beijing Hotel. Old Li still wanted to treat them to dinner, but Wei Ming said: "I've already made plans with my family. Let's do it another day."

"Alright. The two actresses will arrive tomorrow. Will you come to participate in the auditions?"

Wei Ming pointed to the Beijing Hotel: "Here?"

Li Hanxiang: "Is that okay?"

Wei Ming got on his motorcycle: "You'd better stay at the Beijing Er Yingchang. It'll save people from talking. I won't come."

Old Li: "Hey, I'm not that kind of person, and my body isn't up to it anymore."

That was true. He had just had heart surgery two years ago and almost thought he was going to die at the time. That was why he had the idea of "falling leaves returning to their roots," which led to his coming to the mainland, and that was how the cooperation on *The Burning of the Imperial Palace* came about.

Wei Ming and Biaozi stopped by Dongfang Xintiandi on the way. Boss Wei hadn't visited his clothing empire for a long time.

Along the way, they did see several similar clothing stores. The foot traffic wasn't as high as at Oriental Dongfang Xintiandi, but Dongfang Xintiandi wasn't as crowded as it was in its peak period either, unless it was a major holiday.

At this time, the large posters at the entrance of Dongfang Xintiandi had been changed to Zhu Lin in the north and Gong Xue in the south. By now, they were no longer nobodies, but the two most popular actresses in all of China.

These were also newly customized posters. They were now considered the spokespersons for Dongfang Xintiandi. They didn't get paid, but they would occasionally receive a few hundred million.

Because they had provided clothing for the calendar shoots, there were also small posters of Liu Xiaoqing, Li Xiuming, and Zhang Jinling hanging inside the store.

Coming here, Wei Ming remembered that there were still several hundred thousand belonging to him in the company account.

The total capital reserve in the Dongfang Xintiandi public account had already exceeded one million. Xiao Mei had been eager to expand the scale. He felt that if the store were expanded several times over, the money earned would also double. After a few years of reform and opening up, the money in the hands of ordinary people had actually increased, and the desire for consumption was growing.

Today, when they met, he brought up the old topic again. Thinking of that mural at the airport, Wei Ming also felt a bit reluctant to persuade him otherwise.

"Then why don't you start looking for a suitable storefront now?" he said.

Mei Wenhua: "Great! That money finally has a place to be used! Big brother, you can rest assured and create. Biaozi, you just go ahead and film. With me and godmother here, we can hold up the sky!"

Xiao Mei had accepted Biaozi's mother as his godmother. Although Biaozi was the third shareholder, in reality, the one doing the work was basically her mother. If they were to expand this time, they would probably have to control the upstream garment factory.

After chatting with Xiao Mei for a while, Wei Ming first returned to Beichizi to pick up some things, and then headed straight for Peking University.

He first went to Professor Wu Xiaoru's house. Old Wei had helped him find a calligraphy copybook in Hong Kong, an object from the early Republic of China, and he thought of giving it to the old gentleman Wu Yuru.

Professor Wu Xiaoru and his wife received him: "Father has already returned to his old residence in Tianjin."

"Oh, that's a pity. Please ask Professor Wu to pass it on, along with the gratitude from me and Comrade Gong Xue."

Wu Xiaoru asked: "Comrade Gong Xue has already started filming, right?"

"Yes, maybe she has already started filming the calligraphy part."

In a certain guesthouse in Suzhou, Gong Xue returned to her room. Her room was filled with the smell of ink. Because of the price, the fragrance of ink was overflowing, much better than what the crew used.

After coming in, she first took out a letter. This was a letter from Zhu Lin that she had just received.

The two of them, one in Shanghai and one in Suzhou, found it convenient to communicate by letter.

In the letter, Zhu Lin talked about the interesting things she chatted about with the original author, Teacher Sister Chen Rong, such as the new song Wei Ming created for the Peking University students of Teacher Sister Chen Rong's son's class. The literary world was worried that Wei Laoshi would focus on the music scene from then on, becoming a regret for the literary world, and so on.

Of course, there was also Teacher Sister Chen Rong's praise for her. This role was considered Zhu Lin's comfort zone.

Gong Xue also wrote her a reply, first asking if she had received the birthday gift she sent.

She had received it. Zhu Lin also received the birthday music greeting card and plush toy that Wei Ming sent from Hong Kong.

Gong Xue told Zhu Lin that *Pen in Love* would finish filming the location shots in Suzhou before the New Year, and then would return to Shanghai to film the interior shots.

"We can live together again by then." She sent this letter directly to the old Western-style house, where Zhu Lin would go to live every few days.

After Wei Ming came out of Professor Wu's house, he went to Peking University again. He originally wanted to pick up Wei Hong directly, but Xiao Hong had already set off for Uncle Ping'an's house. However, he did run into Li Aiguo.

"Leonardo, you're finally back! You haven't forgotten our agreement, have you? I'll be returning to the United States in a few days."

Wei Ming laughed: "I remember the date. You come to my house tomorrow. I will perform it for you myself."

"Great, great!"

Li Aiguo was accompanied by several international students, all of whom were interested in Wei Ming's new song. They asked: "Can we go and listen?"

They were all people he had known for a long time, so Wei Ming said readily: "No problem."

Electronic music wasn't easy to leak without seeing the score. In addition to the staff, chord markings, and various effect parameters, Wei Ming had also communicated and learned from Teacher Gu before he painstakingly wrote this song.

When Wei Ming arrived at Uncle Ping'an's house, Xiao Hong was watching TV with Xizi and Lele.

"Brother, you're finally back! Let's go home and live today!"

"Okay, okay, okay," he glanced at the TV, "Yo, this is the second episode of *Black Cat Detective*!"

Lu Xiaoyan: "Yeah, it's been airing for a while. There are only three episodes in total, and they keep playing in a loop. Xizi's classmates all complain that it's filmed too slowly."

"Two new episodes are not bad. I thought they only filmed one in the past six months."

Soon, the episode of less than half an hour ended. Lele's singing voice rang out on the TV, and the ending was also that song, but only the chorus part.

During the meal, Aunt Xiaoyan reported to Wei Ming the circulation of *Fairy Tale King* in December.

"It's already 500,000 this month. We are now on par with *Children's Literature*!"

"But it seems like you have fewer editors~" Wei Ming laughed.

Lu Xiaoyan: "Not only fewer, but they are also capable. They are both editors and authors. Even so, there are still people who want to poach them."

Wei Ming knew she was talking about Zheng Yuanjie: "What's wrong?"

Lu Xiaoyan said angrily: "That old Song from the Beijing Writers Association. The Beijing Writers Association is recently working on a youth magazine called *Oriental Youth*, aimed at students in the age group of upper primary school, junior high school, and high school. They want to transfer Xiao Zheng over. Fortunately, I protected him."

Old Song was Song Fan, Song Dandan's father, who was entrusted with the important task of serving as the editor-in-chief of this new publication.