Chapter 398

Thirteen people total, ordered hearty dishes blending Chinese and Western cuisines, plus minimal drinks, totaling 285 yuan paid with foreign exchange coupons.

Now not only Tie Ning had to keep a diary, but everyone else had to record this meal too—Wei Ming was right, food tastes especially delicious after labor, unforgettable.

They would never forget this meal—the most expensive one they'd ever eaten in their lives, per person equivalent to a new entrant's monthly salary.

Ah Long also invited them to his wedding on the sixth day, held right here.

Can such luxury and delicacy be enjoyed twice within a month?!

Didn't realize Wei Teacher's friends were so well-off!

They promised that if they were still in the Magic City then, they'd come over for a glass of wedding wine.

Ah Long sent a car to drop off Wei Ming and the others, but when the car stopped, they saw lights on in the villa.

Wei Ming: "Did we forget to turn off the lights when we left?"

Wei Hong: "No, electricity's too expensive to forget, and we never turned them on in the first place."

Suddenly she clapped her hand over her mouth in fear: "Could there be burglars? A home invasion?"

The Peace Hotel driver said nothing—back in Beijing, a driver at this hour would've said at least two words.

Wei Ming said: "Driver, please don't leave yet. Wait here while I go inside and check."

A few minutes later, Wei Ming came out: "Driver, it's fine now, you can go."

"Bro, what's going on inside?" Wei Hong asked after the driver left.

Wei Ming: "My aunt came."

"Ah!?"

And her assistant Li Zhi.

This time Aunt came to discuss the TV animation production of "Transformers"; Li Zhi, being from the Magic City, also missed Grandma, so she brought her along.

"Auntie!" Wei Hong called out excitedly, to show affection.

Wei Lingling hugged the little girl; they had luggage too, just arrived.

I originally just wanted to take a look at the old house and planned to stay at a hotel anyway, but I didn't expect it to be so clean that I could move in right away, so I decided to also look for the treasure I left behind back then.

"Treasure?! " Wei Hong got even more excited—this was too good to be true.

"The treasure's not urgent, Ming," Wei Lingling stretched her back, "first tell me where I'll sleep."

Wei Ming: "There are enough beds, but not enough new quilts—Magic City's a bit cold right now."

Wei Lingling: "Then what do we do?"

Wei Ming: "Looks like I'll have to find somewhere else to stay temporarily."

Li Zhi immediately thought of that so-called Gong Yu's old villa—was he planning to stay there?

She said at once: "Not enough quilts? No problem—I can go back to Grandma's. Besides, it's unsafe for three girls to stay here alone."

Wei Ming: "So it's safe for you to go home alone?"

Li Zhi: He cares about me!

In the end, Wei Ming decided to trouble Ah Long—he called and asked him to bring extra quilts; if Peace Hotel sold them, buy directly from there, and have Ah Long stay with him tonight.

Then Wei Ming called the old villa on Huating Road—no one answered; it seemed Lin Jie was staying at the guesthouse.

"Ah Long's here—good, I brought the first episode of 'Transformers'—come take a look, see if anything needs changing, Xiao Ming, you too."

Originally called Ah Long over just to sleep, but once work came up, all three lit up and chatted late into the night.

"This episode's content is rich enough to split into two magazine issues—twenty minutes is plenty, the art style's great; before leaving Hong Kong, I helped Niu Lao fine-tune it, and nothing went off-track after."

Wei Lingling asked: "When do we visit Meiying Factory?"

Wei Ming: "It's only the third day—nobody's back at work yet. Wait at least until after Ah Long's wedding. Enjoy yourself in the Magic City these days."

Wei Lingling: "Feels like there's nothing fun to do—nothing compares to the lively, festive Lunar New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown."

Wei Ming smiled: "You're an outsider, what do you know? Ask Li Zhi where's fun."

Li Zhi, as a local, also found Magic City's Spring Festival dull: "Just visit Yu Garden for the temple fair—nothing else. Less lively than Hong Kong on a regular day."

Xiao Hong joined in: "Then let's watch a movie—I haven't seen 'Camel Xiangzi' yet."

"Oh, besides 'Camel Xiangzi,' 'Shaolin Temple' is coming out soon," Wei Ming looked at Li Zhi, "have you seen it in Hong Kong?"

Li Zhi: "Not yet, but it's huge—it's even overshadowed Cheng Long's 'Dragon Lord.'"

Wei Ming strongly recommended: "Watch it—it's truly excellent."

Li Zhi invited: "Then come with us."

Wei Ming: "I—I'm busy."

Tomorrow he had to accompany Ah Long to Gong Family to deliver the betrothal gifts.

That night, Wei Ming lay beside Ah Long; Ah Long tossed and turned, unable to sleep, then tugged Wei Ming: "Big Brother, Ying's going to wear a wedding dress!"

Wei Ming, eyes closed: "Brought from Hong Kong?"

"Yes, and she designed it herself."

"Can design wedding dresses now? You've improved fast."

Ah Long: "Mainly inspired by Princess Diana's, but without the long train—you'll see, it's stunning! You've got to take lots of photos for us that day."

"No problem, but my photography skills still fall short of Old Zhang's—too bad he's on holiday back home."

Ah Long: "I think no photo is better than moving footage of the wedding—I'll use a video camera to record it when we return to Hong Kong."

"Good idea—when we're old, we can watch it again. Use a video camera? Rent a film camera—get cinematic quality."

Ah Long got excited: "Yes, yes! Let's do it!"

Wei Ming: "Why wait till Hong Kong? Do it here. After delivering the betrothal gifts tomorrow, I'll borrow equipment from Shangyingchang. Film stock's planned, but we can borrow first, return it after we get back to Hong Kong."

"Big Brother, tomorrow's all on you!" Ah Long grabbed Wei Ming's hand excitedly—he couldn't sleep anymore.

The next day, Wei Ming got out of bed; Ah Long had just fallen asleep.

As he stretched by the window, he saw his aunt holding a shovel—wearing urban fashion, utterly incongruous.

"Auntie, what are you doing?"

"Digging for treasure. You coming?"

Wei Ming hurried downstairs; Xiao Hong was already ready, holding a hammer. Li Zhi wasn't there—she'd gone early to visit Grandma.

The three Wei family members went to the basement, turned on all the lights—it was empty, all the previous unit's belongings had been cleared out.

"This room, I think," Wei Lingling said, "the center tile—right here!"

"Wait," Wei Ming stopped her, "how do we divide what we find?"

Wei Lingling: "Who likes what takes it—the rest goes to Dad and Anping."

All three chuckled—perfect.

Wei Ming took Xiao Hong's hammer, smashed and pried up the tiles, exposed the ground beneath, then dug deeper with the shovel.

"Found it! I see wood!"

But the box was bigger than the broken tile—had to break more tiles to extract it.

"Let's stop for today—I've got to deliver betrothal gifts with Ah Long," Wei Ming pulled back in time.

Wei Lingling: "Fine. Then Li Zhi and I will go watch the movie."

Wei Ming went upstairs to wake Ah Long, then headed to Peace Hotel to find his parents, then to Gong Family.

The alley of the Gong household was packed with onlookers; when they saw two men step out of the car, carrying so many gifts, they whispered: "So much betrothal gift—totally un-socialist!" "No wonder he's a Hong Kong son-in-law!" "Move aside, let me see—who's the Gong family's son-in-law?"

Wei Ming silently dubbed: All of them.

Xue Jie was home too; seeing her lover return, her heart leapt—as if he'd come to propose to her.

Wei Ming quickly pulled her aside: "Is Shangyingchang not open yet today?"

"No, but the crew's still working—I'm not on set, so I didn't go."

"Oh no, that's a problem—I wanted to borrow a camera and film from Shangyingchang."

"Huh?"

Then Wei Ming explained his plan to film the wedding.

"Costly, right?"

"Your brother-in-law isn't short on cash."

"But can you even operate a camera?"

Wei Ming smirked, his lips forming a Nike swoosh: "My skill isn't worse than film school students—I've worked on so many crews. You know my learning ability—once I try, I master it."

"Tell that to math."

Ah! Wei Ming was struck where it hurt—if not for the Gong household, he'd have retorted with a jab at Xue Jie's weak spot.