Chapter 411: The Beijing Film Studio Sets Its Sights on Wei Ming

With this discovery, Wei Anping even laughed—what kind of cousin relationship was this? People might believe they were full brothers.

But on the way home, Wei Anping grew increasingly uneasy—he remembered that when he was a child, someone in the village had said the same thing about him and his cousin Wei Jiefang.

"Hey, these two boys look like twins."

Wei Anping recalled a photo taken back when his uncle was in his thirties, just before leaving for Korea, showing him and his brothers—he immediately quickened his pace.

Back at the Weixiu Garden home, Lü Xiaoyan and the three of them had already finished eating; Lele was doing homework, while Xi Zi was practicing handstands—he still had to compete against Wu Jing next weekend.

Seeing his father return, Xi Zi proudly declared: "Dad, I've been holding this pose for half an hour!"

"Aren't you dizzy?"

"Not at all! Five five is twenty-five, five six is thirty, five seven is forty-five." Xi Zi recited the entire multiplication table with a boastful grin.

Still claiming he wasn't dizzy? Wei Anping hung his briefcase on his feet and strode quickly into the bedroom, then began rummaging through drawers and cabinets.

Lü Xiaoyan, hearing the commotion from the next room, came in and asked: "What are you looking for, Wei Ting? Let me help you."

"No need, Lü Chu, you mind your own business."

Lü Xiaoyan wrapped her arms around Wei Anping from behind, her hands growing unseemly: "Are you tired today?"

Wei Anping instantly understood: "Not too tired—just sat in the office all day. Should still be able to work overtime."

"Alright then, let's do overtime after midnight."

After exchanging their secret code, once Lü Xiaoyan left, Wei Anping found the small box holding old photos. He first pulled out his mother's half of the photo and compared it with the one Wei Ming had given him—no doubt, they were taken from the same negative.

Then he found the childhood photo: he was nine, Jiefang was ten, their heights were nearly identical, and their facial features were remarkably similar—only later, due to different environments, had they grown less alike.

In the photo, the man hugged the two boys with a fatherly tenderness; Wei Anping's hands trembled slightly as he placed the two photos side by side for comparison.

Though the man in one photo was a teenager and in the other a young man, and though the photos were old, Wei Anping couldn't help thinking—if these were two different people, wouldn't that be hard to believe?

How could this be? Was there some hidden truth here?

Wei Anping decided he must go to Hong Kong again—to ask his uncle face to face.

Of course, tomorrow he could first ask Xiao Ming.

When Wei Ming returned to his overseas Chinese apartment, Xiao Hong was helplessly staring at his computer.

"Brother, you're back!"

"What, you want to play?" Wei Ming smiled and turned on the computer.

"I didn't expect you'd bought such a big thing," Xiao Hong observed curiously as she watched his movements.

She also told Wei Ming something: "The carbon-14 test results for your painting are in."

"Let me see the report!" Wei Ming said eagerly.

When he saw the test report, Wei Ming exclaimed: "It's Ming Dynasty! It's Ming Dynasty!"

Of course, Ming Dynasty doesn't mean it's necessarily Qiu Ying's—except for Zhang Zeduan's original, the most valuable and best replica of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" is Qiu Ying's Ming version.

To confirm it, you'd need an institution like Rongbaozhai—tomorrow I'll find time to go ask.

Finally, the computer turned on. Wei Ming explained to Xiao Hong what the computer could currently do—modern computers were really not fun at all, not even a game of Minesweeper.

But Xiao Hong was more curious about the computer's computational power—she felt that if this product continued developing, it would be a great tool for mathematicians.

"Brother, where are the photos you took in America?" she asked again.

"Not developed yet. Tomorrow."

Xiao Hong asked further: "So where all did you go in America?"

"Lots of places—Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York—I visited most major cities and three universities."

When she heard Wei Ming had sold a song to foreigners, Xiao Hong said: "The music atmosphere at Beijing's universities is also very strong—recently, a university band even came to Peking University to pay homage to you."

"A university band? Pay homage to me?"

"Yeah, called something like Locust Band—what kind of name is that? And they play rock—what's the point of that?"

"Probably paying tribute to the Beatles," Wei Ming guessed.

He knew this band—mainly because their lead singer was Ding Wu, who later became the lead singer of Heibao and Tang Dynasty bands; another member was Zang Tianzuo.

Xiao Hong asked again: "What's the Beatles? Are they famous?"

Wei Ming smiled: "You've heard of the Beatles, right?"

"Of course I have—John Lennon's Beatles."

Wei Ming: "The Beatles are the Beetles."

Xiao Hong suddenly understood: "Oh, so 'Beatles' comes from 'Beetles'!"

After explaining, Wei Ming asked: "Did they come to Peking University looking for me to write songs?"

Xiao Hong: "I don't know for sure—Liu Zhenyun told me. He hosted them. I think it's unlikely—asking you for a song is like asking for a million yuan. A bit clueless, don't you think?"

"I think so too," Wei Ming checked the time. "It's getting late. Let's rest early—Tomorrow, Uncle Anping invited us over for dinner."

"Great! I've missed Xi Zi and Lele!"

Watching Xiao Hong go into her room, Wei Ming sat on the living room sofa, picked up the phone, and dialed the number at Tuanjiehu—no one answered.

Haven't Xue Jie and Lin Jie returned yet?

He thought for a moment, then called Biao Zi.

"Big Brother Ming, you're finally back!"

Wei Ming heard the child's giggling: "Is Xiao Jiu still awake?"

"Still awake—he slept too much during the day, now he's full of energy, pestering Yanzi," Biao Zi grumbled—hogging my wife, wasting my evening!

Wei Ming: "I just got back. In a couple days, I plan to visit the Beijing Film Studio to check on the movie preparations—will you be free then?"

"Of course I am!" Biao Zi was desperate to act—Li Yi's overnight fame had spurred him on.

After mentioning this, Wei Ming asked: "Have you noticed anything unusual about my house next door lately?"

Biao Zi instantly understood: "Oh, Xue Jie came back a while ago—probably saw no one home, hasn't stayed over these past few days."

Hearing Xue Jie had returned, Wei Ming was thrilled: "I'm going to the Beijing Film Studio tomorrow!"

Biao Zi: "But you just said in a couple days~"

After days apart, Wei Ming missed his sisters dearly—everything else had to take a back seat.

The next morning, Wei Ming rode his motorcycle to Beichi Zi, where he happened to meet Biao Zi, who was coming to feed the cats and dogs.

After exchanging affection with the two little ones, Wei Ming and Biao Zi headed to the Beijing Film Studio together.

Wei Ming didn't need to seek out Gong Ying—just by showing up at the Beijing Film Studio, even without meeting Xue Jie, she would surely know he had returned to China.