Chapter 42: Letter from Home and Haters (Seeking follow-up reading!)

The first letter didn't have anything important, just saying the money had been withdrawn, mainly used for Little Hong's education, and some food had been bought. The whole family was very proud of him and hoped he would continue to work hard, etc.

"Hard" was even written as "strength."

The second letter was quite special because besides Old Dad's letter, there was an envelope clipped inside, from "Liu Rulong."

Look at Old Dad's letter first.

"Two days ago, your classmate Little Liu sent you a letter. He doesn't know you are in Jingcheng either, so I sent it to you. Also, talk about something urgent."

"I found that *Children's Literature* magazine you mentioned in the county, but it was an old one, not the latest. Can you buy a new one in Jingcheng and send it back? Urgent, urgent, urgent!"

Three "urgents." It seemed he was really urgent.

Wei Ming seemed to see such a scene:

When Lao Lao Lao Wei was showing off how amazing his son was, an discordant voice emerged from the crowd: "You said your son became a writer, then where are the works? Let everyone see!"

Then Lao Lao Lao Wei drove a donkey cart to the county town before dawn to buy *Children's Literature*, wasting effort and grass, but he didn't buy it. Returning to the village, he had to hide from the crowd and stay behind closed doors for the time being.

Pitiful, too pitiful!

Wei Ming had magazines on hand, and he also wanted to send some money home.

Why not take advantage of the Wang Wang Zhongqiu to go home? After all, it was a day for reunion.

After this idea popped up, Wei Ming could no longer suppress his homesickness.

He really wanted to see Little Hong in her youth, and really wanted to see what the 80-year-old lady looked like when she was young.

"Brother Feng, can I ask for leave for the Wang Wang Zhongqiu next month?"

"Why, homesick?"

"Isn't it? First time leaving home for so long. Unlike them, running home all day." Wei Ming expressed his envy for the authentic Jingcheng people.

"No problem," Brother Feng agreed immediately, "At that time, the National Games will be over, and the National Day activities will be fewer. It will be a relaxing time. By then, Seeing Biaozi and Wenhua can also go watch movies. It seems there are many new films during National Day."

Wei Ming laughed: "When is everyone free tomorrow? Long March Canteen, this time it's my turn to treat!"

Hearing this, Seeing Biaozi excitedly said: "Brother Ming, did you get the second manuscript fee?"

"Hmm."

"How much?" Mei Wenhua asked with complicated feelings.

Wei Ming: "Wenhua, don't ask. I'm afraid you'll feel uncomfortable if you know."

Once this was said, everyone understood that it was a quite terrifying number. Mei Wenhua was already starting to feel uncomfortable.

The fame had already been gained by you, how come the money was also earned by you!

Are you the male lead or what!

Wei Ming then opened the letter from his high school classmate Liu Rulong, sent from the Beijing Film Academy in Zhuxinzhuang, Changping.

Wei Ming had an impression. In his past life, he received this letter in his hometown.

A-Long was the same age as Wei Ming and they had been the best friends in the class for four years. This guy often stole his grandfather's comic books for Wei Ming to read.

A-Long grew up in Guangzhou. His mother was from Wei Ming's hometown, and his father was from Foshan.

A-Long's parents were both college students in the 50s, studied English, and later fell in love freely and settled in Guangzhou.

Later, his parents divorced, his father smuggled himself to Xiangjiang, and his mother took him back to his hometown in Ping'an County, serving as a Chinese teacher in the county high school. As the college entrance exam added English subjects, she became an English teacher.

A-Long had learned to paint since childhood. When he was young, relying on his grandfather's relationship, he had studied traditional Chinese painting under the Lingnan school master Guan Shanyue.

After returning to the north, he followed his grandfather to learn the painting techniques of inner painting and comic strips.

In '77, A-Long also followed the crowd to take the college entrance exam but didn't pass.

The second year, he wanted to take the Central Academy of Arts and Design, which was the predecessor of the Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts, but still didn't pass.

The third time, he heard that the Beijing Film Academy's Art Department began to recruit animation class students. Interested in this since childhood, he decisively chose the Beijing Film Academy and passed this time.

With memories of his old friend, Wei Ming opened the letter and saw the same content as in his past life.

A-Long first expressed his concern for A-Ming, encouraging him not to give up learning.

Then he introduced his study and life situation at the Film Academy.

"Now I am very diligent in my studies because the most excellent students in our class may be assigned to the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang, and you know, that is the place I most desire to work!" Wei Ming: Congratulations, you did it.

After graduation, Liu Rulong did indeed enter the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang with excellent grades and participated in several key projects of the studio.

The letter also mentioned that he had the opportunity to see many foreign animations at school.

"Disney's Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White, Czechoslovakia's *The Mole*, are all very excellent works. And Japan's Osamu Tezuka is also very powerful."

Wei Ming remembered that when he saw this letter at the time, because this guy didn't use book title marks, he thought Osamu Tezuka was the same as Mickey Mouse and *The Mole*, all animation names. At that time, he even thought, "What kind of insect is 'Tezuka'?"

Later, Liu Rulong also expressed some of his worries.

"Although our country's animation also has masterpieces like *Uproar in Heaven* and *Nezha Conquers the Dragon King*, and is not inferior to foreign countries at the top level, and the types are rich enough, if reform and opening-up hits the animation industry, I'm afraid we will be unable to withstand the impact from outside. In this regard, Japan's animation industry is very worth learning from."

Wei Ming sighed. In the 90s, the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang began to go downhill. Liu Rulong and other young and middle-aged people couldn't display their talents, so with the support of his parents, he went to Japan and, like many people from the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang, became an animation migrant worker in Japan.

He wanted to learn from the barbarians to control the barbarians, looking forward to the day he could return to the country to film his own country's animation. At that time, Wei Ming, who had just started mixing in the screenwriter circle, told him: Wait until I become a screenwriter, you become a director, and we will counter-attack the little Japanese with animation.

As a result, a few years later, A-Long was defeated by reality and, for the sake of livelihood, started working in the underworld. Later, he even became the third-in-command of the largest Chinese underworld organization in Japan.

The transition is very abrupt, right? No one could have guessed that this thick-browed, big-eyed, short-statured guy who looks harmless and silly like a panda would end up in the underworld. He even claims it's a legal organization that pays taxes.

!

At the end of this letter, Liu Rulong also said: "It's a pity that the Film Academy has no plans to recruit an acting class these two years. Otherwise, with your image, you could completely consider studying acting. I think Zhang Tielin, who is known as the most handsome in the '78 class, is slightly inferior to you."

Wei Ming: Is it "slightly"? You should organize your language again.

"I might have to wait until the winter vacation to have a chance to go home. If you come to Jingcheng during this time, you must come to find me. By then, I'll show you my new paintings."

Wei Ming sighed. He had been in Jingcheng for almost a month, so it was time to go see A-Long.

Putting away this letter, Wei Ming began to look at those little reader letters again. He didn't know if there would be food coupons inside.

As a result, the first letter was written by a parent, thanking "Wei... something's" work for successfully scaring the daughter who loved candy.

The second letter was still a parent's letter.

The third letter...

After opening all 10 letters, Wei Ming found that most were thank-you letters from parents, thanking the educational significance of this fairy tale, and all came from big cities.

Only two were written by children, crooked and very childlike, but there was a lot of resentment between the lines, blaming him for exaggerating the harm of eating candy, making them have no candy to eat. What a bad uncle!

Wei Ming was between laughter and tears. He hadn't expected that he didn't become a close friend of the children, but instead got a batch of little haters.

No, he had to write a new work quickly to reverse the impression. He was still counting on harvesting these children's money with nostalgia decades later, letting them buy his books for the next generation.

Early the next morning, after breakfast, Wei Ming was taken to the patrol team by Brother Feng for half a day of training.

And at this time, *Wenhui Bao* had already published the novella *The Spring River Water Warms, the Ducks Know First*.

In a lane in Hongkou, Shanghai.

An old lady with a head full of silver hair was basking in the sun on the balcony reading the newspaper. Yesterday she was attracted by a little story, and today she bought *Wenhui Bao* again when buying breakfast.

The previous article said that Department Head Wang was at his wit's end and heard about "advertising," and this article was about him winning over the assistant of a documentary director, preparing to film a TV commercial, which was also the first in China.

The old lady only then knew that there were so many hardships behind that Ginseng-Angelica Nourishing Wine commercial at the beginning of the year. This Department Head Wang not only starred himself but also stole money from home to pay for the filming expenses. He was truly a good cadre.

And the place where this article ended was that the commercial was filmed, but how to let the audience see it became a question mark.

The old lady cursed "cliffhanger dog" in her heart, then called her granddaughter.

"A-Zhi, A-Zhi!"

"What's the matter, Grandma?" A tall girl of seventeen or eighteen with an oval face walked over.

The old lady pointed to an empty wine bottle on the windowsill: "You remember this medicinal wine we bought during the New Year."

"I remember, you said you weren't used to drinking it."

"But it really had some effect. My body felt quite good during that time. You go buy me another bottle." Saying that, she took out 20 yuan and gave the rest to her granddaughter for pocket money.

Thinking about it, she took out another ten yuan, "You also go buy a new piece of underwear; they don't fit anymore."

Anyway, her son earned money in Xiangjiang to support the two of them, which was wealthier than the average Modu family.

The girl A-Zhi blushed and happily took the 30 yuan. She hadn't expected that even at 18, her development hadn't ended, and it had grown quite a bit recently~

(Seeking monthly tickets, duck!)

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 43 =====