Chapter 445

One day before the official release of "Love in the Brush," the film was screened internally at the Shanghai Er Yingchang.

Wei Ming was invited to attend, which allowed him to openly sit with Gong Xue and watch a movie together for once.

In Wei Ming's view, "Du Shiniang" and "Love in the Brush" could be considered models among the costume dramas of recent years; both were filmed beautifully.

Although the scenery, characters, and calligraphy in "Love in the Brush" were all filmed very well, it was estimated that its box office heat would not be able to beat the more dramatic "Du Shiniang."

Moreover, Sister Lin had the critically acclaimed "Middle Age," so Sister Xue was afraid she would be overshadowed by Sister Lin this year.

However, filming costume dramas had one benefit for Wei Ming: he could play cosplay with the sisters.

She and Zhu Lin both used the excuse of keeping a memento to pay out of their own pockets to buy the costumes they wore in the play.

At this moment, she was dressed in the attire of a talented woman from the Wei and Jin dynasties, and the clothes she had finally managed to put on were taken off one by one by Wei Ming again.

Afterward, she clenched her silver teeth even tighter, not letting herself make too loud a sound.

There was no help for it; Gong Ying, Wei Hong, and Xizi were all in this old Western-style house, and she had snuck into Wei Ming's room secretly.

She was reluctant to waste this long night, after all, they would be parting tomorrow.

Over the past few days, Gong Ying had already completed the task of purchasing an overseas Chinese apartment for her parents; the 90-plus square meter three-bedroom unit cost a little over 100,000 Hong Kong dollars and was on the best second floor.

Therefore, she planned to return to Hong Kong tomorrow to wait on her mother-in-law, who was about to give birth.

Wei Ming had completed his communication work with the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang, and the primary school students from Gouzitun who had come for a study tour had also been playing here for a few days, broadening their horizons significantly, and were about to return.

With nothing else to do, Wei Ming also prepared to return to the capital to prepare for the film shoot.

Over the past few days, the children had been to the Bund, toured the Great World of the Magic City, eaten local cuisine, and visited the Shanghai Animation Er Yingchang, where they saw "The Book of Heaven" and "Black Cat Detective."

These were things they had never seen before; generally, new films would only appear in rural screening teams after half a year or even a year, and they hadn't seen the television animation either, because there was no television in the village, and they had only read the original novel.

Wei Ming simply bought a television set in the Magic City for them to take back, to be placed in the brigade headquarters for everyone to watch the news and serial dramas; it was always good to be able to learn a little more about the world outside.

Early the next morning, Gong Xue went to the airport to see off her younger sister, while Wei Ming went to the train station with Wei Hong and the teachers and students on the study tour; watching them board the train, Wei Ming and Wei Hong then went to the airport to catch their flight.

The day Gong Ying returned to Hong Kong happened to be the day of the live broadcast of the New Talent Singing Contest finals, so after Liu Rulong picked her up, he immediately took her out again to eat, watch a movie, and go shopping.

This was to prevent her from seeing A-Min go on stage to sing; although Wei Ming was not on the judging panel, there was a big-mouthed Huang Zhan, and who knew if he would bring up the past and expose those things between A-Ming and A-Min.

Therefore, A-Long risked it today by leaving work early, not touching his paintbrush all night, and not letting his wife enter the house before ten o'clock.

A-Ming, for your sake, this brother has been loyal enough.

After a week, Zhou Huimin had mastered the song "My Favorite" to perfection; Su Xiaoliang and Li Xiaotian of Capital Artists were extremely excited when listening to the demo, as it was indeed a masterpiece not inferior to "Hard to Find a Lover," and it was very suitable for Zhou Huimin.

They had already decided that this mini-album of three songs would be titled "My Favorite · Zhou Huimin."

Having brewed for so long, the ratings on the day of the grand final were terrifyingly strong, creating the highest peak of the year; even "Enjoy Tonight" had to temporarily avoid its edge, and ATV next door simply gave up resistance, just waiting to make a comeback next week.

Many viewers were just there to see Zhou Huimin win the championship, but after all 15 contestants finished their performances, Zhou Huimin only slowly appeared on stage.

Wait, weren't there only 15 in total? Then why were there sixteen now?

First, Zhou Huimin explained to the audience that she would not participate in the competition and scoring, but would only perform a song as a guest performer.

This decision certainly made many viewers who liked her feel regretful, but being able to hear her sing made them feel it was still acceptable.

But Anita Mui in the backstage was somewhat unable to accept it; her own performance just now was excellent, and a song "Season of the Wind" had rocked the whole venue, but even if she won the competition like this, she still hadn't been able to beat A-Min.

When Zhou Huimin was explaining, a piano appeared behind her.

Originally, she had thought about performing at the opening to clarify things first, but TVB was worried that the ratings would drop after her segment passed, so it was changed to a performance segment after the competition ended and before the results were announced, keeping the audience hanging for more than an hour.

However, before Zhou Huimin's performance, an advertisement for the Holiland fast-food restaurant was inserted, and the actor in the advertisement was none other than the green Michelle Reis.

Michelle Reis in front of the television was also seeing this advertisement for the first time, thinking to herself that it was worthy of being filmed by Wei Ming; it was filmed really well!

After the advertisement, the song "My Favorite" did not disappoint the audience at the scene and in front of the television who had been waiting for a long time.

Zhou Huimin sat in front of the piano and began to play and sing, as elegant as a white swan.

Being able to play the piano was a very charming skill, and Zhou Huimin was now charming the audience to no end.

She was intoxicated in her own world, her heart full of longing for A-Ming.

In the audience, this time Old Gui, Lin Ni, Lao Lao Lao Wei, Xu Shufen, Zhou Ma, Wei Lingling, and Li Zhi had all come.

Zhou Ma was not only listening to her daughter's singing but also watching the reactions of other audience members; they seemed to be intoxicated by her daughter's singing as well.

Although this atmosphere was very good and made her feel a sense of pride, it would be even more prideful if her daughter could become a university student.

As the song ended, the applause was so enthusiastic that it even surpassed Anita Mui's "Season of the Wind" earlier; it was clearly a soothing love song, but because of the performer's devoted interpretation and the mutual reflection of the singing and piano, the whole audience was rocked along with it.

Even Anita Mui had to admit that from the perspective of technical processing, even if the judges were really allowed to score, her own chance of winning was not high; this song was simply too suitable for A-Min.

Given that the audience all liked Zhou Huimin, the program team simply let her announce the competition results.

When she shouted the name "Anita Mui" from her own mouth, she looked even happier than the person involved and gave Anita Mui a big hug.

Anita Mui was the winner of the gold award, automatically obtaining a contract with Capital Artists and being strongly promoted; next, there would be a new song jointly created for her by Huang Zhan and Joseph Koo.

Wei Qishan, a senior sister under Teacher Dai Sicong, won the silver award, and someone named Huang Juling won the bronze award.

As for Julian Cheung, because Zhou Huimin withdrew from the competition, he filled the vacancy to participate in the finals and only took 15th place, but because of his appearance and eloquence, he had already been noticed by TVB executives; having the opportunity to start from hosting next seemed not bad either.

To celebrate the successful conclusion of the program, Old Gui treated everyone to a meal tonight, and the two families ate together and asked about it by the way.

"Next week ATV's 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' is going to have a trial recording; does anyone of you want to participate?"

"What is a millionaire?" his son Wei Jiefang asked curiously.

"This is an idea your son came up with for ATV, a quiz show; if you can answer 15 questions correctly, you can take away 1 million Hong Kong dollars."

"Ah, one million!" Lao Lao Lao Wei said in shock, "I'll participate, I'll participate!"

Old Gui: "Listen clearly, it's a trial shoot, which is a simulated competition."

"Ah?"

Returning to Yanjing, Wei Ming didn't plan to stay long; he thought about seeing Biaozi, Xiao Mei, and the others, and after meeting the actors, he prepared to go to Sichuan.

When he saw Biaozi, he had just finished his scenes in "Burning of the Old Summer Palace," which could be considered completely wrapped up, and he still had a bald head.

Wei Ming called Biaozi and Xiao Mei, and also called Brother Feng, and had a meal at the Long March Canteen.

"I heard from your uncle about you wanting to film a movie; you really are capable of tossing about." Brother Feng raised his glass, and everyone clinked them.

"A person only has a few decades in this life; I want to try everything."

Saying this to a person from Shandong, he couldn't empathize; isn't stability the best thing?

"I have a comrade-in-arms, or not really a comrade-in-arms, from the same unit before, who joined the army a few years later than me; we gathered together some time ago, and now he has transferred to a civilian position; he was doing well, but he wanted to mix in the film and television industry, and he is currently pondering about changing careers." This was also what Brother Feng didn't understand; if it weren't for his wife back then, he wouldn't even have wanted to come to Peking University.

Wei Ming smiled: "Then this comrade-in-arms of yours might just like more freedom; nowadays, doing film and television really can't make big money, but in a few years, when the economy improves, film and television will make money quickly, and even if you can't make money, you can still go on business trips at public expense and travel all over the place."

"That's true," Biaozi on the side said with regret, "It's a pity that our group has been spinning around in Yanjing, and we are about to go to the Chengde Mountain Resort, but it turns out I've wrapped up."

Xiao Mei smiled: "Then you can go to Sichuan with Big Brother."

"My wife is still here; I can't get away; if you want to talk about going, you should be the one to go; have you ever taken your wife back to her maiden home?" Biaozi retorted.