[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rising-in-1979":3,"chapter-rising-in-1979-rising-in-1979-chapter-449":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rising in 1979",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2261157,4412,"Chapter 449","rising-in-1979-chapter-449",449,"\u003Cp>At Magu Airport, Wei Ming met Qiao Feng, surprised but mostly delighted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The organization chose to send a Peking University representative to accompany Wei Ming abroad rather than an active-duty soldier, signaling a gesture of trust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qiao Feng was not only Wei Ming’s friend but also a seasoned veteran.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qiao Feng was even happier than Wei Ming—he had flown directly from Beijing to Magu, his first time on a plane, and now he was about to experience his first trip abroad!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hey, I owe it all to you, I’m so thrilled I can’t stop telling your sister-in-law and the others.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There’s a subsidy for going abroad, paid in foreign currency; if you spend less overseas, you can send more home to your wife and kids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Feng Ge, you’ve become a leader lately—haven’t lost your martial skills, have you?” Wei Ming asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qiao Feng flexed his biceps: “What kind of talk is that? How about we spar later?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming joined Peking University mainly to train in military hand-to-hand combat with Qiao Feng and in martial arts for physical conditioning with Biaozi; he felt his body was far superior to his past life’s at the same stage—no matter how many times he went at it in one night, he was still energetic the next day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He waved his hand with a smile: “As long as the skills are still there. I heard Italy has a lot of thieves.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What? But isn’t that a developed country? Can there really be thieves?” Qiao Feng couldn’t believe it; information about foreign countries had flooded China, all of it glowing praise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming: “Still, be careful.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his past life, he’d been to Europe—Italy, France, Spain—good heavens, he got pickpocketed three times a day; he didn’t know if things would be better in the 1980s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their stopover in Hong Kong was brief, no time to meet Ah Min; Wei Ming took Qiao Feng to eat at Hello Bakery at the airport. Qiao Feng loved it, kept praising it—he didn’t know the restaurant was tied to Wei Ming, he just loved meat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With “The Millionaire” wildly popular, the Hello Bakery brand’s value skyrocketed as its sponsor; though they arrived outside meal hours, it was still the busiest restaurant in the terminal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Gui and Liu Bin were already planning to open a branch in Macau, and of course, they’d keep adding more branches in Hong Kong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, they’d begin penetrating the Taiwan market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After eating, they boarded a long-haul flight; Qiao Feng stayed alert the whole time, wary of anyone approaching him—even the beautiful flight attendants who admired him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Don’t get too close!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the committee had already notified them, Xu Jinjiang was waiting at Marco Polo Airport with a sign when they landed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t see Director Wang Shuchen because the committee hadn’t invited them to stay for the closing ceremony—meaning “The Fantastic Tale of Heaven” hadn’t won any award, so they left early.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But “The Fantastic Tale of Heaven” performed well on the rights market, selling distribution rights to several countries: first, it had the original novel’s backing; second, its artistic quality was truly international; third, the story was simple and accessible, with low viewing barriers—though all profits belonged to the BBC.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only here did Wei Ming learn from Xu Jinjiang that Ah Long and his wife had also come to Italy for their honeymoon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But they’re probably in Milan right now,” Xu Jinjiang explained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, let them enjoy themselves—we’ll head to the hotel first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the end of the film festival, hotel rooms were plentiful, yet Xu Jinjiang and Xia Wenshi still shared a room—not because of scarcity, but to save money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After settling Wei Ming and Qiao Feng, Xu Jinjiang went next door to call Xia Wenshi, and the four of them headed out to explore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you came to the water city, you had to take a boat ride, then stroll through St. Mark’s Square.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Little Wei, I didn’t believe it before, but now I do,” Qiao Feng said in St. Mark’s Square.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Believe what?” Wei Ming was taking photos, snapping pictures of Xu Jinjiang and Xia Wenshi together—these two had been here for days and still hadn’t taken a single photo together; he wondered what they’d been doing all this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thieves. More than one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qiao Feng pointed to a young man with curly hair ahead and to the side, who was edging close to a married couple—likely foreign tourists, judging by their stout build, probably rich, clueless Americans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming: “Don’t interfere. As long as they don’t pickpocket us, it’s fine. These thieves might be organized.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qiao Feng nodded. If it were just him, he might have intervened—but the organization sent him abroad to protect Wei Ming. Even if he encountered a murderer, his priority was to get Xiao Wei out of the scene first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this experience had definitely dispelled some of his illusions about foreign countries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah Jiang, take a photo of me and Feng Ge here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming posed beneath the flying lion statue in St. Mark’s Square—the flying lion had stood here for nearly a thousand years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Golden Lion Award’s lion was modeled after this statue; the trophy was a replica of this lion—it was Venice’s most iconic sculpture, symbolizing the spirit of Venice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming asked Xu Jinjiang: “Ah Jiang, have you noticed anything strange about this lion?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Strange? Because of the wings?” Xu Jinjiang laughed. “Europeans love giving lions wings.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming: “The wings are fine—they’re very European—but does its face and overall form look like a typical European lion statue?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Qiao Feng listened intently, eager to hear his insight—after all, Xiao Wei had deep knowledge of lions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, I can’t see clearly,” Xu Jinjiang tilted his head up; the lion was mounted too high, he could only make out its general shape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Wei Ming, from the future, knew the lion’s chin bore fine strands of hair, its nose was large with flared nostrils, its fangs bared in a fierce expression—elements strikingly similar to Tang Dynasty tomb guardian beasts, yet unlike any typical medieval Romanesque or Gothic lion statues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, Italian research teams used lead isotope analysis on samples of the original bronze lion’s casting material and confirmed the copper came from mines in the lower Yangtze River region of China.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This cultural symbol Venice had proudly claimed for centuries was likely a Chinese lion—possibly even a tomb guardian beast—that had been modified many times into its current unique form, though no one held this view at the time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Xia Wenshi suddenly pulled out a small telescope and handed it to Xu Jinjiang, who stepped back, then farther back, until he could clearly see the lion’s face—but he regretfully realized he didn’t know what other European lion statues looked like, nor what Tang Dynasty lion statues looked like; Xu Jinjiang sighed—he was still far behind the learned Professor Wei.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, Wei Ming spotted miniature replicas of the St. Mark’s flying lion for sale and bought two immediately—he felt he could write a paper after returning home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When they returned to the hotel, before even reaching their floor, they were stopped in the lobby.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you Mr. Wei?” A middle-aged bald Caucasian man stepped forward.\u003C\u002Fp>",1207,"2026-06-19T16:30:59.356Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","47a820358c1e81fddb102ed453e3ea3862265b32294c74811683fb82dc7a11af","rising-in-1979-chapter-450","rising-in-1979-chapter-448",509,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frising-in-1979-cover.jpg"]