Chapter 455

Wei Ming had gotten Wei Ping'an all excited, and the two chatted until very late; they were still talking even after Aunt Lu Xiaoyan had taken the two children to sleep.

It was only then that Wei Ping'an learned that his nephew planned to donate and build primary schools in the place in Sichuan where he was filming and in his grandmother's village, naming them "Spring Primary School" to commemorate *The Spring of the Sheep-Herding Class*.

These things would be prepared toward the end of the film's shooting, and it wasn't a one-off deal; he would certainly continue to donate in the future. From then on, the schools Wei Ming donated would all be uniformly named this, and he planned to invest in this without regard for cost.

Wei Ping'an sighed again, feeling that his nephew's breadth of mind and courage were incomparable to ordinary people: "But of your two songs, *Where is Spring* and *On the Hopeful Fields*, the latter seems to have greater influence. Actually, calling it Hope Primary School wouldn't be bad either."

Wei Ming waved his hand. Eh, it was better to leave that name for the state to use. He was just an individual, after all; he would do what he could with the ability he had.

He felt that if he put the name "Hope Primary School" on it, he would be shouldering the educational mission for all the impoverished children in China, and he still wanted to enjoy life.

"Uncle, this scholarship at Peking University needs a leader responsible for fairness. You know, I'm not at my post for 300 out of 365 days a year, and I might have to go to the United States with Xiao Hong next year, so I'll leave this scholarship to you."

Wei Ping'an did not decline his nephew's trust. Thinking it over, he was indeed the most suitable candidate; he would take on the responsibility for this scholarship without hesitation.

"One million! I don't know how many Peking University students will have to thank you."

Wei Ming: "Actually, one million is just a start. It looks like a lot now, but I'll definitely add more money to it in the future. I even have the idea of expanding this scholarship nationwide."

For now, the bank interest is enough. When the bank lowers interest rates in the future, if he wants to ensure a sufficiently generous scholarship, he must use financial means. Wei Ming had even thought that once the Shanghai market opened, he would set aside a sum of money specifically for this.

He would tell Xiao Hong later; she would certainly be happy to manage such a meaningful charitable fund.

Because this was a million-yuan affair—the Production Management Office under Uncle Ping'an's leadership hadn't even earned that much last year—the uncle and nephew, Wei Ping'an and Wei Ming, met with the Peking University leadership, including the Party Secretary and the President, the next day.

President Zhang Longxiang held Wei Ming's hand, moved beyond words: "Wei Laoshi is truly a hero among youth. I don't even know what to say. On behalf of all Peking University students, I thank you!"

Next were the details of the donation. However, Wei Ming had to return to Sichuan to film soon, and Peking University was about to go on break, so everyone agreed to formally establish the Wei Ming Scholarship after the semester began. Before then, the news would not be announced.

The name of this scholarship was not a problem for the President and the Secretary either. Compared to one million in solid cash, wasn't it normal for someone to want a name?

Now that it's Reform and Opening-up, thinking should also be opened up, Secretary Xiang laughed: "The hotel currently under construction in Beijing is called the Pao Sui-loong Hotel, right?"

Vice President Wang said: "Jiaotong University also has a Pao Sui-loong Library. It's all very normal."

What does that mean? Do they want me to donate a library too? Let's wait until I've really earned a "small goal" first.

Donating a building wasn't impossible. The conditions of the teaching buildings at Peking University were indeed poor now. Wei Ming had been to many foreign universities, and there were huge gaps in both software and hardware.

Because of this million that hadn't arrived yet, the school leaders personally invited Wei Ming to eat in the cafeteria at noon. The head chef personally stir-fried several hearty dishes. Other colleagues saw this and thought it was about the Mao Dun Literature Prize, thinking to themselves, is this prize really that powerful?

It was indeed big, but it certainly couldn't compare to one million.

Wei Ming was leaving the day after tomorrow. He wanted to spend tomorrow wholeheartedly with his two girlfriends, so he ran to CCTV again in the afternoon to finish everything he needed to do on this trip.

As the chief consultant for *Journey to the West*, he just wanted to ask if there were any difficulties in filming, and also, how many episodes of *Journey to the West* the Chinese people would be able to see this Spring Festival.

According to normal rules, TV series should be filmed before being broadcast, but the cost of *Journey to the West* was too high, filming was not easy, and the national attention was extremely high. Therefore, CCTV hoped to broadcast the completed episodes every Spring Festival for everyone to see. Basically, they would proceed with post-production as soon as the footage for one episode was finished.

Wei Ming had already prepared the opening theme song for them before.

When Wei Ming arrived, the *Journey to the West* crew was filming on location in coastal areas like Lianyungang. Wei Ming met Director Wang Wang Fulin, who told him this.

Lianyungang—that would be filming the Flower-Fruit Mountain plot. The first episode should be finished, but the rest was hard to say because the crew had adopted Wei Ming's suggestion and wasn't filming episode by episode, but rather according to scenes. So, even though they had been filming for half a year, there wasn't a single finished episode.

"Director Wang, how is the preparation for your *Dream of the Red Chamber* crew going?"

Hearing Wei Ming's concern, Wang Wang Fulin felt a bit embarrassed: "The script hasn't been written yet."

"Ah? Not written yet, or not finished writing?"

Later it was confirmed: it hadn't been written yet because who would write it, what the approach would be, and who would be the script consultant hadn't been decided. They had to wait for the Redology circle to see who won before deciding.

Wang Wang Fulin was truly a bit envious of Director Yang Jie at this moment. *Journey to the West* was so simple, and they had a consultant like Wei Ming who could handle things.

"Wei Laoshi, are you interested in the story of *Dream of the Red Chamber*?" Wang Wang Fulin's mind suddenly stirred.

Wei Ming hurriedly waved his hand: "I hate having too many women around. Three women make a play; just hearing about it gives me a headache. I can't even imagine the life Jia Jia Baoyu lived."

Wang Wang Fulin shook his head. He was young, after all. Although his works were mature, he seemed inexperienced and probably didn't know the wonderful uses of women yet.

That night, Wei Ming was in bed, maneuvering and conquering, killing in all directions.

Because none of the three had other plans for tomorrow, they played all night, which counted as a thorough release after a long separation and before parting again.

In the end, the three of them didn't know how they fell asleep, and they didn't wake up until the sun was high the next day.

Gong Xue scratched her somewhat messy hair: "Oh my, I suddenly remembered something."

Wei Ming lifted his head from Sister Lin's arms: "What is it?"

Gong Xue: "CCTV contacted me, asking me to host a program."

Zhu Lin also woke up: "Your vocal conditions are indeed good, but isn't it a bit of a waste of talent to be a host?"

"It's not a resident host, just a gala program, letting me host with a few crosstalk performers," Gong Xue said.

She had started as an announcer in the army, with clear articulation and strong affinity. Later, entering the film industry, she would also participate in some internal activities at the Shanghai and Beijing Film Studios if there were no films to shoot, so hosting wasn't difficult for her. In the original timeline, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Gala this year was hosted by her.

Wei Ming was still groggy, and Gong Xue added: "And they said that as long as I host, they will play clips from *Under the Bridge* on the program. This is great publicity."

Wei Ming suddenly woke up: "The program you're talking about, could it be called the Spring Festival Gala?"

Gong Xue shook her head: "I'm not clear on that, but it's a Spring Festival gala program anyway."

That must be it. Wei Ming remembered that in his past life, the host team for the first Spring Festival Gala included Liu Liu Xiaoqing. At the time, she was filming *Burning of the Imperial Palace* and could be called the top actress in the mainland film industry. They even played clips from *Burning of the Imperial Palace* at the gala.

Of course, she had the strength to compete for the top spot now, but Gong Xue was clearly more deserving of the name, with a nationwide blockbuster film and being a double winner of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers awards.

Plus, Gong Xue was currently free, so it made sense for CCTV to choose to invite her.

Hearing Gong Xue say this, Zhu Lin thought it was quite good.

"Then we'll be able to see you on TV on New Year's Eve, as if you're spending the New Year with us. It's just that you won't be able to spend the New Year with your family," Zhu Lin touched Xiao Xue's head.

Gong Xue: "That's nothing; I've been used to it for so many years. But the CCTV people said that they might want me to perform a program then. What can I perform? Unlike you, who dances well, at most I can sing a song, and I'm an amateur at that."

Zhu Lin: "Sing it. I think your singing of *On the Hopeful Fields* is quite good; anyway, it's better than me."

Wei Ming: "If you can go on stage and sing a song then, I don't think the audience will care what you sing. The atmosphere is the most important. It's said that the number of television sets nationwide is approaching 30 million now. The number of viewers on New Year's Eve might break 100 million. Think about what a huge influence that is."

Gong Xue and Zhu Lin thought about it, and it seemed just average. Which of their recent films hadn't had hundreds of millions of viewers nationwide? *Mom, Love Me Once Again* had even sold hundreds of millions at the box office relying on regular cinema ticket sales.

Seeing that the two hadn't realized the influence of the Spring Festival Gala, Wei Ming said: "How about this, I'll write a new song for Sister Xue, striving to have a representative work in music too, so you can be an amphibious star in the future."

Zhu Lin: "What amphibious? I've only heard that toads are amphibious."

"I feel like you're scolding me." Gong Xue immediately wrestled with Zhu Lin, which made Wei Ming's appetite increase greatly, preparing to eat breakfast.

No, lunch.

In the afternoon, Wei Ming stared blankly at a blank sheet of paper. What should he write? It had to fit the characteristics of this era and also be stunning. The most popular song of this first Spring Festival Gala was *Village Love*, which had once been banned and was sung by Li Guyi.

The new song written for Sister Xue couldn't be worse than *Village Love*.

And Sister Xue's singing ability was better than the average person, but there was still a gap compared to professional singers. When she was in the army, she mainly sang revolutionary songs.

Revolutionary songs.

Got it!

This song still had some difficulty in singing; he just didn't know how much worse it would be compared to Li Guyi.

So that day, Wei Ming took Gong Xue to find Teacher Gu again, asking her to teach Sister Xue some professional and easy-to-learn singing techniques.

Early the next morning, Wei Ming first went to Uncle Ping'an's house to pick up Xizi, and then came to the airport to meet Pingping and Xiao Fangfang brought by Mei Mei Wenhua.

"These two little guys don't want to leave now," Mei Mei Wenhua said helplessly, "They are so obsessed with watching *Black Cat Detective* all day long."

Wei Ming said: "Didn't I also buy you every issue of *King of Fairy Tales*?"

Pingping said: "TV is better to watch." He wasn't stupid.

Xiao Mei said: "Big Brother, how about I buy a TV for home?"

Wei Ming: "If I could buy one, I would have bought it long ago. The village doesn't have electricity yet. When Uncle and the others opened the factory, they had to go to town to do it. In the village, they can only use donkeys and mules."

Afterward, the two talked about the New Territories project, and Wei Ming also expressed praise and affirmation for the off-season discount activity Xiao Mei had organized.