Chapter 463

This time, besides Wei Ming's *In the Heat of the Sun*, Li Cunbao's *Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain* was elected with high votes, being the top of this session and also the novel with the greatest influence last year. Both film and television adaptations were favored, among which the film adaptation rights were taken by Director Xie Jin of the Shanghai Er Yingchang.

Additionally, there was Lu Yao's *Life*, which Director Wu Tianming had also confirmed to start filming, but he was still waiting for Zhou Zhou Lijing's schedule; this was the male lead candidate he had decided on, and the drama version of *Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain* also wanted to use Zhou Zhou Lijing.

Among Wei Ming's acquaintances, Wei Wei Junyi's *Baptism*, Wang Meng's *Difficult to Meet*, Chen Rong's *Secrets of Prince Village*, Wang Wang Anyi's *Passing*, and Jiang Jiang Zilong's *Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple* were also selected. Soon, the bound volumes would appear in major bookstores across the country, allowing readers to read enough and read happily at once.

However, Wei Hong was somewhat dissatisfied: "Why isn't *District 9* there? Isn't that a very excellent medium-length literary work!"

She liked this novel very much, and even from the perspective of influence, *District 9* was even better.

Wei Ming smiled: "Serious literature and pure literature are still clearly distinguished; even abroad, they are judged separately. Everyone's impression of my previous literary work is still stuck at two years ago."

Indeed, when attending the National Excellent Medium-Length Novel Awards, peers all felt that Wei Ming had already given up on serious literature; he hadn't produced anything for two years since *In the Heat of the Sun*.

Like Chen Rong and Wang Wang Anyi, they had expressed this regret more than once. Although the songs Wei Ming wrote, such as *My Motherland and I*, were also very shocking, they always felt that he would only not waste this talent if he wrote novels.

And editor friends took the opportunity to inquire, hoping to take down Wei Ming's next work, but Wei Ming really had no goods now.

One was no time; every month he needed to complete KPIs, one *Black Cat Detective*, and several comic outlines.

This alone had already occupied most of his spare time besides eating, sleeping, and making love.

And now that the publishing company on Melinda's side had just opened, Wei Ming also had to create English medium-length novels for this cause, so he really couldn't squeeze out a bit of time.

Then there was the decrease in the desire to express. In this era, educated youth literature, scar literature, and reform literature, he had already written them all. He didn't want to repeat, and he didn't want to make do.

Now he was completely not lacking money; he didn't need to force himself to produce a manuscript a week for the manuscript fee of ten yuan per thousand words, so he would inevitably wait until he had something he wanted to express or something he was interested in before writing.

But he couldn't say it so clearly, as it would make him look like he was showing off, so he said to the editors: "I prefer novels now and am brewing a new book. It's like Nezha's mother; it might take a few years to brew before it can be born."

However, in order to alleviate everyone's urgent mood to see Wei Ming's new work, Wei Ming revealed: "Actually, I wrote a play script last year, and it's at the Beijing People's Art Theater right now. If you want it, you can go and discuss it with the People's Art Theater to see if it can be published."

Wei Ming threw the decision-making power to the People's Art Theater. The People's Art Theater had no reason to refuse this kind of matter, even if it was pre-heating for the play version. In the end, *Donkey Gets Water* was taken down first by Sister Zhang Zhang Dening of *Beijing Literature*.

It had been almost four years since Wei Ming's last heavyweight work was published in *Beijing Literature*, making people sigh infinitely.

It was uncertain whether *Donkey Gets Water* would be published in March or April, but Peking University started school at the end of February. Wei Ming only showed his face at the start of school, officially launched the "Wei Ming Scholarship," held a donation ceremony, and then basically was busy doing post-production at the Beijing Er Yingchang.

At the same time, Wei Hong began preparing for her study abroad application. There was no difficulty in the country. In order to save some foreign exchange for the country, Wei Hong did not apply for the public-funded study abroad quota; she bore the expenses herself. The school and the Ministry of Education wouldn't block her. The key was whether Stanford would accept her.

There was no problem with her grades; she passed the TOEFL with a super high score, and the million-level bestseller like *Cube? Anyone Can Play* was also a plus.

However, to be foolproof, Wei Ming still wrote a letter to his great-aunt, wanting to help get a recommendation letter.

Didn't expect the great-aunt to handle things so efficiently. Before Wei Ming went to Hong Kong, the other party replied, saying the recommendation letter was settled and would be mailed directly from that big shot to Stanford when the time came.

As for the big shot's name, it was Shiing-Shen Chern.

After Wei Hong knew, she sighed: "Didn't expect it to be Shiing-Shen Chern from Berkeley who recommended me to Stanford."

Shiing-Shen Chern was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, the first director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in the United States, and even more so, one of the top mathematicians still alive in the world today. Calling him a master was not an exaggeration.

Because they both belonged to the San Francisco Bay Area and were both prestigious schools in the West, Stanford and Berkeley had a certain competitive relationship, especially in mathematics. Because they were both Chinese, Shiing-Shen Chern was actually Wei Hong's most ideal mentor candidate.

"Why, now you want to go to Berkeley, it's not too late. The recommendation letter hasn't been written yet," Wei Ming teased, "Maybe you can even become Shiing-Shen Chern's closing disciple."

Wei Hong shook her head: "I also studied Berkeley before; it produced more Nobel laureates than Stanford and is very suitable for settling down to do research, but I feel I'm not suitable, and Stanford is closer to Silicon Valley. Choosing Stanford and getting familiar with Silicon Valley is also convenient for doing investment in the future."

Silicon Valley, ah. If Xiaohong could figure out Silicon Valley and get more appreciated shares, starting from their generation, it would definitely not be a problem for the Wei family to have wealth for three more generations.

"Alright, you continue writing the application materials. I'm going to Uncle Pingan's place; he has something to find me for."

"Two things. One is that I'm going abroad to Canada to find Ni Ni Guangnan, who is a visiting scholar, to chat about the Han card matter. We have already exchanged letters several times before. He is an expert in this area, and Professor Wang Wang Xuan and I are preparing to visit him in person to earn his joining."

Wei Ming nodded. Speaking of the Han card alone, Ni Ni Guangnan was indeed an expert, which was conducive to Founder occupying the first move in the Han card field. In his previous life, Founder also made Han cards, but the start was later, and it couldn't bypass a figure named Zhang Xuanlong.

"And then there is," Wei Pingan said, "Didn't you say you were going to Hong Kong to receive an award? Although it feels meaningless, the school still approved it for you, but you have to do a favor."

"What favor?"

It turned out that Old Zhu Zhu Guangqian was invited to give lectures at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, which happened to be in March.

Old Mr. Zhu Zhu Guangqian was a person from the last century and was already 86 years old this year. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong and the University of Edinburgh and had taught at Peking University for nearly 40 years, teaching aesthetics and Western literature. He was a treasure-level old professor at Peking University.

Although Wei Ming hadn't attended his classes, he often bumped into him when patrolling, and he hadn't read fewer of his works. Reading those Western literatures along with his works would be more conducive to understanding.

"You don't need to take care of him all the time; it's just that the grandson accompanying the old gentleman to Hong Kong is too young and doesn't have this kind of experience, and hasn't even sat on a plane, so you need to help take care of him on the road."

"I am duty-bound for this," Wei Ming agreed readily and said to Uncle Pingan again, "If you have the opportunity to pass through San Francisco, you can also go see the great-aunt. She has a very good relationship with the second great-aunt; she should be very happy to see you."

How could Wei Pingan not want to see her? The mother didn't give him a dream on New Year's Eve. If he couldn't go to Hong Kong to see his uncle for the time being, then asking this great-aunt would also be a way.

In the evening, Wei Ming prepared to go to Tuanjiehu to sleep. When he went over, he happened to bump into Little Mei.

He was also just looking for Wei Ming: "Brother, this *Trademark Law* is about to be officially implemented. Shouldn't our Oriental Dongfang Dongfang Xintiandi also get a trademark?"

"Oh, this is good news. The implementation of the Trademark Law shows that we should attach importance to the development of the market economy."

Trademark, or it could be called a logo. A simple pattern can give consumers a more intuitive impression. Previously, Oriental Dongfang Dongfang Xintiandi hadn't considered the matter of a trademark, but the matter of a trademark had long existed.

Some time-honored brands like Kyoto Nin Jiom, Tsingtao Beer, and China Railway had that logo during the Republic of China period. In recent years, like the Bank of China and Tongrentang, they had also successively designed their own exclusive logos, but there was no clear law to protect trademarks before.

Mei Mei Wenhua was thinking of letting Wei Ming design it; after all, he had a foundation in art.

What Wei Ming thought was: "How about this, let's take advantage of this opportunity to advertise. You post in the newspaper, saying that we are collecting trademarks for Oriental Dongfang Dongfang Xintiandi. If the plan is adopted, we will reward so-and-so amount of money. I will also make one, blind submission. Finally, you, Aunt Qian, and you guys discuss to see which one is the most suitable and most creative. I still trust the wisdom of the masses more."

"Hey, this idea is good!" Mei Mei Wenhua nodded without hesitation; it still had to be Brother Ming's brain.

It was just how much this bonus should be. It couldn't be too much, as it would easily attract people's attention, and it couldn't be too little, otherwise people wouldn't have motivation, and it wouldn't achieve the purpose of making it widely known.

Wei Ming told him so much, then went upstairs to find his sister. The time for him to go to Hong Kong was getting closer and closer; must cherish it.

Sister Xue was also there. In a few days, it would be her 30th birthday, and Wei Ming would set off after the birthday.

Gong Xue actually didn't want to pass it. This was her 30th birthday. After passing this birthday, she would be a woman over 30, while Ma Xiaowei was still a young man in his early 20s.

However, it wouldn't work even if she didn't want to pass it. Zhu Lin laughed: "I passed it like this last year; you have to come once too."

Thinking of how crazy the three of them played when Zhu Lin had her birthday last year, Wei Ming was a bit looking forward to that day coming soon.

While waiting for this day to come, *Night at the Museum* was officially published in *King of Fairy Tales*. Although it interrupted one issue of *Black Cat Detective* because of this, the sales actually showed a growing trend.

The sales of *King of Fairy Tales*, which had been stagnant for a long time, finally rose again, and it wasn't the New Year or a festival, but it also brought a wave of visiting peaks to the Forbidden City.

As for abroad, with the golden signboard, coupled with the super high quality of *Night at the Museum* carefully polished, the English version's sales in several countries in the UK and US soon broke 500,000, becoming the first blockbuster after the company was established.

With this signboard work, it was much easier for the company to talk about cooperation with those writers when going out, and the situation was opened up all at once.

And Melinda was still continuously hitting the charts, promoting, and buying announcements, determined to build this picture book story into a long-selling classic.

Additionally, the specific idea of the *Goosebumps* series of books proposed by Wei Ming also made her feel it was very promising. Adolescents are at an age of pursuing excitement, and with a bit of horror, plus those magical brain holes of Wei Ming, maybe they could create a miracle in book sales!

She wrote back to Wei Ming, preparing to take *Honey, I Shrunk the Kids* to test the waters first, making a booklet book. If it succeeded, then do *Night at the Museum*.

"Also, since it's going to be a series, you must work hard. Don't always think about screwing women; it's best if you can write two new stories every month."

When Melinda's letter arrived in Beijing, Wei Ming had already finished Gong Xue's birthday and set off for Hong Kong.

This was a direct flight. Next to his seat was the 86-year-old aesthetics master Mr. Zhu Zhu Guangqian. The old gentleman was not tall, only about 1.5 meters, with a head of silver hair, and his body was even worse than when Wei Ming was patrolling.

Next to him, his grandson was obviously much taller and stronger, and his spirit was also full, curious about everything.

The grandson's name was Wan Wang Xiaoping, in his twenties, and he had just graduated from Anhui Normal University last year.

The reason he followed his mother's surname was mainly because there were many children. His mother gave birth to four, and his father worked outside all year round, so his mother was very hardworking. Coupled with the fact that his maternal grandfather was also the master of Ci studies, Professor Wan Minhao, he let him follow his mother's surname, which could be considered inheriting the Wan family's mantle.

These were all things Wei Ming found out while waiting for the plane. He also liked to listen to gossip.

"Ma Xiaowei, are you staying with us when you get there?" After the plane stabilized, Mr. Zhu asked Wei Ming.

Mr. Zhu's visit to Hong Kong Chinese University this time was mainly to attend the "Qian Bin Si Academic Culture Lecture," which is one of the most influential academic culture forums in the Chinese-speaking world. It was founded by New Asia College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1978, inviting a Chinese or foreign scholar every year to give a series of public lectures around Chinese history and culture. Those invited are all authorities in the industry.