Chapter 475

Not to mention abroad, later even people in China did the same thing—just look at how big that Gymnastics Prince’s brand became.

Of course, the prerequisite for this is that the founder’s name carries sufficient influence; Pierre Cardin was a famous designer, and the Gymnastics Prince was then China’s athlete with the most Olympic gold medals.

But Mei Wenhua’s fame pales in comparison—he lacks market recognition, and frankly, his name doesn’t ring as loudly as Debiao’s. Now he’s already become the representative figure of China’s hard-core martial arts stars; once _Martial Arts Chronicle_ is released, he could directly endorse men’s apparel brands.

Mei Wenhua had a clear understanding of this, so he immediately decided to launch a “Debiao” men’s apparel line, likely following the style of later brands like Jinba and Seven Wolves—hard-core men’s wear.

If successful, it could supply Dongfang Xintiandi and even seize counter space from other clothing stores.

Men’s wear was just a trial run for brandification; Mei Wenhua believed women’s wear offered higher profit margins, so the subsequent women’s brand would be the priority.

Wei Ming proposed the potential of a sports brand, since next year was the Olympics, and this would be Weng Weng’s first Olympics, inevitably sparking a nationwide fitness craze.

Too bad Meihua brand was the unshakable official team uniform—otherwise, this would’ve been a perfect advertising opportunity.

They were at the Overseas Chinese Apartment; not long after, Xu Shufen and Wei Jiefang returned—one buying groceries, the other picking up the kids.

“Brother~ Brother~”

As Old Wei walked in, Wei Ming heard a chorus of “Brother!” as Xizi and Lele rushed in together.

Recently, Ping’an Uncle had traveled to Canada on business, and Xiao Yan Auntie’s workplace was busy, so Old Wei and his wife, having nothing else to do, took over picking up the kids at night—Old Wei rode his bicycle, with one child on the backseat and one on the front bar.

Debiao and Xiao Mei quickly stood up to take their leave; the family had already prepared a meal for them.

At dinner, Xizi asked Wei Ming: “Brother, when are we going to Hong Kong to shoot a film?”

Ever since he learned about it, he’d been thinking about it nonstop—he’d already bragged to his classmate Xiao Mei, and he even planned to help Sister Wang Fei deliver something to her father.

“Didn’t I say we’d have to wait until summer vacation?”

Hearing they still had to wait two months, Xizi was miserable; Wei Jiefang said: “We can’t go to Hong Kong for now, but next month we can go to Northeast China!”

“What’s fun about the Northeast? I’ve been there before.”

His maternal grandfather was a Northeastern commander—he’d gone often and found it stale.

Old Wei chuckled: “I’ve never been. Since you have, you’ll have to introduce me to a couple of Northeastern tigers.”

Xizi: “I don’t know any Northeastern tigers, but I know a few fool deer.”

They bantered back and forth; after dinner, Wei Ming went into the study with Lele, asking him to help review the songs Wei Ming had recently written for Amin.

An hour after dinner, Lu Xiaoyan came to pick up the kids, and the two little ones immediately threw themselves into their mother’s arms.

Lu Xiaoyan soothed the children while chatting with Wei Ming about work—_Dear, I Shrunk the Kids_ had received a good response.

“So, any new ideas like that recently?”

Wei Ming had indeed written some and sent them to Melinda, but hadn’t translated them into Chinese, since they didn’t fit China’s context.

“Why not? Let me see.”

“You wouldn’t understand even if you read it—I’ll tell you the story.” Then Wei Ming told her about a small town where a killer clown appeared, and children banded together to fight the demon.

Previously, Melinda’s letters had suggested the horror level of the _Goosebumps_ series could be raised further—American kids were quite resilient to scares—so Wei Ming had written two stories in a row.

One, titled _Clown Horror_, was finished; the other, _Child’s Play_, was still in progress.

After Wei Ming’s brief summary, Lu Xiaoyan quickly waved her hands, her arms prickling with goosebumps: “We won’t use this story. Also, you and Big Brother see us off—never come home this late again.”

Aside from Wei Ming’s story, it was also because the current security situation was chaotic, especially at night, with all kinds of crimes emerging constantly.

Lu Xiaoyan had grown up in the military and knew some martial arts, but a woman with two kids would be helpless if real trouble struck.

The Ministry of Public Security had plastered nationwide wanted posters for the “Two Wangs of Northeast,” and they were growing bolder—only the sea of the masses could contain them.

This unprecedented nationwide wanted poster also signaled how grim social conditions had become; perhaps the authorities feared excessive crackdowns would hurt economic development, so they were still hesitating.

Ping’an Uncle wouldn’t return from abroad until early May, but a letter from France arrived in Beijing by late April.

The Cannes reply was sent directly to the Children’s Film Studio; Liang Xiao personally called Wei Ming and asked him to come to the studio.

“Is it the Cannes reply?”

“Yes!”

“What did they say?”

“I don’t know—the director didn’t let me read the letter.”

Wei Ming immediately set off for the Children’s Film Studio, where besides Director Yu Lan and Liang Xiao, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaoning, two studio staff members, were also present.

They were all waiting for Wei Ming to arrive before seeing the letter—though in fact, Director Yu Lan had already read it, which was why she’d gathered everyone.

Logically speaking, if it were a rejection, there’d be no such fuss—so Wei Ming guessed: “It’s an official selection, right?”

Yu Lan smiled, opened the envelope, and pulled out the invitation: “Congratulations, Xiao Wei—your first work has been selected by Cannes. The festival opens on the 7th next month and closes on the 19th. Do you have time?”

“Of course, I can go,” Wei Ming replied, then asked, “How many people can go this time?”

Hearing this, Chen Kaige looked expectantly at Director Yu Lan—France! Cannes! Going meant becoming someone important!

Yu Lan said: “You must go. Also, the Film Bureau will send one comrade along, and there’s one more spot.”

She glanced at Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaoning: “First, ask Li Baotian if he’s available.”

That was the truth—if the lead actor was free, the assistant director wouldn’t even be considered.

Wei Ming actually wanted to bring Xizi, but next month he’s filming _Journey to the West_—no availability, so he had to reluctantly give up.

The news that _The Children of the Choir_ was selected for Cannes wasn’t publicized in China—after all, domestic films had been selected multiple times at Europe’s Big Three festivals, and animated films had even won awards, but no live-action film had ever won, not even an honorable mention, so everyone agreed it should be kept quiet.

_Under the Bridge_ had also been submitted to Cannes but wasn’t selected, so the Shanghai Film Studio planned to submit it to Venice as originally intended—Wei Ming and Xue Jie wouldn’t meet at Cannes.

As Wei Ming left the Beijing Film Studio, he met Liu Xiaoqing—_The Last Empress_ had already finished filming, her autobiography was published, and she was now waiting for _The Last Empress_ to shine both domestically and abroad to overshadow Gong Yu and Zhu Lin.

She held a newspaper and waved to stop Wei Ming: “Teacher Wei, have you seen the newspaper? Comrade Gong Yu attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a foreign-funded factory in Shenzhen!”

“Really?” Wei Ming didn’t know—he took the paper and saw: oh, it was the Lanning Factory.