Chapter 48

After passing this slope, Liu Rulong asked to switch, saying he would ride.

Wei Ming thought about it and agreed. Yanjing is high in the northwest and low in the southeast, and they happened to be coming from the northwest, so it was basically all downhill. Plus, he had been riding for two hours and was indeed a bit tired.

"Fine."

After switching positions, Wei Ming asked curiously: "What kind of business is Uncle doing in Hong Kong?"

"I'm not clear on it either. He writes to my mom often, but rarely to me. I even suspect he has another son over there." Speaking of which, they hadn't seen each other in four years.

"That shouldn't be the case. Actually, you could write to him too."

"I did, but not letters; it's basically all drawings." Speaking of this, Liu Rulong felt a bit shy.

He expressed his longing for his father and his own life in the form of comics, which made it seem less mushy.

Speaking of comics, "By the way, do you know who gave us our lecture yesterday?"

"Who?"

"Fang Cheng!"

Wei Ming had heard this name from him before; the three elders of the Chinese comics world were Hua Junwu, Ding Cong, and the other was Fang Cheng.

Then Liu Rulong talked in detail about Elder Fang's teaching process and his recent main focus—ink-wash comics.

Liu Rulong knew Wei Ming also liked reading comics and serial picture books, so he deliberately chose topics he was interested in.

Wei Ming also brought up "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King," which he had watched a while ago.

"I watched it too; it was truly too shocking. If I could be lucky enough to participate in such a masterpiece in the future, that would be great, even if I were just a small screw."

Then he worriedly said: "It's a pity that in the decades of our animated films, there have only been two feature-length masterpieces, 'Havoc in Heaven' and 'Nezha Conquers the Dragon King.' Who knows when the next one will be."

In the next twenty-plus years, domestic films would be miserable, and domestic animation even more so. Domestic films would start to recover in the market from "Hero," while domestic animation would have to wait until "Monkey King: Hero is Back" to receive high market recognition.

Along the way, the two basically chatted about films, animation, and such things. Liu Rulong carefully avoided touching on Wei Ming's sensitive areas, such as how he was doing at Peking University.

One could imagine that working for others couldn't be a comfortable life.

When the two rode to Nanluoguxiang, it was almost 12 o'clock, so they decided to grab a bite first and eat a bowl of authentic soybean paste noodles.

Liu Rulong generously stated: "I'll treat this meal. When I go find you sometime, I'll let you treat."

"Fine then~" Wei Ming wasn't being coy either. Back when they were in school, he often went to Liu Rulong's house to mooch meals. To win the favor of Liu Rulong's mother, Teacher Yang, Wei Ming had studied the hardest in the two subjects she taught: Chinese and English.

Not to mention Chinese, he had scored 95 out of 100 on the English college entrance exam, the same score as Yu Minhong the following year, but unfortunately, the final result was only calculated at 10%.

At this time, Nanluoguxiang was very different from the internet-famous street of later generations, but it could still be considered a lively street with many shops. Nearby, there was not only the Central Academy of Drama but also the setting for "Courtyard."

After eating, they soon arrived at the National Art Museum of China along the back street of the museum. Just the architectural style of this building was very artistic.

Liu Rulong said regretfully: "So beautiful! If I had known, I would have bought a camera first!"

Wei Ming was incredibly envious; having overseas connections and foreign exchange really meant you could do whatever you wanted.

But who didn't have overseas connections! Wei Ming's heart suddenly felt a burst of heat~

When passing the park outside the museum, they saw strange oil paintings, ink-wash paintings, woodcuts, and wood carvings hanging up and down on the iron fence of the park.

The artistic sensitivity of the two made them stop their bikes in tacit agreement.

These strange things also attracted many passing pedestrians or viewers like them who intended to enter the museum to see the exhibition.

Liu Rulong wondered: "How come there's an exhibition outside here too?"

Wei Ming: "A bit interesting. Let's take a look first."

"Okay!"

The two walked and looked, stopping from time to time to guess the creator's intentions. Because many works were abstract and avant-garde, they weren't the kind of paintings you understood at a glance. Of course, they weren't the kind where you just drew a line on a piece of cloth and sold it to you for ten million either.

After walking two steps, Liu Rulong suddenly pointed at a sign, "Look, this exhibition has a name; it's called the 'Stars Art Exhibition'."

Wei Ming saw it too, and there was a suggestion box next to it. He thought to himself, so this is the Stars Art Exhibition!

This was considered a very important cultural event in the 70s and 80s, and many people in the art circle never forgot these "Stars."

However, when Wei Ming came to Beijing for the second time, it was already the 90s, and the "Stars" died in its second generation. It held one more session the following year and then was gone, leaving behind only a legend.

To be honest, Wei Ming had seen too many domestic and foreign art exhibitions in later generations and felt these paintings were all small potatoes. But for Liu Rulong, who had always painted by the rules, and for the general public who had never been exposed to avant-garde art, the impact of these creations was huge.

Standing in front of a wood carving work titled "Silence," Liu Rulong regretted again not buying a camera first.

On the 40-plus-meter iron fence of the park, these avant-garde artworks were densely packed, probably numbering over a hundred pieces.

Liu Rulong sighed: "I feel like we won't be able to go to the art museum today."

Someone nearby chimed in: "I just came out from inside; there's nothing interesting, just some old-fashioned stuff. It's not as good as these outside. Although I don't understand it, I'm greatly shocked."

One inside and one outside, one old and one new, it was like the collision of two ideologies. Wei Ming felt it was quite interesting, so he was even more curious about what the scene inside was like.

!

However, when he saw the next work, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

This was an abstract oil painting titled "Hope."

In this painting, the creator placed four metaphorical items—stone, fire, lamp, and road—on the earth where dawn was about to arrive.

This left A-Long very puzzled: "How is this hope?"

A person who looked like a female college student next to them said: "Because the ideal is a stone, striking out a spark of fire; the ideal is fire, lighting the extinguished lamp!"

A-Long was even more confused. What the heck?

Seeing that Liu Rulong hadn't even heard of this poem that had been spreading wildly among various universities in Beijing recently, he looked uncultured at a glance, so the other party couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him.

"Doesn't this have the author's name? The creator is right here; go ask him yourself," said another girl who was with the girl.

Slips of paper were indeed pasted under these works. Besides the creator, some would also provide a simple introduction to the work.

The creator of this painting was named Zhong Acheng, and he also wrote a sentence: This work was created based on the poet Wei Ming's "Ideal."

Liu Rulong suddenly became happy: "A-Ming, there's a poet here with the same name as you!"

Wei Ming hadn't intended to hide it from his brother, but he hadn't asked about his recent situation before. This was just the right time to confess to him.

"This Wei Ming is me," he said.

Liu Rulong: "..."

A-Long had been waiting for Wei Ming to be unable to hold back his laughter, but he didn't; he was very serious the whole time.

"So, this is real?!"

Wei Ming nodded.

Fine, for Liu Rulong, there was nothing unacceptable. After all, it was just those two lines of poetry. Thinking back, Wei Ming's essays in class were often recited as model essays, so it was just a small modern poem.

"Sure enough, gold will shine wherever it is. So, besides working at Peking University, you're also a poet, right!" Liu Rulong patted Wei Ming on the shoulder.

Wei Ming: "Uh, it's not just a poet..."

He was just about to say more when someone suddenly walked up to him, looked him up and down, and then called out in surprise: "You, you're Wei Ming? The Wei Ming who wrote 'Ideal' in seven steps?!"

(End of chapter)