[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rising-in-1979":3,"chapter-rising-in-1979-rising-in-1979-chapter-495":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},2261203,4412,"Chapter 495: Throwing","rising-in-1979-chapter-495",495,"\u003Cp>Liang Jiahui suddenly appeared: “With this bonus reward, our campus selection will definitely attract more attention—thank you, thank you!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Ruilong introduced: “Now Ah Hui is our deputy editor-in-chief at ‘Yes!’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, Editor Liang, my apologies for the oversight.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wei Dao, you’re too kind.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a few jokes between the two old acquaintances, Liang Jiahui brought up some serious business.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We want to invite Miss Zhou Hui Min as the cover star for the debut issue of ‘Yes!’ so we thought you could help us reach out,” Liang Jiahui rubbed his hands—he believed that with a little diva on board, they could instantly crush the middle school consumer market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Logically, Wei Ming should help—it was his own business, and Ah Min wanted to develop in the music scene; shooting magazine covers was part of the job, and if he asked her, she’d say yes whether she wanted to or not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wei Ming said: “Since this is official business, personal feelings shouldn’t interfere—let you guys invite her yourselves. I trust your abilities.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, Wei Ming followed Ah Long into his office—he had something to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shangguan Brother has left Yulang International. Shangguan Xiaobao still wants to create and plans to use our channels to publish his manga volumes, and I’d like to invite Shangguan Xiaowei to be the comic instructor for ‘Maniac’—many of our young artists still lack solid fundamentals compared to veteran creators, and their experience is worth learning from.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming nodded: “Absolutely necessary. Among our manga artists, only you, Ma Rongcheng, and Niu Lao have skills competitive with Japanese manga; Li Zhiqing, who draws ‘The Legend of the Condor Heroes,’ has his own unique style—but everyone else still falls short. They’re just teenagers or early twenties, still lacking their own artistic voice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Liangzi has been doing well lately—he’s now fully independent on ‘Qin Shi Ming Yue,’ no longer Guazhe  my name. Take a look.” He handed Wei Ming Liang Ao Tian’s latest artwork.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hmm, there’s your spirit in it. I hope he can carve his own path.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Currently, only four of Maniac Comics’ titles have international market appeal: ‘Dragon Ball,’ ‘Transformers,’ ‘Feng Yun,’ and ‘Qin Shi Ming Yue’—with ‘Dragon Ball,’ the latest release, drawing the strongest response.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming had already read Zhao Rude’s ‘City Hunter’—the story was excellent, packed with compelling moments—but young artists’ skills still lagged behind the genius of Hoshino Tsukasa.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, Hoshino Tsukasa was barely twenty-four himself, yet he’d already become a sensation in Japan with ‘Cat’s Eye,’ and recently his work had been imported to Hong Kong by Huang Yulang’s ‘Yulang Comics,’ sparking a reading frenzy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah Long pulled another invitation from his drawer: “For you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming took it and saw it was from ATV—inviting him to be a judge for the first-ever Asia Beauty Pageant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whoa, they’re finally getting started.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah Long said: “You’re famous enough—if the Miss Hong Kong pageant hadn’t ended in June, Mr. Shao  would’ve invited you too.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It should’ve been done long ago; ATV delayed it to tie the results to the Miss World competition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, the winner of ATV’s Asia Beauty Pageant gets direct entry into the Miss Universe contest—and no one has snapped up this event yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So, any beauties in this year’s Miss Hong Kong?” Wei Ming accepted the invitation and couldn’t help asking about Li Jiaxin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Li Zhi knocked and entered—the office door was open, and she’d been listening outside for a while: “Miss Hong Kong? Meh. I think the winner, Yang Xueyi, is way below me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Xueyi? He’d never heard of her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Ruilong flipped through the bookshelf behind him: “Oh, I’ve got the last two months’ Ming Pao here—here, found it. Judge for yourself, Li Jie.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming chuckled: “Li Jie? She’s half a year younger than you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All three were born in 1961, the Year of the Ox—Ah Long was oldest by month, Wei Ming tallest, and as for bust size—well, she really was Li Jie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming glanced—the winner had no standout features; even her face was inferior to Li Zhi’s weakest features, let alone her figure and fair skin, which were absolute knockout material.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Zhi herself was the runner-up of the second Asia Beauty Pageant—if she entered this year, no one else stood a chance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The runner-up of this Miss Hong Kong, however, caught Wei Ming’s eye—not because she was beautiful, though she won “Miss Photogenic”; in his eyes, she wasn’t particularly pretty, but her acting was phenomenal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because her name was Zhang Manyu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Right now, she couldn’t yet be called an actress—she was just a nineteen-year-old buck-toothed girl with a passing fancy for showbiz, having lived mostly in Britain until returning to Hong Kong last year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming thought he could cast her in a small role; later, if they made ‘Home Alone,’ every character could be a star.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming accepted ATV’s invitation and used Ah Long’s phone to reply—he’d only attend the finals, since he was busy: Maniac Comics had several manga series needing his independent or co-written plot development, especially the top titles, which couldn’t afford to go off-track.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>ATV was delighted to accept, and the very next day, after Wei Ming, Cheng Long, and Hong Jinchao finished dinner, TVB’s invitation arrived—they wanted Wei Ming to judge the second New Talent Singing Awards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a master of balance, Wei Ming treated TV stations the same way he treated women—so after confirming the finals of both shows didn’t clash, he agreed to judge the New Talent Singing Awards finals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The invitation was also sent to Zhou Hui Min and Anita Mui, the two most famous contestants from the first season—Anita Mui couldn’t refuse, and after being persuaded by Anita, Ah Min agreed too—considering it promotion for her new album.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the ‘Yes!’ cover and interview, she’d initially hesitated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when Liang Jiahui mentioned that ‘Yes!’ was a sister publication to ‘Maniac Comics,’ Ah Min had no hesitation left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you, Miss Vivian. When can we shoot? The debut issue releases early August—ideally, we’d like the photos taken within this week, a full photo set.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How about this Friday?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Ah Min had photoshoots on Friday, Wei Ming and Xue Jie finally had time to watch ‘The Five Lucky Stars’ together—Wei Ming had to pretend it was his first time, though in reality, including his past life, he’d seen it six or seven times.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The film’s box office had already easily surpassed ten million—Zou Wenhuai told the screenwriter to start drafting ‘The Five Lucky Stars 2’ immediately, so they could resume filming once Hong Jinchao and the crew returned from Europe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oh, wait—he couldn’t—they still had to film that Hollywood blockbuster. Then maybe delay it slightly—hopefully they could catch the next Spring Festival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then asked He Guanchang beside him: “Ah Chang, when’s Wei Ming’s ‘Home Alone’ coming out?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They say Christmas.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, Christmas.” For some reason, Zou Wenhuai exhaled in relief—he shouldn’t have. He’d heard the male lead was just a little boy from the mainland, not Li Lianjie—why was he nervous?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>True, he wasn’t Li Lianjie, but Xi Zi now often called himself Li Lianjie’s junior and could strike poses convincingly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After watching the movie, Gong Ying asked about Xi Zi’s condition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My grandfather’s taking care of him—he adores him. I even told my grandmother, who still looks so young, to have another baby—he scolded me for it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gong Ying covered her mouth and giggled: “He scolded you right—how dare you joke like that with elders, especially your grandfather?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming didn’t say it, but he felt his grandfather was spoiling Xi Zi too much. Xiao Hong said he even brought him to work, claiming he was cultivating Xi Zi’s Hong Kong middle-class kid demeanor—for the sake of their films.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiao Hong seemed jealous—probably wondering: Am I the real one, or is he?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At home, Gong Ying asked about Wei Hong’s stock trading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, lost a few hundred thousand yesterday.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t worry—several hundred thousand U.S. dollars is nothing compared to her four-million-dollar capital. Plus, she’s got eight million in leverage—so she’s controlling twelve million dollars total. A loss of a few hundred thousand is just a one-percent fluctuation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their bedroom had a TV, so after making love, Wei Ming turned it on—ATV was broadcasting the preliminary round of the Asia Beauty Pageant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Wei Ming fixated on the channel, Xue Jie’s bare foot under the blanket playfully kicked his leg.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So many beauties—pretty, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wei Ming stared straight ahead: “All just cheap cosmetics. Compared to my two sisters, they’re nothing—I’m only watching for work.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Work? What kind of work?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Wei Ming told her about being a pageant judge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gong Ying crossed her arms: “Why would they ask you to judge something like this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Didn’t you see Huang Zhan and Cai Lan on the judging panel? Writers are the best at spotting beauty—it’s perfectly normal to invite them. Besides, I have strong ties with ATV.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1490,"2026-06-19T16:30:59.356Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","8a60665075ff744195572b3a3140c81e05ac9a152e5663577a11dbb5e9174416","rising-in-1979-chapter-496","rising-in-1979-chapter-494",509,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frising-in-1979-cover.jpg"]