Exciting 1979!

Chapter 111 Buy a car! Buy a car! (Guaranteed 1 more chapters, please give me a monthly pass!)
In order to buy this donkey meat hotpot, Wei Ming almost rode out of Yanjing City.

He heard that there was a stall selling donkey meat BBQ outside Beijing Broadcasting Institute (the predecessor of Communication University of China), so he set out early in the morning and rode for more than two hours.

There he ate it to his heart's content to make sure it was real donkey meat, and then bought some donkey meat and roasted meat.

This is Hejian donkey hotpot, the long kind. Baoding donkey hotpot is rarely seen outside Baoding.

Donkey meat can be eaten cold, but it needs to be heated up before cooking.

Wei Ming used his personal charm to borrow the fire from the international students' cafeteria, chopped some donkey meat, added some chopped green peppers, and made two for Melinda.

"Is this donkey meat? It's really special and fragrant, and the fire-baked meat is also very crispy!" Melinda was very supportive and finished one quickly. She wanted to share the second one with Wei Ming. The two of them took turns to eat, and the international students who were still eating next to them couldn't help whistling.

The two of them rarely act so high-profile in public.

Although Wei Ming's act of braving the wind and snow to buy donkey hotpot for herself was very touching, Melinda did not let him touch her at night. She was having her period, so at least she couldn't be touched there.

Wei Ming said it was okay and it would be great to play flying chess for a while.

The next day, Wei Ming continued to write his novel. However, when he met Biaozi on patrol at school, Biaozi told him, "The guy from Beijing Film Studio came again yesterday, and they also called the school, but they couldn't find you."

Wei Ming didn't know what actions Xie Jin of Shanghai Film Studio had taken, so he called them first. He learned that Director Xie had already arrived in Beijing yesterday and was expected to arrive in the afternoon.

So Wei Ming chose to wait and see. "Tell Editor Liang that I'm in seclusion writing the manuscript. Call him back when I'm done."

"okay."

~
After all, Xie Jin was a big director. After arriving at Yenching, he did not come directly to Peking University to find someone. Instead, he first found a guesthouse to stay in, and then called Peking University to contact Wei Ming to discuss a meeting time and place.

Before calling Xie Jin back, Wei Ming first called Liang Xiaosheng back to inform him that Director Xie had found his way to Yanjing.

"They came all the way to see me, don't you think it would be inappropriate for me to refuse to meet them?"

Liang Xiaosheng is a kind person, and he put himself in the other person's shoes and thought: "It's true."

Wei Ming: "If I meet him and he asks me for help, do you think I can resist?"

"It's difficult." Liang Xiaosheng was sweating with anxiety. Just handing the script over to someone else?

Fortunately, Editor-in-Chief Jiang was there to give Liang Xiaosheng some advice.

Liang Xiaosheng, who was prompted by this, said, "Writer Wei, how about this? You and Director Xie Jin meet at our Beijing Film Studio, and we can discuss who will be the one to shoot the film."

In fact, Wei Ming also thought so. Only when facing each other can there be pressure and the desire to compete be stimulated.

"Then I'll discuss it with Director Xie."

As it was getting late, they decided to meet tomorrow morning.

After Wei Ming told Xie Jin about it, he agreed after thinking for a moment.

Xie Jin understood that everyone wanted to shoot a good script and that it was not possible without competition. He even called Director Xu Sangchu, who meant: Don’t hurt the relationship, but you must get the script.

Xie Jin laughed: "Don't worry, just remember to prepare the manuscript fee."

Xie Jin made two preparations: one was high royalties, and the other was a female lead.

The next day, Wei Ming rode his bike to the gate of Beijing Film Studio to wait for Director Xie.

Liu Xiaoqing, who was passing by, was curious. Who was this person? A new actor? He looked handsome and tall.

But she was just a young newcomer, so she didn't have to humble herself to him. Wei Ming looked at her, she looked at Wei Ming, and then walked away.

As soon as she left, Liang Xiaosheng came.

"Writer Wei, what are you doing there? Come in."

Wei Ming replied: "I want to wait for Director Xie."

Liang Xiaosheng: "Then I'll wait with you."

Not long after, Director Xie came over in a taxi, a human-powered tricycle.

After the three of them introduced themselves and exchanged greetings for a while, Director Xie first praised Wei Ming for his unexpectedly young age, and then expressed some of his views on "The Shepherd". It was obvious that he had read the book very thoroughly and had a lot of ideas.

In other words, "The Shepherd" created by Wei Ming already contains the core thoughts of director Xie Jin, so it is normal to resonate with him.

Hearing the two of them chatting so happily, Liang Xiaosheng felt something was wrong.

As expected, during the subsequent three-party talks, although Wei Ming was able to please both sides and offend no one, he was clearly biased towards Director Xie Jin.

Moreover, Xie Jin's understanding of this story far exceeds that of Chen Huaiai and Xie Tieli who are preparing to join forces.

In the end, Wei Ming did choose Xie Jin, and Beijing Film Academy’s loss was not unfair. However, he also had three conditions, which were the prerequisites for cooperation.

First, we have to shoot "The Horse Herder" first.

Xie Jin naturally said nothing. Wei Ming obviously didn't want to wait. After all, the novel was very popular at the moment and men like to take advantage of the opportunity.

Second, Wei Ming has the right to make suggestions on the role, and the director needs to respect that.

He only had the right to make suggestions, not the right to make decisions, and Xie Jin agreed to this. It was normal for children to have their favorite actors.

Third~
"I'm also very curious about filming. Can I join the crew to observe and learn?"

"I would have mentioned it even if you didn't mention it. I hope you can come to the crew. If the lines need to be changed, I will also ask for your opinion." Xie Jin said with a laugh.

The status of screenwriters is indeed high nowadays. For example, in movie titles, the screenwriter is above the director, and the original work is before the screenwriter.

The next step was to discuss the details of the cooperation with Xie Jin. Wei Ming discussed with him that they would go back to the guesthouse to discuss the details of the cooperation. He asked Xie Jin to leave first, as he still had to maintain the relationship with the Beijing Film Studio.

"Director Wang, I'm really sorry this time, but after all, Director Xie Jin came here first, and I still have 'Two Bulls' and 'The Story of Two Donkeys'. How about this, when I have time, I can turn them into scripts and submit them to 'Film Creation'. Then you can shoot whichever one you want, and it's useless for anyone to argue with you."

Wang Yang was very generous and laughed: "Okay, it's settled then."

Wei Ming added: "I don't know if Beijing Film Studio is interested in martial arts films. I actually have a good story here."

"Oh?" Wang Yang was actually quite interested.

Although domestic films are also purchased and sold under a unified system, there is actually no extra benefit for the film studio if there are many viewers. However, Wang Yang has always wanted to break this situation where it doesn't matter whether the film is good or bad, and naturally hopes that the Beijing Film Studio can gain an advantage in market competition.

So not long after, Beijing Film Studio shot a very commercial film called "The Mysterious Big Buddha", and the script was "defected" from Shanghai Film Studio.

Seeing that Wang Yang did not object, Wei Ming continued: "This is a martial arts story I wrote, you can take a look."

As he said this, he took out the original manuscript of "Heroes Have Always Been Young" from his bag.

The version for "Story Club" was re-copied by Mei Wenhua. Because Wei Ming made too many revisions and some of them were not very beautiful, Mei Wenhua was asked to copy it again, because his handwriting was not bad, and he was paid a fee.

Wang Yang was puzzled at first: "You actually write martial arts novels?"

Wei Ming: "My first introduction to reading was comic books like Seven Heroes and Five Gallants."

"Oh, that's not surprising."

Wei Ming added: "Please take your time to read it. If you think it's worth a try, I will revise the manuscript first. I have also submitted it to Story Club magazine for serialization, so you should be able to read it soon."

After leaving the Beijing Film Studio, Wei Ming hurriedly rode his bike to find Xie Jin. Just now, in front of so many people, he didn't have the courage to ask about the royalties, and he didn't know how much money he could give.

……

"Fifteen hundred dollars!"

Wei Ming almost couldn't help shouting out loud. His total savings were only about 1,600 or 1,700 yuan.

This time, his assets almost doubled, and his net worth reached more than 3,000 yuan.

Buy a car, you must buy a car!
Xie Jin was very satisfied with Wei Ming's surprised expression. He said, "After all, it's an adaptation of such a famous novel, so it's reasonable that the royalties are higher."

The two then began to discuss casting, especially Xu Shengfang, the soul of the film.

Wei Ming directly suggested the original Lao Mao.

"Director Xie, you know the film Children of the Paracel Islands, right?"

Xie Jin had a subtle expression: "Of course."

Director Shui Hua's "Children of the Paracel Islands" and "Ode to the Occupation" were both launched during special periods and involved certain people. Once F4 fell, these projects were directly stopped.

Among them, "Children of the Paracel Islands" is the most regrettable. It has basically been filmed, except for a few interior scenes, and the publicity has already been released.

Xie Jin recalled: "I remember the leading actress was Li Xiuming."

Wei Ming nodded: "I have seen the promotional photos and was impressed by a male supporting actor because he had thick eyebrows and big eyes, which perfectly fits the Chinese definition of handsome and upright."

"Oh, what's his name? Which unit does he work for?"

Wei Ming: "I think his name is Zhu Shimao? I don't know if I remember it correctly. You can ask Director Shuihua."

Xie Jin nodded, took note of this, and said, "I have a candidate for the female lead. What do you think of Chen Chong? She is very popular now, but she will definitely take my role."

After all, he was the one who brought her into the industry.

Wei Ming is honestly thinking that Chen Chong's acting skills are absolutely good enough, even though she is still young. However, Wei Ming's version has her age adjusted a bit, so her youth is no longer an advantage, and her gentleness and purity are also a little lacking.

Wei Ming shook his head: "She is not a good choice. I also have a candidate here..."

Wei Ming then introduced the situation of Ms. Gong Xing from the General Political Department Repertory Theatre.

This time the introduction was very detailed. Director Xie Jin asked curiously, "Who is she to you?"

Wei Ming: "A friend, that's the person I had in mind when I created Wei Fenfang."

That means just follow what she wrote, which is a bit unfair.

Xie Jin smiled and said, "Then I must go visit him tomorrow."

Wei Ming checked the time and said, "Let's stop talking about this today. I'm going back to work."

"Okay, I'll notify the factory director to transfer the payment slip as soon as possible." Xie Jin promised.

Wei Ming likes this kind of straightforward way of giving money.

Passing by the South Gate, Wei Ming saw Qiao Feng and asked him, "Brother Feng, do you know where I can buy a motorcycle?"

"As for motorcycles, I think you'd better ask Master Liu. He may have some connections in this area," Qiao Feng said, "but I want to tell you something else."

"what?"

Qiao Feng: "Zhu Lin's matter."

……

(So how to buy a motorcycle in 80? It's hard to find information on this. Does anyone know?)
(End of this chapter)