Exciting 1979!

Chapter 158: Garden Village Overseas Chinese Apartment (1 more chapter guaranteed)
After the Lantern Festival on March 3, Wei Ming officially returned to work at the school magazine.

As soon as I entered, I saw Yang Hao. He had just developed photos in the darkroom. He had taken a lot of photos during this holiday.

Seeing Vice President Zhou Junfeng coming, Wei Ming hurried into his office to talk about asking for leave.

Wei Ming felt a little bad about asking for leave right after returning to work, so he said he would wait for the company to make it convenient for him to ask for leave again.

"Are you going to Guangzhou?"

"Oh, it was the general manager of Guangzhou Pacific Audiovisual Company who invited me to visit, but actually I came here mainly to visit the Whampoa Military Academy, which is closely related to my first novel."

"So it's for creation? That's no problem. Just tell me one day in advance when you want to leave." President Zhou said generously.

Vice President Wang had already told him that Wei Ming is now a signboard of Peking University, and his creative priority is far above his work. If it were not for the concerns of other employees, it would actually be okay for Wei Ming not to come to work.

Wei Ming quickly expressed his gratitude and planned to ask for leave together with Biaozi when they were ready to go on vacation so that the three of them could take care of each other.

After returning to his workstation, Wei Ming began to write the script of "Heroes Have Always Been Young". In the afternoon, he was busy with the script of the puppet film "If I Were Wu Song". In the evening, he continued to look up materials in the library.

Sometimes I would also attend classes to enrich my knowledge and network.

Now he not only has many friends in the Chinese Department, Law Department, and Foreign Languages Department, but also has acquaintances in other departments.

During this period, Liu Rulong also brought his comic draft to Wei Ming for discussion, but was rejected by Wei Ming. He felt that simply imitating Hong Kong comics would not work, and he still had to form his own style based on theirs. After putting forward some of his own suggestions, Wei Ming asked him to revise it again.

That day, Wei Ming returned to the dormitory from the library, but found that there was no one in the dormitory. Biaozi and the other two were working the night shift.

There was no one around and he felt so lonely. Wei Ming simply turned on the tape recorder and played the foreign music tape that Melinda had left for him, humming some tune.

When he was sleeping soundly at night, Biaozi and Mei Wenhua came back, and Wei Ming looked at his watch.

"Why are you back now? Are you on patrol and working overtime?"

Mei Wenhua said: "An old gentleman passed away in Yannan Garden."

"Ah?" Wei Ming sat up quickly, "Who is it?"

Biaozi: "The one from Villa 51. We helped for a long time but still don't know who it is."

Wei Ming recalled what his predecessors had taught him: "No. 51, that should be Professor Qi Sihe from the History Department."

Mr. Qi was a graduate of the old Yenching University and was a highly respected figure in the History Department. However, his research areas were mainly pre-Qin history and world medieval history. Wei Ming had never taken his classes. He now focused his main energy on modern history, especially the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

Upon hearing the news of the old gentleman's death, Wei Ming couldn't help feeling a little regretful. In fact, he was quite interested in the history of the Pre-Qin period, but he felt that it was not necessary for the time being. He thought of staying later and taking the old gentleman's class. He didn't expect that he left so suddenly, which ended up being a regret.

The next day, Wei Ming arrived at the school magazine and followed Yang Hao to record Professor Qi's funeral. The memorial service was held at Babaoshan Cemetery, and Vice President Wang Lubin attended in person and delivered a speech.

A day later, Wei Ming participated in reporting the 40th anniversary of the death of Mr. Cai Yuanpei. Mr. Cai Yuanpei was a great educator in China and the president most deeply remembered by Peking University students.

At this memorial meeting, Wei Ming met Cai Gong’s two sons, Cai Huaixin and Cai Yingduo, as well as Gao Pingshu, who had served as Cai Gong’s secretary for many years.

Of course there is also Vice Principal Wang.

After the memorial service, Wei Ming happened to go out with him and teased him that he was destined to be a busy person, as it seemed like he had to be involved in everything at school.

The somewhat plain old man smiled and said, "I was transferred here for this purpose, but you won't see me in a few days. I'm going to go abroad for an inspection with Principal Zhou."

"Which country?"

"America, let's get some more study abroad quotas!" Principal Wang said with great ambition.

The day Wei Ming was leaving was also confirmed, and the next day Wei Ming asked for leave from Vice President Zhou.

That night he went to Uncle Ping'an's house and gave him the motorcycle keys.

"If you need the car, feel free to use it while I'm away for a few days." He had asked, and found out that Uncle Ping'an and Aunt Xiaoyan both knew how to ride a motorcycle.

This made them both very happy. Who doesn't like efficiency? But this thing is too expensive and it is difficult to afford it with their high income.

While they were happy, Wei Ming pointed to a photo in the frame.

"Uncle, can you give me this photo of you and my dad? I've never seen my dad look so young."

"Okay, take it if you want it. I still have some," Wei Ping'an said to Lu Xiaoyan, "Buy another helmet later and I'll take you for a ride."

Lv Xiaoyan: "Let me take you. I'm a better driver."

As the commander's daughter, she often hit small motorcycles and cars, and even crawled into tanks.

"Mom, what about me?" Xizi came over obediently.

Lu Xiaoyan coaxed, "Be good, Xizi, there is no seat for you in the car. You can sit there when your brother Xiaoming buys a car."

Wei Pingan said, "There is no policy for private individuals to buy cars now, but you can register it at school."

Wei Ming waved his hand: "Why don't I buy a house with that money?"

Lu Xiaoyan chuckled, "It seems that you have saved up most of your money, right?" Wei Ming did not hide anything, "The first print run of my novel collection was 100 million copies, and the People's Literature Publishing House charged me yuan per thousand words."

After he said that, Lu Xiaoyan counted the number of words in those novels again and roughly guessed that her nephew had received another huge sum of money. Oh my God, compared with him, she suddenly felt that she and her husband were a bit useless!
Wei Ping'an knew that given Wei Ming's age, he would have to wait at least a few more years to get a house. Now he was 19 years old and was about to reach the age of getting married and having children, so he couldn't do without a house.

"It's hard to buy a house now. There aren't many siheyuan houses with a single courtyard. Most of them are large compound houses with complicated property rights," Uncle Ping An helped analyze. "As for houses allocated by other units, they can't be bought or sold either."

Wei Ming sighed, "Yes, uncle, you have heard of the Overseas Chinese Apartment."

Wei Pingan: "Of course. When I first entered university, the Overseas Chinese Apartments in Huayuan Village were all spread among my classmates. They said that they were built with the remaining building materials of the Great Hall. They were mainly sold to overseas Chinese. At that time, they were directly traded with foreign exchange. There were only more than 100 houses in total."

Wei Ming said: "That community seems to be not far from Peking University."

It is indeed not far away. It is on the edge of the North Third Ring Road. It only takes about 30 minutes by bike. If you take a motorcycle, it is probably only about minutes' drive.

If Wei Ming owns a property there, it will be the most convenient choice for him who works at Peking University.

Wei Ping'an nodded and said, "This is indeed a good choice, but it's a bit expensive. One square meter costs at least 150 yuan, and the houses there are large. The smallest one is 150 square meters, and the largest one is over 200 square meters."

Wei Ming calculated that it would cost more than 20,000 yuan to buy the smallest house?
This thing is more expensive than a courtyard house, and the money I have is far from enough!

But think about it, it's over 150 square meters, with a flush toilet, a private bathroom, property management, and security, the quality is so attractive!

Wei Pingan added: "A few years ago, a group of overseas Chinese left, and some houses have not been disposed of in time. I can help you find out."

There were many overseas Chinese among Peking University's faculty. Wei Ping'an remembered that several of them lived in Overseas Chinese Apartments, and some had relatives living there.

"Otherwise you have to say that my uncle has a wide network of contacts. Then I will wait for good news."

Although Wei Ming doesn’t have enough money now, things like buying a house usually don’t happen so quickly, so he still has time to make money.

The publishing house has sent him a sample copy of "Animals Are Dangerous", and Wei Ming has also completed the script of "Heroes Have Always Been Young".

So that night Wei Ming returned to the dormitory and wrote another letter to the old man in Hong Kong, put his works and photos together, and mailed it the next day.

Then he and Biaozi and Xiaomei boarded a train heading south.

The two letters that were mailed previously just arrived today.

~
Zhou Huimin has already started school. After the start of the school year, the teacher did not pay much attention to the regular homework, but was very concerned about the students' pen pal situation.

Zhou Huimin quickly lowered her head because her pen pals ignored her, while most of her classmates had already completed a round-trip correspondence with their pen pals.

She now feels a little regretful that she shouldn't have looked for a pen pal so far away, but some of her classmates' pen pals in Singapore have responded.

Now the mainland has not banned communication with Hong Kong, and Wei Ming did not reply to me. Could it be that this talented Peking University scholar looked down on me, a middle school student?
She couldn't help but want to ask Gui Bo, what is the relationship between you and that boy named Wei Ming?

So after school, Zhou Huimin went to Queen Mary Hospital and found Uncle Gui who was on duty.

Gui Bo had just received a letter from the mainland, and before he had time to read it, he was pestered by this little girl.

"Uncle Gui, did you reply to the letter from the mainland last time?"

“Yes.”

"I replied, but you didn't ask me to help you write the letter!" Zhou Huimin said disappointedly.

Uncle Gui: "Haha, a colleague did it for me so I didn't ask you to do it, and you have a lot of homework."

Zhou Huimin asked again: "Did the other party reply to your letter?"

Gui Bo said in a ghostly voice: "Not yet."

Zhou Huimin felt a little better, it seemed that the postage was just slow.

She asked again: "The person who wrote the letter is a man named Wei Ming. Who is he to you?"

Ghost Uncle: "Why are you asking so many questions? You're like a gossipy little woman."

"Just tell me, I care about you."

Uncle Gui didn't tell the truth: "He is a distant relative of mine, so he can be considered my grandson."

"What about your relatives in the mainland?"

Gui Bo suddenly burst into tears: "It's gone, all gone!"

Hearing this, Zhou Huimin didn't dare to ask any further questions and hurriedly comforted Gui Bo.

When Zhou Huimin rode away on her bike, Gui Bo's expression immediately returned to normal. Although the kid was very good, he was used to distrusting everyone.

After work, Gui Bo immediately found a place where no one was around and tore open the letter...

~
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(End of this chapter)