Exciting 1979!

Chapter 169: Millionaires and Young Readers (Guaranteed 2 more chapters)
Wei Ming assured that he had no intention of provoking the little girl. He was just curious about what the little girl was looking at. She was looking so intently that she didn't notice that there was a handsome older brother sitting not far from her.

So after dinner, Wei Ming walked around behind Jiang Shan and took a look, and then he saw the "One Ear" illustration with one ear just knocked off.

The first chapter of "Black Cat Sheriff" mainly tells the story of the sheriff's battle with the hamster. It was at this time that Black Cat Sheriff Mimi met his nemesis "One Ear".

"Is this story interesting?" Wei Ming was very curious about his young readers' attitude towards this story, especially the female readers.

Jiang Shan was so engrossed in watching that she suddenly heard someone asking her a question from behind. She turned around and saw a handsome man. She was stunned for two seconds and then nodded.

“Very interesting!”

"What's so interesting about it?" Wei Ming asked as he sat next to her.

Jiang Shan: "It feels very sci-fi, and the Black Cat Sheriff is also well drawn, with big, energetic eyes. We have a cat like this in our yard, and it's really good at catching mice!"

The little girl mentioned "science fiction", which was indeed what Wei Ming intended. He interspersed many "prophetic" science fiction ideas in the story, such as smart phones, electric cars, AI intelligence, and so on.

Although it is intended for children, Wei Ming also hopes to convey moral ideas through literature and sow the seeds of science in the story.

In addition to these futuristic science fiction concepts, Wei Ming will also popularize some obscure knowledge about the biosphere in the following chapters. For this purpose, he even bought a set of the "100,000 Whys" series of books to accumulate sufficient knowledge.

After hearing Jiang Shan's answer, Wei Ming left with satisfaction. It seemed that this novel should be a success.

As soon as he left, Cai Ming immediately came over and asked.

"Xiao Jiangshan, who is that person?"

"I do not know."

"I wonder if you're still having such a good chat?"

Jiang Shan: "If someone wants to chat with me, I can't just keep a straight face."

Cai Ming was speechless. It made sense, but who was that person? Judging from this image, he should be an actor, right?
Wei Ming watched the documentary for another half day and took a lot of notes.

It was not until the end of get off work at the Beijing Film Studio that Director Wang Yang came over in person.

He told Wei Ming: "We have read the script. It is very good with both seriousness and humor, and there are a lot of martial arts scenes. It is indeed difficult for our Beijing Film Studio to handle it. Co-production may be the most suitable choice. I will contact Ms. Xia Meng personally. It would be best to hire a Hong Kong director and martial arts team."

Wei Ming: "I have another suggestion. Are you willing to listen?"

"Don't keep me in suspense, kid."

Wei Ming: "Several main actors, especially those who have fighting scenes, can be played by athletes from the martial arts team. This will save a lot of time both in the early preparation and in the actual shooting."

Director Wang thought for a moment and said, "Shooting action scenes does save time, but I'm afraid that literary scenes will waste time again."

"That's better than the impact of actors getting injured during filming. If a main actor gets injured during filming, it will delay filming for a lot of time. Using professional athletes can minimize injuries."

The same logic applies to using a Hong Kong team. They have been shooting this kind of thing for decades and know how to minimize the damage to the actors while making the film look good.

Wang Yang nodded: "We can discuss this with our partners later."

Now Wei Ming is going to discuss another important issue.

"Then the royalties..." In the past, Wei Ming, who had several thousand yuan in his hands, would not be in a hurry to ask for the money. But now he wants to buy a house.

Wang Yang laughed: "I've already approved your note. Go to the finance department to collect your manuscript fee. If you go too late, you'll have to go off work."

Wei Ming stood up and left quickly.

The amount of royalties written on the note was also 1600 yuan. The Beijing Film Studio was trying to compete with the Shanghai Film Studio and was determined to outdo it.

After receiving this money, Wei Ming's cash flow exceeded 10,000 for the first time.

After returning to 1979 for more than half a year, I finally became a millionaire through my diligent writing!

Now the Shanghai Animation Film Studio still owes me money for a feature film script.

However, there is still a huge gap between this and buying a house, so we still need to work hard.

Oh, and there's also "Er Niu"! Let's get the screenwriter's fee first.

After returning to school, Wei Ming saw Pu Shu again.

He held Children's Literature in his hand.

Wei Ming knew that he was looking for him, so he asked, "Shu, what do you want from me?"

Pu Shu asked shyly, "Brother Ming, have you finished writing the next chapter of Black Cat Sheriff?"

"I really don't have that. Just bear with it for another two months. Didn't Aunt Xiaoyan give you a copy of 'The Book of Heaven'? You can read it again."

Pu Shu was upset when he heard that he had to wait for two months, because Wei Ming left a hook with one ear, and this mouse, which was more cunning than ordinary mice, had not been caught yet. There were many children like Pu Shu, such as Pan Ying, who was one year younger than Pu Shu. He was a hutong child born and raised in Dashilan, Xicheng District. His father was a policeman, and he was sent by his father to learn painting since he was a child.

He also likes to read "Children's Literature". Before he knew even a few words, he started to imitate the illustrations in the books. Previously, "The Magic Book" was his favorite work, but now he likes "Black Cat Sheriff" even more. In his opinion, the sheriff is cuter than Dan Sheng.

He has now mastered the method of drawing the sheriff, and has heard the story told by his parents twice, so he is eager to see the next story.

Because Sheriff Black Cat made an agreement with these children, and this agreement is called "Please see the next issue", which is also the last illustration of this novel.

Also because this “Please see next issue” has a special meaning, the editorial department deliberately put “Black Cat Sheriff” at the very end of the magazine. When you turn to the last page, you will see “Please see next issue” from Black Cat Sheriff. This is also to attract young readers to continue subscribing.

This issue of "Children's Literature" is a bit conservative because the serialized "The Magic Book" has come to an end. The first print run is only 40 copies. However, if this trend continues, it feels like more copies will have to be printed.

Now, many children across the country who have received "Children's Literature" have begun to write letters to Brother Wei, and their enthusiasm for writing letters is even greater than that for reading "The Magic Book".

~
In Dongfang County, Hainan, which now belongs to Guangdong.

A little boy named Hua Teng was preparing to write a letter to Wei Ming after watching "Black Cat Sheriff".

Although he is just an elementary school student, he has loved astronomy since he was young and is also fond of new things.

Today, he happened to see a book of "Children's Literature" from a classmate, and an article in the book, "Black Cat Sheriff", opened his eyes.

In this story, the sheriff can communicate and watch TV at the same time using only a thing called a "cell phone".

The cars they drive are all rechargeable and can be fully charged by plugging them in for a while.

There is also an "intelligent brain" in the police station. It knows all the knowledge about everything in the world and is a good helper for the sheriff to solve cases.

This story gave Xiao Huateng's imagination wings. He was eager to share his ideas with Brother Wei, so he just did it.

~
After returning to the school dormitory, Wei Ming started to write scripts for the Xi'an Film Studio.

The movie title needs to be more attractive. "Er Niu" is less attractive, so Wu Tianming actually wanted to change the title.

Wei Ming has already thought of the name "Ox and Ox 2". If he doesn't like it, he can change it.

The next day at work, Wei Ming began to review the college entrance examination knowledge, and it was Uncle Ping'an who helped him find the textbooks.

Seeing him reviewing, Yang Hao immediately came over and asked in surprise: "Are you going to take the college entrance examination again?!"

Wei Ming shook his head. If he took the college entrance examination again, it would not be difficult for him to get into a university, but it would be almost impossible for him to get into Peking University.

Poor performance in math is fatal, and he is even more doomed in the science subjects of physics and chemistry.

Another thing is that he, a student who prefers liberal arts, does not like studying politics. However, politics is one of the three main subjects at that time, and both liberal arts and science subjects must be taken. This means that he is destined to not get high scores in the college entrance examination.

Another thing is that it takes four years to go to college properly, and Wei Ming plans to travel around after two years when the environment becomes more relaxed. He doesn't want college to become a restriction for him.

So just take a correspondence course for the sake of it.

At noon, Wei Ming rode his bicycle to a Xinhua Bookstore near Peking University and Tsinghua University to check out the sales of "Animal Fierceness" and "The Magic Book of Heaven".

Because this bookstore mainly serves teachers and students of two universities, Wei Ming's influence far exceeds that of Wei Something. There is a blackboard hung directly outside the store, indicating that Wei Ming's collection of short and medium-length novels "Animals Are Dangerous" is on sale.

Wei Ming covered himself tightly and was not riding a motorcycle, so he was not recognized.

I saw the staff behind the counter guarding a pile of newly opened copies of "Animal Beasts", handing them out one by one to the college students queuing outside the counter.

Although many people have read all of Wei Ming's novels in various magazines, very few people have the money to collect all the magazines. A copy of "Contemporary" costs more than one dollar, and a copy of "Harvest" costs more than one dollar. Poor students cannot afford it!

But "Animals" only costs fifty cents, which is just a day's food money, so you can just grit your teeth and get through it.

In the children's literature area, there were not so many people. Almost all of them were parents, some with their children. Eight out of ten bought "The Magic Book".

The effect of advertising in "Children's Literature" is still very obvious.

Moreover, due to the bookstore's lack of preparation, the first book to be out of stock was the illustrated "The Wonderful Book of Heaven".

The next day, Wei Ming rode his motorcycle into the city and visited several bookstores. The sales of both books were very impressive, and he might even be able to get some money from reprinting.

When he rode his motorcycle back to school, the first batch of letters from young readers about "Black Cat Sheriff" had already been sent to "Children's Literature", and most of them were young readers in Yanjing City.

However, Aunt Xiaoyan had already taken Xizi to Ningxia, and no one brought him back to Wei Ming.

At the same time, some readers have started to receive the packages that Wei Ming sent to him.
……

(Does anyone have any favorite songs from that era? Let’s share them. Feel free to tell me and I’ll take notes~)

(End of this chapter)