Exciting 1979!

Chapter 171 Amin Amin Mingmin (2 more chapters guaranteed)
This time, Zhou Huimin did not rush to reply to Wei Ming. She thought it would be better to complete the task assigned by A Ming first before replying.

Before the 70s, almost no one in Hong Kong listened to Cantonese songs; Mandarin and English songs were the trend.

In just ten years, thanks to the efforts of singers such as Sam Hui and the rapid development of Hong Kong dramas with Cantonese dialogues, Cantonese songs have become increasingly popular.

Although Cantonese songs were the mainstream in Hong Kong in 1980, the fact that so many Taiwanese singers were also well-known in Hong Kong shows that Mandarin songs still had some market. It was not until a few more years after the competition between Alan Tam and Leslie Cheung that Cantonese songs entered their golden age.

It’s just that local Hong Kong singers are almost all focusing on Cantonese songs, and fewer and fewer are releasing Mandarin albums.

At noon the next day, Zhou Huimin was asking the owner of a music store near the school about Mandarin songs.

The tapes that her boss recommended to her were all of Taiwanese singers, and Zhou Huimin was not very satisfied.

"Aren't there any Mandarin albums by Hong Kong singers? Not-so-famous ones will do."

In fact, she prefers a non-famous singer because she doesn't have a clear understanding of the value of the song and is worried that famous singers will not like it.

The boss thought about it and took out a tape from a corner.

"Here, this is it."

The album is called "Country Road". Zhou Huimin knew this song, which was sung by Chyi Yu. However, this album was not sung by Chyi Yu, but a cover by a Hong Kong singer.

There are several other songs in the album which are covers of old songs such as "The Ballad of the Great Wall" and "Grandma's Penghu Bay", and there are also a few original songs, but Zhou Huimin has never heard of them, so obviously their sales are average.

The singer's name is Zhang Mingmin and his company is Yongheng Records.

Although she has never heard of it, Zhou Huimin has a good impression of this name. A-Ming and A-Min, isn’t that Ming-Min!
So Zhou Huimin bought the tape and planned to listen to it when she got home in the evening.

When she returned to the public housing area, she saw many neighbors gathered together. When she got closer, she found that they were gathered together by Uncle Gui, who seemed to be making some food to sell to everyone.

Seeing Zhou Huimin coming over, Gui Bo smiled and said, "Amin, wait a moment. I'll make a set of pancakes for you to take home."

"Pancakes?" Zhou Huimin had never heard of this northern delicacy.

When she took it, she felt it was warm. She took a bite and it was indeed delicious. She didn't expect that Gui Bo had this skill.

"Uncle Gui, do you need my help?"

"No, I can handle it. Go back and do your homework."

Zhou Huimin also wanted to ask why Uncle Gui suddenly started selling pancakes? Did he stop working as a hospital security guard?

I only heard my mother talk about it when I got home.

"Well, Ah Gui said he quit that job because the income was too low, so he switched to the catering industry."

Zhou Huimin looked at the pancake in her hand and thought, is this considered catering?

After closing his stall and returning home, Lao Gui counted his income for the day and after deducting the expenses, he did make nearly a hundred yuan. This was even though he had not set up his stall in the morning. It was indeed much better than being a security guard.

His public housing estate is very small and can barely accommodate two people. Considering that if he cannot return to the mainland, and his sons and grandsons come to Hong Kong to visit him in the future, he cannot let them down.

So he took out his previous savings, plus his grandson's royalties, and bought all these tools and became a mobile vendor, specializing in Tianjin Jianbing.

When he was doing underground work, he once disguised himself as a pancake seller. Although he hadn't done it for decades, he had at least not forgotten his skills.

It’s a pity that I’m alone, otherwise I could add more items like soy milk and millet porridge.

He thought that when he made more money in the future he would rent a store, hire someone, and add the beverage business.

He may not be able to make his children and grandchildren rich and powerful, but he cannot let them suffer with him in Hong Kong.

That's why Comrade Laogui, who is nearly sixty years old, is thinking of quitting his job and trying his luck.

Lying in bed, he was still thinking about how to improve the craftsmanship to make it more in line with the tastes of Hong Kong people.

Early the next morning, when Zhou Huimin was about to go out, she saw Gui Bo. He had already set up his stall.

This time he wanted to give Amin pancakes, but Amin refused and insisted on paying him.

An extra egg cost one dollar, so Laogui specially gave her an extra egg.

These days, the average Hong Kong worker's monthly salary is around 1,000 to 2,000 yuan. As for white-collar workers, the lowest salary is 1,000 to 2,000 yuan, and the highest is 4,000 to 5,000 yuan, all in Hong Kong dollars.

Even if you eat a one-HKD pancake every day, it will not cost you more than HK$100 a month. Moreover, it contains eggs, vegetables and staple food, so it is quite good value for money. Even with this, Lao Gui can still make at least 50 cents profit.

It just doesn’t have meat. Zhou Huimin suggested: “It would be even better if there was a grilled sausage in it.”

Hearing this, Lao Gui suddenly had an idea: what a good idea!

There is also considerable profit in grilling sausages!
She didn’t go to school today because she had to learn piano. After finishing piano lessons in the morning, Zhou Huimin did not go home, but instead prepared to go to Yongheng Records to sell songs.

Last night she listened to Zhang Mingmin's songs and felt that she still had some talent and should be able to sing "Liuliu De Ta"

During class, she also specifically asked her piano teacher about the current market situation for songwriting and composing music.

Although the teacher is not an insider, he is in the music industry after all, and he must know more than a middle school student like me.

Eternal Records is not located on Hong Kong Island. Zhou Huimin first took the Kowloon Bus to Kowloon Peninsula, then changed to the Kwun Tong Line subway which was opened only last year, and finally walked for a few minutes to reach the office building.

Standing downstairs, Zhou Huimin finally got a little nervous. After all, she was only 13 years old and it was her first time doing such a thing. "Hello, uncle. Do you know which floor Yongheng Records is on?" Zhou Huimin stopped a passing man with glasses who looked quite friendly.

Zhang Mingmin was hurt when he saw the girl's height. He touched his face and said, "I'm only 24 years old! I'm already an uncle?"

"Come with me," Zhang Mingmin kindly took her upstairs and asked, "What are you doing at Yongheng Records? Are you a newly signed singer?"

"Oh, no, I'm here to sell songs?"

“You can write songs?” Zhang Mingmin was even more surprised. He is too young. Could it be that he learned this from his family?

For example, in the home of teacher Dai Sicong, with whom he once studied music, his daughter Yunhui is only 12 years old, but she has been influenced by her family since childhood and has a deep musical foundation. However, even so, she has never written any decent songs, and she can only sing okay.

Zhou Huimin waved her hand: "It's a song written by my friend, I'm asking for him."

The elevator reached the eighth floor, where there were several companies. Yongheng Records was considered to be the largest among them. Zhang Mingmin took people directly into the company.

Zhou Huimin found that he had not left, and he smiled and explained: "I am the singer of this company. Let me introduce myself. My name is Zhang Mingmin."

"Oh, so you are Zhang Mingmin!" Zhou Huimin was very surprised.

"Yes, I'm Zhang Mingmin." Zhang Mingmin was even more surprised. Someone actually knew him?

Although he won two championship titles in the "Hong Kong Workers' Singing Competition" and the "Hong Kong Amateur Singers Singing Competition" last year, there were very few responses when he really made his debut and released an album.

Because the sales performance of "Country Road" is very poor, the company now plans to arrange for Zhang Mingmin to sing in a karaoke bar, of course, after get off work.

Zhang Mingmin is not a full-time singer yet. Fortunately, she did not quit her job at the electronic watch factory, otherwise she would have found it difficult to support herself by singing.

Zhou Huimin took out Wei Ming's song and said, "I actually wanted to give this song to you to sing."

"Oh?" Zhang Mingmin was overjoyed. This little girl actually came for him. "Can I see this song?"

Zhou Huimin handed it over.

Oh, it’s still a Mandarin song. Zhang Mingmin’s musical literacy is much better than Zhou Huimin’s. He just glanced over it and started humming softly.

Zhou Huimin feels that he sings much better than herself, and feels that it would be a good choice to hand it over to this uncle.

After singing it for the first time, Zhang Mingmin said with emotion: "What a good song!"

This song that suddenly appeared is much better than the original songs that the company found for him before, and is even not inferior to the Taiwanese covers. The melody and style also have the flavor of Taiwan.

“Is your friend Taiwanese?”

"No," Zhou Huimin shook her head, but she didn't say where she was from. She asked, "Can I sell it then? How much can you give?"

She couldn't wait to tell Amin the good news.

Zhang Mingmin knew that capitalists were all greedy, and it was obvious that this little girl knew nothing, so it would be easy for her to be cheated by their boss.

So he suggested: "First, ask your friend to join the Hong Kong Composers and Lyricists Association with this song, so that his song will be protected. Then come to our company to find me, and I will introduce you to our boss."

In the past, Hong Kong did not attach much importance to the rights of music creators. However, since the establishment of the "Hong Kong Composers and Lyricists Association" in 76, this aspect has been greatly improved. Not only has the situation of unscrupulous plagiarism improved greatly, but songwriters can also enjoy a share of the sales of popular music works.

Zhou Huimin also heard of the association for the first time. She was a little confused: "But my friend is not in Hong Kong. Can I help him register?"

"It might work."

“Does it cost money to register?”

"Yes, but not much, maybe a little over a hundred yuan."

Zhou Huimin is in an even more difficult situation, I don’t even have more than a hundred yuan.

Seeing her embarrassment, Zhang Mingmin hesitated for a moment and took out a hundred-dollar bill.

"I'll lend it to you first." After all, the person came all the way to send him the song, which meant that he should be his fan. He felt at ease lending money to his fans.

He then wrote the association's address to Zhou Huimin.

Zhou Huimin also hurriedly left her home address. One hundred yuan was not a small sum of money for her.

Because she had to register with the Composers and Lyricists Association, Zhou Huimin was delayed in returning home.

When she got home, Gui Bo had closed his stall. Fortunately, her mother worked even later and didn't notice that she came home so late. She quickly made dinner and waited for her mother to come home to eat together.

Although it took some time, I finally managed to register successfully, but there were some twists and turns along the way.

Because she only knew A-Ming's real name "Wei Ming" and stage name "A-Ming", there was no date of birth, no photo, and no address, so strictly speaking, she could not register.

Fortunately, the staff saw that she was a young girl, so they were a little lenient and said that she could be replaced later, but the address was her home.

But this way I will have the chance to ask Amin for his photo and date of birth!

Thinking of this, Amin was still a little excited. How old is Amin and what does he look like?
……

(Please give me a monthly ticket!)

(End of this chapter)