Chapter 241 Manly Declaration
The ticket only has the time and address written on it: tomorrow night at 8 o’clock, Yenching Exhibition Hall, admission by ticket.

Now everyone is talking about China-Japan friendship, China-US friendship, but in the past year, Wei Ming has not seen any American or Japanese singers come to China to hold concerts.

“This should be the first Japanese singer to hold a concert in China, right?” Wei Ming asked.

“It seems to be true. I guess the political review in China is more difficult.” Uncle Ping An analyzed.

Wei Ming recalled the Japanese singers who were popular in the 80s, and the first one that came to his mind was Yamaguchi Momoe, who was active in film, television and music.

However, when she was very popular in China, she had already retired from the screen in Japan, and it seems that it was this year.

I still remember her song “Autumn Cherry Blossoms”, it was so beautiful. Wei Ming still remembers the tune.

Thinking of “Autumn Cherry Blossoms”, Wei Ming had a flash of inspiration and roughly knew who would be performing at the concert. It would be worth going to listen to it.

When Wei Ming left, he also took away a large package of letters from his young readers that Children’s Literature had collected for him.

It seems I have to choose a few letters to reply to tonight.

In order to confirm Zhu Lin’s time, Wei Ming made a special trip to the Beijing Film Studio at noon the next day. They should be about to start filming “The Death of a Poet”, and Zhu Lin was basically waiting for orders at the Beijing Film Studio.

Sure enough, she was found in the cafeteria, sitting with her were Zhang Jinling and Cai Ming.

Zhu Lin and Cai Ming had met once many years ago. When Cai Ming was recruiting actors for his famous work “Haixia”, Zhu Lin went for an interview and was selected. However, she later backed out because she had no acting experience and missed the opportunity.

Later, when the movie was released, she went to see it specially. She was convinced by the role of Xiao Haixia played by Cai Ming, so she went to the Beijing Film Studio and took the initiative to approach him, and she made a friend.

When Wei Ming came over, Cai Ming was asking Zhang Jinling questions about the adaptation of “Xu Mao and His Daughters”.

This Sichuan novel, which was very popular last year, has been adapted into Sichuan opera and a TV series. Recently, there have been rumors in the factory that it will be adapted into a movie, with Wang Yan as the director.

Zhang Jinling had worked with director Wang Yan in “From Slave to General” and they had a very good relationship, so Cai Ming wanted to ask her if he had any chance. After all, Xu Mao had nine daughters.

Just as Zhang Jinling was about to speak, she saw Wei Ming sitting opposite her, next to Zhu Lin.

“Writer Wei.” Zhang Jinling said. She and Cai Ming had both seen Wei Ming, but they rarely had the opportunity to meet him face to face at such a close distance. He was indeed more handsome than Tang Guoqiang.

“Are you here at the Beijing Film Studio on business?” Cai Mingpan asked.

“Oh, I have something to talk to Sister Zhu Lin about.” Wei Ming did not hide it.

Zhang Jinling and Cai Ming’s eyes were gleaming with gossip. They had heard long ago that Zhu Lin was recommended to director Shui Hua by Wei Ming, and the two had a close relationship.

Wei Ming said he had something to do, but he didn’t say what it was. Zhu Lin didn’t ask what it was, but asked him if he had eaten.

“Nope.”

So Zhu Lin took out the meal ticket from Beijing Film Studio and asked him to go get the meal. If they were not in a public place, they could have one portion and they could feed each other mouth to mouth.

By the time they leisurely finished their meal, Zhang Jinling and Cai Ming had already left, and Wei Ming then started to talk about the matter.

Zhu Lin thought it was about the house, but Wei Ming said there was a concert of a Japanese singer and asked her if she wanted to go.

“If you don’t listen to me, I’ll go with Xiaohong.”

Zhu Lin was very interested in trendy music. Although he couldn’t understand Japanese, he couldn’t understand Cantonese either. But it didn’t affect his listening to Cantonese songs, so he agreed immediately and set a time.

When leaving the Beijing Film Studio, Wei Ming met Director Wang Yang at the door, and there was an old man next to him.

He introduced: “This is Director Ling Zifeng, one of the four great directors of our Beijing Film Studio.”

Wei Ming immediately expressed his admiration. Three of the four great marshals are still alive, and the only one who can still produce classic films is the grandfather of “Hello Sao Ge”.

“Yesterday I saw in the Yanjing Evening News that the Beijing Film Studio is preparing to shoot “Camel Xiangzi”. Are you worried about the cast for Xiangzi?” Wei Ming asked.

Wang Yang nodded. This was indeed the case. The character of Xiangzi could be said to be the most well-known among Lao She’s works. Moreover, he was a young man, with good acting skills, and he also fit the image of a rickshaw puller. Such a candidate was very rare.

They searched several major studios but couldn’t find a suitable one. Previously, Tang Guoqiang, Zhou Lijing, and director Ling Zifeng’s son, Ling Xiaosu’s father Ling Fei had all been on the candidate list but were eliminated one by one.

So the Beijing Film Studio simply put an advertisement in the newspaper for a nationwide audition, with the title “Where are you, ‘Camel Xiangzi’?”

Wei Ming said: “I have a suitable candidate here. You two can take a look. It’s up to you whether you want to listen or not.”

Wei Ming really had no involvement in the selection of the heroine of “The Death of a Poet”, and the rumors were purely rumors. However, Wei Ming of “Camel Xiangzi” really wanted to help the Beijing Film Studio avoid some detours.

“Oh, who? You’re not talking about yourself, are you?” Factory Director Wang Yang joked. He knew that Wei Ming’s favorite works were those of Lu Xun and Lao She, especially “Diary of a Madman” and “Camel Xiangzi”.

Wei Ming smiled and said, “I’m not recommending myself. When we were casting for Er Niu, a student from the Film Academy was on the shortlist. He was from the class of 78 and his name is Zhang Fengyi. You two may want to take a look. I think he has the charm of Xiangzi.”

The two looked at each other. They had never heard of him. They only knew Zhou Lijing and Fang Shu from Level 78.

Wei Ming didn’t say much, just left his name and walked away.

Ling Zifeng decided to try his luck and asked assistant director Li Tang to go to the Film Academy and bring Zhang Fengyi over.

As a result, when I went there, I found that Zhang Fengyi was not in school. He said that he had gone to the northwest to shoot some Hong Kong martial arts film.

However, Li Tang brought back a photo of Zhang Fengyi, and Ling Zifeng was overjoyed. This was exactly the feeling he wanted.

“Tell their teacher to have this kid come to the Beijing Film Studio right after he returns!”

~
Wei Ming was just doing a favor. The role of Xiangzi will go to Zhang Fengyi sooner or later. His image is simply the chosen Xiangzi.

At around four o’clock in the afternoon, Wei Ming locked the door of the library and left work early.

When I went out, I saw Wei Hong at the door with a child.

“Big Brother x2!”

“Xiaohong? Xiza?”

Wei Hong couldn’t hide her joy to Wei Ming: “Brother, you hid it well enough. You are going to take me to a concert today, but you haven’t told me yet. However, Xizi has already told me.”

Wei Ming looked at the little kid Xizi.

Xizi explained the situation in a loud voice: “Mom’s bicycle is broken, so now we only have one car, one in the back and one in the front. Lele and I competed for a long time to get the chance to go with you, big brother!”

Wei Ping’an knew that Wei Ming was concentrating on his creation, so he simply left Xizi in the library and let him go with Brother Xiao Ming and Sister Xiao Hong.

Then Xizi was met by Wei Hong who came to the library to reserve a seat. Upon hearing about such a good thing, several roommates were all envious. They went in to reserve seats while cursing and cursed Wei Hong to fail the next exam.

Wei Ming scratched his head. Xizi was not a big problem as he had his own tickets and was at most just a light bulb. But Xiaohong was a little redundant.

“Hong, you just started school. It’s time to study hard. You can’t skip classes. Don’t you have classes in the evening?”

Classrooms are crowded nowadays, so it is common to schedule classes at night, especially for freshmen, who have so many courses.

Wei Hong chuckled: “Tonight is the only night we don’t have classes this week!”

You don’t have classes and I don’t have a ticket!
Telling the truth might hurt Xiaohong’s feelings since they were his relatives after all, so Wei Ming decided to try his luck in Shaoyuan.

“Hong, wait for me at the South Gate. I have something to do. I’ll come find you later.”

After saying that, Wei Ming hurried to Shaoyuan. Generally, for such activities, tickets would be given to Japanese students, and usually even the students’ accompanying students would be given one, but not all of them would want to go.

After all, you said that you want to be friendly, but many people below have ancestors who have a grudge against Xiaobenzi, and they can’t get over this hurdle in their hearts.

For example, Wei Ming knew a buddy from the Physics Department, who was from Jinling. He was accompanying a Japanese student.

He once told Wei Ming that sometimes he was afraid that he would sleepwalk and suffocate his roommate with a pillow, and he could only comfort himself by saying, “I am here to monitor him.”

Thank goodness, the kid did have a ticket, but he tore it up since he had no plans to go.

He rummaged through the trash can and helped Wei Ming find it.

“Teacher Wei, if you want, you can glue it yourself, but I hope you don’t fall in love with Japanese culture because of this.”

Wei Ming patted his chest and said, “I will listen to the music with a critical heart!”

When leaving the international student dormitory, Wei Ming also saw several Japanese female students and their roommates getting dressed for travel, probably going to watch the concert as well.

~
At the South Gate, Wei Ming took Xiaohong and Xizi straight to the Yenching Exhibition Hall on Xizhimen Outer Street. The performance was held at the Beijing Exhibition Theater. Wei Ming and Melinda had been here several times before to watch musicals.

It was still early for the show to start, so Wei Ming asked Xiaohong to take Xizi to eat something first.

“You can go in directly after you finish eating. I have something else to do.” Then Wei Ming handed the re-glued ticket to Xiaohong.

“This ticket?”

“It was an accident. It’s okay. It works.”

After dealing with them, Wei Ming went to the Beijing Film Studio again. Zhu Lin had been waiting at the door for a long time, and the two of them had to have a meal.

In order to save time, I didn’t go to any big restaurant and just had a bowl of noodles.

“I came and went in a hurry this afternoon, and I haven’t asked you how you did on the exam yesterday.” Wei Ming asked while slurping noodles.

“I feel good about myself, but I have to wait until next week to know the result. By then our crew will start filming, and I don’t know if I will have time to watch it.”

“It’s okay. I’ll give A’long a call and he’ll know the result.” It was already seven o’clock after dinner. Wei Ming and Zhu Lin hurriedly set off. On the way, he told her about the little episode before they came.

“If you run into Xiaohong, my uncle, my aunt, and the others, just be open and honest with them.”

“You don’t have to say that. I’m not nervous either.” Zhu Lin said stubbornly, but she was a little panicked inside, even more panicked than when she helped Wei Mingman shift the gears in the alley that day.

Zhu Lin, who was hugging Wei Ming’s waist, suddenly retracted his hand. Just now, his hand almost slipped instinctively. Ouch, it was too dangerous.

Wei Ming felt warmed by Sister Lin’s small hands and was considering whether to go to the renovated house to check on the progress after the concert.

When they arrived, most of the audience had already gone in, and the 2000-plus seats were almost full. When Wei Ming and Zhu Lin went in, there were no good seats left, so they could only sit in the corners of the last row.

There were no seat numbers on the tickets, and it was first come, first served. The venue was too big, and Wei Ming didn’t see Xiaohong, Xizi, or Uncle Ping’an, Aunt Xiaoyan, and Lele.

At this time, Wei Hong didn’t see her elder brother. She and Xizi were surrounded by a group of Peking University alumni, including Chinese and Japanese. When they saw that everyone was wearing school badges, they sat together.

Hearing that Wei Hong and Xizi were Wei Ming’s younger brothers and sisters, the Japanese women were so enthusiastic that they patted their chests and promised to serve as interpreters for Wei Hong and the others.

Wei Hong: “Then, sisters, can you tell me whose concert is today?”

~
Now we can determine whose concert it is.

Zhu Lin asked: “Is this Sada Masashi very famous in Japan?”

Wei Ming: “He is quite famous. He is a singer-songwriter who writes the lyrics, composes the music and sings the songs himself. Last year, one of his albums sold 150 million copies.”

Including “Autumn Cherry Blossoms” by Yamaguchi Momoe, who is still not well-known in China today, the lyrics and music were written by Masashi Sada.

When Wei Ming was in Shaoyuan, he also heard his best-selling “Guanbai Declaration”.

Zhu Lin thought for a moment and said, “He is not as good as you.”

“Ok?”

“I read in the newspaper once that the tape of The Sheep Class had sold two million copies, so you are still better.”

Wei Ming smiled modestly: “That’s not the case. After all, we have a larger population.”

Of course, China does not have many tape recorders, perhaps even fewer than Japan, so “The Sheep Class” is already the ceiling of tape sales.

“That’s not true. Recorders are not yet widely used in our country. Otherwise, The Shepherd Class would have sold more copies.”

Suddenly, an audience member next to Wei Ming joined their conversation.

Seeing Wei Ming and Zhu Lin looking at him in surprise, the man extended his hand to Wei Ming and said, “Hello, Teacher Wei. I am Sha Qing, a literary reporter for the Yanjing Evening News. I have previously written a music review for In the Fields of Hope.”

“Oh, reporter Sha, hello.” Wei Ming shook hands with him.

Zhu Lin also sat up straight. What bad luck! She could meet a reporter while attending a concert. This meant that her conversation with Xiao Wei had to revolve around music and art. They had to be serious and not do anything out of line or flirt.

Sha Qing said: “I have interviewed Teacher Gu Jianfen before. She is one of the consultants for today’s concert. She speaks very highly of you.”

“Teacher Gu, you are too kind. I just learned some basics and wrote some nursery rhymes.”

“That’s not the case. Your songs are very popular and suitable for people of all ages. In fact, our Yanjing Evening News is also preparing for a concert, and several songs on the playlist are yours and Teacher Gu’s works.”

“Oh, really?” So what? You’re not giving me any money.

This reporter from Saudi Arabia was very talkative, leaving Wei Ming and Zhu Lin with no chance to speak afterwards. I really wanted to change seats.

Fortunately, the concert officially began, and a host came on stage to introduce the musical achievements of today’s performer, Mr. Masashi Sada.

In short, he is one of Japan’s top folk singers.

The addition of a prefix indicates that the dominance is not yet strong enough, just like Wei Ming, who is also a first-line young male writer in today’s literary world.

Masashi Sada himself also came on stage. He was not very old, wore glasses, and held a guitar. He was not tall, about the same height as the female host without high heels, about 1.6 meters, and looked gentle and refined.

There is also a translator behind him, who is responsible for communication between him and the host.

During the conversation, Masashi Sada said that influenced by his family, he had longed for China since he was a child and dreamed of coming here, and his attitude was very humble.

“Because I was busy with this performance, I haven’t been able to visit the Great Wall and the Forbidden City since landing. But my schedule will definitely be very full tomorrow. If possible, I would also like to go to Shanghai to see the Yangtze River.”

Wei Ming: Go ahead, and then you’ll be in debt and won’t pay it off until you’re old.

In later generations, apart from the Kanpaku Declaration and its related Chinese versions, Sada Masashi’s most famous work in China is undoubtedly the documentary “Yangtze River”, which he filmed at the cost of his entire fortune.

Not only did he lose all the money he earned from singing, he also owed a huge debt of 28 billion yen, and he did not pay off his debts until he was old and languishing.

The Japanese blockbuster “Godzilla” in those years only cost 15 billion, and Kurosawa’s epic blockbuster “Ran” only cost 26 billion.

However, the documentary “Yangtze River” is really well shot and was made without any expense spared.

In his previous life, when Wei Ming just owned a TV, he watched the documentary “Talking about the Yangtze River” rebroadcast by CCTV on TV. Later he found out that most of the shots were clips from “Yangtze River”.

“Yangtze River” was shot on 35mm film, with a large number of aerial shots. Even after more than ten years, it is still shocking and moving.

What is rare is that even though the Chinese rural areas photographed are poor, they are more beautiful and happy. The perspective is level, so people don’t feel uncomfortable. There is also reflection and repentance for the invasion of China.

After chatting with the host, the concert officially began. Masashi Sada sang his representative works “Yuki no Asahi”, “Seirei Flow”, “Muhenzaka”, “Kanshiro Declaration” and other songs in turn.

Although the lyrics are not understandable, for most listeners just listening to the melody is enough. This is an expression that is very different from the current domestic music style.

However, Xiaohong could not only listen to the melody, but there was also a Japanese senior student next to her to help her explain the general meaning of the lyrics, which helped her better appreciate the artistic conception of the song.

Wei Ming might not understand the rest of the songs, but when he sang “Kanpaku Declaration”, Wei Ming was able to explain the meaning of the lyrics to Zhu Lin.

“I’ve heard this song before. The title can be translated as ‘Declaration of Manliness’. Do you want to know what it’s about?” Wei Ming whispered in Zhu Lin’s ear.

“You know?” Zhu Lin was suspicious. She knew Wei Ming was fluent in English since he had a British ex-girlfriend. But he had no connections in Japan.

“Not only do I know it, I can also sing it for you.”

Seeing Zhu Lin’s intention, Wei Ming came closer and sang softly: “Before you marry me, I have something to tell you. Maybe these words of mine will make you feel uncomfortable, but you have to listen carefully to what I really think…”

Zhu Lin felt sweet, oh, it turned out to be a love song for proposing!
At this time, a head gradually turned towards Wei Ming. Reporter Sha previously felt that Teacher Gu Jianfen’s praise for Wei Ming was a bit excessive. His songs were indeed very popular, but after all, there were only a few of them, and there were no more works after that.

I didn’t expect that he could adapt foreign songs. Although he didn’t know the general meaning of the lyrics, Wei Ming’s lyrics and Sada Masashi’s melody perfectly matched each other, which was amazing.

Under Zhu Lin’s expectant gaze, Wei Ming continued to sing: “You must not go to bed earlier than me every night. You must not get up later than me every morning. The meals must be fragrant and the dishes must be delicious. You must dress elegantly…”

The more Zhu Lin listened, the more he felt something was wrong. The male protagonist in the lyrics was too much. I didn’t see how capable he was, but his requirements for women were really high.

Are you such a man? This is clearly male chauvinism!

After listening to this song, Zhu Lin became afraid of marriage.

Zhu Lin was a little skeptical now. Did the original singer really mean this? Or did this guy make up a set of lyrics to make himself appear to be a docile, obedient, self-aware, and infinitely tolerant little woman?

Although the song was a huge hit in Japan and helped Sada appear on the Red and White Songs Festival, it was also accompanied by controversy over its machismo.

Some people say that this song promotes male chauvinism, while others say that it makes fun of male chauvinism.

Wei Ming’s main focus is actually on making jokes, but the reason he can sing so well is mainly thanks to Jiang Kun, the crosstalk artist Kun Kun.

Because “The Guanbai Declaration” was really popular in China for a while, the following year Jiang Kun launched the crosstalk “The Man’s Declaration”. He wrote a script using this song as a gag and performed it with Li Wenhua. It was very well-known in the 80s and could often be heard on the radio.

Later, a writer-turned-director named Han Han made a movie called “Ride the Wind and Break the Waves” and adapted this song, which was sung by Deng Chao.

When Masashi Sada finished singing and Wei Ming also finished singing, today’s performance came to an end. The audience was applauding, but the reporter Sha Qing next to him was mainly applauding Wei Ming.

He wanted to talk to Wei Ming later about the concert organized by the Yanjing Evening News.

However, he was a step too late. After searching for a while, Gu Jianfen finally found Wei Ming at the end of the concert. She patted him on the shoulder and asked him to come over with her.

When Wei Ming turned his head and saw Teacher Gu, he also saw a person holding a camera.

“What is this for?” Wei Ming asked Teacher Gu.

Gu Jianfen: “CCTV, this concert will be recorded and broadcast on TV.”

Wei Ming thought: Was the scene of him and Sister Lin whispering and singing just now not recorded? Probably not, right?

Wei Ming and Teacher Gu haven’t seen each other for a while, but some time ago he copied two copies of the album “Flower in Water”, one for Aunt Xiaoyan and one for her to give to Teacher Gu.

His progress surprised Teacher Gu so much that he wanted to invite him to this concert to communicate with his Japanese colleagues.

“Would you like to meet Masashi Sada later? I asked him to listen to the songs you wrote for Hong Kong, and he was full of praise for them. He said he didn’t expect there would be such a pop musician in the mainland, and he really wanted to meet him.”

Wei Ming actually didn’t really want to get to know him, after all, he wasn’t very accomplished in music and his language communication wasn’t smooth.

However, when he thought about Japan’s huge music and comics market, he gave in. More friends mean more paths.

Here I come, Sada-san!
……

(Yesterday’s guaranteed minimum)
(End of this chapter)