Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 891 First Exhibit

After chatting for a while in front of the tomb, Chen Fan pulled Yang Kangnian and Ye Yufeng to visit Zengjiabu Old Street, then climbed to the highest hill nearby and drew a circle on the Yunhu map.

This circle is not regular; rather, it is bounded by mountains, rivers, and the administrative regions of the communes, encompassing more than 80 square kilometers of land belonging to two communes, which is more than twice the size of the later Hengdian World Studios.

After drawing the area, Chen Fan stuffed the map and paintbrush into Yang Kangnian's arms. "Uncle Yang, keep this safe. When Yunhu Film City becomes famous all over the world, we'll build our own museum. This paintbrush and this map will be the first exhibit."

Upon hearing this, Yang Kangnian was overjoyed. "Hey, world-famous? You've got some nerve. I don't have your ambition. I'd be content with being famous throughout the country and having film studios from all over the country come to Yunhu to make movies."

Ye Yufeng, standing nearby, laughed and said, "I don't know if this film and television city will attract film studios from all over the country after it is built, but it will definitely attract film enthusiasts from all over the country to come and visit."

She then looked at Chen Fan, "We all went to Guangzhou to see your film, 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain,' and it was fantastic. Miss said that the Chaoyang Temple in Beijing was packed with people. There were also many people who went to the filming location in the provincial capital to watch the excitement."

Later, I heard from Mr. Yuan that a Hong Kong film company was very interested in this film and wanted to bring it to Hong Kong, possibly even recreating the viewing frenzy of "The Heroines of the Yang Family" back then.

Ye Yufeng asked with some curiosity, "Were there many mainland films shown in Hong Kong before?"

Chen Fan smiled and shook his head, "There are definitely some, but it's definitely not 'a lot.' It's just that a few companies like Great Wall, Phoenix, and Xinlian have introduced movies to the mainland for screening. Most of them are just tasks."

The only film that truly gained popularity and caused a sensation among Hong Kong audiences was the 1961 opera film "The Heroines of the Yang Family," directed by Cui Wei and Chen Huai'ai. Another film, "Liu Sanjie," also performed reasonably well at the box office.

Besides these two, only one other film, *The Sino-Japanese War at Sea 1894*, was very popular in Singapore, but unfortunately it failed to pass Hong Kong's censorship for release.

Yes, Director Chen Huaikai is the father of that poet-director, who was a very influential figure in the film industry back in the day.

Ye Yufeng was quite surprised after hearing his words, "There are so many good movies from the mainland, but only two are popular in Hong Kong?"

She has been in Shenzhen for more than half a year now. In her spare time, out of curiosity, she has also gone to Shenzhen cinemas to watch mainland movies.

At that time, Shenzhen had only recently become a city. Not to mention Luohu, even Bao'an County was still enjoying the same treatment as before. The latest films were only a little over a year old. Chen Fan's debut film, "Little Lotus Just Showing Its Tips," hadn't even been released there yet, let alone "Monk Comes Down the Mountain."

So Ye Yufeng watches mostly old movies, from the 1950s like "Railway Guerrillas", "The Story of Liubao", "Sisters Stand Up" and "Lin Zexu", to the 1960s like "Landmine Warfare", "Heroes and Daughters" and "Visitors on the Ice Mountain", and then to the 1970s like "The Shining Red Star", "The Bright Sun", and "Haixia", etc. He has watched quite a lot.

In her opinion, setting aside some value-based factors, from a purely storytelling perspective, some of the films are quite good. Why couldn't so many good movies be released in Hong Kong?

Chen Fan shrugged. "The foreigners over there are in charge. They won't allow public screenings. What can we do?!"

At this moment, Yang Kangnian said from the side, "I wonder if your film 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain' will have a chance to be exported to Hong Kong. If it does, then Yunhu Film City will have even more hope."

Although the first film wasn't shot in Yunhu, now that Yunhu Film City is being built, Chen Fan stated that starting with the second film, the main filming location will be Yunhu Film City. If this movie becomes a hit in Hong Kong and is then sold to other countries, tourists from those countries will come to the mainland, and wouldn't they want to visit Yunhu?!

If even foreign tourists come, how can domestic tourists not come?
With this, the future of Yunhu Film and Television City looks even more promising!

Chen Fan pointed to the map in his arms and laughed, "Then you guys need to hurry up, otherwise the movie will be sold to Hong Kong, but the film city hasn't been built yet. Wouldn't that be letting the opportunity slip by?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Kangnian immediately turned to walk back, "Then let's go..."

He had just started speaking when he suddenly realized something, turned around and looked at Chen Fan, "Should we hurry up? Then what are you doing?"

Chen Fan pointed at Ye Yufeng and said, "I've already given her the planning scheme for the film and television city construction. You can discuss and implement it. As for me..."

He smiled slightly and shook his clothes. "Of course, I'm going to finalize that two percent of the shares."

……

After saying goodbye to Ye Yufeng and Yang Kangnian, who were speechless and reluctant to part, Chen Fan drove to the cargo terminal. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he boarded his second-generation small yacht and slowly headed towards Liuhua River.

Because cargo ships dock at Lujiawan every day to transport supplies to companies such as Yunqi Factory, Machinery Factory, Home Appliance Company, and Cotton Mill, the small yachts moored here are well taken care of and show no signs of being untrained.

After driving for a while, Chen Fan gradually increased the speed, and the small yacht sped forward on the water like a fat tadpole.

In less than an hour, we arrived at the Lujiawan area.

After passing through the deserted dock of Team Seven, we arrived at the makeshift dock of Team Six. We moored the small yacht and tied it up. The birds that had been circling in the sky had already returned with their message, bringing with them, unsurprisingly, two horses: Paw Patrol and Hee-Hee-Hee.

Chen Fan swung his arms as he climbed up the embankment. Two dogs were already eagerly wagging their tails and running over, followed by a group of more than a dozen dogs.

That's why we're talking about Paw Patrol.

Chen Fan patted Duo Duo and Qiu Qiu's heads, and looking at the pack of dogs behind them, he could recognize about half of them.

That haughty big yellow dog belongs to Captain Yang. Yes, it's the one who honed its "beast-like speech" skill; it's a good dog, very good at arguing. The big black dog next to it belongs to Old Captain Yang. And there's also the big spotted dog belonging to Storekeeper Huang, and Hua Hua belonging to Accountant Liu…

It's quite unique that Accountant Liu's dog has a name. These days, rural dogs are usually called by "feeding" or "smacking." Such a sophisticated thing as a name is generally only found in dogs from "intellectual" families.

Accountant Liu graduated from elementary school, and naming his dog is one of the ways he identifies himself.

For this reason, Chen Fan touched Hua Hua a couple more times. Then, with the two dogs entangled with him, he slowly made his way up the embankment. The two horses that had been waiting for a long time couldn't wait to crawl into his arms.

After comforting the horse by holding its head for a while, Chen Fan mounted the horse and headed home.

As the saying goes, Qingming is a busy time for farming. At this time of year, it is the season for spring plowing, sowing, and fertilizing in rural areas. If tea trees are planted, it is also the harvest season.

However, there is only a small fishpond between the village and the dike, and no farmland, so there is no one here.

You have to walk west along the road in front of the educated youth settlement to see people bustling about.

Back home, there was another commotion. The village dogs, however, were quite well-behaved. After watching the commotion for a while, they obediently went home on their own, giving Gun Gun, Chang Chang, and Shui Shui strange looks as they left.

What's that thing yelling about while perched on the fence?
Chen Fan didn't go inside. Instead, he used a leap to jump into the panda enclosure, picked up Gun Gun, and laughed, "What? Nobody plays with you? Don't lie. Three older girls play with you every day. They all told me that." Gun Gun's eyes widened in confusion. Its owner wasn't back, so why were the older girls talking to it?
Chen Fan sat on the tree stump with Gun Gun in his arms, and Chang Chang and Shui Shui also came to join in the fun, snuggling into his arms.

Two horses stood outside the wall, looking on with great envy, wishing they could squeeze inside.

Unfortunately, the fence was not wide enough; even a horse's head couldn't squeeze through.

Only the myna bird perched on a tree branch in the panda enclosure, constantly calling out, "I want to play too! I want to play too! I want to play too!"

Annoyed, Chen Fan picked up a small stone... but unfortunately, the silly bird had learned its lesson. Before he could even throw the stone, it fluttered away, chirping incessantly, "Chen Fan, you big bad guy, you won't play with me! Chen Fan, you big bad guy, you won't play with me..."

Well, once it shouts, it won't be long before the whole team knows that Teacher Chen is back.

as predicted.

A dozen minutes later, Huang Li, Liu Lu, and Yang Mei returned on their bicycles and saw Chen Fan playing with the panda. They exclaimed in surprise.

Liu Lu didn't even have time to run into the panda enclosure. She leaned her bicycle against the wall, clung to the fence, looked at Chen Fan, and said loudly, "Master, why are you coming back today? You didn't even tell me beforehand."

Before Chen Fan could speak, Yang Mei caught her breath, parked her bicycle, and said, "Master, are we here to sweep Grandma's grave? We went a few days ago."

Chen Fan, holding the three bears, said to them, "Well, I went to sweep the tombs today and saw signs of worship, so I guessed it was you. Very good."

The three of them were overjoyed to hear the praise.

After a while, Huang Li suddenly realized and asked, "Master, have you eaten yet? I'll go and cook for you."

He then headed towards the kitchen.

Chen Fan immediately stopped her, "No need. Are Secretary Yang and the others at the brigade headquarters? I'll go find them, and we can grab a bite together."

Huang Li quickly said, "They've all gone to the lower-level teams to inspect the spring plowing work. They usually don't come back at noon. They eat their lunch at whichever team they happen to be with."

He paused for a moment, then quickly added, "If you have something urgent, I can call Captain Yang from his house and get the information quickly."

Chen Fan nodded. "Then I'll go ask. By the way, have Secretary Yang, Captain Zhang, Captain Xiao, and Captain Ye come over. I need to speak with them."

Yang Mei immediately said, "I'll go make the call. I know where the phone key is."

Then he looked at Huang Li and said, "Go back to the brigade headquarters canteen and cook. I'll come help you after I finish this call."

Liu Lu immediately said from the side, "I'll go help her."

Although the three of them studied different things and now have their own specialties, they have lived together for a long time. When Chen Fan was teaching, he never hid the other two from them, so they all know a little bit of each other's skills and helping each other is common. It's just that their strengths differ, and as time goes by, their specialties will become more and more prominent.

After the three of them discussed it, they immediately pushed their bicycles away.

Chen Fan didn't waste any time. After calming the three pandas down, he jumped out and landed right on the back of the little horse that was trying to squeeze in.

No saddle was needed. With a pat on the pony's head, it raised its head high, made a neighing sound, and trotted off.

The little mare followed closely behind, and Dodo and Ball were not to be outdone, neighing as they caught up.

The hawk on the roof gave a look to the few big, clumsy guys beside it, and the birds instantly took flight, flapping their wings and flying towards the brigade headquarters.

The moment the team appeared on the country path, they immediately attracted everyone's attention.

A series of greetings came from afar, "Teacher Chen is back!"

"Teacher Chen, I'm killing a chicken at my house today. Come over for dinner!"

"So you're the only one with chickens? Teacher Chen, I slaughtered two rabbits yesterday, and I'll catch a goose to stew later. Come over to my house for drinks tonight."

As Chen Fan rode on his horse, he waved one arm to the left and then to the right from time to time, beckoning in the direction from whichever direction the sound came from.

Finally getting a break, he quickly said loudly, "Thank you, thank you. But I came back for something important this time. Next time, I'll treat you to drinks!"

No one cared when they were rejected. Teacher Chen was notoriously difficult to invite, not because he was arrogant, but because he rarely came back these days, only staying for a few days each time. Getting him to come was a matter of luck, and not being able to was normal.

Amidst the responses, Chen Fan rode his horse across the fields, crossed the straight "Lujiawan Avenue" cement road, and entered the territory of the Fifth Team.

Like the sixth team, this dirt road that led directly to the main road was also paved with cement and straightened, leading directly to the brigade headquarters in the fifth team's village.

While the sixth team was busy, the people in the fifth team were naturally not idle either.

Amid the greetings from the villagers, Teacher Chen launched into another long, rambling conversation until his mouth was dry. He politely declined one dinner invitation after another, not even bothering to check if Uncle Lu was home, and walked straight ahead before finally entering the courtyard of the brigade headquarters.

In the courtyard, Zhang Wenhao, who had succeeded Zhang Wenliang as the militia company commander and security director of Lujiawan, came out to greet them.

Zhang Wenhao, judging from his surname, is a member of the Zhang family. He is also Zhang Wenliang's cousin and the fourth son of the Zhang family, hence the nickname "Fourth Tiger".

Chen Fan had already sent the two horses away to find their own fodder in the stable. He was walking in when he saw Zhang Wenhao come out and waved, "Company Commander, haven't you gone out to inspect yet?"

Zhang Wenhao had been a militia company commander for over a year and was already used to his new identity. However, upon hearing Chen Fan's teasing, he immediately laughed and said, "I dare not call you company commander. You can still call me Sihu, just like before."

Well, I'm on duty today, so I didn't go out. Also, I already called Secretary Yang and the others back via walkie-talkie; they should be here soon.

(End of this chapter)