Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 912 Asking for Foreign Aid

As they talked, the two walked into the Writers' Association office one after the other.

Chen Fan glanced around and found that the place was still the same as before, with more than a dozen desks crammed together, the room filled with smoke, like a "paradise on earth," and both smokers and non-smokers had to remain silent when they saw it.

If there's any difference from before, it's probably that... it's more chaotic now?

On desks, in cabinets, on top of cabinets, in corners, on stools... everywhere you can pile things up, there are all kinds of documents and files. People who don't come here often probably won't even have a place to put their feet.

Fortunately, Chen Fan was no ordinary man. He used the Lingbo Weibu (a martial arts technique) to move around in the confined space, and still managed to greet the big shots.

"Hello Mr. Feng, hello Teacher Feng, hello Mr. Ai, hello Mr. Liu, hello Mr. Sha... Hello teachers, hello everyone, it's great to see everyone here today."

Old Mao waved his hand to disperse the smoke in front of him, found his seat, and sat down with the help of a chair. He then let out a long breath, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and was about to offer one to Chen Fan when he realized that he only had one cigarette left.

Then he turned to look at someone, and sure enough, the cigarettes were like cannonballs, one after another hitting his chest. Old Mao was very envious, so he put the last cigarette in his mouth and picked up the cigarette box to crumple it into a ball.

"Wait, don't waste it."

Chen Fan quickly took the cigarette pack from his hand, stuffed the cigarettes he had received into it, and after counting them, he found that there was half a pack.

He pulled one out and put it in his mouth, then tossed the rest onto Old Mao's table, chuckling, "Everyone gets a share."

Old Mao was immediately delighted, "Such a good thing, that's rare!"

A burst of laughter erupted in the office.

Six months earlier, in November 1979, the Writers Association held its third members' representative congress, electing a new leadership team. Mao Lao was appointed chairman, Ba Lao was appointed first vice chairman, and there were 13 other vice chairmen including Ding Ling and Feng Zhi. Feng Mu and Li Ji were appointed executive secretaries of the Secretariat.

However, most of these people hold other positions. For example, Chen Huangmei works in the Ministry of Culture, Feng Zhi is the president of the Chinese Foreign Literature Association, and Ba Jin is based in Shanghai. So, not many people work here regularly.

Otherwise, such a small place really couldn't accommodate so many people.

So when Chen Fan saw that there were quite a few people here today, he couldn't help but be a little surprised.

He turned to look at Elder Mao and asked, "Is this some important event for the association?"

Before Elder Mao could speak, Elder Feng, sitting opposite him, laughed and said, "You proposed the motion yourself, yet you don't even remember it."

Chen Huangmei, who was standing next to him, immediately laughed and said, "Maybe he's upset because he wasn't awarded an award last year."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan immediately understood what had happened. Before anyone else could speak, he raised his hand, stood up, and said solemnly, "I want to make a solemn statement: I have changed careers. I'm no longer writing; I'm making movies now. So, things like when the Lu Xun Literary Prize will be awarded or who will receive it have little to do with me. Please, leaders, don't give me special treatment just because I'm one of the initiators of this prize. I will absolutely not hold any grudges against anyone just because I haven't received the prize. This is my formal statement."

"No need to explain."

In the corner, Liu Baiyu sat in a chair and waved his hand vigorously. "An explanation is just a cover-up. Why didn't you show up earlier or later? Why did you have to come today? You're clearly here for this year's Lu Xun Literary Prize!"

Chen Fan looked exasperated. "This isn't allowed. Why are you insisting on wearing a hat?"

Seeing him like this, the room erupted in laughter again.

Old Mao waved his hand, turned his chair to face him, and said with a soft laugh, "Since you say you're not here for the awards, then tell me, what brings you here?"

Chen Fan sat down again, grinning, and said, "We've received a call for help."

"Ask for help?"

A hint of doubt appeared on Old Mao's face. "With your current abilities, what is there that you can't do?"

He looked around as he spoke, then turned back, "Looking for a few old guys like us, we might not be able to get anything out of us."

Feng Zhi nodded and said, "If these old guys really had a way, they wouldn't still be crammed into this shabby place, cold in winter and hot in summer, and having to walk two miles just to go to the toilet."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but say, "I told you last time that I have another building there, four stories high, with dozens of offices, dormitories, and a canteen, but you guys don't go there."

"Hey, don't say I'm not looking out for my own people. The building is still there, only my uncle's company is occupying a few rooms. If you agree to move in, I'll get them to vacate immediately, clean it up, and you can move in. What do you say?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Old Mao waved his hand and chuckled softly, "Not very good."

Feng Mu nodded in agreement, saying, "We couldn't go before, and we can't go now. All the other literary and art associations are crammed here, and their affiliated units are scattered all over the place. What will others think if our Writers' Association occupies such a good spot all to itself?"

Chen Fan shrugged. "It's not like we're not paying rent. If they're willing, we can find another place for them to live. If we don't have high-rise buildings, we can easily find courtyard houses."
If all else fails, we could find a place in Chaoyang or Haidian districts and build a cluster of single-story houses; that would be better than crammed here.

Old Mao shook his head again, "We appreciate your good intentions, but there are some things you don't understand. You'll know later."

Seeing that everyone else was nodding silently, Chen Fan could only shut up.

Think about the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Writers Association. They've been in this place for twenty years. They had several opportunities to move out, but in the end, they always showed good manners and let other organizations move out first. He doesn't believe there's nothing going on behind the scenes.

Whether they're scared of being beaten or something else, since they've decided to squeeze in here, then so be it.

Anyway, I don't come here often, and now that I've changed jobs, I'll have even fewer opportunities to come in the future, so let's just leave it at that.

As for why he didn't move, he didn't think about it. Even with the cheat code, he only became a little smarter, and his memory and comprehension improved a lot, but in some aspects, he was still the same as before, it was innate and couldn't be changed.

At this moment, Chen Huangmei threw away his cigarette butt, lit another one, looked at him and said, "You should tell us why you came today, and see if we old guys can help."

Mr. Mao nodded and said, "Although you have changed your unit and are no longer a resident writer, you are still a member of the National Writers Association and also hold the title of vice chairman of the provincial association. We are still family. If you need anything, just say so. We will definitely do what we can, and if we can't, we will try to find a way together."

The others nodded in agreement, focusing their attention on Chen Fan's face.

Chen Fan smiled and said, "It's like this, I've been transferred to the travel company now,..."

He briefly explained the background and his own plan, and finally said, "So, I would like to ask the Writers Association for help to find a group of writers who are familiar with the local customs along the Yangtze River to write a script for the promotional video."

Even with his extensive reading, Chen Fan couldn't claim to be familiar with every single one of the twenty-odd cities along the Yangtze River, nor did he have the time to learn about each place in detail. As a result, he needed to bring in some "external help" when filming the Yangtze River promotional video.

These foreign aid workers must be very familiar with the local history, geography, customs, and other aspects. It would be even better if they could write this information into a filming script.

If others wanted to find such outside help, it would be extremely troublesome. First, they would have to contact the local government and ask for information and assistance. Then, based on the list provided by the local government, they would have to visit each of those people one by one. In addition to personally inviting them, this also served as a test to see if they were truly familiar with the situation.

If they pass the test, someone will be asked to compile their statements or information into complete shooting materials, which will eventually form a shooting script.

By the time this entire workflow is completed, Chen Fan will probably have read all the information about the cities along the river and finished writing the scripts himself. He might even have filmed several episodes of promotional videos. Why bother hiring someone else then?!
Therefore, he plans to take a "shortcut" and solve all the problems by addressing the root cause.

Generally speaking, those who understand local customs are usually associated with "literati," otherwise, most people would not have access to, let alone be familiar with, so much local history material.

Such a person is very likely a member of the local writers' association, or at least someone you can come into contact with.

Of course, there are some "non-governmental scholars" who have such capabilities, but it is quite difficult to organize these people, and they are not within Chen Fan's consideration at all.

All he needed to do was get things under control at the top of the Writers' Association so that the relevant conditions could be conveyed down. All the provincial branches along the Yangtze River would immediately take action, regardless of whether they approached those within the system or those "unofficial scholars." Chen Fan didn't care.

He simply needed to obtain a shooting script that conformed to local conditions within a limited time, and then use it as a reference to shoot his own film.

It's that simple.

"this one?"

Old Mao looked at him in surprise, "Such a small matter, and you're making such a fuss over it?"

Chen Fan took out his cigarettes, offered one to the writer, and laughed, “What you consider a small matter is a big deal to me. Without the help of the Writers Association, how could I have easily managed so many places and even had them write the materials into a shooting script for me? That doesn’t make sense, don’t you think?”

"Got it."

Old Mao waved his hand and said, "Write down your requirements, and I'll have someone arrange it later. Oh, by the way..."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Chen Fan and asked, "Was there any payment for doing this for you?"

Chen Huangmei nodded and said, "Strictly speaking, this is the job of the Tourism Administration. They need to send us a letter of assistance so that we can help with the process, and we also need to provide some funding."

Now that you're personally handling this, the official procedures can be skipped, but you can't let the people involved work for nothing, can you?

Chen Fan clicked his tongue and sighed, saying, "I've figured it out. The leaders are disrespectful to their elders and are just trying to take advantage of me."

Upon hearing this, Old Mao almost choked on his cigarette, coughing several times before quickly picking up his teacup and taking a big gulp. He then turned around and said irritably, "How dare you say that someone is disrespectful to their elders? You're the one who's being unruly."

Before Chen Fan could speak, someone next to him said, "Alright, alright. Everyone knows who he is. You don't need to protect him. Nobody here is blaming him for a joke. Um, Chen, let's get down to business."

The others smiled and nodded, not taking Chen Fan's joke to heart at all.

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Then I'll be direct. As long as it's acceptable, I'll pay you according to the script. A single script is priced at five thousand yuan, that's not bad, is it?"

"That's quite a lot."

Chen Huangmei shook his head, looked around, and said, "These days, the lowest price for a movie script is only eight hundred to a thousand yuan, and three to five thousand is considered high. He directly offered five thousand yuan, which is very high."

The others also became interested, and someone immediately asked, "Are you planning to get your uncle to invest in this promotional video?"

Chen Fan immediately shook his head and said, "After filming, I'll have to ask him for help to broadcast it in the US for free. But American TV stations charge for airtime, so how can I ask him to invest money while filming? That would be like ripping off our own people."

Upon hearing this, everyone chuckled again.

Chen Fan smiled and continued, "This promotional series is ultimately for the development of tourism, so I plan to apply for funding from the Tourism Administration."

The Tourism Administration earns foreign exchange, and now, to earn even more foreign exchange, it's just a matter of spending a little more local currency; they won't hesitate.

Mr. Mao sat down next to him, nodding with a smile, "That means using the Tourism Administration's funds to subsidize some writers. That's a good idea."

Just as everyone was laughing, Chen Fan solemnly corrected, "You can't say it's a subsidy. Our writers have put in hard work and knowledge, so how can you call it a subsidy? It should be an equal exchange."

As soon as he finished speaking, his laughter grew even louder.

Mr. Mao nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, exchange, it's an equal exchange."

Chen Huangmei also shook his head with a smile, "If Old Lu from the General Administration knew that the 'capable man' he personally asked the old political commissar for did things this way, I wonder if he would feel heartbroken."

Liu Baiyu immediately said, "No, Xiao Chen is doing this to develop the tourism industry. He not only puts himself into it, but also sought help from leaders of his old unit and mobilized resources and personnel from the Writers Association. It's all for the purpose of developing our tourism industry and earning more foreign exchange. He will be very pleased and happy when he finds out."

Upon hearing this, everyone burst into laughter again.

Although this money won't end up in anyone's pocket, they are certainly happy to see that Chen Fan is thinking about the Writers' Association and working to generate income for its members.

On the other hand, if this matter is successfully accomplished, the Writers' Association will also deserve some credit.

You get both money and recognition, and this kind of good thing is delivered to your doorstep. How could you not be happy?

Even if we take a step back and the final result is not achieved, it has little to do with the Writers' Association or the writers who wrote the scripts. At most, they are just consultants. What responsibility can they have?
There is profit and no harm.

With that thought in mind, everyone's gaze towards Chen Fan became even more amiable.

That is to say, Chen Fan is already married, otherwise there would probably be several people trying to set him up with a marriage proposal by now.

I thought this guy was only 20 years old, the perfect age to build his career, so why is he already married?
Once the office quieted down again, Chen Fan smiled and said, "Then I'll leave this matter to you leaders. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Huangmei said with a smile, "Don't take your leave. Now that you're here, we can't let you go so easily."

He looked around as he spoke, “It’s rare to have so many people here today, so you can treat us to dinner tonight.”

Then, he pulled out a certificate from a pile of documents on the table, handed it over, and said, "Consider this your celebration."

Chen Fan took it and immediately smiled broadly. "Oh, the Lu Xun Literary Prize certificate? Well then, I won't be polite."

(End of this chapter)