Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 767 County Literature
After dinner, Fang Minghua, who was drunk, returned to the county guesthouse in a Santana. Zhang Jianguo had just walked out the door and Fang Minghua was about to go back to the room when she saw a white van driving into the yard.

A middle-aged man got out of the car. He was wearing sunglasses, a suit on the outside and a round-necked shirt on the inside. A golden necklace around his neck was particularly eye-catching.

Seeing Fang Minghua standing on the steps of the foyer, the man took off his sunglasses and smiled ingratiatingly: "You are Fang Minghua, the vice chairman of the Qin Province Writers Association, right?"

"I am, are you?"

"Hello, hello, my name is Wang Dafa." The man shook hands warmly: "I am the mine manager of Shengli Coal Mine, and I have sent the van to you."

"Thank you, Boss Wang, for taking the trouble to come here in person." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"You're welcome. How dare I neglect something that Secretary Zhou and County Magistrate Li personally arranged? Chairman Fang, are you making a movie? Great, I want to support you! I also have two BMW X7s, do you need them? I'll send them to you, too, so you can go there for fun or inspection."

"No, no, I have my own car, thank you." Fang Minghua declined.

Boss Wang is so enthusiastic.

Of course, they did it for the sake of the secretary and the county magistrate.

After Boss Wang left, Fang Minghua handed Jia Zhangke the keys to the van after the others finished work at noon, so that he could take the SUV back and drive around.

Fang Minghua planned to drive to the Wei Family Compound the next day, but unexpectedly another group of people came, including the city's deputy commissioner in charge of propaganda, as well as the chairman of the Municipal Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the chairman of the Writers Association, and others. There was another meeting between the host and the guests, a banquet, and singing in the evening.

Later, Tian Dongzhao, vice chairman of the Shanxi Writers Association, brought a few people from Taiyuan to meet with some writers from Shanxi Province who also came to meet him. During these days, Fang Minghua had constant social engagements and was drunk all day long.

Finally, after a week, Fang Minghua's world became peaceful.

This guy originally wanted to come out to relax, but he didn't expect to end up living a life of debauchery even more than the day he spent in Xijing City. It seems like he won't dare to run around anymore in the future.

Fang Minghua lay on the bed thinking.

"Xiao Wu" has been filming for more than a week, and Fang Minghua has never been to the filming site. Today he decided to go and take a look.

Today we are performing a scene in a bathroom. If the male lead Wang Hongwei is to star in it, there will also be shots of LUO. Although he is a man, the scene must be cleared as necessary. The Fenyang people who liked to watch the excitement during the filming were driven away, leaving only the crew.

Fang Minghua drove over and parked the car outside the bathroom. After going in, she found that the filming had already ended. Wang Hongwei was wearing a coat, shivering all over and complaining that the water was too cold.

Fang Minghua didn't disturb him, but just watched quietly.

He suddenly remembered that in later generations, "county literature" became popular in short videos and also penetrated into popular film and television.

When talking about "county town aesthetics", many people would like to go back to Jia Zhangke's "Xiao Wu" and other works. He himself became the originator of "county town literature".

It’s just that the texts or videos of later generations are just a kind of nostalgia, an aesthetic trend under the filter, giving a feeling of "forcing sorrow to write new words".

However, Jia Zhangke truly reflects this era.

There is desire in confusion, and vitality in decline and backwardness.

Fang Minghua was daydreaming, and the filming was suspended.
The prop master hurriedly arranged other prop environments. Jia Zhangke finally took a break and sat quietly on a small chair with a cigarette in his mouth.

Fang Minghua discovered something strange.

After getting to know him for a while, I found that Jia Zhangke was actually a person who could liven up the atmosphere. At night, I would often hear the sound of several men bragging and chatting coming from the room where he lived.

"Zhang Ke, what's wrong? Is the filming not going well?" Fang Minghua asked with concern.

Jia Zhangke shook his head, took out a document from his pocket and handed it to Fang Minghua: "Teacher Minghua, take a look, this is sent by my classmate from Yanjing."

Fang Minghua took it and looked at it. It was a photocopy, a red-headed document from the relevant department. The title of the document was very eye-catching: "Notice on Not Supporting or Assisting Zhang Yuan and Others in Filming and Post-Processing of Films and Televisions."

The file clearly showed the names of seven people:

Zhang Yuan, Wang Xiaoshuai, He Jianjun, Wu Wenguang, Shijian, Tian Zhuangzhuang and Ning Dai!
"Are you scared?" Fang Minghua asked.

Jia Zhangke nodded.

I was indeed a little scared.

This is not about banning a certain film, but directly banning a person!

Fang Minghua was not surprised at all, but said calmly: "Shengshi Film and Television received this document a long time ago. After cooperating with Wang Xiaoshuai to shoot the film "Extreme Cold", we have not cooperated again."

"But don't worry, just focus on filming your movie." Fang Minghua patted his shoulder and said, "After the filming is finished, I will help you apply for the Dragon Mark."

"Thank you, Teacher Minghua." Jia Zhangke looked grateful.

"Don't be polite. I'm the producer, so I have to play some role, right?" Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Okay, go ahead and be busy. I won't disturb you while you're filming." Fang Minghua said as she was about to leave, but when she saw assistant director Zhang Xi hurried in and whispered something in Jia Zhangke's ear, Jia Zhangke's expression became serious again, with a hint of anger in his eyes.

"What happened?" Fang Minghua stopped and asked.

"Director Zhang said that Zuo Wenlu is on strike," Jia Zhangke replied.

"Strike? Why?" Fang Minghua was a little surprised. He had a good impression of the girl who was half his hometown.

She comes from a well-off family and has always been successful, but this time she plays the role of Hu Meimei, who is a singer but actually a young lady. Zuo Wenlu put a lot of effort into playing this role which is very inconsistent with her own image.

"She felt that the character she played, Hu Meimei, was too inconspicuous throughout the movie, and she always felt lost, Zhang Xi explained. "And also..."

"Anything else?" Fang Minghua asked.

"I feel like she seems dissatisfied with the pay and thinks it's a bit low," said Zhang Xi.

"Zhang Ke, you signed remuneration contracts with all the actors back then, right?" Fang Minghua asked.

"That's for sure, but the remuneration is low. Zuo Wenlu got the highest, 3 yuan. My two childhood friends and I could only get 2000 yuan each in the end. We were just here to help," Jia Zhangke explained.

Thirty thousand dollars is not a lot.
Fang Minghua paused for a moment and said, "Well, Director Zhang, please tell Zuo Wenlu that since we have signed the contract, we must follow it completely. If you want to raise the price, you can talk to us again if we still want you to act in the next film! This one is it, don't want to shoot? Pack up and leave!"

"If she is not satisfied with the script, Zhang Ke, you can explain it to her from the perspective of play structure and the importance of this role from a feminist perspective. Anyway, I think this role is very important. But if she still doesn't listen, let her go!"

"At worst, we can just find new people and reshoot! Shengshi Films will make additional investments! In other words, the rules cannot be broken!"

"Two people leaving in a row" stunned Jia Zhangke and Zhang Xi.

I didn't expect that Fang Minghua, who is usually very gentle, sometimes does things decisively and without leaving any room for maneuver.

"Okay! Let's go and talk to him!" they said in unison.

"Okay, you guys get busy, I'm leaving." Fang Minghua turned and walked out.

Jia Zhangke did not reveal the results of his conversation with Zuo Wenlu to Fang Minghua, but the girl continued to film with the crew and no one heard her say anything again.

Since the crew had nothing to do, Fang Minghua drove around the area and went to the Wei Family Courtyard, Wenfeng Tower, Wuyue Temple, and Xinghua Village, where he visited the Xinghua Village Fenjiu Workshop and experienced the feeling of "I asked where the tavern is, and the shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village in the distance."

While Fang Minghua was driving around Shanxi Province and enjoying himself, Jeff Bezos, thousands of miles away in Seattle, was also in high spirits.

Because Amazon is finally going public.

(End of this chapter)