The literary era since 1979

Fortunately, Zhang Guorong was sent to the hospital in time, and the doctor confirmed that he had a fever.

Fang Yan, Zhang Manling and others accompanied Zhang Guorong until he finished the drip, and then sent him back to the hotel to rest. When they left, the doctors and nurses in the hospital were reluctant to let him go. After all, it was a once-in-a-century opportunity to see a superstar like Zhang Guorong appear in the hospital.

It was also because of this that when Fang Yan sent Zhang Guorong to the hospital, the entire hospital was in a state of chaos.

Fortunately, the dean, director and others took action immediately to control the situation and maintain order, otherwise the huge hospital would have been in turmoil.

Fang Yan drove Shi Yansheng and Zhang Manling back to the Beijing Film Studio. After all, their bicycles were still parked inside the studio.

At this moment, there were pickup trucks parked at the door of the building, and the staff were moving the filming equipment from the trucks bit by bit.

Gong Xing, Chen Kaige, Mo Shen and their team also got off the car one after another and began to direct the teams of different types of work.

"Teacher Fang, why are you here?"

Zhang Yimou let out a light exclamation, which immediately attracted the attention of others.

"I came here to check on the set, but I didn't expect to run into trouble."

Fangyan then talked about the causes and consequences of Zhang Guorong being sent to the hospital.

Gong Xing's tone was filled with worry, "So how is he now?"

Fang Yan said seriously, "His fever has gone down, and he is now resting in the hotel. I told him not to learn opera for the next two days, but to focus on learning opera in Mandarin. After he has fully recovered, Mr. Shi and Mr. Zhang will continue to guide him in Peking opera performances."

Gong Xing's brows relaxed and he felt relieved in his heart.

Mo Shen suggested, “Should we take some time to visit?”

"I have already discussed this with him. There is no need to visit for the time being. Otherwise, it will easily delay Guo Rong's rest and recovery."

Fang Yan said: "In my opinion, it is better to wait until his health gets better."

"Teacher Fang is right."

Everyone agreed with this because they had to continue shooting the exterior scenes of "Farewell My Concubine" in the next few days.

"After scouting locations, we finally chose the Hanshiqiao Wetland in Shunyi," said Zhang Yimou. "There are large tracts of reeds there, which is known as the 'Little Baiyangdian' in the suburbs of Beijing. With the backdrop of white snow, it is very suitable for the scene where the troupe sang the lyrics of Farewell My Concubine."

Fangyan walked with everyone, chatting along the way, and entered the warm conference room.

"Teacher Fang, Director Gong, I have to say hello to you in advance. I may need to take a long vacation in February."

Zhang Yimou said bluntly that he would go to West Berlin with the "Red Sorghum" crew to attend the Berlin International Film Festival.

Gong Xing approved it without hesitation, "I hope you, Jiang Wen, Gong Li and others can bring glory to the country and win an international award."

“When I think about the possibility of winning the award, I feel happy.”

Zhang Yimou's mouth twitched, "But when I think about going to West Berlin with Jiang Wen, I feel a little uncomfortable."

Fang Yan shook his head and laughed, "Hasn't the feud between you and Jiang Wen on the set of Red Sorghum been resolved yet?"

Zhang Yimou curled his lips, "Teacher Fang, you know me well. I am definitely not a stingy person. It's just that Jiang Wen is really too much."

He then continued to talk about how during the filming of Red Sorghum, Jiang Wen was completely unable to perform according to his own ideas. Every time he had a new idea, he would just shout "cut" without any regard for Zhang Yimou, which made Zhang Yimou, who was directing for the first time, very unhappy.

The filming was always intermittent, and it can be said that there were quarrels from the start of the filming to the completion of the film.

"He's not like this normally. He's only like this when he's filming. He likes to argue." Gong Xing consoled him, "It's better to resolve a feud than to create one. Since both of you are doing this to make the play better, don't take it to heart."

"Oh, that's what I thought."

Zhang Yimou sighed, "It's just that for someone like Jiang Wen, only Teacher Fang can control him."

Seeing that he was still upset, Fang Yan stopped trying to persuade him and changed the subject, saying, "But coming to the point, it's a good thing you went to the Berlin International Film Festival instead of the Hong Kong Film Awards. Otherwise, there might be some jokes or misunderstandings."

Zhang Yimou was very surprised, "Teacher Fang, what do you mean?"

According to dialect, the pronunciation of "Jiang Wen" in Cantonese sounds like "anus". Given Jiang Wen's temperament, he was bound to get angry.

"Pfft!"

When Zhang Yimou heard this, he burst into laughter, and his previous anger disappeared in an instant.

…………

Starting from the next day, after finishing filming, Gong Xing would call together the heads of all the groups in the crew to plan the shooting schedule.

In the film industry, there is an industry term called "small night", which means shooting until about 12 o'clock in the evening. Of course, there is "small night" and there is "big night". "Big night" means at least two groups shooting for 24 hours without interruption, and "Farewell My Concubine" is between the two.

The shooting time is as long as 14 to 16 hours a day. After all, if you miss this rare snowy day, it will be difficult to take pictures of the snow scene again!
However, due to the busy work and cold weather, people in the crew gradually started to catch colds and coughs, and some even had a fever like Zhang Guorong.

Therefore, Gong Xing gave the entire crew half a day off. He also took this opportunity to visit Zhang Guorong, who had just recovered from a serious illness, with Fang Yan. They saw that Zhang Guorong's complexion had recovered and he began to perform "Farewell My Concubine" under the guidance of Zhang Manling in the practice room.

Fang Yan asked with concern: "Guorong, how is your health now?"

"It's much better."

Zhang Guorong smiled. Before, whether he was stretching his legs or exercising his limbs, he felt dull pain all over his body due to the fever.

After chatting for a while, Gong Xing suddenly mentioned: "This year's New Year's Eve is February 2th. If nothing goes wrong, the scenes of Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou will start shooting during that time, which is also the scenes of you and Jiang Wen. I wonder if you will stay in the mainland to celebrate the New Year, or..."

"I want to stay in the mainland. This is my first time to celebrate Chinese New Year in the mainland!"

Zhang Guorong said: "I would like to take this opportunity to experience the difference between celebrating the Chinese New Year in the Mainland and in Hong Kong."

Fang Yan said: "If that's the case, it would be too lonely to stay in the mainland for the New Year. How about coming to my house?"

"Will this not be too much trouble for Fang Sheng?" Zhang Guorong was tempted.

"No, one more person will make it more lively. Besides, our whole family are basically your fans."

Fang Yan waved his hand and said, "Who knows how lively it would be if you were here."

Seeing that Gong Xing also extended an invitation in a friendly manner, Zhang Guorong no longer refused and readily agreed.

Fang Yan smiled and said, "If the people at CCTV knew that you stayed in the mainland for the New Year, especially the people in the Spring Festival Gala creation team, they would definitely try every means to get you to perform on the Spring Festival Gala."

"I have also heard many Hong Kong media mention the Spring Festival Gala program."

Zhang Guorong hesitated and said, "It's just that I can speak Mandarin now, but singing is still a little difficult, and the songs I sing are all in Cantonese."

Fangyan cast a meaningful look at him and said, "If you are willing to perform on the Spring Festival Gala stage, I can write one or two Mandarin songs for you." (End of this chapter)