The literary era since 1979

After they confessed their feelings to each other, Kurihara Komaki abandoned her usual reserve and became completely obedient to Bai Yi, wearing whatever he told her to wear, and properly thanking him. After all, if it weren't for him, how would she have had the opportunity to attend the Berlin Film Festival? How would she have had the chance to give an acceptance speech?
The speech given by Kurihara Komaki when she won the Golden Bear for "Departures" greatly enhanced her fame and prestige after it was reported by the media.

Fang Yan comfortably enjoys the gentle embrace of home, where she used to only have Matsuzaka Keiko, but now she can reap double the happiness.

Just when he was about to lose himself in the moment, a phone call suddenly rang.

Matsuzaka Keiko's body trembled, and she blurted out, thankfully not clenching her teeth, as she looked up at Fang Yan and picked up the phone.

"What a rare guest! I didn't expect Lijun to call me at this time."

"You're not upset that I haven't contacted you for so long, are you?"

Deng Lijun explained that in order to break into the Japanese music scene, she worked too hard, which exhausted her asthma, forcing her to temporarily suspend her career. In order to recuperate and relax, she gradually shifted her focus to France.

Fang Yan suddenly realized, "Oh, I see. So, you're in France now?"

No, I'm in Tokyo now.

Deng Lijun said that she has recovered her health and is gradually resuming her work under the management of her agency. The first step is to hold a concert tour throughout Japan. It was at this time that she accidentally saw the promotional news about the movie "Departures".

"Haha."

Fang Yan smiled and said, "The premiere of 'Departures' is in a few days. If you're free then, you can come and support us."

"Definitely, definitely. Even if there's a scheduling conflict at that time, I'll have someone send you a flower basket in my name."

The voice of Teresa Teng on the other end of the phone was soft, sweet, and gentle.

The two then chatted about some interesting anecdotes from their lives, until Deng Lijun took the initiative to ask him when he would return to China.

"Around the 20th or 21st."

"Great! I'm going to the mainland around the same time too. How about we team up and go back together?"

"Are you going to the mainland?"

The dialect was astounding.

"Yes, I will be participating in this year's Spring Festival Gala as a singer from Taiwan."

Deng Lijun said with a smile.

Fang Yan was even more astonished upon hearing this.

Teresa Teng said, "I haven't forgotten our previous agreement."

Fang Yan suddenly remembered that he had asked Deng Lijun to sing a Christmas song at the Spring Festival Gala if conditions allowed. He never expected that she would still remember it and send her management company to communicate and negotiate with the CCTV Spring Festival Gala program team multiple times.

“I went to CCTV last month and rehearsed in the studio.”

There was a hint of satisfaction in Deng Lijun's tone.

Fang Yan sighed softly, "Although you are already a household name in China, if you can take advantage of the Spring Festival Gala for publicity, your fame will definitely reach new heights." Then he touched Matsuzaka Keiko's hair. As an actress, he could be considered quite eloquent.

Teresa Teng said, "My manager said the same thing, and he even suggested that I hold a few concerts in mainland China."

"Good thing!"

Fang Yan said, "Remember to let me know once the time and place are confirmed. Our whole family are your loyal fans."

Deng Lijun readily agreed and promised to reserve enough concert tickets for him.

Fang Yan thanked him, but the originally cheerful and straightforward voice on the other end of the phone became hesitant and intermittent.

"Actually, you don't need to thank me. On the contrary, it's me who..."

Deng Lijun hesitated for a moment, but finally said, "I want to ask you for a favor."

Fang Yan smiled knowingly, knowing that she wouldn't call him for no reason. He asked her what was wrong and learned that she wanted him to tailor-make another song for her.

"Because my songs are often called 'decadent music' in mainland China, I want to use the Spring Festival Gala stage to change that impression."

Deng Lijun said embarrassedly, but things didn't go as planned. Despite several attempts to communicate with CCTV, the songs performed remained the same, such as "Tian Mi Mi," "Dan Yuan Ren Chang Jiu," and "Zai Shui Yi Fang," which did not meet the goals of herself and her management company at all.

Fang Yan said, "So you want me to write a song for you that's different from your usual style?"

Deng Lijun nodded and then apologized. After all, there were only 10 days left before the Spring Festival Gala was officially broadcast. After deducting the tedious procedures of composing, arranging, and recording, the actual time left for dialect creation was not long, which was somewhat unreasonable.

"Can you sing traditional opera?"

After a moment of thought, Fang Yan immediately thought of "The Red-Clad Ladies," a song that would be paired with "Farewell My Concubine."

These days, there are no pop songs with a Chinese style that incorporate operatic singing. This song is bound to cause a sensation when it is released.

Yes! My musical enlightenment came from Huangmei Opera!

Deng Lijun said that she fell in love with listening to opera and began to sing Huangmei Opera when she was young, influenced by her mother. When she was 10 years old, she participated in the "Huangmei Opera Song Competition" and won the championship with "Visiting Yingtai". However, she lacks training now and has gradually become rusty.

It will probably take some time to revive traditional opera.

"There's no time to save you."

It's a bit of a shame about the dialect.

"troubled you."

Deng Lijun felt bad.

Fang Yan disagreed, saying that if Jay Chou could write 50 songs in 10 days, why couldn't he, who could make Jay Chou live in the shadows, do the same?
His eyes darted around, thinking about the fixed themes of the Spring Festival Gala songs: "reunion," "ethnicity," and "family"...

When it came to "Motherland", his eyes lit up and he thought of a song that was very suitable for this first generation of "Fairy Music School".

You are a long, long road.
A lamp in the thick fog of the mountains
I am a child, walking in your sight.

Hearing him humming a song that seemed to come out of nowhere, Teresa Teng was taken aback. "What's this?"

The dialect wasn't explained in much detail; instead, the singer continued singing:
You are the bright moon and gentle breeze, and I am the dream you cherish.

Whether we meet or not, I will embrace you for a lifetime...

I wish to live up to your wish.
May it not be in vain, may you forge ahead bravely!
This is a prosperous age every single day!

Although she sang haltingly and even a little off-key, Teresa Teng didn't care about these flaws at all. She was immediately captivated by the song, especially when she heard the lines "The mountains and rivers are safe and sound, the fireworks are ordinary, but you are gazing at the view you long for." A string in her heart was immediately plucked.

"The title of this song is..."

"As You Wish"

The dialect says, "Generations of Chinese people have always valued struggle and inheritance, like the Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains. This song expresses that the goals that the older generation strived for have been realized in the generation of their children. And their grandest goal is 'national rejuvenation and the prosperity of the motherland'!"

Deng Lijun was momentarily dazed and remained silent.

Seeing that there was no sound on the phone for a long time, Fang Yan had no choice but to ask again:
What do you think of this song? Can it help you break free from the stereotype of "decadent music"?

"Yes! It must be possible!"

Teresa Teng was very excited, and as expected, her dialect never disappointed; she wrote a very satisfying song in less than 10 minutes. "As for composing and arranging the music, I think we should just use what we have on hand and ask a Japanese composer to write it."

He said in a dialect, "After all, time waits for no one."

With a hint of request, Deng Lijun hoped to meet him at the designated recording studio in the afternoon to discuss and refine the creation of "As You Wish".

Fang Yan didn't agree immediately, and exchanged glances with Matsuzaka Keiko and Kurihara Komaki.

"please!"

Instead of using her usual nickname "Yanzi," Deng Lijun solemnly addressed her as "Teacher Fang."

Fang Yan pondered for a moment, and finally "reluctantly" agreed.

"Thank you so much!"

Teresa Teng was both excited and looking forward to it: "Then it's settled, see you at Akasaka Recording Studio this afternoon!"

After hanging up the phone, Kurihara Komaki asked, puzzled, "Judging from your expression, you didn't really want to go, so why did you agree in the end?"

"Since she is willing to keep her promise, I don't mind giving her a little more help."

He said in a dialect, "Moreover, it's a performance at the Spring Festival Gala, similar to your Red and White Song Concert."

"I see." Keiko Matsuzaka nodded understandingly. "Will you be back tonight?"

"We'll see. If they're not coming back, I'll call you in advance." Fang Yan made a dialing gesture.

"Paging is fine."

Keiko Matsuzaka said that she and Komaki Kurihara had a TV interview that afternoon, specifically to promote the release of "Departures".

Afterwards, the three of them cuddled for a while, then washed up and dressed before heading out one after another.

Fang Yan, dressed in a thick black down jacket and wearing a mask, wrapped himself up tightly before driving to Akasaka.

Teresa Teng arrived first, standing in the lobby on the first floor of the company, dressed in a black cheongsam with a fur coat, a stark contrast to her usual sweet style.

As soon as Fang Yan stepped into the door, he greeted her warmly and introduced her to everyone around her.

"This is my manager, Minoru Funaki. You two are old acquaintances, so I won't go into details."

"That's Mr. Miki Tsuyoshi, a famous Japanese composer..."

At the introduction of Teresa Teng, Miki Tsuyoshi bowed deeply to the dialect, exclaiming "It's an honor!"

"Nice to meet you too."

Fang Yan gradually learned that the main singles in Teresa Teng's albums released in Japan over the years were all composed by Tsuyoshi Miki.

For example, Teresa Teng's single "Aijin" (Lover), which helped her establish herself in the Japanese music scene, set a double record of 14 consecutive weeks at number one on the "Japan Cable Request Chart" and 10 consecutive weeks at number one on the record chart, leaving the second place by more than 20 times. If it weren't for Keiko Matsuzaka and the emergence of "Yūyō no Uta" (Sunset Song), she could have won both the "Japan Cable Awards" and the "All Japan Cable Broadcasting Awards" for two consecutive years.

In addition, "Toki no Ryuu no Kasami" and "Bie no Yokan" composed by Tsuyoshi Miki are also popular masterpieces throughout Japan.

Of course, it was still a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road, and he was defeated time and time again by songs such as "Snow Flower" written by Fang Yan for Keiko Matsuzaka.

Therefore, Miki Tsuyoshi, Teresa Teng's go-to composer, was completely convinced of Fang Yan's talent and held him in high esteem.

"I just heard that Fang Yanjun wrote a wonderful piece of music that she praised highly in just 10 minutes!"

"It's just words."

The speaker pointed out that the lyrics were in Chinese, not Japanese, and wondered if this presented any challenges in composing the music.

"no problem."

Deng Lijun said that Miki Tsuyoshi also has some knowledge of Chinese.

"That's good."

Fang Yan raised his eyebrows, and then spent an afternoon working on the score with Deng Lijun, Sanmu Gang, and others. The first draft of the score was completed at an unexpected speed.

Deng Lijun's face was full of excitement as she held a sheet of music with musical notes drawn on it, and she couldn't help but hum the melody of "As You Wish".

"Changing the song is fine, but you'd better ask and report to the CCTV Spring Festival Gala program team first."

Fang Yan suggested, "Otherwise, arbitrarily changing the music could easily cause unnecessary misunderstandings."

Deng Lijun said, "You're right, I will do as you say."

Fang Yan roughly calculated the time in her mind, "The 26th is New Year's Eve, and there's not much time left before the Spring Festival Gala. Can we finish it before the 25th?"

"If you hadn't written the music so quickly, I might have had to give up, but things are different now."

Deng Lijun is full of confidence, saying that she will record a demo that night and mail it to the Spring Festival Gala program team. At the same time, she will also call CCTV and sing "Ru Yuan" a cappella over the phone. She believes that any director with appreciation and courage will agree to change the Spring Festival Gala song.

In the local dialect, they said, "That's fine too."

"Actually, there is an even simpler way."

Teresa Teng gave a mysterious smile.

When they heard something related to themselves, they immediately became interested in the dialect.

"If you don't mind me exaggerating your abilities."

Deng Lijun said that if the Spring Festival Gala production team had known that "Ru Yuan" was written in dialect, they would definitely have agreed to let her change the song.

Fang Yan laughed heartily, "Haha, I don't have that much face!"

"That's hard to say," Teresa Teng said with a sly wink.

Fang Yan said frankly, "Alright, as long as 'As You Wish' can be produced on time, you can take my tiger skin and use it as you please!"

In the following days, he either cooperated with the creative team of "Departures" to give media interviews or went to Akasaka Recording Studio to watch Teresa Teng record "As You Wish". He did not waste any of his remaining free time, but devoted it all to writing "Those Years of the Ming Dynasty" and "The Ming Dynasty".

Just as the first draft of "Those Things of the Ming Dynasty" was about to be completed, the premiere of "Departures" also arrived.

Winning the Berlin Golden Bear already garnered significant attention for the film, but the arrival of Teresa Teng on the day of its release made the event even more exciting.

Especially with the two "Showa era divas," Keiko Matsuzaka and Teresa Teng, taking turns singing, it was quite a spectacle!

With the combined advantages of favorable timing, location, and popular support, "Departures" grossed nearly 10 billion yen on its opening day.

This was in Japan after the bursting of the bubble economy, but this was precisely the "right time" for "Departures" because the film's interpretation of life and death diluted the atmosphere of despair, pessimism, negativity, and pain during the recession. Fuji Television even conducted a special survey on it.

Since the release of "Departures," Japan's previously high suicide rate has miraculously begun to decline.

Many of the young men who had initially contemplated suicide changed their minds after watching the movie.

After all, we are all living life to the fullest, experiencing both the sweet and the bitter, the sober and the drunken... (End of Chapter)