Huayu: Director started with art films

Nowadays, there are still many moviegoers for Chinese-language films in the North American market.

Especially some Hong Kong kung fu movies, the video tape sales in North America are still very good.

The plot of the movie "Blade" is not complicated. It is a typical story of revenge for one's teacher. This story has been performed countless times during the wave of Hong Kong martial arts films in the 1960s and 1970s.

Not to mention that when Xu Ke wrote this script, he also referred to some settings from the classic film "One-Armed Swordsman".

It’s just that due to the aesthetic standards of the time, the life-and-death fighting action in movies is not very attractive to today’s audiences.

Qingxia said: "Then you must not tell Xu Ke that you can make back your investment."

"how?"

"I'm afraid he'll ask you for investment again."

Hearing this, Li Yishu laughed: "Aren't you on good terms with Xu Ke?"

"It's just that we have a good relationship, so I know his character."

Qingxia and Xu Ke are old friends, so she naturally knows Xu Ke's character. If this can make a profit, he might come up with another script immediately.

Li Yishu said, "Don't worry, I won't invest too much in movies in the next few years."

He remembered that starting next year, the Hong Kong film industry would completely collapse.
A large number of Hong Kong filmmakers either went to Hollywood or went north to participate in the filming of TV series.

Even if Li Yishu wants to boost the domestic film market, the general environment is such that he cannot change it alone.

The number of moviegoers in mainland China has dropped sharply, the Taiwanese market has abandoned Hong Kong films, Japan and South Korea have been impacted by Hollywood blockbusters, and the Southeast Asian market has also begun to screen a large number of Hollywood films because of the United States.

It can be said that Hong Kong films will be completely ruined starting next year.

Even though "Infernal Affairs" was known as the film that saved Hong Kong's market, it could not save the decline of Hong Kong's films.

Even twenty years later, with the booming mainland film market, Hong Kong films will always be about young and dangerous men, undercover agents, police and gangsters.

It can be said that since 1995, the once prosperous Hong Kong film industry has completely entered its sunset.

Even though there will be more Hong Kong films with box office revenues of over ten billion yuan in the future, once the Hong Kong stars familiar to the audience gradually grow old and there is a lack of young actors, the glorious era of Hong Kong films will come to an end.

Seeing Li Yishu say this, Qingxia smiled and nodded.

Before investing in the movie "Blade", it was Qingxia who submitted the script on behalf of Xu Ke. At that time, I thought that since it was a kung fu movie directed by Xu Ke, the box office should not be bad.

Who would have thought it was only three million Hong Kong dollars.

The box office of the film in Taiwan was only 5 million Hong Kong dollars. Not to mention recovering the cost, it couldn't even get back half of the money. It can be described as a huge loss.

Qingxia even felt a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, from Li Yishu's tone, she seemed to be able to avoid losses, which made her feel better.

After half an hour.

Qingxia drove to Jinxiu Garden.

Looking at the four big characters "Jinxiu Garden" on the entrance, Li Yishu was filled with emotion. As a native of Sichuan, he had dreamed of buying a house here in his previous life.

Just because this is the first luxury housing project in Sichuan.

When the average annual income per capita in Sichuan was 2300 yuan, the opening price of Jinxiu Garden was as high as 6000 yuan per square meter.

The promotional slogan used on television stations, newspapers and other media is "Drive a Mercedes-Benz, live in a beautiful garden"!
More than 20 years later, the housing prices here are almost as high as those in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, reaching over 100,000 yuan per square meter.

He managed to buy one last year, thus fulfilling his dream of a beautiful garden.

"Squeak-"

The car stopped at the door of the villa, and Qingxia put on sunglasses and walked down.

Li Yishu went to the trunk, took out the luggage, and went into the villa with Qingxia.

The house was bustling with activity at this time.

Li Jian, Zhao Xue, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, Qingxia's parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were all there.

Li Yishu came back and naturally there was a round of greetings.

"son!"

Li Yishu looked at Tuan Tuan, who was already running around the house with his short legs, and went up to hug him and said, "Do you miss your dad?"

“Ahhh, ahhh—”

Tuantuan was very resistant to this man who looked somewhat familiar yet somewhat strange, and insisted on getting down and walking by herself.

Li Yishu couldn't persuade him, so she kissed her son on the face, put him down, and started playing with his cousin.

"Grandpa, grandma, grandpa, grandma..."

Li Yishu took out the gifts she had prepared in advance and gave one to each of the elderly people. She then gave gifts to her father-in-law and mother-in-law, as well as Qingxia's eldest brother's two children.

In the evening, the family had a delicious meal together.

The grandparents followed Li Jian and Zhao Xue to the villa next door.

This time in Jinxiu Garden, Li Yishu bought a total of two houses. Because there was no wall, he specially had a large green belt planted to block the view in front and connect the two houses in the middle.

"Yishu, come with me." Zhao Xue looked at her son holding his grandson and waved.

"Come on mom."

Li Yishu handed the child to Qingxia and followed Zhao Xue out the door.

When he reached the door, he asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhao Xue said, "Qinqin called me yesterday and said she would come to visit me tomorrow. I couldn't refuse her. Call her back and tell her that you are back and will go to Shancheng to see her in a couple of days."

"Well, okay, I'll call Qinqin later."

Li Yishu didn't think much about it, nodded and agreed.

"You kid, you really are... Never mind, I'll go back first, you can stay at Qingxia's place tonight."

Zhao Xue looked at her son, sighed helplessly, said nothing more, turned around and left.

Li Yishu certainly understood what his mother didn't say, but he didn't care. Living his life over again, he naturally had to act according to his own wishes.

After returning to the house, Li Yishu took out his cell phone and called Jiang Qinqin, telling her that he had returned to Sichuan and would go to the mountain city the day after tomorrow morning to wish Jiang's father and mother a happy new year.

After all, he had to go back to Hengdian to continue filming on the third day of the Lunar New Year, and he couldn't spare the time to pay his respects after the New Year.

Jiang Qinqin naturally agreed to this.

Around ten o'clock at night.

Huang took Tuantuan back to the nanny's room to rest. Qingxia went to the bathroom to take a shower. The air conditioner was on in the room. Li Yishu took off his coat and sat at the desk in the room. He looked at the thick stack of manuscript paper on the table and picked it up.

It was an article written by Qingxia, and Li Yishu read it curiously.

"Watching my first movie 'Outside the Window' again many years later, it was as if my vision was blurred, and what I saw were the fragments of life behind 'Outside the Window' and the life after 'Outside the Window'."

"I was seventeen that year, attending Taipei County's private Jinling Girls' High School. In my third year of high school, my classmates were all preparing for the college entrance exam..."

There are not many pages, only a dozen or so. Traditional Chinese characters are difficult to write, and the words on it are quite sloppy, with many corrections and scribbles.

Qingxia came out of her pajamas after taking a shower. She noticed Li Yishu sitting at the desk. While wiping her hair with a towel, she asked, "What are you looking at? Why are you so engrossed?"

"Let me read the article you wrote." Li Yishu turned around and raised the manuscript in his hand.

"what!"

Seeing the manuscript, Qingxia was stunned, then hurried over, snatched it, put it behind her, and said a little embarrassedly: "I just wrote it casually."

"Don't be nervous." Li Yishu patted her arm, took the manuscript back, and said with a smile: "It's quite interesting. Writing in the first person is quite suitable for a beginner like you. This way you can write more deeply and heartfeltly."

Writing a novel in the first person "I" makes it easy to draw readers into the story you write.

But there is a prerequisite, which is that it has to be written brilliantly.

Fortunately, what Qingxia wrote was not a novel, but was based on her past experiences. Plus with the celebrity effect, the public would not be too critical of her writing style.

"Really?" Qingxia, who was originally embarrassed, immediately smiled and said, "Then how about what I wrote?"

"It's OK, I can watch it, but I'm curious about one thing."

Li Yishu looked at the manuscript in her hand and said with a smile, "You've been shooting Qiong Yao's movies for so many years, don't you think there's anything wrong with it?"

"What's wrong?"

"I've seen your movie 'Outside the Window'. It's about a high school girl in her prime who falls in love with a male teacher who is 20 years older than her. They elope and then commit suicide..."

Before Li Yishu could finish, Qingxia asked, "Don't you think this story is very touching?"

"move?"

Li Yishu looked strange.

"Yes, a woman is willing to risk her life for the one she loves."

Qingxia noticed Li Yishu's strange expression, smiled and sat on the bed, while continuing to wipe her hair, she said:
"I understand what you mean. Times have changed. It was popular among girls back then. Or teenage girls, for that matter. They all liked this kind of romantic, sad, and unrecognized love story."

"You're right. Not only in the past, but also now and in the future, women like this kind of story."

Li Yishu recalled the "Three Romances of Plum Blossoms" series that was previously broadcast in mainland China. The character played by Chen Hong, Wang Zixuan, became pregnant and didn't know who the child was. Not only did a bunch of dogs come up and vie for the right to be the father of the child.

Combined with a series of TV dramas adapted from female characters in the future era of online literature, most of them also follow this routine, with various overbearing presidents and business elites all falling in love with ordinary heroines in various ways.

In addition, there are also brainless female-oriented articles that whitewash D dealers.

It seems that the distorted values ​​in Qiong Yao's novels are not so abrupt after all. Instead, they seem quite pure. At least they make it clear that love is the most important thing.

You will not be instilled with any toxic chicken soup or even any content that is not correct in terms of world views other than mindless love.

All I can say is that "Qiong Yao's writings" will never go out of style.

"Yeah, girls all like it." Qingxia smiled and asked, "Do you think what I wrote can be published?"

Li Yishu smiled and said, "Why not? Of course you can. Celebrity autobiographies are always interesting. If you write well, you can become a great writer and let Tuantuan see his mother's literary talent."

"Hate it, I'm being serious."

Qingxia rolled her eyes at him and said seriously, "When I went back to Taiwan some time ago, I ran into Huang Zhan. He knew that I had retired from the entertainment industry and was reading more at home, so he asked me to write an article for him. I thought that since I had been reading for so long, I might as well give it a try. After coming here, I've been writing and revising every day."

"sure!"

Li Yishu supported her, "I said I would fully support your creation. You always get bored when you are at home taking care of Tuantuan. Write some articles, participate in public welfare activities, and do charity work. Your life will gradually become fulfilling."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too."

Qingxia was very happy that Li Yishu supported her, and said with a smile: "I plan to take Tuantuan back to my hometown in Shandong after the New Year, when the weather gets warmer, to meet my eldest sister and build a few Hope Primary Schools there."

"Well, then donate to a few more Hope Primary Schools. I'll ask the company to transfer 20 million to your charity foundation."

Li Yishu nodded. "In addition to Shandong, we will also build some in Sichuan and Shu, mainly in Wenshan. The construction must be good. Sichuan and Shu are areas prone to earthquakes, and the buildings must be able to withstand earthquakes of at least magnitude 8."

He had planned to build a Hope Primary School a long time ago.

But there has never been the time. After all, as the various behaviors of a certain cross emerged one after another, Li Yishu did not trust these charities at all.

Even though it is 96 now, there are some things that cannot be looked at closely under the sun, otherwise there will be cockroaches everywhere.

"Okay, I'll contact the foundation later."

Qingxia nodded and said hesitantly, "Yishu, how about you tell mom to stop working at the Emei Factory and help me run the foundation?"

"Well, I'll talk to her tomorrow."

Li Yishu thought about it and didn't refuse. Qingxia would definitely not be able to handle it all by herself. If her mother Zhao Xue was with her, it would be of some help.

What's more, my mother is about to reach the legal retirement age. It is popular to take unpaid leave now. I won't be able to perform many plays if I continue to stay in Emei Studio. It's better for her to do charity work.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

After Li Yishu came back from the mountain city, it was New Year’s Eve on the 18th.

The two families gathered together to watch this year's Spring Festival Gala for the Year of the Rat.

This year's Spring Festival Gala was still very lively, with many big-name singers and sketch actors attending.

Lao Song, who became a nationwide hit last year with the song "Hot Girl", took the stage again this year and sang a song "Brother Soldier".

"Great China", "Kangding Love Song", "Girl from Alishan"...

One familiar song after another comes to the fore.

The sketch comedy group also produced many excellent works this year, including "Three Whips" by Zhao Benshan and Fan Wei, "Funny Stories about Robots" by Cai Ming and Guo Da, and "Funny Working" starring Zhao Lirong and Gong Hanlin.

This sketch became popular for a while in later generations just because of the classic line in it: Palace Jade Liquor, one hundred and eighty yuan per cup.

When seeing this, Li Yishu couldn't help but think of a joke he saw online later. How to tell if someone is from the same hometown after traveling through time? Just ask how much a glass of Palace Jade Wine costs, how much a big hammer costs, and how much a small hammer costs...

Zhao Xue asked curiously, "Yishu, when will your promotional video start? It's almost nine o'clock."

"It should be almost time. It said it was around nine o'clock before, so it should be nine o'clock."

Li Yishu glanced at her watch. The specific time had not been finalized at that time. After all, it was a live broadcast and singers and actors might make mistakes.

If you make a mistake, it may delay you for a few seconds. (End of this chapter)