Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 196 Who are the innocent people?
"Lao Cheng, why are you here?"

Seeing that the old man was somewhat surprised, Lin Chaoyang stepped forward and shook his hand enthusiastically.

Cheng Yin exchanged a few pleasantries with Lin Chaoyang with a smile on his face before explaining his purpose, "I came back this time because someone asked me to do this."

Listening to Cheng Yin's words, Lin Chaoyang pulled him and said, "Let's talk outside."

"it is good."

The two came to the triangle outside the library. The spring breeze in mid-March was still a bit chilly, but the warm sunshine made people feel warm.

"Tell me, what do you want from me?"

"To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, our Yan Film Studio plans to co-produce a movie about Go with Japan. We already have a script, which is about the Go content in the script. Because the screenwriter's level is not high, we want to find someone to help review it.

Yesterday, Lao Chen told me that students at Yanying are all talking about your excellent chess skills. It just so happens that you are also a good script writer. How about you come and give us a review?"

After Cheng Yin finished speaking, the name of a movie immediately flashed through Lin Chaoyang's mind. He asked, "Are you the director?"

"It's not me, it's Duan Jishun from our factory. Have you seen the movie 'Wedding' starring Liu Xiaoqing? He directed it."

"Wedding" is a movie released last year. It has good reputation and response. However, the most famous person in this movie is the female lead Liu Xiaoqing.

Two consecutive hit movies, "Little Flower" in 78 and "Look at This Family" in 79, made her one of the most famous film actresses in China today.

"The Japanese director is Jun'ya Sato, who is very famous in Japan."

Listening to Cheng Yin's introduction, Lin Chaoyang was certain that this movie was the one he had seen. He asked, "Who is in charge of this Sino-Japanese co-production?"

"The two sides have equal investment shares, co-write, co-direct and co-perform, with China responsible for the Chinese scenes and Japan responsible for the Japanese scenes."

After Cheng Yin finished speaking, he saw Lin Chaoyang was silent and asked, "Chaoyang, what are you worried about?"

"Co-production is a thankless task, why do you bother doing it?"

Cheng Yin smiled and said, "Who wouldn't think of such a question? But this is a mission!"

Cheng Yin's tone was mixed with helplessness, and he explained the inside story to Lin Chaoyang.

"The movie must be made. It's not easy to find an expert like you who understands movies, dramas, and Go. Don't try to shirk your responsibility."

"I haven't agreed yet, why do I feel like I've already boarded a pirate ship?"

Cheng Yin patted his shoulder and said, "I can't help it. It's a mission!"

He added: "Take a day off tomorrow and go to the factory for a meeting first."

"If I go, I may not say good things."

"As long as you come to help."

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang showed up at Yan Film Studio. Cheng Yin had traveled back and forth between Yan Film Studio and Yan University the day before and had already helped him get some creative leave.

When he arrived, he first met the crew's creative director Duan Jishun, screenwriters Hong Zhou and Ge Kangtong, and then met the director of Yanying Studio Wang Yang, the director of the literary planning department Jiang Huaiyan and the editor-in-chief Shi Wenxin.

Together with Cheng Yin who invited Lin Chaoyang yesterday, this lineup is enough to show how much importance Yanying Studio attaches to this film.

After the greetings, Wang Yang had something else to do, so he left first.

Duan Jishun first handed the movie script to Lin Chaoyang, "Comrade Chaoyang, this is the first draft of the script, please take a look at it first. I need your help to enrich the content about Go."

Lin Chaoyang's eyes rested on the cover of the script - "A Game of Chess That Is Not Finished".

It is indeed this movie.

Lin Chaoyang remained calm and took the script. "Then let me take a look first."

Lin Chaoyang was a script consultant invited by Yanying Studio, so naturally he had to get to know the script first. Everyone else had left, and he was the only one left in the Yanying Studio's guesthouse, smoking and flipping through the script.

The more he read the script, the more aggrieved he felt, and in the end he slammed the script on the table.

The next day, Duan Jishun called everyone together for a script discussion, and the first question he asked was Lin Chaoyang.

"Comrade Chaoyang, what do you think of the script after reading it? Are there any problems with the handling of the Go part?"

Lin Chaoyang lit a cigarette, said nothing, and had a gloomy face. Everyone was confused by him.

"Chaoyang, do you think there is something wrong with this script?"

Cheng Yin was familiar with Lin Chaoyang, and he knew from his expression that Lin Chaoyang was in a bad mood.

"The problem? It's not the problem, it's the butt."

Lin Chaoyang said in a cold voice.

Everyone looked confused and didn't understand where Lin Chaoyang was coming from.

"What's wrong with your butt?" Duan Jishun asked.

"The butt is crooked!" After Lin Chaoyang said this, the atmosphere in the conference room immediately became depressing.

"What do you mean?" Screenwriter Hong Zhou was a young man in his twenties. When he heard Lin Chaoyang's words, he immediately stood up and asked back.

"Xiao Hong!" Jiang Huaiyan stopped Hong Zhou. He looked at Lin Chaoyang and said slowly, "Chaoyang, if you have any questions, please communicate with everyone first. Don't be emotional right away."

Lin Chaoyang glanced at everyone, then looked at Cheng Yin, "Old Cheng, when you invited me here yesterday, I told you that I might not have good things to say."

Cheng Yin smiled bitterly. What do you call this? You should be frank with me. But you didn't even see the script yesterday!

Cheng Yin didn't say anything. Lin Chaoyang looked at the screenwriter Hong Zhou who had just stood up. "You asked me what I meant by that. I want to ask you, what's the meaning of writing this script?"

"A Game That Has Not Been Finished" tells the story of the Jiangnan Go King Kuang Yishan who attended a warlord's birthday banquet and met the Japanese Go master Matsunami in Peking in the 1920s.

At the birthday party, Kuang Yishan was imprisoned for not giving up a move during his chess game with a warlord. When he was taken away by the police, he was playing chess with Matsunami and the game was interrupted. Later, Kuang Yishan was rescued by Matsunami and the Japanese ambassador.

Songbo found that Kuangzi Ah Ming was very intelligent and wanted to take him as his apprentice, but Kuang Yishan refused. A few years later, the country was in turmoil due to war, and the people were living in poverty. For the sake of his son's future, Kuang Yishan decided to send his son Ah Ming to Japan to learn chess.

In 1937, the Japanese army invaded China. Amin, who had achieved the highest honor in Japanese Go, Tiansheng, was killed by the Japanese army when he decided to flee back to his country because he refused to become a Japanese citizen. Kuang Yishan, who was in China, also suffered great misfortune and humiliation because he refused to play against the Japanese colonel.

At the end of the story, New China was founded. Kuang Yishan and Song Bo climbed the Great Wall, recalled the unfinished game of chess thirty years ago, and lamented the vicissitudes of life and the suffering that war brought to the people.

The story of the script seems delicate and moving at first glance. It is set against the long period from the Beiyang warlord era to the founding of New China. Through the joys and sorrows of two Chinese and Japanese Go players and their families, it condemns Japanese fascist militarism.

But after looking at it carefully, I found that something was not right.

It’s not that there is anything wrong with the story itself. Stories are written by people, and as long as you have the ability, you can make it fit no matter how you write it.

The problem is the stance of this script. In this era of friendly atmosphere between China and Japan, some people may not think there is anything wrong with it, but Lin Chaoyang, as a later writer, thinks there is a big problem.

"Let me ask you about this scene in your script. After Japan's defeat, on the ship where the Japanese were sent back home, someone wrapped a child's body in sackcloth and threw it into the sea for a water burial. A mother-like woman covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

The protagonist Kuang Yishan turned his head and looked at the vast sea in the twilight.

What did you want to express by writing this scene?

Lin Chaoyang stared and questioned Hongzhou who was sitting opposite him.

"The people of both China and Japan are victims of the war, and the Japanese people have also suffered from the war." Hongzhou's answer was powerful.

"Okay. The location of this scene you wrote is Huishan Wharf in Shanghai. Let me ask you, have you ever seen Japanese people living in Shanghai during the Anti-Japanese War? Do you know who they are?"

"There are people from all walks of life, including businessmen, officials, and ordinary reclamation groups and their families."

"Okay, then let me ask you again, have you ever seen any Japanese beggars?"

Lin Chaoyang's question made Hongzhou at a loss for words. "The living conditions of the Japanese in China at that time were relatively good, so there should not have been any beggars."

"Didn't you say that the Japanese are also victims of the war? Then why can't there be Japanese beggars on the streets of China?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

"This……"

Hongzhou was speechless for a moment. Ge Kangtong, another screenwriter sitting next to him, said, "The scene you just mentioned is after the defeat..."

Before he could finish his words, Lin Chaoyang pointed at him and glared at him.

“Yes! What kind of suffering did you write about the Japanese people experiencing after their defeat?
It is the losers' own fault! It is the backlash of their wolfish ambitions! But you told me that the Japanese are also victims of the war.

The party that started the war lost, and his situation became miserable. This became his suffering?

Haha! How can there be such a thing in the world? "

Lin Chaoyang laughed out of anger, but there was no smile in his eyes, only coldness.

Everyone present had a grim look on their faces. Originally, Yanying Studio invited Lin Chaoyang to polish the script, and no one expected that he would have such an attitude.

Duan Jishun said stiffly, "Comrade Chaoyang, Xiaohong and his team wrote this script to reflect on the pain that the war brought to the people. It not only describes the suffering of the Japanese people, but also the suffering of the Chinese people."

"One is the blood of innocent people, and the other is the blood of invaders. You think there is no problem in comparing the two?"

"The people are always innocent and are victims of war," Hong Zhouqiang defended himself.

"What a people are innocent! Who are the people? Who are the people?
Do you think that only those war criminals were the initiators of this war?

Can they create military funds out of thin air, build machine guns and cannons out of thin air, and grow food out of thin air?

It's the Japanese! It's all Japanese!
This small country with few people has exhausted the whole nation's strength for generations in an attempt to swallow up the rest of the world. You tell me that their people are innocent?

Who are the innocent people? Tell me, who are the innocent people?

Are the Chinese people innocent, or are the Japanese people innocent? "

Lin Chaoyang slammed the table and stood up, his eyes gnashing with anger, his hair standing on end, his aura intimidating.

(End of this chapter)