Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 205 It’s really crazy!

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang, who had not been seen for half a month, showed up in the library. He said hello to his colleagues and ran to the library leader to cancel his leave.

Thinking of Xie Jin's call again, he ran to the reception room and said, "Master Xie, make a call."

When Xie Jin called yesterday, he left the phone number of the guesthouse where their crew was staying. He called back and the guesthouse said that everyone in the crew had gone out.

That's how phone calls worked back then. Both parties always had to wait for each other, and sometimes it was less convenient than sending a telegram.

When it was almost time to get off work in the evening, Master Xie came over and said he had a phone call.

Xie Jin just came back from outside. "Hey, Chaoyang, I have already scouted the location here. We just started shooting today. When can you come over to take a look?"

"I won't go. I took a leave a while ago and just started working today."

"You are the original author and the screenwriter. How can you not come and see the filming? Please spare a few days, three to five days will be enough.

Look at the scenery, the actors’ state, and the atmosphere we created. Is it the same as the story in your heart? "

Xie Jin spoke sincerely. With the success of "Legend of Tianyun Mountain", he felt a lot of pressure to shoot "The Shepherd" with the same theme, and he urgently needed someone to affirm his ideas.

"Then ask your factory to help me get a leave. I'm embarrassed to ask for leave."

"Row."

The day after the two had their phone conversation, Shanghai Film Studio sent a telegram to Lin Chaoyang to ask for leave, and Xie Jin even had someone buy the train ticket for Lin Chaoyang.

The train tickets have been booked, so Lin Chaoyang has no choice but to go. He has already taken the leave, so he might as well treat it as a trip.

Shandan Military Horse Farm is in Gansu, but Lin Chaoyang's train changed trains in Lanzhou, and he took a train to Shandan Railway Station from Lanzhou Railway Station.

The train headed northwest and after several hours' journey arrived at Shandan County, located at the foot of the Qilian Mountains.

After leaving the train station, the crew's car was already waiting there, and the person who came to pick up Lin Chaoyang was assistant director Bao Zhifang.

Shandan Military Horse Farm is located in the middle of the Hexi Corridor. It was built in the 1950s and has always been an important military horse breeding base in the country.

The terrain here is flat and the grass is lush. In early spring in April, the vast grassland is lush and green, boundless, and rippling with blue waves, which is intoxicating. Bao Zhifang sat in the car and introduced the local customs and practices to Lin Chaoyang all the way.

The horse farm is under the jurisdiction of the Lanzhou Military Region, and the crew of "The Horse Shepherd" is now staying in the first guesthouse of the military region.

When they arrived at the guesthouse, Bao Zhifang first arranged a room for Lin Chaoyang.

"Oh, a suite, isn't this an excessive treatment?" Lin Chaoyang asked as he entered the room.

"This is the military district's care for us." Bao Zhifang said with a smile.

After settling down, Lin Chaoyang rested for two hours and didn't meet Xie Jin until the evening. The crew had just started filming these two days, and he was very busy.

He was very happy to see Lin Chaoyang coming, and prepared a banquet in the evening to welcome Lin Chaoyang.

After dinner, he called several actors from the crew to the room to meet Lin Chaoyang. There were more than 20 actors with names in the crew, most of whom were over 30 years old. The two young people, Zhu Shimao and Cong Shan, took the lead.

After they were chosen as the male and female protagonists, Xie Jin sent them to Gansu to experience life. Almost three months passed in a flash, and the two of them had lost some of the city dwellers' fair complexion and gained a bit of simplicity.

"Not bad, the temperament is quite suitable for the character."

Lin Chaoyang's approval made Xie Jin feel happy, and also made Zhu Shimao and Cong Shan very happy.

The filming hadn't started yet, and they were all feeling a little nervous. Lin Chaoyang's affirmation made everyone feel at ease, and all the previous hard work was not in vain.

The next morning, the crew got up at around five o'clock and prepared to set off.

Shandan Military Horse Farm covers a vast area. The daily scenes of "The Horse Herder" are performed in the second field and third horse team, which is nearly thirty miles away from the guesthouse. It takes an hour's drive to get there if you set out early in the morning. Fortunately, the roads in the horse farm have been well repaired in recent years.

After working all morning, the crew finally started filming at around eight o'clock.

The first scene today is that Xu Lingjun has just been released from the labor camp and assigned to the horse farm. His neighbors, Uncle Dong and his wife, help him nail the door curtain and bring him meals. It is a very humane scene.

In the novel, Xu Lingjun's house is an adobe house with leaks everywhere. The adobe house at the shooting site was built temporarily with a high degree of restoration. It can be said that the house was extremely poor and had nothing but bare walls.

There were no scenes for the heroine Cong Shan these two days, but she still came with the crew, so that she could adapt to the environment in advance and get a feel for the character.

Maybe because she was bored, the girl brought a copy of October. She was reading in a corner, not wanting to be discovered by Xie Jin.

"Why are you still reading novels?"

Xie Jin's words made Cong Shan at a loss. She stood up and rubbed the corner of her clothes restlessly with her fingers, not knowing what she had done wrong.

"Xiao Cong, don't be nervous. Director Xie didn't let you read the novel because he wanted you to have no distractions and be able to focus more on the character.

You don’t have much acting experience, so only by putting yourself in the role can you interpret the essence of Xiuzhi.”

After hearing what Lin Chaoyang said, Cong Shan breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Teacher Lin."

Xie Jin advised: "When you have time, study the characters carefully and don't focus on other things."

In his crew, actors are always required to "let go of their thoughts" after joining the crew and devote their whole body and mind to the role.

Fire is not allowed easily in the horse ranch, so the crew had lunch delivered by the people from the Third Brigade.

While eating, Xie Jin asked Lin Chaoyang, "How do you feel after staying here for half a day?"

"Not bad, it's exactly what I imagined."

Xie Jin nodded.

After finishing filming in the afternoon and returning to the guesthouse, just after dinner, Xie Jin called Lin Chaoyang to his room and said that he wanted to discuss a scene with him.

When we arrived at Xie Jin's room, Niu Ben, who played Guo Jianzi in the movie, was also there. He was an actor from the Shanghai Film Studio and a colleague of Xie Jin.

"Lao Niu discussed with me whether we should not show the urine in this scene?" Xie Jin said.

There is a detail in the script that shows Guo Feizi urinating in front of a big-character poster posted on the corner of the wall. When Xie Jin was working on the split-shot script, he even gave a close-up shot of the big-character poster.

The reason why Niu Ben didn't want this scene was simple. If the character he played did such a thing, it would inevitably cause controversy after the movie was released. But what Lin Chaoyang didn't understand was Xie Jin's reaction. He asked Xie Jin: "Why didn't you mention this when you wrote it before?"

Xie Jin looked slightly embarrassed, "Isn't this because Legend of Tianyun Mountain is scared?"

Over the past year or so, "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" has been plagued by negative reviews from its preparation to filming to small-scale screenings.

Although the situation has been settled now, the case can be approved and has the support of many powerful people, Xie Jin does not want to go through the same hardships again.

"This scene is very ironic. Audiences will definitely smile knowingly if they see it in the cinema. I think there is absolutely no need for us to avoid discussing the issue. We are in this era now. This is the attitude we should take towards big-character posters."

Xie Jin was also hesitant at first. Lin Chaoyang was the original author and screenwriter, so he had a lot of say. Seeing Lin Chaoyang's insistence, Xie Jin said, "Okay, let's keep this shot."

"What about this scene?" Xie Jin pointed to another scene for him to see.

This scene is about Xu Lingjun who was demoted and received back pay. He gave the salary to his wife Xiuzhi.

Qingqing watched her mother counting the money with great effort, and then she touched the money in her mother's hand with her little hands and asked innocently, "Mom, how did Dad get so much money?"

Xiuzhi looked at Qingqing and sighed, "I've been an 'old Y' for twenty years."

Qingqing said to Xiuzhi seriously: "Mom, when I grow up I want to be an 'Old Y' and make a lot of money. I will buy you a pair of leather shoes like Xiaosong's mother's, da da da..."

Lin Chaoyang watched this scene and knew in his heart that Xie Jin was really scared by the turmoil of "Legend of Tianyun Mountain".

This plot already existed in the novel and also when I was writing the script. Xie Jin never mentioned any problem with it before.

"I see you're under a lot of pressure. Did anyone say anything to you?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Xie Jin looked a little sad. "There are indeed some rumors. The department leader asked the factory leader before, saying that you are going to shoot another 'Y-style' movie. Haven't you suffered enough from 'Legend of Tianyun Mountain'? There is also pressure from the Film Bureau. They said that someone wants to cancel my movie."

After listening to Xie Jin's words, Lin Chaoyang pondered, "This is what I think. It's normal that someone doesn't want us to make this movie and tries every means to obstruct it.

There are only a small number of people who want to obstruct us. The more they obstruct us, the more it proves that we are on the right track.

Now is not the same as before, as long as we have firm faith, who can arrest us all?"

Lin Chaoyang's tone was firm and his expression was resolute. Xie Jin felt ashamed when he heard his words. "I am old after all. I don't have the determination and responsibility of you young people."

"You've already made "Legend of Tianyun Mountain", so what's there to be afraid of about "The Horse Wrangler"?"

Lin Chaoyang's confidence came from the fact that he clearly knew the future fate of "The Shepherd". After his encouragement, Xie Jin became more confident.

"You're right! Legend of Tianyun Mountain has survived, so the environment that The Horse Wrangler will face won't be any worse than it is."

After being counseled by Lin Chaoyang, Xie Jin was in a good mood. He insisted on dragging Lin Chaoyang to drink some wine, and also called the production director Bi Liqiu and the photographer Zhu Yongde to join them.

Lin Chaoyang stayed in the crew of "The Shepherd" for three days. He went to the set during the day and drank with Xie Jin at night. After drinking that night, he grabbed the production director Bi Liqiu.

"Lao Bi, book a train ticket for me tomorrow. I have to go back to Yanjing."

Bi Likui tried to persuade him to stay, saying, "You've only been here for a few days. Why don't you stay for half a month? You are now Director Xie's backbone."

Lin Chaoyang waved his hand, "No, if you stay any longer, you'll turn into medicinal bones for wine."

Bi Likui couldn't help but smile when he heard this, and said, "Then you should discuss it with Director Xie."

"You buy the ticket first, and I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"Row."

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang told Xie Jin about his plan to leave, but Xie Jin wanted to keep him here for a few more days.

With Lin Chaoyang around, he felt that his mental stress these days was significantly less than before. How could he let go of such a great stress-relieving tool so easily?

Unfortunately, Lin Chaoyang refused to do so. In the afternoon, Biliqiu brought back the train ticket. He escaped and boarded the train overnight. It took him another two days to return to Yanjing.

As soon as he got home, he saw three plaques standing in the living room, two of which had gold characters on a black background. One read "Where to find the fairy music from heaven", and the other read "The best taste in the world can be found in this studio".

"Why is there one more piece?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Tao Yushu showed the plaque, "'Xunweizhai', isn't it just right to hang it on the door lintel?"

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "This old Deng is quite thoughtful."

"It's all done. When you have time, go to Mianhua Hutong and hang up these plaques. By the way, isn't it time to find someone to repair the yard? It's already April, and it's going to rain soon."

"Okay, I'll go and make arrangements tomorrow."

The next morning, Lin Chaoyang came to the library. When Du Rong saw him, she teased, "Oh, the busy man is back!"

Yanying Studio had helped Lin Chaoyang take a half-month leave before. This time, the round trip to Gansu took nearly ten days. Almost a month had passed in a flash, and Lin Chaoyang had only spent a few days in the library. He was a little uncomfortable with going to work out of the blue.

It was a little after nine o'clock. He had just finished registering a student when he saw that the originally quiet library suddenly became agitated. Those students rushed out of the library as if they were bears that had smelled honey.

"what happened?"

Du Rong was a person who could not sit still. She ran out to inquire and said excitedly, "Wang Jiawei and his team are here. The men's volleyball team members are here!"

Her face was flushed and her tone was excited, "Chaoyang, please help me take a look first."

After saying that, he ran out in a hurry without waiting for Lin Chaoyang's reaction.

The appearance of the Chinese men's volleyball team members at Yanda University quickly caused a sensation on the Yanda campus. Countless students and teachers flocked to them, so much so that the library was empty in just a few minutes.

"It's just entering the World Cup, not winning the world championship!" Lin Chaoyang muttered.

All the students had run away, and the work at the front desk of the lending desk could be suspended. Lin Chaoyang walked outside the library.

From a distance, one could see the crowds of people, with students gathered in a black mass. I guess in the center of the crowd were the men's volleyball team members.

"It's really crazy!"

(End of this chapter)