Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 257 The Hot "Horse Wrangler"

Capital Cinema has the word "capital" in its name, so it has good hardware facilities and the ticket prices are naturally more expensive than those of ordinary cinemas.

They not only have 20-cent black tickets and 30-cent green tickets, but also 40-cent red tickets, but the red tickets are not for sale.

Red tickets are also called foreign guest seats. As the name suggests, they are prepared for foreign guests. Moreover, tickets are only sold half an hour before the show because they are afraid that foreign guests may come at the last minute and have to be reserved.

Lin Erchun gritted his teeth and decided to buy eleven green tickets. Zhao Li brought her two sons and squeezed through the crowd. She said to Lin Erchun, "Uncle Lin, we have two children here. We can buy student tickets."

Tao Yushu has already graduated, and Tao Yumo didn't bring his student ID when he went out today. Only the two younger ones, Tao Xiwen and Tao Xiwu, were students, so you could tell they were students without them having to take out their IDs.

Lin Erchun spent 2.9 yuan to buy nine green tickets and two student tickets. When he walked back from the ticket office, he tried his best to control his distressed expression.

"Come on, come on, one ticket per person." He distributed movie tickets to everyone with a smile on his face.

Lin Chaoyang stared at the green movie ticket in his hand and whispered to Tao Yushu, "Green ticket. I guess the old man is trembling with heartache right now."

Tao Yushu suppressed his laughter and patted him lightly, "How can you make up stories about your own father like this?"

"My own father, not an outsider."

The couple was telling jokes when Tao Yumo stared at the movie ticket in her hand and said in surprise, "Why is it a 4 o'clock ticket?"

The green ticket is naturally green in color, and is divided into a movie ticket and a sub-ticket. The outline of the Capital Cinema is printed in the middle, with the five words "Capital Cinema" written on the right. The address of the cinema is written in a line of small characters on the left, and the seat number is directly below.

Tao Yumo's ticket was for "upstairs, row 8, seat 8", and it had a red seal on it with the date and time corresponding to the movie ticket, which showed exactly four o'clock in the afternoon.

"Fire!"

Tao Yucheng said this casually, his eyes fixed on the bustling audience in the lounge.

I didn't notice it when I came in just now, but in less than twenty minutes, the number of spectators in the lounge has obviously increased a lot.

It was not even one o'clock yet, and there were still more than three hours before the movie started. Tao's father said, "This is a good time to go out for a walk."

After some discussion, everyone found out that the Capital Cinema was close to Xidan, so the two elderly couples went shopping in the mall as usual, and Tao Yucheng and his wife brought their children along to play.

Lin Chaoyang and his wife went to Xidan Xinhua Bookstore to read some books. Tao Yumo thought about it and followed her sister and brother-in-law.

The Xinhua Bookstore in Xidan opened in the 1950s. It is the oldest Xinhua Bookstore in Yanjing City, second only to Wangfujing Bookstore.

However, the main products here are various science and technology and industrial standard books, which is not very friendly to Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yushu, two liberal arts students. The couple entered the store and took a look but felt it was not very interesting.

Xidan Xinhua Bookstore is located at the intersection of West Chang'an Avenue and Heng Ertiao Road. The couple walked along Heng Ertiao and less than 300 meters away, they saw the sign of "China Bookstore".

The couple entered the bookstore. This bookstore on Heng Er Tiao was the newspaper and periodical distribution department of China Bookstore. It mainly dealt in newspapers and periodicals, but also sold old books, new books, calligraphy and painting, and other goods.

When Lin Chaoyang saw "Harvest" on the bookshelf, he suddenly remembered the letter Lu Wenfu had written before. His novel should be published this month, right?
"Harvest" is a bimonthly magazine, published on the 25th of every odd month. The first issue of this year has not yet been released.

Speaking of Yanjing's old book industry, it can be said to have a long history. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there have been many bookstores in the city that sell old books. The old bookstores in Longfu Temple and Liulichang complement each other.

After the founding of New China, the government established second-hand book markets in Xidan Shopping Mall, Dong'an Market and other places.

In that era, the publishing industry was not yet developed, and the used book market and second-hand bookstores played a big role in the book market.

The Chinese bookstore in Xidan not only sells but also collects various old Chinese books, making it a great place for book hunters to find bargains.

Lin Chaoyang walked around the bookstore for a while and actually found some good stuff.

"Brother-in-law, what book is this?"

Seeing Lin Chaoyang happily holding an arm full of old books, Tao Yumo asked.

Lin Chaoyang took the book in his arms to the counter to pay, and said to her, "Good stuff! A complete set of the Rare Chinese Literature Series published by Shanghai Magazine Company."

In the 1920s and 1930s, the publishing of ancient books in China reached its peak. The forces involved in the publishing of ancient books at that time included not only book collectors, libraries, social institutions or groups engraving books, and the second-hand book industry, but also newly emerging publishing institutions, among which Shanghai Magazine Company was the best.

In just a few years since its establishment, this publishing company has won numerous praises and become widely popular among the reading community for its "magazine-like series and popularization of rare books."

In 1935, Shanghai Magazine Company began publishing the "Rare Chinese Literature Series", which was published every Saturday. It was very popular among Shanghai readers and had a great impact.

This series was originally planned to have five volumes, each with 50 books, for a total of 250 books. Unfortunately, due to the war, only the first volume of 50 books was published.

Lin Chaoyang knew about this unfinished series of books because its editor-in-chief was Shi Zhecun, one of the missed masters of modern Chinese literature.

Shi Zhecun is famous for his psychological analysis in novels. He focuses on describing the flow of characters' subjective consciousness and changes in their psychological feelings. He pursues novel feelings, integrates subjective feelings into the description of the object, and uses a fast pace to express morbid urban life.

This style was called "New Sensationalism" in the 1930s and 1940s. In fact, it is similar to stream-of-consciousness literature, so Lin Chaoyang read a lot of his novels.

The old comrade is a typical example of someone who died because of his writing during a period of political turmoil. In 1957, Shi Zhecun published an article entitled "Talent and Virtue" in Wenhui Daily.

The article cited classics to explain that in troubled times, talent should be used to select people, while in prosperous times, morality should be the first priority. New China is a prosperous time, and party members should be people with "socialist morality". But in fact, there are many corrupt cadres who take advantage of the influence of the party and are proud of their achievements because they think that "I have fought guerrilla warfare" is "merit" rather than "virtue".

Merits can be rewarded with wealth and honor, but not with high positions. Having virtue without understanding the business is probably useless. Therefore, the article finally comes down to the call for "recruiting talents regardless of their background".

Logically speaking, this should have been a good essay criticizing current social ills, but it happened to coincide with a political turmoil. The weather was stormy and Shi Zhecun suffered some hardships.

It has been 47 years since the publication of the "Rare Books Series of Chinese Literature". It is not easy to find a set of books in such good condition in a bookstore.

Each old book has a different price. When checking out, I found that a set of 50 books cost 63 yuan, which was more expensive than a new book. Tao Yumo couldn't help but be shocked when he heard the price.

After spending some time in the bookstore, the three of them walked towards the cinema carrying their books as the movie was about to start.

When he reached the entrance of the cinema, Tao Yumo exclaimed, "Hey, why are there so many people?"

When a few people left just now, there were only about a hundred people in the cinema lounge, including those waiting in line. After being out for a few hours and coming back, the lounge of several hundred square meters was already crowded and noisy.

"It's normal that there are many people in the cinema in the afternoon and evening," said Tao Yushu.

"What's normal? How can there be so many people? Brother-in-law, my brother is right. Your movie is really popular!"

"The Horse Shepherd" has just been released in Yanjing for two or three days, and the impact and public opinion have not yet fermented. It is still in the early stages of the movie-watching craze. Lin Chaoyang and his friends had no idea how popular this movie was before, and only saw it today when they came to the Capital Cinema.

The elderly people from both families and Tao Yucheng had returned from shopping and the family met at the door.

Tao Yucheng said to Lin Chaoyang, "Chaoyang, I just asked the ticket collector. The movie The Horse Herder has been showing for three days, and the audience is getting more and more every day. Almost every show is sold out. Today is Sunday, and the theater has specially added more shows. He said that according to the current situation, your movie will have to add more shows for at least another half a month."

"As the New Year is approaching, everyone is very enthusiastic about watching movies!" Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

Tao Yushu glanced at the time and urged, "Don't stand at the door. Let's go in quickly. The show is about to start."

As they were talking, a group of people squeezed into the cinema.

The screening halls of Capital Cinema are divided into upstairs and downstairs. The green ticket hall is upstairs, which provides an excellent location for watching movies.

The family squeezed upstairs and waited for a while. Suddenly, a beam of light appeared on the big screen which was originally shrouded in darkness.

A melodious sound of bamboo flute was heard in the screening room, and the logo of Shanghai Film Studio appeared on the screen accompanied by shining stars.

The scene changes, and the camera slowly unfolds a vast and magnificent grassland painting.

At dawn, the golden sunlight gently shines on the endless green grassland, and the outlines of the mountains in the distance gradually become clear in the morning light.

A group of horses were leisurely grazing in the morning light. The camera focused on a horse herder, who was riding on a horse, holding a whip, standing on a hill with his back to the rising sun. His figure was lonely and tough.

Then the title of the film "The Shepherd" appeared on the screen, followed by the words "Screenwriter Xu Lingjun" and "Adapted from Xu Lingjun's novel "The Shepherd"". This picture immediately caused a commotion among the surrounding family members.

In the darkness, Lin Chaoyang clearly heard Zhang Guiqin saying to someone, "My son, Xu Lingjun is my son."

Then came Lin Erchun's scolding, "Stop talking and just watch the movie!"

Tao Yushu and Lin Chaoyang looked at each other and smiled.

After the opening scene, Xu Lingjun, dressed as a shepherd, was lying under the blue sky and white clouds of Chi Le Chuan, grazing. After the narration, the camera turned to the hotel room.

Xu Jingyou, played by Liu Qiong, is reading a newspaper while his secretary, Miss Song Zheng, is communicating with foreign affairs officials, asking the government to help find his long-lost son.

The scene changes again, the plane lands, Miss Song and the foreign affairs officials are waiting at the exit holding signs, and Xu Lingjun, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, comes out carrying something.

Zhu Shimao's appearance is in line with the traditional aesthetic of the Chinese people, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a dignified and upright demeanor. His handsomeness is not delicate enough, but he has a kind of heroic spirit of a galloping horse or a rushing river, and he exudes masculine charm all over his body.

In the previous shot, he was lying on the grassland in herdsman's clothes and nothing could be seen. When he changed into a Zhongshan suit and appeared again, he immediately caused a commotion among the female compatriots in the theater.

"So handsome!" Tao Yumo looked at the heroic Zhu Shimao on the screen with her eyes full of love. She moved closer to Lin Chaoyang and asked in a low voice: "Brother-in-law, what is the name of this actor?"

Zhu Shimao has not acted in any movies nowadays and is not famous among the public.

"Zhu Shimao."

"Zhu Shimao?" Tao Yumo read the name and felt that Zhu Shimao was more handsome than Guo Kaimin.

On the screen, the car was driving on the wide Chang'an Avenue. Xu Lingjun and Miss Song came to the Yanjing Hotel and met his father Xu Jingyou.

When the father and son met, they were speechless and choked with emotion. The silent emotion moved the audience.

In the first four or five minutes of the movie, there is very little dialogue between the characters, but through the clever combination of pictures and sound effects, the audience is brought into that simple yet challenging era, and it also foreshadows that a story about love, loyalty and life choices is about to be told.

(End of this chapter)