Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 369: Not as Good as "Shaolin Temple"

Looking at Lin Chaoyang's calm and composed state, Tao Yumo couldn't help but feel admiration and respect for him.

My brother-in-law just published an article, but it stirred up the Chinese literary world. Judging from the current situation, such a big discussion may also affect the cultural and ideological circles.

It can be said that he achieved a height that many writers could not reach in their entire lives with just a few words.

"Brother-in-law, I heard from them that the 'roots-seeking literature' you proposed is actually not a new concept. Some of the works published in the past two years have the shadow of root-seeking literature."

Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly with a smile on his face.

“The popularity of any literary trend cannot be determined by a single sentence from a certain person. It must have sprouted in the soil, slowly emerged under the nourishment of the sun and rain, and only flourished when a heavy rain poured down.

In fact, I am just making a summary, and there are many pioneers.

For example, the work "The Chess King" that your sister worked on last year and several short stories by Wang Zengqi all have the typical characteristics of root-seeking literature.

It doesn’t matter who proposed this concept. What matters is that it can grab the reins of Chinese literature, which is now running westward, and pull it back, so that we can create and spread something of our own.”

Feeling Lin Chaoyang's sense of responsibility for the development of contemporary literature from his words, Tao Yumo admired her brother-in-law's vision more and more.

She couldn't help but think of Hu Dong whom she met today. Compared with her brother-in-law, a great writer who was truly responsible and had a vision, that kind of person was just looking for all kinds of excuses to live a life of drunkenness and dreams for his own petty pursuits.

It's really not worth mentioning!
When Tao Yumo was thinking, a hearty voice suddenly came from the yard, "Brother-in-law!"

Lin Chaoyang looked in the direction of the voice and saw Du Feng walking towards the main house with high spirits and a bright smile on his face.

After entering the room and saying hello, Lin Chaoyang asked him, "Why did you have time to come here?"

It has been more than a month since I last met Du Feng during the Chinese New Year.

"I was busy with the video studio a while ago. Now that I'm done, I came over to sit down with you!"

Lin Chaoyang joked, "Okay, that's pretty efficient. Are you done now?"

"Okay, all that's left is the opening." Du Feng's face lit up when he talked about this.

During the Chinese New Year, he followed Lin Chaoyang's advice and went to Guangdong for an inspection. There were smuggled VCRs and videotapes there, and some people had even opened small video halls.

Du Feng went to experience it specially, and found that Hong Kong movies are really exciting, including martial arts movies, gambling movies, romance movies, ghost movies... There are so many different types, and they are better than those internal reference movies.

Not only that, there are also pornographic movies.

Du Feng felt itchy inside when he thought of the bright and naked images he had seen in the dim and closed little video room.

So exciting!
This time when Du Feng went to Guangdong, he brought back four 20-inch Hitachi color TVs and a Sony VCR, as well as 50 videotapes, most of which were Hong Kong movies, and there were also a few American movies.

It cost more than 1 yuan, which was the largest investment he had made since he started his business.

In addition, Du Feng also rented a storefront of more than 200 square meters near Xidan, which he used as a screening venue after simple decoration.

After more than a month of hard work, his video hall is finally open for business.

After listening to Du Feng's description of the past month, Lin Chaoyang jokingly said, "So, now everything is ready, except for the east wind?"

Du Feng smiled and nodded, "It's just a little bit of help. Brother-in-law, please write a word for my video studio!"

Lin Chaoyang was amused when he heard this. "Why would you, a video hall, ask someone to write an inscription? You should use a neon sign, the more eye-catching the better. What's the point of me writing a word?"

"We belong to the cultural industry after all. I just want to get some cultural influence!" Du Feng said a little embarrassedly.

"It's not that I don't want to write for you, it's just that the video studio is really not a suitable place."

Du Feng smacked his lips with some regret, and then said, "Brother-in-law, my video studio will open the day after tomorrow, remember to come and support me!"

"Okay, we'll definitely get there." Lin Chaoyang said happily.

Tao Yumo asked in a playful way: "What kind of movies do you show there?"

Listening to her question, Du Feng showed a proud look on his face, "Hong Kong movies and American movies, you will know when you watch them, they are much better than domestic movies, they are not on the same level at all."

"Tsk! How good can it be?"

Tao Yumo's words were just a way of arguing. She just couldn't stand Du Feng's smug look.

In fact, she has also watched internal films, so she naturally knows that many foreign films are indeed better than current domestic films.

"I'm thinking of coming over the day after tomorrow. I'll let you open your eyes and won't charge you for the ticket." Du Feng said proudly.

"Rare!" Tao Yumo said disdainfully.

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang and his wife came to Xidan. Du Feng's video hall was located in a hutong near Xidan. There was a Chinese bookstore here, and Lin Chaoyang would come here occasionally when he was looking for books.

The shops in the alleys were certainly not as eye-catching as those on the streets, but at that time the geographical location of a business store was not as important and particular as it is in later generations.

The house is an idle public housing unit that Du Feng rented from the street. Although private rental costs only a few cents per square meter in this era, the rent is not that high for self-employed individuals or industrial and commercial enterprises.

Du Feng's video hall of more than 200 square meters rents out for 380 yuan a month, which works out to 1.8 yuan per square meter per month.

In fact, this is logical, after all, it is used as a commercial building. Lin Chaoyang and his wife were followed by a little tail. Tao Yumo looked at the front of the video hall with disdain, "This video hall looks too ordinary."

"Do you want him to open a cinema all of a sudden?" Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

The facade of the video hall does look very ordinary, just an ordinary street-side residence. The double-leaf door is about 1.2 meters wide, barely enough to accommodate two people entering and exiting at the same time.

On one side of the door hangs a sign that reads "Fenghui Video Studio", which is white with red paint and looks a bit simple.

There is also a blackboard at the entrance with the words "Opening promotion: 1 cents off all tickets" written on it.

The custom of sending flower baskets at the opening of a business will not be restored for a few years. At this moment, Du Feng was standing at the door in a suit to welcome the friends who came to support him. When he saw Lin Chaoyang and others coming, his face was full of smiles.

"Sister, brother-in-law, you are the only ones missing!"

Tao Yumo was very dissatisfied with him ignoring her, "Are your eyes used for breathing?"

"I opened my business today, and this is how you send your congratulations?"

"Humph!" Tao Yumo snorted coldly, and then said reluctantly: "Boss Du, good luck in your grand opening!"

"That's more like it." Du Feng laughed.

Du Feng welcomed several people into the video room. There was a small room separated at the door as the ticket office. A young girl sat inside as the ticket seller. Opposite the ticket office was a blackboard with the show schedule written on it.

There are four rooms in the video hall, which is equivalent to four screening rooms. However, the number of audiences it can accommodate is far less than that of a movie theater. It can accommodate up to 80 people. If they squeeze in and sell some standing tickets, it will be no problem to accommodate over 100 people.

Among the four screening halls, three are ordinary screening halls, and the seats are all equipped with stools. The ticket prices range from 20 cents, 30 cents, and 50 cents.

There is also a screening room similar to a VIP lounge, where the seats all have backrests. The starting price is 50 cents, and the most expensive front row ticket is one dollar.

Listening to Du Feng's introduction of his business, Tao Yumo said, "Your abacus beads are too loud. With these conditions, you dare to charge so much more than the cinema?"

"You can't say that. The cinema has good hardware, but are the films it shows as good as mine? The films I show are all from Hong Kong and the United States, and they are great to watch!
It costs one dollar to go to Xiaoxitian to watch the internal reference movie, and you have to have connections to get in.

The most expensive one here is only one dollar, and the movies it plays are more exciting than those in the internal reference, so it’s definitely worth the money.”

What Du Feng said is not wrong. The differentiated competition between video halls and cinemas is actually in the source of films. For audiences who are accustomed to watching domestic films, Hong Kong films with a wide variety of themes and easy-to-understand stories are undoubtedly more attractive.

Tao Yumo said nonchalantly, "You'll know only after you've seen it!"

Du Feng smiled confidently, "There's a movie coming up soon, so it's a good opportunity for you to see it!"

As he spoke, he walked to the ticket office and shouted, "Xiao Zhou, give me four tickets for Hall 1."

The young girl inside handed out the ticket, which was somewhat similar to a movie ticket in a cinema, except that it was made of harder paper and had the seat and showtime printed on it.

"If the ticket price is the same, there's no need to do this. Just collect the money and let people in." Du Feng said as he led Lin Chaoyang and the other two.

"You're recycling this, right?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Du Feng chuckled and said, "Brother-in-law, you really have a keen eye. You have to take the tickets back after watching the movie. If you buy one ticket for each show, it will add up to a considerable expense. I just want to save some money!"

Listening to Du Feng and Lin Chaoyang chatting casually, Tao Yumo looked around the furnishings in the screening room.

The term "screening room" is of course an euphemism. In fact, it is two connected rooms, with a width of about seven or eight meters from east to west and a depth of about five or six meters from north to south.

The south-facing windows were sealed tightly, and there was only a small lamp emitting dim light in the room, which was very similar to the atmosphere of a movie theater.

The Hitachi color TV was placed on a cabinet against the wall in the north direction, and underneath it was a square-headed machine, which I thought was a VCR.

Tao Yumo and the others were sitting in the middle of the first row, less than a meter away from the TV, so they could see it very clearly.

She turned her head to look at the last row and guessed that the viewing effect would be very poor.

What a profiteer!
A few people sat down for a minute or two, and then two or three more people came into the hall. They probably saw the video hall opening and came to try it out.

Du Feng's video hall is quite formal, with a schedule for screenings. When the time comes, someone will operate the TV and VCR to start playing movies.

The words "Golden Harvest" appeared in the opening credits. The movie being screened was "Young Master Dragon", produced by Golden Harvest in 1982. It was one of Jackie Chan's early representative works and its box office even made it into the top ten Hong Kong movies of that year.

The movie had been playing for several minutes, and Tao Yumo was staring at it intently, completely absorbed by the pictures on TV, and didn't even notice Du Feng standing up.

Du Feng watched the movie with them for more than ten minutes, and whispered to Lin Chaoyang, "Brother-in-law, you guys watch first. I'll go out and greet my friends."

"it is good!"

More than an hour passed like this, and the movie ended. Lin Chaoyang and the other two walked out of the hall. Suddenly, they encountered strong light, and Tao Yumo subconsciously squinted his eyes.

At this moment, Du Feng was still outside greeting his friends who came to support him. When he saw the three people coming out, he first chatted with Lin Chaoyang and his wife, and then asked Tao Yumo:
"How is it? My movie is good, right?"

Tao Yumo curled her lips and said, "It's okay, not as good as Shaolin Temple!"

Seeing her stubbornness, Du Feng laughed, "If I were to show movies like Shaolin Temple, how much money would I make in a day?"

(End of this chapter)