Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 210 A few days of leisure

When Zhang Chao walked out of the company again, it was already dark, and the surroundings were lit up with foggy lights. There was no smog in Yanjing in 2006, but there were sandstorms in spring and autumn. But the environment was still not as "transparent" as in southern cities.

In June, Yanjing has become hotter, with the highest temperature reaching 6℃. The air is still fresh, at least better than when Zhang Chao first arrived. In order to welcome the Olympic Games, Yanjing has made great efforts to improve the environment and shut down major air pollutants such as coking plants. However, the humidity is still much lower than that of Fuhai, my hometown. It is dry and hot. Even though Zhang Chao has been here for 30 years, he still feels uncomfortable.

There was still more than a week left before the graduation project review, and he had almost finished all the preparations he needed to make. The other party hadn't come up with any new tricks yet, so he could take a break. Zhang Chao took out his cell phone and called Song Jia to confirm that she was at home, then drove to Tiantongyuan.

In fact, with Song Jia's current fame and income, he could have lived here. But after becoming famous, he was too busy, with various things coming one after another, and he had no time to look at new houses, so he has been living here ever since. When he got downstairs, Zhang Chao went upstairs and opened the door with ease. When he entered the house, he smelled the fragrance of food. On the dining table in the dining room, there were already several dishes such as sweet and sour pork ribs, pot-fried pork, Northeastern mixed vegetables, and three fresh vegetables. The staple food was rice, which was steaming in the rice cooker.

Zhang Chao laughed and said, "Oh, when did you learn how to cook? Your hands are so quick, you made so many dishes in such a short time."

Song Jia said calmly, "I'm not a god. I steamed the rice. The dishes were all ordered from the Northeastern restaurant downstairs. I specifically asked them not to put coriander and celery in them."

Zhang Chao said, "That's thoughtful of you! I'll reward you nicely tonight!" Zhang Chao couldn't eat vegetables from the Umbelliferae family, including various types of coriander, celery, fennel, and even carrots, which he found unbearable in taste.

After they finished their meal, Zhang Chao cleared the dishes and sat in the living room to watch TV. Song Jia went into the bedroom and selected several scripts that had been passed to her through various channels recently, and stuffed them all at once, six or seven in total.

Song Jia said, "I won an award for playing a high school student, but now I am approached by roles of this kind, and each one is more vicious than the other. I turned them all down. I picked out these few that I thought were somewhat interesting. Please help me check them out."

Zhang Chao collapsed on the sofa, reading the script and saying, "That's how the market works. Now that you've succeeded, just copy the same model until you fail."

Song Jia said angrily, "I don't want to repeat myself. I have played the role of 'evil high school girl' to its fullest, and there will be no breakthrough if I play it again. For an actor, repeating oneself is equivalent to chronic suicide. And my appearance is not suitable for playing a student anymore."

Zhang Chao put down the script and took a closer look at Song Jia, only to find that she was indeed quite different from when he first met her two years ago - the baby fat on her cheeks had faded, becoming more angular, and her overall temperament had matured a lot. She was completely a young woman now, without the naivety she had when she had just graduated.

Zhang Chao sighed, but still said: "How many people beg for this kind of job opportunity that allows them to 'repeat themselves', but you just don't cherish it. Look at those big actors, don't many of them spend half their lives playing the same role?"

Song Jia puffed out his chest and said proudly, "That's them. Why should I be an actor..."

Zhang Chao immediately followed up with, "Because I'm a poor student!"

Song Jia rolled his eyes, picked up a pillow and threw it at him, saying angrily: "You are the only one who studies well, you got 8 points in math and 24 points in English. I can't get such scores..."

After the two of them joked around for a while, Song Jiacai continued, "The greatest charm of being an actor is that I can constantly experience completely different lives. When I finish my character homework and completely immerse myself in a role, I really feel that this person has come alive in my body...

Don't you like to read Wang Xiaobo? I've read some of his works recently. I think he said something really good - it's not enough for a person to have only this life, he should also have a poetic world. I don't know if the profession of an actor is 'poetic' enough, but it does allow me to have more than just this life. "

Zhang Chao asked curiously, "What kind of life do you want to experience the most? Or which role do you want to play the most?"

Song Jia tilted his head and thought for a long time before saying, "If a reporter asked me, I would say 'the role I want to play is always the next one', but since you asked me, then of course it's different...

What I want to play the most is a role that is very different from myself. I have told you before that I am a layman who just wants to be famous - so I want to play a highly idealistic role, the kind that is so idealistic that it doesn't believe in anyone.

Look at Tony Leung Ka Fai, a native of Hong Kong Island, but in "The King of Chess", he played Wang Yisheng, and his demeanor, movements and temperament were completely that of an educated youth of that era. I also want to be like him, playing a role that is very different from myself, but that all the audience can identify with and believe in. "

Zhang Chao looked at Song Jia's serious expression, patted her cheek and said, "You can definitely play such a role."

Then he continued to look through the scripts. After a while, his eyes suddenly lit up. He picked out one and said, "This one, 'Crossing the Guandong' - don't choose any more, this is the one!"

"Crossing the Guandong" mainly tells the story of the protagonist, Zhu Kaishan, a Shandong native, and his family, who, due to natural disasters, wars and other reasons, went through hardships to seek survival in the three northeastern provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang east of Shanhaiguan.

The "Chuang Guandong" in history was a large-scale population migration that occurred from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. It is estimated by later historians that about 3000 million people in North China were forced to leave their homes and travel thousands of miles to the three northeastern provinces to make a living. This group of people was mainly composed of Shandong people.

They mined gold, cut wood, and collected ginseng in the white mountains and black waters, dealt with bandits, government officials, and feudal leaders, and escaped death time and time again. Only then did they build their own home in the harsh cold wind of the Northeast...

This is a magnificent people's epic, but it has not been systematically and deeply studied for a long time, and there are no films or TV dramas of sufficient weight to reflect it. So the play "Crossing Guandong" is, in a sense, a pioneering work!
Zhang Chao actually didn't watch the TV series "Crossing Guandong" in its entirety. In his previous life, when the show was popular, he was still in college, in his junior year. During that time, he was in love, playing Warcraft, playing basketball... The limited time he had to watch TV series was spent with his girlfriend watching Korean dramas, such as "Boys Over Flowers" and "Witch Game".

However, the fame of "Crossing the Guandong" is still well-known, and anyone who has read the news at the time will have an impression of it. So although it is not clear what role Song Jia played in the play at the time, Zhang Chao still knows a little about the fact that this play made her, Li Youbin, Zhu Yawen and other actors famous.

Song Jia took the script with mixed emotions, and after a while he said, "Actually, this is also the one I'm interested in. But...but I'm not very satisfied with the role the director assigned to me."

Zhang Chao asked, "What role did he give you?"

Song Jia pursed his lips and said, "He asked me to play the role of 'Xiu'er', the second daughter-in-law of the male protagonist Zhu Kaishan and the wife of Zhu Chuanwu. Because Zhu Chuanwu liked the character 'Xian'er', she became a widow after she got married, and stayed that way for 18 years. Later, she finally found someone she liked and married him again, but that person committed suicide a few days later.

I think the character of Xiu'er doesn't have any special features. She is just the traditional poor woman in various literary works whose life is filled with tragedy after tragedy. I don't like to play this role. "

Zhang Chao only read the beginning of the script, so he mainly listened to Song Jia's introduction. After listening, he asked, "Which one do you want?"

Song Jia turned the script to the character list page, pointed to a name and said, "I want to play her, 'Xian'er.' This 'Xian'er' is a character with flesh and blood, joys and sorrows, and a story.

The character with the most difficult fate in "Crossing Guandong" is Xian'er, who has gone through begging, selling herself, singing operas, and even going up the mountain to become a bandit - a bandit in our Northeast. Playing a female bandit is exciting just thinking about it. "

Zhang Chao nodded and said, "According to what you said, a character like 'Xian'er' is rich in layers and complex in personality. She is indeed more attractive and more difficult to portray - but isn't this exactly what you want! And she has more roles than that 'Xiu'er', right?" Song Jia blushed and agreed.

Zhang Chao said: "As long as the filming has not started, the actors in the TV series are never fixed. The key is that you want to play such a character, what do you have to convince the director.

He must have watched your previous TV series and movies, so his impression of you is relatively fixed. If you want to change his mind, you need something new..."

Zhang Chao suddenly thought of something and joked, "Does "Crossing the Guandong" still need investment? Otherwise, I'll invest a little and let you 'bring money into the crew'."

Song Jia patted him and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? I don't want anyone to grumble behind my back after I join the crew. Besides, this drama is not a private investment. It is led by the Shandong Film and Television Production Center and Dalian TV Station, a pure national team. If you do this, they will be even more afraid to use me."

Zhang Chao pondered for a while and asked, "By the way, didn't the dubbing of "Cliff" end a while ago? When will it be broadcast? On which channel?"

Song Jia said: "It was dubbed a long time ago, and the post-production should be almost done now. The specific broadcast time should be during the summer vacation, but the channel has not been decided yet. Director Xiaolong wants to go on CCTV, but CCTV is full..."

Zhang Chao said, "Don't you think your best scene in The Cliff is the one where you hold a grenade and are ready to die together with the enemy? Talk to Director Xiaolong, copy this scene, burn it into a disc, and show it to the director of Crossing the Guandong. I guarantee it will impress him."

Although the relevant footage and content must be kept strictly confidential before the TV series is broadcast, "internal communication" like this can also show personal favors and is usually not refused.

Song Jia's eyes lit up and he said in surprise: "Why didn't I think of that! People say you are a little smart kid, it seems it's true!" After that, he hugged Zhang Chao and kissed him hard.

After a while, Zhang Chao turned over and lay flat. It took him a while to catch his breath. He sighed, "I have been sitting and writing books all day for the past two years. I have neglected exercise. I almost had a cramp just now."

Song Jia laughed and said, "Who told you to use new tricks? Tell me honestly, you live alone in Yanda, have you watched a lot of pornographic movies?"

Zhang Chao said seriously, "Slander! It's pure slander! I learned all those poses from the movies of international directors. They are very formal."

Song Jia asked curiously, "Which international director?"

Zhang Chao thought about it and it seemed that Lust, Caution would take another year or two to be filmed, so he had to change the subject: "I'll take you to the cinema to watch it later - Hey, don't you think this place is a little small? I see that your clothes are almost filling up the living room."

Although Song Jia is not the kind of female star who pursues exaggeration, she still has the basic qualities to mix in the circle. Since she became famous with "Youth Like You", she has been invited to various activities, so she bought a lot of new clothes.

Although Song Jia was puzzled about how that kind of film could be shown in theaters, he still agreed with Zhang Chao and said, "I don't have time to look at houses. I'll find time to go after I get 'Xian Er' in 'Crossing the Guandong'."

Zhang Chao said, "Don't worry about it in the next one or two days. I'm about to graduate, and since my company is in Chaoyang, I'm also going to move here. I'm going to buy a bigger house this time, so you can move in with me."

Song Jia blushed again when she heard this, feeling mixed emotions, but she didn't say anything. She knew Zhang Chao had the capital, but thinking about the gap between herself and Zhang Chao, she felt a little uneasy.

Zhang Chao turned to look at her and said, "Why, you don't want to?"

Song Jia gently stroked Zhang Chao's body with her fingertips, and after a while she made up her mind and said, "Okay!"

Zhang Chao said, "This is the bold and straightforward 'Xian'er! Don't think too much. If you want to film, then film. I don't want to 'hide a beautiful woman in a golden house'. It's not my style to tie a woman to my belt."

Song Jia looked at this "boy" who was a few years younger than himself but more mature, and responded with a low "Yeah."

Zhang Chao put on a sly smile and said, "There are a few more poses in the films of international directors. I want to review them..."

Soon, the room was filled with beautiful spring scene again.

The next morning, Zhang Chao called director Zheng Xiaolong and told him that he wanted to use the clips related to Song Jia in "The Cliff" to compete for the role; Zheng Xiaolong readily agreed and asked Zhang Chao to go directly to the post-production studio to pick up the disc the next day, and he would inform the editor.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chao made an "OK" gesture to Song Jia, and then said, "Let's go buy a house."

Song Jia was surprised: "So hasty? You have a goal."

Zhang Chao proudly took out an envelope and said, "I am more or less a celebrity now. If I want to buy a house, I have to be invited by someone."

Song Jia opened the envelope and saw a dozen large gold-plated characters printed on the royal blue letter paper:
The sun of Chaoyang, the capital of the ancient capital, Park Hyatt International, please enjoy it.

One hour later, Zhang Chao was driving his car, speeding on the ring road of Yanjing.

Now, the city of Yanjing is full of construction vehicles working for the Olympics. When Zhang Chao passed the North Fourth Ring Road, he found that the steel beams of the magnificent steel structure dome of the "Bird's Nest" had been erected, and countless welders were hiding in it to build crisscrossing "branches" for it. Although he had seen it countless times in his memory, Zhang Chao still felt an unreal science fiction feeling when he saw it up close. The Water Cube next to the Bird's Nest has also completed the main project, but the facade has not been decorated yet, so it is gray like an oversized brick.

Song Jia sighed, "I wonder what Yanjing will look like when the Olympics start. Zhang Chao, how many gold medals do you think we can win?"

In one sentence, Zhang Chao recalled countless memories, including the grand opening ceremony directed by the national teacher, the Chinese men's basketball team's entry into the quarterfinals, Bolt's 100-meter victory, and Liu Xiang's regretful withdrawal...

For a moment, I was overwhelmed with emotions and didn't know how to answer.

(End of this chapter)