Literary Master 1983

Chapter 255 Ma Shitu's Gift
After arriving in Shanghai, Yu Qie got two movie tickets for "Children of Heaven" for Lao Ma.

Ma Shitu clicked his tongue in amazement: "Didn't you say you couldn't buy a ticket? Qian Zhongshu asked you for a ticket, but you didn't give it to him."

I'm in Shanghai! This is the territory of the Shanghai Film Studio, do you think I can't get tickets?

You can get it just by saying a few words.

Ma Shitu was quite happy: "Qian Zhongshu is just too harsh. He likes to show off how much he knows when he writes novels. He's not a bad person, but not many people like him."

"Teacher Qian is somewhat like that."

That's right, that's the most criticized aspect of "Fortress Besieged". Qian Zhongshu is always full of witty remarks, even when he talks to his friends and wife, making others seem less intelligent than him. Who can stand that?

"But as I said, Qian Zhongshu wasn't a bad person. One year when I visited him in the capital, I happened to run into a student from your Yenching University who recognized him and asked to take a photo with him. Qian Zhongshu took good care of this young man and cooperated with whatever pose he wanted to strike for the photo."

At this point, Ma Shitu revealed his true intentions: "Moreover, Qian Zhongshu is still the vice president of our Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and he will remain in that position for many years."

"—What happened to the vice dean?"

"He asked you for tickets, so let's try to give them to him if we can. After all, he's the vice dean."

"Hahaha, I will."

------

Today, Zangzhong Road in Shanghai is the ideal place for movie lovers to watch films. This small area boasts eight cinemas, including the Da Guangming Cinema, Heping Cinema, and Hongqi Cinema, all lined up in a row, creating a spectacular sight.

Keep in mind that there are only three cinemas in Xidan, the capital city, but there are eight here. People from other places who come here to watch movies must be quite surprised.

At that time, due to the scarcity of film, a complete film reel needed to be frequently transported between different cinemas for continuous use. Cinemas had dedicated delivery personnel who transported film rolls by bicycle. Films in cinemas were often screened in three runs, with a two-week interval between the first and second runs, and so on. Each film was shown for three or four days in a single cinema. Each cinema screened eight or nine films per month.

In other words, the film "Children of Heaven" started showing at the Grand Cinema, and two weeks later it was shown at another cinema... After three such cycles, all the cinemas on the street had finished showing the film.

Furthermore, due to the sluggish film market, cinemas mostly screened two films back-to-back. Moviegoers could buy one ticket and watch several movies from afternoon to evening.

So, if a movie doesn't do well at the box office, the cinema will put it together with other popular movies, misleading the audience. You buy a ticket for a B-movie, but you're actually watching a C-movie—the B-movie is a freebie.

It seems that box office fraud has existed since the 1980s.

The movie "Little Shoes" has been showing for over half a month, and now it's time for the Peace Cinema to open. After settling in, Yu Qie and Ma Shitu went to sit in the last row of the Peace Cinema. The Peace Cinema is one of the best cinemas in Shanghai, with top-notch facilities and equipment nationwide. It's huge, but the corridors and aisles inside the hall were packed with people who had somehow gotten in. They were lying on the floor or looking for places to stand, making the entire hall incredibly crowded.

As soon as I landed, someone below suddenly said, "Comrade! Look, there's someone here!"

"Let's go that way," someone said, "Watch out! Don't step on me!"

"Excuse me."

All eight cinemas in Shanghai are like this! Let alone the few in the capital! No wonder Qian Zhongshu insisted on getting tickets from Yu Qie. With his personality, making him queue all morning in front of crowds to watch a movie would drive him crazy!
Ma Shitu was dumbfounded: "Why are there so many people?"

Before Yu Qie could speak, the two people sitting on top of each other in the next seat said, "Is this your first time watching a popular movie? You're lucky you even got in! This movie is for government officials, soldiers, students... it's already taken up a lot of film, so these places can't possibly squeeze in any more people. We ordinary folks have to squeeze in, don't we?"

Yu Qie said, "I have a ticket. Didn't you buy tickets? Isn't it one ticket per seat?"

"Who didn't buy a ticket? Who here didn't buy a ticket? Even if you bought a ticket, you still have to earn your way into the movie. Do you see that old man lying down two rows diagonally across from us? He's been there ever since the film arrived at our Peace Cinema; and those waiters at the very front, they're all family members of the cinema staff, they've been cleaning all day!"

Yu Qie looked over and saw an old man waving at him—damn, this is outrageous.

"Huh?!" The man suddenly froze. "Comrade, you look familiar, like that..."

Yu Qie turned his head: "You've made a mistake!"

The man grabbed Yu Qie by the waist, shouting, "No, you're that...you're that thing..."

Yu Qie: "I'm not that kind of person!"

"You are Zhu Shimao with thick eyebrows and big eyes! You are Zhu Shimao!"

what?
As soon as he yelled, almost half the audience in the theater turned to look. Yu Qie waved his hand and said, "Do I look like Zhu Shimao? I'm a college student in Shanghai. Who is Zhu Shimao? I don't know him."

"You don't even know Zhu Shimao? He's a big star! I heard he's going to be on next year's Spring Festival Gala... Hmm, you're definitely not him. You're better looking than Zhu Shimao!"

"You have a good eye."

After saying a few words, the lights in the theater went out, and the film began to play. This was the first time Yu Qie had seen the theatrical version of his own film. Xie Jin said that after the film was submitted to the Film Bureau for review, it was almost completely uncut.

Why wasn't it cut?

The film is good, but do you know what else is contributing to it?
Because at that time, the head of the Film Bureau was Chen Husheng, a famous left-wing writer. He was not only a friend of Ma Shitu, but also a colleague of Yu Qie at the Lu Xun Academy of Literature.

The movie begins simply: Ali loses his sister's shoes and has to lend her his own, so they take turns wearing them. Ali searches for a long time and finally finds his sister's lost shoes, only to discover that they are on the feet of a blind girl.

Alibaba is faced with a dilemma: whether to get the shoes back or pretend they don't know anything.

As foreshadowed many times before, Ali's family is poor, and his sister also loves those shoes. But the blind girl is also pitiful, and the audience's emotions are immediately caught in a dilemma...

At that moment, Ali made a decision. He turned and left, choosing to leave the shoes for the blind girl.

The film title "Children of Heaven" suddenly appeared, and the story would then use these shoes as a clue. Then the subtitles read "Original work: Yu Qie" and "Director: Xie Jin".

He was even ahead of Xie Jin.

The timing of the opening sequence was excellent, giving the audience time to reflect, and some emotional viewers were already moved to tears.

Ma Shitu took off his glasses, rubbed them, and said, "The photos are really good."

“Xie Jin was definitely talented.” Yu Qie nodded. “When Li Cunbao’s novel ‘Garland Under the Mountain’ came out, many film studios wanted to make it. Originally, it wasn’t Xie Jin’s turn, but he made a pledge and kept writing to the military region leaders to win their support… In the end, he succeeded.”

"So how did he get your movie? Did he write to the leaders too?" Ma Shitu asked. "He just kept pestering me, and I couldn't take it anymore, so I agreed."

"Did he make many changes? From what I've seen so far, it's basically based on the original work."

"I haven't changed much, how can Xie Jin change my script? I won't allow it."

Ma Shitu felt a little envious as he listened to Yu Qie's words.

Historically, Ma Shitu had always wanted to adapt his novels into movies or television series, because his novels originally came from "teahouse chats," and he longed for more people to see them.

A later film, "Let the Bullets Fly," was adapted from "The Tale of the Thief Official" in Ma Shitu's "Ten Tales of the Night." When the film was released, Ma Shitu personally went to the cinema to support it.

Although "Let the Bullets Fly" was adapted very well and won the box office champion of the year, it incorporated too many political jokes and was no longer the same as it used to be. Ma Shitu was actually a little hesitant when he first learned that it had been changed like that.

The director specially created a "Sichuan dialect version of 'Let the Bullets Fly'" before Ma Shitu was satisfied.

Yu Qie then asked about this matter:

"Teacher Ma, would you consider yourself the founder of Chinese spy literature? Although there are some writers of spy works in China, none of them have actually worked as underground party members, so they cannot write about the cruelty and secrecy of the spy business."

Ma Shitu was a little happy: "I did write it quite early."

But she was also frustrated, muttering to herself, "I don't count as a founder. When it comes to writing about underground Communist Party members, Luo Guangbin's 'Red Crag' is far better than mine!"

Yes, Yu Qie realized, there was this part too.

Luo Guangbin was also a genuine underground party member. "Red Crag" is practically a work of documentary literature, with real-life figures as its prototypes. Both the original novel and its film and television adaptations are very popular.

The movie continued, and Yu Qie couldn't help but focus his attention on the screen. The cinema had an immersive atmosphere; influenced by the emotions of the many viewers, even a small amount of feeling could escalate into something much stronger.

When Ma Shitu saw that Ali's sister had contracted polio, he sighed, "A rope always breaks at its thinnest point, and misfortune always finds those who are unfortunate."

When Ma Shitu saw Ali running barefoot, trying to overtake the other contestants, he swallowed hard. He didn't say a word, completely absorbed in the scene.

Yu Qiecai then realized that Xie Jin was indeed a talented writer. There are some details in *Children of Heaven* that are not in the original novel:

Ali's parents are not described much in the novel, but in the film, thanks to the superb acting skills of the actors from the Xinjiang class at Beijing Film Academy, the parents' relationship transcends ethnic culture.

Gong Xue's portrayal of the mainland Chinese female teacher is a highlight of the film compared to the novel. In the original work (referring to the original Iranian version), the academic director physically punishes Ali, constantly criticizing and blaming him. However, Gong Xue's character, the language teacher, shows gentleness and tolerance, preserving Ali's kindness.

Consider that Gong Xue plays a Chinese language teacher from Shanghai who has the mission of introducing inland culture, policies, and even some secular moral concepts to the frontier. As an inlander watching the film, Yu Qie suddenly felt that the film had some specific cultural connotations.

This is probably why Xie Jin invited Gong Xue to play the female lead.

When the film "Garland at the Foot of the Mountain" was released, Xie Jin demanded that it "neither smear the troops nor fail to truthfully reflect the difficulties of the soldiers." Today, a film not only earns some box office revenue, but also retains the propaganda function of the Soviet-era state.

No wonder this movie is so popular.

The only slightly objectionable part was the end credits, specifically the scene where Yu Qie made a cameo appearance: the movie had already ended, and the Shanghai Film Studio included behind-the-scenes footage in this scene. Because the film was still playing, the audience in the theater seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move as they stared at the big screen.

The people next to Yu Qie were stunned:

Because the person on the screen, the one with Gong Xue, isn't that the guy next to me?
In the behind-the-scenes footage, Yu Qie "plays" a staff member of the Children's Foundation. He and Gong Xue campaign for the "Spring Rain Action," a charitable donation cause, and promote it to the audience.

All that could be seen was Yu Qie saying on camera, "If you still have the energy, please do so after the movie ends..."

Who is this person?

The audience was stunned.

It looks quite suitable.

Gong Xue looked at Yu Qie on the screen and suddenly smiled, "The person you are seeing now is the writer Yu Qie."

"—You are Yu Qie! No, ptooey! You are Mr. Yu!"

Yu Qie was finally recognized.

Those viewers who had previously mistaken him for "Zhu Shimao" realized upon closer inspection that the young man next to him was none other than the person on the screen!

"Mr. Yu! Mr. Yu! Comrade Yu!"

Yu Qie told them to keep quiet, signed his name for each of them, and then left with Ma Shitu. Right outside the Peace Cinema's screening room was a donation box with the words "Spring Rain Action" written on it. Long lines of moviegoers, clutching their tickets and money, were seen dropping their donations while shedding tears when it was their turn.

How long is this line?
It's possible that 70% or 80% of the people in the entire theater are here; they all watched the movie or read the novel before deciding to donate.

Ma Shitu was filled with emotion: "Yu Qie, before you wrote this, I had never heard of this strange disease, but now you have made it known throughout the country... and even inspired others to imitate you."

"I never imagined that such a beloved writer could emerge today. I am not a writer, you are the writer!"

"To tell you the truth, the gift I want to give you is the red flag that Luo Guangbin and his team embroidered."

What flag was displayed at Zhazidong Concentration Camp?

Yu Qie was shocked.

Ma Shitu said, "Qiao Gong gave you his calligraphy, your economics professor helped you find a reviewer for your paper... even Qian Zhongshu found a way to make you a big news story! I have no influence and no money. The most precious thing I have in my life is this flag. I'm giving it to you. You must take good care of it."

This...isn't necessary! This flag was originally meant to be hung in Old Ma's house for decades to come.

But Ma Shitu's mind was made up.

(End of this chapter)