Literary Master 1983

Chapter 340: Screening of "Dream of the Red Chamber"

Yu's mother suggested going back to her hometown in the third year of junior high school, and she had already packed her luggage when she said this.

In the afternoon, Yu Qie took a taxi to send them home. Zhang Li and Chen Xiaoxu tried to persuade Yu's mother to stay longer, and she hugged them both and said a few words to them.

Then he pulled Yu Qie to a secluded corner and whispered, "Yu Qie, Zhang Li is a good girl. I have no worries about her. I know her inside and out."

"Where is Chen Xiaoxu?" Yu asked.

"Your sister really likes her... she definitely made the right choice. To be honest, they didn't benefit from you at all; it's just that they both want to start a business, and I don't know why?"

“Isn’t this a case of everyone going into business? There’s a very wealthy man in Wanxian named Mu Qizhong, and I even correspond with him—I think the two of them are better at doing business than Mu Qizhong.”

"Pah!" Aunt Yu laughed. "Mu Qizhong never tells the truth and has even been to jail. Don't compare him to my daughter-in-law."

"You've approved it all?"

“What else can we do if we don’t acknowledge it?” said Yu’s mother. “Wanxian is a small place, but in the past few decades, many children of officials from higher places came here. I have seen many tragedies caused by mismatched social status. I think the most important thing is a stable relationship.”

"Although you are a great writer, Zhang Li is your wife who has shared your hardships. When you met Chen Xiaoxu, you had only been in Beijing for a short time. It's hard to find someone like that again."

Then, Yu's mother asked Yu Qie when he wanted to have a child.

No, this is already pushing for childbirth? What happened to the promise of a happy life by having children later in life?

Yu Qie was a little embarrassed: "This isn't something I could have done by myself..."

“When I was your age, you were already three! You people with the surname Yu all like to stir up big trouble, without any regard for your own safety. Your uncles serve the country every day, but they didn’t even leave behind a child! You’re even worse! If you don’t want a child, who will?”

At this point, Yu's mother was truly heartbroken: "Also, Zhang Li must be the first to have the baby, so don't do anything reckless."

"Isn't that a bit too feudal?" Yu Qie knew what Yu's mother was talking about.

"Whether it's feudal or not is for your own good, think about it carefully!"

"Woo~"

The train is coming.

Train T7, from Beijing to Chengdu, was the fastest train from northern to southwestern China in the 1980s. It was later nicknamed "Tianfu Star" and took 28 hours to complete the journey.

Yu Ma and the others got off at Guangyuan, took the highway to Yucheng, and then transferred to Wanxian—this would take two days.

As for Yu Xian, she plans to travel all the way to Wanxian, and then rejoin her classmates to travel to Wuhan University in Jiangcheng. Her family is worried about her traveling alone.

In Yu's mother's words, "It's rare to see someone as bold as Zhang Li who dares to come to the north to find you. We're afraid that Yu Xian might be kidnapped on the way."

The whole family's trip to the capital was such a hassle. We stayed for less than a week, but the travel itself took up a whole week.

Yu Qie felt quite ashamed. "You two should both come to the capital in the future, and so should Yu Xian. Don't think that the capital is much better than Wanxian right now; it will be even better in the future."

This time, it wasn't Yu's mother who spoke, but Yu's father.

Mr. Yu is a math teacher. Because of Yu Qie, he was nominated for a promotion to the Municipal Education Bureau, but Mr. Yu still wanted to stay in his old place and refused the promotion.

“Your mother talks nonsense. She doesn’t read novels at all. I read yours. My favorite is your novel ‘Returning to One’s Roots.’ I was born there, and I want to die there. Wanxian is also very good. I’m used to it. In a few years, the train station will be built right to our doorstep, and we can come to see you directly.”

"Is a train station being built in Wanxian?"

"You didn't know? Construction has already started." Mr. Yu said with pride.

He had been interviewed when the train station was under construction. The host from Sichuan TV said emotionally, "Our old Zhao, who is returning home, can finally go directly to his doorstep."

Yu Qie was very surprised.

Wanxian Railway Station was built in 97. At the time, it was the first major railway station in northeastern Chongqing, and people from surrounding districts and counties would come here to catch trains. In my previous life, Yuqie lived near the railway station and could hear the rumbling of trains every night, carrying goods and passengers... they never stopped.

The locals had never seen a train before and didn't know its power. Citizens often went to the tracks to watch the spectacle, and accidents were frequent. Because the train station ran through terraced fields, water buffalo herded by farmers were sometimes killed by it. A Japanese anime called "Iron-Blooded Train Hero" was popular for a while, leading some children to specifically watch how the train transformed… The town repeatedly broadcast messages day and night: "Trains are great," but don't go near the tracks.

For several years, the entire county treated the train station like a treasure, with people saying, "The train station should have been built long ago!"
Due to a lack of funds, the project was only able to be funded after Chongqing became an independent municipality.

Now it's actually ten years ahead of schedule.

There are currently three famous people in Wanxian.

Ma Shitu, Yu Qie, and Mou Qizhong.

Mu Qizhong hasn't yet "traded canned goods for airplanes" and hasn't made a lot of money, so it's impossible that it's because of him; Ma Shitu, although he often plays bridge in the final rounds, doesn't get involved in these things.

That could only be because Yu Qie, because of his novel reflecting the difficulties faced by migrant workers in returning home from the Three Gorges area.

Yu Qie didn't say a word, or even pay attention, yet he succeeded quietly.

Isn't this much more profitable than being a reseller?

Because of this incident, Yu Qie quickly got into writing mode. At the beginning of the new year, he stopped writing altogether and began working on the book "The Bloody Battle of Laoshan".

During the day, I write; at night, I fulfill the instructions given to me by my mother.

Having a large room certainly has its advantages. In the 1980s, due to the extreme shortage of housing, young couples and newlyweds in the city often made embarrassing noises. The city's houses were often prefabricated or even hollow brick structures, with six or seven people crammed into a two-bedroom apartment of less than fifty square meters. No noise could escape the notice of others.

Sometimes, we even have to go to the park to solve the problem.

It is both conservative and absurd.

"This bed is quite sturdy. It's been used since the Ming Dynasty and there haven't been any problems with it."

"Is this a cultural relic?" Zhang Li was so shocked she almost flew away.

"It's an antique, but not really an antique. It's a six-poster canopy bed with a begonia cross pattern made of huanghuali wood. I don't know where I found it, maybe two years ago. Zhang Shouren went to 'Youth Literature' magazine and asked a guy named Ma Weidu to help me get it. At first, he refused and asked me to exchange it for an article! In the end, he only gave me a reprint. According to him, the bed originally had two poles in the middle for hanging clothes."

"What about the pole?"

"It looks like it was burned by firewood."

Zhang Li was silent for a moment. "It's such a pity. When we were filming, many of the things were cultural relics. We didn't know that before... After we found out, we didn't dare to touch them."

"That's right, these are all highly skilled people. The artifacts they have are genuine. Do you know Ji Xianlin from Yenching University? He doesn't earn much, but he has a good eye and has acquired many cultural relics at low prices."

Shen Congwen made significant contributions to the study of *Dream of the Red Chamber*. When the project was initiated, Shen Congwen had recently completed his *Studies on Ancient Chinese Costumes*, and he personally designed many ancient costumes.

This led to the 87 version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" being quite faithful to the original novel.

After a flurry of activity, once the clouds had cleared and the rain had stopped, Yu Qie asked again, "Has the filming of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' finished?"

"Not yet. The director hopes you can get a role and make an appearance this time."

"Wang Fulin really likes to get things for free. He gets the filming funds for free, and he gets the consultants for free. Only a book like 'Dream of the Red Chamber' can make him do this. If it were any other remake, nobody would pay any attention to him."

Are you going or not?

"Go!" With that, Yu Qie resumed his work.

Zhang Li pushed him away: "This is a cultural relic, let's go somewhere else."

“Every room contains cultural relics.”

"You, you...do you think a boy or a girl is better?"

"Whatever, as long as the surname is Yu."

"I still hope it's a boy."

Yu Qie couldn't help but look up: "You're quite feudal too, Zhang Li. Let me teach you a lesson in this feudalistic habit!"

……

After the Lantern Festival, Yu Qie went to the set of "Dream of the Red Chamber" and filmed a series of scenes.

The production crew brought in a dragon throne and had Yu Qie put on a yellow robe and pretend to give orders.

There are very few lines.

The eunuch brought paper and pen and asked Yu Qie to choose Jia Yuanchun's rank. Yu Qie said, "Give Yuanchun the title of 'Virtuous and Virtuous'."

He then wrote the two characters "贤德" (virtuous and wise) on the paper.

The eunuch immediately shouted: "Bestow the title of 'Virtuous' upon Jia Yuanchun!"

In the next shot, Yu Qie adopts a dignified posture, looking down—he is here on behalf of the court officials to report.

The next scene, the final one, shows the imperial edict: "Confiscate the Jia family's property and order Jia Yuanchun to commit suicide."

His scenes have wrapped up! He was just a tool in the plot.

It's a pity that he didn't have any scenes with either Daiyu or Baochai. The three of them only appeared together in behind-the-scenes footage.

After taking off the yellow robe, Yu Qie asked Wang Fulin, "I've heard people say that there are four emperors in 'Dream of the Red Chamber.' Some say it's based on the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors, others say it's based on the Tang Xuanzong era, and still others... Which ones am I, and which emperor am I playing?"

"The founding emperor, the late emperor, the retired emperor, or the fourth generation emperor?"

Wang Fulin laughed and said, "Teacher Yu, you can be whichever emperor you want to be. It doesn't matter. This emperor is a fictional person. The original work only mentions him indirectly. Even if Cao Xueqin were resurrected, he wouldn't know which emperor he should be."

A group of scholars of *Dream of the Red Chamber* applauded Wang Fulin's answer: "Excellent! There's absolutely nothing wrong with that!"

Screenwriter Zhou Ling said, "Welcome, rare guest! We've been waiting for you for years, and you've finally arrived. We're having a special wrap party for our 'Redology consultant,' and Professor Shen is there too. He really wants to see you!"

Shen Congwen?
Shen Congwen has a heart condition and will pass away unexpectedly next year in the original timeline. He is one of the few Chinese writers who has fans abroad these days.

What is a fan?

That is to say, there is a group of sinologists who specialize in studying Shen Congwen's novels and publishing papers, and they earn royalties and promotions by relying on Shen Congwen's works.

Interestingly, all of these sinologists are living quite well, while Shen Congwen only moved into a new house last year. It was only after others couldn't stand it anymore and submitted a report to the central government that the leaders specially approved his "ministerial-level" treatment.

You should know that even Qian Zhongshu, the vice president of the academy, couldn't afford a decent house at this time.

It's true that the wrong version was created; the best days are yet to come.

Dongxinglou.

Encouraged by the crowd, Yu Qie sat down next to Shen Congwen, shook hands, and said, "Old Shen, it's been a long time."

Yu Qie and Shen Congwen had met twice.

We met once when the Mao Dun Literature Prize was awarded, and another time was in December of the year before last, at a writers' conference organized in Beijing.

We didn't talk much because Shen Congwen wasn't writing novels much anymore; he was focused on research.

He's quite different from Buffett. Although both are introverted and homebodies, Buffett is willing to spend time socializing; Shen Congwen is different. He's very sensitive, even arrogant.

To some extent, this has limited Shen Congwen's literary standing in China, because he has no disciples or followers to boast about his achievements. The general public is also unaware of what he has done.

In his youth, Shen Congwen witnessed many horrific things while serving in the army, which made him mentally unstable, and he even self-harmed... In short, he was a great man, but not many people had much contact with him.

Perhaps it's because he's getting old, but Shen Congwen was quite mischievous, giving Yu Qie a thumbs up: "You did a really good job in America, you really brought honor to Chinese writers!"

"Old Shen is also very capable; I am standing on the shoulders of giants."

Shen Congwen paused for a moment, then said bluntly, "I have nothing to be polite about. You have indeed blazed a new trail. You are a writer completely different from us..."

“He is a true world-class writer!” Shen Congwen said.

It's like flipping some kind of switch.

He immediately entered this "self-absorbed" state, speaking as if no one else was around: "Didn't you give a lecture at the University of Chicago? You don't know, there's a sinologist at the University of Chicago named Jeffrey Jin, who studies modern Chinese literature and believes that it has some similarities with Latin American literature..."

"He also said that western Hunan is a bridge between the culture of Bashu and the culture of Hunan—that's my novel 'Border Town.' I don't know if he was just flattering me or if he really thought so."

“I said, please go and read a new writer named Yu Qie. He put Sanxingdui into his ‘nuclear wasteland’ novel. He certainly won’t admit that these Sichuan and Chongqing cultures originated from western Hunan!”

"Guess what happened to him afterwards?"

Shen Congwen laughed loudly: "He sent me a letter saying that he still thinks so, but he doesn't dare to argue with you about it."

Yu Qie couldn't help but laugh.

The University of Chicago really does produce a lot of talented people; they seem to be able to connect with Chinese people in every way.

This meal with the "Redology consultant" signifies the end of filming for the TV series.

Why only consultants specializing in "Dream of the Red Chamber" studies?

Because there weren't enough people, many of the women in the Grand View Garden had already left.

Wang Fulin explained, "We originally planned to release it during the Spring Festival, but now it has been postponed to April. It's a pity that we can't hold a large gathering, as many people are no longer here."

Take Zhang Mingming, for example, who got into UCL. She's already on a plane to the US and will never be an actress again.

It really all came to nothing but a blank stare.

The filming of "Dream of the Red Chamber" historically lasted until September 1986, but that was an incomplete version, with post-production clearly rushed. After a Southeast Asian tycoon donated money, the crew reshot scenes, extending the production period to February.

Afterwards, the film was sent to CCTV for internal review. If it didn't receive a good review, they would have to find another way to make it.

As a consultant on the study of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, Yu Qie also participated in the review of this film. Only the first four episodes have been edited so far, which are the four episodes originally scheduled to air during the Spring Festival.

(End of this chapter)