Exciting 1979!

Chapter 260 The Four Great Dan of Stamp Collecting
Zhu Lin's film debut was not a success.

What's truly frightening isn't the lack of criticism, but rather the complete lack of concern.

Gong Xue's first film, "Sacrifice to the Red," at least garnered considerable criticism for her performance, but Zhu Lin's performance in "The Traitor" went completely unnoticed.

Even the movie itself didn't get much attention. Zhu Lin later went back to the cinema, only to find that the movie had been taken down after just five days, supposedly because a copy had been taken to Shijiazhuang for screening.

This means they have already given up on the Beijing market.

Zhu Lin was particularly depressed during this period, which coincided with the emotions of the female protagonist in "Regret for the Past". Director Shui Hua once again affirmed her performance.

The director's affirmation, the family's encouragement, and Wei Ming's letter, which also included praise from her future mother-in-law, helped Zhu Lin quickly emerge from the gloom of her debut film.

She believes that "Regret for the Past" will definitely allow the audience to truly understand her.

What surprised her even more was Wei Ming's original screenplay. He wrote her this letter in Suqian. What did he mean by that?

Could it be that he wants me to play the female lead in his new script?
Zhu Lin's heart pounded. "You naughty boy, at least you have some conscience."

So, late at night, Zhu Lin wrote down her thoughts and feelings during this period in a letter to Wei Ming, without mentioning the new script. She was waiting for Wei Ming to give her a surprise.

~
After its release in major western cities and Beijing and Shanghai, Xi'an Film Studio's "The Traitor" can basically be declared a failure.

How bad was it? Despite having a cast including Zhu Lin, Ma Jingwu, and Golden Rooster Award-winning actress Naren Hua, especially with Zhu Lin being such a popular star, it still didn't get enough ratings on Douban, far less than some older films from the same period.

However, Xi'an Film Studio has gotten used to it, since neither its directors nor its cast can compare with Beijing Film Studio and Shanghai Film Studio.

That's how it is in 80 years, but they will make a full-fledged effort in the next 81 years.

First is "Awakening," directed by Teng Wenji. It stars the big star Chen Chong and may be her last film before going abroad, so it was a lucky break from Xi'an Film Studio.

Another film is "The Xi'an Incident," directed by Cheng Yin, one of the four great directors of the Beijing Film Studio. This was a big-budget production that was officially registered with the authorities, and the Xi'an Film Studio was able to secure the lead role in this film because of its geographical advantage.

Just now, the film "Niu and Niu Er," adapted from Wei Ming's novel, has officially wrapped up filming. After confirming that there were no scenes that needed to be reshot, director Wu Tianming returned home.

Originally, this film was not as highly regarded at Xi'an Film Studio as "The Xi'an Incident" and "Awakening". However, after the studio leaders watched some clips of "Niu and Niu Er", they all praised it and marveled at Wu Tianming's great progress.

How did this kid manage to make the cow seem so human? It's amazing!
Moreover, the cow and Li Baotian's somewhat manic performance complemented each other perfectly. Also, where did this Li Baotian come from? How come I didn't know there was such a person before?

Several factory leaders who were about to retire even discussed giving Wu Tianming the title of deputy factory director so that he could take over the Xi'an Film Studio in the future.

After all, Xi'an Film Studio lacks talent. Wu Tianming has a knack for both directing and management. To retain talent, we must invest heavily.

The factory manager also asked him what he planned to film next, and that the factory would do its best to support him. Then Wu Tianming took out a copy of "Story Collection".

~
Gong Xue took some time to go home and told his father about helping renovate the old house. He told him this behind everyone else's back, and only the two of them knew about it.

My dad is now semi-retired and has a lot of free time.

Gong Yuandong was initially puzzled. He had bought an old-style house and was going to renovate it extensively. What kind of friends had his daughter made after entering the entertainment industry? Were these really friends?

The father had some concerns.

To allay his father's concerns, Gong Xue said that the other party would pay him a fee, making it seem quite formal. Upon hearing this, Gong Yuandong had no objections, and it would be a good opportunity to earn some extra money on the side.

In addition to drawing clothing, he also really likes to draw architecture, so this job really hit his interests.

Two days later, after receiving a call from the Writers Association's guesthouse, Gong Xue immediately went there to find Wei Ming.

Wei Ming said the script was finished.

Gong Xue didn't rush to look at the script. She told Wei Ming something: "Aying knows about the house."

"Oh, how did you know?"

“It’s not my dad. He always leaves early and comes home late, which is suspicious. So my mom sent Ah Ying to follow him. That’s how she found that old house. My dad told her what I said, but she guessed it was your house.”

Wei Ming asked, "What did she say to our mother?"

Gong Xue: "Dad gave 30% of the labor fee to Aying, and Aying reported to Mom that he went fishing, but he came back empty-handed every day. In addition, Aying can also help with some interior design."

Wei Ming was overjoyed; what a loving father and filial daughter!

Gong Xue pouted, "Aying is trying to blackmail me."

"Just wait till I get back, I'll teach Ah Long a lesson! And what did she say to you?"

Gong Xue: "She said the house was renovated and asked me to reserve a room for her."

Wei Ming laughed and said, "I thought it was something serious. I was planning to do this even if she hadn't mentioned it. It's such a big house, it's not safe for you to live alone. If you're going to move there, it would be better to invite Aying along."

"Wouldn't that be inconvenient?" Gong Xue bit her lip, feeling that she had made a lewd remark.

Wei Ming put his arm around the slender Xue Jie and said, "It's okay, let her stay on the first floor, and we'll stay on the second floor."

Xuejie then smiled, and Wei Ming brought over the script for "Mom, Love Me Again".

"Now that the script is finished, my sister can take a look. I'll make a copy later and prepare to publish it in 'Huacheng' magazine. I'll also see which film studio is interested."

Although Wei Ming has not yet had any screenplays officially released, his fame speaks for itself. It's like he's descended to earth to write screenplays, and everyone is vying for him. Gong Xue even knows that big Hong Kong directors are asking him to write screenplays.

Gong Xue sat on Wei Ming's bed reading the script, while Wei Ming began revising "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes." He had been in Shanghai for half a month, and it was almost December; it was time to get down to business.

However, someone always manages to distract him, and before long, someone downstairs called out to him.

"Teacher Wei, someone is looking for you."

Wei Ming told Xue Jie to focus on the script while he went downstairs to check on things.

Unexpectedly, it was Su Chen, the editor-in-chief of "Huacheng" magazine, whom I had met once before at the National Book Fair.

It was there that Wei Ming agreed to submit "Mom, Love Me Again" to "Huacheng" magazine for publication.

"President Su, are you in Shanghai on business?" Wei Ming reached out and shook hands with the other person. There were seats downstairs, so he didn't invite the other person upstairs.

Su Chen: "I didn't come to Shanghai on business; I went to Zhenjiang."

"Zhenjiang? Zhenjiang vinegar is good."

"Not only me, but also Ba Jin, Meng Weizai from Contemporary, and others. This was a conference of editors-in-chief of major national literary journals, held at Jinshan Temple in Zhenjiang. There were 27 journals in total. After it was over, I thought I would be passing through Shanghai anyway. I heard from Ba Jin that you were revising your manuscript here, so I came to see you."

Wei Ming asked, "You've come at the right time. I recently went to northern Jiangsu and just got back."

"Go to northern Jiangsu?"

"It's that script, we're just going to do some research."

Su Chen's spirits lifted. He hadn't come specifically to urge the manuscript, but just to inquire: "How's the progress?"

Wei Ming: "After I came back, I worked overtime and neglected to eat and sleep. I just finished it."

"Ah, it's already finished?" Editor-in-Chief Su was surprised. She had thought that Wei Ming was preparing for a new work during his field trip, but it turned out that he was just finishing up.

He said impatiently, "Can I take a look now? If there aren't any major problems, I might still be able to catch the December issue."

Although the compilation work for the December issue has been completed, it's not a big deal to squeeze in Wei Ming's new work.

Aside from "The Spring of the Shepherd's Class" at the beginning of the year, Wei Ming hasn't published any new novels this year. Although this is a screenplay and doesn't have the same broad appeal as a novel, it will certainly alleviate some readers' thirst for more. Once Wei Ming's long novel is published in "Harvest," they'll be overshadowed.

Sister Xue was looking at it right now, so Wei Ming naturally couldn't let him see it. He asked, "There's no rush. What did you guys talk about in your meeting, President Su?"

"Actually, it's nothing much. It's mainly about exchanging feelings and sharing some meaningful experiences from our publications. Oh, there's something that concerns you. Next year, the Writers' Association is going to hold its first National Excellent Novella Award. Works published between 77 and 80 can be submitted. I bet you'll make things difficult for the judges then," Su Chen said with a smile.

Wei Ming understood what he meant. His main output over the past year or so had been novellas, and every single one of them was a classic, especially "The Herdsman" and "Springtime in the Shepherd's Class," which were highly artistic and strong contenders for awards.

However, according to the Writers Association's consistent practice, each author can only have one award-winning work at most. With so many authors and works, how can one person be allowed to dominate the scene?

Wei Ming said a few humble words, then asked Su Chen about the interesting literary anecdotes from the meeting.

Su Chen: "Speaking of interesting anecdotes, there really are some. I forgot which magazine editor came up with the idea of ​​the 'Four Great Dan' of literary publications."

"Oh, which four Dan?"

Su Chen: "Harvest is mature and steady, so it is called 'Lao Dan' (old female role); Contemporary is called 'Zheng Dan' (leading female role) because of its righteousness and confidence; October is called 'Qing Yi' (green female role) because of its freshness and elegance; and our Flower City is called 'Hua Dan' (flower female role) because of its graceful and beautiful scenery."

So this is when the so-called "Four Great Literary Journals" were proposed. I bet Ba Jin was thinking, "We've always benchmarked ourselves against People's Literature, how did we end up hanging out with you newbies?"
Apart from "Harvest", the other three were all launched in 78 and 79. They cannot compare with "Harvest" in terms of either history or circulation. This statement is somewhat of a forced comparison.

However, this kind of marketing tactic, similar to the Four Heavenly Kings, the Four Great Talents, and the Four Little Actresses, is indeed very effective.

Originally, Nanjing's "Zhongshan" and Yanjing's "Yanjing Literature" were not much different in status from these three, but after the four famous magazines were widely recognized by readers, "Zhongshan" and "Yanjing Literature" fell behind.

Wei Ming smiled and said, "I have published articles about all four of these famous actresses, and I feel quite honored."

“How can those short essays count?” Su Chen shook his head. “October magazine heard that your next work was published in Flower City, and they’re all eager to get your work after that.”

Wei Ming shook his head with a wry smile: "I don't have any ideas for this yet, so it may be a long wait for 'October'."

However, besides "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes" in 81, he really should have written something else. Moreover, as a writer, he also wanted to gather the achievements of the four great masters of the literary world and have representative works in every publication.

After chatting for a while and delaying things a bit, Wei Ming figured that Sister Xue should have finished reading, and Editor-in-Chief Su was starting to yawn because she was sleepy. So he asked, "President Su, you also live here, right? What's your room number? I'll go back and get the manuscript and bring it to you."

Su Chen said, "220."

Good heavens, Sister Chen's old room was downstairs from him.

Wei Ming strode upstairs, and as soon as he reached the door, he heard faint sobbing coming from inside the room.

Since there were fewer people on the third floor, he quickly pushed the door open and went in. He saw Sister Xue lying on the bed, sobbing softly. When Wei Ming went over to take a look, he saw that the pillowcase was soaked with tears. He felt that Sister Xue had shed at least a kilogram of tears.

"Sister~" Wei Ming gently hugged Gong Xue.

Wei Ming expected her to cry. After all, his script emphasized visual imagery, allowing the reader to visualize the scenes just by reading the words. And who could hold back their tears when they thought of the separation of family members and the longing and yearning between mother and child?

Aren't you going to cry? Don't you have a heart?!

Sister Xue ruined Wei Ming's pillowcase and then started ruining his shirt.

Wei Ming quickly tried to lighten his mood with a joke: "My clothes are very expensive, and they're all covered in snot."

Gong Xue quickly separated from her, and seeing him looking at her with a mischievous smile, she immediately punched him with her little fists.

"You rascal, how could you write something so touching!"

"Reality is too harsh, and I only made some minor adjustments," Wei Ming said, not daring to take credit. Then he said seriously, "Sister, you are a professional actress. You can't not hold back your tears when you shouldn't be crying during filming. For example, when the female lead cruelly drives her son away to the big city with his biological father and stepmother, you can't cry in front of the child."

Thinking of Wei Ming's psychological state and the detailed descriptions in that passage, Gong Xue wiped away her tears: "I won't. I was just thinking of myself as an ordinary reader, and my emotions were too overwhelming. I couldn't stop myself."

She even thought about how terrible it would be if she had a child with Xiao Wei, but he abandoned her.

Wei Ming thought to himself, "This is nothing. When the movie is released, with my own background music added, wow, that will be a real tearjerker."

"Okay, sister, wait a moment. The editor-in-chief of 'Huacheng' magazine just arrived. We chatted for a while, and he needs to review this article."

"Oh, then you go ahead, I'm leaving too."

"No, I..." Wei Ming hugged his older sister, his arms moving like dragons.

Gong Xue said with a pained expression, "Right now, all I can think about is my crazy mom and Little Gourd."

Wei Ming knew that he was in no mood for it, so he could only sigh and say, "Then come downstairs and wait for me. I'll give him the script and then bring it to you."

The next morning, Wei Ming was awakened by knocking on the door.

When he opened the door, he saw Su Chen from "Flower City," who told Wei Ming, "I'm going back to Guangzhou."

Wei Ming asked, "Can the script be sent out next month? If not, I need to make a copy and see if any film studios are interested."

Su Chen laughed and said, "I dare say that once this script is published, film studios all over the country will be vying for it."

Su Chen stayed up all night last night to finish reading the script. To his surprise, Wei Ming wrote a relatively popular story about mother-son affection.

The story actually involves the background of educated youth going to the countryside and returning to the city, and could have been made into an educated youth movie, but Wei Ming did not explore that aspect in depth, and focused entirely on the crazy mother and the little gourd.

From a literary perspective, this emphasis makes the script seem lacking in weight and depth.

But Su Chen is a veteran who has been involved in literature for decades. What hasn't he read? Works like "Mom, Love Me Again" made him cry several times during the reading process. You can't say that there are very few works that made him cry like a fool.

Based on this alone, this script would definitely be very appealing to audiences if it were made into a movie. The bond between mother and child is the most basic human emotion, and it might be more touching to ordinary people than trendy things like educated youth, the trauma of war, or reflection.

Su Chen said that the script will be available in "Huacheng" magazine in December, which will save Wei Ming the trouble of photocopying it himself. He can just take the "Huacheng" magazine with him and talk to the film studio.

In addition, he also confirmed with Wei Ming the royalty standard of ten yuan per thousand words. For 35,000 words, he would receive 350 yuan.

After seeing Su Chen off, reports about the four famous actresses of literary journals began to appear frequently in newspapers, and the publicity campaign began.

At this time, Harvest magazine dropped another bombshell. In the newly released November issue of Harvest, the second part of Ye Xin's long-running educated youth literature, "Wasted Years," was published.

Considering the widespread attention the previous article garnered nationwide, this issue of Harvest magazine went straight to an initial print run of 80 copies, breaking Harvest's previous record for highest circulation. Considering Harvest's unit price, this circulation figure is more valuable than the more than one million copies of People's Literature magazine.

Wei Ming also finished revising the first tens of thousands of words of "The Right Path of the World is Full of Vicissitudes" and went to the editorial department of "Harvest" to exchange for the later parts of the manuscript.

Then Li Xiaolin told Wei Ming that, according to feedback from various channels, this issue of Harvest was selling extremely well, and it was sold out in many places.

"We plan to print another 30 copies!"

That's 110 million copies. For a purely literary journal, at one yuan per copy, all these factors combined make it incredibly expensive.

That's 1.1 million in sales! A single issue of "Harvest" magazine is only 400,000 to 500,000 words. Even at the highest rate of 10 yuan per thousand words, the cost of the manuscript is only 4,000 to 5,000 yuan. This is a huge profit!
Wei Ming was calculating the profit situation, while Editor Li joked with him, "You're going to be under a lot of pressure from now on."

"Huh?" Wei Ming was taken aback. "What does this have to do with me?"

Editor Li laughed and said, "Other people's 'Wasted Years' has increased sales to over a million, and then your novel takes over in the next issue, but the sales are not as good as this issue. Your reputation as a literary genius will be criticized."

Wei Ming understood what she meant. Last year, he had pushed too hard, and the likes of Ye Xin were far less sensational than him. Now, this work is his first full-length novel after a year's hiatus, and everyone is certainly looking forward to it.

However, Wei Ming is very clear-headed: "I don't write about the current popular topics. I don't compete with others on sales. I only compete on whose works will still have readers twenty or thirty years from now."

Wei Ming was absolutely confident about this!

(End of this chapter)