1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 279: There is no sect in the world that does not follow Zhai (Part )
Yu Zhanyuan naturally couldn't find Zhai Yuan.

Mobile phone communications are inconvenient these days. When a mobile phone reaches the mainland where there are no base stations, it becomes a brick and all communication depends on landlines or letters.

Even though we knew that Zhai Yuan was bringing a crew to Yanjing, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack to contact him.

"They have to stay in the foreign guest hotel, right? I'll go squat at the hotel entrance."

Old Master Yu got angry and blurted out everything: "When he said he wanted to become his disciple, didn't he just want to get our apprentice into his company? Now that the matter is settled, he turns his back on us?"

Sun Ruixin frowned and said, "Why are you saying this?"

Yu Zhanyuan said: "Why can't we say it? We all know the truth."

Zhang Fuqi, who was standing aside, watched the two new apprentices bickering, enjoying the fun and becoming more curious about the little apprentice he had never met.

Honestly speaking, if you are over a hundred years old, there is no such thing as being unable to see things clearly. If you were narrow-minded, you wouldn't have reached this age.

Zhang Fuqi was initially begged by his children and grandchildren to accept these three Hong Kong apprentices, with the intention of paving the way for his descendants.

When Sun Ruixin and Yu Zhanyuan arrived in Yanjing, Zhang Fuqi's ideas changed a lot when he saw two elderly people of similar age being very respectful in front of him and showing respect for their teacher. He felt that he had made the right decision to accept them as his apprentice.

Giving justice to two famous southern Peking Opera artists who were squeezed out and forced to move to Hong Kong to open a studio and recruit apprentices can be considered a good thing he did at the last minute and he played the role of a senior.

"Alright, alright, you're not young anymore, don't make a fuss over such a small matter, or you two will die before me."

Zhang Fuqi knocked on the table, not wanting to continue talking about this matter: "You played me a section of the Southern School's secret book yesterday. Today, I will not hide anything and tell you a section of the Northern School's secret book "Wen Zhaoguan". I guess there are not many people who can play this play now. I was planning to take it into the coffin."

The old man brought the topic back to the topic in a few words and steadyed his dentures in his mouth.

"Listen carefully, the more you sing, the less you'll sing." Zhang Fuqi laughed and sang: "A bright moon shines in front of the window, and my heart is pierced by a worried arrow. I really hope to borrow troops from the State of Wu, but who knows that there is an obstacle at Zhaoguan..."

When a section of opera lyrics was finished, Zhang Fuqi was about to comment on it sentence by sentence.

Outside the yard.

Zhai Yuan rushed in quickly, followed by Lin Zhengying and the other three, as well as Zhang Fuqi's grandson Zhang Jianhua.

Zhang Jianhua had a happy look on his face. As soon as he entered the yard, he said, "Old man, your little apprentice who you talk about every day is here to visit you."

Zhai Yuan reached out and wiped his face, his eyes immediately turned red, and he quickly stepped forward and said sincerely, "Master!"

Zhang Fuqi, Sun Ruixin and Yu Zhanyuan, who are almost 300 years old in total, were all stunned when they saw this.

When Yu Zhanyuan saw Zhai Yuan’s red eyes and tears in them, the dissatisfaction in his heart immediately disappeared.

Zhang Jianhua, who was following behind him, raised his hand and half of the cut onion rolled out of the yard. He secretly praised Boss Zhai for being worthy of running a film company and his acting skills were indeed solid.

An hour ago.

Zhang Jianhua was still upset about being replaced from his job at the TV station.

A leader named Zhou from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles called the switchboard and informed him to go to the foreign guest hotel to show Zhai Yuan the way.

At the hotel entrance, Zhang Jianhua met for the first time the little apprentice that his grandfather had accepted despite the great disapproval from the opera industry.

Not daring to put on the airs of a descendant of the Zhang school of Peking Opera, Zhang Jianhua took Zhai Yuan to introduce himself to the people with great hospitality and politeness, and along the way he mentioned his recent predicament in a roundabout way.

"The opera industry and CCTV used to care about our family because of your face. Now they have cancelled my father's qualification as a judge and do not allow me to participate in the program recording. It's normal. Who made us incompetent?"

Zhai Yuan was delighted when he heard this. He had just met the leader of CCTV yesterday and now was the honeymoon period of their relationship.

He immediately patted his chest and said, "Okay, don't worry about it. I'll heal your wound after we meet the old man."

At this moment.

Zhang Jianhua was very flattering to Zhai Yuan, counting on him to get him the job at the TV station and also to find a future for his son.

Zhai Yuan came up to Zhang Fuqi and pretended to kneel down: "Master, I'm late!"

Zhang Jianhua couldn't let him kneel down, so he quickly hugged Zhai Yuan from behind and kept saying, "This is not the way of the new era. We know that you are too busy with work, little Zhai. The old man won't argue."

Zhang Fuqi nodded and gave him a helping hand.

Zhai Yuan straightened his back, thinking that kneeling before a centenarian was not a big deal, but it would certainly not sound good if it got out.

Although he did not kneel, Lin Zhengying, John Lone and Yuan Heping behind him actually kowtowed to Zhang Fuqi one by one.

This time Zhang Jianhua didn't even try to stop him.

Zhang Fuqi was happy to see the older generation again, and gave each of the four people a red envelope according to the old custom.

The old man looked at Zhai Yuan carefully and nodded, "He is fair and clean, and has the potential to be a young male singer."

Zhai Yuan said, "Please give me some advice tomorrow."

Zhang Fuqi smiled and said, "If you really want to learn, move in here for a while. I'll take you to the riverside to practice your voice every morning."

"We'll talk about this later." Zhai Yuan quickly changed the subject: "Brother Jianhua has to go to CCTV to record a program this afternoon, and you have to sit in the audience as a judge. Let's go to the Mei Lanfang Theater first."

Zhang Fuqi glanced at his grandson beside him and said thoughtfully: "There is no need to compete with others..."

Zhang Jianhua was unhappy: "Old man, not to mention that this is an opportunity to appear on TV, they have stopped my TV station from recording programs."

Zhang Fuqi said slowly, "How did you get the job at the TV station? Don't you have any idea? It's enough to have someone like you in the company. Are you the right person to record the show? You're just causing trouble!"

The grandfather and grandson had a quarrel.

Zhai Yuan stepped forward to smooth things over: "I still have to go over there, so that I can meet some friends in the opera industry. Also, I have something to announce to everyone... I'll make a phone call to two people first."

…………

Xidan, Chang'an Grand Theater.

The extent of the decline of Peking Opera can be seen from the changes in theaters.

In the 1980s, Peking Opera had actually declined to the point where it was dispensable.

Chang'an Grand Theater is one of the largest theaters in Yanjing City. It was built on a bustling commercial street, but its facade is still dilapidated. There are more people lining up at the steamed bun shop next to it than at the theater.

The decoration inside the theater is quite acceptable, at least it is much neater and cleaner than the exterior.

There are more than a thousand seats on two floors, with dozens of people sitting sparsely.

CCTV's camera was moved into the theater. The photographer in charge of recording the program took a look at the audience and told his assistant, "Let them move forward and not swarm around. Will it look good in the photo? And one more person should go out and get more audience members to come in. There are not enough people now."

The assistant said helplessly: "No one is willing to come in even though we delivered the tickets. I think we should find a few more people from the unit to make up the number."

The photographer thought for a moment and said, "That's fine, but you still have to go out and get some people in. At least the seats on the first floor have to be filled. If that doesn't work, tell them that they'll get a box of eggs for free if they participate in the program recording. The money will be reimbursed by the station later." The assistant frowned and said, "Is it that important? Who watches Peking Opera programs now? After recording this show, we can't even make back the money from the eggs."

The photographer fiddled with his camera and said without looking up: "I think there is some mission, but it has nothing to do with us, just do your own thing."

The program crew is setting up the scene here.

On the other side, a group of Peking Opera celebrities gathered backstage, chatting about the recording.

"It's a rare opportunity for people in our industry to be on TV. In the past, TV only played old records and audio and video. It's not a good thing at all."

"I can tell you, when the TV station notified me to come on stage to perform, I thought it was a joke. It doesn't matter whether I win a place or not, the most important thing is to be on TV."

"Where is the old man from the Fu generation? I heard that he was going to be a judge and his family member Jianhua was in charge of recording the show. How come neither of them came?"

"Don't mention it! The judges are now replaced by descendants of the Tan, Li, and Ma families. Be careful that they will be unhappy. Zhang Fuqi hasn't performed opera for many years. He just has a high seniority and thought that he could do something by accepting a disciple from Hong Kong. In the end, the disciple didn't even show up at the apprenticeship banquet. He is so surprised."

"Ah! The Jianghu is in chaos, I don't know what the old man is thinking..."

A group of opera enthusiasts were gossiping backstage. Zhang Fuqi's performance some time ago stole the limelight, and now everyone was somewhat gloating over his misfortune.

The door curtain was lifted.

A director named Liu from the program team came in and glanced at the Peking Opera actors indifferently: "Those of you backstage, please get ready. We will follow the script when the show starts."

Director Liu was accompanied by an assistant director, who smiled more: "My last name is Zhao, if you have any questions, you can ask me."

Some of the actors recognized that it was Deputy Director Zhao who replaced Zhang Jianhua. They walked up to him, shook hands with him, and asked him some fake questions about the filming. In fact, they all wanted to become familiar to the director and hope to have the opportunity to appear on TV in the future.

Assistant Director Zhao felt much more satisfied when he heard the actors around him calling him "leader".

After leaving the backstage, he said to Director Liu, "Brother-in-law, please give Zhang Jianhua's position to me. Nothing will go wrong, right?"

Director Liu said nonchalantly, "It's okay. Since the station has asked me to be in charge of recording this program, I have the final say on who to use and who not to use!"

Newly-attracted audiences came in and out of the theatre.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the recording officially began.

Director Liu, who was in charge of the program, had just instructed the staff to close the museum.

A group of uninvited guests walked in leisurely.

Director Liu glanced at the shadowy crowd and said unhappily, "Why are there still people coming in? Hurry up and arrange for them to sit in the audience."

As a result, the group of people not only did not sit down, but walked straight towards the film crew.

Director Liu frowned and stepped forward: "I wonder what's wrong with you guys..."

He didn't finish his words, the remaining half of the sentence got stuck in his throat.

There were people of both young and old in the group opposite. The oldest ones looked to be in their eighties or nineties, while the ones with young faces were probably in their early twenties.

But these are not important. The key point is that Director Liu saw several familiar faces in the crowd, one of whom was a senior leader of the CCTV TV department.

The assistant director's brother-in-law beside him didn't know what was going on, and shouted, "What are you doing? Is this a place you can come to?"

Director Liu quickly pulled him back, smiling: "Leader, are you here to inspect our work?"

The top leader of the station didn't say anything, but his expression looked unhappy.

Several junior leaders around him also looked at Director Liu with eyes that said 'you are looking for trouble', which made him feel uneasy.

At this time, the youngest young man in the crowd stood up and asked with a smile on his face.

"Excuse me, is this the recording site of the Peking Opera competition program?"

"Yes……"

"That's not right. I see you've turned on all the equipment, but the director hasn't arrived yet."

"I am the director of the filming crew. My last name is Liu."

"No." Zhai Yuan shook his head and pulled Zhang Jianhua out from behind the crowd: "He is the chief director of this program. Am I right, boss?"

The CCTV leader who had just chatted with Zhai Yuan about the Journey to the West project yesterday forced a smile on his face: "That's right."

I had already cursed the department head in my heart.

The program for this Peking Opera competition was discussed by Zhai Yuan and the Federation of Literary and Art Circles a few months ago, in order to repay his cheap master Zhang Fuqi.

The people from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles sent 100,000 yuan of funds to CCTV, and Zhang Jianhua was transferred to CCTV, giving him full responsibility for program planning.

This matter was not suitable to be made public, so the leaders at CCTV simply gave instructions, but things went wrong when it came down to the grassroots.

First, Zhang Jianhua's position as the person in charge was replaced and he was transferred to the position of assistant director. Later, he was not even given the position of assistant director and was just given a sinecure position in the unit.

The leader thought to himself: "They spent money to make a Peking Opera program, obviously to promote their own people, how can these idiots have no sense at all!"

As soon as Zhang Jianhua came out of the crowd, Director Liu roughly understood what was going on.

"Leader, please listen to my explanation..."

"Alright, alright, stop explaining. Hurry up and talk to Director Jianhua about the filming of the show."

Not every director at CCTV is like Yang Jie, who dares to talk back to his superiors.

Upon hearing this, Director Liu quickly took advantage of the situation and said, "Yes, yes, I was going to ask Jianhua to come over to discuss this. It was my fault."

The brother-in-law at the side whispered: "Brother-in-law, am I still the assistant director? You promised my sister..."

Zhang Jianhua’s work problem was solved with just a few words.

Zhai Yuan looked back at the leaders of CCTV and Zhou Xuejun and others from the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "While all the opera people are gathered backstage, why don't we chat about the movie together? It's a good opportunity for professional Peking Opera actors to teach us, the country bumpkins who are making movies."

Zhou Xuejun patted him on the back and laughed, "Don't talk nonsense. You just want to show off by pulling us in! Such a big boss is like a child."

Zhai Yuan called Zhang Fuqi, Sun Ruixin and others to go backstage together.

He said, "Old Zhou, I really want to promote traditional culture. This time, I am planning to shoot this drama "Dagger-Swordsman Actress". There will be quite a few extras to be used, and I definitely need the guidance of professionals. I want to see if the Liyuanxing masters backstage are interested in showing me a favor and participating in my new drama..."

(End of this chapter)