1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 537 Mineral Water Jar

"Fell asleep?"

Zhu Lin, who had just finished washing up, looked at Jiang Xian coming out of her daughter's room with some surprise, "How come neither Mom nor I can get what we want, but you can coax her into being quiet after just a little while?"

"I have my secret," Jiang Xian said with a mysterious smile.

"What's the secret?" Zhu Lin looked at him curiously. She was wearing a black sweater that perfectly outlined her curvaceous figure.

Jiang Xian pulled his wife into his arms and said, "Let's rest first, I'll tell you the story later."

"This isn't a rest," Zhu Lin said, offering a token attempt to break free, but quickly succumbed to her husband's kiss.

After several storms and rains.

"tell a story?"

With a strange aftertaste lingering on her face, Zhu Lin rested her head on Jiang Xian's arm and looked at him with some curiosity.

“Yes, before you were home, she would fuss and not sleep, but I would tell her a bedtime story, and she would sleep soundly.” Jiang Xian wiped his sweat and explained to Zhu Lin.

"No wonder she insisted on being coaxed by her father."

"What about you?"

"What am I?"

"She needs her dad to comfort her, what about you?"

"."

Zhu Lin glanced at him, quickly understanding the meaning behind his words, and a blush rose to her cheeks.

Jiang Xian became even more fascinated by Her Majesty's appearance.

"oops."

Zhu Lin pushed Jiang Xian defiantly, "Stop it, you're just showing off."

"I'm showing off? What do you mean by showing off?"

"Can your body still handle it? Don't you know how old you are?"

"what?"

Jiang Xian couldn't stand it, and immediately became furious, turning over to hug his wife.

"I think you've forgotten how you were begging me with tears streaming down your face just now."

"Stop, stop making a fuss, don't wake Mom and Niannian up."

"She's fast asleep and won't wake up."

"Okay, okay, wait a minute."

Zhu Lin stopped him, "Tell me what you told our daughter first."

"What's wrong? Are you trying to win favor too?"

"Competing for favor? What favor are you competing for?"

"You complain that I only tell this to my daughter and not to you."

"Am I a child?"

Zhu Lin glared at him. "I was thinking that if you're not home in the future, I can tell her stories to lull her to sleep."

"Oh."

Jiang Xian smiled and said, "That won't do. The story I'm about to tell isn't simple; it's too long to finish in a short time."

"Too long?"

Zhu Lin looked puzzled. "What? You tell a different story every time?"

"Of course, they won't be the same twice."

Jiang Xian hugged Zhu Lin closer and yawned, "Our daughter isn't stupid. How can she not get tired of hearing the same story every day?"

“Then stop telling the story. Where did you get it from? I’ll go check it out later,” Zhu Lin said.

“From here.” Jiang Xian pointed to his head.

He wasn't lying; the "stories" he spoke of originated from the synthetic system in his mind.

Zhu Lin quickly realized what was happening, raised her head, and her almond-shaped eyes were filled with disbelief.

"You made up all this story in your head."

Before Jiang Xian could answer, she turned around and looked at him with admiration in her eyes.

"You, a great writer, actually made up stories yourself just to tell your daughter?!"

"My daughter isn't someone else's daughter." Jiang Xian said with eyes full of doting affection.

"You're such a doting father to your daughter," Zhu Lin laughed.

To tell his daughter bedtime stories, this renowned author personally wrote one. Judging by his attitude, if Jiang Niannian were to ask for a star in the future, he would probably find a way to go up to the sky and pluck it down for her without hesitation.

"So what exactly were you talking about?"

"perhaps?"

Jiang Xian recalled for a moment, "Well, it's roughly about a pilot's adventures, some stories about adventures."

"This is almost a novel," Zhu Lin said after he finished speaking.

"A novel?" Jiang Xian smiled and hugged Zhu Lin tighter again. "We can talk about the novel during the day. It's nighttime now, so let's worry about what we need to worry about tonight."

The night was filled with several rounds of passion and passion.

On the set of "Stories from the Editorial Department".

“You young people should learn from the older comrades. In the future, we will rely on you to carry on the revolution.” Sister Niu, dressed in a Zhongshan suit, wiped her hands while “educating” Ge Ling, played by Liu Bei.

On the "Haima" side, a simple opening ceremony was held for "Stories from the Editorial Department," and then filming began quickly.

Jiang Xian came over and kept an eye on things for a while.

Tong Zhengwei truly lives up to his reputation as a "professional mother," bringing the elderly Marxist-Leninist woman, Sister Niu, to life.

Marxist-Leninist old ladies can be found everywhere; it's ironic that the "Hippocampus" group created such a character.

As Jiang Xian looked at the old lady played by Tong Zhengwei, he couldn't help but think of another real old lady who embodied Marxism-Leninism.

—Ding Ling.

If we're talking about the literary world's leading Marxist-Leninist figure, there's no doubt it's her.

Ding Ling passed away more than a year ago at her home in Duofu Lane at the age of 82.

Sometimes Jiang Xian felt quite melancholy.

He came to this era, met these people, and then witnessed their departure.

I remember the first time I met Ding Ling was at the National Book Fair at the Labor Palace in Beijing.

Jiang Xian was invited to meet with readers when several senior figures suddenly appeared, including Ye Shengtao, Zang Kejia, Xie Bingxin, Yan Wenjing, and Ding Ling.

Prior to this, Jiang Xian and Ding Ling's first encounter was when Ding Ling, after his comeback, wrote a literary review article for Jiang Xian's novel "The Chess King" in the "Literary Gazette" while Jiang Xian was filming "Border Town".

The two interacted more frequently afterward, and as Jiang Xian became more familiar with Ding Ling, he gradually discovered that rather than describing Ding Ling as a rigid Marxist-Leninist old lady, she was actually a person with a very distinct personality.

In her later years, Ding Ling was busy with the literary magazine "China," which she ran under a "private-public partnership."

I remember that right after the National Day holiday, at a banquet, Ding Ling found Jiang Xian and personally invited him to host the magazine. However, Jiang Xian knew it was a trap and refused to jump in.

When readers receive a magazine, they often only focus on the content. However, as a product, much of the production work is done in the peripheral areas: publication number, approval, printing, distribution, supervision, and so on.

Each step is incredibly tedious and detailed, requiring connections, money, and networking at all levels.

Jiang Xian heard that Ding Ling had coordinated everywhere to get the publication number, sought sponsorships everywhere to solve the funding problem, borrowed money from shell companies, and used all the connections she could to get the magazine started smoothly. It also produced many good articles, with the highest single issue circulation reaching tens of thousands of copies.

Unfortunately, with Ding Ling's passing, the magazine quickly declined, changing from a monthly publication to a quarterly publication of long novels. The editorial board members also resigned one after another due to ideological differences.

The reason I suddenly remembered Ding Ling is that not long ago, Liu Shaotang, who was still in charge of the overall situation at "China", suddenly approached Jiang Xian and begged him to help the magazine solve its current predicament.

But Jiang Xian knew that the magazine's predicament was not as simple as it seemed.

In general, this is also closely related to the decline of literature today.

The late 70s and early 80s were the best era for modern literature, a time when modern Chinese writers were most enthusiastic, most actively exploring, and achieved the most remarkable results.

This was a dreamlike golden age for literature.

But as the 80s passed.

The literary boom has also come to an end.

The collapse of China magazine also signaled the end of an era.

After that, everyone had no time for literature.

There are too many complex reasons for this, including political, economic, and ideological ones.

Therefore, even though Jiang Xian is a reborn person, he feels that he has no way to go against such an overwhelming trend.

After expressing his helplessness, Liu Shaotang was filled with grief. A few days later, he came to see Jiang Xian again and said that the magazine "China" was going to cease publication and hoped that he could write a closing statement for the magazine.

Jiang Xian couldn't refuse this time, so he agreed. However, he still hadn't figured out how to write this sentence.

Just as Jiang Xian was getting distracted, Sister Niu's lines pulled him back to the set:

"Hey, what was wrong with the old Lenin suit? It's nothing like the current ones, all so flashy. I just can't stand those weird clothes."

Liu Bei sat at the table, looking indignant. "You've got it all wrong again. What do you mean by strange clothes? I was just asking you how to introduce clothing styles."

Tong Zhengwei smiled and said, "When introducing clothing styles, well, one must also have a political inclination."

"How would you like to introduce this outfit of mine?" Liu Bei leaned closer and showed off the little suit she was wearing.

Tong Zhengwei ran his fingers over the fabric as he said, “Yes, that’s how it should be written: unique style, expensive price, not very suitable for ordinary working people, mostly worn by self-employed individuals.”

"Oh."

A sly glint flashed across Liu Bei's face. "I understand. You mean that self-employed individuals are not working people?"

"Ok?"

Tong Zhengwei looked bewildered. "Did I say that? Of course I did, but they have a lot of money."

"Oh, so I don't have enough money, so I can't wear this dress." Liu Bei rolled her eyes.

"Is that what Sister Niu means?"

Teacher Hou Yaohua went up and said, "Is that what you mean? I understand everything. What Sister Niu meant was that no matter if you are rich or poor, as long as you wear high-end clothes, you can no longer be considered a working person."

"Card."

Zhao Baogang shouted, "Okay, okay, very good, I think it's good enough."

"That's it?" Zhang Yimou was dumbfounded.

In the past, when making movies, every shot required a whole day of meticulous work. Zhao Baogang, on the other hand, is incredibly efficient; this shot has only been done a few times, and they're already filming the next one.

"I think the performances were all pretty good, with no major flaws. Besides, we're on a tight schedule with a heavy workload, so we can't afford to slack off," Zhao Baogang said.

"This"

Zhang Yimou, being a professionally trained director, considers himself far more professional than Zhao Baogang. Moreover, influenced by the filming habits of previous directors, he strongly disagrees with Zhao Baogang's approach.

"Let's listen to the director," Jiang Xian said from the side, taking the initiative to stand on Zhao Baogang's side.

Zhang Yimou and his ilk don't understand television dramas.

He understands.

A sitcom like "Stories from the Editorial Department" only needs the actors' acting skills to be good and the plot to be smooth.

That's enough.

It's not like making a movie.

Making a film is like creating a work of art. You have to consider how to shoot each shot, care about the aesthetics of each shot, and how to handle each scene.

Their sitcoms are different; they're TV dramas and urban dramas, and most importantly, they have plot conflicts, without needing any unnecessary embellishments.

With Jiang Xian's support, Zhao Baogang boldly continued filming.

Jiang Xian also felt more at ease with the inexperienced Zhao Baogang.

He truly deserves to be called a master director of television dramas. While others were still figuring out what television dramas were and couldn't break out of the movie-making model, he grasped this point from the very beginning that others couldn't even think of.

"It's really hard to get submissions these days. We don't want submissions from unknown authors, and the famous ones don't want us either," Liu Bei muttered.

Actually...

Teacher Hou Yaohua looked smug and said, "It all boils down to one word: money."

"money?"

Tong Zhengwei looked up and said, "Money can't solve all problems."

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes."

Teacher Hou Yaohua pointed at Tong Zhengwei with his pen, and as he spoke, he stood up and walked to the center of the editorial department:
"Money is not everything."

"But you absolutely cannot do without money."

"."

As Jiang Xian was enjoying the moment he witnessed, Zhu Hong patted him on the shoulder.

"Brother-in-law, the boss we arranged to meet is here."

"Yo, here we come."

Jiang Xian got up and went to the door. There was a van parked there, with six or seven people standing next to it. They were all big and burly, bald and rustic, and their short-sleeved shirts looked like they hadn't been washed in ages, covered in strange yellow stains.

"Uh, which one of you is the boss?"

"I."

The one in the middle who looked the most presentable and whose clothes were the cleanest stepped forward and shook hands with Jiang Xian with a respectful expression. "Teacher Jiang Xian, I have long admired you and I really like your novels."

"Oh, hello, hello."

Jiang Xian shook hands with the other person and carefully looked him up and down. He was in his thirties, wore glasses, was very thin, and spoke with a strong Xiangxi accent.

As Jiang Xian looked at him, the other person was also sizing Jiang Xian up and down, and then quickly remembered something and slapped his forehead.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sun Yingui, and I am the owner of Bailong Mineral Water Kettle."

Younger students probably don't even know what a mineral water jug ​​is.

This thing was once all the rage.

It's basically a big kettle, a prototype of a water dispenser. It claims to sterilize, purify, magnetize, and mineralize, but in reality, well, the water purification effect is just so-so.

Moreover, before Brain Gold and BackJoy, the most brainwashing and addictive advertisements were for this stuff.

Bailong Mineral Water Kettle is a leader in the mineral water kettle industry. Its owner, Sun Yingui, became famous for his mineral water kettles and entered the ranks of the wealthy in the early 90s. Like Shi Yuzhu and others, he was among the first batch of mainland tycoons to be included in Forbes magazine.

However, the mineral water jug ​​product has only been on the market for a short time and is not yet well-known. Sun Yingui has not yet become rich; he is just an ordinary business owner.

As for asking him to come over today...

The reason is also very simple.

Seeking sponsorship!
Making TV shows is impossible without money.

(End of this chapter)