1978: Female educated youth, don’t want an illiterate husband

Liu Xuehua stood in the shadows of the screening room, her fingertips unconsciously twisting the belt of her dress.

The off-white skirt was embroidered with delicate orchids, which she had specially commissioned a tailor to make, hoping to bring good luck at the premiere. However, the scene before her eyes chilled her to the bone.

A few people were sparsely seated in the front row of the film critics' section. Some were flipping through newspapers, some were chatting and laughing in hushed tones, and even A-Yin, who was in charge of checking tickets, was yawning, as if he was certain that there would be no audience for this movie.

"We can't stay at the Great Wall!" This further solidified Liu Xuehua's decision to leave the Great Wall after the Spring Festival.

"Xuehua, don't just stand there, come in!" Fu Qi's wife, Shi Hui, came over with a bag of popcorn in her hand. "It's freshly made, have a taste."

Shi Hui's tone was deliberately relaxed, but anxiety was hidden in her eyes.

Great Wall Pictures has staked almost all of its working capital this year on this film, "The Haunted Cop Shop." If it flops, they might not even be able to pay their employees' salaries.

Liu Xuehua took the popcorn, her fingertips touching the warmth of the paper bag, but her heart grew even colder.

She recalled the way the assistant director looked her up and down when she auditioned at Golden Harvest last week: "From Great Wall? I'm afraid you don't have much of a market."

She was unconvinced at the time, but now, looking at this empty theater, she suddenly realizes that what the other person said was right.

But Madam Fu and Sister Hui were treating her well, so she definitely couldn't bring herself to leave right now.

I was just thinking that after the New Year, when Shi Hui wasn't at the company, I would just leave without saying goodbye, which would be better for everyone.

Huang Jianzhong, who was sitting in the front row, looked around and whispered to Cheng Xuemin next to him, "Isn't this...isn't it too deserted? It's not even as good as our factory's internal screenings."

Zhu Lin, standing next to Gong Xue, secretly exchanged a glance with her, also surprised by the small number of people in the movie theater.

This is Hong Kong, the Pearl of the Orient that everyone on the mainland longs for. Logically, there should be a lot of people watching the movie, right?
But the current situation in the movie theater has truly opened their eyes and surprised them quite a bit.

"Don't worry, the best is yet to come!" Cheng Xuemin's voice was steady. Although he knew that Great Wall was not popular in Hong Kong, he did not expect it to be in such a difficult situation.

However, he must be very confident in the script he wrote for "The Ghostly Man".

As long as Great Wall doesn't arbitrarily change its script or hire a very eye-catching female lead, the box office is completely guaranteed.

In fact!
During the previous literary and art congress, Fu Qi and his wife took a sample of "The Ghostly Man" to Beijing and even showed it to screenwriter Cheng Xuemin.

To be honest, it was very well filmed, almost entirely following his script. Moreover, Cheng Xuemin's comedic moments, highlighted in red, were handled very well by the Great Wall production team, resulting in a very good effect.

Wang Yang, the old factory director and one of the older comrades who watched the film with him, laughed quite a bit.

Moreover, especially on the Great Wall side, they actually cast newcomer Liu Xuehua as the female lead!
That's a royal flush!

Liu Xuehua is naturally the leading lady in melodramatic films, so this kind of comedic ghost movie is truly tailor-made for her.

Therefore, Liu Xuehua's performance in the film is outstanding and commendable, and the box office performance is worth looking forward to.

"Yes, Teacher Cheng's script is indeed very good!" Fu Qi, who was accompanying him, said with an awkward smile.

Because of Cheng Xuemin and his group's support, the Great Wall team didn't dare invite too many media and film critics to the screening, fearing that hostile elements might seize on this and spread it widely.

However, looking at the sparse audience in the theater, Fu Qi of Great Wall couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

This place is so deserted.

Fortunately, they also fully opened the Shuangnan Cinema Circuit and rented another circuit of ten cinemas from Shaw Brothers.

If the main cinema is so deserted, then the other cinemas must be even more deserted.

With so few people, they're definitely going to fail.

The muttering of Huang Jianzhong not far away, though very soft, made Fu Qi's face turn pale with embarrassment.

"Hey! Why did you bring me here to watch a movie? Are you going to defect to the left?"

Soon a young, fashionable couple entered. The woman looked at the deserted, dimly lit, and gloomy movie theater and angrily berated the man.

"Gillian, it's a horror movie! It's different!" the man said, scratching a handful of his blond hair as he tried to persuade him.

Because it was a horror movie, and it was in Lao Zuo Changcheng's cinema, I guessed there wouldn't be many people. So watching a horror movie in such a big cinema would be a great opportunity to do whatever I wanted to my girlfriend, and no one would bother me. It sounded wonderful.

"Tch, what good horror movies can Lao Zuo make? It's just a gimmick to make a lousy film and cash in!" The woman didn't care. She wanted to see the Xu Brothers' comedy "Money Crazy," and then said, "How about we go see Money Crazy instead? I thought you were treating me to Money Crazy!"

"Then how about a refund? But will they actually give a refund?" The man was reluctant. He knew that if the money was being distributed, the venue must be packed with people shouting for more. He couldn't even make a small move. So he immediately tried to probe with a question.

"Forget it, we're already here, let's see what's going on!" the woman muttered, slinging her backpack over her shoulder and finding a spot that wasn't too far forward or backward to sit down.

The man was overjoyed and immediately went over to fawn over her, offering her popcorn and cola, all he could think about was how his girlfriend would be so scared that she would fall on him and eat his dick.

It was seven o'clock soon. Although many more people came in later, only a couple hundred people were scattered throughout the huge cinema that could hold thousands.

Moreover, they were almost all older people; it was rare to see fashionable young men and women like the ones we just saw.

This actually reflects the current trend of celebrity worship in Hong Kong.

Everyone's busy chasing after big stars like Gallen Lo, Cheng Long, and Sammo Hung. Who still watches Lao Zuo's movies these days?
The films Lao Zuo made were either serious subjects or old films imported from the mainland. For example, "Liu Sanjie" had been shown repeatedly in Lao Zuo's main cinema for more than ten years, and Hong Kong people were sick of seeing it.

So the people who come to Lao Zuo to watch movies are mostly elderly people who came from the mainland in their early years and are looking for nostalgia, rather than people who actually come to watch a movie.

Who would come to Lao Zuo's movie theater?!
At seven o'clock sharp, the lights in the screening room went out on time. When the title of the film, "The Ghostly Man," appeared on the screen, Liu Xuehua's heart jumped into her throat.

The character she plays, "Xiao Cui," is a female opera singer who was wrongfully killed. She had to portray both resentment and naivety in her scenes with Zhong Kui. When she first received the script, she complained, "How can a ghost be so ridiculous?"

For the first ten minutes of the film, there were only sporadic laughs in the theater.

"Huh? What the heck? Old Zuo actually made this kind of movie? Aren't they always so rigid and stiff?" The blond young man who started out was captivated by the plot after only ten minutes and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

"Shut up! Just watch the movie properly!" his girlfriend next to him muttered. The film continued, and when Zhong Kui first met Xiao Cui and mistook her for an opera singer, even humming along to the tune of "Farewell My Concubine," a burst of laughter finally erupted from the front row.

"Hey, look! There's a beautiful girl!"

"Wow, this is a female ghost? What a cute and adorable female ghost!"

Liu Xuehua quietly peeked out from the side of the screen and saw that the film critic who had been flipping through the newspaper in the front row had put it down and was now staring at the screen with a smile on his lips.

As the plot unfolds, the jokes become more frequent: Zhong Kui tries to use a talisman to exorcise a ghost, but accidentally sticks the talisman on his own forehead;
To scare away the thief, Xiao Cui pretended to be a fierce-looking person, but she sneezed because she was nervous.

The most amazing part is the ending. In order to help Xiao Cui get justice, Zhong Kui actually dressed up in a theatrical costume and danced a segment of "The Drunken Beauty" in the courtroom, which made the county magistrate so angry that he kept slamming his gavel.

The laughter in the theater grew louder and louder, like a snowball rolling downhill, and even Ah Yin leaned against the door, completely absorbed in the movie.

When the end credits rolled, the entire audience erupted in thunderous applause, with some shouting "One more time!" Clearly, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the film!
"She's beautiful! Did she step out of the screen?"

"Hey, you idiot and pretty devil! Can I get your autograph?" It was that same young blond guy. With his sharp eyes, he spotted Liu Xuehua on the screen and immediately rushed forward to ask for an autograph, ignoring his girlfriend next to him.

As for the sordid things I initially thought of, I was completely captivated by the hilarious plot and forgot about them long ago.

"This...this is real?" Liu Xuehua stood there dumbfounded, just like the female ghost on the screen, scattering the popcorn in her hands all over the ground.

Madam Fu, Shi Hui, standing beside her, also clenched her fist tightly. This time, they had succeeded!

He then praised Liu Xuehua, saying, "Xuehua, you're really good! Your performance was a great success. You're going to be famous!"

Is it about to become a hit?

Liu Xuehua pouted and didn't respond. Although it looked pretty good, with such a small audience, what did it prove?
Besides, she's leaving after the New Year, and she really doesn't want to become popular with Lao Zuo, otherwise she'll be targeted by the Golden Horse Awards and might be sidelined.

Looking at Fu Qi, whose eyes were already red, Cheng Xuemin knew what the enthusiastic applause in the movie theater meant for Great Wall Pictures.

He recalled what Fu Qi had said yesterday: "Forty cinemas is the limit." Suddenly, he felt that perhaps the box office would surprise everyone.

"Teacher Cheng, we did it! We did it!" Coming to his senses, Fu Qi suddenly gripped Cheng Xuemin's hands tightly and exclaimed excitedly, "Teacher Cheng, do you know?! Do you all know?"

"How long has it been since we, the Great Wall Shuangnan Film Trail, have heard such enthusiastic applause as we do today?"

"Ten years! A full ten years! We haven't had such enthusiastic applause on the Shuangnan Film Line since today!"

"Teacher Cheng, we did it! We succeeded!"

Fu Qi became more and more excited as he spoke, and even burst into tears of joy, almost shouting through sobs.

Congratulations, Mr. Fu!

Cheng Xuemin also held Fu Qi's hands tightly, knowing how difficult it was for them to build the Great Wall, but hearing that there hadn't been any applause from the audience for ten whole years was truly too depressing.

But now things are looking up. With the enthusiastic applause from the main theater, the box office is sure to surge as time goes on, and the future looks promising!
After the premiere, Cheng Xuemin and his entourage had a late-night snack at a tea restaurant. The radio was playing the midnight news, and the host's voice sounded surprised:

"The premiere of Great Wall Pictures' new film 'The Haunted Cop Shop' was a sold-out event, with some audience members saying they 'laughed until their stomachs hurt,' and film critics calling it 'a pioneering work in the genre of ghost comedy'..."

The claim of "packed to capacity" was clearly an exaggeration, but "laughing until your stomach hurts" was a very apt description.

"Mr. Fu, I just noticed that there aren't many young people watching movies at our cinema; most of them are elderly!"

"So I have a suggestion: we can enlarge the female lead's naive and silly ghost image and display it at the entrance of the movie theater. I think that should attract a lot of young people to watch the movie!"

Thinking back to what he had overheard the two blond-haired young men saying in the movie theater, Cheng Xuemin couldn't help but offer Fu Qi a suggestion.

Liu Xuehua's portrayal of the female ghost was very successful, exceeding even the expectations of screenwriter Cheng Xuemin. As expected, it won over young fans, so they definitely need to capitalize on this momentum and promote Liu Xuehua to advertise "The Haunted House" and attract more young people to watch the movie!

"Teacher Cheng, you're right. I'll have someone work through the night to make the posters. I guarantee that before tomorrow evening's screenings, there will be her advertisements in front of forty movie theaters!"

Fu Qi rubbed his hands together repeatedly, his heart pounding with excitement.

Especially after having evening tea, I went back to Shuangnan Cinema to watch the second screening, and the situation was significantly better than the first one.

The main cinema was about half full, with four or five hundred people in total, and this was only the second showing.

If we let the situation develop overnight and throughout tomorrow, all forty cinemas will be packed to capacity by tomorrow night.

Cheng Xuemin and the others have been sent back to their hotel to rest, but Fu Qi here has not lay down yet. He is smoking cigarettes in his office and waiting!

Seeing his wife, Shi Hui, push the door open and enter, he quickly stubbed out his cigarette and blurted out, "How is it?"

"Old Fu, don't you care about your health? Did you smoke all night again?" Shi Hui came in and was almost choked by the thick smoke filling the room.

She quickly rushed to the window to open it and let in some fresh air, while playfully asking, "Guess what it is!"

"It must be at least two hundred thousand, right?"

Fu Qi made a bold guess about a number, because he had just gone to various cinemas to check, although the first screening was a bit quiet.

But the second screening, while not a complete sell-out, was almost half full. So, with forty cinemas, the box office would conservatively be around 200,000.
If they can gross 200,000 yuan in just two premiere screenings, then Great Wall Entertainment has truly become a hit this time.

"The box office figures just came out: exactly 300,000!"

When Shi Hui received the box office figures, she was so excited that her body trembled. When she told her husband the figures, she couldn't help but shed tears.

"How much? Three hundred thousand? This...this...we're going to explode!" Fu Qi was so shocked when he heard that the amount was three hundred thousand, which was beyond his expectations, that his eyes practically popped out of their sockets!
……

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