Exciting 1979!

Chapter 84: Eating and Drinking for Free Zhang Yimou (610 first order request!)

The call was put through.

When they heard that it was a novella of about 40,000 words, they immediately said that they had no plans to make a feature film for the time being, mainly because of financial constraints and no budget.

The person on the other end of the phone was Jin Jin's old friend, He Yumen, the director who had collaborated with him on "Little Carp Jumps Over the Dragon Gate".

Editor-in-Chief Jin was a little embarrassed, and quickly recommended the two short fairy tales "The Toothless Tiger" and "If I Were Wu Song" to his old friend. This time Director He did not refuse and said that he would contact the magazine to see if they were suitable for adaptation.

Only then did Lu Xiaoyan feel satisfied and walked out of the editor-in-chief's office with great confidence. However, some of her colleagues became even more unhappy with her.

~
In the security guard's dormitory.

Title: The Horse Herder

Protagonist name: ? ?
Wei Ming first wrote the two names Wei Jiefang and Xu Shufen in the notebook, and then swapped their surnames, Xu Jiefang and Wei Shufen.

Later it was slightly changed to Xu Shengfang and Wei Fenfang, with flowers blooming and the ground filled with fragrance.

It would definitely be awkward to use the parents’ real names directly, but Xu Lingjun and Li Xiuzhi in the original version of "Flesh and Spirit" cannot be used either.

Wei Ming has some understanding of the creative process of this novel. Although Zhang Xianliang only started writing after March next year, he had already written a story outline many years ago. The male and female protagonists are a couple named Xu Lingjun and Li Xiuzhi. Later, he directly used these two names when he wrote "Spirit and Flesh".

Afterwards, Wei Ming created several key characters based on the old village party secretary Zhou Xingbang and other villagers.

Although it is still the same story as "The Shepherd", many of the characters and details reflect Wei Ming's rural life.

Including the characters of the two protagonists, although the man is still older than the woman, the difference is not as big as in the original version. One is in her early twenties and the other is close to thirty. One is gentle, virtuous and beautiful, while the other is optimistic, free and easy, responsible and capable.

The heroine is basically written based on my mother's style, while the hero is beautified several times more based on Lao Wei's style.

Wei Ming had almost no rest between the two works.

He counted his cash reserves, and including the reprint fees and readers' letters, the total was 595 yuan. He accumulated it quickly, mainly from the reprint fees of "Duck Prophet".

This amount of money is definitely enough for a family of four to take a trip to Sichuan and Chongqing, but Wei Ming has higher material and spiritual pursuits.

And all of this requires money to achieve.

He was writing when his colleague at the gate called him to answer the phone. It was Liu Rulong.

Aaron came in the morning and learned from Wei Ming that the novel and illustrations had been approved, so he could continue to create the illustrations with peace of mind.

Wei Ming asked him to find Zhang Yimou after returning to school and ask him if he would be willing to help him look for some second-hand cameras.

If Liu Rulong were to ask him, why buy second-hand? Why not just go to the Overseas Chinese Store and buy a new one? I have so many overseas remittance coupons, who else should I spend them on if not you?

Wei Ming thought about it and it was okay, but he had to compensate Aaron for the difference according to the market conditions.

In addition, Zhang Yimou must also be invited.

Liu Rulong called to talk about this matter.

"At first he was not happy. I told him that you were the model for the photo shoot, but he still refused. Finally, I told him that you were the writer of Erniu and Ideal, and he finally agreed."

“Oh, he’s seen my work too?”

"Well, I highly recommend Er Niu. I found it incredible when I heard that you wrote it."

So the two of them agreed on a time and place. Wei Ming is off duty tomorrow, and Liu Rulong and Zhang Yimou will come to Peking University to find him, and then they will go into the city together.

Just after I put down the phone, the gate guard said, "Oh, one more thing. Here is an invitation letter for you."

Wei Ming remembered that tomorrow was the day he had agreed to have dinner with the Li family. They even sent him an invitation. It was so formal that he definitely couldn't refuse.

Fortunately, we were having dinner, so the time didn't conflict. By the way, Gong Xing should also be there this time, as the two hadn't been in touch for a while.

~
The next day, Wei Ming waited for Liu Rulong and Zhang Yimou at 8:30. Biaozi had to miss the opportunity to enter the city because he was on the day shift.

Zhang Yimou's bicycle is as old as Wei Ming's, just like him.

"Hello, Comrade Wei Ming, I always thought you were studying acting, but I didn't expect you to be a writer!" Lao Mouzi held Wei Ming's hand tightly, shyly but proactively.

"I didn't expect you've read my novel. Let's talk while we ride."

"Hey, you two slow down~" The slightly plump Liu Rulong had some difficulty keeping up with the two men, but the key point was that his car was the best.

Wei Ming and Zhang Yimou in front first talked about the novel "Er Niu" for a while, and then talked about photography.

Zhang Yimou: "You are right to learn photography. Photography can make your text more vivid and make readers feel more immersive. In fact, the visual sense of Er Niu is already sufficient, but it can be better."

He spoke very directly, so Wei Ming took it as if he was talking to Guan Hu: Young man, the picture is not enough yet, you need to practice more!

Zhang Yimou then introduced his camera, which was also his first camera and a good friend who changed his destiny.

"I bought this Seagull 4 twin-lens reflex camera. I only earned 40 yuan a month and had to support my family. I gave up meat and ate dry bread and pickled vegetables every day for this camera. I saved for three years and spent more than 180 yuan to buy it."

As for the rumor that Zhang Yimou sold blood to buy a camera, he was actually donating blood. It’s just that there is a subsidy for blood donation, and he did it for the subsidy.

Now Peking University will also mobilize college students to donate blood, and there are subsidies, and the subsidies are quite substantial, ranging from a few yuan to more than 20 yuan depending on the amount of blood. ~
After entering the city and arriving at the Overseas Chinese Store, Zhang Yimou was dazzled by the dazzling array of merchandise.

It was his first time to come to such a place. A-Long had been here two or three times and still felt fresh. Wei Ming, however, was used to the grand scenes of later generations and was not surprised.

Aaron also said to Wei Ming: "If you know a foreigner, ask him to take us to the Friendship Store, where there are more and more things."

Wei Ming nodded. Nowadays, foreigners can be used as tools, and he knows several of them.

It was getting late, so they headed straight to the camera section, which had both domestic and imported cameras.

The main domestically produced birds are the seagull and the phoenix.

As for imported ones, there are Leica, Sony, Nikon, etc., as well as Polaroid. There are many styles and the prices are quite expensive.

Zhang Yimou was willing to come over to help choose a camera, and he also had the idea of trying a high-end imported camera.

So he pointed to a Nikon EL series and said, "Can I take a look at this?"

The salesperson said expressionlessly, "Two thousand."

Zhang Yimou let out a hiss.

Wei Ming smiled and said, "Bring it here and have a look."

In the end, Zhang Yimou was allowed to try it, but after knowing the price, he was no longer as casual as he was at the beginning. He did not try the more expensive Leica or Sony. If this one fell to the ground, the school would have to redeem him.

Then they moved from the European, American and Japanese film areas to the domestic area.

Aaron, holding the wallet, also breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't even afford those foreign cameras. Not to mention that his father hadn't sent him money this month, even if he did, it wouldn't be enough.

Between twin-lens reflex cameras and single-lens reflex cameras, Wei Ming chose the cheaper twin-lens reflex camera, which is the type used by Zhang Yimou. Uncle Ping An and Professor Qu also used this type before. It is relatively affordable.

That is, there will be a large parallax between the image seen in the viewfinder of a twin-lens reflex camera and the image formed on the film, and both lenses need to be replaced at the same time to maintain consistency.

In the future, when Wei Ming has too much money to spend, he will definitely change to a SLR. After all, SLRs are expensive, and using a twin-lens reflex camera now is just a transition.

Finally, at Zhang Yimou's suggestion, Wei Ming bought a Seagull 4A twin-lens reflex camera, which is an advanced version of the one Zhang Yimou owned. It cost 200 yuan. If it was a Seagull SLR camera of the same level, it would cost about four or five hundred yuan.

In addition to the camera, Wei Ming also bought some film. Since he was at the Overseas Chinese Store, he naturally bought imported Kodak films, mainly black and white films. He only had one box of color films, which were too expensive.

"Lao Zhang, do you want to buy some film and put it on my account?"

Zhang Yimou waved his hand and refused. He usually used domestically produced Kodak civilian film, which cost only a few dollars per roll.

Although he refused the film, he couldn't refuse the lunch.

"Oh, just have some noodles, no need to come to such a big restaurant. I'm not really helping much."

Zhang Yimou was speaking from the heart, because they were all new machines and there were no quality issues. He felt that the role he played was worth a bowl of oil-splashed noodles at most, and coming to Quanjude was really just a way to eat and drink for free.

Wei Ming smiled and said, "Mr. Zhang, you are too modest. Although I have bought the camera, I still want to ask you for advice on photography techniques. Please don't be polite."

The restaurant they chose was the Quanjude near Hepingmen. There were a few dishes that Wei Ming had not tried last time. With his current wealth, spending ten yuan on a meal was not a big deal. He had to improve his diet occasionally.

At first, Zhang Yimou was a little embarrassed, but when he talked about his major, he became talkative. In addition to photography, their topic naturally also included movies.

"What kind of movies do you watch in film school? Internal reference films?"

"Yes!" they said in unison.

However, listening to the few names they listed, most of them are European art films, with very few American ones. Even if they are American productions, they are basically award-winning films, such as last year's Oscar-winning Best Picture "Annie Hall". After all, that is the direction they train.

Wei Ming also talked about what he learned about the situation of American films from international students and Time magazine.

Science fiction, monsters, spy wars, Zhang Yimou knew that they were far away from him, but he still listened to them with great interest.

"Lao Zhang, have you ever thought about becoming a director?" Wei Ming suddenly asked.

Zhang Yimou wiped his mouth and said, "Why not? A photographer who doesn't want to be a director is not a good worker. I want to take classes in the directing department whenever I have the chance. I'm very familiar with everyone in the directing department."

Speaking of the directing department, Zhang Yimou also added: "By the way, there is a classmate in the directing department who likes your poems very much."

Wei Ming's mouth twitched slightly. Could he be talking about Chen Kaige?

"I think he is the most talented among the directing students. His name is Chen Kaige. By the way, have you written any poems recently? I can talk to him about it later."

Wei Ming: It’s true!

"Well, ask him to buy a copy of Yanjing Literature and Art next month~"

Because Wei Ming had another show in the evening, he let the two go back after dinner. He then checked in and took photos in some areas of Yanjing City that would later be demolished, using up a roll of black-and-white film.

It was not until six o'clock that he arrived at Fengze Garden on Meishi Street, and saw Sister Gong Xing looking around at the door...

(End of this chapter)