1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 281 Yanjing Cinema
"How is it, Jiahui? Are you used to living in the mainland?"

Rosamund Kwan leaned back on the bed in the hotel, holding the phone with her head tilted.

While concentrating on painting her tender toes with nail polish, she was cooking porridge with her best friend on the other end of the phone.

"It's fine. I just came here to rest for the night."

"Are you staying in a hotel or at a fellow villager's home?"

"Of course the hotel."

"Is there anything to eat? I heard they are still chewing tree bark. By the way, will the police check your ID and suspect you of being a spy like in the movies..."

Rosamund Kwan rolled her eyes in boredom as she listened to the follow-up questions on the other end of the phone.

"It's the 1980s, sister. Sometimes you watch TV shows with news about Hong Kong delegations visiting the mainland. How can it be as exaggerated as in the movies?"

"Who knows if the news was deliberately filmed for everyone to see. Anyway, you should be careful in the mainland."

My best friend on the other end of the phone was full of stereotypes and kept talking about the public security in the mainland for a long time.

Then he changed his tone to gossipy and asked, "Hey! Have you seen that rich guy named Zhai Yuan? Tell me what you think."

Guan Zhilin raised the corner of her lips slightly: "Not bad, he looks similar, but I didn't feel anything when I first met him. He also seems to be quite decent, not like those men in the past who would talk nonsense as soon as they met."

My best friend analyzed seriously, "Maybe young people are shy, but since he is willing to ask you to be the heroine, he must have other intentions. This kind of innocent young man is the easiest to deal with."

Guan Zhilin was dissatisfied and said: "They asked me to be the leading actress maybe because I have good acting skills."

My best friend said disdainfully over the phone, "You've been in the industry for five years. If you have good acting skills, you should have been the leading actress a long time ago. Why do you have to wait until now? Anyway, take the initiative this time. I've checked out information about Zhai Yuan for you. He's definitely a potential stock."

Guan Zhilin smiled and asked, "How much potential do you have?"

My best friend said: "I bought Hang Seng in 1969, and it has increased sevenfold in three years~"

Guan Zhilin was amused by her example, paused, and then said without comment: "It is always the men who take the initiative. When have you ever seen me take the initiative?"

The bestie asked helplessly: "So what do you want?"

Guan Zhilin smiled confidently: "Let's see how long he can keep pretending to be serious. I'll wait for him to knock on my door."

…………

It gets dark very late in June.

It was almost eight o'clock and the sun had not yet set.

There was no square dancing these days. Aunties and ladies on the streets either took a walk or practiced martial arts.

The skills he practices are of great origin.

Zhai Yuan's Santana drove around the road with a proud look on his face.

I didn’t like the songs that came with the car’s original audio system, so I held the steering wheel and hummed to myself: “Yanjing Evening News, someone is looking for a spouse, someone is advertising, but they are just bragging and fantasizing! Yanjing Evening News, too many people are being stupid at home and can’t sleep, I don’t want that at all…”

The car braked and stopped on the set of "Mr. Zombie".

Before the crew officially started work, several workers were making simple set designs for a rented residential house according to the requirements of Liu Zhenwei and the props team, converting the courtyard into the style of a detention room in the early Republic of China.

The actors, including Lin Zhengying, had already changed into their filming costumes and were sitting in a corner of the yard to enjoy the cool air, chatting and waiting for the action scene in the evening.

Luo Jiaying put on a pale zombie makeup, wore mourning clothes, and had two bloody holes on his neck. He came from an opera background and adhered to traditional rules. After dressing up as a dead person, he was afraid that others would find him unlucky, so he moved a stool and moved to the other side.

Moon Lee, Winnie Wong and Barbara Yung gathered together, even though they had no scenes tonight, they still came to join in the fun. The three women put their heads together and whispered, occasionally looking at John Lone who played Qiu Sheng and chuckling softly.

drip-

Zhai Yuan rolled down the window and honked the horn twice.

Everyone's attention was drawn to this and they looked over. Seeing Zhai Yuan sitting in the car, they all raised their hands to greet him.

Zhai Yuan did not get out of the car either, but raised his chin at Liu Zhenwei across the Taoist temple gate.

Liu Zhenwei understood everything, walked up to Moon Lee, and said calmly, "Money, there is a scene in the script that Mr. Zhai and I understand differently. Since you don't have work today, let him explain it to you."

Several people around looked at the director with contempt, fully understanding what it meant to aid and abet the evil.

Li Saifeng felt a little embarrassed when she was called out in public. Seeing Zhai Yuan waving at her while sitting in the car, she took small steps towards the Santana.

Wang Xiaofeng looked worried: "Wait!"

Moon Lee stopped and looked back in surprise.

Wang Xiaofeng stood up and walked over, took something out of her bag and handed it to her. She whispered something to Moon Lee and then pushed her forward: "Go!"

When Weng Meiling saw Wang Xiaofeng sitting back next to her, she asked curiously, "What did you give her?"

Wang Xiaofeng smiled mysteriously: "Chewing gum~"

……

Moon Lee's face was slightly red when she got into the car.

He put one hand in his trouser pocket, tightly holding the chewing gum that Wang Xiaofeng had just stuffed into his pocket.

Zhai Yuan touched her face and asked, "Do you have a fever?"

Moon Lee quickly shook her head and changed the subject, asking, "Mr. Zhai, what's wrong with the script?"

Zhai Yuan was slightly stunned, then said seriously: "There is a scene in the script where you and Lou Languang are chased by zombies, and Lou Languang holds your butt with his hand. I think this scene is very vulgar, so I decided to delete it."

Li Saifeng frowned and thought about it, it seemed that there was such a scene.

She looked up at Zhai Yuan and smiled, feeling that he was indeed thinking about her.

"anything else?"

"Not yet, I'll think of it later." Zhai Yuan started the car and drove away from the set: "You don't have a scene tonight, I'll take a loss and take you for a ride."

Moon Lee pouted and drove the car for a distance before speaking again, "Shall we go to the movies?"

Zhai Yuan asked: "Are there any good movies?"

Moon Lee shook her head and said, "I don't know. I have never been to a theater in the Mainland."

Zhai Yuan said, "Okay, let's see what the difference is between the theater here and the one in Hong Kong."

Drive and talk.

Zhai Yuan glanced outside from time to time, looking for the cinema in Yanjing City.

The urban layout in the 1980s was very different from what we later remembered. Many places that should have been high-rise buildings and World Trade Center shopping malls were still bungalows.

Sai Feng Li said mysteriously, "Would you like to hear a little gossip from me?"

Zhai Yuan was not interested: "Tell me about it."

Moon Lee smiled and said, "Wang Xiaofeng has a good impression of John Lone and plans to develop a relationship beyond friendship with him."

Zhai Yuan frowned: "That means Wang Xiaofeng wants to hook up with Zunlong. She said it in such a literary way."

Moon Lee nodded repeatedly.

Zhai Yuan asked, "Is it because of the scene with the female ghost and Qiu Sheng?" Moon Lee said, "Yes, after filming that scene, Sister Moon couldn't take her eyes off John Lone for the past few days. She kept talking about how gentlemanly he was on the set, like a crazy fan."

Zhai Yuan didn't expect that Wang Xiaofeng, a gangster girl with considerable social experience, could actually be a fangirl sometimes, and he couldn't help but laugh.

He shrugged without comment: "Not bad, they are both in the same boat. One is an orphan, and the other is even worse than an orphan. They are a perfect match."

Moon Lee felt that what he said was too straightforward, but it seemed to make sense.

Both Zun Long and Wang Xiaofeng came from miserable backgrounds and started with a bad hand, but ended up defeating their opponents with their own abilities.

Talk while walking.

Zhai Yuan drove around the city twice.

Finally found a cinema near Xidan.

Even though there were no designated parking spaces, Zhai Yuan still parked his car neatly by the roadside in compliance with the rules.

He led Moon Lee to the entrance of the cinema, which faced the Telegraph Building. Upon entering the cinema, there was a 500-600 square meter audience lounge, which was much wider than the lobby of Jiuyi Entertainment. At night, young people were coming and going, and judging by their clothes, most of them were students from nearby schools.

Go through the lounge and enter through the side door.

An older woman was sitting at the counter, eating sunflower seeds. She looked up at Zhai Yuan and Moon Lee and asked indifferently, "Buying tickets?"

Zhai Yuan responded and said with a smile: "This place is not easy to find."

The eldest sister was amused: "You are from another place, right? There are only a few movie theaters in Yanjing, how can it be so hard to find one?"

Zhai Yuan smiled and said "yes", then looked at the title of the film being shown written on the blackboard next to him.

"Don't watch it, the show is 'Gunshots in the Secret Service' and it's about to end." The elder sister explained while eating sunflower seeds, "The next show is a Japanese movie, Ken Takakura's 'The Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness'. You can buy a ticket now and get in right away."

When Zhai Yuan heard the title of this film, he was impressed by the contemporary atmosphere.

“Aren’t there any new movies like Shaolin Temple?”

"Martial arts films are shown during the day, and at night, most of the people there are students, and young couples like to watch art films together."

Zhai Yuan nodded in agreement, turned around and asked Moon Lee, "How about watching a Japanese movie?"

Moon Lee hummed, "I haven't seen any Japanese movies yet."

The two people spoke Cantonese.

The ticket seller glanced at Zhai Yuan for a second longer: "Hey! You really are from another place, a Cantonese, right?"

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "Can you see that?"

The eldest sister said, "Look at how you dress, you're not cheap. You're the richest people in Guangzhou right now."

"Then we have to listen to the capital!" Zhai Yuan said with a smile, and then joked, "Please give me two tickets for Zhu Shimao's movie."

"Zhu Shimao?"

"Zhu Shimao is Takakura Ken, look how similar they look."

The eldest sister was amused. She stared at the poster of Ken Takakura and said with a smile: "Hey, you know what, these two people really look alike."

Foreign language films are priced higher than domestic films. Two tickets for "The Happy Yellow Handkerchief" cost 1.8 yuan.

Before the show was over, the elder sister chatted with Zhai Yuan again: "The prices are rising too fast now. When I was traveling for movies before, the ticket price was only ten cents. In just the past few years, the price has increased by more than ten times."

Zhai Yuan asked curiously, "Have you ever worked as a runner?"

The eldest sister said: "I did! At that time, the unit had a target to enrich the entertainment life of the rural people. I rode a bicycle with a copy to the countryside, and I could visit three or four villages a day."

Zhai Yuan asked: "Can't it be released during the day?"

The eldest sister said, "We can't do that. They are all open-air commune courtyards, and the light is too bright during the day."

Zhai Yuan smiled as he recalled the time when he watched movies in the commune yard when he was a child.

“Then you are serving the people.”

"You're right. If it weren't for serving the people, who would be willing to go for a few dollars' subsidy a month? When we were running film screenings, it was common to break a bicycle in a month. Now my knees still hurt when it rains."

I chatted with my elder sister for a few minutes at the entrance of the theater.

The curtains were opened and the audience walked out of the theater in twos and threes.

The show that showed "Gunshots from the Secret Service" attracted mostly middle-aged audience members.

When they walked out of the theater and the audience who had watched the Japanese film "The Happy Yellow Handkerchief" with Zhai Yuan entered, more than 80% of them were young students.

"Although there are many students, they basically only watch one or two shows. The main consumers are adults who have money and free time during the day."

Zhai Yuan observed the surroundings and made a simple distinction between the portraits of the audience at that time.

However, there are no plans to expand into the mainland at present. At present, the mainland film market is too small, ticket prices are low, and cinemas are basically state-owned enterprises. There are no business opportunities for the time being.

Zhai Yuan thought about it and pulled Moon Lee over. He smiled and said to the lady at the counter, "Okay, you go ahead and do your work. We'll go in first."

The eldest sister said wait a minute, lowered her head and took out a box of snacks from the counter: "We two sisters are getting along very well. I just bought some pea yellow this afternoon. You must have never seen it in Cantonese. I'd like you and your girlfriend to try it."

Zhai Yuan put his hands together to express his gratitude, handed the pea yellow to Moon Lee and said, "She treated me and my girlfriend to some snacks, do you want to have some?"

Li Saifeng rolled her eyes at Zhai Yuan, reached out to grab the plastic lunch box, and walked into the cinema with her head held high.

……

In the 1980s, the cinemas in Yanjing were similar to those in Hong Kong.

The hall has more than a thousand seats and is divided into two floors, with only a large screen in the middle showing pictures.

It was not yet popular to sell snacks in cinemas at that time, and state-owned enterprises did not bother to make such small profits, which did benefit the convenience stores outside the cinema.

When Zhai Yuan entered the venue, he found that many young audience members were holding a bottle of Beibingyang soda, as well as some snacks such as hawthorn rolls and popcorn.

The movie opens.

There is no original voice, and the movie dubbed by the Shanghai Film Translation Studio is also watched with great interest by a group of young audiences.

Dongyang's "The Happy Yellow Handkerchief" was a film produced in 79. Zhai Yuan had never seen such an old film and had not been interested in it at first. However, as the plot of the film progressed, he found that the film was actually quite interesting.

A typical Japanese pure love film.

Xiao Zhu Shimao and Ken Takakura play an uncle who has been released from prison. He meets a man and a woman on the road, and gets a ride but doesn't know where to go.

On the way, Ken Takakura told the two people who were traveling with him about his experience. It turned out that he was imprisoned because his wife was raped and he killed someone in revenge. Before he was released from prison, he sent a letter to his wife, telling her that if she was still willing to live with him, she should hang a yellow handkerchief on the flagpole at the door of her house. If he was not around, she should not bother him and leave forever.

Along the way, Ken Takakura's uneasy mood also aroused the emotions of the audience in the theater.

Moon Lee asked anxiously, "Will there be a yellow handkerchief at the door of his house?"

Zhai Yuan thought, this kind of pure love drama must have a happy ending. Would he go home and find his wife living with Lao Wang?
That's another type of film called Husband Present.

As a result, Zhai Yuan still underestimated the level of Japanese directors. In the ending shot, Ken Takakura returned to his doorstep with the encouragement and accompaniment of two strangers. When he looked up, he saw yellow handkerchiefs hanging on masts and clotheslines.

Even though Zhai Yuan had watched countless movies, he was still shocked by this scene.

(End of this chapter)