Training the Heavens

Chapter 110 Casting
Gao Jialin had a very comfortable summer vacation this year. He bought a plane ticket directly when he returned home. He first flew from Shanghai to Xi'an, and then from Xi'an to Yinxia. The journey that originally took several days now only took two days.

After spending a few days with his parents, Gao Jialin went out again to conduct social surveys. Last time he went to the south, and this time he flew to the northeast.

Today, the development speed of Northeast China has been left behind by the South, but it is not as serious as it will be ten years later. Many places still retain the glory of the big brother, such as food.

The best chefs today are not in Beijing or Shanghai, but in Shenyang. In the 1983 National Chef Competition, Liao cuisine master Liu Jingxian beat out Mr. Chen Zongming's master Yan Jingxiang and Dadong founder Dong Zhenxiang's master Wang Yijun, and ranked first among the top ten chefs in the country.

Places with better economic foundations are more particular about fine food. The fact that Shenyang can produce a famous chef like Liu Jingxian is closely related to its past accumulation. More than ten years later, unless you are a local or a senior gourmet, who else has heard of Liao cuisine?
As soon as he got off the plane, he went straight to the Lumingchun Restaurant headed by Liu Jingxian. This was when the benefits of writing "Spring Breeze in Meilong Town" came into play. As soon as he explained his identity, Master Liu came out to entertain him personally and cooked for Gao Jialin, including orchid bear paws, dragons and phoenixes, and other famous dishes that won national championships.

If it were an ordinary person, they would be lucky enough to eat the food cooked by Master Liu's apprentice, but how could they have the opportunity to taste the food cooked by the master himself with all his heart and effort? In the future, when Gao Jialin goes to other famous restaurants to eat, the treatment he gets will definitely be better than that at Suipo.

After traveling around the three northeastern provinces, Gao Jialin could clearly feel that the atmosphere here was somewhat decadent, and the private economy was far less developed than that in the south.

Many people in later generations analyzed the reasons for the decline of Northeast China. Some attributed it to the conservatism and corruption of the leaders, and some blamed the workers for being lazy. In fact, these are not the most important reasons.

The key is that China's economic structure has undergone earth-shaking changes. In the past, it was domestic internal circulation. The Northeast has a good foundation and developed heavy industry, so it naturally became the big brother.

Nowadays, the domestic economy has begun to slowly integrate with the global economy, and the status of the external circulation has become increasingly important. As a result, southern coastal cities with more suitable climates and superior geographical locations have gained the upper hand.

The Northeast, which is still obsessed with its past glory, is gradually falling behind. Even if they can react in time, they cannot change the shortcomings of the Northeast, such as the lack of high-quality ports and the overly cold winter climate.

Looking at the global economic landscape, there are very few economically developed cities at high latitudes, and this problem is difficult for anyone to solve.

Gao Jialin compiled what he saw and heard in the Northeast and wrote a manuscript to submit to the internal reference. In this article, he pointed out some problems and made some suggestions. Although he could not solve the fundamental defects, he could still provide some solutions to the details. If it could make the lives of some people better, then it would not be in vain.

The journey took nearly a month, and then he returned to Shanghai. Through Xie Chao's introduction, he bought several nice villas and handed them over to Gao Jiawang and others to clean up. He stayed on Tai'an Road and wrote the script with peace of mind.

According to director Shi Shujun's plan, she wanted to make "Young Friends Come to Meet" into two films. The first part tells the story of the protagonist Sun Shaoping coming to Shanghai from the mountains of northern Shaanxi, getting acquainted with Zhong Yuemin, Song Yunhui, Qi Tongwei, Zhou Bingyi and others, and gradually integrating into university life.

The second part tells the stories that happen when they are about to graduate and during the transition period from college to society.

This arrangement perfectly aligns with Gao Jialin's original plan for writing the book. Given the limited running time of the film, cramming the entire story from freshman to senior year into one film would feel rushed, leaving insufficient time to cover many details. Furthermore, there would be a conflict of priorities: should you focus on the initial enrollment or the approaching graduation? If you focus on one, you'd have to omit the other. If you cover both, not only would there not be enough time, but the audience would also be confused.

Therefore, it is best for a movie to only focus on one point. In order, the first part will naturally talk about their experiences before and after school.

The writing of a script is different from that of a novel. A novel describes the plot and characters through words, allowing readers to enter the story world through their imagination and read directly without any further processing.

The script mainly consists of lines and stage directions. Everything described needs to be presented with pictures and sounds. Readers will be confused if they read the script directly, because this is not the finished product, but is used for directing and filming. The final movie is the finished product.

Gao Jialin asked Shi Shujun to introduce a senior screenwriter to guide him. He completed the script while learning, and after the first draft was completed, he showed it to Shi Shujun and other main members of the crew.

After reading it, they gave Gao Jialin some suggestions for revisions. Gao Jialin took it back for revisions. After two or three rounds of revisions, the script was finally completed.

The campus scenes in the script are basically based on Pujiang College, so when the filming starts, the crew will come to Pujiang College to shoot.

When the movie is released in the future, audiences across the country will be able to appreciate the charm of Pujiang College. This can be regarded as Gao Jialin's return to his alma mater.

Shi Shujun had no objection to this. Pujiang College was in Shanghai, so it would be convenient for the crew to go there to shoot in the future. She immediately took the script to go through the approval procedures, apply for funds and equipment, and strive to shoot the film as soon as possible.

Gao Jialin returned to Pujiang College, registered, organized his classmates to go to the train station and bus station to welcome the new students, and participated in the election of the school student union and the municipal student union. During these meetings, Gao Jialin won a landslide victory and was successfully elected as the president of the Pujiang College student union and the president of the municipal student union.

When the All-China Students' Federation holds a meeting in a while, he will almost certainly become a member of the presidium of the All-China Students' Federation. The reason is very simple. He is the representative of all students in Shanghai. Given Shanghai's status in the national political arena, as long as there are more than two members in the presidium, one of them must be from Shanghai.

Gao Jialin's life returned to normal with attending classes, reading in the library, and presiding over the work of the Student Union and the Student Federation. However, the number of manuscripts he submitted to "Story Club" decreased rapidly. "Showa American Story" continuously brought Gao Jialin a large amount of income, but he no longer cared about this little money.

Only when he suddenly thought of a very interesting story and wanted to express himself, he would write something for them. Otherwise, Gao Jialin could only apologize to the commissioned author.

Before he knew it, the new semester had already begun for a month. After class that day, Gao Jialin received a call from Shi Shujun, "All the procedures have been completed. Please make some time tomorrow and go to the casting with me."

(End of this chapter)