1990My Entertainment System

Chapter 111 Good Days Are Coming~
On February 4th, Xia Tian received a phone call, changed into black clothes, and hurriedly went out.

Hou Yaowen's father, the crosstalk master Hou Baolin, has passed away.

I first got to know Mr. Hou in the summer, back in 83 when Li Heizi came to Yanjing to film "The Empress Dowager" and "The Burning of the Yuanmingyuan".

Back then, Xia Tian was practically a "half-local" at the Forbidden City, and she was very familiar with the area.

He had helped out on the set when John Lone was filming "The Last Emperor," so he was introduced to help keep an eye on things on set that time as well.

That's when I met Li Heizi...

It was around that time that Mr. Hou was invited by the production team to serve as a folklore consultant.

Later that summer, I collaborated with Hou Yaowen several times. Not to mention anything else, we met every year during the Spring Festival Gala, and we had a good relationship.

He has to go!
On the same day, Xia Tian was still helping out at the Hou family's house, receiving guests.

Milan, however, saw an article in today's Littoral Gazette.

Mi usually doesn't bother reading these literary publications; in her words, they're all just mindless whining from intellectuals who need no discipline!

But today's article in the Literary Gazette featured a familiar name—Fang Yan!

This issue of the Literary Gazette published an article by "Lao Yu" that fiercely criticized the "dialect phenomenon".

Lao Yu claimed that the "dialect phenomenon" was "a colorful poisonous spider," using extremely strong language.

In recent years, novels written in local dialects have become quite popular, with authors speaking fluent Beijing accents and using distinctive sarcastic tones, earning them the nickname "literary hooligans."

Moreover, it has been adapted into numerous film and television works, making quite a splash.

Sure enough, someone opened fire!

When he got home on a summer evening, Milan pointed this out to him.

Xia Tian called Fang Yan after seeing this. He was also talking about it with some friends in Yanjing, and he was furious: "Seriously, why are you staring at me? Don't you have anything better to do?"

"They all deserve to be scolded! Did I do something wrong?!"

He was still being stubborn, but Xia Tian knew he was finally getting things done.

This criticism is nothing, really. Who doesn't get criticized? People get yelled at even in the summer!
The problem is, this guy has a really sharp tongue; he's insulted a huge number of people in this industry!
This has caused a widespread backlash.

The scale wasn't handled well...

Moreover, his writing is indeed quite explicit. For example, in "Rubber Man," the first sentence is "It all started when I first lost my genitals." Luckily, Ma Dudu was the editor, otherwise it definitely wouldn't have been published!

Let's wait and see. The struggles within the arts and culture circle are blatantly obvious. Now that they've started firing, there's bound to be more to come.

……

Two days later, Wang Fei called from Hong Kong, saying that "Kiss Goodbye" had won the Best Lyricist Award at the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards.

This song was written for Brother Fly last summer on the set of "Swordsman 2".

Brother Fly also called, but didn't say thank you, saying that would be too tacky. He only said that when Brother Tian comes to Hong Kong, he must make him treat him.

Brother Tian: It's nothing, it was your song to begin with~
But inviting me to dinner is out of the question; a massage would be more appropriate.
But your little bit of money probably won't be enough for your wife to squander, so you might as well forget about it.
……

On February 9, a report in the Yanjing Youth Daily caught the attention of General Manager Mi.

Milan's eyes lit up after reading the report!

She grabbed Xia Tian's arm: "Come with me to see!"

Summer touched her face: Okay~
In a corner of the Peking University Hospital Baitasi Branch in Xicheng District, there is a small street-facing shop.

"Adam and Eve Health Center" - the first adult product store in China!

This shop has been open for half a month, but it hasn't made a single sale, and not even a single person has come in to look around.

It's said that on the 16th day, a young man stumbled upon the store. Completely unaware of which store he had entered, he froze in place when he saw the safety T-shirts displayed there.
After standing there in a daze for a long time, the young man didn't leave immediately. He walked around for a while with a flushed face, then picked up a box of condoms, contributing the first sale to "Adam and Eve".

The shop owner saw this and thought, "This won't do! What should I do?" Finally, he thought of the newspaper!
The boss took the Yellow Pages and called every newspaper in Beijing, but his initiative to "reveal" the news didn't work very well. In the end, only the Beijing Youth Daily was willing to send someone to take a look.

Not long after, a reporter from Yanqing Daily came to the door.

The person sent was an intern from Beijing Youth Daily—a young woman.

This young reporter had never experienced anything like this before.

From the moment she walked in, her face flushed red and then turned pale. Later, when the boss introduced the product features, she was so embarrassed that she wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.

But the boss didn't care about any of that. He had been eagerly waiting for a reporter to come to the door, and he spent the whole afternoon talking to the reporter in detail.

To be honest, you could feel the sheer awkwardness of this young female reporter, even through the screen—an awkwardness that could make anyone burst out laughing.
A few days later, the report came out, with only two short sentences appearing in the margins of the newspaper:
China's first X store has opened. Located in front of the People's Hospital, the store's general manager, Wen XX, is a young man in his thirties.

This attracted Mr. Mi and Brother Tian'er~
Mr. Mi was wearing sunglasses, and Xia Tian was wearing understated glasses and sporting a small mustache—he was also afraid of being recognized, because if he were recognized, it would really make the news!

Milan and summer arrive early—who goes to an adult store at nine in the morning?

There was no one else around. Summer and Milan looked at all kinds of products and bought some, filling a whole bag, which contributed to the sales revenue.

However, I only bought one box of condoms, since I still had some left from Fangyan five or six years ago (back then he sold them as a pharmacy, and there were plenty of free condoms)!
Milan: I've only used this stuff a handful of times in the last ten years—and those were in the early days. After I discovered its nourishing effects, I stopped using it altogether.
Just as Milan was still enjoying the summer and felt that the product range was too limited, they were about to leave when several reporters arrived, some even carrying cameras!

Summer quickly pulled Milan aside to avoid getting caught in the light.

If this makes the news, that would be big news!

"Taking my girlfriend to visit the first sex shop in China on a summer morning" - My god, this title alone is worth 100,000 sales!
Luckily, those inconspicuous glasses prevented others from recognizing Xia Tian.

A group of people passed by Xia Tian and the other person and headed straight for the boss.

It was the report in the Yanqing Daily that made the difference.

Although it was a briefing, it still contained some information. For example, the phrase "the first X store" quickly attracted the attention of various news media in Beijing!
This attracted an AFP reporter, who came directly to the door with his camera.

Over the next two weeks, the "Adam and Eve" store became an absolute sensation.

Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, China National Radio, The Times, The New York Times, and other domestic and international media outlets followed up with reports, regarding it as a landmark event in China's reform and opening-up process at that time.

These days, people really lack awareness in this area.

Think about it, even if you just want to go to a video arcade to watch something good, there are still quite a few barriers to entry.

Now you say it's open, right?

It's open, but not fully open—almost open. Many people have only a vague understanding of this.

For example, here's a guy whose contraception failed, and he came to my door to argue about it!

He claimed that he had asked the doctor how to use the contraceptive condom, but that was a lie—the doctor had demonstrated by putting it on his finger, and the guy thought that putting it on his hand was enough!

Just tell me~
In the early 1990s, only 4% of people in China had used contraceptive condoms, and those were all issued by their work units.

It's a long and arduous journey.
……

On February 10, the counterattack against the Annamese monkeys officially ended.

In fact, the Laoshan battles ended in October 1989.

However, the war between the two sides did not end there; tensions remained high, and sporadic skirmishes occurred from time to time.

In April 1990, the Annamese ceased all proactive actions, and even sporadic firefights between the two sides virtually disappeared. Our side also began withdrawing its frontline troops and tightening its defensive lines.

In 91, with the disintegration of the "Russian Bear," relations between the two sides gradually eased and returned to normal.

Now, we have officially ended our defensive combat mission, and this battle, which lasted for about 10 years, has officially come to an end...

This should be the last war we know about in the summer, after which there will be a thirty-year period of peace and development, which is also a time of rapid economic growth!
The best is yet to come!
(End of this chapter)