Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 251 A Joyful Dragon Boat Festival

Inside the courtyard, the two didn't rush to Zhu Lin's house. Instead, they first swept and cleaned the courtyard, sprinkling water on the ground.

Zhu Lin then brought some mugwort from home and hung it under the eaves, the fragrance of which lingered beneath the beams.

After doing all this, Zhu Lin urged Liu Yimin to set off. Liu Yimin presented the latest "Homeland Trilogy" collection and two bottles of Ginseng and Cinnamon Nourishing Wine as gifts, bringing both health and elegance.

Walking down the street, Zhu Lin talked about the past few days of filming a stage play with the TV station and film studio, and shared some of her insights.

"Teacher Liu, there's a big difference between stage directors and film directors. Stage directors focus on understanding the script and controlling the actors' movements. Film directors, in addition to these two, also need to know how to use the camera."

The use of camera lenses requires professional photography knowledge. When used well, lenses can enhance a film or even have a crucial impact on its quality.

"You're right. The use of camera shots in film can serve to foreshadow, metaphorically represent, and advance the plot. In addition, some well-used shots can even add to the aesthetic appeal of a film!"

Liu Yimin, riding his bicycle, smiled at Zhu Lin and said, "Some shots in 'Mr. Donkey' were quite good, while the shots in 'Romance on Lushan Mountain' were relatively basic. 'Wolf Smoke Over Beiping' is going to be made into a TV series by the August First Film Studio, and the filming location will definitely be Yanjing (Beijing)."

When we have time, I can take you to the film set for a look around and see how the director films!

Zhu Lin nodded and said okay, then looked up and asked, "Is 'Wolf Smoke Over Beiping' going to be made into a TV series?"

"Yes, Director Liu from the August First Film Studio just contacted me. Director Liu is the same Director Zhang who played Company Commander Zhang in 'The Battle of the South and North,' and he'll be revising the script for 'The Flames of War in Beiping' in a few days."

The script for the play "Wolf Smoke Over Beiping" is relatively short, so it's unlikely that it could be simply revised like "Red River Valley" and sent to the film studio.

The script for "The Flames of War in Beiping" was written in ten to twelve episodes. The plot of each episode had to be carefully organized. Some parts needed to be shortened, and some parts needed to be expanded. The script had to be rewritten.

Ten to twelve episodes may seem short, but it's not short in this era. In the 1980s, there were many TV series with fewer than ten episodes.

"Teacher Liu, you're truly amazing!" Zhu Lin exclaimed as he rode his bicycle behind her.

Walking into the hospital's staff quarters, the courtyard was exceptionally clean today, and water was sprinkled on the dirt road in the middle of the courtyard.

The hallway smelled of mugwort. Zhu Lin knocked on the door, and his mother, who was preparing to wrap zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), immediately put down what she was doing and said to his father, "It must be Linlin and Yimin coming back!"

Zhu's father also stood up with a smile and looked towards the door.

"Mom and Dad, Teacher Liu is here!" Zhu Lin said with a smile.

"Uncle, Auntie!"

"Yimin, come in quickly! Oh, you brought things again! You're too kind, child!" Zhu's mother said warmly.

"Auntie, this is a sample copy of the 'Homeland Trilogy,' for you and Uncle. And these two bottles of Yangrong wine, wishing you and Uncle good health!"

Zhu's mother accepted the Yangrong wine with a smile, placed it on the cabinet, and looked at it happily for a few moments.

Mr. Zhu took the "Homeland Trilogy" and carefully stroked the cover, marveling at how precious the book was, noting that half the price of the book was for the cover.

Liu Yimin whispered a few words into Zhu Lin's ear, and Zhu Lin smiled and nudged his arm, then chuckled as he taught Liu Yimin how to wrap zongzi.

"Don't bother with Yimin, Linlin and I will take care of it!" After saying this, Zhu's mother glanced at Zhu's father, who was admiring literature, and gritted her teeth to hold back her anger.

"It's alright, Auntie, I'll learn from you!"

In the rural areas of Ru County, families don't usually make zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). Liu Yimin really doesn't know how to make them. They eat boiled eggs and fresh garlic instead.

Zhu Lin taught Liu Yimin how to wrap zongzi (sticky rice dumplings). The two of them would burst into laughter from time to time. Liu Yimin just couldn't learn it. Zhu Lin taught him with great patience, but she would occasionally make a sarcastic remark.

Zhu's mother stared at Zhu's father with wide eyes, occasionally giving him meaningful glances, urging him to see if his daughter and Liu Yimin were a good match.

Unfortunately, Zhu's father's eyes were completely on the book, so Zhu's mother could only secretly resolve to take revenge that night.

After the rice dumplings were wrapped, they started cooking and boiling the rice dumplings in the kitchen. This time, Zhu's mother began to inquire about Liu Yimin's family situation.

Liu Yimin recounted everything in detail, and Zhu's mother nodded secretly, as it was similar to what Zhu Lin had told her.

Because Zhu's mother was a doctor, in addition to the food and zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), she also cooked some soup with medicinal herbs, such as dandelion, which she dug up herself from the surrounding wild fields.

"Don't think this dandelion tea is bitter; it's good for your health. Yimin, have a bowl of it in a bit."

"Okay, Auntie!" Liu Yimin replied with a smile, looking at the dark yellow tea, a faint bitterness lingering in his mind.

After it was ready, Zhu Lin grabbed a handful of sugar and put it into the bowl, saying with a smile, "This way it won't be bitter."

On the dining table in the living room, Zhu Lin brought out fresh mulberries and cherries, smiling as she invited Liu Yimin to taste them.

The cherry is a hairy cherry, which is small and sour. Later, fewer and fewer hairy cherries were grown in China, and they were replaced by large cherries.

At the dinner table, Zhu's father brought out a bottle of wine and said to Liu Yimin, "Yimin, how's your alcohol tolerance? Shall we have a few drinks?"

"I'm not a very good drinker!"

"It's alright, just drink to your heart's content!" Father Zhu thought to himself, finally there's someone I can drink with!

While drinking and chatting, they talked about everything from the movie "Romance on Lushan Mountain" to "Mr. Donkey". Zhu's father told Liu Yimin that when "Romance on Lushan Mountain" was released, he and Zhu's mother were very scared because of the strong criticism. They were both afraid that something might happen.

"Unexpectedly, things have taken a turn for the better. Linlin even won two major awards! The movie 'Mr. Donkey' was also well-made. I heard from Linlin that Beijing Film Studio and Shanghai Film Studio are preparing to make 'Mountains High and Rivers Long' and 'Red River Valley'?" Mr. Zhu asked.

"Yes, the script is almost finished, and we should start filming in another month or two!" Liu Yimin said.

Zhu Lin peeled a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling), and while eating half of it, he couldn't help but interject, "Dad, 'The Flames of War in Beiping' is going to be made into a TV series too. You loved that novel back then. It's a joint production between the August First Film Studio and the TV station. It's sure to be great!"

"Really? A TV series? That's great! Come on, Yimin, let's have a drink!"

Zhu's mother put a piece of meat on Liu Yimin's plate and said, "It must have been difficult to film this TV series!"

"The script needs to be revised properly!"

As it turns out, Zhu's father had an exceptionally good drinking manner, but an exceptionally low alcohol tolerance.

Not long after drinking, he blushed and fell asleep on the sofa.

Zhu's mother said with exasperation, "Your uncle is like that, he can't hold his liquor. Yimin, you should eat more vegetables."

Liu Yimin glanced at Zhu Lin and helped carry Zhu's father into the bedroom. After finishing their meal, they chatted for a long time in the living room before Liu Yimin prepared to leave.

After drinking, Zhu's mother was worried that something might happen to Liu Yimin, so she asked Zhu Lin to ride his bicycle to take Liu Yimin back to school.

"Goodbye, Auntie!" Liu Yimin waved with a smile.

"Yimin, come again next time!"

Zhu's mother escorted Liu Yimin and Zhu Lin outside the courtyard, where many people in the buildings on both sides and in the courtyard watched this scene with curiosity.

After Zhu Lin and Liu Yimin left, Zhu's mother straightened her clothes, greeted the people next to her with a smile, and returned home.

"Teacher Liu, are you done with the home visit? What did you think of the student's family?" Zhu Lin asked mischievously from behind.

"The student's family was very welcoming, which puts the teacher at ease!"

Liu Yimin glanced at Zhu Lin; this girl was quite vengeful. When he first arrived at Zhu Lin's house, Liu Yimin whispered to her, introducing him as "Teacher Liu," making it seem like a teacher was making a home visit.

I never expected that she still hadn't forgotten after all this time!

"Let's go, let's take the teacher back to school!"

The two turned a corner in the alley and returned to the courtyard house. The heat on the way there was unbearable, and once inside, they were both drenched in sweat.

He took out some chilled mung bean soup from the refrigerator and drank it until sweat dripped down his face, then he smiled and started talking about the visit.

"My parents are completely in favor now, and they're happy every day!"

Liu Yimin chuckled and hugged Zhu Lin. Through her skirt, the places where their bodies touched felt incredibly hot.

"Yi Min? You've arrived?" Wei Tao greeted Liu Yi Min with a smile and welcomed him inside.

"Brother Wei, when did you and your wife return from Zhejiang Province?"

"I just got back, and I was cleaning the yard when you arrived!" Wei Tao pointed to his wife, who was sweeping the floor.

After greeting his family, Liu Yimin handed a sample copy of the "Homeland Trilogy" to Wei Tao.

Wei Tao touched the cover, then stared at the preface for a long time before saying with reddened eyes, "Yimin, thank you!"

"You're too kind, let me help you clean up!"

Without thinking twice, Liu Yimin helped Wei Tao tidy up the yard. After Mao Dun passed away and was buried, they went back to their hometown, so they hadn't had time to send the books to them.

After Mao Dun passed away, the courtyard always felt like something was missing. After tidying up the courtyard, Wei Tao invited Liu Yimin into the study and talked about his work on compiling his father's memoirs.

The two chatted for a while and played chess for a bit before leaving Mao Dun's house.

Liu Yimin planned to renovate the courtyard house again, as there needed to be a place to take a bath in the summer. He modified the room next to the study and connected the drain to the outside sewer.

These workers were all introduced to him by Li Shu, along with the stonemason from last time.

After listening to Liu Yimin's idea, they said they could do it, but to ensure smooth drainage, the excavation would need to be wider.

Liu Yimin agreed, and also asked them to leave enough space for sewage pipes when they install toilets in their homes later.

The equipment for bathing was very simple: a large iron bucket and a simple shower head. The iron bucket had a lid that could be tightened. It was filled with water, and after being heated by the sun during the day, it could be used for bathing. It was a typical "solar energy" system from the 1980s.

This iron bucket was also custom-made by Liu Yimin; it was several times larger than usual and cost him twelve yuan. It's easy to disassemble and clean; otherwise, even with a tight lid, there's no guarantee that something wouldn't go wrong inside.

The water pipe runs directly from the tap into the bucket, so you can wash and add water to dry it on the same day.

The stonemason looked at Liu Yimin's large tub with great interest and laughed, saying that he should get one of these to take a bath when he got home.

It took two days to dig the drainage channel properly, and another day to restore it to its original state.

After Liu Yimin received his wages, the men smiled and told him to feel free to contact them if he needed any work. They explained that they were now doing odd jobs on the streets and alleys, and they earned more in a day than the people working in the factory.

"Do you usually take jobs in the vicinity?" Liu Yimin asked.

"That's not necessarily true. Sometimes we have to go quite far, like to Haidian, where there are people helping with moving or building walls!" The young man, Liu Zi, said proudly as he took the cigarette from Liu Yimin.

"You guys do moving too?" Liu Yimin asked.

"I'll do any job as long as I can make money! My cousin from the suburbs went to the south to work as a migrant worker. He said that people in the south are much bolder now. There are banners on the buildings that say something like 'Time is money, efficiency is life!' See how well people say that?"

"Don't underestimate this odd job; time is money. Once you finish this, there are other jobs waiting for us!"

Liu Zi flicked the ash from his cigarette with his finger, his tone revealing a natural pride in his cousin from the countryside, after all, his cousin was a rural person. But on the other hand, he envied his cousin for daring to go to the south and see the world he had never seen before.

Liu Yimin chatted with them for a few minutes, and took the opportunity to mention that his house was lacking furniture. He suggested that if anyone wanted to move and found some unwanted or sold furniture, they could talk to him about it.

Several people asked Liu Yimin what his criteria were, but Liu Yimin didn't say, only that he looked older.

There are plenty of good things in the hutongs, but Liu Yimin can't be a junk collector. He doesn't know much about furniture either, having only read a few furniture books. He can only rely on his gut feeling; if he can find something, great, but if he finds something fake, he'll just use it as real furniture.

Few people would actually bother to forge old items like furniture; most fakes are antiques and paintings.

Several people nodded in agreement after hearing this, and Liu Yimin also promised to give them a reasonable intermediary fee if they found a suitable one.

Several people cheerfully replied, "It's okay if you don't give us money. We people from Yanjing love making friends. We're happy to help you and others! We're off now, see you when we get back!"

After seeing them off, Liu Yimin took the opportunity to send the script for "Red River Valley" to the Shanghai Film Studio.

Shanghai Film Studio is already sharpening its knives, preparing for a competition with Beijing Film Studio to see which one can produce a better film.

Xu Sangchu returned to the Shanghai Film Studio in May and began the selection process for a director, ultimately choosing Xie Jin as the director and Huang Zumo as the assistant director. However, at this time, Xie Jin was filming "Legend of Tianyun Mountain," which was nearing completion.

After finishing filming "Legend of Tianyun Mountain," they had to immediately begin filming "Red River Valley." Xie Jin was filming a movie when he heard that the studio wanted him to direct "Red River Valley." He was overjoyed and told the people around him that he had admired the novel for a long time. He added that Director Xu was wise to give him the script to direct.

He sent a telegram to Huang Zumo on set, telling him to start his preparations first, and that they would meet again to discuss the specific details once he returned to Shanghai.

(End of this chapter)