Huayu: Serious director, who's eavesdropping on your thoughts?

In the voice-over, Xiaoyuhu reads the letter with a sob in her voice:

"Uncle Qin player terracotta figurine, Aunt Dizi player terracotta figurine asked me to tell you that we can finish playing the unfinished 'Chang Ge Xing' together another day."

The scene shifts, and in the display case, a magnificent Tang Dynasty tri-colored horse stands with its head held high and neighs.

The voice-over continues:

"Tang Dama, I am Tang Xiaoma. In the blink of an eye, we have not seen each other for 163 years. Every day after the foreigners leave, I run a few laps around this cage. As I run, I remember the vow we made hundreds of years ago to run all over the great land together..."

In the corner, the middle-aged man hadn't slept for a long time; he stared blankly at the screen.

He was a rough man who didn't understand what cultural relics were or what patriotism was.

But he knew what it meant to go home, especially for someone like him who had been wandering away from home for many years.

For a few coins, he kept going back and forth on construction sites and in circles in a foreign land, day after day, year after year, until he almost forgot where home was.

The girl in the fourth row could no longer suppress her sobs; her shoulders were shaking.

Her makeup was ruined from crying, and she couldn't find any tissues, so she grabbed her boyfriend's sleeve haphazardly to wipe her tears, sobbing as she muttered, "Waaah... This is so mean! Isn't this supposed to be a comedy? How can it make me cry so easily..."

Gu Man also cried.

She's an artsy young woman, and she can't stand this kind of thing.

Seeing the peace of family members at home and listening to the cries of wandering travelers, this dialogue that transcends time and space is too powerful.

The scene cuts across rows of majestic bronze artifacts and exquisite porcelain pieces.

Xiao Yuhu's voice was firm and resonant:

"Grandpa Dragon Ears and Tiger Feet, Uncle Chao Guan Er Lu wants to tell you, 'A true man born between heaven and earth should strive unceasingly. A patriotic person is not afraid of the deepest abyss. Senior, you don't need to worry. Although I am thousands of miles away, my patriotic heart will not falter.'"

"Fellow countrymen, my younger brother was kidnapped by foreigners during the war. We are brothers, so if he returns home first, please! Please tell me!"

"Come, let me recite a poem for your grandfather: 'With each cup we drink, we think of our hometown; as we clink glasses, we softly express our heartfelt feelings. Now, with white hair, my longing for home is exhausted; the journey home, though thousands of miles away, is only in my dreams.'"

Finally, the scene cuts back to close-ups of artifacts in domestic museums.

The voice of the Liao tri-colored arhat seems to transcend time: "Reunion is all within a single Bodhi leaf."

The wooden Guanyin statue whispered, "I have long forgotten about returning it, but this wooden body can bear the thief's apology, but it cannot bear the lingering gaze of an old friend."

All the voices eventually converged into that deafening vow:

May our mountains and rivers be safe and sound, and may our country and people live in eternal peace.

"May our mountains and rivers be safe and sound, and may our country be forever at peace..." Gu Man silently repeated these eight words in her heart, savoring them.

The scene shifts back to Yanjing.

Under the road sign, Zhang Yong'an and Xiao Yuhu stood side by side.

Xiao Yuhu wiped away her tears, her eyes resolute as she looked into the distance: "I can't stay outside forever. Chinese people don't do such petty things. One day, I will return home with my grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters, in a grand and honorable manner."

Zhang Yong'an nodded solemnly: "I'll go with you."

He said softly, "Next stop, Guijia Road."

Little Jade Pot, still bewildered, repeated, "Rush Road?"

Zhang Yong'an smiled gently: "Yes, the way home."

The screen gradually turned black.

A line of white text appeared:

May every national treasure that has been lost abroad find its way home.

The film has ended.

No one moved or left the theater; everyone seemed still reeling from the emotional impact of the film.

The girl kept crying.

Suddenly, with a snap, it happened so fast!

The boy in the fourth row clapped his hands loudly.

Followed by.

He suddenly stood up, pointed at the screen, and pretended to be exasperated:

"Director...you have no sportsmanship."

"I was careless. I didn't dodge. It started with a funny first half. I thought it was a comedy, so I laughed and relaxed my defense, ready to refocus. But then... he suddenly attacked. I covered my eyes and kept saying stop, stop, stop. And he didn't even have any sportsmanship. He even showed that subtitle at the end... Waaaaah."

The girl who had been crying her heart out was suddenly amused and almost burst her snot bubble from laughing. She punched the boy hard between laughter and tears.

"Are you kidding me?! Waaah... But this movie is so heartbreaking..."

"Clap clap clap..." The middle-aged man who had been silent in the corner stood up and clapped.

Immediately afterwards, Gu Man smiled and stood up to applaud.

There was also a father and son...

Applause erupted in the empty theater; though few in number, it was deafening.

At the entrance of the cinema.

The young couple came out.

The two held hands tightly.

"Um..." the boy said softly.

"It's too late, I..." The girl still hesitated, but her tone was no longer as forceful as before.

The boy stopped, his eyes softening, and carefully helped her tighten her scarf, saying with a smile:

"It's too late, let me take you home."

"Huh? You don't have those weird ideas anymore?"

"Hey, baby, look at Zhang Yong'an in the movie. He's so ugly, but he managed to make sending that little jade pot home so romantic. I'm thinking, well, I'm way more handsome than him, so tonight I'm going to be a hero and learn from him how to send a national treasure thousands of miles away, hehe."

The girl was amused and playfully punched her: "What national treasure? You're just spouting nonsense."

"Just now I suddenly thought that the little jade pot is a treasure of our country, so it can't be left outside to be bullied. It has to go home. You are also the apple of your parents' eye, raised with great care for twenty years. You are also their precious treasure."

The girl stared at him blankly.

The boy scratched his head sheepishly.

"I just feel quite ashamed, like I'm no different from those robbers who steal other people's treasures."

I understand now, true love is not about possession or getting, but about respect!

Let's go, take our little one home so our parents can rest easy!

The girl stared blankly at her boyfriend.

His figure suddenly seemed much taller.

"Okay! Let's go home!"

..

"dad."

"What's wrong, son?"

"Are we far from Chongqing?"

"It's quite far, separated by the ocean. It takes a long time to get there by plane. What, are you thinking of going on a trip?"

"I want to go to the museum, I want to see those... older brothers and sisters."

"You mean those cultural relics?"

"Yes!" The little boy hugged the sword tightly, puffing out his chest like a little man.

"The movie said they all missed home. I want to go see them and tell them that we're doing great at home now, and no one dares to bully us anymore."

The little boy brandished his sword.

"I'll also tell them that I have a sword too, and if anyone dares to bully them again, I'll beat them up!"

Upon hearing this, the father knelt down, straightened his son's collar, and then lifted him high in the air.

At the entrance of the movie theater.

It's lonely and desolate; everyone has left.

A few more moments passed.

A disheveled figure emerged.

He hadn't planned to go back this year, but he changed his mind now.

So what if I don't have money? So what if I haven't made a name for myself?

As the movie says, family doesn't mind if you're broken; family only longs for your return.

A mother doesn't mind if her son is ugly, and a son doesn't mind if his family is poor. As long as people are still alive and the family is still there, they must go back!

..

Gu Man still didn't go home.

Or rather, at this moment, her brain is in a state of extreme excitement.

She had too many emotions she wanted to vent.

She felt she would explode tonight if she didn't find a place to vent.

Green Speed ​​Internet Cafe.

The internet cafe was filled with smoke and the sounds of keyboards clattering and gamers yelling and cursing.

Gu Man found a private room, turned on her computer, and logged onto the most popular forum, Tianxia Forum.

She clicked on the Film and Television Discussion section.

The screen was filled with discussions about heroes and posts about other blockbuster films released during the Spring Festival.

It's not the British Museum.

She thought for a moment and then typed a line.

"What did we miss? A review of the textual arc and metaphors of home and country in 'Escape from the British Museum'."

"Returning from the premiere tonight, I will not discuss the director and actors themselves, nor will I talk about gossip or controversies; I will only discuss the text of the film itself."

"The most amazing thing about this film is that it uses the shell of a road comedy to wrap a historical tragedy..."

"This film restrainedly strips away the romantic relationship between the man and woman, elevating it from personal feelings to public justice. I think this is by no means just a road movie about two people; it is a spiritual journey home for a nation over 163 years."

"...the dragon ears and tiger feet mentioned...lost bronze..."

"As viewers, we have the right to judge whether it's good or bad, but as Chinese people, faced with such a nationalistic sentiment, I can only choose to pay tribute."

After finishing these...

Gu Man thought for a moment, then typed another line.

"It may not be perfect, but it should never be buried by rumors!"

After writing this, she clicked "publish".

One minute, two minutes.

The post went unnoticed and quickly disappeared.

Gu Man was somewhat disappointed, but she kept refreshing the post until the first reply finally appeared.

(Brick flying): Is the poster a shill? It's Chinese New Year, and you're still praising this terrible movie? Get lost!

When Gu Man saw this, she was so angry that she really wanted to go through the internet cable and beat him up!

..

Shanghai, an internet cafe.

A boy with dyed blond hair and an earring looked at the one-eyed CS character on his computer and suddenly felt a little bored, not wanting to open it.

I just finished reading about the history of being bullied by foreigners, and now you want me to go in, grab a gun, and shoot the dummies?

I'm not in the mood.

I'm really not in the mood.

He had just come out of the movie theater. Since he couldn't buy a ticket for "Hero", he just randomly bought a ticket for a late-night showing at some museum.

As a result, he cried like an idiot inside.

Who says teenagers with delusions of grandeur don't have a sense of national pride?

He has it!

He himself wasn't very cultured and could only say "fuck" to get by, but he had a subconscious admiration for cultured people who could express their true feelings. This made him eager to read movie reviews or something similar after watching the movie.

At this moment, he was aimlessly browsing the Tianxia Forum.

There are many posts, but it seems there's only one discussing museums.

Actually, he had seen this post a long time ago.

He typed "good-looking" for a while, then thought it was too dry and deleted it. Then he typed "awesome" for a while, but felt it didn't do justice to the author's writing skills and worried that it might sully the author's post, so he deleted it again.

After struggling for most of the day, I still couldn't write a single word.

His anger flared up when he saw someone calling the poster a shill.

You can't get him to write anything artistic, but he's great at swearing!

[Chasing the Wind]: Bullshit! Screw you! I'm in Shanghai, just came out of the premiere! Every word the poster said is true! Anyone who dares to say this is a bad movie, I'll shoot their dog head off!

..

Kyoto University, graduate student dormitory.

Lin Xing, a doctoral student in the Department of History, was working on a paper titled "A Study on the Decoration of Bronze Artifacts Lost Overseas" when he got stuck on the description of the shape of the bronze gui (qingtong).

"What are the distinctive features of that vessel's handles and feet... dragon ears and tiger feet, or kui dragon patterns?"

He couldn't quite remember, and he wasn't sure either.

Academic rigor is essential; even a single typo can be disastrous.

Lin Xing habitually opened the Baidu search box and entered the search terms:

Bronze gui vessel with dragon-shaped handles and tiger-shaped feet.

The first few results on the page are all GG (Google) results, and scrolling down reveals some useless journal indexes.

Just as Lin Xing was about to close the window and look for other information, his eyes were suddenly drawn to a post.

It was posted just twenty minutes ago.

"What Did We Miss? A Review of 'Escape from the British Museum'..."

In the search summary below, one line of text is highlighted in red by Baidu search:

"...The dragon ears and tiger feet mentioned in the dialogue are not fabrications by the screenwriter; they are the most accurate description of the lost bronze gui vessel..."

Lin Xing was stunned for a moment.

"Huh? How come this kind of term appears in commercial film reviews these days?"

This is a very specialized vocabulary; unless you specialize in this field, you wouldn't know it at all.

Out of curiosity, he clicked on the post.

He skipped the previous analysis of the plot and went straight to the section where the original poster listed the textual research on the lines.

"Dragon ears and tiger feet... court hat and incense burner..."

As he watched, Lin Xingqi exclaimed.

He quickly pulled out a spare reference book from the bookshelf, turned to the corresponding page, and compared the information.

Completely correct.

"Who wrote this script? It's very well-researched. Did one of my senior classmates become a screenwriter?"

As someone who works in this field professionally, he knows how difficult it is; it's not something you can just do by casually looking up some information.

Lin Xing registered an account.

(History writer): I'm a history major at Peking University. I stumbled upon this post while researching for my thesis. To be honest, I was quite surprised.

The dragon ears and tiger feet listed by the original poster are typical features of bronze gui vessels. Such obscure professional descriptions usually only appear in academic catalogs. It's hard to imagine that this movie could research the dialogue to this extent. Regardless of how well the movie is made, this respect for history really moved me. Because of this rigor, I will go to the cinema tomorrow to verify it.

..

An old residential area in Yanjing.

As the moderator of the Tianya Film and Television Forum, Daoke has a habit every night before going to bed.

It means cleaning the layout, commonly known as sweeping.

He wants to lock all those who post "GG" messages, those who spam the screen, and those who dig up old posts in a dark room.

The forum has been a mess lately.

It's all about the flame wars surrounding the films released during the Spring Festival.

Slide the mouse down.

He saw a post with only a few replies.

"We missed... Escape from the British Museum..."

Is it him again?

Why isn't that Zhao Huaiyuan quiet yet?

The swordsman had a very bad impression of this person.

Even before filming began, rumors circulated online, causing a huge uproar. People were saying that this was something capital did to create a god-like figure, that the casting was aesthetically distorted, that it was just a publicity stunt, and that the plot was completely fabricated.

As a seasoned film enthusiast, Daoke deeply despises this kind of capitalist trash that insults the art of film.

The swordsman glanced at the post title.

"That guy surnamed Zhao is still not giving up. He's even out here disgusting people during the New Year."

He immediately sentenced the post to death in his mind.

Once you click in and confirm it's a promotional article, you're immediately banned from the platform.

He opened the post, didn't read the main text, and quickly scrolled down to see if there were any well-organized, coordinated posts from online trolls.

Because this post has very few replies, you can see the whole thing at a glance.

2nd Floor (Throwing Bricks): Is the poster a shill? During the Lunar New Year, why are you praising such a terrible movie? Get lost!

3rd Floor (Chasing the Wind): Bullshit! Screw you! I'm in Shanghai, just came out of the premiere! Every word the poster said is true! Anyone who dares to say this is a bad movie, I'll smash their head in!

4th Floor (History Editor): I'm from the History Department at Kyoto University, and I write...

5th floor...

kindness?

The swordsman was puzzled.

Normally, when online trolls post, the posts are usually neat, uniform, and visually appealing, conveying support and anticipation.

There are quite a few people.

What is this?

One is questioning, one is indulging in profanity and swearing, and one claims to be a Peking University PhD who also quotes classical texts.

This online army... is quite unique.

Driven by a professional determination to expose your tricks, the swordsman didn't click delete, but instead opened the IP monitoring system in the background.

"Let me see if you guys came from the same computer lab..."

Data refresh.

The poster's IP address is from a telecommunications company in a county in northern China.

IP address on the 2nd floor: ADSL connection from a residential area in a city in Southwest China.

3rd floor IP: A node in an internet cafe in Xuhui District, Shanghai

4th floor IP: Yenching University campus area network.

this..

The swordsman was dumbfounded.

These days, can online trolls really operate from their dorm rooms at Peking University? And can they mobilize such a vast network of real IPs across the country?

impossible.

It is absolutely impossible.

Also, which company only has two or three online trolls?

With doubts in his mind, he reread the original post and carefully read two paragraphs.

"Good heavens, I misjudged him."

The main text was well-written, and the deep patriotism expressed between the lines moved him deeply.

The poster has a high level of literary skill.

The swordsman remained silent for a moment.

A sudden impulse surged within him. He knew that as long as he closed this page, the post would quickly sink to the bottom, leaving no trace.

Suddenly, he remembered some things about the film's director, Zhao Huaiyuan.

Taking a grudge against a foreigner at ISFVF, regardless of whether it's a persona being cultivated, just that kind of composure is quite remarkable.

He then recalled that it seemed that since the online ridicule began, this director named Zhao Huaiyuan had never issued a statement or hired online trolls to fight back.

Could this person actually be someone special? Or has he been wrongly accused?

I'll check it out tomorrow. If it's really as good as the original poster said, I can pin it to the top.

Without further hesitation, the swordsman performed a series of permission operations.

[Operation successful: Title highlighted (red)]

[Operation successful: Added to the featured section]

..

The Zhao family.

At 5:30 a.m., it is the time for people in northern China to eat dumplings at dawn.

Zhao's mother sat on the living room sofa, her legs covered with a thick blanket, and she was snoring softly.

She had originally planned to stay up all night with her son, but time waits for no one, and she couldn't stay awake any longer until the latter half of the night, and unknowingly fell asleep.

Yesterday, Zhao Huaiyuan mysteriously told her he wanted her to agree to something, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be doing chores.

On the living room table, there were hundreds of plump, white dumplings.

This was all created by Zhao Huaiyuan alone.

In the past, during Chinese New Year, my mother would always get up very early and work for several hours late at night, just so that he could have a hot meal when he woke up.

This year, it's his turn.

Buzz...

The phone next to the cutting board vibrated.

Zhao Huaiyuan patted the flour off his hands and picked up his phone.

There were more than a dozen unread text messages and several missed calls.

The largest number of these belong to Liu Yifei.

Thinking of that little girl, Zhao Huaiyuan smiled. He didn't rush to reply to each message, thinking there would be plenty of time. Instead, he looked at the latest text message.

It was a text message from Gu Man.

"This is Gu Man. This is the phone I borrowed. Your movie is very good. How about we meet sometime to talk about the studio? My home phone number is 648669259."

"Okay," Zhao Huaiyuan replied with one hand.

He casually placed his phone on the cutting board, preparing to go outside to burn some firewood.

Buzz! Buzz buzz buzz!

The phone on the cutting board suddenly started vibrating wildly.

First, an unknown number called, but Zhao Huaiyuan didn't answer. The other party hung up, and then a second and a third number rushed in.

The text message notification sounds were continuous, and the screen was flashing wildly, it just wouldn't stop.

Zhao Huaiyuan was not surprised; things went much more smoothly than he had imagined.

A single spark can start a prairie fire; the momentum is already there.

Beside them, the water in the pot was bubbling and boiling.

The water has boiled.

Time to make dumplings!