Entertainment Era: My Good Sister Is All Over the World

We are free-walking beings not only because we have noble goals, but also because we have base needs and desires.

—Philip Roth, *The Ghost Writer*, 1979

……

The first act was a grand spectacle.

The film depicts Zhang Mazi, Huang Silang, and Master Tang together in the square, issuing a declaration to launch an expedition to suppress bandits.

Chen Huaikai had the commune bring in several hundred militiamen, and also recruited local villagers and some idle crew members to act as villagers of Goose City.

The Beijing Film Studio had a variety of costumes from the Republic of China era, which were shipped over by plane along with the cameras long ago.

It was only then that Huang Wenbin truly understood how difficult it was to make a movie. Just getting these hundreds of people to change clothes took more than two hours.

Film was so precious back then, so everyone had to practice their lines thoroughly before filming could begin.

The main actors' makeup couldn't last that long, so they had to stop filming for a while to touch up their makeup.

After more than five hours of work, we only managed to shoot one scene.

However, the veterans in the crew were used to it.

Filming is pretty much like this nowadays—it's both slow and fast.

The film was slow because it was expensive, so the scenes had to be rehearsed thoroughly before shooting.

The advantage is that there are basically no retakes, and you only need to do two takes at most.

Therefore, as long as you develop a good rapport in the early stages, filming in the later stages will be smoother than if you applied lubricant when playing "husband and wife playing cards".

Although Huang Wenbin played the role of Lao Qi, his main role was as a screenwriter, and he would be called over by the lead actors from time to time to give them some pointers on the play.

After all, among those present, he and director Chen Huaikai were the ones who knew the story best.

"Xiao Huang, could you explain this scene to me again? I don't quite understand it."

During a break, Grandpa Ge called Huang Wenbin over and, pointing to a scene in the script, asked him humbly, "What were those two things that Master Tang, also known as Ma Bangde, said before he died?"

Huang Wenbin glanced at the script and couldn't help but smile.

This scene has caused great controversy in later generations, especially among online "experts" who argue fiercely, with some saying it's an overinterpretation and others saying it's all made up, and there has never been a definitive conclusion.

This has led to various conspiracy theories, such as Ma Bangde discovering that the second brother betrayed Zhang Mazi, that Sister Hua was a traitor, that the third brother was a traitor, and so on. Some content creators have even imagined their own novels.

Actually, this line is a reference to a joke that happened off-screen. When Jiang Wen was filming "Let the Bullets Fly," he had the crew lay railway tracks, which took several months, during which time the production was suspended. Ge You then went on to film two movies, "Sacrifice" and "If You Are the One 2." However, when Jiang Wen called to ask Ge You what he was doing, Ge You replied that he was resting at home and not doing anything.

Jiang Wen is also in the industry, so he naturally knew what was going on and used it as a joke in the movie.

This was stated by the two during an interview, though some may still perceive it as an excuse.

Huang Wenbin believes that facts are often simple and direct, while only conspiracy theories are convoluted and meaningless.

Jiang Wen often embeds these kinds of off-screen references in his movies; you might not even know they're references unless you actively look into them.

When writing this scene, Huang Wenbin considered deleting it directly, but after thinking about it, he couldn't bear to, because after the movie was released, it would definitely cause controversy among the audience, and the popularity of the movie itself could be maintained.

"Does Elder Ge want to hear the truth or a lie?" Huang Wenbin asked with a grin.

Ge Cunzhuang thought the boy was quite mischievous, and chuckled as he lightly slapped him: "Just tell the truth, I don't like listening to lies!"

"Okay, the truth is meaningless." Huang Wenbin said seriously, "It's just that we deliberately left this cliffhanger for the audience. After watching this part, the audience will definitely think about which two lines it is, and then they will have to watch the movie again, or even a third or fourth time."

"Huh?" Ge Cunzhuang was dumbfounded when he heard this answer.

Yang Zaibao, who was playing Zhang Mazi, was also stunned. In all his years of making movies, this was the first time he had ever heard of such an idea.

"You cunning little devil, you deserve a beating!" Jiao Huang, who played Huang Silang, laughed and couldn't help but curse, "You've fooled everyone."

The actors waiting for their scenes nearby couldn't help but chuckle, thinking that Huang Wenbin really deserved a beating.

Hearing the laughter and scolding, Chen Huaikai walked over and asked, "What happened?"

Jiao Huang casually repeated Huang Wenbin's words: "Do you think this kid deserves to be beaten?"

"Wow, you've even surprised me!" Chen Huaikai paused for a moment, then grabbed Huang Wenbin's shoulder, laughing and scolding, "Why didn't you tell me when you were discussing the script with me at the Beijing Film Studio?"

This was just a joke, of course.

Huang Wenbin had actually mentioned this matter to Chen Huaikai.

At the time, Chen Huaikai was somewhat skeptical of this method, so he remained noncommittal.

Ge Cunzhuang couldn't help but sigh, "I'm getting old, I'm getting old. The methods of you young people are truly unbelievable. I wouldn't have dared to even think about them in the past."

"At only 19, he's truly a promising young man, unlike my son Ge You, who's still feeding pigs in Changping. I sent him back to Beijing to take the university entrance exam, but he failed, and he also failed the drama troupe audition. It's really worrying."

Huang Wenbin casually chuckled, "That probably means he's a natural at making movies."

"Him?" Ge Cunzhuang was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "With his appearance, he can only play villains like me in movies."

Huang Wenbin said, "Who knows, maybe Brother You will become a movie star someday?"

"What is a Best Actor?" Ge Cunzhuang asked blankly.

"Oh, that's the Hong Kong way of saying it," Huang Wenbin explained. "It refers to someone who has won the Best Actor award at major film festivals both domestically and internationally."

Yang Zaibao shook his head: "Capitalist thinking is really strange. They keep talking about emperors and empresses. They're both open and feudal."

Over the next few days, they were still slowly getting used to each other, but the scene of going to war against bandits was finally filmed.

They've started working on the "Gun in hand, follow me" scene.

Huang Wenbin's ordeal began.

In this scene, Yang Zaibao plays the eldest brother Zhang Mazi, Zhang Yimou plays the fourth brother, Yu Yang plays the fifth brother, and Huang Wenbin plays the seventh brother. The four of them ride horses back and forth repeatedly, shouting "Gun in hand, follow me, kill the fourth brother, and seize the watchtower."

Although Zhang Yimou had never ridden a horse before, he had ridden oxen and donkeys when he was working in the countryside, so he was able to ride a horse in just one hour.

Of course, some shots of horses galloping at full speed from behind were handled by the local militia.

"Gun in hand, come with me!"

"Kill Silang, seize the fortress!"

"..."

The four of them rode their horses back and forth, shouting more than thirty times until their voices were hoarse.

I don't know if Director Chen is satisfied.

"Okay, one more take and we'll start filming." Director Chen's voice finally came through the loudspeaker. "You guys take a break, recover your energy, and take care of your voices, we'll have to shout later."

"Filming is torture!"

Huang Wenbin felt that filming was too damn tiring. He was already this exhausted just from playing a supporting role. He realized that being an actor was not for him. He should stick to writing novels and screenplays. Even if he were to act in the future, he would only direct.

"Tired already?" Ge Cunzhuang laughed heartily when he saw Huang Wenbin's cowardly appearance. "You haven't experienced the era of marching and fighting. That's what you call tiring."

"Young man, you still have a long way to go." Yang Zaibao smiled as well. He came from a poor family, his father died early, and he had many siblings, so he had to go out to work to support his family at a young age. That was really tiring, not only physically but also mentally, but fortunately he made it through.

After resting for a while, we went through the route again before officially starting filming.

Thankfully, it's all sorted out perfectly.

Huang Wenbin was given a rare opportunity to rest for the entire afternoon.

In the past few days, the editors of Foshan Literature and Art magazine have come to Jiangmen and Taishan several times to look for him, but unfortunately they haven't been able to meet him.

Today, Xiao Wang finally caught Huang Wenbin at the Mei Family Compound.

"Writer Huang, it's been so hard to find you!" Xiao Wang said to Huang Wenbin, panting. "Your novel has been published; here's a sample copy. The editor-in-chief asked me to inquire when the second half is due."

Huang Wenbin smiled and poured Xiao Wang a glass of water. Then he took the sample magazine and found that it was a newspaper-style magazine, but it was full of all kinds of novels, and there was also a small piece of GG.

"How are the sales?" Huang Wenbin asked with a smile.

Xiao Wang shook his head: "It's not clear yet, but we've printed 10,000 copies. I don't know if they'll sell out."

Huang Wenbin said calmly, "You'd better prepare for a reprint as soon as possible, otherwise you'll be in a panic and miss the opportunity to increase sales."

Xiao Wang felt that the young man in front of him was rather arrogant, but that was none of his business.

"The second half of the manuscript is finished." Huang Wenbin took a stack of manuscript paper from a drawer in the room and handed it over.

Xiao Wang was overjoyed and took the manuscript: "Great, I can go back and hand it in now."

He said he was leaving, but halfway there he added, "I forgot to give you your payment."

He took out a bulging paper bag from his bag: "This is the basic royalties of 250. We'll settle the royalties based on the print run at the end of the month."

"Thank you for your trouble." Huang Wenbin nodded.