Chapter 295: Being reserved also depends on who you are with

"Master Tian, ​​Master He, what can you do at this price?"

"Less than three million? You two are the senior financial officers of the factory. They have high requirements. Don't let us get screwed! This year's bonus depends on this film!"

"Yes, Master Tian, ​​look at their behavior, it's obvious that they are acting like capitalists. If we can't meet their demands, we will have to pay a loss."

In a medium-sized hotel near the Capital Hotel, people from the Shanghai Film Studio were holding a seminar.

The support staff from Shanghai arrived yesterday, and they are fully equipped with directors, finance, budget, actors and other personnel. They are also led by an experienced deputy director, who attaches great importance to the "big meat" thrown by Pei Wencong.

But no matter how much you value him, it’s useless if you can’t meet him, right?

Yesterday I only saw a kid from Hong Kong Island who threw two thick quotation sheets to everyone and asked them to write down their "mental price".

There are detailed standards and relevant requirements for the salary standards of the leading actors, directors, and extras, the production and rental costs of armor and horses, as well as the cost and construction speed of the scenery.

The finance and budget experts stayed up all night and all day, and after careful study, they boldly made a bid of more than two million US dollars.

But several people felt uneasy. When they contacted them by phone, they quoted a budget of five million and said that the scenery had to meet "international standards". If they were to be picky at the time, there would be penalties for breach of contract in foreign trade.

The old finance officer in charge of the budget patted his chest and said, "Director Ding, I don't know how much money that so-called Cleopatra spent, but even if it was Empress Wu Zetian, her residence couldn't be made of gold, right?"

"As long as they give us this money, what's wrong with us building a Daming Palace for them? I dare say that as long as you take 100,000 US dollars to the construction company, there will be no nonsense, and they will start construction for you on the same day. The rest is all RMB."

Director Ding took a deep puff of his cigarette and said in a deep voice, "Since you are capable, can you lower your salary a little more?"

Master Tian asked in confusion: "Lower the price? Director, didn't you think it was too low just now?"

Director Ding pressed the butt of his cigarette into the ashtray and said to Master Tian, ​​"Old Tian! Give me a real number. Can you still lower the price?"

Master Tian said, "Of course we can reduce the price. We can even reduce it by 30%, but we can't reduce the price without limit. This foreign exchange is delivered to our door. If we sell it, even a penny will be a loss for our factory."

At this time, Lao He, who was also in charge of finance, said, "Director, are you afraid that Changan will offer a low price? Don't worry. Haven't you sent Director Zheng to let them know? At worst, we can just cooperate. We can't let anyone get away with something for nothing."

Director Ding shook his head slowly. "This morning, the factory called and a brother unit asked us about the situation. They asked if we had received a call from a Hong Kong scammer recently. Do you understand the reason?"

Old He took a deep breath and said, "Hiss, someone else is coming? This is really a profiteer."

Everyone immediately understood that the unscrupulous businessmen in Hong Kong were really good at playing the trick of "the fisherman benefits while the clams fight".

But it's an open conspiracy, so it's up to you whether to take the job or not.

"Squeak~"

The door suddenly opened and Director Zheng walked in with a dark face. He sat on the bed without saying a word.

Director Ding's heart sank, and he asked, "What's wrong, Old Zheng? Chang'an doesn't want to communicate with us?"

Director Zheng didn't say anything. He tilted his head like an angry wife, looking very resentful.

Director Ding didn't care about his emotions and shouted, "Why don't you say something? Everyone is waiting for your news!"

Director Zheng still didn't say anything, but he unbuttoned the collar of his shirt.

There was a conspicuous bloodstain on the neck inside the collar, which was obviously caused by fingernails.

"What are you doing?"

"What did you do?"

Director Zheng said tearfully, "I went to inform them, but they said I was a spy and was trying to steal their information. I just made a few excuses and an old woman scratched me."

“.”

"This is too much, this is too much. Follow me, I want to see where they get the courage to destroy the unity."

"You, Old Zheng, are you intimidated by an old woman? If it were me, I would have slapped you in the face. A good man never fights with a woman. You are really inexperienced."

Director Ding was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly became furious and was about to take people over to confront the other party.

But Director Zheng sat on the bed motionless and said, "Do you think I don't want to slap someone? Behind an old woman stood five Northwest men, two of whom were wearing armor and holding hammers."

“.”

Director Ding asked in shock: "Do I need to wear armor to deal with you? And use a hammer?"

Director Zheng raised his head and looked at Director Ding. He opened his mouth and finally said, "It's a sample. I got the detailed list from Hong Kong Island yesterday, and they sent people from the security department with armor props."

“A good man does not fight with a woman;

Everyone sat down again, some smoking, some frowning.

Even the security department has come over, which shows that they want to take the order for themselves. Are you going over there to engage in a fight?

However, Director Ding quickly changed the subject and said, "We also need to hurry up and get a few armor samples. We must let people see our strength."

"But what kind of armor do we need? We don't have any Tang Dynasty armor samples. If we make it into Song Dynasty armor, won't people think we have no strength?"

"That's easy. Why don't we ask the archaeologists? We can't get in touch with them."

Everyone offered suggestions, and Director Zheng, who had been depressed, suddenly said, "I have inquired about some things in the past few days. There is a comic book for "Homesickness Lonely Army", and it seems that someone came from Hong Kong Island at that time and studied the details of armor and clothing at the Lonely Army Literature Society of Peking University."

Director Ding immediately said, "What are you waiting for? Old Zheng, go to Beijing University right away. You can spend all the money for the activities. I will reimburse you when you come back."

But Director Zheng added: "I think Li Ye from the Lone Army Literature Society is not a simple person. He was the first person to contact Mr. Pei, but although he is young, it is difficult to get him to talk. You need to give me a few more people to help."

Director Ding asked, "Who do you want to help?"

Director Zheng said, "Xiao Pan, Xiao Nie."

“.”

Director Ding said unhappily: "Old Zheng, don't make a mistake. We are here to make a movie, not..."

Xiao Pan and Xiao Nie are both actresses in the factory. Hong Kong Island requires the best directors and the best actors, so they were brought here.

But you want two actresses to "examine words", what kind of behavior is this? What method do you use to exaggerate words?

Um?

Director Zheng immediately said, "We also need Old Xie to go. He is the director and may be able to discuss the script adaptation with the people in the literature club."

Director Ding's expression finally eased and he finally nodded in agreement.

. . . . . .

Director Zheng rushed to Peking University with three colleagues.

Because Director Zheng had conducted several advance investigations, he knew where the Lone Army Literary Society was, and he took the director and actors there with ease.

When they were almost at the door, Director Zheng reminded them, "When you get there, Xiao Pan, don't rush to ask him questions. Lao Xie and I will discuss the script with him first, and then you can take him by surprise and ask him a few key questions. That will be a great achievement."

Xiao Pan, who is nearly 30 years old, asked coldly: "What if they don't answer?"

Director Zheng immediately said, "If you don't want to answer, then don't answer. Can you still grab someone's neck and ask them?"

"But so many people from our factory have come here to compete for this contract. If we can't sign it, it will cost a lot of money, and how can we explain it when we return to Shanghai?"

Xiao Pan stopped talking. This time they asked her to discuss the script, but she always felt very awkward.

If this happened decades later, no one would have to say much and everyone would have understood it tacitly, but in 1983 it was still easy for people to gossip about it.

As for another younger actor, Xiao Nie, she didn't dare to say a word. Whether it was Director Zheng or Director Xie, she had to look up to them cautiously.

As the four of them arrived at the door of the literature club, they heard a lot of noise and cheers from inside.

Director Zheng took the lead and pushed the door open. He saw more than twenty people sitting in a circle in the literature club's activity room, watching the performance of an "armored warrior" in the middle.

The full metal fish-scale armor on the warriors is not brand new, it looks very historical, especially the helmet with a visor, which makes people look really solemn and murderous.

The more than two-meter-long spear in the soldier's hand was wielded vividly and agilely like a dragon.

As the soldiers swung, poked, and stabbed their two-meter-long spears, and the armor made a sound of metallic friction, the desolate feeling of the cold north wind suddenly came to the face.

Several people holding cameras pressed the shutter buttons, regretting that they didn't have video cameras in their hands so they could not capture every move of the soldiers.

Director Zheng poked Director Lao Xie, pouted at Director Xiong next to him, and said in a disappointed tone: "They not only brought armor, but also martial arts actors. Sigh..."

Director Lao Xie said, "Since we are here, let's have some conversation! We can't just go back like this? Wouldn't that weaken our momentum?"

"Our strength is not momentum."

Director Zheng shook his head and couldn't help but look at Xiao Pan and Xiao Nie.

Xiao Pan glanced at Director Zheng with a gloomy and unhappy expression.

Suddenly, the soldier who was playing with the gun in the circle suddenly jumped into the air and performed a move similar to a sneak attack in the air, and then ended the performance.

“Pah pah pah pah~”

Everyone began to applaud, and Director Xiong and others from Changan Film Studio cheered even more.

"Okay~"

“It’s incredible.”

"Wearing a 40-kilogram suit of armor, he was able to jump up. I really don't understand how he did it."

"Perhaps, this is why he was able to write "The North Wind Flies"!"

Director Zheng's heart moved, and he quickly looked at the soldier who was taking off his armor.

When he took off his helmet, it was indeed Li Ye.

He was also shocked and said, "That's Li Ye. I never thought of that!"

Of course, it wasn’t just Director Zheng who was shocked. Old Xie and the two actresses Xiao Pan and Xiao Nie were even more shocked.

Xiao Nie couldn't help but whisper to Xiao Pan: "Sister Pan, this Li Ye is almost the same as Brother Lin Qiang!"

Lin Qiang was the top actor in Shanghai Film Studio in the 1980s, and his handsomeness was famous throughout the country.

And at this moment, Li Ye, who had taken off his armor, was not at all inferior.

Xiao Pan was just about to talk to Xiao Nie, but Xiao Nie had already taken a step ahead and walked straight towards Li Ye.

"Hello, Li Ye, we are here to exchange scripts. I really like your works "Lonely Soldier Looking Back at Hometown" and "North Wind Flying"."

Director Zheng and Old Xie couldn't help laughing, they were both older and of course understood the attribute of being reserved, but they were selective when targeting different targets.

"Oh, you're from the Shanghai Film Studio? Are you here alone?"

Li Ye took the towel handed over by Wen Leyu and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The capital city was still not completely cool in October, and one would definitely sweat while practicing with a 40-kilogram armor.

Xiao Nie said: "There are also our director and Director Zheng, and Sister Pan."

Li Ye looked up and saw Director Zheng smiling and waving at him.

The two had met several times, and Director Zheng felt that this young man seemed easy to talk to, but in fact he always kept his distance.

In other words, he hates it when strangers approach him too casually.

But this time, Li Ye took the initiative to come over.

"Hello, thank you, Director."

"Hello, Comrade Pan Hong."

Li Ye took the initiative to extend his hand, which surprised Director Zheng.

(End of this chapter)