Chapter 157 Why Not Just Stop Writing
As autumn approaches, the weather changes drastically. After mid-October, the temperature in Yanjing City gradually drops and even light clothing can no longer be worn.
Early in the morning, the northwest wind was blowing strongly. Lin Weimin got up and felt cold, so he changed into thick clothes.
Knocked on Han Zhuangzhuang's door, "Why haven't you gotten up yet?"
Han Zhuangzhuang opened his eyes, "Uncle, please let me sleep a little longer, I'm so tired!"
"Why are you so tired? You finally got a day off, come and work with me!"
Lin Weimin and Han Zhuangzhuang are going to do two important things today. One is to buy winter vegetables for the winter, and the other is to get coal for the winter.
Lin Weimin bought vegetables first and then coal. He specially borrowed a cart from his neighbor. He didn't want to use the cart for free, but would give the neighbor some cabbages later.
Winter is approaching, and every two streets in Yanjing City you can always see farmers from the suburbs pulling carts of cabbage and onions to sell.
Farmers going to the city to sell vegetables is not considered speculation and this has been allowed for a long time.
Lin Weimin started by buying 800 to 900 kilograms of cabbage and green onions, and bought up all the vegetables left by the farmers. A few elderly people nearby were also preparing to buy vegetables. Seeing this, they asked Lin Weimin: "How many people are there in your family, young man? Can you finish all these vegetables? Don't let them go bad!"
Lin Weimin glanced at Han Zhuangzhuang and smiled at the auntie, "Auntie, I'm sorry, there are so many people in our family, we can definitely finish all the food. Otherwise, why don't you go somewhere else?"
He asked Han Zhuangzhuang to load all the vegetables onto the car. Lin Weimin rode the tricycle when they came, so this time it was Han Zhuangzhuang's turn.
He pedaled slowly with all his strength, and did not forget to urge Lin Weimin, "Uncle, push harder!"
"You kid should put in some effort. Why do I feel like you didn't put in any effort at all?" Lin Weimin said with his hands on the car.
Han Zhuangzhuang guessed that Lin Weimin must have been lazy again, and couldn't help but complain: "Tired silly boy!"
Lin Weimin was very sharp-eyed and could hear his complaints. He scolded, "If it weren't for a foodie like you, would we have to stock up so many vegetables at home?"
Han Zhuangzhuang didn't dare to say anything. He was living under someone else's roof!
It took a lot of effort to ride the tricycle back home and unload the cabbage.
Han Zhuangzhuang had just rested for a few minutes when Lin Weimin said, "Don't rest, hurry up and deliver the dishes."
Han Zhuangzhuang took a few breaths and stood up resignedly, "Resting on the weekend is more tiring than working."
The two men rode a tricycle to deliver the remaining cabbage and green onions to the slum at No. 26 Lama Temple Street.
"Tiesheng! Tiesheng!"
Lin Weimin was greeting Shi Tiesheng at the gate. Shi Lan ran out first. Seeing Lin Weimin, she said excitedly, "Brother Lin, you're here!"
"Shi Lan, come here and help unload the vegetables."
Lin Weimin asked Shi Lan and Han Zhuangzhuang to help move the vegetables.
The Shi family lives in a large compound, and they have to walk several dozen meters through the compound to transport vegetables back and forth, which is much more laborious than when Lin Weimin transports vegetables by himself. Fortunately, there is strength in numbers.
Father Shi pushed Shi Tiesheng out of the door and wanted to help, but was stopped by Lin Weimin, "Uncle, you just take a rest, we young people can do this job."
After working for more than ten minutes and unloading all the dishes, Shi Tiesheng said with gratitude: "Weimin, I'm sorry to have cost you money again!"
"Don't be so polite. We have to stock up on vegetables, and this cabbage is not worth much."
Cabbage is indeed not valuable, but it is an indispensable vegetable for the people of Yanjing to survive the winter. As the old saying goes, cabbage and tofu keep you safe.
What's more, the Shi family has old, young and disabled people, so Lin Weimin would definitely help with this heavy work.
After resting for a while and drinking some water at Shi Tiesheng's house, Lin Weimin was about to leave.
Father Shi asked him to stay for lunch, but Lin Weimin said, "No, uncle, I have to go get coal in the afternoon. I have some time today, so I can get all the things I need for the winter."
After bidding farewell to Shi Tiesheng's family, Lin Weimin went to the sales department in the coal yard.
In the lives of ordinary people in Yanjing City, coal is the most important of the seven necessities of life: firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. Without coal in the cold winter, nothing can be done.
However, coal supply has been a long-standing problem for Yanjing City for nearly a hundred years. Even in the 1980s, the coal supply for Yanjing residents was still very tight.
In order to facilitate transportation and sales, almost every street office in Yanjing City has a coal plant, and each coal plant has three to five sales departments under it.
One store corresponds to each household within a radius of one to two kilometers. Residents purchase coal at designated locations in designated areas, and each household has a coal book.
At its peak, the coal yard had thousands of outlets throughout Yanjing City.
Whether ordinary people buy coal to make coal briquettes or directly buy honeycomb coal, there is a fixed supply every month, and people will not sell it to you if you have too much.
For example, the price of honeycomb coal is 120 yuan per household per month in summer, and it doubles to 240 yuan in winter.
The store has special coal transporters and coal carts, but Lin Weimin doesn't intend to wait for that.
Due to the limited inventory in the sales department, the coal production often cannot keep up with the peak demand in winter. When the coal trucks run out of coal, there is no place to cry, so it is better to store coal in advance.
After the coal was delivered from the store, it was already three or four in the afternoon, and a busy day was finally over.
Han Zhuangzhuang looked at the honeycomb coal piled in the separate empty back room and asked, "Uncle, are these coals enough?"
"Of course it's not enough. But in a few days, our company and the People's Art Theatre will be able to give me some coal coupons. If that doesn't work, I can just spend money to get some from others. That's how I, your uncle, got by last year."
"Yeah. I have one this year too, and between the two of us it's a lot."
Lin Weimin said: "This coal is enough for two months."
Han Zhuangzhuang couldn't help but sigh. He used to feel that living in his uncle's yard was spacious and comfortable, but now he realizes that living in such a big house requires a lot of expenses!
My uncle is right. If you don’t have enough coal book and coal tickets, you have to spend money to buy them. When I think about my current salary of a few dozen yuan, if I didn’t eat and drink for free at my uncle’s house, I really don’t know what kind of life I could live in Yanjing.
Thinking of this, Han Zhuangzhuang was filled with sorrow. I have indeed matured and can think of these things.
Two days later, Lin Weimin arrived at the People's Art Theatre.
Today, Ouyang Shanzun specifically asked Han Zhuangzhuang to call him, saying that he wanted to inspect the results of the actors' training during this period.
When we entered the rehearsal room, the actors had already changed into the costumes for the play. Some were warming up their voices on the stage, while others were stretching their muscles. The whole stage looked a bit chaotic.
Lin Weimin listened to the humming voice and said to Ouyang Shanzun with a smile, "It looks pretty good, and quite good."
"Not bad. These nearly two months have not been wasted."
When everyone was almost ready, Ouyang Shanzun asked them to start performing one by one.
What they were most concerned about, of course, was the acting skills of the main actors. Lin Weimin didn't care much about the performances of others. Even when Han Zhuangzhuang, a supporting actor, performed a bit of singing, reciting, acting and fighting, he didn't say anything.
It was not until the absolute protagonist of the play, playing the role of Cheng Dieyi, appeared that Lin Weimin began to take it seriously.
Yang Lixin is handsome, but his temperament is rather tough. Lin Weimin had always doubted whether he could perform the "charming" characteristic of Cheng Dieyi.
Until now, Yang Lixin stood on the stage, her every frown and smile acting like a daughter, and there was a sense of tenderness in her every move. Lin Weimin nodded. Just these movements and expressions had at least 70% of the charm of Cheng Dieyi.
It reached Lin Weimin's passing line, and even exceeded it.
Seeing Lin Weimin nod, Yang Lixin on the stage seemed relieved.
After his performance, it was Chen Xiaoer, whom I hadn’t seen for a long time.
The role of Mr. Yuan Si was given to him by Lin Weimin, a Peking Opera fan. He performed a few lines of Peking Opera in the play. He fell in love with Cheng Dieyi because of the play, or to be more precise, he developed a blasphemous heart towards him.
Chen Xiaoer's performance was very good and it seemed like he had put in a lot of effort.
He is an actor from the Bayi Film Studio, and came to the People's Art Theater to act purely because of his own dream of performing a play. Every time he goes to the Peking Opera Theater for training, he takes time out to go, and he does not have as much time as the actors of the People's Art Theater, but in terms of results, he is not inferior to others.
Ouyang Shanzun whispered during Chen Xiaoer's performance: "Xiao Chen is a talented and hardworking actor!"
This is the greatest compliment a director can give to an actor.
After watching everyone's performance, Ouyang Shanzun said, "Take a look at the Peking Opera costumes, it will definitely surprise you!"
When talking about Peking Opera appearances, the two characters that are referred to are naturally Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou.
For their makeup, the National Theatre of China specially invited teachers from the Peking Opera Theater to provide guidance.
After waiting in the audience for more than half an hour, Lin Weimin finally saw the true faces of "Cheng Dieyi" and "Duan Xiaolou".
Compared with the infinite magnification in movies, the personal images of actors on the drama stage are far less prominent. Lin Weimin looked at them for a long time and found that there was no sense of incongruity in the appearance of these two people, at least from the perspective of the audience.
"I feel relieved now." Lin Weimin said.
Even though he had already handed the role over to Ouyang Shanzun, Lin Weimin felt more at ease after seeing the appearance of the two absolute protagonists with his own eyes.
But thinking about the previous wait, Lin Weimin asked again: "What about the makeup of these two actors when they perform?"
"We plan to try it with props, and the team is still preparing."
Lin Weimin was now completely relieved, "Thank you for your hard work, teachers."
Ouyang Shanzun smiled and said, "This is all part of my job."
The actors’ training was originally scheduled for three months, but now that there have been some initial results, the People’s Art Theatre plans to have the crew rehearse first, and then have another short-term training session before the performance in the future to consolidate the results.
"I'll have to trouble you, Teacher Lin, for the next period of time."
“It’s all as it should be.”
The rehearsal of a drama must first determine the cast for each role and bring the actors with roles together to review the script.
Then we conduct a rehearsal, first going through the entire play as a whole, then conducting detailed training on the important scenes, adding music, props, and costumes for continuous synthetic rehearsal.
The final rehearsal is for final revision and improvement of the dialogue drama.
During this period, screenwriter Lin Weimin needs to participate in the whole process, as was the case with the previous "The Intouchables".
Fortunately, with the presence of Lan Yinhai, a veteran screenwriter at the Art Theater, Lin Weimin did not need to follow every rehearsal, which greatly reduced his workload.
After watching the actors' performance, the crew's work for the day was considered finished.
Lin Weimin called Han Zhuangzhuang to go home, and he did not hide it. Now everyone in the People's Art Theatre knows his relationship with Han Zhuangzhuang.
Chen Xiaoer came over and asked, "Weimin, do you have time to have a meal?"
"Are you treating?" Lin Weimin asked.
Chen Xiaoer stuttered, "I meant to find a place to sit down!"
"I've never seen anyone more stingy than you."
Actually, Lin Weimin lied. The bad friends around him were more stingy than each other. At least Zheng Guo was more stingy than Chen Xiaoer. After all, Chen Xiaoer had treated Lin Weimin to a meal, but Zheng Guo had never treated him once.
This guy hasn't even fulfilled the Quanjude meal he promised him. If it weren't for Qu Xiaowei's painting "Pasturing in Autumn Countryside", he really wanted to break up with this guy!
"I'm not being stingy, I'm being thrifty. You wouldn't understand even if I told you."
The two of them pushed their bicycles out and chatted as they walked. Chen Xiaoer said, "I heard that The Cliff is going to be made into a TV series?"
"Where did you hear this news?"
Lin Weimin was puzzled. He and Chen Xiaoer didn't meet often, so where did this guy get all this information from?
In fact, Lin Weimin underestimated himself. After all, he is a newly rising and popular writer in China. Everyone is in the cultural circle. It would be no difficulty to ask a few more people to get this information.
"You want another role?"
Chen Xiaoer did not answer his question, but complained: "Oh, you don't know my difficulties! With my appearance, I have been working in the factory for seven or eight years, and it was not easy to play two famous roles..."
"Stop it! Don't give me that."
Lin Weimin impatiently exposed his tricks. This guy starred in "Looking at the Family" last year and "Inside and Outside the Court" this year. Both films won the Excellent Film Award from the Ministry of Culture.
With such qualifications, Chen Xiaoer has gained some fame.
Chen Xiaoer shook his head and said, "Brother, you think too highly of me. I just want to ask you one question. If I have a play to perform, will I have time to come to the People's Art Theatre?"
this……
It was really hard for Lin Weimin to refute. Seeing this, Chen Xiaoer immediately said, "What do you think I did at the Bayi Film Studio? Pulling the curtain, lighting, and playing a minor role when there was a role. There are only so many opportunities to make movies every year, and there are few handsome men and beautiful women. There are many ugly people like me, and there are only a few roles for everyone to compete for..."
"Tang Guoqiang from our factory was already playing the leading male role at the age of 23. He has never played any role other than the leading male role since he started acting in a movie. Look at me, your brother..."
Chen Xiaoer sounded more and more miserable as he spoke, and he was just about to squeeze out a few tears to express his feelings vividly.
Although he knew that this guy was just pretending to be miserable, seeing how hard he was performing, Lin Weimin was too embarrassed to interrupt him.
I had no choice but to say, "The Cliff is a drama produced by Qindao TV Station and it is filmed in Harbin. You can't go."
Chen Xiaoer immediately said, "Do you think I'm really going to act in "The Cliff"? I'm just asking, just don't forget the role you promised me."
"Okay, okay, I got it. I'll definitely write it to you when I have the chance."
"Good brother! I will introduce my sister to you later."
Lin Weimin imagined Chen Xiaoer's face on his sister's face, and he shuddered all over.
Forget it, I'd better not write this character.
(End of this chapter)
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