Chapter 440 Your burden is heavy
There is an old saying: There is no wall that is impenetrable in the Chinese literature society.
The whereabouts of Lin Weimin's lost manuscript of "The Ming Dynasty 1566" has always been one of the unsolved mysteries of Guowen Publishing House.
After Lin Weimin learned the whereabouts of the manuscript from Ma Dudu, he never revealed this matter to his colleagues in the publishing house.
I accidentally revealed this matter while making a phone call today, and within two days it became a hot topic in the Chinese Literature Society.
It seems that Comrade Lao Tan is not the only one who is a gossip in the Guowen Society!
A few days later, near May Day, Tong Zhonggui found Lin Weimin and took out his latest novel.
It's not the "big one" mentioned before, it has become a novella.
Lin Weimin recognized this work that made Su Tong famous in his early years at just one glance.
The novel "Wives and Concubines" tells the story of a 19-year-old female student Songlian who married Chen Zuoqian as his fourth concubine because her family fell into poverty. Her student temperament made Chen Zuoqian feel fresh.
However, Chen Zuoqian has many concubines in his family. The first concubine Yu Ru is cold, the second concubine Zhuo Yun is scheming, and the third concubine Mei Shan is sinister. The women in the compound are wary of and fight with each other, and Chen Zuoqian reaps the benefits.
The eldest master Feipu and Songlian hit it off at first sight. At the same time, Songlian has a violent conflict with the first and second wives, as well as the maid Yan'er who is eager to get promoted, for her status in the Chen family, which makes Songlian disheartened.
Songlian expressed her love to Feipu, but Feipu dared not accept it because he had physical and psychological barriers. Songlian was extremely distressed. In the middle of the night, she heard that the third wife Meishan was caught having an affair with a doctor and was thrown into a well. After being rescued, she was scared crazy. In the spring of the following year, Chen Zuoqian married his fifth wife.
Overall, "Wives and Concubines" depicts an extremely tragic world of women's survival with a cold brushstroke. They are oppressed, enslaved, swallowed up and drowned under feudal ethics, and are both humble and pitiful.
“Very well written!”
After reading the novel, Lin Weimin praised Tong Zhonggui, and Tong Zhonggui was very happy.
He originally intended to write "Wives and Concubines" as a long novel, but after writing it for a while, he found that the size of the novel was more suitable for a novella, so he had to reluctantly delete a lot of content.
He clearly remembered Teacher Lin's teachings that a good writer must have the ability to step outside of himself and examine his works.
Now that he has received high praise from Lin Weimin, Tong Zhonggui has gained more confidence and feels that his efforts have not been in vain.
"Let's have a look at it later. If there are no problems, we'll prepare for publication."
Tong Zhonggui responded excitedly, then happily left with the manuscript.
On the last day before May Day, Zheng Xiaolong invited everyone to dinner again. This time, it was Ma Dudu who invited Lin Weimin and also gave Lin Weimin the script of "Desire".
Wang Shuo is a big boaster, but everyone knows how inefficient he is. It is impossible for him to finish a script for a long TV series in ten days or half a month.
He is not Teacher Lin!
Ma Dudu, Wang Shuo and Hai Yan worked on it for several months and finally finished the script of "Desire".
Lin Weimin read the script and found it had that flavor.
The weather has been getting hot recently, so it’s not so appropriate to eat mutton at Donglaishun, so Zheng Xiaolong arranged to have dinner at Jimen Hotel.
When Lin Weimin came in, everyone was already there, almost the same as last time, except that a few young men from the big courtyard were missing.
Lin Weimin's arrival means that today's gathering has a backbone.
The reason why Zheng Xiaolong invited us to dinner this time was that the script of "Desire" had been completed, and he wanted to hear the opinions of Lin Weimin, the chief screenwriter, and talk about the filming.
"I've read the script, there's nothing wrong with it. When do you plan to shoot it?"
"I have reported to the center and plan to start filming in the second half of the year."
Speaking of this, Zheng Xiaolong felt a little worried.
The Yanjing Television Art Center was separated from the Yanjing Television Station, which is like it is being raised by its stepmother. It can't get any good things and has to be self-reliant if it wants to do anything.
After several years of development, the art center has finally established some foundation.
The script of "Desire" is 50 episodes long. According to Zheng Xiaolong's calculations, even if the cost is 20,000 yuan per episode, it will cost one million yuan.
This average production cost is actually not much compared to today's TV drama creation.
This was equivalent to draining all the center's assets, and Zheng Xiaolong was under tremendous pressure.
Before 1995, the country only allowed state-owned production organizations to enter the field of television drama production.
Making TV series in the 1980s was not a profitable business.
At that time, TV drama procurement had not yet broken away from the planned economy of unified purchase and sale. Television stations or production companies worked hard to spend hundreds of thousands or millions to make a film, and it was already good enough to be able to recoup the cost and make a small profit. If they were not careful, they would likely lose money after the film was broadcast.
In such a situation, Zheng Xiaolong had no choice but to be cautious, as this was his first time handling such a large project.
"Whether a TV series makes money or not is not something you can control, but as creators you have the ability to decide whether it is good or not," Lin Weimin comforted.
Zheng Xiaolong nodded.
He suddenly thought of the TV series "Legend of Female Doctor". It was difficult for their center to get one million yuan, but CCTV and TVB easily paid ten million yuan.
There is also the Xie Tieli version of "Dream of Red Mansions" that has been widely rumored since last year, with an investment of over 10 million yuan, which Zheng Xiaolong could not even dare to imagine.
"It's great to have abundant funds!" Zheng Xiaolong sighed.
Lin Weimin said, "Whether there is sufficient funding or not has no necessary relationship with the quality of the work. Don't express this kind of emotion in front of the leaders. Your center spent one million not to listen to your complaints. After hearing what you said, they must be worried."
Zheng Xiaolong naturally understood that Lin Weimin was reminding him with good intentions. He smiled at Lin Weimin and said, "I understand!"
While chatting about the topic of "Desire", everyone talked about the issue of actors. Wang Shuo casually said: "Weimin, I think your Tao Huimin is quite suitable for the role of Liu Huifang."
When the others heard this, they all looked at Lin Weimin. Among the crowd, only Wang Shuo and Ma Dudu had seen Tao Huimin.
But everyone has seen "The Female Doctor", and Tao Huimin has quite a few scenes in it.
Ma Dudu also smiled and said, "Master Shuo has a keen eye! Teacher Lin, what he said is true. Your teacher Tao is indeed a good match for Liu Huifang."
Lin Weimin hesitated for a moment after hearing what the two said. The original actress of "Desire" was Zhang Kaili. There is no need to comment on her acting skills, but her appearance is in line with the Chinese people's aesthetic of a good wife and mother.
Tao Huimin's appearance is much more beautiful and gentle than Zhang Kaili, and her virtuous temperament is even more outstanding. She would indeed be a good choice to play Liu Huifang.
Just as Lin Weimin was pondering, Zheng Xiaolong said, "Teacher Lin, I'm worried about not having a suitable actress. You must help me."
Since it was a favor, Zheng Xiaolong was naturally happy to do it.
Lin Weimin laughed and said, "Don't say that. If Huimin could act in "Desire", it would certainly be an opportunity. However, she is currently filming "Dream of Red Mansions" directed by Xie Tieli, so it is impossible for her to act in "Desire."
He understood that Zheng Xiaolong and the others wanted to do a favor, but the situation really did not allow it.
Seeing his direct refusal, the others did not bring up the topic again.
After May Day, Lin Weimin was at work when someone came to his door.
When Lin Weimin saw this person, he was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that this was Director Deng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences!
"Director Deng, how come you have time to come here?" Lin Weimin said with a smile.
Director Deng said, "Teacher Lin, you are so generous. You bought our dormitory for more than a year, and you didn't even ask."
When Lin Weimin heard what he said, he was delighted. "What's going on? The house is vacated?"
Director Deng laughed and said, "I came back to tell you some good news. The staff dormitory we built on the land on Huayuan East Road has been completed, and we are planning to move the employees in. It won't be long before you can get your house."
Lin Weimin said happily: "That's great, it's worth the wait."
"I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."
After a few polite words, Director Deng reminded, "During this period, the employees have been moving one after another. When you are free, you can take people to the house to take a look and plan how to clean it up in the future."
"You are reminding me. I will ask someone to go there later." Lin Weimin said.
After discussing this matter, Director Deng said goodbye and left.
After get off work in the evening, Lin Weimin ran to the People's Art Theatre to find Li Guangfu.
Hearing that Lin Weimin's Beile Mansion would be vacated soon, Li Guangfu was also somewhat excited.
He has now accepted his fate. There is nothing wrong with being a contractor in his spare time.
It's not shameful to make money!
He also went to find Ma Dudu on purpose, and went to Prince Yongji's mansion with Lin Weimin the next day.
The car drove past Shichahai and stopped near Xinjiekou.
More than a year had passed since the last time he visited the house, but the location of Prince Yongji's Mansion was firmly imprinted in Li Guangfu's mind.
From Gaojing Hutong eastward to Sanguan Temple, the entire area of houses covers a very large area. Anyone who has seen it will never forget it.
It was the first time for Ma Dudu to come to this house. He saw a group of houses from a distance, and then saw the layout of the Beile Mansion with three rooms and five doors. He was so shocked that he was speechless.
He had heard Lin Weimin and Li Guangfu talk about buying a Beile's mansion before. He had known about these princes' and Beile's mansions in Yanjing City since he was a child.
But seeing it with my own eyes, and knowing clearly that this house is owned by someone I know, the feeling of passing by these places is completely different.
So shocking!
Although the paint on the vermilion and gold-pillared gate has peeled off and the brackets on the eaves are mottled, the grandeur of this house has not changed despite all the vicissitudes of life.
The three of them entered the yard and found that a small part of the house was empty. It was obvious that the people who lived there had moved away.
"Hey, at this rate, it will be cleared out in two or three months."
Li Guangfu asked the people in the hospital and came back to say it happily.
After they walked around, Ma Dudu looked around and said, "It will take at least a year to clean up such a big house, right?"
"A year?" Li Guangfu glanced at him and felt that the boy was talking in his sleep. "It would take at least two or three years to clean up a house like this. Teacher Lin's standard for cleaning up a house is extremely high."
Li Guangfu's words made Ma Dudu blush. He was right. Teacher Lin spent two hundred thousand dollars just to buy this house.
Now that we have the house, we can't just clean it up and move in, right?
Given Mr. Lin's inhumane style, Ma Dudu would not be surprised at all if he threw a knife that was several hundred thousand meters long.
He was only curious about one thing: what would the house look like after it was cleaned up?
Ma Dudu was just thinking about it when he saw Lin Weimin patting Li Guangfu on the shoulder.
"Guangfu, you have had a heavy burden in the past two years!"
(End of this chapter)
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