Chapter 599: Fierce Fire and Cooking Oil
The KFC restaurant located in Qianmen has a large facade. It is a three-story building with a decoration similar to that of later KFCs. It is indeed very attractive to today's consumers.
Lin Weimin brought Tao Huimin to the store and ordered a standard set meal, which included two pieces of original chicken, a serving of mashed potatoes with chicken sauce, a shredded vegetable salad and a small bun.
Initially, KFC's menu was very monotonous. When it first opened, the restaurant sold only eight items: original chicken, mashed potatoes with chicken gravy, shredded vegetable salad, bread, Coke, 7-Up, Mirinda, and beer. It was not until 1989 that hamburgers were available, at $4.5 each.
After Tao Huimin finished her own portion, she set her eyes on Lin Weimin's. He had no choice but to order a hamburger and original chicken.
"Don't other pregnant women suffer from vomiting and dizziness? Why do you have such a good appetite?" Lin Weimin asked curiously.
Tao Huimin stuffed her mouth full. "I don't know why. I just feel greedy. Now I like the things I don't like to eat normally."
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "He loves to eat so much, he must be a fat boy."
"Are girls not good?" Tao Huimin slowed down her chewing and stared at Lin Weimin.
He immediately became alert, thinking this was a life-threatening question.
"Girls are good, of course. I like girls the most. When they grow up, they will be my sweethearts."
Tao Huimin nodded with satisfaction and continued to eat.
After a while, she raised her head again and said, "Actually, boys are also good. Boys look like their mothers."
"Looks like you, he will definitely be handsome when he grows up."
Can't you be like me? I'm not handsome?
When they had almost finished eating, Lin Weimin ordered a few set meals to take with him.
The couple did not go home directly, but drove to the Shichahai courtyard.
In the evening, Shi's father and Cheng Ximi were preparing dinner, and Lin Weimin took the things he brought to the kitchen.
"Don't cook yet. I just happened to go out for dinner and brought you a few portions. Let's eat this tonight."
The lunch bag that Lin Weimin brought had the name and logo of KFC on it. Cheng Ximi asked, "Why did you spend money on this?"
“Try something new, try something new!”
With the things Lin Weimin brought, Cheng Ximi had to stop preparing dinner, put the food in bowls and plates, and put them on the table.
"Hui Min is pregnant and has been particularly fond of eating meat recently. You can try it too. KFC food is pretty good to eat once in a while."
The couple sat aside and watched Shi Tiesheng and his family eating KFC, which seemed a bit weird to them.
In particular, the two of them were staring at Shi Tiesheng, making Shi Tiesheng feel uncomfortable.
"Why are you two always looking at me like that?"
"It's nothing. Tiesheng, eat, eat quickly!" Lin Weimin urged.
Shi Tiesheng held the hamburger in his hand and asked hesitantly, "You didn't put drugs in it, did you?"
"You are an ungrateful person. This is something I brought specially for you." Lin Weimin said unhappily.
Shi Tiesheng looked at the hamburger, stared at Lin Weimin's concerned eyes helplessly and continued to eat it.
"Fried chicken really has a unique flavor, no wonder so many young people love it."
"Yes, this thing is especially suitable for young people's taste."
When Lin Weimin saw Shi Tiesheng taking a few bites of the hamburger, he finally felt at ease.
You ate the hamburger too, but you can't say that I cursed you.
The next day at work, Lin Weimin was working when a colleague brought someone to his office.
"Liberation? Why are you here?"
Lin Weimin was very happy to see Er Yuehe and pulled him to sit down.
"I'm here to deliver the manuscript." Er Yuehe said as he took out the manuscript of "Emperor Yongzheng".
Lin Weimin took the manuscript and flipped through it. "Have you just finished the first volume?"
"Yes, I plan to write three volumes."
Er Yue He was picked up by Lin Weimin from the doorstep of CCTV. After his work "Kangxi the Great" was published in "Contemporary", it received many praises from readers and also earned him a certain reputation in the literary world.
The four volumes of "Emperor Kangxi" contain 1.6 million words, which consumed Er Yuehe's several years of time and efforts.
This time, it took him another three years to complete one volume of "Emperor Yongzheng", which shows his piety and hard work in his creative attitude.
Er Yuehe finished talking to Lin Weimin about the process of writing "Emperor Yongzheng" and said, "The next two volumes should be written faster."
Lin Weimin knew that "Emperor Yongzheng" was the artistic peak of Er Yuehe's creative career. In criticizing the hypocrisy and corruption of the feudal system and official politics, this work surpassed most of his predecessors, including his own "Emperor Kangxi".
After chatting with Er Yuehe for more than half an hour, Lin Weimin called He Qizhi and asked him to come to his office.
He Qizhi was also very happy to see Er Yuehe, especially when he saw the manuscript he brought, which made him even happier.
After the experience of "Kangxi Emperor", Er Yuehe has become mature in his creation, and He Qizhi's expectations for "Yongzheng Emperor" have also been raised.
After get off work in the evening, when Lin Weimin just arrived at the door of his house, he saw a familiar figure.
"Why don't you come in?"
"I just got in. I thought you were about to get off work, so I waited for a while at the door." Feng Xiaogang said.
Lin Weimin led him into the living room. Feng Xiaogang was slightly surprised to see Tao's mother and Sister Sun.
"This is Huimin's mother, and this is Sister Sun."
"Hello, Auntie! Hello, Sister Sun!"
Feng Xiaogang greeted them and Sister Sun poured them a cup of tea. Feng Xiaogang said thank you.
"How's work going lately?"
"It's quite fulfilling. I have no time to rest every day."
After chatting for a while, Feng Xiaogang took a sip of tea, put down the cup, and took out an envelope from his bag.
"Teacher Lin, I'm here to pay you back."
"Do you have enough money? You don't have to pay back the money in a hurry!" said Lin Weimin.
Last year, Feng Xiaogang's daughter needed surgery, and Lin Weimin lent him 10,000 yuan.
With Feng Xiaogang's current income level, he would probably have to go without food or drink for two or three years to pay back the ten thousand yuan.
"You haven't spent all of your 10,000 yuan. You still have 4,000 yuan left. In the past six months or so, I've taken on a few jobs with Shuoye, Xiaolong and the others, helping to write scripts and lyrics, and I've made a small profit."
"That's good. In that case, I'll take the money."
"Teacher Lin, thank you!" Feng Xiaogang said sincerely.
"It's pointless to say these things. It just so happens that you are in trouble, it just so happens that we know each other, and it just so happens that I have extra money. I will help you if I can. More friends mean more ways."
Feng Xiaogang nodded sincerely. If someone else said this, Feng Xiaogang would think it hypocritical, but when Teacher Lin said this, he Feng Xiaogang agreed with it 100% of his heart.
The two chatted for a few more words. Feng Xiaogang was about to say goodbye, but Lin Weimin said, "Since you're here, have a meal before you leave."
Feng Xiaogang was overjoyed, but his mind told him not to agree immediately. "No, it's too much trouble for you. I have already prepared the meal at home."
"It's okay, just an extra set of bowls and chopsticks." Lin Weimin said as he stood up and prepared to eat.
Sister Sun was already setting the table for the food. Feng Xiaogang made a few polite remarks and only when he saw that Lin Weimin's attitude did not seem fake did he sit down at the table.
It was the first time that Feng Xiaogang had dinner at Lin Weimin's house. He was happy and excited, but also a little cautious and reserved. The scope of his conversation with Lin Weimin was limited to the art center and the Hippocampus Studio.
"I helped Director Xia Gang write a script some time ago. Xiaolong and I worked on it together. The leaders of Yanying Studio were very optimistic about it. It was originally called "Strange Face Has Sweet Dangers", but later it was changed to "Big Scatter" when it was finalized. The male lead is Youzi, and the female lead is Xu Fan, Wang Zhiwen's girlfriend."
Lin Weimin knew Xia Gang. It was he who took him there when he bought the apartment in Tuanjie Lake.
"Is that Xu Fan an actor from the People's Art Theatre?" Tao Huimin, who had been eating in silence, suddenly asked.
"Yes, she was just assigned to the People's Art Theatre this year."
"I've seen her several times. She's really pretty and has a good personality! In your Yanjing dialect, she's called Dasami."
Feng Xiaogang laughed and said, "She is indeed beautiful, like a fairy. Yuko and I looked like two monsters standing in front of her."
His words made the female comrades at the table laugh, and they all had a better impression of him.
"This is a good opportunity for you. Maybe you can take a step into the film industry." Lin Weimin said.
Feng Xiaogang waved his hands and said, "You flatter me too much. I don't dare to think about it. It would be great if I could get some royalties. Besides, I don't know what the future of the film industry will be like."
Since the 1980s, the domestic film market has been in a state of rapid growth, with a large number of excellent works being born every year. The best of them will even win awards overseas and bring glory to the country.
In the 1990s, a very strange scene appeared in the film market.
The box office has been growing year by year, breaking the 2 billion yuan mark last year, but the number of moviegoers has been declining.
The number of moviegoers decreased, but the box office increased, which is naturally because the ticket price has become more expensive.
The impact of severe inflation is all-encompassing, and the film industry as one of the many industries is not immune.
The ticket price increase seems to be good news for cinemas, film crews and film studios, but the problem is that the current film studios still make a living by selling copies.
Before the 1980s, there was a saying in the domestic film industry: "Whether you watch it or not, it costs 700,000!"
It means that under the unified purchase and sale policy, Chinese film companies would purchase films produced by major film studios across the country at a price of 700,000 yuan per color film and 600,000 yuan per black-and-white film. As for the profit or loss of the films, it had nothing to do with the studios.
This approach was not a problem before the reform and opening up, but by the end of the 1970s, film studios across the country could no longer sustain it.
In 1980, leaders of the eight major film studios across the country held a meeting at Yanying Studio to discuss with China Film Corporation the feasibility of selling films at high prices and high quality, in order to replace the then current model of China Film Corporation purchasing all films at a one-size-fits-all price regardless of cost or quality.
After this meeting, the price of each film rose to 900,000 yuan. Although the purchase price increased, the high quality and high price that the studios hoped for did not come true.
As prices continue to rise, the average cost of each film produced by the studios has become increasingly higher. By the end of the 1980s, the cost of each film produced by domestic studios had approached 1 million yuan, and many studios were in a prisoner's dilemma where they would lose money on every film they made.
And there is another problem under this policy, that is, the payment is not settled according to the contract. The film studio's film income must first be advanced by the China Film Corporation and then settled according to the actual number of copies ordered.
To put it bluntly, China Film Corporation took the copies from the film studios and sold them to cinemas in various places. If the film copies sold well, everyone was happy. But if the film copies did not sell well, the film studio had to refund the money to China Film. This situation made the unfavorable operations of the film studios in various places even worse.
And the most bizarre thing is that the copy fee collected by the production studio includes the copyright fee of the film. When the distribution company purchases the copy, it also obtains the copyright of the film. It is ridiculous that the copyright of the film that the production studio has worked so hard to produce has to be given to the distribution company.
Therefore, in the past two years, although the domestic film market box office has soared and seems to be flourishing, in fact it is just a fire boiling oil. Various hidden dangers have reached the point where they must be corrected. Even Feng Xiaogang, a layman, can see it clearly.
"Haha, talented people never need to complain about their environment. I have confidence in you!"
Lin Weimin's praise made Feng Xiaogang a little excited. He raised the teacup beside him and said, "Teacher Lin, I'll toast you with tea instead of wine!"
(End of this chapter)
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