Chapter 323: Journey South 1: I can’t rate him
From now on: three chapters per day.
On April 17th, the second year of Shangzhou, Director Lu led the crew to Rising Sun. The entire cast and crew stayed at the hotel.
The electronic screen in front of the Xuri Hotel kept scrolling: Welcome the crew of the movie "Love in Tianshang Village" to our hotel.
People asked about the names of the main actors, but found out there were no popular stars. They also knew that one of the leading actors was Director Gu of the city's opera troupe, so they didn't take it seriously and regarded this kind of movie as a promotional film to accomplish a certain task.
The crew's arrival didn't cause a commotion. It was just a group of local art lovers who gathered around the crew. After all, some minor roles had to be cast locally.
For example, Jiang Yiwei, Xie Yan, Zuo Qingfen, Monkey Brother, Xiang Ping and others came to the hotel to find me that day, and I introduced them to Director Lu and Bai Yun one by one.
Director Lu said that he would try his best to arrange some roles.
I said, “Try to let them show their faces so that when they write their bios later, they can write that they have acted in ‘Love in the Sky Village’.
If the film won an award, they would write - played so-and-so in the award-winning blockbuster film "Love in the Sky Village."
Director Lu laughed and said, "Teacher Wan will push his luck. I understand your request. Even if it's a small role, I will give them a name."
The next day, Director Lu and a cameraman were supposed to go to the Tianwa crew to check out the filming location, but it turned out to be a huge team.
Lao Xiao led the team, and Jiang Yiwei, Xie Yan, Zuo Qingfen, Monkey Brother, Xiang Ping and others accompanied them to climb the mountain together.
I didn't go. I went home and discussed my business trip with my family.
I told Xiaolin in advance, and she was already used to it. During lunch, I told my parents that I wanted to go abroad and travel around Southeast Asia.
My mother said, "You are so successful now. You are going abroad."
My father said, "Going abroad is commonplace now. Shanhong went on official business. Nowadays, ordinary people can go anywhere as long as they have money."
When my mother heard how many countries I was going to visit, she asked, "Should we bring some translators?"
I smiled and said, "When I go abroad, I basically interact with Chinese people. There are quite a lot of Chinese people in Southeast Asia."
My father added: "Old men and women are going abroad, what are you worried about?"
I called my brother-in-law again, explained the situation, and asked him to come to our house more often regardless of whether he was busy or not.
My brother-in-law said, "Don't worry, go ahead. Send us more photos and we'll follow you along the way."
Mr. Chen decided that the person to be sent out was: Secretary Ma. Needless to say, he was the best at handling various formalities, arranging food and accommodation, and contacting and running errands.
Next is Ning Jing. As I read on, I guess I've forgotten who Ning Jing is. She's the key account manager who replaced Qing Ruo.
Before the trip, the four of us had a small meeting.
Mr. Chen said, "This trip is mainly to explore business opportunities. We will do more observation and listening. Our itinerary includes visits to Mong Cai and Hanoi in Vietnam, and then to Boten in Laos. We don't have a specific mission, just to see and meet different people."
If we go to Vietnam, there is a Chinese person in charge of reception, named Hongzhi. If we go to Boten, Shanhong’s friend Mr. Murong will be in charge of the affairs there.”
On April 20th, we set off.
First take the train to Nanning.
It was already afternoon when we arrived in Nanning. At the exit, a young man holding a sign greeted us.
After we met, Mr. Chen introduced me to this young man in his thirties as Qiao Hongzhi. Mr. Chen didn't tell me what Qiao Hongzhi had done in the past or what he was doing now. Perhaps he was testing my ability to judge people.
I habitually looked at this enthusiastic stranger: he was of medium height, with a dark face, a forward-sloping forehead, a thin face, small eyes, a wide and flat nose, and a thin figure. At first glance, I could tell that he was a typical native of Guangdong and Guangxi.
"Call me Hongzhi. That's what everyone calls me." He enthusiastically led us out of the station and into a seven-seater commercial vehicle.
The small destination of this trip is Dongxing.
Along the way, Hongzhi introduced Dongxing and Mong Cai across the street.
We checked into the Vienna Hotel in Dongxing that night. Mr. Chen told me that he had come to Dongxing in the 1990s and started a plastics business with his cousin. He made a fortune and then returned to Shangzhou to start a building materials business.
He said, “Let’s go for a walk.”
I followed him out and walked all the way. He was looking for his former rental place - Dongxing Aquatic Guesthouse.
But Dongxing has undergone earth-shaking changes. He finally stopped at a place and said, "Here, everything has changed."
He recalled that he rented three rooms in the Aquatic Products Guesthouse, which were filled with plastic products and used a kerosene stove for cooking.
Every day, Vietnamese people from the other side of the river came to look at the goods. At that time, he could not speak Vietnamese, so he gestured and pressed numbers on the calculator.
"By the numbers, do you mean bargaining?"
"Yes, I make an offer, press a number, and the other party haggles and presses a number, and we gesture back and forth like this. Sometimes the deal is done quickly, and sometimes we gesture for a long time but still don't get the deal done."
We walked south from the former Aquatic Products Guesthouse. Mr. Chen introduced the shops on both sides of the street to me as we walked, and lamented that everything had changed.
As we talked, we arrived at the Beilun River, the boundary river between China and Vietnam.
We found a place to rest and sat on wooden chairs. Mr. Chen then asked me, "What do you think of this Hongzhi? Just go with your intuition."
I thought about it and said, "A sociable person."
The reason I say this is because I am not sure what role Hongzhi plays.
Is he Mr. Chen’s partner, or is he just an introducer?
Mr. Chen said, "Yes, his family is from Dongxing and he has many friends in Hanoi. He will introduce some of his friends to us."
"How did you get to know him?"
"We were introduced by a friend. Didn't I go to Xi'an last year? It was in Xi'an that a friend introduced me to him."
"Oh——" I responded.
I thought to myself, I have a way, I can test this person’s strength tomorrow.
We sat for a while and then slowly walked back to the hotel.
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