Literary Master 1978

Looking at Lin Chaoyang's calm and composed state, Tao Yumo couldn't help but feel admiration and respect for him.

My brother-in-law just published an article, but it stirred up a pool of spring water in Chinese literature. Judging from the current situation, such a big discussion may also affect the cultural and ideological circles.

It can be said that he has achieved a height that many literati cannot reach in their entire lives.

"Brother-in-law, I heard from them that the "root-seeking literature" you proposed is actually not a new concept. Some of the works published in the past two years have the shadow of root-seeking literature."

Lin Chaoyang nodded slightly with a smile on his face.

"The popular trend of any kind of literary thought cannot be determined by a certain sentence of a certain person. It must sprout in the soil, slowly emerge under the nourishment of sunshine and rain, and will not flourish until a heavy rain pours down.

In fact, I am just making a summary. There are many pioneers.

For example, the "Chess King" that your sister handled last year and several short stories by Wang Zengqi all have the typical characteristics of root-seeking literature.

It doesn't matter who proposed this concept. What matters is that it can grab the reins of Chinese literature that is now running westward and pull it back, so that we can create and spread something that belongs to us."

Feeling Lin Chaoyang's sense of responsibility for the development of contemporary literature from his words, Tao Yumo admired her brother-in-law's pattern more and more.

She couldn't help but think of Hu Dong, whom she met today. Compared with a great writer like her brother-in-law who is truly responsible and has a pattern, that kind of person is just looking for various excuses to live a life of drunkenness and dreams for his own petty gains and losses.

It's really not worth laughing at!

While Tao Yumo was thinking, a cheerful voice suddenly came from the yard, "Brother-in-law!"

Lin Chaoyang looked in the direction of the voice and saw Du Feng walking towards the main house with high spirits and a bright smile on his face.

After entering the house and saying hello, Lin Chaoyang asked him, "Why did you have time to come here?"

Since they met during the Chinese New Year, it has been more than a month since I last saw Du Feng.

"I was busy with the video hall a while ago, and now I'm done, so why don't you come and sit down!"

Lin Chaoyang teased, "Okay, you're very efficient, and you're done now?"

"Okay, it's just a matter of opening." Du Feng's eyebrows were full of excitement when he talked about this.

During the Chinese New Year, he listened to Lin Chaoyang's advice and went to Guangdong for an inspection. There are now smuggled video recorders and videotapes there, and some people have already opened small video halls.

Du Feng went there specifically to experience it. The movies in Hong Kong are really exciting, martial arts movies, gambling movies, romance movies, ghost movies... The types are too rich, and they are better than those internal reference movies.

Not only that, there are also pornographic movies.

When Du Feng thought of the white and naked pictures he saw in the dim and closed small video room, his heart was itchy.

It was so exciting!

Du Feng brought back four 20-inch Hitachi color TVs and Sony video recorders from Guangdong this time, and also brought back 50 videotapes, most of which were Hong Kong movies, and there were also a few American movies.

It cost more than 17,000 yuan, which was the largest investment since he started his business.

In addition, Du Feng also rented a store of more than 200 square meters near Xidan, and used it as a screening venue after simple decoration.

After more than a month of hard work, his video room was about to open.

After listening to Du Feng's story over the past month, Lin Chaoyang joked, "So, now everything is ready, except for the east wind?"

Du Feng smiled and nodded, "Yes, it lacks a little east wind. Brother-in-law, write a word for my video hall!"

Lin Chaoyang was amused and confused, "Why do you ask someone to write a word for a video hall? You have to use neon signs, the more eye-catching the better, what's the point of me writing a word?"

"We are a cultural industry after all, I just want to get some literary air!" Du Feng said a little embarrassedly.

"It's not that I don't want to write for you, the video hall is really not suitable."

Du Feng smacked his lips with some regret, and said, "Brother-in-law, my video hall will open the day after tomorrow, remember to come and support it!"

"Okay, I will definitely come." Lin Chaoyang said happily.

Tao Yumo asked in a playful way, "What kind of movies do you show there?"

Hearing her question, Du Feng's face showed a proud look, "Hong Kong movies, American movies, you will know when you watch them, they are much better than domestic movies, they are not on the same level at all."

"Tsk! How good can they be?"

Tao Yumo's words were just a way of arguing, she just couldn't stand Du Feng's smug look.

In fact, she had also watched the internal reference movies, so she naturally knew that many foreign movies were indeed better than the current domestic movies.

"I thought about coming the day after tomorrow, I will open your eyes and not charge you for the ticket." Du Feng said proudly.

"Rare!" Tao Yumo looked down on him.

Two days later, Lin Chaoyang and his wife came to Xidan. Du Feng's video hall was opened in a hutong near Xidan. There was a Chinese bookstore here, and Lin Chaoyang would come here occasionally when he was looking for books.

The store in the hutong was definitely not as eye-catching as the one on the street, but at that time, the geographical location of the store for doing business was not as important and particular as it would be in later generations.

The house is an idle public housing unit that Du Feng rented from the street. Although private rental costs only a few cents per square meter in this era, the rent is not that high when it comes to self-employed individuals or industrial and commercial enterprises.

Du Feng's video hall of more than 200 square meters rents 380 yuan a month, which is 1.8 yuan per square meter per month.

In fact, this is logical, after all, it is used as a commercial building.

There was a little tail behind Lin Chaoyang and his wife. Tao Yumo looked at the front of the video hall with disdain, "His video hall looks too ordinary."

"You still want him to open a movie theater all of a sudden?" Lin Chaoyang said with a smile.

The front of the video hall looks very ordinary, just an ordinary street-side residence, with a double-leaf door that is about 1.2 meters wide and can barely accommodate two people at the same time.

On one side of the door hangs a sign of "Fenghui Video Hall", with a white background and red paint, which looks a bit simple.

There is also a blackboard at the door, which reads "Opening Rewards Full Tickets 10 cents".

The custom of sending flower baskets for opening a business will not be restored until a few years later. At this moment, Du Feng was standing at the door in a suit to welcome friends who came to support him. When he saw Lin Chaoyang and others coming, his face was full of smiles.

"Sister, brother-in-law, you are the only ones missing!"

Tao Yumo was very dissatisfied with his ignoring her, "Are your eyes used for breathing?"

"I opened my business today, and this is how you send blessings?"

"Humph!" Tao Yumo snorted coldly, and then reluctantly said: "Boss Du, good luck in opening the business!"

"That's more like it." Du Feng laughed.

Du Feng welcomed several people into the video hall. A small room was separated from the door as a ticket office. A young girl sat inside as a ticket seller. Opposite the ticket office was a blackboard with the show schedule written on it.

The video hall has a total of four rooms, which is equivalent to four screening rooms, but the audience that can be accommodated is far less than that of a movie theater. It can accommodate up to 80 people. If they squeeze in and sell some standing tickets, it is no problem to have more than 100 people.

Among the four screening rooms, three are ordinary screening rooms, and the seats are all equipped with stools. They try to save money, and the ticket prices range from 20 cents, 30 cents, and 50 cents.

There is also a screening room similar to a VIP room, where the seats all have backrests, and the starting price is 50 cents, and the most expensive front row ticket is one dollar.

Listening to Du Feng's introduction of his business, Tao Yumo said: "You are too loud. With these conditions, you dare to charge so much more than the cinema?"

"You can't say that. The hardware conditions of the cinema are good, but are the movies it shows better than mine? I show Hong Kong and American movies, which are good to watch!

You have to pay one dollar to watch the internal reference movies in Xiaoxitian, and you have to have connections.

My most expensive movie is only one dollar, and the movies I play are more exciting than those in the internal reference, which is absolutely worth the money."

What Du Feng said is not wrong. The differentiated competition between video halls and cinemas is actually in the source of movies. For audiences who are used to watching domestic movies, Hong Kong movies with a variety of themes and easy-to-understand stories are undoubtedly more attractive.

Tao Yumo said nonchalantly, "You'll know only after you've seen it!"

Du Feng smiled confidently, "There's a movie about to start, so it's a good opportunity for you to see it!"

He walked to the ticket office and shouted, "Xiao Zhou, get me four tickets for Hall 1."

The young girl inside handed out the tickets, which were somewhat similar to movie tickets in a movie theater, except that the paper was harder and the location and showtime were printed on it.

"If the ticket price is the same, there's no need to do this, just collect the money and go in." Du Feng led Lin Chaoyang and the other two and said as they walked.

"Is this recycled?" Lin Chaoyang asked.

Du Feng laughed and said, "Brother-in-law, you really have a keen eye. You have to collect it after you leave the movie. If you get one ticket for each show, it will be a considerable expense. I'm just trying to save some money!"

Listening to Du Feng and Lin Chaoyang chatting casually, Tao Yumo looked at the furnishings in the screening room.

The term "screening room" is of course a beautification. In fact, it is two connected rooms connected together, with an east-west span of about 7-8 meters and a north-south depth of about 5-6 meters.

The south-facing windows are tightly sealed, and there is only a small lamp in the room that emits dim light, which is very similar to the atmosphere of a movie theater.

The Hitachi color TV is placed on the cabinet against the wall in the north direction, and underneath is a square-headed machine, which should be a video recorder.

Tao Yumo and the others sat in the middle of the first row, less than one meter away from the TV, and they could see it very clearly.

She turned her head and looked at the last row, and estimated that the viewing effect must be very poor.

What a profiteer!

After a few people sat down for a minute or two, two or three more people came into the room one after another. They probably saw the video room open and came to try it out.

Du Feng's video room is quite formal, and there is a schedule for the screenings. When the time comes, someone will operate the TV and video recorder to start playing movies.

The words "Golden Harvest" appeared in the opening credits. The movie being screened was "Young Master Dragon", produced by Golden Harvest in 1982, one of Jackie Chan's early masterpieces, and the box office also broke into the top ten Hong Kong movies of the year.

The movie played for a few minutes, and Tao Yumo was staring at it, completely attracted by the pictures on TV, and didn't even notice Du Feng standing up.

Du Feng watched the movie with them for more than ten minutes, and whispered to Lin Chaoyang: "Brother-in-law, you guys watch first, I'll go out and greet my friends."

"Okay!"

More than an hour passed, and the movie ended. Lin Chaoyang and the other two walked out of the hall. Suddenly encountering strong light, Tao Yumo subconsciously squinted his eyes.

At this moment, Du Feng was still outside greeting his friends who came to support him. When he saw the three people coming out, he chatted with Lin Chaoyang and his wife for a few words, and then asked Tao Yumo:

"How is it? Is my movie good?"

Tao Yumo curled her lips, "It's just okay, not as good as "Shaolin Temple"!"

Du Feng laughed when he saw her being stubborn, "If I show movies like "Shaolin Temple" here, how much money will I make in a day!"