Reborn in 1977

Chapter 708: No Need to Promote

Having a ticket in hand means not being in a hurry.

Unlike the anxious and restless audience outside without tickets, the crowd entering with tickets was orderly and solemn, finding their seats after entering.

Chen Fan and the two girls were also looking for their seats. Movie tickets that could be used to curry favor were never in bad locations.

Jiang Lili looked at the seats with the tickets in her hand, and after checking a few rows, she quickly locked onto the coordinates, pulling Chen Fan's sleeve and walking quickly.

Further in, further in, sit down. The screen was right in front, no need to look up, and right in the center. The location was the best in the entire theater.

The three seats were connected, with Jiang Lili on the inside. Chen Fan, who was being pulled by her, sat in the middle, and Jiang Tiantian was to Chen Fan's left.

Chen Fan looked left and right, feeling something was wrong. He tugged at Jiang Lili's sleeve, "Let's switch seats."

Jiang Lili looked at the girl to her right who had pressed down the seat board and sat down. Turning her head back, her eyes held a hint of doubt, "Do you know her?"

Chen Fan silently turned his head and saw that there was also a girl to Jiang Tiantian's left... What a coincidence?

Forget it, let's watch the movie.

Seeing him sit down, Jiang Lili immediately lowered her head and chuckled, then put the bag in her hand on her lap, taking out one item after another.

Sunflower seeds, peanuts, and soda.

Jiang Tiantian on the left was also carrying a small basket, which contained a thermos of hot water, and a few packages of snacks and braised meat. These were all brought for Chen Fan, as the two sisters were worried that the movie would be too long and he might get hungry.

As for the two little monkeys and two raccoon cats, they were naturally left at home, and Chen Fan even warned them not to play with fire, otherwise they would wet the bed at night, scaring the four little fellows so much that they stayed far away from the fireplace even when warming themselves.

There were originally three gyrfalcons, but they were just wild children, refusing to come home until the sun went down every day, so Chen Fan naturally couldn't be bothered with them.

The two sisters' actions were just a start. When the surrounding people saw it, they all took out their own sunflower seeds... But some people started to crack them, while others just held them in their hands without moving.

The movie was at least an hour and a half long, and the sunflower seeds were limited. Once they were cracked, they would be gone, so of course they had to be eaten at crucial moments.

A few minutes later, a beam of white light shot towards the screen. On the big screen, a rectangular shadow appeared.

Chen Fan was very surprised. It was actually a widescreen movie?

A big deal!

Originally, the entire theater had just quieted down, but as soon as the light screen appeared, there was an instant uproar again.

Jiang Lili was also very curious. She leaned close to Chen Fan and asked in a low voice, "Why is this light screen so wide? It's different from the movies I've seen before."

Chen Fan explained, "This is called a widescreen movie. It was originally invented by the French physicist Henri Jacques Chrétien to solve the problem of tank visibility. He developed a deformed lens, and later found that it could be applied to film equipment. At that time, he also filmed an experimental widescreen movie.

However, due to cost and technical reasons, it was resisted by film practitioners at the time and was never applied.

Later, in the 1950s, television gradually became popular in the West, and film companies applied this technology to movies in order to win over audiences.

The earliest movie theater in China to install widescreen equipment was the Shanghai Grand Cinema, in 1958. At that time, it was also to screen the widescreen movie 'The Veteran's New Story' produced by the Shanghai Film Studio. I didn't expect the Shanghai Film Studio to use it in the filming of 'The Ferryman' this time.

Filming a widescreen movie requires 35mm color film, and the Shanghai Film Studio has really spared no expense this time."

At this moment, Chen Fan suddenly remembered that the movie 'Yunhu Love' also used 35mm color film. Could it also be a widescreen movie?

Jiang Lili smiled happily, "Since this technology is so precious, it certainly won't be used casually. At least the script has to be good."

She didn't understand any widescreen technology, she only knew that this movie was adapted from a novel written by Chen Fan. The more amazing the filming technology, the more it meant that Chen Fan's work was valued.

This is called sharing the glory.

After a brief uproar, the screen showed a picture, and the movie was about to begin.

The scene quickly quieted down.

A few lines of subtitles flashed by, one of which stood alone: This film is adapted from the famous writer Chen Fan's work of the same name.

This even brought a round of applause.

Chen Fan was a little strange, what were they applauding for here?

Then he heard a few people in the front and back rows talking in low voices, talking about the paper he had just published. Only then did he smile in realization.

In this day and age, those who could afford to go to the cinema were basically young workers or college students. Nowadays, movie tickets cost between 10 and 30 cents. For example, today's movie, because it is widescreen and is playing at the Shanghai Art Theater, which has better facilities, the ticket price is set at 25 cents.

Moreover, because good movie tickets are hard to come by, it has given rise to scalped tickets.

The price of scalped tickets is even more ridiculously expensive.

For example, last year a small Japanese movie 'Looking at the Homeland' was introduced. When it was screened in the capital, the ticket price was only 15 cents, but scalped tickets were selling for two yuan, and there was still more demand than supply.

If Chen Fan didn't watch this movie today and took the tickets to sell at the door, selling three tickets for five yuan would definitely be snapped up. If he was even more unscrupulous, selling them for 10 yuan wouldn't be impossible!

With this movie ticket price, most people with elderly parents and young children would not spend the money. Students who have not yet gone to college probably don't have this money either.

So only those literary youths who have both wages or subsidies, and time and sentiment, would be willing to spend the money to watch a movie.

So it is only natural that there are a few college students around.

And Chen Fan has been running around several universities during this time, and is at the peak of his popularity among students, so it is very natural for them to applaud spontaneously when they see Chen Fan's name.

After the applause, the movie officially began.

The first scene was the beautiful Jiangnan water town.

The camera starts from an ancient town, winding forward along a small river, then the camera speeds up, flashes past a lake, and then enters another wide waterway.

A black awning boat crosses the small river.

The camera zooms in again, and a handsome face occupies half of the screen.

Immediately, someone below applauded and cheered, "It's He Lin, He Lin!"

That enthusiasm is not inferior to the star-chasing tribe of later generations.

In fact, there are portraits and names of He Lin on the posters outside, but now that they see the character coming out, they are just a little excited.

Listening to the noise in the theater, Jiang Lili suddenly turned around, pulled Chen Fan's sleeve, and whispered, "Not as good-looking as you."

Chen Fan turned his head to look at her, his eyes full of smiles.

But he was a little surprised in his heart, when did this girl become so bold?

She used to blush when she said a word, but today she dared to show her love in this kind of occasion.

Although there was noise all around and no one could hear her, it was still very abnormal.

But it was still very happy to hear, especially since the girl was still blushing, but her eyes were full of heat, looking particularly cute.

He really wanted to touch her head, but after all, this was a public place. Pulling her sleeve was acceptable, but head-patting would not be okay.

If you're so capable, take someone out, turn into an alley, hide behind a big tree, and as long as no one sees, even a kiss is fine.

So, they could only secretly hold hands. Anyway, being below, they weren't afraid of being seen.

As the movie continued, the plot gradually unfolded before the audience.

Overall, it basically remained consistent with the original plot, but it was given a dramatic treatment, making it seem more vivid on the screen.

Before long, the female lead also appeared.

She wasn't a newcomer, but her current fame wasn't very high, at least not as high as He Lin's.

But in later generations, almost everyone knew her. That was Pan Hong.

When she appeared, there was no applause, only some people whispering.

Under the cover of the whispers, Chen Fan held Jiang Lili's hand and whispered, "She's not as pretty as you."

Jiang Lili's complexion, which had just recovered, flushed again, turning red all the way to her ears.

Chen Fan held her hand, not letting go, and looked at the big screen with a somewhat complicated expression.

Pan Hong also suffered a lot back then.

Her original name was Liu Rong, but in her childhood, because her father was classified as a rightist, she chose to divorce and separate from her family to avoid implicating them. After that, she followed her mother, changed to her mother's surname, and her name became Pan Hong.

But after the separation, her father eventually chose to end his own life.

Pan Hong also couldn't continue her studies after graduating from junior high school and was assigned to work as a worker on a farm until the Shanghai Theater Academy enrolled students in 1973. She was admitted to the acting department, which was considered an escape from her suffering.

This experience was indeed a bit similar to the two Jiang sisters.

It was just that Shen Xueyi chose to stand with her husband from beginning to end. Even though the two sisters suffered a lot, they never complained about their father. Later, they were able to see the light of day again, which was considered a hard-earned success.

Thoughts flashed through his mind in just a few seconds.

There were too many such things in those years, and it wasn't just Pan Hong and the Jiang sisters, so there was no need to think too much about them.

This movie was a bit long, a full 110 minutes, which was much longer than ordinary feature films.

The length also had its advantages, which was that it basically showed all the content from the original work, which could be considered a complete success.

This gave Chen Fan more confidence in the second film, "Yunhu Love."

After the movie ended, Chen Fan led the way, taking the two sisters home.

On the way back, Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian were still discussing the plot. Chen Fan focused on driving, occasionally responding with a few words.

Amidst the chatter, they soon returned home.

Opening the door and entering the house, the two little monkeys were sitting on the coffee table, with a pile of hazelnuts in front of them. It was hard to believe that they had almost finished shelling them.

The two raccoon cats were squatting under the coffee table, looking up at them, as if waiting to be fed.

When the door opened and the owner came in, the four little guys immediately ran over, vying for a hug.

The two sisters put their things aside, picked up two each, teased them for a while, turned around and put them on the coffee table, and were about to make tea.

Chen Fan was about to go upstairs to change his clothes when the phone in the living room suddenly rang.

He had no choice but to turn around and answer the phone, "Hello, who is this?"

He Qingsheng's voice came from the receiver, "You're really hard to find. I've been calling all day, and I've only just gotten through."

Hearing it was him, a smile appeared on Chen Fan's face. He turned around and sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and slumped on the sofa, laughing, "Then you're quite lucky. I just got back from outside. If the call had gone through two minutes earlier, this opportunity would have been wasted."

Hearing him say this, He Qingsheng had no choice but to scratch his head, "When will this phone problem end?"

Hearing this, Chen Fan suddenly had an idea and smiled, "Actually, it's easy to solve. Didn't the news report that the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has reached an agreement with the American WMC company to purchase their ten-thousand-line program-controlled switch? With this thing, there's no need for manual switching, and it can simultaneously allocate calls for ten thousand telephones.

How many telephones are there in a city now? The situation of ten thousand telephones calling at the same time is even rarer. As long as the provincial capital purchases this program-controlled switch, this telephone problem can basically be considered solved."

He Qingsheng snorted twice, "That sounds nice, purchasing a program-controlled switch. Do you think it's that simple? I heard that such a machine costs at least 4 million US dollars. Not to mention where to apply for so much foreign exchange, even if it's a seller's credit method, you can't contact that company.

There are so many cities in the country, more than 300 special zones. Which place doesn't want to use such a machine to solve the communication problem? What's more, they can pay after using it first. The key is that there are more monks than porridge, not enough!"

Chen Fan smacked his lips and chuckled, "Listening to you, you should know someone from the Provincial Telephone Bureau, right?"

Could it be that there is also a member of the Writers Association working in the Telephone Bureau?

At the same time, a thought flashed through his mind, thinking, isn't it at least 3 million US dollars? Why does it cost more than 4 million?

In the next second, he realized, oh, his uncle must have added the profit.

He has to repay the bank loan and provide after-sales service, adding more than one million... truly black!

Then he heard He Qingsheng say, "Hmph, of course I know him. My son works in the Telephone Bureau. I have to listen to him nagging every day, which gives me a headache."

Chen Fan smacked his lips, "Is that such a coincidence?"

He Qingsheng was slightly stunned, "What's such a coincidence?"

Chen Fan, "I mean, can he decide on the purchase of the switch?"

He Qingsheng frowned slightly, "I didn't get that from what you just said."

After a pause, he still said, "This isn't a question of whether he can decide, but their director has already spoken. Whoever can contact this WMC company first and get the machine first will be promoted by one rank and have their salary increased by two levels. What do you think?!"

Chen Fan chuckled, "Is that so? Then isn't that a coincidence? The general manager of this WMC company is actually someone you know."

He Qingsheng was originally sitting in the office. Hearing this, he immediately stood up, "Who?"

Chen Fan, "My uncle."

He Qingsheng, "..."

In the next second, he slapped his forehead, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Chen Fan, "He only decided to do this business not long ago, and I didn't know that Jiangnan Province wanted this equipment. How could I tell you? I can't go door-to-door to sell it, can I?"

At this time, He Qingsheng's face was already beaming, "There's no need to go door-to-door to sell it. As long as you release this news, I'm afraid you'll be bothered to death!"

Hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine, thinking that this was indeed possible.

This news can't be hidden for long. Sooner or later, it will spread. If it's really like what He Qingsheng said, will there be fewer people looking for him at that time?

No, he has to contact his uncle quickly and let him set up an office as soon as possible so that he can push people over there.