Back to 80: My literary life

Chapter 54 054 Secretary Li’s Donkey (Please bookmark and vote for further reading)

At this time, Fang Minghua and Wu Tianmin were checking the props layout at the filming location.

Gansu Province is extremely cold in December, and the northwest wind is blowing very hard. Especially today, the wind is biting.

It's such a cold day that even the villagers don't go out and stay warm on the Kang at home. But Fang Minghua was pulled to the east end of the village by Wu Tianmin, saying that filming would officially start tomorrow. As the author of the novel and the screenwriter, let's see if the scene layout is the same as what you described in the book?
  This house is even worse than described in the book.

Lifestyle Production rented it from a villager's house for 20 yuan. It is said that many villagers were willing to rent it for the 20 yuan, and finally the production director chose this house.

Of course, some props had to be arranged in the yard and in the room. For example, the donkey grazing leisurely in the yard was rented from the party secretary Li Defu's house.

The donkey is well-raised, fat and strong.

Li Defu was also at the scene. Looking at his donkey, he suddenly remembered something and ran out. Not long after, he hurried back with a straw curtain and put it on the donkey at the edge of the yard.

He was still muttering: "It's such a cold day, don't let my donkey freeze to death."

"Zhishu Li, you think this donkey is so valuable." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Of course, in our area, this donkey is the treasure of the family. It can plow fields, pull carts, or pull mills. Which one can do without it?"

"As expected, people said that it is busier than the donkeys in the production team." Fang Minghua said with emotion.

Unexpectedly, Secretary Li shook his head: "You are wrong. Although donkeys are capable of working, they should not be too tired. They are usually only allowed to work for 6 to 8 hours, and they must be managed well and fed well.

"In order to ensure that the donkeys don't get sick, when I was the production team leader, I often used plant ash to clean dirt and sterilize the donkeys. Moreover, the plant ash cannot be used directly and has to be soaked for more than two hours."

Fang Minghua was shocked after hearing this

Oh my god, this treatment.

The social animals of later generations are really not as well treated as the donkeys of the production team.

When he mentioned donkeys, Li Defu talked more. Finally he said with a smile that when he was in the production team, if the work points were given to donkeys, they would definitely be higher than the work points of a male laborer.

Give the donkey work points?

When Fang Minghua heard this, he immediately became interested and asked, "Party Secretary Li, does the production team record work points for donkeys?"

"How is that possible? The production team had very strict management in the past two years. Work points were recorded for the donkeys. How to use them?!" Li Defu said: "But, in the old society, just in our county, I heard such a story. "

"What story?"

"You know there is a drought and water shortage in our area. One school raised a donkey to carry water, but the money for raising the donkey became a problem. The superiors would not allocate the money to the school, so the principal regarded the donkey as a A teacher, if you ask for money from the superior, isn’t this just like a donkey getting a salary?”

"Is this really happening?!" Fang Minghua was surprised when he heard this.

"I also heard from others. Later I heard that the people above found out and the principal was dismissed. Don't tell me that I met that principal when I was young. He was a good man. He came from a big place and came to our poor place. Teach.”

So the movie "Donkey Gets Water" is telling the truth?

But there is a saying that no matter how absurd things are in movies and TV shows, can they still be traced in reality?

Li Defu saw that his precious donkey was fine and went home leisurely. Fang Minghua stayed there for a while and it was too cold. After saying hello to Wu Tianmin, he put his hands in his sleeves and walked towards the village committee.

After leaving the yard and walking a few steps on the village path, I heard a donkey braying behind me. When I turned around, I saw an old man driving a donkey cart coming towards me. He quickly gave way.

"Comrade, how can I get to the Lijiacun brigade headquarters?" A woman's voice turned out to be standard Mandarin.

Fang Minghua looked sideways and saw a woman sitting huddled behind the donkey cart.

She was wrapped in a very ordinary green military coat and a red scarf, and the wind and sand in the sky could not hide her bright white teeth.

Zhu Lin!

The king of daughter country!
  Fang Minghua recognized it.

It is indeed more beautiful than what I saw online before.

What is the beauty of the prosperous age?

I guess this is it? But these thoughts were just a passing thought. He looked at Zhu Lin and said politely: "Are you Comrade Zhu Lin? My name is Fang Minghua, and I came here with Director Wu."

"So you are Writer Fang? You are younger than I thought." Zhu Lin smiled.

You are more beautiful than I imagined.
  Of course this cannot be said.

He told Zhu Lin's brigade headquarters to just keep going forward and turn a corner, and I will go back and take you there.

Zhu Lin quickly jumped out of the car and paid the fare to the old man driving the bus. Fang Minghua helped him carry the travel bag and walked forward.

"Writer Fang, where is Director Wu?" Zhu Lin asked.

"I'm looking at the shooting location at the east end of the village. Comrade Zhu Lin, don't call me writer Fang, just call me Xiao Fang."

"Writer Xiao Fang, since Director Wu is at the shooting location, I also want to go and have a look. Can you take me there?"

Were all these actors and directors so dedicated in the 1980s?
  In this case, Fang Minghua took her to the courtyard just now.

When Zhu Lin arrived, Wu Tianmin asked her a few concerned questions and immediately told her about tomorrow's filming work.

Okay, let's talk.

Fang Minghua returned to the village committee alone.

Towards evening, Li Baotian also came over in a donkey cart.

Li Baotian is already in his thirties and is a late bloomer. He was admitted to the Chinese Opera in his early thirties. Now he is also wearing a green army coat, and his thin face does not have the squinting and smiling look that Liu Luoguo will give people in later generations. Instead, he looks a little dull.

Damn it, isn't this what a horse looks like?

It seems that Wu Tianmin really knows how to choose actors.

After arranging accommodation, Wu Tianmin convened the two main actors, photographers, lighting, etc. for a meeting in a small room to discuss the plot for tomorrow's shooting.

The photographer is a middle-aged man with a surname of Yang and Chinese name. Wu Tianmin’s golden partner Lao Mouzi is still studying at Yandian.

Fang Minghua discovered that Li Baotian talked more and had a lively discussion with Wu Tianmin, while Zhu Lin talked much less. While thinking, he just took a small notebook and carefully recorded everyone's speeches.

Fang Minghua just listened quietly.

We don’t know how to make movies, so don’t mess with it
  At night, Fang Minghua and Wu Tianmin slept on the same kang.

The north wind blew in the first half of the night, and heavy snow fell like goose feathers in the second half of the night. In the morning, Fang Minghua got up, put on his clothes, and opened the door to take a look.

Oh, there is a vast expanse of white everywhere.

It really echoes the great man’s words:

Dressed in red and plain, it is particularly enchanting.

But it's really cold
  The crew got up one after another, and the yard started to get lively. The conditions were relatively difficult and not very particular. Fang Minghua took a towel basin and a toothbrush basin, and stood by the yard wall. He filled up hot water to brush his teeth and wash his face, and then took an enamel bowl. Go to the kitchen to cook.

Two steamed buns, a bowl of porridge, and not even pickles. From the director to the general staff, all men and women were treated equally.

Fang Minghua queued up to prepare a meal, then simply came to the gate of the village committee, squatted on the roadside with a steamed bun and a bowl of porridge, and started to eat hungrily, only to find that Zhu Lin was also walking towards him with a bowl in his hand.

"Sister Zhu Lin. Good morning!" Fang Minghua took the initiative to greet her.

"Good morning!" Zhu Lin also followed the local customs and called Fang Minghua the same as everyone else: "Xiao Fang, I have a play today. I want to talk to you about how to play the role of Cao Guiying well."

Fang Minghua was a little surprised when he heard this: "Sister Zhu Lin, didn't you communicate with Director Wu for a long time yesterday? Director Wu said everything? I think everything he said was very good."

"I know, and I also want to hear your opinion. After all, you are the author of the novel. I think you have a deeper understanding of this character."

That's right.

Seeing the other party's sincere eyes, Fang Minghua pondered for a moment and suddenly said: "Sister Zhu Lin, have you ever acted in a play?"

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  (End of this chapter)