these years

That era has passed, and everything that belongs to that era no longer exists.

——Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love"

41. Please answer 1988

"This is my Chinese version of "Please Answer 1988" based on your experiences over the years, Mr. Wang! What do you think?" A bearded man asked earnestly, holding a computer in his hand.

Opposite him, Wang Lijun looked psychedelic, as if he was still immersed in the story.His legs were bare, he was wearing a nightgown, he was holding a cigarette between his fingers, and when his hand was loose, the ash fell on his calf.

A burst of scorching heat brought Wang Lijun back to the real world, he hurriedly patted his calf, and said as if waking up from a dream.

"Xiaomei, where did you collect all your information?"

The bearded man counted on his fingers: "In order to write this script, I visited a lot of your relatives and friends! Like Qiao Weidong Qiao Dao, my master Du Yibing, Zhong Wei Honghong, Qiu Jianzhu, and some of your friends in Hong Kong , I interviewed them one by one, and according to their memories of the year, I reconstructed this story one by one, what do you think!"

Wang Lijun tilted his head and thought for a while, then shook his head after thinking about it.He said, "Mei Jieben, don't you think your story is too magical and realistic?"

Mei Jieben smacked her lips: "Look, Mr. Wang, it's mainly a patchwork story, and the narrator's perspectives are different; in addition, this is the first perspective from which Mr. Qiao said he wanted to give you a surprise and didn't interview you. I feel that the perspective of the hero of the story is very narrow, so some weirdness is unavoidable-but it doesn't matter! No, we can change it."

Wang Lijun raised his hand to put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray.In an instant, the red light was annihilated, crushed into ashes, and a few wisps of white smoke flew around.

He waved his hand and said, "I'm not talking about that. Look at the elements of the script yourself. There are crimes, pornography, and cross-strait relations, which are all very sensitive! Writing a script is something you dare not touch. It's not me Say, when did you start to learn how to write scripts? Don’t you know that lines are separated by mountains? Screenwriting is a serious matter, and you can settle it once you write online novels?”

Mei Jieben's lips twitched: "Every writer wants to put his own work on the screen. What's wrong with me writing a script? I will pay attention to the issue of harmonious filming—" When he said this, he chanted words like a treasure Like, "It's like killing a person with at most two knives, and the blood is so pink that it can be painted on the bed|scene as soon as the two of them hug each other. Be careful..."

Wang Lijun slapped his forehead, groaned, and said, "Then you can see how to change it yourself. I can't control Qiao Weidong's affairs."

After saying that, he got up and walked to the window, watching the sunset by himself.

At this time, the outside of the window is gray and yellow, which means that the sunset in Beijing is about to set.Wang Lijun doesn't like viewing the scenery here very much, because of the smog, he can't see clearly.It’s not as good as the house in Hong Kong, which stands on the top of Taiping Mountain with its back to the mountains and the sea. I asked a Feng Shui master to find out that it is where the dragon veins of Hong Kong are.But now that he has returned to the mainland to earn food, the house in Hong Kong has been neglected for a long time, and he really misses it.That was his first house.

Mei Jieben sat on the sofa watching him, measuring his silhouette in the sunset, tall and narrow, embedded in the window, like an oil painting.Seeing this scene, this third-rate Internet writer became interested, and quickly turned on the computer to record: "At this time, the setting sun was burning by Wang Lijun's ears. It's like Napoleon's posture is quite elegant, as if looking down on the world."

Wang Lijun smoked for a while, turned around after a while, and was startled by Mei Jieben, who was writing vigorously.He said, "Why are you still here, man? Pack up and go back quickly."

Mei Jieben clasped the laptop screen with one hand, hesitantly said: "The script——"

Wang Lijun said: "Hey, pay more attention to yourself. When you have time, ask Qiao Weidong to help you grasp the scale. Remember to urge your master to think about how to shoot. Don't eat, drink, whore and gamble every day and forget about business."

Mei Jieben closed the computer and said happily, "Hey!"

Mei Jieben left.He organized his words as he walked, secretly swearing in his heart that with such a good story, he was bound to write a turbulent rivers and lakes legend.

It all started at the end of last year, that is, in November 1988, a TV series called "Reply [-]" was released in South Korea.This TV series evoked the precious memories of the post-[-]s generation including Mei Jieben, and set off a retro storm at home and abroad.

On this occasion, a subordinate of the company suggested to Qiao Weidong that we could make a Chinese version of "Please Answer 1988" and just film our own nostalgic stories.

Qiao Weidong thought for a while, and readily agreed.He thought it was a good opportunity.

After the plan was finalized, the think tank discussed and discussed, and the prototype of the story finally fell on Wang Lijun.In their copywriting, it is written that in the 80s, Hong Kong and Taiwan film stars emerged in large numbers.An era is a river and lake, and in that river and lake, Wang Lijun is a well-deserved leader.With the support of heroes from all walks of life, he relied on his courage to stand alone in the world at a young age——

The title of this story is tentatively set as "These Years".

Regarding Qiao Weidong's "surprise", although Wang Lijun had criticisms, he was noncommittal.After all, the family is big right now, and there are hundreds of thousands of people in the company waiting to start work. Only when a project is launched can everyone have food; , Spending money like running water, thinking of this, one head and two big.

It's all Zhong Weihong's fault.Wang Lijun snuffed out another cigarette, feeling angry.

Since the return of Hong Kong, Jin Rulin served his sentence, and Zhong Weihong took over his company in the name of his wife.She is good at socializing and loves to invest. She does everything from entertainment, real estate and food, and her business is flourishing.After the turn of the millennium, her worth once topped the list of the richest women in Asia.

It's a pity that during the subprime mortgage crisis in [-], she held a large number of subprime debt financial products, and her investment failed completely, and she was unable to save herself.After her company declared bankruptcy in one fell swoop, it returned to before liberation overnight, and even Wang Lijun and Qiao Weidong's investment was all in vain, leaving only the mainland company unaffected.Therefore, Wang Lijun and Qiao Weidong took on the task of transforming the mainland company, and they will work together to shift the industry's focus from Hong Kong to the mainland.Over the years, after washing and washing, from money to people, they are still tied together.

In mainland China, this company, which originally had only one artist, Wang Lijun, has gone through earth-shaking structural reforms, and finally got on the right track and became a serious film and television production company.Ordinarily, Wang Lijun relied on his past achievements, now should be the time to retire early and enjoy life.Now I can only continue to show my face and keep supporting newcomers to keep the company alive. I am more tired than when I was in my twenties.

Wang Lijun grabbed the ashtray, dumped the contents into the trash can, got up, patted on his nightgown, and walked into the kitchen.

He dug out an apple from the refrigerator and planned to peel it and eat it.While rinsing the apple, he thought, it's time to schedule Kang Xiaofei's schedule. In "These Years", he planned to push Kang Xiaofei to be the leading actor. Such a big drama made others feel uneasy.After returning for so long, he still has a prejudice against mainland actors, feeling that they are far less dedicated than Hong Kong people.Kang Xiaofei is a native of Hong Kong, with a stable personality, dedicated to his work and fun in the community, and most importantly, he is not the same handsome as Wang Lijun.The blessing of many advantages made him the number one celebrity under Wang Lijun, and Wang Lijun relied heavily on him.

Wang Lijun peeled the apple and thought about it, but in the end he was so dizzy with so many thoughts that he simply stopped thinking about it.He just bites the apple hard, complaining in his heart about the trouble Qiao Weidong caused him.

In these years, he and Qiao Weidong were not without affection.Especially when he was in his early thirties, he was filming in mainland China as a superstar returned from Hong Kong. Whenever his movie was broadcast, it was always crowded with thousands of people.At that time, the two of them were at home, other than counting money, they were making out.Qiao Weidong worked like he was desperate, and when he was done, he leaned against the head of the bed and hugged Wang Lijun in his arms, and the two of them looked at the balance in the passbook again to make sure that the amount was not bad. from.

But later on, most people of the same age got married and had children, so the relationship inevitably seemed to be neither awkward nor embarrassing.Wang Lijun will never forget the look Zhang Xuejun gave when he hugged Qiao Weidong at the celebration banquet when he won his first foreign award that year.

If it were someone else, maybe he would have missed that look.But Wang Lijun is as sensitive as sister Lin, so how could he not notice it.He saw Zhang Xuejun quickly put away his sneering smile, and changed into that kind-faced, dimpled smile, and congratulated him again and again.

Wang Lijun somewhat understood what that meant.Zhang Xuejun got married a long time ago and gave birth to a big fat boy. His buddies are basically like this, and some of them have both children.Most of the topics they talked about at the wine table were childbearing, benefiting the country and the people.In Zhang Xuejun's view, no matter how beautiful, capable, and rich he is, Wang Lijun is still a man below a man. If he wants to compare with a decent man, he is really far behind.

At that time, Wang Lijun thought, anyway, he is hopeless, and it doesn't matter if his reputation is bad, but Qiao Weidong shouldn't be dragged into the water, and Wang Lijun couldn't bear him to be looked down upon.

The relationship was unilaterally terminated by Wang Lijun.He took advantage of Qiao Weidong's foreign directing, and sent a breakup text message - unlike the world's love, their breakup is definitely not parting ways, after all, no one can bear to part with the other.The only thing that has changed is that they don't have |sex anymore, and they don't do anything more than bromance, and everything else remains the same.

Later, Qiao Weidong went to the Central Communication University to teach, teaching directors and photography.After teaching for a while, he started tutoring graduate students again, and then he got married with a female student.From the news of the relationship, to Qiao Weidong's marriage, to the time they gave birth, Wang Lijun can count the number of times he saw that girl on one hand.Even if he saw it, he didn't look at the person's face seriously, as if he couldn't see the other person, that person didn't exist.

Recalling this, Wang Lijun's thoughts were interrupted by a series of screams from the mobile phone.He turned on his phone, and there were a lot of unread messages on WeChat.He first clicked into a group called "Iron Triangle", and the latest news was a WeChat health article shared by Du Yibing, to the effect that the SB250 virus had broken through the first line of defense in mainland China.

Wang Lijun stared blankly, pointed to the typing box, and quickly typed: Is the bird flu in HK better?Why is the mainland also getting a virus?

New news coming soon.

Du Yibing replied: HK is still the same.Attention you in Beijing!Wash hands and ventilate frequently!

Du Yibing returned: What is Dongzai doing?

After 5 minutes, Qiao Weidong also answered.He wrote: We will take care of our health!I'm shooting a documentary at the Palace Museum.

Wang Lijun asked: What to shoot?Cultural relics?

Qiao Weidong replied: ... Chime the bell.

Du Yibing sent a puppy laughing emoji.The puppy is very cute, like a girl's emoji.

Qiao Weidong quickly explained: It was newly unearthed.

Wang Lijun raised the corners of his mouth and smiled lightly, but with some bitterness.He quit the chat group, and was about to close WeChat, but looked at the top chat in a daze—his top chat was Qiao Weidong, but they hadn't chatted for a while, and only talked occasionally in the group.

Finally put down the phone, he wanted to take a shower to cool down his confused mind.

The fluorescent lamp in the bathroom was cold and dim. Under the bath of white light, Wang Lijun faded away everything and looked in the mirror. In the mirror, there was still the same face: thick eyebrows, curved eyes, and a long face.He never aged a bit.Even during these years, he was drinking, smoking, sleeping, and abusing hormones, but his appearance never changed.The years even endowed him with a little extra fat, which happened to grow on his cheeks, which gave him a more innocent look than when he was young and thin.

And those foreign friends of Qiao Weidong, especially James Gao Baifei, they always called him "Oriental Dorian Gray"-the peerless handsome man who is eternally youthful in the British writings.

Wang Lijun looked at it from different angles for a while, showing a slight smile, but he soon stopped taking selfies. After so many years, he finally learned how to face up to his own beauty.He walked into the bathtub, turned on the faucet, and a thin stream of water poured down.

Before entering the bathroom, he turned on the stereo and played Christian's "Dream Back at Midnight".At this time, the singing came in through the thin crack of the door, the melody was mixed with the sound of water, and the singer whispered tenderly, as if someone was waiting for him.

After taking a shower, Wang Lijun walked out of the bathroom naked and fell on the bed.When he wiped the remaining water on the quilt, he wriggled a few times, got into the quilt, and fell into a deep sleep after a while.

That night he had a dream. In the dream, there were two hands touching the same guqin. Under the fluttering sleeves, the guqin made the sound of congcong. Before the feature film.

In Wang Lijun's dream, he still vaguely thought that the opening titles of every film company had their connotations. For example, Jin Xiangyan's Golden Autumn Company was called "Golden Harvest" in English. Wheat wave, which means auspicious harvest.

At that time, Jin Rulin’s Dragon Race Company, the film opened with two Chinese dragons flying in the air, fighting endlessly. The two dragons finally made a knot, one dragon was on top, and the other dragon was on the bottom. Invincible.

Zhang Xuejun’s Vientiane Company, the opening title is a world presented by a kaleidoscope, the kaleidoscope rotates, and the world changes accordingly, complicated and colorful, implying that their production will bring audiences a variety of world and life.

As for his own company, the opening credits are relatively cold: under the old pine, two hands play the piano together.This means that he does not pursue fierce fighting and extravagant hype, which he has experienced countless times when he was young, and it is now boring-later, he only seeks harmony, high mountains and flowing water.

In the dream, the two hands echoed each other, rubbing, picking, chanting, licking, and at the end of the song, the company name floated out like a slide: Donglai Media Group.

His company is called Donglai.

The author has something to say

April 4th is my birthday, so I chose to resume the update today, which probably means reincarnation and resurrection.Those who read this should know that the lower part and the upper part have spanned a long time, and some people may abandon the article, because "These Years" is no longer a teenage love story.If you only like the upper part, you can stop here, but I will still finish the lower part, they are inseparable.