Chapter 405 Let Zhu Lin play the female lead
November 1980, 7

The hot summer in Beijing has arrived again, and the chirping of cicadas on both sides of the road made Li Changhe, who was standing on the road, feel a little dazed.

Returning to Beijing from New York, although it was also 1980, for Li Changhe it was like traveling through two eras.

The boy wearing a red scarf was not afraid of the heat. He played and ran back and forth in the street, just like his behavior as a child in his previous life.

Thinking of this, Li Changhe shook his head and woke up from his emotion.

In his previous life, he was not the noble Mr. Jing. His childhood was spent in the countryside of Shandong Province, not in the fourth ring road of Beijing.

Pulling his suitcase, Li Changhe walked home in the scorching heat.

After returning to Hong Kong from the United States, Li Changhe did not stay in Hong Kong, nor did he leave the airport. Instead, he went directly back to Beijing from Hong Kong.

The reason is simple, he misses his wife.

Speaking of which, Li Changhe was also a little confused on the way back.

He had stayed in Hong Kong Island for more than two months before, and although he missed Zhu Lin, the feeling had never been as strong as this time.

Perhaps it was because he felt he could go home at any time in Hong Kong Island, but if he went to the United States, there would be thousands of miles of ocean between them and he would not have the freedom to go home at any time.

So before returning to Hong Kong from Los Angeles, Li Changhe arranged for Leng Fei in Hong Kong to buy a return ticket for him, and then he transferred directly from Kai Tak Airport back to Beijing.

I returned home with my suitcase and as soon as I opened the door, the house was filled with noise.

Li Changhe looked carefully and saw so many people.

Zhu Lin, Gong Xue, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou, Liang Zuo, and an unknown woman.

"Hey guys, are you guys having a meeting here?"

Li Changhe came in and asked in surprise.

"Huh? Changhe, why are you back?"

At this time, Chen Kaige raised his head and looked at Li Changhe curiously and asked.

Li Changhe was speechless after hearing this.

What do you mean?
I'm at home now, can't I come back?

"Come on, the dumplings are here!"

Just at this moment, someone came out of the kitchen with a smile on his face, holding a large plate of dumplings in his hand.

Seeing Li Changhe pulling the suitcase, the other party asked in surprise: "Old Chen, have you called another classmate over?"

"What classmate? This is Li Changhe!"

"Changhe, this is my wife Sun Jialin, she's here to cook for us."

"Oh, and this one, Lao Zhang's wife Xiao Hua, also cooks for us and cleans your house."

At this time, Chen Kaige said to Li Changhe with a smile.

"These days, we are perfecting the script you gave us. It's hot outside and we don't have an office. We have air conditioning at home, so they come to our house every day."

"Jialin and Xiaohua, if you have nothing to do at home, come and help."

Zhu Lin stood up and smiled at this time, then walked over and took the suitcase.

"That's great. Let's not discuss this for now. Let's eat first. Sister Xiao, you and Jialin can go make some dumplings."

"Xiaoxue, go get some money and go to the grocery store downstairs to buy some cooked food. We'll have a good meal at home at noon."

"Don't let Xiaoxue go. Lao Tian and I will go. We will pay for the meal. It will be a welcome party for Changhe."

Chen Kaige took the initiative to speak at this time, a rare performance.

Unfortunately, his performance this time is doomed to fail.

"You can't go. The grocery stores here only accept foreign exchange coupons, not tickets."

At this time, Tian Zhuangzhuang calmly revealed a cruel fact to Chen Kaige.

"I'd better go!"

Gong Xue stood up at this time, said with a smile, then took the foreign exchange coupons and walked out of the house.

"You guys chat first, I'm going to change my clothes."

Li Changhe waved his hand, then returned to the master bedroom with Zhu Lin.

"Why did you come back so suddenly?"

Zhu Lin asked curiously as she opened the suitcase and packed clothes for Li Changhe.

At this moment, a pair of arms suddenly hugged her from behind.

"I missed you, so I came back!"

"Well, actually I miss you too!"

"I'm alone at home after you left. I'm very bored. Even if Xiaoxue comes to live with me, it won't be fun."

"It just so happened that day that Lao Tian asked us to discuss the script. We couldn't find a place to discuss the script in such a hot day. Lao Tian's aunt was at home, and Kaige's was at home too, in a small room in the compound."

"Finally, I brought him to our home. We have air conditioning at home, so it's cool."

"Who would have thought that after that, they would come here every day and this place would become their base."

"I thought since my house is so lively, I might as well come."

"Later, Kaige and Zhang Yimou's wives also came. They didn't know how to write scripts, but they could help them cook and clean the house. Anyway, more and more people came."

Zhu Lin spoke to Li Changhe in a low voice.

"It's okay, just come, I'm not angry."

Nowadays, there are few commercial business premises, and there is no so-called private space.

The two places where people gather together are the office and the home.

Many people discuss things, mostly in their own homes.

This also includes teachers at Peking University, who would call students home to teach them knowledge privately.

When Li Changhe studied finance with Hong Junyan, he also went to Hong Junyan's home.

So Li Changhe didn't think there was anything wrong with Chen Kaige and the others appearing at his home. This was the daily national condition of that era.

Chen Kaige and the others would not feel embarrassed, since they were either at Li Changhe's house, his house, or Lao Tian's house.

In short, go to whoever's house is more convenient.

"Hey, do you know why Kaige and Lao Zhang's lover followed?"

Li Changhe asked with a smile at this time.

"To keep the house cool?"

Zhu Lin had seen through their intentions long ago. Air conditioning was an absolute rarity in Beijing these days, especially on such a hot day.

"Not only that, they are on guard against you and Xiaoxue."

Li Changhe explained to his wife with a smile.

"Nonsense, Sister Xiao and Jialin are not that kind of people."

"Change your clothes first. After lunch, they should leave in the afternoon."

Zhu Lin said to Li Changhe with a smile.

"Ok!"

Li Changhe then changed his clothes into shorts and a vest, and walked out in slippers.

These days slippers are all made of plastic and feel cool when worn.

"Hey, Lao Li, is that suitcase you just pulled the very popular suitcase now?"

After Li Changhe came out, Chen Kaige asked Li Changhe curiously.

"Yes, you know everything?"

Li Changhe didn't expect that even Chen Kaige knew about this thing.

"Nonsense, this thing is sold out in the Friendship Store, and I heard it's popular all over the world."

"Now, every official who goes abroad for inspection has one. I heard it is issued by the state. Going abroad affects the image of the state."

"I heard that this kind of suitcase sells for nearly $200 overseas, which is very expensive."

Chen Kaige didn't know where the news came from, and he spoke very gossipingly at this time.

"Changhe, if there is a channel, can you help me get one?"

"I think this thing is very convenient to carry on business trips. It's much more convenient than those big boxes we carry."

Chen Kaige finally revealed his true intentions and told Li Changhe his ultimate goal.

"Okay, I'll give you one each later!"

Li Changhe said generously at this time. Since the reputation of the suitcase has spread, it doesn't matter if I send one to each of them later.

It’s not much money anyway.

"Really?"

Chen Kaige looked at Li Changhe in surprise and asked in astonishment.

"Really? I'll go to the Friendship Store and buy it for you later!"

Li Changhe looked at Chen Kaige's money-obsessed look and said with a smile.

"Changhe, take a look at the script. We just discussed it recently. What do you think of it?"

Tian Zhuangzhuang ignored Chen Kaige's suitcase and handed the completed script to Li Changhe.

"Let's wait and see after dinner. Hey, Liang Zuo, why are you involved with them?"

Li Changhe was not in a hurry to read the script, but asked Liang Zuo with a smile.

"Old Chen asked me to come here, saying that there was a script you wrote that was not yet complete, and he was looking for someone to complete it. At first he approached Jiangong, but Jiangong was busy completing his own novel and had no time, so he pushed me here."

Liang Zuochong said to Li Changhe with a smile.

"Hey, Lao Li, Aunt Liang is also a famous writer. Do you know Zhan Rong?"

At this time, Chen Kaige asked Li Changhe again.

"Nonsense, I have known Liang Zuo for many years, how could I not know this?"

Li Changhe was speechless. It turned out that people have common characteristics. When they meet someone familiar in the same circle, they will be curious and gossip about whether XX knows him or her.

However, he only knew the name of Zhan Rong in this life, and he was not particularly clear about it in his previous life.

In comparison, Liang Zuo's father is actually more powerful, he is the deputy editor-in-chief of People's Daily.

At this moment, the door was opened with a key, and Gong Xue walked in carrying a large bag of cooked food.

"Come on, clear the table. We'll split it into two tables later. You men can eat around the coffee table, and we'll set up the dining table."

The dining table that Li Changhe's family bought from the Friendship Store was not a large round table, but a rectangular table that could accommodate three people sitting opposite each other.

There are so many people in the room right now that the dining table definitely can't accommodate everyone, so we have to sit at separate tables.

"Okay, then we'll eat on the coffee table!"

"Collect these manuscripts!"

At this moment, there are a lot of manuscript papers scattered on the coffee table. After all, scripts in this era are all written by hand. Their discussions, many versions over and over again, cannot be copied many times, so many of the scattered dialogues are written on the manuscript paper.

Several people cleaned up the coffee table, and at this time Gong Xue and the others also brought out the dumplings, as well as various cold dishes and cooked food.

"You know what, the dumplings made with the flour from Changhe are just white!"

Zhang Yimou said admiringly at this time.

Chen Kaige nodded and said, "Of course not, this is pure Fuqiang noodles, first-class quality, I couldn't even get it once a year before!"

"When eating dumplings, they have to be pork and leek, they are tasty!"

"You know what, it's so hot, eating dumplings with the air conditioner on, I can't even dream of such a life."

Liang Zuo also sighed.

They usually lived in a slum and had limited food each month. Only during the New Year holidays would they buy some Fuqiang flour to steam buns, and occasionally make dumplings with meat filling.

Compared with the dumplings full of meat filling on the plate today, it is completely different.

"Even eating can't stop your mouths, don't talk while eating, do you understand?"

Seeing that they were getting more and more exaggerated, Li Changhe couldn't help but speak.

"Eat quickly, and finish your meal quickly, before Changhe comes back. Otherwise, if he leaves again in two days, we will be at a loss again."

Tian Zhuangzhuang also spoke in a dull voice at this time.

"Okay, stop talking and eat!"

Nowadays people have big appetites and eat very fast.

Li Changhe was very hungry after rushing back.

Soon, after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Xiao Hua and the others took away the plates, and Li Changhe picked up their half-finished manuscripts.

When Li Changhe gave Tian Zhuangzhuang the manuscript, the general framework had already been completed, but he did not write about the specific content of the movie in detail.

What Liang Zuo and his team did was to fill in the dialogues and other content.

Judging from the content of the dialogue, Liang Zuo's shadow can be seen in it, and some of the dialogue is actually full of humor.

"How is it? Changhe"

Seeing that Li Changhe was frowning, Liang Zuo felt a little uneasy.

This was his first time to participate in the creation of a team like Li Changhe, and he actually had no idea about his own direction.

Liang Zuo actually felt a lot of pressure after joining this creative team.

Especially when he knew that Zhu Lin was the director of the now nationwide hit "The Shepherd" and that Tian Zhuangzhuang and others were the filmmakers of "The Shepherd", Liang Zuo felt even more pressured.

This is equivalent to joining an already successful team, which is extremely challenging.

"You studied the seven deadly sins?"

Li Changhe asked Liang Zuo at this time.

Liang Zuo nodded: "Well, after Zhuangzhuang told me your ideas, I went to the library, looked up some religious information, and learned a little about this."

Li Changhe nodded: "I said, it's too obvious."

"This film is intended to win awards. Some European film festival judges prefer metaphors, so you don't have to deliberately highlight their characteristics."

"It's like doing a math problem. You have to let them figure it out instead of just telling them the answer."

"Secondly, I noticed that you used some black humor in some of your dialogues, which I don't recommend adding more of."

"Because foreigners can't understand the humor in Chinese text, they will listen to the English version. Besides, the theme of our entire movie is centered around the concept of parasitism, so the overall feeling should be dull and serious, with the feeling that everyone carries original sin."

Li Changhe explained his thoughts to Liang Zuo in a straightforward manner. After listening, Liang Zuo nodded thoughtfully.

"Now that you put it that way, I understand a little bit."

"I've been discussing this with them these past two days, and I always feel like something is not right with the book, but I can't figure out exactly what's wrong."

"Now that you've said it, I understand. Some of the characters' words and actions don't fit in with the overall theme of the movie."

"Oh, and there's another point, which is the emotional line of this movie."

"According to your portrayal, the movie actually has no real love story. The hero likes the heroine and covets her family background and wealth, while the heroine responds to the hero but actually covets his sister, hiding her abnormal love, right?"

"That is to say, essentially, there is no real love in this movie!"

Liang Zuo asked Li Changhe hesitantly. There was no other way. The main reason was that this kind of emotional line was really beyond the scope for him.

Nowadays, there are few people in China who even have serious relationships, let alone this kind of abnormal relationship where lesbians develop feelings for each other.

"Yes, the traditional view of love is nothing new to foreigners. They are tired of it."

"What they like is this kind of slightly deformed love line."

Li Changhe said with a smile.

"Of course, we can't publicize it openly, so we just use some metaphors."

If the scale wasn't so shocking, Li Changhe felt that it would be more shocking to give them a gay sex.

"Now I understand. I know how to change it!"

Liang Zuo nodded seriously at this time.

"By the way, Changhe, I want Zhu Lin to play the female lead, and Gong Xue to play the male lead's sister. What do you think?"

At this moment, Tian Zhuangzhuang spoke to Li Changhe.

"Ok?"

Li Changhe was a little surprised after hearing this. His wife was to play the female lead? Gong Xue was to play the male lead's sister?
Abnormal love?
"Old Tian, ​​are you serious?"

Li Changhe looked at Tian Zhuangzhuang and asked seriously.

Tian Zhuangzhuang nodded: "Yes, I have thought about this for a long time, and I think Zhu Lin and Gong Xue are the most suitable."

"The eldest lady and the poor girl, their images are naturally compatible."

"There are no actors more suitable than them at the Beijing Film Studio."

"What's more, the two of them have enough tacit understanding."

Tian Zhuangzhuang discussed this seriously with Li Changhe at this time.

Li Changhe fell into deep thought.

(End of this chapter)