Chapter 61: Do You Want to Join the Beijing Film Studio?

The inspiration for "The Invincible Mandarin Duck Kicks" came from a folk legend in the Chaoshan region called "The Mandarin Duck Iron Shoes."

These shoes were a type of pointed, high-heeled footwear worn by Manchu women with bound feet during the Qing Dynasty. The iron version meant they were made of iron, and the heroine within the tale was exceptionally skilled in leg-fighting techniques.

Back in the 1980s, someone adapted this legend into a literary script, and a film was made in 1988. However, apart from the premise of leg-fighting techniques, the movie had virtually nothing to do with the original prototype.

The film's martial arts style was terribly dated. While it was quite popular on the mainland, by the time it was exported to Hong Kong, it was already obsolete. In an effort to boost box office sales, the Hong Kong distributors made the bizarre choice to bring in Charlie Cho—yes, that Charlie Cho you are all familiar with—to shoot a few additional soft-core scenes and market it as a Category III film to attract audiences...

Chen Qi was submitting to "Story Stories" purely to earn some royalties. He didn't want to give them his truly good stories; he was saving those to run his own magazine later.

By this time, after working busily all afternoon, he had only managed to write around two thousand characters. He massaged his wrists and muttered, "Damn it! I need to find an assistant. Why am I still living like a corporate wage slave after time-traveling?!"

Since it was just about dinnertime, he put on his jacket, went out, and headed straight for the canteen.

Finding Liang Xiaosheng, he came straight to the point: "I'm writing a manuscript for 'Story Stories,' but I have other matters to attend to for this segment and might not be able to manage it all. If you don't mind, would you mind helping me out?"

"How do you want me to help?"

"It's about fifty thousand characters in total, divided into two parts. I can write the first half, but I won't have time for the second half. You take over the writing, following my outline and character settings to finish the story. Consider it a collaboration between us, and we'll split the royalties 50-50—assuming it gets successfully published, that is."

"This..."

Liang Xiaosheng hesitated considerably and said, "All the fiction I write is in the realist genre; I've never written martial arts stories."

"It doesn't matter. You can write a few thousand characters first, and we can find the feel of it together. You just get used to this kind of writing the more you do it."

"Then... shall I give it a try?"

"You can definitely give it a try!"

"Alright, just call me whenever you need me!"

Liang Xiaosheng nodded vigorously. He didn't care much about writing martial arts, but he cared a lot about royalties, especially with a whole family to support.

He had officially started writing that year, producing only short stories. Everyone knew what royalties were like these days—how much could a short story possibly make? Racking his brains, he could only scrape together one or two hundred yuan, and he could barely manage one piece a year. But writing for Chen Qi was different; there was no need to force inspiration, and it didn't drain his brainpower.

Liang Xiaosheng wouldn't achieve fame until 1982, when his work "This Is a Magical Land" won the National Short Story Award, and his works came to be known as "Educated Youth Literature."

Educated Youth Literature was different from Scar Literature!

Scar Literature completely negated the past and emphasized suffering.

The authors of Educated Youth Literature felt that going down to the countryside was a hardship, but there were also those who genuinely dedicated their blood, sweat, and sincere devotion to that land. Therefore, to this group, completely negating the past was equivalent to negating their own youth.

The stories Liang Xiaosheng wrote highlighted conquering the heavens and the earth—battling wolf packs in the Great Northern Wilderness, fighting against snowstorms, overcoming swamps, and finally clearing patches of oily black fertile soil...

Although there was confusion and pain, overall, he affirmed his own experiences.

Precisely because of this, Chen Qi believed he could write popular fiction well. If possible, he even wanted to tell him "Candle in the Tomb"—since Liang Xiaosheng had served in the Heilongjiang Production and Construction Corps and cleared wasteland that might uncover an ancient mummy, using materialism to exorcise evil spirits made complete sense!

***

Qianmen, the Arrow Tower.

This place had undergone a drastic transformation. Along the eastern side of the Arrow Tower, a row of makeshift sheds constructed from wood and asphalt felt had appeared, displaying several signs outside that read "Big Bowl Tea," "General Merchandise," "Wontons," and so on.

Ever since the leadership's inspection, the tea stall had developed rapidly. Not only did it absorb the twenty people from next door, but it also opened up multiple channels for goods, taking in a considerable amount of backlogged merchandise. These items, which were considered unsold surplus in department stores, were bestsellers here because they didn't require ration coupons.

The change in any given thing must be based on a certain contradiction.

The massive army of unemployed youths had left the government deeply worried, prompting them to give the green light and provide plenty of resource support. That was how the vigorous development of various cooperatives in the capital came to be.

Huang Zhanying was now a deputy director!

She managed the operation with increasing ease. At that moment, holding a stack of socks, she shouted loudly, "Come take a look! Newly arrived thick socks! It's getting cold by the day, and we didn't bring in many. First come, first served!"

The Qianmen Big Bowl Tea was famous throughout the capital, and every day drew a large number of customers. The moment she called out, the place was packed with a crowd in the blink of an eye.

As Huang Zhanying was busy making sales, she suddenly heard a voice chime in: "Warm a bowl of wine and bring a dish of spiced beans!"

"Do you know the four different ways to write the Chinese character for 'fennel'?"

"Oh, matching the secret code, are we?"

"Hahaha, Comrade Chen Qi!"

Huang Zhanying handed her work over to someone else, turned around, and sure enough, there stood that heartless pretty boy, followed by two women.

"Comrade Zhanying!"

Chen Qi shook her hand firmly again and introduced, "These are two actresses from the film crew, Gong Xue and Zhang Jinling. We came out for a stroll today to grab a bite here."

"Hello! Hello!"

"Come sit over here. It's chilly today, drink some hot soup and try our wontons!"

Huang Zhanying led them into the shed. It was quite spacious, furnished with tables and chairs. She ran over to a small narrow room next door and shortly returned carrying three bowls of steaming hot wontons.

It looked quite professionally made.

Chen Qi took a bite and remarked, "The authorities are giving you a lot of support; you even have dried tiny shrimp in here."

"We're a famous food stall now. Guess how much we make in a month?"

"Five thousand?"

"More like ten thousand, if not more! There are over thirty people whose livelihoods entirely depend on this stall. Oh, by the way, you have to call me Deputy Director Huang from now on. I'm an official now!"

"Who's the main director?"

"Auntie Wang, of course!"

Pfft!

Chen Qi choked on his food and sputtered, "Auntie Wang is the director?"

"She's a neighborhood committee cadre, just holding the title for show. I'm the one who actually calls the shots."

Huang Zhanying sat astride a chair with her legs apart, looking bold and imposing, and said, "I applied to the district for a storefront. There are buildings available, but they're a bit too far from here. I figured our roots are right here in Qianmen, and we can't leave. So the district agreed to help us put up this shed first, and we can look into a proper building later."

"What about winter?"

"We'll hang a thick cotton curtain, light a stove inside, and just tough it out. I'm not letting the kids from the opera school come anymore; it's too freezing and miserable for them. That little girl named Liu Bei still asks about you, though."

Like a machine gun, Huang Zhanying rattled off her words, looking quite satisfied with herself. Only then did she glance at Zhang Jinling and peer at Gong Xue, asking, "You're from the south, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm from Shanghai."

"I could tell just by looking at you. Even eating a wonton is so delicate. Look at the way you're sitting—oh my, I could never sit like that. How do you even position your legs..."

"..."

Gong Xue was left feeling rather embarrassed, prompting Chen Qi to quickly interject, "Alright, alright, go back to what you were doing!"

"I have to take care of you guests!"

"No need, we're leaving as soon as we finish eating!"

Chen Qi shooed her away. Zhang Jinling chuckled first and said, "So this is the Comrade Zhanying you talked about. She's exactly as you described—such a wonderful personality."

"It's my first time meeting someone so brisk and straightforward," Gong Xue chimed in.

"She's all right, just a bit boisterous. When we were kids, she used to ride on my back and beat me up, and I couldn't even win against her."

"So your employment status has been with the tea stall all this time?"

"Yeah. Whenever I tell people I sell big bowl tea, nobody believes me."

"Then you're terribly underutilized!"

Zhang Jinling swallowed a wonton in one bite and said sincerely, "Have you ever thought about coming to the Beijing Film Studio? I've chatted with Director Wang about this, and she said she hopes you'll come too."

"I obey the organization's arrangements," Chen Qi said with a straight face.

"Stop putting on an act. Who doesn't know that Studio Head Wang values you? With his personality, as soon as *Romance on Lushan Mountain* is released, he'll definitely transfer you in."

Having said that, Zhang Jinling suddenly turned her head and asked, "Xiao Gong, have you ever thought about coming to the Beijing Film Studio?"