The literary era since 1979

The National Youth Writers' Symposium came to a successful conclusion, but the great debate on avant-garde literature sparked by the symposium has just begun.

It was Fangyan, who had started the fire, who pulled himself away at this moment and went south with Gong Xing to attend the premiere of "Baby Smart Star".

Fangyan stood on the deck, facing the river breeze and said, "When we get to Hong Kong, how about we spend Christmas there?"

Gong Xing stretched out his hand to smooth his hair that was messed up by the wind, "I have never celebrated such a foreign festival before."

Fang Yan walked in front of her to block the wind: "So this is the first time we do this, just to try something new."

"Okay." Gong Xing smiled, neither enthusiastic nor disgusted.

When they arrived at the pier, passengers got off the boat one after another. Fang Yan and Gong Xing held hands and slowly walked out of the exit with the crowd.

Wang Jing was seen standing on the side of the road, looking around, apparently looking for them among the crowd.

Gong Xing was very curious, "Director Wang, why are you here?"

"Mrs. Fang specially arranged for me to pick you up. Zu Xian is here too, but because there are so many people here, it's easy for unnecessary agitation and commotion to occur, so I asked her to stay in the car." Wang Jing said attentively, "Please follow me. The car is over here."

Everyone exchanged a few pleasantries and then came to the parking lot.

With a "click", Wang Zuxian opened the door and got out of the car, happily greeting Fang Yan and Gong Xing, especially Gong Xing whom she regarded as a good sister.

"Fang Sheng."

Wang Jing said that Fang Yihua asked him to apologize to him because he had something urgent to attend to and was unable to come and greet them in person.

Fangyan put the luggage into the trunk and said, "Aunt Liu is really too polite. Actually, we can take a taxi ourselves."

"How can this be done!"

Wang Jing just opened his mouth when Fang Yan suddenly interrupted him, "Sixth Aunt is not busy with the promotion and scheduling of the film, right?"

"Yes, yes, Mr. Liu and Mrs. Fang were really happy after watching the sample clip of "Baby Smart Star"."

Wang Jing said: "Even Mrs. Fang left TVB's affairs behind and personally supervised the battle, wanting to lead the entire Shaw Brothers in a great comeback."

Fang Yan sat in the front passenger seat, looking through the rearview mirror at Gong Xing and Wang Zuxian reminiscing about the past in the rear passenger seat. He then asked casually, "Has the release date for Baby Smart Star been decided? Is it on Christmas Eve as I suggested?"

"Yes, it will be on the 24th, the Lunar New Year premiere."

Wang Jing was so excited that he almost forgot to fasten his seat belt and drove at full speed.

Fangyan showed a satisfied smile. The Lunar New Year period is a concept of film market schedule unique to China.

It usually starts in late November of the current year and ends at the end of the Spring Festival holiday of the following year, which is about eighty to ninety days. It is the last long period of the year in the film market, including important holiday periods such as Christmas, New Year's Eve, and Spring Festival.

The concept of "Lunar New Year holiday" was first created by Shaw Brothers Films, which pioneered the release of martial arts films to celebrate the Lunar New Year in the 70s.

However, in the 80s, Shaw Brothers was in a period of transition and lacked stamina. Zou Wenhuai of Golden Harvest recruited the three Hui brothers who were originally from Shaw Brothers and filmed a movie called "Modern Bodyguard". It was released during the Spring Festival and was immediately welcomed by Hong Kong movie fans and became a big hit at the box office.

From then on, Golden Harvest replaced Shaw Brothers as the dominant force in the Lunar New Year box office.

However, he did not sit on the Iron Throne for long. Cinema City emerged as a dark horse with the "Best Partner" series, and started a magical "comedy against comedy" battle with Golden Harvest. The result was a fight between the big brother and the second, and Shaw Brothers, as the third, suffered.

The Shaw Brothers martial arts films released during the Lunar New Year period were defeated, and comedy films have since officially dominated the Lunar New Year period.
The "Best Partner" and "Lucky Stars" series have achieved great success, consolidating the concept of the Lunar New Year period.

Since then, at the end of each year, Hong Kong movie stars would shoot a few lively and festive films for the audience regardless of remuneration. As a result, New Year's comedies featuring luxurious casts have become the mainstream, and any star who is not big enough in terms of wealth and status is not qualified to star in New Year's movies.

"Police Story" was also scheduled by Golden Harvest for the Lunar New Year period, but out of consideration for the dialect and the harmony between Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers, it was scheduled for the Spring Festival period, perfectly staggering the schedule with "Baby Smart Star" in the Christmas period, thus avoiding a situation of conflict between the two parties.

When Wang Jing said this, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

"It's not because of my face. How much face can I have? Boss Zou is actually considering the relationship between my sixth uncle and sixth aunt."

Fangyan smiled, and at this moment, a crackling sound of electricity suddenly came from the car radio.

Wang Jing was startled, turned off the car radio, and said with a wry smile:

"I'm sorry to make you laugh, Mr. Fang. This car is old and has all kinds of problems."

"When 'Baby Smart Star' is released, you can consider buying a better car, such as a Mercedes or a Cadillac..."

Fang Yan took a look at it and said, "I'm afraid this Mazda will no longer be suitable for a director like you."

Wang Jing said: "Hey, to be honest, I thought so too. I was counting on the movie to be a big hit at the box office so I could earn some extra bonus."

Wang Zuxian and Gong Xing were whispering, talking and laughing, and they would glance at Fangyan from time to time.

He was seen talking with Wang Jing about the promotion and marketing plan for the movie "Baby Smart Star", and some of the marketing strategies were from his hand.

"Mrs. Fang has adopted all your ideas."

Wang Jing said: "Let Da Ge, Nicholas Tse and Stephen Chow perform together in "430 Shuttle" to warm up the movie in advance."

Fangyan asked, "What about the songs?"

"It has also been arranged. On the 24th, the theme song you wrote for the movie will be premiered simultaneously on more than 30 radio stations across Asia. Ms. Deng will also participate in the premiere talk show of Hong Kong Radio on the same day to promote her special song tailor-made for Christmas, and also promote the movie "Baby Smart Star"." Wang Jing said, "It is estimated that more than million or million people will listen to it at the same time."

"One or two hundred million?!"

Gong Xing and Wang Zuxian were shocked.

"Don't make such a fuss, this is the total number of listeners of all the first-run radio stations combined."

Fangyan explained: "Not that many actually."

Wang Jing nodded in agreement. "This is Mr. Fang's idea for Mrs. Fang and Ms. Deng. It can create a hot topic for both the song and the movie. From the first broadcast until the movie is released, there will be continuous requests from radio and TV stations every day and every hour, especially on the traffic channel."

Gong Xing and Wang Zuxian looked at each other in bewilderment, "Isn't this a bit too exaggerated?"

"Exaggeration? No no."

Fangyan shook his head and laughed. No matter whether it was "All I Want For Christmas Is You" or "Gong Xi Fa Cai", the reason why they became the must-have songs for the festival was not only because they were appropriate and pleasant to listen to, but more importantly, they were bombarded everywhere in the streets and alleys year after year and day after day, gradually brainwashing people and deeply rooted in their hearts, until without these songs, the atmosphere of the festival would be lost by more than half.

As for the marketing idea given to Teresa Teng, it was completely based on the way Jay Chou promoted "Ye Huimei" back then.

What about "More than 50 radio stations in Asia simultaneously premiered "In the Name of the Father"", "More than million people listened to it at the same time"...

Jay Chou did not live in Charlotte's shadow, but in the clutches of Teacher Fang.

…………

Time unknowingly came to December 12th, Christmas Eve.

In the morning, Teresa Teresa's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" was premiered on the radio. In addition to Hong Kong and Taiwan, the coverage also included Asian countries and regions such as Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, which immediately aroused the interest of Hong Kong citizens in watching the movie.

At night, more and more people, especially young couples pursuing modern romance, came to the cinema and lined up in front of the cinema to buy tickets. A group of sneaky ticket scalpers shuttled among the queues, and the sounds of shouting, bargaining and hawking were heard one after another.

Fang Yan and Gong Xing did not walk the red carpet as the main creative team. Instead, they took the tickets delivered by Wang Jing personally and walked to the box on the second floor in a low-key manner. Along the way, they ran into the Seven Monsters of Cinema City who came to show their support, as well as artists under their contract such as Li Lizhen and Lin Qingxia.

"Qingxia, I thought you wouldn't come?"

Gong Xue was surprised and happy.

"How could I not come on such an important day?"

Lin Qingxia smiled. Fang Yan was very surprised. He thought that on the day when Shaw Brothers Films was making a comeback, Golden Harvest would definitely not come to support this old enemy and old rival. However, he did not expect that Golden Harvest not only sent people, but also gave enough face to Run Run Shaw and Fang Yihua. Almost everyone who could come came.

Sammo Hung, Cheng Long, Yuen Biao, Chin Cheung-lin...

Seeing this scene, I couldn't help but joked: "I wonder if Boss Zou and Mr. He are here with ill intentions, or are they meeting and laughing to put aside their grudges?"

"Of course we can forget all grudges by smiling when we meet!" Lin Qingxia said without thinking.

"I think so too."

Fang Yan led Gong Xing and took the initiative to step forward and together with Fang Yihua, they welcomed the Golden Harvest star support group led by Ho Kwun-chang himself.

Fang Yihua was not afraid at all and was not worried at all that the premiere of "Baby Smart Star" would be overshadowed by Golden Harvest.

After all, at this critical moment when Shaw Brothers Films was at stake, how could the stars and artistes from Shaw Brothers to TVB be absent?
Even Run Run Shaw came to the cinema in person and sat in the same box with Fang Yan and Gong Xing.

The decoration here was obviously more luxurious than the lobby downstairs. As soon as everyone met, they shook hands and exchanged a few words.

"Yanzi, this time it all depends on you."

Run Run Shaw said this earnestly.

"Uncle Six, Aunt Six, don't worry. Although 'Baby Smart Star' may not bring Shaw Brothers back to the top all at once, it will definitely reverse the decline and allow Shaw Brothers to make a comeback and be rejuvenated, just like 'Fist of Fury' to Golden Harvest and 'Best Partner' to Cinema City."

Fangyan promised solemnly.

Run Run Shaw patted his shoulder with great satisfaction. Fang Yihua understood and said, "We have always had confidence in you. After watching this movie, your sixth uncle said it would definitely be a big hit. No matter what the final box office results are, we will fulfill our promise to you."

Fangyan smiled but said nothing. He knew that no matter how much he said at this moment, it would not be as good as the box office statistics after the movie was released.

So he sat quietly with Gong Xing, looking down, and saw blurry heads of people everywhere.

Because Shaw Brothers invested 120% of its effort in promoting "Baby Smart", the premiere was packed. Of course, a large part of the tickets were given to film critics, reporters and celebrities. Of course, there were also many audiences who came to watch the movie.

The music started and the lights in the venue dimmed.

The dark green stage curtain slowly opened to both sides, and the big screen illuminated by several beams of strong light gradually shifted people's focus from the stars to the movie. The plot began in a large house decorated with colorful lights, and then the camera turned.

The scene shifted to the house, where children of different sizes were walking around, quarreling and fighting, chattering from time to time.

The family seemed to be going on a long journey. Shen Bixia, just like in the future "The Rich and Powerful" series, played the role of "mother". She was packing her luggage in the bedroom while talking on the phone. At this time, the naughty little son ran in.

As soon as Nicholas Tse appeared, the camera gave him a close-up.

The little guy has a pair of naughty big eyes, his eyeballs twinkling like two shiny black gems.

Whether it is the slightly upturned nose, the thin lips, or the slightly upturned nose tip, they all make people feel childlike and cute.

He complained in a baby voice that his uncle didn't let him watch the video tape and even kicked him out of the room.

Shen Bixia said perfunctorily: "If uncle doesn't let you watch it, it must be a bad movie."

Nicholas Tse didn't think so. It was clearly a man and a woman fighting, and the fight was quite intense, and they were both naked.

Shen Bixia said: "Yes, kung fu movies are just bad movies. Who still watches kung fu movies these days?"

"But my uncle said this is a romance movie, and I'll understand it when I grow up."

Nicholas Tse blinked his innocent eyes and vividly imitated the "martial arts" movements and sounds in the movie.

Seeing Shen Bixia’s dumbfounded expression, some people in the audience began to understand what the so-called “romantic kung fu movie” was.

In an instant, the whole theater burst into laughter.

He Guanchang folded his arms, his face solemn, "You are indeed worthy of being Mr. Fang!"

Cheng Long, Hong Jinbao and others deeply agree with this. It is enough to glimpse the extraordinary nature of the script from the very beginning. The difficult-to-talk about sex education issues between adults and children are cleverly transformed into laughs that make people smile knowingly. It is neither vulgar nor makes people more interested in the subsequent plot and jokes of the movie.

And the following plot is worthy of the audience's expectations.

Nicholas Tse's continuous pranks made the laughter that they had been holding back for a while start to jump out of their throats again.

Because of this, he was locked up in his room by his family to reflect on himself. As a result, the family overslept the next day and hurried to the mainland. When they counted the number of people on the bus, they carelessly missed one. When Nicholas Tse woke up, he found that he was the only one left at home.

Many viewers couldn't help but worry about who would take care of such a child if he was forgotten at home by his parents?

But their worries were obviously unnecessary, as the little guy's performance on the screen surprised everyone.

He ran around the room excitedly, cheering loudly.

Without his parents' supervision, Nicholas Tse began to do whatever he wanted at home. He ran into his brother's room, drew circles on his brother's treasured poster of Lin Qingxia, and dug out his private collection of "Uncle Emperor" from under the bed. When he was tired of playing, he took out the ice cream that his mother never allowed him to eat too much from the kitchen refrigerator, sat on the sofa, and watched the videotape that his uncle didn't let him watch.

Young audiences only thought that Nicholas Tse's reaction was very interesting, while audiences who have children of similar age at home could see some shadows of their own children in him. Every child has a naughty side when they are young, and it is precisely because of this that the family-friendly movie "Baby Smart Star" truly unfolds the plot and resonates with many audiences bit by bit.

Next, it was Wu Mengda and Stephen Chow's turn.

The two men had just finished stealing things from a house they had visited and robbed it clean. Before leaving, Zhou Xingchi actually used the stolen lipstick to write "Zhou Xingchi was here" on the wall of the host's living room. After writing, he put his hands on his hips and laughed wildly.

That mean and rotten laugh made the audience remember this face immediately, and also remember the name "Zhou Xingxing".

Fang Yan stared at the big screen. The script he wrote did not include a scene where Zhou Xingchi laughed. Obviously, this was an improvisation by Zhou Xingchi during the performance. However, this laughter really made him feel very, very familiar, even as if he was in another world.

Lin Qingxia and Wang Zuxian, who were sitting in the hall, saw that Fang Yan deliberately designed a plot in the movie to make trouble on their posters to indirectly increase their popularity. Although there was a little resentment on their faces, they were moved and happy in their hearts.

At the same time, the plot of the movie has reached its climax.

The duo of stupid thieves planned to rob Nicholas Tse's house, and after eavesdropping on their conversation, the child set up a series of traps in the house, and a wonderful and hilarious confrontation began.

In this climax scene, Fangyan maintained the essence of the original play while adding a lot of jokes from movies such as "The Young Master".

Seeing the unfortunate looks of Ng Man-tat and Stephen Chow slipping and falling on the stairs, the audience couldn't help laughing like waves hitting the rocks, splashing everywhere, and their mouths almost opened at the same time, laughing out loud.

Wang Zuxian chuckled, but her eyes were fixed on the screen, afraid that she would miss the next content.

The laughter in the cinema gradually subsided when Zhou Xingchi on the screen got up, took out tools and started to pry the door open. However, the laughter soon couldn't be held back again. Zhou Xingchi pried the door open for a long time but it didn't open. In the end, he found that the door was not locked at all.

After entering the basement, he wanted to pull the light cord, but unexpectedly an electric iron fell from the sky and hit him directly in the face.

The audience in front of the screen were already laughing their heads off, but the suffering and torture of the stupid thieves, Ng Man-tat and Stephen Chow, continued.

The last second, Zhou Xingchi's shoes were stuck to the floor by glue, and his bare feet stepped on a thumbtack.

The next second, as soon as Wu Mengda entered the door, his hair was set on fire by a flamethrower. He put out the fire by sticking his head into the fish tank, and then he became a bald head.

Many audience members laughed so hard that they held their stomachs and almost cried, and some even laughed so hard that they almost fainted.

But the movie doesn't end there. Stephen Chow and Ng Man-tat were scrambling to go up the stairs, and were knocked down one after another by paint buckets hanging on ropes. After finally climbing up the stairs, they touched exposed electric wires and were electrocuted.

The only sound in the cinema was the sound of popping beans-like laughter. Many audience members could not straighten their backs due to laughter and could only hold on to the backs of the chairs in the front row. Even more people had laughed so hard that they had no strength left and leaned back in their seats, gasping for breath and breathing heavily.

Although the movie has not yet ended, judging from the "laughing effect" on the scene, "Baby Smart Star" has already been a success.

Ho Kwun-chang looked around, his face becoming more and more solemn. Could the Shaw Brothers, which had already stepped half a foot into the coffin, really be saved by Fang Yan? (End of this chapter)