China Entertainment 1981: Starting from Journey to the West

"That's it for today, Xiao Gu. Later, you can sort out the main content of our meetings these days and leave it to me tomorrow."

It's another day of meeting and research. When everyone was discussing together, they didn't feel it. Now that the meeting is over, everyone has backache.

Sitting still for a long time like this is really tiring.

After sorting out his personal belongings, Gu Bei returned to the office, and Li Chengru was with him. He was a non-staff member of CCTV and usually had no place to stay. It happened that there were still free seats in Gu Bei and Lao Zhang's office, and the man who only heard about them The colleague, whose name was unknown, would retire at the end of the year, so Li Chengru simply temporarily worked here.

It has been almost three months since Gu Beilai came to CCTV to make full plans. The time has entered 1982, and it is almost the end of the year.

According to director Yang Jie's plan, after the Chinese New Year, the crew of "Journey to the West" will officially get busy.

The filming, casting, and makeup all have to be completed in the first half of the year, and then the production will officially start in July. It sounds like there is plenty of time, but after all, "Journey to the West" has been registered by the leaders above as a movie next year. No one dares to slack off on CCTV’s key projects.

"Xiao Gu, aren't you off work yet? What time is it?"

Li Chengru packed up his things and was about to leave when he saw Gu Bei still sitting at his desk, spreading out the manuscript paper and writing on it.

"It's not as quiet as here at home. I'll sort out the meeting minutes first. The group leader of the Literature and Art Department will meet tomorrow morning. Director Yang will report on the work."

As the focus of work in the station, Yang Jie has to report the preparation progress of "Journey to the West" at the team leader meeting every day. Things like sorting out materials should have been done by deputy director Zhu Xiaofeng.

But Director Zhu was busy adapting the script. Since Yang Jie read Gu Bei's proposal last time, she felt that his copywriting skills were good, so she gave him this job.

After hearing what Gu Bei said, Li Chengru simply refused to leave and pulled out a chair to sit next to the heater.

He also has troubles. As he gets older, his old mother at home nags in his ears all day long. When she talks too much, he also feels upset.

There is no age difference in urging marriage.

Children want to start a career first, and parents hope to start a family early, so they are naturally opposed to each other.

"Xiao Gu, I heard that last time we went to Beijing Film Academy to watch the graduation drama, Zhu Lin gave you her contact information?"

Gu Bei didn't even raise his head. From Li Chengru's tone, he guessed what this old man wanted to say.

"Well, what happened?"

Ha ha!

Li Chengru smiled coquettishly: "Nothing, I'm just...very curious. When I was in the training class, Zhu Lin...how should I put it, he didn't feel very approachable, and he didn't talk to others very much. .”

I guess I don't want you to talk much, right?
Gu Bei met Zhu Lin again later. He went to the Beijing Film Studio to find Mr. Wang Xizhong. Zhu Lin happened to be filming a movie at the Beijing Film Studio, and the two of them had lunch together.

After getting in touch with him a little more, Gu Bei could also see that Zhu Lin had a cheerful personality, but he was also different from others.

When meeting someone with a different temper, he likes to talk and laugh.

"What do you want to say? You're not still trying to catch Zhu Lin's attention, right? She's getting married."

Uh……

Li Chengru blushed: "What nonsense are you talking about? I want to remind you."

"Quickly pull him down, Zhu Lin and I are friends."

After saying this, Gu Bei felt that this explanation was redundant and there was nothing to explain.

Cleaners are self-cleaning.

To put it more clearly, Zhu Lin, or the king of the daughter country she plays, is Bai Yueguang from Gu Bei's childhood in his previous life.

After rebirth, I did have some thoughts, but they were just whims.

Even if Zhu Lin is not married, and there is no age gap of ten years between the two of them, do they have to have something happen with each other?
Emotional matters are about fate.

He and Zhu Lin had no connection, so it was good to just be ordinary friends.

Seeing that Li Chengru was about to say something, Gu Bei stopped him directly.

"Brother Li, if you are serious about thinking about this, you might as well think about work matters. After the New Year, we will have to go out to visit the scenery in March. How to arrange it is all your responsibility."

Yang Jie had already decided on the general route, and some of the places she wanted to go had already been mapped out. However, Yang Jie left it all to Li Chengru to take charge of how to arrange the itinerary.

There is only so much money to cover, including clothing, food, accommodation, and transportation along the way. How to design the itinerary to save time, effort, and most importantly, save money depends on Li Chengru's ability.

"It's okay if you don't say this. My head hurts when I mention it. Do you have time now? Look at this."

After Li Chengru finished speaking, he directly took out a map and spread it on the table, regardless of whether Gu Bei had any free time.

"Director Yang has decided to start from the capital in early March and go to Nanjing first, then Yangzhou, Yixing, Anhui Huangshan, Jiuhuashan, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Ningbo, Hangzhou..."

As he spoke, Li Chengru's finger slid on the map. There were several places with special annotations that Yang Jie must visit in his plan.

For example, Shanjuan Cave in Yixing, Yaolin Wonderland in Hangzhou, Tiantong Temple in Ningbo, Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, Nanputuo in Xiamen, and Nanshan Temple in Zhangzhou, etc.

"Did you see it? This is only half the journey. I have another one here."

Regarding the filming plan, Director Yang Jie once said during a meeting that the general plan is to first travel to the southeast and then the southwest, starting in March and ending in early May.

Now that the goal of "traveling" has been set, we need to carefully search for the location of each episode. Only when we find the location can we make subsequent shooting plans.

Nowadays, unlike later, film and television bases are blooming everywhere. Scenery and buildings from any era can be found in various film and television bases.

The current situation is that there is nothing.

The story of "Journey to the West" spans many provinces from the Tang Dynasty to Tianzhu and requires various scenery. When you go out to capture scenery, you need to keep all the plots in the story in your mind, especially those very special places.For example, Huaguoshan, Shuiliandong, Xiaoleiyin Temple, and Baigu Cave.

The entire preparation team, including director Yang Jie, had no idea where to find a suitable location and could only draw up a rough route based on the content of the story.

This route is not based on the real route that Tang Monk took back then, because after all, we are not filming "The Biography of Xuanzang", but we are taking the most beautiful, known and unknown famous mountains and rivers across the country from north to south, from east to west. Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, and scenic spots are all included.

There are only two months. I want to visit all these places. Time is very tight. The most important thing is...

"Only such a small amount of funds, Xiao Gu, tell me, this... is so difficult."

The lack of time can be overcome, as long as everyone works hard, but it is indeed a bit difficult to do it without money.

You can save money on food, and you can overcome it by living in a simpler way, but how can you save on travel expenses?
Walking down on two legs, no one who has been there for three to five years would want to finish the walk.

Gu Bei looked at Li Chengru's sad face and knew that there was no way to write a summary of the meeting.

"Brother Li, it's useless for you to complain to me! Everything depends on people. There must be a way for the car to reach the mountain."

Is this considered comforting?

"I'm not complaining. The difficulty is there. Everything else can be overcome. How can we overcome it if we don't have enough money? We can't run out of money halfway and have a bunch of people trapped in the local area, right?"

Ha ha!

This is a way.

If you are really stuck somewhere because you have no money, you can't just ignore it, right?

At least the travel expenses back to the capital must be remitted.

"What's the use of being anxious now? Follow Director Yang's route and study it carefully to see if there are any places that you don't need to go to. Delete them appropriately. Director Yang wants the money, and she can't count how much it is. .”

As Gu Bei said, he packed everything on the table and put it into his bag. He would go home tonight and have to work overtime again.

"Let's go! It's already this time. Find a place outside to have something to eat before going home!"

"You please?"

Hey, this chicken thief.

When they came out of the unit, the whistling northwest wind almost knocked the two of them off their feet. They wrapped their clothes tightly and moved step by step to the car shed. The car could no longer be ridden and had to be pushed.

Fortunately, there were many small shops nearby, both state-owned and private. When they found one with the lights on, they broke in.

call……

The wind was so strong that they were both speechless.

It was just after dinner and there were no customers in the store. There was an old man manning the counter. When he saw the two people coming in, he hurriedly stepped forward. One look at the service attitude and he knew it was not a state-owned store.

If it is really state-owned, who cares about you?

And if someone comes to cause trouble after dinner time, it would be good if they don’t kick people out.

"What would you like to eat?"

Gu Bei glanced at the water sign on the wall. There was nothing new. There were dumplings, noodles, and various seasonal side dishes.

Each person ordered half a catty of dumplings, a plate of peanuts, and a plate of frozen pork skin.

Pay the money, hand over the food stamps.

"Have a drink?"

Li Chengru hesitated for half a second: "Then drink some."

"Another half a pound of soju."

"okay!"

The old man yelled, raised the curtain and ran to the kitchen. He was the only one in this store. He was the waiter, chef, cashier, and also the boss. He was a multi-talented person.

I guess it's not that I can't afford to hire people, but that I don't dare to hire people. These days, it's a big taboo for private shops to hire workers if it doesn't go well.

Soon the dumplings and vegetables were served. The jelly was not very good, so Gu Bei went the extra mile and added a plate of beef with soy sauce.

Li Chengru knew that Gu Bei had a lot of money, so he paid the courtesy.

"Xiao Gu, I will lend you flowers to offer to the Buddha and give you a toast to express my congratulations."

Gu Bei smiled and picked up the small wine cup and touched it with Li Chengru.

Before the meeting this afternoon, Gu Bei received a notice that he would become a full-time employee one month in advance and his salary was successfully increased to 45 yuan. This can be considered a blessing.

Gu Bei didn't care much about whether he would become a regular employee or not, and whether his salary would be increased or not. However, his work was going well, and at least he had an explanation with his parents at home.

There is only one week left for the Chinese New Year, time flies so fast!

Ziliu...

After a cup of wine, it's quite refreshing.