129 Director Xie, you are testing me with this; isn't that a bit inappropriate? (Seeking full subscription)

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After the exams, Feng Jiayou slipped into her little room early and began counting her little nest egg again.

The last time she had counted it, she had found a little over fifty-three hundred yuan.

Adding the royalties Cheng Xuemin had gradually brought home from newspapers and magazines around Yanjing for reprinting his work, the total had already surpassed six thousand yuan.

She had never expected the payment for the comic-book adaptation of Journey to the West to arrive on the very day he submitted it, yet there it was: another 1,386 yuan.

Cheng Xuemin had become much more obedient lately. He had even handed over the 121-yuan royalty check from Shanghai Literary Arts.

If he had wanted to keep some private money, he could easily have pocketed that check. How could a woman possibly find out?

But Cheng Xuemin had not done so. He had obediently handed it over as usual, and Feng Jiayou was so delighted that, for the first time ever, she rewarded him with ten ten-yuan notes and told him to add them to his own little savings.

Why had she suddenly become so generous?

Was it not because adults refused to choose between two good things? She wanted Cheng Xuemin’s private savings, but she also wanted the little surprises he wished to give her.

Whenever she gave Cheng Xuemin a little spending money, she told him to save it and occasionally surprise her with something.

So although it was called Cheng Xuemin’s private money, was it not ultimately being saved for her? She knew exactly how much he had. Could he possibly spend it recklessly?

After doing the sums, Feng Jiayou found that she now had a little over 7,400 yuan. Once she set aside the 5,500 yuan needed for the courtyard house, she would still have nearly 2,000 yuan left.

That evening, when her elder brother finished work, he came over with Xie Jin.

“Xuemin, after considering every possibility, I still think you are the most suitable person to play Xu Lingjun!”

“So? What have you decided? At least give your brother-in-law a definite answer.”

Over the past few days, Xie Jin had been assembling the cast and crew for The Herdsman at Yanjing Film Studio. The other actors had mostly been finalized.

Yet having Zhu Lin and Zhu Shimao play Li Xiuzhi and Xu Lingjun still left Director Xie feeling that something was missing.

Perhaps he had already seen Cheng Xuemin’s Xu Lingjun. After that, every other version of Xu Lingjun simply seemed unsatisfactory.

It was much the same with Feng Jiayou. After falling in love with the courtyard house in the Overseas Chinese Apartment complex, no other house looked appealing to her.

The woman wanted to give up on the Overseas Chinese Apartment entirely, so she had settled for second best and urged Cheng Xuemin to negotiate for the courtyard house as quickly as possible.

Xie Jin was in a similar position. With the crew nearly complete, only the central character, Xu Lingjun, remained undecided. He wanted to finish all the work here before returning to Shanghai.

Then, once the New Year had passed and spring arrived, he could head straight to the farm in the northwest to gather material and begin filming.

That was why he had come to the Feng family once again with his brother-in-law, Feng Jiazhao: to persuade Cheng Xuemin, and at the same time to win over his mother-in-law, Teacher Gu.

He knew that if he could take this shortcut and convince his mother-in-law, Cheng Xuemin, her son-in-law, would be his.

“Director Xie, you can see for yourself. I really have far too many manuscripts waiting to be written!”

Cheng Xuemin spoke with an anguished expression. “Look, this one is for my mother-in-law’s magazine, October. This one is for Yanjing Literature. This one is for People’s Literature. This one is for your Shanghai Literary Arts. And this…”

“All right, all right, stop there! I’m not discussing this with you anymore. I’ll go speak with your parents-in-law.”

Seeing Cheng Xuemin lay out a pile of papers before him, Xie Jin could not tell whether the man was truly this busy or merely trying to fob him off.

He immediately interrupted him with a wave of his hand. Rather than continue standing outside the young man’s window, he went straight into the main room to chat with Feng’s father.

“Old Feng, your son-in-law is something else!”

“I heard that the wildly popular Factory Director Qiao was also written by your son-in-law?”

Once inside, Xie Jin offered Feng’s father a cigarette, then sat down and asked the question himself.

“Don’t ask me. Whether he goes or not, my word carries no weight.”

Feng’s father accepted the cigarette and borrowed a light from Xie Jin. After taking a puff, he waved his hand repeatedly. He knew exactly what Old Xie wanted to discuss.

Whether Xuemin would go and play Xu Lingjun was not something he could decide.

“I understand, I understand. I’ll talk to Teacher Gu later.”

Xie Jin nodded and continued, “Besides, I only need him for a few days. I already promised Xuemin that it would be one month at most.”

“Once he joins the production, we’ll prioritize all his scenes. It won’t take up much of his time.”

“He needs to write?”

“He can write at home, and he can write on set too! We aren’t going to occupy all twenty-four hours of his day.”

Xie Jin rattled on for quite some time. Feng’s father listened in astonishment before asking, “Is Xuemin really that good an actor? Are you absolutely determined to have him?”

“Absolutely. Everyone agrees that he is Xu Lingjun. The manuscript and screenplay were written entirely from his example.”

“So if he plays the role, it will be a natural performance in the truest sense.”

Xie Jin was not exaggerating in the slightest.

“Xuemin really is excellent as Xu Lingjun. We’ve already tried several actors, but none of them has managed to capture the same feeling.”

Feng Jiazhao, who had been accompanying them, nodded repeatedly.

“Exactly! Even Jiazhao agrees.”

“And this time Yanjing Film Studio has appointed Jiazhao as the producer. Even if you won’t do it for me, you ought to show your brother-in-law some consideration, shouldn’t you?”

Xie Jin remembered this point and hurriedly added it.

“I told you, talking to me is useless. Go and speak to Xuemin yourselves.”

“Still, if it is only one month, Xuemin could certainly go out and gain some experience.”

Feng’s father was in favor of his son-in-law going.

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After all, staying cooped up at home writing manuscripts every day without any social contact was not good for him.

Besides, his son-in-law was naturally quiet. Even Elder Tang had remarked that Xuemin was somewhat wooden. Letting Jiazhao and Xie Jin take him out for some experience would do him good.

“That’s more like it!”

Xie Jin was delighted. He slapped his thigh and continued, “Old Feng, help me persuade Teacher Gu later as well.”

“Keeping your own son-in-law shut up at home writing manuscripts all day isn’t right either!”

Xie Jin could already imagine the editor-mother-in-law relentlessly squeezing her son-in-law for manuscripts, wishing he would spend every hour of every day writing for her—a mother-in-law version of Huang Shiren.

“Old Xie, say what you like later, but don’t mention the manuscripts! Your son-in-law hasn’t given his mother-in-law even one manuscript so far.”

The corner of Feng’s father’s mouth twitched. If Xie Jin brought up the matter in front of his wife, did he really think she would not throw him straight out?

“Exactly. Old Xie, don’t mention manuscripts in front of Mother later! Nobody in our family dares bring them up around her anymore.”

Feng Jiazhao nodded repeatedly as well. Father and son clearly shared the same understanding: if Xie Jin dared mention manuscripts, his mother was certain to explode.

“Surely it isn’t that bad?”

“Xuemin has published several well-received pieces, hasn’t he?”

Xie Jin’s expression stiffened. He found it hard to believe that his own son-in-law had written so much while his mother-in-law had yet to receive even one manuscript.

But then he quickly ran through the publications in which Cheng Xuemin’s well-received works had appeared.

He fell silent at once.

It really was exactly as they had said.

Before long, Feng’s mother had finished preparing dinner, and the food was brought to the table. Xie Jin began again.

“Old Xie, don’t ask me. Ask Xuemin what he thinks.”

Feng’s mother nodded after hearing him out, but did not express an opinion. Instead, she left the decision to Cheng Xuemin himself.

The ball had been kicked back to him once again.

Xie Jin found himself in a difficult position. His eyes shifted, and then he turned to Cheng Xuemin.

“Xuemin, Jiazhao mentioned that you’re planning to buy a house?”

“Huh?”

Cheng Xuemin and Feng Jiayou both turned toward Feng Jiazhao. They had never imagined that the elder brother could be so quick to let things slip.

“Don’t look at me! I only happened to mention it to Old Xie just now. I said that if he came to see you again, this would probably be the reason.”

Feng Jiazhao hurriedly explained. He had merely brought it up in passing when they first entered.

How could he have known that Xie Jin would suddenly change the subject and bring it up now?

“Xuemin, I’m only asking whether you’re planning to buy a house soon.”

Xie Jin did not dwell on the details and asked Cheng Xuemin directly.

“Director Xie, we do have that intention. But as you saw, we’ll have to finish all those manuscripts before we can barely scrape together enough money.”

Cheng Xuemin nodded and immediately began complaining about his poverty, indirectly hinting that Xie Jin’s production was not offering any salary. Who would travel such a long way to act for free?

And even if they were paid, how much could they possibly receive?

As the production’s producer, Feng Jiazhao would receive only a small bonus in addition to his wages—at most, no more than a hundred yuan.

So no one could blame Cheng Xuemin for lacking dedication. In those days, the system of actors bearing their own costs and receiving proper film fees had not yet been introduced. Acting in films, television productions, and stage plays truly meant devoting oneself to art without thought of money.

“Writing all those manuscripts just to scrape together enough money would kill you!”

Xie Jin’s face brightened. Smiling broadly, he said to Cheng Xuemin, “How about this? Come with me, and I’ll have you take the lead on the screenplay for a new film our studio is preparing. What do you say?”

“Screenwriting is your strength. You could finish it in ten days or half a month. The screenplay fee is 1,500 yuan.”

In the end, was it not simply that Cheng Xuemin needed money for a house and would have to write desperately to earn it?

As it happened, the Shanghai Film Studio was preparing another new film and had asked Xie Jin to recommend a screenwriter.

If Cheng Xuemin went with him, Xie Jin said he would secure the 1,500-yuan fee for him no matter what.

As one of Shanghai Film Studio’s famous directors, he still possessed that much influence.

“Shanghai Film Studio is preparing another new film too? Is it a dubbed foreign film, or an adaptation of a famous domestic play?”

Feng Jiazhao could not help asking in surprise.

Cheng Xuemin also looked up at Xie Jin. The old fox was clearly determined to get him to play Xu Lingjun.

Since he could not tempt him with an unpaid role, he had gone straight for a screenplay as a bribe.

A screenplay fee of 1,500 yuan was, to be honest, worth earning.

“It isn’t a dubbed film or an adaptation of a play. It’s like Xuemin’s The Herdsman. Didn’t Shanghai Literary Arts publish another well-received piece at the end of last year?”

“Not long ago, Shanghai Literary Arts submitted it for review. Our studio has approved it too, and we plan to begin preparations this year. We’re currently choosing the screenwriter to adapt it.”

Xie Jin took a mouthful of wine and spoke to Feng Jiazhao and the others through his wine-laden breath.

“The Girls’ Dormitory?”

The moment Cheng Xuemin heard that title, his expression became strangely complicated. Feng Jiayou could not help asking Xie Jin directly.

“That’s right, that’s right! You guessed it, Jiayou. That shows just how well the story was received.”

Xie Jin nodded repeatedly, then turned to Cheng Xuemin.

“What do you say, Xuemin? You must have read it too, right? Having you adapt it into a screenplay shouldn’t be difficult, should it?”

“Wouldn’t earning 1,500 yuan for a screenplay be much easier than writing a manuscript of several hundred thousand words?”

“Why are all of you looking at me like that? Am I wrong? How could a simple adaptation possibly stump Xuemin?”

Seeing the strange expressions on the faces of everyone in the Feng family, Xie Jin wondered what on earth he had said wrong.

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Had he really said anything wrong?

With the level of skill their son-in-law possessed when it came to adaptations, even his brother-in-law Feng Jiazhao admitted that he was inferior. Even Old Teng, the chief screenwriter at Yanjing Film Studio, had praised him.

So would adapting The Girls’ Dormitory really be difficult for Cheng Xuemin?

Of course not.

It would certainly be easier than writing a manuscript of several hundred thousand words, would it not?

At Cheng Xuemin’s current standing, the most he could earn from submitting work to publications was seven yuan per thousand words.

To earn 1,500 yuan, he would have to rack his brains and toil over more than two hundred thousand words.

But a short screenplay should have been effortless for him, right? Why, then, was the entire Feng family looking at Xie Jin with such odd expressions? What did they mean?

“Exactly, exactly. Old Xie, you’re right. Adapting someone else’s manuscript might indeed be somewhat difficult for Xuemin.”

“But adapting The Girls’ Dormitory? That would be easy, easy, easy!”

Feng Jiazhao nodded repeatedly, then added, “Xuemin wrote The Girls’ Dormitory.”

“I said it wouldn’t be difficult for Xuemin… Wait, Jiazhao, what did you just say? You mean that The Girls’ Dormitory, the story published in Shanghai Literary Arts, was written by Xuemin?”

Xie Jin nodded along at first, having received Feng Jiazhao’s confirmation. But when he heard the sudden turn at the end, he was struck dumb.

After running the words through his mind, he shook his head repeatedly.

“That can’t be right. That can’t be right. Jiazhao, how could The Girls’ Dormitory have been written by Xuemin? He’s a man!”

“Wasn’t everyone saying that The Girls’ Dormitory was written by a female student at Yanjing University named Kuang Yalan? How could it possibly have been Xuemin?”

Anyone who heard the pen name Kuang Yalan would know it belonged to a female author. How could it possibly have been written by Cheng Xuemin, a man?

“Kuang Yalan is just another pen name of Old Cheng’s. He has a great many pen names now…”

Feng Jiayou’s younger sister, Feng Jiamao, nodded enthusiastically. Even food could not stop her from talking, and she seemed ready to expose all of Cheng Xuemin’s remaining identities as well.

Cheng Xuemin hurriedly cut in, forcing an awkward smile.

“Director Xie, The Girls’ Dormitory really was only something I wrote in my spare time.”

“No way! You really wrote it, Xuemin?”

Xie Jin was completely stunned.

He had intended to use The Girls’ Dormitory as bait to win Cheng Xuemin over, never imagining that the work already belonged to Cheng Xuemin himself.

Although Shanghai Literary Arts had submitted the manuscript and authorized the studio to produce it, if the original author wanted to adapt his own work into a screenplay, he naturally had priority.

The tempting offer Xie Jin had just made had instantly become useless.

“It was only something I wrote in my spare time, nothing more.”

Cheng Xuemin smiled awkwardly and spoke modestly. Since The Girls’ Dormitory was also being adapted into a film, the letter from Shanghai Literary Arts should arrive soon.

From what Xie Jin had said, Shanghai Film Studio had already asked him to recommend a screenwriter. Clearly, they did not yet know that Cheng Xuemin, the original author, could write the screenplay himself.

As for that screenplay…

To be honest, Cheng Xuemin truly did not have the spare energy to write it at the moment.

It was another work he had paid tribute to, and the screenplay could simply be copied in its entirety. After all, in his previous life, the story had also been adapted into a film with the same title and plot. Reproducing it would not be difficult.

But there was only so much he could copy. One project needed copying, another project needed copying, and he simply could not find the time.

“Stop pretending, Xuemin!”

Calling it something he had written in his spare time was absurdly modest. Xie Jin was beginning to feel jealous, and he spoke irritably.

“In any case, I’ll secure this screenplay for you. I’ll recommend you when I get back.”

“Now that’s impressive! Does Old Zhou know that Xuemin is also the Old Qiao—the factory director Qiao—from The Herdsman?”

The Old Zhou Xie Jin referred to was Zhou Jie-ren, then editor-in-chief of Shanghai Literary Arts and formerly a vice president of Fudan University.

“Then I really must thank you, Director Xie.”

Cheng Xuemin nodded. Having an established insider from the film studio recommend him would make things look less mercenary than volunteering himself.

“If it’s scheduled for after the New Year, I’ll see whether I can set aside some time.”

He then turned to Xie Jin. “But Director Xie, let me make this clear in advance: whether it works out or not, I can give you only one month.”

“Really? You’ve agreed, Xuemin?”

Xie Jin slammed his palm onto the table in excitement. Beaming, he said, “I knew you ought to play the role. Your Xu Lingjun and Zhu Lin’s Li Xiuzhi are a perfect natural pair. It doesn’t look like acting at all…”

“Ahem, Teacher Gu, I… well… Anyway, that isn’t what you think! I only meant…”

He had become too excited and grown more and more enthusiastic. But when he noticed the entire Feng family glaring at him once again, he suddenly realized that he had let his mouth run away with him.

What did he mean by saying that Cheng Xuemin’s Xu Lingjun and Zhu Lin’s Li Xiuzhi were a perfect natural pair?

Cheng Xuemin was a live-in son-in-law, and his wife was sitting right beside him. How could he say such a thing in front of the whole family?

Xie Jin hurriedly tried to correct himself, but for a moment he was so embarrassed that he could not think of any excuse.

He would probably be kneeling on a washboard that night.

Hearing Xie Jin’s reckless words, Cheng Xuemin stared helplessly at the ceiling. He had never seen such a useless ally, someone who could sabotage him so thoroughly.

It hurt. It really hurt.

Feng Jiayou smiled sweetly and said nothing, but beneath the table her fingers were already drawing circles into the flesh around Cheng Xuemin’s waist.

The next day, Feng Jiayou’s exams also concluded smoothly. They now had only to wait for their report cards and the beginning of winter vacation. In the meantime, they went to look at the courtyard house once more.

The price was settled at 5,500 yuan, and they paid a 500-yuan deposit.

Then, on Sunday, while everyone was at home resting, Cheng Xuemin took his parents-in-law, his elder brother and sisters-in-law, and the others to see the courtyard house near Yanjing University.

They were buying a house.

…

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