Chapter 91 2003
New Year's Eve.
Until he saw Cui Bo enter the newly built subway entrance, Xu Kun still had no idea what to say to her.
In fact, we still have to meet after the Chinese New Year.
But when we meet again, I'm afraid we will be even farther away from each other than before.
As he walked back through the snow, Xu Kun suddenly found it funny.
When he first joined the group, Cui Bo was competitive and even resorted to coaxing and deceiving, in the end he just wanted to leave no regrets; Huo Siyan, who seemed quiet, shy and non-competitive, made a deal with him without hesitation.
Should we say that the world is unpredictable, or that you can’t judge a person by his appearance?
When he returned to the entrance of the alley, Xu Kun saw Chen Xuebin's van parked on the side of the road. The snow near the side door was rolled into a mess, as if Old Chen had fallen down while holding something.
As soon as he entered the courtyard, Xu Kun shouted with a smile: "Brother Chen, your armpits are not broken, are they? I saw you rolling and crawling in the snow, and there are marks all over them."
"Can't you hope for something good from me?"
Chen Xuebin came out of Baoqiang's house and said unhappily, "It's a waste of time for me to come and give you New Year's gifts."
Xu Kun was not polite to him. He squeezed in and took a look. He found two boxes of firecrackers and a large bag of food.
Baoqiang was lying on the coffee table wolfing down dumplings when he saw Xu Kun coming in. He looked up and asked, "Brother Kun, where have you been so early in the morning?"
Xu Kun's excuse came out immediately: "I saw that you drank too much yesterday, so I wanted to buy some millet porridge or something to warm your stomach, but I couldn't find it after searching for a long time."
"Where are you going to find a breakfast stall on New Year's Eve?"
Chen Xuebin shook a red plum and said with a smile: "When I came, Baoqiang was already half asleep. He said he dreamed that the young man from China Construction who originally lived in this room came back again. He wanted to make room for him, but he couldn't get up."
"That's a coincidence."
Xu Kun lit up a cigarette and said with a smile: "When I carried Baoqiang back yesterday, I suddenly thought of that buddy - but even if he came back, he would never come here to spend the night again."
“So it’s a weird dream.”
Bao Qiang scratched his head and said, "I dreamed that not only he came back, but his girlfriend came back too. The two of them were tossing and turning so hard that the bed was about to fall apart, and they were banging their heads against the wall. I wanted to ask if they had reconciled and when they were going to get married, but I couldn't get up."
uh~
That was obviously not a dream, but the noise Xu Kun made next door.
So he decisively changed the subject and asked about Chen Xuebin's recent situation. As a result, this question hit the nail on the head for Chen Xuebin.
Although he failed to squeeze into the crew of "The Young Emperor", he has gained a lot recently. He successfully currying favor with a coal boss and was promoted from a nominal assistant director to a production director.
"These coal bosses from Shanxi really don't take money seriously. Wait until I can trick them into investing a large sum of money. When I become a producer, I'll get you two a lucrative contract!"
Chen Xuebin spoke with great pride, but Xu Kun couldn't bear to see him showing off, so he asked about Wang Peng's recent situation instead.
"Brother Wang went south."
"Going south?"
"I went to Hengdian."
According to Chen Xuebin, after Zhang Yimou's "Hero" became a hit, many costume dramas and kung fu films were moved to Hengdian World Studios for filming.
Wang Peng felt that this was a trend and an opportunity, so he planned to go back to his hometown after the New Year and take his two old brothers to Hengdian for development.
Baoqiang was very sad to hear the news. After all, he had the most contact with Wang Peng and was taken care of by Uncle Wang.
"It's not like we won't see each other anymore."
Xu Kun rubbed his head, then rubbed it on the towel in disgust, and then continued: "This is a good thing. If we go to the south to film in the future, we will have someone we know to take care of us."
"That's the truth."
Chen Xuebin smiled and said, "I still have a few more houses to visit, so I won't waste my time on you two. Come to my house for New Year's Eve dinner in the evening. Your sister-in-law said she'll make beef dumplings especially for you two." As they were used to him, Xu Kun and Bao Qiang agreed without any hesitation.
But after seeing Chen Xuebin off, Xu Kun received a call from Ge Cunzhuang. The old man asked straight to the point, "You didn't go back to your hometown, did you?"
After sending the photos, Xu Kun found time to visit twice more and became familiar with the old man.
"No, the crew just had four days off."
"Then come over tonight for the New Year's Eve dinner. It will be more lively with more people."
"This……"
Xu Kun looked at Baoqiang. Although he knew that this was a good opportunity to get closer to the Ge family, he finally told Chen Xuebin what he had promised.
Hearing that he was a friend who had helped Xu Kun when he first came to Beijing, the old man understood and said, "You really can't break your promise - you will come after the New Year, right? I will wait for you at home then."
It is said that people miss their hometown when they get old.
After a few contacts, the old man treated him as a junior. If it weren't for the filter of being from the same hometown, even if they had ten times more contacts, it might not have had such an effect.
…………
We had New Year’s Eve dinner at Chen Xuebin’s house in the evening. The dumplings with beef filling were delicious, but a little sticky in the teeth.
It was already past ten o'clock when we returned to the rental house.
But neither Xu Kun nor Bao Qiang felt sleepy, so they went to Bao Qiang's room to continue watching. The apparent reason was that there were two beds in the room and they could watch while lying down; the actual reason was that Xu Kun's bed had been broken by shaking last night and it creaked when he moved the slightest.
The two of them watched the singing and dancing while chatting about all sorts of things.
In fact, it was Baoqiang who was mainly talking.
He first thought that the plan of sharing the house would most likely fail. After Deng Chao received the film salary of 120,000 yuan, his nose almost went up to the sky. He estimated that as soon as "The Young Emperor" was completed, he and Hao Lei would have to live together forever.
Then he sighed and wondered if he would ever have the chance to perform on the Spring Festival Gala in this lifetime.
"It's hard to say for others, but you can definitely succeed."
It wasn't until Uncle Benshan appeared on the screen that the two began to focus.
After watching the skit "Heart Disease" co-starred by Uncle Benshan, Gao Xiumin and Fan Wei, the two of them stood up at the same time as if they had completed some ritual, and dug out two pieces of red jewellery from under the bed.
Crackling~
The sound of firecrackers echoed in the courtyard, centered around the persimmon tree.
When the echo in the courtyard died down, countless echoes in the alleys and streets gathered into an ocean.
Twelve years have passed.
Looking back, the number of people he met and the things he experienced in this year are almost as many as the total number he experienced in the previous twenty years.
Even the girls he slept with expanded from college students to big stars - of course, their ages also expanded from their teens and twenties to early forties.
Although it has not yet become a big star, the overall situation is upward and the future is bright.
Holding the equipment borrowed from Chen Xuebin, the two of them studied it over and over for almost half an hour before they finally figured out how to use the fill light and time-lapse shooting functions.
Baoqiang brought out a chair, Xu Kun used a pile of movie magazines as a backrest, and placed the camera at a 15-degree angle.
伴随着‘咔嚓’一声脆响，柿子树下一高一矮两张笑脸，定格在了2003年2月1日0点46分。
(End of this chapter)
