Chapter 96: The Young Emperor Wraps Up
The third day of the first lunar month.
When the crew resumed work, Xu Kun finally received the news that should have come a long time ago - epidemics broke out in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places.
But whether it was the wording in the news reports or the tone of people's casual conversations, it seemed that no one took it too seriously.
Xu Kun was somewhat puzzled by this, and after digging deep into his distant memories, he discovered that SARS seemed to have suddenly received great attention after the weather turned warmer.
In other words, it was only after the epidemic officially broke out in the capital that it received great attention.
Afterwards, based on the feedback from fellow inmates, Hebei - at least in southern Hebei - was full of noise but little results. At most, there were a few patients running back from Beijing, but the disease did not cause any spread in the local area.
However, the epidemic situation in Beijing should still be quite serious.
Therefore, Xu Kun still tried his best to exaggerate the tragic situation in Hong Kong Island in the crew, reminding everyone to be careful and to prepare some masks, cold medicines, convenience foods, etc. in advance so as to reduce travel during the YQ period.
Not to mention this.
After the crew started working again, the plot of the whole play reached its climax. Huabuzi's family, Prince Zheng, Wu Yunzhu, Wu Liangfu, Jidu, each character either died of old age or died an unnatural death.
Even Emperor Shunzhi himself, who was determined to give up the throne to Yue Le and become a monk, could not escape the bowl of poisoned wine sent by Empress Xiaozhuang - however, this part has an open ending and does not conclusively indicate that Shunzhi was poisoned to death.
After Shunzhi's death, it was Wu Liangfu's turn.
It's not unjust that the old eunuch died. The lines that Cui Bo used to seduce Xu Kun twice came from the plot where Wu Liangfu and Tong Layue were having an affair.
Teacher Li Jianyi [Wu Liangfu] performed without any props, relying entirely on voice. Those obscene lines like "Empress, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch my queen" made people feel as if they were there and were breathtaking.
Director Liu Heng also specially arranged for the three-year-old Kangxi to witness the scene of his mother and the old eunuch having sex.
Putting aside the plot in which he was sentenced to death in the end, Wu Liangfu, an old eunuch who entered the palace since the Ming Dynasty, was powerful for more than ten years in the Shunzhi Dynasty and even slept with Kangxi's biological mother. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is a "winner in life."
Shortly after Wu Liangfu's death, Ji Du, who tried to prevent Shunzhi from passing the throne to Yue Le through military remonstrance, also met his end in Tianlao.
wow~
Hearing the sound of the iron lock of the prison door, Ji Du [Xu Kun], who was lying on the bed, jumped up and saw that it was Sony who came in holding his family heirloom sword.
He was stunned at first, then slowly stood up, with one hand hanging in front of his chest and the other behind his back. Although he was in a shabby prison uniform, he had an aura of majesty that was intimidating without being angry.
This is a scene that is not in the original novel, and it is also the memorable point that Xu Kun set for "Ji Du". He would strike this pose every time he appeared. Over time, he has already mastered his demeanor quite well.
More than three months of exploration of "eye skills" were fully revealed at this moment.
When Sony announced to the public that Jidu had died of a sudden illness, hinting that the one who would ascend the throne would be Jidu's grandson-nephew Xuanye, there seemed to be a gleam in Jidu's eyes.
After watching Sony leave, he resolutely drew out his family heirloom sword. The bright sword light first illuminated the pale and frightened face of Prince Xun beside him, and then left the image of Ji Du committing suicide with the sword on the wall.
This scene was changed later by Liu Heng. Originally, the character was going to die by hitting his head against the wall during the script reading, but Liu Heng felt that there should be a sense of inheritance ceremony, so he changed it to Jidu's heirloom sword.
As for Xu Kun, he did not dare to change the plot this time, mainly because his screenwriting skills were far inferior to those of Teacher Liu.
After filming this final scene, Xu Kun closed the door and slept soundly.
As a result, I was suddenly woken up by Baoqiang in the middle of the night, and I heard him shouting happily: "Brother Kun, Brother Kun, we won a prize, "Blind Well" won a prize!"
Xu Kun was dazed for a long time before he suddenly came to his senses - he had been so busy filming recently that he had forgotten about "Blind Shaft" participating in the Berlin International Film Festival.
He hurriedly pulled Baoqiang to ask, "Is it true? Did he win the Golden Bear or the Silver Bear?!"
“It’s the Silver Bear, and there’s also an art award!” Xu Kun felt a little disappointed when he heard that it wasn’t the Golden Bear, but second place was not bad either. When “The Bicycle Thief” was praised so highly in the newspapers, it was just a Silver Bear, wasn’t it?
It’s a pity that there is no best newcomer award this year.
Xu Kun took out his Nokia, turned it on and found that there was indeed a missed call from Li Yang, but when he called it the line was always busy.
It wasn't until the next morning that he contacted Li Yang.
Li Yang seemed very excited. Although he failed to win the Golden Bear Award this time, he at least beat Zhang Yimou's "Hero" - Zhang Yimou came back with a failure at the Berlin Film Festival this time, and the highly anticipated "Hero" only won a consolation prize in the end.
Li Yang then expressed regret that the mainland reports would most likely focus on him as the director, rather than praising the two leading actors as they did with "The Bicycle Thief".
This is not entirely because of the lack of the two newcomer awards, but mainly because the plot of "Blind Shaft" is not easy to publicize openly, and when mentioning the actor's role, it is inevitable to mention the specific plot.
"But the distributor in Hong Kong Island has already negotiated with me overnight. It will be released publicly in Hong Kong Island in April. If you want to develop in Hong Kong Island, this is a good opportunity. I can take you to Hong Kong Island for promotion."
Xu Kun naturally refused this outright. He was doing well in the mainland, and recently he had climbed up to the two big trees of the Ge family and Mr. Lan. Only a person with a mental disorder would go to Hong Kong to flatter others.
After that, the crew spent another seven or eight days patching up the film, and it was not until February 2 that they officially announced the completion of filming.
The night after the wrap party, Baoqiang was the only one living in the dormitory for three people.
The next morning, when Xu Kun returned from the hotel, Deng Chao and Hao Lei had not returned yet.
After Xu Kun and Bao Qiang packed their luggage, they went around and said goodbye to everyone in the crew. In the girls' dormitory, Hao Lei had returned, but Huo Siyan was 'missing'.
Yang Rong was also saying goodbye to people everywhere, but unlike Xu Kun, she also brought a bunch of souvenirs - the maple leaves she brought back from Xiangshan last year, all of which she made into bookmark specimens.
When Xu Kun and Bao Qiang returned to the dormitory again, Deng Chao was lying on the bed like a salted fish. It seemed that he had done the best he could yesterday.
Xu Kun sat down at the head of his bed, patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Why, were you drained by Sister Lei?"
"Call me brother-in-law."
"Bah~"
Xu Kun spat in his face, then suggested earnestly: "You have a girlfriend, you've played the leading role, and you've made a lot of money. Why don't you take this opportunity to go back to your hometown and make your parents happy?"
Then he turned to Baoqiang and said, "And you, you didn't go home during the Chinese New Year. This time you might as well stay at home for two months before coming back."
It is hard to say the exact time, but SARS will definitely break out in Beijing within two months.
"That's too long."
Baoqiang scratched his head, and suddenly looked at Xu Kun hopefully: "Brother Kun, why don't you come home with me?"
If it weren't for the YQ factor, Xu Kun would really like to visit Baoqiang's hometown.
But now, if the village is closed due to the epidemic, it would be embarrassing for him as an outsider, and it might even bring unnecessary trouble to Baoqiang's family.
So he waved his hand and smiled, "We'll talk about it later when we have a chance. I'm going to go back to my hometown and stay for a while to put an end to the past."
In addition to his reputation as a tyrant in his early years, Xu Kun also wanted to "settle" things on his parents' side. He didn't want to wait until he became famous and then be used to take advantage of the popularity of relatives with whom he had long since cut off contact.
(End of this chapter)
