Back to 80: My Literary Life

The film tells the story of Li Li, a textile worker, who works in a textile factory on the verge of bankruptcy and lives a repetitive and peaceful life every day. Work and taking care of her husband and children have almost become her whole life. Suddenly one day, Li Li was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The remaining life became precious. Li Li decided to go to BJ to find her first love boyfriend Zhao Luhan to resolve her last knot.

The filming location was the No. 4 National Cotton Mill in Xijing!

In the huge textile factory, textile machines are dancing mechanically; on the empty podium, the choir sings old songs of the former Soviet Union over and over again accompanied by the sound of the organ;

In the steaming public bathhouse, the no longer young textile workers are naked, and their aging bodies cannot take away their still excited hearts...

Such a collective, in the rolling wheel of the times, still stands in a posture of rejection, stubbornly and habitually operating old machines, following the old system, and living in an outdated scene.

Until one day the building began to collapse.

Yu Nan also contributed several restricted shots for this.

How about writing one too?

Fang Minghua drove back to her own courtyard, went upstairs to make a cup of tea, turned on the computer and started thinking about this matter.

The story is not complicated, but the director "writes" the tragic fate of an ordinary woman in an ordinary family vividly on paper, and the key is that it is natural and appropriate without any embellishment.

The two bathhouse scenes can be said to be the most vivid clips in the whole film. Because of this, it almost failed to pass the review.

In the 1990s, bathhouses and dance halls were considered very magical. Whenever you enter these two places, you will feel like you are in a Ukiyo-e painting.

Fang Minghua also has this experience, especially in the dance hall, where all kinds of life are vividly expressed.

The movie dedicated the most bizarre scene to the dance hall.

In order to make a living, husbands ride bicycles to send their wives to the dance hall to dance and make money, and they talk and laugh all the way.

When they arrived at the place, the husbands smoked outside and waited, and the women danced inside to make money.

When they heard that there was a fight inside, they all threw away their cigarette butts and rushed in.

It turns out that under the peaceful appearance, the dignity of men has been completely defeated by the embarrassing life.

Not only do they have to swallow their anger, but they also have to send their women into the arms of strange men.

And this is the original appearance of life after being stripped away.

Fang Minghua drank tea quietly and conceived a novel.

Movies are different from novels. Movies need huge visual impact. For example, the thrilling business war of Abao in the TV series "Flowers" is not in the original novel at all.

There is also the dancing scene in this movie. Fang Minghua plans to make a slight modification. The protagonist and her husband's family can be enough. The novel does not need such a strong impact. The most needed is the glimmer of hope hidden in the helplessness.

Also, the name Li Li is not very good, so change it.

Fang Minghua conceived for a whole morning. At noon, he made some food at home and ate it. After taking a nap, he went back to the study to write.

In the huge factory, there are thousands of machines. Zhang Li, who was still angry because of the salary deduction, can accurately come to her position.

In this workshop that is noisy all day, memory has long become an instinct.

Putting cotton balls in her ears and constantly fiddling with the cotton yarn on the machine is Zhang Li's daily routine.

In addition, she would avoid the factory and secretly eat a bite or two of food. During lunch break, she would lean against the wall with her co-workers to smoke a few puffs of cigarettes and complain.

Fang Minghua only planned to write a short story, just like the one "Red Skirts Are Popular on the Street" ten years ago.

Fang Minghua was typing madly all afternoon.

The breeze outside was just right, the sun was not too hot, and the courtyard was quiet, since the sound of typing came from the study on the second floor.

Until Song Tangtang came back.

Song Tangtang parked the car and entered the living room, and found that it was actually quiet inside.

Huh?

Where's my husband?

Usually, if there is no social event in the evening, Fang Minghua will prepare the meal and wait for Song Tangtang to come home for dinner. Except for the weekend, the couple only eat together in the evening.

Does he have a social event?

Should I call him?

Years ago, Song Tangtang also bought a mobile phone for work, so it was very convenient to contact her.

The German Shepherd Xiao Doumiao following behind her seemed to understand the mistress's thoughts, and immediately barked twice and ran upstairs.

Song Tangtang followed behind.

Sure enough, Xiao Doumiao went upstairs, stood at the door of Fang Minghua's study, and barked twice again, which meant: "He is here."

Song Tangtang touched Xiao Doumiao's head affectionately as a reward, and then gently pushed the door in, and sure enough, she saw Fang Minghua concentrating on writing on the screen.

She didn't want to disturb him, and was about to close the door and exit gently, but Fang Minghua felt something, and turned around and saw Song Tangtang standing at the door.

"Off work? Oh. I haven't cooked yet." Fang Minghua remembered something.

"It doesn't matter, you write, I'll do it." Song Tangtang said gently, and then asked curiously: "What are you writing?"

After that, he walked over.

"Textile Girl"!

Song Tangtang looked at the title of the novel, "You want to write about textile workers?"

"Yes, it's the job of a writer to write down what you see and hear so that more people can know." Fang Minghua said calmly.

The novel is not long, about 8,000 words. After Fang Minghua finished writing it, he revised it repeatedly for two days. After printing it out, Fang Minghua drove to the Yanhe magazine at noon on the third day.

After parking the car in the yard, Fang Minghua saw Zhang Yanqian as soon as he went upstairs.

"Congratulations, Yan Qian." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

It turned out that Zhang Yanqian had been promoted to deputy editor-in-chief of the magazine and served as the head of the novel group. Last year, she worked in the jury office, read a large number of excellent works, and participated in the preliminary review meeting of the reading class, listening to the comments of the participants on the works, which greatly improved her appreciation ability as an editor.

Therefore, she was promoted to deputy editor-in-chief by Bai Miao not long ago.

Hearing Fang Minghua's congratulations, Zhang Yanqian was a little embarrassed: "Teacher Fang, this is thanks to your careful guidance."

Fang Minghua laughed: "I don't have that much ability."

"Teacher Fang, are you looking for Editor-in-Chief Bai? He is in the office." Zhang Yanqian said.

"Oh, you are now the deputy editor-in-chief. According to the regulations, I will give you the manuscript." Fang Minghua said and handed her a stack of manuscripts in his briefcase.

"Teacher Fang, you wrote it? Okay, I will definitely take a closer look." Zhang Yanqian happily took the manuscript.

After handing the manuscript to Zhang Yanqian, Fang Minghua had nothing to do, but since he was here, he was going to sit in Bai Miao's office.

Bai Miao was reading the manuscript. When he saw Fang Minghua knocking on the door and coming in, he stood up and greeted with a smile: "Sit down, sit down. What brings you here?"

"I wrote a short story and just handed it to Yan Qian." Fang Minghua got straight to the point.

"Hey? Minghua, you started writing a novel again? What's the content?" Bai Miao asked while pouring tea.

"It's about textile workers. The name is "Textile Girls"." Fang Minghua simply told the story outline.

Bai Miao listened, was silent for a while, and then said: "Minghua, this reminds me of "Red Skirts Popular on the Street" you wrote 10 years ago. Actually, think about it, it's the same group of people."