The System

At Beijing Film Studio. Inside an office, Wang Yang and Deputy Studio Head Zhu Dexiong were cheerfully reading the news reports. Although Beijing Film Studio hadn't outperformed Shanghai Film Studio, Romance on Mount Lu had still returned laden with honors—and more importantly, it held immense weight in the hearts of the masses. Tai Chi was hitting theaters this year, so it hadn't been entered into the selection. But what about next year? The Golden Rooster Awards were anyone's guess, but for next year's Hundred Flowers Awards, Gong Xue was eighty percent certain to take it. That would make it two in a row. As a side note, the reason The Shaolin Temple had never won a Golden Rooster or a Hundred Flowers was that it was classified as a Hong Kong film and wasn't eligible to compete; it had only received a special "Award for Outstanding Film" granted specifically by the Ministry of Culture. "Did you send the car?" "Sent it. They should be back just after noon. The welcome arrangements are ready too, and we'll throw a celebration banquet tomorrow." "Out of our studio's Four Golden Flowers, Xiao Gong came from behind to take the crown, suddenly vaulting to number one. Since she brought such honor to the studio this time, we have to show some appreciation... How about giving her a raise?" "How much of a raise?" "I think jumping three grades wouldn't be too much," Wang Yang said. "She transferred over from the military. She came in making fifty-six yuan. Bumping her three more grades would put her right at the ceiling. I'm afraid that'll be difficult," Zhu Dexiong advised. "It's better to convene a meeting to discuss it. When it comes to salary increases, you shouldn't just make the call on your own." He added, "We'd better include Liu Xiaoqing and the others, too. Raise them all together so Xiao Gong doesn't stand out too much." "All right, let's have a meeting first." Wang Yang gave an exasperated sigh. Working inside a film studio had its pros and cons, which was why he understood all too well why that kid Chen Qi had gone off to set up his own outfit. *** Beep beep! A car drove over the cracked asphalt, rolled through the gate strung with a banner reading A Warm Welcome to Romance on Mount Lu on Its Triumphant Return, and pulled up outside the guesthouse. Chen Qi sat in the passenger seat, while four people were squeezed into the back. Luckily, in these years, nobody was checking for overcrowded cars or drunk driving. The doors opened, and Gong Xue, Wang Haowei, He Qing, and Tao Huimin climbed out—Ji Chunhua had taken the bus on his own. "Why is there even a banner strung up at the guesthouse?" Wang Haowei looked up and found it rather over the top. Before she could process it, someone came running over in a rush. "Director Wang! Xiao Gong! Why did you stop here? The studio leaders are all waiting for you!" "Waiting for what?" "To throw you a welcome-back dinner! The roast ducks are already laid out in the cafeteria." "This..." Gong Xue looked conflicted. Chen Qi couldn't have cared less. "Go on ahead. I'll take care of things on this end... I'm not going anyway. I didn't win any awards." He truly had no interest in occasions like this. First, he called Ge Chunyan down and said, "This is your eldest senior martial sister and your martial arts instructor. Go on upstairs with her!" "Oh!" Having just arrived, He Qing didn't dare make any fuss. She obediently headed up alongside Tao Huimin. Ge Chunyan was already stationed at the guesthouse, preparing for filming. She had played Feng Hualian in the first film, and in the second she would play the Holy Mother of the Yellow Lotus from the Red Lantern movement. Because the role involved a tremendous amount of fighting, nobody could match her martial prowess. She showed the two girls to their rooms, briefed them on the rules and expectations, and so forth, which can be passed over for now. While Gong Xue went off to attend the social engagement, Chen Qi returned to his long-unseen Room 302. Worn out from the train ride, he treated himself to a deep, satisfying sleep. By the time he woke, evening had already fallen. He sat there in a groggy daze for a moment when he suddenly heard a clamor outside. "What the hell is going on now?" "This damn studio is always full of drama!" He pushed open the window and looked out. People were gathered in clusters of twos and threes, marching furiously toward the main building—all of them the studio's cinematographers, art designers, film editors... "Hey, Old Liang!" He spotted Liang Xiaosheng among the onlookers, waved, and rushed downstairs to investigate. "What's happening?" "Word leaked out that the studio wants to give the Four Golden Flowers a raise. The veteran staff refused to take it lying down, so they're making a scene over at the main building." "How big of a raise?" "A three-grade jump, I hear. That's thirty or forty yuan extra." "That's quite a bit. Come on, let's go watch the show!" Chen Qi trotted along after them. When they arrived before the main entrance of the building, a veteran cinematographer in his fifties stood on the steps, holding a book rolled into a makeshift megaphone and shouting to the crowd. "In 1949, at the age of twenty, I was transferred to Beijing Film Studio! I started out doing production errands, and I'm fifty-one this year. I've worked diligently and conscientiously, maintained unity and camaraderie with my colleagues, and I consider myself a competent cinema worker! "Every month I earn seventy-some yuan, which counts as fairly high in our studio. But I earned every cent of that through being serious and responsible in my work, through decades of dedication to this studio! Plenty of people make more than me, but I accept that with wholehearted respect, because their contributions are greater than mine, so they deserve that higher pay! "However! "Everyone has heard the news: the studio actually wants to bump the so-called Four Golden Flowers up by three whole grades! I want to ask: on what grounds? "Is cinema about the individual? "Cinema is a collective enterprise! It's a collective contribution made by all of us! We merely have different divisions of labor; there is no high or low, noble or humble! On what grounds do they get a salary bump just for playing a role? It's not fair!" "It's not fair! It's not fair!" "Well said!" The crowd's emotions boiled over. Hearing the uproar, the veteran cinematographer grew even more energized. Catching sight of the renowned screenwriter Chen Qi down below, he called out loudly, "Comrade Chen Qi, do you agree with my view?" "You couldn't be more right!" "I fully support you!" Chen Qi clapped and cheered, looking extraordinarily sincere. After all, why should movie stars make so much money anyway? He supported the old cinematographer's point of view, though that didn't stop him from handing out more money to his own people—such as raising their daily filming subsidy from one yuan to two. His creed was simple: when it came to work, everyone needed monetary incentives. The greater the value you created for him, the greater the compensation he would give you. What he detested were those lawless trash celebrities of later generations who used filming as a cover for God only knew what filthy dealings behind the scenes—like Yang Tianbao raking in eighty million, Sister Shuang pocketing a hundred and sixty million, and the Little Yellow Duck taking a hundred and nine million... Seeing that even Chen Qi supported him, the veteran cinematographer grew all the more impassioned. It looked somewhat comical, but he represented the interests of the vast majority of people in the studio, and his stance had genuine merit. At that moment, upstairs. The Four Golden Flowers were all present. They had simply been summoned for a meeting, only to find themselves suddenly surrounded. Gong Xue felt profoundly awkward. At the end of the day, this whole affair had been sparked by her. Beside her, Liu Xiaoqing remarked in a sarcastic, biting tone, "Xiao Gong, why don't you go down and talk to them? You carry so much weight, you're bound to calm everyone down." "What weight do I carry?" "You won two awards, so of course you carry weight. You barely stepped foot through the door and they're already throwing you welcome dinners and celebration banquets." "Those were organized by the studio. I didn't know the first thing about them. You're talking as if this were all my fault. And I won the awards because the judging panel and the audience gave them to me. Please don't say things like that!" Gong Xue didn't know how to quarrel, so this was the harshest retort she could muster. With a sharp turn, she walked away. Zhang Jinling followed at her side to comfort her. The Four Golden Flowers were clearly split into two camps, looking upon her with sheer jealousy. Liu Xiaoqing let out an inward sneer. What's she putting on airs for? Isn't it just that she's good at climbing into bed? I could climb into his bed too, but that brat didn't want me! In the end, it was Zhu Dexiong who came down to personally explain things. He declared that the rumors of a salary increase were completely unfounded, pure fiction. Nothing of the sort was happening, so please, go home, go home! Only then did the veteran workers disperse, satisfied. *** Seeing that the commotion was over, Chen Qi headed into the main building instead, going straight up to the office. He knocked on the door and grinned. "Old Studio Head!" "Oh, Xiao Chen! You haven't dropped by in quite a while!" "I've been busy lately, my apologies!" Wang Yang had been standing by the window with his hands clasped behind his back, staring down with a gloomy expression, but his smile returned the moment he saw Chen Qi. "How is the company coming along?" "I signed Ji Chunhua and added an administrative staffer. Now we're up to five people in total!" "Five?" Wang Yang let out a dry chuckle and shook his head. "Cherish these days. This is actually when things are easiest for you. Once your company grows to the scale of Beijing Film Studio, you'll understand how I feel—even giving someone a raise is bound by red tape. "You're hell-bent on staying out of the system, but when that time comes, what your company turns into won't be up to you anymore." "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. There's always some room to maneuver." Chen Qi chuckled. "There are so many people in this world. Some are cut out for the system, some aren't. Some belong on the outside, some belong on the inside, and for some, it's best to be on the outside on the surface while actually belonging on the inside... You've spent decades in the system, so you should understand this better than I do." "On the outside on the surface while actually on the inside? What do you mean by that?" "Take Li Lianjie, for instance!" Chen Qi shrugged.