A Spring Festival New Year Drama

Night. In the master bedroom the light was a dim yellow. Chen Qi sat at the desk, writing a reply to Fu Chi. Spring Festival had not yet come, but the Hong Kong film world was already preparing for war. Dragon Lord was set to open on the 22nd, The Shaolin Temple on the 21st, and Aces Go Places, to keep clear of them, had simply moved up eight days and would open on the 16th. Boat People had run into trouble as well, and Xia Meng was fretting over it... In short, things were lively over in Hong Kong. Gong Xue sat on the edge of the bed, both trouser legs rolled up, her two soft fair feet soaking in a basin of hot water, soles rubbing back and forth, a book in her hands. When she felt the water growing cool, she set the book down and asked, "Aren't you going to wash?" "After I finish the letter." "Then when will you finish?" "Soon, soon!" Gong Xue pouted. She dried her feet first, dumped the water, poured another basin of hot water, and set it beside him. Then she crouched down to take off his socks. "Hm?" Chen Qi turned his head, looked, and instinctively drew his feet back. "No need, no need. I'll wash them myself in a bit." "It's fine. Come on!" Gong Xue saw the way he was acting and laughed. "Why are you still embarrassed? I've washed my mom's and dad's feet. Stretch them over." "Really, no need. You..." Chen Qi felt a little awkward. Foot-washing was something he had done often in his previous life. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Hengdian—he knew them all. Technician No. 18 in Guangzhou had been the best. But a washing this plain and simple—so far as he remembered, only his mom had given him one when he was little. Gong Xue truly thought nothing of it. When the washing was done she dumped the water again, drew a third basin of hot water, went back to the bed, and looked at him with her lip between her teeth. "I'm leaving tomorrow!" "All right, all right. I won't write. I won't write!" He had no choice but to throw down the pen and throw himself over. After they made love, and before sleep. The two held each other tight, lingering in the afterglow of rain on battered plantain. This was when feeling ran deepest. Even couples who quarreled often would, once they got up, go right back to being whatever they had been. Chen Qi held her, stroking the smooth line of her back and waist, and suddenly said, "Justice Bao premieres on Lunar New Year's Eve!" "Mm! Xiaoying's been looking forward to it every day." "Director Yang has finished this series, and CCTV has given her another assignment: to shoot Journey to the West." "Ah? That's all demons and monsters. Doesn't Director Yang like Dream of the Red Chamber?" "She didn't manage to get it. Shooting Journey to the West isn't bad either. When you go back, talk to Xiaoying. We can arrange a part for her. Let her make a showing in front of Director Yang, and then we'll put in a word, and she can get into the unit. CCTV has a department called the Television Drama Production Center. It keeps actors on the official roster too. Television drama is being taken more and more seriously now. If Xiaoying wants to develop in that direction—honestly, for film she falls a little short. Doing television is a very good way forward." "All right. I'll go back and talk it over with her." Gong Xue thought a moment and agreed. She also felt her younger sister would fall a bit short for film. Film required a "film face," and that alone screened out a great many people. Besides, her sister's first task was to find a reliable film and television unit, and CCTV was naturally the best. "Do you want to be in Journey to the West?" Chen Qi asked again. "Do you want to see me play a demon, or see me dressed as Guanyin?" "I want you to show your face in it. The part doesn't need to be big. A cameo will do. If this series should happen to be remembered for ages, it'll make a fine story. Decades from now those viewers will look and say, wow, even the great beauty Gong Xue made a cameo!" "Get out of here. A great beauty, is it!" But Gong Xue thought it over and said, "Actually, I'd quite like to play a period role. If the timing works, I'll go and try." The two talked for a while, then couldn't help kissing and holding each other again. She was going back to Shanghai tomorrow. Parting was at hand, so feeling ran thick; and with Fu Chi's letter come, she knew Chen Qi would soon have to go to Hong Kong again. ………… In the blink of an eye, Spring Festival arrived. The editorial department was on holiday. Liang Xiaosheng and Li Jianqun each went home to their own families, and Chen Qi went back to his parents' as well. He could perfectly well have brought his parents to Lechunfang. A courtyard that big could have used a bit of life in it. But this sort of thing was particular: a son coming home for the New Year, or the parents going to the son's home for the New Year—most fathers and mothers would choose the former. And so this division-level cadre, his name rising in the Chinese-language film world, a major figure, once again had to sleep on that shabby bed in the outer room. Oh, it couldn't quite be called shabby. Mom and Dad had changed it for a slightly bigger bed, so there was no longer any need to add a bench to stretch it long enough. "Mom, boil the dumplings—I'm hungry!" "You look like a dumpling yourself. What time is it? We'll eat in a bit!" "But I'm hungry!" "Go set off a couple strings of firecrackers with your dad!" Chen Qi had no choice. He went out with Chen Jianjun into the hutong and set off firecrackers in a racket of pops and bangs. Everyone was setting them off. Gunpowder smoke rose on every side, drifting a thick smell of sulfur. Flying scraps fell onto the snow heaped in the corners of the walls. Children in cotton-padded jackets ran about grinning foolishly. Now and then one would wail, and a neighbor would urge, "All right, all right, it's the New Year. A couple of smacks is enough!" "Ah. Now this is what you call New Year!" Chen Qi sighed with a show of feeling. It made him nostalgic—truly nostalgic. But ask him to go back to the past for real, and he would not, not if it killed him. People always laid a filter over days gone by. The older they got, the thicker the filter. It had not actually been that good... Around eight or so, father and son went inside. Yu Xiuli had already set the dumplings on the table, along with fish, cold cuts, pickles, and the like. The television had been on the whole time. CCTV had announced it long ago. Everyone was waiting to watch Justice Bao. This year CCTV had a gala as well, but it had aired back at New Year's Day. Only next year would there be a proper Spring Festival Gala. "Son, have a drink?" "Let's have a little. The three of us, all of us, let's drink a bit!" Yu Xiuli opened a bottle of liquor. Once the table was laid, this standard beat 99% of households in the country. The liquor poured, Yu Xiuli and Chen Jianjun glanced at each other. Neither spoke. Then they looked at their big boy with expectant eyes. Chen Qi rolled his eyes, and could only raise his cup. "Let me say a few words! Dad! Mom! First, my heartfelt thanks to you. World of Wonders has broken a hundred thousand copies. Half the medal is mine, and half is yours. We're one family, but some things still have to be said. Thank you for supporting me!" "And another thing. Last year I was terribly busy and hardly home. I couldn't stay by your side. As your son, I—I..." He clapped a hand over his face with a smack, putting it on as if it were all real. "Aiyo, aiyo!" But Mom and Dad panicked. Yu Xiuli said hurriedly, "It's all right, it's all right. We don't mind one bit. You doing well in your work is better than anything!" "That's right. We're still this young. We can look after ourselves perfectly well. You don't need to worry about us!" Chen Jianjun said too. "But I—I—I'm not laughing!" "Aiya, enough, enough. Say any more and Mom's going to cry. Come on, let's drink!" The two turned about and coaxed him instead. They touched glasses. Chen Qi went and washed his face, and his mood settled back to calm. A lot of families seemed to be like this. New Year was like a year-end reckoning. Every grudge and old passion came out. The harmonious ones let it pass. The ones that were not had to have a fight at the reunion dinner every year... "It's on! It's on!" In prime time, CCTV's Justice Bao at last appeared. Chen Qi had worked up the script, but most of it was still led by Yang Jie. The theme song was naturally not "Dang-dang-dang-dang, dang-dang-dang-dang, in Kaifeng there is a Justice Bao..." That song was far too unserious. Its time had not yet come. Yang Jie had found a poem written by Bao Zheng, set it to music, and made it the theme song: "A pure heart is the root of governance; the straight way is the course of one's life. Fine timber at last becomes a beam; fine steel is not made into a hook..." "Mother, there are so many people here!" "Mother, where is this?" "This is Kaifeng Prefecture!" "Kaifeng Prefecture? Then we're about to see Father?" At the opening of the first episode, Qin Xianglian, played by Li Jianqun, appeared on the screen in plain mourning dress, leading two children. It was The Case of the Beheading of Chen Shimei!