Ever Thought About Joining Beijing Film Studio?

The inspiration for *Invincible Dual Kicks* came from a folk legend in the Chaoshan region titled *The Dual Iron Peach Shoes*. "Peach shoes" were a style of pointed, high-heeled shoe worn by foot-bound women during the Qing dynasty; "iron peach shoes" were simply made of iron, and the heroine of the tale was a master of kicking techniques. In the 1980s, someone adapted the legend into a literary screenplay, which was made into a movie in 1988, though aside from the kicking premise, the film bore virtually no resemblance to the original tale. Its martial arts action style was exceedingly old-fashioned, yet it proved wildly popular on the mainland. Later, when it was sold to Hong Kong, it was already considered outdated there. To squeeze out a bit more box office revenue, the Hong Kong distributors came up with the bizarre idea of hiring Charlie Cho—yes, that very Charlie Cho everyone knows—to shoot extra erotic scenes and marketed it as a Category III film to lure in viewers... Chen Qi's sole reason for submitting to *Story Session* was to make some quick manuscript fees. He had no intention of handing over his truly great stories, preferring to save them for when he could start his own magazine. For now, after slaving away all afternoon, he had only managed around two thousand words. Rubbing his wrists, he muttered, "Damn it! I need to find myself an assistant. How did I travel back in time only to end up working like a corporate drone again?!" It happened to be dinner time. He slipped on his coat, stepped out, and headed straight for the cafeteria. Finding Liang Xiaosheng, he cut straight to the chase: "I'm writing a piece for *Story Session*, but I've got other things to handle lately and might not be able to manage it all. If you don't mind, could you lend me a hand?" "How do you mean?" "It's about fifty thousand words in total, split into two parts. I can write the first half, but I won't have time for the second. You'd do the writing, finishing the story based on my outline and character profiles. We'll treat it as a collaboration and split the fee down the middle—assuming it gets published, of course." "Well..." Liang Xiaosheng hesitated. "Everything I write is realist fiction. I've never written martial arts." "That doesn't matter. You can start with a few thousand words, and we'll get a feel for it together. With this sort of thing, you pick it up as you go." "Then... I could give it a shot?" "You absolutely can!" "All right, call on me whenever you need!" Liang Xiaosheng nodded firmly. He had little interest in martial arts stories, but plenty of interest in the payment—he had a big family to support. He had only officially begun writing this year, all short stories. In this era, everyone knew how low author fees were; how much could a short story possibly make? Racking his brains produced one story a year for a hundred or two hundred yuan at most. Working with Chen Qi was different—no need to wait for inspiration, and no burning through brain cells. Liang Xiaosheng would have to wait until 1982, when *This Is a Miraculous Land* won the National Short Story Award, to make his name. His work would come to be known as "educated youth literature." Educated youth literature was distinct from scar literature! Scar literature utterly rejected the past and emphasized suffering. Those writers saw being sent down to the countryside as pure hardship. Yet there were others who had genuinely devoted their passion and sincere devotion to that land. To those people, totally repudiating the past meant invalidating their own youth. Liang Xiaosheng's works were defined by battles against nature—fighting wolves in the Great Northern Wilderness, braving blizzards, conquering marshes, and ultimately cultivating rich, dark, fertile earth... Though there were confusion and pain, he affirmed the overall experience. Precisely for this reason, Chen Qi felt he could write popular fiction well. If possible, he even wanted to pitch *Ghost Blows Out the Light* to him: Liang Xiaosheng, serving in the Heilongjiang Production and Construction Corps, digging up a giant hopping corpse while clearing the wilderness, and banishing evil through dialectical materialism—perfectly logical! *** Qianmen, the Arrow Tower. The area had transformed dramatically. Along the eastern side of the Arrow Tower stood a row of makeshift shacks cobbled together from timber and asphalt felt. Outside hung several signboards reading "Large-Bowl Tea," "General Goods," "Wontons," and the like. Ever since the leadership's inspection tour, the tea stall had expanded at lightning speed. It had not only taken on the twenty people from next door, but had also widened its supply channels significantly, bringing in a large volume of surplus inventory. While these goods languished as backlogs in department stores, here they sold like hotcakes—because they didn't require ration coupons. Change in any endeavor was inevitably born of friction. The vast army of youth awaiting employment had troubled the government deeply, prompting them to give the green light and throw generous resource support behind such ventures, which fueled the flourishing of various cooperatives across the capital. Huang Zhanying was now a deputy director! She handled business with ever greater finesse. At that moment, she was holding a stack of socks and shouting at the top of her lungs, "Step right up, take a look! Fresh batch of thick socks! Cold weather's right around the corner, folks, and stock is limited—first come, first served!" The Qianmen large-bowl tea stall was famous throughout the city and drew crowds every day. The moment she called out, people swarmed around her in the blink of an eye. As Huang Zhanying was making sales, she heard a voice call out: "Warm a bowl of wine and bring me a dish of fennel beans!" "Do you know how many ways there are to write the character *hui*?" "Well, look at that—we've matched the secret code!" "Hahaha, Comrade Chen Qi!" Handing her wares over to someone else, Huang Zhanying spun around. Sure enough, there stood that heartless pretty boy, accompanied by two women. "Comrade Zhanying!" Chen Qi shook her hand firmly and made the introductions: "These are two actresses from our film crew, Gong Xue and Zhang Jinling. We're out for a stroll today and stopped by to scrounge up a bite to eat." "Hello! Welcome!" "Come sit over here. It's chilly today—have some hot soup and try our wontons!" Huang Zhanying led them into the shack. The space inside was surprisingly roomy, furnished with tables and chairs. She dashed off to the narrow side room and soon returned carrying three steaming bowls of wontons. They looked remarkably well-made. Chen Qi took a bite and said, "The higher-ups are really backing you guys—there are even dried shrimp in here." "We're a famous stall now! Guess how much we pull in a month?" "Five thousand?" "More than that, if anything! There are over thirty people relying on this stall to make a living. Oh, and from now on you have to call me Deputy Director Huang—I'm an official now!" "And who's the director?" "Auntie Wang, of course!" *Pfft!* Chen Qi sputtered. "Auntie Wang is the director?" "She's a neighborhood committee cadre, so she just holds the title. In practice, I'm the one calling the shots." Huang Zhanying sat astride the chair with her legs splayed in an imposing posture. "I applied to the district for a proper storefront. There are vacant places, but they're a bit too far from here. I figure our roots are at Qianmen, so we can't leave. The district set up this shack for us first, and we'll take our time looking for a building." "What about winter?" "Hang up a thick cotton curtain, light a stove inside, and tough it out. I've told the kids from the traditional opera school not to come anymore—the cold is too harsh on them. That little girl, Liu Bei, still talks about you all the time." Huang Zhanying rattled on like a machine gun. Having vented her excitement, she finally looked over at Zhang Jinling, then studied Gong Xue. "You're from the south, aren't you?" "Yes, I'm from Shanghai." "I could tell right off. Even eating wontons you're so refined. And look at the way you sit—goodness, I wouldn't even know how to sit like that. How do you position your legs like that..." "..." Gong Xue looked slightly embarrassed. Chen Qi stepped in: "All right, all right, go attend to your work!" "I need to take care of my guests!" "No need. We'll be heading out as soon as we finish eating!" After Chen Qi shooed her off, Zhang Jinling chuckled. "So that's Comrade Zhanying. She's just like you described—what a wonderful personality." "I've never met a girl so straightforward and brisk," Gong Xue agreed. "She's all right. A bit of a tomboy. When we were little, she used to pin me down and beat me up—I was never a match for her." "So your official work affiliation has been with the tea stall all along?" "Yeah. Whenever I tell people I sell large-bowl tea, nobody believes me." "Then your talents are truly being wasted!" Swallowing a wonton in one gulp, Zhang Jinling said with utter sincerity, "Have you ever thought about coming to Beijing Film Studio? I talked to Director Wang about it, and she said she'd love to have you too." "I obey the organization's arrangements," Chen Qi replied solemnly. "Cut the act! Who doesn't know Director Wang thinks the world of you? With his temperament, once *Romance on Mount Lu* hits theaters, he'll definitely transfer you in." Having said that, Zhang Jinling suddenly turned her head and added, "Xiao Gong, have you ever thought about coming to Beijing Film Studio?"