It was a black, flat and square machine with a rectangular notch on the front and a row of buttons printed with unknown symbols. It looked very technological and classy.
"Lin Yue, this... what is this?"
Hai Guofu moved forward with a bit of flattery. He had never seen this thing before, but his intuition told him that it was a good thing, something better than a TV.
"Get out of the way, get out of the way."
A rather impolite voice came from behind. Hai Guofu turned around and saw Han Chaojun in the room diagonally opposite. This guy was also an English major and was very expressive. He had a Sanyo tape recorder worth hundreds of dollars in his hand. Every holiday, he would carry his beloved equipment to the canteen. As soon as the tape was inserted, the button was pressed, and as the magnetic head rotated, soothing musical notes flowed gently.
"When I was young."
"I'd listen to the radio."
"Waitingformyfavoritesongs."
"When they playedI'dsingalong."
"It made mesmile."
"Those were such happy times."
"..."
The male student who has been waiting for a long time will hold the female student's hand and walk forward, dancing to the beat with smooth or jerky steps.
Because of this, Han Chaojun entered the Arts Department. He would like to quote a few English lyrics when he had nothing to do, and show off his collection of audio tapes or magazines about Hong Kong and Taiwan stars in front of others. Some students were dissatisfied with his publicity and secretly called him a fake foreign devil.
"Is this a tape recorder? What brand is it?"
He had never seen this thing before, and while he was curious about what it was, he was also unhappy that the bumpkin across the street could get these eye-catching objects.
Lin Yue glanced at him: "This is not a tape recorder, this is a video recorder."
video recorder?
A group of people looked at each other, basically hearing this term for the first time.
Lin Yue didn't waste any time explaining to them. He unplugged the desk lamp, connected the power to the TV and VCR, connected the audio and video cables, pressed the AVTV switch button on the TV control panel, and dropped it into the satchel that was left on the bed. He took out a black box that was slightly larger than the tape, pushed it into the compartment of the video recorder, and gently pressed the play button next to it.
The TV screen flashed, and a big tree came into view, and then English letters suddenly jumped out.
Gone with the Wind
Cheng Tuntie pushed up his old-fashioned glasses: "It was blown away by the wind."
Lin Yue said: "It's 'Gone with the Wind', and it also has a translation called 'Gone with the Wind'."
"Gone with the Wind? Margaret Mitchell's novel?" Following a familiar voice, Wang Yang separated from the people surrounding the dormitory door and walked in.
After he said this, many people woke up and ignored the original English version. The Chinese translation of "Gone with the Wind" released by Zhejiang People's Publishing House in the past two years sold very well.
Wang Yang claims to have watched 100 Hollywood movies. He immediately reacted as soon as the story got to the point. He walked over and touched the black box next to the TV: "Where did you get this thing?"
He didn't recognize this thing, but he knew what Lin Yue was doing - showing movies.
Others also woke up. After all, many students at Yenching University are locals and can be said to be well-informed. Since television gradually entered working-class families in big cities in 1976, there have been too few TV programs to satisfy the needs of the broad audience. In order to meet the demand, CCTV has introduced many foreign movies for dubbing and broadcasting, so many people have watched foreign movies on TV.
However, it was the first time in my life for an older girl to watch a movie in this way.
Lin Yue said: "The American Embassy."
Wang Yang: "..."
Cheng Dongqing: "????"
Hai Guofu blinked and repeated in a low voice: "U.S. Embassy?"
There was no sound in the room except for Scarlett Hao, the rich daughter of Tara Manor on the TV, complaining with disgust that the word "war" disturbed what should have been a beautiful life.
There is no awkward Chinese dubbing, the original soundtrack is full of emotions.
Lin Yue said: "Don't you know? The US Embassy disposes of a batch of used office items every year, which are cheap and easy to use. Like this 12-inch TV, you can buy it for less than 100 yuan, and the video recorder costs 100 yuan. It’s more expensive, more than a hundred.”
It is now 1981, and it will be a year or two before the first batch of civilian video recorders are imported into the country. It is normal that these people have never seen them. Not to mention a rural person like Dongqing, Wang Yang's understanding of movie screenings is still limited to the model of movie theaters and TV broadcast signals. Home theaters and other things have always been linked to the word "looking forward to the future."
"Are you kidding me when I go to the US Embassy to buy used goods?" Han Chaojun said that he was very jealous because the machines that play movies and the machines that play music are "a generation apart". What is even more unacceptable is that TVs and videos It is not a problem that the machine is cheap, nor is it a problem that many people have never seen it. The key problem is, even if it is a second-hand product, Americans are willing to sell it to him?
Wang Yang could answer this question, but he had no interest in doing so.
Lin Yue's words reminded him of what happened to him when he went to drink at the Longfu Temple Ballroom half a year ago. This guy had a good chat with Ms. Jenny, the China reporter of the Los Angeles Times, and seemed to have made a deal. At that time, he was flirting with LUCY, but there was no After hearing the content clearly, there was no further content for a long time, and he almost forgot about it. Now it seems that it must be related to the two things in front of him.
As a reporter for the Los Angeles Times in China, Jenny has been a frequent visitor to the US Embassy. It is certainly not difficult to spend money to buy some obsolete products when the equipment is being updated.
"Where did you get the money to buy this?"
Cheng Dongqing is a country bumpkin, but a sober bumpkin. He knows that the biggest difference between him and the city people is "money". Yes, his country bumpkin comes from his poverty. Lin Yue's academic performance is good, but In daily life, he is as frugal as he is. Wang Yang once asked a question, "Your grades are so good, why don't you apply for a scholarship from the department?" Lin Yue's answer was, "There are people who need it more than me." In addition to daily life, The subsidies provided by the education system and daily expenses are at the same level as his. It is absolutely illogical for such a frugal person to suddenly spend 200 yuan to buy a TV and a video recorder. From his point of view, this is absolutely illogical. thing.
Lin Yue said: "It's the royalties."
"Fees?"
The people in the dormitory looked at me and I looked at you. For a moment, they couldn't accept his argument that he had royalties.
Lin Yue said: "Yes, the Los Angeles Times paid me the royalties."
As a college student, it is already rare to receive royalties. Unexpectedly, I received royalties from foreign media.
Wang Yang was a little mentally unbalanced. If he had known this, he should have applied for some funds from LUCY, even though it was him who took the initiative to ask the American girl to interview him.
Lin Yue patted Dongqing on the shoulder: "You should try to write down the lines in the movie. It should be able to improve your accent problem."
Hai Guofu pointed to the TV and VCR and said, "Did you buy this to learn English?"
"right."
Lin Yue nodded, picked up the book on the bedside and walked outside, waving his hand and saying: "I'm going to the library, call me after reading."
Cheng Dongqing didn't say anything because he thought of a question. With Lin Yue's English proficiency, does he need to improve himself by watching movies? Of course not.
If not for yourself, who are you buying it for?
He raised his head and looked at Wang Yang. The guy who loved to write love poems was also looking at him. His eyes were... very intriguing.
Here, Hai Guofu and others gathered around the dormitory to watch a movie. Han Chaojun stepped out of the crowd and snorted as he looked at the figures going further and further away in the corridor, with an unhappy face on his face.
Lin Yue saw this scene in his eyes and couldn't help but laugh. He said to himself that he was a young man after all. Even in a university like Yenching University, one of the best in the country, he was inevitably competitive and jealous of others.
Of course, he has no interest in dealing with people like Han Chaojun and doesn't want to waste energy on such nonsense.
Yes, I bought the video recorder, but the video tape used to play it is a rare thing. Given the state of the domestic market, if you want to update the movie, you have to go the way of Jenny and Lucy and buy the video tape from the United States.
As he was walking here, he was thinking about buying a video tape. Unexpectedly, a figure flashed before his eyes, and an unexpected person stopped him.
