Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Chaoyang District, Beijing, is a newly built commercial center a few years ago and is located in the bustling city center. It is basically one of the busiest commercial complexes in Beijing.
On the afternoon of the 15th, the Meijia International Cinema in Taikoo Li also saw its largest flow of people in the past week.
There is still half an hour before the earliest screening of "I'm Not the God of Medicine", but hundreds of people, including men and women of all ages, have already gathered in the cinema hall, waiting to watch the movie.
"Hey, there are no seats left."
Xu Wei walked into the theater with his girlfriend and looked at the packed crowd, slightly surprised.
My girlfriend also frowned and said in distress, "Why are there so many people? Where should we sit? The show doesn't start until half an hour."
"Li Qian's appeal is really strong." Xu Wei said with emotion. He remembered that when "Martial Arts" was released on the first day, it was almost evening and there were not so many people.
I went to the ticket machine to enter my number and collected my tickets. My girlfriend saw that there were no seats left, so she suggested that she go hang out downstairs and come back when the show starts.
"It will start soon. I will go shopping with you after watching the movie."
Xu Wei looked at the time and went to buy something to eat and drink.
The other people waiting for the movie next to me were all talking about the movie.
"After waiting for half a year, I can finally watch it. I don't know how it turned out."
"Anyway, it won't be any worse. Li Qian's level is there."
"I hope it will be a movie version of "Dwelling" in the pharmaceutical industry. It won't be too dull."
"Didn't Li Qian say it has some comedy elements? Xu Zheng and Huang Bo both have their own sense of humor."
Listening to people nearby discussing the upcoming movie, as a movie lover, Xu Wei couldn't help but join in, "There shouldn't be any funny plots. After all, this kind of subject matter is quite heavy. Just look at Hu Ge's image.
"
"If there's no funny plot, then why are you looking for Xu Zheng and Huang Bo?"
"There is no rule that they can only act in comedies. Huang Bo looks quite fierce in the poster and the two trailers."
"Actually, you all have a point. It should be Xu Zheng. Huang Bo's image is more cheerful, so Li Qian asked them to act in order to ease the heavy atmosphere." A person next to him came over and interrupted.
"What you said makes sense." Xu Wei turned his head and glanced at the visitor, but seeing that he also had a palm-sized notebook in his hand, he couldn't help but asked curiously, "Brother, why do you bring a notebook to the movies?"
"Oh, um, I'm a reporter and film critic. It's easier to write down something by hand." Lu Chao smiled. As a reporter and a loyal fan of Li Qian, he has been chasing Li Qian's movies since "Sniper Phone Booth".
Why didn't it show up immediately?
"reporter?"
Hearing this, Xu Wei felt a little disgusted with the other party. During this period, there were a lot of news that fanned the flames.
Lu Chao shrugged and walked to the other side, waiting for the movie to start.
Xu Wei also continued chatting with the people next to him, and immediately ran to watch some screenings. Either he was too busy, or he really liked watching movies. After all, tickets were not easy to grab.
As soon as Grava opened pre-sales, tickets in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai were sold out within five minutes. After all, the movie theaters showing the movie are all in bustling locations.
From guessing the plot of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" to the currently being released "Martial Arts" and "The Great Cause of Party Building".
Apart from chatting about movies with others online, there are rare opportunities in real life.
I left my girlfriend beside me, throwing popcorn into her mouth one by one and rolling her eyes occasionally.
It wasn’t until 7:10, five minutes before the screening, that we started to enter the venue.
After entering the screening room, all the seats were filled within two minutes.
In the hall with more than 200 people, the occupancy rate was 100%, which also happened in all movie theaters across the country.
Xu Wei took his girlfriend to sit down in his seat, thought for a while, took out his phone, and opened WeChat.
A few days ago, I asked my roommate Wu Wentao to watch some screenings together, but he was still influenced by trolls on the Internet. In addition, his family member died of leukemia last year, so he was a little disgusted with the movie, so he just didn't go back.
He shook his head, put his phone on silent, and grabbed the popcorn bucket in his girlfriend's hand.
In the end, I got nothing, and only a few dozen of them were left.
"Are you done with the popcorn?"
Xu Wei was a little surprised. He was shouting about losing weight every day, and he would not eat this or that, but how could he almost finish the whole popcorn before the movie started?
"snort!"
The girlfriend turned her head angrily.
"???"
Xu Wei was confused. Today is the same day, and relatives coming will not increase his appetite.
However, before he could think about it, the lights in the screening room dimmed and the movie started.
It's still a long post-advertisement, and the sound is so loud that it's hard not to pay attention.
Then the dragon logo flashed past, and all the audience perked up and stared at the big screen.
Accompanying the opening subtitles was a blast of Indian music, but the audience didn't care about the strong curry smell.
The words "I am not the god of medicine" appeared on the big screen, and then the screen changed and an unknown statue of a god appeared on the big screen.
In addition, bottles of beautifully packaged Yin Du Shen Oil also appeared on the screen.
This is a store selling health products.
2002, Magic City, the subtitles explain the time background.
Health product store owner Xu Zheng is playing cards on his computer, a game that is nostalgic enough, and is indifferent to the sound of the phone.
The owner of the shop next door came to the store to look for Xu Zheng. The landlord called the uncle to press for rent, but the uncle helped Xu Zheng get through.
Xu Zheng said that his business was not doing well and he had no money to pay the rent. By the way, he asked the uncle if he had put his magic oil in the store to promote it. The uncle said that no one would buy it, and he tried it himself, but it didn't work.
"Pfft..."
Looking at the old man with completely white hair, he said that he had tried Yin Du Shen Oil but it didn't work. Some viewers couldn't help but laugh.
Immediately afterwards, several people next to him looked at him with rather ambiguous expressions.
Everyone knows about Yin Du Shen Oil.
Although there were no jokes at the beginning, it was not as heavy as the audience imagined.
It's just that Xu Zheng's appearance is a bit greasier than in the posters and trailers. After all, the person on the big screen is larger than reality, and you can clearly see that he is a middle-aged greasy man.
Immediately afterwards, Xu Zheng drove a small broken van to the nursing home to visit his father.
His father was in poor condition and was ill. The dean suggested that he take his father to the hospital for a checkup.
Xu Zheng said indifferently, "It's useless. Hospitals are all scammers. They can tell you whether you are sick or not."
"I can't say enough. Who is responsible for my paralysis?"
Hearing this, Xu Zheng looked a little sad, but he still insisted, "It's okay, I just drank too much when I was young."
After collecting the money, the dean also told Xu Zheng that he would have to pay annually next time. Xu Zheng took out a pack of cigarettes from his bag and stuffed it into the dean's mouth, without replying vaguely.
His father couldn't say enough. It was so serious, and Xu Zheng still looked indifferent, which made the audience a little disgusted.
However, after watching too many movies, Xu Wei discovered that Xu Zheng had no money.
A middle-aged greasy man, his small shop is in recession and has no business, he owes rent, his wife is divorced, and his father is seriously ill.
Go ahead, this protagonist is miserable.
Xu Wei became more and more curious about how such a protagonist, who could be said to be a "waste", became the god of medicine.
When the camera turned, Xu Zheng took his son swimming and massaged his son. When he was wiping his body, his son shyly covered his lower body and was shouted at by him.
"Little Jiji has grown up," Xu Zheng said with a fatherly smile.
Many female viewers in the cinema couldn't help but look away, feeling a little embarrassed.
The male audience found it a bit funny.
However, when he was discussing custody rights for his son with his ex-wife and lawyer, the atmosphere was not so good. Xu Zheng even moved his hands and grabbed the police station.
Liao Fanhan, the criminal police captain and brother-in-law at the police station, walked in with a face on his face, "Where is the person?"
Xu Zheng was nearby. When he saw Liao Fan coming, he leaned weakly against the wall, not daring to look at him.
Liao Fan stared at Xu Zheng coldly, his eyes full of disgust.
However, he did not take action and asked people from the police station to take him into the interrogation room.
"Snapped."
As the iron door slammed shut, Xu Zheng in the interrogation room trembled with fright.
Avenging private revenge or lynching?
Just when the audience thought so, Liao Fan suddenly approached Xu Zheng, grabbed his collar, and said coldly, "You should be glad that I am a policeman!"
Xu Zheng was shocked and thought his brother-in-law was going to beat him.
However, Liao Fan released him, turned around and left the interrogation room, walked to the door and said, "Lock him up for 24 hours!"
This is for the police, and also for Xu Zheng. As a police officer, you cannot take action, but if you fight and injure someone, the summons and investigation can take up to 24 hours, so there is no problem.
It was already miserable enough, and he had to be locked up in the police station for a day. The only protagonist who was worse than this was the clone in "Moon".
In a blink of an eye, I returned to the Shenyou Store. The old man next door introduced a customer, Hu Ge, who wanted to ask Xu Zheng to help him bring medicine to Yindu.
Xu Zheng realized it was smuggling and complained that the uncle told others everything. The uncle said that he was trying to find a way to help him earn money to pay the rent.
After the uncle left, Xu Zheng looked at Hu Ge who was sitting in the store. He took off his mask, but he was still wearing two masks inside. Hu Ge's body was hunched over, showing his face, an extremely weak face that had not recovered from a long illness.
Cheng Yong outside the door smiled.
When this disfigured appearance appears on the big screen, coupled with that humble tone and ever-slightly bent waist, it makes people feel inexplicably distressed.
However, although what Hu Ge said was very tempting, the domestic genuine medicine cost nearly 40,000 per bottle, while the Indian pirated medicine only cost 2,000. The twenty-fold price difference surprised Xu Zheng, but he still refused to smuggle it and drove Hu Ge away.
gone.
In the end, Hu Ge, who couldn't convince Xu Zheng, could only leave him a phone number and left with an apologetic smile.
Xu Zheng looked at the oranges and the phone on the table without paying attention.
However, the scene moved to the nursing home, where Xu Zheng's father suddenly passed out and fell to the ground.
The old man was sent to the hospital, and Xu Zheng was faced with huge surgical expenses. He couldn't afford the money and had to take the old man back home.
At a roadside supper stall, Xu Zheng took out his mobile phone and wanted to call his ex-wife, but after thinking about it he hung up.
At this time, someone threw a small card on everyone's table. It was the kind of small card that people often give out at roadside food stalls at night, a promotional card for the bathing city.
This reminded him of the phone number left by Hu Ge, but when he returned to the store, he found that a seal had been affixed with the words "rent is paid and the door is opened."
Money is needed everywhere.
I could only climb in through the back window, but after getting the phone, I didn’t go to Hu Ge. Instead, I went to the hospital to ask the doctor about the situation.
Doctors say that meglitin is an effective drug for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia, but melinin is an illegal drug. If a patient takes melinin privately, many doctors will refuse to treat it, because no one dares to take responsibility for problems caused by taking illegal drugs.
Xu Zheng asked what to do if some patients could not afford nearly 40,000 bottles of Glenin. The doctor said that there was nothing they could do. If the disease was not treated in time and entered the acute stage, the patient would have to wait to die.
Xu Zheng was thoughtful, and it was very distressing to see the patient lying in the corridor with a needle in his foot.
The camera panned to the entrance of the Glenin Company. A group of patients were holding banners protesting against the high price of drugs. Drug dealer Yu Entai said that he understood everyone's demands, but that his company's production and drug prices were also reasonable and legal.
Hu Ge was sitting aside eating and did not go around, but he rolled his eyes when he heard what Yu Entai said. Suddenly his cell phone rang, he took it out and picked it up. It was Xu Zheng calling.
He came to the sacred oil store and discussed with Xu Zheng. Xu Zheng confirmed that as long as he brought the medicine back, Hu Ge would be able to find a buyer.
Xu Zheng went to Yindu and came to the pharmaceutical factory.
The good news is that 2,000 bottles is the retail price in pharmacies, and pharmaceutical companies only require 500 bottles.
Xu Zheng not only wanted to buy medicine, but also wanted to be an agent for China.
The import of this medicine was prohibited in China. The drug dealer was a little strange. He stared at Xu Zheng and asked him if he wanted to be a savior?
"I don't want to be a savior, I want to make money."
"Many people in China are waiting for this medicine to save their lives. Life is money!" Xu Zheng smiled and made a money gesture with the thumb and index finger of his right hand in front of his eyes.
Life is money?
Although the movie didn't have a heavy plot until this point, I don't know why, but after hearing this sentence, most of the audience felt a little heavy for no reason.
Lu Chao's eyes narrowed and he thought about these words carefully. His hands moved and he wrote these four words in a small notebook.
He had always thought that "I'm Not the God of Medicine" would be as full of humanistic care as the previous films.
However, the words "life is money" made Lu Chao a little suspicious.
If the poor have no money, don’t they have no life?