Chapter 814: Severed Finger

The Palme d'Or, the highest-level award at the Cannes Film Festival.

As one of the most well-known international awards, its artistic status is world-class.

To this day, not a single film from Huaxia has won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival!

"Farewell My Concubine" is the only one!

After this news spread, it could be said to have triggered an unprecedented sensation.

There was simply no need to spend money on promotion anymore; everyone was suddenly filled with curiosity about this film.

"Is this film really that Ox?"

"Damn, foreigners are usually very stingy with giving us awards!"

"Is the artistry that high?"

"Hahaha, I wonder if the faces of those so-called experts at the Fan Hua Award hurt!"

"Tell me loudly, what is called cultural Output!"

"It's become famous globally right away!"

Yes, since "Farewell My Concubine" has won the Palme d'Or, it can indeed directly boost its international reputation.

Media reports on this day could be said to be overwhelming.

Many people were truly too curious about this film; they wanted to know what kind of film it was!

And in Beijing, there was an old man who was the happiest.

His apprentice had made a film related to Peking Opera.

And it won a major international award!

………

………

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, the scorching summer arrived.

"Farewell My Concubine" was released as scheduled during the Shuji Dang.

Regarding this film, Luo Mo did not have high expectations for the box office.

Because the commercial appeal of this film is actually not particularly strong.

Luo Ba and Luo Ma drove together to the Siheyuan to pick up Old Master Tong and take him to the Cinema to watch the film Luo Mo had made.

The Cinema was packed with people, all there to see just how Ox this masterpiece really was.

As the film began, one could see Yu Ji, dressed in full Opera attire, hooking the arm of the Overlord as they walked side by side.

Everyone first heard the sound of a broom sweeping the floor, followed immediately by a question.

"What are you here for?"

It seemed to be someone cleaning the venue asking them.

"Oh, we're from the Peking Opera troupe here for a rehearsal," the Overlord said.

"Oh my, it's the two of you!"

"Huh?" The Overlord was slightly stunned at first, then let out an "Oh" with a laugh.

"I'm a fan of you two."

"Is that so? Oh my... ha!" the Overlord said.

"You two... haven't performed together in over twenty years, have you?"

"Uh, this, this, ah, it's been twenty-one years," the Overlord said.

Yu Ji, standing to the side, spoke for the first time: "Twenty-two years."

"Ah, right, twenty-two years. We... haven't seen each other in ten years either."

"Eleven years," Yu Ji said again. "Eleven years."

"Yes, it's eleven years, yes," the Overlord said.

"It was all caused by the XX Gang, I understand!" the staff member's voice rang out again.

"Indeed, it was all caused by the XX Gang," the Overlord's voice suddenly turned a bit lower and more desolate.

"It's all good now!"

"Indeed, now... it's good." He chuckled dryly and said, "Yes, yes."

"You two wait here for a moment, I'll go turn on the lights for you."

"Oh, oh, sorry to trouble you."

The blinding lights suddenly turned on and converged on the two of them.

Amidst the sound of Peking Opera, the film title appeared on the big screen.

——"Farewell My Concubine".

Judging from this opening, it was clear that the film would adopt a flashback method to tell the story.

……..

……..

In the film, time went back many years.

A mother was walking down a cold street with a child.

Along the way, men would come up to chat her up and even get handsy with the woman.

This was used to reflect the woman's status, or rather, her profession, from the side.

She held the child and watched others perform Opera on the street.

"Xiao Laizi has run off again!" someone said.

Then, many people went to chase after him.

Just then, someone suddenly rushed out, not letting them perform here, and said: "What kind of low-class trash is this, daring to show their faces here!"

The situation instantly turned into a mess, noisy and chaotic.

Among the group of children, Xiao Shitou, who was the leader, suddenly shouted in a voice that sounded like it was cracking: "Screw you all!"

"Gentlemen, stand still and don't move, real money buys real goods!"

"I, Xiao Shitou, am going to do something real today to open your eyes, gentlemen!"

He raised his head and first wiped his own face, smearing the monkey makeup he had painted into a complete mess.

Then, he picked up a brick and smashed it against his own forehead, shattering the brick.

In an instant, the crowd cheered one after another, and the commotion started up again.

The scene shifted, and one could see Xiao Shitou was already being punished; before he was even hit, he had already started wailing.

"You shitty Senior Brother, you can't even play a monkey, how are you going to make it in life later!"

"Don't think that just because you pulled a stunt today and smashed a brick, I'll let you off?"

"That is low-class trash!" he shouted sternly.

Tong Qinglin watched all this and couldn't help but think of his own childhood.

Life in the opera troupe was very strict; being beaten, going hungry, and freezing were all common occurrences.

From childhood to adulthood, the suffering he had endured and the hardships he had faced were truly too many.

During this process, a woman with a child stood on the sidelines watching the whole time.

She had come to send her child to learn opera.

The child looked delicate and pretty, making it hard to tell if they were a boy or a girl.

The people from the opera troupe felt the child from top to bottom, then took a look at the child's hands.

He actually had six fingers!

"This child of yours, he doesn't have the fate to eat the opera bowl, you should take him back," he said.

"Just think, once he makes an appearance, wouldn't the audience under the stage be scared away?"

The woman said with a sobbing tone: "It's not that I can't afford to raise him, it's just that a boy can't be kept once he grows up, that's why I came to rely on you."

"You must take him in, at least."

The gaze of this courtesan suddenly became alluring; with just a shift in her eyes, the audience understood what it meant to have eyes as seductive as silk.

She opened her mouth and said: "As long as you take him in, anything will do."

"Please don't look down on us." As she spoke, she knelt down, looking like someone shameless and thick-skinned.

"Don't be like that, we're all from the lower classes, who is looking down on whom?" the man said: "If the Ancestral Master doesn't grant him a bowl of rice, there's nothing anyone can do."

The woman stood up, pulled the boy, and walked outside.

In just a few short steps, she walked with extreme determination.

She was a courtesan; even if she had always raised her son as a girl, how many more years could she keep doing that?

That place could not keep this child.

She had to find a way to find him a path to survival.

Outside, the weather was freezing, and she covered the child's face.

"Mother, my hands are cold, they're frozen solid."

Hearing these words, the woman brought the child to the side, and looking at the boy whose face was covered, this mother actually used a knife to chop off his frozen fingers!

In an instant, gasps of shock rose one after another in the Cinema.

The child had no reaction at first.

He was already frozen stiff.

It wasn't until he took off the cloth covering his face and looked at his own palm in shock.

In an instant, the screams scared the people practicing opera in the troupe silly.

The woman carried her son, whose palm was bleeding, and ran back.

The child struggled continuously and then started running around the courtyard.

Finally, he was held down and made to kowtow in front of the large characters reading 【Ancestral Master Protect Me】.

The woman took off her outer robe, draped it over the child, and then disappeared into the heavy snow.

Many ordinary audience members watched this Drama unfold and couldn't help but gasp.

In that era, staying alive was far from as easy as everyone imagined.

Between an extra finger and a path to survival from now on, which was lighter and which was heavier—this mother knew better than anyone.

(End of chapter)