This is a horror story about opening "Pandora's Box". The opening chapter of
's novel "Hunting for Ice" reads:
The police found a new type of chemically synthesized methamphetamine of high purity that had never been seen before at the murder scene. This means that the past control over traditional drug-making raw materials has lost its effect, " "Pandora's Box" will be completely opened. Liu Daxiao, who invented a new type of chemically synthesized methamphetamine, was called by the drug underworld as "a genius who only emerged during the Opium War for more than 100 years." This gave birth to his ambition to dominate the drug market.
This is also a multiple text that is constantly being interpreted:
In the real story prototype, his name is Liu Zhaohua, who was arrested by the Chinese police in 2005. According to his confession, from 1995 to 1999, Liu Zhaohua successively worked in Fu'an City, Fujian Province, and Puning, Guangdong Province. City, Ningxia Yinchuan City and other places manufactured more than 18 tons of the drug methamphetamine, and made more than 32 million yuan in profits after selling it. According to our country's laws, trafficking of more than 50 grams of drugs will be punished by 15 years in prison, life imprisonment, or death.
In the novel "Hunting Ice", his name is Liu Daxiao. After the Dong Chuang incident, he began to flee. Under the leadership of the police chief "Lao Liu", the criminal investigation captain Peter launched an operation codenamed "Ice Hunting". During the six-year pursuit, the police struggled to piece together the various captured drug dealers during interrogations. The traces of Liu Daxiao, a thoughtful and suspicious desperado, wandered around, hiding in the Golden Triangle as far away as possible. In this cat-and-mouse game, the two sides had many close encounters, and finally Liu Daxiao was arrested.
In the TV series "Hunting Ice", Huang Zongwei is played by Zhang Songwen.
Recently, in the TV series "Hunting Ice" adapted from Guo Guosong's original script, his name is Huang Zongwei, played by Zhang Songwen. Like the novel, the film and television drama strives to create an extremely complex image of a drug lord and restores some of the plots in the novel, such as the image of Huang Zongwei's mouth and snake heart, the setting of the "Ice Factory", etc., but at the same time, the selection and presentation of key characters There are also big differences between novels and TV series.
The anti-drug theme has its own natural charm. It shows the subtle, dark and bloody side of this world that is smoothed by public order and good customs. It is difficult for those who are trapped in it to survive alone. They will lead to inevitable destruction, and the world is happy to see their painful struggle.
How to write anti-drug themes? Recently, The Paper had an exclusive interview with Guo Guosong, the original author of "Hunting Ice".
Guo Guosong
[Conversation with Guo Guosong]
The Paper News: First of all, I would like to ask about the basic information about the novel "Hunting Ice". When did you start writing this work, and why did you think of writing such a work?
Guo Guosong: "Hunting Ice" is based on Liu Zhaohua, China's largest drug lord to date. The plot of this case was so legendary that it touched me. In 2018, I originally wanted to write a non-fiction work, but failed to do so. After collecting information on the Internet, I wrote it into a 12-episode TV script "Narcos". After the script was bought by investors, a 300,000-word novel was created based on it. At that time, my enthusiasm was high, the script was finished, and the novel was basically completed in my mind. To put it simply, the novel contains all the contents of the script, but its capacity is much larger than that of the script, adding a large number of new plots.
The Paper: The most important and exciting character in the novel is Liu Daxiao. It is generally believed that its prototype is Liu Zhaohua’s criminal experience. What considerations were taken when shaping Liu Daxiao in the writing of "Hunting for Ice"?
Guo Guosong: The character image of Liu Daxiao is not obscene, and he is not the kind of person who indulges in wine and sex. Although he could not stop being obsessed with his sister, he even took huge risks in the process of escaping. The guy is looking for someone to take Amei out of Buffalo City secretly. However, he had no other woman, and the last one he met was a small-time drug dealer named Mei Niang, who was barely there. He is very cautious and never goes to romantic places, and he often warns lame men not to go to such places.He had true love for Amei, and he didn't just play with it and then throw it away. She followed him until he was finally arrested.
Liu Daxiao boasted to Augustine, a big Filipino drug dealer who admired him very much: "In 1840, the Western powers opened the door to China with the Opium War. Today, I will use industrially produced methamphetamine to open the door to the West." He thought he would get Augustine. However, this well-informed drug dealer was surprisingly calm. He said on the spot: "I can't compliment you when you say this. Drug dealers are enemies of the people wherever they go. How can you be so cruel?" Be careful."
This sentence was said by the prototype character Liu Zhaohua. It was just a bragging that he was about to show off when he was about to die. Put it in a fictional novel and use Augustine's words to respond to him, expressing two meanings. One is that Liu Daxiao is eager to show his ability, ambition and domineering in front of Augustine. Obviously, this is actually a manifestation of his lack of self-confidence. No one will believe that. Liu Daxiao's words came from the heart, but as a serious literary work, there is still a problem of orientation, so I responded to him with Augustine's words.
Actually, Liu Daxiao worked as a bailiff in the court at the beginning and was also the deputy captain of the bailiff brigade. He was very good at his job. It was a bit of a coincidence that led him to embark on the road of drug crime. Once when he was escorting two defendants, they were two young college students who used their professional knowledge to make drugs. Liu Daxiao heard the drug raw materials they confessed, which were originally Curious, because he majored in chemical engineering, he did experiments when he went back, and became more and more addicted, and finally made high-quality methamphetamine. He was surprised and suddenly found that his IQ was very high. Then he felt that the two college students were too stupid. If he came to do drugs, the police would not be able to catch him. This is how people are, various subjective and objective factors, often one thing, or even a word can change the direction of destiny. There is no turning back for drug crimes. As long as you embark on this road, it is the point of no return.
The Paper: The description of Liu Daxiao's appearance in the opening chapter of "Hunting Ice" is "someone often says that he looks like a great monk." There are also many scenes of burning incense and worshiping Buddha in the article, such as when he escaped to a temple and stayed with two monks. He ate fast, chanted Buddha's name, and once saw the ghost of his father. It can be said that "one thought of heaven and one thought of hell", I noticed that in the film and television drama "Hunting Ice", Huang Zongwei, played by Zhang Songwen, also included the plot of worshiping his ancestors and worshiping Buddha. What are the considerations for arranging such a bridge section?
Guo Guosong: The external image of the so-called "great monk" is the appearance of the prototype character Liu Zhaohua. This is a good irony in literary works - he looks like a kind-hearted monk, but he does drugs that endanger society. crime. There is also a comparison between Liu Daxiao and Lame Man. Lame Man looks like a bad guy and is a bad guy from the inside out.
Precisely because he embarked on the road of drug crime by chance, Liu Daxiao is actually quite afraid. He talks big words, which is just for Ma Zai, but it can also be understood as singing on the dark side to embolden himself. He went to the temple to worship his father, ate vegetarian food with the monks, and listened to the philosophical words they said about life. The monks told him: "If people don't do evil, they are doing great good." If everyone didn't do evil, what would this world be like? OK. But the monk inadvertently enlightened Liu Daxiao, which did not touch his soul at all. Including that after he fled to another place, he washed his hands every day before starting work, offered incense to the Buddha statue, and went to Mount Wutai to offer incense on the way to escape. Would he pray to the Buddha for forgiveness? It was not that he had any reverence for the Lord Buddha, but because of the deep sense of guilt and insecurity in his heart. But he never had any regrets or repentance. He produced drugs while running away, and he never thought about changing his evil ways and doing good.
Could that stick of incense make the compassionate Lord Buddha forgive their sins?
The Paper: A few years ago, there was a very successful movie "Drug War" about the state of drug dealers. The drug dealer played by Louis Koo is extremely selfish and will confess to everyone just to stay alive. This is a story about the evil of drug dealers' human nature to the extreme. Movie.If you were to find a few keywords for Liu Daxiao to describe what kind of person he is, or what characteristics you want readers to read about him, what do you think they are?
Guo Guosong: If we use a few keywords to position Liu Daxiao, it would be the dual personality of arrogance and inferiority. He always showed himself in front of others, not only in front of strangers, but even in the face of cruel lame people, he always showed this dual personality. He knew that the lame man was a veteran who had been in the drug underworld for twenty or thirty years. There were many resources out there, and he had to rely on the lame man. On the other hand, the lame man kills without blinking an eye, has no culture, and can fall out at any time. He must make the lame man surrender and be willing to sacrifice his life without having any wrongdoing towards him.
Liu Daxiao's arrogance is reflected in his belief that his IQ is higher than that of the police. When the two mascots were tried, he not only did not run away, but also went to the court to observe. This is also derived from the prototype character Liu Zhaohua. The first roundup against him failed, and he escaped from the tunnel with the exit hidden underwater, which made him more and more convinced that the police's IQ was not as good as his. It was precisely because of this excessive arrogance that he made the fatal mistake of secretly bringing A-mei out, thereby actually becoming a bait for the police. Finally, when he was at the end of his rope, he thought of his favorite saying, "The most dangerous place is the safest place." He sneaked back to his hometown and lived a life with his wife and children. He just followed the reverse thinking and concluded that the police did not believe that he dared to come back. This is also the experience of the prototype character Liu Zhaohua.
The Paper: "Hunting Ice" uses interspersed dual-line narratives to restore the same scene from the perspective of the police and the perspective of drug dealers, such as the first destruction of Liu Daxiao's ice factory, the police's siege and Liu Daxiao's The scenes they saw and felt were completely different. This requires the author to have good control to frequently change the perspective and mental state to write about the two sides of the cat and mouse in the same scene. For example Tell me whether there is any difficulty in this, and how to change this perspective well?
Guo Guosong: A hunting story with a dual-line narrative structure is actually not easy to write. How to play the cat-and-mouse game between cops and robbers? When the novel was first published, opinions were raised. It was clear that he had conducted a detailed investigation and formulated a thorough round-up plan, but he actually escaped in the end. That's the difficulty. I said that this is a literary work that dramatizes real life. It is always reasonable and unexpected. If the police went up and caught Liu Daxiao, there would be no literary work and only a news report. Therefore, in the process of chasing him, these two lines must continue to collide, sparks fly, and there are multiple gunfight scenes.
However, several roundups failed, each with its own reasons. For example, in the first roundup, the police were divided into four groups and approached the yard from all sides. They were surrounded and Liu Daxiao could not escape. Needless to say, the police would prevent the possibility of a tunnel, but multiple secret investigations beforehand confirmed that there was no tunnel. In addition, the arrested Ma Zai did not say that there was a tunnel in the yard. But the police never imagined that there was a tunnel entrance hidden under the river. This is a reasonable mistake by the police who racked their brains to design, and I think readers can completely understand it. This also allows Pete's task force to re-examine the opponent's character, and there is value in failure.
Director Gao Qunshu also said in a long post on Weibo: "Cat and mouse game", how can we play it without "cat"? It’s not that there are no cats, he thinks that the cats I wrote are too weak to control those mice. This rat is a giant rat. In my opinion, the cat is not weak, but the rat looks too strong. Our movies are not allowed to show a criminal like this, as if the drug lord is at ease and can always survive in desperate situations, while the police are always passive.
This is actually not surprising at all. The gangsters' calculations against the police must far exceed the police's calculations against the gangsters. Just like what the Public Security Bureau Chief Lao Liu said in "Hunting Ice": "In this cat-and-mouse game, Liu Daxiao and the others are doing a life-threatening job. They have no chance to try and make mistakes. If they make mistakes, they will lose their heads. From this In a sense, Liu Daxiao's calculations against us far exceed our calculations against him."If you say that the police are incompetent because they failed in a roundup, I think that is a wrong understanding of literary works and a layman's understanding of criminal investigation. During the persistent pursuits, the police will continue to study their opponents and understand what they are. Such people. As the saying goes, if a round-up fails, you can adjust your tactics and continue the pursuit. How many criminals have you seen who can get away with it?
The Paper: The themes involved in drug production and trafficking are different. As for other crime themes, when writing, how to make the secretive and unclear "secret passage" watchable without destroying its private and terrifying atmosphere?
Guo Guosong: We, including the police , we will never know what the hidden darkness of drug criminal groups looks like? However, from the perspective of solving crimes, the police still have a good grasp of their basic techniques, which involve manufacturing, transportation, and terminals. Every link is There is a set of procedures, and transportation is the most dangerous stage, so they must devise many means that they think are safe to deal with the police. Of course, for ordinary readers, it is mainly to satisfy the sense of mystery and curiosity, as well as reading or watching movies The kind of excitement it brings, and you can also see the dark life of this special group. In anti-drug-themed film and television literary works, the most common one is undercover. I did not use this routine. Instead, I used the wisdom of the police to track the world. , and finally the arrogant drug lord Liu Dashi had no way to escape.
It is not easy to design a chase story of this kind of cat-and-mouse game, especially the drug crime theme. It is an extremely secretive world in itself. What exactly are they like? I just designed a drug crime world that looks "similar". This is a great test of the creator's ability and the logic of constructing the story; the other is the accumulation of a lot of knowledge. In order to learn about chemistry and pharmaceuticals, I visited pharmaceutical companies production line. I told the general manager: "You make pharmaceuticals to help patients get better, while they make drugs to kill healthy people." "I also went to the Guangzhou Chemical Industry City, where slogans of "Severely crack down on drug crimes" were hung everywhere. This was very live and inspiring, and you can't just make it up out of thin air.
The relationship between art and reality is very interesting. According to literature The theory comes from life and is higher than life. In fact, real life is far more exciting than fictional novels. I write literary works on crime themes not only because I understand the law, but also because I understand criminal crimes and criminal investigation, and even I can Become a criminal police officer. I used to write columns for the media. I always warned people that if you think you are very clever, you can deceive the police when committing crimes, just like Liu Daxiao. He believed that his IQ was higher than that of the police. What happened to him in the end?
The Paper: Although the setting of the police in the "Hunting Ice" novel and the TV series are different, they both delve into the family, colleague relationships and career growth arcs behind the individuals. Do you think these are the life details of individual police officers and police criminals? What is the relationship between the plots of the confrontation? What kind of design is used to shape the police groups and individuals?
Guo Guosong: I don’t want to use the old routine to write criminal investigation themes. This type of theme, without exception, is daily life. The terminology is "Team Zhang, Captain Li", which is so tacky. This is not how the police call them internally. Therefore, in this work, there is a completely new relationship between superiors, subordinates and colleagues that is different from the past. Lao Liu and Pete, these two people It’s a love-hate relationship between superiors and subordinates. Pete is a very individual policeman, arrogant and the “rising star” of the police force. Because of a serious accident that resulted in the death of a colleague, he was dismissed from his post and was almost prosecuted. Broken jar, broken jar.
Public Security Bureau Chief Lao Liu is also a leader with a very personal personality and loves talents very much. He is unwilling to let a talent fall. He sees it in his eyes, feels pain in his heart, and always wants to pull Peter up. This case is his fault It was given to Pete. Of course, he had no idea that this was a shocking drug gang. The story begins here.
Both Pete and Lao Liu have hot tempers and often contradict each other. Lao Liu couldn't understand his name and said that he It's a foreigner's name.Peter was annoyed by what he said and contradicted him in public: "My ancestors have been named Pi for generations. Is your surname Liu better than the one with the surname Pi?" Just because the two of them quarreled, he nicknamed Director Lu Qiang "Lao Liu". So much so that in the compound of the Public Security Bureau, people who are respectfully called "Bureau Lu" on the surface are called "Laoliu" in private. Lao Liu knew it and was not angry. I think this kind of atmosphere is very good. They are two people with straightforward personalities and hot tempers, but they are both men of justice. Even in the hail of bullets that rounded up criminal gangs, Lao Liu and Pete led the criminal police to charge into battle without any fear at all. On the other hand, if Lao Liu is small-minded, Pete will have no chance of getting ahead. I just want to write such an image of the police, which is more real, simple and flesh-and-blood.
Maybe many people have seen this kind of movie scene. The police were rounding up the scene. The phone rang and it was a text message from my wife: "The child has a high fever and is going to the hospital." To be honest, I despise this kind of mindlessness. The plot is too superficial and tacky.
The trainee police officer played by Anna Yao
The Paper: Police officer Pete is set as an "orthodox public security university criminal investigation master's degree student", and Su Ke is also a "technical investigation major graduate student", competing against Liu Daxiao's high IQ criminal. The film and television drama focuses on the role of an intern - played by Anna Yao. What do you think of this adapted setting? Using the role of an intern to fight against a drug lord gives people the impression that they are not evenly matched. What do you think of it as the original work?
Guo Guosong: Lao Gao (Gao Qunshu) likes to use "raw melon and egg" actors, which is the style of a director; my style is a luxurious lineup, a peak showdown between police and criminals, there is no right or wrong in this, it is just the use of techniques. Due to my busy schedule, I have only watched three episodes, so I cannot give a full review of this drama yet.
Let’s talk about my novel. This book focuses on the "fight of wits", and the "fight of courage" is of course also a big drama, as Peter said: "I will never be ambiguous when it comes to death." Perseverance, risking life and death. When Liu Daxiao was rounded up in the end, it reflected the police's courageous spirit of going through fire and water without fear of sacrifice at critical moments.
But more often than not, solving a crime is a process of "fighting wits." Liu Daxiao may be smart, but the police are also smart and brave warriors. In the middle of the night, Peter locked himself in his office and didn't eat. He put all the drug case files of the past few years on the floor, looking for clues, and lived a life of darkness. Su Ke said, you can't risk your life, right? Pete sighed: "Lao Liu gave me three months to solve the case, and he didn't mention holidays." When
designed the character of Pete, I thought of Hanna played by Al Passy in the movie "The Wire" A police officer is a guy who solves crimes all day long and whose family life is a mess. Although the image of Pete is different from him, it also has his shadow.
Su Ke was originally set to be a forensic scientist. Later, the review suggested that "there are no forensic scientists in the task force", so she was changed to a technical investigator, but she also did forensic work. Peter is a master of criminal investigation, and Su is a master of technology. This kind of task force design, with the arrogant and highly intelligent drug lord, is a true peak showdown between police and criminals, so that the two sides are evenly matched.
Speaking of fighting of wits, let’s give an example. In the end, Liu Daxiao's gang was almost wiped out, leaving him alone and in panic. He used his often boasted "the most dangerous place is the safest place" and quietly sneaked back to his hometown. He was using reverse thinking. From the police's perspective, he absolutely did not believe that Liu Daxiao dared to come back. That day, the plainclothes police who secretly monitored Amei discovered that she was buying men's clothes in the supermarket, which aroused Pete's suspicion. Through observation, we found that the curtains in Amei's bedroom were tightly closed, and only she and her children were present. However, there were men's clothes hanging to dry on the balcony. So, who is the man in the room? Su Ke made a small plan and arranged for other residents on the entire floor not to throw garbage into the trash can. Finally, he got the garbage from A Mei's house and found the eaten apple core. After DNA testing, it was determined that Liu Daxiao was hiding in it.This kind of quiet "fighting of wits" and constant flashes of little wisdom are what I want to embody the strength of the police.
