Global Film Emperor

Chapter 240 Arriving at the Magic City
“biu~biu~biu~biu~”

"Aze, we've arrived."

The van stopped by the roadside. Lu Ze glanced outside and saw that the van had stopped at a pet shop near the hotel. He turned off WeChat and left the crippled dog there. Wang Zixuan would take it out during the day while filming and return it to the pet shop at night.

This was not Lu Ze's first visit to Hangzhou, but the city gave him a very different feeling from other cities. As a cultural center from ancient times to the present, you can see picturesque architecture and many beautiful sights worth stopping to admire.

But this place has also become a hub for the country's high-tech industries. It's a strange feeling, filled with a rich cultural history, yet brimming with the vigor of high technology. Overall, it's like a learned old man dressed in trendy clothes—somewhat incongruous, yet strangely fitting.

After dropping off the cripple, they drove for almost five minutes to the hotel the film crew had arranged for Lu Ze. After getting his room key and carrying his luggage, he put the script and some books on the table, turned on the TV and watched for about ten minutes. Then Xiao Fengying called Lu Ze.

"Lu Ze, have you arrived in Hangzhou yet? If you have, go to the hotel to drop off your luggage, and then come to Zhejiang University. Go in from the east gate of the Yuquan Campus, and there's a gymnasium inside. We're setting up the scene there."

"Okay, I'm at the hotel now. There was no traffic, and I arrived in Hangzhou half an hour earlier than planned. Alright, I'll head over now."

Lu Ze had previously agreed with Xiao Fengying on what time to depart from Shanghai, so it wasn't surprising that Xiao Fengying knew he had arrived in Hangzhou. Part of the filming for this drama took place at Zhejiang University, where they filmed Zhou Yi during his university years.

After putting the script in his bag, he called Liu Bin and Wang Zixuan. Half an hour later, they arrived at the Yuquan Campus of Zhejiang University. Coincidentally, Wang Zixuan's alma mater was Zhejiang University, and she studied in the Department of Civil Engineering at Zhejiang University.

It seems that she hasn't been back to her alma mater since graduation, and five years have passed in the blink of an eye. Wang Zixuan led the way, walking with light, quick steps. Although her face was expressionless, she kept explaining to Lu Ze and Liu Bin what this building was for and what that building was for. Lu Ze didn't show any impatience. Wearing a mask and hat, he walked quietly behind her, listening attentively.

Zhejiang University is larger than the Beijing Normal University that Lu Ze experienced in the system space. Even walking from the East Gate is a long distance. It took them about fifteen minutes to reach the entrance of the gymnasium, where they saw many students gathered there.

"Excuse me, could you please let us through? Thank you, I appreciate it."

Liu Bin led the way because he knew that Lu Ze disliked security guards who were short-tempered towards onlookers. Even though he was a part-time security guard, he was still very polite to these students.

"Isn't that Lu Ze? Holy crap! Take a picture! Is Lu Ze coming to our school to film a movie?"

"It really is Lu Ze! He's so tall! He's incredibly tall! Lu Ze, can I get your autograph? I've seen all your movies! Take a video, I'll post it on Douyin later!"

The students were very energetic. Seeing Lu Ze appear in their school, the feeling of being so close to a celebrity was really novel. Instantly, shouts and cheers filled the air, and the crowd surged, making Lu Ze instantly sense that something was wrong.

"Everyone, stop for a second! It's great to meet you all at Zhejiang University, but there's really no need to get so excited. I'll be working at Zhejiang University for a while, so this is our first meeting, but it definitely won't be the last. Please be mindful of the atmosphere at this prestigious university and don't crowd around. I can't take responsibility if something goes wrong. I need to get to work now, so I have to apologize for the autograph issue. I can't sign autographs for so many people. How about we take a group photo instead? Let's take a picture together as a memento. Zixuan, you take one, and then we'll create a group chat and send it to everyone face-to-face."

Hearing Lu Ze say this, everyone understood. There were more and more people outside, from dozens to hundreds, and there would probably be even more soon, so they didn't delay. Wang Zixuan walked to the bottom, and everyone took a picture on the steps. After giving Lu Ze an OK sign, Lu Ze thanked everyone amidst the cheers of the students, and then quickly entered the already closed gymnasium.

"These kids are really enthusiastic; they even ripped off my shirt buttons."

Indeed, Lu Ze glanced down and saw that Liu Bin was wearing a short-sleeved shirt today, with the middle button missing, revealing a white belly with several red marks on it.

"I have a short-sleeved shirt in my bag, why don't you wear this? It's normal for students to be enthusiastic when you first arrive at Zhejiang University. You'll get used to it after a while. Here, hurry up and change, and pay attention to your appearance." He rummaged through his bag and handed Liu Bin a tight-fitting sports short-sleeved shirt. Although they were in a superior-subordinate relationship, Liu Bin had been with Lu Ze for so long and knew what kind of person Lu Ze was, so he didn't refuse. He took it, told Lu Ze, and went to the restroom to change. Lu Ze was left alone as he pushed open the plastic curtain in the building, and a blast of cold air blew in.

"You're here? It must be hot enough outside, right? I bought some watermelon, want to have some first?"

When Xiao Fengying saw Lu Ze walk in, she greeted him. Lu Ze didn't stand on ceremony. The stagehand handed him a stool, which he took and sat down with a thud. He picked up a watermelon and took a big bite. The watermelon had already been chilled. After taking a bite, the cool flesh went down his throat and into his stomach, which felt incredibly refreshing. He grabbed a tissue to wipe his hands, then stood up with the watermelon and looked around the room.

It's quite rare to have a large-scale scene as the first scene after filming starts. The staff were hammering and setting up props on set, but the stage was only a frame and it was still a long way from being completed. Filming was scheduled to start tomorrow, but it's probably too late.

"You're already shooting a grand scene right away? Can't we start here first and shoot other things first?"

He threw the watermelon rind into a large black plastic bag. The props team needed to pass a board up to the second floor. Lu Ze didn't know how heavy it was, and seeing someone holding such a big board downstairs was quite intimidating. He went over and helped push it, making the props team members quite embarrassed. They thanked him quickly, but Lu Ze waved his hand and then asked Xiao Fengying a question.

"There's no other way. I estimated that the university scenes would only take about fifteen or sixteen days to film, but this year's third-year students are graduating, and the first batch of students who have found jobs will leave school at the end of June. The school is holding a graduation ceremony on the 24th, so we have to squeeze in rehearsals for them. The time is quite tight, and we are also responsible for setting up the venue, after all, we are professionals. The school said that we can use the gymnasium, but you have to do the stage design. There's no other way, so we can only work an extra night shift tonight, and we estimate that we can finish by tomorrow afternoon."

Speaking of this, Xiao Fengying was quite upset. They had agreed to film the movie as soon as they were paid, but the other party suddenly changed their mind and said they would ask for less money, but they still wanted the crew to set up the stage so that the third-year students could have one last beautiful memory of their time at school before starting their careers.

The crew already had a ceremony scene that required a stage. Xiao Fengying thought it would be better to build it in advance and leave it intact for the school's graduation ceremony after she finished filming. This way, she wouldn't have to build and dismantle the stage herself, saving her trouble. Otherwise, she wouldn't want to film such a large scene right from the start, since the crew hadn't worked out yet. If the large scene got stuck, the wasted time and manpower would be far greater than that of a small scene.

Having understood the situation, Lu Ze nodded. He didn't really care whether it was a big scene or a small scene, since it was a romance drama and the difficulty of filming it was quite different from that of a serious drama. As long as the other actors didn't mess up, he could definitely hold his own. He just found it a bit strange that he didn't see the other actors who were supposed to be on set.

"where are they?"

"Dai Xilu has a commercial performance booked a long time ago and won't arrive until tomorrow. Xue Zhong got into an accident on the way here and missed his flight due to traffic. He won't arrive in Hangzhou until tonight. The rest of the people are working on the script with Deng Bo in the conference room on the third floor."

Xiao Fengying didn't show her dissatisfaction, but she was really angry inside. Xue Zhong was stuck in traffic, and there was nothing she could do. She had also seen the news that a large truck had overturned, resulting in three deaths and nine injuries. Such a big incident, and there was nothing she could do about being stuck in traffic.

But Dai Xilu really displeased her. The commercial performance wasn't arranged in advance. She was only told about it yesterday at the last minute. She just didn't want to tell Lu Ze. After all, everyone could see that Lu Ze was the kind of person who couldn't tolerate any mistakes when filming. He was very particular. If he knew that Dai Xilu had to go to a commercial performance at the last minute, he would probably be unhappy too.

So she chose to tell a half-truth, keeping it from Lu Ze for the sake of harmony on set. What could she do? She was the director. This is probably the dilemma of casting a top-tier celebrity.

"Okay, I'll go upstairs and go over the script with you then. Third floor, right? Hey buddy! Be careful, can you carry that steel pipe by yourself? Get someone to help you, don't just stand there watching. I'm off."

Lu Ze didn't think too much about it. Let them come whenever they want. If they can't act well, then we'll talk about it. Carrying his schoolbag, Lu Ze went up to the third floor, knocked on the door, and went in.

"."

(End of this chapter)