1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 179 Visiting Team
Wan Ziliang delayed the filming progress, so Wu Yusen simply asked everyone to rest on the spot and talked to Zhai Yuan about the plot about color-changing ink while holding the script.

Zhai Yuan had just come out of the factory, still wearing the factory uniform he hadn't changed out of. The uniform was stained with spots and occasionally emitted a pungent smell of dye.

Wu Yusen frowned, but his eyes were full of admiration, and he said, "Boss, you went to the chemical factory to learn just for this plot? You are so dedicated, aren't you?"

Zhai Yuan was startled, then said seriously: "We must be serious when doing things, especially when making movies. We can't let down the audience who bought tickets to enter the theater."

Wu Yusen was in awe and felt that Zhai Yuan was particularly great today.

Zhai Yuan's eyes turned around and fell on the photographer beside him. He waved at him and said, "Hey, you, come over here and take a couple of pictures of me and the director."

In the face of Wu Yusen's puzzled eyes, Zhai Yuan forcefully hugged him and they both made a "yeah" sign to the camera.

“When promoting the film, remember to include this photo so that the audience can see how hard we worked on the shoot.”

After taking the photos, Zhai Yuan pushed Wu Yusen away with disdain and asked, "Okay, you can ask anything you want to ask now."

Wu Yusen was confused about the process of making fake US dollars in the movie. Zhai Yuan was vague in the script, so he had no idea what to do with the scenes. He didn't even know how to divide the shots.

As an honest citizen, Zhai Yuan didn't know much about this aspect. Fortunately, he had learned some new things in the factory recently. Based on the images of the original film in his mind, he made up some scenes for Wu Yusen to draw the storyboards. He also threw out several professional terms in succession, which shocked the director.

In addition to the exciting plot, another aspect of the movie "Wushuang" that everyone talks about is the popular science content about the production of counterfeit money.

"A Better Tomorrow" only talks about the printing of counterfeit money, but this drama goes one step further and presents the entire counterfeit money production process in detail. It also allows the public to learn about unfamiliar terms such as acid-free paper, color-changing ink, and letterpress printing machines. When these terms are mentioned in the future, they will naturally think of this movie.

Many of the things written by Zhai Yuan would find ridiculous to those who are familiar with money printing, but even Wu Yusen was fooled, so it is more than enough to fool ordinary audiences.

"Mr. Zhai, long time no see."

The director and screenwriter sat on the lawn of the stadium, discussing the camera shots, and an actor got involved.

Zhong Chuhong came over with a piece of script paper, apparently wanting to discuss the plot with Wu Yusen.

Zhai Yuan raised his head and greeted her with a smile: "Sister Hong, this shirt suits you very well today."

"Really?" Zhong Chuhong smiled and looked down at what he was wearing. He had a white shirt tucked into his trousers and a beige blazer on the outside.

She stared at Zhai Yuan for a few seconds, attracted by his paint-stained work clothes, and smiled curiously: "You are dressed very uniquely today, just like a decorator."

Zhai Yuan looked at her and smiled, "Yes, I just renovated your house for you."

Zhong Chuhong was stunned: "Where can I get a house for you to decorate?"

Zhai Yuan said in a low voice: "Your heart."

Wu Yusen on the side couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Zhong Chuhong was stunned for two seconds before she reacted. Then she sighed with disgust and kept rubbing the goose bumps on her arms.

"Wow! Is this the popular way of chatting up girls among you young people now? There is no hope for Hong Kong boys."

She continued to be disgusted, "You didn't deliberately wear dirty clothes and walk around just to say this, waiting for others to ask you?"

Zhai Yuan said frankly: "Yes, let's see if there are any pretty girls who take the bait."

Zhong Chuhong rolled his eyes at him and said, "Then it would be more reliable for you to go to the middle school gate and deceive those ignorant girls."

Zhai Yuan looked like he was being taught a lesson: "That makes sense, I'll leave now!"

After saying that, he stood up, patted the grass debris off his butt, waved to Wu Yusen and Zhong Chuhong, and walked away in a cool manner.

Zhong Chuhong frowned and laughed, and asked Wu Yusen: "He is always like this...nonsense?"

Wu Yusen looked at the storyboard sketch in his hand and sighed, "Geniuses are always independent and don't bother to explain to others."

Zhong Chuhong laughed dumbly: "Director, you should say this in front of your boss~ I won't increase your salary if you tell me."

"No, you don't understand." Wu Yusen showed an unfathomable smile and spoke slowly.

In his brief description, Mr. Zhai transformed himself into a filmmaker who was so dedicated to the pursuit of perfection in his films that he was willing to go to the factory to experience life.

"It's rare for a young, wealthy man like him to be willing to lower himself to do something like this!"

Wu Yusen looked admiring and continued, "The boss wrote in the script that there is only one protagonist among a million people. I think this sentence might be about him."

After hearing the origin of the work clothes on Zhai Yuan, Zhong Chuhong looked at the man who was talking on the phone not far away in surprise. A hint of curiosity flashed in her eyes, and she felt that the image of Zhai Yuan in her mind was somewhat subverted.

…………

"Cousin, Brother Zhao wants you to do something for me?"

Zhai Yuan didn't know yet that Wu Yusen had unreasonably created a character for himself as a hard-working person.

At this moment, he was squatting on the other side of the court, holding the phone, chatting excitedly with Zhou Haimei.

After the Chinese New Year, my cousin took the entrance exam and the mock exam, and they haven't been in touch for a while. Zhai Yuan glanced at Michiko Nishiwaki who was studying a Japanese script nearby, and felt that he shouldn't favor one over the other.

On the other end of the phone, Zhou Haimei understood the codeword that Zhai Yuan had taught her and spat, "You rascal."

After a pause, she lowered her voice and said, "I have to prepare for the college entrance examination this year. I lived in the school last week and it is inconvenient for me to come out. Can you pick me up at the weekend?"

The girl used to only say that she came to see Zhai Yuan, but now that their relationship has become closer, she has started to act coquettishly and ask Zhai Yuan to go see her.

"My cousin is renovating his room recently, so he can't pick you up."

"Ah? You bought a new house. Where is it?"

"in your heart."

Listening to Zhou Haimei's laughter, Zhai Yuan could imagine her silly look holding the phone.

What Zhong Chuhong said was indeed true. This trick could only fool middle school girls.

Zhai Yuan then asked: "Then do you know where my heart is?"

Zhou Haimei said: "Left?"

Zhai Yuan said: "Wrong, it's on your side."

A few cheesy love words made Zhou Haimei laugh foolishly.

Zhai Yuan chatted with her for a few more words on the phone, and only after he promised to pick her up from school on the weekend did he reluctantly hang up the phone.

"Michiko, come here."

Zhai Yuan put away the phone and waved to Michiko Nishixie who was standing beside him.

The Japanese girl hurriedly put down the script, ran over and squatted in front of him.

Zhai Yuan asked: "Is your elder brother going to Hong Kong tonight?"

Michiko looked up at him, nodded and said, "We are on the boat now, and we will not dock until 11 o'clock at night."

Zhai Yuan said yes, counted out a stack of Hong Kong dollars from his wallet, stuffed it into her collar, and said, "I may not be free these two days, you can greet him for me first."

Michiko blushed and held down his hand that was inserted into his collar. Seeing that no one was paying attention, she asked, "Then I'll take care of him and I'll meet you at the hotel later?"

Zhai Yuan waved his hand to indicate that it was not necessary. He had been communicating deeply with her in Yuen Long recently and had not returned home. If he did not go back today, he was afraid that Zhao Meizhen would come and kill him.

After staying on the set for a short while, Wu Yusen gathered the actors again to prepare for filming the next scene.

Wan Ziliang was sent back for further studies, so Liang Jiahui, Qin Yi, Liang Xiaolong and others were asked to shoot the interior scenes in the factory first.

"Standby all over the world, "A Better Tomorrow: Heroes of the Past" Scene 31, First Shot..."

Seeing Wu Yusen starting to speak with a megaphone again, Zhai Yuan knew that the scene was over and he would take Michiko and Zhong Chuhong to change locations, so he simply said goodbye.

Now that I have visited the set of "Wushuang", I should also go to the set of "God of Gamblers".

I wonder how Miss Lan is doing recently.

Zhai Yuan's mind flashed with that beautiful face, and he immediately thought of her bad temper and frowned.

I should call Chen Lan first to ask about the situation.

Zhai Yuan called Chen Lan and said, "Sister Lan, how are you these days..."

…………

The filming location of "God of Gamblers" was chosen in the New Territories, just like "Wushuang", which is not too far away.

According to the address provided by Chen Lan, Zhai Yuan arrived near a row of residential houses in Tai Po, New Territories. As soon as he got off the car, he saw Wan Ziliang who had just left the set of "Wushuang".

"Hey, Brother Wanzi! Didn't Director Wu ask you to go back and figure out the role?"

Zhai Yuan greeted Wan Ziliang and said with a smile: "Be careful that you won't pass the test tomorrow. He won't want you to be the leading actor next time."

Wan Ziliang didn't expect to meet Zhai Yuan here again. He smiled awkwardly and said helplessly, "There's nothing we can do, Mr. Zhai. We can't afford to offend Director Wu, and we can't afford to offend Sister Lan here even more."

He had just come out of the set of "Wushuang" when Chen Lan called him and asked him to come over to film "God of Gamblers".

Zhai Yuan asked: "What's the situation here?"

Wan Ziliang said: "Not bad, the director here is Wang Jin, he shoots very fast. Let me tell you secretly, I actually like the filming atmosphere here more."

Zhai Yuan smiled and said, "That's true. He is very sharp when shooting commercial films."

The two chatted and laughed until they came to a house.

Chen Lan stood at the door looking forward to it, and when she saw Zhai Yuan she hurried over to greet him.

"You go in and film first."

She gave Wan Ziliang an order, and then said to Zhai Yuan, "You can't go in."

Zhai Yuan didn't understand what he meant, so he asked with a smile, "Why, are there any commercial secrets in it?"

Chen Lan also laughed: "There are no commercial secrets, but there are beautiful girls inside. You have to wait before you can go in."

Seeing that she was keeping it a secret, Zhai Yuan guessed that it was related to Lan Juying, so he curled his lips and said nothing.

He looked around and saw nothing but bungalows and farmland. He had the recollection of not seeing this scene in movies.

So he asked Chen Lan: "Which scene is this?"

Chen Lan said: "Chen Daozi was captured by Hua Liucheng, the boss of the financial company, and Gao Jin and A Zhen came here to rescue him."

After saying that, he pointed to the residential building behind him and said, "That's the financial company. Liang Jiahui only showed his face in this scene. Let's have him come over to reshoot later."

The two crews started filming at the same time, and there was a high degree of overlap in the actors, which made scheduling more difficult.

Fortunately, we are all in the New Territories now, so it is convenient to travel back and forth.

Zhai Yuan frowned and said, "Finance company? Isn't the scene in my script set in an office building?"

"In order to save money, Wang Jin concentrated all the scenes in Tai Po. We built a set in this room to look like an office, and we will shoot a few more shots of high-rise buildings when we return to the city."

Chen Lan said with a smile, obviously approving of Wang Jin's approach.

She pointed to another house not far away and introduced: "That's Chen Daozi's ancestral home, where Gao Jin fell. There's an underground garage ahead, which is perfect for filming the gunfight scene between Gao Yi and Gao Jin."

Zhai Yuan nodded, thinking that Wang Jin was indeed a director from the Zhao family, as he had strictly controlled the costs.

Just as I thought of this, I heard a man shouting from inside: "Cut! What are you doing? Do you know how to act?"

Zhai Yuan was stunned. Wan Ziliang was being bullied here again?

Then I heard the man inside say, "You are such a bad actress, but you still want to be the heroine? Do you know how many frames of film were wasted because of you? If we can't finish this scene today, you don't have to come to the set tomorrow!"

Zhai Yuan frowned and asked, "Wang Jin scolded Lan Juying in there? Is he so angry?"

"Originally he didn't, but in order to create an opportunity for you, he had to be angry anyway."

Chen Lan showed a mysterious smile on her face and said to Zhai Yuan: "Okay, you can go in now and step on the colorful cloud to save the beauty."

…………

The room is simply furnished. Except for the areas that can be captured by the camera, other places remain as they were.

The actors got into the mood one after another.

After the clapperboard was closed, Lan Juying took a deep breath and walked forward with great nervousness, repeating to herself: Don't make any mistakes, don't make any mistakes.

It was her first time playing the leading role in a movie, she had a lot of roles and received a lot of criticism.

Everyone else said that the fat director was easy to get along with, but she didn't feel that way at all. It seemed that no matter which scene she was in, he would single her out and criticize her. To the point that Lan Juying began to doubt herself recently and considered changing careers.

The photographer followed her, with the camera following her as she entered the office.

In the office, the second camera was pointed at Wu Mengda, filming him looking at pornographic magazines while chewing chicken legs.

Lan Juying pushed the door open and walked in, smiling: "Brother Cheng."

Wu Mengda threw away the chicken bone, picked his teeth, and said with a lewd smile: "You look good, why are you following Daozi? Wouldn't it be better to follow me?"

Lan Juying patted the black leather bag in her arms and walked towards Wu Mengda: "I brought 80,000 yuan with me. I hope Brother Cheng will let Daozi go."

……

The two actors had only spoken a few lines when it was Lan Juying's turn to speak when Wang Jin suddenly shouted without warning, "Cut!"

Lan Juying was at a loss as to whether to withdraw from the performance or not. Before she could react, she heard Wang Jin once again start criticizing her acting skills. His words showed his dissatisfaction and were merciless.

"…If we can't finish shooting this scene today, you don't have to come to the set tomorrow!"

Lan Juying stood aside feeling aggrieved, her nose feeling a little sour.

Given her temper not long ago, if this fat director dared to be so rude to her, Lan Juying would have slammed the door and left immediately.

But today is different.

Lan Juying signed a contract with Chen Lan. Not only was the penalty for breach of contract ridiculously high, but she also received a lot of publicity from the outside world.

Especially in the place where she volunteered, it seemed like someone knew she went there often and deliberately spread the word inside. Even the elderly and children in the welfare home who were isolated from the news knew that she was going to be the heroine, and every time they met her, they asked with great anticipation when they could see her on the big screen.
Miss Lan was roasted over the fire until she was sizzling.

Not only that, some time ago, Lan's father met a man who claimed to be a stock manager. He helped him make money several times, but when he made a big bet, the other party suddenly ran away with the money. Lan Juying's originally well-off family situation immediately declined, and the several thousand yuan of pocket money every month was also cut off.

Chen Lan's words of persuasion echoed in my ears again: "It's okay, Ah Ying. I know your family is in trouble recently. Here is the 100,000 yuan that Boss Zhai asked me to give you. You can use it first, but you must shoot the movie "God of Gamblers" well and don't let Boss Zhai down for his trust in you."

With a bunch of buffs piled up, Lan Juying was completely tied to the set. When facing Wang Jin's difficulties, she no longer had the temper of a big lady she had when she was in TVB.

At this time, under the gaze of a group of actors and script supervisors around her, and being scolded by director Wang Jin, Lan Juying felt her face burning and she rubbed her nose hard to hold back her tears.

"What happened? I heard a quarrel inside when I was outside."

Chen Lan's voice suddenly rang out. She walked in with a frown on her face, glanced at Lan Juying, then glared at Wang Jin and said, "Are you bullying Ah Ying again?"

Wang Jin complained in his heart: I am only doing this because of your instructions? Otherwise, according to my standards, I should have finished filming this girl's part long ago.

Lan Juying has good talent. Although this is her first time playing the leading role in a movie, she has passed the passing line according to Wang Jin's standards.

But if we were to find fault the other way around, it would be too easy.

If Wang Jin slightly raised the standard, Lan Juying's acting skills would immediately fail to keep up with the requirement, and she could only accept his well-reasoned criticism like now.

"Sister Lan, how could I bully her? It's her own acting that's terrible!"

Wang Jin explained to Chen Lan in a serious manner and put all the blame on Miss Lan.

"Nonsense, Miss Lan was personally appointed as the heroine by Boss Zhai, how could there be any problem with her acting skills?"

Chen Lan made a skeptical expression when she heard this: "Aying, tell me, is this fat guy targeting you on purpose?"

Lan Juying thought about her current situation, suppressed her dissatisfaction, and said with a smile: "No, the director did his job well, it was me who didn't do it well."

Chen Lan sighed: "If that's the case, you've let down Boss Zhai's trust."

Even Chen Lan, with whom she thought she had the best relationship, said this. Lan Juying suddenly felt even more embarrassed and lowered her head unconsciously.

Then a familiar voice sounded in my ears.

"It doesn't matter. I trust Miss Lan's acting skills."

Zhai Yuan pushed the door open and glared at Chen Lan who was acting recklessly. From the conversation just now, he already knew what the other party had done.

Then he looked at Miss Lan, who had lost her pride in just a month, and comforted her, "Try again now if you turn on the machine. If this fat guy dares to find fault again, I will teach him a lesson for you."

(End of this chapter)