I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

That day, the Cheng Sheng crew successfully finished filming their last scene in Sumatra.

The scene depicted on screen is a classic moment in Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean, where he cleverly used fire to wipe out the pirate king Chen Zuyi and his gang of pirates. The raging fire on set was not a real fire, but a special effect set up for filming.

As soon as filming ended, Cheng Sheng immediately ordered the staff to put out the fire. The staff acted quickly and soon brought the fire under control, preventing the flames from spreading to the surrounding set and avoiding damage to the props.

"Alright, everyone go back and rest. We'll leave Palembang tomorrow and set sail again for our next location," Cheng Sheng announced loudly, his voice tinged with fatigue but still steady and powerful. It's important to know that Chen Zuyi was the most wanted criminal in history with the highest bounty ever placed on his head. His pirate group had dominated Southeast Asia for over a decade, boasting over ten thousand men and nearly a hundred warships. Zheng He's campaign to annihilate him was considered a classic. The production team had been preparing for this scene for a long time.

Upon hearing this, the actors packed up their things and returned to the hotel to rest, while Cheng Sheng and his assistant Peng Damo stayed behind to finish up and archive the filming footage.

Watching the staff carefully pack the film rolls, Cheng Sheng repeatedly instructed: "Be careful when loading them onto the ship. Keep them in the original dry cabin and don't put them with other miscellaneous items to avoid moisture damage to the film and affecting subsequent editing."

"Understood, Director." The crew members in charge of moving the film responded in unison, carefully carrying the film boxes, not daring to be careless in the slightest.

Peng Da Mo walked up to Cheng Sheng and whispered, "Boss, tonight is the Venice Film Festival awards ceremony. Do you want to watch the broadcast tonight? After all, 'Blue Is the Warmest Color' is in the main competition, and you wrote the screenplay."

Cheng Sheng waved his hand casually, his tone nonchalant: "The Venice Film Festival has nothing to do with me, why would I watch this stuff?"

"But you are the screenwriter, and your film has been shortlisted for the main competition. Don't you want to know if it can win an award?" Peng Da Mo looked at Cheng Sheng, who was calm and composed, and couldn't help but complain. His tone was full of envy: "To be honest, if I had a film that was shortlisted for the Venice main competition, I would have been excited and would have been promoting it everywhere. I wouldn't be as calm as you."

Cheng Sheng smiled faintly, his tone carrying a hint of Versailles: "It's just Venice. It's not like I haven't won awards before. Besides, 'Blue Is the Warmest Color' was only nominated for three awards: Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Film. These three awards have nothing to do with me as the screenwriter, so winning or losing doesn't matter."

"Only you, boss, have the guts to say that. Directors in the industry would love to go to the three major European film festivals. Even just being nominated would be something they could brag about for years," Peng Da Mo said sincerely. In his opinion, Cheng Sheng's composure stemmed from his absolute strength.

"Alright, enough talk, let's finish this quickly so we can go back and rest early," Cheng Sheng urged, no longer dwelling on the Venice Film Festival, and turned to continue checking the finishing touches.

An hour later, the clutter on set was mostly tidied up, except for the set that had been set up.

It wasn't that Cheng Sheng didn't want to demolish it, but rather that the local government specifically intervened to obstruct it.

Cheng Sheng understood perfectly well that the local government had a well-thought-out plan—they wanted to turn the filming site into a tourist attraction after the movie became a hit, and even planned to develop it into a film and television base to attract more film crews from home and abroad to shoot scenes, following the development path of "film + cultural tourism".

This development model already has mature experience; Hollywood and Disney have both relied on this model to achieve a win-win situation for film and television and cultural tourism.

As early as when Cheng Sheng chose this location as the filming location, the local government took the initiative to approach him and signed a contract with his company, agreeing that after the filming was completed, all the set decorations would be handed over to the local government for subsequent operation and development.

After confirming that no important items had been left behind on set, Cheng Sheng said "Let's go" and left with the entire crew. No sooner had they left than maintenance workers hired by the local government arrived to meticulously repair and tidy up the filming location, making full preparations for future cultural tourism development.

Back at the hotel, Cheng Sheng had just finished showering when there was a knock on the door.

Pushing open the door, Zeng Li walked in with Li Xiaoran and Da Tiantian, carrying large and small bags.

"Didn't you go shopping? What local specialties did you buy?" Cheng Sheng asked with a smile.

He knew that the last scene of the day was a fire attack on the pirates, and Li Xiaoran and Da Tiantian were not scheduled to have any scenes. After learning that they would be leaving Sumatra tomorrow, the three of them went out shopping together, hoping to bring back more local specialties.

"These are all specialties from Sumatra, many of which are not available in China. Look at this!" Da Tiantian said enthusiastically, showing off the things she bought today, her eyes full of joy.

Cheng Sheng looked at the pile of local specialties on the table, and his lips twitched slightly—he could tell at a glance that many of them were extremely perishable and would probably be moldy before they even reached the shore after being shipped back to China.

But then I thought, as long as they're happy, the expense is nothing to worry about, so I didn't say anything more.

He turned to look at Li Xiaoran, his tone softening slightly: "Sister Xiaoran, your scenes have wrapped up. Are you going back to China tomorrow?"

Li Xiaoran didn't have many scenes to begin with, and filming had actually wrapped up three days ago. According to the plan, she should have returned home long ago, but she was worried about Cheng Sheng, so she stayed in Sumatra to be with him.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoran looked a little aggrieved and said coquettishly, "If I don't go back soon, Director Kong will scold me. If I had known that the filming route was so far, I wouldn't have taken this role in the first place, so I could have stayed with you all the time."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Sheng also looked helpless.

Xing Aina had called him many times to urge him to finish Li Xiaoran's scenes as soon as possible so that she could return to the set. Li Xiaoran still had important scenes in "Nirvana in Fire," and now that the filming of "Nirvana in Fire" was nearing its end, if she was not able to return to the set soon, Director Kong Sheng would probably have to consider replacing her.

"Alright, stop complaining." Cheng Sheng reached out and put his arm around Li Xiaoran's waist, then leaned down and gently kissed her red lips, softly comforting her, "I don't have many scenes left to film, but I'll definitely wrap up before National Day. Then I'll go back to China and spend some quality time with you."

"Me too!" Da Tiantian immediately pouted, her eyes full of grievance as she acted coquettishly, refusing to be left behind.

"She's such a child who never grows up, always wanting to compete for everything." Cheng Sheng chuckled, but still gently lowered his head and kissed Da Tian Tian's red lips. (End of Chapter)