So what if I work with celebrities?

A red Mercedes-Benz was parked in front of the hot spring resort. The two people inside watched the customers coming and going without saying a word.

Xu Zan turned to look at Zhang Aijia, gently brushed her lips with his index finger, dipped it in lipstick, and wrote "eyebrow" in his notebook.

"Your eyebrows are beautiful!"

Sylvia Chang pursed her lips, leaned in and sniffed, "You smell very nice."

The hot spring soothed two restless hearts, the steam rising and enveloping their figures, and delicate sounds echoed within the pool.

It was destined to be a beautiful summer night.

Sylvia Chang lay on the edge of the pool, her fair back partially visible in the steam. Xu Zan gently comforted her, saying that to truly enjoy a hot spring, one should go to a place where it snows, with snowflakes falling overhead and the hot spring water warm. That would be truly refreshing.

"Brother Zan, can I play Yang Huimin?" Zhang Aijia dipped her finger in the hot spring water and drew circles on the artificial stone by the pool.

"It's already decided, we can't change it anymore. Besides, this is just a political propaganda film, it has no commercial value," Xu Zan said.

"Sigh," Zhang Aijia sighed, and hugged Xu Zan, "I'm cold, hold me for a while."

The filming of "The Eight Hundred Heroes" officially started, and the same day also marked the opening ceremony of the new China Film Studio.

Mei Changling surprisingly managed to snag the top spot for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. This bespectacled, chubby man had a kind smile.

But no one on set dared to slack off even slightly. Xu Zan, as the director of "The Eight Hundred Heroes," was arranged to be received, while the others stood far away on the periphery, acting as filler staff.

The crew members, following the arrangements made by the China Film Group office, lined up in a square formation and stood in the autograph area of ​​the opening ceremony stage, each receiving a plastic flower.

After Xu Zan shook hands with this important figure, the other party said a few words: "Not bad, young and promising. Keep up the good work and bring Taiwan's films to the world!"

For the rest of the time, Xu Zan became a background figure. After a burst of firecrackers, under the flash of cameras, several executives cut the red ribbon.

For events attended by top figures, state media naturally wrote extensively and reported on the grand occasion in detail.

The author's writing is truly eloquent, praising China Film Group's rapid progress from various angles, culminating in the affirmation from a prominent figure, and finally mentioning at the end that "The Eight Hundred Heroes" has officially started filming.

This indicates that war films set in Taiwan will reach a new level.

China Film Group was making grand promises, so naturally they needed Xu Zan to bring those dreams to life. The higher-ups didn't care about the technical capabilities; from an uninformed perspective, they said, "Simple, just plant some explosives, and you'll have realism, right?"

Xu Zan ordered Lieutenant Fu to take several demolition experts and try to destroy a building, requiring it to look like it had been bombed by an air-dropped bomb.

Although the military personnel were very professional, they had never participated in filming before, so they misjudged the dosage and accidentally blew up a building, which looked like construction debris rather than a battlefield.

With no other option, Xu Zan had the props splash carbon powder and mud on it, since there was no other building they could blow up.

"I need to bomb this cornfield to preserve a safe zone, a place where people can walk without any danger."

"Um... let's give it a try!" Lieutenant Fu said somewhat uncertainly.

They buried some explosives in an open area, erected a bamboo fence in the middle, placed a pig in the middle, then whipped the pig's rump and detonated the explosives as the pig ran forward.

The pig was startled and rushed out of the bamboo pen, where it was stunned by the explosives.

Xu Zan continued to have Lieutenant Fu conduct experiments. He also brought in a reporter from the film magazine "Gunstone" to prepare to report on the real explosion drill.

Meanwhile, the box office of "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" began to surge, with many viewers flocking to theaters amidst a media frenzy.

The box office reached 800,000 on the second day and continued to rise, especially after the news that Xu Zan had received the approval of the number one person was published in the magazine "Gunseok".

Many military and civil service units organized their employees to watch the movie, and by the third day, the total had reached 1.5 million.

Many primary schools even ask students to write reflections after watching the show, which is quite bizarre.

The film grossed 3.7 million in its first week, a resounding success. Starting in the second week, it began showing in counties and cities in central and southern Taiwan.

The film magazine "Gunstone" even boldly predicted that "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" would eventually gross 20 million New Taiwan Dollars.

However, it was quickly ridiculed by other magazines, who revealed that the major shareholder of "Gunstone" magazine was Xu Zan. They said it was ridiculous to exaggerate so much for the sake of the boss's movie, and that the media needed to be more rigorous.

After nearly two weeks of experimentation, the demolition team finally gained confidence. However, in order to reduce the amount of compensation, Xu Zan had the stuntmen run around in the demolition area to verify the team's results.

"Go ahead and run, I'll give you two thousand yuan for each time!"

The stuntman, in his thirties, looked nervous but gritted his teeth and agreed. Xu Zan, after getting to know him better, realized that the average level of education among stuntmen was relatively low.

They earn their money through hard work, because their health could be ruined at any time, so they often spend it on eating, drinking, gambling, and prostitution as soon as they get the money.

The wife he married was not a good person either, and it was easy for the house to feel empty when he came home.

"On your marks!" Lieutenant Fu's voice blared from the loudspeaker as he pressed the switch. "Action!"

At a command, the martial arts master, carrying a rifle, ran through the safe zone, and then one explosion after another went off.

The dust flew up and soaked him. At first, he staggered a bit, but he seemed to get used to the explosion and ran more steadily.

He ran to the end, jumped up with all his might, and laughed loudly, "I did it! I did it!"

Although he had a successful experience, Hsu Tsan did not immediately have the crew film the movie. Instead, he found stuntmen and experimented repeatedly until he succeeded six times in a row before announcing that it could be used in the film.

Xu Zan arranged several camera positions. He sat in a hanging basket, holding a walkie-talkie, directing the troops to march rapidly through the reeds.

This army of several hundred people consists mostly of soldiers, with only a few actors making an appearance.

"Halt! You've been on a forced march to provide support in Shanghai, so you need to appear exhausted! Battalion Commander, have them run ten kilometers before coming back!"

This team didn't come to help for free; they received special subsidies from above, so they all worked quite hard.

When filming resumed, everything looked like it was going well. Xu Zan used close-up, medium-range, and long-range shots, and the final scene that came into view was the war-torn city of Shanghai.

"A building that cost over two million yuan to build has been blown up like this!" Ming Ji said, standing on the ruins.

"Manager Ming, this is still essential to show the cruelty of war," Xu Zan shouted to the props team. "Find some crows and rotting flesh!"

Because this row of makeshift buildings was bombed so badly that it looked like it would collapse at the slightest touch, in order to create the impression that the whole city was full of ruins.

Xu Zan had to walk around several buildings to take pictures from different angles, making it seem like they had covered many blocks.

In the original film "The Eight Hundred," when encountering Japanese soldiers, the characters shouted "Run!" Xu Zan changed it to "Find cover and prepare for battle."

There was no other way; if the filmed version looked even slightly disintegrated, he wouldn't be able to explain it.