Chapter 456: She Filled the Black Water Tank

The main filming location for the drama "Si Teng" is in Yunnan; later on, there will be urban scenes, planned to be shot at Hengdian.

From a heavenly paradise on earth to primitive forests, from ancient-style courtyards to modern cities.

The director of this drama, Li Muge, is a real-practical-shot fanatic; his previous work, "Dong Gong," had this same habit.

Many popular actors, especially flow actors, are not particularly willing to do so much real shooting, especially when it means venturing deep into remote mountains and forests.

On one hand, the conditions are relatively harsh, not as comfortable as studio shooting; on the other hand, this leaves almost no time to do anything else.

For example, squeezing in time for commercial appearances or attending events.

When the shooting schedule was drafted, Li Muge carefully brought it to Bai Liang for approval, looking visibly worried that Bai Liang might not be happy with all this traveling around.

After all, his status is simply too high; put bluntly, even if Bai Liang has no intention of being a diva, merely by appearing in this cast, he already is a diva.

Others will unconsciously "respect" his opinions in many ways, even treating them as absolute, even if he himself has no real opinions—people will actively imagine his possible "preferences."

The shooting schedule is built around his availability; screenwriters unconsciously tailor the script to favor him; costumes and props are unintentionally upgraded in requirements.

Even the production grade and budget became genuinely substantial: originally an A-level project, it temporarily rose to S-level after Da Tian Tian took it on, but because Da Tian Tian kept clinging to Bai Liang's coattails, the platform wasn't particularly confident in her.

Fighting alongside Bai Liang and racking up massive scores doesn't mean she can lead alone.

But the moment Bai Liang nodded to confirm his participation, it instantly became a solid S+ level project!

The level of attention it received was completely different; brand sponsors flooded in, nearly drowning the crew in a blissful headache.

Too many to insert! Impossible to insert them all!

Under these circumstances, Bai Liang being a diva is entirely justified—the entire crew's treatment improved by more than one level because of him.

Many people were practically eager to call him "Godfather!"

Especially Director Li Muge, who, after taking over this drama, discovered his biggest problem was limited funding.

And since he loves real shooting, he could only budget carefully, trying to spend every yuan where it mattered most.

But now… his trouble was how to spend the money.

So Li Muge turned to Bai Liang for help: "Brother Liang, any ideas?"

"Spend money? I'm pretty good at that~ You can talk to the producer—raise the crew's salaries, improve accommodation and meal standards, like bringing in several trucks of fruit daily. Fruit isn't too expensive here in Yunnan; just get plenty, enough to fill everyone up. Let me think some more."

Bai Liang's suggestion was reasonable, but Li Muge and Jia Shikai felt they shouldn't take it.

Even with ample production funding, you still need to spend more wisely~

His suggestion was telling them to spend money on the handle of the knife.

Of course, since Bai Liang said it, they couldn't completely ignore it—so they'd improve the meals~

Raising salaries, however, was inappropriate; if industry peers criticized them for disrupting the market, that would be bad.

That morning, Da Tian Tian had just arrived and perked up at this topic.

She immediately rushed over.

Pointing to her own face, she looked utterly sincere, as if saying: Ask me! Ask me! I'm great at spending money too~

Faced with her enthusiasm, Director Li Muge couldn't dampen her spirits, so he "consulted" her too.

Two minutes later, he regretted asking such a question.

Da Tian Tian: Get me more and better clothes! Don't be so stingy—buy me several more sets!

Clearly, her eyes saw only beautiful clothes, nothing else.

There were indeed sponsors for costumes, but most of Si Teng's outfits were traditional qipaos; the sponsor brands' ready-made garments were carefully selected by the crew, and only a few were chosen.

Most still needed custom tailoring, even embroidery work.

The labor costs for this were genuinely substantial.

So far, the crew has prepared over thirty outfits for Da Tian Tian.

Yet she still wants more.

The young lady's desire in this area is endless—just like a dragon seeing shiny objects.

Her mind holds only three words: Buy! Buy! Buy!

Hmm… good news: it fits the character perfectly!

Although filming hasn't officially started, and Da Tian Tian isn't as cold and aloof offline as Si Teng, in some ways, she's already aligning.

In the script, Si Teng, a fashionable woman who slept for a century, wakes up and immediately drags the male lead, Qin Fang, to buy new clothes!

Compared to Bai Liang's suggestion, which could be partially accepted, Da Tian Tian's suggestion was completely rejected!

Because she already has enough clothes—during this drama's filming, if she can wear every single outfit she has, it'll be a huge success.

Da Tian Tian: Damn it!

She just wants to buy a few pretty clothes—what's wrong with that?

And how much money would buying a few more outfits really cost? That damn director must be planning to waste money on "unnecessary" shots.

Seeing Da Tian Tian grow slightly "hysterical," Bai Liang quickly soothed her: Buy. When you've worn them out, I'll get you new ones.

"You're the only one who's good to me." Da Tian Tian was easily placated—upon hearing Bai Liang's offhand "promise," she immediately declared she'd wear everything for him later.

Bai Liang also has many outfits—possibly not fewer than Da Tian Tian's—and most are stylish and handsome.

But the female producer in charge of this matter said a blunt truth: Who cares what color paint is on an ATM machine?

Very reasonable!

Otherwise, red carpets in the entertainment industry wouldn't be entirely about female stars competing for dazzling appearances.

For Da Tian Tian, since joining the crew, her smile never faded.

After arriving, because of the Lunar New Year, she generously gave red envelopes to every crew member.

Two each.

Because she also gave one for Bai Liang's share.

Hearing the entire crew shout "Thank you, Sister Tian Tian!" lifted her mood even higher.

That bright, radiant appearance even slightly dispelled the faint gloom brought on by something.

"All seven films scheduled for the Spring Festival slot have been pulled, and Hengdian will shut down soon."

"Has the notice been issued yet?"

"Just released—it's going to have a huge impact on the industry!"

"Will we be affected? We still have some scenes to shoot at Hengdian."

"Unclear. No one's said how long the shutdown will last, but we'll need to stay in Yunnan for over a month anyway, so it won't affect us yet. Let's keep shooting. If things get bad, we'll see if we can find substitute locations here."

Hengdian's fame in the film industry needs no emphasis—it's the largest film base in the country, and a significant portion of historical dramas and period films are shot there.

Moreover, Hengdian's announcement to suspend filming is not an isolated case; soon, Xiangshan and other film bases will likely suspend production too.

This means every production that has started or is currently filming will be affected; all schedules are thrown into chaos, inevitably causing a chain reaction of delays in wrapping and releasing works.

Beyond the already certain economic losses from halted filming, producers now face pressure from every angle—rising production costs, actor scheduling conflicts, and declining public interest in their series.

However, if the film industry has suffered a "devastating" blow, the television industry may not have.

At least, completed dramas have suddenly become "rare commodities."

Sister Yanzi reached out to Bai Liang, partly to ask whether The Scepter would also be affected by the shutdown wave—though Yunnan had shown no signs yet, the impact might still be severe.

But for us, holed up in these remote mountains and forests, even if affected, we'll likely be among the last to feel it.

On the other hand, she told Bai Liang that the second and third rounds of broadcasts for Love O2O and You Are My Glory are being fought over like crazy.

Projected earnings from second and third-round sales are expected to far exceed those of the first round!

Meanwhile, other dramas Bai Liang participated in have also experienced a "second spring," even a "third spring."

Many of these still generate profit shares for Bai Liang's company, and overall, they've made quite a bit.

Industry emergencies bring both benefits and harms, but for Bai Liang, the negative effects have not yet arrived.

His only backlog film is Youth, which still has six months until its originally scheduled release date; what things will be like then is hard to say, but it won't cause major financial losses.

Overall, the film and television industry has fully entered the winter period, with downstream operations unable to function normally.

Television dramas still have backlog content holding things up, but films have truly come to a complete standstill.

Yet while most people are quietly waiting out this "film and television winter," some are coming up with ideas.

The very next day after major films pulled their releases, a thunderclap rang out: Huanxi Media sold the online streaming rights for The Wandering Earth to ByteDance for 630 million yuan.

Douyin let the entire nation watch the movie for free.

The Wandering Earth officially premiered online on the first day of the Lunar New Year, receiving mediocre reviews.

In this incident, Huanxi Media's stock surged 40%, adding over a billion yuan in market value; ByteDance paid 630 million yuan on the surface, but gained nationwide goodwill; only Xu Zheng's reputation is hard to judge.

His years of accumulated reputation, fame, and connections may all be destroyed by this move.

The core of this incident is a battle over interests—trading future prospects for immediate relief, easing urgent pressure.

Bai Liang paid attention to this because ByteDance seemed to have tasted success.

Bro, what about Youth? Will you sell it?

Whether to sell it isn't something Bai Liang can decide with a nod, but his influence is indeed substantial.

All the stakeholders put on the face of "We respect Brother Liang's opinion! You hold the largest share—you decide."

Sister Yanzi saw right through their intentions—if they sold it, her Xiao Bai would become the target!

After consulting Bai Liang, Sister Yanzi firmly declared: Not selling. Not selling at any price!

Don't ask why? The answer is: trust the government—the market will recover. We'll hold onto it and wait for theatrical release.

After all, we're not short on cash.

The company isn't publicly listed, so we don't owe anyone an explanation, and with our absurdly ample cash flow, Sister Yanzi felt especially confident facing this industry-wide winter period.

The company's and Bai Liang's donations were significantly higher than others'.

We donate every year anyway; this year's situation is special—let's make it big!

—

On the first day of The Scepter's production, the crew received all kinds of outside news.

Even with Sister Tian Tian's red envelopes keeping morale up, some still felt restless.

But what truly calmed everyone was the "red envelopes."

Sister Yanzi, together with other investors, had Jia Shikai, currently on set, announce:

What do we have?

We have money~

Even if we shut down for a month, salaries will still be paid—immediately, everyone's nerves settled.

But actors still faced minor issues, as this involved scheduling conflicts, which were harder to resolve—just take it one step at a time.

Sister Tian Tian, however, seemed utterly unfazed, still cheerful and giggling all day.

"Why are you so happy?" Bai Liang asked curiously.

"Huh? Why single me out? I think you're happy too!" Sister Tian Tian was about to say something, then suddenly sensed something wrong—she crossed her arms and turned the question back on Bai Liangyibo.

"I'm an optimist, so I'm happy every day."

"Well, I'm happy because you're here."

Sister Tian Tian didn't care about shutdowns or not—after all, if filming stopped, wouldn't Bai Liang just have to stay by her side anyway?

Then they wouldn't even need to film—they could just be glued together all day.

For Sister Tian Tian, this life was actually something she looked forward to.

Just the two of us!

Just thinking about it—

Sister Tian Tian's dream lasted less than a day.

Because Wang Churan came.

She wasn't supposed to join the crew this early, but Jia Shikai was so "thoughtful"—he said it would be more troublesome to come later, so she might as well join early and learn from Brother Liang.

Thus, Da Tian Tian's two-person world became a trio.

She complained that the new girl Wang Churan had zero sense of the situation, and was so "tall and sturdy"—standing next to her, Da Tian Tian felt she herself looked weak and insignificant.

Especially since this girl was clueless off-camera—Bai Liang's RV had only ever been Da Tian Tian's domain, and now, inexplicably, someone else had joined.

Of course, fundamentally, Wang Churan was just too beautiful—even though Da Tian Tian secretly grumbled about her being "tall and sturdy," the girl was actually a tall, elegant beauty.

Da Tian Tian: Hmph! Then I'll complain in another way. Another Xiao Liu Yifei!

"Big Sister Tian Tian, have some fruit~"

"Thank you."

Puffing out her cheeks as she took the fruit from the girl, Da Tian Tian muttered inwardly, "I won't be defeated by this sugar-coated poison," yet still gave no bad expression in return.

How to put it? She thought of herself as "smart."

If she snapped or yelled every time this girl came close, and the girl then pretended to be pitiful, wouldn't she end up looking like the villain?

She absolutely didn't want to be the villain in Bai Liang's eyes!

Someone might even say she was acting like a diva~

Better to be "magnanimous"—that way, she'd make the girl look like a little green tea.

And as she ate the fruit, she even imagined in her mind: What if the girl had slipped some poison into it?

Of course, not something fatal.

Something that would weaken her for two days, making her look frail and pitiful—so enchanting to Bai Liang, while exposing the little green tea's true colors!

Of course, the fruit had absolutely no poison—it was quite sweet.

Wang Churan said: Big Sister, I'm just trying to please you.

Then, whether because she ate too much fruit or caught a chill, Da Tian Tian had diarrhea for two full days.

Her face did turn a bit pale, but not the kind of frail, pitiful look she'd wanted.

She even filled up Bai Liang's RV black water tank completely!

No choice—in the middle of the "deep mountains and old forests," temporary toilets couldn't compare to the RV's toilet in comfort or safety.

Besides, Da Tian Tian had been foresighted—before "discharging," she always made sure Bai Liang and the others got off.

Afterward, she'd spray air freshener nonstop, trusting not one bit of the RV's ventilation system.

But… the black water tank was full?!

Da Tian Tian was about to collapse: Did I do this? So embarrassing. I can't live anymore!

"It's not your fault—that thing was already full. Even if you had diarrhea, you couldn't possibly fill such a huge black water tank just by yourself~"

What could Bai Liang do? Of course, he could only comfort her.

But Da Tian Tian showed no sign of improvement—no matter what, the fact that a "beautiful girl" had filled up the RV's black water tank was humiliating enough.

She could only punch Bai Liang a few times. "It's all your fault! You must've used up too much! Why didn't you get it emptied sooner?"

Bai Liang bit back his laughter and immediately agreed. "I'm a poop machine—it's all my fault, all my fault."

"It's true—you ate so much, you pooped so much."

Seeing the topic veering further into fecal territory, Bai Liang quickly changed the subject—he could already smell it.

But hearing this, Da Tian Tian completely broke down.

"You actually smelled it?!"

"I didn't! You sprayed so much air freshener—where would I smell anything?"

Regarding the "black water tank" incident, Bai Liang issued a gag order: no one who knew about it was allowed to gossip.

Luckily, only his trusted men handled the disposal—though Da Pao didn't understand why replacing the black water tank needed secrecy. Did fans now really steal this stuff?

That's not even possible, right?!

(End of Chapter)