Chapter 252: Just Let Me Die of Old Age

The two chatted as the crew began wrapping up; this scene was basically done.

Liu Tianxian was soaked through, her hair wet too, still wearing that dress, only now with a long towel draped over it, wrapping her body.

Luckily it was summer, so a water scene like this wouldn't give her a cold—it would actually cool her down.

"This is my job, of course I have to take it seriously and act it well!"

Liu Tianxian glanced at him, then covered her mouth and started coughing—"cough cough cough"—seeming to have swallowed quite a bit of water.

But it was clean water, so it was fine; only she had soaked in it.

Fang Hong patted her back: "Even so, you don't have to push that hard. A few more takes and the scene would have been in the bag."

"That'd be such a hassle. People would talk behind my back about me being finicky, and the directors would think I'm unprofessional, that my attitude's bad. Why give them something to say?" Liu Tianxian was a fighter at her core.

She didn't want to trouble others, and she didn't want to be talked about! Fang Hong said nothing—Liu Tianxian had always been like this.

At that moment, assistant director Lu Yang walked over, apologetically: "Yifei, are you okay?"

Earlier he hadn't called 'cut,' just watched helplessly as she drank water in the tank without stopping her; he really couldn't get past it.

He hadn't expected this girl to push so hard, deliberately holding her breath until she couldn't anymore before acting.

"I'm fine, Director." Liu Tianxian straightened up, putting on an "I'm fine" look—very proud and stubborn.

"That's good, then I'm relieved. You acted very well." Lu Yang praised.

"Thank you, Director." Liu Tianxian smiled.

After the two finished, Lu Yang nodded at Fang Hong, then went off to handle other things.

Once that man left, Liu Tianxian turned smug and proud: "See? Even a professional director said I acted well."

That look was completely different from her earnest demeanor just now—like a little girl who'd just been praised.

Lu Yang came from a proper Academy background; his films had even won awards, though without much buzz—so he was indeed a professional director.

"Fine, I never said you weren't good, right?" Fang Hong spread his hands.

"Will you always say I'm good?" Liu Tianxian smiled, her phoenix eyes fixed on him.

"Of course. Past, present, future—you've always been the best." Fang Hong said.

Liu Tianxian laughed a few "hehehe"s, looking very cute and pretty. She nudged his shoulder with hers: "Do you know what day it is in a few days?"

"What day?" Fang Hong was puzzled.

"Valentine's Day—Qi Xi Festival! Aren't you going to do something?" Liu Tianxian said. "Why does Valentine's Day require us men to give women something? Can't you women give us men something?" Fang Hong asked back matter-of-factly.

Liu Tianxian immediately got upset, landing two quick punches on his arm that made Fang Hong yelp "ow ow."

Then she turned and walked off—dumb straight man! Seeing her angry, Fang Hong hurried after her to coax her. Damn his mouth—why say something like that.

The crew packed up the gear and equipment; today's shoot was done, they'd continue tomorrow, moving on to film at other locations.

Filming a movie is like this—finish at one location, move to the next, constant location changes; the number of scenes is no fewer than for a TV series.

A TV series might run dozens of episodes and just circle around one nearby area; a movie might take you all over the world.

Luckily China is big enough—from summer to winter, from remote villages to bustling cities, every kind of scene can be found.

Now You See Me filming never stopped.

The movie opens by introducing the Four Horsemen: the Lover, the High Priestess, the Hermit, and the Grim Reaper.

Duan Yihong as the Lover: Card Manipulation, Sleight of Hand at its peak—not only can he place the audience under his control, he can also use this technique to win a woman's heart.

Liu Tianxian as the High Priestess: adept at Escape Art, the only female among the Four Horsemen, possessing an intuitive power beyond ordinary people.

Xie Miao as the Hermit: skilled in Hypnosis and Mind Reading, always a loner; making money and earning recognition is the meaning of his life. He joined the Four Horsemen because he physically felt something for Liu Tianxian.

This movie has no romance scenes, so he can only run his mouth for variety! Zhu Yilong as the Grim Reaper: adept at Lock Picking, starting out as a simple street con, joining the Four Horsemen out of his worship of magic.

He also has a special skill—Resurrection—which is why he's called the Grim Reaper.

The film has three jaw-dropping magic shows. The first: stealing 5 million USD in cash from a bank in Los Angeles within 10 minutes.

For this, Yu Xian just needs to film a sequence in Hollywood of working at a bank and the vault—no need to travel all the way there.

Having a base in the United States is great; scenes set in the U. S. can be shot too.

The second: transferring 140 million in deposits from an insurance company boss's bank account into the accounts of the live audience.

The first two will be filmed in Macau.

The third will be filmed in Beijing, with a stunning scene of a rain of banknotes over the city.

It also frames the magic exposer—the magic exposer is the character played by Zhang Zhijian.

After the three magic shows, the mastermind behind the Four Horsemen—the agent played by Zhang Songwen—finally surfaces.

This agent can't be domestic; he's been changed into an Interpol agent!

The plot is that the entire magic show was orchestrated by him; the robbed vault, the insurance company boss, and the framed magic exposer are all enemies who twenty years ago caused his father's accidental death.

So this is a revenge mission!

The final twist can be called absolutely explosive—because the agent who arrested the Four Horsemen throughout the entire film turns out to be the mastermind behind it all.

This twist is something no one could have expected, and it's quite the shocker.

But this twist also adds a lot to the film, setting it apart from ordinary movies.

The plot is actually very simple, no need to tax your brain! The Purge: Anarchy has been out for over a month now, and its final box office is in.

It raked in 110.6 million USD worldwide.

With results like these, of course China and Universal won't let it go—they'll keep making more.

Apparently the next one has already been scheduled for next year! The project hasn't even been set up, but the release date is locked in—first time I've ever seen that.

But this movie is just too easy to make—it's just a setup for venting frustration, indiscriminate killing.

Neighbors killing each other, subordinates killing bosses, love rivals killing each other—a setup purely to satisfy people's base instincts.

And they can just keep making them like this!

But this series does have some plot—it can't be without plot. The plot even rises to the level of a U. S. presidential candidate—this is made up!

Now, just like The Conjuring, The Purge has become one of the most popular horror-thriller film series in China.

As long as these two IPs are managed well, money will come pouring in, and licensing fees will come pouring in.

110.6 million US dollars; China can take 27.65 million dollars, equivalent to 190 million.

This money has to be spent — not spending it is pointless. Ten million dollars will be invested in equipment and systems procurement. There are two major categories being purchased. One is Physical Effects Equipment: heavy machinery, sensors, bionic mechanical props, physical models, and so on.

The other is the Capture System. Besides Expression Capture, there's also Motion Capture, which can copy a real person's expressions onto a digital double.

It's the kind of technology used in films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Alita: Battle Angel.

These technologies can be used in games, animation, and film/TV. Motion Capture can be used for virtual characters' movements in games — game characters made this way feel real.

Animation virtual characters also need real-person Expression Capture! All of this will be purchased in the name of China, then rented to Jade Rabbit for one yuan, so there won't be any accounting inconvenience.

These high-end goods will definitely need supporting personnel and organized training. Jade Rabbit will still foot the bill — pick out a few talented individuals with potential and send them to the United States, Ouzhou, and other places to study.

Of course, anyone sent out has to sign a long-term contract with Jade Rabbit — otherwise why would Jade Rabbit be doing this good deed?

They'll study for one or two months. These pieces of equipment won't arrive right away anyway — some take one or two months, some three or four months, even half a year.

Last year, when the full set of filming system equipment was procured for ten million dollars, a lot of items also took half a year to deliver.

Because this kind of stuff isn't like mass-market goods that lots of people buy — there are very few buyers. People rent them, then return them after renting.

For example, once you finish shooting a film, who knows when you'll shoot the next one!

Maybe two years, maybe five — buying doesn't pay off!

So with this kind of thing, you place an order first, and then they make it for you.

"Rent-only, no sale" is nonsense. These aren't some kind of super-precision equipment — if you have the money, they'll make it for you; it's just that the price is high.

If we're short on funds, let the gaming department subsidize it. The gaming department has money now anyway, and it's not a one-time expense — a lot of it just requires a deposit upfront.

Equipment like this needs technological upgrades and replacements, and it also needs maintenance.

That's no problem. Once every department gets on track, there'll naturally be money for upgrades and replacements, and money to put toward maintenance.

It's just that nothing is on track yet — they still need to be supported.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was late August.

Recently, the biggest piece of gossip in the entertainment circle is that The Voice of China has become a massive hit, one of the most popular Variety shows this year.

This show's explosion has caused music talent-show programs to see blowout-style development.

It has also caused Variety show title-sponsorship fees to surge sharply, and along with it, celebrity appearance fees have also surged. The entertainment circle is gradually entering the era of traffic Variety shows.

Film and TV will no longer be the only exposure channel for celebrities — Variety shows have also become one of the options for stars.

If you can't be a film/TV actor, you can be a Variety star! Besides this matter, the "Double Zhang" incident has fully erupted. After half a year of cold war, the parties involved came out and admitted: "The two have completely gone their separate ways!"

This matter immediately caused an uproar, becoming one of the current hot-topic events.

But this drama will keep going — it won't stop anytime soon. Later there's still the super-baby scandal, and the famous "Seven Calabash Brothers" meme.

Of course, that famous Gangnam Style is still a global sensation.

How popular is it? Just take a walk down any street and you can hear this song.

Seeing a South Korean song blow up like this, voices calling for a boycott of the Korean Wave popped up again. Experts came out of the woodwork saying the song is vulgar, lacks substance, and is just sensationalism.

None of this has anything to do with Fang Hong. Right now he's just filming, managing the company's development, and teasing the one surnamed Liu.

The crew has now moved to Macau for filming, shooting the first magic Performance Department scene.

On the dazzling, luxurious stage, the Four Horsemen were performing how they stole 5 million US dollars in cash from Los Angeles, United States.

The audience was in an uproar, shouting and very lively.

The four were performing on stage to build up the atmosphere. Liu Tianxian was on stage wearing a black V-neck little black dress, her fair, slender beautiful legs exposed, high heels on her feet.

As she moved about casually, she exuded charm and confidence — she didn't even need to act, just bringing out her confident, radiant side was enough.

Normally when she went to events, she had to face all kinds of audience shouting anyway, so she was already used to it.

So she performed with effortless ease! This scene looks fun and exciting in the film, but actually filming it on set was very dull and boring — you couldn't see such a great effect.

It needs post-production processing, Best Special Effects processing, to look much better.

But those 5 million US dollars really did rain down on the entire venue like a money shower — the audience's shouting was real.

The money was, of course, a prop!

This scene was filmed at night. After the shoot, the crew started wrapping up. Liu Tianxian sat in front of the mirror in the makeup room, with a young makeup artist beside her removing her makeup.

"Sister Xixi, your makeup is off. I'm heading out now." the young makeup artist said.

Liu Tianxian nodded. Looking at herself in the mirror, and at the man standing behind her, her expression turned very displeased — she couldn't be bothered to talk to him.

Valentine's Day two days ago had passed just like that. This man acted as if nothing had happened, not giving any sign at all.

"What's wrong? Still angry?" Fang Hong rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Get away!" Liu Tianxian shrugged both shoulders and said angrily, "Do you even know what day today is?"

"What day? Didn't Qi Xi already pass? It's passed, so let it pass — stop dwelling on it." Fang Hong coaxed.

Liu Tianxian tried hard to hold back her temper: "For Qi Xi I don't need to ask anything of you, but do you not know what day today is? Don't you have any sign of acknowledgment at all?"

"I don't know what you're talking about! Is today anything special?" Fang Hong asked.

Liu Tianxian was fuming. If she could, she really wanted to beat this man up and then see what on earth was going on in his head. The day before yesterday on Qi Xi Valentine's Day, he didn't show any acknowledgment — fine, she could take it as this man just didn't love celebrating this kind of holiday.

Today was her birthday, and still there was zero acknowledgment. He actually forgot, didn't care at all.

This made her very sad, feeling she wasn't valued in the slightest. And now it was almost midnight — her birthday would be over, and she hadn't even gotten a single word of blessing.

Back when their feelings were shallow and they were far apart, he would still specially call to give his blessings.

Now that their feelings were deep, he didn't care about this stuff anymore. Were all men like this — once they got the girl, nothing mattered anymore?

She didn't want this man to give her any gift — she just wanted him to show some acknowledgment and value her.

"Aiya, Xiao Feifei, don't keep getting angry. I heard women age fast when they're angry." Fang Hong kept coaxing, still not realizing how serious things were.

"Then let me die of old age for all I care!" Liu Tianxian snapped.

"How could that be? I'm still so young, and you're aging so fast — what if you can't keep up with me?" Fang Hong teased her.

"Get out of here right now. I don't want to see you anymore."

Liu Tianxian turned and shoved him — he was so infuriating, still in the mood to joke around.

(End of Chapter)