Chapter 177: Conflict on the Film Set

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"Alright, cut! Change the scene!"

Wang Sanri said loudly while holding a megaphone.

Having stayed with the crew for over two months, three-quarters of the entire production had already been completed.

Cheng Chen had thoroughly witnessed the speed at which a Gang Sheng crew filmed.

From the professionalism of the crew members to the coordination of personnel, everything was an eye-opener for Cheng Chen.

It wasn't that he hadn't seen such a professional crew before on the set of Kung Fu, but it was hindered by Zhou Xingchi's personal style.

Every shot in his films was polished repeatedly after the preliminary work was done.

If he had a better option on set, he would still follow the thoughts that sparked from his inspiration in the moment.

This resulted in the entire crew, despite being professional and efficient, often consuming more time.

Of course, the quality of Zhou Xingchi's films would also improve with this meticulousness and polishing.

But Wang Sanri was different; he served as both Screenwriter and director for the drama Little Fish and Flower.

He would prepare all the storyboards in advance, and there were very few changes made on set.

Moreover, he had high requirements for the actors and would strictly demand that the crew members familiarize themselves with the script in advance.

This way, there were far fewer issues in various aspects during filming.

Of course, the production team for Little Fish was also his old crew that had followed him through thick and thin.

Their coordination with director Wang Sanri was very high; basically, with one gesture from him, the camera and lighting crews would understand his meaning.

Gang Sheng Best Actor Zheng Zeshi, who once played "Fat Cat," said at the Roast Convention:

During the lowest point for Gang Sheng cinema, Wang Sanri insisted on keeping the cameras rolling.

He truly supported a large group of behind-the-scenes staff!

It was precisely that period of frantic filming that forged the highly cooperative team and the astonishing filming efficiency he had in his hands.

Of course, this group of crew members who followed Wang Sanri to film in the Mainland also had one major flaw.

They looked down on Mainland staff and even the actors.

As a lead actor, Cheng Chen didn't feel this too strongly, but he had been subtly pushed aside by certain Assistant Directors.

They were exceptionally irritable toward actors who couldn't understand Cantonese, and even when queuing for makeup, Gang Sheng actors were given priority.

Even if a Gang Sheng actor wasn't filming next, Mainland actors still had to wait obediently on the side.

Being the same supporting roles, the pay for Gang Sheng supporting actors was often several times that of Mainland supporting actors.

There were many such unfair treatments when the crew was officially filming.

Fan Xiaopang had complained to Cheng Chen in private more than once.

Even the usually calm Yuan Quan was angered to the point of losing her temper on the spot by the crew staff.

And the result? It was still handled coldly, and no one paid her any mind.

In the end, she was even labeled with "throwing a tantrum and delaying the crew's progress."

Wang Bozhao, who always acted as the peacemaker on set, argued with that crew member for this reason.

As a result, he had a string of profanities in Cantonese shouted at him while being pointed at.

The Mainland actors were left bewildered, while the Gang Sheng staff stood by with their arms crossed, feeling smug.

Cheng Chen heard all these things from Fan Xiaopang; he wasn't on set at the time.

"It's too much! Brother Cheng, I can't swallow this anger even after hearing it!"

Fan Xiaopang's cheeks were puffed up with anger, and her large eyes were filled with fury.

"Hmm, it is indeed a bit too much. I'll find a time to give feedback to the director."

Cheng Chen nodded, and just as he was about to say something, the voice of the script supervisor came from over there:

"Time to film, you two, stop chatting! Are you here to chat or to film?"

Cheng Chen's gaze fell on the script supervisor who had come to notify them, and he asked:

"Didn't our scenes for today already finish filming?"

"The director added a scene on the fly, let's go! Loser."

This script supervisor was clearly from Gang Sheng, speaking with a half-baked tone.

Although he said the last part in a very low voice in Cantonese after turning around.

If one didn't listen carefully, one would think he was just muttering to himself.

But Cheng Chen still heard it; his expression sank immediately, and he couldn't help but coldly rebuke:

"Stop!"

The script supervisor turned his head lazily,

and said:

"What do you want?"

Seeing him like this, Cheng Chen couldn't help but say coldly:

"If the director adds a scene, just say it properly. What kind of attitude is that! You're just a messenger, what's there to be arrogant about!

Also, do you think I can't understand Cantonese, or are you saying I'm deaf, you street rat!"

Seeing Cheng Chen lose his temper, the script supervisor opposite was stunned.

Fan Xiaopang looked at Cheng Chen with admiration; when Cheng Chen was scolding the other person, it was as if she were the one doing it.

So satisfying!

When they arrived at the set, Wang Sanri said:

"Cheng Zai, you've come just in time. For this scene, Jian Zai said to change it again. This is the revised script, take a look first."

Cheng Chen took the script; the original plot had Jiang Biehe faking his death at the instigation of Jiang Yuyan, attempting to deceive Little Fish and Flower.

But here, Zhang Weijian had altered the script, adding a scene where the two brothers, upon hearing that Jiang Biehe had betrayed their father, beat Jiang Biehe's corpse violently.

"Director, I don't think this is necessary, right?"

Seeing this, Cheng Chen already roughly knew the subsequent plot.

What he hadn't expected was that even though he had already replaced Chu Zifeng to play Hua Wuque, such a thing would still happen.

He couldn't help but look toward Zhang Weijian, who was playing Little Fish.

Seeing Cheng Chen's gaze sweep over, thinking Cheng Chen was unwilling to film, he said with a smile:

"Here, Little Fish and Flower both know that Jiang Biehe betrayed their father and caused their father's passing.

If the two of them don't do something when facing Jiang Biehe's corpse, it cannot reflect their anger.

How about this, I'll handle the fight scene; after all, I am the older brother and should have this responsibility.

Besides, your character setting is also relatively calm, and you shouldn't be blinded by anger. What do you think?"

Hearing this, Wang Sanri shook his head and said:

"That's not good, the two brothers should beat him together. Although Hua Wuque's personality is calm,

he also has a paranoid side, so this doesn't affect his character setting."

A note here: originally in the Great Hero Gu's novel *Handsome Siblings*, Hua Wuque is older and is the elder brother.

But in this version by Wang Sanri, the original Chu Zifeng was only 24 years old, while Zhang Weijian is already 40.

A nineteen-year age gap definitely cannot be made up for just by makeup, so the identities of the two were swapped.

This version of Wang Sanri by Cheng Chen still followed the operations of the original timeline.

Hearing the two of them settle the script with one word after another, Cheng Chen felt there was no possibility of a turnaround even if he wanted to change it.

Cheng Chen had no choice but to nod helplessly.

While Wang Sanri was communicating the shots with the cameraman, Cheng Chen suddenly thought of something.

He ran to the props team to borrow a pad specifically used to protect the body during action scenes.

This kind of pad is a thin layer; wearing it close to the body hardly changes one's physique, nor would it be noticed by others.

But the protective effect is very good, and many actors like to pad a layer on their bodies when filming action scenes.

"Teacher Wang, this is for you."

Cheng Chen handed the pad to Wang Bozhao and said.

"This... is there a need? It's just a seven or eight-second shot."

Wang Bozhao said with a smile.

"You should take it, just in case we don't know our own strength and end up hurting you."

"Hmm... that works too, thank you."

Wang Bozhao thanked him.

"You're too kind."

"Alright, get ready, action!"

Director Wang Sanri gave the order, and all the actors began to take their positions.

Yang Xue, playing Jiang Yuyan, walked in first, followed by a group of people carrying Jiang Biehe's "corpse."

She said to Cheng Chen and Little Fish:

"This is the remains of my father, Jiang Biehe. As you know, he was the book boy of the peerless hero Jiang Feng eighteen years ago, named Jiang Qin."

"He is also the one who betrayed your parents to Yao Yue!"

A note here: Jiang Feng is the father of Little Fish and Flower.

Known as the "World's Number One Handsome Man," he fled into Yihua Palace to avoid disaster after encountering a martial arts vendetta and was saved by Yao Yue of Yihua Palace.

Although he won Yao Yue's affection, the one he loved was the ordinary palace maid Hua Yuenu.

Yao Yue therefore turned love into hate and wanted to kill him and the runaway palace maid to vent her hatred.

In the end, he and his wife Hua Yuenu both died tragically at the hands of Yao Yue; the person who leaked the secret was none other than the book boy Jiang Qin, who later changed his name to Jiang Biehe.

Therefore, upon hearing Jiang Yuyan's words, Cheng Chen and Little Fish appeared exceptionally angry.

Little Fish suddenly shouted:

"Avenge us!"

He straddled Jiang Biehe's body directly.

Cheng Chen followed closely behind, but he did not strike Jiang Biehe directly; instead, he circled to the opposite side of Little Fish.

Seeing Little Fish's fist slam down violently, that punch would definitely break a nose if it landed.

Cheng Chen hurriedly reached out to deflect the force and block; this way, in the eyes of others, it looked like the two were beating someone together, while also protecting the actor being hit.

After Little Fish threw a few punches, seeing that Cheng Chen was blocking the whole time,

he glared at Cheng Chen, then hurriedly used his fist to strike the actor's chest, and Cheng Chen circled behind again to repeat the same trick.

After going back and forth, the crowd also saw the trickery in it.

"This... is Jianzai hitting too hard?"

"What do you mean hard? Didn't you see that mainlander causing trouble on the side?"

"Sure enough, mainlanders protect mainlanders!"

"Sigh, the director isn't calling cut either; this scene is too boring to film."

Finally, under Cheng Chen's repeated obstruction, Zhang Weijian, who was playing Little Fish, got angry.

He used his elbow to strike violently in Cheng Chen's direction, wanting to push Cheng Chen away so he could continue beating the other person with his fists.

However, he clearly underestimated Cheng Chen's physique, which had been forged by non-stop training and supplemented by all sorts of tonics from Yan Danchen.

Cheng Chen suddenly blocked with his arm, meeting his elbow in a solid collision; his arm swung out, directly blocking the other party away.

This scene was something no one had expected, and Zhang Weijian glared at Cheng Chen, viciously saying to him:

"What exactly are you doing! Can you still film properly or not? If you don't want to film, get lost!"

As he spoke, he moved to shove Cheng Chen.

"Hey, don't fight, don't fight!"

"Pull them apart! Pull them apart!"

"They're fighting, someone come quickly!"

The crowd's reaction was not slow, but Zhang Weijian still ended up in a scuffle with Cheng Chen.

However, Cheng Chen was not intimidated by him; he put strength into his arm and shoved the other party so hard he fell face-first.

"You dare to hit someone! You punk!"

Zhang Weijian climbed up from the ground, pointed at Cheng Chen's nose, and cursed loudly.

"I hit you because you deserved it; do you want to try cursing again?"

Cheng Chen moved his wrist slightly and glanced at the other party with disdain.

"Enough! Do you think the film set is a vegetable market? It's chaotic; everyone get back, and both of you stop!"

Wang Sanri suddenly exploded in anger.

"Director, you saw that he actually hit someone; I want to report him!"

Zhang Weijian spoke up first.

Cheng Chen sneered and said:

"Who hit whom first, we'll see; there are five or six cameras recording on the side, at worst we can just watch the playback!"

"You!"

Zhang Weijian paused; it was indeed him who started it, but...

"You kept obstructing my acting, I was just trying to use my arm to separate you; who is to blame if you didn't cooperate?"

Zhang Weijian argued forcefully.

"Acting? Is that what you call acting? You were aiming to kill the actor!"

Cheng Chen said slowly.

"Please, do you have any common sense! To pursue better effects, we film action scenes like this; this is what's real!

Do you think this is still like your Mainland film sets? Using stunt doubles, doing fake moves that couldn't be faker!

If you can't accept it, you can go back and continue singing; you were never cut out for acting anyway!"

Zhang Weijian said coldly.

"Real?"

Cheng Chen spread his hands open, revealing that his fair, slender palms were now bright red.

There were even purple and blue bruises on the back of his hands, making many people on set unable to bear looking.

Cheng Chen sneered:

"Is this your so-called 'real'? My palms were injured just now while blocking you when you used the scene as an excuse to hit me.

You used almost all your strength in every punch, and you were aiming for the face?

If you were striving for realism, why not hit the actor's body? Before this scene started, I handed a pad to Teacher Wang.

You were watching from the side too; why did you aim for the parts of the actor that had no protection and try to kill him?"

Cheng Chen's words were reasonable and well-founded, and the Mainland actors present couldn't help but nod.

Yuan Quan and Fan Xiaopang even leaned closer to Cheng Chen, showing they stood on his side.

"I..."

"You what? You were just using the scene to hit people! Teacher Wang is nearly fifty years old this year!

You still tried to kill him; is this your so-called 'real'?

No matter how rigorous or real action scenes in Gang Sheng are, there's no saying you should use all your might to smash your fist into the face of a man nearly fifty years old, right?"

Having said this, Cheng Chen walked up to the furious Wang Bozhao and said:

"Teacher Wang, I suggest you call the police and ask them to intervene and investigate.

Also, the footage in the cameras today must not be deleted; keep it as evidence for a future lawsuit.

These machines were all turned on before filming; if someone says later that the footage in the machines was destroyed,

or that it disappeared, that would be someone with a guilty conscience intentionally destroying evidence!"

Cheng Chen's words were very heavy, and Zhang Weijian's face turned shades of blue and purple.

At this moment, Wang Sanri had to step out and speak; he smiled and said:

"No need to call the police, it's just filming; Jianzai was just too deep into his role, let alone a lawsuit.

For now, let's focus on filming; Cheng-zai, making this too big won't be good for either of us."

This was clearly an attempt to smooth things over.

Cheng Chen, however, was unimpressed and said:

"Director Wang, this incident is no longer an isolated case; this time he used the scene to hit someone.

Before this, there were crew members who were hostile toward Mainland actors; we have received unfair treatment on this set.

Today, before we started filming, a script supervisor even called me a loser.

Some people take investment from the Mainland, yet now they look down on Mainland actors.

How is this any different from wanting to be a whore while still wanting to set up a memorial arch for chastity?"

"Of course, I didn't mean to target you, Director Wang; I was talking about certain people who don't follow the rules!"