Chapter 186: Liu Piaopiao

A Fei gestured to Zhang Baizhi, who had turned back, that the boss was upstairs.

Watching her pace back and forth, holding the railing in a state of agitation, he returned to his own room to grab his headphones and went to the gym to box.

A Fei recalled Liu Yifei, who had appeared halfway through the day to stop the boss from walking down a "wicked path."

Unfortunately, it was still in vain.

Lu Kuan was in his room drawing storyboards; the assistant director in Canada had already sent over the on-site location scouting data.

After the auditions ended tomorrow, the female lead would be sent to Los Angeles to undergo martial arts training with Yuan Heping alongside the other leads, while he had to finish the roadshow work for *Thief* in the country before its release.

Then, he would spend 15-20 days producing a version of the pre-sale trailer to provide reference material for distributors in North America, Japan, South Korea, and other regions to purchase the film.

This activity would be coordinated by Tom Cruise, relying on the connections he had cultivated over many years.

After the pre-sales concluded, the formal filming work would begin.

"Come in. Since you're already here, why are you still standing there stunned?"

Boss Lu glanced sideways at the restless Liu Piaopiao and flicked his cigarette ash.

Zhang Baizhi kept building herself up mentally, taking an ashtray from the bedside and placing it next to him.

Lu Kuan didn't even look up; he just gave a grunt, his pen moving like a dragon or snake, without a moment's pause.

Zhang Baizhi stood quietly by his side, looking at his slender, delicate fingers; his whole person exuded an elegant, scholarly air.

She felt slightly more at ease—a person like this shouldn't be a beast like Liu Luanxiong, right?

Golf... just thinking about it was painful.

"Who told you to stay?"

"I... I did."

She wasn't stupid; since she was already here, would it make any sense to say she was forced?

After saying this, Zhang Baizhi lowered her head and remained silent, her peripheral vision catching the dragon-phoenix chair by the bed, and she spat secretly!

She had seen this object at an old film set in Mong Kok; it used to be used for filming Category III movies.

"Go take a shower."

"Huh?"

Boss Lu laughed: "You were on wires all day today, flying around and fighting; don't you smell?"

"Go take a shower; I'll be done drawing this shot in a moment."

Zhang Baizhi felt a trace of humiliation; she was, after all, the "Little Brigitte Lin" who debuted as a jade girl, and now she had fallen to the point of being toyed with so casually by any mainland director...

She didn't stay for her boyfriend; she only stayed to give an account to Xiang Tai.

The film she was in, *Lost in Time*, wouldn't be released until the end of the year, and she would win Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards next year.

At this moment, Zhang Baizhi was merely a rising star with infinite potential, having entered the public eye because of *King of Comedy* and *Fly Me to Polaris*.

In the eyes of the Xiang family, there was no need to say who was heavier or lighter between her and Lu Kuan, who could already negotiate with Li Shoucheng.

Zhang Baizhi walked silently to the bathroom, which was about 40 square meters, paved with white marble, with patterns of naked Western female sculptures on all four sides, filled with strong sexual implications.

Her feet stepped on the smooth, cut square tiles, the chill seeping from her calves all the way to her crown.

She didn't deceive herself by pulling the sliding door shut; instead, she resigned herself to her fate like an ordinary female worker on the job, methodically removing the layers of defense on her body.

Looking at her naked self in the mirror before her, Zhang Baizhi suddenly felt a coldness and couldn't help but wrap her arms around her body.

She was suddenly hugged from behind and couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise.

Lu Kuan lowered his head, his chin resting on her silk-like shoulders, the hot air he exhaled making Zhang Baizhi feel both numb and itchy.

"You were too slow, so I had to come over myself."

Boss Lu turned on the double-faucet bathtub, and soon hot steam filled the bathroom; he gently pulled the sliding door shut and helped her sit into the tub.

"Do you smoke?"

"Mm."

The two lay on opposite sides, and Zhang Baizhi looked at her own naked body in the clear water, inexplicably feeling a trace of shyness.

Hell, she had lost this thing more than ten years ago; where did it pop out from today?

"Director, I'm sorry..."

"You have nothing to be sorry to me for; it has nothing to do with you."

"Director Lu, I..."

Zhang Baizhi was tongue-tied, knowing that saying anything more at this time would be useless.

Her straight calves entered the water, her small feet painted with red nail polish looking like ten exquisite cardamom seeds embedded in them.

"Hoo~~~"

Boss Lu inhaled the smoke into his lungs, let out a long, comfortable sigh of turbid air, and soon relaxed in the warm water.

The bathtub wasn't big enough, and the sound of applause was somewhat muffled.

The overflowing water soon soaked the bathroom floor.

Boss Lu felt he couldn't quite stretch out, so he changed locations.

Baizhi's phone suddenly rang.

A very awkward name was jumping on the display screen.

"Answer it."

"No!"

In a luxury suite at the Beijing Hotel, Nicholas Tse was on the phone with his good brother Edison Chen.

"There's no way, really no way; her mood was very low just now, and she seemed like she didn't want to talk."

"It seems I really made her sad today; I had no choice but to say I'd take her home next month to meet Deborah."

The Hong Kong teen idol felt a pang of heartache remembering his girlfriend's sobbing just now.

What a good girl; having experienced family misfortune from a young age, he should cherish her.

Edison Chen laughed: "Kid, you have times when you're manipulated by women too?"

"That Lu Kuan is so arrogant now, even Mani-jie has to pamper him, huh?"

Nicholas Tse felt a wave of melancholy.

They say thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river; it's only been a year! A year!

Do you know how I've spent this past year?!

"Edison, I want to open my own company, like a special effects company."

"Oh? Where did you get that idea?"

"I read the introduction on Lu Kuan's special effects company's official website; it's quite interesting, and I feel it's an industry with a lot of prospects."

In later generations, in 2003, he did indeed open a special effects company called Post Production Office.

Later, he worked on projects like *Back to 1942*, *A Simple Life*, *Hot Summer Days*, and his own *Chef Nic*.

Edison Chen remained in his cynical tone: "Whatever you want."

"But you don't have to think too much; so what if he's arrogant? We just won't be in his movies; it's not like we rely on him to eat."

Heh, you won't be in his movies, but will your girlfriends?

If they are in them, then he is in them.

On September 14, 2003, the final day of casting for the highly anticipated *Otherworld* kicked off, and a large number of media reporters gathered outside the company from the morning.

Everyone knew that today would be the "on-site scoring," a big news story that could carry the heat from the last Inquiry Realm press conference.

Or rather, the entire *Otherworld*, from the publicity of the press conference Lu Kuan arranged to the casting hype, and finally the release of the trailer, would continuously provide the domestic entertainment industry and the audience with news on the latest progress.

This heat had to be maintained until it hit the theaters.

Lu Kuan was instructing Wu Ershan on the audition process for a moment; Ning Hao's film crew had started filming, and this commercial director, just like him, had been promoted to audition "floor manager."

The filming of this *Otherworld* would also bring him along; he was considered a new-generation director who did good special effects in later generations.

"Little Lu!"

Boss Lu looked back and saw that Feng Yuanzheng had arrived.

This was someone he had invited today to act in the audition, with the audition clip selected from a focal scene in the third act of the script.

【The three members of the protagonist group temporarily repelled the inexplicably appearing monsters and began searching for evidence of what caused the anomaly.】

【Lan Yue discovered a tag named Collector 294 on the monster's body, suspecting a robot mutiny or a computer hub malfunction, and the three entered a machine-room-like mechanical jungle to search for evidence.】

【Lan Yue skillfully operated the keyboard and discovered traces of some programs having been changed, with the computer recording the change date as July 4, 917402.】

Following this was a monologue by Lan Yue and an explanation to the male lead, but her words were evasive, worried about not telling the truth.

The reason for choosing this segment for the audition was that the female lead had more screen time in this plot, starting from simple fighting and entering the female lead's solo performance.

It was convenient for examining the eight actresses' acting skills, lines, and other comprehensive performances.

It was also the part with the greatest weight in measuring the final female lead during the three-day audition.

The props team brought a set of silver-black mechanical heavy armor, made according to a standard 165cm female body type, which would be worn by the female lead auditioning today.

This was the mechanical agent look for the film character Lan Yue, paired with modern weapons and ancient Chinese martial arts under the conditions of out-of-control electromagnetic radiation on the farm, which was very eye-catching for foreigners.

Still following the previous performance order, Jia Jingwen dressed up first, with lighting, makeup, and props all in place; this scene was aimed at actual filming.

Only then could the effect be evaluated to the maximum.

"Director, this mechanical armor is so heavy!"

Jia Jingwen frowned somewhat delicately, struggling to cooperate with the staff to finish putting it on, walking quite awkwardly.

Lu Kuan laughed: "It's only 10 pounds; you lack exercise, Jingwen."

This was the appearance he drew according to the concepts of later generations, mostly with a carbon fiber structure, using only a small amount of aluminum alloy.

Several actresses curiously surrounded her, touching and fiddling with the silver-black mechanical heavy armor; the design style of later generations was still quite cool even now.

Zhang Ziyi also nodded frequently; just looking at the level of lighting, photography, and costumes today, it was undoubtedly at a top Hollywood standard.

Lu Kuan's film crew really wasn't just for show; there wasn't much water in these 75 million US dollars.

Jia Jingwen was still at the conventional level of a Taiwanese idol drama background; she couldn't be picked apart for too many faults, but her character shaping remained on the surface.

Her biggest advantage was that her eye acting was good, but for this role, her height was a bit short, and the mechanical heavy armor on her looked like a child wearing an adult's clothes.

"Cut! Thank you, Jingwen, next one."

Jia Jingwen helplessly took off the armor, watching the three directors discussing something in low voices.

Yesterday, she asked her godfather Wu Dun to call Lu Kuan, but the reply she got was just official business.

After all, it was a Hollywood blockbuster with a huge investment from Lu Kuan; you couldn't just change a role because of one favor from Wu Dun; that would be too worthless.

However, with her ability and appearance, trying out for other movies in the Inquiry Realm wouldn't be a problem.

"Zhang Baizhi, your complexion doesn't look good; do you want to rest first and go last?"

"No... no need, Director, I can do it."

Seeing that Boss Lu didn't vent his anger on her at all because of yesterday's small misunderstanding, everyone on set cast admiring glances.

Worthy of being a professional Golden Lion Award director; work is work, and life is life.

Only Zhong Xintong watched her grimacing appearance with cold eyes, secretly clicking her tongue in her heart, not knowing what suffering she had endured yesterday.

If this wolf in sheep's clothing director also liked to play golf or something, it would be miserable.

Liu Yifei didn't think too much; she was still a virgin, and even if she had heard some rumors about men and women, her understanding was limited.

First was a fight scene, with the Yuan Heping team's martial arts director acting as the partner; Zhang Baizhi finished it with difficulty, somewhat panting.

Entering the actual performance, her performance was truly somewhat surprising to Lu Kuan.

She fiddled with the keys in front of the computer, a look of just-right surprise appearing on her face and then disappearing into nothingness.

"Cao Yu, give me an over-the-shoulder shot."

Although Zhang Baizhi was young, she didn't lack film shooting experience; *King of Comedy* and *Fly Me to Polaris* from her early debut could be called representative works, and she won Best Actress in 2004.

In terms of the talent of all the actors present, she and Zhou Xun were considered to be on the same level.

Feng Yuanzheng asked suspiciously: "Lan Yue, what did you find?"

"Oh, nothing, I saw wrong."

Zhang Baizhi tried hard to hide the panic and surprise in her heart, her face calm, but her fingers, which seemed to be tapping the edge of the screen uncontrollably, seemed to convey another message to the audience.

She was panicked, she wanted to hide it, she knew some truth.

"Cut!"

Lu Kuan asked: "Did you design this finger-tapping action yourself?"

"Mm, I have a habit; when I'm nervous, I can't help but tap my fingers back and forth..."

Boss Lu recalled the erotic scene from last night, and sure enough, it was so.

"Very good, the details are very in place, and the sense of the camera is also good; just now, with an over-the-shoulder shot, you could immediately find the camera position; you have experience."

Zhang Baizhi laughed: "Thank you, Director."

Like her and Zhou Xun, talented actors who were not from traditional professional backgrounds all had a very obvious characteristic: they would substitute themselves into the acting.

This was a performance that hadn't been "poisoned" by acting techniques, looking very relaxed and natural, and it was also a clever trick for these types of actors to portray characters.

For example, when she went to audition for *King of Comedy* back then, Zhou Xingchi gave her a pen and asked her to pretend to be Liu Piaopiao smoking, but no matter how she acted, it wasn't right, so Zhou Xingchi told her to go back first.

As a result, Zhang Baizhi said, Director, give me a real cigarette.

Her red lips parted and closed, white smoke gently exhaled.

Zhou Xingchi decided on the spot: "You are Liu Piaopiao."

If nothing unexpected happened, *Lost in Time*, released in November this year, would allow her to win the honor of Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2004.

This year she was 24, two years earlier than Zhang Manyu won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

But Zhang Manyu met Wong Kar-wai, who opened a door for her, and from then on she entered the hall.

After *Lost in Time*, Zhang Baizhi took on a pile of Lunar New Year movies and bad movies; she valued the salary more because she had a whole family to support due to family reasons.

Later, she chose the wrong person at the wrong time, and in 2006, she retreated at the peak of her career to become a housewife.

After the "Yanzhao Sect" incident, the Hong Kong film industry became even more declining, and big directors had long gone north to make a living, using mainland actresses; where was there still room for middle-aged Hong Kong actresses to grow?

Just like in *Dream of the Red Chamber*, "The jade belt hangs in the forest, the gold hairpin is buried in the snow."

When she returned, she was beautiful, but her spirit had been worn down by the reality of the passing years, becoming haggard and dull, never again returning to the brightness of the past.

In 2011, she and Zhou Xingchi were both on *A Date with Luyu*, and Zhang Baizhi said to Zhou Xingchi: Thank you, Director, without you, there wouldn't be me.

Zhou Xingchi smiled indifferently: Sorry, it was me who harmed you.

Compared to this, the professional ability of Zhong Xintong, who was also a young flower in Hong Kong, was somewhat lacking.

The entire performance process was stumbling, and even the most basic stereotypical character shaping didn't pass.

Emperor Entertainment's star-making ability was terrifying.

Deleted 1000 words... just make do with reading it.

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 187 =====