Chapter 85: Child Laborer Xiao Zhang

"Xiao Zhang, come over and help set up the crane." A crew member with a full beard beckoned to Zhang Ruoyun.

"Eh! Coming, coming."

Zhang Ruoyun smiled, tireless and happy, feeling that everything about the film crew was fresh and interesting, and he could see powerful actors like Feng Yuan and the coordinating director Lu Kuan at close range.

The "crane" refers to setting up the jib, which requires professional crew members to operate; people without experience, even with some brute strength, might not do a good job even after one or two hours.

Before the domestic film industry was industrialized on a scale, many of the specialized tasks stipulated in Hollywood crews did not have fixed personnel.

Just like the scene of the final stage performance today, which requires laying tracks; it should be completed by a professional track technician, but currently, they can only ask an experienced crew member to do it along the way.

"Hey! Xiao Zhang, your comprehension is really not low; you've only been at this for a few days and you're already so skilled." The crew member, Old Wang, smiled and praised the high school student.

Zhang Ruoyun wiped his face, which was covered in dust, with his hand in a messy way, making him look even more disheveled.

Having gotten familiar with the crew members over the past few days, everyone didn't understand why such a young master would come to the crew to suffer like this.

"Teacher Huang, you're here!" Zhang Ruoyun saw Huang Bo walking into the studio with a script and greeted him excitedly.

"Teacher Huang, let's start auditioning for the role today; I feel like I'm ready!"

Lu Kuan had arranged for him the role of an audience member in the front row of the final concert hall, which naturally had no dialogue.

But the facial expressions and eyes had to follow the plot; it wasn't enough to just stare blankly until the camera moved away.

Huang Bo smiled noncommittally; in all fairness, he was very surprised that this young man could persist until now.

Every day, apart from basic acting practice, there was a large amount of tedious crew work; this was all Lu Kuan's arrangement.

Lu Kuan and Ning Hao were planning the lighting for the final scene when he caught a glimpse of that female assistant, Yang Siwei, running over again; he said something to Ning Hao and walked to the side.

"Director Lu! Director Lu! I think I still need to talk to you."

Yang Siwei felt a bit timid looking at Lu Kuan's unkind and impatient gaze, but for the sake of the task Wang Jinhua had given her, she still plucked up the courage to run to the set for several consecutive days.

Lu Kuan didn't even look back: "You come with me first, don't say anything else for now."

Zhang Ruoyun was still asking the acting teacher, Huang Bo, about a few acting questions, occasionally performing impromptu to find the feeling in front of the camera.

Suddenly, his shoulder was patted from behind: "Xiao Zhang, how does it feel to be on the crew?"

Zhang Ruoyun turned his head to see it was Lu Kuan, and he stood at attention excitedly, his posture straight.

For this past week, he had been at the set from 6 o'clock every day until dark, and he had witnessed with his own eyes how a film was born in the hands of the creators.

He admired Lu Kuan's ability to coordinate the big picture and the professional ability and spirit he displayed in guiding the lighting, cinematography, actors, and other aspects.

"Hello, Director, I'm very good! It's very fulfilling!" Xiao Zhang had an excited face that didn't cost a penny; he should have already forgotten his identity as a young master.

Yang Siwei looked at Zhang Ruoyun's still-dirty cheeks and said dissatisfiedly from the side: "Director Lu, we agreed at the beginning to let Ruoyun come to you to learn acting, but now..."

Lu Kuan stiffened his face, and both Zhang Ruoyun and Yang Siwei felt a chill in their hearts; they had seen more than a few crew members who made mistakes get scolded by him these past few days, and several girls from the makeup and styling team had even shed tears of grievance.

Although he still looked like a lighthearted and handsome young man in his daily life and usually cared for and looked after the crew staff, he was truly a person who would turn his face and not recognize anyone when it came to work.

Zhang Ruoyun was a bit tongue-tied: "Sister Siwei, don't worry about it, I'm doing great here! Helping the crew is also learning acting."

Yang Siwei looked at him gloomily; the minister was about to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?

Lu Kuan nodded with satisfaction; this child had a natural enthusiasm and a decent temperament, and he took the initiative to help the crew members without ever complaining.

"Xiao Zhang, you said it very well. For example, if you are asked to help the camera crew lay tracks, you will know how the camera operates in actual filming. If you become an actor in the future, how will you manage if you don't know how to find the camera?"

"Also, many film festivals abroad have awards for crew members and ordinary staff, called the Professional Spirit Award. Do you know that a tea server abroad won an award just because they were conscientious?"

Xiao Zhang straightened his back even more: "Yes! Director!"

This was, of course, something Lu Kuan made up; he also learned from the solemnity in *Whiplash* to feed Zhang Ruoyun some "poisonous chicken soup."

In later generations, the 37th Hong Kong Film Awards did indeed present a Professional Spirit Award to a tea server named Yang Ronglian who had worked on various film crews for nearly 30 years.

She accepted the award from Jackie Chan very excitedly and then asked a makeup artist to tidy her up to prepare for the banquet, but after waiting from 4 o'clock when the award was presented until 8 o'clock in the evening, she was told by the staff that she was not qualified to sit at the table.

The entertainment industry is just that realistic; there isn't that much chicken soup to drink.

It was just that now the surrounding crew members and staff were watching, and the boss and director, Lu Kuan, only had to instill positive energy in everyone, while incidentally motivating the still-immature Zhang Ruoyun.

Watching Lu Kuan walk away with the face of an ugly capitalist, Yang Siwei secretly pulled Zhang Ruoyun to the side.

"Ruoyun, have you gone stupid? He's had you doing odd jobs for a week and hasn't mentioned giving you a role; why aren't you resisting?"

Zhang Ruoyun's answer had a sense of playing the fool: "Just do good deeds, don't ask about the future!"

"I... you..."

Yang Siwei looked speechlessly at the high school student who had been crazily brainwashed by Boss Lu, inexplicably feeling that she was redundant on the crew.

"Why haven't you left yet?"

Lu Kuan came back after a round and looked suspiciously at Yang Siwei, who was staying on the crew at a loss.

"I...!"

She cursed this sharp-tongued director over and over again in her heart, but since the situation was stronger than the person, she had to play the coward.

"Sister Hua instructed me to accompany Xiao Zhang, so I don't dare to leave."

Lu Kuan laughed: "Accompanying the crown prince in his studies?"

"A freshman this year, right? How did you think of getting into this line of work?"

Yang Siwei adjusted her glasses: "The entertainment industry is interesting. My favorite game to play is *The Sims*; being an agent is the same thing."

Boss Lu's mouth twitched; *The Sims*, which only came out in 2000, definitely didn't have mods at this time, otherwise he would have liked to recall the joy of various NTRs...

Yang Siwei was still too green; let her train under Wang Jinhua for a few more years. What Lu Kuan suddenly thought of was another well-known agent in the circle related to her, who hadn't made it big yet.

Lu Yao.

He started as a film reporter, later went to Polybona as a production manager, and after switching to the agency business, he signed with Fan Bingbing's studio. It was also during this period that he met Fan's agent at the time, Yang Siwei, and the two cooperated to found Easy Entertainment.

In 2001, he should have just arrived at the literature and art department of the *Shenjiang Service Guide* as a film reporter, which was a good candidate for Lu Kuan, who needed to gradually build up his cultural and entertainment company team.

He took out his phone and continued to add an assigned task for Sun Wenwen.

(End of chapter)