Chapter 1091

The filming of *Ghost* had entered the right track, so the workload naturally increased, especially under the eyes of two experienced directors, Naoki Nagayama and Xu Mudao, where some shots might take several tries.

Even Tsuruko was ordered around like a spinning top; being a script supervisor wasn't such a simple job.

During the lunch break, Naoki Nagayama ate a theater bento with everyone, while Akina took this opportunity to go to the specially prepared nursery to take care of Xia Hua~

As a nursing mother, she naturally needed a richer lunch, which was all prepared at home by Mrs. Mari Nonaka and brought over.

"Naoki-san..."

Xu Mudao discussed the subsequent filming with Naoki Nagayama while eating.

"In the afternoon, we're going to film the pottery scene. Is there anything to pay attention to?"

"Ah... the classic scene~"

Naoki Nagayama paused slightly. This was a very intimate scene, and because it was a segment in the middle of the night, it would be conducted in the pottery room built on the set, which required blocking out the light...

"Just kick everyone who isn't needed out!"

"Hai!"

Generally, when filming, other crew members who were temporarily off-duty or even the leads would observe others' scenes. But since Naoki Nagayama had ordered it, the set definitely had to be cleared!

In the afternoon filming, in the dim pottery room, three cameras were already in position. The light provided by an ordinary night lamp made the atmosphere of the entire workshop ambiguous and quiet.

Only the two leads, the cameraman operating the cameras, the lighting technician, the sound engineer, and the script supervisor were present for this scene. The script supervisor was Tsuruko...

"Naoki-san, Akina-san, are you ready?" Xu Mudao asked.

Akina, wearing cool summer pajamas, and Naoki Nagayama, with his upper body bare, nodded.

"Hai, ready anytime..."

Xu Mudao nodded and picked up the small megaphone: "All departments, prepare..."

The cameraman turned on the camera, the sound engineer started recording, and Tsuruko quickly walked forward, shouted "Ghost, Scene 39, Take 1" in front of the lens, and then quickly left the camera range.

Only then did Xu Mudao shout "Action!"

In this movie, "Qingli Fujiwara," played by Akina, was a pottery artist. In the workshop, the automatic record player was playing music, the pottery wheel was spinning constantly, and Akina was using her hands to shape it. The prototype of a vase was gradually taking shape.

"Qingli, why aren't you asleep?" Naoki Nagayama, looking a bit sleepy, walked over.

"Can't sleep..." Akina turned her head to look at her boyfriend. "Why are you awake?"

"Woke up startled, didn't see you..."

Naoki Nagayama pulled up a stool and sat next to Akina, almost directly shielding his smaller girlfriend in his arms.

"What time is it now?"

"Two in the morning..."

Watching Akina seriously making the vase, Naoki Nagayama was like a primary school student who always teased the girl he liked; he reached out and tickled her waist, making Akina's hand shake. Stripes instantly appeared on the spinning clay vase...

Akina twisted her waist and smiled, gently patting her boyfriend, but she didn't mean to be angry~

Then Naoki Nagayama mischievously reached out to touch the vase being shaped, but he immediately made the clay vase collapse!

"Ah... sumimasen... ruined Qingli's masterpiece..."

"..." Akina looked at her boyfriend with a mix of doting and helplessness. "It's not anymore..."

Watching Akina re-knead the clay and start shaping it, Naoki Nagayama sat even closer.

"Let me help~"

"Alright... then you use your hands to support the bottle body and let the clay stand up..."

Both of their hands were soaked in delicate, smooth clay, sticky and messy. A pair of large hands rubbed against a pair of small hands, and the clay sculpture in the middle was never in shape, looking like a club one moment and a clay cone the next...

Amidst the music of *Unchained Melody*, the whitish mud didn't make people feel dirty as usual; the contact of their hands somehow had a kind of lust permeating it.

Skin-to-skin contact, whispering in each other's ears, intimate interaction~

Naoki Nagayama even felt his blood surging, and Akina in his arms also had eyes full of spring water, her breathing accelerating; she was clearly moved.

After all, they hadn't been intimate for half a year since the late stages of pregnancy until after the baby was born. They didn't feel it when they usually had Xia Hua to take care of, but now, one tease was enough to ignite the fire of desire in their hearts!

Fortunately, this was on the filming set, with many eyes watching, so Naoki Nagayama held back!

And at this moment, Xu Mudao also shouted "CUT!" at the right time.

The two of them then separated~

Because their hands were covered in clay, Naoki Nagayama and Akina both went to the restroom to wash their hands. After adjusting their moods and physical states, they came back to look at the footage on the director's monitor.

"Naoki-san, it feels very good!"

Xu Mudao praised repeatedly. This scene didn't directly show lust, but the dynamics of the pottery, the rubbing of the hands, the sticky clay... all seemed to imply the intimacy of the two. This stream-of-consciousness filming truly achieved being erotic without being obscene!

Naoki Nagayama also looked at the footage shot by several cameras and nodded.

"Not bad, it was filmed very clearly... the lighting is also good... this shot is very good!!"

"Looks like it can pass in one take!!"

"Good." Xu Mudao nodded.

Naoki Nagayama breathed a slight sigh of relief. He had already been unable to bear it while filming just now; if they had to do it again, he might have made a fool of himself in public...

Originally, this segment in the original film had a follow-up part for the two, more explicitly explaining that the male and female leads had sex afterward, making it clearer for Western audiences.

But this was filmed in Japan, so Naoki Nagayama thought this subtle expression was enough, and he directly deleted the subsequent plot!

On the other side, while the crew was preparing for the next set, Tsuruko, with a flushed face, came to Akina, who had slightly calmed down, and said excitedly:

"Akina-chan... so filming emotional scenes is this intense?!!"

"... Ah... ah..."

Hearing this, Akina's face flushed red; she was a bit shy and her heart was beating faster, and she didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Tsuruko kept talking:

"The man is handsome and the woman is beautiful, plus filming this kind of intimate scene, you'd definitely be moved, right?! How do the male and female leads in those movies manage not to be moved?"

"I haven't filmed many times either... I don't know!"

Akina said silently. Only twice, and both times were filmed with Naoki-san, otherwise how could I be trapped in Naoki-san's gentleness and unable to extricate myself...

"But professional actors should be professional... able to pull themselves out of this emotion and immersion in time!"

"If my boyfriend went to film this kind of movie, kissing and touching the female lead, I would definitely break up with him afterward!"

Tsuruko said immediately.

"It's not that I don't believe those female leads, it's that I don't believe my boyfriend can resist these temptations!"

"... The female lead might not be able to resist either..."

There are definitely no fewer perverts among girls than among men, and their resistance to handsome men is also very poor~

This kind of thing hasn't happened in the entertainment industry, and that's how falling in love due to acting comes about.

There are also many who break up because of overly erotic scenes, especially when the woman films overly erotic shots for her career; the man rarely accepts it.

Entering the fifth day, the time for the Tokyo International Film Festival had almost reached its end.

People who came to participate had watched *Ginza Tiger* and slightly understood the extravagant life and ups and downs of the Japanese financial elite. But judging from their net worth, the male lead of *Ginza Tiger* was just at the very bottom of the Heavenly Palace.

In *The Legend of Hayato*, people saw the turbulent Tokyo city life in the early Showa era, knowing the powerlessness and drifting of the grassroots people in the general trend, and that only by relying on blood, courage, and guts could they get ahead. Many people also saw the cruelty and loyalty of the underworld, and understood the temporary hero named Hayato Nagayama.

Shuyou's two major works this year both had box office receipts of over 4 billion, almost pulling a whole distance away from other major production studios, on the same level as American blockbusters like *E. T. *, *Ghostbusters*, *Back to the Future*, and *Rocky*.

In Japan, only *The Adventures of Milo and Otis* could compare in the last two years~

In the daily parties and salons, Xiuyi Yin represented Shuyou Film and dealt with all parties in the entertainment industry; everyone had to give Shuyou some face.

"Xiuyi-san, I heard that Director Nagayama of Shuyou has another major work to be released at the end of the year?"

Toho's general manager, Koichi Maruyama, said while holding a wine glass.

"Yes, it's called *Ghost*, and it's already in filming."

"Judging by the name, is it a romance movie?"

"A romance with a bit of fantasy elements..." Xiuyi Yin answered with a smile. "It's expected to be released this Christmas."

"That's only a little over a month away!"

"Hahaha, Naoki-san has always been very fast at filming movies."

"That's true..."

Koichi Maruyama's thoughts suddenly returned to the previous two years, those two years when the Japanese film industry was dominated by Naoki Nagayama and Shuyou, filming a movie and editing it for release in an average of three months...

With such speed, which film studio—Toho, Toei, Shochiku, or Kadokawa—could compare?!

But fortunately, for the whole of last year and this year, Naoki Nagayama had been tied up by family matters: marriage, wife's pregnancy, wife giving birth to a daughter... leaving him almost no time to film movies...

Thinking of this, Koichi Maruyama actually wanted to thank Akina Nakamori!

Otherwise, how could Toho's *The Adventures of Milo and Otis* have achieved such a good box office this year?!

"Then by the end of the year, Shuyou shouldn't have any other movies, right?"

Xiuyi Yin burst into laughter.

"Rest assured, General Manager Maruyama of Toho! There's only one low-budget horror movie, *Black House*, to be released on Wan Shengjie! It won't steal box office from Toho!"

Horror movies have always been a niche market, only receiving attention during holidays like Wan Shengjie, and usually being late-night screenings.

"Hahaha... Xiuyi-san, I didn't mean that!"

Koichi Maruyama smiled a bit awkwardly. But as an old fox, he calmed down after drinking the champagne in his hand, though he was still probing Shuyou's plans for next year:

"Xiuyi-san, does Shuyou have any filming plans for next year?"

"Ah... yes!" Xiuyi Yin didn't hide it. "There's a *Hard Boiled* to be filmed early next year, and the news should be out in the next few days that we're looking for investment... Maruyama-san, Toho can also invest together!"

"Oh?"

"By the middle of next year, it should be *District B13*..."

"*District B13*?"

"Mm, it's in the same vein as *Crows Zero*, both are hot-blooded youth movies about delinquents..."

"That's really something to look forward to!" Koichi Maruyama nodded, but still asked about the key person. "Then, does Naoki-san have any movies?"

"Naoki-san... he's going to film a movie adapted from his own novel, *Jurassic Park*..." Xiuyi Yin didn't hide it either. "But the investment is relatively large, and filming is estimated to be very slow. If it starts in the second half of the year, it's expected to be released the year after next... It won't put pressure on next year's market."

"Is that so..." Koichi Maruyama breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiuyi Yin had said a lot, and his mouth was a bit dry, so he drank a glass of wine, then smiled and said to Koichi Maruyama:

"Maruyama-san, look at how I've told you everything I know... shouldn't you also be a bit more honest and answer my question?"

"? Eh?" Koichi Maruyama froze for a moment, then immediately nodded. "Of course, of course, if I know, I definitely won't hide it!"

"I heard that Toho and the Film Promotion Association have a close relationship, right..."

The day before yesterday, Otomo Fangcun's private detective had already found out the mastermind: it was President Asai of the Film Promotion Association, but he didn't know his purpose in doing this.

"Hai?"

"Does President Asai of the Film Promotion Association have a bad relationship with Vice Minister Sadanaga Kiba? Is there any conflict?"

"???!!!"

Koichi Maruyama's eyeballs vibrated slightly. He, Nobuo Asai, Sadanaga Kiba, and others were fox friends in a small group centered around Sadanaga Kiba, and he had even drunk with Naoki Nagayama before.

Why was Xiuyi Yin suddenly asking about the relationship between Nobuo Asai and Sadanaga Kiba at this time?

Could it be...

At the opening ceremony, Sadanaga Kiba seemed to have been set up, and he had even looked for people to drink with in a very bad mood afterward!

"They are good friends! They often drink together. I don't know of any conflict... What did Xiuyi-san hear?"

"Is that so..." Xiuyi Yin frowned, then nodded. "I was just asking, it's nothing, it's nothing!"

Afterward, Koichi Maruyama pursued the question several times, but Xiuyi Yin turned it to other topics, even chatting about the Tokyo Film Association. But at this time, Koichi Maruyama's mind was completely not on the conversation.

After chatting with Xiuyi Yin, he found an excuse to leave in a hurry, as if he were going to report something.

Otomo Fangcun walked to Xiuyi Yin's side:

"How is it? How was the effect of beating the grass to scare the snake?"

"Very effective!" Xiuyi Yin nodded. "I estimate Sadanaga Kiba will soon know that Nobuo Asai is not of one mind with him."

"The Film Promotion Association is an agency under the Agency for Cultural Affairs, so the real mastermind this time should be someone from the Agency for Cultural Affairs..."

Otomo Fangcun was a bit resentful.

"We can't deal with the Agency for Cultural Affairs for the time being, but for the Film Promotion Association, we can change a president!"

"Haha, then I won't be humble!"

Xiuyi Yin nodded with a smile. He had already communicated with his mentor. With his current status and the fame of an outstanding young director, running for president of the Film Promotion Association was definitely not a problem!

After becoming president, and then taking the opportunity to bring up the establishment of the Tokyo Film Association through the Film Promotion Association, it would be justified!

"Mm, Xiuyi-san, keep it up, strive to become the president of the Film Promotion Association next year!"

"Hai!"

In Shanyingyuan at night, the master and mistress had already returned.

After a day of filming, both were a bit exhausted. After Akina fed Xia Hua and prepared the night milk, she went to wash up early.

Now Xia Hua only needed to be fed once at night and have her diaper changed once to sleep through the whole night. And Mrs. Mari Nonaka took care of her at night, allowing Naoki Nagayama and Akina to get a good rest...

Lying in bed, Naoki Nagayama closed his eyes and pondered the content to be filmed tomorrow. Even with memories, one still needed to adapt to local conditions during the filming process~

The movement of Akina coming out of the washroom startled Naoki Nagayama. He opened his eyes and talked about the baby.

"Akina, the baby is already asleep, Mrs. Nonaka took her to the nursery..."

The words in his mouth stopped subconsciously, because the Akina in front of him wasn't in her previous loose pajamas, but had changed into a silk camisole nightdress from before she was pregnant!

The silky texture seemed to deflect even the light, tracing out soft curves, and the lace on the nightdress appeared a bit hazy under the dim light...

And Akina's skin was even whiter, as if it were glowing, making it impossible for people to look away...

In an instant, an exquisite cheek leaned in front of Naoki Nagayama. Her slightly moist breathing seemed to carry a faint orange fragrance, and the light flowing in her eyes was soul-stirring...

"Naoki-san... the baby has been born for two months already!"

Akina's voice was sweet and cloying, making Naoki Nagayama's heart itch.

"It's time to fulfill our marital duties!"

After speaking, her soft lips were already pressed against his~

"..."

(No words for the night!)