Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Director Wang was very surprised. He quickly put down the things in his hands, got up and walked quickly to Qiao Yang’s rest shed. He asked the director in a deep voice: “What’s going on? Wasn’t he fine a few days ago?”
“Really? Why did he suddenly start playing big names?”
The director staggered behind Director Wang and wiped the cold sweat from his face and replied: “That may be the calm before the storm.”
“!” Director Wang yelled angrily, “What does he want? I can spoil him, but he can’t act wild on my territory, otherwise even the best actor will have to pack up and get out!”
Of course, that’s what Director Wang said! But if he were really asked to drive away Qiao Yang, he would definitely not have the courage. After all, Qiao Yang was the only one in the crew who could guarantee the box office.
After listening to Director Wang’s words, the assistant director sighed secretly, thinking that even if Director Wang was very capable, he might not be able to meet the needs of Best Actor Qiao this time.
Otherwise, why would Director Wang need to be a director? Even if you just change your profession and become a doctor, you will still be a doctor with two skills.
The two hurried to Qiao Yang’s resting shed, and as soon as they stepped in, they could clearly feel the almost solid atmosphere in the room.
There were many people in the rest shed. In addition to Qiao Yang and his small group, there was also another guide and planner, and three staff members from the logistics team stood beside him with frowning faces.
Seeing Director Wang come in, everyone in the crew breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, like a drowning man seeing a life-saving straw.
“Director Wang!” the planner shouted aggrievedly, “Brother Zhou said that Teacher Qiao couldn’t get used to the lunch box he ordered before and wanted to change to a different restaurant. What do you think we should do?”
Qiao Yang’s sudden weight loss was apparent to everyone in the crew. It was obvious to all that Qiao Yang couldn’t eat much, whether it was at the dinner party when he first joined the team or a work meal during filming this week. Sometimes he even put down his chopsticks after taking two bites.
Everyone in the crew more or less guessed that Qiao Yang was suffering from anorexia, but that was their private matter after all, so they didn’t say it openly.
But now, Qiao Yang’s anorexia had directly affected everyone’s work. Some staff members suddenly felt a little unsteady. They were worried and angry, but they didn’t dare to show it all on their faces. They had to bury their heads and wait for Director Wang to respond to things.
On the way here, Director Wang imagined countless reasons why Qiao Yang might be acting like a big star. He originally thought that Qiao Yang and others were dissatisfied with the current script or remuneration and wanted to put pressure on him.
He didn’t expect this to be the reason…
“Just do whatever you can. It’s not like the sky is falling. Look at the gloomy looks on your faces.”
Director Wang waved his hand disapprovingly and turned to pull the guidance assistant aside and said, “Go and communicate with the restaurant and ask them to prepare a separate portion for Xiao Qiao’s group when preparing three meals and let them choose the dishes themselves.”
The planner sighed: “If things can go smoothly, it would be easy to solve and we wouldn’t be here anymore.”
The staff of the logistics department continued: “We signed a contract with the restaurant as early as a month ago, and the portions and dishes were all ordered in advance, so they rejected our request to change the dishes.”
Director Wang was stunned for a moment, and immediately changed his approach: “Otherwise, we can just pay the meal fee, and just reopen the small stove and let them prepare food separately.”
“No….” The staff member shook his head and said, “There are only eight people on Teacher Qiao’s side, which is too few. That restaurant does not accept orders under twenty.”
In short, if we want to solve this matter, we can only abolish the previous contract and sign a new contract with the restaurant. In this way, all the meal fees handed over will be wasted.
The directors, assistants and planners didn’t dare to make the decision without permission, but as the only producer, Bai Guangjian rarely came to the scene, so they had no choice but to ask Director Wang for help.
It was a pity that even Director Wang was entangled now. He had absolute say in filming, but he could not decide the general direction of the use and flow of funds.
Moreover, the amount to re-sign the contract was not a small amount, and it still required the nod of the largest investor, Bai Guangjian.
Just as the two parties were in a stalemate, Qiao Yang, whose cheeks were red with embarrassment, put his fist to his lips and made two embarrassing coughs. He raised his head and said to Zhou Hai, who was standing in front of him like a mountain: “Brother Zhou, forget it. Well, it’s not that serious.”
Zhou Hai turned his head and frowned: “Forget it? Why forget it? When they found us again and again, they promised to take good care of us. I also saw it, so I just accepted the role for you, but I didn’t know they were so talkative before but don’t show any signs of action now.”
Director Wang felt guilty after hearing these unkind words.
Before he found Qiao Yang, he did hear from his friends that Qiao Yang was suffering from anorexia, and he repeatedly promised that he would not treat Qiao Yang badly in terms of diet…
But the work meal ordered by the crew for Qiao Yang’s team was not the same as “treat Qiao Yang badly”. The word “talkative” was completely unappealing. The average price of a lunch box for Qiao Yang was eighty yuan. The price of Zu Qi and the second female lead’s lunch box was not even half of his.
The more Director Wang thought about it, the more irritated he became. He felt that Qiao Yang’s anorexia was like a time bomb that could explode at any time. It also became Zhou Hai’s excuse for several attacks.
However, now that the matter had come to this, Director Wang did not have the courage to tell Qiao Yang’s team to pack up and get out as he said, so he had to slow down and said that he would discuss it with Bai Guangjian and give them a satisfactory answer.
….
After finishing filming that night, Director Wang called Bai Guangjian and told him about it.
Bai Guangjian was worthy of being a company boss who had experienced great storms. He immediately made a decision and asked him to order several staff from the logistics department to set up a simple kitchen on the set, with all the ingredients and condiments available, so that Zhou Hai and the others could make enough food by themselves.
Director Wang’s eyes lit up and he quickly praised this good method.
Afterwards, Director Wang couldn’t help but complain: “Qiao Yang’s accompanying doctors are just like decorations, they don’t play any role at the critical moment, and the lunch boxes for their group are really not cheap. Our directors and screenwriters’ budget for working meals is only fifty yuan, and Zu Qi and other actors don’t even get forty yuan…”
Before he finished speaking, Bai Guangjian suddenly screamed: “What are you talking about? Zu Qi is eating a forty yuan lunch box?!”
Director Wang was startled by Bai Guangjian’s sudden reaction. He subconsciously thought that the other party thought forty yuan was too expensive, so he muttered: “It’s actually less than forty yuan, it should be thirty. Maybe thirty-five or thirty-six…”
Bai Guangjian was instantly angry. Even through the phone, he could hear the sound of banging the table: “I gave you a full five million to film a movie, and you actually withheld the actor’s food? Zu Qi is a supporting actor after all, and someone I introduced to you, and you abuse him like this?”
“…” The cold sweat on Director Wang’s face fell like a waterfall, and he explained in a panic, “Hey, Bai. After all, a lunch box worth 40 yuan is already a luxury meal. Look at the meals ordered by other crews for the actors. They are all priced at more than 10 yuan or 20 yuan.”
Bai Guangjian said in a strong tone: “Don’t explain so much to me. Since Qiao Yang is eating an eighty-yuan lunch, you should upgrade Zu Qi’s lunch to an eighty-yuan one.”
Director Wang responded weakly: “Yes, yes, you said so. I will definitely do it…”
Finally, Bai Guangjian warned: “You can quietly remind Zu Qi that I increased his lunch budget, but don’t reveal my decision to anyone else.”
“Haha, okay, Mr. Bai, please be at ease.” Director Wang had a smile on his face, but he felt sorry in his heart.
Bai Guangjian’s intention was obvious, he wanted to gain favor with Zu Qi, but he also didn’t want others to think of him as “partial”, so he pulled Director Wang out as a shield.
Director Wang was angry for a long time, but he had to do what the sponsor father said.
….
Three days later.
A makeshift kitchen appeared on the set, and everyone watched curiously.
Although the assistant kept saying that the kitchen and the ingredients in the kitchen were shared by everyone, anyone with a discerning eye knew that these things were all prepared for Qiao Yang and his group who had made a lot of noise before.
Therefore, only Qiao Yang’s team occupied the kitchen openly, and others did not even dare to come close, for fear that they would be related to Qiao Yang’s anorexia, and they would not be able to clean themselves even if they jumped into the Yellow River.
However, it turned out that Qiao Yang’s anorexia had nothing to do with what he ate. Even though Zhou Hai racked his brains in the kitchen, the dishes he cooked still did not win the slightest favor from Qiao Yang.
Now, no matter how thick-skinned Zhou Hai was, he couldn’t continue to make trouble with Director Wang, so he immersed himself in the small simple kitchen all day long, cooking for Qiao Yang in various ways.
On the other side, when Zu Qi opened the lid, he immediately discovered that his work meal was different from the past. It seemed to be much more luxurious, with an extra chicken drumstick on top.
At first Zu Qi thought it was just a meal with added ingredients, but he didn’t expect that in the next three days, the dishes for every work meal he had would be extremely rich. On the other hand, Xiao Dengzi and Duan Kai’s meals had not changed much.
Xiao Dengzi almost cried with envy.
But Zu Qi couldn’t laugh or cry. After much deliberation, he felt that there was only one possibility, and that was that the staff of the logistics department brought him the wrong work meal.
So that afternoon, when Director Wang came to the rest room to discuss the next shooting method with him, Zu Qi mentioned the recent work meal and said that maybe the people in the logistics department had made a mistake.
Director Wang wanted to just go with the flow and say that these were Mr. Bai’s intentions, but in the blink of an eye he saw Xiao Dengzi and Duan Kai sitting next to them playing with their mobile phones. The words that came to his throat kept swirling around his mouth, but he completely changed after he said them: “These are the well wishes of your fans, so feel free to eat them.”
Zu Qi frowned: “A work meal sent by my fans?”
“Well…” Director Wang was vague in line with the principle of saying less and making fewer mistakes. He responded, “Absolutely.” Then he quickly changed the subject.
Zu Qi noticed something strange about Director Wang, but Director Wang didn’t want to say anything, so he couldn’t ask more questions.
After Director Wang left, Xiao Dengzi, who had been eavesdropping from the side, approached him and said, “Brother Qi, I don’t think it was a gift from a fan. Not to mention that fans will always give gifts, but before giving it to you, the logistics team would have informed you in advance. Judging from your pitiful number of fans, no fans will do this.”
Zu Qi’s face was expressionless, and he raised his hand and slapped Xiao Dengzi on the head: “Okay, you can shut up.”
Xiao Dengzi covered his fat head with grievance: “I just told you the truth, maybe someone who likes you did this? I think it’s true. Maybe it’s Mr. Xue.”
When he mentioned Xue Jue, Zu Qi suddenly felt panicked and his heart started beating violently.
He didn’t have time to think about why Xue Jue’s name caused such a big reaction in him. There was only one question in his mind – could this really be done by Xue Jue?
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