Chapter 32

Turning one's hand over to create clouds, and the other to create rain—this is the means of a big shot.

Finally, it was Chen Zhipeng’s turn. At least, now it seemed there were three actors from Taiwan.

Since Chen Zhipeng was not the lead, his treatment was a bit worse than Su Youpeng’s, and he did not have a makeup van like Su Youpeng.

Originally, Chen Zhipeng was supposed to share a makeup van with Ye Ming, Zhao Wei, and Lin Xinru. However, Su Youpeng pulled Chen Zhipeng over, as the two brothers hadn’t seen each other in a while.

Therefore, although Chen Zhipeng did not have the qualifications of a lead actor, he almost received the treatment of one.

He was a big shot like Su Youpeng. Although the influence of Little Tiger Team was no longer at its peak, there was still a considerable amount of residual prestige, and many people would come to ask Su Youpeng and Chen Zhipeng for autographs and photos.

Chen Zhipeng even had his own agent and personal makeup, which was also a level of treatment for big shots.

However, Chen Zhipeng had a sense of superiority from the heart, as if he was still immersed in the atmosphere of the idol group Little Tiger Team, and he was not very dedicated to acting.

The scene with the real and fake gege in Xueshi Mansion actually took half a day to complete, which made the director somewhat helpless.

Chao Guoli looked at the schedule and said, "Director, we were supposed to shoot another scene today, but looking at the progress, it’s impossible. We can only start setting up the night scenes and try to shoot as much of the night scenes at Gong王府 as possible today."

Sun Shupeng also frowned helplessly and said, "They are all newbies. It’s very difficult for them to get into character. Renting this Gong王府 every day is quite expensive. I hope they can get into character as soon as possible."

The director had anticipated that the newbies would not get into character very quickly, but he did not expect it to be even slower than he had imagined.

Looking at the financial records, the director felt a headache.

In a corner of the set, the production assistant Han Fei thought for a moment and then said, "Brother Three, can this work? If the director investigates, I’ll be in trouble."

Liu Jiajun said very confidently, "Don’t worry. I’ve already found out that the production is quite tight on funds. The five-yuan boxed meals are too expensive for the production to continue. As long as you report this, Liu Yuebing has no reason to disagree. Once he agrees, you won’t be blamed. Don’t worry, Sun Shupeng is an outsider, but you are an old employee of the company. If something happens, Manager He will turn a blind eye."

With his son being kicked out, Liu Jiajun was not about to let it go easily. A petty person seeks revenge all day long.

Therefore, he now had a very malicious plan: the boxed meals.

Every production faces this issue. Usually, if the production budget is not too tight, they use five-yuan boxed meals, which is enough to fill up in 1997.

Five yuan, with meat and vegetables, and Han Fei could even get a one-yuan kickback, so the actual cost of the boxed meals was around four yuan.

Of course, for each boxed meal, Han Fei would give Liu Yuebing a sixty-cent kickback, so he turned a blind eye to Han Fei’s small actions.

As long as the director didn’t ask, who would care about this? The extras? They get paid, eat their fill, and that’s it. Would they ask for more?

Do you want to act in the next scene?

Han Fei finally couldn’t resist Liu Jiajun’s five-thousand-yuan temptation, nodded, and took the money, saying, "I’ll try, but Brother Three, I have to say this upfront. If Liu Yuebing doesn’t agree, I won’t do it. Don’t blame me for not being loyal."

Liu Yuebing was trusted by Deputy Director Chao Guoli, who was a key player under Director Sun Shupeng. Only if Liu Yuebing agreed could Han Fei get himself out of trouble.

Otherwise, he would face He Xiujun’s anger.

Finding Liu Yuebing, Han Fei smiled like a Buddha and presented two small boxes of snacks, then said, "Brother Bing, today I found a three-yuan boxed meal. This way, we can save a lot of money."

Three yuan? Liu Yuebing hesitated and said, "Is three yuan a bit too low? If there’s a problem, it won’t be good."

Han Fei assured him confidently, "No problem. We’ve invested enough in the director and the lead actors. The boxed meals are sufficient and of good quality, so there won’t be any issues with them. As for the others, what can they do? The boxed meals are up to you, Brother Bing. If anyone is dissatisfied, just kick them out. Why care about these people?"

Even though Han Fei was bold, he didn’t dare to mess with the director and the lead actors unless he wanted to be kicked out of the production.

Thinking of the potential profit, Liu Yuebing finally nodded and said, "Let’s try it. Don’t make it official yet. Have them deliver twice and see the reaction. If it doesn’t work, we’ll switch back. You better be careful. If there’s a problem, I can’t protect you."

At this moment, Liu Hanmin, wearing sunglasses, looked at two extras with a cold and distorted expression. He had been kicked out, and he couldn’t believe the result.

Therefore, Liu Hanmin was not willing to accept this failure and wanted to take revenge on the production.

He found two extras, who were also from the "Story of the Palace" production.

Liu Hanmin gave them detailed instructions and then said coldly, "Do you understand? You’ll get two hundred yuan after the job is done."

One of the younger extras looked at the two hundred-yuan bills in his hand, couldn’t believe his eyes, and nodded eagerly.

But the older extra hesitated and said, "Sir, do we really just need to complain a bit to get two hundred yuan? If it’s anything else, we won’t do it. Extras have their limits too."

Liu Hanmin arranged for them to complain about the poor food quality during meals. Each would get two hundred yuan for complaining, and another two hundred after the job was done.

This was more than half a month’s income for the extras, so both were very tempted.

But the older one, being more experienced, was worried about potential issues.

Therefore, after taking the money, he confirmed their task again.

Hearing Liu Hanmin’s repeated assurances, the two extras finally left and joined the "Story of the Palace" production.

The new boxed meals arrived quickly.

Chao Guoli checked the progress and said, "Start eating. Hurry up. After eating, start the night shoot. Today’s progress is slow. We need to catch up tonight. If any department drops the ball, I won’t let them off."

She had a tough and fiery style, and many of the dirty work was done by this deputy director, Chao Guoli.

Chen Zhipeng’s agent, Mimi, came to get the boxed meals. Three people, three boxed meals. Mimi wanted to get an extra one just in case.

But the person distributing the meals said the number of meals was fixed, one per person, with no extras.

With no choice, Mimi left with the meals, feeling quite unhappy.

The agent of the big shot Chen Zhipeng was actually refused for an extra meal, which made Mimi very upset.

At this moment, Hai Bo opened his meal and frowned, turning to say, "Tie Lin, did you notice? The quality of today’s meal is much worse. Can you even see the meat?"

The meal was supposed to have meat, but Hai Bo only saw two small pieces of fatty meat, like a few scattered decorations.

The meals were already quite poor before, but Zhang Tielin didn’t expect today’s meals to be even worse.

After acting all day, eating such food made Hai Bo quite unhappy.

Zhang Tielin, however, laughed and ate heartily, saying, "If you don’t court death, you won’t die. They really think the director is a figurehead. Liu Jiajun’s son just left, and this happened. Clearly, it’s a warning to the director. The tension between the director and the producer is no longer a secret."

Although Zhang Tielin didn’t directly say the reason, in this situation, he revealed the inside story.

Hai Bo sighed and said nothing. With years of experience, he naturally understood what was happening.

Mimi brought the meals over, and at this moment, Chen Zhipeng was sitting in the car reading the script. He had a scene that night and needed to focus on memorizing his lines, as he had just been brought in and was not very familiar with some of the lines.

Mimi brought the meals and complained, "Zhipeng, the production is really unreasonable. I asked for an extra meal, but the guy refused, looking down on us."

Putting down the three meals, Mimi saw three more meals and asked curiously, "Whose meals are these? Xiao Guai’s?"

Chen Zhipeng glanced and said indifferently, "The director called Xiao Guai for something. He said we don’t need to wait for him."

At this, Mimi became curious. As a woman, curiosity was her nature.

But when she opened Su Youpeng’s meal, her face immediately turned very ugly.

Su Youpeng’s meal not only had chicken legs and braised pork but also a generous amount of vegetables, much better than the meals Mimi had just received.

Seeing the difference between the two meals, Chen Zhipeng finally couldn’t contain his anger.