Chapter 8

At the Clear Water Bay film set, a big director like Chang Cheh naturally needed dragon tiger stuntmen for his martial arts films. However, the TV series produced by TVB were not so extravagant; they mostly used temporary actors, rarely employing specialized dragon tiger stuntmen for action scenes.

A good dragon tiger stuntman could earn hundreds of dollars a day. Temporary actors, on the other hand, earned a maximum of 30 yuan a day. Given TVB's frugal style, they naturally used temporary actors for filming TV series.

Therefore, although his cousin wanted Kang Jianfei to become a martial arts performer under Li Jiading, during the filming of "Chu Liuxiang," Kang Jianfei could only work as a temporary actor, playing dead bodies or extras.

Of course, when Li Jiading directed action scenes, Kang Jianfei could stand by and learn secretly. Sometimes Li Jiading would give him a few pointers, but how much he could learn depended on Kang Jianfei's insight.

Before he knew it, Kang Jianfei had been running errands at the Clear Water Bay film set for a week. In his spare time, he also wrote some novels. Under the urging of his cousin Wu Ruiqing, the word count of "Xun Qin Ji" quickly exceeded 200,000.

During this period, he also made a few friends, such as Huang Minyi, a classmate of Tang Zhenye from the TVB training program, and Ah Kun, a crew member of the "Chu Liuxiang" production team, as well as some temporary actors who worked on the set.

As for the big, fat director Wang Tianlin, and stars like Zheng Shaoqiu and Zhao Yazhi, Kang Jianfei had little chance to interact with them, at most helping them carry things and greeting them politely.

...

...

Another morning, Wu Chenggang shouted anxiously in the living room, "Afei, hurry up!"

Kang Jianfei rubbed his face, still half-asleep, and said, "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Kang Jianfei fastened his belt and went out, only to be caught by his aunt Zhou Mingfang, who stuffed a fried dough stick into his hand and nagged, "You're so young and don't eat breakfast. You'll regret it when you're older!"

"Thanks, Auntie." Kang Jianfei chewed on the fried dough stick as he went downstairs.

Wu Chenggang scolded him as they walked, "The shooting schedule has been tight these past two days, and we have to get up early every day. You stay up late writing novels and then fall asleep on the set. Be careful, or Grandpa Ding won't take you as his disciple."

Kang Jianfei, still eating the fried dough stick, said, "If he doesn't take me, so be it. His methods are outdated. If I follow him to learn martial arts, I'll end up starving."

Wu Chenggang shouted, "What do you know! How many days have you been in Hong Kong? It's not your place to judge whether being a martial arts performer has a future. Do you know how much your cousin suffered when he first came to Hong Kong? I almost starved to death in Kowloon Walled City! You have no trouble finding a job as soon as you arrive, and you still don't appreciate your good fortune!"

Kang Jianfei raised an eyebrow and didn't bother to argue with his uncle.

The two walked downstairs, and Wu Chenggang went to get his bicycle. Kang Jianfei stood at the door waiting and saw someone squatting on the stone steps in front of the building.

Kang Jianfei felt the person's back was very familiar. He looked at the shoes on his feet and confirmed it was Hu Juncai, who had gone to Lantau Island to seek refuge with his cousin. He kicked Hu Juncai in the back and asked, "Hey, Ahcai, what are you doing here?"

Hu Juncai, who had been sleeping, woke up and looked up. Seeing it was Kang Jianfei, he immediately put on a pained face and said, "Afei, I came to seek refuge with you. If you don't help me, I'll starve to death."

Kang Jianfei, seeing that Hu Juncai was almost in tears, quickly asked, "Talk it out, don't cry. What happened?"

Hu Juncai said, "My cousin in Lantau Island is a live-in son-in-law. His wife tried to seduce me because I'm handsome. How could I, an honest and upright person, do something to betray my cousin?"

"Stop! Stop!" Kang Jianfei looked at Hu Juncai's high cheekbones, his emaciated face, and the crusty eye boogers, and said, "You call yourself honest and upright, but that needs to be proven. And what do you mean by being handsome? Your cousin looks so inhuman, how could his wife be infatuated with you?"

Hu Juncai swore, "She really tried to seduce me!"

Kang Jianfei asked, "Then what happened? Did you end up with her?"

Hu Juncai's face turned red and said, "Not exactly. She tried to seduce me, asking me to hug and touch her. I resisted several times, but the last time I couldn't hold back. Seeing no one in the room, I hugged her once..."

Before Hu Juncai could finish, Kang Jianfei interrupted, "Then, as soon as you hugged her, she screamed 'rape,' right?"

"How did you know?" Hu Juncai looked at Kang Jianfei in surprise.

Kang Jianfei laughed, "It's not hard to guess. You have no money, you're not handsome, and you're as skinny as a stick. If she wasn't deliberately setting you up, why would she seduce you?"

Hu Juncai slapped himself and said, "I was really out of my mind. As soon as I hugged her, she clung to me and screamed that I was trying to rape her. Then my cousin kicked me out and said he wouldn't recognize me as his brother anymore..." He added angrily, "This woman is so heartless. If she didn't want to keep me, she could have just said so. My aunt and uncle died early, and my cousin grew up in my house, like real brothers. Now this woman has made us enemies. My cousin even said he would kill me if he saw me again!"

At this moment, Uncle Wu Chenggang came over with his bicycle and saw Hu Juncai, asking in surprise, "Ahcai, you're here so early?"

Hu Juncai said embarrassedly, "I came in the middle of the night. It was too late to disturb you."

Kang Jianfei briefly explained the situation to Wu Chenggang, who was so angry that he slapped the back of the bicycle and cursed, "What a venomous woman. Ahcai, don't worry, you can stay with me. I'll take you to the set today."

Hu Juncai was overjoyed and bowed, "Thank you, Uncle, thank you, Uncle!"

There it goes, Uncle's good-naturedness is showing again!

...

...

At the Clear Water Bay film set, Wu Chenggang took Hu Juncai to the production office, said a few words, and got him a temporary actor's job.

As soon as Hu Juncai arrived at the set, he was like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden, marveling at everything and exclaiming, "So the 'Chu Liuxiang' I watched at night was filmed here. Afei, am I going to be on TV?"

Kang Jianfei said, "Maybe, but when you see yourself on TV, you might not even recognize yourself."

Hu Juncai was holding a prop knife and was about to ask Kang Jianfei why it wasn't made of iron when Tang Zhenye and Huang Minyi came over to get the martial arts props from Kang Jianfei.

Kang Jianfei introduced them, "Ahye, Minyi, this is my friend Hu Juncai."

"Hello," Tang Zhenye shook Hu Juncai's hand.

Hu Juncai, seeing they were genuine Hong Kong people and that Huang Minyi was a Hong Kong beauty, felt a bit inferior and bent slightly to shake Tang Zhenye's hand, "Hello, hello, just call me Ahcai."

Huang Minyi, like Tang Zhenye, had just graduated from the TVB training program and was only 16 years old. Although she wasn't in the same league as Zhao Yazhi and Wang Mingjuan, she was still stunning enough to impress Hu Juncai.

Hu Juncai, who usually talked a lot, was unusually quiet in front of Huang Minyi and Tang Zhenye, perhaps because he couldn't find anything to say.

Soon, the main actors arrived.

Today, Zheng Shaoqiu looked particularly bad, with dark circles under his eyes and a wobbly gait.

Wang Tianlin sensed something was wrong and asked, "Autumn, do you want to take a break?"

Zheng Shaoqiu sat in a chair, holding his forehead, and said, "No, there are only two days of shooting left. I can hold on."

"Alright, you rest for a bit, and I'll call you when we start," Wang Tianlin didn't really want Zheng Shaoqiu to rest. There were only two days of shooting left, and it would be easier to finish in one go.

"Ahding, bring the horse over so Ahquan can get familiar with it. Ahluo, move that screen over there..." Wang Tianlin, dragging his fat body, directed the set, but suddenly his face darkened, "Wu Mengda, where is Wu Mengda?"

The production assistant Ahjian quickly ran over and said, "Uncle Tianlin, Wu Mengda hasn't arrived yet."

"What the hell! We're about to start shooting, and he's not here for such an important scene!" Wang Tianlin's face turned black, and his impression of Wu Mengda worsened.

Wu Mengda had graduated fifth in the TVB training program and was a good actor, but he was often late for shoots, and many directors despised him.

Now, with "Chu Liuxiang" airing, Wu Mengda, who played Hu Tiehua, had become famous. After becoming famous, he became even more arrogant, often being late and reportedly taking other actors out to gamble.

Today's scene heavily featured Wu Mengda, and without him, they couldn't shoot. The entire crew waited for an hour, and Wu Mengda finally rushed onto the set in a hurry.

Seeing the entire crew looking at him with strange expressions, Wu Mengda knew the situation was bad. He ran to Wang Tianlin, forced a smile, and pleaded, "Director, there was an emergency at home this morning, so I'm a bit late..."

"Alright, let's start shooting!" Wang Tianlin waved him off in annoyance, telling Wu Mengda to hurry to makeup, out of sight, out of mind.

Those familiar with Wang Tianlin's temper knew Wu Mengda was in trouble. If Wang Tianlin had scolded Wu Mengda, it would mean he still had hope for him. Now, without a word, it meant Wang Tianlin had given up on him. After "Chu Liuxiang," Wu Mengda wouldn't get any important roles at TVB.

At this moment, Uncle Wu Chenggang came over and said to Kang Jianfei and Hu Juncai, "Remember, no matter how famous you become, never get arrogant, never use small tricks, and absolutely never gamble." He pointed at Wu Mengda, "This person has all three, and he's beyond saving."

Kang Jianfei thought to himself: That's not necessarily true. Some people only realize the truth after experiencing great ups and downs.