Chapter 7

After an unknown amount of time, Chu Qing finally fell into a drowsy sleep.

After another unknown period of sleep, he vaguely heard a commotion, which grew louder and clearer as it approached.

Chu Qing opened his eyes, rubbed his face, and identified the source of the sound as coming from the corridor. Looking outside, it was still pitch black. What time was it?

"Brother Wei! Brother Wei?"

Seeing that Yu Liwei was not in the bed next to him, he called out a couple of times, but received no response.

The noise in the corridor continued, and it sounded familiar. Chu Qing got dressed, slipped on his slippers, and went out.

At the end of the narrow corridor, under the dim light, three people were talking.

He had never seen Jia Zhangke so angry before; his features were distorted as he shouted, "Let her go! We'll just find a real escort to play the role! She won't be any worse!"

Gu Zheng tried to calm him down, "Old Jia, don't say things in anger. There must be other reasons."

Jia Zhangke retorted, "What other reasons could there be? We're supposed to shoot her scenes tomorrow, and she tells me tonight she's quitting. Does such a person exist?!"

Seeing Jia Zhangke's unstable state, Yu Liwei knew it was no use trying to communicate further. "You go back to your room and calm down. We'll go and talk to her."

Jia Zhangke wanted to say more, but Gu Zheng dragged him back to his room.

Yu Liwei turned and saw Chu Qing, "Qing, come with us."

Chu Qing was confused and asked, "What's going on?"

"The lead actress wants to leave!" Gu Zheng said, not in a good mood.

"Why?"

Chu Qing, no matter how dull, knew that it was a serious situation for the lead actress to want to leave while the movie was being shot.

"It's all about the money!" Gu Zheng said angrily.

Zuo Wenlu's room was upstairs. The three of them went up, and by then it was already dawn.

Yu Liwei knocked on the door first, and someone inside said, "Come in!"

When the three entered, they saw Zuo Wenlu packing her luggage. She didn't seem surprised to see them.

Gu Zheng, trying to keep his tone calm, asked, "Wenlu, I heard from Old Jia that you're going back to Beijing. What's going on?"

"Oh, my father is sick. I need to go back to get medicine and take care of him."

Zuo Wenlu repeated the reason she had given to Jia Zhangke.

Gu Zheng, knowing it was a lie, still tried to persuade her, "Wenlu, you know the shooting is at a critical stage. We're supposed to shoot your scenes today. You're the lead actress, you can't leave!"

"Brother Zheng, I understand, but my father is sick and there's no one to take care of him. I can't leave him, and I can only say sorry," Zuo Wenlu said firmly.

"Hey!"

Gu Zheng was about to lose his temper but was held back by Yu Liwei.

"Miss Zuo, can I say a few words?" Yu Liwei asked.

As the senior member of the crew, Zuo Wenlu respected him and said, "Brother Wei, go ahead."

"We need to solve problems, not throw tantrums like children. I just want to know what you're really thinking. If you have something to say, say it. We trust you, and you need to trust us. Let's communicate properly, for the sake of the movie!"

Zuo Wenlu was silent for a moment, then put down her luggage and said, "Brother Wei, Brother Zheng, please sit."

She didn't even look at Chu Qing.

Zuo Wenlu was also from Northeast China, making her a fellow townsman of Chu Qing. They had many scenes together as the lead actors, but apart from a brief greeting when they first met, they had no further interaction, let alone rehearsed together.

Chu Qing knew she didn't respect him and didn't want to embarrass himself. He greeted her politely and maintained a polite distance.

The three sat down, and Chu Qing pulled over a small stool, silently sitting on the sidelines.

"Brother Wei, I think my role, while called the lead actress, has very little screen time and no highlights. I don't see the value in playing it," Zuo Wenlu said after some thought.

"Miss Zuo..." Yu Liwei suddenly became agitated, but his Mandarin was poor, and the more anxious he got, the more confused he became. He suddenly grabbed Gu Zheng's shoulder and stared at him, "You tell her what the Hong Kong producer thinks of this role!"

Gu Zheng was momentarily stunned but quickly recovered and said to Zuo Wenlu, "Wenlu, although Hu Meimei has little screen time, her importance, in a certain sense, is even greater than Xiao Wu's..."

He then launched into a long explanation about the script structure and feminism, which Chu Qing found incomprehensible.

Despite Gu Zheng's passionate speech, Zuo Wenlu remained unconvinced.

Gu Zheng, seeing this, stopped and said, "Just say it, we all know what you're thinking."

"Fine! I'll stay, but I need the ten thousand yuan first," Zuo Wenlu finally got to the point.

She was a student but had seen the world. Looking at this group, could they even be called a film crew? The director didn't know what a monitor was, the cameraman carried the only camera around aimlessly, there were no lights, and she had to do her own makeup. And that unprofessional lead actor...

She was just afraid that this amateur crew would fold at any moment and wanted to get her pay upfront.

Gu Zheng didn't respond, but glanced at Chu Qing's reaction.

The lead actor's pay was only two thousand, while the lead actress's was ten thousand, a fivefold difference.

Chu Qing didn't even blink, focusing on being a bystander. He heard about the ten thousand yuan but thought it was normal. She was a top student from Beijing Normal University, while he was a scavenger. Two thousand was already a good deal for him.

"Miss Zuo, you know that's not the way things are done. It puts us in a difficult position," Yu Liwei continued to persuade her, but Zuo Wenlu was firm. No money, no talk!

After more persuasion proved futile, they returned to Jia Zhangke's room with Chu Qing.

By now, Jia Zhangke had calmed down. Hearing the situation, he sneered, "I knew it would come to this!"

"Old Jia, what do we do? Should we give her the money?" Gu Zheng asked.

"No, absolutely not!"

Jia Zhangke, looking serious, said, "None of the other staff have been paid. Why should she be an exception? We have rules, and we can't break them! We can fail, but we can't be unfair to our friends!"

He sighed and added, "Besides, we don't even know if we have enough money to finish the film."

Hearing this, Gu Zheng fell silent, and Yu Liwei hadn't said a word since they entered.

Chu Qing knew he couldn't help, but he considered these people friends. When a friend was in trouble, even if he couldn't help, he wanted to show his support. So he stayed with them.

Jia Zhangke smoked one cigarette after another, and Gu Zheng and Chu Qing joined in. Soon, the small room was filled with smoke, making the air heavy.

It was already around six in the morning, and Wang Hongwei had woken up. Hearing the situation, he didn't know what to say.

The four of them sat in the room in silence.

It seemed the situation was beyond repair.

The sky was bright, and Zuo Wenlu had already come downstairs with her luggage. No one went to see her off, and Jia Zhangke watched from the window as she got into a minivan heading to the train station.

"Bang!"

Zuo Wenlu closed the car door.

The car started, as if taking away all of Jia Zhangke's hopes. His already small eyes seemed even more blurred, losing their sparkle.

"Hey, look!"

Gu Zheng suddenly called out.

Jia Zhangke came to his senses and saw the car door open again. His heart pounded.

Zuo Wenlu got out of the car with her luggage, looked up and saw Jia Zhangke at the window, waved awkwardly, and then went back into the building.

She hadn't left. She still wanted to play the role, even though she still thought it was an amateur production.

...

This crisis was averted, but Jia Zhangke was scared. He revised the shooting schedule, moving Zuo Wenlu's scenes to the front to finish them as soon as possible.

The relationship between Zuo Wenlu and the crew became awkward. Even though she tried to act naturally, as if nothing had happened, everyone kept a polite and distant relationship with her.

The crew's good luck seemed to change with this incident, and various troubles began to arise.

Jia Zhangke's shooting style, in the eyes of his classmates Wang Hongwei and Gu Zheng, was heretical. It was completely different from what they learned in school. He tried everything the teachers warned against, as if on purpose.

He never planned the shots in advance. When Yu Liwei asked about the next day's camera movements, Jia Zhangke said it was all in his head, but he would change it on set, with new ideas constantly emerging.

Fortunately, Yu Liwei was up to the task and handled these constant changes.

The actors were easier to deal with. Jia Zhangke's requirements for Chu Qing and the others were not high. He only had the lead actors read the script for the day, and gave the supporting actors a brief overview of the plot and basic performance requirements.

Then, these actors with no acting experience played their roles on set.

This unprofessional shooting style led to a significant increase in film consumption, far exceeding the original budget.

Gu Zheng then received a call from Beijing, asking him to return to handle some matters. Jia Zhangke asked him to take the shot film back and buy more film.

These events, big and small, had little to do with Chu Qing.

In less than a month in Fenyang, he felt he had become part of the small town. Eating, sleeping, shopping, and wandering the streets when he had nothing to do, everything was the same as his previous life.

Old Jia was satisfied with his performance, especially in a nude scene.

Xiao Wu, to meet his beloved singer, went to the bathhouse to clean his dirty body.

This scene required Chu Qing to be fully nude. Although he had been explained beforehand, Chu Qing was still willing, but Jia Zhangke was still unsure. He even sent Gu Zheng to do deeper ideological work, explaining the necessity of nude scenes and the realist approach.

Chu Qing, after listening to the explanation, said, "It's just being naked, as long as you don't shoot the front."

The next day, the bathhouse, which the art director had spent a day setting up, was ready. Everyone on set was male, and Chu Qing quickly undressed and jumped into the bath.

His body was very thin, unlike his previous muscular and powerful physique. His bones stuck out, looking like a scrawny ribcage, almost ugly.

But Jia Zhangke didn't use soft lighting or create a dreamy atmosphere. He presented the raw, rough reality directly.

After finishing the scene, Chu Qing quickly climbed out of the bath, complaining loudly.

The water was freezing!

Yu Liwei, looking at the footage, said, "Shocking!" It was unclear whether he was referring to the meaning of the scene or Chu Qing's body.

Jia Zhangke also praised Chu Qing, saying he had captured "the love and loneliness of a person in a period of social transition."

Chu Qing found this praise painful to hear.