Entertainment: 1990

Concerto No. 56 [Forgotten Time]

"It's understandable that you contacted her through the paging service the first time, but the second time you clearly saw the light on the other side was on, why didn't you call the landline number?"

"There's only one truth: you weren't actually calling the victim, but rather trying to control the lights and sound system on the other end of the line using your mobile phone!"

As Chen Daoming spoke, he dialed a mobile phone in front of everyone.

The cameraman quickly zoomed in, gradually focusing the lens from a wide angle onto the large mobile phone.

"Click~"

After Ma Huiwu finished shouting, he couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

Sitting behind him, Zhang Yan asked, puzzled, "Director Ma, is there something wrong with this part? I don't see it."

"It's not that there's a problem with the play, it's that the equipment is outdated."

Ma Huiwu gestured and said, "If there were a big jib arm on this side, it could push the mobile phone directly to the window on the fourth floor across the street, and then quickly push it into the pager box from the window."

Then the camera zooms out again, and as the lights and music gradually come on, it returns to a close-up of the mobile phone—this shot will definitely feel more impactful.

Now we can only switch directly to the indoor setting, zooming out from a close-up of the pager box to the back, then expanding to the entire room, turning on the lights and playing music.

"That's already pretty good."

The cameraman, listening nearby, couldn't help but shake his head: "In the past, would you have dared to use two cameras to shoot a TV series? Let alone TV series, even a few years ago, movies were shot with only one camera."

Ma Huiwu realized he had been a bit greedy, and waved his hand with a smile, saying, "Alright, alright, let's move on to another location quickly. We'll have dinner after we finish shooting this set of indoor scenes!"

At this command, the relevant personnel immediately sprang into action, carrying various photography equipment as they began climbing the building.

Zhang Yan originally wanted to go and take a look, but he found that observing the filming location was very helpful for writing scripts—for example, when describing a scene, he would have a pre-set 'shooting angle' in his mind, which made the script more practical.

However, at this moment, Chen Daoming took the initiative to come over. He didn't need to be in the next indoor scene, so he simply came to talk to Zhang Yanpan, and his words were full of affection.

When Chen Daoming first joined the crew, he found the script interesting, but he didn't think it was particularly brilliant, after all, he had previously acted in classic literary works such as "The Last Emperor" and "Fortress Besieged".

It wasn't until later that he gradually realized that although the artistic content of "Tianjin Wei" was not as good as the previous two, and even the demand for acting skills was far less than the previous two.

However, the male lead's smug and self-assured demeanor, combined with the novel and technologically advanced cases, has a far greater impact on ordinary viewers than the former.

The former could bring him more praise, while "Tianjin Wei" was the opportunity for him to truly enter every household—and what is most lacking these days is actually the latter.

So when Chen Daoming faced Zhang Yan again, his attitude became much warmer. He struck up a long conversation with Zhang Yan, discussing the plot, the characters, and the creative process...

Chen Hong couldn't help but roll her eyes at this.

Chen Daoming only left reluctantly after the filming upstairs came to an end and the crew called out, "It's time for dinner."

Seeing Chen Hong pouting and leaning closer, Zhang Yan asked with a smile, "So, are we going out to eat, or...?"

"Let's eat on set, I have scenes to film later."

"That's fine."

Zhang Yan glanced at the 'big villain' who was swallowing hard and muttering his lines, and laughed, "I bet you're in for a tough night."

This young man is a child star, and this is his first time acting in an adult film, playing a major villain.

The cheerful and sunny parts at the beginning were manageable, but now that the "true colors" are finally being revealed, the difficulty has suddenly increased several levels, which explains why he's so nervous.

Following Zhang Yan's gaze, Chen Hong called out loudly, "Pan Yueming, let's go eat first, and then we can rehearse our lines!"

Sixteen-year-old Nai Pan was startled. He awkwardly bent over in this direction and then ran away as fast as he could.

"Giggle~"

Chen Hong covered her mouth and laughed, "This little brat usually doesn't dare to look me in the eye."

"Do you tremble all over when I look at you?"

The two chatted and laughed as they walked toward the food area. Foam boxes were still precious items, so everyone brought their own utensils and ate the dishes and soup with steamed buns.

Film crews that were a little strapped for cash didn't even have enough steamed buns and vegetables—otherwise, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei wouldn't have gone to steal corn.

Of course, Tianjin Wei was not so shabby. Not only was there plenty of food, but there were also three boxes of Bright Dairy instant noodles available for anyone to take.

Zhang Yan didn't bring a lunchbox today, so he asked Chen Hong to serve him more food. He washed his chopsticks, took some steamed buns, and sat on the curb with her to share the meal.

Seeing this scene, Tao Hong felt as if her heart was being tightly gripped by a large hand, and she felt an indescribable tightness and discomfort.

"Tao Hong, here's your lunchbox." At this moment, a teammate came over with four lunchboxes and handed them out one by one, saying, "This is what Brother Chang just bought. Remember to wash it before you use it."

Another teammate whispered, "I see they have Bright Dairy instant noodles over there, all three flavors. How about we eat instant noodles?"

"But the coach said..."

"Oh dear, the coach doesn't have clairvoyance!"

The teammates were chatting, laughing, and joking around, just like they usually were in the team, but Tao Hong felt inexplicably lonely and isolated.

Even the piping hot egg drop soup couldn't warm her heart.

…………

As Zhang Yan had predicted, Nai Pan's "transformation scene" was reshot countless times, and it wasn't until after 11 p.m. that he finally managed to get the feeling that Ma Huiwu wanted.

Zhang Yan felt that the child had probably been ruined. He was in a daze, his face was distorted and ferocious, and his eyes were blank and empty.

What is presented is a sense of contrast, as if the physical body and the soul are torn apart.

The image is certainly impactful, but what Ma Huiwu really wanted was the opposite: a cold and terrifying gaze coupled with a calm and relaxed expression.

But this is an impossible task for Nai Pan right now, so he has to settle for second best.

After the shooting is over.

Zhang Yan and Chen Hong tacitly got into the Santana. Ma Huiwu didn't care or ask, and naturally no one else would either—after all, the two were a handsome couple, and their ages were similar, so it wasn't strange that they were paired up.

Only Tao Hong watched this scene from afar, almost biting her lower lip until it bled.

But the car hadn't gone far.

Chen Hong suddenly asked, "Does that girl like you?"

Which little girl?

"Oh, don't pretend you don't know. Of course it's that little girl named Tao Hong."

"Don't they all like me?"

Zhang Yan asked with a smile, "What's wrong? Are you jealous?"

"嘁~"

Chen Hong scoffed, "If I were to be jealous of even a little girl like this, I'd have no self-confidence at all."

As she spoke, she suddenly reached out and patted Zhang Yan's arm: "Don't rush back yet, you forgot, didn't we say..."

Seeing her big, watery eyes begin to send him flirtatious glances, Zhang Yan's heart also burned with desire.

After thinking for a moment, he suggested, "How about we go to the driving school? There aren't many people there at night, and I've recently become quite familiar with the gatekeeper."

These days, taxi drivers don't dare go to sparsely populated areas at night, let alone go to the suburbs to mess around in the middle of the night, so they still have to find a safe and open place in the city.

Seeing that Chen Hong had no objection, Zhang Yan stepped on the gas and headed straight for the driving school.

Thanks to the friendship built over a few packs of cigarettes, he was able to enter the training ground smoothly. After circling around, he finally parked the car at the top of the hill where he practiced hill starts.

This is the highest point in the entire training ground; it can barely be considered a 'view from the summit, overlooking all the mountains below'.

The two quickly moved to the back row, and then...

"Ouch, no, no, the doorknob is hitting my lower back!"

"Put some clothes under it—hey, don't use this, there's an underwire inside, you'll break it!"

Why are you on top?

"Nonsense, someone as big as you can definitely move around freely, right?"

"It would be great if this car had a sunroof."

"Ouch, ouch, wait a minute, wait a minute, I have a leg cramp!"

"I told you not to take off your socks—shouldn't we turn off the air conditioner? I'm getting goosebumps all over."

After what seemed like an eternity, the clamor gradually transformed into a concerto...

(End of this chapter)