My Wandering Swordsman

"Can't continue filming? What happened?"

I frowned. I had finally managed to sort out the mess with the eldest prince, so why did this new trouble start?

Ruan Tang sighed and sat down on the small stool opposite me:

"As the production assistant Niu just told me, because the male lead, the eldest prince, was only working sporadically, we've basically finished filming all the scenes that didn't require him. What's left are almost entirely scenes of the eldest prince, but now..."

I waved my hand, indicating that she didn't need to say anything more.

To put it simply, the male lead is gone, so the filming can't continue.

After thinking for a while, I said to Ruan Tang, "Call Niu, the theater manager, I have something to ask him."

Ruan Tang responded and got up to walk towards the film set.

A short while later, Niu, the production assistant, came running over, beads of sweat on his forehead, probably also looking into this matter.

"Master Ji, you wanted to see me?" Niu, the production assistant, rubbed his hands together, a smile plastered on his face.

"Stop with the formalities." I gestured to the chair opposite me. "Sit down and let's talk."

Niu, the production assistant, sat down obediently, his back ramrod straight.

"I'm asking you, does the production team have a backup male lead?" I asked bluntly.

Production assistant Niu was taken aback, then shook his head: "No, what you're saying is ridiculous. How can we just pick anyone to play the male lead? The male lead for our show is the First Prince. That was agreed upon when we were recruiting investors. There's no such thing as a backup."

I raised an eyebrow: "What about the second male lead? The third male lead? The supporting male lead? Move up to the next level."

Production assistant Niu said with a bitter face, "Master Ji, what you said makes sense. But the problem is, their scenes were already filmed a long time ago."

Is filming finished?

I pondered for a moment, and thought that it was indeed true.

When the eldest prince was absent, the production team filmed everything that should and shouldn't have been filmed in order to save money. If they were to change the actor at this point, all the scenes of the second and third male leads would be wasted, which would be a bad deal.

"Then... should we hire one from outside?" I asked tentatively.

Niu, the production assistant, looked even more troubled. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something but then swallowed it back.

"Spit it out if you have something to say." I hate men who talk like sissies, so I impatiently tapped the table.

Production assistant Niu cleared his throat: "Master Ji, finding a male lead from outside isn't actually difficult. There are tons of actors huddled in Hengdian these days. No matter how bad the script is, as long as they're paid, there's bound to be someone scrambling for the male lead role. But the problem is..."

"Money?" I said it for him.

Niu, the production manager, nodded.

"Where's the money?"

Niu, the production manager, seemed somewhat speechless. After a pause, he said, "Well, you beat the First Prince to a pulp and even personally drove him to the investor. Do you think Lü Guodong will still give us additional funding now?"

"Well--"

I was speechless for a moment.

In the end, it all comes down to my fault.

This is really troublesome. We can't hire someone from outside, and we don't have any backups. The production is stuck on the male lead.

The atmosphere turned slightly awkward.

The three of us buried ourselves in thinking of a solution.

Just as I was pondering this, a commotion arose from inside the venue.

I subconsciously turned my head to look and saw several extras rehearsing together. Ruan Tang had trained them very well; their posture, footwork... were truly impressive.

I stared at them for a long time.

This group of people earns a little over twenty yuan a day, working in the wind and sun, getting up early and working late. Some do it for the meager income, but there are also quite a few who have a faint dream of acting.

Looking at them, a sudden inspiration struck me, and I slapped my thigh: "Since we can't hire someone, let's just promote one on the spot!"

"Promotion?" Both Niu, the production assistant, and Ruan Tang were taken aback, their faces full of confusion.

"That's right!" The more I talked, the more plausible it seemed. "Think about it, that idiot prince, what acting skills does he have? He's not even as good as an average extra, and he has no box office appeal whatsoever. If someone like that can be the lead, then any random extra we pick would be a hundred times better than him, wouldn't they?"

Niu opened his mouth as if to refute, but after thinking about it, he closed it again.

Ruan Tang nodded thoughtfully: "Go on."

"What I mean is, let's promote one of the extras directly to the lead role. Wouldn't those guys fight tooth and nail for it? The extras would be highly motivated and work harder, and our show might just be able to be revived."

"Besides, those promoted from extras are already familiar with the work, so they can learn quickly and are cheap. What a bargain!"

Niu, the production assistant, and Ruan, the actress, exchanged a glance and began to think seriously.

After a long pause, Production Manager Niu decisively stood up: "Okay! I'll go talk to Assistant Director Wang."

I waved my hand, gesturing for him to sit down first.

There's no rush to coordinate with Deputy Director Wang. That grandson of Wang is probably worried about this right now. I've solved a major problem for him, so I'm not afraid he'll disagree.

The most important thing now is to select the right people.

So I looked at the production assistant, Niu: "What are the requirements for the male lead?"

Production assistant Niu replied, "Actually, there aren't any strict requirements. Our show has a lot of action scenes, so the male lead needs to have some martial arts skills. Acting is secondary. Anyway, with this script, there's not much to talk about regarding acting."

I nodded and looked at Ruan Tang: "Tangtang, you know a lot about extras, do you have any suitable candidates?"

Ruan Tang rubbed her chin, thought for a while, and finally shook her head: "It's hard to say, I haven't really paid much attention to martial arts techniques."

"And what about you guys?" I looked at the production assistant, Niu. "You should know, right?"

Production assistant Niu scratched his head, looking troubled. "Master Ji, as you know, the extras are all temporary workers, they come today and leave tomorrow. How can I possibly know them all..."

I sighed; it seemed this really was a problem.

But then I thought about it again, and it's easy to solve.

I waved my hand decisively:

"Then let's have a martial arts contest to determine the lead actor!"

"A martial arts contest?" Both Niu, the production assistant, and Ruan Tang widened their eyes at the same time.

I chuckled and said, "Right! Simple and straightforward. We're not going to care about acting skills anyway. As long as the guy knows some martial arts and isn't too ugly, that's fine."

Niu, the production assistant, was speechless at my train of thought, while Ruan Tang looked excited: "Great idea, that's a good one."

"Okay, it's settled then." I nodded and instructed, "Tangtang, go and tell all the extras that they'll meet on set tomorrow morning for a martial arts competition to determine the lead actors."

"I will announce the competition details later."

"it is good."

The two responded in unison and went about their respective tasks.

I stood there, watching the extras still busy in the distance, a slight smile playing on my lips.

How can I let my aunt's hard-earned film be abandoned halfway through?