Chapter 42: Tang Shan's Big Brother Starts the Machine

  After the funds were in place, Wang Wei set off with the crew to Thailand for a month-long shoot.

  As a producer and screenwriter, Wang Wei just mentioned it slightly, and the Jiahe side agreed to Wang Wei's request to be an assistant director. The assistant director is also known as the director's assistant, who helps the director maintain on-site filming and manages some miscellaneous things. Therefore, it is not a particularly important role. So Jiahe readily agreed to Wang Wei's request.

  "Ah Wei, I heard that the conditions in Thailand are very poor and being a field assistant is very hard work. I don't know why you want to go with the film crew to Thailand to be a field assistant." Deng Lijun has experience filming movies, so she's familiar with some of the job divisions. There's a distinction between casting assistants and field assistants. So Deng Lijun thinks that even if Wang Wei wants to be an assistant, there's no need for him to do field assistance.

  In response to Deng Lirong's question, Wang Wei only said lightly: "For the dream, for changing your fate." Wang Wei never considered himself as Noah, so he didn't want to save all lives. He thought that even if he was a traverser, he was still an ordinary person, and at most, he just knew more things than others. So, like many people, Wang Wei only wanted to fulfill his own dreams and protect the people he loved and cared about, letting them live a happy and joyful life.

  Deng Lijun remained silent for a long time after hearing Wang Wei's words, then with red eyes, she said to Wang Wei: "You insist on going, I won't stop you, but you have to take good care of yourself." After finishing speaking, she ran back to her own room and burst into loud sobs while covering herself with the quilt.

  That night, Wang Wei slept soundly, while Deng Lijun lay awake. Since she was old enough to understand, Deng Lijun had always borne the weight of her father's high expectations. In order to give herself a good education, her father worked tirelessly from dawn till dusk and spent all their savings to send her to Jinling Girls' School, which was considered an aristocratic school at that time.

  Later, due to her singing talent, Tang Lai-yung entered the public eye and began participating in various competitions. Each competition brought intense psychological pressure that left Tang breathless. After signing with Cosmos Records, Tang felt even more pressure as she had to support her family's expenses. Under the company's arrangement, she was busy performing everywhere all day long, despite her body being unable to cope. Although these pressures were known only to herself, Tang still had to persevere because there was no outlet for her emotions and no one to confide in.

  One day, a boy with an even more astonishing gift than herself, not much older in age but exuding an aura of mystery everywhere he went, walked into her life. At first, Deng Lijun was curious and kept asking about his daily habits, only to discover that this boy, who seemed especially mature despite being younger, had a life that was even more arduous than hers. She at least had parents who were still alive, whereas this boy had lost his father from a young age and hadn't even attended school for a single day, yet he could write such moving songs.

  These made Deng Lijun feel curious and a little heartbroken at the same time. One day, the boy suddenly sang a love song to her, which made Deng Lijun confused and complicated. She kept guessing what the boy meant to express. At this moment, the boy told her that he would not let her repeat the fate of her past and wanted her to be happy. The meaning of these words was clear enough, and Deng Lijun, who had never been in love for 18 years, quickly fell in love.

  Is this love? Is this the feeling of security? Deng Lirong lay on the bed and cried loudly, not because she was heartbroken, but because she felt relieved. At this moment, Deng Lirong felt that all the burdens on her shoulders had been taken away by another man. She no longer needed to carry the pressure. She could let go of her heart and sing the songs she wanted to sing. That night, Deng Lirong slept very soundly, it was the best sleep she had since entering Jinling Girls' School. In her deep sleep, Deng Lirong didn't know what she dreamed of, but her pretty mouth corners slightly curled up.

  "Ah Wei, I didn't expect you to have such a strong peach blossom luck! If this flight was any longer, I would have fought with the pilot!" Li Xiaolong teased Wang Wei all the way. Miao Kexiu, who played Tangshan's eldest sister, also smiled and chimed in: "Ah Wei, I'm a fan of Deng Lijun's songs! At the airport, if we didn't have to rush, I wanted to ask her for an autograph!" The rest of the crew also chimed in.

  For these newly acquainted colleagues' teasing, Wang Wei could only smile wryly.

  Thailand Pak Chong, this is a very primitive-looking town. There isn't even a decent hotel in the town, and the road surface on the street is bumpy. The whole town has only one intersection. On the street, some small vendors use wooden sticks to support their stalls.

  As the crowd got off the car, a sour and smelly smell came rushing towards them. Some female staff members in the crew couldn't help but cover their noses.

  Jiahe chose this location for filming, firstly because the layout here is similar to what was required in "A Better Tomorrow", but more importantly because of a tight budget and the need to save money.

  Due to the shortage of staff at Jiahe, and Tangshan Big Brother being a low-cost film, he was assigned to manage the crew's daily expenses. The person in charge of managing the crew's daily expenses is a university graduate who has just arrived at Jiahe, named Li Bin. Before the crew arrived at Bai Zhuang, Li Bin had already come to Bai Zhuang and booked their accommodation in advance.

  At this time, the crew was taken to a small inn by Li Bin. As soon as they entered the inn, everyone smelled a strong smell of slaked lime. Seeing that everyone frowned, Li Bin had no choice but to explain: "This inn is already the best condition in this small town, it's just that the walls are a bit too black, so we can only temporarily use slaked lime to brush them."

  Seeing Li Bin's exhausted face, everyone knew that Li Bin was telling the truth. After all, they had also seen the current state of this small town, and there might not be any better conditions than this hotel. So no one said anything and just settled in.

  After the room allocation, several children occupied a few rooms with bathing facilities because they needed to wash frequently. The main male actors were two per room as they needed to rehearse their lines, while other crew members such as prop masters were six per room.

  Director Wu Jiaxuan was given special treatment due to his age, so he had a single room. Wang Wei, on the other hand, as an investor, did not stay in a six-person room and was assigned to share a room with Bruce Lee.

  After simple arrangements for accommodation, everyone came to the filming location on the west side of the town. What made Wang Wei stunned was that there was only a simple studio and several dilapidated houses.

  Bruce Lee, who was beside Wang Wei, also had a dark expression on his face when he saw the already simple studio that couldn't be simplified anymore. However, this expression only lasted for an instant, and immediately Bruce Lee's gloomy face turned into infinite determination. This is what Bruce Lee is like, never retreating in the face of difficulties.

  Wang Wei was taken aback for a moment before returning to normal. Originally, Wang Wei still wanted to comfort Li Xiaolong, but when he turned his head, he saw that Li Xiaolong's face was full of determination and spirit. Wang Wei suddenly felt relieved, thinking that he had been overthinking things.

  The rest of the crew wasn't like Wang Wei and Li Xiaolong, they started complaining as soon as they saw the simple studio. Cinematographer Chen Qingqu walked up to Wang Wei with a gloomy face and said: "Ah Wei, this shabby studio doesn't even have many props, it's hard to get a good effect." This was Chen Qingqu's first time working as an independent cinematographer outside of his usual crew, previously he had always been an assistant photographer.

  I didn't expect to be hit by this very simple blow for the first time.

  Wang Wei comforted Chen Qingqu by saying, "We're trying to make this play as realistic as possible, so we don't need many props. Just do your best to be realistic."

  Chen Qingqu nodded silently after listening.

  Afternoon filming, but before filming must worship the gods. What kind of god to worship is unknown, in short, at that time, this was a special cultural feature of the Hong Kong film industry, and this feature has been preserved even after generations.

  Worshipping gods is a very particular thing, requiring what kind of table, what kind of satin on the table surface, and what kind of offerings, in short it's very complicated.

  But Li Bin had already prepared all these things.

  When worshiping gods, the person who offers incense also has to be of a certain status. In the crew, it is usually the producer or director who lights the first incense stick.

  After discussion, Wu Jiaxiang led the crew members to offer incense. The process of offering incense was also very complicated, so I won't say more here.

  As the firecrackers crackled, the red cloth on the camera was lifted, signifying the completion of the worship ceremony.

  After finishing the incense, collect the utensils used for worship, and then the crew members share the food offered to the gods, indicating great auspiciousness.

  But everyone didn't think of it, this meal was actually the best one eaten in a month of filming.

  Then comes the unbearable shooting period.

  PS: Starting today, I'll be strongly recommending categorization, Momo begs for everyone's support, come and vote!