Merchant of the Underworld

Li Mazi and I took the three o'clock train back to Wuhan.

The first thing I did when I returned to Wuhan was to go to a restaurant and order a table of southern food and devour it. After all, we really don’t like northern food.

The next day Yin Xinyue came to visit me at the antique store. She smiled mysteriously at me and said she wanted to ask me for help with something. I smiled and asked her if one of her friends was not discerning and had collected something that shouldn't have been collected.

She said no. Not long ago, her company invested in a costume drama, a martial arts blockbuster, and it was about to be shot. However, the director was a serious person and felt that the props were not restored well enough, so he had to go back and redo it. The leader of the props team immediately prepared to go to the museum to invite experts to take charge. However, there were hundreds of people in the crew, and even if the play was not filmed, there would be various expenses. All the money spent was the producer's money. He really couldn't afford to delay it, which made Yin Xinyue's boss anxious. It has to be like something. She immediately thought of me and asked me if I had any antiques from the Ming Dynasty that I could borrow temporarily.

I thought about it and said, "I do have some items from the Ming Dynasty, but the ones I collect are all negative items. If you throw them into the crew, if something happens, won't I be unable to eat them and carry them around?"

"What should I do? The crew costs tens of thousands for food, drink and accommodation a day, not counting venue fees." Yin Xinyue said aggrievedly: "This stinky director is really annoying to death..."

I had an idea and said, "By the way, look for Li Mazi. He should have a lot of antiques on his hands! Also, does your crew pay rental fees for other people's antiques?"

Yin Xinyue nodded: "That's for sure, public or private, I will never treat Li Mazi badly."

I immediately called Li Mazi and explained the matter. He was very excited when he heard about the money and immediately agreed.

Yin Xinyue and I went out for a meal. When we came back, Li Mazi had already parked his pickup truck outside the store and asked me to help him move. Several large boxes were filled with ancient swords, incense burners, jade pendants, and cultural relics from the Ming Dynasty. I asked Why does he have so many antiques in his house?

"I collected them all in the past and kept them in my hands and couldn't sell them. Didn't I follow you in this business later? So they were just thrown into the basement to gather dust." Li Mazi explained.

"If you stop doing this business one day and just open an antique store, the goods on hand will be enough for you to last a lifetime, which is great." I said.

"What's the matter? Ninety-nine percent of them are fakes. It's my fault that I didn't have eyesight." Li Mazi secretly said in my ear.

Yin Xinyue took a rough look at it, and Li Mazi asked her if it was enough for him to bring a few more boxes. Yin Xinyue said: "It's enough. In fact, it's not really used for filming, but it is used as a replica model for the prop team."

"Brothers and sisters, how do you calculate the rental fee?" Li Mazi was unambiguous.

"This matter needs to be discussed with the director in person, but he is filming in the mountains now. Let me help you make a trip! Anyway, I now have the title of producer, and I have to make a trip there every now and then." Yin Xinyue explained. road.

"How about we go to the set and talk in person? It's just an eye-opener. I've watched a lot of TV shows when I was growing up, but I've never seen one during filming." Li Mazi winked at me.

I understood what he meant. It took several months to film a TV series in an isolated environment. In addition, there were more wolves and less meat in the crew. I was a little worried about Yin Xinyue going alone, so I echoed: "Anyway, there hasn't been much lately. It’s business, you might as well go and have a look.”

Yin Xinyue winked at me playfully: "Brother Zhang, are you worried that someone has unspoken rules for me?"

"No, no!" I waved my hand quickly: "Why would I think in that direction? I don't trust you yet."

"Don't worry about me? So I'm so unattractive." Yin Xinyue said with a pout.

"I definitely didn't mean it!"

Yin Xinyue immediately called the director. At this moment, Li Mazi said to me with joy, "I heard that there are a lot of beauties in the crew, so I can go and feast my eyes on them."

I looked at him with contempt, I actually thought he was thinking about Yin Xinyue.

Yin Xinyue immediately started booking air tickets. The crew was in a small town in Handan, Hebei Province, and she called a car to deliver these things to the airport. Although they were all useless things that couldn't be sold, they were still valuable. Li Mazi walked with the car. Yin Xinyue and I took another taxi and agreed to meet at the airport.

After completing the air transportation procedures, we took the afternoon flight and arrived in Handan in an hour. However, it took a whole afternoon to get to that small town from Handan.

I asked Yin Xinyue: "Why didn't the crew go to the film and television city to film? They had to choose such a remote place."

"You will know when you arrive. There is an ancient town from the Ming Dynasty with small bridges and flowing water. It is very beautiful. We spent a lot of time to rent it. In fact, this martial arts film was shot in two parts. A small part is here , and the rest will be filmed in the film and television city.”

"Filming is really hard!" I sighed.

"Isn't that right? When I was filming in the past, I could only sleep four or five hours a day. I was so sleepy that I couldn't even walk. Sometimes I filmed summer scenes in winter and winter scenes in summer. Think about it when it's -5 degrees below zero and you wear one. What does it feel like to wear single clothes or wrap up in a cotton-padded jacket on a hot day?" Yin Xinyue complained.

Li Mazi interjected: "Why do you have to shoot upside down? Can't you shoot summer in summer and winter in winter?"

"A movie is filmed in a few months. How can it be possible to film it leisurely for a year? Competition is fierce now. Everyone is racing against time. Otherwise, how could a star film four or five movies a year?"

Yin Xinyue couldn't stop talking about this topic and gave us some common sense about TV dramas.

She said that China is a big country in TV dramas. Tens of thousands of TV dramas are produced every year. Thousands of practitioners are contributing their sweat and wisdom. However, there are only a few hits every year, and most of the rest are Maybe no one has even heard of the name. It’s really hard to say whether a movie will be a hit or not. There are many examples of investors losing their money. Sometimes even a big investment, a big cast, and a big director may just end up with worse losses.

At five o'clock in the evening, we arrived at the small town where the crew was located. It was indeed a well-preserved ancient town from the Ming Dynasty, with all ancient brick buildings, surrounded by mountains and rivers, giving people a quiet and simple feeling. This director is quite good at choosing places.

There were many cars parked at the entrance of the town. Some were private cars, and some had the words of a certain film and television company spray-painted on their bodies. A banner was hung on the tree: "The filming site of the large-scale ancient costume martial arts TV series "Xia Ke Xing"". I saw on the ground There were a lot of red confetti left by the firecrackers. Yin Xinyue said that before turning on the machine, they had to pay homage to Mr. Guan. It was originally a custom in Hong Kong, but now the mainland has become more particular about it, in order to get a good start.

We got off the car at the intersection, and Yin Xinyue made a phone call. Not long after, an SUV drove over, and a man got out of the car. Yin Xinyue introduced him as Team Leader Xu of the props team. Team Leader Xu exchanged a few pleasantries and expressed his feelings. With gratitude, we helped him carry his things to the car and then gave him a ride into the town.

The car drove slowly in the town. We saw some cranes. Yin Xinyue said they were used to lift wires, and some staff were assembling camera tracks to be used during filming. There was a middle-aged man wearing sunglasses sitting next to him. A young man is discussing something with other people.

"The one wearing sunglasses is Director Zhang!" Yin Xinyue said.

"If we stay here, we won't cause trouble to others, right?" I asked.

"How about you go sign up as an extra? Special actors are also fine, just playing a servant, waiter or something like that, without a few lines." Yin Xinyue said with a smile.

"But we've never acted before," I said.

"It doesn't require any acting skills, it just shows up a few more times than the average walk-on." Yin Xinyue laughed and laughed.

"Then do you think my image is photogenic?"

"It's okay. Being too handsome will steal the spotlight. The director doesn't dare to use it yet."

"Oh, your words hurt my heart!" I said, covering my chest.