Golden Assistant 47

  

 If you're reading this anywhere else, it has been stolen from https://daisyktranslations.blogspot.com/ 

Please read from original site.

I am trying my besttttt.

(There's only 3 more chapters guys omg!!!)

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Enjoy Chapter 47!

(unedited lol what's new •◡• - pls lmk if there are any errors!)

Chapter 47 - A Complete Flop

When there was no filming in the middle of the day, Xiao Yi would drive outside of the village to buy food and provide nutrition for everyone. About a week later, Zheng Xiaocong, who was a guest star, finished his scenes and returned to Beijing with a high fever and cold. Before leaving, he turned to Xiao Yi with a runny nose and said: "Take care of Lu Zhou, I'm afraid this won't be finished in only half a year."

Xiao Yi had a lingering fear in his heart. If he had to play the erhu like this every day, he was afraid that he would be the one to fall first rather than Lu Zhou.

However, in the past few days of filming《Qin Mountains》, Xiao Yi's food intake had leapt a notch higher than before. Previously, he did not feel like any delicacies were particularly delicious, but now his eyes would light up when he saw fatty meat, and Lu Zhou was even more ravenous.

Director Chai would have a small glass of wine every day, but Director Guo did not partake in a single drop of wine, and would accompany Director Chai by drinking tea.

After a month, the spring was coming to an end. Lu Zhou gradually entered the state, and would sing folk songs as soon as he opened his mouth. The feeling of hysteria and despair almost made Xiao Yi feel as if he was in the movie.

In April, everyone was waiting to film the scene of torrential rain, and one day there was finally lightning and thunder. Xiao Yi was very frightened, for fear that there would be an accident without a lightning rod, especially since the lights were placed on the top of a tree. If thunder really came down, no one would even think about surviving it.

However, the scene where Lu Zhou fell into the ravine in the rainstorm was almost a one-off. Everyone was drenched in the rain and filmed the scene where he slipped into the ravine.

Then, he groped in the mud to find the picture of his daughter. In fact, the photo had already been thrown away when the gangster had cheated his money along the way. Lu Zhou touched everywhere in the darkness and rain, covered in mud, and shouted: "Hello, Xiuer— Xiuer—"

Xiao Yi ended up crying from watching this scene, and many people in the crew had cried too. In sobs, Lu Zhou seemed completely submerged in the scene, and in the vast darkness, lightning flashed across the mountains and rivers, and rainwater irrigated the earth.

It was the most unforgettable scene in Xiao Yi's life. With the lightning effect created by the lights, it was as if a ray of light illuminated the night. That soul burned itself in the strong light, and then was reborn!

Xiao Yi pressed the strings of the erhu and played up the tune. The music echoed in the dark night, and the whole world fell into a long silence again. Xiao Yi cried and trembled at the same time, and with the music of the erhu intertwined with the rainstorm, it was a vibrato from the heart.

That night.

"What the heck did you cry for!" Lu Zhou roared.

Xiao Yi: "......."

The energy that Xiao Yi had used was not replenished yet. Lu Zhou could not help laughing while he was wrapped in a blanket and shivering on the steel cot. In the dim little bungalow, the power had gone out in the entire village, but the generator was still rumbling outside. Xiao Yi boiled water for Lu Zhou to wash his feet.

"You've lost weight." Lu Zhou said heartbreakingly.

Xiao Yi sat next to Lu Zhou. He was still a little choked up, but then he got into his arms. Lu Zhou embraced him, and said: "Okay, okay, it's all fake, it's all fake——"

Xiao Yi touched Lu Zhou's face with tears in his eyes. He could no longer express his own feelings. He hugged Lu Zhou's neck and kissed his lips fiercely. Lu Zhou's feet were not clean yet, but he turned around and hugged Xiao Yi, then pressed him down onto the steel cot.

Water was leaking through the entire house, and staff who lived in the tents outside suffered. When they woke up the next day, they either had a cold or fever. Everyone shared some ginger soup, and though some people had a sore throat, they continued to film. Director Chai's team used to make documentaries and were all skilled personnel who could knock down wild boars with their hands. This was just child's play to them. 

    In the last scene, both the male and female leads were hanged. Lu Zhou was completely bare after makeup, leaving only a pair of torn pants on. At the beginning, Xiao Yi was still worried that Lu Zhou's figure would be too good to depict Wang Genbao's bag of bones, but now he realized that he did not have to worry anymore.

    For a month, Lu Zhou was only allowed to eat one bowl of rice for each meal in order to film this scene. At the end when his hands were hung up, his ribs could be clearly seen.

    Xiao Yi almost went crazy seeing this scene. Regardless of his figure, the ribs would be very visible in that hanging position anyway, but when he saw a group of actors throwing stones at Lu Zhou and Ying Zhou, he still felt a little bit unbearable.

    Ying Zhou was very fair and after makeup, this nude scene was simply touching. That sense of beauty and pain along with that hideous, distorted feeling, and bruises on the skin had completely become the finishing touch of this movie.

That day, Lu Zhou was hung for an hour then released, and then hung for another hour, released, and hung for an hour, endlessly.

The scene in which the supporting actors had to throw stones was repeated n times. Xiao Yi said to Director Chai: "Lu Zhou has injured his shoulder, he can't keep hanging anymore."  

Director Chai said: "Ask him if he can persevere."

Lu Zhou said: "It's fine! Continue!"

Lu Zhou's shoulders became red at the end of the shoot. Xiao Yi was terrified, Lu Zhou could not even lift one hand at all, and had to ask for a break. As the weather turned hot, Lu Zhou sat shirtless at the front of the village and Xiao Yi carefully massaged him with medicated oil.

"Do you want to go back to the hospital for a check?" Xiao Yi asked.

"No need." Lu Zhou's face was slightly twisted with pain, and he said, "A break is enough."

Xiao Yi knew that Lu Zhou cared very much about this drama, but his body was the most important thing. He did not want to encounter a situation where they had to give up halfway again. However, Lu Zhou said: "I know my limits, don't be nervous. Come, play the erhu and let me listen to it."

Xiao Yi sighed and sat down. He took the erhu and started to play.

During the entirety of the crew's break, everyone listened to Xiao Yi playing the erhu. The blazing sun rays were shooting down from the sky and covering all below. The blue sky, the dry land, new shoots growing from the dying trees, birds flew across the sky, and a song of music echoed in the space between the sky and the earth, a song of inexhaustible suffering and desolation.

"Xiao Yi is also getting better and better at playing." Director Chai said with a smile.

Everyone applauded. Lu Zhou had pulled all-nighters for a period of time. His eyes were red from fatigue, his skin was rough from the wind, and his whole body was tanned and thin. A sweat towel was draped over his back, and he was wearing tattered trousers, just like a farmer, looking at Xiao Yi and smiling.

Xiao Yi had also thinned a lot, was dry, thin, and tanned, and wearing a yellowed shirt. He looked at Lu Zhou, helplessly shaking his head and smiling. 

The last scene was a pursuit. Lu Zhou brought the child to escape at dawn. He needed to destroy the erhu used as prop, and after the destruction, he would replace it with another old erhu that he got along the escape from an old man's house at his funeral. Lu Zhou took Xiao Yi's erhu to complete this arduous mission.

    The scenes in Shanxi* (山西) were finally completed. Everyone first went back to Taiyuan to put things in order. Xiao Yi finally felt that he had returned to the modern society. With high-rise buildings and busy traffic, the nearly four months stay in the village seemed like a lifetime ago. He took Lu Zhou for a re-examination first, fortunately there was no major problem and he was not required to stay in bed. They then went to eat and drink wantonly.

Finally, there was a 3G signal again. Xiao Yi browsed the Internet and found out that in those four months, the online world was still the same - people's livelihoods, politics, entertainment, and comprehensive focus. Now, not only were dramas categorized in genres, but news were also in genres too. News from a year ago would be brought forward, and by changing the subject, most of them could fit in.

Following this was the scene in Shaanxi* (陕西). The hardest part to shoot had passed. Xiao Yi felt that he would definitely miss this bitter-to-the-point-of-death movie in the future. This was the biggest challenge in his life. He would sometimes look for Director Chai at night, and when he saw Director Chai quietly watching the clips by himself, he would also sit down and watch seriously.

*This is a different location in China, not a typo! Shanxi and Shaanxi are different*

In the playback of every shot, he had personally participated in. Although he was not in the shot from beginning to end, but they were always standing close by in one way or another.

"How do you feel?" Director Chai laughed and patted Xiao Yi on the shoulder.

Xiao Yi felt very moved as he watched, but those shots still felt a little unrefined. It was a movie rather than a documentary. In the end, it was up to them and Director Chai to make it come to life.

"It's very shocking." Xiao Yi watched till last few scenes and completely ignored its tone, sound, light and shadow effects, etc., and was completely attracted by Lu Zhou.

"You must come to the premiere." Director Chai said.

Xiao Yi nodded.

A month later, after the Shaanxi scenes were filmed, Director Chai returned to Beijing with his team. After returning, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, but the filming was not over yet. Most of the important scenes were to be filmed at China Film, where Wang Genbao's original home was at.

Lu Zhou has been acting for almost half a year, plus the time used to understand Wang Genbao since last year, and counting the time he had first came into contact with the script, he has been acting for nearly a full year.

After returning to China Film, Zheng Xiaocong came to visit the set in person, and he could hardly recognize Lu Zhou and Xiao Yi. Xiao Yi looked exactly like a peasant in the deep mountains, smiling at him, showing white teeth and a swarthy body.

"Brother Xiao Cong, your autograph, autograph."

The stage makeup photos were developed. According to Director Chai's request, all the leading actors and creators must sign the back of the photos. Xiao Yi had a hunch that this could be regarded as a family heirloom. Ning Yaqing happened to be filming a spy scene for a local movie in the shed next door, and came over to greet them. She could not help but to be between laughter and tears when she saw Lu Zhou.

That day, Lu Zhou and Ying Zhou acted out one of the hanging scenes. When Ning Yaqing heard Lu Zhou's explosive skills, she was completely shocked.

"What script is this?" Ning Yaqing asked.

"I'll send it to your email at night for you to see." Xiao Yi said, "It's about a blind man."

Ning Yaqing saw Ying Zhou hanging from the house's beam and a trembling Lu Zhou who entered the house and felt around for his wife's body, and finally hugged the feet that were suspended in midair. When he cried out loud, her tears burst out in an instant.

"Is this story true?" Ning Yaqing asked.

"Yes." Xiao Yi whispered, "Her daughter was deceived by kidnappers. Her only hope in life had been her daughter."

"A blind man." Ning Yaqing could not bear to say, "Life should be very difficult."

Lu Zhou finished that scene, now Lu Zhou could spend just almost half a day to complete a scene. After he was done, he came to greet Ning Yaqing. Ning Yaqing brought snacks and distributed them to the crew, then smiled at Lu Zhou and said: "When will you two get married?"

Lu Zhou was startled.

Xiao Yi: "......"

Lu Zhou said, "When I go to Europe to receive the best movie lead award in the future, we'll get married along the way."

Ning Yaqing laughed, and Lu Zhou asked: "When will you get married?"

Ning Yaqing said: "The birthdate characters haven't been written yet. Good men like you guys have been digested internally, what should I do? Leave."

Xiao Yi watched her leave. He was still laughing as he looked at Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou said: "If it's not for me, how would you have visitor's snacks!"

Xiao Yi nodded quickly and said: "Yes yes, Hero Lu is right. But Heroine Ning is also really nice."

Lu Zhou said: "That's because I have looked after her in the drama. The cast of《Iron Horse Glacier》are like gangsters. We can get along and are united."

"Oh——" Xiao Yi thought that it was true. The first crew that he had tagged along with were indeed arrogant and domineering gangsters. It was no wonder that they were still having fun chatting on WeChat every day. When the ratings had sky rocketed, and the crew was about to be swept away, the WeChat group was always filled with "That bunch of rubbish from xx company", "That swindler Li Changzheng"......

After returning to Beijing, although they still woke up early in the morning and went home in the deep darkness of the night, it was much better compared to the days when they were filming in the countryside. Unconsciously, all the scenes were filmed. When the leaves that covered the streets turned yellow, Lu Zhou finished filming his last scene.

From March to October, it took seven months to film. Xiao Yi himself felt as if he had shed his mortal body and was reborn. Lu Zhou had also became more calm. After returning to Beijing, both of them gained a little bit of weight and no longer looked like they were malnourished. When Director Chai was filming the last few scenes, he started to get unsatisfied.

However, Director Guo said that in the beginning and the final stages of Wang Genbao, it was natural for him to be in better spirits, because at the beginning of the film, Genbao was at home and his wife took care of him, so the family was considered a happy one. When the movie was about to end, he and his daughter returned to their hometown and regained their new life. These two stages did not need to be bitter, and Director Chai did not ask Lu Zhou to continue dieting.

After eating the meal that celebrated the end of the filming, on the last day, Lu Zhou returned home. He faced the house along with Xiao Yi. Everything was so familiar, yet so strange.

"Finally......" Xiao Yi was completely unable to describe how he felt.

Lu Zhou: "There may be reshoots, don't be too happy."

Xiao Yi said: "I still have to look after the sound effect production in the later stage."

Lu Zhou said: "Do you want to record a song?"

Xiao Yi waved his hand and said: "I don't think there's any song that can handle this movie, what lyrics can it match with? It's all superfluous, as long as the music's good, just pure music."

Lu Zhou did not say anything. He went to take a bath, change clothes, and then made a fruit salad for Xiao Yi. Xiao Yi suddenly felt that their relationship was about to change completely. It was he who took care of Lu Zhou, and now Lu Zhou was taking the initiative to take care of him. Often the two of them would rush to wash the dishes, and finally Lu Zhou roared: "Put those down and sit for me!" Xiao Yi could only give in.

 If you're reading this anywhere else, it has been stolen from https://daisyktranslations.blogspot.com/ 

Please read from original site.

A few days later, Dumei called. Xiao Yi was a little afraid to talk to her, for fear of offending her, but Lu Zhou signaled that it would be fine to just speak casually.

"You two have opened a studio?" Dumei asked with a smile, "I don't think you should go to Zheng Xiaocong's, be affiliated with me."

"This......" Xiao Yi hesitated and said, "I want to discuss it with Brother Zhou."

Lu Zhou nodded and indicated that it was okay. Xiao Yi was elated and said: "Brother Zhou said he will...... consider."

Dumei said: "Then you two can pick a time and come to the company for a chat?"

Xiao Yi said, "Sure."

Lu Zhou opened his own studio, so he did not need to rely on Dumei to take over the "show". He also clearly stated that he could no longer make TV dramas now, so Dumei made an appointment to find some movies for him to shoot and then take on some endorsements. When Lin Yao saw Xiao Yi, he immediately smiled and said: "Hey! President Xiao President Xiao!"

Xiao Yi had also donned a full suit. He shook hands with Lin Yao with a smile, and hugged him as well. Xiao Yi said: "I'll treat you to a drink in the evening, let's go."

Lu Zhou was stuck between laughter and tears. After speaking with Dumei for a whole afternoon, he finally signed the contract. At present, there were only two people in Lu Zhou's studios, he and Xiao Yi. Looking at Dumei's appearance, she seemed to be thinking of stuffing people in. Lu Zhou said that it was enough to talk to Xiao Yi about it when the time came.

On the same day, Dumei arranged an interview with a men's magazine for Lu Zhou. It was featured on the cover with the title "Good man at home, fashionable gentleman Lu Zhou". It also promoted Lu Zhou's new movie along the way, and asked Xiao Yi to write a manuscript about the filming of《Qin Mountains》to publish it in the magazine. This was really difficult for Xiao Yi. He had to go to a screenwriter he was familiar with to help him write the manuscript on his behalf.

"When will it be in theaters?" Xiao Yi said, "Can it go on imax?"

"Dream on." Lu Zhou said, "Just a 30 million plus movie, it also wasn't specially made." 

In the end, the overrun reached 30 million. Xiao Yi could still accept it, but the movie would require a 120 million box office to recover the costs. Director Guo and Deng Xiaochuan went to several investors, but nothing has been finalized yet.

Every time Lu Zhou finished a shoot, he would be very tired, especially for this movie. Xiao Yi thought to himself that movies and TV dramas were all meals for youths. Not speaking of anything else, this kind of high-intensity investment was far beyond working at a usual job. It was impossible to accept another show this year, so the two of them rested at home until before the Spring Festival of the second year, Xiao Yi finally got news about《Qin Mountains》.

The broadcasting approval was received, but the showings were hard to arrange. Deng Xiaochuan’s connections would not work, and the relationship between Director Chai, Director Guo, and the movie industry group's CEO was not strong. Several large movie industry groups had no investments and could not arrange good showings. Xiao Yi went to ask Dumei, but Dumei had no solutions either. Lu Zhou had only begun his rest for a short while, when he heard this news, his lungs almost exploded from anger.

"Can you do it or not." Lu Zhou shouted rudely into the phone, and Deng Xiaochuan kept apologizing on the other side.

"Does it mean that I have to arrange the showings for you for this to be a one-stop service to the end!" Lu Zhou almost yelled, "You don't have any connections! You're a useless producer! Purely holding thighs* right!"

*Holding someone's thigh mean they are trying to curry favor with someone else, or leeching off another person*

Xiao Yi: "......"

Xiao Yi thought that it was really vicious, yelling like this, others would definitely hate him to death. Lu Zhou hung up the phone, angered to the point of death, but he had to make another call again. In the end, the final schedule was set —— April, when the market was the weakest. It was just after Valentine's Day and summer vacation would not have begun yet.

"Will it flop?" Xiao Yi asked.

"I don't know." Lu Zhou said, "This advertising is no better than if we went to Weibo ourselves to draw and send out movie tickets. There're only more than 8,000 retweets."

Lu Zhou had completely no temper left. The reach of the advertisements were not very effective, and Director Chai called again to say, Xiao Lu, don't be angry, let us not rely on this...... Lu Zhou did not know to laugh or cry, and he could only nod and say okay okay. However, Xiao Yi was still quite optimistic. After all, he had also flopped before for so many years. Now, he no longer minded whether the work would become popular or not. As long as it was filmed, their consciences were clear.

On 1st April, the movie《Qin Mountains》premiered. 

"Who the hell chose this date!" Lu Zhou was about to freak out again, "Who will come to the premiere on April Fool's Day!"

Xiao Yi did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had a meeting at Dumei's company that day to discuss about a new movie project and could not go to the premiere, so Lu Zhou attended the premiere himself. Dumei gave Xiao Yi four movie scripts to choose from, and Xiao Yi brought them home with him in the evening to get Lu Zhou's opinion.

Lu Zhou was sitting on the sofa, apparently still not back to his senses and said: "I'll take you to watch it tomorrow, we'll book the entire venue."

Xiao Yi said, "No, no, no need, let's watch it together with the public. President Du gave you four scripts today and wants you to take care of Wu Henggu. Wu Henggu will play a supporting role and you will play the leading role."

"I won't take care of him." Lu Zhou said.

"Why?" Xiao Yi said puzzledly.

Although Wu Henggu was proficient in being two-faced, but work and personal aspects should be clearly defined. Lu Zhou Studio was affiliated with Dumei's company, and the commission was reduced to 5%. It was natural to help her take care of newbies. Dumei's publicity and distribution efforts had always been very strong, and her connections were plenty. If she was one of the《Qin Mountains》investors, it would definitely not be released in April now, and there were only four showings per day.

"No reason." Lu Zhou glanced at Xiao Yi and said, "I don't want to cooperate with Wu Henggu."

Xiao Yi said: "But I have already promised President Du ." 

Xiao Yi just said that out and thought to himself, this is bad, he was going to be yelled at. However, Lu Zhou did not lose his temper. He smiled and said: "I will reject her. Listen to what I say and use this excuse next time."

Lu Zhou's temper could not be any better. Since returning from the filming of《Qin Mountains》, Xiao Yi felt that Lu Zhou was tranquil, his entire person had calmed down. Although he would yell occasionally, but now he never lost his temper with Xiao Yi.

"Hey, President Du." Lu Zhou said, "It's like this, I won't take care of Wu Henggu. Xiao Yi is not very happy about me acting with him."

Xiao Yi was immediately confused and almost inherited Lu Zhou's raging soul as he thought, What has this got to do with me!

Lu Zhou said: "Ahaha yes yes, he didn't say it at the time, but he cried a lot when he got home. You see, we were once used to sell rot* before......"

*Remember this? To sell rot is to promote as a gay couple. The we here means Lu Zhou and Wu Henggu*

Xiao Yi thought, My image is going to be destroyed. Lu Zhou added: "Stability and unity of the family should be the top priority. Haha okay, no problem, no problem, except Wu Henggu, I'll take care of anyone."

Lu Zhou hung up the phone and met Xiao Yi's eyes.

Xiao Yi rushed up to beat him. Lu Zhou immediately took a pillow as a shield and said: "Listen to me! You've rebelled...... you......"

Full of interest, Lu Zhou said: "Dumei actually knew it all. I'm just looking for a reason to reject her. She already knew that I didn't want to cooperate with Wu Henggu."

"Alright." Xiao Yi flipped through the script and said, "The movie this time...... let's do a romance theme okay, let's not overdo it. You can’t afford to be tormented anymore.”

Lu Zhou said: “Sure, this《Marriage Proposal》, how about it?”

Xiao Yi looked through the script. It was a low-cost urban movie which told the story of a man proposing marriage. He went through a lot of trials to borrow a house from a friend, borrow a car, and then propose to the girl of his heart.

"Okay." Xiao Yi said, "This is it, the compensation is also 4.8 million."

Lu Zhou only took more than 2 million in《Qin Mountains》, and treated it as making a profit at a loss, and also accomplished his plan to head down the road of being a leading actor along the way. Once Xiao Yi accepted the movie, he was so busy that his feet did not touch the ground*. It took a full week before he settled matters for Lu Zhou. When Dumei's team stepped in, Lu Zhou immediately seemed to have a 'mother'. They helped him create a new image that helped him to transform into the feeling of a mature and good man.

*Feet not touching the ground means one is so busy that they are always on the move* 

Dumei re-planned the propaganda route for Lu Zhou. Lu Zhou’s parents were abroad, so she launched a water army to hype and publicize, pretending that Lu Zhou was a rich second generation, and create a rich, gentlemanly, graceful and prodigal son image for him. 

Now this rich second-generation young master had finally gone through the ups and downs of the entertainment industry, experienced many things, and was calm regardless of any praise or humiliation. He has entered the thirty-fourth year of his life, precipitating himself and sharpening his acting skills.

"I'm about to become a Buddha*." Lu Zhou was stuck between laughter and tears as he looked through Dumei's publicity draft.

*Meaning that Dumei has overexaggerated to the extent that Lu Zhou feels like he's about to be omnipotent*

Xiao Yi also felt that this was a bit too much bullshit. He looked through Tianya and the comments were full of "Bullshit, isn't Lu Zhou's mother running a convenience store in Canada", and all kinds of melee started again.

"Your mother...... No, does mom run a convenience store?" Xiao Yi asked.

Lu Zhou said: "Canadian Chinese, forget about the convenience store, but she did open a Chinese supermarket. I'll take you to her store next time, you can take whatever you want."

"Okay, okay!" Xiao Yi said immediately. He had not experienced taking things casually from a supermarket for free before. Although he could also take anything casually when he went shopping with Lu Zhou now, but it still felt different.

《Qin Mountains》would stop showing in three weeks. Xiao Yi checked the box office. In the first week, it was only a measly 2.4 million. However, the reviews on Douban were very happening. Some people said that this movie was selling badly, some said that watching this movie was just a pastime, who would want to watch such a bitter movie.

It completely flopped. Xiao Yi did not say anything, Lu Zhou did not say anything either. They still had millions of investment in it, but Xiao Yi thought that it was worth it. A week later, Lu Zhou took Xiao Yi to watch《Qin Mountains》. At 8pm, there were almost no one when they were choosing seats, only two or three people.

Most people were watching《Star Wars 3》in the 3D hall next door. Even Xiao Yi wanted to catch《Star Wars 3》when he saw the poster, it looked really exciting!

"Do you want to watch this?" Lu Zhou asked Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi: "......"

Xiao Yi thought what kind of mental illness was this, and said: "No, let's watch《Qin Mountains》."

Lu Zhou had a lifetime VIP card for the cinemas, and it cost nothing to watch movies. The two chose the best spot. Xiao Yi took a glance around. There was only five minutes before the opening, and only seven people were in the hall.

The movie started with a piece of erhu. When the tune reverberated around, Xiao Yi could not believe it. It turned out to be the movie theme music that he had performed countless times. With the reverberation of the music, the camera suddenly pulled towards the cloudless blue sky and the rolling loess mountains.

After the post-processing, the colors appeared stronger and more magnificent, and the contrast was extremely obvious. The visual impacts would hit at once, as if the human soul was dragged into the world of the Loess Plateau sixty years ago.

The lens was extremely wide, and seeing that, the mind was suddenly enlightened. The big characters that appeared in the first row were.

Leading actor: Lu Zhou.

When Xiao Yi saw this line of words, that excitement in his heart burst out uncontrollably.

Lu Zhou smiled and pulled up the armrest of the chair, stretched out his hand and hugged Xiao Y. The two snuggled together to watch the movie.

After the opening, the scene turned to the desolate countryside. The music belonged to the erhu played by Lu Zhou's Wang Genbao, and the stage in the village, and what followed was the story in the script that Xiao Yi had read endless times. It was like that, but it was also completely different. It was him and Lu Zhou who had experienced every scene day and night, and it brought a whole new feeling.

After his daughter was kidnapped, Lu Zhou returned home with the erhu in one hand and his blind man cane in the other. The camera panned to the outside of the yard, and after a while, there was a piercing scream from inside.

Immediately afterwards, on the tomb, Lu Zhou played an erhu tune for his wife who was buried in the ground.

Lu Zhou and Xiao Yi both cried. Lu Zhou shook his head and said: "At the premiere, everyone was crying loudly."

Wang Genbao's voice in the movie was already hoarse and he began to look for his daughter.

The whole process was gripping. From losing his only photo, his emotional support, and then finding his daughter, but no one even said it was his daughter. The makeup that Ying Zhou wore as the daughter was completely different from that of Genbao's wife.

At the end of the movie, they finally went home, settled in the former residence, and Wang Genbao died.

Soon after, the house was filled with his grandchildren. His departed soul and the soul of his wife were sitting on two chairs in the main room, and the grandsons and granddaughters were running around their knees.

Xiao Yi took a look at the back and saw that there were five people left in the cinema, including the two of them. The other couple had already left.

The credits' subtitles appeared at the end of the film, and the rest of the audience stood up and left while wiping their eyes. Xiao Yi sat quietly with Lu Zhou. His name appeared second in the music team, after Teacher Chen.

"Not bad." Lu Zhou said.

Xiao Yi thought for a while and said: "It's worth my life to be able to participate in this movie." 

After the credits ended, Xiao Yi was about to get up, but Lu Zhou pressed him back.

Behind the scenes appeared! There were behind the scenes!

Xiao Yi immediately laughed, but unfortunately all the people in the theater had left, only the cleaner aunt was cleaning up.

The first scene was of Lu Zhou and the little girl playing hopscotch. Both of them felt that this past was very warm. There were also scenes of Lu Zhou shopping and bargaining in the vegetable market, which were all recorded by Xiao Yi, and Director Chai also allowed those be processed afterwards and edited again.

It seemed that the soul of Wang Genbao in the movie had been reborn, reborn in Lu Zhou's body. Following which, there was a group photo of all the crew members, including Zheng Xiaocong who was sporting a face covered in dirt and mud.

"Can this win an award?" Xiao Yi asked.

Since the box office was not good, he could only comfort himself with an award. Lu Zhou thought about it, then shook his head and said: "I guess not, the connotation of the story is still lacking. There's not much room for people to think about it, and the focus is on sensationalism."

Xiao Yi did not say anything. He knew that Lu Zhou did not care much about it now, not even about the comments on the Internet. Lu Zhou stretched his back and said: "It's over! The next movie will be even better!"

Xiao Yi was full of fighting spirit, but the next day, Dumei poured cold water on him*.

*Meaning Dumei extinguished his determination*

"What?" Xiao Yi felt a little ridiculous.

Dumei helplessly said : "Although the investor's request is outrageous, but...... I'm thinking about how to reject them, or how about we wait?"

The male lead of《Marriage Proposal》was asked to be changed to another actor that the investor had cooperated with. Lu Zhou was going to be someone else's supporting cast again. Xiao Yi said: "It's impossible."

"The box office of《Qin Mountains》is not good." Dumei said, "It can't be regarded as his representative work."

"Have you watched it?" Xiao Yi asked.

Dumei nodded and said: "Watched. The filming is very good, and the acting is also very good, but investors won't acknowledge this, or they would say they do, but they are afraid that the audience will not acknowledge it."

The final box office of《Qin Mountains》was only more than 13 million, which was a complete flop. Xiao Yi read the comments on the Internet, few people have seen it. Everyone thought that watching movies was a joyous activity, and would not spend money to buy sufferings, only a few who liked this type of genre would watch it.

"I'll go back and discuss it." Xiao Yi said, "but I don't think it's very likely. If the investor doesn't recognize his strength, I'd rather wait."

Dumei said, "I will try my best to negotiate."

#Raw word count: 8921

T/N: I cracked up a little at the 3G signal part... this novel was written so long ago, about 8 years back. I didn't have time to read through it once, so please let me know if there are parts that do not connect? :P 

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