6: After the opening ceremony

After the start-up ceremony, Kwon Seong-mu and Tian Hengjian still pretended to stay at the filming location for a while, casually chatting with the crew—all of which had been arranged beforehand.

Once the reporters and other miscellaneous people left, their group could pack up and prepare to go.

“Was the roast suckling pig delicious?”

Kim Yoon-hee finally found an opportunity to lean close to Tian Hengjian and ask curiously.

“It was alright, just a bit greasy. The cooking temperature wasn't controlled well.

What, you didn't get any?”

Tian Hengjian looked at her with a smug expression.

“Hmph, you have to buy me one when we get back to Seoul. I want to eat it all by myself, or else I'll make you pay.”

Kim Yoon-hee said, feeling indignant.

On the surface, Tian Hengjian held a higher position in the crew than she did, but in reality, she had much more work—she had to follow Kim Hee-sun throughout and be responsible for costume design.

As for Tian Hengjian, she knew very well that once the South Korea portion of the filming was finished, their group would have nothing left to do.

This fact filled her with displeasure. Why didn't she get a share of that roast suckling pig? She couldn't swallow her resentment, especially when she saw Tian Hengjian's expression; she felt like grinding her flat shoe right across that annoying face.

“Alright, alright, we'll talk later.

Oh right, did you check the email I sent you? It contains information about han dynasty clothing that I collected online, including some photos of actual artifacts from museums.”

Tian Hengjian had only meant to tease her, but since they were at work, he naturally steered the conversation back to business.

“Ah! Why didn't you remind me earlier? I'll look at it in a bit.

It's all your fault for never answering my calls these past few days. Anyway, it's all your problem.”

Kim Yoon-hee said, still pouting angrily.

She also realized that whenever she was next to Tian Hengjian, she seemed naturally disadvantaged; she couldn't out-argue him, good things never came her way, and trouble always seemed to land on her head.

“Fine, fine, fine. I'm going to grab a smoke first.

We still have an hour left, so you keep posing here!”

Tian Hengjian glanced at his watch. According to the arrangements made by the relevant parties, they had to wait until eleven in the morning to leave. They still had to hold out in front of the reporters for a while longer—after all, this was a collaboration between China and South Korea, and the public relations work had to be thorough.

“You can't go! If you leave, who am I supposed to talk to?”

The moment Kim Yoon-hee spoke, she saw Tian Hengjian quickly sidestep, dodging her outstretched hand, and slip into the crowd with a mischievous grin.

By the time she stood on her toes to look, the annoying guy was already out of sight.

Tian Hengjian didn't take this filming seriously at all.

In his view, this was merely a publicity stunt designed to attract attention.

As for how Shin Ryeol managed to convince the higher-ups to let their team take over this project, he neither wanted to inquire nor was it his place to ask.

Of course, Tian Hengjian wouldn't foolishly run around the set pointing fingers—their crew was essentially an auxiliary team established naturally after two major companies joined forces.

This was greatly beneficial for everyone's future development.

Once the film was released and received positive reviews, everyone would have a impressive addition to their resume.

Tian Hengjian's dedication to Shin Ryeol over the past few years hadn't been in vain. It seemed his superior hadn't forgotten his loyal follower after all, arranging the title of Assistant Director for him.

Although Tian Hengjian knew that nobody really paid attention to the end credits, his name would likely be squeezed in after a long list of actors, mixed among the names of various producers and Executive producers.

Of course, it would still appear in the director-related section, specifically after Kwon Seong-mu and seven or eight other Assistant Directors, in a corner labeled “Assistant Director”

.”

However, Tian Hengjian's name wouldn't be displayed in Korean; it would be proper Chinese, followed by a bracket noting “America”

.

Attentive viewers might guess he was a Chinese-American director, but in any case, they wouldn't mistake him for someone from South Korea.

After all that, this title didn't actually have much practical use.

Assistant Director? It just sounded good; it wasn't much different from a tea assistant.

This time, the start-up filming was chosen to take place indoors.

Tian Hengjian, who had just participated in the script discussion, knew that they were currently filming the scene where Tony Leung Ka-fai, after obtaining the magical Indian gem, performs a levitation act with a group of people.

At this moment, he slipped away to the lawn behind the villa, sat down on the stone steps beside the house, took out a cigarette and lit it, silently calculating his future plans.

This filming was undoubtedly a great opportunity to gain exposure; with this resume, he could brag about it in South Korea later on.

Perhaps if he scouted a few suitable people and introduced them to Shin Ryeol, a script might land in his lap someday, allowing him to try directing, or he might be assigned to shoot some television dramas to gain experience.

But Tian Hengjian always felt that it would be more satisfying to just direct a film himself.

After all, he had the advantage of the website with the cheat feature. Although the scripts were expensive, they could help him achieve instant fame.

As long as he found investors, he wouldn't lack funding in the future, and naturally, he could afford the scripts on the website.

Although the initial losses would certainly be severe—in South Korea, even with a share of the box office profits, a director's income was only moderate. After all, they weren't the investors and only received a small portion.

Of course, Tian Hengjian never intended to just be a big director in South Korea and date all the South Korea girls.

His goal was Hollywood.

South Korea was merely his starting point, absolutely not his destination.

Only by making a name for himself in South Korea and Asia could he possibly leave South Korea and head for Hollywood.

“Friend, can I borrow a light?”

Tian Hengjian, deeply immersed in his fantasy, suddenly heard someone speak beside him. Without thinking, he handed over his lighter and continued his daydream, pondering exceptional women like Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, and Ivanka Trump.

‘I wonder if Scarlett and Natalie are just as charming in this world. How great would it be if I could date them both at the same time.

Oh right, Ivanka's father ran for president in '15, I wonder if he succeeded. Maybe I could even become the First Son-in-Law, hehe!’

“I heard you're from Singapore?”

The voice asking the question interrupted Tian Hengjian's thoughts again.

He was imagining meeting Ivanka at the White House and couldn't help but frown.

“Hello, I didn't quite catch what you just said.”

Tian Hengjian turned his head as he spoke, wanting to see who was interrupting his beautiful dream, especially since the person was speaking Korean.

He initially wanted to glare at the person and make him smartly walk away, but he realized the person in front of him did not look easy to mess with.

“Heh heh, wipe your drool.”

Jackie Chan found the young man beside him quite interesting. It was clear he had been thinking about something good just now, sitting alone on the steps, smoking, and looking excited and engrossed while talking to the air.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Big Brother, are you looking for me?”

The moment Tian Hengjian saw it was Jackie Chan, he immediately dropped his casual demeanor.

He had come this time under the guise of a translator. He had met the man yesterday and even asked for an autograph to show off when he got back.

“Nothing specific, just chatting casually.

This isn't South Korea, you don't need to be so polite.”

Jackie Chan patted Tian Hengjian, who was about to stand up and bow, signaling that he didn't need to be so formal.

“Big Brother, don't you need to deal with those reporters?”

Tian Hengjian asked, just to make conversation.

He was puzzled why this busy man had also hidden away here to smoke, and specifically sat right next to him.

The two weren't actually close; yesterday, he had gotten the autograph through an Assistant.

“I'm just trying to avoid those reporters. They interfere too much with the filming.

I heard you graduated from the University of Southern California?”

Jackie Chan had only gained a slight impression of him after hearing Kim Hee-sun mention him yesterday.

“I suppose so, I just managed to scrape by and get a degree.

I might have entered the directing field a bit early, so I'm following along and learning first.”

Tian Hengjian didn't dare boast about his abilities in front of Jackie Chan; when it came to film directing experience, the man was leagues ahead of him.

“Indeed, the directing profession isn't easy for young people.

If it doesn't work out, what are your plans?”

Jackie Chan asked casually.

“Go home and become a chef.”

Tian Hengjian shrugged.

His ancestors were indeed descendants of imperial chefs from the former Qing Dynasty.

“Oh, your family runs a restaurant? Are you ethnically Chinese, or a native Singaporean?”

Jackie Chan nodded.

“My ancestral home is Xi'an. They fled to Singapore during the War of Resistance.”

Tian Hengjian could have just said he was Chinese, but he suddenly felt this might be an opportunity—Jackie Chan was filming a movie with a qin dynasty theme, and this might earn him some bonus points.

He wasn't lying; his ancestors were indeed from Xi'an.

“Someone from Xi'an, huh? Then are you knowledgeable about the qin dynasty?”

Jackie Chan followed up with a question, but he wasn't taking it too seriously.

The crew had done a lot of preparatory research, and the South Korea staff also had some understanding of the qin dynasty; the question wasn't actually that difficult.

“I only know what I've read in books—things like the Terracotta Army, Mount Li, Huaqing Hot Springs, and the Ming City Wall. I don't know much.

Big Brother, what aspect were you hoping to ask about?”

As soon as Tian Hengjian heard Jackie Chan follow up, he immediately brightened up.

A thought was hidden in his mind: if he could pique Jackie Chan's interest, maybe he wouldn't have to go back to Seoul to film those Goryeo Royal Palace scenes that were destined to be cut.

“Have you ever heard of the elixir of life?”

Jackie Chan was just looking for a random topic to chat about.

In reality, the script given to the Korean side was incomplete; for confidentiality reasons, the crew only distributed the parts they needed to film.

This practice is common in the film industry and wasn't specifically aimed at anyone.

“Are you talking about the First Emperor of Qin searching for the immortal elixir? It's recorded in both official history and unofficial accounts. However, regarding whether it was successfully refined, official history says no, but unofficial accounts claim it was.

But unofficial accounts are fiction after all, so a little exaggeration is normal.

If it really had been refined, wouldn't all subsequent emperors have gone looking for Taoist priests to make elixirs?”

As Tian Hengjian spoke, he secretly watched Jackie Chan's expression.

Sure enough, when he mentioned the claim in the unofficial accounts that it was refined, Big Brother's eyebrow twitched slightly. “Actually, I personally quite admire the First Emperor of Qin.

Some people say he was greedy for the throne, but I think that was deliberate slander by the han dynasty and subsequent generations.

History, after all, is always written by the victors.

When I was little, my grandfather told me that people of his generation had seen documents in the old Qing Dynasty libraries that recorded the discovery of countries further west back during the qin dynasty.

So I believe the First Emperor of Qin merely wanted to expand the territory of the qin dynasty so that his descendants could live more securely.

Moreover, most members of his family were short-lived, and he worried he wouldn't live long enough to lay a good foundation for his descendants, which is why he sought longevity by all means.”

“Is your family descended from the Qing Dynasty imperial family?”

Jackie Chan looked at Tian Hengjian with a curious expression.

“No, no. My grandfather and great-grandfather were just chefs in the Qing Dynasty palace.”

Tian Hengjian felt a little helpless.

I spent all that effort talking about the First Emperor of Qin, and you jumped to the Qing Dynasty? That's a difference of over two thousand years.

Don't interrupt! I haven't even gotten to Prince Fusu yet.

“Did they work in the Imperial Kitchen?”

This time, Jackie Chan was genuinely interested.

Being a chef in the Qing Dynasty Imperial Kitchen wasn't something just anyone could do.