22: Crew conflict

During the preparation period of the TV series, Big Beard Zhang needed the resources and connections of the Beijing Film Academy.

He also needed to negotiate the construction of film and television bases with various local cultural and tourism departments.

As the chief Yu Min, Zhou Xiaowen presided over various preparation matters for the TV series.

Now that the filming progress was halfway through and external collaborations had concluded, the presence of Zhou Xiaowen as the chief Yu Min had become a bit of a hindrance to him.

The argument between Zhou Xiaowen and Big Beard Zhang ended, and Zhou Xiaowen left in a huff, leaving Yu Min to take charge of filming today's scenes.

Li Xiuwu received a new filming schedule.

"Hmm?" He looked at the filming schedule; his scenes had been concentrated together.

Concentrating scenes was usually normal; if they were all dramatic scenes or a mix of drama and action, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

But "demi-gods and semi-devils" was a wuxia series, and his scenes had reached the later stages of the story, which involved a large number of action sequences.

Acting was already not easy, let alone concentrated action scenes.

"I don't have many scenes." After finishing her own schedule, Liu Yifei leaned over to look at Li Xiuwu's filming schedule.

"Your scenes are too concentrated," she said in surprise.

"Yeah." Li Xiuwu put away the filming schedule.

Many people also learned about the overall filming schedule and looked at Li Xiuwu with some sympathy.

"This filming schedule is quite unreasonable for you," Xiu Qing reminded Li Xiuwu during a break.

"Thank you, Teacher Xiu Qing," Li Xiuwu thanked him.

Xiu Qing looked around; only Liu Yifei and Shu Chang were nearby. He said to him, "Did you offend Big Beard Zhang somewhere? Go apologize to him and give him some gifts."

He patted Li Xiuwu on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I should indeed give him some 'gifts'." Li Xiuwu's gaze turned toward the smug Big Beard Zhang behind the monitor.

"Let's go find him." Liu Yifei also realized that Big Beard Zhang was deliberately making things difficult for Li Xiuwu.

"Don't worry." Li Xiuwu stroked her hair.

Many people looked at Li Xiuwu, wanting to see how he would respond.

Li Xiuwu, however, didn't raise any objections and silently began today's filming schedule.

Throughout the morning, Li Xiuwu was basically suspended on wires; he felt his waist and legs going numb.

Sitting behind the monitor, Big Beard Zhang was very pleased with himself as he watched Li Xiuwu, who needed someone to support him after coming down from the wires.

He had been very unhappy with Li Xiuwu's previous impolite attitude toward him. So what if he was the top scholar of the college entrance examination? Since he wanted to be an actor, he still had to follow his arrangements.

He stood up, stretched, and walked toward Li Xiuwu.

"Young man, acting involves suffering. When you can't take it anymore, tell me."

"However, the completion of a scene is a collective effort. I hope you won't delay everyone's hard work because of your own reasons."

Big Beard Zhang patted Li Xiuwu on the shoulder.

Li Xiuwu took half a step back and brushed the spot on his clothes where Big Beard Zhang had touched: "Don't worry, Director Zhang. I'm still young and can hold up. I hope Director Zhang takes care of his health; the mountain forests are windy, damp, and cold, so don't get sick."

"You..." Big Beard Zhang was infuriated by Li Xiuwu's actions.

Li Xiuwu ignored him and strode toward the tent to rest.

"Xiuwu, you don't have to film this afternoon. I'll go talk to him." During the lunch break, Zhou Xiaowen came to find Li Xiuwu and told him to rest.

His expression was very grim; throughout the morning, he had tried to contact people to restrain Big Beard Zhang, but it had no effect.

Big Beard Zhang was the producer, and the funds were in his hands; a producer inherently had supervisory rights over the filming.

No one could interfere with him from the level of filming rights within the crew; they could only use external connections to mediate and apply pressure.

Li Xiuwu was essentially caught in the crossfire because of him.

"Thank you, Teacher." Li Xiuwu had originally wanted to see if he could persevere.

But filming at this intensity was indeed exhausting, and he wasn't a masochist.

In the afternoon, he simply skipped filming, lit a stove in his tent, and ate hot pot.

In the afternoon, Big Beard Zhang sat by the monitor, and when filming began, he didn't see Li Xiuwu appear, sneering in his heart.

He had someone turn on the camera and began his own performance.

He roared loudly, slamming the table: "An actor arriving late and leaving early—where's the discipline? What does he think being an actor is? What does he think the hard work of so many people is?"

"The efforts of over a thousand people in the entire crew, building the filming sets—are we playing house with some young master? Coming and going as he pleases?"

He ranted for half an hour. Everyone on set remained silent; they all knew what was happening.

Big Beard Zhang didn't send anyone to call Li Xiuwu, and Li Xiuwu didn't go to the set. The crew members also remained silent, waiting for the power struggle between the two sides to end.

Liu Yifei wanted to go find Li Xiuwu, but she was held back by Liu Xiaoli.

"If you go now, you'll only cause more trouble. Xiuwu has the Beijing Film Academy behind him," Liu Xiaoli reminded Liu Yifei.

"But Big Beard Zhang is clearly targeting Li Xiuwu." Liu Yifei's face was full of anger, her fists clenched.

"There was already conflict between them, and it's also intertwined with the power struggle involving Chief Yu Min Zhou Xiaowen."

In Liu Xiaoli's view, it was possible that Big Beard Zhang, seeing the importance the Beijing Film Academy placed on Li Xiuwu, was using him as a bargaining chip to force Zhou Xiaowen to relinquish power.

Inside the tent, Li Xiuwu was eating hot pot and picked up a piece of meat for Little Lion.

"A cat is raised for a thousand days to be used for a single moment," Li Xiuwu said to Little Lion.

"Meow." Little Lion ate the meat, tilting its head to look at Li Xiuwu.

"After eating, go catch a mouse for me. I want it alive." Li Xiuwu patted its head.

"Meow." Little Lion blinked its big eyes.

"Do you want to eat a mouse? Meow will catch a very, very big one for you," Little Lion immediately promised.

"I'm not eating it. I need a live one for a reason."

"Meow."

Little Lion stopped eating its meat, dashed out of the tent, and disappeared into the wild.

It wasn't until evening that Little Lion returned, carrying a gray mouse in its mouth.

"Little Lion is so amazing. I'll reward you with a big chicken leg." Li Xiuwu's eyes lit up when he saw the mouse.

"Meow, hurry up and eat; it's still alive." Little Lion batted at the mouse, which was playing dead.

Li Xiuwu sent a thought to the mouse: "If you keep playing dead, I'll let it bite you to death."

"Squeak, squeak." The little mouse opened its eyes and looked at Li Xiuwu.

The little mouse rolled away from Little Lion, but seeing it try to run, Little Lion pounced and pinned it down.

"Little Lion, let it go. It can't run away," Li Xiuwu said.

Little Lion released the gray-furred mouse but kept staring at it.

"I'll let you run a hundred paces first. Little Lion, don't chase it." Li Xiuwu held a toothpick in his hand, twirling it.

The mouse had a very strong will to live; it ran a short distance to one side and then bolted.

Whoosh!

Thwack! A toothpick pierced the ground right in front of the mouse.

The mouse jumped half a meter in fright, changed direction, and continued running.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."

The toothpicks in Li Xiuwu's hand flew, darting like lightning toward the scurrying mouse, always landing precisely in front of it.

"Still not submitting?" Li Xiuwu also grew annoyed and flicked his finger.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!" The toothpick pinned the mouse's tail exactly to the ground.

"It hurts! It hurts so much!" the mouse squeaked.

Li Xiuwu walked over and crouched down: "Do one thing for me, and I'll let you go. Otherwise..."

Thump! A toothpick slammed into the ground right next to its face.

"I'll do it, I'll do it!" the mouse yielded.

He lifted a corner of the tent and pointed at another tent.

"Crawl inside and bite the person in there right here, hard." Li Xiuwu pointed to his own mouth.

"Okay, I understand. If I do it, will you really let me go?"

"Naturally," Li Xiuwu said.