Chapter 441 I'm Really a Bad Talker
What you said is true. My workload is heavy every year, Li Guangfu complained in his heart.
Ever since he met Lin Weimin, he has never had a leisurely time.
Of course, to be honest, Li Guangfu has made a lot of money from Lin Weimin in recent years.
This time, Prince Yongji's mansion covers an area of 5,000 to 6,000 square meters and has hundreds of rooms. According to Mr. Lin's usual style, throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into this house is like playing.
Li Guangfu felt that if he could get this job, he would earn enough for ten or twenty years.
However, the Prince Yongji Mansion is a nearly two hundred year old house after all. It would be very difficult for Li Guangfu to completely restore the former splendor of the house by his own strength and also meet Teacher Lin's living requirements.
Li Guangfu expressed his thoughts and Lin Weimin nodded.
"Such a large house, let alone renovation, requires certain skills just to restore it. How about this, you go to the university and find a few experts who know ancient architecture and ask them to be consultants. I'll pay you the cost."
In addition to being in awe of Teacher Lin's talent, what Li Guangfu admired most was Teacher Lin's generosity.
"Okay, I'll contact you later after I've contacted someone. Please tell us the specific requirements."
"good."
The relocation progress of Prince Yongqi's mansion is gratifying, which makes Lin Weimin in a good mood recently.
The next day, Lin Weimin received a call from Teng Jinxian, who invited him to visit the filming set of "The Last Emperor".
With the casting of the actors confirmed some time ago, the preparations for the filming of "The Last Emperor" have been basically completed. The state even agreed to Bertolucci's request to shoot in the Forbidden City, which shows the official importance attached to this film.
Lin Weimin and Teng Jinxian made an appointment for the weekend, and the crew started work as usual that day.
The car stopped outside the Forbidden City. The two men showed the work permits that Bertolucci had given them in advance before they were allowed to enter the Hall of Supreme Harmony where filming was being done.
When the two entered the shooting site, it was busy.
The sun was shining brightly outside, but the hall was brightly lit. The Hall of Supreme Harmony was too large, and the light was dim during the day, not to mention that filming movies now has even higher requirements for light.
The staff kept talking, not only in Chinese, but also in Italian and English. The mixture of several languages made people feel busy immediately.
The assistant director was adjusting the positions of the extras, the stage workers were laying tracks and installing jibs, and the lighting team was setting up lights. Everything seemed so busy yet in order.
Director Bertolucci was sitting behind the camera discussing with the photographer how to move the camera. When he caught a glimpse of Lin Weimin and Teng Jinxian, he immediately waved and greeted them.
The two men waved in response, and when they were about to walk over, Lin Weimin suddenly discovered a worker hammering nails into the wall.
"Stop!" Lin Weimin shouted loudly.
The worker at that site was a foreigner who could not understand Chinese and did not pay attention to Lin Weimin's calls.
There were many Chinese people helping out in the crew, and they noticed Lin Weimin's call, and everyone looked at him.
Lin Weimin stepped forward and snatched the tool from his hand. The foreigner, who was still smoking a cigarette, saw that Lin Weimin was Chinese and immediately asked angrily, "What are you going to do?"
"This is the Forbidden City, a complex of wooden structures. Fireworks are strictly prohibited, and you can't hammer nails into the walls. The entire palace is a cultural relic."
The stagehand said nonchalantly: "Even in a museum in Italy, I can smoke if I want. Besides, we paid to film here."
Lin Weimin was furious. He ignored the worker's words and turned to Bertolucci in the distance and shouted, "Mr. Bertolucci!"
Bertolucci just glanced at Lin Weimin and the others, said hello, and continued to be busy. He didn't take Lin Weimin's shouting to heart.
Lin Weimin called him, and he finally noticed, stood up and walked over, "Lin, what's the matter? I'm busy!"
Lin Weimin asked: "When you entered the venue to shoot, did the staff of the Palace Museum tell you what to pay attention to when shooting?"
Bertolucci nodded, "Of course!"
"Then what's going on?" Lin Weimin asked, pointing at the nail on the wall.
Bertolucci took a look and said, "We just did a test shot and found that the light is still not enough. We need to add another set of lights and fix them to the wall. There is nothing we can do about it."
Lin Weimin frowned, "Mr. Bertolucci, this is the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with hundreds of years of history. Every blade of grass, every brick and every tile are treasures of our China. The reason why the country allowed you to enter the Forbidden City to film is in the spirit of courtesy to foreign guests, but what you are doing now is a crime against the Forbidden City!"
Bertolucci frowned upon hearing this. "Lin, it's not as serious as you say, is it? We just used it for the convenience of filming. I can have someone recover it later."
"How to recover?" Lin Weimin asked.
Bertolucci stopped talking, and his words of recovery were naturally perfunctory. In fact, he did not take the matter to heart.
At this time, Teng Jinxian, who had been silent for a long time, tried to smooth things over by saying, "It is indeed not appropriate to hammer in nails. Mr. Bertolucci, can you see if there is a different method?"
"That will delay the filming progress." Bertolucci's tone was a little stiff.
"That's your business!" Lin Weimin's tone was even more blunt than Bertolucci's.
He participated in the film "The Last Emperor". If the cultural relics in the Forbidden City were damaged during the filming of the movie, he would be held responsible and he would not be able to get over it.
Producer Thomas came out at this time. Seeing that Lin Weimin and Bertolucci both looked worried, he asked, "What's going on?"
The translator on the side explained what had just happened.
Thomas said to Lin Weimin: "Lin, we are also doing this for the filming progress of the movie. You should know that every extra day of filming this movie will cost tens of thousands of dollars."
Lin Weimin shook his head stubbornly and said, "I told you, that's your business. The country allowed you to enter the Forbidden City to film, not to let you destroy it. I think you agreed very well at the time. What you are doing now is hurting our good intentions."
Thomas was troubled by Lin Weimin's stubbornness. He was the producer of the film and he had brought in more than 20 million US dollars in investment.
In the crew, Bertolucci has the final say on filming, and everything including filming is decided by him as the producer.
In his eyes, Lin Weimin is just a screenwriter, and he and Bertolucci have given Lin Weimin enough respect.
"Lin, Bertolucci and I are the ones who have the final say on this crew." There was a hint of warning in Thomas' words.
Lin Weimin glanced at him and said, "You are the only one who has the final say. When did the Forbidden City sell to you?"
“But we also spent money.”
“The money you spent does not include the destruction of cultural relics.”
Lin Weimin spoke calmly, which made Thomas extremely angry. "You are just a screenwriter, you have no right to care about these things!"
When Lin Weimin saw that he started to make trouble, his eyes became fierce and his demeanor suddenly changed.
"Whether I have the right to intervene or not, you have no right to speak! Even if the king of heaven comes today, no one can touch a single brick or tile in this Forbidden City.
We let you film here to give you face, don't be so shameless!"
The translator at the side was startled by his sudden outburst. His first reaction was to worry about how to translate these words, but he immediately realized that Lin Weimin was speaking English and there was no need for him to translate at all.
Not only the translator was shocked, but also Bertolucci and Thomas, as well as all the foreign staff in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Everyone was stunned when they heard Lin Weimin using words starting with the letter F in every sentence.
This group of people have been in the country for quite some time and have always received special care wherever they go. Not to mention being scolded, they have never even been treated poorly.
"Calm down! Calm down!" Teng Jinxian pulled Lin Weimin and wanted to go out.
Thomas was scolded by Lin Weimin in front of him, his face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he replied unyieldingly: "You are not welcome here, please leave here immediately!"
Lin Weimin sneered, "It's you who should get out!"
After saying this, Lin Weimin turned to Bertolucci and said, "Mr. Bertolucci, we welcome your decision to shoot The Last Emperor and are willing to provide you with all possible assistance, but the prerequisite is that you cannot do anything that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people.
Mr. Thomas is right. I am just a screenwriter in this crew. I am not an administrator of the Forbidden City, nor a government official.
I am talking to you now only from the perspective of a Chinese.
You can choose to ignore what I say, but I advise you not to do so! ”
The threat in Lin Weimin's words made Bertolucci a little panicked, and Teng Jinxian was even more shocked. He dragged Lin Weimin out of the hall.
"Not at all. Not at all. Just tell the people at the Palace Museum to keep an eye on them. There's no need to confront them head-on or you'll get punished. They're foreign guests, and they have international reputation. We can't even invite them."
Lin Weimin no longer had the angry expression he had in the hall, and he said in a cold voice, "Who doesn't have some international reputation? If someone wants to punish me, I'll take it. I want to see, after so many years of founding the country, who is still as soft-hearted as a dog?"
Teng Jinxian felt a little helpless. Teacher Lin usually looked quite elegant, but why did he act like a gangster when he got angry?
"I'll find someone from the Palace Museum right now and ask them to send someone to look after it."
"If their words had any effect, would those foreigners dare to act so recklessly?"
Lin Weimin's words blocked Teng Jinxian there. Teng Jinxian was in a bit of a dilemma today. "The Last Emperor" was a project that all the higher-ups valued. It was impossible for them to hold someone back over a small issue.
He also has a good relationship with Lin Weimin. He emotionally understands the incident today when Lin Weimin made a scene with the crew over the destruction of cultural relics, but it is difficult for him to do anything rationally.
You can't just chase people away, can you?
If that happens, the higher-ups won't let him off.
Lin Weimin said, "Director Teng, I understand your difficulties. But I must take care of this matter, otherwise I will be helping the evil, right?"
You understand shit!
Teng Jinxian was so depressed. If you are not helping the evil, then I am the one doing it, right?
"How do you want to manage it?"
"If the current management doesn't work, I'll find the county magistrate." Lin Weimin said in a single tone.
Lin Weimin's rank was not very high, but his influence was definitely enough. If he went to the government office barefoot and made some noise, any leader of any ministry would be confused when they saw him.
Lin Weimin has no power to punish them, but he can definitely make them famous and infamous for a hundred years.
Teng Jinxian understood his subtext and quickly grabbed him, "Don't do anything stupid!"
The matter of "The Last Emperor" was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites. He knew which department Lin Weimin would go to to make trouble. Wouldn't this be an attempt to provoke himself?
Teng Jinxian thought to himself: I always treated you as one of my own, but you are so ruthless when it comes to betraying your own people!
"I'll tell them, I'll tell them, we won't let them destroy any of the plants or trees in the Forbidden City."
"Really?" Lin Weimin asked.
"Really! Really!" Teng Jinxian's face was full of confidence.
Lin Weimin added, "Well, I won't make it difficult for you. Just tell them the truth. If I find out that they are destroying cultural relics, I will definitely go to the higher authorities to disrupt their business. No matter how many tens of millions of dollars they have invested, I will make them throw it into the water and see the noise!"
The more Lin Weimin acted like a reckless person, the more Teng Jinxian bought into his tricks. "Okay, okay, I promise, I won't let them destroy the cultural relics!"
At this moment, Teng Jinxian had only two words in his mind: regret.
I'm such a bad mouth. Why did I call you here for no reason?
Purely making trouble for yourself!
(End of this chapter)
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