Chapter 605 The Rashomon of the Film Crew
"Xin Pingqing's father is Xin Siyang?" Hu Siwei looked incredulous.
Seeing this, Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi guessed that Hu Siwei was indeed unaware of the situation.
"So you didn't know either?"
"I don't know." Hu Siwei shook his head. "But Xin Siyang's suicide back then caused quite a stir. Those of us who have been in this industry for a long time basically know about it."
"Is Xin Siyang's suicide related to An Jian?"
"No, I haven't heard anything about it." Hu Siwei shook his head. "If it were related to An Jian, there should have been news about it. Besides, although An Jian is a bit eccentric and sharp-tongued, he wouldn't drive someone to suicide. If such a thing really happened, even if it wasn't exposed or spread outside, we in the industry would definitely know about it."
Chen Siqi nodded.
Actually, that's what she thought too.
If Director An Jian really had such a background, they shouldn't have missed this information when they were evaluating him.
Chen Siqi said, "They have now started investigating the reasons for Xin Siyang's suicide back then. However, after investigating the whole thing, it seems that the person most closely connected to An Jian's past affairs is Xin Pingqing. Moreover, even though so much time has passed since the incident, Xin Pingqing has never mentioned to us that his father was once a screenwriter at An Jian's company. Although it is not yet certain, I think we can now assume that he is the one who sent the anonymous letter."
Hu Siwei frowned.
"This kid actually directed and acted in it himself."
Chen Siqi said, "Actually, it's not a big deal that he directs and acts in the show himself, but if it really is him, I would be very annoyed. He has plenty of time to stop An Jian from becoming the director of our show a month or even two months before the project starts, but he insists on doing it the night before filming starts, causing such a big problem for our crew."
When Hu Siwei heard Chen Siqi say this, he roughly understood what was going on.
Xin Pingqing was brought to Linghe Film and Television Company by him. If Xin Pingqing really caused such a big problem for "The Silent Staircase", then this matter certainly cannot be let go lightly.
Hu Siwei sighed.
Chen Siqi said, "Brother Siwei, if Xin Pingqing really did this, we can't let him stay in Linghe any longer."
Hu Siwei nodded: "I understand. I will talk to him. However, 'The Silent Staircase' is still being filmed. He is the production assistant and is responsible for many tasks. I suggest that, in any case, we should at least wait until the filming of this series is completed before dealing with his matter."
Chen Siqi nodded in agreement.
-
During the afternoon shoot, a small mishap occurred: an actor named Zhou Yelu was late and they couldn't contact him.
Unfortunately, the scene we were filming that afternoon was a group scene, and it would be difficult to film if one person was missing.
Time was of the essence, and there was no other way but to find someone with a similar build to him on set, have him change into the costume, and stand in his place.
By using photography, avoid shooting his front or side profile.
When Zhou Yelu arrives, we'll let him reshoot a few more shots of this scene himself.
He didn't appear on set until two hours later.
This time, Chen Yu didn't speak to him in a good mood, and asked with a dark face, "Where have you been? You're so late."
Zhou Yelu looked embarrassed and said, "I forgot to set my alarm for my nap at noon, so I overslept."
Chen Yu's face darkened further. He said, "Someone knocked on your room door and asked the hotel for a spare key. They went in and checked, but there was no one inside."
This isn't just about being late because you overslept; it's also about lying.
However, at this moment, Chen Yu didn't say anything else, only saying: "If this happens a second time, I will directly announce your behavior on the official Weibo account of the production team. Even if you gain attention after this show airs, see if any other production team would dare to use an actor who deliberately doesn't come to the filming."
As soon as Chen Yu finished speaking, Zhou Yelu's face turned pale.
This was also the first time Chen Yu had shown such a ruthless and unpleasant expression on this set.
"I'm sorry, director, I was wrong, I won't do it again next time."
Chen Yu said nothing, but turned to the coordinator and said, "Move all of Zhou Yelu's scenes to the earliest and latest time slots of each day. If he's late again, call his agency over and see how they'll compensate us for the damage he caused to our filming."
Zhou Yelu's face turned even paler.
"Director, Director—"
Chen Yu ignored him completely, saying, "We're about to film the next scene."
-
Lu Yanhe slightly curled the corners of his mouth.
He overheard Peng Yufen whispering in amazement, "This Director Chen is quite shrewd for his young age; Xiao Zhou's face turned pale with fright."
Zhang Yuan: "If it were me, I would have fired Zhou Yelu immediately."
"If we fire him, who will act in his shows? Will we have to reshoot all the shows he filmed before? Reshoots don't cost money, do they?" Peng Yufen retorted directly, "It's easy for you to just open your mouth."
"..." Lu Yanhe silently turned his head away from their gaze, so as not to let them see the smile on his face.
Zhang Yuan asked, annoyed, "Peng Yufen, why do you like to tease me so much? Do you feel uncomfortable if you don't tease me for a day?"
"Why don't you ask yourself why you're so rude?" Peng Yufen retorted confidently, "You're over forty years old and still not mentally sound. Your wife must be exhausted. Finding a husband is like raising another son."
"Your husband has it tough too, having a venomous mouth lying next to him every day."
Lu Yanhe noted down these witty banter lines, thinking he could write them into a script later.
-
At 8:30 p.m., Lu Yanhe finished work, and the other actors also finished work, but Zhou Yelu had to stay to film his scenes.
Because it was an indoor scene, there was no need to consider daylight, so Chen Yu really saved all his shots for last.
Zhou Yelu's face was pale and blue during the few hours he spent on set.
But no one comforted him.
Hu Siwei and Xin Pingqing discussed tomorrow's filming plan together on set.
-
“After Xiao Zhou was taught a lesson like that, I guess everyone else in the crew will have to be more alert.” Xin Pingqing said to Hu Siwei with a smile, “These past two days, although Director Chen is quite formidable, everyone seems to think that he has a good temper and doesn’t get angry with people, so some people have slowly started to slack off.”
Hu Siwei nodded and said, "I originally thought changing directors would be a disaster, but I didn't expect it to turn out to be a blessing in disguise."
Xin Pingqing immediately nodded and said, "Yes, it's good that we found Chen Yu to direct."
Hu Siwei asked, "Tell me, if we don't find Chen Yu to replace An Jian as director, how will this drama be produced?"
Xin Pingqing laughed, "Brother Siwei, are you testing me?"
“Yes, you’re a production assistant now, but you’ll be a producer on your own in the future. You might encounter similar situations again. If you were in that situation, how would you handle it?” Hu Siwei asked.
Xin Pingqing thought for a moment and said, "If all else fails, let's do as Chen Siqi said back then and have Director An Jian use a pseudonym, so that we can at least finish filming this drama first."
Hu Siwei: "But didn't I say that if we use an alias, the person who sent the anonymous letter is most likely still on set and would definitely be able to see that Director An is still there? According to what he said in the anonymous letter, he might just expose the contents of the anonymous letter online soon."
Xin Pingqing said, "That's a matter for later. If this drama has to start filming, it's already set in stone. Director An's issues are just things of the past. Even if they are exposed, at most it will cause a boycott, but it won't be like some tainted artists who are directly blacklisted and prevented from airing. We can just remove the director's name then. Rather than letting this drama fall through, my priority is definitely to get it filmed first. After all, the entire crew is waiting to start filming, and a third of the production budget has already been invested in the early stages. If we don't start filming, it will be a direct loss."
Hu Siwei did not expect Xin Pingqing to say that.
"I thought you would say that it would be safer not to turn on the camera until the truth of what Director An said is cleared up."
“I’m a producer, and this project is one that I’ve worked on for a long time. No matter what others say, I have to make sure this project survives first.” Xin Pingqing shook his head. “Even if what the anonymous letter said about An Jian is true, the project is already in the works, so I can only bite the bullet and cover for him. At least we’ll talk about it after the show is over.”
Hu Siwei nodded thoughtfully.
-
“I don’t think Ping Qing necessarily orchestrated the anonymous letter,” Hu Siwei said to Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi later.
He recounted his conversation with Xin Pingqing when he tested him to them.
“I’ve known Pingqing for so many years, and I know him well. If you ask me if he might retaliate against An Jian because his father had a grudge against him, I think he might. But if you ask me if he would risk such a big project just to get revenge, based on my understanding of his character, it doesn’t seem like something he would do.”
Hu Siwei said, "I think he made a very good point. If he wanted to do this, he could have waited until the show aired before exposing it online."
"The problem is that, as you can see from this anonymous letter, this person's first choice was not to expose what An Jian had done online, but to force An Jian to leave the 'Silent Staircase' production team. What this person cares about is An Jian's director status."
After Chen Siqi finished speaking, she suddenly paused.
Lu Yanhe and Hu Siwei looked at her with suspicion and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I suddenly thought of something."
"What is it?" Lu Yanhe asked.
Chen Siqi: "We all initially assumed that the person who wrote the anonymous letter threatening An Jian was someone connected to those events from back then, seeking revenge. But if it were revenge, it would definitely involve ruining his reputation, not something as simple as using an anonymous letter to force An Jian to leave the production team and stop directing. This person's goal was simply to prevent An Jian from directing 'The Silent Staircase.' Indeed, if Xin Pingqing did this, according to our speculation, it was because his father's suicide might have been related to An Jian, which is why he did it—but would that be enough? How could simply getting An Jian to leave the 'The Silent Staircase' production team be enough?"
Lu Yanhe and Hu Siwei both realized what was happening.
“This person is just using some things from back then to threaten Anjian. He may not even be involved in those things. I acted impulsively. As soon as I learned that Xin Pingqing's father was a screenwriter at Anjian's company, I immediately assumed it was Xin Pingqing.” Chen Siqi frowned slightly. “But even you, Brother Siwei, didn't know that Xin Pingqing's father was a screenwriter at Anjian's company—”
"Who told you that?" Hu Siwei asked.
“Liu Yuan, but he works for my company,” Chen Siqi said. “I asked him to inquire about things on set.”
“Perhaps someone deliberately told him this information so that we would suspect Xin Pingqing about the anonymous letter,” Lu Yanhe said.
“I have to ask him,” Chen Siqi said. “I’ll make a call.”
She picked up her phone, got up, and left.
Lu Yanhe and Hu Siwei looked at each other in bewilderment.
"This is really something—how did our production team become so suspenseful and mystery-filled while filming a suspenseful mystery drama?" Hu Siwei said with a smile, though there was a hint of bitterness in his expression.
Lu Yanhe shook his head. "Although people say that it's not surprising to encounter anything while filming, I've filmed so many movies and I've never encountered anything more outrageous than this."
Hu Siwei laughed uncontrollably, "I feel like the behind-the-scenes footage of our crew could be made into a whole movie."
“Maybe one day we’ll actually be able to film it.” Lu Yanhe shrugged.
At that moment, Hu Siwei's phone buzzed.
"Hmm?" He picked it up and glanced at it, saying, "Ping Qing messaged me. The footage from the first day of filming has been edited into a first draft. He asked if I had time to take a look at it tomorrow."
For the scenes at Jumping Theater, filming and editing are basically done simultaneously, except that editing is done a day later than filming.
This is to allow producers and directors to keep track of whether the footage already shot is usable and whether there are any scenes that need to be reshot or supplemented.
However, this kind of filming method will make the producers and directors very tired, because it means that they are working non-stop all day long, not just on-site filming tasks.
Lu Yanhe said, "Then I'll go take a look tomorrow too."
After chatting for a few minutes, Chen Siqi returned after finishing her phone call.
Her expression grew even more serious.
"What's wrong? Why do you look so serious?"
Chen Siqi said, "The person who told Liu Yuanxin that his father used to be a screenwriter at Anjian Company was Anjian himself."
As soon as Chen Siqi finished speaking, Lu Yanhe and Hu Siwei both looked surprised and stunned.
"Liu Yuan went to Director An Jian to find out which people in the crew were old acquaintances of his, people with whom he had connections. An Jian then mentioned Xin Pingqing's matter," Chen Siqi added. "Now I feel like this matter is getting more and more complicated."
Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi looked at each other in bewilderment.
Hu Siwei also seemed completely baffled.
Where is An Jian now?
“He has already gone home. The official explanation is that he suffered a sudden illness, so we have made an agreement with him these past few days that he will not go out after filming ends and will stay at home,” Hu Siwei said.
Chen Siqi: "I think I need to have a talk with him."
Chen Siqi's face suddenly turned very ugly.
Lu Yanhe had the same thought as Chen Siqi, and his face darkened.
What if An Jian orchestrated this whole thing himself?
It wasn't that anyone wanted to force him to quit filming "The Silent Staircase," but rather that he wanted to leave for some reason. To avoid legal trouble and a falling out with Jumping Theater, which could lead to a scandal of unethical conduct, he orchestrated this whole charade, making it seem like he was being particularly responsible to the production team by voluntarily resigning.
Is that really the case?
I recommend the older book "I Became the Scandalous Woman Overnight" and the new book "The Demon-Slaying Sword".
There will be another chapter updated later.
I must say, writing a little bit of "The Demon-Slaying Sword" every day, changing my perspective, has given me a lot more ideas for "Choose Your Day to Become Famous".
It felt great.
(End of this chapter)
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