Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The more they crawled inside, the more this feeling of terror intensified. Nobody spoke any more. In the entire metal barrel, only sounds of firearm props colliding with metal, the rustle of clothes grinding against the metallic surface could be heard, and heavy pants was heard.
Lu Ze’s back was already drenched in cold sweat, and his physical capability was draining away rapidly. However, to his great fortune, he could clearly see light coming from the small camera ahead at the ceiling of the barrel.
At this moment, Lu Ze felt a hand on his butt. Lu Ze immediately responded, “You damn northerner, what are you doing!”
Behind him, Mi Long remained unyielding, “Wait for us to get out. All the old and new scores between us will be settled!”
As they continued forward, Lu Ze discovered that Zhang Yi’s physical capabilities were deteriorating rapidly. He heavily gasped and simply laid down in the barrel, unmoving.
Lu Ze was startled. Did he pass out? If he passed out here, all the people behind would be stuck as well, and he could not wake him up through words. In the end, he could only forcefully pull at his trousers.
Zheng Yi didn’t move but he kicked back a little bit, allowing Lu Ze to ascertain that he did not pass out. Therefore, Lu Ze proceeded to push him according to the script.
“Move! Hey, move!”
“You bastard! I’m trying to catch my breath, damn it! If you want to go ahead, be my guest.”
The metal barrel was a bit too small. According to the script, Meng Fan or Zheng Yi had to turn his body and allow Zhang Lixian to take the lead. However, he discovered that he could not turn his body, and thus, could only ask Lu Ze to make a move himself. Lu Ze slithered forward while pushing him to the side.
“Son-of-a-bitch, you really are a deserter.”
“I’m a fucking deserter?! How am I the deserter here!”
Lu Ze felt a push from behind, causing him to lose his balance and plant his face into the ground like a dog covered in mud.
“Bastard! I’m going to show you, jack*ss!”
“Son-of-a-bitch!”
Of course, they could not really fight. Lu Ze clenched one of his hands into a fist, bulging out the center of his palm, and struck at Zhang Yi’s back. A muffled sound rang out. In reality, his hit should not have hurt much.
Zhang Yi also employed a similar technique, and the two began to beat each other up while screaming like a pig being butchered. Their sounds echoed repeatedly inside the barrel, causing Lu Ze’s ears to hurt.
“Cut! Don’t move! And don’t come out! Get a little rest at your spot! We’ll pick up the next scene from right over there! You can have proper rest at noon after shooting. Don’t even wipe your sweat!”
Director Guo yelled out loud and everyone instantly froze in place. This pathway was surely not a kilometer long and barely seemed two hundred meters long. Even so, everybody was dead tired. In a short dozen minutes, everybody was already feeling completely exhausted.
“Big Brother Zheng, are you alright? It seems to me that you were really scared?”
Having roamed the set for several days, Lu Ze had chatted a bit with main leads. Since the shooting was paused, he relaxed a bit and poked Zheng Yi behind him.
“I’m fine. I just strained my arm a bit. I’m tired as fuck but I’m not afraid. That being said, I’ve got no energy to spare. It’s too tiring.”
Lu Ze blankly stared. In the end, he could only admire that he had been fooled. Zheng Yi’s acting was incredible, but he could not admit it. This bunch was really a group of powerful actors.
“Director! When can we get out of here? Hurry up with the shooting, alright? Lying here in mud is even worse. Get it over with!”
Song Guiyuan, who was playing Mi Long, laid down on the ground but instantly grimaced in pain then yelled while rubbing his back.
“If you don’t want to rest, we can begin right now! Everybody agree? Noone wants a break?”
“No need, no need! Just get this over with!”
“Alright then, action!”
This scene had no dialogue by Lu Ze. He only had to make a hand gesture. The rest of the scene was mostly centered on Zheng Yi and Cheng Ziyun with a bit of Yu Xiaoqin’s dialogues mixed between. In this manner, three scenes were shot in one take.
—
“Huff, huff, huff…”
Just this one crawl caused Lu Ze’s entire body to be drenched completely in sweat as if he had taken a bath. Completely covered in mud, he sat on the side and heavily gasped.
He was too tired. This shoot was simply too straining. Merely one scene of crawling through a metal barrel made him like a tired dog, sticking out his tongue and panting. His filth covered body made him seem like a sewer rat.
“Get some drinks, hurry! What will you drink? Big Brother Zheng, a redbull for you? What about you, big brother Song? And Lu Ze, you?”
“Ah… I’ll take that redbull. Big Brother Song, can you take a look if I scratched my back?”
Song Guiyuan and Lu Ze were from the same motherland. Although they were from different cities, the province was the same. Usually, he was the one who talked with Lu Ze the most so Lu Ze took off his upper garments without formalities and turned around to let Song Guiyuan to have a look.
“Oh, it’s a bit blue and a little scratched. There isn’t even any blood. You’ll be fine. My knee got ripped. See, that hole? The barrel was a little improperly welded. I almost fucking died.”
Lu Ze glanced. Indeed, there was a slender cut at his knees, slowly leaking blood. Although the cut was not deep, it had to be disinfected since it was caused by the iron sheet.
On the whole, nobody managed to come out unscathed. Lu Ze’s back, elbows, and even cheek had been scratched.
The crew’s medical team arrived. Lu Ze didn’t have any major issues. He merely took a cotton swab himself, dipped it into iodine solution, and pressed on his wounds, slightly grimacing as he felt the sting.
It was somewhat satisfying…
It was an extra who had the most significant injury. His arm had suffered a deep cut and had to take six stitches. He received a thousand yuan compensation and was sent home to recuperate.
However, this also demonstrated Gu Mingde’s temperament. He went off on the props team.
“Didn’t you say that inspection is complete? You couldn’t even spot the uneven welding? Are you blind? Did you actually do a test crawl? One thousand, all the employee’s wages this month will be deducted by a thousand yuan, and the team leader’s wage will be deducted by two thousand. If somebody gets injured again, all of you can get lost. I don’t lack manpower, god damn it. To the other teams, be careful, very careful! If there’s even one mistake, one more mistake! All of you can get lost!”
Lu Ze took out cigarettes from his bag and offered everybody one. All of them were proper actors, meaning veteran smokers. None of them declined. They watched Gu Mingde abusing his employees with all kinds of curses.
“I have biscuits, you want some?”
Zeng Fandong, who was playing Dou Bing, approached Lu Ze, holding out a biscuit packet.
This morning was indeed too exhausting. The little bit of breakfast he had in the morning had already disappeared without a trace. Lu Ze had just started to feel a bit hungry so he reached out and took a few biscuits.
‘Where did you get these? What are these biscuits?They… shattered just like that?”
“Shhh! From the props team. I was hungry, so I pulled out a case. Don’t shout. Take two more and get going.”
“Pfft! You stole it?”
Lu Ze spurted out a few bits of biscuits from his mouth. This kind of old-fashioned biscuits scattered a lot of dregs upon biting. Lu Ze shrunk his neck and hurriedly took a sip from his redbull and stared at Zeng Fandong with eyes wide open.
“Shush! Keep your voice down! I still have to share with Big Brother Song and the rest. Eat them secretly, and don’t let those from the props team see you.”
Lu Ze glanced at the props team members who did not even dare to raise their heads as they were scolded, then looked at this bunch of main leads who had sneaked off to the bunkers and were slowly eating. Although this type of biscuit looked quite bad from appearance, they were sweet and good to relieve hunger. One by one, more and more actors entered the pit, creating a crowd as they began to joke around.
It was until the leader of the props team went to the storeroom to inspect the props that were to be used tomorrow that his face turned red shortly after.
“Where are the biscuits? Who took away the biscuits?!”