"The progress of the shooting is much slower than expected," Zhou Yun said on the phone to Zhou Lan. "Brother Shen was delayed by food poisoning and had to be hospitalized for a day, and now ng Ran has gone to record a show and can’t return. We’ve adjusted the shooting tasks temporarily, but the progress has been significantly delayed. Previously, it was said that I would only shoot for two weeks, but now it seems that the two weeks won’t be enough."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lan said, "I’ll go and negotiate with the crew, so it won’t drag on too long for you."
"Um, if it’s because of Brother Shen’s food poisoning and we need to extend the shooting ti, I think it’s fine to delay for a few days. But what I’m afraid of is that they want to wait for ng Ran to co back. Today I only shot one scene, and for tomorrow’s schedule, there is still only one scene. If we continue like this, I estimate it’ll take a month to finish," Zhou Yun said.
Zhou Yun has already shot three movies, and "Warm Little Horse" is her fourth, but this one is the easiest she’s ever done. Just one or two scenes a day and then she can wrap up and return to the hotel.
She was even sowhat unaccustod to such a relaxed pace.
It was clear that they could shoot faster. Looking at the crew’s schedule, Shen Yao didn’t have more than two scenes more than her either. Either she was being overly sensitive since it was her first ti shooting a film and this was just the usual slow pace, or the crew, despite being truly upset about ng Ran leaving the cast, was deliberately slowing down the shooting pace before ng Ran returned.
She and Shen Yao clearly had more scenes to shoot together. Without ng Ran, they could’ve arranged to shoot these scenes first.
The stories all took place in a hair salon, without any extra requirents.
Zhou Yun couldn’t figure it out and could only take the current arrangent as the crew’s "plan," creating an atmosphere that the crew wasn’t completely halted due to ng Ran’s absence—if that were truly the case, she had no complaints, and Zhou Lan would co over to handle it.
Zhou Yun’s ti was valuable, not to be wasted just waiting for ng Ran.
What made her anxious was that ng Ran hadn’t returned after leaving the cast for three days.
She still only shot one scene that day.
She pressed her doubts and dissatisfaction down in her heart and waited for Zhou Lan to co and deal with it.
In the evening, after Zhou Lan spoke with the producer, she ca to see Zhou Yun.
The first thing she did when she ca in was to take off her high heels.
"Damn it, my feet are going to be ruined."
Zhou Yun poured a glass of water for Zhou Lan and asked, "What was the outco?"
Zhou Lan said, "ng Ran won’t be able to return for at least a week."
"What? The producer told you this?" Zhou Yun said, greatly surprised.
She hadn’t expected that.
Zhou Lan said, "Of course not. Why would they tell this news? I found out myself. ng Ran didn’t go to record a show at all; her company secured her a cao in another movie, which will take five days."
"Another movie? Do they know about that here?" Zhou Yun asked.
Zhou Lan said, "I guess they do. The movie she’s doing a cao in is also produced by the production company of this movie."
"..." Zhou Yun had a look of disbelief, "So, the only reason we’ve been deliberately delaying the filming schedule is to wait for ng Ran’s return?"
No wonder they only had her shoot one scene a day.
Zhou Yun felt a surge of anger.
Zhou Lan nodded, "That seems to be the case."
"Why would they do that?" Zhou Yun frowned, "We’re all just waiting for her?"
Zhou Lan shook her head, "Of course we can’t wait. We initially only gave two weeks of our schedule. If we have to stay another week because of ng Ran, who’s going to compensate for the lost ti? I’ve already told the producer today, if the shooting continues at this pace from tomorrow, once the ti is up, they have to either pay us the additional shooting fee as per the contract, or we leave the production."
Zhou Yun nodded.
Zhou Lan said, "This is all due to indulgence."
"If Brother Shen didn’t have food poisoning, would ng Ran still have left?" Zhou Yun asked.
"Of course, this kind of thing must have been arranged well in advance," Zhou Lan said, "If it weren’t for Shen Yao’s food poisoning, they would have co up with so other excuse, like taking a leave of absence or sothing."
"If that’s the case, why not tell us early to adjust the shooting schedule instead of having a bunch of people waiting here for her?" Zhou Yun asked angrily.
Zhou Lan smiled, patted Zhou Yun’s cheek, and said, "It’s because they had you signed on, they stumbled upon a treasure. If they had changed the shooting dates, we would have a legitimate reason not to shoot this film, and of course, they are afraid you wouldn’t perform."
Zhou Yun was dumbfounded; she didn’t expect things could work out this way.
"Well, it’s okay. From their perspective, I also understand why they do this. They want to take advantage on all fronts, but we can’t be kept in the dark and treated like fools," Zhou Lan said. "Wang Jing also faced a similar issue, but for Wang Jing, it was a blessing in disguise. The lead actress of ’Dark Sky’ secretly took on another movie, running back and forth, causing a lot of trouble for ’Dark Sky.’ Now the scriptwriter is pulling a lot of the lead actress’s scenes to give to Wang Jing."
After hearing this, Zhou Yun purse d her lips and said, "How oddly would that turn out when shot?"
Zhou Lan said, "For the crew, when facing such a thing, they either have to trouble the lead actress for compensation, or they can only mitigate the damages and find a way to complete the shooting and get it aired. If they choose the forr, they also face a risk. In the current policy environnt, if the lead actress exposes problems with professional ethics, even the whole show might not be aired, as the main cast could be considered to have ethical issues."
"..." Zhou Yun was shocked, "Isn’t that a paradox? Instead of exposing the lead actress’s lack of professionalism, it seems to encourage that behavior, as they don’t have to face any punishnt."
Zhou Lan shrugged her shoulders, "That’s why they dare to do so."
Zhou Yun said, "Then, wouldn’t Gu Huaichun be extrely vexed?"
Zhou Lan nodded, "Definitely vexed, but there’s no choice but to continue shooting."
Zhou Yun shook her head in disbelief, mimicking Zhou Lan’s catchphrase, "They are truly spoiled."
Zhou Lan smiled, stayed the night there, and left early the next morning.
Zhou Yun received the new schedule, and finally, her shooting returned to normal.
On the set, no one raised any objections about the sudden change in the schedule, even Shen Yao acted as if nothing had happened, performing the scenes with her, laughing and joking as usual.
Zhou Yun suddenly felt dispirited.
The more everything seed unchanged, the more it made her realize that she was the only one kept in the dark before.
Even the friendly smile on Liu Yuqian’s face made her feel false, like winter sunshine.
That evening, an explosive report suddenly appeared online, pushing ng Ran, who had been absent from the set for several days, into the eye of the storm.
The news that ng Ran’s absence had delayed the crew’s shooting sohow leaked out and spread uncontrollably.
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