2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 8: Acting as a Mother to Her Children

Director Lu was happy showing off his eggs, but Liu Xia and her mother's acting in front of the camera was a complete mess.

Especially the actress who played Liu Xia's mother, her eyes almost flew to the back of her head.

"What the hell is this?!" Lu Mingze was about to lose it again. "Who the hell recruited this sissy into the crew?!"

He completely forgot that this young lady was someone he had specifically requested.

Just as he was about to start yelling, he noticed that everyone in the crew had a tea egg in hand, and even the over-sixty-year-old production manager, Mr. Jia, was puffing out his cheeks and looking at him apologetically.

Director Lu was completely distraught. Looking at the egg in his hand and then at everyone else, he felt a wave of helplessness wash over him. He had set a bad example!
"never mind."

She glared fiercely at Chu An, who was still baking eggs, and told him to figure it out himself!

"Let's rest for five minutes. Xiaomeng, Xiaoshu, you two should have something to eat too, and try to finish one more before dark!" he said dejectedly.

Tong Meng felt as if he had been granted a pardon and headed straight for Chu An.

He casually reached in and grabbed some himself, saying, "I've been smelling that kitchen all afternoon." He glared at Chu An, "This unlucky kid made me so hungry!"

This was her first time meeting Chu An, but she felt completely at ease with him.

Everyone was used to this; Tong Meng was known in the industry for being down-to-earth and a bit of a goofball. No matter which group she was on, from the director and producer to the extras and crew, she could get along with everyone.

Chu An smiled politely, but it was difficult for him to respond to Tong Meng's words. She could joke with him, but he couldn't be tactless.

He handed the plate of tea eggs to Xu Shu, asking, "Do you want some?"

Xu Shu glanced at it, frowned, and seemed very unhappy. "No need."

After saying that, he arrogantly found a corner to read the script.

To be honest, if there weren't so many people around, Chu An wouldn't have handed it to her.

Act like a big shot!

In his previous life, if this kind of diva-like behavior were from another company's artist, Chu An would have flattered them, saying, "You did a great job, keep it up, don't worry about your career collapsing."

If it were one of my own artists, I'd have a hundred ways to make her completely obedient.

It's a pity that seventeen-year-old Chu An's innocence and magnanimity got the better of her; let her be.

Look at Tong Meng, carrying the eggs, heading straight for Lu Mingze. Before leaving, she even nudged Chu An with her wrist to express her gratitude.

Judging from this natural demeanor, one can tell that they either have high emotional intelligence or are genuinely sincere; in any case, they are bound to be popular.

"Director Lu, you have to explain it to me again. Why can't I act well?" Tong Meng didn't shy away from her shortcomings in acting.

Lu Mingze had no choice but to say, "The second to last one is already pretty good. Just tone it down a bit more."

Tong Meng sighed, "I don't even know how I acted out the second to last take!"

While showing off her tea eggs, she complained, "You guys, can't you just cast me as a teenage girl? You always have to play a mother, always a mother!"

"I don't even have a boyfriend, and my hormones are about to get out of whack. How am I supposed to know how to play a mother?!"

Lu Mingze was amused by her, "Play a beautiful girl? You have to look like a beautiful girl first!"

Even Chu An, who was standing to the side, smiled knowingly upon hearing this.

Tong Meng has a very good appearance, a strong sense of being in front of the camera, and is only 27 years old.

However, her facial features are on the mature side, and her temperament is somewhat similar to that of Wang Lin and Liu Mintao when they were young in the previous life, naturally lacking a girlish feel.

However, this older sister has a really good personality. In Chu An's opinion, whichever film crew she's on, the atmosphere there won't be bad.

At this moment, Tong Meng complained to Director Lu for a few minutes, listened to some of Director Lu's suggestions, and then got up and returned to Chu An's side. The egg had already been eaten.

"Give me another one, sis."

About five minutes later, everyone had eaten and rested, and Director Lu gave the order to prepare for another take.

Tong Meng wiped her hands haphazardly and shouted, "Come on, everyone! Thank Brother Chu for the tea eggs!"

Quite a few people clapped along with Tong Meng, thanking Chu An for sending eggs in the snow.

Chu An felt a little embarrassed. It was true that he had made tea eggs to please the crew, but based on past experience, very few people or crews had ever expressed their sincere gratitude.

He quickly smiled and said, "Thank you, Director Lu, everyone. I'm just paying a fine!"

Lu Mingze was finally able to calm down and said to Sister Lan, "We should give him more scenes and deduct his pay more times."

Chu An reacted quickly, "More scenes? Will you pay more?"

Lu Mingze: "."

He glared at Chu An, "He's the one who's always trying to take advantage of others!"

Little did he know, this was far more than just taking advantage of the situation. When it came to building relationships and winning people over on set, all of them combined couldn't compare to Chu An; the tea egg incident was just the beginning.

The subsequent filming did not go smoothly because of the tea eggs; the actors simply couldn't get into character, and no amount of takes could change that.

Director Lu was about to lose his temper again.

Seeing that it was getting dark and filming was impossible, Lu Mingze said in a fit of anger, "We have to work overtime tomorrow morning! We must finish the project."

This caused everyone to secretly groan, "We can't live like this anymore."

The next morning, before six o'clock, people arrived at the scene to prepare. Most of them were staff from the art and props teams who had set up the scene in advance.

Then, actors came one after another to get their makeup done, so the crew also ate breakfast on set.

Tong Meng arrived at 6:30 with Lu Mingze. Before she even opened her eyes, she was putting on makeup while grabbing two steamed buns and gnawing on them with a frown, as if she had no idea how to swallow them.

It's no wonder she's a picky eater; Tong Meng spends so much time on film sets that she's practically sick of steamed buns.

The others were the same; they ate steamed buns or dumplings, standing up, walking around, or squatting on the ground.

"Couldn't the production manager have provided some pickled vegetables?" Tong Meng couldn't swallow any more.

As it turned out, God took it as a wish, and it came true.

As soon as he finished speaking, Chu An came out of the kitchen carrying a basin, just like a little angel.

Tong Meng's mouth watered at the sight of it, "Pickled dried anchovies!!"

Chu An picked some up for her, "There's also bellflower root, but it was only pickled last night, so it won't be fully flavored until tomorrow."

Tong Meng was overjoyed to hear this, and vigorously patted Chu An on the back of the head twice, saying in an exaggeratedly tearful voice, "Why isn't he my real brother?" "He's so sensible."

It's not just Tong Meng who thinks this way.

That logistics producer was so stingy, like he'd never seen money before. Pickled anchovies? On set, that stuff was practically a seafood feast.

As Chu An distributed pickled vegetables to everyone present, he generously exclaimed, "Guests are guests! Since you're not at my house, there's plenty more if you need it!"

The coordinator, Ji Yinglai, gave Sister Lan a thumbs up, saying, "Sister, where did you find this treasure? It's so thoughtful."

"How about you give me a raise?"

Sister Lan was initially quite happy, thinking she had made the right choice in hiring Chu An, but upon hearing about the pay, she snapped, "Get lost!! I have no money, but you can take my life!"

You can't ask the director for a higher salary.
You can't tell the production manager that the food is bad.
You can't tell the production manager that the director wants to add more scenes.
These are the three ironclad rules on set!

Even so, Sister Lan sighed, thinking that Chu An was repaying what happened yesterday, and she was really considering adding a few more scenes for Chu An. She smacked her lips at the dried fish; it was surprisingly flavorful.

As the boss on set, Lu Mingze even gets special treatment!

Chu An split open a steamed bun, filled it with a poached egg, lettuce, and dried anchovies, and then smeared it with chili oil, creating a DIY Chinese-style hamburger.

When it was handed to Director Lu, Lu Mingze was still reserved and even looked disgusted!
"I can't eat it all, it's too thick, I can't even hold it!"

Chu An forced the money at him, and Chu An glared at him, saying, "Chu, let me tell you, bribing me won't work. If you don't act well, I'll still scold you!"

Finally, "This is a one-time exception, a one-time exception!"

Less than three minutes later, Chu An saw that he had finished eating and politely said, "There's still some left in the kitchen!"

As a result, Director Lu touched his belly and said, "It seems like... having another one wouldn't be a bad idea."

The crew rolled their eyes at the sound; even the director can be dramatic sometimes.

But when it comes to being pretentious, everyone found that the most pretentious one has to be the big star Xu. He didn't eat Chu An's tea eggs yesterday, and he won't even touch the dried fish today.

Chu An was also stubborn and didn't ask any questions at all.

He just hides in a corner and eats dry steamed buns with a bowl of soy milk; that's just how he is.

Tong Meng couldn't bear to watch any longer, so she picked up some food and brought it to Xu Shu, saying, "Have some, have some. You have to be more assertive on set. Why are you so listless?"

Xu Shu instinctively shrank back, not replying, but instead looking at the dried fish chopsticks that Tong Meng was holding in mid-air.

Tong Meng then realized that she had used the chopsticks, and felt embarrassed. "I'm used to being casual, let Brother Chu use the serving chopsticks to pick up some more."

What happened next made Chu An grin from ear to ear. To describe it in the style of an artsy young man:
"She merely glanced at him indifferently, not even bothering to say 'no need,' as if her kindness were like the thin snowflakes on a winter night, melting away before even touching the hem of his clothes."

Gee
That's fucking amazing!

Tong Meng came back blushing, feeling quite embarrassed.

The staff also felt sorry for Tong Meng.

You can be aloof, that's just your personality, and nobody will blame you, but don't go too far!

After two days, many people in the crew had a lot of opinions about this "national daughter".

Moreover, coordinator Ji Yinglai and Sister Lan whispered, "I heard that this big star is not just aloof, she's already acting like a diva to Director Lu."

Lan Jie smiled wryly, her gaze towards Xu Shu filled with disdain.

"It started during the preliminary preparations. She was the only one who didn't come to the script reading, and even the costume photos were photoshopped."

Lowering his voice, he said, "Once, Director Lu lost his temper and let it slip that this young lady is currently working on four films and will be switching between them in a few days."

Ji Yinglai was puzzled. "Director Lu never allows actors to switch production teams, so why?"

Sister Lan: "There's nothing we can do, they're under the Tiandu Group."

Ji Ying arrived and, not daring to say anything more, subconsciously glanced at Grandpa Jia, who was standing guard at the door like a sentry.

At this moment, Chu An and Tong Meng were right next to Sister Lan and Chief Ji, and he could hear them whispering.

Out of curiosity, I asked Tong Meng, "Sister Meng, does Tiandu still offer brokerage services?"

Tong Meng picked up the garlic cloves that Chu An had peeled by hand and put them into her own bowl. She was very carefree and forgot everything in the blink of an eye. She replied, "What kind of business does Tiandu have?"

Chu An understood. No wonder the big star Xu could still forcefully join the crew even after crossing Director Lu's bottom line; his backing was Tiandu Culture.

"Slow down, it's salty."

The pickled garlic was made by Chu An's family last autumn. Those who aren't from Northeast China wouldn't know, but when pickled in soy sauce, the longer it's marinated, the darker the color becomes, turning almost black, and it doesn't look very appealing.

Chu An was too embarrassed to give it to the film crew, so he just scooped one end out when he was eating a steamed bun and ate it with his hands.

As a result, Tong Meng didn't mind and immediately grabbed it, showing off most of it.

Tong Meng, "Sister has a heavy palate!"

While eating, she kept muttering, "I have to eat my fill, I don't know how many more takes I'll have to do, and I don't have time at noon."

Chu An was amused.

As his relationship with Tong Meng grew closer, he was able to say a few hurtful things, such as, "Those two lines of poetry aren't that difficult, are they?"

The scene we didn't finish yesterday was the one where the mother and daughter were arguing.

Liu Xia throws tantrums in her new environment, hoping that if her mother is transferred back to a big city, she can return to her original life.

Liu's mother could not fulfill this unrealistic idea, which led to a conflict between the mother and daughter.

Actually, Tong Meng's difficulty lies in just two sentences: "Liu Xia, why don't you understand your mother?"

You need to learn to understand adults!

It's not difficult at all; the problem lies in Tong Meng's acting skills.

Well, her acting lacks dramatic tension.

Unlike Chu An, who simply reads from the script without any emotional variation.

On the contrary, Tong Meng tried a bit too hard, and her style was somewhat like the roaring style of a Qiong Yao drama.

When Chu An said those two lines weren't difficult, Tong Meng stuffed the last piece of steamed bun into her mouth, puffed out her cheeks, and said, "Your sister here is an experiential type! I've never been a mother, how can I get into character?"

Chu An laughed, her eyes darting around, "Never been a mother, then have you been a child?"

Tong Meng: "Nonsense!"

Chu An: "Then you should act like Liu Xia is your mother!"

"???" Tong Meng looked bewildered. "Acting as a mother?"

Chu An: "That's right! Don't think you're arguing with your daughter, but rather your mother."

"Imagine your mom is being capricious and throwing a tantrum, not understanding your difficulties. You can't hit her, you can't scold her, and you have to be careful when you say anything harsh."

Tong Meng stared at Chu An with wide eyes, thinking in horror, "Will this work?"

.

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P.S.: Three questions:
First, Lao Cang clearly overestimated his writing ability after returning. I'm speechless that he wrote the first few chapters more than twice on average.

It will take some time for me to get back into shape. I will try to update on time and as often as possible. Please forgive me, everyone.

Secondly, is it possible that I mistyped the comma yesterday? I wanted to make the mistake and write another chapter, but I really can't.
third
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(End of this chapter)