Chapter 131: Are you questioning the professionalism of a man who commands a fifty-million salary? (Please subscribe)
Xu Jiang’s production team had planned the preparations for Ghost Blows Out the Lamp long ago.
The reason they decided to begin filming ahead of schedule and shoot on location was twofold. First, they wanted to avoid the peak travel season. Second, they genuinely did not want to delay things any longer.
That was why they discussed the matter with Su Mu and asked whether they could start earlier.
Su Mu, following the principle that anyone who paid should receive more than their money’s worth, agreed. After all, the other party had already paid fifty million for his acting fee. Wanting to start a little earlier was hardly an unreasonable request.
Besides, if they wanted to recreate the scenes and environments from the script, they would need to shoot on location, aside from the details involving tomb exploration. Only then could they give the audience a stronger sense of immersion.
Everyone understood this.
For this genre, accurate recreation was the key.
Only by combining location shooting with man-made sets could they produce the best possible result.
Fortunately, the location shooting itself was not especially complicated. They simply needed to travel to the actual province specified in the script and film several scenes there.
Most of the remaining scenes would still take place during the tomb exploration.
Thus, Xu Jiang and Su Mu agreed that their trip to Mojang Province would involve no more than a few dozen scenes and would probably take about half a month to complete.
Of course, shooting on location placed extremely high demands on the weather.
Mojang Province was plagued by strong, unpredictable sandstorms, so they also had to allow extra time for weather-related delays.
At most, filming would take a month.
After that, the entire crew would return to the Capital Film Base and continue shooting.
That was the general plan.
...
Galaxy Airport.
Terminal One.
Su Mu: “Everyone, look at me. This time, every employee of our studio is heading to Mojang Province for location shooting! I’ll say a few words. Life is like...”
[Speech Proficiency +1]
[Skill Points +0.01]
Qian Jida: “...”
Little Orange: “...”
Sun Liaojun: “...”
Master Zhu: “Good!”
Little Li: “???”
Little Zhang: “!!!”
...
...
Half a month later.
Mojang Province, Tak County, Lamage Village.
This was a small village on the edge of the desert that Xu Jiang’s production team had discovered.
The environment was even worse than they had imagined.
Combined with the frequent sandstorms, the living conditions were extremely harsh.
Fortunately, the crew had brought all kinds of supplies with them and established a temporary base at the filming location, so their basic needs were not a problem.
Even so, it was difficult to imagine how they had managed to survive the past two weeks.
After more than ten days of filming, production had entered its most intense stage.
At that moment, on a small hill far in the distance, the assistant director’s voice rang out:
“All right, Scene Forty-Nine. Action!”
In front of the cameras, Su Mu and several other actors searched the dunes for an entrance.
According to the storyline, they had followed a set of clues deep into the desert. Then, using the protagonist Hu Bayi’s ancestral ability to locate dragon veins and tombs, they had finally found the crucial entrance before leading everyone into the great tomb.
Su Mu wore a black leather jacket, jeans, and combat boots. His appearance was exceptionally cool.
Holding a compass, he searched for the correct direction in front of the camera.
Then, all at once, his expression changed.
A strange solemnity appeared on his face.
He slipped into character with astonishing speed, catching everyone off guard.
Still, the change in rhythm seemed a little too abrupt.
“Is Su Mu trying too hard today?”
“He’s been working for more than ten days. Who could keep their acting perfectly on point after being this exhausted?”
“Old Jin and the investors weren’t entirely wrong to question him before. Su Mu’s acting is decent, but honestly, fifty million was completely unnecessary.”
“Exactly. Hu Bayi isn’t a particularly demanding role. As long as the acting is passable, anyone could play him.”
The crew members around them whispered among themselves.
Over the past two weeks, Su Mu’s acting had certainly earned their recognition.
However, his fee amounted to half the production’s entire budget.
That inevitably left many people dissatisfied and unable to accept it.
After all, the role of Hu Bayi did not place especially high demands on an actor.
No one required him to be a fighter.
No one required him to possess extraordinary acting ability or leave a profound impression on the audience.
In terms of technical difficulty, the role was perhaps not even as demanding as a character like Xin Qiji.
That was why many members of the crew did not believe Su Mu could bring anything particularly special to the role.
At that moment, Su Mu had no idea what the people around him were thinking.
He was simply examining the compass in his hand and observing the surrounding terrain, naturally producing the reaction he had just shown.
But it was not acting.
It was genuine.
[Grave Exploration Proficiency +1]
[Skill Points +0.01]
[Grave Exploration Proficiency Level 3: 3,201/5,000]
Su Mu ignored the system notification.
Instead, he studied the sand beneath his feet. Then he took out one of the props and began probing the ground with convincing seriousness.
“???”
“???”
Everyone stared in bewilderment.
Wasn’t this scene supposed to be performed differently?
The others were confused.
Su Mu had already begun testing the ground with a shovel.
He poured a bucket of water into the dune, then inserted a long tube into the sand and slowly twisted it, scraping out the sand and mud beneath.
Meanwhile, Xu Jiang and the others in the directing group were equally baffled.
“Director Xu, what is Su Mu doing?”
“His performance is actually quite good. The details of the tomb exploration are very convincing, but... this scene doesn’t require that kind of detail.”
Xu Jiang frowned as he watched, but did not answer.
He also felt that something was wrong.
After a moment, he picked up his walkie-talkie.
“Cut. Go ask Su Mu what’s going on. This scene shouldn’t require him to dig so seriously. We prepared a fake entrance, but it isn’t in that location. Go explain it to him.”
“Yes, Director Xu.”
A crew member acknowledged the order and hurried over to Su Mu.
“Mr. Su Mu, they’ve called cut. Um... what are you doing? The director says this scene probably doesn’t require such a detailed performance.”
Su Mu was the biggest star on set, after all.
So even though the crew member had some doubts, he still spoke with the utmost courtesy.
Su Mu stopped what he was doing and stood up. Then he looked over.
“This location can’t be used for filming anymore. We need to move somewhere else. Also, tell Director Xu to contact the local authorities as soon as possible and have them come here to investigate.”
“Ah?”
“???”
The moment he said this, everyone around him froze.
For a moment, no one understood what Su Mu meant.
Had he started talking nonsense?
“Mr. Su Mu, what exactly do you mean? We don’t understand.”
Su Mu smiled and pointed at the ground.
“There’s a tomb beneath us. Judging from what I can tell, it’s probably several hundred years old and may have considerable archaeological value. We need to change locations, or we could damage a historical relic.”
“!!!”
“???”
“???”
What the fuck?
Everyone around him was completely stunned.
No one had expected such a beginning, much less such an ending.
They could have imagined a hundred different answers from Su Mu, but who would have guessed he would claim that there was a tomb beneath them?
Some people could barely suppress their laughter.
They managed not to let it show.
It was not that they were deliberately mocking him.
It was simply that no one would believe such a claim.
“Does he mean there’s a tomb underneath us?”
“Could he really be so deep in character that he thinks he’s Hu Bayi?”
“Besides, if there really is one, wouldn’t our crew have hit the jackpot? We randomly chose a filming location and stumbled across a tomb.”
“If there really is one, then he’s a god. I’ll go over there, kneel down, and beg him to take me as his disciple.”
No one around them believed Su Mu.
When Xu Jiang and the others heard what he had said, they were completely at a loss.
Xu Jiang looked at Su Mu as he returned and stood up.
“Su Mu, you’re joking, right?”
Su Mu took the towel Little Orange handed him and wiped his hands. Then he looked Xu Jiang straight in the eye.
“Are you questioning the professional expertise of someone who earns a fifty-million fee?”
Xu Jiang: “???”
Everyone else: “???”
Professional expertise?
What expertise?
Don’t tell me that, in order to play Hu Bayi, he had even learned how to locate dragon veins and determine the position of tombs.
The matter quickly spread throughout the entire crew.
Most people had assumed that filming would continue as usual.
But Xu Jiang really did suspend production for half a day.
He also found someone to contact the local authorities.
A university archaeology team from the history department happened to be working in a neighboring county.
After extensive communication, a small team led by a university professor arrived to conduct an investigation.
The crew could not halt production indefinitely, however.
They changed locations and resumed filming.
Regardless of whether Su Mu’s claim was true, they still had to complete the scenes scheduled for the month.
...
...
Sun Liaojun was editing the footage with Little Li and Little Zhang.
The operations team handled a wide variety of tasks. Filming, copywriting, generating traffic, managing publicity and popularity—all of it fell under their responsibilities.
The atmosphere inside the tent was somewhat heavy.
Little Li: “Boss, what do you think the owner is really thinking?”
Little Zhang: “Do you think what he said is actually true?”
Sun Liaojun thought for a moment, then gave a crooked smile.
“When we filmed Xin Qiji in Gubei, I already knew he wasn’t ordinary. Now it seems I was absolutely right. Our boss is far too mysterious. So just wait and see. If my instincts are correct, there’ll be major news in a few days!”
“!!!”
“!!!”
...
...
Several days later.
Just as the location shoot was nearing completion, a piece of news from the local authorities left everyone utterly dumbfounded.
[Official Notice of Thanks: The ruins of the Azenxi Kingdom in Mojang were discovered and accurately identified by Mr. Su Mu. We sincerely thank Mr. Su Mu for adding a valuable page to the history and culture of Huaxia!]
Holy shit!
There really was one!
P.S. Thank you all for your support. Some readers previously asked whether there was a reader group. I hadn’t set one up before, but now that the book has officially launched, I’ll create a subscriber group. I’ll put one together in the next couple of days and post the details. Anyone who wants to request updates or discuss ideas will be welcome to join. Thank you!
(End of Chapter)