26 Trouble Ahead

"Hey! What are you guys doing! What a mess! Who gave you permission to film funeral scenes inside the Rong Mansion? If people hears about it, how can this place be liveable again? And, where did you guys get the coffin from? I've only just gotten the report from the security guards. Such an unlucky thing, hurry up and get rid of it! I mean now!"

Near the end of the day, Liu Sang, the chief assistant of Guan's Properties, suddenly appears on the set, followed by his trademark loud voice and angry shouts.

"A nobody like DDP, just because of your god-knows-what connections with the Guan's Properties, came through the back door to use the garden of this place as your film set, which is already an exception and a huge favour. But don't you know which side of your bread is buttered on? Shooting such a scene, you won't even bother to give me a heads up?! If Master Guan finds out, he will throw you all out!"

"Chief Liu, this coffin is really not ours. Would you please get in touch with the film crew of 'Cixi and Her Old Lover'? They borrowed this place before us as a filming location for the movie. It's likely that they left this coffin behind." Du Jinghai rushes over to explain.

Liu Sang, as the representative of the Guan family, has always been treated like an "Old Buddha"[1] in the show business circle, and the tiny Dragon Dreams Pictures cannot afford to offend him. They only got this old residence of Ronglu because of the connection between Professor Violette Fu and the old master of the Guan family. If they were kicked out, not to mention the fact that DDP could not afford to rent a place in Studio City, and that Yuan Ge's high standards for scene setting would not be satisfied with the poor quality of the studio sets, then this film would surely die before it even had a chance to be born!

"I don't care about that. Get in touch with them yourself! Anyway, if this coffin is still here tomorrow, your crew won't be allowed to enter this property again!"

Liu Sang looks at the crowd dressed in their full mourning costumes with a disgusted look and dropped these words mercilessly.

Just as he is about to leave, he catches a glimpse of Chow Mingrun, who is hiding in the crowd. Knowing that he is the boss of Dragon Dreams, his attitude still isn't any friendlier, and he says to him coldly, "Mr. Chow, if it's convenient for you, please come with me now. Our second young master Guan has sent me for you."

Chow Mingrun's face is full of misery as he secretly passes a look to Yuan Ge and Du Jinghai, clearly hinting at the trouble ahead, as if to say, "We've tried so hard to avoid trouble, but trouble is still coming for us. Are they going to break the contract and get rid of us?" But there is nothing he can do but take off his costume, put on a fake smile and follow Liu Sang to meet the second young master Guan.

When Yuan Ge sees Liu Sang dusting off his coat before leaving as if he was afraid of being tainted with the bad luck of the place, he can't help but secretly curse this "dog who is relying on his master's power".

As he finishes up the scene and sends everyone home, he is still thinking about the unexpected performance of "Rong Qiuchen" earlier. However, Du Jinghai, who has packed up his equipment, has a rather worried look on his face, "Yuan Ge, you don't think the Guan family is really up to something, do you? Fat Chow didn't look that confident."

"I don't think so. After all, my mother still has some connections with the old master of the Guan family. If push comes to shove, I will ask her to step in and try to smooth things out. I think Fat Chow may have been called over for something else. In any case, we should go ahead with the scheduled filming until there is a clear indication. Let's not fret and mess up things ourselves."

As one of the four founders of Dragon Dreams, Yuan Ge knows that Du Jinghai is not as eloquent as Chow Mingrun, but he is no less concerned about the future of DDP.

"By the way, the kid who broke into the scene earlier seemed to be wearing one of our costumes, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, that style of clothing, who else's could it be if not ours."

"Should we ask the security to have a good search of the whole place?" Du Jinghai looks uneasy, "Stealing costumes is a small matter, but if our equipment here is lost or damaged, that would be a big problem. Our budget is so tight that we can't afford such a loss. By the way, isn't that the same guy, the porcelain bumper that you were talking about? His appearance and acting skills are really good, and he looks pretty young too."

"Yeah that's him." Yuan Ge says, "But this guy is really weird. If his intention is to get a part in the film, then he should just come to talk to me. I never said that I didn't want him, you know. Instead, he's pretending to be a ghost. How weird!"

"You're always so eager whenever you see a good talent. Let's wait and see. He might show up again tomorrow if he really wants to join us. But from today on, I'm definitely going to double check the security of the prop room before I leave …"

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[1] Old Buddha is the common name given to the Empress Dowager or the retired Emperor during the Qing Dynasty. It usually refers to the Empress Dowager Cixi. In this context, however, it refers to a person who was not the head of a powerful organisation, but who represented its authority in some way.