Waiting for the Star

Seeing that Amélie is listening to him intently, Yuan Ge continues to say, "Apart from the legend of the Dragon Pond, this mansion is considered one of the cleaner old mansions in Beijing and is not heavy with Yin energy at all. If you don't believe me, you can check out the houses near the Central Market, such as the West Crane Hall and the tailor shop next to it. Violette Fu, uh...my mum, once told me about a tailor there who heard a thief sneaking around in the middle of night stealing things. The tailor was old and frail and afraid he couldn't fight the thief, so he didn't bother to get up and just let the thief steal whatever he wanted. When he got up the next day, he found that nothing was missing from the house, but the needles and threads from the shop were all gone …"

Amélie's face changes as soon as she hears that the story comes from "Violette Fu". Her usual calmness and assertiveness as the executive producer are gone, and she looks vigilant and apprehensive. But Yuan Ge pretends not to notice it and carries on telling this ghost story that he knows by heart.

"When the tailor went back home, he saw that the prisoner, who had been beheaded the day before at the Central Market, where he was supposed to be on display for three days, was now lying in front of his house. His severed head had actually been sewn back on the body with the tailor's needle and thread. Then he knew that the thief who had sneaked in last night was probably the corpse looking for a needle and thread to sew his own head back on …"

"You horrible bastard!" Amélie screams, giving Yuan Ge a few good punches.

"Yuan Ge, why are you scaring Amélie again? Don't you know that she's afraid of ghosts?"

Du Jinghai walks over at some point, and he smiles, trying to comfort Amélie, "Amy, don't be afraid. The ghost stories Yuan Ge got wholesale from Professor Fu are all fake! There are not that many ghosts in this world. This Rong Mansion was once the residence of a first grade minister, so if there were any ghosts, that would only be a few hanging ghosts, drowning ghosts or newborn ghosts. The kind of ghosts Yuan Ge just mentioned are called headless ghosts, and the lowest level ghosts, such as the hungry ghosts, wouldn't normally come to such high-class places. But there are always exceptions. You said our wax food props went missing last night, maybe …"

"Is this your way of comforting me? You horrible people! You both are bad horrible people!"

A flurry of small punches fall on Du Jinghai this time, and Yuan Ge can't help but smile at him as he watches how much Du Jinghai is enjoying this special treatment.

"By the way, Yuan Ge, when is that Yin Fenghua coming on set? I've got something else going on at the end of the month, so time might be a bit tight. Have you asked Fat Chow? Even a hot shot like him should think of the whole crew and give us an exact schedule, instead of leaving us hanging."

Yuan Ge is very well aware that Du Jinghai, a capable photographer, is a "capital drifter"[1] from a small village with little background and connections in Beijing. Over the years he has worked his way up through sheer diligence and determination. In addition to being one of the main shareholders of DDP, responsible for the camera and technical crew, he regularly takes on a lot of side gigs to earn some extra cash. Why else would he bother to become a verified user on Quarro platform, earning popularity and gaining name recognition by writing and marketing his technical knowledge? Because name recognition brings more opportunities to make extra money. Events such as birthday parties, weddings, funerals, shop openings, or annual celebrations of big companies, etc. are all his opportunities for the side business. Du Jinghai is not at all picky about what kind of job he takes on, as long as there is money to be made.

Yuan Ge truly admires the drive of these "capital drifters". Du Jinghai comes from a poor family. His parents live in the countryside who need his financial support, his younger brother is still in university who also needs his financial help, and he plans to buy a house in the capital, get married and settle here. To him, the realities of life definitely take precedence over artistic dreams. Yuan Ge is  very sympathetic to his situation. As long as there are no shooting scheduled in DDP and his private activities would not delay the current filming progress, he never interferes with him taking on any side jobs.

"I was worried about that, too. I've been shooting the subplots and supporting scenes to fill that gap. I don't know this guy that Fat Chow decided to get. Anyway, he doesn't seem to have a contractual spirit at all. Maybe he doesn't think much of our small company. If the schedule continues to slip, the film is as good as dead."

Amélie, seeing Yuan Ge and Du Jinghai's worried faces, tries to smooth over the situation and reassure them, "I've brought this issue up with Fat Chow several times. You know how he is. Always trying to gloss it over, telling me that Yin Fenghua was scheduled for a variety show, or a concert and so on. Whenever I prodded him, he'd say 'OK, OK, he is coming in a couple of days… He will be here soon'. And then another two weeks went by and nothing happened!"

"Ha! Gotcha! Amy darling, what are you saying about me behind my back?"

Before Amélie finishes her sentence, Chow Mingrun walks over with a big grin on his face and a spring in his step.

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[1] Capital drifters are people who were not born in the capital, who either came to the capital from a small town to try their luck, or who studied in the capital but tried to stay on after graduating. They usually have no local connections and move around a lot, hence the term 'drifters'.