The assistant director came over again, cutting into their conversation and shoving the next day’s schedule into Zhuang Xiao’s hands. He casually asked, “Mr. Zhuang, no problem with your bed scene, right? Any requirements?”
Pei Yan lifted his eyelids. “What bed scene? With who?”
It was all written in the script. What a pointless question. He silently mocked himself for asking.
The assistant director grinned even more lecherously than before. “With Reese. You finished squeezing the girl, now it’s his turn.”
That had been how the script was written from the beginning. The psychotic son of the criminal syndicate boss violently forced himself on his father’s lover. After the script was revised, it became two brothers sharing the same lover and bed partner, emphasizing the depravity of the villainous organization’s private life. That was how action movies tended to work, with characterization broad, simple, and heavily typecast.
Zhuang Xiao paused. “Change it. One passing shot is enough.”
The assistant director gave a little laugh. “Change it? Then you’ll have to talk to the director. You can’t just change it casually.”
Zhuang Xiao’s expression remained mild. “It was optional to begin with, a scene forced in for no real reason. Make it more restrained.”
The assistant director grinned. “Why would we want restraint? Sexy shots support the passionate tone of the action scenes. The two complement each other!”
Zhuang Xiao looked half-serious. “We’re playing Easterners. On this particular matter, we really are more restrained.”
The assistant director casually pointed at Pei Yan. “Ian’s take just now was fantastic. He’s Eastern too, and restrained my ass! I thought it was great, hahaha. Wild as hell…”
Zhuang Xiao turned to look at Mr. Pei and gave him an expression that said, Look at you, showing off.
Hearing that, Pei Yan innocently pursed his lips and said quietly to Zhuang Xiao in Chinese, “Sorry. I raised the standard for the passion scenes in this movie and whetted the director’s appetite. Now everybody else’s sex scenes have to match my level.”
The moment the assistant director turned and walked away, Zhuang Xiao looked back and lightly cursed him. “If you’re so good, why don’t you do all of them? Can I use a double?”
Pei Yan threw his head back and laughed. “Isn’t your personal double the Grassland Prince? Get Sa Risheng to do it for you.”
“Use him as a body double?!” Zhuang Xiao laughed too. “Xiao-Sa really can’t do this. The kid’s too innocent. Can’t ruin him. He can’t act in a bed scene!”
Zhuang Xiao almost never joked and chatted nonsense like this with anyone.
When he smiled, the expression across his whole face seemed to melt and unfold, making even that hard-man face look gentle.
Zhuang Xiao came across as unusually mature. It was not that he looked old. His brows and eyes were youthful and handsome, and his gaze was strikingly bright. But his entire bearing had settled into something weathered, and on top of that he insisted on keeping facial hair. At twenty-eight, the dark, melancholy sheen beneath his eyes made him look at least thirty-eight.
There were only five years between them, yet sometimes Pei Yan felt they were not even from the same generation.
The cheerful smile quickly faded. Zhuang Xiao returned to his usual mild expression and gave Pei Yan a nod. “I’m heading out. See you at the scrapyard tomorrow.”
Tomorrow they would shoot fight scenes all day at an abandoned vehicle yard. With Hero Zhuang joining the production, the set was about to begin large-scale brawling and hand-to-hand combat.
Before leaving, Zhuang Xiao asked, “Getting used to the boxed meals on set?”
Pei Yan answered honestly, “Pizza. Salty. Not good.”
“You never have anything nice to say.” Zhuang Xiao mocked him and sneered. “There’s worse coming. Just wait.”
Pei Yan grabbed his own throat and stuck out his tongue.
I never have anything nice to say?
Nice things were not handed out to just anyone. It depended on who stood opposite him. He still had principles, and he still had preferences…
He watched Mr. Zhuang turn and leave the set. The man had not lingered around him for very long.
Zhuang Xiao held a cup of coffee in one hand and walked alone through the crowd on set, his back carrying a deep sense of distance from everyone around him. Loneliness had never had anything to do with whether a person’s room was full of guests or whether people constantly crowded around him.
*
The next day, Mr. Big Boss Zhuang joined the production.
The action coordinators and stuntmen from the Zhuang Stunt Team were all bright-eyed and fully alert, waiting on set as if facing battle. Before Zhuang Xiao arrived, everyone had looked much more relaxed, loosening their arms and joking around because they only had to deal with that silly kid Tony. Once Zhuang Xiao showed up, the entire day’s schedule was packed with action scenes. Nobody wanted to be the idiot who caused an NG.
Zhuang Xiao carried a hiking backpack, the same old one, and held a thermos of hot tea in one hand. Sa Risheng followed behind him.
A group in heavy makeup and full costume passed Zhuang Xiao. They had already gone by before he reacted, whipping his head around. Who the hell was that?
The bald man whose head had been painted muddy yellow, with lightning makeup over his left eye and dark purple-black lips, gave Zhuang Xiao an evil grin and made the character’s signature expression from the film.
Zhuang Xiao could not help laughing. “They made you up like this?”
Pei Yan shook out the costume he was wearing. “Big Daddy has heavy tastes. The wardrobe and makeup people are all lunatics.”
He waved a hand. “Forget it. I’m getting paid anyway. Fuck it!”
Zhuang Xiao mocked him. “This really is a breakthrough look. You’ve completely smashed your pretty-boy idol image.”
Pei Yan pointed at him indignantly. “Hurry up and get into the makeup trailer. I’m waiting to see what they turn you into!”
A layer of foundation covered Pei Yan’s face, making his whole body seem to glow pale. His eye and lip makeup were vivid. A sheer white garment clung over his bare upper body, showing the flesh beneath, with a little vest over it. At first glance, he looked demonic from head to toe.
The distance between a righteous hero and an extravagantly sinister villain was apparently just two strokes of eyeliner. Cameras swallowed color, so film and stage makeup had to be applied heavily. Seen off-camera in real life, the effect was even more startling and eye-catching than on screen.
Zhuang Xiao could not stop himself from looking back at Pei Yan several times. He found the man extremely amusing.
Once Zhuang Xiao’s makeup was done, he warmed up by filming the so-called bed scene first.
Pei Yan had assumed that someone with Zhuang Xiao’s personality would ask to clear the set. He kept glancing over from a corner of the studio as if he were not paying attention and discovered nobody had been cleared out. More surprisingly, Zhuang Xiao had actually convinced the old man to sanitize the scene completely.
Fat Charles seemed very familiar with Zhuang Xiao and gave him plenty of face, throwing an arm around him while they exchanged greetings and laughed loudly.
They were not even rolling around in the sheets anymore. Zhuang Xiao never took off his trousers.
An assistant asked Zhuang Xiao whether he needed the three-layer safety shorts.
Zhuang Xiao said, “Already wearing them.”
The assistant director needled him. “That’s awfully sealed up, Mr. Zhuang. Do you need a bulletproof vest too?”
Zhuang Xiao tossed back, “Am I the one shooting or is she? If anyone needs the bulletproof vest, it’s her.”
Zhuang Xiao cracked a dirty joke on the spot. Apparently he was in a good mood, even more open than yesterday. Pei Yan crouched behind a chair watching, a spicy strip hanging from his mouth, and snickered to himself.
Inside the luxurious room, a huge animal hide covered the dark solid-wood floor. Heavy Thai incense helped the actors enter the mood. Zhuang Xiao sat on the sofa bare underneath a dark purple robe.
The chocolate-skinned beauty carried over a glass of red wine, sat down in Zhuang Xiao’s lap, leaned in, kissed him, teased him, and used an ambiguous straddling posture to suggest sex. CUT. The entire scene passed by with that one restrained stroke.
Pei Yan sat not far away and silently watched the person filming.
Zhuang Xiao had actually called him “smooth and completely at ease”?
This man was the truly practiced one. Following the director’s instructions, every motion flowed in one sequence. He knew exactly where to put both hands and exactly how much pressure to use when gripping his partner’s buttocks.
For the scene, Zhuang Xiao had undone his braid, his hair just brushing his shoulders. His black eyes looked dangerous, and a broad stretch of solid chest showed inside the purple robe. The actress had her back to the camera and still wore nothing, rubbing against him with one hand stroking his chest.
Without changing expression, Pei Yan lifted his left leg over the other and crossed them.
Even while still, you could sense the knotted muscles beneath the fabric, beautiful and tense. As the actress moved, flashes of bare skin appeared beneath the robe, sudden glimpses of flesh, wild and dangerous.
The moment the camera stopped, the two actors separated immediately. Zhuang Xiao dropped out of character in one second too, his expression on and off camera completely different. Those old bastards who had once made sour remarks about Zhuang Xiao outside Cannes, who said this man could not act?
They shot only two takes. The first had actually been perfect, and the second was simply backup. Fat Charles called it good with satisfaction.
Pei Yan uncrossed his legs, suddenly stood, and left, returning to his trailer to prepare for the next scene.
Hollywood sets followed an extremely rigorous, standardized production process, and the service and care were thorough.
Every actor, lead or supporting, had a trailer. Once you finished a scene, you could go back and rest whenever you wanted. Whoever was called came out to block and shoot. If nobody called you, you stayed out of the way.
Pei Yan poked his head out of his trailer door and discovered Zhuang Xiao’s trailer parked not far away. And Zhuang Xiao genuinely had not brought a single assistant. He had carried his own backpack and only brought Xiao-Sa with him.
Sa Risheng was not an assistant. Sa Risheng was a highly professional stunt double, essential in an action movie. Zhuang Xiao was dedicated enough to perform all sorts of moves himself, but in some situations a double had to be used. Certain scenes involving blades, fire, heights, and real risk to life were too dangerous to let a star lead gamble with casually. That was work for stunt doubles.
Pei Yan pulled his head back inside and looked around at the crowd in his own trailer. There were enough people to start a mahjong table on the spot. He coughed. “Why don’t you all head back first?”
Assistant A said, “Why would we go back? We’re here to stay with you. Uncle Johnny said he’s coming over later…”
Pei Yan immediately said, “Don’t let him come! All of you go back!”
If Johnny Wu personally came to set to serve him tea, pour water, wipe sweat, carry his shoes, and hover around nagging without end, being seen like that would be even more embarrassing. Absolutely do not come.
He quickly dismissed the entire group of assistants and sent them back to the hotel to rest. No need to stay on set and watch the monkey show.
The next scene was a rooftop chase and fight at the scrapyard. The director was calling over the headset, while the assistant director handled personnel and shouted Pei Yan’s name through a loudspeaker. Pei Yan sprang out of his trailer in one stride.
Dedicated crew carried each actor’s chair over behind the director so they could sit while waiting. Pei Yan was just about to sit down when he glanced back and lifted his ass again. “This isn’t my chair.”
Each actor had a specific chair labeled with the character’s name. The crew member had clearly gotten confused, unfamiliar with Chinese pinyin, and mixed up the chairs for the two brothers Deng Bai and Deng Yun.
This was Zhuang Xiao’s chair, and a thermos of warm tea still hung from the back.
The crew member said, “I grabbed the wrong one? Where’s yours? I’ll switch them back.”
Pei Yan planted his ass firmly in the chair and accepted the mistake. Great. No need to switch. He would sit in this one.
Zhuang Xiao happened to come out of his trailer at that moment. Pei Yan turned to look at him and held up the thermos. “You drink chrysanthemum tea?”
Zhuang Xiao looked back at him. “So?”
Pei Yan grinned, showing a mouthful of very white teeth. The lightning makeup was still painted across his eyelid, scattering gold eyeshadow powder in the light.
Zhuang Xiao frowned and explained, “Chrysanthemum and goji berries. Clears heat and reduces internal fire. In weather this hot, a few action scenes and your body heats right up.”
The crew kid came trotting over with a chair for Mr. Zhuang. Sure enough, it was Pei Yan’s.
“What tea do you drink?” Zhuang Xiao lifted the thermos hanging from the hook on Pei Yan’s chair and inspected it. “What’s all this miscellaneous stuff floating in half a pot?”
“Albizia, fu-shen, roasted jujube seed, and longan,” Pei Yan said. “I had a doctor take my pulse and prescribe it. Clears the mind, regulates qi, calms the spirit, helps sleep. Works really well. Want to try some?”
Zhuang Xiao: “You’re not sleeping well?”
Pei Yan: “Lately I can never fall asleep.”
Zhuang Xiao laughed at him. “Still too much internal fire?”
“That’s exactly it. Too much fire and nobody helping me release it.” Pei Yan stared at Zhuang Xiao with that same expression, one corner of his mouth curling like a wave whenever he smiled.
The action team was still repeatedly testing and adjusting the wire equipment.
With nothing to do, the two men crouched on the rooftop where they were preparing to jump from the building. Pei Yan secretly pulled out a huge bag of snacks. Zhuang Xiao laughed.
Their tastes were fairly similar. Both automatically skipped the sour and sweet things and picked out several spicy, chewy snacks instead.
Little Tony passed by them and carefully studied the standard “construction-worker squat” the two men were using on set. He came over, crouched beside them, and tried to imitate it.
Zhuang Xiao coached him. “Support yourself with your thighs. Don’t lean backward, don’t, don’t…”
Tony landed on his butt. His legs hurt so much.
Pei Yan snickered very unkindly. He was not nearly kind enough to help.
Zhuang Xiao demonstrated again. “Straighten both arms and rest them on your knees. Put your center of gravity forward… don’t…”
Bang. Tony dropped to his knees.
Pei Yan sprayed the spicy strip in his mouth toward the sky. “Hahahahaha!”
“It’s not the kid’s fault,” Zhuang Xiao explained to Pei Yan. “They really don’t know how to squat.”
“No wonder American toilets are all seated.” Pei Yan bent over laughing until he could hardly stop. “If you put in a squat toilet, would the bastard die holding in his shit?”
The two cheap laborers on the rooftop shook with laughter. The sky suddenly seemed brighter then, cloudless and clear, sunlight spreading endlessly.
The director happened to be idle too and aimed the main camera at the two lunatics on the rooftop.
Shooting behind-the-scenes footage? Improvising? Big Daddy dared secretly film them?
Pei Yan began throwing snacks at Zhuang Xiao from several meters away.
No matter what he hurled over, Hero Zhuang captured it with his “Star-Absorbing Technique” and claimed it for himself, nothing ever coming back. Pei Yan grumbled, “I’ll find a grapefruit to feed you,” sprang up to run, and Zhuang Xiao’s sharp eyes and fast hands caught him by the ankle.
Pei Yan’s leg snapped upward and he spun back with a shadowless kick, showing no mercy.
Zhuang Xiao did not let go. He had been waiting for that kick and twisted his wrist with force.
“Ah!” Pei Yan refused to yield. Using the torque, he sent his whole body airborne, borrowed the force, and kicked with the other leg. Zhuang Xiao knocked aside the second kick, bent back in, stepped forward with a strike toward his ribs, and happened to catch Pei Yan from behind as he landed.
He locked an arm around Pei Yan’s waist from behind, both subduing him and secretly using a little strength to steady his balance so he would not fall.
The two twisted together laughing before finally letting go, creating a perfectly harmonious and convincing piece of “deep brotherly affection” for Big Daddy to edit however he pleased.
People in the distance stared. Fat Charles exaggeratedly stood there with his mouth open, then turned toward the camera crew. “Keep that one for me! Keep it! I want that shot!”
*
After that there was no time left for nonsense. One action sequence after another began filming.
The major scenes basically consisted of the two villains chasing the hero around and beating him up. At first the villains were outrageously arrogant and held the upper hand. As the story developed, the male lead gradually became mentally stronger and advanced in martial arts. At some mysterious point, it was as if his Ren and Du meridians suddenly opened, and he began striking back with real power.
Elio’s Notes: In wuxia and martial-arts fiction, “opening the Ren and Du meridians” is a familiar shorthand for a dramatic leap in internal skill or martial ability.
But that was the script. On set, the male lead never became stronger. Those miraculous meridians of martial advancement simply refused to open.
Pei Yan’s own material went very smoothly. With a safety line attached at his lower back, he hit his mark the instant the director called ACTION, charged onto the roof, smashed through a pane of glass, and launched himself into the air through a shower of glittering shards.
Then they changed angles for the next connected shot. He had to crash through another large glass window. A vehicle sent to extract the little boss would arrive below at exactly the right moment, racing into position, and Pei Yan had to leap onto its roof. Edited together, the two shots would form one continuous stunt.
The action team had already rigged the safety lines and props. A professional stunt driver had rehearsed the vehicle’s path several times. The person could not jump off target, and the vehicle could not drive off its mark. Zhuang Xiao came over and checked the cable setup again.
“Angles calculated correctly? No problems?” Zhuang Xiao asked his own team.
“No problems! The two of us already jumped it once each,” said Sha Yunfei from the design team.
Sha Yunfei was an action coordinator from the Zhuang Stunt Team and was leading the group on this movie. Zhuang Xiao carefully examined the computer-generated calculation diagrams. Hollywood action effects were handled rigorously: virtual calculations on computers first, then real measurements and installation, everything based on data. This was not some amateur operation where people casually strung a few cables in midair and then sent actors up to risk their lives.
Zhuang Xiao walked behind Pei Yan, carefully tightened the safety harness for him, checked the fasteners again, then slapped his lower back in encouragement. “You’re good. Jump without worrying.”
Fat Charles was already outside the building shouting, “Positions, positions! Starting! Get ready!”
Pei Yan turned back, smiled at Zhuang Xiao, and gave him a thumbs-up.
Pei Yan remained on the rooftop, while Zhuang Xiao turned and ran downstairs.
The glass exploded with a tremendous crash, shards scattering everywhere. In the camera’s field of view, Young Hero Pei burst through the window. He made a slight protective movement with his head, but for the shot he did not curl into a ball. He extended his legs and truly jumped from the building. The stunt car roared to life and charged into place at the same moment. Pei Yan flew downward, the whole thing lasting barely a second, both feet slamming hard onto the roof. He used a technical movement to disperse the impact, then grabbed onto the car roof.
The safety line whipped violently. The inertia of the speeding car inevitably hurled him backward. He rolled down over the rear window and hit the ground. That was the intended effect.
Several people dragged foam mats behind the car to catch him.
The stunt was already dangerous enough to be life-threatening. The director had originally said it carried risk and allowed him to use a double, with post-production compositing afterward. Pei Yan said he had come alone and had never prepared a double.
That old bastard Fat Charles had his own calculations too. He did not consider Pei Yan all that important.
The production had purchased insurance for every actor. In the minds of the director and the entire crew, a newcomer kung-fu actor simply was not that important. What real difference was there between him and the other stuntmen?
What if he actually got hurt? Then he got hurt. They could replace him.
The fall down the rear window and onto the ground looked brutally hard. Muscle hit with an audible impact, and Pei Yan rolled more than ten meters across the mats.
Zhuang Xiao had been standing outside the building beside the director and the main camera, watching the entire stunt. Now he applauded hard. “Very good! Beautiful!”
Pei Yan lay on the mat looking up at the deep blue sky. After taking two seconds to recover, he sat up.
He had just executed such a perfect stunt right in front of Zhuang Xiao and felt extremely handsome. He was young anyway. His body could take it.
Zhuang Xiao walked over and extended a hand, using the motion to pull him up from the mat.
Pei Yan sprang to his feet, using the borrowed force to bump into Zhuang Xiao’s chest. Then, almost casually, he slapped Zhuang Xiao once on the lower back.