Pet King

Chapter 445: Dark Cuisine

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Two buses and several cars drove one after another to the outdoor location designated by the Dog Warrior crew. The door opened. When the other people had gotten out, Zhang Zian took Famous and the two police dogs out of the car.

After the last sequence of training scenes were shot in the small gray courtyard of the Studio in this morning, most of the crew members had been transferred here to begin shooting the next sequence of shots. The equipment that wouldn’t be used for shooting these scenes would be delivered later.

Feng Xuan clapped in front of the crew. When the crowd became quiet, he encouraged them, “Well done, everyone. Starting this afternoon, the film will enter a new stage, a more difficult stage. I hope everyone can try their best to make progress together, and I hope the senior crew members can help the new staff. Let’s work hard to successfully complete the film!”

Everyone applauded.

Feng Xuan glanced around. “Good! Now, let’s all perform our duties and get everything set up. I will go check on your work after lunch, then we will begin shooting! Dismissed!”

Most of the staff in the crew were experienced and knew what to do. They scattered immediately and went to their own positions. The lighting group went to arrange the lights, the extras went back to the buses, waiting for makeup. A few minor celebrities, including Lin Feng, remained in the car. Feng Xuan went to discuss the placement of the cameras with the cinematographers. Only a few newcomers, such as Zhang Zian, were befuddled and didn’t know what to do. However, he remembered Xu Junyu’s advice—if he didn’t know what he should do, he should do nothing rather than disturb everyone else’s work. So, holding the three German Shepherds, he found a stone in the shape of a millstone and sat down, watching others, busy with their work.

He had read today’s script many times. Comparing what he had read to the layout of the outdoor location, he had learned which parts of the scenes would occur today. In the script, the enemies and the border control police officers would have a gunfight from behind two piles of stones. The police dogs would come out from the side, then creep through the weeds to ambush the enemies. Feng Xuan was telling the art designers to rearrange the positions of the two piles of stones because there were a few stones blocking the camera, making the camera unable to get the best angle.

As he watched, Zhang Zian’s eyes locked in on one person—Guan Biao. He was sitting on another stone two or three hundred meters away. He was leisurely bowing his head to play on his mobile phone with very relaxed facial expression.

Guan Biao had come before most of them, and Zhang Zian was a bit worried that he would play some dirty tricks. However, after carefully studying the script, Zhang Zian felt that there was no chance for Guan Biao to do anything bad because there were no blasting scene in today’s scenes. At best, there would be the bursting of blood packs hidden under the actors’ clothes after being shot, which were irrelevant to dogs.

What made Zhang Zian even more worried were the scenes where Famous, along with several other dogs, crossed through the minefields a few days later. But by then, the new pyrotechnician should have already replaced Guan Biao. Currently, only Guan Biao was in the dark.

Guan Biao had not moved for a while, so Zhang Zian also took out his own cell phone. Above the checkout counter in his pet shop, a surveillance camera had been installed. Through the mobile app, he could view the situation near the storefront, and could hear what was happening through the microphone. He saw that Lu Yiyun was engaged in painting. Whenever there were customers, she would chat with them a little bit, deftly handling checkout and membership cards, and answer any frequently asked questions raised by the customers. After the customers left, she would continue painting.

Wang Qian and Li Kun were also in the shop to help. They couldn’t be seen from the checkout counter, but occasionally, he could see them carrying things for the customers, and passing through the checkout.

After a while, Uncle Li delivered the lunchboxes for the three employees, and left them on the checkout counter. He left after saying a few words to Lu Yiyun. Lu Yiyun gestured for Wang Qian and Li Kun, and the two of them took their lunch into the room to eat. Zhang Zian felt assured that everything was running normally in the pet shop.

Lu Yiyun looked up at the computer screen, then clicked the mouse a few times. A new article was shared on the official WeChat account of the pet shop. Zhang Zian’s cell phone immediately received the notification about the update.

She explained in the article that because the manager was assisting Binhai Studio in shooting a movie, he would be relatively busy for a while. She hoped that the customers who wanted to watch the kittens dance would remain patient. Their dreams would come true when the manager had more free time. Also, the customers were encouraged to subscribe to the official account.

A lot of the comments under the article were from the audience of Snowy’s live broadcast. They joked and asked if the gay store manager had finally decided to make pornography. If not, why would he have disappeared from the shop exactly while a gay porn star was visiting China? And then a lot of people replied, saying that the store manager must have bent over to sacrifice his a**hole and the like.

Just when Zhang Zian wanted to leave a message to clarify his reputation, his phone received a WeChat message. When he opened it, he found that it was sent by Luo Qingyu, the president of the photography club of Binhai University.

Luo Qingyu: “I learnt from the official account that you are helping shooting a film in a crew? Which crew is that?”

Zhang Zian thought for a moment. It seemed there was no need for him to keep this matter confidential, so he immediately replied: “The Dog Warrior crew. We are currently shooting in the wilderness.”

Luo Qingyu: “Any famous stars?”

Zhang Zian: “No, the most famous star is Lin Feng.”

Luo Qingyu: “Oh, it’s him. Does the crew need more photographers? I would like to try. I don’t mind being an assistant to the photographers or working without pay. I want to work in the film and television industry in the future.”

Zhang Zian wanted to dampen Luo Qingyu’s whimsical idea. This is a standard film crew, why would it lack photographers? After he typed a few words, he heard the new lunchbox guy shout, “Come and get your food!”

It was more important to get the lunch first, or else the food would get cold. Putting Luo Qingyu’s message aside, he glanced at Guan Biao, who remained still in place. Zhang Zian went to fetch four lunchboxes.

The food in the lunchbox was much better than before, but he still had prepared the right amount of stewed beef with potato for the three German Shepherds to eat.

“Zhang, what are you doing? How about we eat together?”

Zhang Zian had just heated up the meal. He looked up and found that director Feng Xuan was smiling, holding a bento, and standing in front of him.

“Nothing, Director Feng, please sit.” Zhang Zian offered his position to the director.

“No, you sit down, I brought a campstool.” As if performing a magic trcik, Feng Xuan brought a folding campstool from behind. He unfolded it and put in on the ground. “Let’s eat while we discuss matters about shooting this afternoon.”

Zhang Zian knew that Feng Xuan would not have come to eat with him for no reason. Feng Xuan kept himself busy each day at lunchtime. Carrying his food, he would walk around, sometimes checking on the status of props and setting, sometimes communicating with the crew or actors. This may be his unique way to strengthen the cohesion within the crew.

Zhang Zian’s speculation was correct; this was exactly Feng Xuan’s thought. While shooting, Feng Xuan was very strict and did not tolerate any flaws. He would scold anyone who made mistakes. But during breaks, he was very nice, and even apologized and encouraged the people whom he had scolded. This was the so-called carrot-and-stick approach.

The sky became dark early these days, and there was limited time for shooting in the afternoon. Feng Xuan needed to discuss some details of Famous and the police dogs creeping forward through the grass on desert to attack the enemies by surprise.

While talking, Feng Xuan suddenly noticed Zhang Zian had picked out all the onions from the Kung Pao Chicken. He was a bit upset. He felt his mouth was parched and his tongue scorched from talking too much, yet Zhang Zian was not listening to him carefully. Using his chopsticks, Feng Xuan pointed to the onions Zhang Zian had picked out and reprimanded him as a senior, “You are a big boy now. How can you still be such a picky eater? Onions are good for yout. They have anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, and anti-flu effects. It’s beneficial for you to eat onions in such cold weather. It would be very troublesome if you catch a cold.”

Zhang Zian quickly explained, “I’m not a picky eater, it’s the dogs that can’t eat onions. I never expected that there would be onions in the Kung Pao Chicken, so I picked out the onions before letting them have this dish.”

Feng Xuan was startled. He had never heard that dogs couldn’t eat onions. It was his wife who was responsible for feeding their Labrador. He had no idea what things a dog could or couldn’t eat. So he asked, “Dogs can’t eat onions?”

“Yes. Onions contain disulfide, which is good for the human body, but is poisonous for dogs. If a dog consumes onions, it will cause an acute hemolysis reaction, which may lead to hematuria, and a large amount of hematuria may cause death,” replied Zhang Zian.

It was not until then did Feng Xuan realize that he had misunderstood Zhang Zian. “Oh, I’m sorry, continue picking then. Should we tell this to other dog trainers? In case their dogs eat onions accidentally.” It was Feng Xuan’s utmost concern that the other dogs that served as supporting roles in the movie would not suffer any accident injury.

Zhang Zian nodded. “You can remind them, but I think they should already know.”

Feng Xuan was not quite sure. Carrying his own lunchbox into the venue and walking around, he found that several other dog trainers were indeed picking out the onions from their lunches, while cursing the stupid chef for making such a dark cuisine by adding onions to the Kung Pao Chicken.

After circling around the venue, he returned next to Zhang Zian, and said to him with a look of admiration, “You’re right, they picked out all the onions.”

Zhang Zian smiled. “It’s normal. If they didn’t know such a thing, what kind of dog trainers would they be?”

Feng Xuan recalled that Zhang Zian had once said that cats could not be in the presence of mosquito repellent incenses and insecticides. Now, he also learned that dogs couldn’t eat onions. He could not help but say emotionally, “It’s really troublesome to raise cats and dogs. There are so many things to pay attention to.”

Zhang Zian agreed, “Yes, that’s why cats and dogs may be discarded by their owners if the troubles of raising them outweigh the fun of having them as companions.”

Having been working with the crew for many years, Feng Xuan was a fast eater. He finished his meal in a few quick bites. He drank a few mouthfuls of the complimentary orange juice, and said to Zhang Zian, “I’ll go tell the new lunchbox guy so that he’s more careful when it comes to lunch selection. He’ll need to consult with you before ordering food, just in case anything goes wrong.”

“OK, leave your empty lunchbox here. I will throw it away with mine,” Zhang Zian agreed.

Watching as Feng Xuan left hurriedly, Zhang Zian felt that it really wasn’t easy to be a director since he must micromanage every detail of the crew. Perhaps life wouldn’t be so hard for a more famous director, right?