Chapter 440: The Different Stewed Beef with Potato
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Okay! That’s it for this morning! Go to have lunch, everybody!” Feng Xuan said in satisfaction. The filming for this morning went rather smoothly. In the scene where they captured the robber, Famous had delivered a perfect performance. It fearlessly and perfectly leapt through the Hummer’s window, and bit the wrist of the actor who played the robber. Its expression was very fierce, but it merely bit the actor lightly without hurting him. This scene was quite difficult, but it only took one shot. Both Feng Xuan and the actor praised Famous highly.
During shooting the scene of jumping through the rings of fire, due to its fear of the flames and the smell of alcohol, a German Shepherd from other pet shop did not leap high enough and knocked over the steel ring. The flaming steel ring hit its body and burned a little bit of its hair. It was so painful that it kept whining, but fortunately the fire did not hurt its flesh or bones. However, that dog had to be removed, and the scene had to be refilmed. Because of this, the owners of other dogs realized the danger of filming. It’s not that easy to gain fame.
“Come and get your lunchbox!” It was time for lunch. All the crew members rushed to the guy responsible for handing out lunchboxes as soon as he called. Zhang Zian was no exception. Although he brought his own lunch, in the spirit of not wasting free food, he went to take four lunchboxes just like yesterday.
He found a secluded corner, opened the lower compartment of his four double-decker lunchboxes that he brought from home, filled them with fresh water, and covered them again. There would be a chemical reaction between the water and the heating agent, and he could eat the warm stewed beef with potato after just a few minutes.
While waiting, he looked at the contents of today’s lunch provided for the crew. The food was still as cold as yesterday’s. In addition to the rice, the side dishes were cucumber with scrambled eggs, fried spinach, and a few thin, nearly-transparent slices of Sichuan-style stewed pork. Zhang Zian felt that this was even worse than yesterday’s lunch. If yesterday’s lunch was about ten yuan, then the maximum value of today’s lunch would be eight.
The stewed beef with potato was heated up in no time. He opened the top component of the lunchboxes. Hie began to drool when he smelled the aroma. He put the cold rice alongside with the side dishes into his own lunchboxes so that the rice could fully absorb the beef soup and its calories.
Famous and the two police dogs couldn’t wait any longer. As soon as Zhang Zian put the lunchboxes on the ground, they lowered their heads and gobbled up the delicious food. Zhang Zian also mixed his own share of stewed beef with potato with the rice provided by the crew. He broke apart the disposable chopsticks and began to eat.
However, he really had underestimated the dogs’ sense of smell. Not too long after, the rest of the dogs in the yard had sniffed the aromatic beef, and they kept barking in Zhang’s Zian direction. The barking attracted some people’s attention, especially since the dogs were all barking in the same direction.
Xu Junyu was eating by herself today. She heard the barking and saw that Zhang Zian was crouching like a thief in the corner, facing the wall. She wondered what he was doing. She held her lunch and walked over to him.
“Xiao Zhang, what are you doing?” she asked Zhang Zian from behind.
Zhang Zian turned around, his face was still stained with beef soup and rice grains. He calmly said, “I’m having lunch. What else could I be doing?”
Xu Junyu saw the steaming lunchbox in his hand, as well as the stewed beef with potato in it. She was surprised. “You brought your own food?”
He took it for granted and replied, “Yes, how could we be full only eating these lunchboxes? If my dogs don’t have enough food, they won’t have the energy to participate in the filming.”
Xu Junyu smiled bitterly. “That’s not the issue. It’s typical in the crew that we share joy and hardships together, from the director to the celebrities to the members of the crew, everyone eats the same meal. Look, even Feng Xuan and Lin Feng are having the same food as everyone else.”
“The spirit of sharing joy and hardships doesn’t need to be reflected like this.” Zhang Zian did not think he was wrong.
“However, you will turn the rest of the crew against you,” Xu Junyu kindly reminded him.
It was at this moment that a young man rushed up next to Zhang Zian. “What’s going on? Who told you to bring your own meal?” The person who was speaking was the guy giving out lunch. He noticed that something strange was going on, and seeing that Zhang Zian was holding his own lunchbox from far away, he ran over to raise the difficult question to Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian sized him up a bit and asked him instead, “Who said that no one could bring their own meals?”
“I did.” The guy pointed to his nose and arrogantly said, “You know who I am? Let me tell you, I am the hospitality manager for the crew, and I handle meals, beverages, and bathrooms! When I say no, it means no!” He would never allow Zhang Zian to win, otherwise everyone would bring their own meals, and he would be embarrassed.
Xu Junyu quietly tugged on Zhang Zian, suggesting that he not quarrel with this guy, but to admit his mistake. It would do him no good if he got into a fight.
Zhang Zian had read the crew’s functional arrangements, and in the production division, the positions included production director, field producer, hospitality manager, outreach producer, finance manager, stage manager, and logistics manager. The hospitality manager had a lot of power and huge benefits. For those black-hearted and ruthless people, if they became the hospitality manager in a movie with a medium-sized investment, they could gain tens of thousands of yuan to hundreds of thousands of yuan. Where did the money come from? It was, of course, from the budget allocated to all the crew members. The production director Nie Yuan had arranged for his relative to have this position, and justified his decision as “training the young man.” What a flagrant practice of nepotism this was.
Most of the crew members knew about this, but no one was willing to offend Nie Yuan since they wanted to pursue a long-term career in the movie industry. Besides, the money that Nie Yuan put into his own pockets was from public funding, not their own money. The result was merely that they had poor quality lunch. They could endure it.
But Zhang Zian was different, he did not intend to stay in the movie industry. Even if he did, he wanted to rely on his own abilities instead of remaining silent in the face of injustice. However, he had to resort to strategy in this battle. There was no need to confront this guy head on. It would be the best if he could make use of a third party to get rid of the guy.
He deliberately produced a timid expression, and said in a startled tone, “You are the hospitality manager?”
“Oh, you just realized?” said the cocky guy, who thought that Zhang Zian was really frightened. His arms crossed on his chest, he raised his head. He said in an insufferably arrogant tone, “Let me tell you, Nie Yuan is my uncle. If you are smart, quickly say you are sorry and promise that you will never bring your own meal again, then I will let it pass for today.”
Zhang Zian said in a low voice, “Well, I understand, but since I brought my own meal today, could you please let me finish it? I don’t want to waste it…” Famous and the two police dogs had gobbled up the food in no time, and they were currently lying to digest the food. Zhang Zian had finished half of his stewed beef with potato, but there was another unopened lunchbox next to him.
The luncbox guy felt a flicker of interest when he smelled the aroma of the stewed beef with potato. “No! I’m confiscating it!” He grabbed the lunchbox from Zhang Zian. He touched the bottom of the lunchbox and found that it was still warm.
Red Dragon and Prince had come to see Zhang Zian as sort of their owner. When they saw that his belongings had been taken, they stood up instantly, revealing their fangs and barking at the lunchbox guy.
“Hey! Hold your dogs, quickly!” The guy was so scared that his face was pale. He retreated backwards. “If they dare bite me, I will sue you!”
Zhang Zian pulled Red Dragon and Prince back, then bowed down and apologized, “I’m sorry, I will manage them.”
“Well, that’s more like it!” Though the guy appeared tough, he was a coward inside. He dared not to stay any longer. He quickly left with the lunchbox.
Just as Xu Junyu was trying to comfort Zhang Zian, she saw that he couldn’t restrain his laughter anymore. He had his hands on his belly, laughing happily, as if his trick had worked.
“What happened? What did you do?” She asked curiously.
“No need to ask, you will see soon,” Zhang Zian said mysteriously.
…
Holding the unopened lunchbox, the lunchbox guy went to find Nie Yuan. Before he got to Nie Yuan, he shouted, “Uncle! Uncle! I’m bringing you delicious food!” Nie Yuan and Feng Xuan, as well as some key figures in the crew, were discussing the progress of the outdoor scenes in the northwestern region. None of them had eaten lunch yet. Nie Yuan frowned and said, “What delicious food?”
The lunchbox guy wanted to take this opportunity to get in Nie Yuan’s good graces. He smiled cheekily, as if he was offering a treasure. “Uncle, I’ve brought you stewed beef with potato, it’s still warm. You’ve worked hard, please enjoy it while it’s warm!” The others present congratulated Nie Yuan for his having such a filial and considerate nephew.
Nie Yuan felt proud and said smilingly, “Okay. It’s so nice of you to think of me.”
“Here, Director Feng, let’s find out how my nephew’s culinary skills are.” He took over the lunchbox, which was still warm, and proudly invited Feng Xuan to taste.
Feng Xuan waved his hand. “No, your nephew gave this to you, you should eat it yourself.”
“Hey, Director Feng, you’re welcome to have some, we are all family.” Nie Yuan smiled and opened the lunchbox.
“Wow! What is that smell! It’s so stinky!”
“Puke!”
A disgusting and extremely foul smell exuded from the lunchbox. Everyone covered their noses and felt nauseous. Some people even began to retch. Inside the lunchbox, there was no stewed beef with potato, but dog droppings in three different shades of brown, still steaming.
A note was placed on the sh*t, which read, “Starting from me, every dog owner should prepare to walk their dogs in a civilized manner.”
Covering their noses, people stared at Nie Yuan and his nephew. They wanted to laugh but did not dare to.
“This…this is…this was stewed beef with potato before…” the lunchbox guy also covered his nose and said in astonishment.
“What the f**king hell this is?!” Nie Yuan was furious. Was he trying to make a fool of him in public! Scandal spread quickly in the film and television industry. He knew that this incident would soon become a joke throughout the entire industry.
He picked up the lunchbox and threw it over to his nephew. Caught off guard, the nephew was covered with dog droppings all over his face and body.
“Uncle, you…ugh!”
His face pale with anger, Nie Yuan shouted, “Out! Get out! I don’t want to see you again! And don’t you call me uncle anymore!”
…..
On the other side of the yard, Zhang Zian said seriously to Xu Junyu, “Dogs will want to defecate 10 minutes after a meal. As a civilized dog owner, please bring a container to pick up their droppings.”
