Chapter 488: Humanistic Care
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After shooting all day, the sky darkened. Feng Xuan called it a day and asked the crew members to carry the equipment back to the storage room. He thought of where he wanted to have dinner, and whether he wanted to do karaoke or call some girls.
Liu and Wang were waiting at the door of the shooting base. It was pretty cold, and Zhang Zian didn’t want to keep them waiting so he was about to leave when Feng Xuan called him.
“Zhang, are you busy? Come with me. I have something that I want to discuss with you,” Feng Xuan said in a tone that you couldn’t say no to. “Let’s call Old Yang.”
Zhang Zian couldn’t refuse so he texted Liu and Wang and told them to wait.
He called Old Yang and walked into Feng Xuan’s conference room, surprised to see the producer there. Famous came inside as well, and laid on the floor.
Xu Gang shook hands with Zhang Zian and Old Yang and then said sincerely, “Thank you so much, both of you! Today’s shooting was amazing. I can’t imagine how I would’ve dealt with the Tibetan Mastiffs if you were not here. Honestly, when we were delivered the Tibetan Mastiffs, I was nervous they might hurt someone.”
Old Yang seemed indifferent and said something random. Then he saw a carton of cigarettes on the table, unopened. He immediately put it under his armpit, knowing it was a present from Feng Xuan.
Feng Xuan, delighted, drank his hot cocoa.
Zhang Zian was flattered by what Xu Gang said because he didn’t feel like he did anything. Famous did all the work. It was like it was a completely different dog yesterday.
They sat down.
Feng Xuan put his mug down to say something nice before moving onto the main topic.
He said, “Zhang, Old Yang, Gang Zi, you all did a great job and I appreciate it. After today’s shooting, we’re almost finished, there are just a few scenes for us to work on. I’m sure it will go smoothly as Famous and the other two police dogs are really smart.”
Old Yang smoked happily, while Zhang Zian listened carefully.
“The reason why I called you in today is because I wanted to discuss the dogs’ retirement issue. This includes Famous, Red Dragon, Prince and the other German Shepherds as well as the Tibetan Mastiffs.” Feng Xuan looked at each of them and asked, “Thoughts?”
Xu Gang had already thought of some plans so he broke silence air first, “I’ll start. Before we delivered the Tibetan Mastiffs, we made a deal with the monks in the Zang temples that we would never hurt these dogs. So, I suggest we send them back to the stray dog’s homes as there’s no other suitable place for them to stay.”
Old Yang blew out the cigarette smoke and nodded. “That’s the only thing we can do. When the Yushu earthquake happened in 2010, some of the police dogs were sent to help search for people stuck under the ruins.”
The others listened without interrupting.
Old Yang ashed his cigarette and continued. “You know, usually there will be a an outbreak of disease after a big disaster, especially for a serious earthquake like this one. Yushu is the original place of the Himalayan Marmot, and the earthquake made more marmots come out of their holes. Himalayan Marmots have two big front teeth, and look fluffy and cute. Even though they clean themselves, they are covered with diseases.”
He paused and exhaled before continuing. “There were plenty of mice in Yushu as no one kept cats as pets. After the earthquake, the mice were everywhere. They were not afraid of humans and always traveled in groups. The local government immediately made a decision to exterminate them, not caring if they were marmots or mice. The decision was withdrawn by the locals who thought of marmots as saints and fed them every day even though they were suffering from hunger.
Others agreed this situation was similar to what they were dealing with now. It was obvious that killing the Tibetan Mastiffs was the easiest solution, but they couldn’t because it was inhuman and against local customs. If they did it, people would be unhappy, and it could cause an uprising.
Xu Gang was intrigued. “Then, what happened?”
Old Yang shrugged his shoulders and said, “In that circumstance, they had no choice, but to kill the saint.”
They understood, but knew it couldn’t be applied to this situation. The Yushu earthquake was a natural disaster, what they were dealing with was not.
No one else had any ideas, so they decided with Xu Gang to send the Tibetan Mastiffs back, after sterilization, to the stray dog nursing homes in Zang .
It was time to talk about the retired German Shepherds.
The German Shepherds were bought as stand-ins. Even though they were useless for the time being, they couldn’t go back to the training base as they would be put down. So what should they do?
Some people in the crew wanted to adopt one or two German Shepherds, but when they heard they needed insurance from the police, they thought it was too troublesome and backed off.
Everyone was silence.
Famous patted Zhang Zian’s shoes with it paw. Zhang Zian coughed and said seriously, “Director Feng, there’s one thing I want to say.”
Feng Xuan replied, “Please, go ahead.”
Zhang Zian said, “There aren’t many movies with animals as the main character, but there are many movies and TV series that star animals.”
Feng Xuan nodded.
“I’ve seen a lot Western animal movies and there’s usually a statement at the end of the movie saying, ‘No animals were harmed during the making of this movie.’ Our film can’t do this because some dogs were injured and we plan to sterilize the Tibetan Mastiffs. They were harmed to some extent, we can’t lie. Our statement could say something like, ‘All the animals in the movie have found good homes.'”
Zhang Zian finished eloquently.
He was pressuring Feng Xuan so he wouldn’t treat the German Shepherds like the Tibetan Mastiffs. These German Shepherds would be too much of a burden for normal people to adopt, so they’ll end up euthanized. They contributed their lives, they deserved better.
Feng Xuan was impressed by Zhang Zian because his wife said a similar thing to him once before bed, although it was said with different intentions.
As a movie fan, his wife told him “your movie’s success depends on the way you treat your animals.”
She used the movie Peacock, as an example.
In the movie, there was a scary scene where the mom poisoned a goose and choked it so that it wouldn’t spit it out. She was choking it while the goose was kicking its legs.
At the end of the movie, nothing was said about the goose. Critics raised questions when the movie was taken to an international film festival. The producer had to explain that the goose was not poisoned, just put under, and that it didn’t die. Then the film was nominated for awards.
However, the goose looked like it was in so much pain, it couldn’t have been faked. You could tell when you saw the scene, that it was definitely poisoned. There may have been more geese that died for the scene.
Feng Xuan’s wife told him this to remind him that if he wanted his movie, Dog Warrior, to win some awards in international film festivals, it was essential to treat the animal actors carefully.
Zhang Zian and Feng Xuan’s wife were on the same page. If they wanted Dog Warrior to become a hit, they had to have a statement that said, ‘All the animals in the film are have found good homes’ and used the humanistic care to avoid questions.
First, his wife, and now, the exclusive trainer. Feng Xuan realized the importance the issue and took it seriously after these two suggestions.
The Tibetan Mastiffs were borrowed temporarily, as long as they were sterilized and sent back to the stray dog nursing homes in Zang, it would be fine. What about the German Shepherds?
They discussed for a while. Old Yang put out his cigarette and coughed. “I’ve got an idea.”
The rest of them stopped talking and listened to him carefully.
“What about sending the German Shepherds to police dog nursing homes?” Old Yang suggested.
Zhang Zian asked Old Yang about the retirement issue. Old Yang mentioned police dog nursing homes, but didn’t say any details.
Feng Xuan, Xu Gang and Zhang Zian weren’t sure about the police dog nursing homes and whether it’d be a suitable place for the dogs. Old Yang wasn’t sure either as he had never been there before.
They discussed a while longer, but couldn’t think of another way, so they decided to send Zhang Zian and Old Yang to the police dog nursing homes to see what they were like.
