novelraw Chapter 356: Comedy Can Also Be a Knife
Chapter 356: Comedy Can Also Be a Knife
Chapter 356: Comedy Can Also Be a Knife
In the capital, the 798 Art District.
Lin Wan parked her car at the entrance of a private gallery called "Jian Bai".
The building was converted from an old factory, its walls made of rough exposed concrete, with a high, cavernous interior space.
A sparse few paintings in an extremely minimalist style hung on the walls, each marked with a jaw-dropping price.
A woman in a black suit, with a capable and coldly elegant demeanor, was directing workers to adjust the hanging height of a painting.
She was Xu Man, a veteran producer in the industry and Lin Wan's university classmate.
Hearing footsteps, Xu Man didn't turn her head.
"Lin Wan, you're three minutes late."
"I've told you, with this artist's work, being off by a single millimeter ruins the entire breathing feel of the space."
Only after saying this did she turn around.
She gave Lin Wan a scrutinizing sweep, her gaze finally landing on Jiang Ci and Gu Zhiyuan behind her.
Xu Man's movements froze.
She glanced at Gu Zhiyuan, whose beard was freshly shaved but whose eyes were sunken,
then looked at Jiang Ci, dressed in a simple windbreaker.
Xu Man's eyes swept back and forth between the three of them, finally letting out a derisive snort.
"A tragic Film Emperor, Box Office Poison, plus a comedy script. The whole set is complete now."
Lin Wan didn't acknowledge her mockery.
She placed a document folder on the stark white, glaringly bright long table in the center of the exhibition hall and pushed it forward.
"Take a look at this first."
Xu Man pulled out the documents inside.
Inside were the storyboard sketches that Gu Zhiyuan had redrawn after pulling two all-nighters.
At first, she flipped through them quickly, her expression carrying a professional scrutiny.
But the further she went, the slower her page-turning became.
Gu Zhiyuan's drawing style was rough, even somewhat neurotic, with messy lines, yet full of tension.
It wasn't the exaggerated physical slapstick of traditional comedy.
It was the struggle of a person in a desperate quagmire, desperately trying to claw out a bit of laughter.
The protagonist Chen San gets his face stepped on in the mud, spits out muddy water, yet gives a "V for victory" sign to the sky.
Chen San is chased all over the set by the crew's dog, falls into a mud pit, and still turns back to say to the dog, "Thanks, buddy, saved me some bath water."
Every joke was built upon extreme wretchedness and bitterness.
Xu Man closed the storyboard, remaining silent for a long time.
She pushed the sketches back to the center of the table and looked at Lin Wan.
"Gu Zhiyuan isn't crazy, you are. Who would dare invest in something like this? Who would dare watch it?"
"It will sting every single viewer."
Lin Wan didn't back down an inch. "Why should comedy just tickle people? Comedy can also be a knife."
Xu Man was choked by her words, then let out a helpless laugh.
"Fine, your knife is very good."
"But," she leaned forward, hands clasped and resting on the table, her imposing aura enveloping them,
"What guarantee do you have that your 'knife' won't be turned into a pack of tear-jerker tissues by an actor used to playing tragedy?"
"The whole internet is laughing at Jiang Ci for destroying his own Great Wall. What does he himself think?"
Xu Man's gaze stabbed directly at Jiang Ci.
"Teacher Jiang Ci, let me ask you a question."
"A question not about ideals, only about money."
"You acted in 'The Legend of Han and Chu', your salary was nearly eight figures, endorsements came non-stop, you stood in a position everyone wants to be in."
"Now, for a cannon fodder extra role that not only pays no money but also requires you to make yourself look ugly, you're pushing all of that away."
"Why?"
Everyone's attention focused on Jiang Ci.
Gu Zhiyuan watched him nervously, afraid he'd say the wrong thing.
Lin Wan also held her breath.
Jiang Ci calmly stated a fact.
"In my sophomore year, I worked as an extra in Hengdian, took on a job."
"Play a soldier who dies on the battlefield, background scenery, no lines, just a back view."
"That day we filmed a rain scene, the water from the sprinkler truck was cold and dirty."
"From 3 PM to 7 PM, I lay in the muddy water for four hours."
"After filming, the director called 'wrap', everyone rushed to pack up and take shelter from the rain, no one remembered there was still a person lying in the mud."
"When I got up, my whole body was stiff, and I didn't even get a boxed meal."
His words were flat, no emotional fluctuations could be heard, no accusation or grievance.
"At that time, I thought, if one day, I could play an extra with a name, even if it was just one line, how great that would be."
After finishing his account, Jiang Ci's gaze fell on Xu Man.
"Chen San is that person."
The gallery was completely silent.
Xu Man looked at Jiang Ci's clean face.
She had been climbing and tumbling in this industry for over a decade, seen too many actors tearfully recount their "hardship stories".
Those stories, each one exquisitely packaged, with a clear purpose, just to exchange for sympathy and resources.
But Jiang Ci's words had none of that.
That wasn't a moving story, it was a resume, a resume only the character "Chen San" could understand.
Xu Man suddenly felt it was absurd.
In this industry where everyone shrewdly calculates, there really was this kind of... fool.
A kind of stubbornness, almost foolish persistence, not for success, but just to fulfill a single thought.
Xu Man suddenly laughed.
"Crazy."
She cursed, not sure if she was cursing Jiang Ci, or cursing herself for being infected by this madness.
She stood up, walked to the rest area, took a checkbook and pen from her bag.
With a few "swish, swish, swish" sounds, she tore off a check.
She walked back, slapped the check on the table, and pushed it in front of Lin Wan.
"Five million."
"Not an investment, consider it a personal loan from me."
Xu Man looked at Lin Wan and Jiang Ci, her expression like a gambler at the table, crazy yet resolute.
"I'll accompany you, go crazy once."
But Lin Wan's hand felt heavy as she picked up the check.
Even with this five million, they were still twenty-five million short of the budget gap.
After leaving the gallery, the atmosphere in the car on the way back was even more oppressive than on the way there.
Gu Zhiyuan remained silent the entire journey.
When the car stopped downstairs at Spark Media, he didn't get out immediately. Instead, he fished his phone from his pocket, his finger hovering over a number.
The contact's note had just one character—"Dragon".
Lin Wan caught a glimpse of that name from the corner of her eye, and also the small line of notes below: "Urgent money needed, fifty percent interest".
Her temper flared up instantly.
"Smack!"
Lin Wan slapped the back of Gu Zhiyuan's hand, the phone falling onto the seat.
Lin Wan's voice suddenly rose sharply, piercing enough to seem like it could stab through the car roof.
"What are you trying to do? Borrow from loan sharks?"
"Gu Zhiyuan, do you think your life isn't worth anything, or do you think I haven't lost enough face, that you need to trade your life for money to make this movie?!"
Gu Zhiyuan was scolded speechless by her.
Somehow, this matter leaked out.
A joke soon began circulating within the industry, saying that Spark Media, in order to film a comedy destined to flop,
was going around begging for alms, not only driving the Film Emperor crazy but also forcing the washed-up director to borrow from loan sharks.
Many people waiting to watch the spectacle were betting that the 'King of Extras' project would quietly be aborted within a week.