SA Chapter 84 (Part 1) – Feitian Awards

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

Maze City had been in filming for a month now, and all the indoor scenes have already been completed. 

When Rong Xu returned from the Peony Awards this time, the staff members in the crew had already begun to dismantle parts of the props and set decor used for the indoor shoots. The next day, they will be leaving Xiangshan Film and Television City and heading to Hengdian to continue shooting parts of the outdoor scenes. 

By the time Rong Xu returned to the crew, it was already in the afternoon. The new, young actor entered the crew yesterday and will play the role of Xue Jiazhe in his childhood. This kid was a very popular child star in recent years. He looked like pure and bright jade, 10 points cute. He was only five years old this year and didn’t act rough and obtuse like other little boys at all, but was as quiet as a young girl. 

Seeing Rong Xu’s return, Director Yuan laughed and introduced the child to him: “Later, when Lele is filming, can you give him some guidance, Rong Xu? (You) just returned with a trophy and should give the kid a role model. This is what you (Xue Jiazhe) looked like as a kid, so you should guide Lele in understanding the script.” 

Rong Xu smiled and nodded: “Okay.” 

Then, Rong Xu lowered his head again and saw a tender little dumpling shrunken beside Director Yuan, blinking a pair of big eyes as he tilted his small head and looked at him seriously. 

Child stars who could mix into the entertainment circle long term usually all had parents who were good at management. Most of them were insiders in the industry, and Lele was no exception. Last year, this kid played a little prince. Debuting with that role, he had been acting in the industry for a year now, and although he was very young, he was by no means a completely innocent newbie. 

The child gently called out “Big Brother Rong Rong”, and looking at the soft, white dough-like smiling face, Rong Xu smiled gently as he squatted down and softly said: “We will start filming very soon, let’s take a look at the script, okay?” 

Not far away, the child’s mother was looking at her son and nodding in satisfaction. 

In the evening, when the sky turned dark, Lele’s scenes officially began. 

Rong Xu stood next to the set, watching the prop crew move a big boulder over and place onto Lele and another actress. This actress joined the crew on the same day as Lele. The two of them only had today’s single scene that portrayed Xue Jiazhe’s childhood events. 

Tan Yangxuan knew that his college classmate had experienced an earthquake when he was a child and had almost died then. He also knew that his parents divorced when he was a child, but he didn’t know that Xue Jiazhe’s parents had divorced because of the earthquake. His father had abandoned them, mother and son, and escaped alone. 

That night, an earthquake had struck very suddenly. The ground trembled and the mountains shook, causing the small town to fall into chaos. 

That morning, Xue Jiazhe had even played and laughed with his parents, talking like a little adult and saying that he would become a policeman in the future and become an indomitable man. But in just a short ten hours later, they were awakened by a violent shaking. His mother rushed into his room frantically and embraced him in her arms while his father ran next to them. 

Just as they were about to leave the house, the ceiling suddenly collapsed. His mother was crushed by a few large rocks and could just barely provide enough space for her son to hide in. At that time, his father was standing at the door, hurriedly reaching out to try to rescue them. 

He shouted in disorientation: “Dad!” 

His mother also yelled loudly: “Take JiaJia!” 

His mother tried her best to support him upwards, and his father also quickly stretched out his right hand to pull. However, exactly at the moment when success was imminent^[1], another large boulder fell and hit the side of his father’s feet. Xue Jiazhe was about to touch his father’s hand, but the next moment, his father immediately retracted his hand as he turned and ran. 

The little child was too young and didn’t understand what that meant, but his mother’s eyes widened. She looked desperately at the image of her husband’s back, appearing as if she had only come to truly understand this man today. 

Then, they were trapped for three days and three nights under the pile of rocks.

Xue Jiazhe was hidden in his mother’s arms. There was no water or food. When his mother was so thirsty that she couldn’t even secrete saliva, the woman took broken rock shards and cut her arm to let her son drink her blood. 

They were rescued three days later. It wasn’t a big problem if an adult didn’t eat or drink for three days, but a child couldn’t endure it. 

His mother’s left leg had been pressed under a boulder, and it finally had to be sawn off before they could come out. Since then, she’s had one missing leg. Meanwhile, the man called father had stood beside the rescue crew member, watching anxiously as both of them were rescued. Finally, his parents divorced peacefully, and the man left the house, quietly sending money to the mother and son every month. 

Xue Jiazhe’s mother never touched this sum of money. It was all stored in the bank. She gave the money to her son before she died and told her son: “You had never owed him, and I have never owed him. If you want, you can use it. If you don’t want to use this money, you can also return it to him.” 

Xue Jiazhe’s mother died of illness a year ago, and it was then that the serial killings in Haicheng appeared. 

This scene was filmed six times before Director Yuan was finally satisfied. After all, he was still a child, and no matter how good his acting was, there will always be difficult to prevent situations that could appear. The actress who played Xue Jiazhe’s mother was also NG’d by Director Yuan twice in the crying scenes. 

In the script, Mother Xue personally didn’t care that she was abandoned by her husband, and she didn’t care that her husband had abandoned her, but she cared very much that the man she once loved could even abandon their child. It didn’t matter whether she lived or died, but her child couldn’t die. 

Thus, this strong-willed mother had cried helplessly for a few minutes before she stopped her tears and faced the reality of being crushed under the rubble. 

In movies, this type of family relationship drama was usually a time bomb^[2], and was also one of the rare emotional moments in Maze City. Director Yuan strived for a sensational effect. By the time the scene was filmed for the sixth time, even the members of the crew looked on with heartache, and he finally smiled with satisfaction and passed the scene. 

Soon, the prop group began to clean up, and the child’s and actress’s scenes came to a close.

{Please read the original translations on SurrealSkyTranslations instead of supporting TL aggregator sites. Thanks!}

---

---

Previous | Index | Next