“Traditional martial arts”—this is a term that has only emerged in recent years.
Just as Li Cheng mentioned earlier, it is used to distinguish itself from traditional martial arts.
Since it can be distinguished, it also means that, apart from traditional martial arts, there is another form of martial arts in the country.
Modern martial arts.
This is a new type of martial art created based on “Peking opera martial artists.”
It is also the main style of martial arts that is currently popular.
“So, is this modern martial arts very powerful?”
Jiang Nian asked curiously, deeply intrigued.
Upon hearing this, Li Cheng burst into laughter. “Powerful? How could it be powerful? Brother Jiang, didn’t you hear what I said earlier? This modern martial arts is based on Peking opera martial artists. And those martial artists are just performers singing on stage. Do you really think a singer can be that powerful?”
“Not really,” Jiang Nian shook his head.
“Then there you go,” Li Cheng said, spreading his hands.
Jiang Nian pressed further: “But if it’s not powerful, how did it manage to suppress traditional martial arts so completely?”
According to Li Cheng’s explanation earlier, modern martial arts is one of the main reasons for the decline of traditional martial arts.
And since it was able to push traditional martial arts out, logic would suggest it should be very powerful.
But now, with Li Cheng’s clarification, it clearly wasn’t the case.
At this, Li Cheng just smiled and asked a question that didn’t seem related to martial arts at all: “What kind of society do you think we live in now?”
Jiang Nian: “…”
“I get it.”
With things spelled out so clearly, Jiang Nian finally understood why this flashy but impractical modern martial arts had risen so suddenly and suppressed traditional martial arts so thoroughly.
It’s safe.
No matter how much you practice it, it won’t cause any particularly serious consequences.
On the other hand, with traditional martial arts, once you master it, a single evil thought could lead to extremely severe social repercussions.
It’s a textbook example of an unstable element.
If he, Jiang Nian, were an official, he would also heavily crack down on it.
After that, Jiang Nian and Li Cheng chatted about this and that.
Just as they were really getting into their conversation—
“Dingdong.”
A crisp WeChat notification rang out.
Jiang Nian and Li Cheng both pulled out their phones to check at the same time.
It turned out Jiang Nian’s phone was ringing.
“Got a job?” Li Cheng asked.
Jiang Nian nodded. “The casting assistant messaged me. They want to shoot my scene. Well, big bro, I’ll head off then.”
“Oh, no rush. Don’t they still need me, the martial arts director, for the scenes? Let’s just go together.”
Li Cheng said casually.
Hearing that, Jiang Nian thought he had a point, so he didn’t say anything more and simply walked with Li Cheng toward the set.
The set was incredibly lively at the moment.
The director stood up, hands on his hips, veins bulging on his forehead, and shouted at the lead actor:
“How are you filming this?”
“This is a fight scene, and you haven’t gotten it right after thirteen takes.”
“Either there’s no intensity at all, or your moves are soft and weak.”
“Didn’t the storyboard make it clear enough for you?”
“You can’t even copy what’s on the storyboard?”
In response, Zuo Yuanliang, the actor playing the lead, didn’t seem to care at all.
He just kept scrolling through his phone and said casually, “There’s nothing I can do. These moves are too difficult. Director, why don’t you just simplify them? Or we can just wing it, and you can have the post-production team add some CGI effects for me.”
“What the hell!”
As soon as he said that, the director’s heart surged with rage.
An actor who not only doesn’t bother to film properly but also starts telling him, the director, to rewrite the script.
Come on.
The only reason the director didn’t just fire him outright—or at least tear him a new one so he’d understand the director’s authority—was that Zuo Yuanliang had the backing of the show’s biggest investor, and the director didn’t want to offend him.
Just then.
Jiang Nian and Li Cheng arrived together.
Spotting them, the director, who had just been publicly defied by Zuo Yuanliang and was struggling to save face, lit up.
He raised his hand. “Martial arts director Li, come here for a second.”
Hearing that, Li Cheng quickly walked over.
“Director, what do you need from me?”
As soon as he said that, the director found his outlet.
Without any hesitation, he pointed at Li Cheng’s nose and started cursing him out directly.
“What the hell have you been doing?”
“Didn’t I tell you that you need to teach the actors the moves before filming starts?”
“Look at what you’ve taught him. What kind of garbage is this?”
“Are you trying to get yourself fired?”
“Just say so if you don’t want this job anymore, and I’ll kick you out right now!”
Getting chewed out for no reason, Li Cheng looked completely confused.
But soon, after noticing Zuo Yuanliang not far away, he understood what was going on.
The director was scolding the dog to warn the master.
Zuo Yuanliang, being backed by the investor, wasn’t convenient for the director to yell at directly. But if the director did nothing, it would hurt his own authority.
So he pulled this stunt.
And honestly, it worked pretty well.
After the director finished shouting, Zuo Yuanliang—who had been completely absorbed in his phone—finally looked up, frowning with clear displeasure.
Zuo Yuanliang obviously understood the little trick the director was playing, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.
But since the director was yelling at Li Cheng, if Zuo Yuanliang spoke up now, he’d be admitting guilt.
“So damn annoying,” Zuo Yuanliang muttered to himself.
Then he pretended nothing had happened and went back to scrolling through his phone.
As for Li Cheng, he was just the innocent bystander who got caught in the crossfire. After being yelled at for three or four minutes—until the director finally cooled down—he was dismissed.
And the first thing Li Cheng did after leaving was, of course, to call Zuo Yuanliang over.
The director might be wary of Zuo Yuanliang’s status and not dare to say anything to him.
But Li Cheng, as the martial arts director, couldn’t care less about that.
If you don’t make me happy, then I won’t make you happy either.
As for getting reported to the company, Li Cheng wasn’t afraid.
Sure, Zuo Yuanliang had some connections and was backed by the investor.
But this was just routine training.
It’s not like they could skip the training altogether, right?
If this got escalated, the investor would be the first to come down on Zuo Yuanliang, without Li Cheng even having to lift a finger.
Because the investor sent Zuo Yuanliang to act in this show for two reasons: one was to promote him, and the other was to make money.
If this kid screwed things up and caused the investor’s money to go down the drain, then no matter how well Zuo Yuanliang had been sucking up to them before, it wouldn’t matter.
Obviously, Zuo Yuanliang understood this too.
He could act arrogantly toward the director because he knew the director wouldn’t really do anything to him. If the director backed down, Zuo Yuanliang wouldn’t have to work hard, and if something went wrong, he could just shift the blame to the director.
But Li Cheng was different.
He was just a martial arts director. His job was to teach the moves for the fight scenes—there was no way to pass the blame onto him.
So, even though Zuo Yuanliang was completely unwilling, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and follow Li Cheng.
After sending off that bad vibe,
the director felt much better. He lit a cigarette, looked at Jiang Nian, thought for a moment, and said, “You’re Du Gao, right?”
Hearing that, Jiang Nian nodded. “Yes, I am.”
The director exhaled a puff of smoke. “Alright, go to the makeup room and get your makeup done. Once you’re ready, we’ll shoot your first scene. I’m not in a great mood right now, so you’d better not make me lose it again.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone around the set cast sympathetic glances at Jiang Nian.
This young guy was really unlucky!
He happened to show up right when the director was in a foul mood.
If he messed up his performance even a little…
Tsk tsk, he’d probably get yelled at into total silence, right?
