Watching as Jiang Nian drew those complex movements under his pen,
Xu Ke felt very emotional.
Jiang Nian was truly a versatile talent!
He had superb martial arts skills, brilliant acting, and the moves he designed were extremely aesthetic.
“If I had his abilities,”
“the films I make would definitely reach a whole new level!”
Xu Ke was very envious.
But he also understood that this was something you just couldn’t envy your way into.
At most, he could only lament that Jiang Nian was born far too late.
If he had been born in the last century, during the peak of martial arts films’ popularity,
with Xu Ke’s scripts and Jiang Nian’s choreography and acting skills,
there would have been no room for the likes of Jackie Chan or Jet Li!
The two of them could have dominated an entire era alone!
“What a pity, what a…”
Xu Ke was just about to sigh wistfully, but he stopped mid-sentence as a thought suddenly struck him, and he paused slightly.
That thought was: his current collaboration with Jiang Nian didn’t seem too late after all!
Although the plot and action for The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate were already designed,
well… those were all fixed, weren’t they?
They were already in the process of changing one of the action sequences.
If that was the case, changing some of the later action sequences as well probably wouldn’t be a problem, right?
Realizing this, Xu Ke’s eyes lit up.
So he looked at Jiang Nian with intense, eager eyes and said, full of anticipation, “Teacher Jiang, are you interested in taking on another job?”
Jiang Nian put down his pen. “?”
When he types out that question mark, it’s not because he has a problem, but because he feels like you have a problem.
Take on another job?
Do you even hear what you’re saying?
He, Jiang Nian, already has three jobs on his plate: playing ‘Yu Huatian’, playing ‘Feng Lidao’, and being ‘Zhang Xinyu’s guardian’.
And now you want to add more?
Do you really think he’s some kind of mercenary?
“Sorry, but I refuse!”
Jiang Nian said directly without even thinking about it.
Xu Ke was stunned by his answer. “Wait, Teacher Jiang, I haven’t even said what it is yet.”
“No matter what it is, I refuse. I’m already too busy!”
Jiang Nian said irritably.
Back when he was playing Du Gao on the set of The Legend of the Rivers and Lakes,
although he had to film every day, he could still increase the proficiency of his [Shaolin Boy’s Kung Fu] by 20 to 30 points by the end of the day.
But now, after coming to the set of The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate,
including today, it’s been three days total. Three days!
And the proficiency of his [Sword-Breaking Art] has only gone from ‘Initiation’ (73/100) before he left to ‘Minor Achievement’ (0/500).
That’s an increase of just 27 points.
This growth rate made Jiang Nian want to curse!
And now you, Xu Ke, think he’s not tired enough and want to assign him more work?
There’s no way Jiang Nian would be happy about that.
Hearing this, Xu Ke shamelessly pressed on: “Teacher Jiang, don’t worry, this job absolutely won’t be any trouble at all. I just wanted to ask if you would be willing to serve as the martial arts director for our crew!”
“?”
As soon as he said this, before Jiang Nian could even answer, the current martial arts director was completely dumbfounded.
He blinked and looked blankly at Jiang Nian, then at Xu Ke.
Wait, what does this mean?
How did this gossip suddenly land on him?
If Jiang Nian becomes the martial arts director, what is he supposed to do?
The martial arts director was stunned.
The look he gave Jiang Nian became somewhat resentful.
Jiang Nian clearly hadn’t expected Xu Ke to come up with such an idea either.
His mouth twitched. “Are you serious? If I become the martial arts director, what happens to the current martial arts director?”
“Him?” Xu Ke glanced at the martial arts director and said, “He’ll become your assistant, of course!”
Then he added, “Oh, and Teacher Jiang, I know you’re practicing martial arts. How about this: I promise that if you agree to be the martial arts director, every morning will be your practice time. It absolutely won’t get in your way. What do you think?”
“…”
As soon as he heard this, Jiang Nian had to admit he was tempted.
After all, having every morning to practice martial arts would be an extremely stable source of proficiency points.
So, after thinking about it for a moment,
“Alright!”
Jiang Nian nodded.
The reason he thought it was troublesome was because he felt too much work would interfere with his martial arts practice.
But Xu Ke offering him every morning to practice made up for that exactly.
For Jiang Nian, that meant it wasn’t really a problem anymore.
Hearing this, Xu Ke’s face immediately broke into a smile.
Thank goodness he had paid close attention to Jiang Nian and knew that he practiced martial arts from time to time, and had made a mental note of it.
Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have known what conditions to offer to convince Jiang Nian.
Xu Ke extended his hand. “Happy collaboration.”
Jiang Nian shook it. “Happy collaboration.”
And so, this matter was settled.
After that, Jiang Nian wrote down the key points of the moves and some precautions on paper, asked Xu Ke about the afternoon’s schedule to confirm he had no scenes to shoot, finished his meal, and went back to practice martial arts.
After he left, the martial arts director could no longer contain his frustration and looked at Xu Ke. “Director Xu, what do you mean by this? We’ve worked together for over ten years. Even if I don’t have any great merits, I’ve at least put in hard work, right? Today, without saying a word, you hire a new martial arts director, fine. But making me his assistant, isn’t that going a bit too far?”
Hearing this, Xu Ke glanced at him, let out a soft snort, and said, “You don’t understand a damn thing. You don’t think this is as simple as it looks on the surface, do you?”
The martial arts director frowned. “Isn’t it?”
“Heh, I knew you didn’t get it. Let me ask you, if you and Jiang Nian got into a fight, who do you think would win?”
“It should be him, I suppose.” The martial arts director didn’t sound very confident.
After all, Jiang Nian’s skill was obvious to everyone. If they really fought, the martial arts director didn’t think he could get the better of him.
“Alright, let me ask you another thing. Between the moves we’ve been brainstorming and designing together, and the moves Jiang Nian designs, which ones are better?”
“Well…”
The martial arts director couldn’t find the words.
Because it was something anyone with eyes could see.
Seeing his silence, Xu Ke patted the martial arts director’s shoulder and said earnestly, “See, your perspective on things is still too narrow. Since he’s better than us, we need to learn from him. Whatever we learn becomes our own skill. I might not have Jiang Nian for my next film, but I will definitely have you. Understand?”
“I get it.”
The martial arts director understood.
Xu Ke nodded. “Good. Then you study these moves Teacher Jiang drew first. I need to go take care of some other things.”
With that, he turned around and quickly walked away from the area.
Only after he was far from the set did Xu Ke finally relax and let out a long breath.
Damn, thank goodness he thought quickly and came up with that explanation.
Otherwise, the martial arts director might have started a fight with him right there on set.
But there was one thing Xu Ke had indeed told the truth about:
He might not be able to hire Jiang Nian for his next film, but he would definitely hire this martial arts director he’d worked with for over a decade.
Similarly, if this martial arts director could actually learn something from Jiang Nian,
it would be absolutely nothing but beneficial for him.
