Huayu: This director is pretty strong.

Chapter 48 The Bones of the Clock Tower

This was the first hammer strike before filming began.

Broken cement chunks landed at my feet.

Chen Yan stepped through the dust, avoided the cables lying on the ground, and pushed open the small wooden door in the corner of the cold storage.

The room was filled with a strong smell of alcohol and cheap mugwort smoke.

Lin Qingqiu lay on a makeshift cot, his upper body bare, his back skin taut.

Six slender silver needles were inserted into both sides of her spine.

The electroacupuncture device emits a low hum, and the needle tip vibrates slightly under the influence of the electric current.

"Director Chen."

Lin Qingqiu turned her face to the side.

Her forehead was pressed against the sheet, and sweat dripped down her temples onto the canvas, leaving a small dark stain.

Chen Yan tossed a stack of rolled-up clock tower design drawings onto the bedside table.

He pulled over a peeling iron chair and sat down.

"How much longer until it ends?"

A middle-aged doctor in a white coat turned the knob on the electroacupuncture device.

The current indicator light changed from green to yellow.

"This set will take another ten minutes. Her muscle inflammation is severe, so the charge needs to be increased."

Lin Qingqiu's fingertips gripped the edge of the cot tightly.

The knuckles protruded, and the fingernails made a screeching sound as they scratched against the canvas.

Chen Yan unfolded the design drawings and drew a circle in the center of the drawing with a red marker.

"The woman in 'Thunder' dies five minutes before the clock tower collapses. You've read the script three times. Tell me, what was she thinking at that moment?"

Lin Qingqiu closed her eyes.

The electric current caused her back muscles to spasm repeatedly.

"She was scared. She wanted to run away. The wooden beams of the clock tower were rattling, and she felt it was a trap."

"wrong."

Chen Yan tapped the blueprint with his knuckles.

The crisp sound of paper hitting paper drowned out the hum of the instrument.

"She wasn't afraid. She'd lived in this building since birth. To her, the sound of breaking beams was no different from the sound of the wind."

Lin Qingqiu opened her eyes and turned to look at Chen Yan.

Her pupils shrank considerably.

Aren't you scared?

"She's not a victim. She's a speck of dust in this clock tower. Dust doesn't try to escape; it just falls into the cracks with the wind. Understand?"

Chen Yan stood up and walked to the electroacupuncture device.

He looked at the row of trembling silver needles, his tone flat.

"Starting tomorrow, the infirmary will be dismantled. You'll move to the cold storage center. The clock tower's framework there is already complete."

Lin Qingqiu's body stiffened for a moment.

"Living inside a skeleton?"

"Sleep on that pile of wood shavings that haven't dried yet. The only time you'll smell like that wood will you turn it on."

The door was pushed open.

Su Wan walked in carrying two insulated containers and happened to hear this.

She stopped in her tracks, her gaze shifting back and forth between Chen Yan and Lin Qingqiu.

"Chen Yan. The temperature in this cold storage is only six degrees Celsius. Qingqiu's back injury can't withstand dampness. Making her live in a pile of wood is torture."

Chen Yan did not look at Su Wan.

He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled out an empty cigarette case, and wrote an address on the back.

"This is Zhang Yuan's phone number. He'll bring a sleeping bag and a hot water bottle over tonight."

Su Wan put down the thermos and walked up to Chen Yan.

"I disagree. I can rent the nearest hotel for her. She can ask for whatever she wants during filming, but filming hasn't started yet."

Chen Yan put away his pen and looked directly at Su Wan.

"Do you want her to win an award, or do you want her to be mediocre?"

Su Wan's words stuck in her throat.

"Artistic pursuits and ruining an actor's body are two different things."

Chen Yan walked past Su Wan and placed his hand on the doorknob.

"In Cannes, the jury doesn't want to see perfect acting. They want to see a soul being crushed on camera. Lin Qingqiu, you choose."

Lin Qingqiu lay on the bed.

She looked at the row of trembling needles, and her breathing became heavy.

"I'll live there. I'll move in before dawn tomorrow."

Chen Yan opened the door and walked out of the room.

In the lobby of the cold storage, electrical sparks danced in the darkness.

Wearing goggles, Wu Gang was holding a welding gun and welding the bottom of the I-beam.

The blinding blue light illuminated the entire cold storage facility.

Dozens of huge logs were piled up in the center.

Three experienced craftsmen were wielding axes, peeling away the damp bark from the tree.

Wood chips flew through the air.

The fresh, earthy smell of wood filled my nostrils.

"Director Chen, as per your request, all the mortise and tenon joints have been designed with some slack."

Wu Gang took off his goggles and wiped the soot off his face.

He pointed to the bottom frame, which was already taking shape.

"As soon as you pull the main switch in the engine room, all twelve load-bearing columns around the clock tower will collapse in sequence. The entire clock tower will tilt to the left at a 45-degree angle and then collapse vertically."

Chen Yan stepped onto a horizontal beam lying across the ground.

He crouched down to check the fit of the joint.

"Is the strength enough? I want a slow, rhythmic collapse, not an instantaneous fall apart."

Wu Gang handed Chen Yan a heavy wooden hammer.

"Don't worry. I've soaked all the wood inside in water. It's still hard, but it's become more brittle. When it breaks, it will make a very loud noise."

Chen Yan swung the wooden hammer and smashed it heavily onto the pillar.

"Thump."

A dull echo reverberated repeatedly between the walls of the cold storage room.

"Faster. I want to see the second-floor platform rise by tomorrow night."

Zhang Yuan ran over from a distance, carrying several rolls of black blackout cloth in his arms.

"Brother Yan. The shipping schedule from Hong Kong is set. It will arrive in Tianjin the night after tomorrow, and the equipment will be stored the day after that. The ARRI equipment cost us $30,000 in shipping and insurance."

Chen Yan nodded.

He looked at the ventilation openings at the top of the cold storage.

"If we run out of money, contact Vincent directly. Tell him we're building a work of art."

Su Wan walked back to the hall.

She looked at the busy workers, then at Chen Yan standing in the middle of the woodpile.

She opened her wallet, which contained only a thin stack of loose change.

"Chen Yan. The workers' food allowance is only enough to last a week. If we don't sign that supplementary agreement with WildBunch, the three million US dollars won't arrive."

Chen Yan jumped down from the crossbeam and brushed the wood chips off his palm.

"I won't sign the agreement. Tell Vincent I don't want the five million installment compensation. Have him convert that portion into screening points in European cinemas. What I want is long-term returns."

"Are you crazy?"

Su Wan raised her voice, causing the workers next to her to turn their heads.

"What we need now is cash. Without cash, this clock tower, half-built, is just a pile of scrap wood."

Chen Yan walked towards the entrance of the cold storage.

The heavy iron door was pushed open a crack, and the cold wind outside, carrying sand and dust, rushed in.

"Vincent is more anxious than we are. The response to that short film in Cannes is enough to make him take this gamble. Go send the emails, do as I say."

Su Wan stood still.

She watched Chen Yan's retreating figure.

Chen Yan was standing at the door, looking down at his watch.

"Old Wu, turn off the lights."

Wu Gang pulled down the switch.

"Sizzle—"

The electrical noise stopped.

The entire cold storage facility was plunged into a deathly silence and darkness.

Moonlight streamed through the narrow vents, cutting through the darkness like a knife, and fell upon the massive skeleton of the clock tower.

The shadow of the wood stretched long across the earth, like the unfinished skeleton of a colossal beast.

Lin Qingqiu, wrapped in a military overcoat, slowly emerged from the shadows around the corner.

Her face was as white as paper, her right hand was on her waist, and she took very small steps.

She didn't look at Su Wan, nor at anyone else.

She walked over to the pile of wood that hadn't been processed yet, bent down, and grabbed a handful of wet sawdust.

The sawdust was kneaded into a ball in her palm, oozing a bitter juice.

Lin Qingqiu raised her head and looked at the three-meter-high scaffolding platform.

She stepped onto the first wooden step and exerted force with her arms.

"hiss."

She gasped for breath, her body curling up in pain.

Two seconds later, she put her strength back on and climbed upwards.

Chen Yan stood at the iron gate, his hand resting on the door frame.

He watched that slender figure climb the platform step by step.

Lin Qingqiu climbed to the top of the platform.

There were scraps and leftovers scattered everywhere.

She pulled off her military overcoat and lay down at the intersection of the hard wooden beams.

The edges of the wooden beams chafed her skin.

She closed her eyes, and her breathing gradually became steady.

Su Wan walked to Chen Yan's side and lowered her voice.

"Do you really think this method can produce a good film?"

Chen Yan turned his face to the side, and the moonlight illuminated his pupils.

"This isn't making a movie. This is creating a goddess. If she doesn't become a goddess, then she'll just be a speck of dust under this clock tower."

Chen Yan slammed the iron gate shut.

"Click".

The door bolt is locked.

The only light inside the cold storage disappeared.

In the darkness, only the creaking sound of the wood expanding and contracting due to heat could be heard.

It's like a bone slowly breaking.

Freeze.

Chen Yan turned around and walked towards the bread truck in the distance.

In the rearview mirror, the abandoned meat processing plant's cold storage stood alone in the wilderness.

The wheels rolled over the frozen clods of earth, making a series of rapid, jolting sounds.