novellhall Chapter 51 Breaking the Filter, No More Martial Morality
Chapter 51 Breaking the Filter, No More Martial Morality
Soon it was noon, and the script reading came to a temporary end. Everyone left the meeting room and headed to the cafeteria of 21st Century Audio-Visual Company to prepare for lunch.
When only a few people remained in the conference room, Wang Guohui smiled and asked Wei Lie, "Old Wei, what do you think of your junior's performance this morning?"
Wei Lie smiled and praised, "Very good, very excellent. I remember Ji Qingxu just finished his freshman year. This morning I did a rough observation, and even among all the students in the past years of Beijing Film Academy, his performance is among the best."
"Haha, our Director Zhu has excellent taste. Let's go have lunch and continue this afternoon."
"it is good."
......
"Not to your liking?"
Upon hearing Ji Qingxu's question, Sun Feifei immediately turned her gaze away from the distance and smiled, saying, "No, I'm just a little curious."
Upon hearing this, Ji Qingxu smiled and glanced at the group of Koreans sitting in the distance. He was not surprised to see that most of them, except for a few, were wolfing down their food.
Let alone actors, even South Korean athletes with higher status react this way when they see Chinese food. I wonder if these people will pack up fruit after they finish eating and verbally comment that Chinese food is just so-so.
Although it's unclear whether the food at the 21st Century Film and Television Company's canteen is usually like this or if it was improved because of the arrival of the Korean actor, there were more than 20 dishes, as well as various desserts, fruits, and drinks. The catering standard was similar to those buffet restaurants with an average cost of over 300 yuan per person twenty years later. Not to mention the Korean actor, Ji Qingxu has never seen this level of food in any film crew so far.
Of course, the food was good, but the Chinese people present were not too surprised except for marveling at the good benefits of 21st Century Audio-Visual Company. However, the little Korean's performance made everyone take notice.
Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Ji Qingxu chuckled softly and said, "Although South Korea was once one of the Four Asian Tigers, its land area is smaller than Shandong Province, and its arable land is only about 16%. Their total population this year is about 4700 million. With so many people, they only have such a small land area. They rely on imports for many foods. Even the raw materials for their most indispensable 'kimchi' have to be imported from us. Even though their per capita income is much higher than ours, their consumption level is also many times higher than ours, especially in terms of food."
Seeing that everyone at the table was looking at him, Ji Qingxu smiled and picked up a slice of watermelon. "The price of watermelons in Beijing this year is about 5 cents a pound, while in South Korea it's at least twenty times that."
Hearing this, everyone's eyes widened, and Sun Feifei quickly asked, "Ten yuan per pound?"
"Yes, I'll still underestimate the situation."
"My God, that means a 5-pound watermelon would cost at least 50 yuan. If you eat one a week in the summer, that's 200 yuan a month. And that's how much is the minimum wage in Beijing right now."
"Tsk, the spending level of these Koreans is too high. Even if they earn a lot, they spend a lot. It feels like they are not as good as us Chinese."
"Qingxu, are all food prices high there? Including seafood?"
"Yes, all the food is expensive. When they celebrate, eating barbecue is the greatest happiness. If you've watched Korean dramas, you should know that the two most common foods on the table when the actors eat are kimchi and seaweed soup, because these are the cheapest foods."
"I see. I thought they really liked kimchi. We used to eat kimchi with rice all the time, but conditions were tough back then. It was okay to eat kimchi occasionally, but we couldn't stand eating it all the time."
"It's also possible that they've gotten used to eating it so often that they like it."
"No, look at how they eat meat; it proves that meat is still tastier than kimchi."
Upon hearing this, everyone tried their best to suppress their laughter.
"Hey, Qingxu, South Korea's economy is so developed, their income as actors should be even higher, how come..."
Ji Qingxu smiled and shook his head. "No, the actors there earn very little, ridiculously little. Let's not even talk about the famous actors. For the average actor, getting about 10% of their earnings is already considered very good."
"One-tenth?"
"Yes, that's still a minority; most are less than 10%."
"Are their actors willing to accept this?"
"As I just said, with such a small land area and such a large population, not only is there a shortage of food resources, but also a shortage of jobs. If you don't do it, there are plenty of others who will."
"I suddenly remembered a saying, though it's a bit inappropriate: 'All that glitters is not gold, but rotten inside.'"
"As the old saying goes, a donkey dung ball looks shiny on the outside, but inside it's a bag of coarse chaff."
"Hahaha!"
Seeing everyone laughing heartily, Si Qin Gaowa and Pan Hong exchanged a glance with a hint of admiration on their faces.
This young man is really amazing; he shattered the illusions that all the actors in the crew had about foreign countries, which they considered to be just "little Koreans."
Noticing their actions, Ji Qingxu smiled and took a bite of watermelon. He guessed that more than just these two seniors at the table understood his meaning, but Ji Qingxu didn't care at all.
Because Ji Qingxu did it on purpose. It's only the beginning of the 21st century, and most people in China, including actors, have a very strong bias towards foreign countries, thinking that everything is good because foreign countries are so developed.
However, Ji Qingxu, who had traveled from the future, knew that while developed countries abroad had better social welfare than China, compared to other developed countries in Europe and America, South Korea only appeared to be better than China; in fact, in some aspects, it was even inferior to China.
Ji Qingxu wasn't afraid of the Koreans causing trouble during this collaboration. What Ji Qingxu least wanted to see was his own actors being too polite to these Koreans. Of course, Ji Qingxu didn't mean to treat them coldly; everyone should just get along equally.
Little Bangzi knows all too well what kind of people they are; they're a group that takes advantage of any kindness shown to them and becomes arrogant and ungrateful.
Although the general trend now is to treat foreign "friends" as politely and friendly as possible, Ji Qingxu is a post-95s who traveled from 2025. Politeness and friendliness are fine, but they are mutual. Ji Qingxu can't influence others and is too lazy to care, but Ji Qingxu doesn't want to see a bunch of unpleasant things in front of her.
As for the attitude of the government, well, based on what Ji Qingxu saw in the conference room that morning, he guessed that the government was only polite on the surface and did not actually value these people much. Otherwise, they would not be eating in the cafeteria at this time, but in a well-known restaurant outside.
Even though the food in the cafeteria is just as good as that in restaurants, the attitude shown varies depending on the location.
After lunch, everyone took a walk outside and rested for a while before returning to the conference room to continue the script reading.
The first day's script reading session ended at 5:30 p.m.
The Chinese people went home, while the Korean actors were accommodated in a nearby hotel.
......
What do you think of the performances of the Chinese actors?
After dinner, the actors from the Little Sticks were gathered together by the person in charge.
Lin Dongzhen, the middle-aged actor who led the group during the day, spoke up, "He's very impressive. Not to mention the others who are around my age, just take our male lead, Ji Qingxu. Even though he hasn't started acting yet, his delivery of lines is already among the best in our group of young Koreans."
The actor put it rather tactfully. As the first winner of the KBS Drama Awards, Lim Dong-jin has never seen a young actor in his country with similar age to Ji Qingxu whose acting skills can match his.
Actress Han Chae-young said with a wry smile, "Senior, I feel a lot of pressure. I have the most scenes with him."
The second male lead, An Qixuan, also had a bitter face. If Han Chae-young, as the female lead, had the most scenes with Ji Qingxu, then he should be the second most. Although he debuted a few years earlier than Han Chae-young, An Qixuan had never acted in a drama before. This was An Qixuan's first drama.
Most importantly, Ji Qingxu not only has excellent lines, but also surpasses him in appearance and physique... He is no less than himself. An Qixuan even regrets taking on this role.
Not only did the "male and female leads" agree that Ji Qingxu was excellent, but the other actors also felt the same way. Hearing everyone's comments, the person in charge frowned deeply. The Chinese side was too cunning; they actually sent out their best actors. They really had no sense of martial ethics.
However, remembering the instructions from the TV station's higher-ups, the person in charge coughed heavily and said, "Stop, that's enough. I didn't call you here to listen to you praising your opponents."