Chapter 84: Hard Cat

Chapter 84

During the preparation process for the filming, Song Jixing discovered that the makeup artists were not the only impressive ones.

The centuries-old mansion that Shi Fei had rented was an authentic ancient building made of stone, but the various pieces of furniture arranged inside were not original.

Where the original furniture had gone after hundreds of years was anybody's guess. After the town's development, the yard was filled with items purchased by the local tourism bureau.

Although they looked similar, there were still differences.

In pursuit of authenticity, Shi Fei directly had the props master replace all the furniture to restore the Republican era setting completely.

All the furniture was custom made, precisely replicated one-to-one based on data from museums and various visual materials.

This was not even the most extravagant part. What surprised Song Jixing was that before the first scene was shot, the props master specifically reminded her about certain props.

"Ms. Song, be careful, this teacup is from the late Qing dynasty. The lid and cup are a set, costing thousands of RMB per piece. We only brought a few pieces this time. It would be troublesome if one broke."

A cup costing thousands of RMB was fine, she could still compensate if she broke one.

"...Pay attention to the vase by your feet. Director Shi bought it back from an auction. It's worth hundreds of thousands."

"...This painting is an authentic work by Zhou Da, and is quite valuable..."

As the props master explained piece by piece, telling Song Jixing to be more careful - if she damaged something, compensation would be secondary. The main issue was that all the scenes involving those props would need to be reshot for continuity with the female lead's appearances.

Song Jixing nodded seriously, surveying the studio surroundings where everything had its own price tag. Accidentally bumping into a couple items could mean not only working for free on this drama, but even needing to pay out of her own pocket.

Aside from the strict requirements around props, the costumes were also impressive.

Song Jixing had several qi pao embroidered dresses from the Republican era, with each embroidered stitch by stitch by masters of the craft. Tailor made to fit, one dress per person.

The original female lead had received the same treatment, unfortunately she had left before completing filming.

Her costume and props masters did not reuse any of her outfits for Song Jixing, instead they custom ordered all new ones.

Of course, if Song Jixing were to leave before finishing either, the costs of those dresses would be counted towards her penalty fees.

By now, Song Jixing understood why Shi Fei had such strict requirements towards actors initially, wanting reputable actors with strong acting skills.

What was impressive was not the costumes, props or actors, but purchasing power.

Song Jixing: ???

"Xiao Yang and the others feed the cats every day, but when they don't have treats in hand, the cats don't even bother glancing their way. But you're different, look how they all gather around when you pet them, meaning you have an exceptional attractiveness to cats!" said Shi Fei.

"There's a black cat written into our script, I was planning to have the CG artists handle it originally. Since you can train cats, why don't we just have a real cat appear on camera?"

As lifelike as special effects could be, one look could tell it was a fake cat, far inferior to the real thing. If they used an actual black cat for filming, the quality of the shots would instantly increase by several levels.

Just the thought made Shi Fei feel it would look amazing!

Song Jixing: "I can try!"

Shi Fei instantly had someone bring over a black cat in peak physical condition for Song Jixing to bond with.

Yet the results were not that great.

The moment that black cat exited its cage, it took off running about wildly. Not only was it not intimate with Song Jixing, it even zipped all around the yard chaotically with the staff unable to catch it at all.

Until the local town cats couldn't stand watching any further and beat it up, only then did it despondently return back to its cage.

Shi Fei was utterly puzzled: "How come this cat won't do?"

The other staff explained: "It's likely because the local town cats have been raised freely outdoors since young, totally unafraid of people and fond of Sister Song, so they all ran over to get close to her. But this cat was kept caged since childhood, the large crowd makes it stressed."

Shi Fei could reluctantly accept that reasoning, but could his idea truly fail?

Ultimately Shi Fei chose to compromise, having his crew assist in checking if there were any suitable black cats among the town strays that might potentially warm up to Song Jixing.

In half a day's time, someone discovered a black cat.

Although it wasn't pure black all over, sporting a white fur ring around its chin and some greying hairs on its tail, the issues weren't major.

As long as it was black enough, it would be an outstanding black cat!

This very friendly cat allowed every single crew member to pet it.

Yet Shi Fei still wasn't fully satisfied, since this cat was too fat!

Shi Fei stroked his chin, seeming slightly troubled. "Can we put this cat on a diet to slim it down?"

It was commonplace for directors to have actors lose weight, but putting a cat on a diet appeared to be a task nigh impossible to accomplish.