This Is Art!

Ma the Fifth usually did not care much about his reputation, but this time, he was genuinely furious. Lu Yuanshan poured Ma the Fifth a cup of wine. "Junyang, what are you saying? Look at the bond between us brothers. You made money, and we're happy for you." Lu Yuanhai chimed in from the side, "Right, we're all happy for you." "Happy for me about what?" Ma the Fifth did not touch the wine. "Shouldn't you be happy too? Both of our families chipped in together to make this movie. Now that it's turned a profit, we ought to split the proceeds properly, fair and square!" "You're being too formal, too formal," Lu Yuanshan said, offering Ma the Fifth a cigar. "Talking about splitting money only drives a wedge between us. Between brothers, there's no need for that." Lu Yuanhai said, "Old Five, making a living here in Lüshui City isn't easy. It breaks our hearts to watch you struggle, so it's only right for our family to give you a hand." "What do you mean, 'give me a hand'?" The more Ma the Fifth heard, the angrier he grew. "When partners do business together, they settle accounts based on performance. Tomorrow, I'm calling all the reporters together to announce how we're splitting the proceeds." "No splitting, no splitting!" Lu Yuanshan waved his hand. "We've already discussed it with Uncle Qiu. All the money earned from Bloodgun Detective belongs to you. Consider our share a sponsorship for you to shoot the sequel." Lu Yuanhai said, "To be honest, the two of us aren't hurting for this little bit of cash. Making this movie was just to help you out, so don't stand on ceremony with us." Stand on ceremony? Were the two brothers really that kind-hearted? Did they honestly think Ma the Fifth couldn't see through their game? They were giving up the profits of Bloodgun Detective not because they truly didn't care about the money, but because they didn't want to tarnish the Lu family's reputation. The film studio had been co-founded by both families, with the Lu family holding half the shares. Supporting roles, casting, box office sales... the brothers had learned every step of the process. Screenwriters, directors, cinematographers... the brothers had secured an entire production crew in their grasp. With experience, resources, connections, and methods all in hand, the Lu family had successfully established a foothold in the film industry. The Ling family's Bloodblade Detective had been squeezed out by Ma the Fifth's Bloodgun Detective, suffering devastating losses in both reputation and profit. Any dream the Ling family had of monopolizing the film industry had become nearly impossible, which conveniently carved out room for the Lu family. All of the Lu family's goals had been achieved. As for the lingering infamy, they intended to dump every bit of it onto Ma the Fifth's shoulders. Moving forward, the Lu family would launch a new company to shoot respectable films. As for this joint venture with Ma the Fifth, the Lu family would gradually pull out under the pretext of leaving it all to him. In truth, the company was being relegated to a doormat—a dirty rag meant strictly for sleazy movies and dirty work. One couldn't blame the Lu family for being ruthless; that was simply how business was conducted. Yet Ma the Fifth was an astute businessman. How could he fail to see through it? "The press conference for the next movie is coming up soon. If you two older brothers don't show your faces, I'm not making it!" Ma the Fifth fumed. Lu Yuanshan hastily tried to soothe him. "Old Five, look at what you're saying. That hurts our camaraderie." Lu Yuanhai joined in as well. "Old Five, what's gotten into you? You never used to have such a temper. Have a drink and cool off." No drink could fix this! Ma the Fifth refused to play along. Upon returning to Xiaoyaowu, he heard that Li Banfeng was back. He uncorked two bottles of fine wine and spent the entire afternoon pouring out his grievances to him. "Old Seven, tell me, can this movie still be made?" "Of course! Why wouldn't you make it?" Ma the Fifth waved his hand. "Old Seven, you don't understand. When I took the stage against Ling Miaoying, I threw all shame to the wind. You probably haven't even seen the movie I made..." Li Banfeng set down his wine cup. "I watched it. Watched it twice." "If you watched it, you should know that it isn't even a real movie anymore. It's disgraceful—even I feel embarrassed by it." "How is it not a movie? Why is it disgraceful?" Ma the Fifth lowered his head, falling silent. Although born into a prominent family, he was still a native of Puluo Province, and some of his sensibilities remained bound by the customs of the province. Li Banfeng patiently consoled him. "In the Outer States, countless directors make a name for themselves with films like this. This is art. Lüshui City has plenty of Western painting galleries too, and the artists who paint Western paintings don't think it's shameful at all. Why should it be disgraceful for us?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "Paintings are paintings, but ours is a movie. It's not the same." "How is it different? It's all art! Failing to accomplish anything is what's truly shameful; pull it off successfully, and you're a master! That settles it—the film must be made." Ma the Fifth looked up. "Then should we add your name to the credits too?" "That won't do! Not because I'm afraid of embarrassment, but because it's not convenient to reveal my identity." Ma the Fifth let out a long sigh. "All right. In any case, I'll listen to you on everything. Should we shoot the second movie the same way as the first?" "You can't do it the exact same way. The first one had plenty of raw shock value, but the narrative was lacking. The audience will suffer from aesthetic fatigue. Tell those screenwriters of yours to put some more thought into it and write a better story." "I'm worried there won't be enough time," Ma the Fifth said. "I don't know what trick the Ling family used, but they can churn out a movie in a month. If I take my time to polish it, I'm afraid we won't beat them to the punch." "There's no need to beat them to the punch," Li Banfeng said, thoroughly confident in the current situation. "Take extra care this time. Don't worry if you release it ten days or half a month after them. In fact, coming out slightly later will work even better—at least half of all the advertising the Ling family does will end up playing right into our hands." Ma the Fifth blinked. "Do you really think this is a legitimate business?" "Legitimate, completely legitimate!" Li Banfeng looked at Ma the Fifth with utter sincerity. "Follow my lead and you can't go wrong. We're going to dominate this entire industry!" *** "We can't let Ma the Fifth keep shooting like this, or he'll have us completely under his thumb!" Zhou Changhong put down the newspaper in his hand and said to Ling Miaoying, "We need to make some trouble for him. If they dared to burn our film reels, we can smash up their set. Turnabout is fair play." When Bloodblade Detective hit theaters, its box office fell far short of expectations. Zhou Changhong was in a foul mood, and Ling Miaoying felt immense pressure. Now that Zhou Changhong wanted to resort to underhanded violence, Ling Miaoying felt it was somewhat rash. "The Lu family stands behind Ma the Fifth. If we make a move against the Lu family, all pretenses will be shattered." "We don't need to do it ourselves. How are the contacts with Sanying Gate coming along?" "The Second Master is on good terms with us and should be able to lend a hand, but gang societies speak in underworld codes, so it's hard to say how far they'll go." Zhou Changhong was confident. "We don't need to be demanding about how far they go, as long as they send people over. Ma the Fifth's movie was filmed far too filthily; the Lu family won't want to get dragged in too deep. When they see Sanying Gate getting involved, they certainly won't show themselves lightly. At that point, they'll leave Ma the Fifth to shoulder it all on his own. Let's see how he weathers it this time!" *** Ma the Fifth lined up his actors and finalized the script. On the day shooting began, a lean young man arrived at the film set with a dozen subordinates in tow. A production assistant stepped forward to clear the set. "Gentlemen, we're shooting a scene. The director just announced that anyone not involved must leave the premises." "What do you mean, 'not involved'?" Holding a meat patty, the young man took a bite and spoke while chewing. "Aren't you putting on a show? We're here to watch the show. Are you saying we're not allowed to watch?" The assistant tried to say more, but one of the young man's underlings shoved him, sending him staggering. The director knew these people were there to cause trouble and quickly sent someone to inform Ma the Fifth. By the time Ma the Fifth arrived at the set, the young man was lecturing an actress: "Look at you, so young and pretty. What couldn't you do for a living? Why did you have to stoop to this? Once this stuff is filmed and everyone sees all of you, how are you going to live your life? How will you ever get married? Who would want you then?" The actress was frightened to tears. Ma the Fifth walked up, looked at the young man, and said, "Sir, to what do we owe the honor of your visit?" "'Sir'? 'Honor'?" The young man laughed. "We don't go by 'sir.' Around here, we call each other 'brothers.'" Zuo Wugang whispered a reminder at Ma the Fifth's side: "Fifth Master, these people are from Sanying Gate. In their sect, everyone addresses each other as 'brother.'" Ma the Fifth said, "I have no feud with Sanying Gate. Gentlemen, your coming here today..." "Oh, there's a feud—how can you say there isn't?" The young man interrupted him. "We brothers of Sanying Gate are decent, upstanding folks, and we can't stand your indecent business. Think about it yourself: do you honestly consider this stuff decent? Don't you feel disgraced looking at it yourselves?" Zuo Wugang warned from the side, "Fifth Master, don't bother asking any more. They're here purely to cause trouble. Are we fighting or not?" When it came to fighting, Zuo Wugang truly had nothing to fear. However, Ma the Fifth did not want to resort to violence. Sanying Gate was not a major family clan; they were a gang society. They possessed countless dirty, underhanded tactics. Truly tearing down all courtesies would be like kicking a hornet's nest, unleashing methods Ma the Fifth had no way of parrying. A gang causing trouble on a movie set had to be after money, right? Ma the Fifth had someone bring over a hundred silver dollars and pressed them into the young man's hand. "Brother, my business relies on the goodwill of people like you. Please accept this small token of my regard." The young man pushed the silver dollars back to Ma the Fifth. "Fifth Young Master, I don't want this money. We've met before, though you probably don't remember me. Take my advice: don't make this movie. Don't make any more of them from now on. You've already made plenty of money, so back out now while you still can." Filming could not proceed that day. Ma the Fifth returned to Xiaoyaowu and recounted the situation to Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng was curious. "Why is Sanying Gate giving us trouble?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "I've wracked my brain over this and still can't make sense of it. We haven't offended Sanying Gate anywhere." "What does the Lu family say?" "Lu Yuanshan said he'd go inquire about it, but I doubt anything will come of it. If I had to guess, the Ling family put Sanying Gate up to this." Li Banfeng rubbed his forehead. The relationships between prominent clans and gang societies in Puluo Province were far too convoluted for him to untangle all at once. "That young man who came to cause trouble on set—what's his background?" Ma the Fifth said, "Old Zuo went to investigate, but there's no word yet. Word is he's a rising talent within Sanying Gate, but nobody knows his surname or given name." Li Banfeng pulled down the brim of his hat. "Tomorrow, I'll go meet him." "Old Seven, that Sanying Gate crowd isn't someone you want to cross." "I don't intend to cross them, but we can't let them walk all over us either!" *** The next day, filming resumed on set. Before long, that young man arrived again with his subordinates. Today, instead of a meat patty, he was munching on a chicken drumstick. Slapping a greasy hand directly onto Ma the Fifth's shoulder, the young man smiled. "Fifth Young Master, you really don't know what's good for you. I told you to stop filming—why won't you listen to good advice?" Ma the Fifth said to the young man, "Brother, let's step aside and talk." "Step aside however many steps you like, it won't change what I have to say." The young man followed Ma the Fifth backstage. "Fifth Young Master, if you want to play rough, I'll take you on. We can fight wherever you want, but you're definitely not shooting this movie today." "Then tell me, what day will you let us shoot?" Li Banfeng emerged from a corner of the backstage area and walked up to the young man. "What's the meaning of this? Why come make trouble at our place?" The young man looked at Li Banfeng, and the chicken drumstick dropped from his hand to the floor. "U-Uh... Seventh Brother..." Li Banfeng was startled. "Who are you?"