Huayu: This director is pretty strong.

Chapter 66 The Fake Clock in the Red-Light District

Inside the darkroom.

The red light overhead shone on the control panel.

Secretary Zhao closed his phone flip cover and pushed open the heavy iron door.

Three film processors in white coats stood in front of the copy machine.

The sealed metal box has been pried open, and four pre-cut film strips are hanging on the guide slot.

"The video will be ready in half an hour."

Secretary Zhao leaned against the door frame. "President Shen wants to see the actual, unedited footage."

The foreman put on white cotton gloves and inserted the first piece of film into the gear.

Push down the lever.

A beam of strong light pierced through the film, and the monitor screen lit up.

The image shows a whole patch of gray-green old wall plaster.

The dried water stains cracked along the wall, and the camera remained stationary, without any movement.

The foreman turned the focus adjustment knob.

Change to the second stage of the machine.

This time it was a macro handheld shot.

The internal structure of a dilapidated camera.

Plate door, plate pressing plate, gear set.

The aircraft shook violently, and the image became blurry.

Secretary Zhao straightened up and walked to the monitor.

The third paragraph goes up.

A close-up of medical protective gear.

The camera lingered on the foam pad and metal buckle for a full twenty seconds.

There was no face visible, and no sound.

Secretary Zhao pulled his hand out of his pocket.

Stop.

The foreman's hand hovered above the push rod.

"What are these?"

Secretary Zhao pointed to the screen.

"The sample piece cut by Director Chen with lines drawn on it."

The master replied.

"Put it down."

The fourth scene follows the movement of gears.

A rusty, dilapidated door with a seal pasted in the center of the crack.

All four segments were played, totaling two minutes and ten seconds.

It's all empty shots, scraps, and meaningless, messy footage.

"Where is the scene where the clock tower collapses?"

Secretary Zhao asked.

The master shook his head.

Secretary Zhao opened the metal box and checked the handover form label on the bottom.

The paper was covered with black ink and a red seal, bearing the signature of Factory Director Zhang himself, and the cut position perfectly matched Chen Yan's own markings.

Secretary Zhao scraped the phone case back and forth with his thumb.

"Directly copy using the machine."

The craftsman responded and pulled the push bar.

The film began to move at a constant speed.

Less than five seconds into the walkthrough, a large area of ​​bright light suddenly appeared on the monitor screen.

The white area eroded from the edges towards the center, and the entire image was quickly swallowed up by the strong light.

The technician quickly stopped the machine and pulled out the remaining piece from the guide slot.

Bathed in red light, only the white, burnt marks remained on the transparent film.

"It's been exposed."

The technician pointed to a scratch on the edge of the film, explaining, "The edge of the film was pre-coated with photosensitive agent. Once it entered the printing path, the entire section was burned out."

Secretary Zhao gripped his phone tightly and pressed the call button.

The sound of the microphone rang twice.

"Mr. Shen, the samples we kept were all scraps. We didn't see the clock tower."

"The edges of the film were tampered with, so it was ruined as soon as it was put on the camera."

There was no response on the other end of the phone.

Secretary Zhao added a sentence.

"He had anticipated this."

Behind him, the iron door to the darkroom was pushed open.

The incandescent light from the corridor shone into the red house through the crack in the door.

Chen Yan walked ahead, with Su Wan following half a step behind.

The film processing technician stopped what he was doing.

Secretary Zhao closed his phone and put it in his suit's inner pocket.

Chen Yan walked to the control panel, picked up the burnt film, and turned to look at the clock on the wall of the darkroom.

Where is Factory Director Zhang?

Secretary Zhao straightened his collar: "Director Zhang is working upstairs."

Chen Yan tossed aside the discarded film in his hand: "The retained sample should follow the proper sealing procedure. Why is this thing on the copy machine?"

Secretary Zhao remained silent.

Chen Yan ignored him and turned to walk out.

Su Wan stood by the door, took out a voice recorder from her briefcase, and pressed the button.

"Masters, who gave the order to start the copying process?"

The supervisor glanced at Secretary Zhao.

Secretary Zhao had already stepped onto the stairs, the sound of his leather shoes tapping on the terrazzo steps echoing in the hallway.

"It was requested by Secretary Zhao."

The master took off his gloves.

Su Wan pulled out a photocopy sheet.

"Duty log. Secretary Zhao entered the darkroom at 5:17. Director Zhang approved the activation time as 5:03."

Su Wan put away the recording pen and quickly followed Chen Yan.

The second floor.

Factory Director's Office.

Zhang Qiming sat behind his desk.

Chen Yan went inside and slapped the burnt fragments onto the table.

Secretary Zhao stood by the window.

"The retained samples were directly put into the machine through an irregular process."

Chen Yan pulled out a chair and sat down. "Director Zhang, the regulations only mention quality inspection."

Zhang Qiming placed his hands folded on the table.

"Director Chen, this was an operational error by the duty officer. The new guy, Xiao Wang, isn't familiar with the procedures."

Su Wan stepped forward and slapped the photocopy on the table.

"Director Zhang, your approval time is 5:03. Secretary Zhao entered the darkroom at 5:17. The employee ID card timekeeping record shows that Xiao Wang is off today."

Zhang Qiming's fingers remained still, gripping the porcelain surface.

The room was so quiet that the only sound was the rain outside the window.

Secretary Zhao approached from the window.

"Director Chen. This is Shanghai. The judges at Venice don't look at the film processing plant's schedule."

Chen Yan turned his head to look at him.

"You can break the rules. Everyone can escalate this to higher authorities."

Secretary Zhao straightened the hem of his suit jacket.

"President Shen asked me to pass on a message: The road ahead is long, see you at the finish line."

After saying that, Secretary Zhao pushed open the door and left.

Soon after, the sound of a car starting up could be heard downstairs, and the tires drove over the water and out of the factory area.

Chen Yan looked at Zhang Qiming.

"Let's put an end to the matter of irregular procedures."

Zhang Qiming raised his head.

"But it has to be shipped today. Return all four rolls of original film to me, not a single frame can be missing."

Chen Yan tapped on the table.

Zhang Qiming opened the drawer, took out the key, and turned around to open the safe behind him.

Four tin boxes were neatly arranged inside.

He moved it out and put it on the table.

Chen Yan opened the box and inspected the edge markings and perforations.

Su Wan leaned closer and whispered, "The three most important volumes are on Qingqiu. Without the medicine, we can't wash them off completely."

Chen Yan tightly closed the iron box and held it with one arm.

As Chen Yan reached the door, he turned around.

"Director Zhang, there's a batch of Kodak stabilizers from 1983 stored in the factory's air-raid shelter. They were allocated to us by the Shanghai Film Studio back then. The inventory list is in the old union's archives."

Zhang Qiming stood behind the table and didn't respond.

"Air raid shelters are under the jurisdiction of the Infrastructure Department. I can't open the door."

"You don't need to open the door."

Chen Yan pushed open the door and went downstairs.

The bread cart was parked under the awning at the entrance of the building.

Zhang Yuan came over, took the film box, and put it in the trunk.

Chen Yan took out his phone and called Lin Shufen.

"Sister Lin, can you help me investigate something?"

"speak."

"The air-raid shelter at the film processing plant has a side door. Can you find any of the old union workers who participated in the construction back then? I need the blueprints and the door lock model."

"Are you going to dig a tunnel to find the potion?"

"The front gate is blocked. I must get my hands on this batch of medicine."

Chen Yan opened the door of the bread truck.

"I know someone who lives in Hongkou. He's a retired former union chairman."

Lin Shufen was looking through her contacts.

"Thank you. I'll definitely include you in the technical acknowledgments."

Chen Yan hung up the phone.

Gu Changhe sat in the driver's seat smoking.

"Did you hear about the air-raid shelter?"

Chen Yan asked.

"I heard you."

Gu Changhe stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. "It's been almost twenty years, so it's hard to estimate how much the medicinal effect has diminished."

"Something is better than nothing."

Su Wan got into the passenger seat and pulled open the bottom of the purse.

A rolled-up fax paper was handed to Chen Yan.

The badge at the top is that of the Venice Film Festival organizing committee.

English interspersed with Italian.

Requirements: Within 24 hours, provide the medical records of the female lead Lin Qingqiu's injuries, as well as her past acting experience and film and television materials as proof.

The date at the end of the signature is: 6:14 AM.

"Venice has also made its move."

Chen Yan folded the paper.

"Medical records are easy to obtain. Teacher Yan can retrieve the archives from the school hospital. But Lin Qingqiu only has experience in dance dramas and has no film or television footage on file."

Su Wan turned to look at him.

"Make one now."

Chen Yan leaned back in his chair.

"What should we use to make it?"

"Zhang Yuan has some audition and rehearsal footage that's been discarded. He'll cut a three-minute highlight reel, add English subtitles, and send it over."

Su Wan flipped the fax paper over: "The organizing committee wants an artistic resume, not behind-the-scenes stories."

"What the organizing committee wants is to confirm that she deserves a special feature section."

Chen Yan sat up straight. "Three minutes of acting is enough."

Su Wan picked up a pen and drew a horizontal line on the back of the fax paper.

Write down the number: 21 hours remaining.

The van started and began to move.

Chen Yan dialed the number in Yanjing.

"Did they arrive safely?"

"It's been handed over to Elder Yan."

Wu Gang replied from the other end.

"Unplug the phone line in the room and prevent her from contacting the outside world."

Chen Yan put away her phone.

The van pulled out from under the canopy and merged into the muddy traffic of the morning rush hour.