Chapter 220: The Dark Side of Business Competition
That was how filmings went, especially for dangerous scenes. The crew in charge would hire medical staff and have them on standby.
Some scenes even needed the cooperation of the local police department and the traffic department. It was possible the police in some films and dramas were actual police. They were invited here to keep the discipline, as well as supervision.
Yun Xiangxiang went to the hospital too. She couldn’t keep on filming now that something so serious happened in the crew.
“The glass is near the patient’s spine, but it didn’t harm her spinal cord. We need to perform surgery on her. Please go through the necessary procedures,” the hospital’s nurse came to look for Yun Xiangxiang.
Yun Xiangxiang breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that Ai Li’s spinal cord was unharmed. “Will it be a major surgery?”
“Don’t worry, Miss Yun. This is just a minor surgery,” the nurse answered smilingly.
Seems like she will be fine. Yun Xiangxiang calmed down and went through the procedure before waiting outside. She was holding the phone Song Mian gave her, worried that Ai Li’s wounds were grave. She would call Song Mian immediately after the surgery was done.
She didn’t want to call him now, concerned that Song Mian would worry about herself. Ai Li was wounded because she saved her.
Ai Li’s body was shifted to the side when she pushed her. Without Ai Li pushing her out of harm’s way, the glass would pierce her cervical spine with a bigger impact, paralyzing her for life.
Ai Li was pushed out of the operating room after two hours. She was conscious, “I am fine.”
“En,” Yun Xiangxiang nodded smilingly. She didn’t talk much, as she didn’t want to waste Ai Li’s energy. Instead, she turned around to ask about the things she had to look out for Ai Li.
Naturally, He Wei was the first to know about the incident in the crew. He rushed here as soon as possible.
Yun Xiangxiang was feeding Ai Li some porridge. He Wei’s secretary, Xu Qin was along with him on this trip. Xu Qin exclaimed, “She can already take porridge?”
Patients needed anesthetics during surgery, after which they would have to lay in bed without a pillow for a few hours. And they couldn’t take any food either.
“Ai Li didn’t take any anesthetic,” Yun Xiangxiang only knew about it too. As expected of an agent. Any other human would probably die from the pain.
“Anesthetics are useless on me,” Ai Li explained. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, but anesthetics had little effect on her.
“Let me,” Xu Qin was now beside Yun Xiangxiang. She took the bowl from her hands.
Yun Xiangxiang might have only sustained a superficial injury, but it was still a big wound. Blood would still seep through if she pushed it a little. She handed the bowl to Xu Qin without pushing herself.
“Brother Wei, you know the reason for the glass panel’s fall, right?” Yun Xiangxiang sat beside him.
“Someone broke the glass window when they moved something upstairs,” He Wei came here after going to the crew first.
“No. That was no accident,” Ai Li objected. “I pushed Xiangxiang away because I saw a silhouette knocking on the glass window up there.”
“Knock” was a strong word here. It showed that this act was done on purpose.
Ai Li recalled the silhouette she saw on the first floor. “I only saw the silhouette’s head that was facing the window.”
He Wei’s face darkened. If what Ai Li said was true, this was a conspiracy against Yun Xiangxiang!
He Wei’s phone rang. The producer of “Jiu Se” called. He Wei radiated a dangerous air as he listened to the report.
“What’s wrong, Brother Wei?” Yun Xiangxiang shrewdly noticed the tension.
“Someone did something to our props.” Yun Xiangxiang is the victim, she has the right to know. “Are you fine? If you can still take it, let’s go back to the crew. There’s Xu Qin here.”
He Wei observed Yun Xiangxiang. He noticed that only her wrist was bandaged.
Yun Xiangxiang looked at Ai Li. Ai Li nodded, and Yun Xiangxiang left with He Wei. If it was an accident, Yun Xiangxiang would only blame her luck and not complain. But if someone did this, she would get to the bottom of it, no matter if it was for Ai Li or herself.
The producer was holding the prop when they arrived. It was the bomb for the explosion scene. He handed it to He Wei. “Look at this.”
He Wei’s face darkened even further when he took the ‘prop.’ Yun Xiangxiang knew what was happening too, as she had many experiences in filming.
Generally, for scenes like this, they would use fake bombs wrapped with bubble wrap that contained small amounts of cement powder inside. It was to create the visual effect of dust flying around after the explosion. That ‘bomb’ wouldn’t harm anyone.
But if the powder was too heavy, they would have to back off around four to five meters, or risk being hurt by the projectiles.
Nothing was wrong about the amount of cement powder in the prop. What was wrong was the wrapping. There was a coat of metal within the wrapping.
If this was detonated, not only would the demolitionist be in danger. The actors would too.
After all, there were actors killed when filming explosion scenes before.
This scene was about Yun Xiangxiang and Yi Yan exchanging messages using the jewelry’s price in a jewelry shop. Clever people around the bigshot were already suspecting Yun Xiangxiang.
When they were nearly exposed, Yi Yan chose to bomb the place and blame it on the ones suspecting Yun Xiangxiang. He would then erase these people through the bigshot’s hands.
Yun Xiangxiang and Yi Yan needed to be onscreen in the explosion’s vicinity. If they didn’t find out about this, the results would have been disastrous.
“Is this the only one?” He Wei asked.
“That’s the only one,” the producer replied.
They rechecked everything that could pose a safety hazard because of this incident.
“There’s a spy among us,” He Wei clenched the bomb prop. “You guys will do a test run before filming. It’s easy to get exposed because of that, yet they still do it. That means they know you won’t use these during the test run.”
“I will investigate this and check everyone that could have touched the prop,” the producer nodded.
Yun Xiangxiang looked at the bomb prop in He Wei’s hand. “Brother Wei, it’s possible that this prop isn’t targeting me.”
He Wei and the producer looked at Yun Xiangxiang. She mulled it over, “The glass breaker and the switcheroo guy are different people. I am sure the glass breaker was going after me, but this prop could be going after the whole crew.”
Yun Xiangxiang wasn’t the one who would detonate the bomb after all. If any accidents were to happen, the demolitionist would be the one to sustain heavy injuries or death.
If someone died during filming, it would be hard to continue. Even if they wrapped it up despite the pressure…
This would be a scandal if it was exposed when the film was aired. Nothing was more important than life. The audience would boycott works like these, as well as everyone involved in the film. Their efforts would be for nothing.
Huan Yu’s investment would also go down the drain. Yun Xiangxiang was leaning toward the guess that the perpetrator was coming after Huan Yu Century Entertainment.