Chapter 533: Li Wei Has Arrived, and So Has Justice

Pasadena, in a private club next to the Huntington Library.

When Li Wei arrived, Del Toro and Sarah Kelly’s teams were already prepared.

A stack of documents was laid out on the table in the room. A young man from Netflix’s legal department stood behind Sarah Kelly.

“Please, have a seat,” Del Toro said with a welcoming smile. “Let’s try to get the partnership agreement signed today.”

Sarah Kelly spoke first. “Mr. Li Wei, first of all, thank you very much for your investment. Netflix is taking this very seriously.”

“Thank you,” Li Wei said, nodding as he sat down. “My agent and I have reviewed your budget and script. There are just a few things we need to discuss.”

“Please, go ahead,” Sarah Kelly said, gesturing for him to speak.

“For example, I was just looking at the script,” Li Wei said. “After the village is destroyed, the protagonist should go to the King’s palace, not seek revenge on his own.”

“The King’s palace?” Del Toro put down his coffee cup. “That’s not in the current script, Li Wei. After the village is destroyed, the protagonist is supposed to go through a period of wandering and growth. It’s the classic hero’s journey structure.”

‘You have a point,’ Li Wei thought to himself, ‘but that’s not what the system’s mission says.’

“I understand what you’re saying,” Li Wei nodded. “But think about it. He’s a young soldier, his village has been destroyed. Wouldn’t his first instinct be to go to the King for help? Wouldn’t the King want to know what happened?”

Del Toro frowned and tapped his fingers on the table.

“The pacing isn’t right,” he said, shaking his head. “Introducing the King’s palace too early will create problems with the plot’s rhythm.”

“Then how about this?” Li Wei suggested after a moment’s thought. “You can use the palace to create a second setback. He finally makes it to the King, only to find that the King doesn’t believe a dragon was responsible.”

Del Toro shook his head. “You said you were just here to indulge a whim, but I didn’t realize it was such a big whim.”

“I looked at your budget. It’s not actually going to cost 250 million, is it? It’s 220 million USD at the absolute most?” Li Wei looked at Sarah Kelly. “Does that mean 30 million USD of my investment will be unused? I only need to put in 110 million?”

Sarah Kelly nodded. “The budget is too high. You get diminishing returns, and the results aren’t necessarily better.”

“I see Director Del Toro has a quote for a 5 million USD mechanical Ogre rig,” Li Wei said, flipping through the budget sheets. “Is 5 million enough for this device?”

“5 million is almost enough to shoot an entire movie,” Del Toro said.

“Then I’ll add another 5 million to this rig to make it even better,” Li Wei said. “Can you shoot the palace scenes for me first?”

Del Toro paused. “Deal,” he said.

10 million USD was enough for him to build a full-scale, 1:1 Ogre model.

What 60-year-old man could refuse a six-meter-tall, fully mechanical Ogre model?

“Also,” Li Wei added, “the scene where the Elf Queen bestows the dragon-slaying sword—I want it filmed on location, not on a green screen.”

“Yes!” Del Toro clapped his hands. “On location it is!”

He loved shooting on location.

“Wait!” Sarah Kelly interjected. “Shooting on location costs significantly more than a green screen. The art department, the carpenters, lighting, grips, safety measures—”

“Then we’ll increase the budget,” Li Wei nodded. “I’ll add another 15 million USD for this. Is that acceptable?”

Sarah Kelly glanced at Li Wei, saw he had no intention of taking back his words, and turned to look at Don Quixote, who was sitting beside him.

‘This is your client. You’re his agent. Aren’t you going to rein him in?’

Don Quixote shrugged and spread his hands. “I support all of my client’s decisions.”

Sarah Kelly looked back at Li Wei. “Mr. Li Wei,” she said, “do you think that in Hollywood, you can solve everything with money and get anything you want just by throwing cash at it?”

“Isn’t that the case?” Li Wei replied with a smile. “What do you think, Ms. Sarah Kelly?”

Caught in the middle, Del Toro looked back and forth, looking uncomfortable.

The number one and number two investors were about to clash, and he had no idea what to do.

“If you ask me,” Sarah Kelly said, taking a deep breath, then suddenly breaking into a smile, “you’re absolutely right, Mr. Li Wei.”

Everyone was stunned by her sudden reversal. Li Wei laughed out loud.

“Hollywood is a whore who’ll put out for money,” Sarah Kelly said, extending her hand to Li Wei across the table. “You have the money, you’re paying the bills, you call the shots. A pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Li Wei.”

…

「One week later.」

Burbank, Soundstage 9 at the Warner Bros. Studio Lot.

Aileen Rogers arrived at 7 a.m. sharp. The soundstage’s large metal doors weren’t fully open yet, and a few grips were squatting by the entrance, smoking.

She pushed her makeup case across the parking lot, noticing that there were nearly twice as many cars parked today as last week.

Several trucks she didn’t recognize were parked in the loading area by the side entrance. Their bay doors were open, revealing they were packed with unopened wooden planks and steel pipes of various sizes.

“Morning.”

Another makeup artist, Kate, had already arrived. She was standing half-dead in front of the coffee station in the break area, pouring a 3-in-1 instant Nescafé—half sugar, half non-dairy creamer, half coffee—into a paper cup.

Taped next to the coffee station was a printed A4 sheet of paper that read: “Limit 2 cups per person per day. Please be considerate.”

“Morning,” Aileen said, leaning her makeup case against the table and pouring herself a cup as well. “It’s so crowded today.”

“Didn’t you see the news?” Kate blew on the hot steam rising from her cup. “They added another 90 million USD in investment. Several departments on the stage are expanding and hiring.”

“I saw that,” Aileen said. “Feels like they’re serious this time. Look at all those trucks outside. The set design department must be getting to work.”

Kate glanced at the trucks by the entrance and pursed her lips.

“Don’t get your hopes up too soon,” she said, stirring her instant coffee. “They say it’s 90 million, a huge production, but how much of that actually makes it to the crew? It passes through so many hands—the producers skim some off the top, the finance department skims some… it’ll be a miracle if 9 million even makes it to the set.”

“Not necessarily,” Aileen said, taking a sip of her coffee. “The investor this time is the lead actor, Li Wei, and he’s personally involved. Maybe things will be different?”

“An athlete is even dumber,” Kate said. “He’ll be played for a fool by those slick Hollywood old-timers.”

Aileen thought for a moment but didn’t argue further with Kate.

It was hard to say. She had only spoken with Li Wei for a few minutes during the screen test and found him easy to get along with, but doing business was a completely different matter.

The morning’s work proceeded as usual.

Although Li Wei and the other main actors had yet to arrive, an old saying from the Celestial Dynasty goes, “Before the troops move, the provisions go first.” The crew—grips, makeup, equipment, and other support staff—had to do their drills beforehand to avoid delays when filming officially began.

The time of big-name stars and directors was very precious.

Aileen did makeup tests on a few minor actors who were playing corpses and background extras, using the standard makeup provided by the production.

The foundation’s coverage was still so bad it made her want to curse. She had to apply three layers just to get it to a standard she considered acceptable for the camera.

Glancing over, she saw that Kate was quite the slacker. When no one was watching, she’d only put makeup on one side of an actor’s face, doing a shoddy job just to get by.

At 12 p.m., the announcement for lunch came over the grips’ walkie-talkies.

When Aileen and Kate walked to the catering area, they were both stunned.

Previously, the lunch provided for the crew consisted of nothing but assorted sandwiches. But today, they discovered three food trucks parked nearby.

A small, handwritten chalkboard hung in the window of each truck, listing the day’s menu.

Aside from one truck from Panda Express serving standard bento boxes of General Tso’s chicken with fried rice and orange chicken with chow mein, the other two trucks actually had barbecue, pasta, and salad options.

On a table to the side, a sign for afternoon tea had been set up. Under a glass cloche were cookies, fruit, and two large bags of coffee beans.

“Isn’t this way better than sandwiches?” Kate said gleefully, grabbing a box of orange chicken with chow mein.

“So, how much of that 90 million do you think has been spent now?” Aileen teased with a smile.

“Okay, now I’ll admit it’s at least 27 million,” Kate said, laughing.

A little after 3 p.m., Kate ran over again.

“Aileen,” she said in a hushed voice, “the casting department has started a massive recruitment drive. It looks like the number of extras has more than doubled, and—”

She leaned in, glanced around, and whispered, “I heard that all of us on the crew will have to sign new contracts. Our pay and benefits are getting bumped up.”

“Who told you that?”

“The production assistant told someone on the lighting crew, and the lighting guy told me,” Kate said with a frown. “It’s secondhand news, but nobody would joke about something like this, right?”

Before Aileen could say anything, the assistant director walked into the break area with someone from finance.

“Attention, everyone,” the assistant director said, clapping his hands. “Starting today, all department heads can submit a second request list for the equipment and materials you need.”

After speaking, he glanced at the dozen or so people present.

“Don’t be shy. Write down whatever you need,” he said with a smile. “Our budget is more than sufficient now, but the procurement window is limited. The sooner you submit your requests, the sooner we can make a bulk purchase. Department heads need to get their lists to finance by the end of the workday tomorrow.”

The person from finance raised a hand, indicating the lists should be given to him.

Kate scribbled furiously, muttering excitedly as she wrote, “LED fill lights… portable makeup mirrors…”

Aileen sat beside her, thinking for a long time, but couldn’t decide what to request.

Suddenly, Linda, the head of the makeup and styling department, walked over from the other end of the hallway.

“Aileen Rogers,” she called out, holding an elegantly packaged box. “This is for you.”

Aileen took the box and opened it.

Inside was a complete professional, film-grade makeup kit from Kryolan, including foundation, concealer, highlighter, contour, setting powder, and the full range of tools.

A kit like this costs over 5,000 USD. Even well-funded productions with maxed-out budgets would hesitate to buy them in bulk. Typically, only top-tier stars or independent commercial makeup artists who charge over 2,000 USD per session could afford to buy one.

This was more than two tiers above the brand she used for herself.

“This…” Aileen’s mouth hung open. “Was this part of a bulk order?”

“No,” Linda shook her head. “This was the investor’s idea. He specifically told procurement to buy you a good makeup kit.”

“Also, your salary has been adjusted,” she said, handing Aileen a thin sheet of paper. “Take a look at the addendum to your contract for the specific numbers.”

Aileen’s eyes widened as she looked at the number.

A full 50% raise!

“From now on, use the equipment and supplies freely,” Linda said, patting her on the shoulder. “Don’t pay for things out of your own pocket anymore.”

With that, Linda turned and walked away.

Aileen clutched the makeup kit—worth more than her previous month’s pre-tax salary—and thought back to the day she did Li Wei’s makeup.

‘A short ten-minute session got me a 50% raise and a 5,000 USD makeup kit?’

She walked back to the makeup room in a daze, still holding the box.

Kate poked her head in through the doorway.

“You got a raise too? I got 25%!” she exclaimed, clutching her own pay slip. “Li Wei is God! Li Wei is our righteous savior! With Li Wei here, justice has come to the set!”