He tore off three blank pages from his notebook, held a pen in his left hand and drew mysterious patterns on them, then he skillfully rolled the three pieces of paper into strips, pinched his fingers and lightly tapped the papers, and small flames ignited on the three pieces of paper.
The ghosts who were fighting for the movie characters suddenly stopped, sniffed, and drooled involuntarily: "This smells so good!"
Since he no longer took on the job of Heavenly Master, Zhong Jiudao returned all the Heavenly Master props he had carried with him since childhood, including cinnabar, yellow paper, incense, peach wood sword, etc., to the family without leaving a single thing.
But as the most gifted person in the Zhong family for hundreds of years, Zhong Jiudao didn't need these external things. He held a magic pen in his hand and possessed magical powers. He could draw talismans in the air and fold paper into a sword.
Although the incense is not made of professional materials, there is a talisman drawn by Zhong Jiudao with magic power inside the paper, which can also play the role of transmitting incense.
After lighting the incense, Zhong Jiudao picked up the script and quickly burned it clean while the paper incense was still burning.
There are more than thirty ghosts. How much paper and ink would be wasted if each ghost was given a script? But if it is transmitted through spiritual method, only three sheets of white paper in a notebook are needed, which saves a lot.
Moreover, most of these ghosts in the old society are illiterate. If you really give them a script, you have to teach them to read, which is time-consuming and laborious. By burning the script through spiritualism, the information in the script can be converted into information that ghosts can understand, and they can read it slowly.
After confirming that all the ghosts had received the script, Zhong Jiudao said, "In my play, I only need five ghost roles, and the rest must be played by living actors. You choose the role that suits you, and I will give you one day to prepare, and you will audition tomorrow night."
It was already past three in the morning, and even the strongest body could not bear it. Zhong Jiudao felt a little sleepy and prepared to go back to his room to sleep. As for how these evil spirits would compete, it was up to them.
When I walked from the third floor to the second floor, I heard the sound of flipping pages coming from the first floor.
Zhong Jiudao walked a few more steps toward the first floor and saw a script floating in front of the female ghost in a dress attached to the power supply, which she was flipping through with difficulty.
The ghost in western-style clothes noticed Zhong Jiudao's gaze, raised her head with difficulty, and said weakly: "Sir, I also want to audition. If I become an actor, will I not have to endure this torture?"
Zhong Jiudao was not a tyrannical person. Even if it was a vicious ghost, he would rarely torture it. He would usually beat it until its soul was scattered or directly send it to the afterlife. Using the female ghost in western clothes today was a temporary measure out of helplessness. Otherwise, he would have increased the power of the Five Thunder Talisman and sent the female ghost in western clothes to the afterlife.
It's all about saving money. There's no difference between saving electricity and saving film pay. Zhong Jiudao nodded and said to the ghost in western clothes, "If you pass the audition, you can avoid suffering."
"Thank you very much, sir. I will do my best." The eyes of the ghost girl in Western dress showed a determined light.
Zhong Jiudao was moved by its fighting spirit and thought that there was a role in the script that was very suitable for this paranoid and crazy female ghost, so he simply let it go.
"Prepare well and try to leave the power switch as soon as possible." Zhong Jiudao encouraged.
The ghost girl in Western dress nodded frantically and began to study the script diligently.
After Zhong Jiudao returned to his room, he slept until nine in the morning and was woken up by a phone call.
"Director Zhong, where is the venue you rented? Send me the location, I'm coming with the props." A voice came from the phone.
This person is Qian Duoqun, the props, stagehand and producer of Zhong Jiudao's new movie. He has multiple jobs and does not charge any money, only a small share of the box office.
Qian Duoqun was someone Zhong Jiudao met when he was interning on a film crew. He came from a poor family and went to work at a film and television base after graduating from high school. He did all kinds of odd jobs, mixed in various crews, and helped run errands. He has been in this circle for a full ten years. Although he has never been famous, he knows a lot of people in the same industry and can rent a lot of things at a cheap price.
At that time, Qian Duoqun was possessed by an evil spirit and his forehead turned black. Zhong Jiudao saw that Qian Duoqun would encounter an unexpected disaster in a few days, so he gave him a few pointers to help Qian Duoqun break the evil spirit.
Under pressure from his family, Zhong Jiudao refused to accept the money and refused to acknowledge his identity as a Taoist priest. He only said that he had seen the superstitious statement in a book. He did not expect that he really helped Qian Duoqun. It was also a coincidence.
Qian Duoqun, however, believed that Zhong Jiudao was a man of hidden talents, and from then on he always called Zhong Jiudao "Director Zhong", firmly believing that Zhong Jiudao could become an excellent director.
The reason was not because they thought Zhong Jiudao had great skills, but because they believed that Zhong Jiudao knew how to change his luck and could definitely use magic to make himself famous.
Qian Duoqun took the initiative to help Zhong Jiudao solve his problems this time, and the main purpose was investment. Qian Duoqun was optimistic about Zhong Jiudao's potential and was waiting to rise to prominence with him.
Zhong Jiudao dazedly sent Qian Duo's location message to the group. Knowing that the man would have to drive for a while to reach the villa, he lay back and wanted to sleep for another half an hour.
As soon as he fell down, Zhong Jiudao suddenly opened his eyes and jumped up from the bed.
There is not only him in this house, there are more than thirty ferocious indigenous people. Zhong Jiudao can subdue these evil spirits, but it does not mean that Qian Duoqun can.
Qian Duoqun has been in the market for many years and has been tainted by too much worldly spirit. Although he has not done anything too bad, he has taken advantage of many small opportunities and consumed a lot of his own luck. He has a physique that is easily attacked by evil spirits.
With this kind of physique, even if the evil spirits in the house do not actively harm him, the negative energy will unknowingly corrode his body, making Qian Duoqun weak and sickly.
Qian Duoqun played too many roles in this poor crew, he couldn't fall ill.
Zhong Jiudao stood up and planned to wait for someone outside the door. When he saw Qian Duoqun, he drew a protective amulet on his body to temporarily resist the Yin energy in the haunted house. Then he drove to the city to buy some ingredients with sufficient Yang energy, and then used the amulet to make some soup. In the future, everyone in the crew will drink a bowl of soup every day to prevent Yin energy from entering the body and shortening their lifespan.
As soon as he walked out of the bedroom, he smelled a delicious fragrance. Zhong Jiudao, who had not eaten breakfast, felt his stomach growl at the aroma.
The fragrance came from the restaurant on the first floor. Zhong Jiudao followed the smell to the restaurant and saw steamed buns, porridge, eggs and other food on the table.
Aunt Yang stood in the corner of the restaurant with a kind face. When she saw Zhong Jiudao, she said, "I don't know what you like to eat, so I made some according to tradition. If it doesn't suit your taste, please tell me and I will prepare something new immediately."
Zhong Jiudao looked at the delicious breakfast on the table and frowned. It was not a question of whether he liked it or not, but where did the breakfast come from!
"Where did you get the ingredients?" Zhong Jiudao asked.
Aunt Yang replied respectfully, "When the original owner moved in two years ago, he bought a lot of rice, flour, meat, eggs and other food. Later, they moved away, but they didn't take the food with them. I used the ingredients on hand and made some food."
Zhong Jiu said: "..."
Rice and flour have a long shelf life and can be eaten after being stored for two years. But meat and eggs, after being stored for two years, are they still edible
"Don't worry, sir. The food ingredients are all stored by Manager Lin using Yin Qi. The ancient corpses can remain alive for thousands of years under the nourishment of Yin Qi and are still lifelike. They are just animal corpses that have been stored for two years and are still fresh." Aunt Yang said.
Zhong Jiu said: "..."
Very good, Aunt Yang’s words not only made him afraid to touch the food on the table, but also made him unable to even look at the meat dishes!
"You can show up in the daytime? And you can see fire?" Zhong Jiudao decided not to think about the preservation of Yin Qi for the time being and change his train of thought so that he wouldn't be reminded of today's breakfast when he saw meat in the future.
Aunt Yang said modestly, "We have been ghosts for many years, so we do have some ways to protect ourselves. As long as we don't expose ourselves to the sun at noon when the yang energy is very strong, we will be fine. This house has a strong yin energy, and we haven't seen the sun for a long time under the shade of the trees. Except for not being able to go to the roof to bask in the sun, we can move freely in other rooms."
In this way, the ghosts he hired could film during the day without arousing suspicion from other staff members.
"Sir? Don't you want to have breakfast?" Aunt Yang asked, looking up.
Ghosts have obsessions. Zhong Jiudao vaguely realized that Aunt Yang's obsession might be on this food. He didn't know how she died, what happened to her when she was cooking, and why she was so obsessed with making people eat food.
Zhong Jiudao naturally would not touch the breakfast. He left the restaurant under Aunt Yang's disappointed gaze and stood in the main hall and said loudly: "Some people will come here in a while. They are also here to make a movie. They are your colleagues. They will eat and live here for the next two or three months. You must behave yourself and never hurt these colleagues."
Dozens of cold winds were blowing through the hall, guaranteeing the presence of these ghosts.
"If anyone can't help it..." Zhong Jiudao glanced at the switch on the first floor and sneered, "Filming consumes a lot of electricity."
Dozens of Yin winds trembled in fear and assured each other that it would not happen.
After giving the instructions, Zhong Jiudao walked out of the house and saw that all the flowers that had bloomed last night had withered, and the garden was in a state of decay.
Only the stone road in front of the door was still clean, without a single fallen leaf.
Zhong Jiudao stood in front of the door and waited for more than ten minutes, and Qian Duoqun drove a truck and stopped in front of the door.
He is a man of ordinary appearance and medium build. He is 28 years old this year, but looks like he is in his 30s or 40s. Years of working at the bottom of society have made Qian Duoqun's face look more weathered and old.
Qian Duoqun was not the only one in the car. There were also tall, long-legged, handsome, pure-eyed, and refreshing young men who got off the car. When he saw Zhong Jiudao, he said very politely, "Hello, director. My name is Luo Huai. Brother Qian introduced me to audition. I hope the director can give me this opportunity."
Zhong Jiudao looked at Qian Duoqun: "He is..."
Qian Duoqun quickly pulled Zhong Jiudao aside and whispered, "I tricked him into coming here. He's a naive bastard. He filmed for three months and only asked for 10,000 yuan in salary, which is cheaper than an extra."
"…How did you do that?" Zhong Jiudao asked.
Luo Huai looks very good, and the most valuable thing is that he still has the youthful temperament of a student, which is a spirit that cannot be made up by acting. An actor with such appearance and temperament, even if he plays himself, can play an important role in the popular youth dramas. The pay may not be too high, but it will never be as low as this.
"I told him that you are a director with great power behind you and this movie is bound to be a huge success, so he came with me obediently. Even a horror movie needs a character to fill in the void. He's good-looking, so if we put a few close-ups on the poster, we can use his face to attract some audiences," said Qian Duoqun.
Zhong Jiudao was ruthless to the ghosts, but kind to the kind humans. Seeing Luo Huai being tricked by Qian Duoqun and looking innocent enough to lose money, he felt sorry for him and whispered, "The pay is really too low."
"He's lucky to be able to film with our crew!" Qian Duoqun saw Zhong Jiudao hesitate and said hurriedly, "When I first met him, he was tricked into an audition by a notorious pimp in the circle. That guy... Tsk tsk, his character is too bad, and no actor who met him had a good ending. I can be regarded as saving Luo Huai's life, so the less pay I give you can be regarded as a thank you fee."