Lin Zixuan drove Mu Shanshan to school at six and a half in the morning.

It takes about an hour to get to Manhattan, New York, without being stuck in traffic, and watching Mu Shanshan enter the school, he will go to Chinatown with the prop master, or walk around New York with Feng Xiaogang.

They were looking for a suitable location for filming a TV series.

It includes a basement, a Chinese restaurant, a garment factory and a luxury villa.

The basement is where Wang Qiming lived when he first came to New York, the Chinese restaurant is where he works, and he makes his fortune in a garment factory and lives in a luxury villa, which is basically where the main character in the play lives and works.

There are also airports, hospitals, schools, office buildings, and other exteriors that need to be contacted one by one.

For them who have just arrived in New York, it is impossible to do these tasks alone, and they also need the help of local Chinese.

The Chinese embassy introduced them to a New York pass to help the crew deal with related affairs.

This man's name is Chen Qing, about 40 years old, and he has been in the United States for 10 years.

He studied painting in China, graduated from the Huaguo Academy of Fine Arts, held a personal exhibition, and was quite famous, and later came to the United States to study.

"I felt good at the time, I couldn't get used to the kind of dogmatic and dull days in China, so I thought that I could become an artist abroad with our painting skills, and after I came, I found that the most important thing in New York is the so-called artists. Chen Qing laughed at himself, "If you look at the people on this street, they are all artists, and some people have their own studios, which are actually basements." ”

Chen Qingzheng led Lin Zixuan and Feng Xiaogang to the basement, which is located between First and Second Avenues in Manhattan and is home to a group of aspiring artists, as well as an art museum.

On the street, many artists can be seen selling their works, but Lin Zixuan can't understand it and is not interested.

"Take advantage of the cheap to get a few pieces now, maybe Picasso can be produced among them, and then they will make a lot of money. Feng Xiaogang said with a smile.

"It's not worth it until they're dead. Chen Qing said unceremoniously, "I used to be like them, my heart was higher than the sky, and I always felt that what I painted was art, which was priceless, but no one knew how to appreciate it, and then I had no money to eat, and after being hungry for a few days, I finally wanted to understand ▲dǐng▲diǎn▲small▲ and said, .≦.↙os_(); In white, art is nothing, or Franklin is the most realistic. ”

Chen Qing helped Lin Zixuan for a fee, not a voluntary help.

He stopped painting for a long time, and helped Chinese who had just come to New York to find a place to live and introduce jobs, so he became a New York passer.

"Then why don't you go back to China? Go back to the Academy of Fine Arts and continue painting. Lin Zixuan was puzzled.

"After seeing the prosperity of foreign countries, who would want to go back, go back and be laughed at?" Chen Qing said disapprovingly.

In the 80s, a group of artists who couldn't stand the stereotypical life in China came to the United States in high spirits, wanting to breathe the air of American freedom, but the reality was cruel.

They live at the bottom of New York society, living in poverty, complaining that no one appreciates it and thinks it is social injustice.

Some make changes and become realistic, while others become irritable and neurotic, completely self-centered.

In Chen Qing's narrative, a microcosm of a group of artists emerges.

"That's the real thing. Feng Xiaogang sighed.

This is just the life of some Chinese people in New York, and some people start from the bottom and work hard step by step to improve their lives, but in a predominantly white society, it is difficult to get promoted and developed.

"I probably understand the story you're going to make, it's all too common in New York, where people get rich and people go bankrupt every day. Chen Qing said indifferently, "But even if you are bankrupt, you will not return to China, you have lived abroad for a long time, and you can't adapt to domestic life, you should feel it in the past few days, the next restaurant in New York is a month's salary in China." ”

Chen Qing's statement should represent the voice of these Chinese living in the United States, no matter how miserable it is, they just don't want to return to China.

One is afraid of being laughed at, and the other is that it is not possible to live a good life when returning to China, so it is better to mix in the United States.

Even if you can't live the life of a rich man, you feel honored to be able to live in the same city as the rich.

"What if the domestic development is not worse than the United States in the future?" Lin Zixuan said curiously.

"Then go back, after staying in the United States for so many years, knowing a few new terms, I can always mix artists when I go back, and it is enough to give lectures in universities." Chen Qing said casually.

Although Lin Zixuan did not approve of Chen Qing's view of diǎn, it did not affect his cooperation with Chen Qing.

Chen Qing is practical, neat, has a wide range of contacts, and is familiar with various rules in New York, so he is the candidate needed by the crew.

With the addition of Chen Qing, the progress of the crew is much faster, Lin Zixuan and Feng Xiaogang looked at several garment factories founded by Chinese, and arranged for Jiang Wen to observe the garment factory.

This kind of garment factory is not large-scale, the workers are all Chinese women, the working hours are long, and the environment is not good.

At first, the manager of the garment factory was very reluctant to shoot, fearing that it would be an unannounced visit by the TV station, and once it was exposed, the New York police would come to the door, and many of the workers were smuggled to the United States without work visas.

After their repeated assurances, they reluctantly agreed to this is a domestic TV series, and they have to charge a lot of lost work fees.

These days, it can be said that spending money is like water, and he and Feng Xiaogang have already gone to Huaguo Bank to get a loan.

"Everyone is Chinese, and they don't know how cheap diǎn is, so what about us. Mu Shanshan complained when she kept accounts at night.

"It's already cheap, just like that luxury villa, people can let us go in and shoot for the sake of all Chinese, and the price is very reasonable. Lin Zixuan explained.

"$20,000 is reasonable? In the United States, money is really not treated as money. Mu Shanshan said with emotion.

"You are becoming more and more like a housekeeper now, and you have the potential to be a producer, and I am very optimistic about you. Lin Zixuan teased.

"By the way, I took a documentary class in the past two days, and I thought if I could shoot a documentary to record the process of filming this TV series in the United States. Mu Shanshan said suddenly, "After all, this is the first domestic TV series filmed abroad, which is quite commemorative." ”

Lin Zixuan thought about it and thought it was very interesting.

Filmed this process, years later, to look back on how hard they were in the United States.

"Then you should be the behind-the-scenes footage of the shooting, and talk to them tomorrow, especially Brother Jiang. Lin Zixuan reminded.

Saying that making a documentary would feel too formal, and it might also involve the distribution of the tape in the future, and if it was a behind-the-scenes footage, it would be easy to be accepted.

Anyway, it's not a big deal to just let Mu Shanshan try her hand.