Chen Qi kept postponing his return to Hong Kong, all the way until the baby’s full month had passed and Gong Xue had finished her confinement.
She was naturally thin; with a little exercise and some control she’d get back to that slim waist you could almost wrap a hand around.
There was nothing urgent in Hong Kong, so he stayed to keep his wife and child company.
Because of that, people at the Beiying Studio often saw the couple walking the premises with the baby in their arms.
Chen Qi liked to linger at the construction site for the Rongning Mansion—there was clanging and banging already underway—and he could stare at it for ages, lost in thought.
The wood was indeed imported, and they even transplanted a few old trees—after all, the residence of a guogong should have old trees.
Chen Qi noticed something interesting: these days film set design took “artificial aging” into account to make scenes look real.
Not like the later film towns where streets were spotless and buildings and costumes all brand-new—so out of touch with the common people that they wouldn’t even know where to put a patch on a garment…