Chapter 49: Sense of Immersion 2

Chen Qi was a hundred times reluctant when practicing the song, but once he actually took the stage, he didn't care anymore. What kind of scenes had he not seen before?

Thus, two big 178cm blockheads thrust themselves right into the center. The older one was blessed with fine features and delicate white skin, while the younger one was breathtakingly handsome, dashing, and unrestrained.

What a pair of pretty boys!

The music played, the prelude started, and Chen Qi gave his arm a sudden slap, his eyes brimming with deep affection, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, his toes lightly tapping, and his chin lifted high—he put on an air worthy of Pavarotti.

"Fine wine wafts its fragrance and songs take flight, friends, I ask you to drain this cup!"

Good heavens!

Tang Guoqiang widened his eyes. You arrogant beast! Weren't you unwilling just now?

"Hahahaha!"

Everyone present was convulsing with laughter. The feeling was just like doing morning exercises in primary school where everyone was just going through the motions, and suddenly one classmate started doing the exercises with absolute seriousness; nobody knew why, but they just wanted to laugh.

"Come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come... In October, the spring thunder rings, hundreds of millions of people raise their golden cups..."

Tang Guoqiang had thought of himself as quite extroverted, but upon meeting Chen Qi, he realized he belonged to the introverted camp. This bastard was shouting at the top of his lungs with all his might, complete with facial acting, a flurry of animated expressions, and heels that didn't even touch the ground.

"Good!"

"Little Chen is amazing! Not a single note is in tune!"

"You'd better stick to telling stories!"

When the song ended, jeers and cheers broke out. Without blushing or his heart beating fast, he cupped his hands in a salute: "You flatter me! You flatter me!"

Returning to his seat, he calmly picked up a potato and ate it. Just a minor scene!

...

The party started at 5 PM and ended at 7 PM, not lasting too long.

The daylight outside had not yet completely faded, and it was far from bedtime, so everyone went off to find their own things to do. Today and tomorrow—these two days of vacation allowed everyone to relax.

Chen Qi went back to his room to stay for a while, but finding it utterly boring, he went out for a stroll again.

Walking northeast along Hexi Road, he reached that cinema. Next to the cinema was a small grove of trees with a large boulder. He liked to sit on that boulder, having nothing in particular to do, just spacing out, looking at the grass and the trees.

The crew had arrived in August and would be able to head back by mid-October.

Then they would shoot the indoor scenes at the Beijing Film Studio, which would take another month, totaling about three and a half months. Movies in this era were typically 90 minutes long, and no one dared to waste film. There were very few discarded shots, emphasizing making the utmost use of everything and saving wherever possible.

They would finish by the end of the year, do the post-production, and if all went smoothly, it could be released next year.

"《Lushan Love》, sigh..."

Chen Qi suddenly smiled slightly. The real test was yet to come; after all, this was a heretical movie that would surely be met with overwhelming condemnation.

He was very happy to fight with those fellows; this was where the fun lay.

"Rustle!"

"Rustle!"

As he sat on the boulder pondering, he suddenly heard footsteps. A figure flitted past the lush foliage, revealing a pair of low-heeled soft-soled leather shoes, brown cut-out uppers enclosing two tiny feet wearing white socks.

"Little Chen??"

Gong Xue saw him only after passing a tree and was startled: "What are you doing here?"

"Enjoying the cool air. Out for a walk again? Where is Zhang Jinling?"

"She went to find the head chef for some food. I couldn't eat, so I came out for a walk."

After this exchange of questions and answers, she didn't know what else to say, but she wasn't worried, because the other person would definitely have a topic. Sure enough, Chen Qi said: "You sang really well just now. Did you practice in secret?"

"I practiced for two days... Well, your singing wasn't bad either."

Recalling his performance earlier, Gong Xue couldn't help pressing her lips together.

"I belong to the on-the-spot improvisation type of competitor. Today was at most 70%. Wait until I'm in 100% condition, and I'll give you another one."

"Then everyone will..."

"Ahem, ahem!"

Just as she was about to speak, a fit of coughing suddenly sounded. A crew member strolled past leisurely and smiled, "Chatting here?"

"Everyone's pretty free today. I've met quite a few. Out for a walk too?" Chen Qi greeted without changing his expression.

"Yeah, just wandering around with nothing to do."

With his hands behind his back, the person strolled past leisurely once more.

...

"I, I need to head over that way, I'll go first..."

Gong Xue suddenly felt a bit flustered, turned to leave, but somehow stopped. Her delicate brows knitted slightly, her face showing a conflicted expression. She had words bottled up inside her that she wanted to ask, and it was a rare opportunity.

Hesitating for a moment, she turned back and said softly, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can!"

"The day I was filming, that scene where I was running while crying—do you think there was something wrong with my acting?"

"No, it was pretty good!"

"Really nothing?"

"Truer than pearls! Didn't everyone praise you?"

"..."

Gong Xue lowered her head slightly and said, "I haven't studied acting, and my experience is limited. I owe it all to you and everyone's help. Although I'm not smart, I also want to do my utmost to film this movie well. I hope you can tell me where I'm still lacking..."

Taking things so seriously?

Chen Qi was quite surprised. Looking so delicate and pretty, she was actually quite stubborn at her core.

"Alright then, let me talk about it briefly... Shall we walk over that way?"

"We still have to go over there?"

"How can we talk with people coming and going here?"

Chen Qi patted his backside and stood up, taking the lead down a fork in the road. It was relatively secluded there, unlike Hexi Road which had too many people.

"..."

Gong Xue looked at him, bit her lip, and followed silently.

She was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and gray trousers, her pretty face free of makeup, completely different from how she looked in the film. Holding her hands together in front of her, she kept a distance of two steps behind Chen Qi.

She had walked this path before, but today for some reason it felt exceptionally tranquil.

After walking for a bit, Chen Qi broke the silence: "That scene of yours really wasn't very good."

"Why?"

"Did you actually cry at that moment?"

"Yes!"

"Then were you crying with genuine feelings, or were you squeezing the tears out forcefully?"

"I did brew the emotions."

"Judging by the result, the emotions you brewed weren't that great. Actually, if acting systems are categorized, there are roughly three approaches: the experiential school, the method school, and the representational school..."

The experiential school emphasizes truly listening, truly watching, and truly feeling. Aside from illegal and criminal acts or things that are truly impossible, one must experience everything firsthand.

The method school emphasizes emotional substitution. For example, if your father dies and you weep bitterly, but an actor's father can't actually die, you can think of other sad things to achieve the same grief-stricken effect.

The representational school turns oneself into a storage device, such as practicing a sad expression repeatedly in front of a mirror to form muscle memory, and then pulling it out for use when performing a similar scenario later on.

As long as the presented effect is good, which school one uses doesn't matter.

This set of theories was commonplace in later generations, but Gong Xue had never studied acting, so hearing it felt thoroughly novel.

"Zhou Yun is breaking up with Geng Hua, heartbroken to the extreme. You don't have similar experiences, so you have to substitute the emotions..."

"How do you substitute?"

Gong Xue asked anxiously.

Chen Qi stopped in his tracks, stood by the roadside gazing into the distant evening autumn scenery, as a streak of slanting sunlight sank into the mountain ridges, and suddenly blurted out: "I heard your parents were criticized?"

"You!"

She froze instantly, her gentle face showing a trace of anger for the first time, and said, "What are you trying to say?"

"Just chatting casually. You wanted me to be candid and open, and I hope you are the same."

"Then why didn't you talk about yourself?"

"There are no stories in my family; my mom and dad both work at the Xinhua Bookstore, and their family background is spotless."

Mentioning the word 'background' provoked Gong Xue even further. Not knowing how to scold people, she could only bite her lip and keep silent.

"You're the one who took the initiative to ask me to talk. Now that I'm chatting with you, you're unhappy again. Let's head back then."

Chen Qi shrugged and turned to walk back.

...

Gong Xue followed without a word.

Entering October and autumn, the mountain nights were cool. Just when Chen Qi thought she wouldn't speak, she suddenly opened her mouth.

"My mom and dad were criticized."

"What was the nature of it?"

"My dad was a photographer at a Shanghai photo studio and often took pictures for social elites. Among them, one person was investigated for overseas connections, which implicated my dad, claiming he had overseas connections too."

"Then your childhood must have been quite well-off."

"You can't call it well-off, it's just that their salaries were a bit higher and they knew more friends..."

Gong Xue suddenly smiled faintly and sighed: "Actually, I really wish my dad had overseas connections. You know, if there are relatives abroad remitting foreign exchange, people domestically get overseas remittance coupons, which can be used to buy a lot of good things at the Overseas Chinese Store.

When I was little, I envied those children, but my family just didn't have any."

"Then since their status was labeled, your life must have been hard."

She shook her head gently and said, "It wasn't much, just being lectured every day, ordered around to do chores every day. As soon as I graduated, I took the initiative to apply to go down to the countryside."

"So you went to Yangqiao Commune?"

"Yeah, back then I farmed alongside the villagers. I didn't dare say I was tired, because the villagers were even more tired. Fortunately, I knew a bit of dance, so I joined a performance troupe and used my free time to put on shows for them.

Once when I was dancing, I sprained my right foot. It hurt so, so much, and I felt like it was fractured, but the local doctor said no, and the commune made me keep working. I endured it, endured it, until the pain became truly unbearable, and only then did the commune let me go back to Shanghai for treatment.

When I got back and checked, it really was fractured, and the doctor said if I had waited any longer, the whole foot would have been ruined."

Her impression was always that of being introverted and soft-spoken, but now that the floodgates of her speech were opened, it seemed as though she was finally releasing everything, and she continued: "Though you could say it was a blessing in disguise, while I was hospitalized in Shanghai, the military came to select art soldiers, and the person sent down knew my dad, so they picked me.

That was in '73. I had just entered the military, and it was winter field training.

The commander took good care of us art soldiers, not letting us carry backpacks, walking empty-handed, but we had to walk fifty or sixty miles a day. As I walked, I fell behind. I was young and thin back then, walking behind all by myself.

Later, when we reached a village campsite, I took off my shoes, and there was a huge blister on my foot, as big as a small quail egg. I don't even know how I kept going."

Gong Xue looked at him and said, "I'm not saying I had it hard; I never dared say I had it hard, because so many people had it harder than me. I was already taken care of so much, I was just..."

"Just missing your mom and dad?"

"Mm!"

Gong Xue nodded hard, and when she raised her eyes again, pear blossoms were drenched in rain.

She was the quintessential Jiangnan beauty—clear brows, pretty eyes, poised and elegant temperament, especially with her eyes shimmering like ripples, making her even more tender and graceful, fully deserving of the phrase 'piteous enough to move one's heart.'

"..."

Looking at that face, Chen Qi couldn't help but sigh.

This year she was supposed to shoot a movie for the Shanghai Film Studio, and then successively collaborate on a few more, logically transferring into the Shanghai Film Studio. In 1984, with the film 《Under the Bridge》, she would win both the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Best Actress awards, becoming one of the most popular female stars of that era.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lost my composure like this!"

Realizing she had actually cried, Gong Xue quickly wiped her tears, feeling both shy and embarrassed. She wasn't good at exposing her inner world and stammered, "I seem to have talked too much and put you on the spot."

"No, you've already done wonderfully!"

Chen Qi said sincerely, "If it were anyone else, they probably would have given up on themselves or simply committed suicide. Look at you—you're still so positive and upbeat, and you've even made a movie. So you are very outstanding, you just need to be a bit more confident, just like your character."

"Then why did you still criticize me?"

"Those are two different things; bad acting is just bad acting."

Chen Qi smiled and asked, "When you were crying just now, was it somewhat unforgettable?"

"Huh?"

"I'm asking you, do you still remember what your frame of mind was when you cried?"

"I remember!"

"That's good. Remember that feeling just now; you're going to need it."

(Gone...

I want to buy some green tea, can anyone recommend some, nothing over fifty yuan!)