At the beginning, Dong Chaoping told Liang Chunbo the reason why Jiang Se joined the troupe, which was to learn from him. As Dong Chaoping expected, Liang Chunbo did not agree to his request.
In Liang Chunbo's mind, Jiang Se came to the troupe to rehearse, not to learn sincerely, but rather to gild his reputation, so when Dong Chaoping mentioned asking him for guidance, he did not agree.
But after a month, Jiang Se was different from the star Liang Chunbo had imagined. She did not have any impetuous air. Instead, she was observing very seriously and spent most of her time chatting with people and sharing her experiences.
There are several older female members in the troupe. She would occasionally chat with others about her children at home. Sometimes she came early and had dinner with everyone else in the troupe, eating food from the cafeteria.
Dong Chaoping once said that she was a well-known actress with a good income, but every time she came, she was not dressed ostentatiously and was very polite to others. During the month of observation and learning, she spent more time watching and less time disturbing him. Generally speaking, Liang Chunbo had a very good impression of her.
"When I first started in this field, I always thought that just watching for a while would be enough."
Jiang Se couldn't help laughing when she heard Liang Chunbo talking to her:
“It’s easy to watch others perform, but it’s hard to perform yourself. The more you watch, the more you understand your own shortcomings.”
Liang Chunbo heard her say this, nodded with a smile, and pointed to the chair next to him:
"sit."
Jiang Se sat down. Not far away, the actor who played Haitang Qiu looked at Jiang Se with some envy. It was obvious that Liang Chunbo did this to give her some pointers.
"Why did you choose the role of the warlord in this play?"
Jiang Se bent down and took out a bottle of water from the mineral water box beside him and handed it to Liang Chunbo. Liang Chunbo hesitated for a while before reaching out to take it.
Jiang Se curled the corners of her mouth. Her action was not without reason.
To learn from a master seriously, China has had the tradition of offering tea and bowing to show respect since ancient times. But now Jiang Se handed over the water, which roughly expressed the same meaning. However, because it was not so formal, Liang Chunbo finally took it:
"The role of Haitangqiu has a lot of scenes and a complex character. Why haven't you thought of giving it a try?"
"In fact, I think the amount of roles is not important, what is important is to perform hard."
She said this out of emotion, recalling her first film role, "Rescue Operation", in which she was just a minor role with only two words in her lines, but after working hard, she still managed to give an impressive performance.
"That's true."
Liang Chunbo sighed, "Have you read the script of the play "Begonia Autumn" before?"
"I haven't read the script, but I have read the book written by Mr. Qin Sipei."
"Oh?" Liang Chunbo didn't expect her to say such a thing, but he became interested: "This book was published earlier than the play."
"Yes, when my grandfather was young, he watched a performance of the play "Begonia Autumn" and could not forget the plot. After listening to him talk about it many times, I became curious and read this book."
Jiang Se thought of Feng Zhongliang, and the smile on her face slowly faded. She hadn't seen Feng Zhongliang for such a long time since she met him at Pei's house during the last Spring Festival. When "Rescue Operation" was released, she had overheard them mention it from Nie Dan and others, and occasionally heard Pei Yi say something, but since her rebirth, Pei Yi and Feng Nan had become estranged, and Feng Zhongliang rarely even went to Pei's house, probably because he wanted to avoid suspicion, and Pei Yi knew very little.
After he went to Guangzhou, Jiang Se was able to find out even less information.
When Feng Zhongliang was mentioned, Jiang Se smiled at first, but then her eyes turned red.
"My impression of Haitangqiu comes from when I was young. I watched a performance with my father. Mr. Shi, who played Haitangqiu, left a deep impression on me." Liang Chunbo also mentioned the past years, perhaps because of Jiang Se's emotions. "So when I grew up, I also became a drama actor, and I have been performing for decades."
It was for this reason that Liang Chunbo agreed when Dong Chaoping invited him to play the role of a warlord in "Begonia Autumn".
With this common point, Liang Chunbo's attitude towards Jiang Se was obviously gentler than before. After a short rest, when he started rehearsing again, he actually pointed at Jiang Se and said to Dong Chaoping:
"Xiao Jiang is not going to try out this role. Let her act out with Xiao Hu. I'll take a break first. You two can practice with each other for a while."
The Xiao Hu he was referring to was the male lead who played Haitangqiu this time. He was a handsome, thin man in his thirties named Hu Jianwu. He didn't talk much normally and during rehearsals, he did not make any mistakes when acting opposite other people. However, he was almost suppressed when acting opposite Liang Chunbo. Dong Chaoping had talked to him privately many times.
The next scene the troupe was supposed to rehearse was about someone reporting the affair between Haitangqiu and the third concubine to the warlord, and the warlord, in a rage, personally took a knife to disfigure him. This scene was very important and had been rehearsed for many days. Every time Hu Jianwu and Liang Chunbo rehearsed this scene, he felt the pressure doubled. When he heard Liang Chunbo say that he would let Jiang Se rehearse with him, he couldn't help but reveal a look of relief on his face.
Jiang Se had memorized the script during this period of time, so he was not nervous after hearing Liang Chunbo's words. He knew that he was intentionally giving him a chance, so he nodded.
Dong Chaoping was stunned for a moment, but seeing Hu Jianwu's pleading face, he realized that he had been suppressed too much recently and was completely suppressed in front of Liang Chunbo and couldn't even raise his head. Trying to change someone else might be a good thing for him.
What's more, it was rare for Liang Chunbo to be willing to give guidance to Jiang Se. Jiang Se had been in the troupe for such a long time, but had not yet rehearsed with everyone else. Dong Chaoping immediately agreed.
Jiang Se put the script aside, stood up and walked towards the rehearsal room. With every step she took, the smile on her face faded a little. By the time she reached the middle of the room, her smile was already forced.
Her recent trip to the prison was not in vain. After observing Liang Chunbo for such a long time, she had figured out some things. In addition to Liang Chunbo's performance skills, she also added some of her own experiences. At this time, she stood in the rehearsal center and glanced around with a sinister look. Although the cruelty and debauchery had not yet been revealed, this sinister expression could be felt.
Compared to filming a movie, the body language in a drama performance is much more exaggerated, and the performance style needs to be bold and open.
Whether it was the warlord's appreciation of Haitangqiu before, or Ji Zhaoxiong's later report to the warlord that the third concubine had an affair with Haitangqiu because he failed to blackmail Haitangqiu, Jiang Se's performance was remarkable. (To be continued)