Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 87: Concubine Liu Yi was shocked

Mei Yanfang smokes.

Having risen through the ranks of the world and often falling into a miserable fate, she naturally smokes.

Lu Kuan asked the doctor for permission to light a cigarette for her, and Mei Yanfang asked the doctors to leave first.

"It hurts, but it won't kill me."

“The worst thing is not being able to do what you love.”

Mei Yanfang was still wearing the white shirt of a female lawyer, holding a burning cigarette between two fingers, smiling at the three people with gloomy faces.

The star-like fireworks illuminated her bleak face in the dim room. Mei Yanfang in the smoke had an indescribable unique temperament.

Concubine Liu Yi was stunned. She didn't know how to describe her feelings.

It seemed like she was a modern girl in a Hong Kong movie in the 80s in the previous second, and the next second the cigarette made her walk out of the poster and the screen, appearing vividly in front of everyone.

"I know you love your fans and your own artistic life, but isn't this a bit too hard?"

"Nothing, get ready to work!"

Everyone in the crew looked at Mei Yanfang returning to the set in great surprise.

The makeup artist looked at the director's gloomy face, not knowing whether to go forward and touch up the makeup.

Boss Lu sighed deeply in his heart. Since he couldn't persuade her, he decided to finish the filming quickly.

"Xiao Li and Xiao Wang, put on some makeup. Everyone, get ready and cheer up!"

“Yes!”, “Got it!”

Ning Hao and others had tears in their eyes from excitement. Mei Yanfang's professionalism touched them and made everyone present realize the persistence of this generation of actors.

Lu Kuan sat in front of the monitor and watched her perform freely and nervously. The short 5-minute scene made everyone watch it with trepidation.

"Stuck! Passed!"

Lu Kuan raised his head, stood up and applauded, and the whole place burst into applause.

Mei Yanfang waved her hands embarrassedly, no longer having the strength to speak, and was supported by Wang Minhui as she walked into the room.

Everyone watched her leave, and the back of her white shirt was already wet...

"Is your hand okay?"

Lu Kuan handed a bottle of water to Liu Yifei who was daydreaming on the terrace.

The crew members were dismantling the equipment. Liu Xiaoli took Wang Minhui and was concerned about Mei Yanfang's health. Only Liu Yifei had a dazed expression on her face since Mei Yanfang's accident.

The little girl shook her head as if realizing something belatedly, and touched her wet face guiltily.

Lu Kuan knew that what happened today had given her a great shock.

Especially since he was in close contact with Mei Yanfang who was twitching in pain in the previous second, and in the next second he saw her insisting on finishing the scene as if nothing had happened.

Is it necessary for such a successful and famous female artist in Asia and the Pacific to sacrifice her career to this extent?
Concubine Liu Yi hesitated for a while before she told Lu Kuan about her confusion.

Boss Lu also had a heavy expression on his face: "What is an actor? This is an actor. She is a true artist."

"You don't understand because you don't know what you want."

"Why do you want to be an actor?"

Concubine Liu Yi was stunned by his question. Under normal circumstances, she would have a thousand ways to answer, such as teasing, perfunctory, or coping.

But just when she was deeply moved by Mei Yanfang, she was speechless.

Why do I want to be an actor?
Maybe it was for fame and fortune, maybe it was to enjoy those envious looks, maybe it was to make Liu Xiaoli proud, maybe it was because...

She suddenly realized that none of the above could support her to devote herself to art like Mei Yanfang had just done.

"Let me tell you a story."

Looking at the girl, her brow furrowed in thought, Lu Kuan wove a beautiful lie. "When Sister Mei was diagnosed, I asked her what she would do if she discovered this devastating disease in the last few months of her life?"

"Just like she said."

"The pain isn't life-threatening, but not being able to do the things you love is."

"She said that even though she had been searching for love in this life but couldn't find it, fortunately she still had her fans. She had married them and the stage."

"She wanted to continue doing what she loved until the very end of her life. She wanted to continue singing and performing."

"She will wear a pure white wedding dress and give her last concert for her fans. She will sing 'Sunset Song' for the last time, then walk up the stairs step by step to the backstage and wave goodbye to everyone."

Concubine Liu Yi was already deeply immersed in the scene described by Lu Kuan and couldn't extricate herself, staring blankly at his profile with its firm lines in the sunset.

This is Lu Kuan’s lie, and it is also the truth of later generations.

In the last few months of her life, Anita Mui held eight consecutive concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

She was wearing a pure white wedding dress, with sunken cheeks and a thin body. She was in so much pain that she had to wear diapers to complete her swan song.

All the doctors were waiting in the audience to provide emergency treatment, worried that she would die suddenly on the stage.

Just 45 days later, this wandering singer passed away and left this world.

Lu Kuan turned around and looked at Liu Yifei solemnly. He had never looked so serious since they met.

"Although you've stumbled a bit during your time on the set, you've finally started to act like a competent actor."

"The teacher in Whiplash solemnly said that there is no more harmful evaluation than the word 'not bad'."

“Similarly, there is no better reason than liking and loving something.”

"When I asked you why you wanted to be an actor, you couldn't answer because you didn't know what you wanted to do!"

"If you want to be a performing artist, like you said, and become someone like Mei Yanfang, then there can only be one reason why you're an actor."

"That's because you like acting, so you become an actor, that's all."

Liu Yifei's spiritual world was shattered by his few words. She stared at the young director's departing back, speechless.

Lu Kuan was indeed shocked today.

He thought of his previous life, when he humbly rose from the dust to bloom for his dream.

What supported him through the difficult times was nothing more than love.

Liu Yifei experienced her parents' divorce and immigration and relocation as a child.

After returning to China and embarking on the path of performing arts, underage girls are at a critical stage in the development and formation of their career and world outlook.

She certainly didn't have extraordinary talent, but Lu Kuan had seen the tenacity and perseverance she had shown since she started doing the morning exercises.

Why did Lu Kuan put so much effort into her and Fan Bingbing?

In the first fifteen years of the new century, Liu Yifei and Fan Bingbing were rare in terms of national popularity, commercial value, and fan base.

Needless to say, Liu Yifei's status once surpassed that of the "85 Flowers". Even though she has semi-retired from the circle for more than ten years, the three dramas she returned to since 2022 have been able to set off the market again.

In 2013, Forbes reported an income of 1.1 million yuan, surpassing Jay Chou to top the list for the first time. Until he was knocked down by the people's iron fist, Fan Bingbing's income was always among the highest among actors in the entertainment industry.

In other words, these two are entertainment industry truths that have been tested by the market and are worthy of Boss Lu's investment efforts.

Fan Bingbing is a self-taught talent, and Lu Kuan can reshape her life and career with just a little guidance.

Concubine Liu Yi is much more naive and immature. Back to 2002, Lu Kuan wants to plant a seed of enlightenment deep in her heart, regardless of whether it is useful or not.

I want to try to bring another possibility to her acting career.

He wanted to guide this tender bud in this life and make it blossom more brilliantly in his artistic career.

He wanted to recycle this exquisite porcelain, whose performance was criticized by later audiences, and make it a precious treasure in his hands that would be passed down through the ages!

(End of this chapter)