The birth of an actor

Chapter 7 Experiential Learning

After the girl humbly stepped aside, Anxin spoke directly:

“I’ve already checked it. The thing you summoned is an unruly fellow, riding someone else’s horse. It’s charging around recklessly…”

At this point, he suddenly remembered something and said:
"They're from a local gang, and they're pretty rude."

?

Everyone was speechless.

I thought to myself, if it really is something dirty, who would be so polite to you?
Clearly, they didn't understand Anxin's sense of humor.

But that's alright, Anxin continued:

"But it's alright. Once the old immortal comes tonight, it will definitely leave. You'll be fine tonight, so don't worry, it's nothing serious."

Hearing An Xin's words, He Xiuqiong would normally have said more. But she was in a really bad state right now, feeling as if her head was being crushed by some kind of heavy stone, making it difficult even to lift her head. She could only nod to show that she understood, and asked in a hoarse voice:

"Can I go take a nap... I'm so tired."

"Go."

Anxin responded with a soft "yes":
"Go back to your rooms and sleep. All the directors can go back to their rooms too. I'll stay here and watch over Director He."

Following his words, the middle-aged director who had just asked An Xin thought for a moment and then asked:
"Do we need to prepare anything? Like offerings or something."

"Need not."

Anxin waved her hand again:

"You don't need anything, go back and rest."

"Okay then."

This person was likely a manager under He Xiuqiong. After agreeing, he said to He Xiuqiong:
"We'll head back to our room now. Just give me a call if you need anything."

"Ah."

He Xiuqiong nodded, supporting herself on her knees to get up, but she seemed to have no strength left, so Anxin took the initiative to help her and led her towards the bedroom.

She walked with a hunched back, a stark contrast to her appearance yesterday.

After helping her into the bedroom and settling her down, Anxin was about to leave when He Xiuqiong said:
"Can you leave the door open... I'm a little scared."

"Row."

Anxin nodded in agreement and tried to draw the curtains for her, but she stopped her.
"No! Don't draw the curtains..."

"Don't worry."

Looking into the older woman's eyes, which held a hint of fear, Anxin's tone softened:

"With me here, no one can cause any trouble. That string of Buddhist prayer beads on your wrist—it would fall apart if touched by someone who hasn't cultivated for a hundred years. Just rest, I'll take it to you tonight, and everything will be fine. Understand?"

"……Um."

"Then get some rest. I'll be right outside. Call me if you need anything."

Anxin walked straight out.

Then the people outside gradually walked to the bedroom door, greeted He Xiuqiong, and left.

Including Fan Bingbing, everyone quickly left the room.

After the door closed, the room became quiet immediately.

A little over a minute later:
"Safe?"

"I'm here. Don't worry, Director He."

"……Um."

There was no more sound from inside the house.

But not long after, there was a knock on the door.

Anxin thought it was Na Shun who had returned, but when she opened the door, she found it was Fan Bing.

"?"

Under his questioning gaze, the girl raised the book in her hand, but didn't speak. Instead, she gestured with her bright, lively eyes towards what was behind An Xin, as if to say:

"Director He is taking a break?"

Anxin nodded slightly and asked in a low voice:
"Why are there two books?"

He had already seen the blue-and-brown book, *An Actor Prepares*, but there was another book.

"This is 'Six Lectures on Acting,' which is also our accompanying teaching material."

Fan Bing lowered her voice.

"Take a look at everything, I'm going back now."

"Well, good."

Anxin nodded in agreement, took the book, and said:
"See you later."

"Uh-huh."

The girl responded and left, while he returned to the house.

As he passed by the bedroom, he glanced inside and saw that He Xiuqiong was asleep with her back to the window.

He silently returned to the sofa, picked up the two books, sat down, and as he opened "An Actor Prepares," he silently sighed to himself:
"This guy really put in a lot of effort to save up his first pot of gold."

Opening the book, the preface came into view:

"Regarding acting techniques, I've always wanted to write a multi-volume book, something titled 'The Stanislavski System,' after myself..."

Well, the problem is coming.

What is Stanislavski?

Having lived two lives, he was completely bewildered as to equate "actor" with "celebrity."

Aside from this, his understanding of actors is limited to those short videos on TikTok that constantly boast about "the amazing acting skills of director XX"...

Oh right, there's another piece of gossip I've heard, it's about that guy who played the Joker.

What was it called again...?

Stryling?

Snape?
Anyway, that guy, supposedly he got so immersed in the Joker character that he couldn't get out of it and eventually committed suicide.

However, he has to admit that he was quite impressed with the Joker when he watched Batman. Especially the Joker's habit of pursing his lips... For some reason, he always felt that the Joker's mouth looked like a wound oozing pus, which he had to keep licking, and it felt particularly awkward.

Looking back now, maybe that's what makes them so amazing?

He had also read comments online saying that... the guy who played the Joker was a method actor. Method acting basically means he wasn't acting; he completely immersed himself in the character of the Joker, becoming one with him. It was precisely because of this that he ultimately chose suicide. He paid the price with his life for a role that future generations may never be able to surpass.

Come to think of it, after seeing that version of the Joker, he could never look at the Joker in the movies with Will Smith, the red and blue butt, the white hair and red and blue butt, or the white hair and stockings and red and blue butt again the same way. Especially that guy with a mouth tattooed on the back of his hand, the way he covered his mouth when he smiled, it was so awkward to watch.

Perhaps this is the skill of a good actor?
But that's way too dangerous.

He flipped through the book while his mind wandered between random thoughts.

After reading the preface, when he got to the main text, he realized that "An Actor Prepares"... was actually a diary.

? ? ? ?
He glanced at a page and was immediately bewildered when he discovered that the chapter titled "Entering the World of Acting" was about an acting class the man had attended.

Shouldn't we be teaching how to perform?
Why did you even start writing a diary?

He raised his head somewhat blankly, pondered for a moment, put down the book, and turned to pick up the book "Six Lectures on Acting".

The content of the first chapter is as follows:
Chapter 1: Focus.

"In the morning, there was a knock on my room door."

dong dong dong.

"!"

Anxin instinctively shuddered.

Thinking to myself, "Is it haunted? And why is it even involved? Who! Who's the blind fool who dares to act so presumptuously at your Grandpa Anxin's house..."

When the second knock came, he realized it was He Xiuqiong's door.

So he got up, went to the door, opened it, and found it was Na Shun.

"Here, buy it back..."

"Shhh."

After stopping his friend's loud voice, Anxin shook his head:
"Director He is resting, please keep your voice down." "Okay, okay."

Na Shun quickly lowered his voice and handed him the plastic bag.

The sound of glass colliding rang out.

After letting him into the house, I opened the plastic bag and took a look. Only then did I realize that Na Shun had bought Fenjiu liquor.

"Is Director He asleep?"

"Ah."

He responded, took out a folded red cloth from the plastic bag, and then picked up a pen from the table.

"Sit quietly and don't disturb me. I need to write a funeral banner. When Uncle Meng comes back, just open the door and tell him not to talk to me."

"Oh, good."

Although they didn't understand, Na Shun and An Xin had known his abilities for so many years, so naturally they didn't dare to mess around.

He immediately noticed the two books on the table. Although he was curious whether his friend was really going to become an actor, he remained silent and obediently sat down on the sofa next to him.

Anxin took out the roll of red cloth, unfolded it, and cut it into a large piece and a small piece with scissors.

Then he picked up a pen and drew the head of a talisman at the top of the small strip of red cloth.

The top of the talisman is "敕" (chì), and the bottom is "令" (lìng), which means to open up all directions and bring forth the wonderful Dharma.

Just then, the knocking sounded again.

An Xin remained unmoved. Seeing this, Na Shun got up and went to the door. After opening the door, she found Fan Bing, who was also carrying a plastic bag. The two looked at each other, and Na Shun made way for her. The girl thought for a moment and then came in.

Upon seeing the finger held upright between the lips, he instantly understood and whispered:
"These are drinks I bought for you."

"Okay, don't say anything, just focus on drawing the talisman."

"?"

Fan Bing was taken aback, a hint of curiosity appearing in her eyes.

After handing the water to Na Shun, they tiptoed together to the coffee table and saw the image An Xin was sketching on the red cloth.

She remained silent and sat in the spot where Na Shun had been sitting. Seeing this, Na Shun moved to the other side of the long sofa where Anxin had been sitting.

They both stared intently at him.

Anxin's talisman was actually drawn very quickly; with just a few strokes, the pen sketched a complete talisman for exorcising evil spirits on the red cloth.

At that moment, he looked up and realized that Fan Bing had actually arrived.

"How did you come?"

"I went to buy you drinks... What kind of talisman did you draw?"

"Amulet for exorcising evil spirits and suppressing ghosts."

After casually remarking, Anxin picked up the Buddhist amulet that He Xiuqiong had just thrown away from the trash can, holding it by the rope.

He placed it on the talisman with obvious disdain.

The talisman was folded in half, rolled up, and finally wrapped into a red triangular drum.

"...Who did you learn all this from?"

Fan Bing couldn't help but ask again.

Na Shun's lips twitched.

I was thinking, "I've already told you, so don't say anything..."

An Xin had originally intended to pick up a pen and begin drawing the soul-sending banner on the large red cloth, but before she could even begin, upon hearing this, she said:
"It was taught by the old immortal."

"...How were you taught?"

Clearly, she didn't understand.

Anxin shrugs:

"After I took a nap, I learned how to do it."

"...?"

Fan Bing was stunned.

what?
Get some sleep?
She paused, then suddenly remembered something, and her eyes gradually became absurd:
"What you're talking about... isn't it like that kind of master from the Southern Tibet? He was illiterate before, but after taking a nap, he suddenly could recite a million-word scripture?"

"You mean the divinely inspired poet, right?"

"Yes, yes, they can sing heroic poems and the like."

"Yeah, about the same as them."

As Anxin spoke, she unscrewed the pen, checked the ink level inside the cap, and after confirming it was full, said again:

"Okay, stop talking to me."

He tightened the pen, spread out the red cloth, and with a flourish of his pen, wrote the three large characters "Sending Off the Soul Banner" on it.

Although Fan Bing looked absurd, she did indeed stop talking.

Just look at it like this with Nashun.

Watching Anxin sketch a horse with a command flag on its back in the middle of the red cloth with a pen, seeing symmetrical and neat symbols like "Yu Jian Er" appear on both sides of the horse, and below it rows and rows of tiny characters.

The text is faintly discernible, reading "Wandering souls, where are they? Their three souls have long since departed, their seven spirits have vanished..."

Anxin wrote slowly, and the two of them read it carefully. Unfortunately, the handwriting was too small, and many words could only be read incompletely.

After who knows how much time had passed, the red cloth, which was almost the size of two red scarves, was covered with dense writing.

It's making some people dizzy.

Both of them were filled with curiosity, but remained silent until the door was knocked on again.

Fan Bing quickly got up to open the door, and then saw Guide Meng outside.

She followed suit, raising her finger to signal Meng to be quiet before leading the other person inside.

After seeing An Xin's actions, Meng, the guide, who seemed to understand but not quite, obediently stood aside.

This stop took another ten minutes or so, until I finally finished writing and put down my pen.

"Phew... Hmm, Uncle Meng, you're back? Did you find the person?"

"Ah."

Guide Meng nodded quickly, looking at the red cloth covered in writing, his tone becoming increasingly "respectful":
"I found this family through a friend. Their surname is Sun, and they're all over sixty years old. After hearing what you said, they agreed to do this job. They said they're going to clean the shrine to welcome the spirit, and all you have to do is get ready and bring your people over. My friend said this old man Sun is a pretty famous second-in-command in the village, and he's really capable..."

"Anyone who dares to take on this job is certainly not a fraud."

As Anxin spoke, she glanced at the time and realized it was already noon.

"Okay, let's go eat first, and then we'll go over there. You guys go eat, and bring me back a portion. I'll stay here and keep an eye on Director He."

"it is good."

Following his words, the three of them dared not say or ask any more questions and went straight out.

After everyone left, An Xin glanced at He Xiuqiong, who was still fast asleep, then went straight back to the sofa, opened the book "Six Lectures on Acting," and continued reading.

Although I don't know why these acting instruction books are written like diaries, I'll at least read them more often.

It's much better than knowing nothing about the acting profession.

After watching for about an hour, there was another knock on the door.

Na Shun and his two companions returned carrying two plastic bags of shumai.

An Xin didn't waste any words and quickly started eating. When she had almost finished, she said to Fan Bing:
"Wake up Director He, we're getting ready to leave."

moment.

After a good night's sleep, He Xiuqiong, who seemed to have regained much of her energy, walked out of the bedroom with Fan Bing.

Her complexion was still pale and weak, but her body was no longer hunched over.

Once outside, she immediately spotted Anxin eating at the coffee table, and... two books she recognized very well next to the food.

Suddenly, her dim eyes lit up, but then immediately dimmed again.

No, I can't think about anything else right now.

(End of this chapter)