In America, the Best Actor award starts with stereotypes.

The next day, when Alicia opened her eyes, she found herself lying on the large bed in the master bedroom.

She was stunned for a moment, looking around nervously, before finally letting out a sigh of relief when she saw the Nokia that Chen Zhuo had placed on the bedside table.

This is not a dream.

She pulled back the blanket, casually put on a nightgown, walked out of the room, listened intently, and then a happy smile appeared on her face.

She heard Chen Zhuo cooking in the kitchen and tiptoed downstairs, seemingly planning something wicked.

Good morning~

Unfortunately, Chen Zhuo happened to come out carrying fried eggs, bread, and milk.

"Is your new movie character a female thief?"

Seeing Alicia's exaggerated walking posture on the stairs, he raised an eyebrow, barely suppressing a laugh.

Alicia blushed slightly, but her momentum remained undiminished as she ran to the dining table, baring her teeth and brandishing her claws.

"Hiss... Why did you bite me?"

She gave Chen Zhuo a light bite on the shoulder.

Seeing Chen Zhuo grinning, she nodded with a satisfied smile.

"It hurts, so it seems I'm not dreaming."

Chen Zhuo was both amused and exasperated. "Why don't you bite yourself?"

"It hurts to bite yourself."

The two flirted and teased each other for a while while eating breakfast.

After breakfast, Chen Zhuo received a call from the Matrix film crew, asking him to report to the training ground.

Alicia didn't continue to pester Chen Zhuo. In two days, her new movie was about to start filming, which was a crucial step in turning around her public image and she couldn't afford to fail.

Before leaving, Chen Zhuo moved the thick stack of notes in front of Alicia.

"Take more time to reflect and practice."

Alicia tossed Chen Zhuo the keys to her Mazda Miata.

"Don't bother taking a taxi, I have a car that's just sitting idle."

Her tone was casual, as if she were giving him not a trendy convertible, but a plastic toy from a dollar store on the street.

Thanks.

Chen Zhuo took the keys, still warm from his body, without any ceremony, only muttering to himself, "Won't there be traffic?" before leaving Hollywood Hills.

The training facility for The Matrix is ​​located in the suburbs of Los Angeles. It was originally a boxing gym, but the film crew has booked it out.

After verifying his identity, Chen Zhuo entered the venue, led by a young stuntman.

Perhaps because he had just arrived in America and hadn't seen many Chinese people, the young man kept talking from the moment he met Chen Zhuo.

There is curiosity about new things, but more often there is complaining.

"Sigh, I just don't understand why Master Eight insists on coming to Hollywood. Isn't Hong Kong good enough?"

"I'm a complete stranger here. It takes forever to translate and fiddle with foreigners when I teach them a few moves. Moves that can be learned in two days in Hong Kong take half a month to teach here. It's too much trouble."

"Brother Chen, I heard you're quite familiar with the eldest brother of the Cheng family troupe. Why are they here?"

"I guess there are more opportunities in Hollywood."

Chen Zhuo considered it for a moment and did not directly mention the decline of Hong Kong cinema.

"So that's how it is. No wonder Master Ba came as soon as the Cheng family troupe arrived. I heard the Hong family troupe is coming soon too."

The young stuntman, who looked only seventeen or eighteen, beamed with joy upon hearing this. "After I've made my money here, I'll go back to Hong Kong to make more. In a few years, I'll be able to find a wife."

"I'll definitely share a glass of wedding wine then, so I can share in the joy."

Chen Zhuo smiled and agreed. Sometimes, not being able to see the direction of the times is not necessarily a bad thing; at least it can reduce worries.

The young martial arts performer led Chen Zhuo to an elderly man of short stature.

"Eighth Master, he is Chen Zhuo, recommended by Cheng Long."

Master Yuan.

The world's number one action choreographer.

Chen Zhuoshi gave him a martial arts greeting and carefully sized him up.

He stood upright with a kind smile, looking more like an old neighbor than a gangster.

"Junior Chen Zhuo greets Eighth Master."

"You're a skilled and handsome young man. If you had come to Hong Kong a few years earlier, you might have been able to try your luck as Yang Guo."

Master Yuan's brows relaxed, and he smiled slowly.

"Eighth Master has brought shame upon the young man."

It's worth noting that the actor who played Yang Guo was Louis Koo at the peak of his career. Although Chen Zhuo knew that he was also good-looking, there was still a slight difference compared to Louis Koo in The Return of the Condor Heroes.

"Alright, stop being modest. The movement training isn't going well right now, and you're an expert who grew up in America, so you'll be in charge of communication from now on."

Master Yuan waved his hand, his smile fading, and he was already in work mode.

The speed at which he switches between these states is exactly like Jackie Chan's.

"Okay, let's get to work then."

As Chen Zhuo followed Master Yuan into the training hall, he immediately sensed the slightly stiff atmosphere.

Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Laurence Fishburne, the three lead actors, were sitting on the set, listening to the translator's instructions with bewildered expressions.

Because they didn't understand Chinese Kung Fu, the translator had to grit their teeth and translate the martial arts practitioners' techniques of combining strength and softness, and using the opponent's force against them, into abstract terms like "faster," "slower," and "force against."

As a result, although the main actors tried their best, they could not quite grasp the essence of the cat's movements when trying to imitate them.

Carrie-Anne Moss even overdid it in her haste, and some of her movements looked like she could get injured at any moment.

Chen Zhuo stared at it for a couple of seconds, then stepped forward and took over the translation work.

"Dear teachers, perhaps we can break down the movements, without explaining the specific moves and key points, and without combining several movements at once, but rather one movement at a time, only explaining where to exert force, where not to exert force, and in which direction to strike after exerting force."

"For example, this move, the 'Sun-shaped Punch,' originates from the waist. You need to tighten your core and generate power, rather than using your shoulders and fists to punch hard..."

He didn't emphasize the most important aspect of Chinese Kung Fu, "spiritual resemblance," nor did he teach the training of basic skills. Instead, he borrowed the more accessible approach of online tutorials from later generations, focusing first on "formal resemblance," teaching the practitioner to perform the moves convincingly and gain a basic understanding before delving into the "spirit."

The stuntmen over there listened, their eyes slowly brightening. "That makes sense. They've never been exposed to kung fu before, so let's get their movements right first, and we can talk about the rest later."

Once the approach was adjusted, the results of the practice, even if not immediate, were significantly different from before.

With detailed breakdown tutorials for each move, not to mention stars who have acted in action movies, even the most frail college student can practice and perform quite well.

During the break, Keanu Reeves handed Chen Zhuo a bottle of water.

"Mr. Chen, you look a bit like Al Pacino."

Chen Zhuo almost spat out his water. "Mr. Reeves, I am Chinese..."

Keanu Reeves shook his head. "I'm not talking about looks, I'm talking about presence."

"I worked with Mr. Pacino when we were filming 'The Agent'. There was a problem during filming and the rest of the crew didn't know what to do, but Mr. Pacino stepped in and the problem was solved immediately."

"You're the same way. You seem to have an inherent sense of reliability. Just standing there makes people feel that things will turn out well."