Rebirth 02, the Celestial Being Told Me to Stop Pretending

The stands on the sports field of Beijing Film Academy are the best place on the entire campus to daydream.

Lu Chen discovered that Liu Yifei also liked to come here.

It wasn't a discovery; he saw Liu Yifei sitting alone in the stands reading a script for three consecutive evenings.

Sometimes I look at it, sometimes I stare blankly, and sometimes I scribble a few lines on it with a pen.

Without hesitation, Lu Chen walked over and sat down next to her, one person's distance away.

Liu Yifei glanced up at him, but didn't shoo him away. She then looked down and continued reading the script.

Lu Chen took out the American screenwriting tutorial he had pilfered from the library from his pocket, turned to the folded page and pretended to read it, but in reality, his eyes were constantly glancing at the script in Liu Yifei's hand.

It was a printed and bound script, with the words "The Story of a Noble Family" printed on the cover.

The page that was turned up showed Bai Xiuzhu's scenes, with dense annotations made in pencil next to them.

Lu Chen could tell that the annotations were written by Liu Yifei herself. The handwriting was very neat, but the content was basically emotional prompts: "Be angry here," "Be wronged here," and "Be crying here."

For a fifteen-year-old who has never formally studied acting, these notes are adequate, but only adequate. Frankly, they're just empty words; they haven't even grasped the basics.

Liu Yifei turned her head and glanced at him, probably not expecting him to take the initiative to speak. She hummed in response.

"Bai Xiuzhu?"

"Um."

"How did you know?" Liu Yifei tilted her head and looked at him, like a cat that had suddenly discovered something new.

"It's written in your script."

"Oh." Liu Yifei pulled the script closer to her chest, but her curiosity was clearly greater than her wariness.

Which one?

"It's the scene where she argues with Leng Qingqiu in front of everyone at the Jin family banquet. The director said my acting was too superficial, just showing temper without any depth, and told me to go back and figure it out myself. I've been thinking about it for three days now, but I still can't find the feeling."

Lu Chen closed the book and turned to look at her. The afterglow of the setting sun shone from the side, casting a fuzzy orange glow on her silhouette.

At fifteen, her profile wasn't fully developed yet, still a bit chubby, but the curve of her chin was already quite defined.

The way she frowned didn't seem like she was acting; it made her look like a little girl who was really trapped.

"What are you taking Bai Xiuzhu for when you're acting?"

"It's like... a spoiled, willful young lady."

"That's the problem."

Lu Chen paused for a moment, "You portrayed Bai Xiuzhu as a naive and spoiled young lady, but she is essentially an insecure girl who uses a hedgehog's shell to protect herself. In this scene, she is not throwing a tantrum; she is testing the waters."

"Testing her?" Liu Yifei frowned even more. "What is she testing?"

"Have you ever thought about why Bai Xiuzhu would lose her temper in public at the banquet? She could have talked to Leng Qingqiu privately or made a scene with Jin Yanxi. The fact that she chose to lose her temper in public shows that she didn't want to solve the problem, but rather deliberately created a scene that made everyone think she was unreasonable."

"Why?" Liu Yifei pressed, her body unconsciously leaning towards Lu Chen.

Lu Chen stood up and looked at the sunset on the horizon. Liu Yifei also stood up, and the two went to the railing of the front row of the stands.

"Bai Xiuzhu came from a better background and had a better family than Leng Qingqiu, but she knew in her heart that Jin Yanxi loved Leng Qingqiu, not her. All her willfulness and capriciousness were actually a defense mechanism, using aggression to cover up her insecurity."

Lu Chen braced his elbows against the railing.

"In this banquet scene, she wasn't throwing a tantrum; she was testing whether Jin Yanxi would protect her in front of everyone. If Jin Yanxi did, she would win. If he didn't, she would pretend to have a bad temper, giving herself a way out, and also using it as a small tactic to attract attention."

She chewed on the pen cap, thought for a while, then suddenly looked up and asked:

"Then why didn't she just ask Jin Yanxi directly? Testing him is too tiring."

"Because she's afraid," Lu Chen said. "She's afraid of getting an answer she doesn't want to hear if she asks."

Liu Yifei looked down at the tips of her canvas shoes, her voice lowering slightly: "Then she's quite pitiful."

These words made Lu Chen glance at her.

A fifteen-year-old girl being able to jump from role analysis to empathy shows that she is not just reciting theory, but genuinely feeling it.

A phrase that teachers at the Taipei Film Academy often say is "Listen truly, watch truly, and feel truly."

This kind of intuition cannot be taught.

"What about the lines?" Liu Yifei opened the script and pointed to a line.

"I always felt this line was too direct, but the director wouldn't let me change it. Why can't the lines be changed? Even I feel awkward saying it."

Lu Chen glanced at the sentence; it was a sarcastic remark Bai Xiuzhu made to Leng Qingqiu.

The original line was something like, "Do you think you're superior just because you married into the Jin family?" It was indeed too blunt, like reciting a textbook.

"This line can be changed. Don't directly attack Leng Qingqiu. Use a way that seems like a compliment but is actually a dig at her. For example, change it to, 'You look really good in this dress, much better than the plain clothes you wear in school.' It's a veiled compliment, implying that Leng Qingqiu is a country bumpkin who has never worn decent clothes. Changing the dialogue like this would make the character of this young lady more three-dimensional. Bai Xiuzhu isn't a brainless young lady; she knows a thing or two about palace intrigue."

Liu Yifei took a pen and wrote the sentence down under the corresponding line in the script. After writing it down, she looked at it again, her lips moving slightly as if she were reciting it silently.

After finishing reading, she suddenly looked up, a hint of dissatisfaction in her eyes: "How do you know Bai Xiuzhu is that kind of person? You haven't even acted in one."

"I've read the original book."

"I've seen it too," Liu Yifei said, lifting her chin.

"But I just don't get that feeling from you. Why can you see through something after just one look, while I only see shrewishness even after three?"

"Because you're too young," Lu Chen blurted out.

Then realizing that his words had been a bit hurtful, he quickly added another sentence.

"What I mean is, Bai Xiuzhu's tendency to use aggression to mask her vulnerability requires some life experience to understand. You're only fifteen now, and you haven't experienced that feeling of 'clearly caring but having to pretend not to care,' which is a good thing."

"Who says I haven't been through this?" Liu Yifei muttered, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible, but Lu Chen still heard it.

He didn't reply.

Some things a fifteen-year-old girl says she'll regret later; it's better to pretend she didn't hear them.

Lu Chen turned around and leaned against the concrete railing of the stands, watching her intently studying her lines, and felt a subtle sense of satisfaction.

In his past life, when he was a producer, what he enjoyed most was this kind of moment, watching an actor suddenly have an epiphany because of his guidance. That feeling was almost like the greatest harmony in life.

But this time it felt different. In his past life, he was directing actors on set, looking down at them from a superior position.

Some people watch actors and think, "How can this idiot not even act well?" It's like Qian Xuesen thought, "Even if someone is stupid, can't they learn calculus by age 14?" This isn't something anyone can do with their hands.

But now, sitting on this dusty playground bleachers, watching a fifteen-year-old girl standing next to him writing and drawing, Lu Chen suddenly felt a warmth that didn't belong to a producer, a warmth that made him a little flustered.

Seeing Liu Yifei looking at him, he quickly suppressed his smile and changed the subject.

"Actually, whether you're using the method acting approach or the experiential approach, except for certain specific roles, all scripts and all characters are the same. You just need to understand the logic of the script and the logic of the characters' behavior, analyze the characters' motivations, and then the characters become easy to understand. To give a simple example, if you're hungry, you'll want to eat, not sleep first."

"Why can't we go to sleep first? We won't be hungry if we fall asleep." Liu Yifei tilted her head, looking serious.

Lu Chen was momentarily speechless. "...You win."

Liu Yifei flashed a smug smile, but quickly suppressed it. She continued to look down at the script, as if trying to hide her earlier joy.

"You're pretty impressive," Liu Yifei said, closing the script. "What exactly do you do?"

"I'm actually the young master of a major film and television company." Lu Chen's tone was casual, his elbows resting on the stands, his posture relaxed.

"I have several scriptwriting teams working under me, specializing in script diagnosis. To be honest, I can easily revise ten versions of this kind of script in less than a week, three days. This script is so easy to write, too easy to write."

"Then why don't you write it?"

"Men have pride."

Cough cough, Lu Chen coughed a few times. Damn it, there's a limit to how much you can use internet memes, and you're actually playing along.

He controlled his facial expressions very well when he spoke, neither exaggerated nor guilty, as naturally as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.

Of course, the girl opposite him didn't understand that he had made a joke, after all, Ma Di, this proud man, is two years younger than the fairy sister.

Liu Yifei stared at him for three seconds, then slowly asked, "Young Master, how many screenwriting teams does your company have?"

"Seven or eight, I guess."

"Then why can't you, a young master, even afford to buy someone a bottle of water? Last time in the car, all you pulled out were coins."

Lu Chen's smile froze for half a second.

"The company's finances are independent," he said without batting an eye, "and I personally do not touch company funds."

"Oh—" Liu Yifei drawled out the last syllable and nodded, but her expression clearly said, "I don't believe you for a second."

Just as Lu Chen thought he had finally succeeded in showing off in front of the celestial being, his Nokia phone rang in his pocket.

He had turned the bell up to maximum volume earlier, and in the quiet stands of the playground, the sound of the bell was as piercing as an air raid siren.

Lu Chen instinctively reached for his phone, but it was too late by the time his finger touched the button. The ringtone lasted for about two seconds, then automatically switched to text messages.

The mechanical female voice reading function was a rarely used but real feature on Nokia phones in 2002, and this text message happened to have been accidentally read aloud by him earlier.

A clear and resonant female voice echoed across the playground.

"Lu Chen, if you don't pay your rent and utilities, I'll throw your bedding out tonight!"

Lu Chen's hand froze in mid-air as he pressed the close button. But it was too late; he had already heard everything he needed to hear.

The playground fell silent again, and a gentle evening breeze swept across the stands, stirring up a bit of dust. The setting sun had completely disappeared into the distance, leaving only a faint, dark golden ember on the horizon.

"Fine," Lu Chen thought to himself, "I bragged too much and messed up again."

Liu Yifei stared at the secondhand Nokia in his hand, its screen cracked, her expression shifting from surprise to understanding, and then to a suppressed laugh that she was struggling to hold back.

She tried to smile twice, but forced herself to suppress it. Finally, she gave up and burst out laughing.

It wasn't mockery, but the smug feeling of "I finally caught you."

"Young Master," she stood up, brushed the dust off her trousers, and mimicked his tone, "your writing team is pressuring you to pay the rent and utilities, isn't they?"

Lu Chen put his phone back in his pocket, his expression remaining calm, but a vein throbbed on his forehead.

"This... is my secretary."

"You have a secretary?" Liu Yifei tilted her head, her eyes curving into two crescent moons.

"Then why does your secretary let you live in a rented apartment? Shouldn't the young master live in a villa?"

Lu Chen fell silent.

"And then," Liu Yifei counted on her fingers, "the first time I tried to take out coins on the bus, the second time my card wouldn't swipe at the cafeteria, and the third time my phone was bombarded with rent payments. Young master, is your company about to go bankrupt?"

Her eyes sparkled as she spoke, like a cat cornering a mouse, its tail wagging triumphantly.

But there was no malice in her tone; in fact, there was an undisguised excitement—as if exposing Lu Chen's disguise was the most interesting thing she had done recently.

"Stop pretending." Liu Yifei looked at him, her tone suddenly softening, and she straightened her head, which had been tilted to one side.

"Your advice to me just now was really insightful, but you definitely don't have any money to buy me a drink."

After she finished speaking, she looked down at the pocket of her sports jacket, then looked up at Lu Chen.

Lu Chen didn't speak.

"Serves you right." Liu Yifei muttered under her breath, her tone carrying a hint of self-righteous indignation, as if to say, "Who told you to lie to people?"

But her hand had already reached into her pocket, pulled out a fifty-dollar bill, and handed it to him.

Actions are faster than words.

"for you."

Lu Chen looked at the fifty-yuan note, which had three workers printed on it and the edges were a little curled.

"You have to pay it back," she added, tucking the banknotes into his hand, as if afraid he wouldn't take them, or perhaps afraid she would regret it herself.

When Lu Chen took the fifty-yuan note, he noticed that Liu Yifei's fingers were a little cold.

In late October in Beijing, the wind was quite strong in the stands at dusk, and the sports jacket she was wearing was actually quite thin.

"Aren't you cold?" Lu Chen asked.

"It's not cold," Liu Yifei said, then sneezed.

As Lu Chen watched her rubbing her nose, he suddenly found this fifteen-year-old girl both funny and pitiful.

Liu Yifei turned and walked away, her canvas shoes making a soft pattering sound on the cement steps.

After walking a few steps, she stopped and looked back.

"By the way, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Liu Yifei."

Lu Chen looked at her face. The evening breeze lifted the ends of her ponytail, which swayed gently in the gray sky.

Thinking to myself, "How could I not know you, Liu Yifei? Are you kidding me?"

"Lu Chen."

"Yeah, I know, 'Bankruptcy Bro'." A sly glint appeared in Liu Yifei's eyes as she flipped her baseball cap up from the back of her head and put it on before walking forward.

She took two steps and then turned back: "You just said that Bai Xiuzhu uses aggression to cover up her insecurity, so what do you think of me?"

"What?"

"Do you think I'm like Bai Xiuzhu?" Her voice was a little distorted by the wind, but Lu Chen heard it clearly.

"It doesn't seem like it," Lu Chen said.

Why?

"Because Bai Xiuzhu doesn't dare to ask, but you do."

Liu Yifei paused for a moment, then smiled. It wasn't the smug smile of a cat catching a mouse, but a smile that came from being seen through—a smile that was both a little embarrassed and a little happy.

She didn't say anything more, turned around and left, the clatter of her canvas shoes gradually fading into the distance.

I'm fucking disgusted. I'm guilty and deserve to die.

Destroy it already, I'm tired.

Lu Chen really wanted to ask Liu Yifei, "Do you even understand the saying 'Don't expose people'? Do you understand or not?!"

However, his earlier comment about "not like it" was also true.

Bai Xiuzhu is someone who keeps herself hidden, while Liu Yifei is the opposite; she is someone who always gets to the bottom of things.

This curiosity isn't a performance skill; it's innate. People with this innate quality have a very high ceiling as actors because they are never satisfied with superficial answers.

Lu Chen sat in the stands, holding the fifty-yuan note in his hand. The lights on the playground came on, casting a long, orange-yellow shadow on the stands.

He glanced down at the fifty-yuan note, then carefully folded it twice and put it into the innermost compartment of his wallet.

Fifty yuan wasn't a lot of money in 2002, but it was the first investment he had received since his rebirth.

The investor is Liu Yifei. The reason for the investment: well, it may be for acting guidance fees, or it may be the kindness of a fifteen-year-old girl to a poor guy who is six years older than her, despite her tough exterior.

He will realize the return on this investment in a way that no one can imagine over the next twenty years.

But more importantly, this investment drove a small nail into his wandering soul.

Although the nail is very small.

Lu Chen put away his wallet, stood up, and walked back to his dormitory.

His mind began to automatically play the scenes from those classic movies he had watched countless times in his past life, frame by frame, like a projector that had been turned on.

But this time, the projector lens occasionally flashed a pair of fifteen-year-old girl's eyes.

With curiosity, with defiance, with the smugness of a cat catching a mouse, and finally, with a slightly embarrassed smile after being seen through.

Lu Chen's lips curled up slightly.

interesting.