C13— A Slap In The Face For One’s Acting

Posted on August 29, 2020by UntamedS

Zhou Yuhe said he’d seen Intelligence three times, but he was actually lying.

In fact, he had seen it no less than dozens of times, including “Intelligence 2”.

Ji Chen was less than thirty years old, killed his way onto the I.S board at the height of his popularity, and hadn’t made any movies or TV shows since.

All traces of his on-screen presence were carefully and discreetly collected by Zhou Yuhe, the other man’s every move and gesture a comfort to his soul when they couldn’t meet due to his busy schedule.

Intelligence was the one he had seen the most times.
Not only because of the excellent acting of Ji Chen, but also because it was indeed a good film.

To other actors, the numerous characters and complex plot was a tough bone to crack, but Zhou Yuhe knew “Intelligence” so well that he could immediately play any of the characters perfectly, including Watanabe Ichiro, just by shouting ACTION.

So why was he nervous?
He couldn’t say why he was nervous.

Maybe it was still because of Ji Chen.
He almost didn’t dare to imagine that after more than a decade, he would still have the chance to play opposite this person.

In fact, from what Ji Chen said before he died about his “poor acting”, he knew that he had always despised his acting.

When they first met, it was indeed Zhou Yuhe’s acting skills that attracted the playboy’s attention, otherwise he wouldn’t have pursued him so passionately when surrounded by beauties.
But what happened later?

He couldn’t tell if it was because Ji Chen’s career was getting bigger and bigger, which led to more and more commercial films received by Zhou Yuhe, or more and more commercial films received by Zhou Yuhe, which led to Ji Chen’s career getting bigger and bigger. In short, over time, he became a person with “poor acting skill” in his eyes.

Zhou Yuhe refused to accept, but he couldn’t help it.
Because it didn’t mean it was comparable.

Even in his best acting newcomer award period, his acting skills were no match for Ji Chen.

That year, he won the Newcomer Award, but Ji Chen won the Best Actor. He was fully qualified and had the ability to criticize or judge his acting skills.

Even after fifteen years, his acting skills were perfect, and Ji Chen had become a real entertainment emperor and a business giant. The words acting skills had no place in his heart.

And now …

His fingertips slightly trembled, his mood was stirred up.
Excited rather than nervous.

***********
Everything was in position.

Everyone was holding the mentality of moving forward, instead of the tense atmosphere before. After all, it was an audition for a stand-in. It was really boring.

In addition, there were precedents, and Yan Yingyi, who had so many fans, had been crushed like that by Ji Chen’s pressure. What about this little actor who they had never even heard of his name? It was good enough for him to be able to read the lines smoothly, and the back and figure of the remake would not collapse.

However, at the moment when the director shouted “Action”-
There seemed to be something different on the set.

Atmosphere? Feeling? They couldn’t say what it was, or where it came from, but everyone tacitly stopped talking at that moment and started looking around, and eventually they realized that the atmosphere was coming from the circle of directors.
To be precise, it was coming out of the camera monitors that were surrounded by the directors.
That teenager, he was different.

The teenager who originally looked a little distracted and clearly felt nervous, found his way to the filming the moment the shooting started, as if his five senses were integrated into his consciousness.

The loose sitting posture became upright, and the gentle, quiet eyes became deep and cold, as if dipped in a nine-day cold pool of black pearls, emitting a deep and treacherous atmosphere.

Meticulously styled black hair, dark flower gold buckle on the top of a military uniform without even a hint of wrinkles, leather military gloves, exquisitely crafted pocket watch……with that righteous, ascetic, fair and somewhat sickly face, he was simply perfect and indifferent like a sculpture.

Yang Yu stood behind the camera, hands around the chest, lips tightly pursed into a line, staring at the teenager in the torture chair, who wore the Japanese military uniform that originally belonged to Yan Yingyi, even the script was also a temporary memorization of the teenager – or… should he say youth?

That mature and powerful military air, it was not something a 19-year-old kid could exude…
For the first time, he felt an unprecedented pressure.

It was clear that Watanabe wasn’t looking in their direction, that it was an act, but under such a deep gaze, the oppressive and deadly power still penetrated the small space around him – the set – and spread out towards the people outside the set.
Everyone was as nervous as a stranded fish.
It was hard to breathe.

The deadly silence was broken by Gu Wusi, who pushed his way through the door.
Although Gu Wusei was a prisoner under interrogation, he was still an important member of the pseudo-government before his conviction, and the two soldiers escorting him didn’t dare to embarrass him at all, so he almost swaggered into the torture room.

Yet the moment he saw Watanabe Ichiro-…
The smile on Ji Chen’s face clearly faltered.
　

Such a state of mind, such expressiveness, not to mention an understudy, even an experienced actor who had acted in many scenes may not be able to achieve-.
He hadn’t even said his lines yet, he was just sitting there, in the corner of the scene, and he was calming the whole thing down?
This should just be a coincidence….

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Ji Chen kept a smile on his face, walked in, sat down, took out his good social skills, and began to change the atmosphere in an attempt to take control of the initiative.

There was no displeasure or impatience on Watanabe Ichiro’s face, he just suddenly snapped open his pocket watch after some ridicule from Gu Wusi, his narrow eyes slightly looked down, his face had no expression, yet he made people feel nervous for no reason.
“Ten forty-three, you’re three minutes late.”

The cold, mechanical voice sounded like an old clock, stopping time momentarily.

Watanabe Ichiro raised his head, and the handsome face enlarged in the monitor revealed a faint, sneering smile that was tinged with blood and cruelty.
This smile was in stark contrast to Gu Wusi’s proud smile, a smooth and cunning one, and an iron-faced and ruthless one, the tension of the confrontation instantly overflowed from the entire picture.

Yang Yu’s heart thudded-…
This Zhou Yuhe!

Yang Yu was by no means the only one who was shocked by this smile, he could almost hear all the people around the monitor sucking in a breath of cold air.
How on earth could such a malicious and cold smile be made!

As they all knew, once an actor was not in control of a character like this, it was very likely that the character would be portrayed as facially paralyzed – aloof became expressionless, pain was just a slight frown, and even a smile could easily bring a sense of cool and brash pretentiousness.
But with Zhou Yuhe, you couldn’t find the “facial paralysis” in his performance.

There was a clichéd saying that “the eyes are the windows to the soul”, which applied to actors.
It was a cliché that had been applied to actors, but it fitted perfectly.
　A character, especially if it was an introvert rather than extroverted character, the eyes became the best tool for an actor to convey emotions.
Many actors, when portraying cold characters, often had their eyes vacant due to the limitation of expression, thus becoming the common “paralyzed face” in the eyes of the public.
But Zhou Yuhe was not like that.

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His eyes were like a sharp blade ready to be sheathed at any time, no matter whether there were any lines or expressions, his eyes were in a full of emotions, like he was stalking a prey, playful and cold.

The “emotionless” look of his was not really emotionless, it was just that his expressions were not very wide, and he didn’t look that outgoing, but he didn’t put his characters in a “standby” state either.

What about when he was “expressive”?

Every one of his facial muscles was stretched to perfection, neither too “tight” to become “paralyzed”, nor too “loose” to be too exaggerated for his likeness.

He just showed a Japanese officer with hardness and a bloodthirsty nature in his bones accurately and vividly by raising his eyebrows, hooking his lips, glancing at his eyes, and grinning—

　　It was not too much of a stretch to describe the show as stunning!

Such an atmosphere unconsciously attracted more crew members from outside the circle to crowd around the monitor.

There were also quite a few people as smart as Yang Yu who found a good perspective around the set.

　　After that absolutely unmissable smile, everyone forgot that this was just an audition and began to concentrate on the highly anticipated performance that was to follow.
Yes, the show-.

“That’s something you’d have to ask your men, Mr. Watanabe, I don’t even know how Fuchun Road is just a few minutes away.” Gu Wuxi glanced at the soldier beside him, whose head immediately lowered.

Dark eyes lingered on the soldier’s face for a moment before turning back to the other man’s eyes, “But how did I hear that they arrived at Qing Xin Hall an hour ago, and that you were the one who stopped everyone outside, alone inside, and dawdled for a full hour.

“So please tell me – what have you been doing for the last hour, something shameful? Mr. Gu?”
　　

The word “shameful” was bitten very softly, seemingly carelessly, but Ji Chen’s heart was shaken.
He was paraphrasing.
Because Gu Wusi was indeed destroying something in the church.

Under the oppressive eyes, Ji Chen truly felt his stress level spiking, he straightened his suit and smiled, “Those who know me know that I worship every week at this time, faith is a sacred thing, no matter how much you give for ‘it’, it’s worth it, let alone this one short hour a week…of course I imagine Watanabe-san, you Japanese who follow Bushido probably can’t understand the feeling.”

There was something in both men’s words.
Watanabe Ichiro’s pacing, Gu Wuxi’s smooth worldliness.

There was no background score, no rendering of long shots and slow-motion switches.
Blood-curdling, urgent tension pervaded from the center of the scene, and even the air was divided into strands, leaving them a bit oxygen-deprived.

Who lost the battle first?
By all rights it should be Watanabe Ichiro.

The Japanese were already in a dilemma, facing the oppression of the American army and the Communist Party, and Gu Wuxi was not only an important government official, but also a powerful man with a higher rank than him.

In the face of such a criminal, the character Watanabe Ichiro lost his battle because he couldn’t convince himself.

Couldn’t convince the Japanese side, which was itself weak and unreasonable, how could he overwhelm Gu Wuxi’s momentum in the interrogation?
A guilty conscience was the root cause of the pressure.

But what about Zhou Yuhe?
His otherwise straight back leaned back slightly, a laid-back and slightly disdainful look that made him look like a medieval European aristocrat, and the chair beneath him was no longer an interrogation chair, but a gorgeous, comfortable carved sofa –

“Faith? What faith are you talking about? Faith in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere? Or Sandmanism? Or….Karl Marx? Wake up, Mr. Gu, Faith won’t get you out.” The condescending tone and arrogant look seemed to be saying: the only person who can get you out is me, obeying me and following my orders is your only choice.

He once again raised a malicious and indifferent smile, but this time, there was a little disdain and contempt in the smile. Such a complicated smile matched with that delicate and peerless face, and the impactful picture not only stunned everyone outside the scene, but also stunned Ji Chen who was in the middle of “trial”.

He held his breath and stared at the opposite officer motionless. Before he could make any response, the other party stood up first.
Click, click, click.
The sound of boots trampling on the floor seemed to trample on the prisoner’s heart again and again.
Everyone, including the director behind the camera monitor, was afraid to breathe heavily.

Ichiro Watanabe looked at him commanding.
At that moment, arrogant, indifferent, and violent … all the complicated emotions rushed out from those slender eyes and hit his soul!

Ji Chen’s eyes turned suddenly wide.
Thud, thud, thud.

He heard the sound of his heart being stepped on under his feet.

In the blink of an eye, Watanabe Ichiro had arrived in front of him.
Rather than making the noble-born prisoner feel uncomfortable, that overpowering gaze caused him to sink into an indescribable, lingering . Humiliated. . feeling.
His heart was pounding wildly.

He couldn’t help looking up at the abstinent officer in shock.
The next second-
Hua.

The cold water washed away his gold-rimmed glasses and his meticulous black hair-
Like heavy rain washing a cold and proud flower, like waves rolling over lonely boats—
Washed away all his self-esteem.

Thud.
The iron drum was thrown aside.
The hair on the back of his head was pulled back hard.
Before he could shout pain, he was forced to raise his head and look into narrowed eyes.
　　
　　Like transparent and clear glaze, in those eyes…
He saw an indifferent and intense killing intent.
He saw himself who couldn’t even restrain his soul from trembling.

At this moment he just wanted to crawl at this man’s feet.
To completely…submit to him.

The officer smiled slightly and he leaned closer to the prisoner.
A soft voice, so cruel, cold, bloody, and with a seemingly unmistakable deadly allure.

“Here, I am your religion.”

I am your faith!

After the tug on his hair loosened, Ji Chen tilted his head back and gasped slightly, consciousness deflating for a long moment before returning.

Pressure play!
It was another pressure play!
Everyone’s heart was shaken.

 

TN:

My heart is also shaking, d*mn QAQ

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