Huayu 2014: From Traffic Stars to Superstars

Chapter 30, Sister Meng visits the set

November 18, Beijing, Huairou.

When Gao Huan was woken up by his alarm clock at 6:30 a.m., the sky outside the window was still gray.

He reached for his phone; several unread messages were on the screen. The top one was from Lu Han.

"I can't go today, my schedule is full. Let's play ball another day."

Gao Huan glanced at it and replied with two words: "Okay."

Scroll down, and you'll see a red number lit up in the upper right corner of Meng Ziyi's profile picture.

"Huan-ge, are you in Huairou today? I don't have class this afternoon, I'll come over and see you."

Gao Huan thought for a moment and replied with two words: "Come on."

The other end replied instantly: "Then send me your location!"

Gao Huan sent her location, locked her phone, and got out of bed to wash up.

Wearing a black tracksuit and dark gray sweatpants, her hair was tied up with a headband.

The reflection in the mirror showed little expression, but the mole at the corner of her eye was clearly visible under the incandescent light.

Yangyang Jin was waiting in the corridor, carrying a breakfast bag.

"Brother Huan, isn't Lu Han coming today?"

"Um."

"What about Meng Ziyi? She said yesterday that she would come today."

"I'll arrive this afternoon."

The two went downstairs, got into the car, and drove towards the training hall.

The mornings in Huairou are as cold as knives. The trees along the roadside are bare, their branches drawing dense lines against the gray-white sky.

When I arrived at the training hall, Sanglin was already inside.

He was wearing a black cotton-padded coat, holding a prop knife, and gesturing to Zhou Yiwei.

On Monday, leaning against the weapon rack with a cup of hot tea in her hand, Gao Huan entered and smiled, "Is Lu Han not coming today?"

"I'm not coming."

"That's good, it's peaceful." Zhou Yiwei took a sip of tea, his tone casual.

Gao Huan put her bag in the rest area and started warming up. While stretching, she mentally reviewed the exercises she would do that day.

In "Brotherhood of Blades", the scene with the highest action density for Shen Lian is not the fight with Ding Xiu.

In fact, he and Ding Xiu never actually fought each other in the movie.

His biggest rival was Zhao Jingzhong, a highly skilled, ruthless, and vicious eunuch.

Ding Xiu, the pinnacle of martial prowess, will become his ally in the latter half of the story.

Gao Huan found the premise interesting the first time he watched the movie.

You thought they were enemies, but it turns out they joined forces.

You thought they would have an earth-shattering battle, but Ding Xiu ended up cutting down cavalrymen, and Shen Lian went to stab a eunuch.

Sang Lin walked over and handed him a knife:

"Today we practiced the match between Shen Lian and Zhao Jingzhong."

This scene was Shen Lian's most difficult fight; his opponent was stronger than him, and he was fighting desperately.

Gao Huan took the knife, held it in his hand, and nodded.

Zhou Yiwei walked over with tea, watched for a while, and suddenly spoke up: "Gao Huan, do you know why I took on the role of Ding Xiu?"

Gao Huan looked at him.

"Because Ding Xiu is the freest person in this movie."

Zhou Yiwei said, "Shen Lian has burdens, guilt, and things he can't let go of. Zhao Jingzhong has desires and ambitions. Lu Jianxing has responsibilities and a sense of duty. Jin Yichuan has an illness and a past."

He paused, then took a sip of tea.

"Dante had nothing."

He didn't care about the imperial court or the martial arts world; all he cared about was his junior brother, who represented his past.

He can kill whomever he wants, and help whomever he wants.

He's the only one in the film who comes close to freedom.

Gao Huan looked at him and remembered something.

"Brother Yiwei, didn't you act in a movie called 'Blind Cinema'?"

Zhou Yiwei paused for a moment, then asked, "You've seen it?"

"I've seen it."

Gao Huan said, "The character you played is named Zhang Hang, a young man who works at a cinema for the blind."

There's a scene where you're chatting with a blind old man, and you say, "Sometimes I think it's good that I can't see. There are too many things we can see, so we don't know what's real anymore."

The training hall fell silent for a moment.

On Monday, Zhou paused for a moment while holding his teacup, then smiled.

"You've actually seen that movie?" he said. "It was from 2010, a low-budget film, not many people know about it."

"But I remembered your performance," Gao Huan said. "So the reason we cast you as Ding Xiu this time isn't because you're famous, but because you can play the role well."

On Monday, Zhou Wei looked at him, remained silent for a few seconds, then raised her teacup and offered him a perfunctory toast.

Thanks.

Sang Lin cleared his throat beside him: "Alright, enough reminiscing, let's get started."

During the morning training session, Gao Huan practiced the sparring match between Shen Lian and Zhao Jingzhong.

Zhao Jingzhong's marksmanship was faster, more vicious, and more unreasonable; every shot was aimed at vital points.

Shen Lian was fighting desperately, not engaging in a martial arts contest.

Sang Lin asked Gao Huan to express the feeling of being "forced to fight desperately".

It's not a battle of wits between masters, but a desperate fight where you know you can't win but have no choice but to fight.

When they practiced for the fifth time, Sang Lin said, "Your gaze is wrong. Your current gaze is one of 'fighting,' but Shen Lian's gaze should be one of 'facing death.'"

Gao Huan stopped and stood there with his eyes closed for a while.

When he opened his eyes again, his expression had changed.

It wasn't the sharp, aggressive light of before, but a sinking, resolute darkness.

Sang Lin glanced at it, said nothing, and nodded.

On the seventeenth take, Sanglin finally called for a stop.

"Okay, that's enough for this morning."

Gao Huan put the knife on the weapon rack and picked up a towel to wipe his sweat.

The front and back of the sportswear were soaked through, clinging to the body and outlining the lines of the shoulders and back.

He walked to the rest area, unscrewed his water bottle, and took a big gulp.

Yangyang Jin walked over: "Brother Huan, Meng Ziyi has arrived and is at the door."

Gao Huan glanced towards the door.

Meng Ziyi stood at the entrance of the training hall, wearing a long white down jacket and a red scarf, with only her eyes showing.

Those eyes were large, with slightly upturned corners, giving them a natural allure.

When she saw Gao Huan looking over, she took off her scarf and smiled at him.

"Brother Huan."

Gao Huan walked over and said, "Come in, it's cold outside."

Meng Ziyi followed behind him, her steps light and quick.

Once inside the training hall, she took off her down jacket and draped it over the back of a chair, revealing a light pink sweatshirt underneath. Her hair was loose and draped over her shoulders.

She looked around the training hall, then at Gao Huan's soaked workout clothes, and frowned: "Do you train like this every day?"

"almost."

"Aren't you tired?"

Gao Huan glanced at her: "A little."

Meng Ziyi opened his mouth, as if to say something, but seeing his expression, he swallowed his words.

She took a bag out of her purse and handed it to him: "I brought you some food. It's from that bakery near the school gate; you used to say their croissants were delicious."

Gao Huan took the bag, opened it, and saw two croissants, still warm.

He did say that the croissants at that restaurant were delicious when he was at the Beijing Film Academy.

That happened last year. She was standing next to him when he casually said something that she remembered.

"Thanks." Gao Huan took out a croissant and took a bite.

Meng Ziyi watched him eat, her chin resting on her hand, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Brother Huan."

"Um."

Do you remember when you first treated me to dinner?

Gao Huan chewed on a croissant and thought for a moment: "Winter 2013."

Meng Ziyi was taken aback: "You remember?"

You asked me out three times. I had something to do the first two times, but I went the third time.

Gao Huan took a sip of water. "We ate at the hot pot restaurant near the north gate of the school."

Meng Ziyi's eyes lit up for a moment, then dimmed again.

"You remember it so clearly," she said. "I almost forgot."

Gao Huan glanced at her but didn't say anything.

Meng Ziyi was his junior at the Beijing Film Academy, two years his junior.

In the autumn of 2013, she was wearing a white T-shirt and had her hair in a ponytail, sitting on the steps by the playground, scrolling through her phone.

As he passed by, she looked up and glanced at him.

In that one glance, he recognized those eyes.

Later, she added him on WeChat and started asking him out to dinner.

He was indeed busy the first two times, but went the third time. The hot pot restaurant was located near the north gate of the school; the environment was so-so, but the meat was good.

She wore a red sweater that day, her hair was down, and she wore light makeup.

She wasn't very good at makeup; her foundation was too thick, and her lipstick color was too bright, but he didn't say anything.

Because there was something in her eyes when she looked at him.

That kind of liking is simple, irrational, and childlike.

Gao Huan thought to himself, "This woman isn't very smart."

But this is not necessarily a bad thing.

What happened next was predictable. She began to appear frequently in his life.

At the entrance to the rehearsal hall, in the cafeteria, and on the small road outside the school.

During the lunch break, Gao Huan lay on the sofa in the lounge for half an hour.

Meng Ziyi sat on the chair beside him, quietly watching him. His eyelashes were long, and they trembled slightly when he slept, like butterfly wings.

She remembered a winter night last year.

She was in his apartment, and she cooked him a bowl of noodles.

The noodles weren't cooked very well, and the soup was too salty, but he ate it all.

After finishing his meal, he nestled on the sofa, while I sat next to him reading a book.

She leaned closer and rested her head on his shoulder. He didn't flinch or move; he just let her lean on him.

At that moment, she suddenly understood what "being together" meant.

Meng Ziyi snapped out of her thoughts, stood up, picked up Gao Huan's coat from the sofa armrest, folded it neatly, and put it aside.

Yangyang Jin pushed the door open and saw this scene. She paused for a moment, then casually walked to the water dispenser and filled a glass with water.

"Meng Ziyi, are you still staying this afternoon?" Yangyang Jin asked.

"Stay put." Meng Ziyi sat back down in her chair. "I don't have class."

Yangyang Jin nodded and didn't say anything more.

The afternoon training started at 2 p.m.

Gao Huan continued practicing the fight scene between Shen Lian and Zhao Jingzhong.

Nie Yuan also arrived in the afternoon, wearing a military green cotton-padded jacket and holding a prop gun, discussing action details with Sang Lin.

Meng Ziyi sat in the rest area, holding the hot water that Yangyang Jin had poured for her, watching Gao Huan practice over and over again in the middle of the field.

When he was sparring with Nie Yuan, she noticed a detail.

Gao Huan's left hand was always lightly resting on her waist, as if she was preparing to draw something. Later, she realized that it was where the dagger was.

This version of Shen Lian has two swords, one long and one short. The long sword is mainly for offense, while the short sword is for killing moves.

Gao Huan practiced more than a dozen times, each time looking for the right moment to draw the short sword.

Sang Lin shouted from the side, "When you draw your dagger, you can't let anyone see that you're going to draw it. It should be subconscious, as natural as breathing."

Gao Huan nodded and said, "Let's do it again."

This time, the timing of drawing the short sword was perfect. The blade pierced out from the waist with such speed that Nie Yuan almost couldn't block it.

"Great!" Sanglin clapped his hands. "That's the feeling!"

Meng Ziyi sat in the rest area, looking at the man covered in sweat, and suddenly remembered something.

When she first met Gao Huan, she thought he didn't care about anything.

He doesn't care about grades, evaluations, or what others think of him.

Later she discovered that he wasn't indifferent.

What he cares about is not his report card, not other people's evaluations, not those trivial things.

What he cares about is the matter itself.

Practicing swordsmanship is practicing swordsmanship, acting is acting, and singing is singing.

He won't stop just because others say "you're already doing great"; he wants to feel "enough" for himself.

Looking at him in the middle of the field, Meng Ziyi thought, this is the person she likes.

At 4:30 pm, Meng Ziyi was leaving.

She stood up, put on her down jacket, and walked to the edge of the field.

Gao Huan was sparring with Nie Yuan and didn't notice her. She stood there for a while, not wanting to disturb him, then turned and walked out.

As she reached the door, she glanced back at him.

He was holding a knife, dodging Nie Yuan's shot by turning to the side, then drew the short knife from his waist and thrust it out fiercely.

His movements were swift and decisive, his gaze so focused it was as if the whole world consisted only of him and the person opposite him.

Meng Ziyi smiled, opened the door, and stepped into the cold winter wind of Huairou.

After getting in the car, she sent Gao Huan a message: "Brother Huan, I'm leaving. Croissant is with Sister Yangyang, remember to eat if you get hungry."

As the car drove out of Huairou, she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.

The image of Gao Huan practicing his swordplay just now flashed through his mind.

Sweat streamed down his jawline, the veins on his hand gripping the knife bulged, and his eyes were as focused as a lone wolf's.

She recalled the first time she met him at the Beijing Film Academy.

He walked over against the light at the edge of the playground, the wind lifting a corner of his coat.

She immediately thought that she absolutely had to get to know this person.

Now she knows.

And it's not just about knowing each other.

Meng Ziyi opened his eyes, looked at the scenery rushing past the car window, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

That's enough~

Is this enough?

She suddenly thought to herself.

……

At 5:30 p.m., Gao Huan finished his day's training and came out of the locker room. Yang Yangjin was looking at her phone.

"Brother Huan, Lu Han has messaged me again."

Gao Huan took the phone; Lu Han's chat window was on the screen.

"I really can't get through today, my schedule is too full."

But there's something I'd like to talk to you about. Could we meet for dinner? Tomorrow or the day after is fine.

Gao Huan looked at the message, thought for a moment, and typed back: "Okay, tomorrow night?"

Lu Han replied instantly: "Okay, I'll send you the address."

Gao Huan returned the phone to Yangyang Jin, put on his coat, and walked out.

Yangyang Jin followed behind him: "Brother Huan, what did he want to see you about?"

"You'll know when you meet them."

The car drove out of Huairou and headed towards the city center.

In winter, it gets dark early; it's completely dark by six o'clock.

Streetlights swept overhead one by one, casting a flowing pattern of light and shadow on the windshield.

Gao Huan leaned back in his seat, replaying the events of the day in his mind.

Meng Ziyi sat in the rest area, resting her chin on her hand as she looked at him.

She was a little thinner than the last time I saw her, and her chin was sharper, but her eyes were still so big and bright.