Chapter 36: Fang Xinghe, You Were First in the High School Entrance Exam!

In the days that followed, Fang Xinghe began a brand new, yet still extremely regimented, life.

He rose early to practice morning exercises.

Stance work and Tai Chi came first, followed by fist and sword forms, and then he used the Gries method to practice tongue twisters.

Thanks to his past life's experiences, his Mandarin was extremely standard with no accent whatsoever, so he spared himself the trouble of correcting pronunciation.

Once the morning exercises were done, he went back to shower, then headed to the People's Art Theatre's training room to begin specialized training.

Teacher Feng Yuanzheng sometimes instructed him personally, but more often than not, being too busy, he left Fang Xinghe in the training room to be assisted by an aide.

It made no difference who assisted; in the end, Fang Xinghe was always the one suffering.

At this time, the People's Art Theatre was in its prime; the older generation was renowned throughout the industry, while the second-generation mainstays—Liang Guanhua, Pu Cunxin, Yang Lixin, He Bing, Wu Gang, Gong Lijun, Hu Jun, and others—though not yet famous, would all become pillars of Chinese entertainment in the future.

Had it been anyone else, they would have long ago seized the opportunity to see the novelty, join the crowd, or even cultivate connections, but Fang Xinghe was interested in no one.

His self-awareness was very clear—

"I will become a top-tier great actor and leave behind several truly profound classic roles in film history, yet my path lies not in the People's Art Theatre, not in performing arts, and not even in the entertainment industry."

Ultimately, he looked down on both the current entertainment industry and the future one.

And while those performing artists were certainly worthy of respect, Fang Xinghe only wished to live like a god.

Before a person can contemplate the ascent of art, style, and spirit, they must first satisfy their deepest inner desires, then empty their heart.

Fang Xinghe was fourteen, the perfect age for health preservation; earning starlight to add attributes was the proper business.

He studied, exercised, and tormented himself with single-minded focus; at every stage, he added a few points of experience, advancing at a speed even Feng Yuanzheng could not comprehend, terrifying the pervert into calling him a monster.

"You are simply a monster."

Teacher Feng's face was filled with disbelief.

"Although I know practicing Tai Chi greatly helps with bodily control and liberating the self, your rate of progress is simply too outrageous..."

Fang Xinghe looked at the Gries training method, which had already been boosted to 50 points, and teased: "The accumulated consumption is nearly exhausted; I estimate I still need to practice for a few more years before I can truly catch up to you."

"Ho, what a bold student you have!"

Suddenly, a large face popped up at the training room door; immediately after, Hu Jun walked into the room with a smile and handed Feng Yuanzheng an invitation.

"Teacher Feng, I am holding a banquet on October 1st; strictly speaking, I shouldn't disturb you this early, but I am leaving immediately afterward, so I present this invitation to you in advance; you must come when the time comes!"

Feng Yuanzheng accepted the wedding invitation, smiled, and clasped his hands: "Congratulations to you and Little Lu; lovers finally united, how wonderful! I will definitely be there."

After the two finished discussing the matter, Hu Jun looked curiously at Fang Xinghe.

"I heard early on that you took on a student, incredibly handsome and a great talent. What's going on? Are you already eager to overthrow the master and usurp the throne?"

"Hello, Teacher Hu."

Fang Xinghe greeted him politely, then immediately showed his sharp edge: "If I can surpass my teacher, the happiest person will surely be the teacher himself; since it is a shared wish, what is wrong with striving to realize it?"

"Good, good, good!"

Hu Jun laughed heartily: "The young one has ambition, that is excellent! Then I wish you success in advance."

Feng Yuanzheng was both happy and proud, unable to resist boasting: "It is only a matter of time; Xinghe's talent is world-class, and his practice is diligent; I reckon that after he turns twenty, it will be his turn to wait for roles; whenever that role comes, he will win the Triple Crown Best Actor award!"

"Oh?!"

This time, Hu Jun was truly shocked; he re-examined Fang Xinghe, a hint of doubt in his eyes, but mostly envy.

"You never praise people like this, let alone praise your own student; it seems Little Fang truly has potential. Alright, I understand now; in the future, whenever there is a suitable opportunity, I will definitely mention him to the director!"

Fang Xinghe did not know if this was polite talk, but since the person had said it, he had to thank them.

"Thank you, Teacher Hu, I am very grateful; however, you need not trouble yourself too much; before my foundation is solid, I wish to maintain a sense of mystery and reverence for film and television dramas."

The actual meaning was: I do not want to take on any roles in the short term.

Although the essence was a refusal, the words were spoken so beautifully that Hu Jun was not only unoffended but sincerely praised him again.

"Truly worthy of being called a great talent; even a casual remark can be used as a line of dialogue."

In fact, the so-called status of a talent was the least valuable thing at the People's Art Theatre; the masters who came out of this place could form a soccer team.

Cao Yu from the Ba-Lao-Cao group was, after all, a pillar of the People's Art Theatre with pure and correct roots.

However, youth was the greatest value, and so was handsomeness; after Fang Xinghe stacked various buffs, Hu Jun actually regarded him as a valuable connection.

The three chatted idly for a few more moments; Hu Jun continued to distribute invitations, Feng Yuanzheng returned to rehearse, and the suffering Fang once again threw himself into practice.

Of the 50 points of Gries experience, only 30 were from cheating; the remaining 20 were earned through his own practice.

In a sense, with his coordination, agility, and flexibility, combined with martial arts fundamental skills, he could indeed gain every advantage in any actor training.

This too was a kind of talent.

There were only three types of actor talent, all quite easy to understand.

The first type: sensitive, emotional, strong empathy, able to experience a character's inner world with extremely simple conditions.

Others must experience heartbreak to feel that soul-rending pain, but she, merely observing from the sidelines, could empathize; this was the Method actor fed by heaven itself.

The second type: extremely intelligent, skilled at observation and summary, learns instantly, understands with one teaching, quickly stores 1,000 character images, and can summon them at will; even without empathy, they can perform a thousand faces well.

The third type: innate strong control.

On Douyin, certain perverts could casually tie knots with their tongues, knit sweaters with their toes, or expand one nostril independently, while Fang Xinghe in his past life was so clumsy he couldn't even raise his ring finger independently; the more he practiced, the more he doubted life itself.

Those control freaks, if they practiced fundamental skills diligently and walked the actor's path with clumsy methods, could still succeed.

The three paths themselves had no hierarchy, only differences in the upper limit of talent.

And the current Fang Xinghe was almost a combination of the second and third types.

He was a person where reason outweighed emotion; he had a bit of empathy, but not much; if he walked the pure Method path, his upper limit would certainly not be high.

But he was smart, realized the problem, and immediately thought of a way to solve it.

Now that he had taken Feng Yuanzheng as his master and started training years in advance, and would later carefully observe characters to accumulate experience, his future was very promising.

Opening the panel, his art attributes had gained a new one: Acting.

Currently, it was only 33 points, not equivalent to the experience of the Gries training method.

This is because fundamental skills cannot be simply equated with performance ability, nor does performance ability equal presentation effect.

The most typical example is Huang Xiaoming.

If he doesn't smile, nothing happens; once he smiles, a hundred charms arise—the "charms" of a villainous charm, giving directors headaches and making audiences' testicles ache.

He possesses excellent performance ability, but often lacks good presentation results; once a director can't rein him in and lets this guy improvise freely... then you just watch and see.

Fang Xinghe decided to take this as a warning.

Thus, his studies became even more diligent.

Life in the Imperial Capital tired the body but not the mind, pleasant and fulfilling; unfortunately, just as he had mastered the full set of training methods and was about to increase the intensity, the high school entrance exam results came out.

The pager rang for nearly twenty minutes; who knows how many people sent him messages.

Fang Xinghe lazily replied to Teacher Fang, and this old man shouted with his neck stretched out: "Fang Xinghe! You are number one! 610 points, number one in the entire province!"

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