[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-hong-kong-1984":3,"chapter-hong-kong-1984-hong-kong-1984-rise-of-the-cultural-empire-chapter-109":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Hong Kong 1984",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2224986,4066,"Chapter 109: The Acting Skills of a Veteran Performer","hong-kong-1984-rise-of-the-cultural-empire-chapter-109",109,"\u003Cp>In the early morning at the Beijing Film Base, a thin mist shrouded the constructed old house. Xiang Fei sat before the monitor, watching Li Mingqi warming up within the frame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Teacher Li, the first scene has you cooking alone in the kitchen,\" Xiang Fei walked over and said softly. \"Convey the loneliness of an elderly woman, yet let a hint of warmth shine through.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mingqi nodded, suddenly hunching her back until her right hand began to tremble involuntarily. \"Like this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xiang Fei was surprised to find her eyes instantly turn cloudy yet gentle, even her finger joints appearing as if truly afflicted by arthritis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Action!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The camera pushed in for a close-up of Li Mingqi's hands. She was chopping cabbage with trembling hands, her knife work appearing clumsy yet precise. Suddenly, a stalk of cabbage fell to the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This detail was not in the script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mingqi naturally bent down to pick it up, her movement so slow it made one's heart ache. Just as she was about to touch the cabbage stalk, her fingers suddenly spasmed, forcing her to stop and catch her breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Cut!\" Xiang Fei called a halt. \"Perfect! But Teacher Li, that hand tremor...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I observed the elderly in nursing homes,\" Li Mingqi straightened her waist, her aged demeanor vanishing in an instant. \"Many of them have mild Parkinson's, yet they refuse to admit it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A young girl from the props department already had red-rimmed eyes. \"Teacher Li's acting is too realistic...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That afternoon, they filmed the ensemble scene of the family eating. Li Mingqi, playing Hatsue, sat at the head of the table, trembling as she placed food into her \"grandson's\" bowl.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the third day, they filmed Hatsue's monologue recalling the past. Li Mingqi arrived three hours early, sitting alone in a corner to cultivate her emotions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When filming began, she spoke to the mirror, recounting how she abandoned her child in her youth. When she reached the line, \"I left him at the orphanage gate,\" a single tear fell precisely the moment the dialogue ended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even more remarkably, she immediately followed with a twisted smile: \"But... I am doing quite well now.\" That smile contained guilt, self-mockery, and relief, a complexity that broke the heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, Old Zhang, the cinematographer, secretly told Xiang Fei, \"I have filmed for ten years, yet I have never seen such precise emotional control.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When filming the interaction scenes between the grandmother and Yuri, Li Mingqi completely overturned the usual method of on-set direction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Come, Grandma will teach you how to fold a paper crane.\" She had actually prepared colored paper, teaching the young actress while filming. The camera captured the little girl's genuine surprise and the process of learning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mingqi's performance even influenced the other actors. Zhou Xun admitted, \"Watching Teacher Li act made me realize what it truly means to 'live within the role'.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Daoming went so far as to directly ask this veteran actor for advice: \"How do you manage to make every glance tell a story?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mingqi merely smiled. \"Treat the character as a real person, not as a role.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This sentence later became the crew's motto. When filming Nobuyo's death scene, Anita Mei specifically invited Li Mingqi to guide her from the sidelines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They filmed the final scene—Hatsue dying alone in the rental house. Li Mingqi designed a heart-wrenching detail: she clutched a yellowed photograph in her hand, a \"family portrait.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As sunlight streamed into the room, her fingers loosened slightly, and the photo drifted to the floor. This shot was filmed three times; each time, Li Mingqi could precisely control the rhythm of her fingers releasing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon wrapping production, Xiang Fei personally presented flowers to Li Mingqi. \"Teacher Li, you have created a classic.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Mingqi waved her hand. \"It is because the character of Hatsue was written well.\" Gazing at the young actors playing in the distance, she whispered, \"These children remind me of my own grandchildren.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crew later learned that during the filming period, Li Mingqi brought homemade snacks for the two young actors every single day.\u003C\u002Fp>",684,"2026-06-17T21:13:31.588Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","c64b7fec112139ec279cb7466e81eb07fe6a0c822c9ba18e2e26cba1b164780e","hong-kong-1984-rise-of-the-cultural-empire-chapter-110","hong-kong-1984-rise-of-the-cultural-empire-chapter-108",152,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fhong-kong-1984-cover.jpg"]