Chapter 87: The Shocked Liu Yifei

Mei Yanfang was a smoker.

Having clawed her way up from the dust and grime of the entertainment world, only to often find herself trapped in the restless agitation of a bitter fate, it was only natural that she smoked.

Lu Kuan obtained the doctor's permission to light a cigarette for her, and Mei Yanfang asked the doctors to step out first.

"Pain, it won't kill me."

"Not being able to do what I love is what's truly fatal."

Mei Yanfang was still wearing the white shirt of a female lawyer, holding a burning cigarette between two fingers, smiling at the three people with gloomy expressions.

The sparks of the cigarette illuminated her pale complexion in the dim room, and in the smoke, Mei Yanfang possessed an indescribable, unique aura.

Liu Yifei watched, stunned; she did not know how to describe her own feelings.

She only felt that one second she was still a modern girl from an 80s Xiangjiang film, and the next, this cigarette had brought her out of the posters and the screen, appearing vividly before everyone's eyes.

"I know you love your fans and your artistic life, but isn't this a bit too bitter?"

"It's nothing, get ready to start!"

Everyone in the crew watched with extreme astonishment as Mei Yanfang returned to the set.

The makeup artist looked at the director's livid expression, unsure whether to step forward for touch-ups.

Boss Lu sighed deeply in his heart; since he couldn't persuade her, he would just have to finish filming quickly.

"Xiao Li, Xiao Wang, touch up the makeup. Everyone take your positions, let's get our spirits up!"

"Yes!" "Understood!"

Ning Hao and the others were so moved that their eyes turned red; Mei Yanfang's dedication touched them and made everyone on set realize the persistence of this generation of actors.

Lu Kuan sat before the monitor, watching her ease and grace with tension; the short five-minute scene was watched by everyone with bated breath.

"Cut! That's a wrap!"

Lu Kuan stood up immediately to applaud, and the set erupted in applause.

Mei Yanfang, on the contrary, waved her hand with a touch of embarrassment, having no strength left to speak, and let Wang Minhui support her as she walked toward the room.

Everyone watched her retreating back, the back of her white shirt already soaked through...

"Is your hand alright?"

Lu Kuan handed a bottle of water to Liu Yifei, who was dazed by the terrace railing.

The crew members were dismantling equipment, and Liu Xiaoli was pulling Wang Minhui aside to inquire about Mei Yanfang's health; only Liu Yifei had maintained this blank, stunned expression since Mei Yanfang's incident.

The young girl shook her head as if only just realizing it, then guiltily touched her own moist, pretty face.

Lu Kuan knew that today's events had given her a great shock.

Especially since she had just been in close contact with a convulsing, pained Mei Yanfang, only to see her insist on finishing the scene as if nothing had happened.

Was it necessary for an artist who had already achieved fame and success across the Asia-Pacific to sacrifice herself to this extent for her career?

It was only after a long while that Liu Yifei hesitantly voiced her confusion to Lu Kuan.

Boss Lu also had a heavy expression: "What is an actor? This is an actor. She is a true artist."

"You don't understand because you don't yet know what it is you want."

"Why do you want to be an actor?"

Liu Yifei was stunned by his question; in normal times, she would have a thousand answers to tease, to brush off, or to cope with.

But at this very moment, having just had her soul shaken by Mei Yanfang, she was left speechless.

Why do I want to be an actor?

Perhaps for fame and fortune, perhaps to enjoy those envious gazes, perhaps to make Liu Xiaoli proud, perhaps for...

She suddenly realized that no matter which of these it was, none could support her in self-sacrificing for art the way Mei Yanfang just had.

"Let me tell you a story."

Watching the young girl lost in thought with furrowed brows, Lu Kuan wove a beautiful lie.

"When Sister Mei was diagnosed, I asked her, if she only discovered this terrible illness in the last few months of her life, what would she do?"

"Just as she said earlier."

"Pain, it won't kill me; not being able to do what I love is what's fatal."

"She said that although she had searched for love all her life in vain, fortunately, she still had her fans; she had already married her fans, married the stage."

"She wanted to continue doing what she loved until the very last moment of her life; she wanted to keep singing, keep performing."

"She wanted to wear a pure white wedding dress for her fans' final concert, to sing that 'Song of the Sunset' one last time, and then walk step by step up the stairs to the backstage, waving goodbye to everyone."

Liu Yifei was already deeply immersed in the scene Lu Kuan painted, staring blankly at his firm, resolute profile in the sunset.

This was Lu Kuan's lie, but it was also the truth of the future.

In the final months of her life, Mei Yanfang held eight consecutive concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum.

She wore a pure white wedding dress, her cheeks sunken, her body emaciated, in such pain that she had to wear adult diapers to complete her swan song.

All the doctors were waiting off-stage, fearing she would pass away suddenly on stage.

Just 45 days later, this songstress of the world faded away and left this world.

Lu Kuan turned his head and looked solemnly at Liu Yifei; since they had known each other, he had never had such a serious expression.

"During this time on set, although you've stumbled, you've finally started to look like a qualified actor."

"In 'Whiplash', the teacher says that there is no evaluation more harmful than the word 'good'."

"Likewise, there is no reason more beautiful than liking and passion."

"I asked you why you want to be an actor, and you couldn't answer, because you don't yet know what you truly want!"

"If you want to become a performing artist as you said, to become someone like Mei Yanfang, then there can only be one reason for you to be an actor."

"That is that you love performing, and that is why you are an actor, nothing more."

Liu Yifei's mental world was shattered by his few words, and she stood tongue-tied, watching the young director's retreating back, unable to speak...

Lu Kuan was indeed shaken today as well.

He thought of his past life, when he had humbly bloomed from the dust for the sake of his dreams.

What supported him through those difficult years? Nothing but the word 'passion'.

Liu Yifei had experienced her parents' divorce and the childhood experience of moving as an immigrant.

After returning to the country and embarking on an acting career, the underage girl was at a critical stage in the development and formation of her professional and world views.

She indeed lacked extraordinary talent, but Lu Kuan had seen the tenacity and perseverance she had shown since she began her morning training.

Why did Lu Kuan put so much effort into her and Fan Bingbing?

In the first fifteen years of the new century, in terms of national popularity, commercial value, and fan base, both Liu Yifei and Fan Bingbing were rare existences.

Liu Yifei goes without saying; her status once surpassed the '85 Flowers', and even after being semi-retired for over a decade, the three dramas she released starting in 2022 could still ignite the market.

And Fan Bingbing, with an income of 110 million in 2013, surpassed Zhou Jielun to top the list for the first time, and until she was struck down by the iron fist of the people, her annual income was always among the best in the entertainment industry.

In other words, these two were the truths of the entertainment industry verified by the market, worthy of Boss Lu's investment of effort.

Fan Bingbing was a self-taught genius; Lu Kuan only needed to guide her slightly to reshape her life and star path.

But Liu Yifei was much more naive and innocent; back in 2002, regardless of whether it was useful, Lu Kuan wanted to bury a seed of enlightenment deep in her heart.

He wanted to try to bring another possibility to her acting path.

He wanted to guide this still-tender bud in this life to bloom with even more brilliant and dazzling splendor in her artistic career.

He wanted to remold this exquisite porcelain, criticized by future audiences for its acting, into a priceless masterpiece in his hands!

(End of chapter)