Huayu: Starting with Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Western Chu

Five days later.

A film and television base in the suburbs of Yanjing.

The crew of "Legend of Chu and Han" is making final preparations before filming begins.

Gao hope stood in front of the makeshift Qin Dynasty palace set, his arms crossed over his chest, his brows furrowed.

The 53-year-old director was thin and frail, with half of his hair turned white. The wrinkles on his face looked as if they had been carved by a knife, and he looked like someone who had been worrying all his life.

The reason he was frowning was quite simple.

The role of Xiang Yu has not yet been decided.

Or to be more precise, the person the investors wanted him to choose was someone he absolutely refused to choose.

Ji Yu.

When Gao hope first heard this name, he specifically went to see his previous works.

I watched for fifteen minutes.

Then it was turned off.

It's not because of poor acting skills.

Okay, her acting was indeed terrible.

But what Gao hope found even more unacceptable was that aura.

Who was Xiang Yu?

He was the kind of person who, as a teenager, dared to point at Qin Shi Huang's imperial carriage during his eastern tour and say, "He can be overthrown and replaced."

That was the man who led eight thousand Jiangdong youths across the Yangtze River, burned his boats, and defeated four hundred thousand Qin troops with thirty thousand Chu soldiers.

He was the man who could have easily killed Liu Bang at the Feast at Hongmen, but instead, out of pride and disdain, let the tiger return to the mountain.

He was the kind of person who, even amidst being besieged on all sides, could still sing a heroic and tragic song: "My strength could uproot mountains, my spirit could cover the world, but the times are against me, and my steed will not go."

He was the kind of person who would rather commit suicide at the Wujiang River than cross to the east bank.

Every decision and every turning point made by Xiang Yu was imbued with an almost obsessive pride and romanticism.

He was a hero, but not the kind of hero who was far-sighted.

He was the kind of hero who overexerted himself, burning himself to illuminate the entire era.

What kind of actor is needed to portray such a character?

First, you need a physique strong enough to support the armor.

Not the kind of physique you develop in the gym to "show off your muscles," but the kind of body with a naturally large frame that exudes a sense of intimidation just by standing there.

Secondly, one must have a pair of arrogant eyes.

It's not the kind of cool "I'm so arrogant" attitude, but rather an innate, inherent disdain that says "all heroes under heaven are no more than this."

Finally, it is the most important point.

He must have a sense of tragedy.

Xiang Yu's life was a most magnificent tragedy.

From the Battle of Julu to the Siege of Gaixia, from being invincible to being betrayed and abandoned by all, every step he took led him toward that inevitable end.

The moment the audience sees the actor playing Xiang Yu, they should feel that this person is destined to live a spectacular life and also destined to die a spectacular death.

And Ji Yu?

Gao hope closed his eyes, and Ji Yu's fair and delicate face appeared in his mind.

That face is perfect for playing a domineering CEO in an idol drama.

But could he play Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu?

That's not called "burning one's boats and breaking the cauldrons".

That's called "being heartbroken because a powder compact broke."

Gao hope really didn't want to use him.

But the investors kept putting pressure on him, saying things like "Ji Yu's fan base can guarantee a solid foundation," "In the era of traffic, we can't ignore the market," and "Look at other people's blog data."

Gao hope scoffed at this argument.

I've been making movies for thirty years, when have I ever relied on blog data to select actors?

He could scoff at it, but he couldn't completely ignore the investors' opinions.

After all, without money, there's no show.

He understands this principle better than anyone else.

So he's been dragging his feet these past few days, neither agreeing to use Ji Yu nor explicitly refusing.

They just stayed there, frozen in place.

until today.

Today, Chen Daomin called him and said that a young man who had just graduated from the Central Academy of Drama wanted to try out for the crew and asked if he could arrange a small role for him.

Gao hope was preoccupied with casting Xiang Yu, so he absentmindedly agreed, "Okay, let him do it," and then forgot about it.

He's just a minor character; compared to the major issues he's agonizing over, he's really not worth thinking about.

What he didn't know was that this minor supporting role, which he had casually agreed to, was about to solve his biggest problem in a way he had never anticipated.

Chen Mo arrived at the film set at nine o'clock in the morning.

They arrived very early.

It's not that I'm nervous, it's just a habit.

Anyone who's acted in a stage play knows that arriving early to familiarize yourself with the stage, the space, and the lighting makes you feel more at ease on stage. While film and television productions differ slightly from stage plays, the principles are the same.

This is an instinct cultivated over four years at the Central Academy of Drama.

He had a brief meeting with the assistant director of the production team. The director flipped through the call sheet in his hand and searched for a long time before finally finding his name.

"Chen Mo? Oh... you're the one Teacher Chen recommended?"

"right."

"Okay. We won't be filming your scenes today. Go to the costume department to change your clothes and get familiar with the environment. Your role is a Qin soldier, and you have three scenes in total. I'll send you the script later."

A lowly soldier in the Qin army.

Three scenes.

Chen Mo nodded, showing no sign of dissatisfaction.

To be honest, he was already mentally prepared.

Teacher Wang had already told him in advance that this was a training opportunity; the role wasn't important, the important thing was to step through this threshold and let people know that he could act.

He went to the clothing department and picked up a set of armor for a Qin soldier.

The armor was old, clearly one of the least noticeable pieces in the crew's props collection, with worn-out edges.

But after Chen Mo put it on...

Well, how should I put it?

The costume assistant who was helping him adjust his nail tips was stunned for a moment.

This kid managed to make even that tattered armor look unique.

Standing at 1.83 meters tall with broad, thick shoulders, four years of physical training have given him a physique that is not the kind of deliberately sculpted gym muscles, but rather a solid, powerful, and well-proportioned build.

The armor, once put on, doesn't look empty or cramped.

It's as if this armor was cast to fit his body.

The costume assistant glanced at him a couple more times, thinking that this guy would be quite suitable to play a general, but it's a pity he's just a foot soldier.

After putting on his armor, Chen Mo looked at himself in the mirror in the dressing room, and his lips twitched slightly.

Actually, his feelings were quite complicated.

This was the first time he had stepped onto a film set since leaving Star Entertainment.

five years.

The last time I wore ancient costume armor was when I was eighteen years old and played Huo Qubing.

At that time, he didn't know anything, and even the laces on his armor were put on for him by the staff.

He can dress himself now.

Not only do they know how to wear it, but they also know the name of each part of the armor and how to wear it so as not to affect the movement of their limbs during the performance.

These skills were accumulated while rehearsing classical dramas at the Central Academy of Drama.

After changing his clothes, he went outside the film set to get some fresh air.

In March, the poplar trees outside the film set in Yanjing were just sprouting tender buds.

He leaned against a pillar and yawned.

I went to bed a little late last night.

I was reading until 2 a.m.

I wasn't looking at the script.

It is the Records of the Grand Historian.

To be precise, it is the "Biography of Xiang Yu" and the "Biography of Gaozu" in the Records of the Grand Historian.

Logically speaking, why would a lowly Qin soldier need to read the Records of the Grand Historian? Memorizing the lines from those three scenes would be enough.

But Chen Mo is not the kind of actor who just memorizes his own lines.

Wang Zhiping taught him a lesson at the Central Academy of Drama, which he has remembered to this day.

"When you play a role, you can't just look at your few pages of script. You have to know what kind of world your character lives in, what happens in this world, and how your character got to this point. Even if you only have one line, you have to know what kind of era is behind you when you say that line."

Therefore, although he was just a lowly soldier in the Qin army, he read through the entire history of the Chu-Han Contention from beginning to end.

This turn of events is significant.

Once you climb in, you can't get out.

fantastic.

More exciting than any novel.

Chen Sheng raised an army in rebellion, Xiang Liang raised troops in Jiangdong, Zhang Han swept away all the heroes, and the Battle of Julu determined the fate of the world.

Then came the perilous journey at the Feast at Hongmen, the desperate counterattack of the secret crossing of Chencang, the astonishing reversal of the Battle of Pengcheng where 30,000 defeated 560,000, and finally, the encirclement at Gaixia and the setting sun over the Wujiang River.

Every segment is thrilling.

But what fascinated Chen Mo the most was the contrast between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang.

Xiang Yu was born to be a king.

He raised an army at the age of twenty-four, destroyed the Qin Dynasty at the age of twenty-seven, divided the land among the feudal lords, and commanded the princes. His life was like a raging fire, burning fiercely and intensely, but after it was all burned, only ashes remained.

Liu Bang was the king of the future.

He didn't start his rebellion until he was forty-eight. He was chased and beaten by Xiang Yu for four years, losing countless times and losing face countless times, but he just wouldn't admit defeat. In the end, he outlived Xiang Yu and established the Han Dynasty.

One is the tragedy of a genius.

One is an epic of mortals.

After reading this history, the strongest thought in Chen Mo's mind was:

If I had to play one of these two characters, which one would I choose?

The answer requires almost no thought.

Xiang Yu.

It's not because Xiang Yu was more handsome, stronger, or had more personal charisma.

Rather, it was because he saw something in Xiang Yu that he could understand.

That stubbornness of knowing you're going to lose but still pushing forward.

That kind of stubbornness—unwilling to compromise, unwilling to bow down, preferring death to losing one's pride.

To some extent, he felt that he and Xiang Yu were the same kind of people.

Of course, this thought only went through my mind once.

He's here today to play a lowly soldier, not to play Xiang Yu.

Thinking about these things is just wishful thinking.

He leaned against the pillar and yawned again.

Then I heard footsteps.

It wasn't just one person's footsteps; it was the footsteps of several people.

He turned his head and looked.

Three people were walking in his direction.

The person walking at the front was dressed in a dark-colored Han Dynasty imperial robe, wearing a Liu-style crown, and his makeup was already done.

He had seen that face countless times on television.

Chen Daomin.

But the person walking over at this moment doesn't seem to be Chen Daomin.

Like Liu Bang.

Chen Mo's gaze immediately froze.

He couldn't explain where this feeling came from.

Perhaps it's because the costumes, makeup, and props are too good.

It's possible that for an actor of Chen Daomin's caliber, the moment he puts on his costume, he is no longer himself.

That feeling was very subtle.

It's not that "this person acts like Liu Bang."

Instead, it's "Liu Bang should look like this."

With a smile that seemed easygoing but was actually unfathomable on his face, he walked at a moderate pace, without the deliberate majesty of an emperor or the restraint of an ordinary person. He simply walked over casually, as if he were taking a stroll in his own backyard.

But you can sense a subtle sense of control in this "casualness".

It was as if he could casually decide a person's life or death at any moment.

This is Liu Bang.

The man who went from being the head of the Sishui Pavilion all the way to Changle Palace.

He never looked like an emperor.

But he was the emperor.

As Chen Mo watched the figure walking towards him, a surge of anger inexplicably welled up in his chest.

He couldn't explain what it was.

Perhaps it's an actor's instinct.

Perhaps it was because he had been reading the Records of the Grand Historian all night, and the story of the Chu-Han Contention had been burning in his blood all night long, and now he finally had a spark to ignite it.

He straightened up.

My shoulders opened unconsciously.

The languid expression that had been caused by yawning vanished completely in an instant.

Instead, something indescribable and inexplicable has taken its place.

If I had to describe it, it would probably be like this:

A young man dressed in the armor of a Qin soldier suddenly acquired eyes that did not belong to a soldier.

Chen Daomin walked closer.

He came here today partly for a makeup test and partly at Wang Zhiping's request to see the young man named Chen Mo.

Old Wang had told him not to put too much pressure on the child, and to just have a casual chat.

He was about to greet Chen Mo.

However, Chen Mo was one step ahead of him.

The young man in soldier's armor looked at him, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth revealing a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

That curve contained three parts amusement, three parts disdain, three parts nonchalance, and one part an indescribable arrogance, as if standing above a vast army looking down upon all living beings.

Then he spoke.

The voice was not loud, and the tone was even somewhat lazy.

But every word rang clearly and distinctly into the ears of everyone present.

"Ah~ the King of Guanzhong has arrived."

The sound landed.

The entire corridor fell silent.

Chen Daomin stopped in his tracks.

Gao hope, who was behind him, stopped in his tracks.

Even the stagehand carrying a thermos stopped in his tracks.

Everyone was looking at Chen Mo.

But Chen Mo didn't look at them.

He only looked at Chen Daomin.

Or rather, he only looked at "Liu Bang".

That look...

How can I describe it?

It was as if he wasn't a rookie in soldier's armor greeting a senior.

Instead, Xiang Yu stood in front of the Hongmen Banquet tent, looking at Liu Ji who had come uninvited, and thought to himself: You think you're worthy of competing with me for the world?

The title "King of Guanzhong" comes from an agreement between King Huai of Chu and the other feudal lords: "Whoever enters Guanzhong first shall be king." Liu Bang entered Xianyang first and should have been the King of Guanzhong according to the agreement, but Xiang Yu refused to acknowledge it, which led to the Feast at Hongmen.

Xiang Yu called Liu Bang "King of Guanzhong," which was not an honorific title.

It's a provocation.

It is the contempt and disdain of someone who stands at the pinnacle of the world for someone who dares to try to be his equal.

And the tone of Chen Mo's words perfectly captured that feeling.

It wasn't acted out.

It seeped from between the bones.