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

Zhou Mu's studio is located on the third floor of an old residential building in Chaoyang District.

Half of the paint on the house number had chipped off, leaving only a "3" and half a "0" in "302".

When Chen Mo stood at the door, he thought he had gone to the wrong place.

His original vision of an "international director's studio" was a place in a high-rise office building in the CBD, with a reception desk, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a coffee machine.

The result was an old residential building from the 1990s, with a sign in the stairwell saying "No dumping of miscellaneous items" and three broken bicycles piled up next to it.

He rang the doorbell.

The person who opened the door was a young girl in her mid-twenties wearing glasses and a T-shirt with the "Pu Shi Culture" logo printed on it.

"Are you Professor Chen Mo? Please come in."

Chen Mo walked in, and his first reaction was: this place is even more chaotic than his rented room.

Books are everywhere.

Books were on the bookshelves, on the table, on the sofa, and even stacked on the floor.

There were also discs, hundreds of DVDs and Blu-ray discs piled up in a corner cabinet, some scattered outside, mixed in with the books.

There was a distinctive smell of old paper in the air, mixed with a faint aroma of tea.

Zhou Mu sat behind an old-fashioned wooden desk.

It was completely different from what Chen Mo had imagined.

He was 52 years old, not very tall, rather thin, and wore old-fashioned black-rimmed glasses and a faded gray polo shirt.

If you didn't know beforehand, you would probably think he was a university professor or a community librarian if you met him on the street.

He saw Chen Mo come in, stood up and shook hands with him.

He doesn't have much strength, but he's very steady.

"sit."

Zhou Mu pointed to the chair opposite him. There were several books stacked on the chair, which he picked up and put aside.

"Want some tea?"

"Okay. Thank you, Director Zhou."

Zhou Mu poured him a cup of Pu'er tea.

The two sat facing each other, separated by an old desk piled high with scripts and notes.

Chen Mo originally thought Zhou Mu would first talk about "The Legend of Chu and Han" or directly talk about the role in the new film.

But Zhou Mu did not.

The first question he asked had absolutely nothing to do with acting.

What do you usually eat?

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment.

"......rice."

"How do you eat it?"

"Soak it in broth until soft before eating."

Zhou Mu pushed up his glasses, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Why soak it until it's soft?"

Chen Mo thought for a moment and answered truthfully.

"It's a habit I developed during my four years at the Central Academy of Drama. If I went to the cafeteria late and the food got cold, I would add soup to soak it. I just couldn't break that habit."

Zhou Mu nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

But he did not explain why he asked the question.

Then he asked a second question.

Why do you want to be an actor?

Chen Mo had never been asked this question formally and seriously before.

When he was at the Central Academy of Drama, his teacher asked him about it, but he was young then and his answer was so vague that even he didn't believe it.

He is now twenty-three years old.

Having played Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, he has experienced both being criticized and praised by the entire internet, rising from an unemployed actor with only 20,000 yuan in his bank account to where he is today.

He should have a more truthful answer.

Chen Mo thought about it for a long time.

So long that Zhou Mu picked up his teacup, took two sips, and then put it down again.

"Because a lifetime is too short," Chen Mo said.

Zhou Mu looked at him.

"I'm twenty-three years old this year, and I've only lived for twenty-three years. Even if I live to eighty, it's still just one lifetime. But if I can play a hundred roles, it's like I've lived a hundred lifetimes. Each role is a complete life, with its birth, growth, struggles, and ending. When I play them, I am them. Their joy is my joy, their pain is my pain. After I finish playing them, I return to my own life, but my life has become richer because of these experiences."

He paused for a moment.

"That's why I want to be an actor. Because I'm greedy. I want to live many lifetimes."

Zhou Mu remained silent for a long time after listening.

It grew so long that Chen Mo thought he had said something wrong.

Then Zhou Mu pulled a script from a pile of documents on the table and pushed it in front of Chen Mo.

The cover has three words printed on it.

Silent Snow.

"Go back and take a look." Zhou Mu's tone was unchanged from before, still very soft and slow. "After watching it, if you think you can act, come find me. If you think you can't, don't force yourself, just tell me directly. There's no shame in it."

Chen Mo opened the script and glanced at the character introductions.

The protagonist, Meng Chuan, is 35 years old and a truck driver. He was wrongfully imprisoned for twelve years. Upon his release, he discovered his home was gone, his wife had remarried, his daughter disowned him, and his mother had passed away in the seventh year of his imprisonment. He returns alone to his small hometown in Northeast China, braving wind and snow to uncover the truth behind what happened back then.

After reading the introduction, Chen Mo looked up at Zhou Mu.

"This character is twelve years older than me."

"right."

"He spent twelve years in prison."

"right."

"He had no home after his release from prison."

"right."

Zhou Mu's answer is always just one word.

He offered no explanation, no additions, and no guidance.

He's simply putting the choice in front of you and then letting you decide for yourself.

Chen Mo closed the script and looked at the three words on the cover.

"I'll go back and read the script three times first."

"it is good."

Chen Mo got up to take his leave.

As he reached the door, Zhou Mu called out to him.

"Chen Mo."

"Um?"

"What you just said was about 'living multiple lifetimes'."

"What's wrong?"

Zhou Mu adjusted his glasses.

"Meng Chuan only lived half his life. His first half was stolen, and you're playing someone who only has half a life left."

Chen Mo stood at the door, holding the doorknob, and didn't move for a while.

Then he nodded.

"I see."

When Chen Mo walked out of that old residential building, he stood downstairs for a while.

I held the script in my hand; the paper felt a little rough.

It was completely different from the hardcover printed version that Gao hope had given him.

Zhou Mu's script looked like it was printed on a home printer; the paper was slightly yellowed, and the ink was uneven in some places.

But Chen Mo knew that this unassuming script might be the most important role he would ever receive in his life.

Not because it would win him an award.

Rather, it's because it forces him to become an actor completely different from before.

Xiang Yu is in the clouds.

Mengchuan is a muddy place.

It's harder to walk from the clouds to the mud than to climb from the mud to the clouds.

He took a deep breath and put the script into his backpack.

Heading towards the subway station.

On his way home, he glanced at his phone.

There was a message from Xu Zhinian.

"You went to see Zhou Mu? How did it go?"

Chen Mo replied with four words.

"I've received the script."

Xu Zhinian replied with a string of exclamation marks instantly.

"!!! What character???"

Chen Mo thought for a moment and replied with five words.

"A truck driver."

Xu Zhinian's reply was a few seconds slow.

They're probably processing the difference between "Zhou Mu's film" and "truck driver".

Then he sent a voice message.

"You mean, the male lead in the new film by internationally renowned director Zhou Mu is a truck driver?"

"right."

"Not a general? Not an emperor? Not some kind of hero?"

"No. He's just an ordinary person, a truck driver who was wrongfully imprisoned for twelve years."

This time, Xu Zhinian remained silent for an even longer time.

When I replied to the message again, my tone had changed.

"This role is very difficult."

"I know."

"Can you act well?"

Chen Mo looked at the question and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

He neither answered "yes" nor "no".

He replied with a single sentence.

"I'll go get my driver's license first."

Xu Zhinian's reply contained only one punctuation mark.

"?"