CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER 39: ARE YOU A CABBAGE? (REQUESTING MONTHLY TICKETS)

Could it be that Qi Hao simply can’t stand the actresses he’s acting with and is paying out of his own pocket to hire teachers for them?

That would be extremely insulting.

"It’s not for this show. Our Qi Hao has been studying acting theory recently and wants to further improve himself."

Zhang Nan watched Liu Shishi, who had already NGed three times after exchanging a few lines with Qi Hao, knowing that Zhang Songwen completely misunderstood.

"Alright then, I might be able to discuss some theoretical aspects with Teacher Qi Hao."

Zhang Songwen wasn’t foolish; he didn’t boisterously claim he would teach Qi Hao.

His small studio didn’t need the gimmick of "taught an award-winning actor"; frequently interacting with him was enough to elevate his status.

"Okay, let me take you to meet him."

Zhang Nan led Zhang Songwen towards Qi Hao, who was currently sitting in a chair, letting his assistant Yang Liu wipe his face.

Zhang Songwen was a bit nervous.

He knew that Qi Hao was quite a good actor, and for someone who wasn’t formally trained and had figured things out by himself, such actors usually have high confidence in their performances.

At that time, a clash between the practical and theoretical schools would inevitably occur.

We’ll fight to the death; it’s either you or me.

Zhang Songwen didn’t know what attitude to adopt towards Qi Hao—should he be a bit rebellious or somewhat... fawning?

Before he figured it out, Qi Hao shook his hand:

"Teacher Zhang Songwen, right? I’m glad you could come. I have a question that might be a bit impolite, would you mind..."

"I don’t mind, I don’t mind!"

Sure enough, starting with the ugly talk upfront, trying to earn money from an award-winning actor is not easy.

No wonder they bypassed so many acting teachers and found someone like him, who is not particularly famous and just starting out.

"Do you have a teaching qualification certificate?" Qi Hao asked softly.

"Huh?" Zhang Songwen was dumbfounded.

He had envisioned many test scenarios, but never thought the employer would ask if he had a teaching qualification certificate.

Zhang Nan also had his mouth open.

He was reflecting.

He had been too careless and didn’t even ask Zhang Songwen if he had a teaching qualification certificate.

"Yes, I used to teach at the Beijing Film Academy." Zhang Songwen finally found his voice.

"Alright, happy cooperation, I’ll learn for a month first."

Qi Hao didn’t know how long the system required him to learn to complete the task; it couldn’t be that finding an acting teacher would complete the task immediately, right?

If so, let’s settle it as a month.

Finding an acting teacher to learn a bit isn’t a bad thing.

He hadn’t learned in ten years since debuting because Qi Hao didn’t have the need; most of the time, his self-honed acting was enough, and in the rare instances, the director would usually teach.

It was only during the filming of "Heavenly Dog" that it was relatively challenging.

Recently, Qi Hao has been learning from several acting masters in the system’s training space.

He has learned quite a bit.

But it’s like Linghu Chong having absorbed too many different types of true energy, feeling like he’s about to lose control.

Qi Hao now needs someone to help clear his path.

If after a month of learning, the system still doesn’t consider the task complete, then they’ll extend the time.

I’m sure Zhang Songwen won’t refuse.

After the cooperation was agreed upon, Zhang Nan took Zhang Songwen to find the crew’s production manager to arrange food and lodging for him.

The tuition was paid by Qi Hao personally, but food and lodging could be provided by the crew.

Because Qi Hao only requested one assistant this time, adding one spot wouldn’t be an issue.

Teaching officially starts tomorrow. Zhang Nan first settled Zhang Songwen down.

After all, this guy came overnight to save money, taking the train.

"You found an acting teacher?"

Tang Yan ran over to Qi Hao curiously and asked.

The crew was small, and any news quickly spread.

She was the first to come over because they were mainly shooting Yang Mi’s parts now, which meant Tang Yan’s scenes would be concentrated later.

Like Qi Hao, she only had a few scenes each day, and once those were done, she was free.

"Yes!" Qi Hao was very candid.

"Your acting is already so good, and you still need to find an acting teacher; you’re not leaving people any room to live!"

Tang Yan couldn’t help but complain.

A little patience sold cuteness, but Tang Yan wasn’t here to be cute.

When Tang Yan and Qi Hao acted together, if the NG happened on camera, there was no doubt it was Tang Yan’s fault.

This kind of situation, where the mistake was always hers, put a lot of pressure on Tang Yan.

Life is just six words: no matter what, it’s not okay.

Even though her manager Ji Rujing kept persuading her to take it easy and not compare her acting to an award-winning actor, she still couldn’t avoid the anxiety.

Unexpectedly, just when she got used to this anxiety, Qi Hao hired an acting teacher.

Are you a cabbage?

Why roll at all!

"It’s not for ’Chinese Paladin 3,’ you remember, right? I never went to school, been researching acting recently, but just can’t figure it out, so I found a teacher to give me some guidance."

Qi Hao explained a bit.

Look at how stressed he’s made the girl, he really didn’t mean to roll like this.

"Ah, I see, I’m sorry."

Tang Yan felt a bit embarrassed; she had initially thought of saying if he had any questions he could ask her since she studied acting professionally.

But the moment she thought of her own acting skills, she felt neither justified nor confident.

How embarrassing.

Those of us who are professionally trained actors are getting beat by Qi Hao.

Since filming began, she hadn’t seen Qi Hao go all out.

"It’s alright, not having gone to school isn’t a secret. Could you help me with this word?"

Qi Hao put down his phone and pointed to the book.

Tang Yan quickly leaned in and uncertainly read: "Kong(zong one sound) Zong(hu two sound)?"

"Thanks!" Qi Hao looked up, smiling brightly.

At this moment, he was dressed in Xu Changqing’s Taoist robe, with a wig simply fastened by a hairpin, exuding an aura of celestial elegance. His smile added a touch of warmth.

It made Tang Yan feel dizzy.

He almost forgot to breathe.

Tang Yan didn’t forget that she’s a romantic at heart, took a deep breath, and hurriedly said goodbye and left.

Qi Hao picked up his phone and searched online for something.

Kong Zong (kong, third tone) Zong Zong (zong, third tone).

Okay, what kind of college student still gets these two words wrong.

What the heck is "empty pot."

But this matter was just a minor episode.

Everyone was mostly puzzled about why Qi Hao invited an acting teacher into the group, with both actors and crew discussing it.

What on earth does this mean?

Is it that everyone’s level is not high enough, or is the superstar’s state of mind too deep?

Cai Yinong even started a conspiracy theory, wondering if Qi Hao was dissatisfied with the acting of a few girls, so he brought in a performance teacher with the intent for them to learn from the teacher before starting acting, to prevent wasting the superstar’s time with repeated NG.

Qi Hao didn’t care about this.

The next day, he brought Zhang Songwen along to the set.

If there were scenes involving Qi Hao, Qi Hao would shoot; if not, he would attend classes with Zhang Songwen.

After watching Qi Hao act several times, Zhang Songwen gave up discussing these scenes.

They were really too elementary.

But those few girls... hmm, they seemed quite unruly.

The presence of Zhang Songwen was mainly to answer some of Qi Hao’s questions and systematically talk about method acting.

Qi Hao and Zhou Xun both sort of leaned towards an experiential approach.

This school of thought believes actors should think the thoughts of the character, ponder what the character ponders on stage, endeavor to enter the character and then express the character’s emotions.

No matter what role is being played, one must first immerse themselves into the character.

Like playing a lustful wolf, you’ve got to actually feel lust.

The deeper the immersion, the more profound the performance.

Qi Hao, when watching films, was really involved, as if he himself was the character in the film, acting it out in his mind as he watched.

And Zhang Songwen’s group believes the most crucial aspect of acting is for actors to genuinely think on stage, emotions should burst out by triggering personal experiences, not by striving to align thoughts with the character.

Such theory is a continuation and supplement to the experiential approach, its core philosophy still being the core of the experiential approach.

Both factions actually align in their intentionality based on theoretical and cognitive fundamentals.

So, Qi Hao was able to accept his theory.

Understanding wasn’t difficult.

Asking Qi Hao to abandon all his previous experience and skills now and switch to learning unrelated theories, he certainly couldn’t accept that.

This sort of theoretical system sorting aids Qi Hao in understanding what he learned in the training space.

Unfortunately, Zhang Songwen didn’t have many famous works.

Even if Qi Hao captured him, he couldn’t follow him to study in the training space.

He could only hope the training space continues to upgrade in the future.

Ideally, offer more impressive features.

For instance, if he selected the film "Living," then a bunch of acting pros would surround him, teaching him how to act, discussing the most suitable acting method for him.

That’d certainly be a teaching ensemble not even academic universities could pull together.

Several days passed like this.

Others in the crew couldn’t sit still.

This Zhang Songwen seemed to have some ability, teaching the superstar how to act, and he taught convincingly.

At least the superstar didn’t drive him away, which showed there was some skill there.

"Big brother, can I ask Teacher Zhang Songwen how to act?"

Yang Mi came over, grabbing Qi Hao’s arm.

Her filming tasks were originally numerous, now Qi Hao had been completely occupied by Zhang Songwen, she didn’t even have time to interact with Qi Hao.

Without interaction, how could rumors spread in the future?

She was somewhat superstitious, believing fervently that getting involved in rumors with Qi Hao would make her famous.

Previously, during filming "The Return of the Condor Heroes," she couldn’t spread rumors between her and Qi Hao, which always troubled her.

So, no matter how it spread, she had to get a wave out there first.

These days, Tang Yan, whose scenes were not that frequent, kept going to find Qi Hao, making Yang Mi feel increasingly threatened.

A voice seemed to call out, time was running out for her.

"What do you want to ask?" Qi Hao was somewhat curious.

He didn’t doubt Zhang Songwen’s ability, but he was surprised Yang Mi actually knew her acting wasn’t good?

Usually, she appeared quite confident.

"Um... um... just that scene just now," Yang Mi asked earnestly, "I’m acting as the spoiled eldest lady of the Tang Family, how can I embody being spoiled?"

"Actions, expressions, lines, all can easily convey a character’s personality... this is taught at school... ahem..."

Zhang Songwen was at a loss for words.

This is really basic stuff.

What did you learn at school?

Yang Mi understood and didn’t know how to respond.

This person was annoying, lacking sweetness in demeanor, ugly in appearance, and not even wealthy.

"Actually, you’re already acting quite well, Yang Mi," Qi Hao smoothed things over, consoling, "Character impression is crafted bit by bit, going overboard isn’t good, you’re already acting very well now!"

Not all efforts yield results, like even fifty a yuan note is overshadowed by a hundred yuan note in preference.

"You no longer call me little sister..." Yang Mi felt a bit distressed.

I call you big brother, shouldn’t you call me little sister like during the filming of "The Return of the Condor Heroes"?

"That isn’t conducive to re-entering character in the experiential approach, how are you still stuck in the previous film’s feeling?"

Zhang Songwen was a straightforward guy.

He had no clue about Yang Mi’s little thoughts, this girl was simply without distractions, full of desire!

He had no idea Qi Hao had the Fortunate Wife’s Destiny.

He still thought Yang Mi truly was unable to exit the Guo Xiang role.

Come, need a helping hand?