Chapter 193: Two Lives, One of Light and Shadow If life were a...

After listening to Cheng Hesheng's words, Li Sishi said in a deep voice, "Director Cheng, you should understand that whether or not to accept a role is not a decision I can make on my own."

“Yes, I understand, but I really hope you can listen to this…” Cheng Hesheng was a little anxious and wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Li Sishi.

“Director Cheng, it’s too late tonight, you might be a little drowsy…” Li Sishi sighed, then changed the subject in the silence on the other end, “However, since you’ve woken me up, I might be interested in hearing you tell me a ‘story’.”

“Oh…right, that’s right, I did want to tell you a ‘story’.” Cheng Hesheng suddenly realized and quickly followed up on Li Sishi’s words, “It’s just a ‘story’.”

If Li Sishi hadn't reminded him, he really would have been "confused"—even though many directors and screenwriters in the industry would call artists they wanted to work with without regard to time, place, or anything else when they got carried away, this was an informal contact. Even if Li Sishi could make the decision on her own, he was too hasty this time.

Therefore, Li Sishi used the excuse of "telling a story" to give both parties a way out.

After inwardly marveling at Li Sishi's meticulousness once again, Cheng Hesheng organized his thoughts and began to tell Li Sishi his revised version of the character's story, in a manner reminiscent of an elder telling a story to a younger person.

Li Sishi listened attentively—probably because Cheng Hesheng considered that there was no printed script and the two were talking on the phone, so he told the story in great detail. It couldn't be simply summarized as a character story, but rather, through the character story, one could glimpse the entire plot and details of the script.

This was actually a rather risky move: as the saying goes, "the script is the foundation of a play," and Hong Kong was in an era when a lot of capital was flooding into the film and television industry. The dirty tricks of following the trend, imitating, and stealing scripts to rush to film and broadcast were commonplace. Even the constraints of written contracts could not completely resist the drive of profit, let alone verbal statements and agreements.

However, Cheng Hesheng, in order to secure her role, still revealed this precious, truly complete script to her.

However, what Cheng Hesheng never expected was that Li Sishi was someone who had "seen" the finished film many times before his entire script had even been formally completed.

Therefore, while Cheng Hesheng's detailed account touched Li Sishi somewhat, it primarily served to supplement the "finished product" in her memory.

Complete.

Unlike the unremarkable, plot-driven character Fang Ning in "Big City, Small Love" as I remember her, in Cheng Hesheng's portrayal, Fang Ning's subplot has a different kind of importance, distinct from the main plot, and even involves the final development of several storylines—

For example, from the very beginning, the four characters—the male protagonist Wei Shaojun, the female protagonist Lü Yao, the second male lead Hu Ge, and the second female lead Fang Ning—are connected by three intertwined love stories, which also metaphorically represent three stages of life: the male protagonist Wei Shaojun and the second female lead Fang Ning are first loves that can never be returned to but were tender and gentle through the years. In order to protect this relationship that can never be returned to, the two once innocent and beautiful people have worked hard for it.

The relationship between the male protagonist Wei Shaojun and the female protagonist Lü Yao was born from love and desire during a difficult period of mutual companionship. It is hard to say whether it is right or wrong, but it is particularly unforgettable.

Finally, the second male lead, Tiger, and the female lead, Lü Yao, are like a marriage. Perhaps it was initially based on an exchange of interests, but it is also the strongest bond. Perhaps neither of them is the other's true love, but they can satisfy all their desires and needs, eventually turning into a dependence that grows over time and cannot be severed without a powerful accident.

Although the first and second phases are secondary subplots in the film, Cheng Hesheng still wanted to tell their stories seriously, using them as the beginning and end of life to depict a story about growth.

Unfortunately, the "finished product" that Li Sishi remembered was...

It was Cheng Hesheng's final compromise under duress: because the story and characters of the first stage were deliberately downplayed, the story of the third stage became deeply moving in a realistic sense in the process of adding scenes, and even almost overshadowed the main story.

This is actually what Cheng Hesheng least wanted to see—but if he couldn't find the perfect actors for the first stage of the story, then the only way to achieve a different kind of perfection for the script was to make changes and downplay the existence of the second female lead, Fang Ning.

However, if he could meet the perfect "Fang Ning" in his mind, then the main storyline formed by these four characters would truly achieve the interconnected and progressively unfolding narrative that he and the screenwriter wanted.

The Chinese title of this movie is "Big City, Small Love," which alludes to the struggles and growth of ordinary people in a great era. The characters in the story have flaws to varying degrees, but the story allows viewers to find themselves in a certain period of their lives or their entire lives.

Even Fang Ning, who is portrayed as "flawless," ultimately faces a difficult choice—after the male protagonist confronts her, she...

She let go of the male lead, and she also let go of herself.

And this is the final fate that Cheng Hesheng gave to this seemingly weak but extremely decisive girl.

On the surface, it seems to be paving the way for the final reunion of the male and female protagonists, but in fact, it is the final summary of the three storylines of the aunt, the male protagonist, and the female protagonist.

In that era when everyone was rushing to work and dream in big cities, there might not necessarily be a "Brother Hu" if there was a "Wei Shaojun", but if there was a "Lu Yao", there would definitely be a "Fang Ning".

There's no particular reason; it's simply an inevitable story for most "outsiders" dreaming in big cities. It's hard to distinguish right from wrong, and difficult to blame anyone. This kind of detour in life, which is hard to avoid, is a microcosm of an era and a generation.

Therefore, if life were a movie, the appearance of "Lü Yao" would inevitably be accompanied by "Fang Ning".

The character Fang Ning serves not only as a contrast to Lü Yao, who is portrayed in a subtle way, but also as a continuation of another life path of the aunt character. The aunt, because of a chance encounter with a Hollywood star when she was young, ruined her life because of a one-night stand with the star. This kind of character, who spends the rest of her life on a brief love affair, seems to carry a traditional and ancient "vague beauty".

However, for this day and age, it is a tragic story that many people, including Cheng Hesheng, lament but do not want to see again.

So in this movie where everyone has regrets, Fang Ning, who is not "wrong," transcends conventional reality under Cheng Hesheng's "favoritism." She will not spend her life in a dream full of deception because of illusory "ideals" and "responsibilities."

On the contrary, after the male protagonist and husband Wei Shaojun confronts her and divorces her, Fang Ning will receive Wei Shaojun's property and her aunt's inheritance. Based on the dance job introduced by the female protagonist Lü Yao, she will learn to live a new life on her own in this unfamiliar big city.

It was also because of her letting go that the male and female protagonists, who had finished their "Hong Kong Dream" and were going to foreign lands to write their "Overseas Dream" again due to various reasons, were able to wait for the day of their fateful reunion.

The story features surreal rebirths and enviable destiny. The characters in the story always earnestly love those they should love or want to love, or earnestly love themselves.

Therefore, this film tells not only a story about love and feelings, but also about fate and choices.

This core theme is most vividly depicted in the scene where Fang Ning and Wei Shaojun confront each other about their divorce.

In real life, people like the male protagonist "Wei Shaojun"

Such people often choose to bury the companionship they shared during those difficult years, and then continue living in a seemingly stable and happy marriage, deceiving themselves into believing it.

Even when those cruel truths are revealed, many people will still choose to deceive themselves in the face of difficult choices—not just "Wei Shaojun," but most "Fang Ning" are the same, preferring to immerse themselves in false dreams, clinging to the old times that can never be returned to and just living out their lives like this.

Therefore, Cheng Hesheng designed the character "Fang Ning" as the second female lead to depict a story that once happened but can never be returned to on another level - after refusing to deceive themselves and face the cruel truth, there will always be many people who become addicted to a relationship and cling on desperately.

But in reality, these persistent people aren't really seeking justice; they just want the other person to say, "I'm sad too."

Those couples who broke up because they went to big cities to pursue their dreams did have their own stories, but their stories happened at a more innocent, superficial, and confused age and in a more confused society. So, under the dual impact of a fresher, more exciting, and more realistic new environment and a new era, they eventually became things that could never be returned to.

But did such a thing never happen?

Does the fact that those pure and innocent feelings didn't last mean they weren't real?

No, we walked such a long road together, we were once so close that we were like family, but in the end we had no choice but to part ways as time went by. Anyone would feel sad.

They even addressed each other as "my dear so-and-so" in their letters. It was because of love and the deep love they once shared that Wei Shaojun would leave everything he had earned in Hong Kong to Fang Ning, because his initial goal in coming to Hong Kong was to marry Fang Ning, his "ideal".

Now that his ideal has been shattered, he has given up everything he gained because of it.

Fang Ning, because she had loved the male protagonist so deeply, even though she felt so helpless and sad when faced with the truth, still chose to let him go and then put all her energy into "loving herself" and bravely started a new life.

Although Cheng Hesheng was constrained by commercial constraints and changed the originally intended tragic ending of the male and female protagonists' final unfulfilled love story into a reunion with open endings, he consistently upheld the view that good and evil will eventually be rewarded in the end for the two main characters in the subplot. Thus, the down-on-his-luck tycoon died a violent death in the street for the sake of pride and dignity, while the pure and beautiful first love, with its gentle touch, was ultimately reborn.

Furthermore, Fang Ning's rebirth also corresponds to...

The female protagonist, Lü Yao, ventures out into the world, while another life remains temporarily in place.

But the arrival of the new era means that in a gradually brightening world, we are working step by step to prevent the tragic regrets of those who spend their lives with fleeting love from being repeated.

As another hidden protagonist in another life, Cheng Hesheng, amidst the vast blank spaces in this storyline, gives all of Fang Ning a glimmer of hope.

"Lu Yao's detailed description portrays a person who strives for her ideals, making her feel so real that she seems to live right next to you and me; while Fang Ning's concise blank space is a hope that in all the real stories of a limited era but with the opportunity to transcend its constraints, someone can freely express themselves in such unknown blank space and write their own wonderful life."

"Therefore, this subplot depicting another life is actually another kind of shadowy heroine. Only the most perfect and pure beauty can reveal its true form," Cheng Hesheng said. "Because in this realistic story, it is parasitic on reality yet transcends it. To achieve the completeness and brilliance of this character in a shorter subplot than others is far more difficult than for other main characters who have flaws and regrets but seem so 'real'..."

He was born into a nomadic family. Although his father did not become the male protagonist in the story, he had seen many tragic women like the second female lead.

While this film is described as artistic, it has actually succumbed to the tides of the times, incorporating a degree of commercialism.

Even so, he still wanted to challenge himself once again, to tell the story of the "big city" and the "big era" within the "small love", and to describe a brand new life for those tragic figures he had sighed for countless times.

After all, no one can guarantee that in real life they will be "Wei Shaojun" or "Lü Yao"—I don't know if I should say it, but in reality, most people are in "Fang Ning's" position.

This film was born in a uniquely unique period of return to the motherland. The screenwriter and his ambition to imbue the love story with a sense of national sentiment and humanistic concern hidden in the corners of the story must be brought to life by the most suitable actors.

Otherwise, the only option is to delete and modify, keeping the core structure that was already enough to be a story but would leave the creator with a slight sense of regret, while painfully cutting off those fantastical yet idealistic shadow branches.

"If it cannot be realized, I would rather abandon this line than see it presented to the world in a rudimentary way."

However, in the eyes of Li Sishi, who came to audition for the female lead, he saw a kind of "rebirth" unique to the second female lead.

◣

Its sharpness and gentleness.

Unsure why Li Sishi possessed such a magical and contradictory quality at such a young age, Cheng Hesheng spent a considerable amount of time researching Li Sishi's materials and videos. This led him to a vague, half-true, half-false conclusion: he believed that her unfortunate childhood and tumultuous life ultimately shaped her rare and extraordinary charm...

As if all stories were preordained, he vaguely sensed old memories from the screenwriter's simple descriptions, and then used light strokes to outline "Fang Ning's blank life"; and just before he was about to compromise and delete the plot of this character, he encountered the most suitable actor sent to him by heaven in his confusion.

So—did you like this 'story'?