Chapter 110 No Regrets
After what seemed like a small episode of misunderstanding, it was confirmed that Ren Limeng and Shen Xing would be the first team to play the male and female protagonists reminiscing about the past during the Lantern Festival, while Chen Xi and Guan He would be the first team to play the male and female protagonists' past as Huangmei Opera actors. The discussion continued.
The four of them continued to discuss and supplement the background story of the performance scenes on the singing and acting stage.
The male and female protagonists practiced Huangmei Opera together since childhood. Due to some practical reasons, they did not end up becoming opera actors and became ordinary workers in the big city.
The two eventually became a couple. One year, while visiting a Lantern Festival together, they stumbled upon a shadow puppet show on a street corner. A Huangmei Opera, "Couple Watching Lanterns," played on the speakers beside them. The paper-thin shadow puppets on the stage seemed to transform into the young couple who had performed the play on stage...
"Looking back at my past self, I'd probably feel regretful. They must have loved Huangmei Opera back then. No matter what, things and people have changed in the end, and it's not easy to let go. The tune of 'Couple Watching Lanterns' is very cheerful, perfectly contrasting the joyful scene with the sad mood."
Guan He's voice was deep and a little melancholy. He subconsciously looked at the expressionless Ren Limeng. Having both changed careers from opera, he thought that at this moment only they understood each other's unspeakable pain. After so many years, they seemed to have moved on long ago, but the reality was that every time he mentioned opera, he could not hide the complexity of his tone.
After studying opera for more than ten years, the moment of giving up was actually much easier than imagined. There was not so much hysteria. It was a very peaceful day. The warm sunshine was as bright as in countless days before. But they never stepped onto the familiar opera stage again.
But every time I look up at the sky, the sunlight becomes particularly dazzling, and no matter how bright the sunlight is, it cannot drive away the endless rain in my heart. It spreads silently and dully throughout my youth, becoming a shadow that cannot be shaken off in my life.
Because what they gave up was not just opera, but their entire life from childhood to adulthood. Opera was not a children's interest class like music, chess, calligraphy and painting. The growth of every actor is inseparable from ten years of persistence. Behind all the basic skills are thousands of repetitions. They have paid all their sweat and tears.
They have clearly gone through “ten years of hard work off the stage”, but they have not yet gotten their “one minute on stage”.
"Indeed, the narrative technique of expressing regrets during good times and sadness during happy scenes is quite profound."
Ren Limeng rarely expressed her views directly. She looked at the lines of "Couple Watching Lanterns" in her hand with a complicated look in her eyes. She could still sing every sentence on the paper familiarly.
Even though she was trying to remain calm, Ren Limeng's eyes were still filled with mixed thoughts. There was no need to hide it at this moment. She was once an excellent opera actor like Li Chuyue. No matter what the reason for giving up, Huangmei Opera was always her origin, and her emotions could not help but be affected by it.
What's more, this is Mei City, the familiar hometown where she was born and raised.
These two days, looking at the Huangmei Week slogans everywhere and listening to the familiar opera tunes, Ren Limeng couldn't help but recall many things from the past.
"I prefer to show the different emotions of the male and female protagonists on stage."
Shen Xingzhi's calm voice suddenly broke into the slightly sad atmosphere of Guan He and Ren Limeng, breaking the sudden silence in the air.
"Guan He, Li Meng, do you regret changing your career now?"
Chen Xingzhi's sudden question startled Guan He and Ren Limeng at the same time. Ren Limeng looked up and met Chen Xingzhi's dark eyes, which were as quiet and deep as the endless night.
Li Chuyue bit her lower lip tightly, feeling inexplicably nervous. She secretly paid attention to Ren Limeng's expression at the moment, and asked herself, she didn't know how Ren Limeng would answer, she just couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
If she hadn't been lucky enough to get a chance to participate in the variety show "Shan Hai", Ren Limeng would now be just an unknown host, so ordinary that some people in the theater still lament the pity of "The Lost Zhongyong". If Ren Limeng had insisted on learning opera, with her talent, her achievements today would not be inferior to hers. As a bystander, Li Chuyue couldn't help but sigh. She thought, it would be hard for Ren Limeng herself not to feel regretful.
If it weren't for her...
Maybe everything will not go wrong, and Ren Limeng will not change her college entrance examination choice on her own. Yan Fangshu even mentioned that Ren Limeng had applied for a variety of majors in the college entrance examination, and she had no plans for the location except Jingchu Province.
“I have no regrets. I love my current job.”
Ren Limeng looked into Shen Xingzhi's deep and dark eyes without any hesitation. In front of all the cameras, she smiled gently, her voice firm and powerful, like an unextinguished candle in the cold night, and every syllable struck everyone's heart heavily.
Really... no regrets? Or was it all just a scene in front of the camera?
Li Chuyue really wanted to ask Ren Limeng, she didn't know what she cared about. She just felt that they had learned opera together since childhood, training in the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. She had personally experienced Ren Limeng's pursuit and persistence. Even though many years had passed, she didn't believe it. How could Ren Limeng's tone be so nonchalant?
Even now, when Li Chuyue looks at Ren Limeng, she can't help but recall the past and feel regretful. Perhaps because of her, Mei City has lost an outstanding opera actor. Time can not only dilute memories, but also settle the past.
Hearing Ren Limeng's resounding answer, Guan He was slightly stunned, and said with some emotion, "I have regrets, but I don't regret it either. Like Limeng, this is the path I'm pursuing now."
"Xingzhi, do you want to show that the hero and heroine have no regrets now?"
Chen Xi pointed out Shen Xingzhi's meaning in one sentence. He nodded, a faint smile appeared on his face, and looked at Chen Xi... and Ren Limeng beside Chen Xi, and explained slowly.
"We will always encounter setbacks and frustrations. Giving up is difficult, but if you give up, there must be a reason. Instead of dwelling on the past, I think everyone should focus on the present and the future. If our performance can give everyone some strength to move forward bravely after feeling some regret, then it will not be in vain for our hard work this week."
It is difficult to break the shackles of memories with fearless courage, but only by moving forward bravely can we see the present and the future and walk our own path among infinite possibilities.
Ren Limeng's face froze, and she looked up at Shen Xingzhi's calm face. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, covering up the deep emotions in her eyes at the moment. She sat quietly there, her thoughts a little wandering.
No regrets is indeed a good theme.
The beautiful scenery and melancholy can certainly resonate with the audience, but the emotion is only temporary. After the resonance, if the stage can express a more determined present, and allow the audience to feel the courage and calmness of the male and female protagonists, the emotional level will become deeper and more three-dimensional, and such emotions can also move the audience more, at least it can move her very much.
Intellectually speaking, this part of the performance belongs to her and Shen Xingzhi. They will have more room to play and achieve "adding drama" silently; emotionally speaking, this is also more in line with her mentality about changing careers.
It is hard to hide the melancholy when revisiting the old place, but no matter how complicated the emotions are, she has no regrets. If her life could have thousands of clones, she would definitely use one of them to immerse herself in Huangmei Opera and experience all the aspects of life in the repertoire.
But she only has one life, and now she just wants to do a good job as a host. This is the future she found for herself, and it is all she pursues and loves now.
The corners of Ren Limeng's mouth rose unconsciously, her eyes became gentle, and her fair face full of smiles showed an obvious good mood, which made people who noticed it couldn't help but curl their lips secretly.
Feeling the smile in Chen Xingzhi's eyes, Ren Limeng seemed to remember something, and her smile suddenly froze for a moment. She looked at Chen Xingzhi, who was calmly presiding over the discussion, and her heartstrings were quietly plucked, and her thoughts could not help but dance.
Then...what about Shen Xingzhi?
She almost forgot that sitting here were not only her and Guan He who had changed their careers by studying opera, but also Shen Xingzhi!
Didn’t Shen Xingzhi give up hosting?
He had also experienced the same unspeakable feelings as them.
Ren Limeng will always remember the shining senior Xingzhi who was holding the microphone and hosting the show in college. What was the "everything happens for a reason" that Xingzhi said...?
Even though she knew that this had nothing to do with the recording and had nothing to do with herself, Ren Limeng still couldn't help but think that even though she had nothing to do with Shen Xingzhi now, her former senior Xingzhi had never been a stranger to her.
Ren Limeng wanted to remain silent about Chen Xingzhi, but she could not deny that she had chosen the path of hosting because of him. He had influenced her career choice and was also the source of strength for her to move forward bravely.
Even during the break in training after the discussion, her fingers couldn't help but open her phone and search for Shen Xingzhi's past on social media, a past that she had deliberately ignored.
After her hasty divorce from Shen Xingzhi that year, Ren Limeng cleared her social media for a long time and did not dare to search for any words related to "Chen Xingzhi", as if this would reduce the reminder of the past and make her pretend that everything was over.
But that period happened to be the time when Shen Xingzhi's "Idol Signal" was being promoted extensively. Ren Limeng still remembers how she pretended nothing happened and almost isolated herself from all social media.
Even the death of Chen Xingzhi's mother Qiu Quan was trending, but Ren Limeng, who had not been on Weibo for a long time, was completely unaware of it. It was not until she accidentally saw a new article published by an official WeChat public account expressing deep remembrance of the host Qiu Quan that she was shocked as she was working as a war correspondent on the front line abroad.
But at that time she just took a quick glance and didn't dare to delve into it.
It was eleven years ago, and it had been so long that Ren Limeng could not piece together the complete situation at that time, but she could be sure that the time when Shen Xingzhi made his debut and his mother Qiu Quan passed away was very close.
Shen Xingzhi's mother is a host, and Shen Xingzhi has never hosted a show since his debut. It is hard for Ren Limeng not to suspect that the two things are related.
After finishing a day's recording, at nine o'clock in the evening, Ren Limeng sat on the sofa in the B&B room, staring blankly at the screen of her mobile phone. She clicked on the silly Patrick Star avatar on WeChat several times, then suddenly switched off the screen.
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