Chapter 0380: The Pit God Jiang Wen

In a sense, Zhao Fusheng hadn't expected Jiang Wen to deceive him, or more precisely, in Zhao Fusheng's impression, Jiang Wen might be a tyrant on set, but he was decent as a person and treated his friends well. So when he mentioned Yu Feihong's situation, Zhao Fusheng truly believed him.

"Um, could you go check on Feihong for me?" Jiang Wen looked at Zhao Fusheng seriously.

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then frowned slightly, seeming hesitant.

Seeing this, Jiang Wen said, "Here's the thing: I called her yesterday, and she wasn't in a good state. I'm worried something might happen to her. If you're not in a hurry, why not drop by and see her? Just say you were passing by and happened to come over. She'll definitely see you."

It had to be said, Jiang Wen had a knack for persuasion; at least now, Zhao Fusheng was convinced.

"Alright, I promise you. I'll go see her."

Zhao Fusheng nodded. Thinking about Yu Feihong suffering from depression made him feel a bit uneasy. Anyway, since he was heading back to Ninghai, he'd have to pass through Beijing, so he might as well stop by.

Jiang Wen watched Zhao Fusheng board the train, a sly smile of success spreading across his face.

Yu Feihong was indeed depressed. Lately, she had barely left her home, and her friends, including Jiang Wen, were worried about her, afraid something might happen.

But Jiang Wen hadn't said he would go see Yu Feihong. After all, as an actor, if you can't properly regulate your emotions, that's a failure.

In short, Jiang Wen didn't take Yu Feihong's depression seriously.

Yu Feihong was a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy. After graduation, she stayed on as a teacher and even went to the US to study acting. BFA's philosophy has always been predominantly representational, supplemented by method acting. In contrast, the Central Academy of Drama, its counterpart in China, takes the opposite approach: method acting as the mainstay, supplemented by representational, and even incorporating some experiential elements.

Thus, BFA graduates tend to be dismissive of method acting and experiential acting.

Experiential acting originates from Stanislavski—uh, the author of *An Actor Prepares*, which Stephen Chow mentioned in one of his movies.

Stanislavski believed that acting should be real, in contrast to stage performance. In his view, the actor and the character should be one, meaning the actor should perform without any trace of acting. The character is the actor, and the actor is the character. In the early stages, he considered emotional recall the most important training—this became method acting.

Later, Stanislavski refined his theories, evolving affective memory into the initial method acting.

Method acting emphasizes that the actor and the character should be the same person, so the actor should fully enter the role before filming begins. It's common to see actors playing farmers first working as farmers, playing police officers first serving as police officers, playing prostitutes—uh, playing pimps might also require a stint as a pimp...

We often hear that actors can't break free from their roles or can't snap out of character, and most of them are method actors.

CAD believes that a purely professional actor should be loyal to the performance and the character, favoring this school.

BFA, where Yu Feihong studied, favors the performance theories of Meisner and Adler. These two initially opposed Stanislavski's theories, arguing that the emotional memory training used in method acting was dangerous, infringing on the actor's private space and potentially causing physical and psychological harm in extreme films, leaving scars.

In emotional memory training, you often see a group of people sitting together, crying their eyes out, a shocking sight.

People always have things buried deep in their hearts, things they don't want to recall or mention, but method acting constantly breaks this principle.

Then, in the 1930s, Adler went to ask Stanislavski: "Uncle Stan, isn't your theory a bit too much?"

Stanislavski replied, "I don't do that anymore. Now I'm working with given circumstances and improvisation as the baseline."

After that, Meisner and Adler each developed their own styles, creating their own schools: natural acting and method acting.

Many might not know natural acting, but for example, Chen Dao is such an actor. Though called a scene hog, he can perform any role with superb skill—that's the power of natural acting.

Representational acting is more of a simplified version of natural acting. After all, actors differ, countries differ, and cultural nuances and customs have led to evolution and change.

In Jiang Wen's view, Yu Feihong had lost control of her emotions. Investigating the comfort women issue was undoubtedly too heavy a burden for a woman.

Even so, he didn't think her situation was that serious. She just needed to calm down and control her emotions.

But the problem was, Zhao Fusheng didn't know the ins and outs. Hearing that Yu Feihong had depression, he felt gloomy on the train. Jiang Wen had sent him her home address. After getting off the train, Zhao Fusheng took a taxi straight to her neighborhood.

Getting out at the entrance, he looked up and saw a fruit shop nearby. He went in and bought some fruit—after all, visiting a patient, he had to bring something.

But at the gate, Zhao Fusheng was stopped. This was an upscale neighborhood with security guards; residents needed a card to enter, and Zhao Fusheng had none.

Blinking, he tried to slip in while the guard wasn't looking, but unfortunately, he was caught.

"Sorry, non-residents without ID aren't allowed in," the guard said politely.

This neighborhood was one of the most upscale in Beijing, with a great environment and home to many celebrities, so security was tight.

"Um, I'm here to see a friend. She lives here," Zhao Fusheng said earnestly.

"A friend?" The guard eyed him suspiciously, looking him up and down, then said, "Alright, call your friend."

Zhao Fusheng nodded helplessly and quickly called Yu Feihong, thinking that if she didn't answer, he'd call that bastard Jiang Wen and have him arrange for someone to let him in.

After all, Old Jiang had plenty of friends; surely someone lived here.

Fortunately, after a few rings, Yu Feihong answered. She seemed surprised to see Zhao Fusheng's number.

"Fusheng, why are you calling me?" Yu Feihong asked in surprise.

Zhao Fusheng said bitterly, "Sis, I'm at the entrance of your neighborhood. Could you help me get the guard to let me in?"

Yu Feihong hummed in acknowledgment: "Put the guard on the phone."

After a few words, it seemed Yu Feihong had spoken to him. The guard finally stopped blocking Zhao Fusheng and let him in.

Walking inside, carrying the fruit, Zhao Fusheng frowned. He felt Yu Feihong didn't seem as bad as Jiang Wen had said; she didn't appear to be suffering from depression.

After all, in Zhao Fusheng's impression, people with depression should be very irritable, unwilling to see others, or refusing all contact with the outside world.

But just now, talking to Yu Feihong on the phone, he even felt she was no different from the person he usually knew.

"What's going on?" Zhao Fusheng wondered. Though mature, he didn't understand medical matters, but he felt something was off.

Regardless, since he was here, he had to see Yu Feihong. Zhao Fusheng believed that once he saw her in person, he'd know what was happening.

With that thought, Zhao Fusheng knocked on Yu Feihong's door...