In the third year since you left
The final scene of "In the Third Year After You Left" was Bai Yin's heart-wrenching cry in the funeral home after learning about Cheng Nian's accident.
The director deliberately arranged this scene at the very end instead of the beginning of the story. This arrangement was also to allow Bai Yin to have a deeper understanding of Cheng Nian and Gu Qing's feelings after experiencing the whole story, which may lead to unexpected effects.
To get into character, Bai Yin locked herself in her room a few days in advance without seeing anyone, only letting Tang Ka deliver meals at scheduled times. Chen Huaixiao naturally did not disturb her either.
This scene required extremely strong emotions. If the actor could not get into character, there would be no way to make the audience empathize. Without the audience's empathy, the drop-out rate would be very high.
That night, when Chen Huaixiao returned home, Tang Ka was still there, waiting for him at the porch of the garden corridor.
"Is Ms. Yin still in her room?"
"Yes."
Tang Ka took his changed suit and hung it on the hanger, and said worriedly: "Madam has been eating less and less these past two days, almost only one meal a day. Locking herself in her room without knowing what she's doing, I'm a little worried about her."
How could Chen Huaixiao not know that Bai Yin not only needed to get into character, but also needed to change her mental state - to get as close to the despair of Gu Qing as possible.
This kind of mental state could by no means be achieved by just makeup. To be convincing, she had to truly experience the despair of parting life and death.
During this time, whether at work or meeting clients, Chen Huaixiao was always absent-minded, regretting countless times that he allowed Bai Yin to make such an attempt.
He was too worried about her.
"Has she eaten today?"
"No, Madam told me not to disturb her."
Chen Huaixiao nodded, went to the open kitchen, and tied an apron around himself, preparing to cook.
Seeing Chen Huaixiao wearing a small floral apron over his white shirt, Tang Ka expressed great doubt about Chen Huaixiao's cooking skills: "Young Master, can you cook?"
Chen Huaixiao put his hands on his hips and looked at the pots and pans on the cupboards: "I should be able to."
"Should be?"
"The first step is to turn on the fire, right?"
Tang Ka came over and guided, "The first step should be adding oil."
Chen Huaixiao poured oil into the pot, then lit the fire: "What's next?"
"No... Young Master, where is the ingredient?"
He asked Tang Ka in return: "Where is the ingredient?"
Tang Ka opened the double doors of the refrigerator speechlessly: "Young Master, you haven't even decided what to make yet, why did you pour oil?"
"Didn't you say the first step was to pour oil?"
Tang Ka finally realized that if there was one thing in this world that Chen Huaixiao was extremely bad at, it was cooking!
"Young Master, what dish do you plan to make?"
Chen Huaixiao had a very clear understanding of his own capabilities: "Tomato and egg noodles, she used to always order this at the noodle shop in town."
"Then you have to wash the tomatoes first, beat the eggs."
Tang Ka very patiently walked Chen Huaixiao through the cooking steps. Finally, forty minutes later, a bowl of aromatic tomato and egg noodles was ready.
Looking at this bowl of strangely colored noodles, Tang Ka swallowed.
Madam was hungry, she would find anything delicious... Hopefully, hopefully she wouldn't mind...
Chen Huaixiao was also very thoughtful to squeeze her a glass of cucumber juice, placing it together with the tomato and egg noodles on the tray, and went upstairs to the door of the room.
Just as he was about to knock, after pondering for a moment, he called Tang Ka back and handed the tray to him: "You go."
"Won't you see Madam? You haven't seen each other for days."
"She went through so much hardship, it can't be in vain..."
When Tang Ka knocked on the door, Chen Huaixiao stood at the corner of the spiral staircase, not letting her see him.
"Madam, have some dinner, you haven't eaten all day."
Bai Yin's voice was clearly somewhat hoarse: "I'm not hungry."
"This is tomato and egg noodles, very appetizing. Just try some, okay?"
After a while, the door opened, and what Tang Ka saw stunned him.
The woman was no longer as gentle and charming, plump and sexy as before.
At this moment, she was pale, almost emaciated, like a fragile glass flower that would shatter at the slightest touch.
He simply had no idea how she had survived these past few days.
"Thank you, Tang Ka. I like tomato and egg noodles." After saying that, she took the tray back into the room and closed the door again.
Tang Ka breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and walked to the corner of the spiral staircase. Chen Huaixiao was sitting on the stairs with his back to the door. He said solemnly and helplessly, "I dare not look at her."
"Young Master..."
Chen Huaixiao lowered his head to light a cigarette, his hand trembling slightly, and asked with restraint: "Did she get thinner?"
"Madam is fine, don't worry."
Chen Huaixiao clutched the lighter tightly and looked down at the stairs: "She is stubborn, willing to sacrifice her life to get what she wants, not caring how it hurts others."
Tang Ka was extremely shocked. It was the first time in so many years of knowing Chen Huaixiao that he saw him so heartbroken.
...
Those days, Chen Huaixiao got off work early every day, and started to learn cooking and making soup from Tang Ka seriously.
Starting from scratch, he learned all kinds of nutritional meals, snacks and baking, and even learned good cooking skills, changing it up everyday to cook for Bai Yin.
Finally, the final shooting scene of "In the Third Year After You Left" arrived.
This scene was in the funeral home. For several consecutive days, Gu Qing was unable to accept the news of Cheng Nian's death. She insisted that the corpse in the funeral home was not him, and never set foot in it.
Finally, Cheng Nian's body was about to be cremated, and she rushed over.
The cold morgue, the already emaciated Gu Qing slowly appeared in people's sight.
Seeing her gaunt face, sunken cheeks and bloodless lips, people could imagine how she had survived these days.
Her dark eyes had also lost their usual luster, dull and lifeless. Only those who had experienced the hell of despair would look haggard like this.
Seeing Bai Yin appearing slowly in the lens, Director Xu's heart was beating wildly.
He had given Bai Yin a few days to experience Gu Qing's pain of losing her lover, but he never imagined that Bai Yin could make herself look like now!
She was simply another Gu Qing!
This actress... was too amazing!
Gu Qing walked to Cheng Nian's body, and reached out with trembling fingers, wanting to lift the white cloth covering him, but the moment she touched the cloth, she recoiled as if electrocuted...
At that moment, there was fear in her eyes, unwillingness, and surging grief...
She conveyed these complex emotions with great sophistication.
Finally, she suddenly lifted the white cloth.
Chen Huaixiao was just lying there motionless in front of her. He looked so vivid, just like countless times he had fallen asleep beside her...
Bai Yin covered her mouth, panting heavily, almost suffocating from the excruciating pain of losing her beloved. She threw herself at him and wailed silently, only utter despair in her hoarse cries.
She held the man tightly in her arms, desperately rubbing warmth into his body that had been refrigerated for days, wanting to warm him up, wanting him to come back to life.
"Please, I'm begging you..."
"Brother, please wake up, don't sleep anymore, okay?"
"Wake up and kiss me again."
The despair infected everyone present.
Hearing Bai Yin cry out "brother", which was not in the original lines, the assistant director was about to interrupt, but Director Xu immediately stopped him with his eyes.
This performance was almost perfect, it was Bai Yin's most natural outpouring, the traumatic experience she had designed for herself.
She was not crying for the deceased Cheng Nian, she was crying for her beloved, the man in her arms...
Finally, the director shouted: "Cut!"
Everyone was thrilled, high-fiving each other, cheering around the perfect finale.
"Great job, everyone!"
"It's finally over! So happy!"
"Don't leave yet, I booked a dinner at the Century Hotel tonight, let's celebrate together!"
Everyone had a joyous smile on their faces, only Bai Yin's emotions were still not detached.
She still held Chen Huaixiao tightly in her embrace, with tears streaming down her face nonstop, wetting his chest.
Chen Huaixiao didn't move or speak, just silently watched her vent her emotions while hugging him.
The whole world was laughing, but she was still immersed in the pain of losing her beloved.
Chen Huaixiao looked at her tear-stained face: "A'Yin...you've cried so much that it's breaking my heart."
Only then did Bai Yin come to her senses a little, looking at the man gently smiling at her. She gave him a hard kiss.
Chen Huaixiao reciprocated, gently comforting her for a while, then took her away from everyone, bringing her to the sofa in the dressing room.
Bai Yin still couldn't hold back her tears. The pent-up emotions over the past few days made her on the verge of emotional collapse at this moment.
Chen Huaixiao knelt on one knee in front of her, wiping her tears with a tissue, and gently comforted: "There, there, little bun, your brother didn't die, he's right here."
At this moment, Bai Yin really didn't care about anything else.
Her ex, the stunt double, avenging and getting even...she didn't care about any of that anymore. She just wanted this man she had loved deeply for many years to live well in this world, which was more important than anything.
"Chen Huaixiao, you won't leave me like Cheng Nian did, right?"
"Never, from now on I won't do dangerous things again, no more racing, high mountain skiing... I won't do any of that, are you reassured now?"
"I'm not asking you to give up what you like to do like Cheng Nian did, but I want you to promise me, promise safety..."
"I promise." Chen Huaixiao kissed her hand: "With you by my side, I will cherish life and cherish every minute of the rest of my life with you."
When they walked out of the dressing room, the crew members and actors looked at her worriedly: "Bai Yin, are you alright?"
"I just had a hard time catching my breath earlier, I'm fine now."
"Your reaction really shocked us."
"Yeah, not seeing you for a few days, and you've become so thin already."
Bai Yin smiled at them: "Luckily filming is over, so I can gain the weight back."
"You must eat more tonight!"
"No excuses, we'll supervise you to eat!"
As Bai Yin walked out of the studio, she got into Chen Huaixiao's black Maybach. Seeing Bai Yin's smiling face, Tang Ka in the driver's seat also finally relaxed.
"After this scene, you must rest well. The lady really lost too much weight."
Bai Yin looked at Chen Huaixiao next to her with disdain: "Eating nothing but weird experimental dishes every day, how could I not lose weight?"
Chen Huaixiao calmly said: "Tang Ka, she's talking about you."
Tang Ka: ......
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