Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The Old Mrs. Han excitedly clapped until her palms were red. “Man Man is really too brilliant.”
Xia Qingwei could not help but nod continuously, eyes filled with hot tears. “Before this, I’ve seen only the movies she acted in, and I’ve felt that she was acting well in them thanks to the director and the seniors in the same crew. The director had taught her well, with the seniors helping her enter the role. I did not think that it would be so shocking seeing Man Man’s performance live.”
“No wonder Sun Yiwu said Man Man was born to be in this industry,” Shen Nuo said with a smile.
The clapping sounds did not go away even after a very long time. The emcee had already been standing by Lu Man’s side for a while, waiting for the clapping sounds to slowly stop before saying, “Thank you, Lu Man and Teacher Huang Yilun, for bringing such a good performance.”
Lu Man and Huang Yilun bowed in thanks to the audience again.
“I did not think that the audience’s reaction would be so great as well,” Huang Yilun said, smiling.
“I’m the one who did not think that Teacher Huang was coming to be a guest actor,” the emcee said, also smiling.
Huang Yilun laughed loudly. “I’ve been resting recently, and the company asked me if I’m interested in acting alongside students. I felt that it was not bad to help to teach a new generation of actors and to watch them grow. It has a lot of meaning, so I accepted it. But I didn’t know who I would be acting alongside, and Lu Man found out I was going to act with her only when she got on stage. We had time to do only a short rehearsal before we got on stage.”
“What is your comment on Lu Man’s acting here?” the emcee asked.
“Good!” Huang Yilun did not hesitate and gave a thumbs up at Lu Man. “People who know me know that I’m a straightforward person who says what I think. If it’s good, I’ll say it’s good; if it’s bad, I’ll say it’s bad. I won’t try to push around the topic or say that it’s good even though you only acted mediocrely. I won’t do that.”
“Lu Man really acts extremely well. Let’s not even compare her to the new generation, even if she were judged against my generation, she is still very outstanding. She is just 20 years old, but she managed to act out the aura of Empress Wu’s old age. When she became older, she did not have a very sharp aura; she looked calm and nice, but she had a lot of control. That kind of imperial power as an emperor had been changed and melted into her bones from the initial sharpness, and she grasped this point very well.”
“To tell you the truth, before the official performance, I was very troubled, scared I would not be able to get the level of acting right. After all, I’m acting with a student. The student’s acting experience is definitely not like ours. If I was to be too open, I’m scared the student would not be able to follow my pacing and that it would influence the student’s performance. After all, the main character of the competition is the student. I was scared of oppressing the student’s talent.”
“But if I was to hold myself back too much, I was scared I wouldn’t act well enough, causing the student to not be able to show their true talent. I was the most scared of influencing the student’s showing of their abilities. That was the hardest point for me,” Huang Yilun said. “Before I went on stage, I also told Lu Man about my concerns. Lu Man told me that I can feel free to act however I wanted, to act in the way I’m most comfortable with, and that I did not need to be concerned about her. But I still felt uneasy. Yet who knew that as soon as I got on stage, as soon as I heard the first word Lu Man said, I knew that she was not wrong. I can act comfortably.”
“While acting together with Lu Man, I did not get the feeling that I was acting with a new actor. It was like I’m acting with an old and experienced actor; it felt very good. I could act however I wanted to and trust her. No matter how I acted, she could deal with it. I needed not be scared of ruining this scene. This feeling is too addictive. An actor being able to act opposite this kind of actor is someone very fortunate.”
