18 Flower of Sin

 

To survive in Perfect Life, Han Fei had repeatedly studied the human jigsaw and frozen body case. He tried to put himself in the killers’ shoes and stared at the wall of crime scene photos deep into the night. So many innocent lives were snuffed off like candles in the wind. Whenever he was reminded of that, Han Fei’s heart gripped with pain. Why would someone do something so inhumane?

Han Fei knew he would have to detach himself to understand the killers. Through the medium of the crime scene photos, Han Fei constructed the image of the killers in his mind. Twisted minds and deformed emotions, compelled by hatred, they used drastic methods to achieve their own goal. Within the killers’ perspective, they followed their own form of logic. Every single one of their kills were meticulously planned, this was not a crime of passion. Their expressions might speak of madness but their actions were entirely logical. Many things were wrong with their minds. There was no empathy and love in their emotions. The selfishness, hatred and heartlessness were carved deep into their bones.

The puzzle derived from the victims gradually clarified. A human figure slowly surfaced, albeit blurrily. He was introverted, selfish, heartless. He was sensitive in a way and had trouble communicating with others. He was definitely clever but not in the conventional sense. He wore a mask in the day and would only shed it when he was ready to work on his prey. At that moment, he lost all his disguises and revealed a smile.

The smile was like a rose growing above one’s grave. The thorn dug deep into the bones. The pretty flower grew from a desecrated and dirty soil. When Han Fei lifted his face to reveal that grin, Zhan Yueyue hugged Director Jiang’s arm and both men took an involuntary step back. No one shouted for the camera to stop, no one even dared to speak. When Han Fei took another step forward, Zhan Yueyue and Director Jiang retreated again until they knocked into the staircase banister.

Zhan Yueyue, who was going weak in the knees, attempted to push Director Jiang out as bait. It was then that Director Jiang came to. He sucked in a cold breath and nodded with admiration, “Cut! Cut! Han Fei, would you consider playing the killer in this movie? The role is born for you. From your gaze to your expression, there is not one shred of madness, but there is no one present that is not stunned into fear.”

Zhan Yueyue’s face was pale. He finally scurried out from behind Director Jiang. In terms of acting, he was indeed no match for Han Fei. Compared to Han Fei’s performance, Zhan Yueyue’s earlier takes appeared even more ludicrous. He realized how big of a clown he must have looked back then. Even though Zhan Yueyue wished for a hole to hide himself in, for this character, for the preparation that his agency had done, he had to say something. If he lost this role due to this reason, he would have a hard time explaining it to his agency.

Zhan Yueyue’s mouth opened but this normally quick-tongued young man found himself at a loss. The acting skill between the two of them was so obvious that even the non-professionals could easily determine who was the better actor.

“Director Jiang, you have to be joking. I don’t have the personality to take on the role of the antagonist.” The antagonist role had a lot more scenes and due to the plot requirement, he would have to work a lot of nights. Han Fei’s current focus was still on the game, after all, he would have to be alive to act. After rejecting the director, he turned to Zhan Yueyue and said gently, “You are a very good actor but you’ve been in the variety genre for too long. You just need some time to adjust your acting style. Furthermore, I have a deeper understanding of the human jigsaw case than you do, but that can be fixed easily, I shall share some of the related information with you in a bit. That should you help construct the killer role more fittingly.” Han Fei was being extremely kind. Even though it was public knowledge that Zhan Yueyue’s acting skill was so much worse than his, Han Fei did not mock the man but chose to elevate his fellow actor’s performance. He stressed in a roundabout way that he was not going to snatch the role away from Zhan Yueyue and was willing to help with the man’s acting skill.

By then, Zhan Yueyue’s alcohol had completely cleared. He seemed to witness a halo of light coming out from behind Han Fei. ‘Am I in the presence of an angel? This is practically unheard of in the entertainment business!’  The understanding of his fellow castmate’s difficulty, the lack of selfishness, the humility despite the scary acting skills, who would not love this kind of colleague?

Seeing this, most of the crew were confused. Why would Han Fei’s previous agency let go of such a precious talent?

Han Fei did not waste time. Based on his own experience, he listed out the few places that he believed Zhan Yueyue needed to improve on. One didn’t need to be so intense when playing an antagonistic character, exaggeration of one’s performance would very easily cause the opposite effect. Director Jiang concurred with Han Fei’s advice. After a brief discussion, even though Zhan Yueyue was still not as good as Han Fei, at least he was no longer as awkward as before.

Standing quietly to the side, Han Fei played his role of a side character perfectly. He knew that he’d be better at the killer roll than Zhan Yueyue but now was not the time to take the centre stage. Through the window in the stairwell, Han Fei looked across the street. The drama of his previous agency—Secret Urban Romance was also shooting. He heard from his new buddy, the floor manager that the second main male character for this drama was the person who usurped his place in his old agency.

Han Fei of the past would have surrendered to this cruel fate without making a fuss because he knew a small character like him could not do anything to rival against the agency. However, after experiencing Perfect Life, Han Fei had a reassessment of his perspective. The time spent at the edge of death gifted him perseverance and faith. “There is nothing impossible in this world.”

Turning his head to look at Zhan Yueyue, Han Fei’s expression revealed nothing, even though he could notice the limitation to the man’s performance. Zhan Yueyue’s acting still had a long way to go. Some people were blessed with natural talent in acting, others honed their craft from years of experience, Han Fei’s skill though was a present from constant brushes with death. There was no chance for NG, a bad acting job would lose him his life.

Zhan Yueyue’s first scene wrapped up around late afternoon but the second scene finished quickly because Han Fei was there to provide aid and Director Jiang purposely focused the camera on Han Fei. There were not many frames on Zhan Yueyue, so the scene was done with just 2 takes.

Han Fei who finished all of Wei Youfu’s scenes in one go left the set around dusk. When he left the set, he noticed a rather luxurious car parked by the roadside. The exhausted Zhan Yueyue and his agent walked towards it.

“Director Jiang is famed for his high standard, thanks for helping our Yueyue earlier.” The manager handed Han Fei a gift box. “How shall I refer to you?”

“My name is Han Fei.”

“Mr. Han, I hope you’ll help Yueyue more in the future. Our agency has placed high hopes on Yueyue. After your guidance today, his acting has shown great improvement.” The manager was telling the truth. In fact, he only came to talk to Han Fei because he saw the opportunity to wrangle more acting lessons out of Han Fei.

“I did not provide much guidance, we were simply helping each other.” Han Fei waved his hands and rejected the gift box kindly. His mind had already wandered over to the analysis of the frozen body case.

“Teacher Han, thank you for everything today. I have to admit that I drank too much yesterday night, but I promise you this will not happen again.” Zhan Yueyue was slightly younger than Han Fei. The young man had a vibrant personality and honestly, he was more suitable for variety shows than acting roles, but of course Han Fei would not be so blunt to point it out.