January, 1998.

A strong cold air from Siberia moved south, and the temperature in Shanghai suddenly approached freezing. The French plane trees on Anfu Road have long lost their summer exuberance and are bare on both sides of the road.

In the afternoon, there were very few pedestrians on the road, and occasionally one or two were seen, all of them with their necks clenched and hurried.

This place used to belong to the French Concession, and it was originally a gathering place for garden houses and villas. After decades of ups and downs, most of the buildings have remained in their original appearance, except for the 18-storey Drama Center Building, which was completed just two years ago.

"Teacher Li, Teacher Li, this stock market can't go up, it's too late for everyone to escape, why do you still want to chase down?"

"The most basic common sense of stocks is that there are ups and downs, how can they just fall and not rise......"

At this time, the last rehearsal of the drama "The Color of Stocks" was being held in the theater on the first floor of the drama center. Because it is the New Year's drama that will be performed after the Spring Festival, the main creators behind the scenes and the leaders of the center are sitting in the audience to observe.

Li Tang sat in the back row of people, watching the hard-working performances of the actors on stage with relish, with a bit of novelty in his envious eyes.

He is the B corner of a small role, colloquially called a substitute player, and rarely has the opportunity to rotate on stage, more often it is rehearsal. As a new actor who has just stepped out of drama school, rehearsal is not only work, but also an experience.

For example, at this time, the protagonist Xu Zheng who is wearing a suit and leather shoes, wearing a wig, looks like a dog. It was a senior who was three years older than Li Tang, and he began to emerge when he was in school, and he was a popular figure in the school. But after entering the drama center, he still started from playing tricks and small roles, and ate dried radish rice for more than two years before he walked step by step to the center of today's stage.

In contrast, as a newcomer with mediocre graduation grades and only half a year after entering the drama center, he can participate in a big drama, and Rao is lucky enough to play the B role in a supporting role.

Among them, in addition to the center's attention to and training of young actors, of course, it is also indispensable to be sophisticated.

It's just that at this time, Li Tang's young body is a soul from the afterlife.

In the previous life, he was a second-generation Chinese American who mixed on Broadway. Both parents are high-achieving students from top universities in China, the first batch of international students to go to the United States after the reform and opening up, the top students among the top students, and the elite among the elites.

In that era when the gap between home and abroad was huge, and the moon abroad was rounder than at home, studying abroad, permanent residence, and naturalization were the choices of many scholars and elites.

Elite parents created a favorable family environment for him, but he did not inherit the genes of his parents' academic masters, but became obsessed with theater performance.

But in the United States, whether on Broadway or Hollywood, the profession of actor is not friendly to Chinese Americans, and it is difficult for a yellow-skinned Asian actor to be accepted in the general mainstream perception.

In Hollywood, there are only a few routes that Chinese actors can take: one is the "Chinese Kung Fu" action movie, Cheng Long and Li Lian, which are rare and extremely difficult, and there have been two big stars Bruce Lee and Cheng Long in a few decades, and even Li Lianlian can only be regarded as second-tier.

Second, small-budget independent films, with a limited audience, no awards, and most of the characters are still suspected of smearing the current regime.

Finally, there is the face-painted foil in commercial blockbusters that needs to be "politically correct".

Even then, the competition is fierce. And not only Chinese, but also many Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, and other people have to face competition.

Competition on Broadway is less intense than in Hollywood, and the income is meager, but the level of professionalism is more important. After Li Tang failed to break into Hollywood, he was okay on Broadway, and occasionally he could play a few serious roles with heavy scenes.

It's a pity that he died because of an accident, and then he was mysteriously reborn in Shanghai in 1997, becoming a young man who had just graduated from the Shanghai Opera Performance Department.

This young man, who is also named Li Tang, is unlucky enough to say. That day, he and his girlfriend from college had dinner at a restaurant near the school.

As with most college romances, graduation means a breakup, and that meal is their breakup meal.

As a classmate's girlfriend is much better than him, in his sophomore year, he starred as the female No. 3 in the popular spy war drama "No Regrets Tracking", cooperated with Wang Zhiwen, Liu Peiqi and other big names, and after graduation, he was successfully admitted to the experimental drama troupe in Beijing and signed an agent.

Long-distance relationship, coupled with the gap in career development, this relationship naturally came to an end.

But while eating, someone at the next table got into a fight. One side is a social miscellaneous person, and the other side is a student of the 96 acting class. Li Tang got up to persuade him, not wanting to be knocked out by a wine bottle in the chaos and fainted.

Next is the fixed routine of all rebirth novels, the soul of Li Tang, who has died in the United States, took the opportunity to take away all the memories of the original body, and after a set of processes, the new Li Tang woke up in the hospital.

Li Tang, who woke up, was afraid at first, after all, he was still very unfamiliar with rebirth in his previous life in the United States. But coming back from the dead and starting a new life made him ecstatic and new.

What's even more amazing is that when he woke up, the first face he saw was Ida in "Resident Evil 5". King. Although the face was much greener than in the movie, he recognized it at first sight.

It's a pity Ada. Wang didn't stay with him for too long, and after making sure that he was okay, he hurried away, looking at the back of the other party, and the past tense flashed in his mind: classmate, girlfriend; Present tense: classmate, ex-girlfriend; Future tense: Ida. King.

Ida. Wang is the second female lead in Hollywood commercial blockbusters, very beautiful and capable of playing. Like Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh, Chinese female stars can't get rid of the stereotypical label of beating women in Hollywood.

From the moment Li Tang recognized her, he was very sure that his hard-working classmate and ex-girlfriend would definitely become a big star in the future. Now that he has changed from a girlfriend to an ex-girlfriend, although Li Tang has regrets, he is not disappointed, after all, he does not seek eternity, but he once had. The past few years of getting along still left him with good memories.

The fight was quite big, the police came forward, and the social idle people who started the matter were administratively detained, and the 96-level juniors were not good, and they were expelled as the leader, and the rest were demerited. The only victim, Li Tang, was not involved because he was a rack, and he also received 1,000 yuan in compensation for medical expenses.

After being reborn, Li Tang was cautious at first, for fear of revealing his feet. Fortunately, in the previous life and this life, the personalities of the two Li Tang are almost the same, plus their professional counterparts, everything has been as usual for half a year.

The only change is probably that he was once unknown, relying on the old leader's greeting to barely "admit" to the drama center, in the first internal assessment with a set of mature performances to impress, but also made the old leader who helped him greet deeply gratified, so he successfully entered the creative team of the New Year's drama "The Color of Stocks".

"Whoa......

The rehearsal was a success, and the leaders of the center spoke highly of it, and also praised the main creative team.

After the leader left, Li Tang came to the stage in a group of staff to help pack up the props, carry the table and move the stool, and was extremely skilled. He is a newcomer, and he was suspected of "opening the back door" to come in, so he knows each other very well, and he will take the initiative to reach out for all kinds of chores and rough work.

After finishing his busy work, it was time to get off work, he drilled out of the center building and launched a brand-new Happiness 90 from the carport, with a high base, which looked very much like a miniature version of the Harley, commonly known as the "Prince Car".

Putting on the helmet and just about to start, the car sank, and a boiled egg stepped into the back seat, nagging: "Hitchhiker, hitchhiker." Why do you want to slip away without saying hello today? ”

Li Tang looked helpless: "Big guy, today I want to go back to the countryside, not by the way." ”

Xu Guangtou is very invisible: "Oh, go around, one foot on the accelerator." I have good news for you. ”

"What's the matter?"

Li Tang had no choice but to start the motorcycle, slowly drive out of the center gate and turn east.

Xu Guangtou's home is on Changshu Road, not far from the drama center, a fifteen-minute walk. Because of the way, Li Tang took him twice after buying a motorcycle, so it became natural to get used to it.

Xu Guangtou put his hands on Li Tang's shoulders and said mysteriously: "I heard from Mr. Wei that Shanghai Film Studio is preparing to make a tribute film for the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Shanghai, and has already begun to select actors. ”

"Do you want to try it?"

Mr. Wei is an old mage in the drama center, and has played Sima Yi in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and Gao Yu in "Water Margin". For people of Li Tang's age, the most impressive thing is the old ** in "The Story of Sanmao in the Army".

This time, he and Xu Guangtou co-starred in the drama "The Color of Stocks", playing a father and son, which can be regarded as bringing the old with the new.

"I want to, but how can I walk away in this situation?"

There was a strong smell of flattering display in the tone of the thing, and he continued, "I mean you can try it!" ”

"Uh...... I'm not going to make this fuss, and they're not nobody. Li Tang shook his head

Shanghai Film Studio has its own actor troupe, which is much larger than the Drama Center, and they have several points over there this year. Everyone is of similar type, not to mention that the fertilizer and water do not flow into the fields of outsiders, so he feels that there is no hope at all.

"Let's try something, touch the corner of my forehead. If you have time, even if you run around the game, it's not good to make some extra money. ”

Li Tang understood what Xu Guangtou meant, and he was idle, trying his luck and finding something to do.

He hesitated: "What do you know about the movie?" ”

"It seems to be telling the story of Shanghai's liberation of Chenguang, you can inquire for yourself. Oh yes, the director heard that it was Peng Xiaolian, who had just returned from the United States. ”

Peng Xiaolian is not unfamiliar with the name, she used to be a famous female director in Shanghai Film Studio, she went to the United States for further study in the late eighties, but she didn't expect to return to China.

As he spoke, he arrived at the entrance of the alley of Lane 188 of Changshu Road, Xu Guangtou got out of the car and said with a smile: "Go and ask, take a look, it's also an opportunity to get it wrong." ”

"Okay, bye-bye!"