fringe artist

Chapter 20 20. Qi Lei dies and An lives
The next day, the weather finally cleared up, and the bright sunlight shone on Chen Li'an through the half-opened curtains.

Chen Li'an lay on the bed and fell into a deep sleep, wearing black high-top leather boots on his feet, as if he had passed out.

In the living room, Ma Xiaoqing was cleaning up. She didn't finish the wine she brought out yesterday, and the two of them only drank four bottles.

But Ma Xiaoqing still felt that she was very drunk last night, and her vague consciousness only felt that she was floating on the sea, with ups and downs and ups and downs, so that she couldn't remember too many details of last night when she woke up this morning.

The crisp sound of wine bottles colliding in the living room awakened Chen Li'an.

Chen Li'an sat up from the bed, grabbed the T-shirt on the ground and put it on his body, and buckled his belt before going out.

Ma Xiaoqing saw Chen Li'an coming out, and said to him: "Get up, let's have breakfast, and go to the set after eating."

Ma Xiaoqing's attitude was deliberately alienated and calm, but her tone of voice was not as forceful as she showed.

Chen Li'an nodded, and went to the bathroom to wash his face, but without a toothbrush, Chen Li'an could only rinse his mouth a few more times, which is better than nothing.

After breakfast, Chen Li'an and Ma Xiaoqing came to the crew. There were many filming tasks today, but there were not many complete scenes.

The storyline of the movie Extreme Cold itself is not complicated, and most of them are very plain narratives. If you look at the plot alone, this is a very, very boring movie.

So most of the shots in this movie are about Qi Lei's depression, his entanglement, his tension, and his incompatibility with the world.

The only scene where Qi Lei was able to express his emotions outside was when he witnessed a suicide by jumping off a building when he was in school.

A living life disappeared in front of his eyes, and the bright red blood bloomed frightening flowers the moment his body touched the ground.

The bright red blood stained the white dress on the girl who jumped off the building, which was particularly eye-catching in the glare of the sun.

Life is so fragile, yet so shocking.

Qi Lei, who witnessed everything through the bars, felt that the excitement in his heart had been completely ignited, and he was no longer suppressed and had nowhere to release.

The shock brought by the demise of life allowed Qi Lei to find the answer that he had been confused about, but he was also more afraid of death.

Simulated death is not Qi Lei's complete performance art, everything after the ice burial is the end of this performance art.

After facing death directly, Qi Lei became more and more impulsive, wanting to know what changes his "death" would bring to the world.

I want to see if the shock of death can fight against the current oppressive society!

Three days later, Lixia will be the time to verify this moment.

Lixia, the hottest season of the year is coming.

On the empty playground, a large number of ice cubes were piled up, and Chen Lian was wearing today's Liqiu hairband on his head.

Wang Xiaoshuai said to Chen Li'an worriedly: "Don't be like before this time. Ice burial is more dangerous than others. So much ice will freeze people to death."

Chen Li waited quietly, ignoring Wang Xiaoshuai's persuasion.

Ma Xiaoqing, who was standing behind Chen Li'an, saw Wang Xiaoshuai looking at her, but she just shook her head slightly and did not try to persuade her.

If Chen Li'an was such an easily dissuaded person, it wouldn't be Chen Li'an.

Shu Qi was not here today, so he went to meet Cheng Kaige, and before leaving, he specifically told Chen Li'an not to work so hard.

Chen Li'an didn't feel that he was desperate. He was deeply involved in the play and wanted to play a role well, but he would not use his own life to complete it.

Because he is Qi Lei, he is also afraid of death, and he is also curious about the shock to the surrounding world after "death".

Perhaps when filming, he would also "fake death" to see how the people around him who said they cared would react, and figure out why Qi Lei really committed suicide in the end.

The ice cubes were ready, Qi Lei took off his clothes, lay down on the ice cubes, and let his skin touch the ice cubes without hindrance.

The biting chill penetrated into the body instantly through the pores, and Qi Lei held a cube of real ice in his arms, his forehead, arms, and legs were all covered with ice.

He was wrapped in ice, and the tingling sensation brought by the extreme cold made Qi Lei's consciousness extraordinarily clear, and the excitement and depression burning in his heart burst out with intense heat, trying to melt these hard ice cubes.

The body temperature of 36 degrees and the ice cubes of minus ten degrees were fighting fiercely, gradually Qi Lei felt that his body was becoming numb and stiff.

The hot heart in the chest is beating hard, the frequency is getting faster and faster in an attempt to make the blood flow faster and generate more heat.

As time went by, Qi Lei used his body temperature to melt a lot of ice cubes, and finally with the help of his companions, he smashed all the intact ice cubes and completely buried Qi Lei with crushed ice.

Chen Li'an felt that his hands and feet were about to lose consciousness, and knew that this simulation was coming to an end.

When his heartbeat was still strong, Chen Li'an slowly closed his eyes, allowing himself to enter a "coma" state.

"Old Wang! Chen Li'an has passed out!" The extra who was shoveling ice saw Chen Li'an close his eyes, and immediately dropped the shovel in his hand and shouted.

"Quickly, call an ambulance and take away all the ice!"

Wang Xiaoshuai didn't care so much, and immediately ran over to shave the ice with his hands, but he was not as fast as the other person.

Ma Xiaoqing, who was already worried, threw herself down beside Chen Lian and swept the ice off Chen Lian's body with her arms the moment she saw Chen Lian "fainted".

For some reason, Chen Li'an really felt that his consciousness was going to be blurred, he could only vaguely hear the people around him shouting, and several hands lifted him up.

The white ambulance arrived soon, and Chen Li'an, who was really unconscious, was picked up and rushed to the hospital immediately.

It was already an hour later when Chen Li'an woke up again.

The quiet ward was filled with the smell of disinfectant. When Chen Li'an opened his eyes, he heard reprimand from the doctor or someone outside the ward.

"There is no filming like this. Contact with ice for a long time can easily cause irreversible damage to the body, and even death in severe cases!"

"If you are a director, you don't know how to stop it. Fortunately, it was delivered in time, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous."

This voice was Shu Qi, and Chen Li'an became more conscious, and it was Shu Qi who was speaking outside the door.

"You think I think, Chen Li'an is too crazy, I don't know how he endured it." Wang Xiaoshuai's tone was a little helpless, but a hint of excitement could be heard faintly.

Shu Qi looked at the excitement in the depths of Wang Xiaoshuai's eyes, and suddenly felt that she didn't know this person well.

It feels that he has a little disregard for life, and seems to want to let his art reach another level through the death of life.

Just like the teacher in the movie who fooled Qi Lei into performance art, he satisfies his selfish and narrow dark psychology by letting Qi Lei perform a death simulation.

The outside of the ward became quiet. Chen Li'an didn't know what was happening outside, but felt that his body was alive again, but he felt a little chilly.

"Can you stop being so crazy next time? Do you need to work so hard for a scene? You are simply crazy!" Seeing Chen Li'an opening his eyes, Ma Xiaoqing couldn't help scolding, but she couldn't help but shed two tears from her red eyes.

Chen Li'an raised his stiff hand and wiped Ma Xiaoqing's face.

The tears that just fell from the eyes were still warm, Chen Li'an gently wiped away the tears with his fingers, and then said: "I want to experience Qi Lei's feelings, that kind of emotion is very strong, and I know that nothing will happen to me, I have a measure .”

Ma Xiaoqing grabbed Chen Li'an's arm and wanted to hit him, but stopped again, and said with red eyes: "It's okay to be hospitalized! Do you know how scary it is!"

"Now that the filming is over, I'm fine, don't worry, I feel very good now, very satisfied and peaceful inside."

Chen Li'an's voice was a little empty, and then he slowly fell asleep again.

This simulated death was a failure for Qi Lei, but it was a success for Chen Li'an. At that moment, he really experienced Qi Lei's feelings in another time and space.

This is really rare for an actor, and Chen Li'an really felt extra excited and satisfied.

A week later, Chen Li'an was done, and Qi Lei returned from nothingness to reality to observe the impact of his death on the world and his art.

In the end, it turned out that it was a ridiculous deception from beginning to end, and everything was meaningless.

His death has been sealed and his existence has been denied.

After his spiritual death, Qi Lei also died physically on the day of Liqiu.

(End of this chapter)