In 2020, Xi Meijuan met Zhou Yemang in the crew of "An Jia".
She had risked her life to give birth at the age of 39 in an attempt to save the man;
He also frankly agreed to divorce the other party when the child was under the age of one month, and watched him stay with others in love.
"I feel like we're confidants, soul mates."
Recalling the words she said in front of the reporter, Xi Meijuan smiled, not laughing at her own stupidity, but lamenting the passage of time, things are not people.
The last time the two were on the same stage was 28 years ago, when Xi Meijuan was still the heroine of the single beam, not the "national mother".
28 years is enough to change a person's life.
From falling in love and getting married, to being divorced before the confinement, living alone with children, and now winning awards.
Looking back, the past is like smoke.
01 Yin and Yang mistakenly started his acting career
It was the spring of 1955, and in the smoke and rain of April in Shanghai, Xi Meijuan was born.
It was an ordinary, even a little poor, but as the first child, the family still couldn't hide their joy at her arrival.
Like most of her peers in that era, Xi Meijuan grew up in the alley, believing that she would either be a farmer or a worker in the future, and put her ideas into practice.
She planted seedlings in the fields during the day and came home at night to help cook for the family, and the crystal sweat always hung on her not delicate face.
His only hobby is reading famous books.
Looking back on it years later, Xi Meijuan said that she was lucky - this time gave her a tough character in her bones, so that she could continue to walk in the show business circle.
In 1973, when 18-year-old Xi Meijuan was assigned to the suburbs of Shanghai to join the team, she did not know that a new chapter in her life was about to begin here.
The summer was particularly hot that year, and it was also particularly unforgettable for Xi Meijuan: the Shanghai Theater Academy was enrolling students, and the commune reported Xi Meijuan, who was doing well.
But from a working family, she really did not absorb any artistic nourishment, let alone know what performance was.
Since the pronunciation of "drama" and "opera" in Shanghainese is similar, she thought she was going to learn to sing opera.
The result can be imagined, when she arrived at the test site, the teacher asked Xi Meijuan to improvise a sketch, and she could only respond to a dazed expression after completing the prescribed plot according to the teacher's instructions.
Just then, one of the teachers in the admissions team shouted, "The pig shed is on fire!" Xi Meijuan did not know it, thinking that this was "some kind of test", so she panicked and went to "put out the fire".
Xi Meijuan, who had returned to her senses, was patted on the shoulder by the teacher and said, "Now you know what a sketch is, right?" ”
After returning to the commune, Xi Meijuan thought that she would not be admitted, so she worked in the fields with peace of mind.
But Lady Luck once again took care of her.
At that time, the teachers of the Shanghai Theater Academy were trying to recruit some students who had no performance foundation but were highly malleable, and Xi Meijuan's "blank" for drama just met this condition.
One day not long after, Xi Meijuan was hoeing grass in the field as usual,
However, the commune came to inform her that she had been admitted to the first class of the acting department of the Shanghai Theater Academy, and she was required to report to the school after half a year!
02 The stupid bird flies first and finally gets the reward of heaven
Xi Meijuan, who received the acceptance news, was mixed: she was afraid of her ignorance of acting, but she also knew that this was a great opportunity to change her life.
Eventually, with the support of her family, Xi Meijuan entered the Shanghai Theater Academy with trepidation.
With Xi Meijuan, there was also Pan Hong, a goddess-level figure of the year, and won the first place in the admission examination.
Looking at Xi Meijuan at that time, her appearance was not outstanding, and she did not have any acting experience, she was completely halfway out of the house, and she entered the university campus by mistake.
"I felt like a stupid bird in my class."
Years later, in the face of the interview, Xi Meijuan frankly admitted her uneasiness at that time.
But what about without a foundation in acting? If it comes, it will be safe, and if it is a stupid bird, it will fly first.
In the days that followed, Xi Meijuan got up at six o'clock in the morning to study, and she was the last to return to the dormitory after practicing.
With such efforts, her vocals, form, lines and performances have achieved excellent results.
Heaven rewards diligence, this is true.
Upon graduation, Xi Meijuan became the only female student assigned to the Shanghai People's Art Theatre.
After entering the drama troupe, Xi Meijuan still maintains this habit, constantly experiencing life and honing her acting skills.
This insistence is 15 years.
Soon, Xi Meijuan starred in her drama debut "Ten Thousand Waters and Thousand Mountains", playing the hygienist "Li Fenglian".
At that time, due to some special reasons, the Shanghai People's Art Theater did not recruit people, which led to a fault line of young actors in the drama industry.
The 21-year-old Xi Meijuan is just young and fills this gap. With her own strength, she has won many heroines of dramas.
Two years later, Xi Meijuan starred in the drama "Dead Wood Fengchun" and won the first "Excellent Performance Award" in her life.
At that time, she did not know that in the future, she would win all the important awards in the Chinese theater industry and the film and television circle, and become an old drama bone and an old artist in the eyes of the audience.
She only felt that this award was an affirmation of her own efforts, and her direction was right.
Since then, Xi Meijuan has almost uncontrollably started her own road to winning the award.
At that time, the principal of Shanghai Renyi personally wrote an article for Xi Meijuan for the first time and published it in the "Literary and Art Gallery" – no actor had ever won such an honor before.
After winning a series of drama awards, Xi Meijuan became famous and invited continuously.
In 1990, Wu Zhennian, the director of the Shanghai Film Studio, approached her and hoped that she would star in "Fake Girl True Feelings".
But Xi Meijuan, who had never been in contact with her, was hesitant.
She has been honing on the drama stage for 15 years, and privately, she also hopes to touch the big screen.
However, when she was in college, she was considered to be "not photogenic", and she did not have an outstanding appearance. As a result, she has always felt inferior about facing the camera.
"It's a matter of photography that the heroine is not on camera, not your problem."
After learning Xi Meijuan's thoughts, Wu Zhennian said such a sentence.
This made Xi Meijuan suddenly cheerful, she put aside all her worries and immersed herself in the performance.
Unexpectedly, with the blessing of superb acting skills, Xi Meijuan, who is "not photogenic", is not only very good, but even a blockbuster.
In 1991, with "False Girl True Feelings", Xi Meijuan won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress in one fell swoop and started her journey on the screen.
Xi Meijuan's career is booming, but her emotional life is facing a major crisis.
03 Middle-aged mother to single mother
It was 1982, and Xi Meijuan met Zhou Yemang, which was the robbery of her life.
Zhou Yemang's parents were both literary and artistic workers, but they did not want his son to inherit his father's business.
Because in that era, literary and artistic work was not as easy as it is today, and the salary was very low.
Zhou Ye mang didn't think so.
In 1978, deeply influenced by literature and art, he was admitted to the Shanghai Theater Academy without his parents.
Because of his good looks, love of acting, and fluent Mandarin, after graduation, he was assigned to the Shanghai People's Art Theater where Xi Meijuan lived.
Here, Zhou Yemang met xi Meijuan, a student who entered the industry five or six years earlier than her. He often asked Xi Meijuan about performance problems, and the latter also did not hesitate to teach.
A tall and heroic man with a handsome face; A gentle and patient, temperament off-the-beaten-path.
Different feelings gradually grew and spread between two young people who loved literature and art.
In the end, the relationship between the two often went further because they often played the role of a couple.
In the end, the two opened their hearts and entered the palace of marriage after 3 years of love.
"We can feel the fusion of each other's hearts, and I feel like a husband and wife, and we are like friends and lovers."
In the face of reporters interviewed, Xi Meijuan described her marriage relationship with Zhou Yemang.
In the first year of marriage, Xi Meijuan became pregnant, both of them were ecstatic, and Zhou Yemang was even more prepared to be a father.
But fate is to love to tease people - Xi Meijuan accidentally miscarried because she was busy filming.
This matter was like a thorn, deeply rooted in the hearts of the two people.
Time does not allow the two to continue to grieve, Xi Meijuan's film contract continues, and her fame is getting bigger and bigger;
Zhou Yemang also won the role of "Lin Chong" in "Water Margin", and was recognized and loved by the audience, and his career reached its peak.
With the rise of their careers, the husband and wife spend less and less time together, and the relationship is becoming more and more divided.
But at this time, 39-year-old Xi Meijuan was pregnant.
Xi Meijuan, who could not get pregnant for a long time, was overjoyed and immediately told her husband the good news, she thought that this was a gift from God, and it was an opportunity for the two to make up for the relationship between husband and wife.
However, in the face of the arrival of new life, Zhou Yemang looked surprisingly calm.
This made Xi Meijuan feel that her marriage might have a problem, the 39-year-old is already an elderly mother, but she does not want to give up the relationship, insisting on risking her life to give birth to the child.
Unexpectedly, she had just given birth to the child, and before she could have a confinement, Zhou Yemang filed for divorce.
Seeing that her marriage was irretrievable, Xi Meijuan, who was rational and strong, agreed to divorce.
"When you meet true love, you have to hug her, even if it's scarred."
Looking back on this relationship many years later, Xi Meijuan said she did not regret it.
In order to give her son a complete childhood, Xi Meijuan temporarily gave up her acting job and took care of her children at home alone.
This care lasted for five full years, and it was not until her son went to kindergarten that she told her family about the divorce.
As a single mother, Xi Meijuan took on the heavy responsibility of making money and supporting the family alone, and made a comeback to filming, and her son had to be handed over to her parents to help raise.
For the child, Xi Meijuan is very guilty, and she does not even dare to look into her son's eyes before leaving every time.
On the other hand, Zhou Yemang, under the introduction of friends, quickly met the Qiongyao girl Wang Zhixia, and quickly fell in love and married.
This move has aroused a lot of discussion in the major media, and rumors of "abandoning wives and children" have poured in.
In the face of such a situation, Xi Meijuan never said a word in front of people about Zhou Yemang's no, let alone said bad things about him in front of her son.
In her own words, she is "a person with reason in feelings, and a person with feelings in reason"
In order for the child to have a good childhood, Xi Meijuan took the initiative to ease the relationship with her ex-husband and let the father and son meet.
Fortunately, the times are constantly changing, and after 28 years of becoming a single mother, I have finally survived.
Xi Meijuan's melon face, which was not optimistic at the beginning, has now become the mainstream of aesthetics and has become more photogenic.
And with age, temperament has been better precipitated.
To borrow the words of the media at that time, Xi Meijuan was "a brilliant in the indifference and tranquility".
She began to take on some difficult roles: a gentle and tenacious rural mother;
Strong women entrepreneurs;
The powerful Empress Dowager Cixi...
She portrayed these characters vividly, transforming from an ordinary literary and artistic worker into an old artist.
Today, Xi Meijuan has a lot of halos on her head: deputy to the National People's Congress, vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, vice chairman of the China Filmmakers Association, vice dean of the School of Acting at Fudan University...
But her eyes were still so quiet, her expression was so indifferent, and there was always a faint smile at the corner of her mouth. It was as if the pain that the years had given her could be laughed at.
Xi Meijuan, who is 67 years old this year, is still active on the screen, but rarely participates in variety shows.
She has remained single and raised her son to be a sunny boy – the best life for her.
In the TV series "An Jia" broadcast in 2020, Xi Meijuan and Zhou Yemang shared the same stage for the first time after a gap of 28 years, and the two were calm like ordinary friends.
They did one thing and two wide, and each of them was well,
They are all artists of the older generation, undisputed good actors,
No grievances, no unforgettable,
It's good to face the past calmly between laughs.