What a timely friend, what a timely tire.
What a timely Ruoping said:
"Qinglian, do me a favor! Just this once today. We're short one person to begin with, and if we're short another one, this play can't be performed."
Counting on her fingers again, she said today was the 24th. The so-called New Year's Gala was actually on December 31st; because New Year's Day was a holiday, fully calculated, it was only about a week's time.
Lu Qinglian's answers were forever only two, following her nod or shake of the head: saying okay, or not okay.
"How to help?"
"Just need to hold the script and run through the play."
"Okay."
Ruoping grew excited. She started dividing the work. There were only the few of them in the library, so there was no need to care about the notices prohibiting noise.
Everyone went to familiarize themselves with the lines first—Qingyi moved very fast, and during lunch time, he had already photocopied several copies of the manuscript.
This was a drama that wasn't serious in the slightest. Its birth was an impulse of a moment, but everyone was considered serious—even if playing around, they had to play around earnestly. Ruoping was popularizing the character of the witch to Lu Qinglian, while Qingyi and Du Kang were designing signature entrance moves, the inspiration being Kamen Rider transformations.
Zhang Shutong checked his own. He didn't need to familiarize himself with the script, because his lines consisted of merely five short sentences. What needed to be done next was finding a place to lie down properly and start sleeping, opening his eyes only when the whole play approached its end.
Right up his alley.
Soon the lines were memorized, and Zhang Shutong understood the story outline as well. Although it was "Sleeping Prince," it was actually vastly different from the original "Sleeping Beauty."
Qingyi still couldn't forget his story of Princess A and Princess B. The so-called witch was actually a princess too, turning love into hatred.
So the entire script probably talked about the love-hate entanglements between a prince and two princesses. The vampire and the werewolf were two major generals under the witch, all defeated by the princess guided by the goddess.
Finally, the princess and the witch met face to face. After a bout of argument, the witch came to a sudden realization, willing to use her own life to fulfill the two of them. The princess accepted her blessing, but at this time, the vampire who should have died long ago suddenly appeared. Turns out everything was a setup laid by him. The princess and the vampire perished together, using her own life to save the prince...
"How come only I am left at the end?" Zhang Shutong said in astonishment.
What kind of script was this? He, a prince, slept from the start, and after waking up, finding the bodies of two princesses lying beside him would truly cause a breakdown.
"Tragedies touch people's hearts more deeply," Mr. Vampire said it like this.
Zhang Shutong simply looked toward Ruoping.
"Acting it earnestly really makes one's heart wring," Ruoping said thoughtfully. "Traditional hero saving the beauty has long lost its fun, right?"
"But this ending is truly so melodramatically absurd..."
"What does Du Kang think?"
"Can I bring Zorro over to guest-star?" The werewolf wanted to find a little henchman too.
"No." Ruoping clapped her hands. "Alright, alright, at most the ending is a bit controversial. Let's act it out like this once first and try; maybe there are better ideas?"
Rehearsal thus began amidst clamor and noise.
"Prince, entrance—"
Zhang Shutong endured his embarrassment and spun a circle. The voiceover was: A long, long time ago, in the kingdom there was a handsome prince...
"Next is Qing—oh no, the witch."
Another round of introduction to the witch, and soon the first key point arrived. According to the design in the script, the witch picked up her magic wand—they temporarily didn't have this kind of item on hand—Lu Qinglian rolled up the script—and tapped gently on Zhang Shutong's head.
Zhang Shutong fell at the sound.
"Cut!"
The prince and the witch looked toward the director at the same time.
"The force here isn't enough," Ruoping explained. "Only at this moment does the prince discover that the princess in his eyes was actually the witch. The eyes need to be a bit more complex—disbelief, grief and indignation, despair—did you act it out?
"Also the witch, your expression is too cold! Here you need to embody inner conflict and hesitation, reluctance to part, and giving up on oneself..."
"I'm just helping run through the play," Lu Qinglian said briefly. She didn't need to get too deep into character.
"Oh... true." Ruoping muttered. "Then Shutong, pay a bit more attention! You didn't have many lines to begin with; be earnest, again, again."
Zhang Shutong sat on the library table. Qingyi and Du Kang had thoughtfully laid coats flat behind him. Next, he only needed to lie down face-up. He held his breath, seeing the young girl in front of him raise a hand. Looking at Lu Qinglian's delicate and flawless face, plus the magic wand in her hand, the corner of Zhang Shutong's mouth twitched.
"Cut!" Ruoping said discontentedly. "How come it's even worse than last time?"
"Again..." Zhang Shutong hurriedly apologized.
The third time—
"Not shock, not shock!" Ruoping emphasized loudly. "Although there also needs to be a bit of fright inside, what's up with you, Prince, having an expression like seeing a ghost?"
Zhang Shutong merely recalled the scene back then when confronting Lu Qinglian on the mountain. She pretended to fall into a pit, her whole body emanating a dangerous aura.
"Can the action design be modified a bit? Switch 'tapping' to something else?" Zhang Shutong pointed at his head, suggesting: "Feels like such child's play."
"You feel it's child's play because there are no props on hand. Performing without physical objects is just like this," Ruoping was quite professional. "Those superhero blockbusters we watch—how do you think they were shot? Isn't it just a group of people flailing their hands and claws in front of a green screen?"
"I'll try again." Zhang Shutong rubbed his face.
The fourth time—
"Cut..." Ruoping said tiredly. "Wasn't rehearsal in class very smooth before?"
"Classmate Zhang Shutong, you had better be a bit more earnest." Lu Qinglian lightly weighed the script rolled into a paper tube.
"I just feel it's very strange." Zhang Shutong was embarrassed to say he wanted to laugh.
"Next time I'll consider tapping a bit harder."
"This really can be spared." Zhang Shutong seriously refused.
Ruoping said:
"Last time! If it still doesn't work, skip it!"
Zhang Shutong nodded. This time he took a deep breath, sitting upright and solemn, watching the witch reveal her true identity. Zhang Shutong had been stuck on this snippet four times; let alone lines, he remembered every move she was to make next very clearly. Before casting magic with the "magic wand," the witch had to first recite the chuunibyou lines written by Qingyi:
"That's right, I am that witch in the kingdom. Did you fail to guess it? Then carrying despair, fall into a long sleep from here on!"
"...I am the witch."
This time, however, Lu Qinglian stopped after saying it.
Zhang Shutong was just guessing whether she forgot the lines, but Lu Qinglian had already raised her hand. He thought in his heart, please, please, since you forgot the lines, hurry up and call a stop! How come you just won't forget to tap me once? In the next moment, however, the paper tube extended underneath his chin.
The witch tilted his chin. The corners of her pink lips hooked up a subtle arc as she said word by word:
"Did you guess it?"
She asked softly.
Zhang Shutong raised his face following her movement, completely dazed. How could he possibly have guessed it? These were lines and moves not in the script at all.
Conditioned by reflex, he blinked his eyes, but before he could react, Lu Qinglian raised her hand. She switched from tilting to swinging, and in the next moment, with a light snap, the paper tube patted neither heavily nor lightly on his forehead.
"Sleep."
The witch's voice was faint.
Zhang Shutong, who should have fallen at the sound, forgot to fall instead.
Zhang Shutong opened his eyes again, thinking to himself that things had gone bad; this performance was even worse than the previous few times, failing to even connect to the play. He thought Ruoping would roast saying Qinglian, how come you also started fooling around? Unexpectedly, Ruoping clapped her hands together, her eyes sparkling:
"Very good! Exactly this effect is what's wanted!"
Where was it good? Zhang Shutong really wanted to ask.
"I was wrong in my thinking. Sometimes pursuing emotional outbursts loses beauty instead," Director Ruoping suddenly said with emotion. "Yet isn't emotion restrained to the extreme also a kind of outburst?"
"Uh, didn't understand."
"Meaning Qinglian's line modification here was pretty good. It's not necessary to lay bare one's mind; letting the audience guess for themselves is pretty good too. Shutong, your improvised performance was pretty good as well."
"Me?"
"Yeah! Just now, didn't you close your eyes directly? I thought about it later: rather than using eyes to express how complex the thoughts were, closing them expresses the character's mood at this moment even better."
It was hard for Zhang Shutong not to suspect she was flattering Lu Qinglian.
However, hearing Ruoping say so, he breathed a sigh of relief as well:
"In the future I'll just close my eyes directly?"
"Can do."
The prince's already sparse lines were slashed by one more sentence.
Following that, Zhang Shutong wrapped up his scenes pleasantly, because his scenes wouldn't appear until the ending. Next was lying on the stage the whole time, but the first rehearsal wasn't this strict; he could hop down from the desk to walk around freely. The witch's scenes were likewise so, as she would also only appear at the ending.
The two who wrapped up sat to the side, watching the three—Ruoping, Qingyi, and Du Kang—making a mess together:
"Classmate Lu Qinglian, really underestimated you, to actually improvise and modify lines without authorization."
"Classmate Zhang Shutong, I held a high opinion of you, for such a simple script to be redone many times."
Lu Qinglian had already restored her lazy manner. She continued flipping through that book, as if indifferent to what was on the stage. Zhang Shutong understood her meaning: she was saying the main reason for modifying the lines was attributed to his acting skills being too weak.
"Indeed don't have your good acting skills." Zhang Shutong was guest-starring as the voiceover. Right now he recited a sentence, holding his face as he said, "At least I can't act out the feel of being naturally dorky."
Lu Qinglian rolled the book in her hand into a cylinder.
"Sorry."
She continued opening the book:
"How long are we rehearsing until?"
Zhang Shutong checked the time. "Feels like two more times and it's about enough. By the way, are you coming to school on the day of the gala?"
He felt this atmosphere was pretty nice: Qingyi draped a cloak standing on a chair, while on another chair was Du Kang howling away; Ruoping played two roles by herself, but the dialogue between the princess and the goddess was often together, looking very much like split personalities. Everyone messing together was truly very joyful.
Zhang Shutong asked:
"Anyway, that gal pal of Ruoping's didn't come on the first day. Might as well everyone play together."
"No need."
Said long ago, the answers obtained from Lu Qinglian's mouth were only okay and not okay. Not long ago she nodded, but this time what met him was refusal.
"Shutong, your turn to recite the voiceover!"
"Oh, coming..." Zhang Shutong pulled out the draft again.
When it reached the ending, he and Lu Qinglian returned to the stage again. The corner of Zhang Shutong's eye twitched as he watched Ruoping fall with a poignantly beautiful smile, sitting up straight from the desk, her expression going from shock to frozen to sad.
The prince extended a hand—
Following that, the drama curtain fell.
In Qingyi's words, this place needed some blank space left behind. Zhang Shutong had no objections; anyway, he didn't want to say "don't die" with a face full of sorrow and grief.
"How does it feel?" Ruoping asked with her hands on her hips.
"Pretty good." Previously, hearing "the princess saves the prince," he thought it was a comedy; only the moment he saw the script did he know it was a tragedy. Qingyi read a lot of books, and as long as he didn't intentionally write chuunibyou lines, it was actually very explosive and infectious. Looking through the whole play, except for the ending awaiting discussion, it actually looked quite impressive.
"Then let's do a formal run-through once," Ruoping instructed. "Qingyi, you two aren't allowed to fool around casually. Shutong too, stay on stage and don't come down. Let's change into costumes and props first; this time we shouldn't burst out laughing."
Zhang Shutong knew the opportunity mentioned by Old Song had arrived.
He hopped down from the table:
"I'll go categorize them to see which ones can be used. You guys memorize lines."
"Aren't you an energy-conserving idealist?" Ruoping asked in confusion. Thank goodness, she finally said it right once.
"I have the fewest lines," Zhang Shutong said.
Ruoping nodded with a comforting expression like a child had finally grown sensible.
Zhang Shutong took a few steps behind the bookshelf. Not long ago, they had piled all the props they could find here. Speaking of which, this was also related to Gu's father: a few years ago, he funded the renovation of the school, just in time for Mid-Autumn Festival. The principal simply put together a temporary Mid-Autumn Gala, inviting Boss Gu and the leaders from the city to attend. These props were all procured back then, otherwise where would their school get these things?
There were also some from previous Halloweens and New Year's Days—some students bought props, were too lazy to take them away, and left them in the storeroom.
Of course, even so, it was impossible to happen to find vampire fangs and werewolf fluffy body suits just right. Zhang Shutong picked out the usable ones, quickly categorized them according to everyone's roles, and pulled open his backpack again.
He held the zipper feeling somewhat hesitant, but with things having reached this point, there was nothing much to say. Zhang Shutong made up his mind, and a few minutes later, he walked out from behind the bookshelf, saying nonchalantly:
"Alright."
Qingyi and Du Kang went first, followed by Ruoping. There was a floor-to-ceiling mirror in the library. While the three of them looked back and forth in front of the mirror, Zhang Shutong fixed his gaze on Lu Qinglian.
"The ones you need to use are found as well."
Rather than saying that, hers were the easiest to find: a cloak, a pointed hat, a broom—the classic three elements of a witch.
"Today I'm just helping out," Lu Qinglian looked at her book, saying casually.
"But we easily burst into laughter. Does the atmosphere not quite match?"
Zhang Shutong pointed at the green robe on her body. She wore a pair of sneakers on her feet; fortunately, the pair of boots bought by his mom was retro-style leather boots, which could pass off.
Zhang Shutong braced himself to say:
"For the sake of your time..."
Lu Qinglian replied with a helpless gaze.
As if saying: Classmate Zhang Shutong, your acting skills are truly very bad.
"I'll go take a look."
She walked lightly behind the bookshelf.
After roughly a dozen seconds or so.
A long-haired witch with a slender waist and long legs moved her steps from behind the bookshelf to before everyone's eyes.
Lu Qinglian held the brim of the witch hat with her hand, while draped over her body was a dark red cloak, the color exactly opposite to that green robe. She knitted her brows slightly, seemingly not quite adapted to this outfit.
"Wow, super pretty, Qinglian!" Ruoping's fangirl tendencies broke out.
"Indeed super pretty." Du Kang subconsciously shifted his gaze away, only able to repeat.
"Feels like it fits the play very well," Qingyi considered from the overall perspective.
"Trouble not taking photos." Even having become a witch, her voice was still very clear and cold.
"Oh, okay." Ruoping obediently put her phone back.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that things went bad, because under the witch's feet was still that pair of sneakers. He had actually forgotten that Lu Qinglian had mysophobia; or rather, even if it were a normal person, one generally wouldn't go wear shoes from a prop team—who knew how many people had worn them in the past.
Zhang Shutong slapped his forehead, thinking to himself, revered teacher ah, revered teacher, I actually had a day brought into the ditch by you.
To the extent that this time when the witch tapped his head with the magic wand, Zhang Shutong's reaction was a beat slow before falling onto the table.
A scene was finished acting out very quickly.
In the blink of an eye, time arrived at school dismissal. The sky had darkened early on; long before the dismissal bell rang, starting from the second-to-last period, the clamor in the class couldn't be suppressed.
Tonight, Zhang Shutong was temporarily unrelated to this clamor. Their group needed to stay behind after school to do duty, and the one together with him was naturally his deskmate.
"I'm going to turn off the lights?"
"Help open the back row windows."
"Okay."
Zhang Shutong used force to prop the windows open, while Lu Qinglian tied the trash bags properly. The two of them exited the classroom together, walking in the quiet hallway.
In today's school, there were no longer figures of students rehearsing; everyone went to spend the holiday, reuniting with family, playing wildly with friends. No matter who they were together with or who they spent it with, presumably they wouldn't be lonely.
The campus had emptied out early on. This was the first time the two of them left this late together.
"I thought about it," Zhang Shutong was still carrying that box right now. "Actually..."
"Classmate Zhang Shutong, there is one thing I find very strange," Lu Qinglian let out a sigh. "Why are you always persistent about giving me gifts?"
Now she had switched back into her green robe, no longer a witch, yet possessing a witch-like ability to see through people's hearts.
Zhang Shutong was stunned. Could it be that she had already guessed the matter at noon?
"Turns out you've already seen through it."
"Counting this time, it's already the third time," she extended three fingers. "Things don't exceed three."
Zhang Shutong confirmed repeatedly; turns out she hadn't seen through the anomaly of that pair of boots, merely guessing that he was going to bring up the matter of gifts.
Zhang Shutong let out a sigh as well:
"Actually, I wanted to ask too: it's just a gift, wouldn't it be fine as long as you accept it?"
"I remember telling you this morning, doing this will give rise to a lot of unnecessary trouble."
"Trouble? I only plan to give it this once. Mainly it was bought long ago, and it isn't a valuable item either. In the future I won't—"
"I don't mean that." Lu Qinglian shook her head gently. "Being accustomed to accepting kindness from others will become a reliance. Can you understand when put this way?"