Chapter 21: New Stage Script Released

Seeing this, Ye Zhou hurriedly dropped the broom and scooped Jiang Yingxue up in his arms, carrying her back to the sofa to lie flat.

Her tall and curvaceous body was not as heavy as he had imagined; on the contrary, she felt light and supple.

Her face was flushed with an abnormal crimson hue, and fine beads of sweat broke out on her forehead. Even the tips of her ears were radiating heat.

Ye Zhou frowned and reached out to touch her forehead—it was bad. It was terrifyingly hot; he was afraid she was already suffering from febrile convulsions.

Fortunately, he had taken an extra Fever Cooling Patch from Elder Tang beforehand.

Ye Zhou first used wet and dry tissues to wipe Jiang Yingxue’s forehead clean, then peeled off the protective film of the Fever Cooling Patch and gently pressed it on.

However, Ye Zhou could not leave immediately after finishing this.

He had to see if the Fever Cooling Patch would be effective for Jiang Yingxue in her current convulsive state; otherwise, he would have to take her to the hospital immediately.

Ye Zhou then took the Blue Blanket and the coat that had fallen to the floor with Jiang Yingxue and shook them out vigorously to remove the dust before covering her again.

Especially those restless feet in black silk stockings beneath her long legs; they felt smooth and delicate to the touch, and there was a faint, cool scent of body fragrance.

Ye Zhou leaned down and took a deep, soul-cleansing breath—ha-ha… just kidding.

Then, he pulled over a low stool and sat down, carefully observing the complexion of the sleeping Jiang Yingxue. Fortunately, she was no longer mumbling about being cold.

As the minutes passed, the abnormal flush on her face receded slightly. When he touched her forehead, although it was still hot, it was no longer as terrifyingly scorched as before.

Clearly, with the help of the Fever Cooling Patch, her condition was beginning to improve.

However, looking at Jiang Yingxue’s tightly furrowed brows, she still seemed to be sleeping uncomfortably.

Ye Zhou shifted his gaze to the side of her head. Was it because there was no pillow?

After a moment of thought, he stepped out of the office, grabbed a throw pillow from one of the sofas outside, and returned. He gently lifted Jiang Yingxue’s head to cushion it and then used his hand to tidy her messy silver hair, brushing it to the side.

Sure enough, Jiang Yingxue’s furrowed brows finally relaxed.

Ye Zhou let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

In this moment, he actually felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he were taking care of his sister when she had a fever in the past.

“What am I thinking?”

“Has my own brain turned to mush from the heat too?”

Ye Zhou shrugged with a smile, sat back on the low stool, and took out his phone to scroll through short videos.

But soon, his eyelids began to fight a losing battle. Even the beautiful streamers in the videos couldn’t pull him back to reality. He eventually tipped over and slumped against the empty space on the sofa next to Jiang Yingxue.

“Yawn~ This isn’t good. Her sleepiness is contagious.”

Outside the window, sparrows perched and chirped. Their fragmented calls, carried by the breeze through the gaps in the window, felt like a soft lullaby that gently brushed away the restlessness in one’s heart.

***

By the time Ye Zhou groggily opened his eyes again, everything was dark.

“What is blocking my eyes?”

He reached up and fumbled around his head, pulling something off. His vision instantly returned to light.

Huh? After all that, it turned out that the Blue Blanket had been draped over him.

Ye Zhou instinctively looked at the sofa in front of him. It was empty, leaving behind only a lingering trace of her cool fragrance.

He stood up, stretched his legs which were completely numb, and looked around the room. There was no sign of Jiang Yingxue.

“How strange…”

Just then, his phone chimed with a notification.

Ye Zhou turned on the blinding screen and took a moment for his eyes to adjust. It was three private messages from Jiang Yingxue sent through the club chat group.

The first message read: “Ye Zhou, are you awake? I have something to take care of so I left first. Your clothes seemed to have been stained by my drool while I was sleeping, so I took them home to wash. I’ll bring them back the next time you come to the club.”

Ye Zhou couldn’t help but complain: “No way? Those clothes were taken away to be washed again? Is it even possible for them to return to me? This is a question worth pondering.”

The second message read: “In the bottom drawer of the desk, at the very top, there is a script with a cream-colored cover. Su Zhihan will probably stop by the club around six o’clock. Be sure to remember to hand it over to her.”

The corners of Ye Zhou’s mouth twitched: “This is painful. They actually finished the script for the next stage play so quickly. Doesn’t this mean my days of slacking off in the club are about to end?”

The third message read: “By the way, regarding this sudden fever, thank you for taking care of me. However, don’t get too smug, because in the next script, it’ll be your turn to be the sole lead.”

Ye Zhou rubbed his eyes vigorously with his right hand, feeling as though he had misread the message.

“Did I see that right? She said thank you?”

“Even if it wasn’t said out loud, it’s still hard to imagine those words coming from that cold and black-bellied Club Leader Jiang.”

“But then again, all signs point to her not being as scary as I thought. She’s actually quite easy to get along with.”

As he spoke, he suddenly realized something.

“Wait! She said it’s my turn for the next script. Doesn’t that mean there’s absolutely no part for me in Su Zhihan’s current script?”

“Ha! Heaven is on my side. It looks like my slacking days in the club will last a bit longer.”

Thus, humming an unknown tune, Ye Zhou followed the instructions from Jiang Yingxue’s second message and quickly found the cream-colored script.

[Play Title: Finding Oneself in the Mirror]

[Production: Drama and Film Club]

[Planning: Jiang Yingxue, Shen Yuzhen]

[Director or Supervisor: Lin Shulan]

[Lead Role: Su Zhihan]

[…]

At a glance, Ye Zhou rubbed his chin, his brows furrowing slightly in thought.

“Shen Yuzhen? Is there someone in the club with that name? I suppose this must be the mysterious Vice President.”

“Shen Yuzhen, Shen Yuzhen… It’s a very pretty name. She’s probably a very gentle person.”

“Cough, cough... Of course, I can’t rule out the possibility of a name-deceiver. After all, even voice-deceivers exist.”

Since Su Zhihan hadn’t arrived yet, Ye Zhou poured a glass of warm water and flipped through the script while he drank.

The page count for this script was noticeably thicker than the last one. The difficulty level would likely be higher as well.

Browsing through the general content…

The story was roughly divided into three parts.

First: Su Wei is in the Drama Club Activity Room. Through a dialogue with her reflection in the mirror, she displays a psychological transformation from self-deprecation and a craving for recognition to finally finding self-confidence.

Second: Three female extras briefly appear as background characters, serving as obstacles on the road to push the female lead toward her breakthrough.

Third: The climax and the curtain call. Su Wei performs a monologue in front of the mirror, declaring: “Even if I am just a small actor, I still harbor a grand dream for the stage.”

The core theme of the entire script was clear at a glance, focusing on “the stage dreams of a small figure,” which was easy to resonate with students.

Ye Zhou shook his head and couldn’t help but praise it.

“Putting everything else aside, the abilities of Club Leader Jiang and Vice President Shen are truly no joke. This script was practically tailor-made for Su Zhihan.”

“And how is that this script is just a little harder than the previous one? It’s clearly much more difficult. Fortunately, I don’t have to perform this time; otherwise, I’d definitely be in for a rough time.”

“But then again, in the entire club, only Su Zhihan and I are from the same year, and we both lack stage experience. Logically speaking, they shouldn’t separate us to perform different scripts so quickly.”

“The reason is likely that they want to train Su Zhihan and me as soon as possible to become actors who can hold our own on stage, just like Senior Student Chen Yuhe and Senior Student Lin Shulan.”

“I just don’t know if this idea was proposed by President Jiang Yingxue or by that mysterious Vice President Shen Yuzhen. Or maybe the two of them discussed it and came up with it together.”

***