In the blink of an eye, it was already noon in the Rehearsal Room…
“Stop, stop, stop! You’ve got the lines memorized well enough, but you have to remember to inject emotion into every sentence. Your facial expressions need to change, too—even if it’s just something subtle. Don’t act like a cold robot just trying to finish a task.”
Jiang Yingxue rolled up the script, stepped onto the stage with her long, pale legs, and gave Ye Zhou’s forehead a thwack.
“Do you want the truth? Ye Zhou, you are the worst actor I have ever led in the Drama and Film Club, bar none. It’s so bad I can’t even look, I don’t even know what to say…”
Ye Zhou scratched his head with an embarrassed smile. “Ah, haha… I’m a newbie, after all. Have a little patience…”
“Then why is Su Zhihan doing so much better than you when she’s a newcomer too?”
Jiang Yingxue couldn’t help but press a hand to her forehead. “Sigh… Right, I overlooked one thing. She’s naturally gifted in this area, and on top of that, she works incredibly hard.”
“Unlike you. Do you think I don’t know what kind of ulterior motives you had when joining the Drama and Film Club?”
“If the person recruiting that day hadn’t been Chen Yuhe, if it had been me or anyone else in the club, you would have been the first one passed over.”
“Speaking like that now is just being a Monday morning quarterback. I don’t care about what you do elsewhere, but while you’re in this club, you’d better put all your focus on the task at hand. Stop letting your mind wander all day.”
“…”
Just then, her phone rang at an inopportune moment. It was Jiang Yingxue’s phone, which she had left on her seat.
She had no choice but to cut her long lecture short.
Ye Zhou let out a dry laugh, picked up his mineral water from the side, and took a few gulps.
He knew exactly how little talent he had for stage performance, so he had expected this ordeal from the start.
At this point, what else could he do? He just had to take it.
***
Ye Zhou wondered if his eyes were playing after Jiang Yingxue finished her call and returned. On her previously indignant, exquisite face, he actually saw a hint of a happy expression.
“Continue…”
Ye Zhou was momentarily stunned. He thought the continue the President mentioned meant continuing her unfinished lecture.
To his surprise, she said:
“Chen Yuhe called with good news. Originally, I only prepared 150 admission tickets for this stage play. I thought it would be good if we could even give out a few dozen, but it far exceeded my expectations. They’re all gone.”
Hearing this, Ye Zhou immediately felt it was unbelievable.
He knew that tickets for these kinds of stage plays were usually free; the only way they made money was by selling snacks like popcorn and cola.
Even so, he considered himself just an ordinary freshman from the Department of Computer Science in the College of Engineering.
Why would so many people come to see him?
Could it be that this melodramatic script was just too attractive?
“What? Starting to get nervous? It’s only a hundred or so people, not a thousand.”
Jiang Yingxue arched an eyebrow. “I had Chen Yuhe do a rough investigation.”
“The ratio of men to women is about half and half. To put it bluntly, most of the girls are coming for your face, and the boys are the same—they’re coming to see Su Zhihan.”
As she spoke, Jiang Yingxue directly and lightly lifted the hem of the single hoodie Ye Zhou was wearing. The outline of his abs was clearly visible. When she reached out to touch them, they were hard as a rock.
With this sudden move from her, Ye Zhou subconsciously took a step back.
“Club Leader Jiang, what—what are you doing all of a sudden?”
“Lean in clothes, but muscular underneath… I really couldn’t tell, Ye Zhou. Have you been training in private?”
“Not really? It’s just that I was so depressed during my three years of high school, and I used it to relieve my depression…”
“Is that so?”
Jiang Yingxue crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Ye Zhou swallowed hard, feeling as if he were being locked in by a wolf’s gaze.
“What is your actual height?”
“Uh… around one hundred and eighty centimeters.”
“Mm, you do look a bit taller than me to the naked eye. You weren’t lying. Stand still…”
Jiang Yingxue steadied Ye Zhou’s head with both hands and slowly brushed the bangs off his forehead.
“Ye Zhou, you’re well-suited for showing your forehead. It greatly enhances a man’s mature aura. But we’ll skip it this time; after all, the male lead you’re playing is a freshman just like you.”
The two of them were only a fist’s distance apart. Ye Zhou could smell the breath coming from Jiang Yingxue’s mouth as she spoke. He wondered if she was chewing gum, as it was filled with a faint, refreshing scent of mint.
“As an actor, acting skills are certainly important, but image is also indispensable. At least as far as I’m concerned, your image score is definitely higher than your acting score. You could say the flaws don’t overshadow the merits.”
While speaking, Jiang Yingxue looked Ye Zhou over once more, but as her gaze moved down, she quickly discovered his shortcoming.
“Hmm? No, Ye Zhou, it’s rare for me to give you a compliment, and you’re already pointing a gun at me?”
Ye Zhou immediately turned around, turning his back to Jiang Yingxue.
He stammered, “Sorry, Club Leader Jiang, I’m just a pure-hearted college student. I really can’t handle physical contact with the opposite sex, so a physiological reaction is inevitable…”
Jiang Yingxue frowned.
“You can’t handle just this much contact? Then what about the final and most important kissing scene?”
“Even if it’s just a stage kiss using camera angles, if you act like this, won’t you make things awkward for Su Zhihan?”
“Sigh, there’s no other way. I’ll just have to give you some desensitization training as soon as possible.”
“Come with me…”
Ye Zhou gave an embarrassed “Oh.” Although he was confused, he still followed Jiang Yingxue to her seat.
He watched as Jiang Yingxue took an unopened box of Pocky out of her silver Baguette Bag.
“Do you know what this is used for?”
“Eating…”
“I mean in terms of games. Haven’t you seen it before?”
“I suppose I’ve seen it…”
The Pocky Game was a modern, popular interactive game, usually used between couples or friends to create an ambiguous atmosphere.
Jiang Yingxue quickly tore open the packaging, took out a stick of Pocky, and gave it to Ye Zhou. She then leaned back against her seat, crossed her arms, and crossed her long, white legs.
“It’s very simple. You bite one end, I bite the other. Then you keep eating until you’re five centimeters away from my lips and stop. We maintain eye contact; no looking away.”
“Me?” Ye Zhou pointed at himself blankly.
“Do you see a third person in this rehearsal room?” Jiang Yingxue rolled her eyes.
“But isn’t this… not very good?”
Ye Zhou glanced at Jiang Yingxue’s red lips, and his throat suddenly felt dry.
Five centimeters.
Fast, like the wind whipped up by a train passing through a station.
Slow, like the tracks that span across an entire city.
For Ye Zhou, it felt like the latter.
“It’s just desensitization. This is my first time doing this too, yet you’re the one getting shy.”
“If you can’t even overcome this, how are you going to perform tonight?”
“If you can’t do it, you be the passive one and I’ll be the active one.”
“Concentrate. Focus on the present.”
“I’m doing this for your own good.”
Ye Zhou sat up straight, albeit awkwardly.
This Club Leader Jiang really was overbearing and forceful, actually coming up with this Pocky-style Desensitization Training.
Ye Zhou nervously bit one end of the Pocky. Jiang Yingxue didn’t hesitate to lean in and bite the other end.
Their bodies maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far, holding the tension of an absolute territory.
Jiang Yingxue didn’t move yet, but her eyes quickly became as soft as water. She truly was a veteran actress; she slipped into character in a second, making Ye Zhou scream internally that he couldn’t take it.
Club Leader Jiang, are you really using this to test a subordinate?
What subordinate could possibly pass such a test?
***
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