It's quite pretty.
Yes, very good, Jack is awake now.
Jack ripped the lace headband off his head. At that moment, Lu Mingran quickly turned back to avoid letting Jack see his overly unrestrained smile.
The man came straight towards them, and as soon as he arrived, he tried to sit next to Cheng Yungui, calling out to him:
"uncle."
This is the script for this project.
Jack is Cheng Yungui's nephew, and Lu Mingran is Cheng Yungui's best friend. Lu Mingran is a Chinese man who went to England with his parents when he was young and misses his motherland.
A distant relative's daughter was getting married and invited Cheng Yungui. After thinking about it, Cheng Yungui decided to take his nephew and best friend to see the wedding. Firstly, to let his nephew, who was of mixed race, know about his mother's homeland, and secondly, to satisfy his friend's longing for his motherland.
“Uncle,” Jack recited his lines, “I can’t wait any longer, I want to go to China tomorrow!”
Lu Mingran smiled, a nostalgic look on her face: "Yun Gui, it's Chinese New Year in China right now, isn't it?"
"yes."
Cheng Yungui patted his nephew: "When we get to China, we'll have dumplings first. Oh, by the way, I'll give you a red envelope; you'll definitely love it."
So far, everything was proceeding according to the script. After the existing lines were finished, it was time for improvisation. Lu Mingran absentmindedly drank her coffee, while Jack was actually quite excited.
"You're leaving tomorrow, right?"
Jack pulled out a small mirror from somewhere and looked at his reflection:
"Since I'm going to someone else's wedding, how can I go looking so disheveled? Uncle, I've decided, I'm going to get a haircut later, do you want to come along?"
Cheng Yungui paused for a moment, feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Lu Mingran was the first to react. He gritted his teeth and laughed:
"Jack, you may not know this, but it's the first month of the lunar calendar in China right now. You can't cut your hair during the first month of the lunar calendar, or your uncle will die."
Lu Mingran really wanted to shake his head hard. This was written on the second line of the fourth page! Did you even see it, you damn Queen Mother of the West?!
As Lu Mingran expected, Jack just smiled nonchalantly:
"That's an ignorant Chinese mindset. I have the freedom to cut my hair; it's a human right!"
Okay, very good...
Lu Mingran's teeth were ground even sharper.
"Jack, are you really going to get a haircut today?"
"Um."
Cheng Yungui glanced at Jack, and when he looked at Lu Mingran again, he was so startled that he almost dropped the cup in his hand.
Suddenly, a gleaming kitchen knife appeared out of thin air in Lu Mingran's left hand.
Lu Mingran stood up and smiled warmly:
"Actually, I studied cosmetology and hairdressing at the Lanxiang branch school in the UK. Would you like me to give you a haircut myself?"
Chapter 55 Want to be the King of the Night? No way (7)
No, wait.
Jack tried hard to recall, remembering a teammate joking about Lanxiang Vocational School with him, and blurted out:
"Isn't Lanxiang Technical School a place that teaches people how to operate excavators?"
Cheng Yungui: "...Nephew, did you see the knife? Did you grab the wrong thing?"
Lu Mingran nodded in sudden realization and said, "Right, how about I use an excavator to shave your head?"
"Jack, would you prefer a cleaver or a spatula?"
Cheng Yungui couldn't sit still any longer. Although he knew Lu Mingran wouldn't actually make a move, seeing both of them stand up and the atmosphere gradually turning into a horror movie, he finally spoke up:
"sit down!"
Instead of forcing a smile and trying to mediate, or panicking and trying to break up the fight, Cheng Yungui simply leaned forward, stared at his coffee cup, and whispered two words.
His words were concise, powerful, and immediately effective. At that moment, Cheng Yungui acted like a respected elder brother in a large family, immediately subduing the younger generation with his first words. Lu Mingran and Jack exchanged glances before finally sitting down.
“It’s not that I’m being nosy, Yun Gui.”
Lu Mingran stared at Jack: "If this were in the real world, and you ever came to China and didn't want to adapt to local customs, no one would hold it against you."
"But this is a world of horror stories, where taboo rumors can come true."
Jack nodded defiantly. Lu Mingran knew what he was thinking: he was thinking that even if something really happened later, the Earl would protect him as a pawn.
It's a pity he really overthinks things.
Lu Mingran sighed, thinking to himself that he would have to worry about this for a while. Interestingly, he glanced at Cheng Yungui and found that Cheng Yungui also looked troubled.
Cheng Yungui thought to himself: Taking two quarrelsome children back to my hometown is like watching a horror movie.
————————
Logically, the scene should suddenly change, jumping directly to their hometown. However, because there are other plot points to trigger, the three of them returned to the house first.
Lu Mingran stayed at her friend's house, living with his family.
This was a small building with a red mailbox outside. Cheng Yungui walked over and opened the mailbox, taking out an envelope as he spoke:
"I was just talking to my cousin a couple of days ago, asking her when the invitations would arrive."
As he spoke, Cheng Yungui opened the envelope, revealing a red invitation cover.
At the same time, another, even brighter red invitation slipped out of the envelope and landed at Cheng Yungui's feet.
"Huh?" Cheng Yungui lowered his head and looked at the invitation.
He counted the few sheets in his hand, then looked at the one on the ground, and asked in confusion, "Why are there four sheets?"
He had communicated with them beforehand, and it was clear that three cards would be enough.
Jack swallowed hard and recited his lines, "Maybe he forgot my sister was too busy and sent an extra one."
Fourth, this is indeed an unlucky number.
At that moment, Lu Mingran was also recalling the script. He walked over, picked up the invitation, and examined it.
This one is quite different from the other three. The other three are made of greeting card paper, with printed text and delicate patterns. This one, however, is made of red Xuan paper, and on that thick, almost opaque red surface, on the far left are small, vertical characters written with a brush:
Today, we are blessed with a perfect union, as if bound by the red thread of fate.
May we grow old together in the future, our love as fragrant as osmanthus and orchid.
Looking at the right side, it is:
Presented to: Sir/Madam…
Lu Mingran froze as soon as he saw the beginning. Seeing his reaction, Cheng Yungui and Jack came over and stood beside him, asking, "What's wrong?"
“There’s no name.” Lu Mingran pointed to the blank space before the word “Mr.” “It’s empty.”
It's like waiting for someone to fill in your name.
Jack laughed and said, "Oh, that means it was a mistake; they put in the one that wasn't written properly."
In the script, Jack, a foreigner, had never seen such an invitation before, and rarely saw calligraphy. He picked up the invitation and looked at it as a novelty. But when Jack picked up the invitation as instructed in the script, the script gave him new instructions.
"Jack, wanting something new and fun, kept pestering his uncle, got a calligraphy brush, wrote the names of three people on the invitation, and even put the invitation in his suitcase."
Because he had to follow the script exactly, Jack gritted his teeth and started pestering Cheng Yungui relentlessly.
"uncle."
Jack spoke curtly, reaching out to grab Cheng Yungui's sleeve.
Cheng Yungui stood stiffly, waiting for him to pester him, but to Cheng Yungui's surprise, Jack suddenly became like a mad rabbit.
He grabbed Cheng Yungui's clothes and started spinning him around three times to the left and three times to the right. Cheng Yungui's clothes were almost twisted into a rope, and he staggered along, all the while shouting:
"Give it to me, Uncle!"
Lu Mingran, feeling incredibly awkward, turned her back to the red mailbox, waiting for the two of them to finish their entanglement. Meanwhile, Cheng Yungui was still reciting his lines, and Lu Mingran could hear the despair in his voice alone.
"what would you like?"
"Jack, you can't..."
...
Finally, the required actions were completed.
As soon as Lu Mingran turned around, she saw Cheng Yungui straightening his torn coat while grabbing Jack, who was running towards the study.
"What are you doing?" Jack turned around, annoyed.
"Are you really going to write our names?"
Jack broke free, frowned at Cheng Yungui, and said, "This is in the script. Do you dare not do it?"
Lu Mingran interjected promptly:
"Yes, but you're a veteran who's done several missions before, so you should know that there are always loopholes in the script."
"Haha, you really are a coward."
Just like in the novel, Jack once again flashed a nonchalant smile:
"This is just the beginning, there won't be any danger. Besides, it only asks us to write our names, is that difficult?"
Writing a name is not difficult.
Lu Mingran looked at Cheng Yungui, who understood what he meant and grabbed Jack again: "Writing your name carelessly will bring you a curse."
"I know that. You Chinese people are very particular about the Eight Characters (Ba Zi) and can't just casually reveal your birth date. Haha."
Jack laughed, looking at Lu Mingran and Cheng Yungui provocatively: "Anyway, the script says it's going to be written. If you're too timid, then you'll have to figure it out yourselves."
After saying that, Jack sat down on the steps and stopped moving.
What he said did make sense; it was part of the script. Now Cheng Yungui was holding him back, putting him in a difficult position.