At noon, Pei Shaocheng half-coaxed and half-fed him, and he ended up eating twice his usual amount. Now, his stomach was full and he had no appetite, so he took the last can of beer from the refrigerator, sat on the old wicker chair on the balcony, and drank while looking across the street at the drama academy that was gradually being shrouded in night.
It should have been right when classes ended, and many young men and women walked out of the school gate in groups of three or five and poured into the snack street next door.
As one of the top art schools in the country, it naturally becomes a particularly beautiful sight at such times.
Wen Yuhan swallowed a mouthful of beer, letting the icy air enter her esophagus and soothe her stomach. She silently sighed to herself, "Youth is truly wonderful..."
The sound of the spring breeze, carrying with it laughter, filled his ears. His floor wasn't high; in the quiet, he could even faintly hear the conversations.
Sure enough, even though Pei Shaocheng tried to keep a low profile while reviving the stage play, he couldn't escape the attention drawn by his status. Some students from the academy were already discussing sneaking into the small theater under the cover of darkness to watch the rehearsals.
Wen Yuhan crushed the empty beer bottle, got up, and walked into the house.
"I'm going to buy some wine. You watch the house." He said lazily, his back to Xiaomi on the sofa, then picked up the house key from the shoe cabinet and opened the door.
Xiaomi meowed a few times in dissatisfaction. After confirming that Wen Yuhan had really left, it could only yawn reluctantly and close its eyes again to catch up on its sleep.
Wen Yuhan's original plan was really just to buy a few bottles of wine at the convenience store at the entrance. So he casually kicked off a pair of flip-flops, tied his hair loosely, and walked down the street with a cigarette in his mouth, looking as if he was very sloppy but nothing wrong with it. However, he did not notice that he still attracted the attention of young men and women along the way, who turned their heads and looked at him with curiosity and subtle excitement in their eyes.
When he stopped again, a hint of surprise crossed his eyes, which quickly turned into helplessness. He clicked his tongue and said, "Is access control this lax now?"
He was now standing at the entrance of the small theater in the drama academy. Several people who looked like bodyguards were sitting or standing outside. Pei Shaocheng's assistant, Emily, was standing under a tree making a phone call, looking very serious.
Wen Yuhan stubbed out her cigarette, thinking that since she was already here, she might as well go in and take a look. But before she even reached the door of the small theater, she was stopped by a burly man who mistook her for a clueless student.
"Hey, you can't come in," the big man said impatiently.
Wen Yuhan raised an eyebrow, then nodded indifferently and turned to leave. Emily called out to him loudly. She trotted towards Wen Yuhan in her high heels.
"Teacher Wen, what brings you here?!" Emily seemed very excited, clapping her hands and shouting, "Hey, you've come at just the right time! Brother Cheng is throwing a tantrum inside!"
Wen Yuhan frowned slightly after hearing this: "What's wrong with him now?" She seemed used to seeing little kids throwing tantrums, as if she wasn't afraid of Pei Yingdi, whom everyone was wary of and who always had a stern face.
Emily swallowed hard, peeked into the small theater through the door, and whispered, "Hey, Cheng finally found an actor he thought would be perfect for this play. But that kid, I don't know if he was nervous around Cheng or what, just couldn't get into character. Cheng just got angry, and almost scared the kid to tears, so he definitely won't be..."
"Which role? Isn't Andrew supposed to be played by Pei Shaocheng himself?"
“Andrew will definitely be played by Cheng Ge, I’m talking about another one.” Emily cleared her throat, hesitated for a long time, and finally mumbled, “It’s the role that you, Teacher Wen, used to study here and acted with Cheng Ge in…”
Not long after Emily became Pei Shaocheng's assistant, Pei Shaocheng, unusually talkative due to being drunk, told her about how he met Teacher Wen. As a result, Emily had a particularly deep impression of the character named "Han" who first won over Andrew in the play and flirted with him.
“Han…” Wen Yuhan narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly trying to recall whether he had actually written this character. When he finally realized that it was just a character he had created on the spot to help Pei Shaocheng relieve his nervousness during their first meeting, he felt quite helpless.
Emily pleaded with both hands: "Teacher Wen, Teacher Wen, please help me! It's not easy working away from home!"
Wen Yuhan smiled and said, "I'll do my best."
After speaking, he stepped onto the marble steps outside the small theater, gently exhaled, and opened the door that had once held countless moments of youthful arrogance and high spirits for him.
...
The sudden brightness in the room made Wen Yuhan instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes. Everyone in the room was rehearsing and didn't notice his arrival for a moment.
Once Wen Yuhan's eyes adjusted to the light, she almost immediately spotted Pei Shaocheng sitting in the first row with a sullen face.
He crossed his arms in front of his long legs, his thumbs tapping together in frustration. Xiao Yang sat next to him, looking equally annoyed, her hand supporting her forehead, shaking it every now and then.
"I'm afraid this won't work." Xiao Yang sketched on the script in her hand and looked at Pei Shaocheng. "It's no use for you to keep pushing him like this. In fact, the more he acts, the more wrong it becomes."
Pei Shaocheng's jawline tightened into a hard, cold line, and his pair of icy, deep eyes stared at the young actor on stage who was clearly flustered and couldn't even deliver his lines properly, without uttering a word.
The young actor, Xiao Chun, was a senior in college and a well-known figure at the drama academy. Surrounded by accolades as a genius, a standout, and an idol, he was initially confident about the role and determined to seize the opportunity. However, he faltered when he actually acted opposite Pei Shaocheng. Even though Pei Shaocheng patiently guided him through the character and reassured him not to be nervous, Xiao Chun's confidence crumbled as he saw the gap between himself and Pei Shaocheng, and his performance worsened with each scene.
Finally, Pei Shaocheng gradually lost his patience and couldn't help but say a few words to him, completely baffling him.
Pei Shaocheng closed his eyes to control his emotions, then got up again and slowly walked to the stage, patting Xiaochun on the shoulder: "Come on, let's go through the scene again."
Xiao Chun's eyes were already brimming with tears, and her face was as red as a boiled shrimp. Her whole body was trembling uncontrollably, and she stammered to Pei Shaocheng, "Senior brother, maybe I should... maybe I should just forget about it..." After saying that, she wished she could dig a hole and disappear into it.
Pei Shaocheng stared at him intently, his voice cold and authoritative as he said, "You're already thinking of giving up after just a little difficulty? I advise you not to do this job anymore."
Xiaochun bit her lip, pinching her nails so hard they almost dug into her flesh.
Just then, a voice, not loud but clear enough, came from an inconspicuous corner of the audience:
"Pei Shaocheng, you scared him."
Pei Shaocheng's body jolted, and he quickly looked in the direction of the sound.
In just a moment, everything seemed to return to the day we first met.
Back then, Wen Yuhan sat alone in the corner just like she does now, with the same calm and collected demeanor, yet her most serene smile triggered a tremendous explosion in Pei Shaocheng's heart.
...
A note from the author:
QAQ... I grew a little bit today.
Chapter 83
"Teacher, what brings you here?!" Xiao Yang excitedly ran towards Wen Yuhan when she saw him, then suddenly looked around nervously and complained in a low voice, "Didn't I tell you not to go out alone?"
Wen Yuhan lifted the beer in her hand: "I originally just planned to go downstairs to buy some drinks, but I ended up here by accident."
After he finished speaking, his gaze passed over Xiao Yang's shoulder and looked at Pei Shaocheng behind him. The two of them stood facing each other across rows of seats, in the interplay of light and shadow, and for a moment they felt as if they were in another world.
Finally, Pei Shaocheng broke the silence first, walking quickly towards Wen Yuhan under the curious gazes of everyone. He took the beer from Wen Yuhan's hand, casually tossed it aside, and sighed, "Why won't you listen?"
Wen Yuhan's expression remained calm, but the cast and crew members present were all taken aback by her appearance.
Whether they were familiar with Pei Shaocheng or meeting him for the first time, no one had ever imagined that Pei Shaocheng would speak to someone in such a tone. It was one of doting helplessness and extreme gentleness.
They couldn't help but wonder, who exactly was this refined and slender man in front of them?
“Emily said you got angry.” Wen Yuhan paused, put another cigarette in his mouth, and lit it while tilting his head. “Since we’ve decided to use newcomers, we have to be patient… Wanna smoke?”
Pei Shaocheng was about to say that smoking was not allowed in the theater, but then he remembered that Wen Yuhan had never followed this rule when he was in school. Thinking of him sitting cross-legged on the stage with a cigarette between his legs, so focused and absorbed, he couldn't help but smile slightly.
This laugh surprised everyone even more.
Wen Yuhan sat down again nearby, gestured with her chin toward the stage to Pei Shaocheng, and said, "I'll go back after I finish this cigarette. You guys continue rehearsing."
"Wait for me to go back together, okay?" Pei Shaocheng's tone was pleading, and he lowered his voice further as he said, "I'll take you to eat seafood congee at the place behind the school, okay?"
Perhaps because Pei Shaocheng's attitude towards him was so different from his usual image, all eyes in the room were now focused on Wen Yuhan.
He hadn't been noticed like this in a long time, and feeling a little awkward, he brought the cigarette to his lips and took another puff before nodding in agreement.
Pei Shaocheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, and when he turned back to the stage, his mood had visibly improved.
"Teacher, have you seen the revised script?" When Xiao Yang saw Wen Yuhan arrive, he didn't want to go back to the front row, so he sat down next to Wen Yuhan.
"No," Wen Yuhan answered truthfully.
Xiao Yang scratched his head with his pen, saying in frustration, "Actually, I've only finished writing the first two acts so far. I'm not good at drama itself, so to be honest, I can't be of much help. Pei Shaocheng basically did all the character design and dialogue himself."
"What do you think?" Wen Yuhan asked casually, flipping through the script while smoking.
Xiao Yang pursed his lips and said sincerely, "Although I still can't like him as a person, it's undeniable that in terms of professional skills, I may never be able to reach his level in my entire life."
"Is that so?" Wen Yuhan got up, found an empty mineral water bottle to use as an ashtray, and joked with Xiao Yang as usual, "That's not good. An actor is not focusing on his performance, but is interfering in our screenwriting."
“But teacher…” Xiao Yang was not amused by Wen Yuhan this time. He still frowned seriously and said, “Pei Shaocheng himself is not satisfied with the current script at all. I have analyzed it with him systematically and tried to provide some modification plans according to his ideas, but he still feels that none of them can achieve the effect he wants.”
Wen Yuhan paused slightly as he flicked the ash from his cigarette, then chuckled softly to himself, "Isn't that a bit too nitpicky?"
“He said that the teacher’s version is something that no one else can surpass. If we’re talking about surpassing it… the only one in the whole world is probably the teacher himself.” Xiao Yang gritted her teeth and finally said the second half of the sentence with utmost seriousness, “But Pei Shaocheng said that even so, he still had to finish this play and he could not lose to Han Shu.”
Upon hearing this, Wen Yuhan said nothing, but simply looked down at the script, occasionally taking a few puffs of his cigarette.
Just when Xiao Yang was almost certain that what she said couldn't shake the teacher's determination to stop interfering in her professional field, Wen Yuhan gently threw the cigarette butt into a mineral water bottle, then stood up and walked towards the stage.
"What's your name?" He approached the boy who had been chosen to play "Han," looked up at him, and asked calmly.
The boy hadn't looked away from Wen Yuhan since the first time he saw him. He was curious about the relationship between Pei Shaocheng and Wen Yuhan, but he was also surprised by the other man's eyes, which looked quite similar to his own.
"Ahem, Lin Chunjing." His Adam's apple bobbed, and he quickly replied, "Teacher, you can just call me Xiaochun."
“Springtime and bright scenery…” Wen Yuhan smiled faintly, “A good name.”
His smile stunned Xiaochun. Upon closer inspection, although their eye shapes were similar, the aura hidden deep within their eyes was completely different.
Before meeting Wen Yuhan, Xiaochun always thought that eyes like his would naturally exude a charming allure when he smiled. He didn't mind it, after all, he had gained too many advantages from those eyes.
Yet the person before me, even as he smiled, had eyes as calm as a still lake. Not a clear, deep blue, nor turbulent with undercurrents, but rather a serene, melancholic stillness, devoid of joy or sorrow, that held my gaze captive.
Xiaochun was so captivated by the man in front of her that she was stunned until she felt a cold, sharp gaze fall on her back, and she instantly shivered.
“Xiao Chun,” Wen Yuhan said calmly, still in that nonchalant tone, “From now on, forget your name. Just remember one thing… Your name is Han, and you are the one who created the character Andrew. You love Andrew, or rather, you are Andrew, and you love yourself. All the lines are just you talking to yourself, because there is no one else in this world besides you and the one you created.”
The scene fell into complete silence, with only Wen Yuhan's voice audible.
Xiao Yang, sitting in the back row, then noticed that there were many pen marks on the script that Wen Yuhan had casually flipped through.
“You want to create two timelines on stage simultaneously: one is the man named ‘Han’ and his outdated, dilapidated little theater, and the other is the man he created named ‘Andrew’ and his decadent world.” Wen Yuhan turned to Pei Shaocheng. “Right?”
“You’ve read the script,” Pei Shaocheng said in a deep voice, staring intently at Wen Yuhan.
"I've only turned two pages." Wen Yuhan avoided the other person's intense gaze and said calmly, "The initial version of this play is a story of a Narcissist narcissist who wanders through one relationship after another, yet can never fill the emptiness deep within his heart. You seem to have divided him into two people, but in reality, he's still one person. However, you have given him a new reason for his 'narcissism.'"
"In this story, 'Andrew' later develops self-awareness and falls in love with the person who created him."
"Tsk." Wen Yuhan remarked, "What a kind creator... but quite interesting nonetheless."
"Really?" Pei Shaocheng's voice trembled slightly as he received Wen Yuhan's approval.
Wen Yuhan stopped responding. His gaze swept briefly across the stage before he dragged a stool from a spot near the backstage area and turned to Pei Shaocheng, saying, "Tie, can I borrow it?"
Pei Shaocheng paused for a moment, then obediently took off his tie and handed it to Wen Yuhan.
Wen Yuhan took the tie, went behind Xiaochun, and blindfolded him. Then he led Xiaochun to a chair and tied his hands tightly with a rope.
Wen Yuhan whispered close to Xiaochun's ear, "Try to imagine that you are the only person left in the whole world. You have been walking alone in the dark for a very long time, feeling lonely, afraid, and angry... You want to escape this darkness. You know that as long as you remove the obstruction in front of you, you can regain contact with the light. But your hands are bound, and there is no way to do anything. No one can hear your voice, and no one will come to save you... You gradually stop struggling, like a beetle stuck in resin, suffocating, despairing, and giving up little by little."
Wen Yuhan's voice was like a sea nymph from the deep sea who used her singing to bewitch the crew, seeping into Xiaochun's and everyone else's blood through their eardrums, captivating and bewitching them.
Everyone held their breath, and Xiaochun, who was blindfolded and tied to the chair, was like a fish out of water, opening her mouth wide to try to get more oxygen, and her body, which was stiff and taut at the beginning, began to tremble.
Seeing that he was clearly in the zone, Wen Yuhan silently gave Pei Shaocheng a look.
Pei Shaocheng's eyes darkened, and he immediately understood Wen Yuhan's intention. He took a deep breath, then slowly walked to Xiaochun's side, bent down, and untied the hemp rope from his hands, one loop at a time.
Upon regaining her freedom, Xiaochun immediately clung to Pei Shaocheng's waist as if grasping at a straw, her emotions shifting rapidly between despair and joy, reaching a near-mad state.