Chapter 69: Performance Chart App
The others also craned their necks to look.
Father Chu glanced around and saw curiosity in everyone’s eyes. He grinned honestly and said, “This outsider doesn’t just refer to you all. Except for the ritual master, everyone else is an outsider. Even us villagers are no exception.”
The ritual master is the master who presides over the Nuoxi Opera.
“If outsiders want to watch during the preparations, they must first divine and ask the deities. Only if the deities agree can they do so.”
As he spoke, Father Chu thought of something, slapped his thigh, and emphasized to Hong PD, “Tomorrow the opera opens. You can only watch; you can’t just film casually. If you accidentally anger the deities, you’ll be punished.”
Hong PD quickly assured him, “No filming, no filming. We won’t film.”
Though he said that, he felt a bit regretful inside.
Hong PD’s original little plan was to film some material after the opera opened, which could be used in the next program.
Hearing the assurance, Father Chu’s face broke into a smile again. He continued, “Our ritual master is very impressive. When many villages have issues, they come to him to handle things.”
Like this time, the village is holding Nuoxi Opera for a nine-year-old child’s Rite of Passage Ceremony.
The so-called pass is the knife pass. The knives on the knife mountain.
It is said that at that time, the ritual master will carry the child on his back and step over this knife mountain. As long as there’s no injury, it counts as successfully passing the rite, and the child’s pass will be cleared.
But in Xuan Xia and the others’ eyes, they all thought this wasn’t a child passing the rite at all; it was clearly the ritual master passing it.
Someone couldn’t help but ask Father Chu, “Are these real knives?”
Father Chu nodded. “Yes, all genuine butcher knives.”
“Hiss—” This ritual master has some real skills.
But some also said, “Hasn’t this kind of thing been debunked long ago? They’re all fake. Just like the oil cauldron.”
Father Chu hurriedly said, “This isn’t fake. Our ritual master is the real deal.”
Hong PD and the others quickly chimed in with “Yes, yes, yes,” not wanting to debate further with Father Chu, as it certainly wouldn’t lead anywhere.
Xuan Xia curiously asked Father Chu, “Does that child have some issue that requires the Rite of Passage Ceremony?”
Father Chu had wanted to emphasize the ritual master’s efficacy to them, but after hearing Xuan Xia’s question, he temporarily set the others aside and looked at this pretty girl wearing their costume.
“It’s our village’s old custom for children to pass the Rite of Passage Ceremony at ages three, six, or nine.” Father Chu hesitated before adding, “It was originally supposed to be held in a few months, but it can’t wait now.”
“Why can’t it wait?” Someone asked on behalf of Xuan Xia.
Father Chu just kept his mouth shut and didn’t say more, only frowning and shaking his head.
This expression clearly conveyed that there was more to the story. Everyone grew even more curious, but no matter how they asked, Father Chu remained tight-lipped.
“Is the child sick?”
“If the child is really sick, they can’t delay it or pin hopes on this. They should seek medical help as early as possible.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and even Xuan Xia followed suit.
It was precisely because she knew about this Nuoxi Ritual item, the Rite of Passage Ceremony, that she asked one more question.
However, Father Chu acted as if saying it would be a great taboo and refused to open his mouth.
Xuan Xia saw this and figured Father Chu really wouldn’t say. She could only wait until tomorrow for the answer.
Fortunately, not long after, dinner was ready. The fragrant meal immediately drew everyone’s attention, their stomachs growling with hunger. Only then did they stop discussing the child and the Nuoxi Opera.
The meal satisfied most people’s taste buds, though a few ate a weight-loss meal.
After dinner, Hong PD seized the opportunity to film some material needed for the dating show with Xuan Xia and Zhou Shiqing, then wrapped up work early.
With people arriving in the village and Nuoxi Opera starting tomorrow, not long after dinner, a bonfire was lit in the village’s large open space.
The bonfire blazed brightly, illuminating the village and drawing back many villagers who had returned specially to participate in the Nuoxi Ritual.
The village gradually took on a lively atmosphere.
The village children gathered by the bonfire to play, their giggles filling the air. Soon, this drew the staff over to join in the fun.
Everyone sat around the bonfire. The village had homemade little liquor, perfect for a bonfire party.
Hong PD came to invite Xuan Xia, Zhou Shiqing, and the others, but Xuan Xia said she wouldn’t join.
After all, she had slept little last night and felt sleepy after dinner.
Since she wasn’t going, Yang Wanxiu also stayed back.
The two shared a room that night. When Xuan Xia came out after washing up, she saw Yang Wanxiu setting up a ground mat.
“Why are you making a ground mat?”
Yang Wanxiu turned to smile at her, her hands still busy, and said matter-of-factly, “The bed is small. Xiaxia, you sleep on the bed; I’ll make a ground mat.”
“The bed is small, but it’s a standard double bed,” Xuan Xia said.
Yang Wanxiu didn’t respond.
Xuan Xia didn’t say more. She directly packed away the finished ground mat and said, “Why sleep on the floor when there’s a bed? What are you thinking?”
Watching Xuan Xia put her sleeping pillow back on the bed, Yang Wanxiu’s heart overflowed with emotion.
Xuan Xia didn’t want her just standing there moved. She waved at her. “Go take a shower quickly.”
Yang Wanxiu hurriedly gathered her things and went.
Xuan Xia, who lay down first, took out her mobile phone.
She hadn’t had a chance to touch her phone all day. Now looking, there were many unread messages on it.
And all these messages were from one person—Qu Xingxuan.
Qu Xingxuan’s earliest message was sent just after one in the afternoon.
“Qu Xingxuan: Your approval is done. Congratulations, you’re now on our performance chart too.”
Then he sent an installation program for an app, telling Xuan Xia this was the performance chart’s mini-program.
He also told her that their performance chart only displayed 100 rankings.
In other words, rankings beyond 100 wouldn’t appear on the performance chart.
However, as long as she logged into her account, she could see her specific ranking, even if it was currently 1000th.
Then, Qu Xingxuan sent an account and password, telling her these were the initial account name and password, provided by the person in charge of the app.
The account name was Xuan Xia’s name in pinyin plus 01, and the initial password was eight 8s.
The password could be changed, and Qu Xingxuan reminded her to change it soon to avoid theft.
Xuan Xia followed his instructions, installed the performance chart app, and logged in.
Soon, the full performance chart appeared on her mobile phone screen.
Xuan Xia stared at the performance chart for a while. If she had to voice any thoughts, she would only say: What a crude app!
After logging in, it was just a simple framework table. Except for the top ten rankings having colored background frames, the rest of the table frames were no different from those made in Excel.
It even lagged behind the latest version of office software tables in terms of beautification!
This? This? This? The Cui Family became the head of the Mystic Sect with this?
After venting, Xuan Xia saw her specific ranking: 1997
Today she learned why she couldn’t get on the shelves: poor score 🙂
Why poor score? Because no one watches 🙂
