Chapter 60: Aftermath Of The “confession”
After the second class ended, Xiang Chuan kept looking at Ainuo nervously, afraid he would come with a second public bombshell.
Her friend circle also took some actions. Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong didn’t go anywhere after class, sitting in their seats with light screens on. Although their expressions weren’t as straightforward as Xiang Chuan’s, the meaning was self-evident. Nancy ran over to play with Ouyang Yating as usual, but her eyes occasionally glanced at Ainuo without smiling. Chou Manman also came over with the Performance Club’s recent rehearsal schedule to discuss with Xiang Chuan, which relaxed Xiang Chuan’s taut nerves a bit.
“We’re just training now, but without a goal, it feels like the members’ interest isn’t very high…”
Chou Manman frowned and looked at her pleadingly.
“Goal… goal huh…” Xiang Chuan tilted her head and thought: “How about using a simple drama as the final goal to try?”
“Drama? Romeo and Juliet?”
Chou Manman could only think of this.
“Isn’t there anything else besides this? The Twelfth Fleet should have other scripts, right?”
Xiang Chuan asked doubtfully.
“Because there are no topics available for writing scripts, and no one with writing talent to write them, the Twelfth Fleet only has Romeo and Juliet and various virtual versions based on it…”
“Virtual versions?” Xiang Chuan thought, probably adaptations and secondary creations. Has fan works become so upscale in this era? But this piqued her interest: “Tell me what versions there are?”
“Hm? There are all kinds of strange ones, after all, it’s a story from 15,000 years ago, and incomplete statistics show at least 5,000 derivative versions.” Chou Manman thought, “The more famous one is the version where Romeo and Juliet successfully end up together, followed by the modern background version after the nobility system was born. This version is very exciting, with many details changed to modern style, giving it a witty feel that the original lacks. When I was little, my mother took me to see the original and then this version; the modern version is my second favorite. But later, because of its strong satire against nobles, it was targeted by other fleets, but the Twelfth Fleet insisted on preserving it despite opposition, though it can’t go on tour performances in various fleets.”
Stepped on the toes of big shots, got it. Xiang Chuan, with her 21st Century experience of all kinds of “river crab,” felt deep empathy.
“There are also some plot adaptation versions, besides the happy ending I just mentioned, there’s Juliet being saved by Laurence and then living incognito as a national behind-the-scenes advisor, Rosaline (Romeo’s early lover) discovering the Romeo and Juliet romance and exposing it turning into a love triangle, and such…”
“Others are some strange versions, like Romeo truly loving Mercutio (Romeo’s good friend, killed by Juliet’s cousin), Juliet actually being a boy, the reverse with Romeo actually being a girl… These versions aren’t as famous as the first two adaptations, but they have many fervent fans.”
Got it, roses and lilies huh, didn’t expect modern times still have people into that. Xiang Chuan showed an understanding smile, which instead left Chou Manman baffled.
“How about you guys make a simplified version of Romeo and Juliet yourselves? Delete Romeo’s lover, the prince, servants, all that; have the actors explain all the background.”
Xiang Chuan recalled some stage plays she saw in her previous life, of course referring to opera dramas.
“But wouldn’t that make it seem a bit wordy? And with long lines, I’m worried the new members won’t adapt.”
“Add more exaggerated performance in the lines. The Romeo and Juliet lines you recited before already have some of that flavor. Add actions and the character’s own views on that background, like Romeo talking about his parents’ mood when introducing the Montague family, talking about fun stories with the two when mentioning Benvolio (Romeo’s close friend)… If no fun stories, try making one up.”
“Performance… views… add sentences…” Chou Manman nodded, inputting what Xiang Chuan just said into the notes on her terminal light screen, then excitedly gave Xiang Chuan a big hug. “Thank you, Xiang Chuan! Finally found some ideas! I’ll go think about how to do it right now!”
“You can ask the literature clubs for help, if their text creation ability hasn’t deteriorated…” Xiang Chuan said the second half very softly, Chou Manman didn’t hear clearly.
“Hm… Though the possibility of success feels slim, still worth a try.” Saying that, Chou Manman looked around at the classmates: “Our class’s Literature Club member is… Ah, Class President—!”
Chou Manman rushed to the front row to discuss the script with the Literature Club member and Class Eight Grade One Class President Lu Daiqing.
Xiang Chuan watched Chou Manman’s back, thinking young people with passion for their dreams are great…
Completely not noticing an extra shadow beside her.
“Didn’t expect you to know about drama performance too.”
The voice that tensed Xiang Chuan’s nerves forty minutes ago suddenly rang out, startling her so much she jumped from her seat and backed away repeatedly.
“Ai… Ainuo Classmate.”
Xiang Chuan took a deep breath, looked around; her “left and right protectors” had left the classroom at some point, probably seeing her deeply engaged chatting with Chou Manman, thinking Ainuo wouldn’t be so tactless to come find her then, so they left. They didn’t expect her to finish chatting with Chou Manman so quickly, nor Ainuo to be so persistent.
Even shaking off a person is this troublesome, who dares to date?
“Sigh…” Thinking this, Xiang Chuan sighed heavily, as if this sigh took away her tension toward Ainuo. Looking at Ainuo again, she no longer had that nervous feeling of a girl facing a boy she rejected: “Ainuo Classmate, can’t we put this aside for now? You just saw, not only do I have my own club to busy with, I also have to help watch over my friends’ new club, no time to play with you… cough, no time to entangle over that boring argument from yesterday so long.”
Close call, almost stepped on another landmine.
She originally thought Ainuo would frown and yell “What a joke!” again, but unexpectedly he just stared at her for a while, then said nothing and returned to his seat.
This matter is… considered over?
Xiang Chuan dazedly watched this boy return to his seat, open his light screen and fiddle with something. The male classmates around saw him back and crowded over, occasionally lifting heads to look her way. When they saw Xiang Chuan staring at them, they quickly lowered heads or stiffly turned away.
Back at her seat, opening the light screen to check the current shipment progress from various supplier channels contacted through Xiang Weiguo last night, Xiang Chuan still felt an unreal sense that this matter came fast and left fast.
Then she simply stopped thinking about it, because she saw some goods showing delivery to school at noon. Xiang Chuan quickly opened her light screen to contact Ouyang Yating and Liang Gong to discuss the afternoon arrangements.
Equipment is coming, one step closer to the Gourmet Food Club’s official opening. Where’s the mental energy to handle such troublesome boy-girl issues… no, should call it puberty issues.
Is this matter really just ending like this…? (lol)
The entanglement between Ainuo and A Bite of China Club is still long
As for CP issues, I can only say love can’t replace bread, let alone 30,000 years later when Xiang Chuan can’t even eat bread (look at the title)
Only when she can truly lie on the big sofa at home, eating various snacks idly while chasing various long-water-time TV series, will she think about that aspect.
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