CH 29.1

Chapter 29.1 – Performance and Flowers

Shi Yuan started acting again.

Life was back on track but the audience was much smaller than in the past. They had to compress the number of shows from three or four a week to one or two.

“It will get better after a while,” Qin Luoluo said. “The passenger flow is like this after every big warning. I estimate that after another month, it will be back to the same as before.”

In short, Shi Yuan worked hard to perform on stage, and when he was free, he would sort out the backstage and change advertisements at the entrance of the theater.

He played Lin Mo and was killed many times; he played the cypress demon and was killed many times; he played the God of Salvation… He was not killed this time, but saved the world.

At the end of the story, Leo, played by Wolfgang, knelt in front of him and said movingly: “Can you really, can you really save the world and make me a real hero?”

At this time, Shi Yuan stretched out his hand to him – his appearance was evil, his expression was gentle, and the golden, hazy sky was filled with mist, which was beautiful.

Leo died in front of the throne, the monsters in the world disappeared, and a new era was won from then on.

Whenever the stage play would, Shi Yuan and the others would bow to the audience side by side, and there would always be thunderous applause.

He was still afraid of people, still nervous, but in the end, he adapted to the performance.

Everything seemed to be the same as before. The audience’s laughter and applause never disappeared, but when they walked out of the theater and onto the street, something intangible seemed to condense in mid-air, which was gray and gloomy.

“Is there really a savior?” Shi Yuan asked Qin Luoluo.

“Savior?” Qin Luoluo was putting on makeup in the background, carefully applying mascara. After painting, she looked around in the mirror and continued casually: “How is it possible? If there is such a thing, it should have appeared 70 years ago.”

She pursed her lips to make sure the lipstick was flawless, checked her makeup one last time, stood up, and swayed to the stage in a long dress.

Bright lights and thunderous applause.

She smiled beautifully.

Once after a performance, Shi Yuan and Cheng Youwen went to deposit money together.

The piggy bank for Isabella was quite full, and there was a huge pile of banknotes, thick and solid. Shi Yuan saved 20 yuan, and Cheng Youwen saved 50 yuan.

After Cheng Youwen locked the safe, Shi Yuan asked, “How is Ms. Isabella’s illness?”

“It’s still the same, neither good nor bad,” Cheng Youwen replied. “Wolfgang often contacts her, she is now in a stable condition, and the money is still enough, we are keeping the money for her future surgery—major surgery is very expensive.”

Shi Yuan thought for a while: “Tracey also needs surgery, right?”

Cheng Youwen paused for a moment: “Yes, yes, that’s right.”

Shi Yuan asked, “Is Tracy’s money enough?”

“Her surgery is not that expensive,” Cheng Youwen explained. “And Wolfgang has savings, so it’s no problem.” His fingers were stained with coin oil, he wiped them back and forth on his clothes. “We tried to save money for Tracy before, but she’s not happy with it, and won’t let us do it.”

He continued to rub his fingers on the corner of his clothes: “She firmly disagrees, and we can’t help it. She has always been a very sensible and obedient child, and she doesn’t want to cause trouble to others. She also said that when she grows up, she will definitely give the money back to Wolfgang… Later, Isabella also needed an operation, so we got a piggy bank.”

Shi Yuan still remembered the story of Isabella. She was Wolfgang’s teacher, and she transferred the Garcia Theater under her own name to Wolfgang, and only then did the Wild Rose Troupe become what it is today.

Tracy liked Isabella very much.

She didn’t want Cheng Youwen and the others to save money for her surgery fee, but when it came to saving money for Isabella, she was more active than anyone else. Shi Yuan saw her save money for buying snacks more than once, and put a few yuan into the piggy bank.

Shi Yuan asked: “When the two of them finish the operation, will they be able to recover?”

“If the operation is successful, at least it will be much better than it is now,” Cheng Youwen affirmed. “Surgery also has risks, but we must have confidence.”

They went back down the stairs to the first floor.

The setting sun fell obliquely on the steps through the glass, orange-red. Cheng Youwen leaned on crutches, dragged his right leg, and moved down the stairs step by step, which was very difficult.

Shi Yuan reached out to help him, but Cheng Youwen pushed him away, saying, “I’m not so useless yet.”

So Shi Yuan walked with him slowly.

After going down a few steps, Shi Yuan asked, “How are you and Qin Luoluo?”

“Cough!” Cheng Youwen coughed twice, off guard. “Why did you suddenly ask this?”

“I thought you would be together,” Shi Yuan said. “She got better only after you kept comforting her while she was in the shelter.”

“That’s the concern among friends,” Cheng Youwen said. “She won’t like me because of this, and I don’t expect it either.”

Shi Yuan asked, “You didn’t tell her you like her?”

“No.”

“Why didn’t you say it?”

Cheng Youwen said, “Alas, there are some things you don’t understand. Timing, everything needs timing. I don’t know how to explain it. Well, how did you and Lu Tinghan meet? You didn’t just confess your love right away, right?”

Shi Yuan corrected: “Lu Tingting.”

Cheng Youwen: “…Okay, Tingting is Tingting.”

Shi Yuan thought for a while: “I don’t seem to have confessed.”

“So Lu Ting… Lu Tingting is interested in you,” Cheng Youwen concluded.

“I don’t know if it counts.” Shi Yuan was a little tangled.

Cheng Youwen glanced at Shi Yuan a few times, then sighed: “Forget it, I guess you just don’t understand.”

“But if you like someone, you have to tell them,” Shi Yuan said.

Cheng Youwen stood still.

At this moment, his expression was very complicated, a little helpless and a little unwilling, showing a self-deprecating smile: “Shi Yuan, do you know how many scripts I have written?”

Shi Yuan shook his head.

“Just counting the officially finished ones, there are 12 scripts in total, and the theater troupe has performed 5 of them,” Cheng Youwen said. “Waiting for Oakland, In the Rye, Southern Flowers, and Plum Rain, each of them has emotional lines, and Wolfgang is the male lead, and Qin Luoluo is the female lead, do you know why?”

Shi Yuan replied, “Because we are poor and can’t afford to hire other people.”

Cheng Youwen: “…..”

Cheng Youwen’s expression was hard to describe, as if he was caught off guard by Qin Luoluo’s 12 cm stiletto heels, he said, “Uh, this is also one the reasons.” He shook his head. “Damn, my thoughts are all messed up by you. I mean, why do you think I’m not the male lead?”

Shi Yuan really hadn’t thought about this question.

Wolfgang was of course suitable for the male lead. Aside from his acting skills, he was tall and had sharp facial features, which looked deep under the stage lights. He and Qin Luoluo often appeared in the middle of the posters, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, looking very seductive.

On the other hand, Xia Fang and Cheng Youwen had no stage presence.

Xia Fang was too thin, and his appearance was clever and cunning, not like the protagonist; Cheng Youwen was even worse than him, his face was always pale like a ghost, he would always cough, and he had a disabled leg.

Cheng Youwen stood there, looked at Shi Yuan, and said, “I like to write emotional dramas, and I am very good at them. Love is a very important part of my scripts. I have been writing scripts for many years, and I have also liked Qin Luoluo for many years. If I could, of course, I would like to play the male lead once and be able to stage a romantic scene with her on stage.”

He smiled again: “But, I can’t do it. How can I play the male lead with my body? You see, I have written so many good love stories, but in the end, they belonged to others.”

Shi Yuan: “Qin Luoluo and Wolfgang…”

“No, the script is the script, they are ordinary friends,” Cheng Youwen said. “There is another point. Because of the sequelae of the infection, the doctor said that I would not live long, at most ten years, and surgery would not save me. So, I said the timing is very important. If I knew her before I was infected, then I must have done it long ago.”

Shi Yuan paused: “I never knew about this…”

Cheng Youwen looked at Shi Yuan who was stunned and said, “Only Wolfgang and Lieutenant Xie know, and now you are added. You don’t have to think too much, I think it’s fine now, we still have time, we can still act together.” He squeezed Shi Yuan’s shoulder and smiled. “She is the heroine, one day there will be a prince from heaven to marry her away, I’ll just be a small audience.”

After writing so many stories, in the end, he was not the protagonist.

Cheng Youwen’s tone was free and easy, but his eyes were full of regrets. Even Shi Yuan, the little monster, could see it.