Hear this life

A few days later, the school notified the members of the drama club to sign up for the "Shanghai Youth Student Drama Competition."

When the news came, Wen Tingli and Yan Zhenzhen were sitting in the audience watching their classmates rehearse "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

"Tingli, will you participate?" Yan Zhenzhen pushed Wen Tingli's arm.

"If she doesn't participate, who will?" Several members of the drama club laughed and said on the stage, "When she was still in Xiu De, our president Zhao was very jealous of her. Now that she has come to us, how can she not help us win the first prize and come back?"

"Don't be too happy yet. It is said that Principal Michelle was strongly opposed to sending students to participate in the competition at first, but later she learned that Mr. Lu had signed the recommendation form, and then she had nothing to say. But she doesn't seem to have given up. Just now when I went to the Art Department to get the information, I saw her personally drawing up the list of participants."

"She's the one who draws up the list?" Yan Zhenzhen was puzzled. "She doesn't understand drama, and if she's allowed to choose randomly, she might not even win a place. Director Zheng is in charge of the Art Department. Does she agree with Principal Michel's reckless behavior?"

"Of course Director Zheng disagrees, but it's because Principal Zou hasn't come back yet. Now Michelle is in charge of all school affairs, and Director Zheng can't do anything about her." The student changed the subject and said, "But when I left, it happened that the heads of the art departments of several allied schools came to visit. They said that Yue Zhiwen from Huizhen Middle School and Xu Weian from Hujiang Middle School would also participate in this competition. When Michelle heard this, she suddenly stopped talking about drawing up the list herself."

As soon as these words were spoken, the auditorium fell into an eerie silence.

Chen Xiaohong was reading a book with great interest. She noticed something was wrong and raised her head slowly: "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you hear? Le Zhiwen and Xu Weian are also going to participate!"

"who are they?"

"Chen Xiaohong, you, you..." Yan Zhenzhen pounded the table, "Do you never care about anything else except studying? Many people in our school are fans of Xu Weian. This guy starred in "Rainbow" and "Legend of the Xiangshan Swordsman" when he was only 17 years old. Every time he is mentioned in the newspaper, he is called a film genius."

“Where’s Le Zhiwen?
"Le Zhiwen is even more amazing." Zhao Qingluo, the president of the drama club, took over the conversation on the stage, "She is a famous child star, and her father is the famous director Le Chang. Le Zhiwen started acting in movies when she was three years old. Even if you can't tell her name, you must remember the roles she played. Have you seen "The Great Scholar Makes Trouble at School"? She is the little winter melon in the movie."

"It's her!" This time Chen Xiaohong finally remembered, "I remember, I remember, that little girl who was as cute as a New Year picture doll."

"It's over." The drama club members looked at each other in bewilderment. "They're both so famous now. Why would we join in the fun when they're already in this competition?"

Zhao Qingluo said on the stage: "Hey, what are you doing? The game hasn't even started yet, and you're already backing out?"

Unfortunately, her encouragement had no effect, and the audience was still wailing. Zhao Qingluo simply put her hands on her waist and said loudly, "Let's take a step back. Even if the top two places are divided between Le Zhiwen and Xu Weian, can't we still strive for third place?"

Wen Tingli didn't say a word. She didn't care about the third place. She was aiming for the first place.

If she doesn't get first place, she won't be able to get the "Yuying Scholarship". If she doesn't get the "Yuying Scholarship", Michelle will have an excuse not to allow her to take the university entrance examination with a pragmatic academic record.

Zhao Qingluo jumped off the stage and pushed Wen Tingli's shoulder: "Why are you in a daze? Don't tell me you were scared too."

Wen Tingli slammed the table and said, "Will I be scared? Let's go to the Art Department to find out the rules of the competition first."

Everyone burst into laughter. The two girls encouraged each other and rushed to the door of the art director's office. They looked inside and saw quite a few people sitting in the office, both men and women, young and old. They were probably the heads of the art departments of other allied schools, and Principal Michel was also there.

"Director Li, since Xu Weian from Hujiang Middle School is participating in the competition, you can order champagne for the celebration in advance."

The man waved his hands modestly: "Hey, hey, don't say that. Huizhen also has the famous classmate Le Zhiwen. Even my mother is a fan of Le Zhiwen."

Although Michelle didn't say anything, it was obvious that she was in a good mood.

Director Zheng glanced at Zhao Qingluo and Wen Tingli at the door and said, "You two are here for the drama competition, right? Come in quickly."

Wen Tingli smiled sweetly: "We would like to ask Director Zheng about the rules of the competition."

Director Zheng turned around and asked Michelle in a questioning tone: "Principal Mi, what do you think about the list issue——"

Michelle glanced at Wen Tingli and smiled delicately: "Although there are two child prodigies participating in this competition, as the vice principal, I don't want to dampen the enthusiasm of our students in advance. How about this, all students who are interested in dialogue drama can sign up to participate."

Director Zheng seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "That's fine. Zhao Qingluo, post the notice on the bulletin board first and let the students sign up freely. Be sure to hand in the list before Friday. These are the rules of the competition. You and Wen Tingli should go back and take a good look at them."

She seemed to want to add some words of encouragement, but when she turned around and saw the two gentlemen from Hujiang and Huizhen, she finally just patted them on the shoulders in silence.

Back in the auditorium, Zhao Qingluo and Wen Tingli gathered the members of the drama club together to study the rules of the competition.

"The preliminary exam will be held next Monday. We will select 100 people to participate in the semi-finals. Then 80 people will be eliminated in the semi-finals. Finally, 10 people will be selected from these 20 people to compete for the championship, runner-up and third place."

Wen Tingli took over the conversation: "As for the judges, there are also ten of them, consisting of producers from major film companies, vice presidents of the Shanghai Film Association, and directors of various middle schools. After each competition, they will draw lots to decide the judges for the next round to ensure the fairness of the competition."

Although they had no hope of winning any prizes, the number of students who signed up in the school was unprecedentedly large. When asked, they all came to get close to Xu Weian and Le Zhiwen. Even if they might not win a prize, the students were indescribably excited just thinking about seeing the two stars in person at the competition.

From that day on, every evening after school, countless students would run to the auditorium to rehearse with laughter, and the school drama club thus ushered in its most prosperous period since its establishment.

Some practiced singing, some performed dances, and one student showed off a dazzling sword technique. Her graceful and unique body movements made the classmates exclaim in amazement. According to the student herself, her grandmother had learned martial arts for several years in Wudang Mountain in her early years, and this sword technique was taught to her by her grandmother herself.

The rest of the students, led by Yan Zhenzhen, sat at the bottom eating melon seeds and watching the fun. When they saw who performed well, they clapped their hands hard and sometimes ran to the stage to present flowers and make trouble. By the evening, the small auditorium was filled with laughter.

During the intermission that night, Zhao Qingluo walked to the stage and clapped, signaling the students to be quiet.

"Tomorrow is the preliminary round. Wen Tingli and I have something to tell everyone. Wen Tingli, don't just sit there eating snacks with Yan Zhenzhen. Speak up."

Wen Tingli wiped her hands and face with a handkerchief, stood up, straightened her face and said, "There are so many people in the preliminary examination, and each person has only three minutes. If you want to leave a deep impression on the judges in such a short time, it is best not to have too long a prelude. Dong Yuanyuan, don't do the horse stance before the sword technique, just show your three most stylish moves, 'Tiger Descending the Mountain'.

"Liu Xiaoman, Zhao Qingluo and I both think that you are more skilled at singing "Jasmine Flower". People tend to get nervous during competitions, so why don't you try singing the song "Man Jiang Hong" that you are not so familiar with?

"Cheng Si, you seem to be the only one in the city who is performing the flower drum, which is a highlight in itself. You might as well just skip that lengthy English self-introduction and get straight to the point. In short, Zhao Qingluo and I have summarized three suggestions: get straight to the point, perform the program you are most familiar with, and have confidence in yourself."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Zhao Qingluo smiled and said to her ambitious friends, "Everyone should go to bed early tonight. We will gather in the auditorium after school tomorrow, have some bread and milk, and then go directly to the Golden Theater."

The first round of preliminary examinations was quickly completed, and only thirteen pragmatic students were selected.

Another seven were eliminated in the second round of rematches.

By the final round, only Wen Tingli and Zhao Qingluo were left.

Despite this, the auditorium was still bustling at night. Although they were eliminated, they hoped that their classmates could represent the team and make it to the final. Some students were so concerned about the competition that they even brought their homework to the auditorium to do it. Wen Tingli and Zhao Qingluo, who successfully entered the final, rehearsed hard every night until 9:30.

***
On the day of the finals, Director Zheng from the Art Department came to cheer them on. In order to help the two students prepare for the competition, she hired a makeup artist from the opera troupe in advance and borrowed several costumes from the Xinmin Theater. The friends crowded around to watch Wen Tingli and Zhao Qingluo try on their makeup. Someone said, "We can finally see Le Zhiwen and Xu Weian tonight, right? There were so many people in the previous competitions that I didn't know what they were performing."

"You can't see them. With their current fame, they have bodyguards everywhere. They will probably go straight backstage after the game."

"I heard that because of the two of them participating in the competition, this competition was hyped up by all major newspapers, and tickets for the Golden Theater were sold for one dollar each." (Note)
When it comes to this, Zhao Qingluo nervously covers her chest and takes a deep breath: "What should I do? So many people are watching my game. If I don't perform well, won't I be embarrassed in front of thousands of people?"

"Why think so much? It's already great to be able to make it to the finals." Director Zheng patted Zhao Qingluo on the shoulder. "No matter what place you and Wen Tingli win in the end, the teacher is proud of you."

After finishing dressing, teachers and students set off for Golden Cinema in a mighty procession.

At night, the neon lights in front of the Golden Cinema lit up, and the street was crowded with young faces everywhere. The sounds of whistles, hawking, music, and conversations intertwined, hitting everyone's eardrums.

Suddenly someone shouted excitedly: "Le Zhiwen! Look! That's Le Zhiwen!"

A white rickshaw slowly drove towards the entrance of the cinema. When the car stopped, a pretty figure appeared in front of everyone. But before everyone could get close to it, several strong men protected Le Zhiwen and slipped into the theater door.

Even so, people were still standing on tiptoe in great joy, and heard someone shouting over there, "Xu Weian! Xu Weian is here too!" (Note)
At this time, the bus of Shiwu Middle School also arrived nearby, but was stuck at the corner of the street. Director Zheng was afraid of being late, so he simply led the students off the bus and walked towards the theater, choosing places with few people along the way. It took him a long time to finally help them squeeze to the door of the Golden Cinema.

After entering, Wen Tingli suddenly felt the air get cooler. She had eaten in high-end restaurants in Shanghai before and knew that this was the so-called air-conditioning (note).

The backstage dressing room is even more spectacular, with dozens of dressing tables, rows of lit light bulbs, mountains of powder, and countless tool boxes. There is a crabapple red high-back sofa in front of each dressing table, and all the staff are busy in a tense and orderly manner.

"You are here to participate in the finals tonight, right?" A middle-aged man in a blue coat came over with a few young stage managers. "My name is Zhao. Please follow me."

Then he asked Director Zheng, "Are you a teacher at Shiwu Middle School? Please stay. This competition is very strict. Please wait outside the whole process."

Director Zheng had no choice but to stop and raised his fist to cheer up Wen Tingli and Zhao Qingluo: "Don't be nervous, we have been rehearsing for so long, there will be absolutely no problem!"

The two men said goodbye to Director Zheng nervously and followed Mr. Zhao into another dressing room.

There were ten students who entered the finals, and five or six of them were already waiting inside. Two of them were old classmates of Wen Tingli and Xiu De, but they were obviously very nervous, and when they saw Wen Tingli, they didn't dare to say hello to her loudly.

There were two middle-aged men in suits sitting at the top. Every time a contestant came in, the two men would check the photo on the registration form with the contestant's photo.

Wen Tingli and Zhao Qingluo had just sat down on the chairs when they heard a commotion in the corridor. Looking outside, they saw a group of people walking by, surrounding a person like stars surrounding the moon, and a few more people following them attentively.

Because Wen Tingli was very close to the door, she happened to see the man's profile. His handsome eyebrows and eyes were as delicate as a clear spring in the mountains.

She was stunned. Lu Shicheng?! Didn't he already leave for Southeast Asia? How could he suddenly appear here?

The people in the room were also horrified.

"Isn't that Mr. Lu from Nanyang Hongye?"

"Yes, don't forget that the Lu family is the major shareholder of this competition. If it weren't for Mr. Lu taking the lead in signing, the momentum of this competition would not have been so grand. Director Huang repeatedly invited him to come to the scene to express his gratitude to him, but unfortunately Mr. Lu was not interested. In the end, it was Boss Liu who personally invited him, and he agreed to come to watch the game. I heard that he only came to show his face and leave."

"Why don't you go out and say hello." Led by Manager Zhao, all the staff in the room rushed out.

The remaining students looked at each other in the room.

After a moment of silence, the outside became noisy again. This time, a little girl was escorted in. She was wearing a long-sleeved silver-gray dress, a pearl crown of the same color on her head, a delicate oval face, and eyes that seemed to be able to speak.

Everyone in the room was startled. Le Zhiwen was even more beautiful than on the screen.

Mr. Zhao personally accompanied Le Zhiwen in, bent down to help her pull out the chair, and personally made tea. No one else had this treatment.

Yue Zhiwen was known for not liking to smile, but she had no celebrity airs at all. After entering, she bowed politely to the contestants in the room. When Manager Zhao handed her a cup of tea, she also said softly, "Thank you."

Her voice was extremely clean, and one could tell from her voice that she took great care of herself. Then she took a sip of tea and closed her eyes, lost in thought, as if she was building up her emotions for the next game.

Wen Tingli stared at Le Zhiwen without blinking. It was the first time for her to observe such a movie star up close, and she was deeply shocked.

Fame? Attention? In short, there was an invisible thing that made something in her bones stir. Later she realized that it was the ambition in her bones that was awakening.

It turned out that this was the demeanor of a big star. For the first time in her life, she had a strong desire to act in a movie.

After Le Zhiwen took his seat, another young star Xu Weian had still not arrived. Seeing that the competition time was almost up, Manager Zhao was getting anxious. At this time, laughter was finally heard outside, and a large group of people came in, escorting a young man.

This man had a handsome round face and dark skin. After he came in, he looked at Le Zhiwen with his eyes and said unhappily, "Didn't I tell you before that I don't want to sit next to Le Zhiwen?"

Le Zhiwenli ignored him, so the theater staff had no choice but to move the chair prepared for Xu Weian to the other side: "Mr. Xu, sit over here."

Only then did Xu Weian sit down on the chair: "Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."

After saying this, he took out a small notebook from his pocket and started reading it attentively under the light.

Everyone present could see that the two were competing secretly. Even the staff inside and outside the room focused all their attention on Le Zhiwen and Xu Weian, and almost no one paid attention to the other contestants throughout the whole process.

When the time came, Mr. Zhao reminded him earnestly: "Everyone should be familiar with the rules of the competition. Each person will perform an impromptu performance for 20 minutes. The contestants will draw lots to decide the topic. The judges have already taken their seats. The official competition will begin soon."

He added, "Director Huang has invited reporters from various newspapers to the venue. There will be thousands of people watching the game tonight. Tomorrow morning, newspapers all over Shanghai will report on this event. All contestants must be in their best form to compete."

Zhao Qingluo was already dizzy with nervousness. Wen Tingli quietly clenched Zhao Qingluo's hand, her heart almost jumping out of her throat.

But she was not nervous, but excited, as if the sound of war drums was ringing in her ears.

Facing a powerful enemy ahead, she is ready to strike.

(End of this chapter)