A woman in her 70s marries a rough-looking man; her plump wife is too delicate and alluring.

The next morning, Sheng Yuze took He Zhaoyang out.

The courtyard looks more spacious than it did yesterday.

Most of the plane tree leaves on both sides of the main road have fallen, and the remaining yellow leaves sway slowly in the wind.

Sheng Yuze walked slowly, pointing things out to her as he went.

He Zhaoyang followed him, listening and taking notes. People went in and out of the cafeteria. Someone saw Sheng Yuze nod, and Sheng Yuze nodded back without stopping to speak.

As she approached the auditorium, she heard music coming from inside.

It wasn't a radio broadcast, but an accordion, playing intermittently, as if being tuned. There were also voices nearby, like someone was conducting something. Her steps slowed.

Sheng Yuze also slowed down, turned his head to follow her gaze to look at the auditorium door, and asked a question.

"Shall we go in and take a look?"

He Zhaoyang looked at him, neither saying yes nor no.

Sheng Yuze had already pushed open the side door of the auditorium and was waiting for her. She hesitated for a moment, then followed him inside.

The auditorium looks bigger inside than it does from the outside.

The stage lights were on, and several rows of folding chairs were placed below the stage. Seven or eight people stood on the stage, some holding sheet music, others bending down to tune their accordions.

A woman in a blue cloth jacket stood in the center of the stage, gesturing as if she were rehearsing a choir formation.

She saw someone come in, stopped what she was doing, and turned to look.

"Yuze." Her gaze lingered on Sheng Yuze for a moment, then fell on He Zhaoyang behind him. "And this is?"

Sheng Yuze spoke up: "Sister Liu, I brought my wife here to familiarize herself with the way."

The woman called Sister Liu smiled.

"You've found your way to the auditorium?"

She put down the sheet music in her hand and waved to He Zhaoyang, "Perfect timing, your wife is pretty, why don't you have her come on stage too? We're just short of a host for the New Year's Eve party."

Sister Liu slowly looked at He Zhaoyang, her eyes full of admiration.

He Zhaoyang stood below the stage, stunned for a moment.

She glanced at Sister Liu, then at the people on the stage holding sheet music.

Sister Liu is still waiting for her reply.

"I won't be a host," He Zhaoyang said.

Sister Liu smiled and switched the sheet music to her other hand.

"You don't need to know how. Someone will write the script, and you can just read it. You have a good image, so you can just stand on the stage."

She paused, as if remembering something, "You can read, right?"

"Learning to read."

"That's no problem."

Sister Liu had already turned around and walked back to the center of the stage, as if the matter was already settled.

As she walked to the center of the stage, she glanced back at He Zhaoyang and said, "New Year's Day is still a long way off, you can take your time to prepare. There are even rewards for participating."

He Zhaoyang's eyes lit up immediately when he heard there was a reward; there was actually a reward!

As they walked out of the auditorium, He Zhaoyang tugged at Sheng Yuze's sleeve, shaking it back and forth, "What kind of rewards are there?"

Sheng Yuze slowed down because of her shaking, and turned his head to look at her, as if to confirm whether she was serious.

"I'll ask for you," he said.

He Zhaoyang loosened his sleeve and took two steps after him: "Then go ask now."

"tomorrow."

"Now!"

He Zhaoyang followed behind him, standing at the door without going in, only showing half of his body to look inside.

When Sheng Yuze walked in, Sister Liu was talking to someone on stage. When she saw him come back, she smiled.

"What? Your wife changed her mind?"

"She asked me to inquire about the rewards for participating in the New Year's Day performance."

He Zhaoyang stood at the door and smiled sheepishly.

She hadn't expected Sheng Yuze to ask so directly!

Sister Liu glanced at He Zhaoyang, who was halfway in through the doorway, and smiled as she leaned against the edge of the stage, looking at the half-figure in the doorway.

"The first prize is a thermos, the second prize is an enamel basin, and the third prize is a towel. The participation prize is also a bar of soap."

He Zhaoyang stood at the door, mentally reviewing the prizes.

She took her hand off the doorframe, pushed open the door, and went inside: "I... I want to participate."

Sister Liu leaned against the edge of the stage, as if she had known all along that she would come in.

"Okay. Come pick up the manuscript in a couple of days."

As they walked outside, Sheng Yuze gently stroked her nose with his finger, his tone full of affection, "Anyone who didn't know better would think I wasn't going to buy it for you."

He Zhaoyang shook his head. "That's different. A reward is a reward."

Sheng Yuze withdrew his hand, looked at her, and said with a smile, "Okay, a reward is a reward. I'll come with you to pick up the manuscript later."

He Zhaoyang nodded, quickening his pace slightly compared to when he arrived.

Two days later, He Zhaoyang went to the auditorium to pick up the manuscript. Sister Liu handed her several sheets of handwritten paper.

Several paragraphs were copied on it with a fountain pen, the handwriting was neat and the punctuation was clear.

He Zhaoyang took it, looked down at it, and then looked up and said something.

"I can just memorize it."

Sister Liu leaned against the edge of the stage and nodded: "Okay, dress nicely then."

He Zhaoyang folded the manuscript, put it in his pocket, and left the auditorium.

I took it out to look at it the whole way.

When she got to her building, she stopped, took out the manuscript and read it again. After reading it, she folded it up and put it back before going upstairs.

Sheng Yuze couldn't help but find it amusing, "So serious, huh?"

As a result, He Zhaoyang rolled his eyes at him.

In the days that followed, He Zhaoyang would find a secluded spot every morning to memorize his script.

She didn't memorize it very quickly, but she got more fluent with each repetition.

He Zhaoyang was standing in the corner of the courtyard reading his lines when the courtyard gate was pushed open.

She looked up and saw Chen Huanzhu standing at the door, his face not looking good, clutching a piece of paper in his hand.

"Sister-in-law." She walked in and stopped two steps away from He Zhaoyang. "Do you know? I was the host before you came, including this time when I was the one who was originally chosen to be the host."

Sister Liu told me today that she had changed the person in charge, and that's how I found out she contacted you.

He Zhaoyang looked at her without saying a word.

Chen Huanzhu held up the paper in his hand: "I prepared for half a month, and I even memorized the script. You've only been here a few days, and you haven't prepared anything, yet you've already taken my place?"

He Zhaoyang put down the manuscript and looked at her: "It was Sister Liu who asked me to sign up, not me who volunteered."

Chen Huanzhu found it amusing after hearing this. "Then why don't you refuse? What? Becoming Commander Sheng's daughter-in-law makes you so powerful?"

He Zhaoyang placed the manuscript on the stone table and looked at her.

"When Sister Liu asked me to sign up, I didn't know that you were the one who had been selected before. She didn't tell me either."

"Now you know." Chen Huanzhu took a step forward, looking down at He Zhaoyang. "You can quit. Go find Sister Liu now and tell her you're quitting."

He Zhaoyang neither stepped back nor avoided her gaze: "I won't back down."

Chen Huanzhu looked at her, as if he hadn't expected her to be so straightforward: "Do you know how long I've been preparing? Half a month, practicing in the auditorium every afternoon."