A Young Woman's Heart

There are many things that elders can learn from young people!

The performance schedule was very tight, with little time for rest, one show after another.

Soon it will be Class 2 of Grade 11's turn.

This time, everyone wasn't under much psychological pressure, because they were basically just playing minor roles and could even improvise. All the pressure was on Hua Yinyin—she was the main character in this one-woman show.

Backstage, everyone arrived early, and others also needed to put on makeup—after all, some people had to dress up as middle-aged people, and others had to dress up as elderly people, which required makeup to achieve.

Hua Yinyin did her own makeup, creating a relatively youthful look that made her, who already didn't look mature, appear three or four years younger, like a first-year junior high school student.

She blinked at her reflection in the mirror, seemingly lost in thought.

This was the first time Mo Xueyao had ever seen Hua Yinyin so pure and innocent. She was completely different from the mischievous and playful Hua Yinyin in her memory, or the Hua Yinyin who was alluring when dressed as a dancer.

"Hey! Yinyin, what are you daydreaming about? It's time to go on stage!" Mo Xueyao slapped her shoulder hard.

"What's wrong..." Hua Yinyin complained, pouting, looking pitiful.

"...That's weird."

"What's wrong?"

"This innocent and adorable Hua Yinyin is simply unrecognizable." Mo Xueyao strongly suspected she had a hidden form of schizophrenia. "Is it really you?"

"Why not?" Hua Yinyin deliberately raised her voice a little to make it more in line with her character, making her sound more like a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl.

"Alright, alright... save this energy for when you're performing on stage..." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes helplessly.

After the previous class finished their performance, Li Wanyan came over and instructed them to get ready behind the curtain.

"Wanyan!" Mo Xueyao winked at her, and as she walked to her side, she couldn't help but lower her voice and say, "Don't be nervous."

Li Wanyan paused for a moment, then sighed and smiled: "Alright, keep up the good work on the performance."

"I know, but this time it doesn't really concern me. The main character is Yin Yin anyway!"

Behind the curtain, everyone had already taken their positions, with Hua Yinyin surrounded in the middle.

"Didn't you block Yin Yin?" Mo Xueyao turned around and glanced back.

"No, no, it's better like this for now. We can loosen it up a bit more when the curtain is drawn later," Mo Xiaoxiao added, helping to direct.

There were a lot of extras this time, more than twenty people.

With so many people on stage together, everyone felt much less psychological pressure.

They were even laughing and joking, as if they weren't going on stage, but just lining up to go to the cafeteria for a meal.

Shen Kelin and Li Wanyan went on stage and introduced the play they were going to perform next.

Although there was a curtain between them, the sound was still clear.

"Humans are social animals and inevitably need to socialize. But what if one day you are locked in your own world and unable to communicate with others? What should you do then? Please watch the play performed by Class 2 of Grade 11, titled 'A World of One'."

Shen Kelin, who had stepped back from the stage, winked at Mo Xueyao and then pressed the switch to turn off the curtain.

As the curtain slowly rose, the audience below the stage came into view.

Watching the stage from the audience seats and watching the audience from the stage are completely different experiences.

And the story that Hua Yinyin has been preparing for a long time is about to begin.

……

Chapter 247 A World of One's Own

This play is very special; everyone else is just a supporting actor, and they are free to improvise in most situations.

After the stage curtain was fully drawn back, a beam of light suddenly shone down into the pitch-black auditorium and shone on Hua Yinyin.

This is the result of the previous rehearsals—determining how the lighting technician will need to adjust the lighting during the play.

The light shining on Hua Yinyin was the brightest, while the light shining on others was dim and weak.

The play begins on a main street, with pedestrians walking around.

Everyone was talking, creating a realistic sense of a noisy street.

At this moment, Hua Yinyin should have come to a general store to buy something, but she found that the owner ignored her no matter what, and even after taking the things out, he didn't call her back.

But now... this unusually bright light seemed to have frightened her, so much so that Hua Yinyin stood there blankly, motionless as if she had been acupunctured.

Mo Xueyao was talking to Cha Li. She winked at Cha Li, who nodded, and the two of them chatted while subtly moving closer to Hua Yinyin.

"I heard there's a shop that makes really good bread..." Mo Xueyao forgot her lines a bit, so she started making things up.

Cha Li quickly recovered and continued, "But that bakery is very expensive, and the portions are small..."

When the two of them got close enough to Hua Yinyin, they both whispered in unison, "Yin-Yin-Yin!"

Standing there in a daze, Hua Yinyin suddenly realized what was happening, as if she had been startled awake from a dream.

The audience did not feel anything was out of place; in their view, it must have been a pre-planned plot.

Perhaps this somewhat ambiguous opening adds a special charm to the entire play.

"Impressive! These students are amazing!" Even the usually stern vice principal couldn't help but clapp his hands lightly. "There's a touch of artistry in it, especially the initial bewildered stillness—both the gaze and the movements are spot on..."

The head of teaching affairs was very pleased to hear this, because there weren't many programs that could satisfy this old-fashioned vice principal—he probably preferred all kinds of mainstream themes, such as the kind where the school song was sung in chorus before.

He never expected that Hua Yinyin was so nervous that her forehead was sweating.

It seems that performing alone put a lot of pressure on her.

As she continued to walk forward, the passersby gradually backed away—in reality, she was standing still while the others slowly left the scene.

Then we arrived at a place that looked like a general store. The main reason it looked like a general store was because there was a prop made of cardboard standing there.

"Excuse me, how much is this?" Hua Yinyin tried her best to keep her tone calm.

The person in charge of playing the role of the boss is Mo Xueyao. She stands behind the cardboard cutout and greets one customer after another with a smile.

Hua Yinyin kept asking questions, but even as the shop became deserted, she still didn't notice her presence. When she glanced at her, it was as if she was just looking at a wisp of air.

The plot of this one-woman show starts out very calmly, but Hua Yinyin, the protagonist, has more and more doubts in her heart.

She was stunned when she finally snapped and threw a punch at the person in front of her, only to find that her fist passed right through the other person's body.

"Why are you ignoring me?!" The outburst of emotion abruptly stopped, turning into confusion and bewilderment.

Hua Yinyin tried several more times. The performance effect here is achieved through visual illusion, and she practiced it many times.

Despite the constant noise from the people around them and the music playing from the roadside shops, nothing changed. However, through Hua Yinyin's performance, the audience could feel the atmosphere gradually becoming more oppressive.

"Am I dead... or are all of us dead, and only I am alive? Are they all souls, or... am I the only soul?"

Hua Yinyin tried touching the telephone poles and picking up the goods in the shops, and found that she could pick them up.

She and these people live in the same world, but there seems to be something separating them.

Gradually, even the pedestrians on the road disappeared. She walked unsteadily on the bustling but deserted street, as if she had used up all her strength.

In a world where she was all alone, Hua Yinyin rallied her spirits, hoping to start her life anew.

What followed was entirely a one-woman show for her—she kept talking to herself, mimicking the feeling of a mentally ill person.

"Apple or banana? I prefer apples..."

"There are no teachers at the school, but new words will appear on the blackboard..."

"I am in a world where I am all alone."

"Pfft, haha, me in the mirror? Hello there."

Laughter started to increase.

Hua Yinyin started chatting with thin air.

She looked very happy, like a carefree elf.

Even though there were so many people watching from below the stage, it still felt incredibly eerie.

Hua Yinyin's performance was even better than during the rehearsal. She seemed to have put all her energy into the actual performance, and after getting over the initial nervousness, she performed with even more passion.

There wasn't even a trace of exaggerated acting.

Her voice rose and fell, sometimes so high that it was hard to hear clearly, but that inexplicable murmur was even more chilling and added to the sense of immersion.

What would I do if I lived in such a world?

Everyone couldn't help but think that way.

"I don't want to be alone, Dad, Mom... where are you?" Hua Yinyin, who was smiling just a second ago, suddenly broke into a sob, her voice trembling, "Xiao Yaoyao... where are you? Lele... please... save me..."

She knelt down on the ground, hugging herself, her sobs soft and faint, as if she were suppressing herself. Later, she couldn't make a sound anymore, and it turned into silent sobs.

As if she had woken up overnight, she seemed to have regained her composure, but she no longer spoke or laughed, and like a Chaplin pantomime, she went about her own business.

Buying groceries, cooking, doing laundry, preparing meals, studying, taking walks in the city, searching for food...

More and more people gradually appeared around her, but they still couldn't talk to her.

Or rather, they still can't see her.

Hua Yinyin stood in front of Mo Xueyao and greeted her, but the latter seemed not to see her and walked past her.

But she wasn't angry, nor was she as bewildered and panicked as she had been at the beginning.

She greeted many people with a smile, and even when the grocery store owner ignored her, she still smiled, handed him money, placed it on the counter, and left with what she wanted to buy.

However, every time she greeted someone, she would ask, "Hello, can you see me?" Everyone asked her that.

She asked everyone in this way, and then finally turned around with a smile to look at the group of audience members.

Mo Xueyao was a little stunned, because this didn't seem to be part of the script.

Hua Yinyin has now started to improvise.

Actually, this situation started from the second half. Fortunately, everyone's scenes were not many, so they could adapt and cooperate as needed.

As long as the performance revolves around the point that "you absolutely cannot see her," that's all that matters.

Looking at Hua Yinyin in the audience, he seemed to fall into a brief silence.