Liu Guodong rushed in front of Xia ng, but slamd on the brakes just a step away.
His face wore a look of disbelief bordering on madness.
"Student Xia ng... how are you?"
The surrounding classmates also crowded around, their eyes filled with concern.
Xia ng did not answer imdiately.
She just stood there, letting the tears continue to fall, washing away the dust of the past twenty years.
After a long ti, she slowly raised her head, eting everyone's concerned gazes.
The corners of her mouth actually lifted slightly, forming an extrely faint, yet incredibly genuine curve.
"Teacher," her voice was hoarse from crying, "I'm fine."
She took a deep breath, as if trying to expel all the gloom from her chest.
"Let's continue."
These four words were spoken lightly, yet they exploded like thunderclaps in everyone's ears.
Continue?
In her current state, she could still continue?
Liu Guodong was dumbfounded, and the classmates were equally stunned.
Only Jiang Ci, standing to the side, looking at her face glowing with vitality, felt his heart drop with a heavy *thud*.
An extrely ominous premonition instantly enveloped his mind.
"Good! Good! Good!"
After snapping back to reality, Liu Guodong roared three "goods" in a row, overco with excitent.
He waved his large hand and bellowed with booming energy, "What are you all standing around for! Continue! The 'Rainy Day Argunt' scene! Give the best performance of your lives!"
The performance began again.
It was the sa open space, the sa two people.
This ti, the atmosphere was completely transford.
Jiang Ci was still that obsessive, crazy Ma Lu.
But Xia ng was no longer the "Ming Ming" who would only retreat in terror.
Her technique was still there.
Every turn, every blocking movent, carried a sense of dance.
But everything was different.
When Jiang Ci, as Ma Lu, roared the pleading question "Do you love ?", Xia ng's body executed the script-required, wide-arc dodging movent.
Clean, sharp, flawless.
However, at the very mont she completed the technical movent, her back turned to Jiang Ci...
Her shoulders, imperceptibly, slumped ever so slightly.
That wasn't the reaction of the character "Ming Ming."
That was a sliver of vulnerability belonging to Xia ng herself, revealed after her hard shell had been torn open.
The vulnerability existed for only a fraction of a second, so fast it was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye.
But Jiang Ci saw it.
His brain instinctively captured this detail.
According to the script, he should imdiately pursue her, pressing the question with even more explosive intensity.
Yet at that mont, as if guided by so ghostly whim, he stopped in his tracks.
The hand about to reach out and grab her shoulder froze in mid-air for an instant.
This tiny pause disrupted the original performance rhythm, but injected a heart-wrenching sense of realism.
It was as if Ma Lu had truly been struck by Ming Ming's vulnerability in that mont.
That obsessive love beca tinged with pity.
Dangerous.
And captivating.
A suffocating chemical reaction ford between the two of them.
And it was precisely in that second of Jiang Ci's hesitation.
A notification box that made his heart and lungs stop popped up before his eyes.
[Ding! Heartbreak Value 1 detected from Xia ng!]
"..."
Jiang Ci's pupils contracted violently.
Plus... one?
That's it?!
While he was still experiencing an earth-shattering internal tsunami, Xia ng across from him had already perfectly transford that sliver of vulnerability into power for her character.
She spun around abruptly, tear tracks on her face, but delivered Ming Ming's lines in a completely new way.
"You're crazy! I'm crazy too!"
It was no longer simple fear, but a fierce counterattack after being pushed to the brink!
The entire scene was exhilarating.
When the final movent froze, the entire Rehearsal Hall fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone was so shocked by this god-tier performance that they were left speechless.
A few seconds later, Liu Guodong was the first to react.
He didn't call cut, just stared dumbly at the two people in the center, his eyes turning murky.
"It's done..."
He muttered to himself, his voice choked.
"It's really... done..."
Thunderous applause erupted in the Rehearsal Hall.
The classmates spontaneously clapped, their gazes at Xia ng and Jiang Ci filled with awe and fervor.
They had witnessed the birth of art.
They had witnessed the ergence of a genius from its cocoon.
Xia ng stood amidst the applause, sowhat at a loss, but her face displayed a vividness never seen before.
She looked at Jiang Ci, her expression complex, carrying a trace of... dependence that even she hadn't noticed.
And at this mont.
The focus of everyone's attention, the architect of this miracle—Jiang Ci.
He was standing with his head lowered, expressionlessly staring at the system panel before his eyes.
During that nearly perfect performance just now, Xia ng, due to being overly imrsed and emotionally stirred, had contributed a few more scattered points of Heartbreak Value.
[Ding! Heartbreak Value 2!]
[Ding! Heartbreak Value 1!]
Jiang Ci's face turned ashen, inch by inch.
He looked at that radiant Xia ng, who seed to be glowing from within.
He watched her discussing the details of the performance with her classmates, a smile he had never seen before blooming on her face.
An absurd and desolate thought exploded in his mind.
It's over.
This money tree... I cured it with my own hands.
From now on, it only drops pennies.
...
Rehearsal ended early.
The results were astonishingly good. Liu Guodong, in a rare show of rcy, let everyone go back early to rest.
After the other classmates had left, Liu Guodong's voice ca.
"Jiang Ci, stay for a mont."
Jiang Ci walked over to him with heavy steps.
"Kid, I have to thank you."
The wild joy and lingering fear were still interwoven on Liu Guodong's face. "You have no idea what an incredibly aweso thing you did today!"
He cald his excitent slightly, his expression turning serious.
"Jiang Ci, I also need to tell you sothing else."
"This Graduation Play isn't just a graduation performance."
Jiang Ci lifted his eyelids, waiting for him to continue.
"Besides the school leadership, the school has pulled quite a few strings this ti, inviting several heavyweight figures from the industry."
Liu Guodong's voice was very low, each word carrying weight.
"The programming directors from top-tier TV stations, the golden producers from leading film and television companies... they'll all be here to watch."
He paused, staring intently into Jiang Ci's eyes.
"Among them, the most important one," Liu Guodong's tone grew grave, "is the Artistic Director of Huaxing Pictures, Director Wei Song."
"He's currently looking for the male lead for his next big-budget production, a historical costu drama with an investnt exceeding five hundred million."
These words were like a heavyweight bomb.
Any acting student hearing this would probably faint from excitent.
It ant leaping straight to the top.
It ant going from an unknown student to a highly-anticipated movie star with just one film.
After finishing, Liu Guodong stared tightly at Jiang Ci, expecting the reaction he should have.
However.
Jiang Ci listened quietly.
He just looked at Liu Guodong very calmly, his mind rapidly calculating another account.
Curing one Xia ng had directly slashed Heartbreak Value production by 99%!
Not even a random lifespan reward was triggered!
Where in this world were there so many broken "Xia ngs" waiting for him to cure?
Looking at Old Liu across from him, spraying saliva with shining eyes, Jiang Ci suddenly felt as if there was a thick wall separating him from this world.
Liu Guodong stared at his utterly unperturbed expression, dumbfounded.
This kid... why isn't he reacting at all?
Doesn't he understand what "Huaxing Pictures" and "five hundred million" an?
Just as Liu Guodong thought he was scared stiff, Jiang Ci finally moved.
Those eyes, which had been lifeless just monts before, suddenly erupted with a terrifying, sharp light!
He slowly raised his hand. Under Liu Guodong's expectant gaze, he leaned forward slightly and asked urgently:
"Teacher!"
"That five-hundred-million historical drama... is it... tragic?"
"Are there many female characters in it?!"
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