CHAPTER 9

The heartfelt 'is there' directly choked up the teacher and shook the entire classroom for three seconds.

'Xiao Wang' who was listening carefully to the teacher praise him, choked violently.

Zhao Dong and Jin Xiaochen were also startled by Xue Xiao.

Was this how this guy asked?

The most obedient child asked with such a well-behaved and serious face!

The teacher's face turned red and agreed. He almost forgot what he was going to say. "You… didn't feel it?"

Xue Xiao continued to shake his head seriously. "No."

It was really a particularly sincere face. His pair of beautiful eyes seemed to be asking, 'Do you want to talk about where I didn't act well?'

"You… think you acted better than Xiao Wang?"

Xue Xiao opened his mouth. Zhao Dong was really afraid he would say 'I think I acted very well' and cleared his throat loudly. "Hahahaha, Teacher. You might not know it but this kid is very enthusiastic about acting and very obsessed. His personality is also very frank and very cute, right? Hahahaha, I think that Teacher is right. A young reporter and an old reporter must feel different. Yes, come on. Let's continue!"

Jin Xiaochen's eyes widened. 'Brother Zhao, you are quite incoherent in your speech. In particular, your praise isn't right!'

Zhao Dong: 'Logic isn't important! The important thing is to quickly smooth things over!'

The teacher was choked up and opened his mouth. It was wrong to scold but it seemed wrong not to scold. His neck was red with anger.

It wasn't that Xue Xiao was unreasonable. It was just that since breaking through his original self and decided to face himself honestly, his courage suddenly became very big.

He had watched carefully when Fan Xue's group of three was rehearsing just now.

Except for Fan Xue, who always had his back to him, he had a panoramic view of the other two's performances.

Judging objectively, Xue Xiao felt that he was definitely better than Xiao Wang in acting. So when he heard the teacher's words, the energy in his heart rushed up.

At this moment, the teacher's speechless and angry face was clearly reflected in his eyes.

Xue Xiao controlled his expression and his eyes calmed down.

The clear look made the teacher feel like he had been invisibly slapped and he said angrily, "Do you think you acted well? Then what teacher do you want? I have nothing more to teach you!"

Zhao Dong and Jin Xiaochen were stunned for a moment before quickly saying, "No. Teacher, don't be angry. Xue Xiao is just more serious about acting."

"Being serious doesn't mean feeling good about yourself." The teacher sneered. "If you think you already act well, why appear on this show? Why haven't you become a movie star yet?"

This was getting more and more serious.

Zhao Dong was so anxious that he quickly gave Xue Xiao a look and asked him to say something quickly.

On the side, Fan Xue gloated at this scene.

Xue Xiao pursed his lips and stood in place, his face tense.

For a moment, he felt as if he had returned to Nanhe Film and Television City a month ago.

In the noisy and hurried twilight, everyone in the world seemed to have something to do. Only he was leaning against the window, holding his phone while waiting for contact from Sister Wang, the guild agent, and Brother Wang, the group leader. He was waiting for them to say to him: You have received a role.

However, what he finally waited for was, 'Go apologize to Fan Xue.'

On the last night before leaving Nanhe Film and Television City, Zhang Chengyu drank beer with him at a roadside stall and said to him, "Xiao'ah, you still have to be tactful. In particular, you have to be tactful in our circle. I know you don't have this nature but if you want to go down this path in the long run, you have to compromise a bit."

The beer that slipped down his throat had a bitter taste. The bubbles irritated his throat and Xue Xiao frowned tightly.

"Look at your expression." Zhang Chengyu smiled helplessly. "If you encounter such a thing again, what are you going to do if you don't compromise?"

What could he do without compromising?

Xue Xiao stood quietly in this classroom.

The teacher waved the script, saying that he couldn't teach him. Zhao Dong and Jin Xiaochen tried to persuade him and the Fan Xue trio on the side looked like they were watching the play.

Xue Xiao suddenly looked up and said, "Teacher, I'll show you again."

The teacher, Zhao Dong and Jin Xiaochen were all stunned.

Xue Xiao put down the script and his expression suddenly became more relaxed than last time.

He made a gesture of raising his hand to give a cigarette.

Last time, he played a slightly mature man who was nearly 30 years old. When he gave the cigarette, his thumb and forefinger pinched the cigarette and his hand was raised up. His posture was very sophisticated and he was obviously an old smoker.

This time, he played a younger reporter. He held a cigarette between his index and middle fingers and handed it to the side, a subconscious action made by a young man with a bit of energy.

Jin Xiaochen didn't react to it and Xue Xiao faced a cloud of air.

However, he seemed to see Li Xueming's lack of reaction and laughed. He simply stuffed the cigarette into Li Xueming's fingers, raised his chin and said in a casual tone, "I'll go over there to see Chen Tao."

It was a very short scene and very concise lines but the feeling before and after it was performed by Xue Xiao was completely different.

Everyone was stunned.

Before they could react, Xue Xiao stopped and looked at the teacher.

He asked, "Do you think it is okay to act like this, Teacher?"

The teacher: "..."

Silently, a layer of goosebumps spread over his arms.

It wasn't because of Xue Xiao's amazing acting talent but because of something else…

Xue Xiao's pupils were a very pure black, pearl-like color.

His complexion was fair. Both his appearance and his temperament were gentle and beautiful. He wasn't aggressive at all.

Even at this moment, he stood there seemingly very quietly and spoke in a calm and polite tone.

However, this type of unwavering star, the attitude of insisting on tearing off the mask and forcing him to be honest, this type of concentration and seriousness in acting—

It was all too aggressive.

The teacher couldn't help gulping. He almost reflexively took a step back before saying with a frown, "…Yes, you can be a bit more ostentatious."

Once these words came out, he paused and cleared his throat. "To put it bluntly, the name of this movie is 'Praying Mantis.' You should remember that the praying mantis here refers to the orchid mantis, which is a pet kept by Chen Tao at home."

Zhao Dong and Jin Xiaochen quickly lowered the hands that they had raised to stop the teacher from leaving and listened carefully.

"The orchid mantis is an insect that is very good at camouflage and camouflage is the most distinctive feature of Chen Tao and Zhang Yang. In this play, Chen Tao has torn off his mask but Zhang Yang is still pretending. Consider the difference between the beginning and the end. If you really want to make the audience feel terrified and horrified, it is necessary to clearly imprint his early image into the hearts of the audience."

"Your character should jump into the audience's heart with a sunny attitude and be dark enough when the mask is torn off at the end, understood?"

"Got it." Xue Xiao nodded obediently at this time.

He acted again according to the teacher's instructions.

The teacher's back was covered with sweat. He nodded and pretended to be serious. "This is almost it. This part is over. Let's move on."

He looked at the young man in front of him who was devoted to rehearsals and suddenly felt a bit confused.

How could this person be so fierce one moment and become obedient the next?

What was going on in this person's head?

He had such a straightforward brain and incredible acting ability. How could the teacher make it so that…

The teacher secretly glanced at Fan Xue.

Xue Xiao thought very simply.

Let him compromise?

He, couldn't, do, it, even, if, he, died.

In any case, he would never be able to do it until he was desperate. If he was really desperate… let's talk about it when the time came!

Xue Xiao had a stubborn head. His father said that when he was a child, his whole body was soft but his head was the hardest.

Back then, little Xue Xiao didn't understand why his father evaluated him like this. Now he clenched his fists and recognized it himself!

The teacher's attitude toward the group was obviously strange. His words just now about Xue Xiao not acting well enough were obviously lying. Xue Xiao just raised one question and the other person became extremely angry.

Did he have to apologize?

Xue Xiao naturally cleaned up the scene he made by himself. He decided to use his acting skills to divert the attention of the audience.

Look, he succeeded. His acting skills were still good!

The three onlookers of Fan Xue's group couldn't see the plot of tearing all pretenses of cordiality. It felt like a sneeze was about to come out only to be held back. Now they felt that this scene was natural and inexplicable, harmonious and weird!

They all wanted to vomit blood when Xue Xiao's role was finished.

Was this okay?!

Xue Xiao ran back to the side and the teacher touched his nose with a bit of embarrassment. He said to Zhao Dong, "You are Chen Tao, right? You come here. We will speed it up and try to finish before lunch. Then you will rehearse by yourself in the afternoon."

Zhao Dong's personality was very 'sensible' and was more in line with the tastes of this teacher.

Zhao Dong was taken aback for a moment when the teacher said he would adjust the role of Chen Tao. Then he said with a smile, "Okay, tell me, Teacher."

There was a scene in this play that was a classic scene from the original.

When Li Xueming and his subordinates analyzed that the corpse lying downstairs was probably not the real serial murderer at all and they found the wrong person, Li Xueming suddenly moved his fingers and noticed the cigarette between them.

This cigarette reminded him of one thing.

The gangster Chen Tao knew his master.

Just two months ago, his master was investigating another murder case at a KTV where Chen Tao was working as a security guard at the time. Therefore, his master asked Chen Tao some questions.

Chen Tao was a reckless person and there were few serious words in his mouth. When he handed a cigarette to Li Xueming's master, he blew out a smoke ring and inadvertently said a joke. This made his master suddenly think of a key clue and he locked onto a suspect.

Then when his master led people to rush upstairs, the suspect knew he had no way to escape and hanged himself first. He completely died.

Li Xueming glanced at the body of the kidnapper downstairs and suddenly felt cold all over. He glanced at the cigarette in his hand and remembered their previous profile of the serial murderer.

This was a person who was extremely good at disguise. For the sake of challenge and excitement, he even took the initiative to contact the police.

He was very smart, good at layouts and designs and would never simply raise his hand to surrender.

His master once said with regret that the physical evidence left by the suspect in the murder showed that the other party seemed to know who the murderer of the serial murderer happening in A City was at the time, but unfortunately, he died.

It was a pity that he died.

Not far away, Zhang Yang was biting a cigarette while untying the rope around Chen Tao's feet. Then he found that the person in front of him suddenly stopped trembling and calmed down.

He smiled and said, "You finally calmed down? I see that you are usually so courageous but you actually aren't that bad."

Saying this, he turned his head to look at Chen Tao's face. The camera also turned to hit Chen Tao's face.

The man was lying on his side on the ground. He had a rough and tough face and his slightly long hair was twisted into strands of sweat and dirt. It hung in front of his eyes, blocking his vision.

There was stubble growing on his chin and his lips were dry and peeled. This man looked dirty and a mess at first glance.

Behind his messy hair was a pair of eyes that were always casual. They were staring straight at the backs of Li Xueming and his subordinates and became cold and sticky at some point.

Hearing Zhang Yang's words, his dark eyes rolled.

It was like a lizard rolling its eyes.

He grinned silently at Zhang Yang, revealing a smile.

...

This scene originally scared many children in the cinema. 'Shen Tingyan is scary' went on the hot search and many netizens died of laughter.

The teacher said to Zhao Dong, "Fan Xue and Teacher Shen are very similar in body shape and temperament, so I let him follow Teacher Shen's acting method. You are tall enough but your body is thinner. We can use this to change the acting method and make the role of Chen Tao a bit darker."

He made his performance demonstration. "Your back should be slightly hunched over and you should be more decadent and dirty than Chen Tao in the original work. You are the insect that is best at disguise. Once the disguise fades, the audience will find that you are darker and more distorted than the Chen Tao they imagined. You should just smile, keep smiling. Zhang Yang sees that you are afraid and shaking and says that you are usually so bold but in fact, you aren't good."

The teacher nodded at Xue Xiao, indicating that he should change the wording here.

Xue Xiao listened quietly and wrote a few things down.

Zhao Dong listened very seriously and nodded from time to time.

He performed again as the teacher said and the teacher emphasized, "You can smile more exaggeratedly."

Zhao Dong lay on the ground and smiled vigorously.

"More exaggeration. Don't be afraid of exaggeration. You are here to scare the audience!"

Fan Xue and the others on the side raised their scripts. They saw Zhao Dong's distorted face and couldn't help laughing secretly.

The teacher didn't hear it and told Zhao Dong, "Yes, that's it. Remember, perform it like this on stage when the time comes."

Xue Xiao put on the pen cap.

It wasn't until 1 o'clock in the afternoon that the teacher finished his lesson and left the classroom.

Jin Xiaochen said, "Then should we consolidate it first or go to eat first?"

Xue Xiao glanced at the room full of cameras, beckoned to them and walked out of the classroom.

Xue Xiao turned his head to speak to Zhao Dong. The moment he turned his head, he saw the cameraman's camera and his words were held back.

He turned around and walked all the way out. Zhao Dong and Jin Xiaochen also followed tacitly.

Xue Xiao quickened his pace and started to trot. The two of them also trotted and the cameraman followed.

Xue Xiao ran all the way into the hot sun outside before stopping.

Seeing that he couldn't get rid of the cameraman, he stopped, turned to face Zhao Dong and took a deep breath.

Zhao Dong stretched out his hand. "Xiao'ah, be tactful!"

A very clear and pleasant phrase popped out of Xue Xiao's beautiful little mouth. "Attention!"