Chapter 58: New Year's Day Performance (Part 2)
On Sunday afternoon, after lunch, Li Nuo and An Ran'er headed to school together.
During the cold winter season, very few people would wander outside on a Sunday. If he hadn't drawn a role in the stage play, Li Nuo would definitely have stayed under his blanket watching anime on his laptop.
For many students, having to come to school on a weekend was something they were very unwilling to do, even if it wasn't for classes.
After arriving at the school gymnasium, Li Nuo discovered that everyone participating in the play was already there. It seemed that he and An Ran'er were the last to arrive.
When Zhou Qikuan saw them, he walked over and asked,
“You two came together?”
“Yeah. Is there a problem?” Li Nuo replied.
“I remember you live in the suburbs, Nuo. Did you two just happen to meet on the way here?” Zhou Qikuan looked at them suspiciously.
Only then did Li Nuo remember that he had never told Zhou Qikuan about moving. Recently, he had also been arriving at school at the same time as An Ran'er almost every day, which had probably already attracted attention.
So he quickly replied,
“That's right. We... we just happened to run into each other.”
“Really?” Zhou Qikuan looked at him doubtfully. “But it feels like you've been arriving together every day lately.”
“H-Have we? That must be your imagination.” Li Nuo looked away nervously.
“Is that so?” Zhou Qikuan narrowed his eyes.
“We really did just happen to meet,” An Ran'er suddenly said.
Since even An Ran'er said so, Zhou Qikuan stopped asking questions.
At that moment, the student in charge of the class play walked over.
“Hi, everyone!”
The arts committee member of Class 3 was none other than Chen Zhizhi, another girl Li Nuo knew in the class.
As for how she became the arts committee member, it was probably because she was outgoing and good at socializing. People like that were usually able to organize class activities well, and most students were willing to follow their arrangements.
Chen Zhizhi smiled brightly at the three of them. The small dimples on her cheeks made her look playful and cute.
“Li Nuo, and Ran'er, right?” Chen Zhizhi said.
“Let me see. You two are playing the male and female leads. Since you're here, please head to the changing room and put on your costumes.”
“Uh, okay,” Li Nuo replied.
An Ran'er also nodded lightly.
“Right, and as for you...” Chen Zhizhi turned toward Zhou Qikuan. “Qikuan, why haven't you changed into your costume yet?”
“Uh...” Zhou Qikuan laughed awkwardly.
“Can I really not switch roles? I'd even be willing to play a tree.”
“No!” Chen Zhizhi rejected the idea with a smile.
“The roles were decided by drawing lots. They can't be changed. Besides, the tree role is already taken.”
“So, Qikuan, please go change into your costume as soon as possible.”
“Fine, fine... I get it.”
Zhou Qikuan looked completely defeated.
Ten minutes later, everyone came out of the changing rooms wearing their costumes.
Li Nuo was dressed in the classic Snow White outfit. A dark blue top, a bright yellow puffy skirt, red teardrop-shaped decorations on the sleeves, and a red hairband on his head.
Because his skin was naturally very fair, the costume surprisingly didn't look strange on him at all.
Everyone present stood frozen in place.
They had never imagined that a boy could look so much like Snow White.
“Seriously, if I didn't already know he was a guy, I would never be able to tell,” said one of the boys playing a dwarf.
“When someone looks that good, their gender doesn't even matter anymore,” said another boy dressed as a tree.
Before they could finish being surprised, An Ran'er also came out after changing.
She wore a pure white prince's suit with a red cape. Her long orange hair had been tied up and hidden inside the high collar of the outfit. On her head was a crown decorated with jewels.
Her handsome face and elegant manner made her look like a real prince.
Even Chen Zhizhi couldn't help staring.
In fact, it wasn't just her.
Almost every girl present was stunned.
An Ran'er's appearance perfectly matched the image of Prince Charming they had imagined in their hearts.
Many average-looking people like to wonder what they would look like if they became the opposite gender.
But seeing Li Nuo and An Ran'er in their costumes made Chen Zhizhi realize one thing:
Beautiful people look good whether they dress as men or women.
After all, beauty has never belonged to only one gender.
If Li Nuo's and An Ran'er's appearances made everyone feel pleased and amazed, then Zhou Qikuan's appearance could only be described as painful to look at.
The tall, muscular man over 180 centimeters tall was wearing a purple dress, a black cape, and a crown with five pointed tips.
No matter how people looked at him, it felt completely wrong.
To make matters worse, the dress didn't fit him very well, showing off all of his muscles and making the whole outfit look even stranger.
Everyone immediately covered their eyes.
“My eyes! Ahhh!” cried one of the boys dressed as a dwarf.
“My goodness, what did I do to deserve seeing this?” said another dwarf.
Seeing everyone's reactions, Zhou Qikuan snorted.
“This isn't my fault. I told you from the beginning that I wasn't suitable for this role, but you insisted on making me do it!”
He once again requested to switch to the role of a tree.
Unfortunately, Chen Zhizhi rejected him again.
Her reason was simple.
His Evil Queen appearance created such a strong visual impact that it would greatly improve the performance's entertainment value.
Soon, the rehearsal officially began.
Although the play only lasted fifteen minutes, it was much more complicated than Li Nuo had imagined.
The group rehearsed for nearly the entire afternoon before finally reaching the last scene.
The scene where the prince kisses the princess sleeping inside a crystal coffin and awakens her.
At first, Li Nuo thought he would actually have to kiss An Ran'er.
Because of that, he had been nervous the entire time, though secretly a little excited as well.
However, Chen Zhizhi eventually told them that no real kiss was needed.
They only had to pretend by using camera-stage angles. The audience wouldn't be able to tell from their seats anyway.
Li Nuo immediately felt relieved.
At the same time, though, he felt a tiny bit disappointed. He had originally thought he might finally say goodbye to his first kiss today.
Apparently, he had been overthinking things again. After all, it was only a school play. Of course they wouldn't actually kiss.
The final scene alone took them a full half hour to rehearse.
By the time the entire play rehearsal was finished, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon.
With the rehearsal complete, everyone packed up and headed home.