4: Stop fighting!

"Teachers, my performance is over." Li Xiuwu sheathed his sword, his movements elegant.

Wang Jinsong exchanged looks with a few people and said, "Not bad, have a seat first."

"Thank you, teachers." He took a step back, bowed in gratitude, and turned to return to the back of the stage.

Beside him, Liu Yifei watched him, her eyes sparkling. Li Xiuwu nodded to her and sat cross-legged, his long sword resting across his knees.

"Next, number 329, Liu Yifei."

Liu Yifei immediately stood up and walked over.

Her voice was clear and pleasant, but her talent performance was average. Her delivery and vocals weren't great, but her physicality was outstanding; having studied dance since childhood, she presented it well.

Overall, she was good, but one thing stood out: she didn't have stage fright and presented herself very naturally.

The teachers below the stage discussed for a moment, and Xu Xiaodan spoke up: "The few of you will perform a skit together. The theme is a marketplace. You have ten minutes to prepare."

"How should we perform? Does anyone have ideas?" After Deng Zifei finished speaking, he looked at everyone, glancing at Li Xiuwu with a look that was clearly less friendly than before they entered.

Li Xiuwu put too much pressure on everyone.

"Time is too short, we can't write anything complex. Let's just do a simple buying and selling scene," Zhang Lu said.

Deng Zifei looked at the others; Liu Yifei and Xiao Jing shook their heads, having no objections.

Li Xiuwu also nodded in agreement.

"How should we arrange it? We need at least some identities," Deng Zifei looked at the group.

"A dispute over buying and selling, keep it simple," Xiao Jing said.

"Who's buying and who's selling?"

"I'll sell the sword then," Li Xiuwu said.

Deng Zifei's eyes flickered, but he didn't speak. He looked at Zhang Lu and Xiao Jing.

None of them wanted to stand with Li Xiuwu.

"I'll sell pork," Zhang Lu's eyes flashed. Since it was a marketplace argument performance, the seller's role was a fixed part of the scene.

"You two sell, and the three of us will buy. I'll buy Zhang Lu's meat and get into a conflict with him." Deng Zifei first secured his own part.

Zhang Lu and Deng Zifei looked at Xiao Jing and Liu Yifei.

"I'll be the peacemaker." Xiao Jing glanced at Li Xiuwu. She wanted to interact with him, but thinking this was an exam where she needed to stand out, she realized there would be no chance to shine in front of him.

Finally, only Liu Yifei was left. If she didn't choose to interact with Li Xiuwu, Li Xiuwu would be marginalized.

"I'm buying the sword?" Liu Yifei pointed at her nose, not understanding the subtle maneuvering going on.

"Let's do it like that." Once decided, the five of them naturally split into two groups.

Deng Zifei and Zhang Lu continued discussing: "Should we start fighting at the end?"

"How do we perform?" Liu Yifei asked Li Xiuwu blankly.

Li Xiuwu thought for a moment and said, "You play a spoiled young miss, unreasonable, buying a sword, and finally making me your guard."

"Oh, how should I play that?" She looked at Li Xiuwu.

"Just like what you see on TV. Improvise and come up with your own lines."

The teachers below took the opportunity to rest while also observing the group.

"They've split into groups?" Chen Yi was speechless.

"They feel the pressure, so it's natural exclusion," Xu Xiaodan said with a smile.

Li Xiuwu's performance just now was on a completely different level from theirs, and his personal image was much better too.

Liu Yifei was still young and didn't understand these things; she just hadn't realized it.

"Acting is the art of cooperation," Zhang Ming spoke up. He was a teacher from the Directing Department, and his perspective differed from the others.

"The camera is something you have to fight for," Wang Jinsong countered.

"You can control the actors, but can you control who the audience loves to watch?" The group smiled; this was the difference in philosophy between the Directing and Acting Departments.

"Alright, it looks like they're almost ready," Chen Yi interrupted their conversation.

"Time's up, let's begin," Chen Yi said loudly to Li Xiuwu and the others.

The group felt like time wasn't up yet, but they didn't dare say anything and walked to the center of the stage.

"Selling meat! Freshly slaughtered fat pig!" Zhang Lu stood there shouting.

Li Xiuwu walked directly to a spot not far from him and sat down, placing his sword on the ground.

Deng Zifei walked straight toward Zhang Lu, with Xiao Jing following behind him.

Liu Yifei looked left and right, then walked up to Li Xiuwu.

"Hey, are you selling a sword?" Her voice carried curiosity as she looked at Li Xiuwu, her acting very apparent.

Li Xiuwu didn't speak, just nodded slightly, but the expression on his face carried a sense of loneliness.

"This young miss is asking you a question. Are you selling this sword or not?" Liu Yifei stood with her hands on her hips, her tone spoiled.

"The sword is three feet three inches long, forged from high-quality wrought iron." Li Xiuwu didn't answer directly but spoke of the sword's specifications, indirectly showing his love and cherish for it.

Liu Yifei bent down and picked up the sword, drawing it halfway with a 'shring' sound, glanced at it, and threw it disdainfully onto the ground.

"What a piece of junk. This young miss doesn't care for it. Why are you selling it?"

A flash of anger crossed Li Xiuwu's eyes as he looked up and glared coldly at Liu Yifei.

Liu Yifei was startled and instinctively stepped back, then patted her chest.

"You're quite scary. Do you want to be my guard?" She remained haughty.

On the other side, Zhang Lu and Deng Zifei had already started arguing.

"Are you looking for trouble? If you're not buying, get lost."

"Who said I'm not buying? I want you to cut ten pounds of lean meat for me and mince it finely into a sauce."

"Fuck, you're looking for trouble on purpose, aren't you? See if I don't beat you to death!" The two of them started fighting.

"Stop fighting!" Xiao Jing, who had been out of the loop, finally remembered she had a part and shouted anxiously from the side.

Li Xiuwu immediately stood up and shielded Liu Yifei behind him. Liu Yifei curiously poked her head out from behind Li Xiuwu's back to watch the three of them.

"Stop, that's enough," Wang Jinsong shouted, and the group breathed a sigh of relief.

"Li Xiuwu, what is your understanding of acting?" Wang Jinsong asked.

Li Xiuwu thought for a moment and eventually shook his head: "I haven't studied it. I just imagine the scene based on the text and present it."

Wang Jinsong nodded. Li Xiuwu's expressiveness was good, though his acting skills were indeed raw.

"How are your academic subjects?" he asked again.

"Pretty good." Regarding his academic grades, he smiled confidently. With the system's comprehension bonus, he was sure his National College Entrance Examination scores wouldn't be bad.

Wang Jinsong looked down, then suddenly looked up and asked, "What were you doing yesterday?"

"Reviewing at school," he answered instinctively.

Seeing that he didn't seem to be lying, Wang Jinsong smiled. He was very satisfied with this answer.

This meant he had only applied to the Beijing Film Academy.

The teachers asked the others a few more questions and then let them leave.

"Mom!" After Liu Yifei came out, she ran quickly to Liu Xiaoli's side.

"Did it go well?" Liu Xiaoli instinctively asked her.

"Yeah, it went quite smoothly," Liu Yifei nodded.

"Mom, his name is Li Xiuwu. He's really amazing." Li Xiuwu happened to walk over, and Liu Yifei introduced him to her mother.

"Hello, Auntie," Li Xiuwu nodded to Liu Xiaoli.

Liu Xiaoli sized up Li Xiuwu.

"I'll be going now," he said.

"We're heading back too. Let's walk together." Liu Yifei pulled her mother along and walked out of the building with Li Xiuwu.

"Mom, his swordplay is so beautiful! Swish, swish, swish! Like a great martial arts hero." Liu Yifei walked in front of Liu Xiaoli, gesturing with her hands.

"He even recited an ancient poem: 'Drunkenly, I trim the lamp to look at my sword'." She mimicked Li Xiuwu's performance, her voice clear and a bit cute.

"We performed a sword-selling scene together; I played a young miss." She chirped away, very lively, talking non-stop, a bit of a chatterbox.

"Xiuwu, are you a local from Beijing? Where do you live? We can give you a ride." Liu Xiaoli had been observing Li Xiuwu; he hadn't spoken since they left the Public Teaching Building.

"No need, I drove here." There were two BMWs parked by the roadside, and Li Xiuwu walked toward a brand-new one.

"Hey, our cars are the same!" Liu Yifei was surprised when she saw Li Xiuwu's car.

"Goodbye, Auntie. Goodbye, Liu Yifei." Li Xiuwu opened the car door, put his sword inside, waved back to the two of them, and drove away.