Chapter 39

Act VI: The Little Prince (1)

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In March, all the teachers and students of Huawu Academy welcomed Arbor Day.

It was said to be ‘Arbor Day’, but was essentially a spring tour. The school rented a bus to take the students to the suburbs to eat, drink, plant trees, and wait until the afternoon to return to the city. Each department had its own activities.

In previous years, Xiang Cai followed the Ballet Department and entered the National Ballet Theatre to communicate and learn with their seniors in the theater. This year he transferred to the Musical Theatre Department, and naturally, his activities changed to appreciating musicals.

"Why is it The Little Prince?" In the theater, Chen Ziran, sitting to the left of Xiang Cai, complained, “What do people see in children’s dramas? Childish!"

"Don't look down on children's dramas. The box office for children's dramas is very high." Qi Ji sitting to the right of Xiang Cai snorted. "With some people's level, they can’t even get a role in children's dramas after graduation!"

"Yes, yes, you are most suited to play in a children's drama!" Chen Ziran's hair was about to explode. If it hadn't been for Xiang Cai in the middle, he would have rushed over to pull on her pigtails. "Like the stepmother in Snow White, the sorceress witch in the Little Mermaid, the old witch in Sleeping Beauty ... with such a weird appearance like yours, you are simply displaying your true colors!”

Xiang Cai reluctantly covered his face with the track sheet, sliding down, down, down the chair... He wanted to slide right under the chair and let the two fight directly.

It was really strange. He didn’t know what deep hatred was between Chen Ziran and Qi Ji. They couldn’t say three words without quarreling.

In the end, Teacher Chu Ping heard their dispute and hurried over to stop the quarrel.

"Jin Qi Ji, Chen Ziran, you both, are both going to graduate next year. Can’t you set an example for the first and second year students?" She hated iron for not becoming steel. This event was attended by nearly two hundred students from the Musical Theatre Department. They didn't control their volume when bickering, causing the group of younger kids to watch the battle with their necks craned, like a group of weasels.

Chen Ziran grieved: "Teacher, she started it..."

Teacher Chu Ping: "You, after watching the musical drama, you write 2,000 words of what you have learned!"

Chen Ziran: "..."

Qi Ji burst out laughing with glee.

Teacher Chu Ping glared at her: "You, also hand in 2,000 words!"

Qi Ji suddenly couldn't laugh anymore.

Xiang Cai remained in his sliding posture, and his entire lower body almost disappeared. He buried his entire face under the tracklist, trying to restrain himself from gloating too much. Unfortunately, he blocked his mouth and his rising cheekbones, but could not stop his eyes from curving.

Teacher Chu Ping raised her eyebrows: "Xiang Cai, two of your classmates were quarreling, and you were sitting between them. You didn’t help to mediate the situation, and you were still watching their drama. Since you enjoyed their drama so much, you can also write 2,000 words of experience.”

Xiang Cai: "??????!!!"

Xiang Cai gave a long sigh, ​​who had he provoked?

...

In fact, The Little Prince was not a children's drama. Or, to be more precise, it was a story written for all adults who stepped into the adult world from childhood.

It was full of philosophical speculations and countless metaphors.

It was said that the sales volume of the original novel was second only to the Bible. Many people said that they ‘often read the story, and always find countless new ideas each time’, but Xiang Cai ‘often reads the story, and always doesn’t understand it’.

He watched the official recorded version of this musical a few years ago and didn't understand it. Now that he saw the live version, he still didn’t understand it.

Who is the little prince? Is he the imaginary self of the male lead? Why does the little prince fall in love with a flower? Where does the fox come out? Where does the snake come out? Who are those who suddenly appear in the desert? Why does the little prince die at the end?

What is this? What is that? What, what, what?

If he was forced to analyze it, he could only say that the songs were good, and the scenery was very good. He couldn't really analyze other things below the surface.

When Xiang Cai came out of the theater, he looked agitated.

Looking at his two classmates, all three faces were dumbfounded.

Qi Ji whispered, "... Do you understand?"

Chen Ziran: "I seem to understand it, but I seem not to."

Xiang Cai was extremely distressed. He had always been a good student, and his cultural level was the highest in his class. Every time he took a Chinese language exam, his composition would be read out as an example. The Chinese teacher also praised his good writing and sincere feelings.

But for The Little Prince, he hit the rocks.

The three had no choice but to bite the bullet and approach Teacher Chu Ping.

However, when they found Teacher Chu Ping, they saw that her eyes were red, and she had just cried.

The three: "..."

It seemed that Teacher Chu Ping not only understood, but was also moved by it.

Xiang Cai felt it was really strange; was this the difference between adults and teenagers? Teacher Chu Ping was actually not very old. She graduated from graduate school two years ago, and was only seven or eight years older than them.

But those seven or eight years were enough to separate her wisdom from theirs.

Seeing them approaching, Chu Ping quickly turned around and wiped away her tears, and then raised her face, becoming a resilient teacher once more.

Xiang Cai was pushed by his two other friends, to ask for an extension on their writeen submission.

Teacher Chu Ping: "How long do you want an extension for?"

Xiang Cai silently stretched out a finger.

Teacher Chu Ping: "One day?"

Xiang Cai shook his head.

Teacher Chu Ping: "One week?"

Xiang Cai shook his head, then squeezed out a flattering, humble expression with a little coquettish smile: "... One month."

Chu Ping directly laughed at him, and asked, "One month? One month doesn’t seem to be enough. It's better to round up. How about you hand over the report on Labor Day?"

[T/N: The Labor Day in May, it is also May Day.]

The three were overjoyed, and Chen Ziran promised the loudest: "Labor Day is good! Labor Day is the best!!!"

Chu Ping smiled: "Well, let's settle the homework on May 1—but then it won't be 2,000 words. Let's round it up, so you hand over 5,000 words."

Qi Ji: "..."

Chen Ziran: "..."

Xiang Cai: "..."

The three left in despair.

Even an essay of 5,000 words could be difficult for college students, not to mention that they were just high school students.

Qi Ji and Chen Ziran had decided to learn from the Internet. Xiang Cai, this kid, never dared to copy homework, so he could only bite the bullet and make it up.

He first went to the school library to borrow an original copy of The Little Prince, and then copied the official film of the musical from the vocal teacher, so that the two could be compared and studied simultaneously.

But …what he didn’t understand in the beginning, he still couldn’t understand after reading it many times. Xiang Cai went crazy, Xiang Cai went mad, Xiang Cai ran out of power, Xiang Cai was about to die.

Xiang Cai changed his QQ signature to four words—making the goose bald.

Just a few minutes after the change, his chat with Wang Qingyun lit up.

Yiming Qingyun: [Is this the wig you dropped?].jpg

[T/N: It’s some meme/phrase but I don’t get it.]

guess: [swan weeping].jpg

guess: [quack big cry].jpg

guess: It's so hard to write an essay!!!!!!!

guess: It's even harder to write an essay on topics you don’t understand!!!!!

Yiming Qingyun: What can't you understand?

guess: The Little Prince. Has Yun Da seen it?

Yiming Qingyun: Of course I read it. I took foreign literature as an elective course in university, and this is a must-read.

Yiming Qingyun: Did your teacher ask you to read this book?

guess: Well ... we are not reading books, but appraising musicals.

guess: It's too obscure and too hard to understand, such as the little prince and the rose. Why does the little prince fall in love with a sensible flower? It doesn't deserve the little prince at all. If I were the little prince, I would prefer the fox. After all, he is very wise and I like wise people.

Xiang Cai complained a lot, and his grievances overflowed the screen.

Yiming Qingyun: [Big laugh].jpg

Yiming Qingyun: Cai Cai, you are so cute.

guess: [black swan question mark face].jpg

Yiming Qingyun: Have you not fallen in love yet?

Yiming Qingyun: You are not the little prince, so you only see the pride and weirdness of the rose.

Yiming Qingyun: When you meet your rose, you will know why the little prince fell in love with it.

Xiang Cai: "..."

His face flushed and his fingers tapped against his old cellphone, almost crashing it.

guess: Who said I haven't meet my rose yet? My rose is a thousand times, ten thousand times better than the rose of the little prince. He's smart, gentle, considerate, and powerful, and he's not that kind of bad-tempered flower.

He finished that in one breath, but his hand hovered over the send button for a long time. In the end, he didn't dare to send such blatant words.

He was afraid that Wang Qingyun would see through his heart.

He was also afraid that Wang Qingyun would not understand his heart.

But what he was most afraid of was that Wang Qingyun would see through, but pretend not to understand.

In the end, he could only bite his lower lip, delete his declaration of love word by word, and replaced it with a plain "oh".

guess: oh.

guess: When I meet my rose, I definitely won't leave it like the little prince did.

After thinking about it, he tentatively tried again.

guess: Great god, have you met your rose?

Yiming Qingyun: Hmm ... should I say yes or no ...

Xiang Cai sat upright, alert.

Yiming Qingyun: I did encounter a very proactive rose, and it very warmly invited me to loosen its soil.

guess: !!!!!

Xiang Cai instantly remembered the young man standing next to the great god in the video call.

Yiming Qingyun: But I didn't agree.

Xiang Cai immediately breathed a sigh of relief without letting himself blow up.

He innocently asked why.

Yiming Qingyun: There was no special reason, it was just inappropriate.

Yiming Qingyun: Everyone wants to find the flower in their hearts, but that flower is not necessarily a rose.

Yiming Qingyun: It may be a lotus, it may be a lily, it may be a daisy, it may be the most humble baby’s breath ...

Yiming Qingyun: Maybe it is a different rose.

Yiming Qingyun: I am a person who values ​​feelings very much. The social circle around me is not big. Every day, besides school, I work so I haven't met a suitable flower yet.

guess: [swan tentatively spreads wings and touches illegal boundary].jpg

guess: That ... you are so famous on the Internet, haven't you thought about finding one in the two-dimensional world?

Yiming Qingyun: Are you talking about online dating?

guess: Yes yes yes.

Xiang Cai was so nervous that he couldn't even use an expression.

Yiming Qingyun: There are friends around me who have tried online dating.

Yiming Qingyun: But I don't like this form myself.

Yiming Qingyun: A layer of network is equivalent to a layer of mask. Falling in love is not the same as making friends. I can accept some concealment among online friends, but I won’t accept it when falling in love.

Yiming Qingyun: And online dating is invisible and intangible.

Yiming Qingyun: If I have time for online dating, I might as well have a mobile phone pet.

guess: ...

guess: Ga.

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The author has something to say:

Little Theatre

Little Swan: Don't keep a mobile pet! Raise me!!!!!

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