CHAPTER 883: CHAPTER 895: WHY AM I PLAYING A COUPLE WITH HER AGAIN? (1)

A brand new week comes again, with the same old school life and colorful extracurricular activities filling every student’s time.

This week, Pu Sangzhi and Huo Feng’s meeting time is significantly less than before.

Apart from each attending their respective classes during the day, in the evening, Huo Feng started having club rehearsals, so he couldn’t study with Pu Sangzhi anymore.

However, starting this week, Pu Sangzhi also hasn’t gone to the library for self-study.

Pu Sangzhi began working on her experiment, spending almost her whole evening in her dorm, immersed in researching her architectural model.

After self-studying for over half a semester, it was now time for her experiments to validate her work.

Thus, Huo Feng’s rehearsal schedule this week was quite timely. He was busy, and Pu Sangzhi didn’t plan to go out for self-study either.

On Monday night, Huo Feng, along with his clubmates, officially began rehearsing for "Phantom of the Opera" in the rehearsal room.

It had been a long time since they last rehearsed for a musical, and getting back into the rhythm started with the singing.

Huo Feng was pleased to have gotten a supporting male character script. Though he had quite a few scenes, compared to the male lead, his scenes were far fewer.

Looking at the slim volume of the script, Huo Feng felt satisfied and wasn’t too concerned about the identity of this supporting character.

This time, the male lead went to Wu Di holding a hefty stack of scripts for the lead role. Despite the pressure, Wu Di was in high spirits.

Rehearsal began, and with the accompaniment of the music, all the actors practiced simple vocalizations, bringing back a bit of the theatrical singing feel.

After some simple practice, the classmates rehearsed their respective parts and lines in batches. Naturally, the scenes involving the male and female leads were most crucial, so those were rehearsed first.

"Phantom of the Opera" tells a story set in an opera house.

The plot outline is roughly: In a Paris opera house, a terrifying fictional male voice appears.

The voice comes from a "Phantom" living in the labyrinth beneath the opera house, who falls in love with actress Christine, secretly teaches her to sing, helps her become the female lead, while Christine loves the opera manager Raul, leading to jealousy, pursuit, murder, and a series of events.

"Phantom of the Opera" could be considered a classic in musical theater and is performed once every year by the Musical Club.

It’s like, performing it in the first year, then the second year, and again in the third year.

This repeated performance doesn’t mean the Musical Club has no other shows, but because "Phantom of the Opera" is such a classic that no matter how many times it’s repeated, it’s always popular.

This time, the male lead is played by Wu Di, portraying the Phantom in the opera house, roaming his underground labyrinth while secretly in love with the female lead and helping her become the star of the play. But his infatuation ultimately doesn’t succeed...

The female lead is played by You Xinran.

Additionally, Huo Feng plays the second male lead.

Interestingly, in "Phantom of the Opera," the female lead likes the second male lead, and she ends up with him at the story’s end.

In the end, the Phantom finds that his love for the female lead surpasses personal possessiveness, freeing her and fulfilling her love for the second male lead, leaving behind his cloak and mask, disappearing alone in the dim labyrinth.

So... in this play, the female lead still loves the second male lead.

In other words, the role played by You Xinran is in love with the character played by Huo Feng, and the male lead is merely a likable character from the female lead’s perspective, emotionally a mere pawn!

The rehearsal has been going on for over half an hour...

Over there, You Xinran and Wu Di are rehearsing the plot, lines, and singing of Act 1.

Meanwhile, with nothing to do, Huo Feng is repeatedly looking at his script, raising one eyebrow, scratching his temple, helplessly saying, "How come my character has a romance subplot with the female lead, and it even succeeds..."

Lin Cong, sitting right next to Huo Feng, naturally heard Huo Feng’s words.

He thought: Huo Feng surely hasn’t studied the script of "Phantom of the Opera"; the script is about the male lead fulfilling the female lead and the second male lead!

"Lin Cong, this isn’t your written script, right?" Huo Feng raised his head to ask Lin Cong.

Lin Cong shook his head rapidly, busy denying, "Of course it’s not written by me, this is a classic musical. It’s the masterpiece of musical theater legend Andrew Lloyd Webber, ’The Phantom of the Opera’. Everyone in the world knows it, how could I have written such a script!"

"You didn’t even tell me the second male lead had a romance subplot..."

Huo Feng frowned, tapping the script with his fingers, looking troubled, "Including this time, I’ve played as her romantic partner for the third time. As an actor, even though I have professional ethics, three times is enough. If I keep acting, people will think there’s something going on between us."

"Hey, you can’t blame me for this."

Lin Cong shrugged and spread his hands, "You’re the one who didn’t want to play the male lead... The second male lead is just like that."

Huo Feng squinted his eyes, looking displeased, "Are there no scripts for male lead 3, male lead 4, male lead 5, male lead 6?"

"No. What are you talking about~"

Lin Cong sighed, "Originally, the male lead was supposed to be played by you. You insisted on not playing the lead, so the second male lead is obviously yours. If you don’t play the second lead, who will ensure the popularity of our performance this time? We’re counting on you to post a second, third TikTok video and go viral, to boost the Musical Club’s traffic."

"Tsk..."

Huo Feng furrowed his brow even tighter, "I can’t keep acting as her romantic partner, someone else should take over. If the audience and fans keep seeing us as a couple, they might really believe we’re together. It’s bad for my girlfriend’s reputation!"

"It’s not as serious as you think."

Lin Cong wasn’t very concerned about Huo Feng’s worries, "Anyway, your scenes aren’t many this time. Even though you’re the second male lead, you don’t have many appearances. People who watch the whole play will surely only remember the male lead, not you! Your task is to appear on the promotional poster, to advertise the play. Especially to promote on TikTok, to ensure we have a full house during the New Year’s Day performance. That... You Xinran mentioned she wants a 90% attendance rate. The key to high traffic depends on you, the internet influencer with 400,000 TikTok followers!"

So to speak...

You Xinran’s support for Huo Feng through campus promotion and TikTok videos was all for this moment!

Having heard Lin Cong’s explanation, Huo Feng really had nothing to say.

It was also because Huo Feng used to love standing out...

And this time he really stood out greatly, being pushed to great heights, he truly felt the solitude from being at the peak.

It seems being popular may not always be a good thing!

"I keep acting as her romantic partner..."

Huo Feng still couldn’t help but complain, his gaze towards You Xinran was filled with disdain.

"It’s not really a romantic relationship..."

Lin Cong beside him sought to comfort him, "This performance mainly highlights the female lead, your romance subplot is just a side story. It’s not that serious!"

"Sigh!"

Huo Feng sighed heavily, still feeling uncomfortable inside, and pulled out his phone, "I must report this to my girlfriend. I already told her to come watch the performance that day, and now it’s this kind of plot... If my girlfriend actually gets jealous, I’m doomed."

"Don’t worry."

Lin Cong patted Huo Feng’s shoulder, "It’s just acting. How about I show you the male and female lead’s script too, their emotional entanglement in the play is much more significant. Nobody will pay attention to your little supporting role!"

"No need, not interested."

Huo Feng nudged Lin Cong with his finger, as he opened his phone, keeping his head down, "Next time, don’t arrange roles with romance subplots for me, especially pairing me with her again. Enough times already that she’ll start falling for me."

Lin Cong was momentarily speechless, not daring to respond rashly...

Because Lin Cong knew that You Xinran did like Huo Feng...

So, the wholly rejecting Huo Feng sent a WeChat message to Pu Sangzhi.

Specifically telling Pu Sangzhi: [Honey, I’ve got bad news, in the "Phantom of the Opera" script, there’s yet another female romantic pair for me... Honestly...]