The scene shifted to what looked like a rustic, old-fashioned room.
Mother Rong was busy stabbing Ziwei with acupuncture needles.
Shu Ran and Lin Qiaoyue truly lived up to having been desk mates for a full year; their coordination was flawless.
Shu Ran’s expression was exceedingly fierce and terrifying, while Lin Qiaoyue played the delicate and pitiful role to perfection.
“Ah!” Ziwei let out a shriek. “Mother Rong, I even pleaded on your behalf in the Imperial Garden! Must you deal such a ruthless blow? We are all just servants!”
“If you hadn’t mentioned the Imperial Garden, I might have shown mercy. But since you brought it up, fine! Let me reward you with a few more needles!”
The audience in the seats watched with a blank, dazed expression.
“Can someone explain to me what this is?”
“Sigh, the Smurfs already showed up, so is it really that strange to have Mother Rong and Ziwei?” Some students had already made peace with the absurdity.
“The actors are doing a pretty good job. Just watching it makes me feel the pain.”
“Ah, the princess is so gorgeous! I am happy to watch whatever plot this is.”
Witnessing this scene with wide eyes, Wen Yu rushed forward to shield Ziwei from Mother Rong’s needles, only to end up getting his own finger pricked by a needle.
“Ah, the needle pricked me. I’m going to faint.” Wen Yu tried very hard to deliver his lines with emotional weight, though a trace of stiffness still lingered, before executing a spinning turn and collapsing onto the floor.
Narrator: “The curse was fulfilled, and the princess fell into a deep slumber.”
The prop crew began setting up the thorny briars, and the narrator continued: “After the princess fell asleep, the king, the queen, and even the servants also fell asleep. The castle was surrounded by thorny briars, and the entire castle sank into a dead silence.”
Narrator: “Many years later, a prince heard the legend of Sleeping Beauty and sought out this long-sleeping castle.”
Fu Chen walked out onto the stage, sparking another wave of commotion in the audience.
“Ahhhhhhh, it’s Fu Chen!”
“Class 1’s lineup is way too extravagant! I never expected Fu Chen would actually participate.”
“Oh my god! Why does the prince look like he stepped right out of a fairy tale book?”
“At this point, I think both the princess and the prince have great lives. I ship them so hard!”
Looking at the thorny briars on stage, Fu Chen tried his best to pull a slightly troubled expression. “Ah, these thorny briars really are a hassle.”
With that, he pulled back the cloth draped over his back and whipped out a submachine gun from behind his back.
The students in the audience all parted their lips in unison.
“What a magical plot twist?”
Fu Chen had handled real firearms before; even though this was just a prop, his stance and the motion of cocking the gun were executed cleanly and decisively like a pro.
Lifting the gun, Fu Chen let loose a burst of rapid firing at the briars. Sound effects played in the background as the people hidden behind the thorn props tipped them over to simulate them clearing away.
One of them even begged for mercy out loud. “We won’t dare come out to block people ever again! Spare our lives, Your Highness the Prince!”
“Learned your lesson?” Fu Chen asked.
“Learned our lesson, learned our lesson!” the briars replied in a sincere tone.
“He literally just mowed them down with a submachine gun, of course they learned their lesson.” The dumbfounded students in the audience muttered to themselves.
The most crucial scene had arrived. Once all the thorny briars cleared off the stage, the sleeping princess appeared on stage.
Wen Yu lay down on the prop bed and closed his eyes. His eyelashes fluttered slightly as he squinted, catching sight of Fu Chen standing right before him with a deadpan expression. “Ah, what a truly beautiful princess.”
Faint rustling noises began to ripple through the audience. Quite a few people whipped out their communication devices, getting ready to capture the upcoming highly anticipated sequence, the absolute classic highlight of Sleeping Beauty.
Fu Chen leaned forward slightly, and Wen Yu could feel the light in front of him being swallowed up by an encroaching shadow. In no time at all, he was enveloped entirely within Fu Chen’s shadow, the two of them standing mere inches apart.
Wen Yu could even feel Fu Chen’s breath brushing against his face, warm and humid, carrying a slight tickle.
Fu Chen cupped Wen Yu’s face in his hands, leaning in further until he stopped just an inch away from Wen Yu. From the perspective of the audience, it looked as though the two of them were genuinely kissing.
A burst of shrieks erupted from the audience.
“Ahhhhhhh, they kissed, they kissed!”
“If you guys are going to perform this kind of show, I’m wide awake!”
“A handsome Alpha and an exquisite Omega, I officially approve this union!”
After silently counting down five seconds in his head, Wen Yu opened his eyes. Locking gazes with Fu Chen, this was the first time the two of them had stared at one another from such close quarters.
“Such a scoundrel!” Mimicking a slap, Wen Yu batted lightly at the air near Fu Chen’s face, clutching himself as he scrambled backward.
Fu Chen tilted his head to the right, putting on an act of having just taken a slap to the face. He spoke up, “Princess, I am no scoundrel. I am a prince.”
Narrator: “With the awakening of the princess, everyone in the castle awoke as well.”
The king and queen stepped onto the stage. The king addressed Fu Chen, “Young man, was it you who awakened my daughter?”
“Yes, respected Your Majesty the King.” Fu Chen placed his right hand over his left chest and executed a bow.
“Oh, brave and handsome young man, you broke the curse and awakened our daughter,” the queen said with a smile. “To express our gratitude, we are willing to grant you a single wish.”
“Really?” Fu Chen twitched the corners of his mouth in a joyless smile, feeling like his brain was broken at the mere thought of what he had to say next.
“I find myself quite fond of Her Highness the Princess. How about letting the princess and I become sworn brothers!” Internally rolling his eyes, Fu Chen figured whoever came up with such lines as Shu Ran must be out of their mind.
Every single person in the audience fell silent. The entire auditorium plunged into a dead hush, save for the actors on stage continuing their movements and dialogue.
“Ah, really!” Wen Yu parted his lips slightly, putting on an ecstatic expression. “That’s wonderful! From now on, I have a brother! Your Highness the Prince, how old are you?”
Fu Chen: “Seventeen years old.”
“I am fifteen this year, so I suppose I should call you older brother.” Wen Yu also found the lines scorching to the tongue. “Pr-, Prince brother.”
A servant brought over two cups of wine, and the two of them shared a cup of cross-arm wine. As their arms intertwined, Fu Chen and Wen Yu locked eyes, sharing the exact same tacit thought in their minds.
Let this farce just end already.
Both of them tilted their heads back and drank the liquid in their cups in a single gulp. At that moment, the narrator drew a full stop to the entire story: “From then on, the princess and the prince became wonderful buddies, living happily ever after.”
The red velvet curtain slowly descended. All the spectators remained trapped in the shock brought by the plot, unable to calm down for a long time, until a sparse handful of people began to clap, prompting the rest to belatedly join in the applause.
“I currently feel like I ate a toxic mushroom.”
“What a deranged plot? Which genius came up with this?”
“I will probably never forget this stage play for the rest of my life.”
Meanwhile, the school forum erupted into fierce discussions as well. Many people posted a bunch of the photos they had just snapped, quickly building up a massive thread of replies.
Aside from the magical storyline, the two lead actors drew the heaviest discussion, especially Wen Yu. Previously, everyone held a vague impression of this newly arrived transfer student, but after this single play, Wen Yu had permanently etched an unforgettable impression into everyone’s minds.
Class 1’s Sleeping Beauty gave the audience a mild case of PTSD regarding all the subsequent programs that followed, terrified that someone would suddenly pull out an unprovoked sworn brotherhood ceremony out of nowhere. Fortunately, deranged individuals were rare in this world, and the rest of the programs proceeded quite normally, if anything, they were a bit too normal, making them feel slightly dull by comparison.
Reflecting on it afterward, the students suddenly felt that Class 1’s Sleeping Beauty possessed a damnably unforgettable quality. Like a computer trojan virus, it recklessly burrowed straight into your brain and refused to be uninstalled no matter what.
After the performance concluded, everyone let out a long breath of relief backstage. It was finally over.
While Fu Chen had maintained a cool composure on stage, the moment he stepped off, his entire neck flushed red. The redness crept all the way up to the tips of his ears, making him look as if he were about to bake through.
From sheer embarrassment.
Fu Chen felt as though he had exhausted every last shred of his dignity in this single stage play.
“Fu Chen, you really acted exceptionally well!” Looking at Fu Chen’s soul-crushed expression, Shu Ran attempted to use words of praise to rally his spirits.
“Our friendship for this lifetime has officially been overdrawn by you,” Fu Chen said coldly.
Shu Ran offered an awkward chuckle before turning to shower praise on Wen Yu as well. “Wen Yu, your acting was great too. The discussion volume about the two of you on the forum is through the roof.”
Wen Yu proved far more accommodating to Fu Chen than Fu Chen himself. With a smile, he replied, “Is that so? That’s good then. It proves you’re an outstanding director and screenwriter.”
Shu Ran originally intended to help Wen Yu remove his stage makeup, but Wen Yu had held it in for far too long while on stage and urgently needed to use the restroom, so he scooped up the hem of his gown and dashed toward the washroom first.
Running into someone along the way, Wen Yu muttered a quick “Sorry.” The other person froze in place, causing Wen Yu to glance back and ask, “Are you alright?” The stranger just stared blankly at him, and since Wen Yu simply couldn’t hold it in any longer, he bolted straight into the restroom.
In the end, Class 1’s Sleeping Beauty genuinely maintained an unrivaled discussion volume on the forum, clinching the Grand Prize, an even more prestigious feat than first place.
The students in the class were thrilled. Before class started, the head teacher even made a point to mention it, noting that the prize money awarded by the school amounted to a full ten thousand yuan.
Wen Yu knew No. 1 High was wealthy, but he never expected the prize money for a single event could reach ten thousand yuan, leaving him quite startled. Because Wen Yu and Fu Chen played indispensable roles as the two leads in securing first place with this play, the teacher’s proposition was that the two of them would receive one thousand yuan each, Shu Ran would also receive one thousand yuan for his heavy contributions as screenwriter and director, everyone else would get five hundred yuan each, and the remaining funds would be pooled as class treasury to organize a class outing opportunity down the line.
Everyone agreed to the arrangement.
Wen Yu was taken aback by this thousand yuan, having never received any allowance since childhood. This was his very first time earning such a large sum of money, and after collecting it from the stage, he stared at the bills for a long time.
He felt a strong urge to share this joy with someone. In the past, whenever something like this happened, he would usually tell Shen Yuqing, but now there seemed to be no one left he could share it with.
Wen Yu snapped a photo of the thousand-yuan bills and sent it to Cheng Xiaoling, explaining that he participated in a stage play with his classmates, the school issued prize money, and he received a thousand yuan as a lead actor.
Wen Yu had hardly ever taken part in collective activities all these years, and Cheng Xiaoling had always worried that Wen Yu was too reclusive and isolated. She never expected that Wen Yu would now be able to participate in a program alongside his classmates.
Cheng Xiaoling immediately replied: Our Xiao Yu is truly amazing! (Thumbs up)
Wen Yu smiled faintly.
Cheng Xiaoling sent another message: Are there any photos?
When Wen Yu asked Shu Ran, Shu Ran told him to check the school forum, where he would find a whole bunch of photos of the two of them from every conceivable angle.
Visiting the school forum for the very first time, Wen Yu was horrified to find his screen completely flooded by images of that faux-kiss between him and Fu Chen. Some user had even used AI restoration to digitally erase their hands and generate a genuine kissing photo of the two of them, scorching Wen Yu’s eyes at the sight.
Scratching that, Wen Yu just dug up two of his own solo pictures, saved them, and sent them to Cheng Xiaoling, never opening the school forum ever again.