Ocean Connection

Xu Changjia found it strange that Ou Liyao had suddenly become very diligent in the past few days. She was either writing in her notebook or asking her questions about history and politics. Some of the trivial and subtle knowledge points were even unknown to her, and she had to flip through the textbook to find out. She would explain them to her while flipping through the textbook.

She wanted to ask a few more questions, but Ou Liyao put the notebook aside, lowered her head, and continued writing, seemingly fiddling with something.

As is customary, she would stay an extra twenty minutes after evening self-study to finish the day's assigned test or organize her notes before returning to the dormitory. Ou Liyao would come to Class 365 to find her with her little backpack. Occasionally, a few days out of the last month or two, she would finish early and go to the science class next door to find her.

It's been a week since school started, and Xu Changjia has been running to Class 369 all the time, which is a bit strange.

Today, when she went to the science experimental class, besides Ou Liyao, Zhang Yuning, who goes to the street dance club every day after evening self-study, was also there. She found it a bit strange, so she dragged a chair next to her and sat down next to the two of them. She watched the two of them talking back and forth, but couldn't get a word in edgewise.

After listening for a while, Xu Changjia couldn't make out a single acceleration, an x-axis, a y-axis, a chromosome, or a group of metal hydroxides. So what were they talking about?

All she could hear was them talking about "you" and "me," how to get to this place, and what words to use for that place. She couldn't help but chime in, "So, what are you doing?"

Zhang Yuning looked up at her, then at Ou Liyao, "You didn't tell her?"

Ou Liyao touched her nose guiltily, lowered her head and didn't say anything, just listened as he continued to talk about the other details in the script that weren't written out.

The two discussed their options, and not knowing how much longer they would talk, she took out "The Record of Learning" and continued to read it until all the lights in the teaching building were turned off before the three of them went back to their dormitory together.

Ou Liyao felt a little awkward. It was the first time she had kept something from Xu Changjia, so she was a bit uncomfortable. The other two were not talkative, so she pretended that nothing had happened and changed the subject. She cleared her throat and said, "Jiajia, did Zheng Ruoqian contact you during the summer vacation? He also sent me a message saying that he is about to stand on a bigger stage."

Xu Changjia smiled at Zhang Yuning, "We've been in contact. He told us to keep in touch. I've also heard about the stage thing, and I've sent him several messages in my spare time."

Zhang Yuning knew what they meant: Zheng Ruoqian had contacted everyone, but he hadn't sent a message to him.

However, he forgot that Xu Changjia had taken the initiative to call Zheng Ruoqian, and Ou Liyao had also sent a message first before receiving his reply. Moreover, when he received the letter written on his behalf, he did not give any indication of whether Zheng Ruoqian wanted to reconcile. Others only knew that they were alright, but they really had no idea what had happened between them.

He visibly tightened his grip on the comic book, gritted his teeth, and said goodbye to the male and female dormitories in the experimental building. With his other hand, he patted the mobile phone in his pocket, went to the toilet, and randomly pressed various buttons until he finally managed to compose a decent message and sent it to Zheng Ruoqian.

After squatting in the toilet for ten minutes, I finally received a reply from the other party: I'm fine, is there anything I can help you with?

Upon seeing such an official reply, he realized he had brought it upon himself. His fingers unconsciously pressed harder on the keys, and he told her about the short script he and Ou Liyao had co-written to perform at the school anniversary celebration. He then took the opportunity to ask if she wanted to participate, since the centennial celebration wasn't an opportunity that came every year.

The person on the other end of the phone didn't give him a direct answer, but instead asked again: "Xu Changjia wasn't involved with you?"

Zhang Yuning: Ou Liyao hasn't told her yet.

The moment he pressed send, a long-distance international call came in from the other end. A question silenced him: "You thought of me, so why didn't you recruit Xu Changjia?"

"I just wanted to get along with you." He muttered this quietly, not daring to let Zheng Ruoqian hear it. He then pulled him aside and talked about the show, as if they had returned to the old days when the four of them sat together at the same table, laughing and joking, and I watched you with a sense of peace.

Zheng Ruoqian really liked their Republican-era mini-theater and thought it would be perfect to put his piano music in as background music so that he could entrust this part to him with peace of mind. However, some of the wording in the script was not quite right, but he and Ou Liyao really couldn't think of better words to describe the scenes they wanted to express.

Zheng Ruoqian repeated his previous point: Why didn't Xu Changjia participate in your activities? If she were there, a liberal arts student like Duoduo would be slightly better at word choice and sentence structure than the two of them.

Zhang Yuning knew that this made sense, but since Ou Liyao hadn't said anything, it didn't seem right for him to speak up rashly. So he asked if he could speak to her, but she refused outright.

Forget it, let the two girls handle their own affairs.

As soon as the two girls they were talking about returned to their dormitory, Ou Liyao presented them with the script they had painstakingly revised and written, "A Playful Retelling of the Republic of China," as if presenting a treasure, and solemnly invited them to join their little theater.

"Jiajia, would you like to participate in our program and shine at the school anniversary celebration?"

Xu Changjia didn't speak, but instead flipped through a few pages and started reading the script seriously. She frowned as she read it. The story was quite good: it was about three people who met at a lantern festival when they were young and became good friends. However, as they grew up, they became enemies because of their different camps. Later, they recognized each other and found that they were all good young people who wanted to save the country. In the end, they died together in that war-torn era.

However, some details were written vaguely, and she felt that they could be enriched further so that the audience would feel more involved when the performance was presented at the school anniversary celebration. She folded a few pages, completely unaware that she had unknowingly become a part of this small theater.

Seeing her actions, Ou Liyao didn't mind that she didn't answer. She rummaged through her bag and handed her a dark blue ballpoint pen so that Xu Changjia could make some annotations.

Professional tasks should be handled by professionals. Xu Changjia, who has received a perfect score in essay writing, should be able to write this kind of script with ease.

There are commonalities in writing; they all believed she could revise the script, just as Hsu Chang-chia believed they would shine brightly at the school anniversary celebration.

Xu Changjia revised the script for three days and finally began rehearsing and performing it half a month after the news of the school anniversary came.

She sat to the side watching the few classmates who had been temporarily pulled in to make up the numbers. One person said a sentence, another person said a line. It didn't look like acting; it looked more like arguing. It was far removed from the national righteousness written in their script.

She pulled Ou Liyao over and whispered a lot of things beside her. Ou Liyao grabbed her hand in return, "Jiajia, why don't you direct?"

Xu Changjia was speechless for a moment, frozen in place, seemingly unable to hear the murmurs of the others around her. Ou Liyao looked at her with the most determined gaze, "Jiajia, we all believe in you, you can do it."

As he spoke, he gave Zhang Yuning, who was not far away, a look. Zhang Yuning walked over and chimed in, "Xu Changjia, do you want to give us some advice?"

She had never done anything like this before, but her two friends thought she could do it, so why not give it a try? She had revised the script and knew it by heart, so she was quite adept at directing others, as if she was born to do this.

After rehearsing for more than a week, the other students also got the hang of it and performed the script quite well. They no longer needed to read from the script on a piece of paper every day. They could even add their own emotions from time to time, as if they were people from that era who had really lost their homes because of the war.

"Okay, everyone's performance was great this time. I don't have anything to say. Let's keep it up. Our program will definitely be selected for the school anniversary celebration."

It was another self-study period. Class 365 was already tacitly aware that Xu Changjia was rehearsing with Ou Liyao's class for their program. After all, they were from the same class, and Xu Changjia was her good friend, so they couldn't say anything.

Ou Liyao walked over to her, distributed the drinks she had bought for everyone, and then leaned on her shoulder, saying leisurely, "Jiajia, you really do have the air of a great director now. During rehearsals, you were so meticulous about the details of each of us. You even pointed out which line I mispronounced or which emotion I was trying to convey. Do you think you'll become a legendary director from time to time in the future?"

She gently patted her head with one hand, "I haven't even thought about such a long journey yet. Right now, I just want to..."

At this point, Ou Liyao immediately got up from her and smiled at her, "I know you just want to study hard and get into Nan'an University."

Zhang Yuning, holding a bottle of water, smacked her on the head from behind. "You're telling me you need to study hard while you're rehearsing a play? What, you're not participating in the school anniversary preliminary performance next week, are you?"

She stepped forward and pulled Ou Liyao behind her, giving Zhang Yuning a reassuring look. "Don't worry, we'll definitely be selected for the school anniversary preliminary program. With such a great script and creative idea, plus your hard work in performing, we're guaranteed at least a participation award."

Ou Liyao put her hands on her hips and burst out laughing, "Jiajia, I've discovered you're quite good at this kind of thing. Now you even use your scripts to tease us!"

She gave her a cryptic look, then clapped her hands above her head three times. "Alright, let's do it again after everyone's eaten and drunk their fill."