Chapter 7

Zhang Xiaotian felt that Lu Bai seemed to be sulking with him again for some reason, but no matter how he asked, he refused to admit it. Zhang Xiaotian ignored it and only asked if he was still going to watch his game.

"Go." Although Lu Bai was still angry, he still answered quickly. "I want to go to the competition, and I want to go to your rehearsal too."

"If you can't rehearse, but if you want to compete, go tell your monitor and he can reserve a seat for you in the audience," Zhang Xiaotian told him.

When Lu Bai heard this, his mood immediately turned cloudy and sunny: "Did you tell the monitor to save a seat for me?"

"No." Zhang Xiaotian turned his head away from him, "I don't have the time for that."

"Hehe, deskmate, I knew you were nice to me." Lu Bai's mood improved again, and he quickly sent a message to the class monitor.

After a while, Lu Bai came over and whispered to Zhang Xiaotian: "The monitor said that I would go to the study room first that day, and after the student union finished checking everyone, I would sneak in to find you."

Seeing Zhang Xiaotian nod, Lu Bai was in high spirits again and started reading the book. Just after reading a few words, the phone on the table vibrated. It was a message from the squad leader:

Let Zhang Xiaotian look at the phone!

Lu Bai wanted to call Zhang Xiaotian, but before he could touch him, he picked up the phone that Zhang Xiaotian had placed on the corner of the table.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Xiaotian asked him.

"You're on silent again." Lu Bai looked at the password input interface and entered a string of numbers. It didn't open, so he tried with his fingerprint to unlock it. Before he could take a closer look at the phone, it was taken back. He didn't try to grab it, but just moved over to look at it with Zhang Xiaotian.

There were a few unread messages in the sitcom group. It was the class leader informing them that the rehearsal location for tomorrow's rehearsal had changed. A flurry of replies were received, and Zhang Xiaotian followed suit. Just as he was about to put his phone down, a friend verification popped up on the screen. The name was Zhang Ting. Zhang Xiaotian clicked "accept," and a message quickly arrived:

I’m Zhang Ting. I sent you a friend request because I saw that we were the only two friends in the group.

After a while, he said: It would be more convenient if you add it, right?

Zhang Xiaotian replied to her: OK.

The reply came quickly: "Okay, then go study. I won't bother you." Another "Come on!" emoji was sent. Zhang Xiaotian replied "Okay," but then thought it was impolite and wanted to reply with an emoji as well. Just as he was searching for a suitable one, a hand came across, blocking his view.

"Stop chatting. Just reply with a nice reply." Lu Bai looked at the phone screen and whispered, "Zhang Ting, why did she look for you?"

"Just adding a friend." Zhang Xiaotian pushed his hand away, "Don't mess with Lu Bai."

Seeing Zhang Xiaotian lowering his head to reply to the message, Lu Bai suddenly said, "I want to go tomorrow too."

Zhang Xiaotian lowered his head and didn't look at him: "What are you going to do?"

"Going to visit Mr. Zhang on set." Lu Bai lay on the table, only his eyes showing. "Can't I give the crew some benefits while I'm at it, Mr. Zhang?"

What a ridiculous benefit! Zhang Xiaotian put his phone back and picked up his pen again, but Lu Bai's piercing gaze made it impossible for him to write a single word. He was so angry that he wanted to throw his pen.

"Go, go, whatever you want." Zhang Xiaotian sighed and bent his arms to cover his face. "Don't bring anything, and don't talk to me anymore."

"Okay!" Lu Bai agreed immediately and then opened the book obediently.

When there was no movement nearby, Zhang Xiaotian quietly moved his arm and looked towards Lu Bai. He felt that Lu Bai was sometimes too close to him, and sometimes got angry for no reason. He couldn't figure out the reason.

Could it be that I had done something to upset him? Zhang Xiaotian carefully recalled what he had just done, but he really couldn't find any fault.

He didn't have so many strange habits before, did he?

Lu Bai flipped through the book for a while, then picked up his phone and typed a few words. He didn't even look at Zhang Xiaotian, but just pointed at the phone with his chin. Zhang Xiaotian didn't understand what was going on, so he picked up the phone again. On the lock screen was the message Lu Bai had just sent him:

Read a book, don't talk to me.

I haven’t said anything yet! Zhang Xiaotian wanted to laugh speechlessly and didn’t reply to him.

The school team had training, so Lu Bai didn't go with Zhang Xiaotian, saying he'd find him after it was over. Although he'd agreed not to bring anything, Lu Bai still ordered takeout for everyone. During rehearsal, Zhang Xiaotian got a call and almost didn't react. They'd been practicing for a while, so Zhou Bin, calling out "Brother Bai," went to get food. The rest of the group drank water or chatted, leaving the squad leader alone, still concentrating on the script.

"Class monitor," Zhang Ting was fanning herself with a script, and as she spoke, she fanned the monitor a few times, "Take a break and read it later."

"Wait a moment," the squad leader flipped through the pages of the script, "look here..."

"The milk tea is here!" Zhou Bin came back with a takeaway bag and took out the milk tea cups one by one. The other cups were the same, only one was hot pure tea.

"There's another different cup," Zhou Bin raised it, "Xiaotian, wasn't it Brother Bai who ordered it for you? You're so healthy."

Zhang Xiaotian knew it was ordered just for him, and had thought he'd just quietly take it. But when Zhou Bin pointed it out, he felt a little embarrassed. He reached out to take it. The label on the cup read "30% Sugar." He couldn't help but rub the words, his lips curling up, yet a certain bitterness welled up inside him. Zhang Xiaotian held the cup, feeling a little reluctant to drink it. Then, remembering the water he'd brought, he set it aside for the moment.

"Now that everyone's here, let's discuss this." The squad leader took a sip of milk tea and picked up the script again. "I timed our rehearsal just now, and we're almost ten minutes over the allotted time."

"Ten minutes?" Zhou Bin said, "Didn't I feel like it was so long over time when I was performing?"

"It's a bit too long. If we go on like this, I'm afraid we'll lose a lot of points."

"What should we do then?" Zhang Xiaotian flipped through his lyrics. "Should we become more proficient and speed up the rhythm?"

"But it's not good to go too fast. I think the current pace is pretty good." After hearing someone say this, everyone fell silent and looked down at the script in their hands.

"Well, I have an idea." Zhang Ting turned to a page in the script. "I think this part of the plot is a bit redundant. Squad leader, how about we delete this little part?"

"Which part?"

Zhang Ting showed everyone the script she had circled. Zhou Bin said quickly, "I think it's okay. It will save us from having to memorize lines. Sister Ting, this is a great idea!"

"What about others? Do they have any different opinions?" the squad leader asked the others again. Seeing that everyone nodded, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's it, then. Everyone, don't forget to mark it in your script," the squad leader said firmly. "We'll rest for a few minutes and practice again at the top of the hour."

The people sitting together took their things and dispersed. Zhang Xiaotian stood up with his tea and was about to leave. Looking back, he saw that Zhang Ting's milk tea had not been opened yet. A layer of frost had formed on the cold wall of the cup, and a few lines of water were flowing down.

"Zhang Ting." Zhang Xiaotian hesitated and called Zhang Ting who stayed where she was, then looked at the milk tea placed next to her.

"Hmm?" Zhang Ting looked up at him, then followed his gaze down before she understood.

"You... don't like it?"

"Oh, no." Zhang Ting was a little embarrassed. "It's just that I can't drink it now. It's too cold."

Zhang Ting pointed at herself and said, "It's my period now, and I'm afraid it will hurt if I drink something cold."

Zhang Xiaotian suddenly realized that he had offended someone and felt a little embarrassed. He looked down at the hot tea in his hand, thought for a moment, and then handed it over.

"No, Zhang Xiaotian, I don't need it." Zhang Ting was a little surprised and wanted to refuse.

"It's okay, I just want to drink something cold." After saying that, Zhang Xiaotian took her cup in his hand again, and Zhang Ting accepted it.

When Lu Bai arrived, Zhang Xiaotian and the others had already nearly finished rehearsing, waiting only for one final run-through with background music to see how it went. Zhang Xiaotian was waiting to deliver his lines when he caught a glimpse of Lu Bai sneaking around the back door of the classroom, instantly losing half his focus on rehearsal. Seeing Zhang Xiaotian notice him, Lu Bai smiled and winked at him, then headed towards the table where the hot tea had been placed. Halfway there, he realized the item on the table wasn't Zhang Xiaotian's. He looked up at Zhang Xiaotian again, only to find it was his turn to act.

"Brother Bai!" Lu Bai looked over following the voice. It was Zhou Bin, who had just finished his lines and was now temporarily behind the scenes.

"Xiaotian's seat is over there." He lowered his voice and pointed to a corner. Lu Bai walked over to the table and sat down. He no longer looked at Zhang Xiaotian, but instead looked down at the items on the table. On the corner of the table was the same iced milk tea as everyone else's. It was unopened, and the paper cup felt a little soft from the steam.

Zhang Xiaotian tried hard not to look at Lu Bai, nearly calling out his name several times during scenes with others. He glanced over at Lu Bai several times during breaks in his performance, but Lu Bai kept his head down, looking at something unclear. After several attempts at eye contact, Zhang Xiaotian felt a little overly sentimental.

"Isn't that right, Xiaotian?" Zhang Ting finished her lines and waited for Zhang Xiaotian to continue. However, Zhang Xiaotian was a little distracted, so he reached out and gently touched her arm.

"Hmm? Yes! Yes." Zhang Xiaotian came to his senses and quickly continued, and the two of them finally made up their minds. When the conversation was over, several people walked over to surround the squad leader. Zhang Xiaotian also went over and apologized before the squad leader could speak.

"It's okay." Zhou Bin said, "It's not really noticeable. If you didn't tell us, we wouldn't know you were distracted."

"Your distracted state is very suitable for the role you play." The squad leader also said, "For a con man who is trying to trick young students into taking out loans, it's logical for him to no longer care about that person after he has already swindled them out of their money."

"The squad leader is so serious when comforting people." Zhang Ting said with a smile.

"That's right, the monitor is very serious in everything he does. Last time, I had a fight with my boyfriend..." Zhou Bin quickly replied, but before he could continue, he was interrupted by the monitor:

"Okay, okay, everything is fine this time. Everyone go back and memorize your lines more, and try not to make any mistakes in the competition in two days!" After the squad leader said this, he saw that Zhou Bin wanted to continue what he had just said, so he quickly drove everyone out.

"Hurry up, hurry up and eat. No one can be late for evening study. The student union will be checking on everyone today!"

"Excuse me, squad leader!" Zhou Bin walked out with his things in his arms, still spitting, "Sister Ting, let me continue. Last time..."

"Zhou Bin, wait for the evening study!" The monitor also chased out with his things. In a blink of an eye, only Zhang Xiaotian and Lu Bai were left in the room. Zhang Xiaotian walked over with the script, packed up his things and put his bag on, but saw that Lu Bai had no intention of leaving.

"Let's go to the cafeteria." Zhang Xiaotian touched Lu Bai's shoulder, and was pulled by Lu Bai and sat down next to him.

"Hey!" Zhang Xiaotian was startled, "What are you doing?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? The cafeteria is crowded now." Lu Bai held Zhang Xiaotian's arm and leaned his head on Zhang Xiaotian's shoulder. "Stay with me for a while."

The two of them were suddenly so close that Zhang Xiaotian didn't dare move and could only let him lean on her. He leaned on her for a while, then seemed to feel uncomfortable. He moved his head and then stopped. Perhaps because he felt embarrassed, he kept it hard, but the hand holding Zhang Xiaotian loosened. Zhang Xiaotian sighed and relaxed his body, thinking that he would be more comfortable leaning on him.

"You drink that cup of milk tea." Zhang Xiaotian said, "It's too sweet. I can't get used to it."

"Why are you taking this cup if you're not used to it? Didn't I order some hot tea for you?"

"Zhang Ting is on her period, so I gave it to her."

"Zhang Ting?" Lu Bai seemed to have remembered something and deliberately dragged out his words, "Oh, your girlfriend."

"Lu Bai." Zhang Xiaotian shrugged and shook his head. "Don't talk nonsense."

"Tsk." Lu Bai curled his lips and asked after a while, "Did you guys practice all the time in that class just now?"

"Yeah." Zhang Xiaotian moved, pretending to take something out of his bag, and Lu Bai sat up. "The competition is only a few days away."

"None of them acted as well as you." Lu Bai said seriously.

Nonsense, you didn't even look at me. Zhang Xiaotian complained in his heart, but he couldn't help but feel happy: "What do you mean?"

"Didn't Zhou Bin say you could win the Golden Figure?"

"Anything else?"

"Anything else?" Lu Bai leaned back, stretched his arm from behind Zhang Xiaotian's head and rested it on the back of the chair. "And... squad leader, didn't the squad leader praise you just now? Right!"

“Hahahahahaha!”

"What are you laughing at? He said it right in front of you, didn't you hear it?" Lu Bai was baffled by his laughter. Seeing Zhang Xiaotian's cheerful laughter, he couldn't help but want to tickle him. Zhang Xiaotian was trying to calm down when he suddenly felt a pair of warm hands on his waist. Startled, he suddenly jumped up, turned around and saw Lu Bai's hand hadn't been withdrawn, and his face immediately flushed.

"Why are you looking at me?" Lu Bai retracted his hand. "Look at how you're laughing. Your face is all red."

"You...scare me!" Zhang Xiaotian took a breath, not daring to look at Lu Bai's face, and stood up with his things.

"Let's go, we're all hungry." He said and walked out the door without looking back. He only had time to listen carefully to see if Lu Bai was following him.

The day of the competition soon arrived. Lu Bai knew it was just a worthless activity, but he couldn't stop thinking about it. The captain saw that he was distracted and annoying during training, so he sent him off early to do his own thing. As agreed, Lu Bai went to the study room to wait for the check-in. He sat on the stool with a sense of unease, repeatedly checking the chat history between him and Zhang Xiaotian on his phone.

Lu Bai: Have you arrived at the venue?

Zhang Xiaotian: We’re here.

Lu Bai: How's it going? Are you nervous? Are you confident?

Zhang Xiaotian: It’s okay.

Lu Bai: Are there many people?

Zhang Xiaotian didn't reply to him for a long time. He was probably busy with the script again and didn't have time to look at his phone.

Lu Bai knew Zhang Xiaotian wasn't studying so hard to win a rank, but he couldn't help but feel nervous for him. After finally getting through the student union's roll call, he quickly ran out of the study room while the union members entered the next room and took the elevator out of the teaching building.

When he arrived at the venue, a class was just taking a bow. Lu Bai quickly sat down next to the class monitor and whispered, "Have you arrived at our school yet?"

"You've come at the right time. It'll be right after this performance," the class monitor said. "This class is quite strong in the curtain call. The judges will probably give it high scores. I wonder if our class can score even higher."

Lu Bai's heart was in suspense again. He nudged the squad leader with his elbow: "Don't be so strict. I'm telling you, no matter how they act later, you can't say anything to them!"

The squad leader glanced at him sideways. "Why would I blame them? It's hard enough to cooperate with everyone until today. Now, I'd be happy to go up on stage and give them all a kiss."

"Then goodbye." Lu Bai imagined it and shuddered. "You need to calm down, squad leader. Impulsiveness is the devil."

"Go to hell!" The squad leader laughed, then said solemnly, "I'm not worried about their score right now, I'm just worried about them getting nervous. Today's opponents are really strong. My palms are sweating just watching from the audience. Do you think they wouldn't feel pressured?"

After hearing this, Lu Bai couldn't help but look towards the backstage, feeling very nervous.

At this time, the team on the stage was still waiting for the judges to give their scores. It was so quiet below the stage that one could even hear the sound of breathing. Lu Bai was just about to send a word of comfort to Zhang Xiaotian when he heard a commotion around him again.

"100 points! Lu Bai, the full score is 105, they got 100!" The squad leader frowned.

That's a pretty high score. "Let's take a short break and continue in ten minutes," the host said. Lu Bai stood up and headed backstage.

The people waiting backstage were all nervous to varying degrees. At this moment, Zhang Xiaotian no longer had the mind to see what others were doing. He kept reciting his lines silently and didn't even bother to drink water.

"Xiaotian, I'm so nervous." Zhou Bin was no longer in the mood for jokes. He lifted the curtain a little and looked out. "Why are there more and more people in the audience? What if I forget my words?"

Zhang Ting comforted her, "It's okay. If you forget the lyrics, just try to go along with it. We're here for you."

"I was just trying to get some credits, but I didn't expect it to get this far." Zhou Bin lowered the curtain, looked back at Zhang Xiaotian still reciting, and couldn't help but sigh, "Luckily you're here, not just me, otherwise I wouldn't even dare to go on stage."

Zhang Xiaotian nodded, his hands still swishing through the script again. Seeing him about to do it again, Zhang Ting stopped him and said, "Zhang Xiaotian, how about we go over the lines? That way it'll be more efficient and everyone will have a better idea of ​​what's going on."

Lu Bai followed the group quietly into the backstage area. From a distance, he could see Zhang Xiaotian, Zhou Bin, and Zhang Ting standing very close together, scripts in hand, seemingly rehearsing their lines. Lu Bai walked quickly towards them and could vaguely hear them talking.

"Alas, that's what I'm saying. I get stuck when I get here."

I was almost there and could even hear Zhou Bin's voice.

"Just think about it, the previous sentence mentioned prohibited electrical appliances, so the next thing to do is to solve the problem, so that you can remind yourself."

Zhang Ting’s idea is good, but Zhou Bin must make sure nothing goes wrong.

"It has to be you, Sister Ting. Damn, it's almost our turn, right? Do we have time to check it again?"

Just bypass these people and you'll arrive...

"As long as no one comes to disturb us, there's still time."

Hearing Zhang Xiaotian's words, Lu Bai's feet seemed to be nailed to the ground, unable to move an inch. The voices of those people, which had been clearly audible in his ears just now, were now drowned out by the noisy crowd. Lu Bai looked at the back of Zhang Xiaotian's head in the gap between the crowd and suddenly felt that he had come here in vain. A staff member came out from nowhere and said a few words to them. It seemed that it was their turn. Seeing that everyone stood up to pack up their things, Lu Bai was about to go back to the audience. Before he turned around and took a few steps, he couldn't help but look back and happened to meet Zhang Ting's eyes as she turned around to get something. He saw that Zhang Ting seemed surprised to see him and patted Zhang Xiaotian to make him look at her. Lu Bai maintained this head-turning movement and watched Zhang Xiaotian slowly turn his head. He unconsciously held his breath and waited for him to look at him. It felt like he had been waiting for a century.

Zhang Xiaotian turned around and saw Lu Bai, startled. He quickly smiled and waved at him. Lu Bai's smile was very faint, and he stumbled as he turned, startling Zhang Xiaotian. Zhang Xiaotian wanted to go over and say something to him, but before he could call him, the staff came to rush them on stage. Zhang Xiaotian had no choice but to look at Lu Bai again. Lu Bai waved at him and mouthed a few words to him.

Come on, I'm leaving. Lu Bai said, waving his hand vigorously again, turned around and walked into the crowd and disappeared.

The medical school ultimately took fourth place. After a brief awards ceremony, only a few class contestants and their supervisors remained. The class teacher was visibly excited: "Our medical school has never even made it to the university level in this skit competition. Class monitor, bring the certificate to my office and put it somewhere prominent! All the participating students, come over and take a group photo. I'll have to post it on WeChat Moments!"

"Thank you, Sister Ting, for saving my life!" Zhou Bin's voice was so loud that it seemed as if he was speaking through a loudspeaker. "If you hadn't winked at me and reminded me to continue my lines, we would have had a stage accident!" After saying that, he bowed to Zhang Ting seriously.

Zhang Ting hit him embarrassedly.

Zhang Xiaotian was still immersed in the excitement of the results. He looked at his classmates who were talking heatedly next to him and was about to say something when someone grabbed his wrist from behind.

"Are you tired?" Lu Bai asked him.

"Huh? What did you say?" It was a bit noisy around Zhang Xiaotian and he couldn't hear what he said clearly.

"Come here." Lu Bai used a little force on his hand, and Zhang Xiaotian was pulled two steps towards him.

"Are you tired?" Lu Bai asked him, "I'll take you out for a midnight snack later."

"I..." Zhang Xiaotian just said a word when he was interrupted by the squad leader: "Zhang Xiaotian, come over and take a picture first!"

"Then I'll go first." Zhang Xiaotian turned to him and motioned him to let go of his wrist first.

"Squad leader." Lu Bai didn't let go, but instead moved closer to him. "Can I take a photo too, just to join in the fun?"

"You're not competing, why are you meddling in this?" The squad leader walked towards them.

"Lu Bai, wait for me here for a while." Zhang Xiaotian patted his hands.

Lu Bai had no choice but to let go.

Zhang Xiaotian followed the squad leader to the class teacher and turned back to look at Lu Bai. Lu Bai stood there motionless, still holding his things, and waved at him.

"We'll go out for dinner later. It'll just be you and me competing." The squad leader said as they walked. "If Lu Bai wants to accompany you, let him come too."

"Yeah." Zhang Xiaotian took out his phone and wanted to send a message to Lu Bai, but the squad leader called him again: "Don't look at your phone, Xiaotian, take a picture first!"

He had no choice but to put the phone back.

Fortunately, everyone was in a hurry to eat, so they stopped after taking a few pictures and gathered together to discuss what to eat. Zhang Xiaotian didn't care about these and ran back to find Lu Bai.

"We'll have dinner together later, and you can come too."

"I'm going too?" Lu Bai asked. "Isn't that a bad idea? The monitor already said it, and I'm not participating in the competition."

"It was the squad leader who asked you to come."

"Okay then." Lu Bai raised his hand and paused in the air, but he only took off the bag that Zhang Xiaotian was carrying.

"No, it won't sink." Zhang Xiaotian wanted to take it back, but Lu Bai didn't give it to him.

"I'll take it," Lu Bai said, carrying his bag and walking towards the others. "You guys have done a lot for our class, we can't let the heroes get into trouble."