Chapter 122 Doubts

To this end, not long after Ren Limeng learned to walk, in addition to the required Huangmei Opera, Wu Murong had already planned everything, specifically for Ren Limeng to learn the other three of the four major opera genres: Peking Opera, Henan Opera, and Yue Opera.

While learning from many talents, Wu Murong specially trained Ren Limeng in martial arts since she was a child. There are few martial artists in Huangmei Opera, and Wu Murong believed that with her careful training, Ren Limeng would be able to inherit her legacy and become a better all-round drama talent.

Winning numerous awards in these years seems to have lived up to Wu Murong's good intentions. Ren Limeng has always been the person Wu Murong is most proud of. This pride even surpasses when Wu Murong was named a national first-class actor. Wu Murong is looking forward to Ren Limeng's growth.

Until more than half a year ago.

Wu Murong still cannot understand how her daughter could do such a crazy thing as destroying her costume backstage. A mere two-person audition within the drama school seemed to have become the watershed of everything.

Even though people around her didn't mention this matter again, Wu Murong was very clear that when people mentioned her daughter Ren Limeng, they no longer looked at her with envy as before. Mei City is so small, and many things are tacitly understood by everyone.

More importantly, Ren Limeng is about to take the art exam and then the college entrance examination, but her condition is getting worse and worse. Wu Murong even feels that Ren Limeng's mind is not on the exam at all during this period. This child who has never caused her any worries since childhood is now like a different person.

All she can do is accompany and teach, and try her best to get everything back on track.

She would not allow anyone to influence Ren Limeng's future.

"Mom, you also said that I'm not in good shape. I can't handle the play "The Female Imperial Concubine". I can't act out that kind of perseverance and courage right now. This is not the most suitable play for the art exam."

Feeling the anxiety that Wu Murong kept repeating, Ren Limeng was silent for a while, and finally couldn't help but pursed her lips and spoke, "The emotional tone of "The Female Prime Minister" is too high, and she is a mess now. How can she give a wonderful performance if she can't even convince herself of the role?"

"You're making excuses again! How many times have I told you this play is perfect for you? How could I not do this for your own good? You know you're not acting well, but you still don't practice more! If you're not in good shape, just adjust! Ren Limeng, I really don't understand why you can come up with so many excuses and say it so naturally? Why don't you tell me what's wrong with you? Who among us has treated you badly?"

Wu Murong's brows were deeply twisted into a "川" shape, and the veins on her forehead twitched slightly. Every time she heard Ren Limeng make these excuses, she immediately became impatient, and even couldn't help but think of the selection competition that changed everything. She wanted to punish Ren Limeng more severely at that time, but it was Ren Limeng's father Ren Shunan who tried every means to persuade her.

When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, Wu Murong sometimes couldn't help but reflect on whether, as Ren Shunan said, they had pushed Ren Limeng too hard. But at this moment, looking at the stubborn Ren Limeng in front of her, Wu Murong didn't see any guilt or sadness in Ren Limeng's eyes for not acting well. She couldn't treat such a daughter kindly!

Obviously, she was doing this for her own good! Did she know how rare it was to have a national first-class actor like her teach her step by step every day?

"The best one for me?"

Ren Limeng repeated it softly, facing her furious mother. After a long time, she lowered her eyes and finally couldn't help but pull the corners of her mouth. Her whole body was very straight. Such admonitions were played out almost every day in the training room, which made her exhausted and made her unable to bear the doubts and questioning impulses in her heart.

"It's just what you want to play the most! Unfortunately, you just can't perform such a martial arts scene. You can only put everything on me. You haven't treated me unfairly, but you are not me!"

Ren Limeng is well aware of her mother Wu Murong's regrets. Even though she is already a master of Huangmei Opera, Wu Murong is still very strict with her every practice and strives for perfection.

However, many basic skills of opera singing must be cultivated from an early age, but Wu Murong started learning opera at the age of ten. Even though hard work can make up for one's shortcomings, many martial arts scenes require extremely high movements, and Wu Murong still could not practice to perfection.

Her mother, Wu Murong, had many dramatic ideas and ambitions in her heart that she could not realize. From childhood to adulthood, Ren Limeng had heard her mother mention them too many times. At the beginning, she had high-spiritedly promised to realize them for her mother, but now there is only countless internal friction and introspection.

Ren Limeng never denied her parents' painstaking efforts in nurturing and raising high expectations for her, but... perhaps, when she had a falling out and quarrel with Li Chuyue, Li Chuyue was right in saying one thing: she was able to have such a smooth journey in Huangmei Opera today, in fact, she did rely on her parents.

Does she know how to sing opera? Does she like singing opera?

Who is she performing every play for?

Especially in the past six months, she made frequent mistakes and her mother became less and less patient. Ren Limeng felt that her mother was like an active volcano, on the verge of erupting at any time. She tried many times to ease the relationship between mother and daughter.

But no matter what method she used, whether her mother smiled again or not, as long as her performance during training did not meet her mother's requirements, any effort seemed to be in vain, and everything returned to the starting point. Her mother's face would once again be filled with cold severity or angry anxiety.

It seemed that only if she played her role well and fulfilled her mother's earnest plan could there be peace between them.

Putting aside opera, is she important to her mother?

...Is she just a puppet for her mother to make up for her regrets and realize her dreams?

As for her, does she sing because she enjoys it, or does she want to please her mother?

Over the years, Ren Limeng seemed to have never thought about this issue carefully.

It's like a train that's been roaring forward on a predetermined track. The costume accident is like a stone that you encounter on the road. Even if you force your way over it, the damaged train will not be able to continue running at high speed.

But Ren Limeng was very clear about one thing: she could not joke about the college entrance examination, and her pride would not allow her to fail.

The anxiety in her heart was no less than that of her parents, but her parents could complain and urge her in front of her, while she could only grit her teeth and bear it alone.

Over the past six months, Ren Limeng felt like a perpetual motion machine. She practiced diligently and repeatedly during the day, and stayed up late at night to study hard. She paid more and more attention to her academic studies.

Although the art exam only requires the academic scores to reach the first-tier line, Ren Limeng now wants to achieve better academic results. She has more vague ideas in her heart. But for now, at least she can be sure that every improvement in academic scores depends on herself and has nothing to do with her parents.

This is the testimony of her hard work. Ren Limeng is also fed up with her mother's tone of "everyone has given everything for her, she must be grateful and repay her". Ren Limeng can't help but ask herself, is her life really going to be dominated by her parents?

Long-term high-intensity acting practice and study have caused a faint dark blue in the eyes of Ren Limeng, as if covered by a layer of light haze, and she has lost her former spirit.

At this moment, Ren Limeng's eyes were filled with bloodshot. She finally raised her head and looked at her mother Wu Murong not far away. Her eyes were wide open, flashing with a sharp light.

Before Ren Limeng could finish her words in a mocking voice, Wu Murong quickly stretched out her finger and pointed it angrily at Ren Limeng's face. She really wanted to slap Ren Limeng again.

But thinking of the upcoming art exam, Wu Murong's palm finally stopped in the air, and she clenched it into a fist half an inch in front of Ren Limeng's eyes. Her right index finger trembled slightly as it stretched towards Ren Limeng's stubborn face which was just a few inches away.

"You're so rebellious! What do you want to say? Do you still think you're acting for me? That's ridiculous! Ren Limeng, you better understand, this is your life, you eat my food and use my things, from childhood to adulthood, there's nothing I haven't worried about you for! I've done my best for you! If you don't take it seriously now, don't regret it later and blame me for not caring about you now! This play is up to you to practice or not!"

"Bang------"

Wu Murong angrily left the training room in a hurry. Ren Limeng silently stared at the door not far away that was slamming against the door frame. The dull sound was like the wail of her broken heart.

Unconsciously, such quarrels had become their daily routine. Even though Wu Murong threatened not to care about her, after her father Ren Shunan talked and coaxed both sides, everything seemed to return to calm. She and her mother could still repeat the training as if nothing had happened.

Because the art exam had not yet arrived and because she was still a minor, she had no choice.

Ren Limeng was well aware of her mother's deep-seated dissatisfaction with her. Her mother's suppression was nothing more than a temporary measure of "bearing humiliation". The art exam was like the final settlement of the accounts, and they knew it very well.

Ren Limeng is getting more and more tired of art exams, but she doesn't want to lose. This is the pride and unwillingness in her bones. She can give up many things on her own initiative, but she will not allow anything to start well but end badly.

She has been studying opera for more than ten years. Even if this period is painful and confusing, she doesn't want to fail here.

What's more, since she knew clearly that her mother would not forgive her if she failed the art exam, for her own "survival", she had to do her best to satisfy her parents.

The day before the interview at the Drama University, Ren Limeng and Wu Murong had another argument about whether to wear red or white clothes the next day. However, with the mediation of Ren Shunan, Wu Murong finally boarded the plane with the father and daughter and sent her daughter to the Drama University examination hall.

The professional opera performance in the art exam is a natural performance assessment, requiring candidates to perform in their true colors or natural state without the modification of opera makeup and costumes.

This was the last item of the art examination at the Drama Academy. In the end, Ren Limeng failed to twist her arm past her thigh and entered the Drama Academy wearing the red coat her mother had just bought. However, she wore a white sweater underneath the coat. Before entering the examination room, she took off the coat without hesitation.

Before this exam, Ren Limeng had thought a lot. The distance to the examination classroom was only a few steps away, but it seemed so long in her eyes. All the joys, sorrows, anger and happiness she had experienced since she was a child seemed to flash quickly through her mind one by one, and finally became just an open door in front of the classroom.

In front of this ordinary door, Ren Limeng took a deep breath and stood still, finally putting aside all her fantasies, slowly raised her head, smiled, straightened her back and stepped into the door.