Chapter 136: Great Wisdom Appears to be Foolish

"Li Meng, you didn't even tell us you were going to be the lead actress in advance. That's so rude! Congratulations! I snuck into your livestream this afternoon and saw your acting was fantastic! I never thought your performance would still be so memorable after all these years!"

As soon as Ren Limeng and the actors of the Fanhua Troupe entered the central square of the ancient city, the guests and other actors gathered in front of the big stage looked at them. Guan He waved first and went directly to greet Ren Limeng.

The words he said seemed to be complaining, but the smile in his heart and eyes came from the bottom of his heart. Guan He grinned and looked at Ren Limeng, so enthusiastic that Ren Limeng subconsciously kept her eyes on him for half a second longer.

"Thank you, Brother Guan He. Didn't I mention this at noon? Maybe it's because I've been too nervous. My heart is still beating fast. Luckily, I have the acting teachers Liu Tuan and Fan Hua to guide me. I'm so lucky to be able to participate in this performance!"

In the morning, the three major troupes of Meixiang Theater had already privately spread the news that she, the guest, would be the lead actress of the Fanhua Troupe in the afternoon. Everyone knew about this during lunch. Now, Guan He opened the scene like this in front of the camera. Was he trying to give her a chance to explain, or was he pretending to be intimate to close the distance?

Ren Limeng smiled nonchalantly without delving into the matter. Her gaze finally turned to the silent figure standing upright under the stage, and a hint of barely perceptible nervousness unconsciously filled her heart.

"Great, Li Meng, I want to apologize to you!"

Chen Xi smiled at Ren Limeng as she approached. "I have a feeling you'll definitely soar to the top in the second public performance! I shouldn't have underestimated you a few days ago. Have you seen the online discussions? You're now even more popular than Brother Xingzhi. We're lucky to have you this afternoon. We can win the quiz!"

Every word that Chen Xi pretended to be surprised contained the topic that the audience loved to discuss the most. Guan He's enthusiastic congratulations were intended to narrow the distance between him and Ren Limeng, while Chen Xi's speech at this moment was more like a test to see if Ren Limeng was getting too proud of herself.

Ren Limeng lowered her eyes slightly, a hint of understanding flashed in her eyes, and a faint smile still hung on the corner of her mouth.

“Isn’t it all thanks to everyone’s efforts?”

Shen Xingzhi spoke before Ren Limeng could speak, and glanced at Chen Xi with a half-smile, "Chen Xi, if you want to praise Limeng, just praise Limeng. Why bring me along?"

Ren Limeng's eyes finally fell on Chen Xingzhi who was speaking. Her sight just happened to meet Chen Xingzhi's in the air when he withdrew his gaze. She could see the corners of Chen Xingzhi's mouth that he had no time to restrain, and she could also feel the deeper emotions under his seemingly dissatisfied face at the moment.

A faint happiness, which seemed to be not only because of the result of the quiz, Ren Limeng found it difficult to describe the look in Shen Xingzhi's eyes at the moment, but his deep eyes were filled with faint ripples, as if he wanted to rush into her heart.

"Brother Xingzhi, Sister Chen Xi means well. She's just worried that someone will be eliminated."

Ren Limeng curled her lips slightly, speaking in a gentler tone than Chen Xi, blinking her innocent eyes. "In addition to everyone and the Fanhua Theater, I also want to especially thank Chu Yue and Han Tai. You've worked so hard teaching us Huangmei Opera these past two days. If it weren't for your help this week, I wouldn't have dared to go on stage today."

The sudden change of topic made Li Chuyue and Han Tai, who were acting as background members, flattered. Li Chuyue's smile was a little forced, and she looked at Ren Limeng with puzzled eyes, while Han Tai had already smiled back at Ren Limeng.

"Li Meng, I also went to your performance this afternoon. Your basic skills are very solid. You are so grateful to us. Yueyue and I are so ashamed and unworthy of it."

"Then Brother Han Tai must teach me more in the next two days!"

Ren Limeng blinked with a smile. Her face was still the same dignified one, but it seemed a little playful. Shen Xingzhi and Guan He couldn't help but look between Ren Limeng and Han Tai who were looking at each other, and some inquiry flashed in their eyes unconsciously.

"Of course, you are our important guests of Meixiang. Han Tai and I will do our best!"

Li Chuyue smiled somewhat stiffly, and before Han Tai could speak, she looked into Ren Limeng's smiling eyes. A hint of panic unconsciously flashed in her eyes.

Ren Limeng...what do you want to do?

Farther away, under the stage, Wu Murong kept looking at Ren Limeng quietly. Looking at Ren Limeng who was at ease in front of everyone, there was a hint of silent complexity in her eyes.

"Dear guest teachers and actor teachers, we are now going to announce the results."

Dong Zhu and Xu Kai came to the recording site together. Xu Kai was holding the final result of the afternoon's competition. Dong Zhu interrupted everyone's greetings with a smile, and everyone's eyes were unconsciously focused on the card in Xu Kai's hand.

Due to the strong participation of Ren Limeng, the outcome of the ring match suddenly became confusing.

The actors from the three major troupes unconsciously looked at Wu Murong. Master Wu was a recognized Huangmei Opera master by Meixiang Theater and the three major troupes. In recent years, she rarely performed live dramas and was more often guiding newcomers in Qianfang Troupe. After knowing that she was the lead actress today, everyone agreed that Qianfang Troupe was a sure thing.

But the disciple is better than the master. No one expected that the daughter of Master Wu, who was always called "useless", would be so dazzling on the stage. Even the actors from their three major troupes actually entered Ren Limeng's live broadcast room in the afternoon.

Unlike outsiders who speculate whether Ren Limeng is the leading actress, their focus is only on Ren Limeng's performance. Can they perform "The Female Prime Minister" better than Ren Limeng?

If we only look at the opera itself, putting aside the martial arts skills, many actors are confident, but the final interaction with the audience is too difficult.

Leaving the entire play of "The Female Prime Minister", maintaining the character's body movements and singing dialogue outside the play depends not only on the actor's understanding and control of the role, but also on the actor's own on-the-spot reaction.

Xu Kai looked at Ren Limeng with a beaming smile and announced the final result of the competition with a startling exclamation, "...The winner of the Huangmei Competition is the Fanhua Troupe! Captain Liu, Limeng, congratulations! This grand stage is yours tonight!"

As a senior representative of Meixiang Theater, Xu Kai took the trophy and award medal prepared in advance from his assistant Fang Shuyun, and with a wave of his hand, he wrote the name of Fanhua Theater on the sign.

No one could tell from Xu Kai's calm demeanor that he had asked his assistant to prepare for the victory of Qianfang and Yunsheng Troupe in advance. At this moment, he forced a smile as he shook hands with Director Liu of the Fanhua Troupe.

The Huangmei Competition that Meixiang Theater had prepared for layer by layer actually allowed a folk amateur troupe to "pick peaches"!

Xu Kai secretly resented that he should have decisively stopped the Fanhua Troupe from preparing ice water and small gifts at noon. How could he just stand by and watch the joke!

But...even if we put these factors aside, can the middle-aged actors from the three major theater troupes compare to Ren Limeng's interaction?

National first-class actors are indeed excellent, but Ren Limeng's performance is too flexible and worthy of the attention of all Huangmei Opera actors.

In addition to the emotions of sadness, annoyance and regret, all the actors from the three major troupes could not help but recall Ren Limeng's "The Female Prime Minister" in the afternoon. Others were performing the play "The Female Prime Minister", but Ren Limeng played the role of the female prime minister.

This time, perhaps, their loss was not unfair.

"Tonight, let's perform together!"

Ren Limeng glanced at the smiling Captain Liu. The two exchanged glances, revealing a shared understanding. Captain Liu continued, "Boss Xu, today's guests are our guests. We've finished our competition, so of course we have to entertain them together!"

"Captain Liu...this...isn't it bad?"

Xu Kai's face was filled with surprise, his mind racing. He reluctantly continued to insist, "This is a bonus for your victory, Fanhua. The rest of us troupes are convinced. Let's enjoy your troupe's wonderful performance tonight!"

"Stop dithering! This is a Huangmei Opera competition. Win or lose, we're all Huangmei Opera performers, we're all family. Captain Li, Captain Chen, Captain Fu, don't just stand there in silence. We borrowed your props to set up that shed this afternoon, don't you agree? Give me some honest advice!"

Captain Liu gave almost no one the power to refuse, which made the already successful competition even more satisfying to everyone.

Ren Limeng smiled and looked at the beaming Captain Liu. At this moment, the sighs of the morning had completely disappeared from Captain Liu's face. His shouting with the demeanor of a general made the four troupes seem like they were really one family. Even Ren Limeng did not expect that Captain Liu was such a wise man.

No wonder, when the afternoon performance just ended, Director Liu casually asked, "Xiao Ren, what do you think of the evening performance?" Ren Limeng just said at the time that she was satisfied (she had been in the spotlight enough), and if there was a chance in the evening, she hoped to see the complete performance of the Fanhua Troupe. Unexpectedly, Director Liu was more capable and more decisive than her.

Ren Limeng has even begun to look forward to the fact that perhaps one day in the future, when people in Meishi mention the Meishi Theater, they will think of more than just the three major theater troupes of Meixiang.

There are many masters among the people. She sincerely hopes that there will be more actors taking turns to perform on the Huangmei Opera stage, which will definitely be very exciting.

"Then it's settled! Tonight we'll have a banquet for hundreds of families, and the entire ancient city will come to watch our performance. We'll all have one stage and compete to see who can make the loudest noise!"

Captain Liu waved his hand gracefully, his gaze turning to the four guests from the "Mountains and Seas" program who were facing the camera. "Boss Xu, these guests are all big stars, right? Can I ask for them to be shown to everyone? This is the first time for us rural folks like us to see a star!"

"Captain Liu, you are being too modest!"

Xu Kai was very satisfied with this win-win evening performance, and deliberately changed the title of respect to Captain Liu. As he spoke, his eyes unconsciously looked at Shen Xingzhi.

Shen Xingzhi glanced at his teammates and nodded readily, “We have no problem, just follow the theater’s arrangements.”

"Well... with so many programs tonight, it can be called a party. Xiao Ren, you're not the host, you host it!"

A cunning look flashed across Captain Liu's eyes, and Ren Limeng, who was suddenly called out, saw it. She looked at Captain Liu deeply and nodded heavily, "No problem."