Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 684: Qu Chengcheng: The Timing Was Just Wrong!

Xiao He's one-hour teacher experience session officially came to an end.He was greeted by warm applause and cheers, the students clearly not ready to let go. A few bolder male students had already rolled their hands into makeshift megaphones and shouted, "Teacher Xiao, come teach at our Beijing Drama Academy whenever you can! We all welcome you!"

"Yeah, come, Teacher Xiao! If you come, I promise I'll attend every one of your classes!"

"Waaah, Teacher Xiao, please say a few more words! We haven't had enough—"

"Teacher Xiao, you're awesome! From now on you're my teacher!"

Those comments from the students left Xiao He both amused and embarrassed.

But the heavy stone that had been hovering over his heart finally settled firmly.

It looked like the class had gone well.

Especially when he saw the students' sparkling eyes and the approving looks from the older gentlemen nearby, Xiao He felt a rare swell of pride and satisfaction.

He stepped back, bowed slightly to everyone in a very formal manner, and expressed his thanks, "Thank you all for your cooperation, and thank you for your personal support and affection. I am truly grateful—"

If it weren't for everyone's cooperation, he couldn't have achieved this effect.

"No need to be so polite, Teacher Xiao! From now on I'll tell people I'm your direct disciple!"

"Teacher Xiao, come see us often!"

The students who had finished the course began joking and trading quips, while Yang Heng smiled at the side, walked over, patted Xiao He's shoulder, and motioned for him to look the other way. "Now please allow me to make a formal introduction: this is Dean Qu, the Associate Dean of the National Theater, and he is also my teacher."

Yang Heng angled his body and introduced him with great solemnity.

Xiao He had already read about this dean before coming, and knew this figure was a heavyweight authority nationwide. He suddenly felt a bit uneasy, straightened up, and bowed slightly toward Qu Chengcheng, "Greetings, Dean Qu!"

Qu Chengcheng was very old, a somewhat withered, thin old man, but he still appeared healthy and vigorous, his eyes bright and carrying the calm and steadiness that comes with age, along with a measure of hard-earned wisdom and gentleness.

His attitude toward a young man like Xiao He was not as extreme as Li Jian's. Instead, the smile on his face seemed very kind as he appraised Xiao He from head to toe, his eyes full of approval. "I know you. Little Yang mentioned to me before that he'd be bringing a friend to visit the theater recently."

Xiao He was surprised inside.

With his current shallow relationship with Yang Heng, was he already considered a friend?

Come to think of it, this was only their second meeting, right?

Hmm... well, maybe close enough.

Isn't that how friends are made?

A smile lifted his face. "I'm very glad to visit the theater, and honored to meet Dean Qu. I was nervous before coming and didn't expect to end up giving an impromptu performance class. I ended up showing off in front of so many seniors, which was really embarrassing."

"No, no, it was an excellent lecture."

Qu Chengcheng shook his head, speaking sincerely, "Actually, regarding the stage adaptation of Twelve Sins, we studied it over ten years ago, but in the end we abandoned that script."

Twelve Sins was the prototype for the stage play Twelve Mirrors. Back then, when domestic theaters were still developing relatively well, they were eager to introduce several foreign classics to broaden international appeal.

At that time everything was growing rapidly; the economy was booming, and the people at the National Theater were confident, expecting to lead their theater onto the world stage so more people could see them.

But that also meant many of them were feeling their way forward without knowing what the market would choose, or what the public's taste would lean toward...

So when selecting scripts they did make attempts and breakthroughs, and the Twelve Sins script, which centers on dissociative personality, was undoubtedly a massive challenge.

They even considered casting twelve different actors for twelve personalities and then fusing them... but of course, they failed.

It wasn't that the grand National Theater couldn't find a group of excellent actors capable of portraying multiple personalities, but the costs were prohibitive and the payoff, for them at that time, simply wasn't worth it.

After all, to many people, a stage performance lasts only about an hour, maybe even less, but for the actors behind the scenes it's an excruciatingly long and grueling rehearsal process.

Hence the saying "One minute on stage requires ten years of hard work offstage."

Considering the time and personnel costs of rehearsing such a script, they chose to create other new plays instead.

So the Twelve Sins-related script inevitably became a discarded project.

That was why, before Xiao He, there had been no domestic stage adaptation of Twelve Mirrors.

The risk was too high, returns did not match investment, and aside from being a show-off work for acting maniacs, they couldn't imagine anyone taking on such a script.

—Until later, a young actor named Xiao He, at his own birthday event and in what seemed an informal setting, performed so perfectly that it shocked everyone in the industry.

When Yang Heng showed that stage video to Qu Chengcheng, Qu finally realized that perhaps they weren't incapable of doing it before — maybe it was simply the wrong time for the wrong person.

"What a pity. If only you had appeared ten years earlier..." Qu Chengcheng paused, then shook his head with a helpless smile, "No—ten years ago you were still in school, you couldn't possibly have been on stage. I'm getting old and muddled, hahaha."

If the person before him had come a decade earlier, he would have racked his brains to invite him to work at the National Theater, even offering lavish benefits, doing everything to push him into the chief performer position, to bring him onto national and even world stages so more people could see how outstanding our country's actors are...

But times change.

Many things have changed; this place is no longer the place for young actors, and he was even a little embarrassed to invite Xiao He to stay. Instead, he could only sigh.

Xiao He had no idea of the complex emotions triggered by Qu Chengcheng's short sighs; he simply followed the conversation and changed the subject, "It just so happens that I'm here to seek guidance from the seniors. Having the chance to show myself is my honor."

—Also, this young man was quite articulate.

Qu Chengcheng glanced at the young talent, then at Yang Heng, who usually refused to converse with "that dummy." Remembering that this whole incident had been caused by his jealous student Li Jian, Qu's head started to ache again.

Look at other people's kids, then look at your own...

What a torment!

Why do the good ones always appear at the wrong time?

Sigh—

Qu Chengcheng sighed deeply, half-exasperated, and then turned his head to call out to Li Jian, who was preparing to slip away. "Li Jian, aren't you coming over?"

If it weren't for all the students nearby, Qu Chengcheng's tone would probably have been rougher.

To translate, it was basically: "You damned brat, aren't you coming over?"