QKYJ - 1

Initially, Shen He and Shen Zhi were not together.

There were two candidates between them. One was absent for the exam, and the other suffered from acute appendicitis, being carried out on a stretcher in the waiting area and sent to the hospital by ambulance.

Then, Shen He and Shen Zhi met.

Shen He went in right before Shen Zhi.

She only saw his profile, but she had to admit, even among aspiring performing arts students, this guy’s looks were top-tier.

For a few minutes, she thought he was a handsome, normal person.

However.

For his vocal performance, he sang “My Sister Looks for Brother, Tears Flowing.”

He even forgot the lyrics in the middle.

The teacher, in a fit of compassion, allowed him to change songs. But he retorted by asking if he could sing Shin’s “Dying to Love,” and was immediately rejected on the spot.

Then, during the group sketch, they were assigned the roles of an old man and an old woman. Everyone was eyeing the scores keenly; doing well in the performance was important, but standing out was even more crucial.

One shouldn’t be too fake.

Nor too subtle.

Shen Zhi was still contemplating how to add more to her role when she heard a dull thud beside her. Shen He had already fallen, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.

It was utterly shameless.

So much so that the young and naive Shen Zhi, full of “city tricks are deep,” was stumped.

Just as her scene was about to collapse, for some unknown reason, Shen He suddenly frowned, and with his back to the scoring teachers, as if a silent cue board, he conveyed a certain message to her.

At that moment, Shen Zhi felt her mind go blank. All in all, she just followed the instruction given by the performing arts student she had just met for the first time.

She slapped him.

________________________________________

When she walked out of the building after the second round of auditions, Shen Zhi was practically distraught, only to see Shen He practicing riding a unicycle under an artist’s sculpture.

She originally wanted to pretend not to see him, but couldn’t suppress her curiosity. She took a few steps back and stopped, saying, “Aren’t you leaving yet?”

As the instigator of the current situation for the candidates in their group, Shen He maintained his balance with ease: “If I don’t get in, it’s unlikely I’ll ever come back here, right?”

She was reluctant to be swayed by his logic, so she stood still. He, however, wobbled on his unicycle to her, handed her his phone with a cracked screen, and said, “Could you take a photo for me, please?”

Didn’t want to get involved with him.

This was Shen Zhi’s initial impression of Shen He.

Later, Shen Zhi speculated that their scores in the other rounds must have been outstanding.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been admitted despite all that.

________________________________________

Shen Zhi informed her family about her admission one by one.

Her parents were overjoyed, thanking the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Virgin Mary.

Her aunt and uncle, while glued to a matchmaking TV show, asked her when she was moving out.

Her cousin stood by the door, her face livid, gritting her teeth: “That’s just great.” She then slammed the door shut.

________________________________________

Shen Zhi went to the registration by herself.

Before school started, some of their classmates had already connected through their performing arts network, and some even befriended upperclassmen, forming a close-knit group through social media.

Shen Zhi spent her summer vacation at her grandparents’ house in the countryside, so she participated in fewer online interactions. When she arrived at the dorm, there weren’t many people she knew well.

In terms of extremes, students in this major could generally be divided into two types.

Either utterly empty-headed, knowing nothing but being good-looking, purely decorative; or quick-witted and shrewd to the point of being a master manipulator, most keen on managing their public image.

Even though Shen Zhi missed many online activities, she was still welcomed and included, and everyone got along splendidly.

A girl who had just been engrossed in her phone smiled at her, her eyeshadow matching her nails. “Hi! I’m Sun Mengjia,” she said. “I saw you in the final audition.”

Shen Zhi said, “I’m Shen Zhi.”

“I’m Ouyang Sheng,” said a girl wearing glasses. “My friend was in the same group as you for the sketch, but unfortunately, she was eliminated in that round.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” she softly replied.

Shen Zhi actually didn’t remember much, so she kept quiet to hide her awkwardness.

“How come I can’t find your Weibo...”

Shen Zhi leaned over, helped type in her long string of alphanumeric username, then sat down and distributed the fruit candies she had specially bought earlier. She didn’t particularly like them, but she had to admit, among bulk snacks, these were quite common.

Everyone exchanged contact information and then went together to pick up their military training uniforms. Along the way, they also met other female classmates in scattered groups, and a few male classmates as well.

Shen Zhi, half-familiar, was also drawn into it, becoming part of the social web.

After trying on their clothes on the spot, several girls immediately gathered for selfies. From a prestigious performing arts school, it wasn’t uncommon for them to have acting experience, and posting it on social media wouldn’t lower their status.

The atmosphere in other dorms was even livelier. Sun Mengjia left and didn’t return, leaving Shen Zhi and Ouyang Sheng to go to the bathhouse together. While undressing, Ouyang Sheng suddenly remembered something and her low voice asked from the next stall, “Shen Zhi, do you have a brother?”

“What?” Shen Zhi pulled her top over her head.

But she could only hear the sound of water now.

What was that about? Shen Zhi wondered.

________________________________________

Military training began before she even recognized all her classmates.

Training was segregated by gender. The school strictly prohibited faking illness to skip attendance from the beginning, and with the seniors specifically holding small meetings to apply pressure, most freshmen had to take it seriously even if they didn’t want to. Every morning they applied sunscreen, every evening they put on repairing masks, discussing “it’s best to lose a few more pounds,” just hoping it would end soon.

During break times, Shen Zhi would pull the sleeves of her military uniform all the way down and raise her hand to shield her face, seeking shade under a tree. Her face was burning from the sun, and she wasn’t in the mood to talk. Even so, she was passively drawn into her classmates’ conversations.

“The boys seem to have it much harder than us,” said a girl from another major.

“Even ordering takeout gets them punished.”

“What? They confiscate food?”

“My boyfriend told me. He’s in the musical theatre department.”

Ouyang Sheng muttered to herself, “Good thing we don’t have to.”

Summer was already hot and dry, and the cafeteria was as stuffy as a simmering clay pot of porridge. Snacks were more useful.

Shen Zhi also nodded thoughtfully in agreement.

________________________________________

As military training progressed smoothly, it rained one day, leaving puddles on the sports field, and evening training was canceled. Shen Zhi was stretching on her bed with a face mask on, the dorm room empty, when a girl from the next dorm suddenly came over.

“Shen Zhi, the head teacher is looking for you.” The other girl poked her head in, dropped the message, and left.

She didn’t say why the teacher was looking for her.

She didn’t say where to find her.

It was already dark. Shen Zhi hastily tore off her mask, washed her face, threw on some clothes, and went out. She made a call while walking, following the head teacher’s instructions to the sports field.

“Teacher, are you looking for me?” Shen Zhi asked.

The teacher tapped his phone a few times, and casually replied while waiting for the call to connect, “I just asked a girl to come out. It’s good that you came, I see you’re a very obedient child, come with me first. Ah, wait... hello...”

After that, the teacher was on the phone the whole way.

Shen Zhi, meanwhile, was thinking.

Was she being bullied?

Not necessarily. It wasn’t even officially school yet, they hadn’t said more than a few words to each other. It could only be said that responsibility had been shirked.

After all, no one wanted to do odd jobs.

“You’ll be in charge of the girls’ side from now on, you’re Shen Zhi, right?” He was about to assign a task, but still didn’t know her name. The teacher said, “The boys’ side caused trouble again today. I have an urgent matter, you go over and tell the instructor for me first. I’ll be right there.”

Shen Zhi stood rooted to the spot for a while.

She had no obligation to help anyone. With no night training, she could go back to her air-conditioned room and read a novel, or go to the supermarket to pick out tomorrow’s breakfast. Shen Zhi procrastinated for a long time, but still couldn’t turn and leave. She just ordered takeout on her phone first, then walked leisurely towards the school gate.

The night breeze was a bit cool. Shen Zhi waited for a while, hugging her arms. Not long after, she saw a yellow electric scooter race by. It stopped, directly put the package through the iron fence, turned around, and left, its good deed hidden.

Why didn’t they even call?

She walked up, specially checked the receipt to confirm. The recipient’s name was redacted, showing “Shen*”. Opening the bag, it was what she had ordered.

Shen Zhi was nonchalant, eating as she walked. As soon as she took the first bite, she froze.

She spat it out.

Is tofu pudding better salty or sweet? This has been an age-old, endlessly debated, and unresolved conundrum in China for five thousand years.

Shen Zhi was always on the salty tofu pudding side.

However, the tofu pudding in front of her was clearly sweet, and the kind with several times the amount of sugar.

Her first reaction was that the store sent the wrong order. Just as she opened the delivery app, an unexpected call came in. As soon as she answered, the other end simply stated, “Ms. Shen, your takeout has arrived.”

Shen Zhi didn’t say a word, subconsciously flipping through the plastic bag in her hand. She re-examined the receipt, only then noticing that the person who ordered the takeout was indeed “Shen*”, but the suffix was “Mr.”. The phone number was also clearly not hers.

On that night as a first-year student at the drama academy, Shen Zhi stood in the night breeze, holding the sweet tofu pudding she had taken one bite of, speechless for a long time.

________________________________________

She was lost in thought when her name sounded behind her. She turned, seeing Sun Mengjia from her dorm, and several other female classmates.

“Why are you here? Are you also here to watch the boys get punished? We just got kicked out,” Sun Mengjia said, stifling a laugh. “The teacher seems to be looking for you.”

Shen Zhi asked, “What happened?”

Another girl replied, “During military training, we’re not allowed to leave school, right? Some boys climbed over the wall and went out. Then it rained, they got caught, and now they’re all doing frog jumps, it’s hilarious.”

Shen Zhi looked in that direction.

Sure enough, a dozen boys were doing frog jumps around the sports field.

While she was watching the frog jumps, the head teacher saw her. “Shen Zhi,” the teacher pulled her over without question, “They’ll be done in two more laps. Some of them had their phones confiscated; you can hand them back later.”

He handed over a stack of several phones.

Shen Zhi’s hands were larger than average for a girl, with long, slender fingers, and she easily took the phones.

A tall shadow enveloped the girl. Someone said, “Let me help you carry some.”

“No, thank you.” Unaccustomed to troubling others, Shen Zhi instinctively dodged.

An unfamiliar face came into view.

It was a senior she had met with her classmates before.

She was about to say some polite words when she was interrupted by a loud shout from the sports field: “Damn it!”

Everyone’s attention involuntarily shifted.

“You splashed water all over my face, fuck you!” a boy doing frog jumps roared, “Shen He!”