The Argument

“What happened just now… doesn’t even deserve to be called acting!”

A visibly frantic Ning Rou screamed as she slammed the door open.

“Ning Rou? What… what are you talking about?” Xiao Yuehua stared at her blankly, unable to process the situation.

On the other side, Jiang Li knit his brows. “Student Ning Rou? Do I need to remind you? Disrupting my private tutoring session is not particularly amusing behavior.”

Normally, Ning Rou would never act so impulsively. But now, the dual flames of anger—seeing her favorite script desecrated and seeing her best friend misled down a wrong path—had incinerated her judgment.

She marched up to Jiang Li, trembling with rage. “Professor Nangong, do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

“I’m all ears.”

“You are misleading Yuehua! You’re going to ruin her!”

“Ning Rou, calm down!” Xiao Yuehua tried to pull her back, but she was violently brushed off.

“What was that just now? It was a total mess! You call that acting? The emotions were haphazard and chaotic, there was no coordination between the layers… shouldn’t that thing be classified as some kind of stitched-together monster?”

Xiao Yuehua’s face froze instantly. It was as if she had been turned to ice by a sub-zero wind, her pupils trembling uncontrollably.

Ning Rou was so focused on venting her fury at Jiang Li that she didn’t seem to notice she was shattering her friend’s heart. Jiang Li, however, sensed that things were spiraling out of control and tried to hit the brakes. “I think you should retract that statement. You aren’t being rational right now.”

But Ning Rou failed to grasp Jiang Li’s well-intentioned warning. Consumed by fury at her friend’s “fall from grace,” she continued her relentless barrage against him.

“Doesn’t Professor Nangong claim to be an expert in performance? Then what was that?”

“Anyone could manage that kind of nonsense, couldn’t they? Yuehua’s skill level is clearly not this low!”

“Aren’t you a professor? The kind who guides students? Then why are you only teaching her bad habits? You seemed satisfied with her performance just now, but it wasn’t even up to the standard she had years ago!”

“To act, shouldn’t you at least understand emotions?”

“Ning… Ning Rou…” Xiao Yuehua spoke with a trembling voice behind her.

“Even if one doesn’t understand emotion, what about the delivery? A strange, wooden delivery like a primary schooler would be better than a blind, nonsensical interpretation of feelings, wouldn’t it?!”

“Ning Rou, stop it…”

“Is this the extent of a professor’s ability? Guiding Yuehua to become this?”

“Ning Rou, I’m begging you…”

“Did the Professor only take her on as a student to sabotage her?”

“Ning Rou… Ning Rou…” Xiao Yuehua’s voice was practically breaking.

“Do you really not feel that you are leading your student astray?”

Ning Rou remained oblivious. “I think, if the Professor isn’t intentionally trying to destroy Yuehua’s future, he should give up on her. I’ll take her to the more responsible Professor Lin—”

“NING ROU!!!”

Xiao Yuehua’s scream echoed through the entire studio. Her eyes swirled with a darkness and resentment that Jiang Li couldn’t quite fathom. It wasn’t directed at him, but at Ning Rou.

“What are you saying? What do you even know? You spend all day looking down from your high horse—what right do you have to tell me how to live?!”

Ning Rou finally snapped out of it. She turned to her friend, her eyes filled with the dazed confusion that follows a fit of rage. “Yuehua… I… I was just…”

“Just what? Trying to choose my path for me? Aren’t you a bit too arrogant?”

“Wh-what? No, I’m not…”

“What does a high-and-mighty genius like you know? Can you understand my despair?” Xiao Yuehua’s expression was a mix of fury and humiliation, as if she had been forced to tear open her ugliest scar. “What is natural for you is something I can only dream of! What is as easy as breathing for you is something I am utterly incapable of!”

“How could someone like you ever truly understand me?”

“I… I…”

“’Doesn’t deserve to be called acting’? ‘A stitched-together monster’?” The emotions she had suppressed for so long erupted. Large tears began to fall from her eyes. “Do you think I don’t want to meticulously contemplate the script’s emotions? Do you think I don’t want to perfectly replicate its essence? I just can’t do it!”

“I’m sorry… but I… I didn’t mean it like that…” Ning Rou was at a loss for words. As she apologized, she too began to cry.

“I can’t do it, and that’s that! It’s not something that can be changed with effort! If it weren’t for the Professor, I wouldn’t even be able to materialize the Wrathful Witch right now!”

“Do you think I don’t know these emotions aren’t accurate? But do I have any other choice? You have a talent that feels like cheating. Can’t you stand to see someone without talent using an ugly crutch to walk?!”

“I… I didn’t know…”

As the two girls sobbed, Jiang Li felt a massive headache coming on. What is going on? The conquest hasn’t even started properly, so why are the two heroines tearing each other apart? Is there even a hope of finishing my mission?

“Why do you always have to do these unnecessary things? Is it just to flaunt your bright future? Do you just want a piece of trash like me—rotting in the mud and struggling to breathe—to be jealous of you?!”

“No, Yuehua, I just… hic-ugh… I just didn’t want to see you make a mistake…” Ning Rou was crying so hard she started to hiccup. She looked exactly like a small child.

Regardless, Jiang Li knew he couldn’t let their conflict ferment any longer. He stepped in before Xiao Yuehua could vent any further.

“This is not a mistake, Student Ning Rou. This is Student Xiao Yuehua’s achievement.”

“Hic-ugh… it clearly… clearly isn’t…” Amusingly, even while sobbing and hiccuping, Ning Rou insisted on trying to argue with him.

Suppressing an ill-timed urge to laugh, Jiang Li spoke calmly. “Unlike the views of both Xiao Yuehua and Ning Rou, I don’t think Student Xiao Yuehua is on the wrong path, nor do I think she is acting out of desperation due to a lack of talent.”

The two girls, their eyes red from crying, stared at Jiang Li in a daze.

“This is her practice. She is simply walking a rugged path in her own way.” Seeing their confusion, he continued. “Emotional apathy makes it difficult to perfectly control feelings during a performance. For Yuehua, that is indeed a flaw, but she possesses a powerful talent for learning to compensate for it.”

“Therefore, she can practice and experience every emotion she needs through step-by-step trial and error. Emotions gained this way will be far more vivid than those derived merely from mental contemplation.”

“She has the talent, the ability, and—more importantly—the perseverance.”

“But just now, it was clearly…”

“Yes, in the performance just now, the interpretation of the three emotions might not have been perfect. But that is only because Yuehua’s current ‘storehouse’ of experienced emotions is not yet full; she could only choose the closest matches to experience. But I believe that one day, Student Xiao Yuehua will be able to perfectly interpret every single emotion.”

“…Professor.”

“She hasn’t lost her way. Her path is simply different from yours.”

Xiao Yuehua stared blankly at Jiang Li as he spoke eloquently to Ning Rou. The version of her he described and the version in her own mind felt like two different people. One shone with a brilliant light; the other hid in the mud, gasping for survival.

She had never imagined—never seen—anyone trust and believe in her like this. Her entire life, even those closest to her only ever encouraged her to give up. Everyone told her, ‘You work so hard, it’s a pity you have no talent.’ Even she often thought she should quit because of her lack of talent.

But one person was different. That person told her, ‘You have talent.’ And most importantly, he wasn’t lying. It wasn’t a pretty platitude; it was a genuine belief from the bottom of his heart.

Professor Nangong acknowledged her talent.

Xiao Yuehua’s heart trembled and wavered. Despite the heavy misunderstandings and conflicts they’d had before, at this moment… a strange thought filled her mind.

I want to believe this man. And I want to believe in the ‘me’ he believes in.

Following that was a stronger, more irresistible thought—or rather, a desire.

But the Professor’s trust… this gentle side of his… I don’t want it shown to anyone else. It should only belong to me… No, it must only belong to me…