Chapter 208

Zheng Tan watched Xiao Youzi walk into school, then he ran back, and when he arrived at that intersection just now he discovered that the suspicious person was no longer there; after looking around, when he wandered to the artificial lake Zheng Tan saw that person.

That person was sitting on a bench by the lake, holding a phone and saying something; there was nobody around him, as most students had gone to class at this time and those without class were sleeping in the dormitory and didn't go out, so looking around there was hardly anyone moving about at the artificial lake.

Zheng Tan quietly approached from behind, crawled under the bench, intending to hear what secret thing this person was talking about.

"How did you suddenly change your mind? I haven't finished scouting yet…… Warned? Those people still meddle in this trivial matter…… Fine, I know they call the shots around here, I'll leave right away…… How's the sickle side…… Alright, I'll go help him…… Tch, even a dying person can't be settled!"

Zheng Tan listened to that person's speech, knowing it wasn't anything good, but he couldn't hear the details from it; he also couldn't clearly hear the voice on the other end of the phone, only able to roughly feel that the person on the other side was in a bad mood.

It would be fine if this person left; such a potentially dangerous individual shouldn't stay here. However, before he leaves……

The person sitting on the bench finished his phone call, looked around at the scenery, then got up and came to the lakeside; he had just noticed that there were many fish in this lake, and these fish were bold, probably because they had long been accustomed to being watched, so even if people stood by the lake they swam calmly back and forth.

Zheng Tan looked around, made sure no one was coming and no one would notice this side; then, when that person walked to the lakeside to look at the fish, he rushed over, jumped up, and kicked that person in the back.

When that person walked to the lakeside he had already glanced around and noticed no one approaching, his vigilance had weakened somewhat; he was leaning over to look at a fairly large red carp swimming toward him when suddenly a force struck from behind and he toppled into the lake.

Because it is the school's artificial lake, for safety it wasn't dug very deep; but over time the silt at the bottom has gotten thicker.

After that person fell into the lake and struggled a few times to stand up, the water only reached his waist; however, his whole body was already soaked, and he was still holding his phone, which looked like it was probably ruined. He angrily looked around, trying to find out who had struck him from behind. Unfortunately, after scanning the area he saw no one moving nearby. On the other hand, someone farther away heard the commotion and looked over.

After Zheng Tan kicked, he immediately ran into the woods to hide; the trees here couldn't conceal a person, but a cat could still hide well, and then Zheng Tan watched that person quickly emerge from the lake, his trousers covered in mud, leaving with a grim face.

Over the next few days, whenever Zheng Tan wandered around the vicinity of the primary school he would pay special attention, and indeed he didn't see that person's figure; at most there were a few people who looked like thieves moving about, which is common, and Zheng Tan didn't pay much heed, feeling that compared to that person the threat of thieves was smaller. Having seen human traffickers before, Zheng Tan felt that person should be different from a human trafficker, though he didn't know what kind of shady business they were up to, but they were certainly not good people.

The night before the auditorium performance, Zheng Tan was lying on the sofa wondering what tomorrow would turn out like; the performance starts at 2 p. m., Jiao Ma had already taken leave, Jiao Yuan had a small test and his leave request was rejected by Jiao Ma. However, Jiao Ma borrowed a DVD from the neighbor Qu Xiangyang, and would record it to show Jiao Yuan later; although the primary school also has filming and internal livestream, that's at the school-wide level, Jiao Ma only wanted to film Xiao Youzi and Zheng Tan, and at this moment she was fiddling with the DVD, getting familiar with the operation.

"Hey, Mom, what's up with Hei Tan these days? He looks preoccupied." Jiao Yuan took a popsicle, bit into it, and asked.

Jiao Ma's attention shifted from the DVD to Zheng Tan, she looked and said: "I guess it's because of tomorrow's performance; it's about to go on stage, and it's the school's first cat to perform on stage."

Jiao Yuan bit the popsicle, saying: "It's already filmed lots of ads, what's there to worry about?"

Jiao Ma: "……Who knows what a cat is thinking?"

Zheng Tan listened to their talk, merely twitching his ears, too lazy to have any other reaction. The past couple of days he had been thinking about the person he kicked into the lake; although that person seemed not to have appeared around again, and perhaps he would have no further contact with Zheng Tan, sometimes when Zheng Tan recalled that person's grim expression as he crawled out of the lake and left, he felt a chill. As for today, he was simply thinking about tomorrow's performance, not worrying about anything; he'd filmed so many ads already, his skin is thick.

The next day, those who had performances in the morning basically didn't go to class, they went to the auditorium to rehearse, getting used to the stage in advance and also doing a run-through. Usually during rehearsals nothing much is noticeable, but once the props are put on the feeling comes immediately. Many of these props were handmade by the students themselves, at most with parents lending a hand.

The few students playing music at the side had their parents watching from below, holding boxes of instruments, smiling, their eyes looking at their own children filled with pride.

Overall the run-through was fine, no one messed up, the general feeling was okay; it was just that when Zheng Tan appeared, some people present were startled for a moment. However, the formal performance in the afternoon would be much more stressful, with the audience fully seated, a big difference from the empty morning hall.

Xiao Youzi's class performance is scheduled fifth; among the first five acts, four are song-and-dance, so theirs is the first drama-type act, and they don't know whether the score they'll get will be higher.

Those who had changed costumes were sitting in a dressing room, some reciting lines, some chatting casually.

Zheng Tan glanced at Xiao Youzi beside him; she was sitting on a chair, with props placed nearby, and when she goes on stage later she will have to wear this cylindrical paper "shell", which has a large backdrop glued to its back, the board painted with purple bauhinia, looking quite heavy; actually for these students it's still bearable, since it's just paper and the makers considered the weight issue. Even so, during the morning run-through Zheng Tan felt sorry seeing her, it's so hot today, wearing such a big "shell", these kids really worked hard.

Actually Zheng Tan himself isn't much better off; he's wearing a shirt made of shiny, crinkly plastic paper. When it's time to go on stage he also has to put on a stupid mask, and I don't know whether the divine beast these kids have in mind is always this stupid image.

Xiao Youzi sat quietly there, her expression slightly solemn, lips pursed, hands tightly gripping her clothes; after all it's her first time on stage, and it's the auditorium performance, even if she's just standing in the background as scenery, there's psychological pressure. Before, a first‑grader started crying before going on stage, her makeup ran, and she never took it off, just went on stage with that flowery face.

Zheng Tan walked over and patted her hand, indicating she didn't need to be too nervous.

Xiao Youzi's expression eased; she loosened her clothes and tidied up the stupid shirt Zheng Tan was wearing.

Feeling that Xiao Youzi had adjusted her mindset well, Zheng Tan glanced at the other students in the room, especially the sports committee classmate playing the lead role sitting in the corner.

That kid had no trace of nervousness, legs crossed; he was picking his nose while looking at the script. Zheng Tan saw him picking away quite happily. After picking his nose, he looked around, saw no one paying attention, then rubbed his nose‑picking finger on the "side sword" and kept picking.

Zheng Tan: "……" This little brat actually rubbed nose‑shit on the "side sword"!! Damn, I must not let Xiao Youzi touch that "side sword"!

Just then the room door opened, and Yue Lisha, the classmate who had gone out to observe as the "overall planner", strode in; the others hurriedly asked about the situation of the previous few performances. Scores and rankings will only be announced after all performances end, but for now, even if we can't know the ranking, we should be able to get a rough idea of how things went.

"Just like that." Yue Lisha briefly summarized the first three acts; the fourth is currently underway, and next up is us.

"The peacock dance by the fifth‑graders is pretty good." Xie Xin said.

"What's good about it? They've done their makeup to look like snake demons!" Yue Lisha said disdainfully.

Zheng Tan glanced at Yue Lisha; this girl is purely sour‑grape mentality. Because she has to play the lead's mother, Yue Lisha can't wear heavy makeup, she also has to put on a silver‑white wig and use a cane, playing a frail old lady. Actually Zheng Tan thinks she could play the lead's grandmother like this.

And while Yue Lisha's sour‑grape mentality was at work, the nose‑picking sports committee member ran into the line of fire.

"You actually pick nose‑shit! How disgusting!" Yue Lisha said with a look of disgust.

The caught sports committee member wasn't embarrassed at all, saying: "Haven't you seen it in xxx magazine? One‑quarter of people pick their noses once a day; one‑fifth pick five times a day; and another quarter are suspected of having 'nose‑picking compulsive disorder', spending a total of up to fifteen minutes a day on it…… What expressions are you making?! Don't be disgusted, let's speak plainly: everyone ate nose‑shit as a baby. But I have a question: why is nose‑shit salty?"

Zheng Tan: "……"

The surrounding classmates: "……"

Just as everyone wore an awkward expression and some were lost in thought, a youthful yet steady and serious voice rang out.

"Because inside the nasal cavity there is a thick layer of cilia and mucus attached to the nasal mucosa, they can trap harmful substances in the air. And the mucus is mainly composed of mucin and inorganic salts, the latter chiefly potassium and sodium, which taste salty, so it follows that nasal mucus—i. e., nose‑shit—is also salty."

The surrounding classmates: "……"

Zheng Tan looked at Xiao Youzi, whose expression remained slightly solemn as she chatted on, exchanged a few words with the alpaca god, then thought: Are the popular‑science magazines Dad subscribed to at home a bit too many?

"Sounds pretty profound." The sports committee member nodded, wanting to ask a few more questions, but Yue Lisha whacked him with a prop cane, saying: "Hurry up and memorize your lines, don't go off‑topic forgetting them, we're up next!"

"It's just a few lines, and besides, you can improvise this kind of wording on the spot." The sports committee member said nonchalantly.

Because the sports committee member's interruption eased everyone's tension a bit, and because the homeroom teacher waiting at the entrance cheered them on, promising a few reward books later, it also boosted the morale of these easily satisfied kids.

In just twenty minutes, applause and laughter never ceased, especially the lead student, whose somersaults were met with thunderous applause from below, making him seem pumped up; although he only needed to do one flip before his move, in his excitement he ended up doing several in a row, while parents downstairs shouted "Good!"

Another student playing the villain monster, wearing a dinosaur suit, even added some improvisation before collapsing, making his "death" more technical; apparently he got the idea from watching Ultraman fight little monsters.

The judges sitting in the front row laughed outright, saying: "They're all promising material."

After Zheng Tan went on stage, he also sparked discussion down below.

"Hey, there's also an animal—is it a monkey or a cat?"

"I think it looks like a cat, it has a black tail and cat ears."

Jiao Ma sitting downstairs was so delighted she could hardly keep her mouth shut, telling the nearby parents she knew: "That divine beast is also ours!"

Even a few of the judges sighed that the planner of this act "really put in painstaking effort"; based on that comment, the score won't be low. (To be continued…)

ps: (3.29) Sorry, I've only been posting once every few days. I'll continue to add more chapters during the Qingming holiday.