Chapter 43

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

After Lv Muzhi's script was approved by the Principal's Office, rehearsal work proceeded in full swing.

As the author of the script, Lv Muzhi was called by the drama society to the rehearsal site to guide the actors' performances.

On stage, Hu Gongnan played the landlord Huang Shiren, Song Xilian, who was young and handsome, played Xi'er, and Chen Geng played Xi'er's father Yang Bailao.

"How is it? Muzhi, are they performing in place? Is it the same feeling as when you created it?" Li Zhilong asked.

Lv Muzhi touched his chin and shook his head: "No, Hu Gongnan! You need to be more lewd, have the makeup artist put a black mole on the corner of Hu Gongnan's mouth, then it's in place."

"Makeup artist! Come touch up Gongnan's makeup, put a big black mole on him!" Hearing this, Instructor Wu waved his hand, and a female student came out from behind the scenes.

It was truly rare to see female students at Whampoa Military Academy, and Lv Muzhi looked at her a few more times.

The girl had a beautiful face, a slender neck, shoulder-length short hair, and wore a student uniform from the Normal School, a blue jacket and black skirt.

Hearing that a big black mole was to be put on the corner of Hu Gongnan's mouth, the girl covered her mouth and smiled with curved eyebrows and eyes.

In the time it took Lv Muzhi to take another look, Chen Geng came over ungratefully and poked Lv Muzhi's waist: "What are you looking at! She's a student from the Normal Academy, named Zhu Sanxiang, what, do you want me to act as a matchmaker for you?"

Lv Muzhi made a speechless expression and poked Chen Geng's kidney: "Get back on stage quickly, if you keep talking nonsense I'll have Instructor Wu give you makeup too!"

Hu Gongnan, receiving makeup from the Normal School female student Zhu Sanxiang on stage, had his originally not very happy mood instantly improve, and unconsciously revealed a lewd smile.

"Yes! That's the smile! Keep it!" Lv Muzhi suddenly jumped onto the stage, pointing at Hu Gongnan's smiling face: "Don't move at all, Instructor Wu, come take a look!"

"What's wrong?" Instructor Wu quickly walked onto the stage.

"Look at Hu Gongnan's smile, does it fit the image of the landlord Huang Shiren? When he meets Xi'er, use this smile, this expression is just right! It conveys that feeling of wanting but not being able to get, heart-scratching and liver-itching!" Lv Muzhi held Hu Gongnan's smiling face with both hands.

The instructor also slapped his thigh: "Yes yes yes, there's a bit of lewd... oh no, a bit of unrestrained and dissolute feeling, anyway it perfectly portrays the landlord Huang Shiren seeing Xi'er!"

Song Xilian, who played Xi'er, stepped forward to look at Hu Gongnan, gritted his teeth, shook his head and left, because it was too lewd.

Chen Geng, who played Xi'er's father Yang Bailao, stepped forward and put his arm around Song Xilian's shoulder: "Don't be afraid of this dog landlord Huang Shiren, Dad will protect you!"

"Go to hell!"

After the Normal School female student Zhu Sanxiang finished touching up Hu Gongnan's makeup, she also hid behind the scenes holding back her laughter.

"Muzhi, look, what else needs improvement with the actors?" Li Zhilong shouted, pulling Lv Muzhi's thoughts back to the stage.

"emm, Song Xilian, you need to be a bit more shy..."

"And Chen Geng, when walking it's best to walk slowly, with a feeling of one step deep and one step shallow, you can use a cane..."

Lv Muzhi sat on a small stool, guiding with seven mouths and eight tongues, anyway doing whatever made him happy; after being tired for over a month, today was the happiest.

"Muzhi! The Principal wants you to report to the office immediately!" Principal's Secretary Jiang Xiangyun also rushed over at this time.

Jiang Xiangyun was both the Principal's Secretary and a backbone of the Blood Flower Drama Society.

Having just changed shifts from the Principal's Office (the Principal had more than one secretary), he now had to throw himself into the Blood Flower Drama Society's rehearsal work, while also conveying the Principal's order to summon Lv Muzhi.

Lv Muzhi put away his smiling face, stood up from the small stool with both hands propping his knees, put on his military cap, and walked toward the Principal's Office.

Behind the scenes, He Zhonghan pulled open a corner of the curtain, watching Lv Muzhi's departing back.

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"What? Principal, you mean I also have to run a drama society?!"

Inside the Principal's Office, Lv Muzhi asked in surprise.

"Oh, not exactly a drama society, just something that can match the 'Blood Flower Drama Society', running a poetry society or something is fine too! You and He Zhonghan do it together, and don't go to that Blood Flower Drama Society anymore." The Principal waved his hand and said matter-of-factly.

The Blood Flower Drama Society was suggested by Instructor Wu to promote revolutionary ideology; the Principal gave verbal support, but the actual work was led by Instructor Wu.

There were many Worker-Peasant Faction members in the drama society, and the Principal couldn't plant too many Qingtian Faction students in it, so he decided to start a new stove.

The Worker-Peasant Faction had people, and the Qingtian Faction should also have something; the Worker-Peasant Party people couldn't completely occupy the high ground of political propaganda, this was the Principal's idea.

Lv Muzhi understood that the Principal was preparing to make Lv Muzhi like He Zhonghan, to play a role in restraining the Worker-Peasant Faction people.

For now, the Principal's methods were relatively mild; the Grand Marshal was still alive, and the Principal's power wasn't great; with the Blood Flower Drama Society it was just artistic competition, but what would the competition develop into later? Lv Muzhi knew clearly: was the Principal pushing him to the front to be a vanguard? Lv Muzhi shook his head just thinking about it.

"Principal, this poetry society or whatever, the effect isn't big; a group of raw recruits from the Training Regiment can't understand poetry at all, it absolutely cannot match the 'Blood Flower Drama Society's' role in promoting revolutionary ideology; and most importantly, I don't understand ancient poetry, modern poetry, or anything like that..." Lv Muzhi refused with a bitter smile.

The Principal obviously didn't want to let Lv Muzhi off just like that: "This won't do, that won't do, a revolutionary soldier can't say won't do! You think carefully, how to make something similar to the Blood Flower Drama Society, to be used to promote revolutionary ideology; revolutionary ideology cannot be explained by the 'Blood Flower Drama Society' alone!"

"By the way, don't run a drama society, otherwise people will see at a glance that it's copying the Blood Flower Drama Society's creativity!" The Principal reminded.

Lv Muzhi was very embarrassed, pointing his index finger at his own nose: "Me? Let me do it? Or let He Zhonghan do it; he likes this kind of work that puts him in the spotlight the most."

"No, you do it; as for He Zhonghan... he has too many things on his plate, I don't want him to do it, it's you." The Principal stared at Lv Muzhi, his two big thumbs overlapping and rotating nonstop.

"Since that's the case... I've thought of one."

"Oh? Say it quickly!" The Principal's eyes lit up and he urged.

"During the Merchant Corps Incident, I happened to meet the martial arts grandmaster Master Huang Feihong; Master Huang has excellent martial arts, protects the home and loves the country, is a true chivalrous hero, has many disciples under him, and is very well-known within Guangdong Province..."

"Hmm, then what?"

"Master Huang also recognizes our Whampoa Military Academy's revolutionary ideology; why not cooperate with Master Huang, using the pretext of teaching traditional martial arts, combined with our revolutionary patriotic ideology, to do some propaganda?"

The Principal slapped his own forehead, raised his eyes to look at Lv Muzhi: "Just that?"

"That's all the students can think of; if it won't do, then the students can't do anything either." Lv Muzhi didn't want to pull this trick anyway; anyway, if the Principal wasn't happy, it was exactly what Lv Muzhi wanted.

However, the Principal was also truly able to make do; have it first, then talk; whether the effect was good or not could be discussed later.

"Alright, you go contact him, but I still have to ask: is the audience for Huang Feihong's martial arts too narrow? Look at the White-Haired Girl script you wrote; anyone who has farmed can become a loyal audience of the Blood Flower Drama Society; Huang Feihong's martial arts... the name is loud, but compared to the Blood Flower Drama Society, the effect is limited."

Seeing the Principal nagging on and on, Lv Muzhi realized that as long as he couldn't produce something to match the Blood Flower Drama Society, the Principal wouldn't let it go; rather than letting the Principal come up with some crooked ideas, it was better for Lv Muzhi to settle it in one step here.

"The audience is still quite broad; Principal, do you still remember the Merchant Corps Incident?"

Hearing the Merchant Corps Incident, the Principal immediately perked up: "How so?"

"Back then Chen Lianbo raised his arm and called out, gathering over fourteen thousand armed elements. These people were mainly merchants who formed merchant corps on their own, landlords who formed civilian corps, village militia... Their military training was largely traditional martial arts training—body techniques, broadswords, long spears, and so on, with little exposure to modern firearms training."

"The merchant corps have been disbanded, but the civilian corps and village militia still exist."

"So who trains the civilian corps and village militia? Naturally, those skilled in traditional martial arts. Master Huang Feihong's disciples are spread throughout Guangdong Province, and many civilian corps and village militia were taught by them. Of course, Master Huang's disciples did not take part in the incident; teaching martial arts was merely hired work and done to protect the land and its people..."

The principal waved his hand: "I know this. The Merchant Corps Incident has already been classified; only the ringleaders were punished, and those below were all sent back to their hometowns."

"Hiss~" The principal drew a breath, then said: "Don't know... do you want to use Huang Feihong's name to reorganize these village militia and civilian corps?"

"Yes, those village militia and civilian corps need not be disbanded. It's better to guide than to block. We should spread our revolutionary ideas among them—that is what we should do after the Merchant Corps Incident."

"An organization should be established so that Master Huang Feihong's disciples can continue to regularly train the village militia and civilian corps. That way, the locals will be more willing to accept it, while our revolutionary ideas are interspersed in the training. We can also send instructors from Whampoa Military Academy to provide modern weapon skill training to the village militia and civilian corps. A multi-pronged approach can eliminate the misunderstanding these grassroots armed elements have of us after the Merchant Corps Incident and guide them onto the revolutionary path."

The principal was much more satisfied and nodded: "Now that's more like it! This organization needs a name, and also a purpose."

Lv Muzhi said: "Call it the Baoyue Association. Its purpose is to refine martial arts and strengthen Guangdong, to protect the land and its people."