The Drama Club

Hurried footsteps came from inside the house, and soon the door was pushed open. A petite girl walked out, and upon seeing Si Huaruo, she immediately smiled with delight, "Sister Huaruo, you're finally back! I missed you so much!"

The girl rushed forward, Si Huaruo hugged her, stroking her head like she was taking care of a younger sister. She then said to the dozen or so girls who had quickly arrived from inside the house, "I've been busy with clan matters for a while, but it's finally all over now. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

"We are the ones who should apologize. We have heard about what happened to the Si Clan, but unfortunately, I can't be of much help in such important matters concerning an Aristocratic Clan."

The one who apologized was a graceful young woman. Although her face showed signs of weariness, she had bright eyes and white teeth, and a beautiful face. She looked more mature than the others, giving people the feeling of an older sister.

The other girls also chimed in with words of comfort, creating quite a lively scene.

These people are undoubtedly members of the drama club, and unlike those student clubs that are just for fun, they have all received guidance from famous teachers and study drama as a compulsory course. They have to take three hours of drama classes every day, just like the performance major in college. Sometimes they also have to go out to participate in formal performances. The Emperor Peak Luofu Drama Club is quite well-known in the Nation of Beauty.

"Now that you're back, let's get rehearsing! The next Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling Selection is just around the corner, and we don't have much time left."

Among the group, only one girl did not join the others in comforting Si Huaruo. Instead, she spoke up to remind them of the important matter, which made her stand out from the crowd. She had an oval face, long eyebrows, and although her skin was slightly dark, it could not hide her beautiful figure and radiant appearance. However, she seemed to have a somewhat cold personality, giving people a feeling that she was not easy to approach.

The petite girl immediately adopted the demeanor of an old woman, speaking in a tone of indulgence as if to her mischievous granddaughter, "Yangyang, you're really something! When Huaruo isn't here, you ask about her several times a day, but now that she's here, you pretend not to care. How are you going to make friends in the future? I'm so worried!"

"Who's Grandma?! And don't call me Yangyang!"

The girls chatted and laughed like "one of us," brimming with youthful energy.

Si Ming took the opportunity to glance at Si Huaruo and found that she still wore that insincere, kind, and gentle smile.

Even when facing these close friends, are they unwilling to take off their masks?

Or perhaps, these people didn't enter her inner world either.

Chapter 285 Drama Club

The drama club had many members, but only a few left an impression on Si Ming.

The petite girl, named Zhu Xuanhuai, seemed to be the mascot of the drama club. She chatted with everyone and was very active, never still except when she was performing on stage. She came from a second-rate aristocratic Aristocratic Clan.

The mature woman with an older sister-like demeanor is named Dong Qian. She is not from a noble Aristocratic Clan, but comes from an ordinary middle-class family. She was admitted to the academy due to her excellent grades. After all, if only nobles were admitted, the number of students admitted to the Emperor Peak Luofu Academy each year would probably be reduced by half. Although the probability of ordinary people cultivating geniuses is small, their base is large enough.

Dong Qian's family background was almost at the bottom of the Emperor Peak Luofu Academy. In the eyes of those Aristocratic Clan families, she was no different from ordinary people. However, with her gentle personality and good communication skills, she was well-liked in the drama club. Everyone would talk to her when they had troubles.

The girl, named Nan Yang, is a bit aloof, speaks in a harsh tone, and has short hair with dark skin. She is neither from a prestigious Aristocratic Clan nor an ordinary citizen, but a wealthy merchant, or what is commonly known as a nouveau riche. This status is even more despised by the Aristocratic Clan than by ordinary citizens.

The so-called "befriend distant states while attacking nearby ones" principle applies to the common people. They are far inferior to the aristocratic families and pose no threat whatsoever. Therefore, the common people can adopt a magnanimous and courteous attitude towards the Aristocratic Clan. On the other hand, the nouveau riche have caught up with the aristocratic Aristocratic Clan in terms of wealth. Moreover, because their Lineage are smaller, their personal lifestyles are even more luxurious than those of the Aristocratic Clan. This makes the Aristocratic Clan feel only of superficial things such as bloodline and etiquette when they see them as superior. Therefore, they have to do everything they can to suppress them.

However, Nan Yang wasn't too unpopular in the drama club; she was liked by at least half of the members. This was because she often played male roles on stage, and she did them very well, displaying a masculine demeanor. Such a person would naturally be popular in an all-girls school. If it weren't for her family background, she could have become a campus idol, a prince charming.

Girls' schools are prone to having lesbian couples, not to mention that the probability of homosexuality is consistently high among artists. Fortunately, the atmosphere in the Nation of Beauty is quite lenient on this matter, and there are several couples on campus who choose to be open about their relationship.

Aside from these three girls, the other girls left a very shallow impression on Si Ming. If they were game characters, they would have too few attribute tags and nothing memorable about them. So he decided to label them as Girl A, Girl B, and Girl C—after all, they wouldn't have many opportunities to appear anyway.

As for Si Huaruo, she is the ace of the drama club and the most dazzling star. Whether it is her background, appearance or acting skills, she is top-notch. So much so that many girls do not hide their admiration when watching her performance.

All of this information was obtained by Si Ming from conversations with the other female guards while he was on guard duty. After all, everyone had nothing to do, and the security measures at the Emperor Peak Luofu Academy were already very good. To be honest, criminals capable of breaking through the academy's security personnel were not people that ordinary martial artists could handle. Unless someone like Si Ming knew in advance that someone might make a move, he would not be able to stay vigilant and pay attention.

"Hey, you're Sister Huaruo's bodyguard, right? What's your name?"

Zhu Xuanhuai suddenly ran to a corner of the auditorium and asked Si Ming, who was just passing by, a question.

"Sikong Ming."

Si Ming's answer was very brief, as if he didn't want to talk about it much. It was a bodyguard's professional quality to avoid too much contact with his employer. Although Zhu Xuanhuai was not someone he was protecting, from his current perspective, it was better not to have an overly close relationship with these young ladies.

Being by your side like air, only showing your presence at crucial moments—that's what a bodyguard should do. The guards brought by the other girls behaved like this: silently staying in the corner, like a background element of the furniture, even using Secret Voice Transmission.

However, Zhu Xuanhuai disregarded Si Ming's concerns and asked casually, "Are you surnamed Si or Sikong? You should be surnamed Si, since you look quite handsome. Sister Huaruo never used to bring guards, so you must be from her clan. Why don't you come up on stage and play a role? We're really short of male actors here!"

Since they are all girls, there are always shortcomings in their cross-dressing. Therefore, when choosing scripts, the drama club often selects scripts with fewer male characters. For example, the one they are currently performing is a palace drama with a plot similar to Shakespeare's "King Lear".

Before Si Ming could answer, a girl grabbed Zhu Xuanhuai and said, "Stop messing around, how can we let the guards go on stage? Do they even know what acting is?"

"Since he's Sister Huaruo's bodyguard, he must have some extraordinary abilities. Judging from his appearance, he doesn't seem like he's very good at fighting. Maybe he's only brought along because he knows how to act."

The girl glanced at Si Ming, a hint of disdain in her eyes, but she didn't show it. Instead, she lowered her head and whispered something in Zhu Xuanhuai's ear, causing him to frown slightly.

Si Ming knew perfectly well what this young lady would say: nothing more than that she was a lowly person, of humble origin, and rude and uncouth. After all, this girl, Bing, was one of the few people who disliked Nan Yang.

If Si Ming intends to play the "pretending to be weak while actually being strong" tactic, then he should learn from the protagonists in those wish-fulfillment novels and remain silent, letting the other party insult him. Even if he knows that a little explanation could resolve the conflict, he should still pretend to be ignorant and wait until the conflict between the two sides has accumulated to a considerable degree, or until all those who look down on him have spoken out, before using Si Huaruo's words to publicly announce his identity, thus giving them a good slap in the face.

Unfortunately, Si Ming wasn't interested in that kind of tactic, so he went straight to the point. "Si Jingyu, the young patriarch of the Si Clan, is my older sister, my biological sister born of the same mother."

The girl was stunned. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and her mouth gaped open as if it could fit ten sausages. Some girls who had originally planned to support her immediately abandoned the idea and instead complimented Si Ming's appearance and demeanor, proving that they had keen eyes and had long ago noticed his unique qualities.

The fact that the young clan leader's younger brother personally went to protect Si Huaruo is absurd, but there's no room for lying, since Si Huaruo herself is right here, and the truth will be clear as soon as she's asked.

A potentially dramatic scene of face-slapping was abruptly averted, and the guards who had been chatting amiably with Si Ming now wore expressions that said, "Damn, after all that talking, it turns out you're not one of us."

The concepts of bloodline, birth background, and social status are deeply rooted in the Nation of Beauty, creating class barriers in an invisible way. While nobles look down on commoners, there are also many commoners who dislike nobles.

Fortunately, this was just a minor incident. At most, during the performance, the girls glanced at Si Ming a few more times. Even though some of them wanted to curry favor, with Si Huaruo present, they didn't dare to "steal the show" and could only choose to show their modesty.

Time passed by second by second, and soon it got dark. Without any accidents, the drama club training came to a successful end. The young ladies said goodbye to each other and left, but a small argument broke out before they left.

"You're not allowed to go! That kind of rumor is obviously a lie. There's no such thing as a ghost!" Nan Yang said firmly.

"Hey, quite a few people have seen it with their own eyes, right here in the old campus. I heard someone went crazy because of it, and the school had to go to great lengths to suppress the news." Zhu Xuanhuai with great interest.

"Then you absolutely mustn't go. At this crucial juncture, we absolutely cannot allow any accidents to happen. What if it affects the selection of the Nine Arts Phoenix Fledgling?"

"Yangyang, you're worrying too much. Didn't I bring a guard with me? He's one of the top experts in our Lineage, from the Yin-Yang School. Even if we really encounter a ghost, he can subdue it."

I told you not to call me Yangyang!