A 30-minute countdown appeared on the big screen.
Moments later, the door to the dressing room was pushed open, and Qin Cheng, Lin Sizhi, Huang Shengjie, and Zhou Wanlin entered one after another.
Zheng Chunhua couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief: "That’s great..."
He was originally very worried that if it followed rules like those of the ’Jury Game’, where actors and audience couldn’t meet or communicate the whole time, he really wouldn’t know what to do.
But the imitator who designed this game generously left everyone with 30 minutes of discussion time.
With Qin Cheng and Lin Sizhi present, it should be enough to seriously read the setting book and find the best strategy, at least not making any overly outrageous low-level mistakes.
Of course, the same goes for actors from other communities.
Qin Cheng first picked up the setting book on the table, quickly flipped through the first two pages to confirm the key information.
Zheng Chunhua’s role was ’Teacher’.
Qin Cheng’s thinking seemed very clear: "Uncle Zheng, you first go and pick out some clothes that fit the teacher’s role. Although it’s a role based on yourself, try to fit the stereotype.
"The role is a middle school teacher in a county, so the economic conditions shouldn’t be too affluent, don’t choose those clothes that look like high-end administrative jackets or the like.
"Sister Wanlin, help Uncle Zheng put on a simple makeup later.
"The total score of this game is 300 points, of which 180 points are actor scores, adhering to the appearance will definitely help."
Then he looked at Lin Sizhi: "Lawyer Lin, I’ll read the detailed content in the setting book first, you go and determine the VIP audience members from other communities."
Huang Shengjie complained: "Instead of calling it a VIP seat, it might as well be called a confinement room, right?
"Everyone will definitely choose the player who seems the strongest and most threatening from each community and restrict him.
"I’m afraid Lawyer Lin will also be selected..."
This was not surprising to Qin Cheng: "Other communities are very likely to choose Lawyer Lin, so we all need to be on our guard.
"This time we have relatively ample time; let’s try to complete these preparations within 15 minutes and then use the remaining 15 minutes to discuss strategy."
Everyone had no objections and went about their own tasks.
Zheng Chunhua began to select outfits among a lot of clothes.
Although this time it was also based on herself, after living in the community for so long, Zheng Chunhua’s living habits had changed greatly.
For example, in terms of clothing, the clothes in the community are all new, although purchasing them takes up valuable visa time, the overall style fits the players well, and they are all brand new with a sense of quality.
Although Zheng Chunhua still had a middle-aged man’s dressing style and taste, from the clothes aspect, there was already a certain gap with the county teacher in the setting book.
The clothes he newly selected were obviously more suitable.
The upper body was a blue-gray shirt, with slightly curled collars, a dark gray jacket was put over it, resembling a style popular a decade ago, with pockets worn shiny.
The lower half was a pair of dark straight trousers made of thicker fabric, slightly puffed at the knees, and he wore a pair of black faux leather shoes.
Afterward, Zheng Chunhua specially chose a quartz watch with an old-style plastic strap and wore it neatly on his left wrist.
He came to the dressing table, Zhou Wanlin had already identified the makeup items she needed during his clothing selection and began to do his makeup.
Stage makeup is very different from everyday makeup because everyday makeup is seen face-to-face, while stage makeup is viewed from a distance under strong stage lights, so it must often be more dramatic.
Although Zhou Wanlin understood makeup and roughly knew the principles of stage makeup, she was, after all, not a professional, and had difficulty grasping the details; she could only try her best based on her understanding.
It might not be outstanding, as long as it doesn’t hold back.
After all, other communities likely also don’t have professional makeup artists, and might even be forced to go on stage completely unmade.
During the makeup, Zheng Chunhua had a sudden idea and signaled to Zhou Wanlin to simply apply a bit of white powder on the tiger’s mouth of his right hand, the side of his index finger, the cuff, etc.
This was to simulate the effect of chalk dust, giving the character more detail.
In the last impersonation-based ’Jury Game’, whether to perfectly fit the appearance had no clear reward or penalty mechanism in the game, only slightly affecting the audience’s overall evaluation to a certain extent.
But this game was different; due to the existence of a specific quantifiable score, matching the image became more important.
Among the total of 300 points, 180 points were attributed to actor scores, and 120 points to audience scores. Although the former score was higher, it leaned more towards basic scores, since most players acting were playing themselves, the difference would not be too great.
The score that could really widen the gap should be the audience score.
But even so, the actor score was still worth fighting for, since any small score might lead to a change in ranking in the end, making a huge difference in the final result.
Huang Shengjie and Lin Sizhi together checked the audience list of other communities on a small screen on the side and selected the ’VIP Audience’, one from each community.
Qin Cheng opened the ’Setting Book’ and quickly read it aloud.
Others were busy with their tasks while silently listening.
"The first page of the setting book says: ’The Gong Zheng I Knew’.
"That means the content in the setting book isn’t necessarily the absolute truth, but it’s the information obtained from the first-person perspective of the teacher played by Uncle Zheng.
"There’s a lot of content on this, and it’s impossible to tell it all, I’ll try to highlight the key points.
"In the story background, the ’young man who attempted suicide’ is named Gong Zheng.
"Uncle Zheng, you’re playing his middle school homeroom teacher.
"Gong Zheng transferred during the second year of middle school. He excelled in his studies, and you were very hopeful he could get out of this shabby county and enter a key high school.
"This was important to you as the homeroom teacher and to the entire county middle school since your school hadn’t had a student entering a key high school for two consecutive years.
"However, Gong Zheng’s family conditions were poor, and both of his parents were farmers. His father visited the school once, overall silent, and seemed unlikely to provide any assistance to Gong Zheng.
"Gong Zheng sometimes appeared distracted in class, showing a preoccupied look.
"As his homeroom teacher, you frequently provided psychological guidance for him, but he only nodded silently, rarely giving you feedback. When asked about his learning goals, he merely said it was to make his parents satisfied, to gain their approval.
"What a sensible good kid.
"You had met his father a few times, a very ordinary farmer who also didn’t know how to express his emotions. They had almost no interaction at school, and their relationship seemed somewhat distant.
"However, such father-son relationships were not uncommon in county middle schools, or in most rural families.
"Afterward, Gong Zheng’s efforts paid off; he successfully entered a key high school and subsequently a good university.
"After graduating, you never saw Gong Zheng again, but he remained a model for all the students at that county middle school."