Soon, the curtain slowly opened.
The stage set was very realistic, even better than typical stage plays.
The set was clearly prepared for Zheng Chunhua’s "teacher" identity, divided into two parts: half was a classroom, the other half was the classroom office.
The somewhat shabby wooden desks and chairs, the walls with peeling paint, slogans about studying well, and piles of teaching plans, textbooks, and various test papers on the desks were all remarkably authentic.
Zheng Chunhua had obviously chosen the "office" scene on the right side of the stage for his performance.
He sat at the desk, turned sideways to face the camera, head down grading test papers.
After a moment, he turned around, facing the stage.
"Gong Zheng, you’re here? Sit.
"No need to feel embarrassed. Okay, you can stand.
"I saw your dad at school yesterday.
"Parents’ hearts are universally compassionate.
"Your parents are both farmers, right? Scraping food from the earth isn’t easy. They’re being frugal to support your schooling, and seeing your current grades, they must feel very relieved.
"But other teachers told me you’ve been somewhat absent-minded in class recently. Is something troubling you?
"You don’t have to say it, I can understand. There’s really nothing special, just having a simple chat with you.
"This time the impromptu quiz results weren’t affected, still first in the class, only made one minor mistake.
"But you can’t relax. The path to college is tough every step of the way. You’re the rare promising student we have in the county school in years. All the teachers are counting on you to get into a key high school and to make your parents proud."
Zheng Chunhua took the thermos cup on the desk, drank from it, and continued speaking unhurriedly.
All the actors’ performances were monologues; they faced the audience, with no dialogue, only soliloquy.
So, the audience was actually experiencing Gong Zheng’s past from his first-person perspective.
Zheng Chunhua completely followed the established strategy in the performance, setting the theme as "teacher-student heart-to-heart talk."
In the first part, he briefly mentioned key information in a few words, revealing some of Gong Zheng’s crucial info to the audience, like how he was a promising student in the county school, was somewhat absent-minded in class, and his parents were farmers.
The latter part focused on gradual guidance from the teacher’s perspective.
Of course, this conversation wouldn’t have a definite result because Zheng Chunhua could only perform his part; Gong Zheng’s character had no lines in the scene.
Moreover, Zheng Chunhua only knew the information from the teacher’s perspective, and wasn’t aware of Gong Zheng’s perspective or the truth.
So he could only do so much.
Actually, Zheng Chunhua’s words weren’t all appropriate and proper, for instance, some might seem too preachy or even a bit morally coercive to an average audience.
But as a county school teacher, this expression seemed to fit the character better.
After the performance, the curtain slowly closed.
[Calculating performance score...]
[Zheng Chunhua’s performance score: 54 points (Highly compatible)]
Seeing this score, Huang Shengjie couldn’t help but feel excited.
"Wonderful!
"Anyway, secure the actor’s score first, then we’ll still have an advantage in the total later."
Zhou Wanlin’s expression was also somewhat gratified; clearly, her makeup seemed to have played a role.
According to the game rules, each actor’s individual scene can score up to 60 points, with a total score of 180 points for three acts.
This performance scoring 54 points was undoubtedly optimistic.
It was also the result of Zheng Chunhua seriously implementing the strategy; he essentially showcased the core content from the Setting Book in Act One as much as possible, combining his understanding of the county school teacher role and specific costume design, ultimately achieving a good score.
After a short while, new prompt information appeared on the curtain.
[Act 1, Scene 2]
[Mother - Zhang Lijuan]
The curtain slowly opened again.
Act One had six performances, with short intervals between them.
The audience found it hard to fully discuss in such a short time.
They could return to the room after each act to fully discuss and carry out corresponding actions like calls, inquiries, etc.
As the curtain opened again, the audience found the stage set had changed.
It was no longer a county school classroom or office but turned into a home scene.
And surprisingly to everyone, the scene didn’t look like a typical rural self-built house but more like a usual old-style apartment building.
This time the actor looked about fifty to sixty years old, similar to Geng Yuxia from Community 2.
However, their temperaments were clearly different.
Geng Yuxia was self-employed, not quite living a life of luxury, but her overall demeanor was still the standard city auntie image.
Whereas Zhang Lijuan’s clothing and demeanor gave a more arduous, exhausted vibe, fitting the earnest and industrious image of a rural woman.
Clearly, she must have put some effort into her attire and makeup.
Zhou Wanlin hurriedly listened attentively.
"Son? Why are you home? Didn’t tell mom in advance.
"Traveling so much by plane and car, tired, right? Come, mom will peel an apple for you.
"Home? Everything’s pretty good at home.
"The major issues are mostly solved, and mom has arranged for the rest.
"How’s your job lately?
"Mom told you long ago, regardless of how good or bad the job is, always thank the boss for nurturing you. Remember to engage more with the boss daily. Take the initiative to do any task, if you do a lot, the boss will notice.
"We’re all family, I saw a good saying in a video, a family should help each other, contribute to one another."
On stage, Zhang Lijuan peeled the apple while chatting casually.
Compared to Zheng Chunhua’s performance, Zhang Lijuan’s scene didn’t have much information.
Qin Cheng and Zhou Wanlin each picked up paper and pen from the coffee table, swiftly jotting down some details.
Qin Cheng recorded while pondering.
"These specific sets should be designed by the Imitator, which means they can be directly viewed as ’real information.’
"Zhang Lijuan’s house doesn’t quite look like a farmer’s dwelling.
"Is it due to time differences?
"The scene Zheng Shu performed was from when Gong Zheng was in junior high, while Zhang Lijuan’s performance seems to be after Gong Zheng started working.
"There could be a gap of over ten years.
"Perhaps because Gong Zheng found a job and relocated his parents from the countryside to live in a nearby county town apartment.
"This should be an important point to consider.
"Zhang Lijuan said she watched videos, which were likely short videos. Because elderly people like her probably don’t watch long videos frequently.
"This also indicates the timing of this scene should be relatively later.
"Zhang Lijuan portrays the image of a mother who endured hardships to raise her child, not showing much problem or flaw, and it’s hard to determine if she’s lying or not."
Zhou Wanlin nodded and added, "Plus, her talk aligns with the stereotypical impression of this generation of parents, always believing that simply working hard for the boss leads to promotion."
Soon Zhang Lijuan’s performance ended as well.
She didn’t show much information, primarily engaging in casual chat, but from a performance standpoint, she completed the first act well.
The curtain slowly closed.
[Calculating performance score...]
[Zhang Lijuan’s performance score: 41 points (Generally compatible)]