Quan Jiu smiled slightly, her voice neither loud nor soft, yet clear enough for the entire hall to hear.
"Teacher Pan, this is a school. The people coming and going are students and faculty. Where would a thief come from?"
Pan Fengming snorted, "There are plenty of outsiders, and there's one right in front of us."
Han Zhao showed displeasure, "Teacher Pan, Teacher Nine is also a teacher at the school now."
Quan Jiu didn't even glance at Pan Fengming, telling everyone to continue with the stage rehearsal.
Pan Fengming had expected to stir up a dispute, believing that as a senior faculty member, her home advantage would surely put this Teacher Nine in an awkward position.
But to her surprise, the other party completely ignored her, deeming it beneath her to engage in a verbal spat.
Feeling ignored, Pan Fengming shouted, "Everyone out! We need to inspect the stage equipment now."
Quan Jiu cast a calm glance at her, "Teacher Pan, there's no rule stating the performance hall cannot be used during stage equipment inspections. If you insist on being so arbitrary, we can always go to the Dean of Students and ask if these students are even qualified to rehearse here."
Pan Fengming was momentarily stunned. She glanced at Jin Xue's dark expression, thought for a moment, and then said, "Who said you can't use it? You can use it after the inspection. How can we inspect with you all on stage? Stage equipment inspection is extremely important. If anything goes wrong, will you bear the responsibility?"
Quan Jiu considered for a moment and didn't argue further. She then called the students to wait offstage temporarily.
Only then did Pan Fengming step onto the stage, looking around here and there. After more than ten minutes, she declared, "Alright, Class A can come up for rehearsal."
Tian Cheng, Cui Min, and others who had been waiting by the stage immediately rushed onto it. The fifteen of them looked provocatively at Han Zhao, Zhuang Yu, and the other members of Class B.
Jin Xue smoothly played the opening narration. Pan Fengming reminded the Class A students to take their positions.
This was a blatant attempt to seize the stage.
Ren Kui was about to argue in anger but was stopped by Quan Jiu.
Quan Jiu shook her head, beckoned everyone to sit down, and said with a smile, "Watch carefully. See what you can learn from them, and what you need to pay attention to."
Zhuang Yu's eyes darted around. He crossed his arms and commented, "Shakespeare's stage play. The lines are too stiff, it's a bit jarring."
Gu Cheng, who was reciting his lines, frowned and stopped his performance. "Zhuang Yu, what right do you have to critique me?"
Zhuang Yu shrugged innocently, "I don't have any right. I'm just discussing with my classmates. Don't take it to heart, just pretend we don't exist."
Ren Kui pointed at Tian Cheng and said to Zhuang Yu, "Her expression is too rigid."
Tian Cheng, who had always had the best grades and considered herself the most promising of the current cohort, turned green with anger at Ren Kui's critique.
She pointed at Ren Kui and retorted, "Who do you think you are, daring to critique my acting?"
Ren Kui, mimicking Zhuang Yu's tone, said with an innocent expression, "How dare I? I'm just discussing with my classmates. Don't mind us, ignore me."
Jin Xue glared, "Perform your own parts. If you can't even tolerate this little bit of interference, how will you act when you're on set with people watching you all the time? Will you be unable to perform then?"
Tian Cheng had no choice but to suppress her anger and continue rehearsing with the others.
Meanwhile, below the stage, the Class B students continued to watch the performance on stage attentively. Of course, they weren't truly trying to cause trouble. When they saw something good, they nodded in approval.
As for Quan Jiu, with her years of screenwriting experience, even though she wasn't a professional actress, she was very experienced in watching performances. She could pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of the actors with great accuracy. After the entire scene, Quan Jiu, using Class A as a model, truly gave Class B a lesson.
Only after Class A finished their performance did Quan Jiu smile at the Class B students and say, "This is your last class. Class dismissed."
"Teacher Nine, you're leaving after tomorrow. We'll miss you terribly," Ren Kui said emotionally.
Quan Jiu smiled, "Perhaps we will meet again in a different capacity in the future."
"What capacity?" Zhuang Yu asked curiously.
"You'll know tomorrow," Quan Jiu said, clapping her hands. "Alright, you're all tired today. Get some rest. We'll gather at the makeup area at six tomorrow morning."
"Teacher, aren't we rehearsing anymore?" Zhuang Yu asked.
Quan Jiu smiled confidently, "No need. You're already very good. Tomorrow's stage, you will surely amaze everyone."
Hearing this, Ren Kui's tense nerves immediately relaxed. She smiled and asked, "Are we better than Class A?"
Quan Jiu raised an eyebrow and quietly affirmed, "Better than them."
The Class B students were all delighted.
Quan Jiu handed the key to the performance hall to Pan Fengming and left with the students.
Seeing Class B leave, Jin Xue let out a cold snort, "It seems they've given up."
She then said to Pan Fengming, "The performance hall will stay open late tonight. Everyone rehearses until midnight."
Upon hearing this, the Class A students immediately deflated.
Yu Zhuang lamented, "Teacher, the dorms close at midnight, and we have to wake up early tomorrow."
Jin Xue's face darkened, and she reprimanded, "Is your performance already flawless? Look at what you're doing!"
Being scolded by the big star, Yu Zhuang was greatly disheartened and lowered his head silently.
Jin Xue continued with a stern expression, questioning the others, "And you all, if you had truly learned and mastered what I taught you, you wouldn't lose to Class B tomorrow. Have you all learned it? Can you guarantee you won't lose?"
The others also fell silent, quietly continuing their rehearsal.
Jin Xue checked the time, it was already 8:30. She picked up her bag and said, "Do you know how precious my time is? I'm delaying this for all of you. If you truly have ambition, then put in the hard work yourselves. I won't be watching you; practice on your own."
With that, she walked away in her high heels.
Pan Fengming was unwilling to stay and guide them. After mentioning a few key points for improvement, she also left.
Only Tian Cheng, Yu Zhuang, and the others remained in the performance hall. However, due to Jin Xue's words, everyone felt a knot of frustration in their hearts, and no one mentioned leaving.
They rehearsed until nearly one in the morning, when everyone finally dragged their tired and numb bodies out of the performance hall.
The night was silent.
The next day, at six in the morning, all the students from the Class B intensive training group arrived at the makeup area of the performance building, looking energetic.
Quan Jiu had already prepared breakfast.
After distributing breakfast to everyone, Quan Jiu spoke earnestly while they ate, "I'm somewhat of an experienced person. In many things, we cannot dwell on winning or losing. Effort and doing your best are enough, because your lives are still long, and your journey will never stop at this moment.
I know you're thinking about competing with Class A. But what I want to say is, there is no winning or losing in today's public performance, nor is there competition. Class A is not your goal, because they are not that important."
The students immediately burst into applause and cheers.
"That's right, Class A isn't important. What's important is ourselves," someone chimed in.
Quan Jiu smiled approvingly.
At 6:10, everyone had almost finished their breakfast, but the makeup artists had not yet arrived.
Quan Jiu was puzzled and called Yan Chi.
"Teacher Yan, didn't you say the makeup artists would arrive at six? Why haven't they shown up yet? Class B has thirty-six people, and each person's makeup and styling are different. If they don't come soon, we'll be late."
Yan Chi replied, "They haven't arrived yet? Wait a moment, I'll call and ask about the situation immediately."