Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhang Tiancheng took five seconds to compose himself, then opened his eyes.
At the sight of Zhang Tiancheng's eyes, everyone could not help shuddering involuntarily.
Zhang Tiancheng's eyes, which had originally been as bright as stars, were now utterly hollow. The mere sight of them instantly brought two idioms to mind: a heart as dead as ashes, and a walking corpse.
Zhang Tiancheng walked mechanically toward Liu Ye, came to his side, and slumped heavily into a seat.
Stiffly turning his head, the moment he caught sight of Liu Ye, his expression changed drastically.
His eyes bulged wide, the previous hollowness replaced by an overwhelming fury, giving everyone the distinct impression that Zhang Tiancheng might devour Liu Ye alive the very next second.
The corners of his eyes, his lips, and his cheeks were all twitching slightly, and the veins on the exposed part of his neck bulged aggressively. Even through the thick padded jacket, everyone could sense that Zhang Tiancheng's entire body was tense.
"You..."
Staring at Liu Ye, he managed a single, trembling word before closing his eyes, his eyelids beginning to flutter violently.
Gradually, the twitching of his eyelids slowed down until it stopped altogether.
Then, Zhang Tiancheng opened his eyes once more, the hollow look returning as he stood up mechanically and walked slowly away into the distance.
Stepping off the stage, Zhang Tiancheng closed his eyes, adjusted for five seconds, and opened them again; his star-bright eyes were back.
*Clap, clap!* Dusting off the seat of his pants, Zhang Tiancheng turned, bowed slightly, and said, "Teacher Chang, I've finished my performance."
Chang Li was utterly shocked. Zhang Tiancheng's performance displayed incredible physical control and immense tension.
Though he had only spoken a single word, purely through his expressions, he had flawlessly portrayed a father's journey from fury to heartache upon encountering the criminal who had defiled his daughter.
Earlier, she had mentioned a flaw, and the only flaw was that the criminal was just a corpse. If someone had been able to act alongside Zhang Tiancheng, the dramatic tension and explosive power of the scene would have been even greater.
Of course, Chang Li also knew that if Liu Ye had actually partnered with him, the scene would have been ruined.
Zhang Tiancheng's stage presence just now had been simply too overpowering; Liu Ye would never have been able to keep up.
With acting skills like that, only veteran actors like Feng Yuanzheng could hold their own against him. Not a single person in the younger generation of actors was capable of catching his cues.
Down in the audience, everyone stared with wide eyes, completely dumbfounded.
Zhang Tiancheng was from the Class of '96 Directing Department at the Central Academy of Drama. He had frequently come to audit classes since the second semester of his freshman year, and it had already been two years.
Everyone knew him well by now and understood that Zhang Tiancheng was a good person, very polite to everyone, and always willing to help out whoever needed it.
However, because he was only an auditor, Chang Li never assigned him any scene work.
During rehearsals, Zhang Tiancheng would always head back to the Directing Department, so no one had any idea what his acting abilities were like.
Everyone had assumed he wouldn't learn much just by auditing, but who could have imagined that his acting was better than anyone else's in the entire class?
Liu Ye, who had just gotten to his feet, wore a blank expression. He had kept his eyes closed and had seen and felt nothing at all.
"Zhang Tiancheng, have you ever considered transferring to the Acting Department?" Chang Li asked with a beaming smile.
To achieve such startling acting skills merely through auditing—if he were given proper professional training, who knew what he might accomplish in the future?
Zhang Tiancheng hurriedly shook his head. "Teacher Chang, in another six months, it'll be senior year. There's really no point in transferring departments now."
Chang Li thought about it and realized he was right. It was already the end of the first semester of junior year; transferring now would only delay Zhang Tiancheng.
Such a rare acting talent—ah, she could only blame herself for discovering him too late.
Sighing inwardly, Chang Li said, "You two can step down."
Zhang Tiancheng and Liu Ye walked quickly back to their seats.
The moment Zhang Tiancheng sat down, Zeng Li turned her head.
With an astonished look and a pout, she seemed to be asking, "Why didn't you tell me before that your acting was so good?"
Seeing Zeng Li acting like a little girl, Zhang Tiancheng could not resist reaching out to pinch Zeng Li's cheek.
*Slap!*
Zeng Li swatted Zhang Tiancheng's hand away and was just about to speak when— "Zeng Li, get up on stage and perform!"
Zeng Li's cheeks instantly flushed red. She turned back, stood up, and walked toward the stage.
Once on stage, Zeng Li gathered her emotions, took a deep breath, and stared ahead. With trembling lips and a crying lilt in her voice, she called out, "Grandpa!"
Zeng Li's acting wasn't bad, and the corners of her eyes immediately turned slightly red.
However, coming after Zhang Tiancheng's astonishing performance, everyone felt that there were major issues with Zeng Li's acting; her physical language and expression lacked sufficient grief.
When Zeng Li finished her performance, Chang Li shook her head slightly.
"Zeng Li, you've been dating Zhang Tiancheng for a year now, how come you haven't picked up any of his acting skills?"
Zeng Li's face immediately flushed with embarrassment, and Liu Ye and the others burst into laughter.
"Go on down," Chang Li said with a smile.
After returning to her seat, Zeng Li immediately curled up like a frightened turtle.
Because Zhang Tiancheng's performance had set such an exceptionally high standard, Chang Li found herself somewhat dissatisfied with everyone else's acting afterward.
When all the performances concluded, Chang Li stepped onto the stage, swept her gaze across the room, and chided loudly, "Look at you all, you're far too weak! Zhang Tiancheng is from the Directing Department, and he performed vastly better than any of you. With skills like yours, even if an opportunity were handed to you, you wouldn't be able to handle it."
Everyone instantly turned to look at Zhang Tiancheng. In previous critique classes, Chang Li had never criticized them quite like this.
Sense of impending doom washing over him, Zhang Tiancheng hurriedly lowered his head and muttered under his breath, "Lizi, as soon as class is over, I'm bolting. Let's meet at the small grocery store by the school gate."
Understanding the situation, Zeng Li gave a smiling murmur of assent.
"All of you need to step up your training in physical language and gaze work, especially facial expressions within physical language. You must strengthen those. Facial expressions are the foundation for any actor. You might not know how to act with your eyes, and your lines might be mediocre, but if you can't control your facial expressions, you won't even be cast in minor roles in the future.
Class dismissed!"
At the words "class dismissed," Zhang Tiancheng sprang to his feet and sprinted toward the door.
He moved so fast that with a sudden *whoosh*, he was gone.
Chang Li and the rest of the students were left somewhat bewildered. At that speed, he could practically enter the Olympics.
Rushing out of the classroom, he rounded the stairwell with a couple of *whoosh* sounds, descended to the floor below, and only then slowed his pace.
Upon reaching the school gate, Zhang Tiancheng walked over to the grocery store on the left side of the street and called out to the owner, who was watching television inside, "Boss, get me a pack of Shuangxi."
The owner stood up, took a pack of Shuangxi from beneath the glass counter, and handed it to Zhang Tiancheng. Accepting the money, the owner leaned against the glass counter and asked with a smile, "How come I don't see that pretty girlfriend of yours today?"
Zhang Tiancheng frequently bought cigarettes here and had long since grown familiar with the owner. He unwrapped the pack, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and chatted casually.
"She'll be out in a minute. Boss, your business isn't doing too well today, huh? It's almost noon and nobody's come by to buy anything."
"It's the cold. Freezing like this, fewer people go out."
"Doesn't that mean business always drops off as soon as winter hits?"
"Yeah, but I'm used to it. Every winter gets a lot slower."
Zeng Li hadn't come out yet, so Zhang Tiancheng was happy to chat with the owner. Exhaling another puff of smoke, he suggested casually,
"You could hire someone to do deliveries. The school guards don't stop outsiders from coming in anyway. Just find a few thick-skinned people and have them let each dorm building know that if anyone needs to buy anything, they can just call you up, and those guys will handle delivering the goods right to them. Every dorm building has a free telephone, so students would definitely be willing to order that way. Students at the Central Academy of Drama aren't short on pocket money; having things delivered to their doors instead of coming out to buy them in the cold—if it costs thirty or fifty cents more, they'll totally accept it. Those thirty or fifty cents can be the delivery guys' cut. The delivery guys make some money, the students in the dorms don't have to brave the cold wind to shop, and as for you, your sales increase. It's a win-win-win."
The owner froze, staring at Zhang Tiancheng in sheer disbelief. With a brain like that, how was he a student at the Central Academy of Drama? He was a commercial genius!
At that moment, Zeng Li emerged.
Zhang Tiancheng took a deep drag of his cigarette, tossed away the lightly smoked butt, and strode toward Zeng Li.
The moment Zhang Tiancheng walked away, the owner snapped back to reality, stretched out his neck, and called out excitedly, "Thanks a lot! I'll treat you to dinner sometime!"