Dragon King's Son-In-Law

by Dragon King

  “Ok!” Excited, Xie Yujia pulled Hao Ren to the backstage; she was quite familiar with that place.

  Behind the curtains, some students were arranging the set for the next scene. Hao Ren and Xie Yujia walked around them and went into the dressing room in the back where a young female teacher was freshening up Zhao Yanzi’s makeup.

  Zhao Yanzi saw Hao Ren in the mirror, and she was pleased. Then, her lips pursed when she saw Xie Yujia.

  While she frowned, the teacher missed her eyebrow and had to wipe it off before doing it again.

  “You are doing great!” Hao Ren walked behind her and praised.

  “Of course,” Zhao Yanzi answered coldly.

  “Hey! Yujia!” The young teacher who was doing Zhao Yanzi’s makeup was pleasantly surprised to see Xie Yujia.

  “Hi, Ms. Liu.” Xie Yujia smiled.

  “Hehe, you are even more beautiful. Last time when you came to the school, I wasn’t in. You look the same as you were in the middle school except that your body is all grown! You were so thin at that time.” The teacher looked at Xie Yujia with fondness.

  “Ms. Liu, there is still the second half of the play!” Zhao Yanzi looked at Xie Yujia in the mirror and urged the teacher.

  Today, Xie Yujia was indeed dressed beautifully. The deep blue dress and the little pink jacket made her look elegant and fashionable.

  “Ok, ok! I’ll do the makeup for you first!” The young teacher bent her back and resumed freshening up Zhao Yanzi’s makeup.

  “I’m just here to look around. I won’t distract you any longer, Ms. Liu. Goodbye!” Not wanting to disturb the preparations backstage, she looked around the dressing room and walked out.

  Hao Ren didn’t follow her out; instead, he stayed in the dressing room, looking at the displeased Zhao Yanzi in the mirror.

  The young teacher finished the makeup and checked it. Then, she left the dressing room; she was probably looking for Xie Yujia to catch up.

  Zhao Yanzi turned in the swivel chair and faced Hao Ren. She glared at him ‘viciously.’

  “What? You’re not pleased that I’m here to watch your play?” Hao Ren asked her.

  “Are you here to watch my play or to keep someone else company?” Zhao Yanzi retorted.

  “Someone else?” Hao Ren asked.

  “I don’t even want to say her name.” Zhao Yanzi rolled her eyes.

  “Where are your parents? Did they come?” Hao Ren had to change the topic.

  At that moment, another teacher walked into the dressing room. As she clapped her hands, she called out, “The second half is about to begin. Hurry up and get ready!”

  “My parents are here. They are sitting in the second row and have saved you a seat!” Zhao Yanzi stood up and walked toward the door. On her way out, she rolled her eyes at him again. “Humph! You forget friends at the sight of beauty!”

  “Forget friends at the sight of beauty?” Hao Ren didn’t know how to respond.This is a phrase that is usually used between good friends of the same gender. Therefore, that was why Hao Ren was at a loss for words

  281 Potential Battle

  Hao Ren returned to the seating area and found Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang in the middle of the second row.

  Zhao Hongyu saved a seat beside her for Hao Ren, so he waved at Xie Yujia in the sixth row to let her know that he was switching to the seat in the second row. Then, he squeezed himself over and sat down beside Zhao Hongyu.

  “You went to see Zi just now?” Zhao Hongyu turned to Hao Ren.

  “Yeah, I went to check on her,” Hao Ren answered.

  “Did you come here with Xie Yujia?” Zhao Hongyu asked again.

  “Um… yes,” Hao Ren admitted in awkwardness.

  Zhao Hongyu kept quiet and turned to the stage.

  The curtain was pulled aside again as a brand-new scene appeared in front of everyone; Romeo was begging for help from the priest in front of a church.

  Then, Zhao Yanzi was led in the church in her elegant dress.

  Zhao Hongyu sat up straight as she watched attentively. She was appreciating her daughter’s performance.

  Although Zhao Yanzi’s act was a bit immature and innocent, Zhao Hongyu showed her love for her daughter from the way she looked at her.

  It was Zhao Yanzi’s first time being on stage, demonstrating her talent. If it weren’t for Hao Ren, she would probably still be in her lazy state.

  When a girl tries to show her best side, it is definitely for someone specific to see.

  Zhao Yanzi moved around in the dress like a doll on stage, and her heavenly charm was amplified 100 times in the spotlight,

  The way she recited her lines was a little stiff, but she didn’t stutter; the show went on smoothly. In fact, all the students from the High School Department and Middle School Department were focusing on Zhao Yanzi’s charm instead of her performance.

  Only people like Zhao Hongyu, who were highly educated in arts, paid attention to Zhao Yanzi’s performance details.

  Zhao Hongyu caught all the shortcomings and highlights.

  The play was coming to an end.

  “A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter’d youth. For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light.”

  Romeo’s most famous monologue put an end to the classic play.

  “Ah, dear Juliet, why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous, and that the lean abhorred monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that, I still will stay with thee; and never from this palace of dim night depart again.”

  ‘Romeo’ picked up the poison and drank it all.

  Zhao Yanzi slowly woke up and was stupefied as she saw Romeo laying on the floor.

  “Her acting is pretty good here as she demonstrated how astonished Juliet was. Her acting was a little emotionless before this scene,” Zhao Hongyu commented lightly.

  Hao Ren didn’t think it was Zhao Yanzi’s excellent acting. He knew exactly what was going on; Zhao Yanzi forgot her lines.

  Sure enough, after a few seconds, Zhao Yanzi decided to omit the long lines in the end and went straight to take Romeo’s sword.

  The straightforward suicide was to all the teachers’ surprise. At the same time, Juliet’s death brought the entire tragic play to an end.

  The curtains closed as the play finished.

  There was a big round of applause in the hall. All the actors and actresses came to the front of the stage and bowed in their costumes.

  The Principal, who sat in the front row, asked the official from the Education Bureau nervously, “What… do you think of it?”

  This Principal felt like the ending of the play was its biggest issue because there was a long speech during the rehearsal. However, the student who was playing Juliet suddenly took out the classic verses during the play; it was not just a few sentences, so it had exposed the lack of preparation of the play and attracted lots of attention.

  However, the official nodded in satisfaction. “It was a good play. Especially the ending where she committed suicide. She displayed the panic and anxiousness. It is rewritten very well!”

  “Ah…” the Principal lost his words. He was deeply relieved and said, “Yeah, yeah. The teachers are good writers, and the students are good actors!”

  “The students in your school got to develop all aspects of their abilities, which is very good! We will be advocating this as an excellent example to the entire city!” The official from the Education Bureau continued.

  The Principal was thrilled as he accompanied this official out of the hall.

  “Oh, send over the recording. We’ll show it in the news as a demonstration project and make copies for all the middle school and elementary schools for them to learn from,” the official turned back and said to the Principal.

  The Principal was extremely excited. He only wished to demonstrate LingZhao Middle School’s student integrated development plan and never thought that the play would be such a success. It
would even be advocated in the entire city, and all the middle schools and elementary schools in East Ocean City would watch the play made by LingZhao Middle School as an example to follow…

  “Mom…” Zhao Yanzi came directly to the audience in her costume after the play and ran into Zhao Hongyu’s arms.

  “Don’t be spoiled. We are not home now,” Zhao Hongyu pinched Zhao Yanzi’s little ear and pulled her away from her arms.

  “Was I good, dad?” Zhao Yanzi immediately turned to Zhao Guang, who looked serious.

  “It was alright,” Zhao Guang said calmly as he didn’t want Zhao Yanzi to get overly proud.

  In reality, as a father, he was very proud of his daughter’s performance!

  He thought she wasn’t good at a lot of things, but now he realized that she was quick on her feet and smart. She could do well as long as she put her heart in it.

  Hao Ren, on the other hand, looked at her with a smile on his face. He was happy for her success in her first performance. He could imagine how more popular Zhao Yanzi was going to get.

  The guys who had never witnessed Zhao Yanzi’s charm finally got a taste of it through the play today!

  Juliet was a 13-year-old fairy-like young girl in the play, and Zhao Yanzi, who was 15, was also as beautiful as a fairy!

  There was another reason why Hao Ren showed up at the play. It was good that what he was worried about never showed up.

  It was a play in a middle school, so the acts were very innocent. The leading actor and actress didn’t even hug each other. Even their hand-holding was just a symbolic drag on their costumes.

  He turned back and realized that Xie Yujia and Luo Ying already left.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here!” Zhao Yanzi held Zhao Hongyu and Hao Ren with each of her hand and headed to the exit.

  She was still in her beautiful formal dress; it felt like Juliet from the stage was still alive. Hao Ren sensed dozens of eyes staring their way. When they got outside, they saw that the parents of the support actors and actresses were talking with the teachers. Zhao Hongyu and Zhao Guang also noticed that Luo Ying and Xie Yujia were standing together outside.

  Since they rarely came to the school, Zhao Hongyu didn’t want to miss the chance of communicating with the Class Advisor.

  She hurried over to greet Luo Ying.

  Zhao Yanzi was scared of her class advisor, so she dragged Hao Ren to the other side immediately.

  LingZhao Middle School appeared to be very quiet when they walked out of the Arts Hall. The sports field under the moonlight not far away reminded Hao Ren of his own middle school years.

  “Hey! Was I good or not?” Zhao Yanzi pouted at Hao Ren when they walked a few meters to a basketball stand.

  “It was excellent,” Hao Ren answered.

  “I actually forgot my lines in the end, so I thought, whatever, I’ll just get it over with quickly.” Zhao Yanzi stuck her tongue out and laughed.

  She was in a pretty good mood now that the play was finished.

  “Why did you suddenly take part in this play?” Hao Ren asked.

  “The school voted for me. I didn’t want to be a part of this, but then I saw a video…” Zhao Yanzi immediately shut her mouth.

  “Video? What Video?” Hao Ren asked.

  Zhao Yanzi knew that she couldn’t hide it anymore, so she pouted at Xie Yujia, who was standing beside Luo Ying, “The video of her from before.”

  “Oh?” Hao Ren was interested.

  The video of Xie Yujia’s play when she was in middle school…

  “Oh, did Zeng Yitao get transferred to another school?” Hao Ren asked her.

  “Um, yeah. I was so sick of him.” Zhao Yanzi nodded without further discussion of why Zeng Yitao got transferred.

  A few guys who were passing by saw Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi talking face to face near the basketball stand.

  They pointed and murmured among themselves, “Is that Zhao Yanzi’s boyfriend? He doesn’t look that handsome… and has been to our school a few times now…”

  Hao Ren turned to look at them.

  The middle-schoolers hurried up and left, and a few high-schoolers, on the other hand, stared back at Hao Ren.

  “Zi!” Zhao Hongyu waved at Zhao Yanzi as she stood beside Luo Ying.

  Zhao Yanzi knew that Zhao Hongyu wanted to ask her about something, so she walked over slowly and reluctantly. Even if she was thinking with her feet, she could guess that they wanted to talk about her grades and performance in class…

  However, judging from Luo Ying’s smile, Hao Ren could tell that she was in a very good mood. Therefore, she was probably going to talk about how well Zhao Yanzi had been doing.

  “It’s late, so we will head back now,” Xie Yujia said to Luo Ying and Zhao Hongyu when Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi walked over.

  “Um, go back as early as possible because the dorm will be closed soon.” Luo Ying nodded.

  Zhao Hongyu also nodded toward Xie Yujia.

  “So, it’s a deal, Auntie. I’ll come to visit you tomorrow,” Xie Yujia lightly bowed to Zhao Hongyu.

  “Hehe, ok.” Zhao Hongyu smiled in response.

  Hao Ren looked at Zhao Hongyu then at Xie Yujia. He couldn’t understand what kind of agreement they had reached.

  Hao Ren and Xie Yujia got on a bus to their school. On the way, Hao Ren couldn’t help but ask, “What did you and Zi’s mom agree on?”

  “Just something small. She spoke with me privately for a little bit,” Xie Yujia answered.

  “Oh, I heard that there is a video of the play you were in?” Hao Ren asked.

  “You want to watch it?” Xie Yujia blinked.

  “Do you have it?”

  Xie Yujia took a DVD case out of her pocket as if she was doing a magic trick. “My former teachers said that the original copies of the photos are lost, so she couldn’t give me any extra copies. However, they made a few extra copies of the video from before, so she specifically saved one for me.”

  282 No Wonder Zi Wanted to Challenge Her

  “Can I borrow it?” Hao Ren asked in an inquiring tone.

  “Hehe, I sure I wasn’t as cute as your Zi.” Xie Yujia put the disc in Hao Ren’s hand softly.

  Hao Ren thought, “I’m just curious and never wanted to compare you two. Women…always find themselves opponents.”

  The bus was empty besides Hao Ren and Xie Yujia in the back row. The evening breeze blew through the window. Xie Yujia looked outside, and Hao Ren had no idea what she was thinking about.

  The bus arrived at the school gate near the dorm buildings. Xie Yujia waved goodbye at Hao Ren and walked toward the female dorm building; she didn’t show any anticipation in Hao Ren walking her over to her dorm.

  Hao Ren weighed Xie Yujia’s disc in his hand and walked to his dorm building.

  It was very lively in the dorm.

  Hao Ren went back to the room with his basin after freshening up. He asked Zhou Liren, who was playing with his phone in bed, “Who has a laptop here?”

  “Chen Ke from the room across the hall has one, but there is no internet. I heard that the internet would only be available for third-year and fourth-year students. What an inhumane rule,” Zhou Liren complained.

  “I don’t need the internet.” Hao Ren knocked on Chen Ke’s door and borrowed the laptop after a few words.

  “Chen Ke uses that for studying only, so there is no games or movies,” Zhao Liren said from the upper berth when he saw Hao Ren on the laptop.

  “Mind your own business.” Hao Ren turned the laptop away from Zhou Liren and inserted Xie Yujia’s disc.

  The laptop made a sound when it read the disc.

  The video played automatically.

  The stage looked similar to the one tonight, but it was only a little dimmer.

  After seeing Zhao Yanzi’s performance today, Hao Ren suddenly had strong expectations for Xie Yujia’s recording.

  “Hey, Ren! What are you watching?” Zhou Liren was bored, so he climbed down the berth. “You
got some video and didn’t want to share it with me?”

  He noticed that Hao Ren had turned the screen to himself and smirked. “Ah…I see! You are watching that kind of video! Let me see! Let me see!”

  He dashed to Hao Ren and found that it was a play.

  “This is so… boring…” Zhou Liren immediately lost interest.

  Cao Ronghua came back from getting hot water. He saw that Hao Ren, who was sitting, while Zhou Liren, who was standing, were both staring at the laptop, so he came over to take a look as well.

  The stage and the dialogues were both similar to tonight’s play, and it would be a little boring to watch the videotape.

  Zhou Liren yawned as he was about to climb back up into his berth. Suddenly, a girl in a fancy violet dress appeared on the screen.

  “Woah! This is really something!” Zhou Liren shouted immediately.

  Cao Ronghua was stunned for a bit. He felt like… the girl in the video… looked very familiar…

  “She is just too cute…” Zhou Liren kept on shouting.

  But soon enough, he noticed something as well. “Oh? How come I feel like I’ve met her before…”

  Hao Ren rolled his eyes at him. “Stop yelling and close the door.”

  “Ok…” Zhou Liren closed the door to their room immediately.

  Cao Ronghua frowned intensively. “Could this be… Xie Yujia?”

  “Xie Yujia!” Zhou Liren finally recognized the person on the screen. “It is really Xie Yujia!”

  “Told you to stop yelling…” Hao Ren sighed, not knowing what to do about him.

  “I mean…” Zhou Liren was still excited. “I had no idea that Xie Yujia was so cute before. Although she is pretty now, she had a completely different temperament when she was in middle school! This is from middle school, right?”

  “Could you just be a little quieter?” Hao Ren glimpsed at him.

  “Ok, ok, ok…” Zhou Liren finally shut his mouth and dragged over a chair.

  Cao Ronghua put the water bottle down and sat on the bed to watch as well.

  Xie Yujia indeed looked very innocent and pretty when she was in middle school.

  Her partner in the play was more handsome than the one today. However, he lost all his glamour when standing beside Xie Yujia.