Drifting on a String - Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Chen Piaopiao listened to "As the World Caves In" all night.

The nights in the water town were colder than the water. Chen Piaopiao, wearing a nightgown, leaned on the balcony as a cavernous loneliness drifted from the Bluetooth speaker.

She suddenly understood why some senior artists liked to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and plunge headfirst into Xilou. In Xilou, you could see the moon. Many times, after getting off a plane and into a business van, she would look up at the sky, and the moon would be hazy and gray, like a half-eaten flatbread.

The moon in Xilou was very close, cupped in the courtyard pool like a candied fruit dropped into a cold drink.

A shadow disturbed the ripples of the moon in the water. Tao Jin pushed the door open, her head down as she replied to a message.

She looked up and saw Chen Piaopiao.

"Not asleep yet?" Her voice was a little hoarse.

"No." Chen Piaopiao's was too.

She thought Tao Jin would ask her, "Can't you sleep?" But Tao Jin just hummed in acknowledgment and went back to looking at her phone. The food delivery arrived. She accepted it politely, said thank you, and then returned to her room.

With her, Tao Jin was strictly professional in public, and in private, she didn't offer a single unnecessary word.

She had probably truly let go.

Chen Piaopiao closed the balcony door, sat on the sofa to read the script, and then sent a message to Arick, asking if she had any reference character biographies for plays. She wanted to write one for her own character to flesh out their life story, which would help her understand the role better.

Arick loved people who respected her text and characters. She immediately sent over a Word document. Chen Piaopiao opened it. It was a character biography for a classic play.

Two pages. Chen Piaopiao gave it a quick scan, and among the block characters, she saw the letters "hhhh."

A jolt went through her heart. She asked Arick, "If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me which teacher wrote this?"

Arick replied: "It's Tao Jin's. It was a practice assignment she did while studying in the UK."

"You're just writing it for yourself, so it doesn't have to be too formal. Hers is also quite casual, so it's a good reference for you."

Chen Piaopiao's thumb slid across the screen as she read Tao Jin's casual notes word by word, wondering on one hand how Tao Jin had typed these words when she was in the UK, and on the other, what Arick's relationship with her was.

Were they that close? So close that she could just send her files without even asking?

Her chest felt tight. She wanted a drink to push the feeling down.

Putting down her phone, Chen Piaopiao took a small silk pouch from the innermost part of her suitcase. After cleaning it, she placed it on the bedside table. Then she lay down on the bed and placed the soft, vibrating little thing from the pouch on her most sensitive part.

Desire was kneaded into disarray, but her consciousness remained clear.

She occasionally used this method to de-stress. It was quick and safe—safe in every sense of the word.

Every time her lips parted uncontrollably, she would think of Tao Jin. She remembered when they were long-distance, she was hiding under the covers, and Tao Jin had asked in a low voice, "What… are you doing?"

Chen Piaopiao held her breath. A few seconds later, she let it out slowly.

What was I doing? Thinking of you.∞

She still longed for Tao Jin, but longing was something that lived in the night. It was kept together with Chen Piaopiao's other dark sides that never saw the light of day. Before, it was locked away in a forum ID; now, it was locked deep within her very being.

She had never denied that she still liked Tao Jin, especially after seeing her again. But she liked her own pride more. Liking Tao Jin made her feel human, but her pride was what kept her alive.

A dreamless night.

At 8 a.m., her assistant called her room. Chen Piaopiao put away the small silk pouch from her bedside, told the assistant to use the key card to come in, and then she lazily swept her curly hair back and stretched.

Lithe and graceful, her silhouette from behind was like a champagne-colored flower.

The assistant prepared milk and a boiled egg, as was her habit. Chen Piaopiao finished the simple meal, washed up, changed into a light gray T-shirt, jeans, and flat shoes, slung a backpack over one shoulder, and headed to the theater alone.

Today, they were rehearsing directly in the theater. That's how devised theatre worked—rehearsing and discussing at the same time. Fay also had to create an original score based on the stage movement. Her colleagues had all arrived early and were sitting on the edge of the stage, chatting.

Tao Jin's outfit today was a champagne-colored tube top. The fair lines of her shoulders and neck were enviable. On her lower body, she wore a slightly darker, earth-toned fabric skirt. The design was very chic, making her look like a medieval oil painting.

She drew her shoulders in slightly and propped herself up with her hands on either side, looking in Chen Piaopiao's direction.

But Chen Piaopiao was looking up, gazing at the theater.

The theater in Xilou was unlike any she had seen before. It wasn't large, but the ceiling was very high. Standing in the center and looking up, there was a sense of emptiness, as if the dust of ages was settling down. The curtains, layer upon layer, crowded the stage along with the lights. In the air, there was nothing but the smell of props. No scent of cosmetics, no perfume, no smell of alcohol or jewelry.

It lay open, clean and pure, and inexplicably sacred.

Chen Piaopiao stared intently, observing every inch of its structure, a slight tremor in her heart.

Tao Jin narrowed her eyes, tracing her form. Gray T-shirt, braided pigtails, canvas shoes, a backpack—like a female college student who had wandered in for a tour. Her face, free of makeup, seemed to be waiting for a painter to take up a brush to her features. She gazed up at the stage with a hint of longing. It was easy to get the mistaken impression that she was a pursuer of art.

The reason it was a mistaken impression was because she was actually wearing makeup. The small mole on her face was covered, and she had eyelash extensions.

It was completely different from the expression she used to have, with her gaze slightly lowered, stealing glances at Tao Jin from time to time.

"You're here." Arick called Chen Piaopiao over.

This was the first time Chen Piaopiao had met her understudy.

She looked a lot like her. To be precise, she looked a lot like her 18-year-old self. Fair-skinned and delicate, not as alluring, a bit more shy.

Her long, cloud-like dark hair was down, and she listened with her hands behind her back as Arick and Tao Jin discussed the play.

Chen Piaopiao had originally thought that Tao Jin, as the producer, wouldn't be too involved in the show's presentation. It was only in the last two days that she learned that there was a role in the theater team called "dramaturg," which meant grasping the entire structure of the play, adjusting the placement of specific scenes, or giving suggestions on strengthening or weakening certain parts.

Tao Jin was not only the producer but was also responsible for this part of the work.

And since Director Sun was busy with another show's performance in Jiangcheng, the early creative stages were led by Tao Jin's studio. Teacher Wu from the directing team was with the group.

Tao Jin still had her old habit of sitting on the edge of the stage to listen, casual and unassuming.

Noticing the understudy, Xiao Zhou, gathering her hair, Tao Jin interjected, "You should tie it up. It'll get hot later."

The theater's central air conditioning used a lot of electricity, so the temperature was set relatively high during rehearsals.

"I don't know how to tie my hair." Xiao Zhou twisted her hair up with her hand.

Chen Piaopiao looked up at Tao Jin. She was pressing her lips together, saying nothing. She looked down and turned a page.

In the script, there happened to be a line: "Sometimes, love can be simply calculated."

"It's equivalent to your desire to confide, equivalent to that one sentence that can be said, yet cannot."

Xiao Zhou murmured as she read.

The first act was very short, just the female lead's self-introduction. There was only a chair on stage. Chen Piaopiao performed a one-sided phone call with her best friend.

She was truly adept at this kind of scene, because on set, there were often situations that required CG. Sometimes she had to act in front of a full green screen, and some crews, to save money, would rush to film dozens of scenes together. There wasn't even time to switch scene partners, so she would just act opposite thin air.

Her overall performance was decent. Offstage, Tao Jin watched her quietly with her arms crossed. Chen Piaopiao was a very hardworking girl. She had only received the revised full script yesterday, and today she already had it memorized.

But her biggest problem was that her acting lacked heart. It was as if she were holding several masks and would casually slap one onto her face. There were no transitions, no layers, and no fluidity to speak of.

It was probably related to filming short dramas, which were always done shot by shot.

Chen Piaopiao listened attentively to Teacher Wu's suggestions. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xiao Zhou standing next to Tao Jin, rolling up her script, her lips moving thoughtfully, also practicing without a moment's delay.

This really challenged Chen Piaopiao's competitive spirit. Especially when Xiao Zhou would occasionally ask Tao Jin a question or two, and Tao Jin would turn her head to answer.

For a second, Xiao Zhou smiled quite happily.

What had Tao Jin said?

Did she say, "Do you have a plan B?" Or was she saying that she was Tao Jin's Plan B?

Jealousy reared its head. The beast that had long been tamed and had accepted its fate was suddenly awakened. Its chained wrist gave a vicious tug.

The morning passed. The person in charge of meals clapped their hands and told everyone to break for lunch. The colleagues packed up and headed to the cafeteria one after another. Xiao Zhou skipped next to Tao Jin, still twisting her hair into a braid. "Sister Jin, what's the standard this time?"

Just a kid. She had no other ambitions besides a love for food. Tingting always laughed at her.

"Same as the last play," Tao Jin said.

It seemed they had worked together before.

"I'm the understudy this time, can't we eat a little better? An extra snack in the afternoon?" Xiao Zhou haggled.

Tao Jin thought for a moment, then shook her head. "That's too big of an expense."

"Why?" Arick asked, curious. It was just an extra snack, how much could she possibly eat?

Tao Jin said to Xiao Zhou, "You've gained weight. The costumes would have to be remade. The stage effect wouldn't be as good. And the number of ticket-buying audience members would decrease."

She blinked and smiled lightly. "What should we do?"

What should we do. A spring breeze lingered in the corners of her eyes. She looked at someone else gently and said, what should we do.

Xiao Zhou's face scrunched up as she wailed, "Sister Jin."

Teasing her again.

Fay and the others were amused. They cheerfully linked arms with Xiao Zhou and went to get in line. Arick turned back to pick up the straggling Chen Piaopiao. "Come on, Piaopiao. Let's get food at the cafeteria. If we're late, there won't be much left."

Chen Piaopiao stopped at the end of the line and said softly, "I just remembered I have to go back and take my medicine. I'll have my assistant bring my food up for me later."

"What medicine? What's wrong?"

Tao Jin and the others turned around, looking at her from up ahead.

"It's nothing, just a bit of a stomachache. It's an old problem," Chen Piaopiao smiled at Arick. "I'll go straight to the theater this afternoon."

"Then after you eat, make sure to get some rest. If it really hurts and you can't make it this afternoon, just let us know," Tingting said, worried about her.

"Okay." Chen Piaopiao swallowed. Her gaze traveled halfway down the corridor, and she said to Tao Jin in a low voice, "Bye-bye."

Tao Jin pressed her lips together and gave a tiny nod.

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