"Stop talking nonsense, just look at your face, pale as a ghost," Shen Luhua couldn’t hide her distress, "An’an, go catch one of our old hens and kill it, I’ll make a stew for your sister."
"Oh! I’ll get on it right away." Sheng An moved quickly, darting out like a little rabbit, and soon the yard was a flurry of chickens and dogs.
Shen Luhua sat on her bed, sighed, and said, "Girl, this is my fault, don’t you ever blame Qigang." Seeing that they were about to get married, she was really afraid that the girl would impulsively decide not to marry, which would be disastrous.
"Mom, I don’t blame you!"
"Don’t blame Qigang." She’d rather take the blame herself than have her anger directed at Xu Qigang.
"You shouldn’t have kept this from me, and he definitely shouldn’t have." Sheng Ning felt a seething anger at being kept in the dark; if she hadn’t overheard it today, would she have been kept in the dark forever?
The thing she took pride in was actually a joke? She thought she had changed An’an’s destiny through her own abilities, but it wasn’t really her own doing. Was it all due to someone else?
Thinking about it, she just couldn’t help being angry.
She had unfinished business with Living Yama.
"Let’s not talk about this for now, tell me honestly, what’s wrong with you? Why do you look so awful?" Shen Luhua’s eyes were sharp; her daughter had either suffered a serious injury or a severe illness.
Plus, the timing of her return clearly wasn’t for a casual visit.
"Appendicitis, I had surgery," Sheng Ning dared not tell the whole truth, fearing it would scare her parents.
"I knew it, you really don’t take good care of yourself. How could you have surgery and not tell us? You obviously haven’t been taken care of." Shen Luhua’s voice was filled with unceasing distress, "Thank goodness you came back. It’s crucial to get you well."
Lately, the busiest buzz at the General Union was about the new play "Phoenix," which sold out at its premiere. Due to its enormous popularity, it completely overshadowed the news of Living Yama and Chen Yingjie being suspended, and Sheng Ning’s discharge and return to her hometown went completely unnoticed.
Everyone had expected "Phoenix" to be a hit.
Positive, full of energy, dramatically and imaginatively rich—especially the final scene where the female lead ascends the stage of the Vienna Royal Music Academy—it struck directly at the hearts of the Chinese people!
In the early eighties, the country was far behind. Everything foreign was novel and exciting, and to stand on a global stage and bring honor to the nation was considered the deed of a national hero.
The story concluded with the Vienna Royal Music Academy, leaving the audience bursting with imagination.
The first performance, as per tradition, was held internally at the General Union. However, as it was the second installment of ’Rebirth,’ it attracted significant attention from industry leaders, drawing many important figures from the province.
Among them, the most prominent were the President of the National Theatre’s Creative Research Centre and the President of the Stage Beauty Centre.
This time around, the lead of "Phoenix" wasn’t Wu Youli. Her persona didn’t match the character of Phoenix. Instead, they went with an experienced actor from the drama club who had recently been promoted, Han Minghua.
Chosen personally by Su Hai, her choice was a profound one. Han Minghua’s portrayal of Phoenix was closest to Sheng Ning’s imagination.
Han Minghua was clever; the moment she received the script, she knew this play was written specifically for Liu Yilan. To bring the character to life, all she needed to do as a reference was Liu Yilan herself.