Parallel Lines Chapter 8 - The Unspeakable Hidden

Christmas, the Xuan Lan family spends leisurely at home.

Mother prepared a mouth-watering lunch: sweet and sour pork ribs, steamed sweet-scented osmanthus, fried chicken with three-color pepper, and fried kale with garlic. Usually, there is no meat at home, but most of them are simple methods such as salt-baked and steamed. Only when the father is at home, the mother will have the scheming of seasoning.

"Dad, Mom, I'll start going back to school tomorrow to do something." It's about the inter-class drama.

"Well," the mother didn't care what she was doing back home, "remember to come home on time for dinner."

"Is that the event of Zhongshi Ke?" My father's memory is not bad.

"Yes."

"Then what role do you play?"

"..." She always felt exaggerated when she told her father that she was the protagonist: "You have to do everything, because the classmates are not very keen to participate, and there are only six of us."

"If others don't do it, you just do it..." The mother said, "Don't just do unnecessary things, save some time for vacation homework."

Xuan Lan sighed secretly in her heart, but she never refuted it—from elementary school to now, what long vacation has she spent two or three days to complete her homework? She never had to worry about her mother, and her mother never praised her self-discipline.

After lunch the next day, the girls went back to school to discuss acting. As expected, Huiwen and Tina had already written the script, so everyone sat around and read the lines in order.

"...At the moment, Xiang Yu and I agreed to divide the world equally with the gap as the boundary, but will Xiang Yu stop there? When he is short of rations, if he doesn't give him a fatal blow, wouldn't it be a danger to raise tigers?" Emily tried to throw herself into the ground. She read the lines in an excited tone, but this time she was just checking the script for any inconsistencies. Everyone looked at her and laughed.

"Rebecca, just after the narration finished saying that they made a contract, Liu Bang immediately said that he broke the contract. Wouldn't it be too fast?" Emily felt that she had written her role too cunningly.

"Liu Bang is a vicious character. In fact, he was persuaded to break the contract, but our characters are not enough." Hui Wen responded.

"Yes, traitor, keep reading!" Tina laughed, and Xuan Lan and Mandy also laughed.

"A traitor," said Annie, who played Han Xin, "it's time for you to ask me to help you."

Hui Wen thought that there was still IMC practice at 4 o'clock, but everyone was not serious about reading the script. After half an hour, she became impatient: "Seriously, we can prepare the costumes and props after we have finished the script."

"Okay, seriously." Tina restrained her smile and concentrated on the script: "Jacky, let's start, seriously."

"...Damn, I returned his father and wife intact and treated each other with courtesy. Liu Bang, a shameless man, went back on his word..."

"Wait," Hui Wen interrupted her this time, "Can you let go of your feelings? Overlord."

"Didn't you say wait until the rehearsal?" Xuan Lan was puzzled and said just now that everyone was not serious.

"I want to see if you can show that kind of anger." Hui Wen looked at her with a smile, but the others didn't refute Hui Wen's instant "returning", wanting to see how Xuan Lan, who usually has a sullen expression, could do. play.

"Seriously?" Xuan Lanhuan looked at the crowd, glanced at the script, cleared her throat, and stood up abruptly.

"Damn!" She suddenly shouted like a bell, and slapped her palm on the table: "This king returned his father and wife intact and treated each other with courtesy, but Liu Bang, a shameless man, went back on his word, this king I swear I will chop you into meat sauce!"

The other girls stared at her blankly.

"Jacky, so you can be so fierce." Mandy opened his mouth: "I seem to be getting to know you again."

"Only the five of us can see it." Annie smiled and said, "It's the same when it's on stage."

"I feel like I'm about to be cut through by her sharp eyes..." Emily shuddered when she was made an imaginary enemy just now.

"Look, you don't need to spend so much energy to be a traitor, you earn it." Tina teased her again.

Xuan Lan breathed a sigh of relief, lowered her head and asked Hui Wen who was sitting beside her, "How? Director, do you accept the goods?"

"It's a surprise—" Hui Wen also looked surprised, wondering whether her arrogance and arrogance had been learned from TV: "If it weren't for the fact that the drama team would always only play female roles, I would definitely invite you to play."

"Keep going," Mandy urged with a smile, "I'm kind of looking forward to the next."

Since Xuan Lan roared, everyone became serious, and with their posture and emotions, the lines were read more smoothly. Until the beginning of the scene of "Farewell My Concubine", Xuan Lan hesitated for a while after reading the song: "Wait, Tina... You wrote that after Yu Ji committed suicide, I'm going to hold her... standing or squatting?"

"I don't care about that, just discuss it with Rebecca."

"Squat down, if I stand, I don't know where to fall." Hui Wen said to Xuan Lan, "Come on, let's try it once." She instructed, taking a break from the scene, "After you finish speaking 'Yu Xi Yu Xi' Nai Ruo what?" After that, I said: "The Han soldiers have already retreated, and the Chu singing is heard from all directions. The king is exhausted, how can the cheap concubine live?" Then, I took out my dagger..."

She took out a ballpoint pen from her skirt pocket: "Mandy, please, dagger and belt."

"Mmmm." Mandy was busy writing down these two things in the item list.

She put the ballpoint pen on her neck: "...kill yourself, and then I fall down. You have to hold me and hug me on your side."

"Uh..." Xuan Lan gently wrapped her arms around Hui Wen's shoulders embarrassedly.

"Come on, slow motion." The two of them squatted down slowly until they could reach the ground. Hui Wen suddenly dumped the weight of her upper body into Xuan Lan's arms. Xuan Lan was startled, her arms trembled, and when Hui Wen cried out "wow" because of her weightlessness, she hugged her in time.

"Wow," Hui Wen burst out laughing, "Am I too heavy? Should I trust your arm strength?"

"Uh, no problem." Xuan Lan said helplessly, "It's just that you just lay down suddenly and didn't say a word..."

"Okay, then according to the script, you are now going to scream in the sky, and then burst into tears."

The other classmates stared at her with a look of "Come on, I want to see".

"This... is a bit difficult."

"You can only play 'anger', can't you play 'sadness'?" Hui Wen raised her eyebrows and looked up at Xuan Lan: "Overlord, your beloved concubine died in your arms like that, do you feel nothing at all?"

"You don't need to cry, but you still need a soulful performance, Jacky, come on." The initiator Tina laughed.

"..." Silently looking down at Hui Wen in her arms, Xuan Lan said with a half-smile, "Here, give me some time."

"Looks like Jacky is a perfectionist," Annie said to Tina.

"...Then, the conversation between the overlord and the boatman will be reserved for next week, right?" Hui Wen got up: "I'm going to practice singing too."

"Where to practice?" Tina asked.

"In our auditorium, they come this holiday, and we go after school starts." They were referring to the boys at Barry IMC.

After assigning the props everyone is responsible for preparing, they disbanded. Emily and the three stayed in the library to order books, while Xuan Lan and Tina left the school together.

"Bawang, don't blame me for giving you a big problem?"

"It was already a problem to be assigned this role."

"Rebecca and I both have confidence in you, so don't let our expectations down."

"I'm afraid that what you are entrusting is not human." Xuan Lan didn't know what to say about this topic. Seeing Tina carrying a black musical instrument bag, she took the opportunity to change the subject: "Where are you going? Learn pipa?"

"No, there is no class for MO 'Red Sun'. I asked a few classmates to practice ensemble."

Walking to the crossing light of the Kowloon Public Library, Tina said, "See you next week. See you at Xuan Lan (Cantonese: hin1 laam4)."

Xuan Lan was stunned for a while, then smiled knowingly: "Tian Lan (Cantonese: tin1 laam4) Goodbye."

Since the same class last year, Tina occasionally likes to call Xuan Lan by her Chinese name, but only when the two are alone, because the pronunciation of their names is too similar.

.

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On weekends, Xuan Lan and her family go shopping all day. Going to restaurants, visiting department stores and other consumption activities, the Xie family has been trying to save money these years, only when my father is here, and my father will return to Australia on Tuesday. The list of good things in my heart has been piled up for a whole year, but my younger siblings do not let me go, begging my parents to buy this and that.

"Mom, my sister and I are going to check the bust. Ours don't fit." Xuan Lan always felt embarrassed to mention it in front of her father when it came to buying underwear. Youlan knew the eldest sister's problem, so she specifically pulled her over. If she didn't mention it, the eldest sister would definitely hold back.

"It's time to buy some clothes for Xuanxuan. She still wears her cousin's old clothes."

"Tell her to pick with you and Junjun later."

"Shouldn't it be with you?" The father smiled to his wife.

"She's going to pick men's clothes. The women's shirt you bought her last year, she'll only wear it once when you come back for Easter."

"Oh, is it?" The father stared at his two daughters—one squeamish, the other strong and steady, with their backs more like siblings.

He had been expecting that Xuan Lan would grow into a slim girl. However, over the years, even You Lan, who was two years young, can dress up, but why hasn't she grown up yet, and she still looks boyish?
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On Monday, Xuan Lan had lunch at home early, and went back to school to prepare props for the stage play with other students. Since the Chinese Orchestra, IC and IMC alternately use the auditorium for rehearsal, three of the six of them will never be present at the same time, and the rehearsal will be reserved for New Year's Day.

"So far today, Tenor's classmates go home and listen to the recording a few more times. The entry after chorus, you always count the wrong tempo."

Commanding Sir Zhang to step off the stage, the boys and girls chatted in groups without leaving intentionally. Only Hui Wen hurried out of the auditorium alone.

In fact, since a week before Christmas Ball, Stephen has been sending text messages and MSN messages to Hui Wen every day. In addition to apologizing, he even asked her to "give yourself one more chance" in an almost pleading tone. It had been a while since the breakup, and she was a little soft-hearted when she was calm, but when she thought that compromise meant history repeating itself, she simply blocked his MSN account and left the phone far away.

During the three-hour rehearsal, the classmate in the back row was called Hui Wen, and when she turned her head, she had no choice but to meet his eyes for a few tenths of a second—Damn, that poor boy, besides singing, it depends on the conductor's time. , has been staring at himself...

She was sure that he would explain the promises again and again, endlessly.

She went up to the third floor to see if Xuan Lan and the others were still there, and saw that the lights in the classroom had been turned off, and there were some cut sackcloths, some needles and threads on the table, and a box of toys-like things on the ground.

She smiled with satisfaction—there were only six people, but it was far-fetched to have to do everything in front of the stage and behind the scenes. Fortunately, these six students are more responsible people. Even in her absence, things are still going well.

Looking at the auditorium from the balcony, everyone seemed to be scattered, and Stephen was nowhere to be seen, so she went downstairs with confidence.

"Rebecca!"

"!" She didn't expect that Stephen had been waiting for her at the corner by the underground stairs. The whole school has been wiped out, only the two of them can't be avoided.

"Rebecca..." He was a little speechless. "Are you... okay?"

"That's right." She walked hurriedly with her head down, and he followed closely beside her.

"Where did you go for Christmas?"

"Yeah, I went with Denise and the others to report the good news."

"Yeah. I was by the sea that day... You sang a very nice solo." It's fine to talk on MSN, but when faced with He Huiwen, her words suddenly became very clumsy.

"No..." Fortunately, he didn't come to meet him that night, Hui Wen thought, otherwise the whole night's interest would be ruined.

"Uh, Rebecca... I'm sorry about the last time." He tried to draw the distance between the two, but she walked even further.

.

Did he do something wrong? He was just a boyfriend, inviting her to his room to listen to classical music records, and to listen to Schumann's Song Cycle Dichterliebe (Chinese translation: Vocal Suite Poet's Love), which he was learning to sing in vocal music class. At first, it was quite emotional, but I stopped after listening to it, and sang it to Hui Wen myself, and was still discussing German and translation.

Can hear the fifth song (Ich will meine Seele tauchen/I'm going to put my soul into it), but is stirred up by the melody and lyrics. Sitting side by side with Huiwen on the carpet, "Wie der Kuß von ihrem Mund" ("like a kiss on her lips") was played on the speaker, and suddenly she couldn't help hugging her from behind, wanting to kiss the back of her neck.

At such a romantic moment, of course, I never thought that Hui Wen would tremble and break free. In that minute of pure piano accompaniment, among endless doubts and embarrassment, Hui Wen hesitated for a while, but hurriedly packed her schoolbag and left his room. When stepping out of his house, he did not forget to say goodbye to his aunt politely.

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"...I don't need to say sorry, I'm also wrong." Huiwen's words were sincere.

"Then, are you still mad at me...?"

Not this problem. Huiwen sighed and shook her head.

"So, we can reconcile as before...?"

Huiwen shook her head again.

"That is...?"

"Stephen, I'm sorry, I think I have a problem myself..." She mumbled, "I don't think I'm in a relationship right now."

"...I know that you are very interested in doing certain things now, I promise you, I will not do anything you don't like to do..."

In fact, he has been respectful and respectful, and patiently waits until the two of them are in the same room before wanting to get close to her. But she just couldn't stand it, and she didn't know when this almost instinctive disgust would be eliminated.

Hui Wen, who couldn't make any promises, shook her head helplessly again: "This won't solve the problem, let's just forget it. Sorry..."

Finally, I finally stepped out of the school gate. Just when Huiwen was in embarrassment, she saw a familiar back not far away. She recognized the black backpack on one side of the man: "I'm sorry, I have an appointment with a friend, goodbye!"

She hurried to the life-saving grass and called, "Xuan Lan!"

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Before Xuan Lan could look back in the future, he was hooked by the other's arm and whispered, "Come on!"

Xuan Lan looked at the back subconsciously: "Oh, that, is Stephen?"

"Yes... don't look at it!" Hui Wen hurriedly hurried.

"He didn't follow me."

"I told him that I had a date with a friend... By the way, I thought you were going home, were you just at school?"

"Yeah, we left at about 5:30, but I left it out in the classroom and went back to pick it up." That was what Hui Wen "ordered" to read last week, Li Bihua's Farewell My Concubine.

"Hey, you're done reading it? How about it? Let me know."

Xuan Lan was about to say, "This seems to be more related to the Cultural Revolution." But she chose to say something that made her cheeks hot: "What do you mean by asking me to read this book?"

"Uh?"

"You asked me to get into the drama a little last week, but when you gave me such a book, didn't you just warn me not to get too involved in the drama?"

"Why?" Hui Wen looked puzzled. In fact, she had absolutely no memory of what the story was about.

"This novel is about a Dansheng who plays the role of Concubine Yu..." The library was clearly on the right, but Xuan Lan naturally followed Hui Wen to the left: "I really fell in love with playing Overlord. My brother, it turned into a tragedy in the end. Isn't that a disaster caused by too much drama?"

Hui Wen was stunned for a while, then laughed "poof": "You said you were afraid that I would fall in love with you, or you fell in love with me!"

"I do not know."

"Let's talk about how devoted you are to acting!" She slapped Xuan Lan's arm hard.

"Oh, it turns out that some people have underestimated me from the beginning, so don't expect too much from my level in the rehearsal next week."

"How can I! If I look down on you, I will find you as a partner!"

That's simply because I'm the only one in the class who is taller than you, perfectionist——Xuan Lan thought so, but didn't say anything.

"Xie Xuanlan, don't tell me," Hui Wen suddenly lowered her voice, "Is this what your 'unspeakable concealment' is about?"

Xuan Lan was puzzled: "What is the 'unspeakable concealment'?"

"I told you to imagine that your loved one died in your arms. You said it was a bit difficult, could it be... Are you afraid that you will fall in love with a girl?"

In an instant, he was clearly in the middle of the crowd, but Xuan Lan couldn't hear anything—

In addition to the humming that was only audible in the silence, there was also the beating of the heartbeat.

Xuan Lan guiltily glanced at the expressions of the people beside her, but found that Hui Wen was not looking directly at her, but thoughtfully cast her eyes on the road not far away.

"Ha, what did you say?" Fortunately, there was no eye contact, otherwise Xuan Lan would have been speechless: "That's not what you meant."

"...Of course I know." Hui Wen lowered her head and smiled softly, "I'm just joking." Then she raised her head and asked Xuan Lan, "Then what do you mean?"

"I mean, if I really have someone I love," Xuan Lan paused and said seriously, "How could I let her die in her arms in despair?"

"Uh?"

"No matter how much she suffers, she should be allowed to live well, right?"

Hui Wen was stunned for a moment, then laughed again with a "poof": "Xie Xuanlan, I have to get to know you again today."

"how?"

"You think so much. I didn't expect you to put yourself in the shoes of you!"

"Does the director think that the actor has too much kung fu?" Xuan Lan smiled and copied Hui Wen's words: "'I'm just joking,' you're not serious about my words, are you?"

"Ha, dare not dare."

On the way to the train bridge, Hui Wen and Xuan Lan walked in tandem with the people getting off work, with many strangers in between. Only with Xuanlan can escape the torrent of catching the train.

"Thank you for helping me through the disaster, and taking me to the station."

"I just happened to pass by." Xuan Lan smiled.

"See you tomorrow then, go back and have dinner with your family!" After saying that, Hui Wen drowned in the crowd.

how is this possible! It’s not even six o’clock before I leave the school gate… … medium.com