Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next morning, Lin Wan was awakened by an announcement blaring through the loudspeakers.
The loudspeakers attached to the pole in the village were usually just used to announce missions. But today, they played nursery rhymes.
After listening to âSnow Whiteâ for half an hour, Lin Wan was bored. She enjoyed the rhymes and the songs at first, but it was getting tiring to listen to them for hours. She realized that something was off.
She took her cold medicine, opened the curtains, and looked around. Everything seemed normal.
Li Yanchen hadnât slept well. Lin Wan coughed more at night. He was worried about her. He kept waking up and checking her for a fever. He was only able to fall asleep at dawn.
Lin Wan had woken up once in the middle of the night. Li Yanchen was pressing his hand on her forehead. She had assured him that she was alright, but he hadnât believed her.
âWanwan.â Li Yanchen sat up, propping himself up. âWhatâs wrong?â
âYouâre awake? Was the broadcast too loud?â Lin Wan closed the curtains and sat back down on the bed next to Li Yanchen.
âIs there a task today?â he asked.
Lin Wan shrugged. âI donât know. They played âSnow Whiteâ for half an hour.â âThat was âSnow Whiteâ?â
When the live broadcast started, the director announced the task.
âGood morning, everyone. At 8:30 a.m., the staff will distribute needles, threads, and fabrics to each household. Based on your preference, choose a character from a fairy tale, and make the costume. At 3 p.m., we will have a show. Each person will have three minutes to perform the impersonation of their favorite character. It can be an individual performance or together with the family.â
Everyone was curious about the roles each family would choose.
At Xiao Yiâs house, Xia MO muttered, âShould we do Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, who acts like her grandma?â She couldnât think of anything else.
âIâll play the Big Bad Wolf. Xiao Yi will be Little Red Riding Hood, and you can be the real grandma,â Xiao Tianlin said. The three characters had simple costumes. The grandma could wear a headscarf and an apron. Little Red Riding Hood would have a red cape, and the Big Bad Wolf would wear a striped shirt and some fake ears and snouts.
âI donât want to be Little Red Riding Hood. I want to be the wolf.â Xiao Yi shook his head.
âI can play Little Red Riding Hood if needed, and you can play the grandma, Xiao Tianlin.â Xia MO glanced at her husband. He didnât really fit the role of a wolf, but he could be a grandma.
Xiao Yiâs family argued about their roles.
It was the same for the other families, too. Some agreed to do a play with the whole family, while others wanted to perform individually.
The Li family had a wild idea.
There were so many stories about princes and princesses, and everyone in the Li family was good-looking. However, Li Zexin knew that everyone would want to be a prince or a princess, so they needed to come up with something different.
Li Zekai came up with a story. âThe Little Dog Learns to Bark, â he said. âWhat?â
Lin Wan and Li Yanchen were both puzzled.
Lin Wan had read Hans Andersenâs Fairy Tales and Grimmâs Fairy Tales, but she had never heard of that story.
âItâs in the Chinese textbook,â said Li Zexin. âItâs considered a fairy tale, but itâs about a group of animalsâ¦â
Lin Wan searched for it on her phone and realized that they would need to imitate the animalâs appearance and sounds.
âThis will ruin my image.â Lin Wan shook her head.
âAuntie Lin, the little animals are so cute. You can be a cuckoo, Brother Xuanxuan can be a fox, Brother Xinxin can be a rooster, and Daddy can be a hunter. I can be the little puppy,â said Li Zekai.
âThat seems reasonable. Letâs go with that,â Lin Wan said.
Li Zexinâs face darkened. âI donât want to be a rooster. Iâll switch with Mr. Li.â
Li Yanchen disagreed. They played rock-paper-scissors to decide. Li Yanchen lost and had to accept the role of a rooster.
Everyone was happily discussing the props for their performance, except Li
Yanchen.
Making the entire set of costumes would take several hours. Besides, they only needed to resemble their characters to some extent.
The Festival Group turned off the sound on the livestream to prevent the viewers from hearing about the characters the guests chose. They could see the colorful fabrics, threads, and needles, and the guests diligently making costumes. However, they couldnât guess what character they had chosen.
[Is my earpiece broken? Why is there no sound?]
[All the live broadcasts are muted.]
[They must have turned off the sound so that we couldnât hear and snitch
about the characters to our favorite people.]
[Thatâs probably it. Itâs fine. Everyone might not choose the same characters.
Even if they do, we can compare and choose the best one.] [It wouldnât be interesting if two people chose the same character.] âI wonder what Xiao Yi will chooseâ¦â Li Zexin picked at his fabric.
âShould I go and see what Feifei and others have chosen?â asked Li Zekai. This had been their idea, but he was having second thoughts.
What if all others chose to be princes and princesses, and only they looked like stupid animals?
Li Zekai didnât think it was a good idea to make his father cluck like a rooster.
âAre you worried that theyâll do the same as us, or that theyâll do something different from us?â Li Zexin asked.
âIâm afraid theirs will be very beautiful, and we would all look stupid as a rooster and a fox and..
âItâs too late to change the idea now. Itâs alright. Even if we are playing animals, ours will be the liveliest performance,â said Li Zexin. âI mean⦠imagine Mr. Li clicking like a rooster! How funny would that be?!â Li Zexin laughed.
Li Yanchenâs face darkened. He had lost, so he was willing to play the rooster. But now, he had to make the roosterâs headpiece himself. Just when he had finally accepted his reality, everyone started laughing at him!
âBelieve me, Iâll quit the role!â said Li Yanchen. âHow dare you make me play the rooster? Do you even respect me? Iâm your father!â
Lin Wan snorted.
Lin Wan was Sister Cuckoo. Li Zexuan was Big Brother Fox. Li Zekai was Little Brother Dog. Li Zexin was the Hunter. Li Yanchen was the Lord Rooster.
âYouâre definitely the best character,â Li Zexuan said. âThis is your chance to involve yourself in something related to art. I have seen so many actors play ridiculous roles with dignity. Even top celebrities play funny and weird roles to make themselves stand out. No matter what the role, the sign of a great actor is to play it to the fullest of his ability. Believe me, the strangest and funniest roles leave the deepest impression in peopleâs minds..â