Returning to the county opera troupe in 77

"Forward rolls and backward rolls must be done smoothly, and side rolls must follow suit." Han Zhengkui, with his hands behind his back, repeatedly corrected and pointed out the key points of the rolls on the stage.

Fang Zhengsheng's small room was too small to fit him in, so he had to practice on the theater stage.

For the past three days, Chen Xiangdong has been glued to the stage, rolling around for an hour each morning and evening. He rolls back and forth, doing forward rolls followed by backward rolls, and backward rolls followed by side rolls, spinning like a top on the old wooden floor.

He couldn't remember how many somersaults he had done; he only felt dizzy and his arms, knees, and shoulder blades were covered in red marks.

"I'll demonstrate it for you again, watch carefully!"

Han Zhengkui performed a series of somersaults—forward, backward, and side somersaults—all in one smooth, clean motion, like a wheel rolling across the floor. There was no pause or unnecessary movement; he completed two fluid somersaults before landing steadily.

"Did you see clearly?"

"Yes, I see it clearly!"

Chen Xiangdong took a deep breath, and his mind quickly went through the trajectory of his roll like a movie.

He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, his body was already moving.

The movement begins with a forward roll, followed by a backward roll and then a side roll, all executed cleanly and precisely, landing perfectly in the intended position!

Seeing this, Han Zhengkui, Feng Zhengxiao, and Fang Zhengsheng in the audience all lit up at the same time. It was a success!

Thanks to the system, as long as you complete the standard movement successfully once, you will form muscle memory and there will be no more deviations.

In front of the three of them, Chen Xiangdong rolled over several more times, and sure enough, the results were excellent.

This morning's training has come to a temporary end. As soon as Chen Xiangdong left the county theater, he saw several students carrying schoolbags and cloth bags walking into the courtyard of the theater troupe across the street.

He then realized that the seven-day holiday was over and the students would have to resume classes tomorrow.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure, sitting by the gate, resting with his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Lou Jingru. She was carrying a bulging backpack, and there were two net bags filled with red apples at her feet, which looked quite heavy.

"Lou Jingru, why are you carrying so many apples? Can you even finish them all?" Chen Xiangdong squatted down and patted the apples in the net bag. "Oh, these must be sugar apples? They're so big!"

"Brother Xiang Dong?" Lou Jingru looked up, rubbed her fingers which were blue from being squeezed by the net bag, and said with a wry smile, "These are apples that my parents' workplace gave out. My family can't finish them all, so I thought I'd bring them over so that my classmates can have a taste."

The girl was clearly exhausted: "Sigh, I live on the far west side of the county town. My hands are almost broken from carrying this far."

Lou Jingru's parents both work in county government offices, and I heard they hold pretty high positions. But this girl isn't like Guan Linlin and the other city girls, who look down on Li Zhangqing and the others.

She has a gentle and mild temperament, always speaks softly, and gets along well with everyone; she is a rare person with a good temper.

I only heard that he had an accident on his way home during a holiday and dropped out of school after that. Following that, Dongping County launched an unprecedented crackdown on organized crime, arresting many people from the county seat to the townships.

It was around the end of this year, which made Chen Xiangdong, who suddenly remembered this past event, secretly take a liking to Lou Jingru.

There was much discussion in the theater troupe. Some said the campaign to crack down on hooliganism was related to Lou Jingru's case, while others said it was just a coincidence. But Chen Xiangdong never saw her again after that.

Chen Xiangdong picked up two net bags and weighed them in his hand: "Wow, these net bags must weigh over ten pounds, right? The two bags must weigh at least thirty pounds. Carrying them all the way here must have been exhausting."

As he spoke, he picked up the net bag and nodded to Lou Jingru: "Come on, I'll carry it for you and take you to your dorm."

Lou Jingru stood up, supporting herself against the doorframe, and smiled sweetly at him: "Thank you, Brother Xiang Dong!"

"Don't mention it, just give me an extra apple later." Chen Xiangdong joked, then walked into the yard without turning his head.

Lou Jingru followed behind, rubbing her sore hands, and said with a grin, "Sure! Take as much as you want!"

The two chatted and laughed as they walked to the girls' dormitory. Chen Xiangdong put the bag down by the wall at the door, patted the dust off his hands, and said, "Alright, I'll leave it here for you. You can move it in slowly by yourself."

Seeing Chen Xiangdong turn to leave, Lou Jingru quickly stepped forward and grabbed his sleeve: "Don't go! Don't go! I promised to share apples with you, wait a minute!"

She put down her backpack, unzipped it, and found it stuffed full of apples.

She grinned and picked out two fist-sized apples, shoving them into Chen Xiangdong's hands: "Here! I hid the biggest apples in my bag, these two are for you!"

Chen Xiangdong took the apple, looked at Lou Jingru's flushed face, and smiled, "Okay, thanks then."

After saying that, he stuffed the apple into his pocket, where it hung bulging, and walked towards the dormitory to the south.

Just moments before they entered the courtyard, two sleazy-looking young men were craning their necks to peer into the yard.

One of the boys, with long hair, stared at Lou Jingru's retreating figure as she disappeared around the corner, and chuckled, "That girl's a student in the county drama troupe, huh? I was wondering why she looked familiar; I saw her when they were jogging this morning."

Another dark-skinned young man with a buzz cut and a straw in his mouth squinted for a while, then nudged the long-haired boy with his elbow and scoffed, "That one? He's not even developed yet, looks like a washboard, probably not even as big as my pectoral muscles."

The long-haired girl rolled her eyes at him: "You don't know anything! This girl looks only twelve or thirteen years old. Wait two more years and you'll see, she'll definitely be a stunning beauty. That face, that figure, tsk tsk, just looking at her makes my heart itch."

The crew-cut guy spat out the straw he was chewing on, glared at the long-haired guy, and said, "You son of a bitch, how old are they and you're already eyeing them? The mules and horses in the production team aren't even as good as your livestock!"

Just as the long-haired man was about to retort, the doorman's window creaked open halfway, and Hu Xiaolian, wearing reading glasses, poked his head out and glared at the two men: "Hey! What are you two doing here, sneaking around like that!"

The two men immediately shrank back, the one with the crew cut reacting first, quickly forcing a fawning smile: "Uncle Hu, we didn't do anything, we were just passing by..."

The long hair nodded in agreement.

The two weren't really afraid of Hu Xiaolian, but they lived in the alley behind the theater troupe, and their elders knew Hu Xiaolian well. If Hu Xiaolian were to casually mention at the dinner table, "Your kid is always wandering the streets and alleys, doing nothing good," that would be more troublesome than the police coming to their door.

Hu Xiaolian pushed his glasses up on his nose: "If you're bored, go play somewhere else, don't just wander around here!"

The man with the buzz cut quickly pulled up the cuffs of his long hair, and the two of them chuckled awkwardly as they turned and walked towards the street corner, their steps a few paces faster than usual.

Only after walking a distance did the long-haired man glance back and mutter under his breath, "That old bastard, everything's in his way..."