Uneasy daily life

Bai Ying said with a deep gaze, "The focus of the drama has shifted from yourself—you must be relieved, right?"

Mai Sakurajima shifted her gaze slightly: "...I did feel relieved, but I think that's only natural."

"If you choose what the audience thinks is human nature, then what kind of actor are you?" Bai Ying said disdainfully. "In the end, you're just a star who relies on popularity and looks to make a living. Do you really think you have the ability to act?"

Mai Sakurajima's face darkened, and she took a deep breath: "If it's just a simple test of resilience, wouldn't running across the street naked be even easier?!"

"That kind of thing is indeed simpler; you just need to ignore everything and run."

Bai Ying stroked his chin and said, "So you're not convinced and think I'm making things difficult for you? Then I'll make an exception and test you again."

Mai Sakurajima added, "The premise is a normal test."

She didn't want to fall into another trap set by haters. Luckily, this was a remote, rural area where most people didn't recognize her and there were no paparazzi. The whole performance started and ended abruptly.

"A normal test?" Bai Ying chuckled. "Fine, this time I'll give you a basic character setup, ditching the clichéd romantic relationships you find annoying. There aren't any bystanders or onlookers around, and it's not in public. We'll just start the show right here, and I'll even let you have the first word. Is that normal enough?"

"it is good!"

Sakurajima Mai composed herself and became serious; the other person's comment had truly infuriated her.

“You play the judge in the courtroom, dressed in crimson robes and jade belt, while I play the convict in the courtroom, dressed in tattered hemp clothing. You don’t need to really understand the procedures for judging cases, the hierarchy between officials and commoners, or any other such details. Just treat the entire background as fictional, with only the two elements of officials and commoners. Everything else is just acting. Remember, this is a performance; the core is expression. Do you have any questions?”

As Bai Ying spoke, she got up from her chair and moved aside.

Judge, adjudicating cases.

Mai Sakurajima sat down in the chair and quickly began to think.

These two elements can be used to categorize officials in various ways: they can be mediocre, good, or corrupt.

Solving a case can be a case with a complete chain of evidence confirming the crime, or it can be a wrongful conviction.

To confirm one's identity and use that identity to drive the performance.

So, I am a good official. This is a case that needs to be decided, and Bai Ying is the criminal. The evidence is conclusive.

Mai Sakurajima composed herself, her face hardening into a serious and imposing expression.

The white figure stood in front of her, raising an eyebrow and asking, "Ready?"

"All right."

Mai Sakurajima nodded slightly.

The white figure knelt down with a thud.

……

……

Ragged, common people; adorned in fine clothes, high-ranking officials.

It is only natural for a commoner to kneel before a high-ranking official, let alone a criminal.

The high-ranking official slammed his fist on the table and coldly shouted, "You murdered for money! You killed Zhang San, and Li Si witnessed the crime. A dagger, blood-stained clothes, and valuables were found in his home. With witnesses and evidence, do you plead guilty?"

The commoner trembled and bowed his head forcefully: "I...I confess...Sir, what kind of punishment will I receive? I have an elderly mother and young children at home..."

"If you had known this would happen, why did you do it in the first place?" the high-ranking official sighed. "According to the law, murder is punishable by death—take him away and execute him in the autumn!"

The commoner looked up abruptly, his face filled with panic: "To be...to be executed...?!"

The high-ranking official said in a deep voice, "A life for a life, to be executed in the autumn!"

"Injustice!"

The commoner kowtowed on the clean floor, sobbing and lamenting, "For thirty-seven years I have not broken the law, toiling diligently in the fields. I only hoped that Heaven would be kind, but instead, people have done evil. That Zhang San, his family is wealthy and powerful. When he refused to give, he robbed me. He sent Li Si to throw three coins at me—ten acres of land for one coin! I beg Your Honor to see the truth!"

The common people looked up, gazing hopefully upwards.

The high-ranking official was taken aback, his gaze darting around as he stammered, "...A country has its laws, and a family has its rules. Zhang San was at fault first, and you could have appealed, but you killed him in a fit of anger, which was truly inappropriate. I was merely acting in accordance with the law."

"This is unfair!"

He kowtowed heavily again, roaring in utter grief and indignation: "My wife was beaten and died vomiting blood, and this ignorant man was whipped for appealing. The old and young at home are crying out in hunger, and in anger I went out and committed this crime! I beg Your Honor—to see the truth!"

The silence that enveloped the courtroom was suddenly shattered by a loud slam of the table.

“A foolish commoner.”

The high-ranking official sighed, his voice turning cold: "Zhang San's father is a high-ranking official in the court. Let alone buying your thirty acres of land for three coins, even giving you three coins would be doing you a favor. If Zhang San had asked for your land earlier, giving it to him would have been a good deed, wouldn't that have been more practical than thirty acres of land? You fool, you refused and even wanted to sue Zhang San. Which official in this city isn't one of their family members? You tried to sue him but failed, and now you're trying to kill him. If you kill Zhang San, what way do you expect to live? You're already doomed."

The commoner was stunned: "Where...where is the law? Where is justice?"

"The law? Ha! The law is the law that punishes you! Justice? Ha! Justice is the justice of all!"

The high-ranking official shook his head and sneered, saying with a mix of disheartened despair and resignation, "Take him away and execute him in the marketplace this autumn."

As the air constables stepped forward, the commoner suddenly struggled to his feet. He straightened his body, a surge of pent-up resentment welling up in his heart, and roared angrily to the sky.

"Why wait until autumn for a lowly life to end? How can the marketplace compare to a shabby courtroom? Let my blood stain your official hat, and I'll celebrate your glorious achievements and your descendants' future as nobles!"

boom!

The guilty are not spared, their blood spilled in the courtroom.

……

……

The show is over.

The go-kart was hit head-on by a heavy truck and flew away.

Mai Sakurajima slumped in her chair as if she had burned out, turning into pale ash.

They were massacred.

It wasn't a social death kill, but a direct kill, the kind where you perform beyond your usual level and are then mercilessly destroyed.

"Ha ha……"

Sakurajima Mai was panting when she realized that her back was covered in sweat.

Without the distractions of passersby, the pressure of immersing oneself in the performance was palpable. For instance, after I casually conjured up some clues about the case, the other person immediately picked them up, launching into improvisational poetry—a style that resembled reciting lines or chanting—making it impossible for me to find suitable dialogue and leaving me completely led by the nose.

Is this hater trying to smear a celebrity by performing a violent act? What an outrageous hater!

"Heh, that's interesting." Bai Ying patted the dust off his forehead and body and stood up. "Realizing that his persona was about to fall apart, he expanded his earlier hesitation and evasiveness into the persona of a hypocritical official... Hmm, and that line that flashed into his mind was also pretty good, it had a certain flavor."

Mai Sakurajima forced a smile, but when she thought about the character and background she had initially envisioned, she couldn't quite manage a laugh.

The rhythm was completely controlled by the other party. I struggled for a while in a daze, and then the other party pulled me to the end in one go.

The character's greatest arc probably lies in that performance where he turns a mistake into an opportunity and tears off his mask of hypocrisy.

Mai Sakurajima rubbed her forehead, feeling her head getting a little hot.

The white figure swayed over and asked, "How did you feel? How did you feel, Miss Star? This is the kind of performance you wanted? At best, you've improved a little, from an extra to a supporting character. That's all? Just a nobody, a complete nobody~"

Mai Sakurajima puffed out her cheeks slightly and sighed, "Fine... I was just not good enough and was arrogant."

"Good to know, someone with your skill level will never make it onto the theater stage, hahahahahaha—!"

Bai Ying laughed happily a few times, turned her back to Sakurajima Mai, took out her phone, and typed out messages in a flurry.

Mai Sakurajima Fan Club

[Bai Liang and Bai Ying: Today's scene with Sakurajima Mai was a total stomp on; she's just a mere celebrity, nothing to brag about.]

[Little Pockmarked Boy: Are you awake?]

[Wooden Fish: He's clearly not quite lucid.]

[Crow: This hater seems to be obsessed.]

[Bai Liang Bai Ying: @Want to be a Bunny Girl, where are you? Come out now! I'll annihilate Sakurajima Mai in person, that's way more exciting than bombarding my feed, aren't you going to resign me from my admin position?]

[Little Pockmarked Guy: Bro, you can fool yourself, but you think you can fool everyone? Sakurajima-san is a top-tier actress and superstar! I recommend everyone check out "Sky Blue" and "School Tales of Wonder," both starring Sakurajima-san. We should all revere Sakurajima-san as a goddess!]

[Insomnia: @LittlePockmarkedOne, you're having another episode, aren't you? I'm coming to your house right now.]

Hmph, just a mere group member, a nobody among the stars, not worth paying attention to.

Once I become a manager, will you still have the opportunity to oppose me?

Bai Ying put away her phone and turned to Sakurajima Mai, who was sitting in a daze, and said, "Then let's talk about your strengths. If you can't make up for it with your abilities, you can only sell your true colors."

"Huh? Special skill?" Mai Sakurajima was taken aback.

"Didn't you want to participate?" Bai Ying asked curiously. "Of course, with your abilities, you can only play a minor supporting role with a few lines at most."

Sakurajima Mai hesitated, "I...I passed?"

"Qualified? You're still a long way from meeting the troupe's standards. This play isn't even a troupe production. Based on the tiny bit of brilliance you showed just now, it's barely passable."

Bai Ying added, "You should be extremely good at youthful and energetic performances. Your appearance is suitable. Although you've been filming some boring stuff, you are indeed the kind of youthful beauty that fits the public's impression. Playing yourself can naturally make up for any lack of skills."

"..." Sakurajima Mai was overjoyed, then startled, "Wait—your drama is supposed to be normal, right? Just like what was just performed?"

"By your boring aesthetic standards, it's within the normal range."

We need to drag this guy in and give him a good talking-to. We can't just let him get away like this! Hehehe!

As Bai Ying pondered this with delight, a voice quietly emerged from behind.

"I never expected that the white fungus could act out such normal things. I almost thought that the white fungus had mutated."

Chapter 127 This is by no means a personal grudge.

"My grass!"

The white figure turned and leaped to the side, crossing her arms in a defensive stance, glaring at the two sisters: "You walk so quietly? Are you planning to backstab me?!"

Yukino Yukinoshita scoffed, "You were clearly too engrossed in your performance to notice, weren't you? When I saw you kowtowing to someone, I thought you'd run into a creditor."

"I don't lend or borrow money, so how could I possibly have creditors?"

Bai Ying observed carefully and confirmed that the other party's emotions had calmed down and that she would not suddenly attack him with a grappling, back throw, or war stomp. She said in a harmonious tone, "It's just a simple test of Sakurajima-san's acting skills."

A little test of acting skills...

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced at Mai Sakurajima on the chair. Since she had taken over the conversation, Mai started to drift off into a daze, her expression vaguely dejected. It seems that even a fairly normal drama still harbors the heavy mental pollution ability of Shiro-kun?

So this guy can actually perform normally? It's a bit strange, Bai Ying never seems to have asked me to act in his plays...

Bai Ying asked suspiciously, "You wouldn't happen to want to do a scene with me too, would you?"

"!"

Yukino Yukinoshita was taken aback, and quickly retorted in a cold voice, "Doesn't Shirakami have any awareness that his performance is a form of mental pollution?"

"Hey! Yang is really interested!"

Yukinoshita Haruno raised her hand enthusiastically, smiling broadly, and said, "You rascal, let's put on a show together."

Hmm? Did you just hear something impolite?

Yukino Yukinoshita looked at her sister's bright smile with a puzzled expression... Had she misheard?

Bai Ying took a few steps back, nodded calmly, and said, "Alright! Since the heroine's sister wants to take on the challenge, then bring it on!"

Yukinoshita took a few steps forward with a grin: "Alright, you rascal, what are you going to act out?"

Ugh?

Did I hear that right?!

Yukino Yukinoshita was a little stunned, vaguely sensing that her older sister and Shirayuki seemed to have some kind of connection—no, no, no, it would be strange if they weren't connected! Shirayuki must have done something to cause the long-suppressed conflicts in the family to erupt. As the older sister and mother, who are the main characters, it's more reasonable for Shirayuki to have approached her and pushed things along...

Speaking of which, on the tram earlier, my sister had also taken the initiative to approach Bai Ying...

What exactly happened in between? Yukino Yukinoshita is a little anxious.

"What are we acting out?" Bai Ying took a few steps back. "Brave Warrior's sister, you don't seem very friendly. How about a fierce duel?"

"A duel? Or a fight scene?" Yukinoshita Haruno took a few steps closer, rubbed her hands together, and said with a smile, "I happen to have a little bit of martial arts skill, so I should be able to keep up with your pace."

Bai Ying stopped in her tracks, her face darkening. She said coldly, "Fighting scenes are indeed a form of expression, but the duel I'm talking about is a dark duel that stakes on the soul—Brother Hero, I advise you to stop here. I might spare your life. Don't be ungrateful and take another step forward, or the world will be turned upside down."

Yesterday's dark game flashed through my mind.

Yukinoshita Haruno subconsciously stopped a step, then smiled and continued forward: "I want to see what you've got..."