Chapter 516: The Final Rehearsal
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Amazing Fate Pet Shop was located on a street with many other shops and was close to Binhai University. Everyone knew how easy it was to make money from the young college couples. In order to get more customers on Christmas and New Year's, all the shops had put up a lot of lights and decorations to get people's attention. Throughout the year, there were only a few days were even the stingiest of men would be sure treat his girlfriend well. Christmas was one of those rare days.
Many businesses had set up signs in front of their entrances. They played advertisements outside, repeatedly claiming that the business owners were going to have huge discounts. However, Zhang Zian, who lived on the street, looked at the signs and realized that the so-called Christmas prices after the discounts were even higher than usual.
Today was the weekend. There were many young couples wandering up and down the road, laughing and talking together. The girls either carried shopping bags and looked through different shops, or were carefully eating a bunch of snacks. Their boyfriends were busy trying to make them happy.
When Zhang Zian and his assistants, along with his dogs and cats, walked onto the street, they drew a lot of attention from the pedestrians.
As their leader, Li Kun was riding the tricycle and asking the pedestrians to move out of the way. The tricycle was filled with the carriers that held the kittens and puppies. The arrogant Fina walked proudly behind Li Kun. The beautiful and adorable Snowy Lionet was circling around Fina. Famous and Zhan Tian, the two dogs that were being pulled by Zhang Zian, were tough and strong like honorable guards. Richard, who was hiding in Zhang Zian's down jacket hood, looked up from time to time. He whistled at the handsome guys that walked by and then hid itself back in the hood. In its invisible state, Old Time Tea was walking with them from the side. Galaxy was a meter or two behind them, quietly observing the people walking by.
They were attracting too much attention on the road. The young couples that were originally minding their own businesses cast curious looks at Zhang Zian and his assistants. Lu Yiyun was so shy that she almost buried her entire face into her scarf trying to hide, and looked down while she walked.
"Sir, you're handsome, do you want to buy some flowers?"
As one of the standard signs of Christmas, they inevitably ran into girls selling flowers on the sides of the road. Within just a few hundred meters, Zhang Zian had seen four or five girls enthusiastically selling roses. Li Kun, whose breath still smelled like alcohol, turned them down.
"Meow! Is anyone selling catnip? I want to give Fina some!" Snowy Lionet yelled decisively. Zhang Zian was uncomfortable answering it in front of the crowd, so he only gave it a look.
The more they moved forward, the denser traffic became. It grew more difficult for them to get through. Many cars and electric bikes were taking kids in the same direction. Zhang Zian often had to watch out for vehicles, but he also knew that they were almost there.
Most children were fascinated by kittens and puppies. Sitting in the back of the bikes, they all turned their heads and stared at the animals. All the kids sitting in cars had their face pressed against the window. Even some parents couldn't help but look at the pets.
The entrance to the school hadn't changed much. The plaque with the school's name on it had been exposed to wind and rain for decades, but still looked the same. The only difference was that the electric gate had been replaced with an ordinary iron gate. A red banner hung by the entrance and read: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Zhonghua Road Primary School.
So it was the celebration of their 50th anniversary. No wonder the celebration was so large and exciting.
When Zhang Zian attended the primary school, he also went to a celebration of the school's founding, but the ceremony was very simple then. All off the students gathered in the assembly hall, the principal gave a speech, and the deputy principal added some remarks. Then, the dean agreed with what the two leaders had just said and emphasized a few other points. Afterwards, it was the teachers' representatives and students' representatives turn to speak. Various awards were issued, and finally the principal made some conclusions and described the wonderful future the school had ahead of it. Three hours later, when the students were sick of sitting down for so long, the ceremony successfully concluded with a sense of solidarity and progress.
In comparison, the children seemed much happier now.
Since it was the founding celebration that day, Zhonghua Road Primary School was open to the public. However, Zhang Zian was stopped by a security guard at the front entrance. The security guard thought that Zhang Zian was going into the school to set up stands and sell pets, and refused to let him pass no matter what he said.
More and more students and parents stopped to stare at them. Zhang Zian didn't know what to do. Lu Yiyun touched him lightly and pointed in the direction of the campus. He looked up and saw Wang Yaning coming out of the school and looking around.
"Wang Yaning, over here!" He waved her over.
Wang Yaning also saw them. She ran over quickly to explain the situation to the security guard.
For safety's sake, the security guard called Wang Yaning and Little Celery's class director to verify the situation before letting Zhang Zian into the school.
"Little Celery and the other students are at the final rehearsal, so I came to pick you up." Wang Yaning simply explained the situation. Looking at the kittens, puppies, and elves that Zhang Zian had brought, she asked, "Why did you bring all of these kittens and puppies with you?"
Zhang Zian suggested, "Let's go inside to talk. We're blocking the traffic. Please lead the way. I forgot how to get to the assembly hall."
Wang Yaning led the way. Zhang Zian told her his idea. After she heard it, Wang Yaning was happily surprised. Her classmate's performance would certainly be much better if real kittens and puppies replaced the stuffed animals. Now, they would probably get a much better ranking in the school celebration.
However, she was also worried that since the puppies and kittens had never attended a rehearsal before, they might cause problems during the performance.
Zhang Zian assured her that these puppies and kittens were all carefully chosen and very obedient.
"The assembly hall is in front of us, and Little Celery and our classmates are over there." Wang Yaning pointed to them.
The grand assembly hall seemed to have been renovated. It was not quite the same as the assembly hall from Zhang Zian's memory. In the open space next to the assembly hall, students dressed in animal costumes were diligently rehearsing.
Zhang Zian did not recognize which one was Little Celery at first. After Wang Yaning pointed her out for him, he saw that Little Celery was playing Santa. She was wearing a red, fur-lined Santa costume with a pair of boots. She had white eyebrows and a white beard glued onto her face, and she was sitting on a wooden sleigh with wheels, carrying a huge cloth bag. To be honest, she looked almost exactly like Santa Claus.
There were both boys and girls participating in the performance, and at such a young age, their acting skills were certainly not comparable to professional actors. However, they were still very serious. No matter who said the wrong line, the others would always correct them together. The students who made the mistakes were also very anxious, and they would practice their lines repeatedly until they had fully remembered them.
Without any teacher guidance, the students had written the script all on their own. It was a rather immature play, but it was entertaining.
Zhang Zian remembered that in the film industry, actors would repeatedly count from one to seven on the set, waiting for the voice actors to call for them. Even the actors who played the protagonists didn't always say their lines correctly. They would try and defend themselves, saying that they were "improvising."
Children would always grow up eventually, but Zhang Zian hoped they would keep their innocence for a little longer.