“……Hmph, so this is all you’ve got. You’re still far from earning my recognition!”
Su Wanli spat these words at Meng Wange in resentment, then turned and walked toward the invisible door beside her.
Meng Wange stood behind Su Wanli, quietly watching her retreating figure, then softly closed her eyes, assuming a contemplative expression—
Just as her words fell and before she could put down the triangle ruler she was pretending to be a spatula, a sudden burst of applause erupted behind her.
“Wow! Amazing! Boss’s acting is incredible! You can’t even tell she’s acting!”
“Your recognition… huh?”
“She really looks like a tsundere older sister who cares about her little sister but doesn’t know how to express it!”
“Exactly, exactly! Especially that look Boss Su just gave—it was so adorable, my heart almost melted!”
After watching the first three sections of the script performed by Su Wanli and Meng Wange, Xiao Fen, Da Zhuang, and Potato Thunder all reacted the same way, clapping in unison.
“…Hey, I don’t recall ever asking for your opinions on my acting.”
Even though Su Wanli’s vanity had been somewhat satisfied by the praise from her three underlings, she still turned around and crossed her arms coldly at them.
“Give me an objective evaluation. See if there are any parts that can be slightly improved.”
“No, none at all! In fact, your demeanor after stepping out of character suits the role perfectly! It’s practically a natural performance!”
“I-I don’t… The script Meng Wange wrote is tailor-made for you. I think there’s nothing left to improve!”
“…Is that so?”
Though she wasn’t sure how truthful the praise from her loyal villainess followers was, it sounded like… her performance just now was pretty decent?
Looking at their expressions, which didn’t seem like lies, Su Wanli quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
After Meng Wange had helped her relax and ease that vague anxiety in her heart, it became easy to see that Xiao Fen was right—the role of the stepsister written by Meng Wange truly seemed tailor-made for her.
The innate arrogance, sharpness, and yet the occasional inadvertent display of care from a superior toward a subordinate—it was almost like herself…
“…Is it? Not really, right?”
Under the supervision of her Female Villain Value, her attitude toward Meng Wange had always been in a superposition of good and bad, not completely leaning toward either side.
“Heh, you call yourself a drama director, but you’re already satisfied with just this level?”
Su Wanli cut off her own straying train of thought, cleared her throat, shrugged at Xiao Fen, and casually let her gaze fall on Meng Wange’s hands.
“At least in my opinion, there are plenty of areas that can be improved. For example, using a triangle ruler as a spatula looks way too childish—it completely broke my immersion just now. Preparing these kinds of performance props should be part of the director’s responsibility, right?”
“…Ah! About the props, Teacher Liu mentioned it to us too. If we need any props during the performance, we should make a list for her, and the school can reimburse us within a certain limit.”
Hearing Su Wanli’s blunt criticism, Xiao Fen, as the nominal director, quickly snapped out of her fanatical fangirl mode.
She, Potato Thunder, and Da Zhuang found seats in the classroom, quickly flipping through the extra copies of the script Meng Wange had printed at noon.
“Hmm, scene setup, scene setup… I can barely manage to draw it, but whether it can actually be realized is another matter.”
Xiao Fen circled something on the script, then looked up at Meng Wange standing nearby.
“By the way, Boss Meng, when you wrote the script, did you have any specific ideas about the scenes?”
“…Scenes? Sorry, I only have a rough concept in my mind. Considering the budget, the actual presentation…”
Meng Wange gently bit her lips, then looked up, meeting Su Wanli’s eyes.
“Miss Su, after school today, how about we go to the furniture city together? We can scout out some direction and estimate the costs.”
Just as she finished speaking, the melodious school bell rang outside the classroom, followed by the noisy footsteps of students leaving class.
Unknowingly, they had been rehearsing together for nearly two hours—it was time to leave.
“…Alright, we just finished at a good stopping point. As a first rehearsal, we’ve made great progress. Let’s call it a day for now.”
As the highest-ranking among them, Su Wanli naturally stood up and summarized the next steps.
“Okay, Xiao Fen. Go home and review the adjusted script Meng Wange made, then sort out the general scenes and tools we’ll need. Overestimate the budget—don’t worry about the price. If the school doesn’t cover it, I’ll make up the difference. Da Zhuang and Potato Thunder, think along too, and report any ideas to her.”
“As for me and Meng Wange… We’ll follow your suggestion. We’ll go to the furniture city to check out the general stage style, then finalize the specifics after discussion tomorrow.”
With that, Su Wanli turned and walked toward the classroom door, waving a hand at Meng Wange behind her.
“Let’s go, Meng Wange. Since we’ve decided to do this, we have to do it the best we can. I won’t allow some half-baked performance that will embarrass us on stage.”
Hearing this, a faint smile flickered in Meng Wange’s eyes.
She obediently stood up, followed behind Su Wanli, and whispered back in a voice only the two of them could hear—
“Understood, dear big sister.”
“!!?”
Su Wanli stumbled, nearly falling flat on her face at the classroom door.
She turned back angrily, glared at Meng Wange, and lowered her voice.
“…Who told you to start now? Only call me that when we get home!”
Meng Wange nodded knowingly, opened her mouth to Su Wanli, and silently mouthed “As you command,” before naturally pushing open the classroom door.