(26) Don't stay up late

  Song Min didn't like owing people things, whether it was a favor or money. So before returning to school, she wanted to invite Wen Yan out for dinner.

  But Wen Yan said there's no rush, let's talk about it when we get back from summer break.

  So this is being politely declined? Song Min didn't want to wait until summer vacation to talk about it again, she just wanted a quick resolution, unfortunately Wen Yan couldn't understand her inner world.

  Back at school, the student union where Song Min is located needs to change its term.

  Every time there is a change of leadership, they hold a dinner party.

  Cadre team meeting.

  "Each department puts on a show?" Song Min heard that each department had to put on a show and suddenly got a headache, "Do I have to lead the little cadres of the Literature and Art Department onto the T-stage?"

  Song Min couldn't think of anything else for the Literature and Art Department to do except plan activities and give gifts.

  "It's not like it can't be done." The Minister of the Learning Department burst out laughing, after all, the girls in their Literature and Art Department were all tall-legged, long-handed, fair-skinned beauties. Even just walking out was a pleasure to behold, let alone modeling. Song Min shot him a sharp glance, and the Minister of the Learning Department wisely reined in his smile, putting on a serious expression instead.

  "Our cadres' team should also put on a show." The chairman added without hesitation.

  The old ministers have blown their tops.

  "What? A performance program?"

  "Excuse me? Did I hear that wrong?"

  "What can you play..."

  "We're all so old, what's the point of acting anymore?"

  ……

  "Cough, cough." The chairman coughed twice and smiled at Song Min, "For now, the chairman's team has decided to perform a sketch. As for the script, it will be written by Song Min, after all, he is from the Chinese department. Does anyone have any opinions?"

  "No opinion, no comment."

  "It's settled then haha."

  ……

  The various ministers who were just reluctant suddenly relaxed when they heard that Song Min was going to write the script.

  What a bleak life... Song Min had not yet recovered from the bad news that each department would have to cut one program, when another piece of bad news arrived.

  "I have an opinion." Song Min strongly opposed uncooperatively.

  The chairman's expression didn't change, and he continued to speak with a smiling face to Song Min, "But among all the ministers, only you are from the Chinese department, so just work hard."

  Song Min looked at the chairman's annoying smile, and suddenly understood why she was writing the plan. Was it because last weekend Song Min had urged his girlfriend to return to her dormitory? Or was it this Monday noon when Song Min monopolized his girlfriend and didn't let them have lunch together?

  "Alright then." Song Min seemed to agree somewhat helplessly. "As it happens, I have a roommate majoring in Chinese, so I can ask for her help."

  Chairman: "......"

  The chairman forced out a smile with a mouthful of old blood stuck in his throat, "Alright, today's meeting will end here, let's adjourn."

  Everyone says that as long as the girlfriend's roommate is handled well, it's a great help, but in his girlfriend's case, it doesn't work at all. His girlfriend's roommate is simply the most annoying stumbling block... He originally wanted to take this opportunity to sabotage Song Min, but unexpectedly ended up sabotaging his own girlfriend instead...

  "Really not taking the postgraduate exam?" Song Min's roommate looked at him with regret when he saw the script.

  Song Min shook his head, "Not taking it."

  Kao Yan asked Song Min this question many times, and so did Qu Ran and Song Qinghe. Even Song Min's parents kept asking him, but his answer was always firm: I won't take the exam.

  All these years, she had long been tired of reading books.

  "What? You're really not going to take the postgraduate exam?" Roommate A was getting out of bed and almost slipped and fell, she had always thought that Song Min said he wasn't taking the exam as a joke.

  "But it's hard to find a job after graduating from college!"

  "It will be found."

  Roommate B was about to fall asleep when she heard everyone discussing the spirit of independence, and sat up complaining: "But in the future, we four will be separated."

  Song Min's three roommates, two are going to take the graduate school entrance exam at Nanjing University, and the other is going to Beijing.

  And Song Min wants to return to the North, this layout really has some meaning of being worlds apart.

  The four of them didn't say another word, after nearly three years of being together, their feelings had already become very deep.

  Suddenly bringing up the topic of separation, all four people felt very uncomfortable.

  Song Min wrote the script in two days and had it revised by his roommate before finally submitting it to the presidium.

  The presidium also put forward amendment opinions, and a week's time passed in this way.

  There are only three weeks left for everyone to rehearse.

  Song Min handed over the program of the Literature and Art Department to the next minister, preparing herself for a leisurely life, but someone wouldn't let her have an easy time.

  The director of the sketch, the Minister of News, assigned the role of narrator to Song Min.

  You will regret it. Song Min refused to say it out loud and could only silently add this sentence in his heart.

  The short story "A Dream" tells the story of a college student's growth. He has always been positive and progressive, with both love and learning going well, without experiencing any major setbacks. After failing to get into graduate school, he became disheartened and lost his way, spending every day playing online games, drinking and gambling, and neglecting his studies. His girlfriend couldn't take it anymore and wanted to break up with him. The smooth progress of his classmates' internships and graduate studies made him even more discouraged, and he became desperate. Just before leaving, his girlfriend's words finally woke him up. He woke up in the middle of the night to find that it was all just a dream.

  It looks like a ordinary story, but with a twist at the end that is quite thought-provoking.

  In the drill hall.

  The sketch starts with the protagonist Zheng Ming failing his postgraduate entrance exam.

  Narrator: "Zheng Ming has always been smooth sailing from a young age, never experiencing any major setbacks. He was confident in his graduate school exams, so how did he end up failing..."

  "Cut! Cut! Cut!" The director interrupted Song Min's lines impatiently, "Song Min, haven't you eaten? Can't you put some energy into it? Some emotion?"

  "I... " Song Min really wanted to say: You also saw it, I'm not suitable, right? Let's change people.

  However, the director didn't give her a chance to speak and immediately instructed everyone to continue rehearsing.

  The director was furious, since the start of rehearsals, Song Min's toneless speech had really caused him a lot of pain. He also regretted giving Song Min the role of narrator, which was the one that required the least acting skills in the whole skit!!!!!!!

  For several days in a row, Song Min spent all her time except for classes in the rehearsal hall. Every day after rehearsals, she was physically and mentally exhausted.

  After rehearsing for a whole day on the weekend, Song Min didn't even eat dinner and went straight to bed as soon as she returned to her dormitory. With resentment, she fell asleep in less than two seconds: What kind of sin did she commit that she had to set up a narrator for the sketch? In the end, she ended up harming herself.

  Between half-dream and half-wake, Song Min suddenly thought that she hadn't called Song Hao for several days. She took out her phone to check the time, 11:40, and wondered if Song Hao was already asleep? Without thinking, she sent a message to Wen Yan in a daze: How has Song Hao been recently?

  After sending it, Song Min fell asleep again. When the phone's message reminder sounded again, Song Min suddenly woke up and wondered if she had just done something she shouldn't have done?

  Song Min sat up and looked at his phone.

  11：45。

  The teacher said: Not bad, you made progress in the last exam again.

  11：52。

  It's very late, don't stay up all night.

  Don't stay up late... Song Min didn't know how to respond for a moment, she was extremely clear-headed now and deeply regretted sending the message to Wen Yan. She slowly typed on her phone: Yeah, you shouldn't either.

  Then click send and go to sleep with the network off.

  It's unclear whether it was what happened last night that made Song Min particularly clear-headed, but she slept very restlessly throughout the night and woke up with two more dark circles under her eyes.

  When he got down from bed, Song Min successfully caught the attention of his roommate who was putting on makeup, "What did you do last night?"

  "I didn't sleep well." Song Min stood in front of the mirror and took a look at himself, those two black eye circles were really shocking, this was too miserable.

  "Or should I just put some makeup on you to cover it up?"

  "No." Song Min put on his own black-framed glasses and took another look in the mirror. It was fine, basically covering everything up.

  Another roommate came in from the balcony and couldn't help but mock Song Min: "You're too careless."

  Song Min simply tied up her hair, went to the balcony to wash up, brushed her teeth while talking to her roommates in the dormitory, "I don't have a boyfriend like you guys, why bother being so refined?"

  "So this is the root of you not having a boyfriend!!"

  Song Min: "......"

  At noon in the cafeteria, the Minister of News saw an empty seat next to Song Min and sat down to eat with him.

  Silence.

  Song Min also didn't speak with him, it was quite awkward.

  After a few minutes of silence, the Minister of News spoke up, "Song Min, let's make a deal."

  Song Min stopped the hand that was picking up dishes and looked up at him.

  "We don't need to have emotional tone when reading, just make our voice a bit softer, not so stiff, okay?"

  Song Min looked at his pleading expression, reflected on his own state during the past few days of rehearsals, and nodded, "Mm, I'll give it a try."

  "Thank you." The Minister of the News Department was unusually moved, almost with tears in his eyes, looking at Song Min. Who said that the Minister of the Literature and Art Department was cold and distant, not close to people and not good at talking? Isn't this quite reasonable?

  Song Min continued eating with his head down, calmly stating what he had just seen, "Your girlfriend just walked by."

  "Ah!" The Minister of News picked up his plate and ran off.

  Although Song Min agreed to soften his tone, agreeing and actually doing it are two different things.

  During the second dress rehearsal, the Minister of News Department knelt down and shouted, "Sister!!!!!!!!!!"

  This rehearsal has made progress compared to before, but it is still far from meeting the requirements.

  "Let's do it again." Song Min didn't say much, actually she had practiced many times in the dormitory with her roommates. Maybe the first time wasn't quite right, was it just a matter of being gentle? She went all out and let everyone repeat it over and over again, which made her feel uneasy too.

  Begin.

  Zheng Ming (very disappointed): "I didn't pass the re-exam."

  Girlfriend comforted: "It's okay, we can try again next year, don't be discouraged."

  Zheng Ming (hesitated): "F...forget it, I'll go look for an internship job."

  Narrator: "Zheng Ming has been smooth sailing from childhood to adulthood, never experiencing any major setbacks. He was confident in his graduate school entrance exam, so how did he end up failing?"

  ……

  Narrator: "After repeatedly hitting a wall in his job search, Zheng Ming became disheartened. One day, Zheng Ming got drunk again at a street stall outside the school, and when his girlfriend found him, she couldn't help but scold him..."

  "Zheng Ming, how can you be so unwilling to admit defeat? If you can't get into graduate school, then don't take the exam. You can look for a job slowly, but what's the point of getting drunk every day?"

  Zheng Ming (drunkenly): "I can't even find a job, hiccups... what will I use to support you?"

  "Let's break up."

  Narrator: "His girlfriend left without looking back, and Zheng Ming remained depressed. Before he knew it, June had arrived, and it was time for everyone to graduate and leave school. His girlfriend came to look for Zheng Ming."

  "Zheng Ming, you're really disappointing me. Failing the postgraduate exam and not being able to find a job, is that such a big deal? There are many people out there who have suffered more than you, but they didn't become 'helpless' like you. It's not scary to fall down, what's scary is that you just lie there and don't want to get up, no matter how hard others try to pull you up."

  Narrator: "The girlfriend finished speaking and left without looking back. Zheng Ming seemed to understand something, he wanted to chase after his girlfriend, but suddenly woke up with a start."

  Zheng Ming (sitting up from bed and wiping sweat from his forehead): "It was just a dream."

  Narrator: "Although it was just a dream, Zheng Ming began to reflect on whether he had become too afraid of losing or too unable to withstand setbacks."

  ……