2396 The More We Care, the More Tragic Our Loss

"There are so many examples of people falling out with each other for their own interests," Han Leilei said. "So, this trait of Zhang Xiaoying, I think, is even more rare to find. At least I would rather interact with people like her who would always quarrel with you but won't harm you."

"…" The corners of Zhang Xiaoying's mouth twitched and she said, "Han Leilei, are you praising me or mocking me?"

The others could not help but start laughing.

Lu Man smiled and said, "Why aren't you all going to sleep? Get enough rest so we can be prepared for the competition tomorrow."

"I can't sleep." Guo Hai sighed with a glum look on his face.

He normally did not avoid smoking or drinking alcohol.

Because of his acting career, he needed to accommodate the character profiles in the shows.

He had acted as a rebellious teenager before, and he had learned to smoke for this role.

The good thing was that drinking happened more frequently. After all, aside from gatherings with friends, there were all kinds of social dinners to attend.

If one was in the industry, participating in these gatherings was inevitable.

But he rarely smoked.

For tomorrow's competition, Guo Hai suppressed the temptation to smoke or drink for this whole month, just to preserve the condition of his throat.

At this moment, he clutched his head with a glum look and said, "I'm also worried that I won't be able to put on my best tomorrow. What if I get so nervous on stage that I forget my lines?"

"Okay, then, what's the first sentence of the script on page 20, line 8?" Lu Man asked.

Guo Hai was stunned for a moment. As if he reacted reflexively, he already said out loud without waiting for him to coordinate his actions, "You already have both feet stepping in a pool of blood. Just let the blood of murder submerge your knees."

"See?" Lu Man smiled and said, "This isn't even your line, and you can already say it out loud immediately. You can just think of a random line on your own. Will the line appear in your mind instantly?"

Guo Hai gave it a thought, and it was true.

"Even if you were to feel nervous tomorrow and your mind blanks out, the lines are already etched in your mind. You won't forget them no matter what, so don't worry." Lu Man laughed and said, "If you all continue not being able to sleep because you're so nervous and end up with dark eye circles around your eyes tomorrow, your skin won't look good either, so you might not even be able to put on makeup properly."

"Aish!" Tan Mingxiao rubbed his face and said, "It's really because I think our four schools seem to have exceptionally high expectations for us this time. When I was chatting with my classmates, I heard one of them say that there are already rumors in the country, saying that we are the batch that has the highest chances of winning.

"Actually, I want to keep a relaxed attitude. Even if we can't win, it's fine. But the more we care, the more tragic our loss will be," Tan Mingxiao said somberly.

Lu Man stood up without a word. No one knew what she went to do.

When she returned, she was holding two bottles of red wine in her hands.

"Come," Lu Man said. "Bring your cups over. Red wine helps with sleeping. Let's drink some—not to the point that we get drunk, but just to get a little tipsy. We must relax and have a good night's rest. Or else, given everyone's condition right now, we have already lost even without going for the competition. There's not even a hint of a possibility that we can win.

"I know that even if I say it's only by relaxing that we can put on a good performance during the competition, that only then can we perform to our normal capabilities or something along those lines, you all definitely won't take those words in," Lu Man said. "So, let's have a drink and make ourselves sleepy and drowsy from drinking. That way, we can't think of anything else."

Han Leilei was a little hesitant at first, but then, she felt that there was no point keeping up with such a mentality either. They could not just feel nervous for the whole night.

So in the end, she went to bring her cup over.

Lu Man poured half a cup for them each and said, "If it's not enough, you can pour some more. I don't know how well each of you can tolerate alcohol."

Some people had low alcohol tolerance, so they might fall asleep just after one or two mouthfuls.

"Actually, you all don't need to feel so stressed, because the biggest pressure lies on me," Lu Man said before taking a sip of red wine.