On stage, the terminally ill girl was in utter despair, wandering dazedly on a rooftop when she encountered the male lead, who had also appeared there. At this time, he had no wings, was dressed all in white, and didn’t look like an angel.

The girl looked at the male lead, who was even closer to the edge of the rooftop than she was, and shouted, “Be careful, don’t get hurt!”

Zhu Zhixi was suddenly enlightened and remembered. He naturally leaned his head on Fu Rangyi’s shoulder and said to him softly, “Because your left leg was injured. If I pushed on you to get up, it might have hurt.”

Fu Rangyi was stunned. His eyes lowered, his gaze focusing on his legs. After a few seconds, he said softly, as if to himself, “It stopped hurting a long time ago.”

It had been so long since anyone had asked, he had almost forgotten about it. He didn’t know why, but on the day of the proposal, his mind was filled with memories of when he was injured.

His empty right hand subconsciously moved to the right, then stopped, and finally clenched into a fist. Just as his emotions were fluctuating, his left hand was suddenly tugged.

The little fire hydrant said, “Your palm is sweaty.”

“Shut up.”

The first act consisted almost entirely of the male and female leads. The dialogue was mediocre, and the pacing was strange. The female lead inexplicably fell in love at first sight, and the angel also inexplicably forgot his mission and decided to accompany her. Zhu Zhixi had been a director himself and found it hard to get into the play, shaking his head inwardly as he watched.

Like him, the audience was also dozing off.

Most importantly, the male lead’s looks couldn’t carry the role of an angel at all, and certainly couldn’t serve as convincing evidence for the female lead’s love at first sight.

Zhu Zhixi zoned out for a bit, then leaned close to Fu Rangyi’s ear and asked in a whisper, “Hey, you used to study at S University too. Did the drama club not ask you to act back then?”

Fu Rangyi turned his head slightly. “No.”

Zhu Zhixi didn’t realize he was dodging and leaned in closer, his lips almost touching his ear. “Why? You’re so handsome.”

“I can’t act at all, why would I? You might as well kill me than make me say lines in front of so many people,” he whispered back, then added, “But Li Qiao played the main role once.”

Just as the first act was about to end, someone started clapping, and the place suddenly became noisy. Zhu Zhixi took the opportunity to ask, “But he’s not a professional either.”

“He is a professional. What medical student hasn’t learned acting?” Amidst the applause, Fu Rangyi imitated how Li Qiao acted in their practical class. “Sir, sir, wake up, what’s wrong with you? Patient is unconscious, activating emergency response system.”

Zhu Zhixi was stunned for a second, then reacted and was amused by him.

This is the first time Fu Rangyi has joked with me.

“That’s so funny,” Zhu Zhixi said. “You even remember it?”

“He used me to practice his lines during his nursing training. He said only I wouldn’t laugh when he played a doctor, so I was very suitable to play unconscious patients and dead patients.”

Zhu Zhixi almost burst out laughing on his shoulder.

So cute. These two words kept spinning in his mind. Zhu Zhixi thought and thought, but still couldn’t resist reaching out, leaning over, and grabbing Fu Rangyi’s hand.

“Extending it a bit,” he whispered.

Fu Rangyi’s heart stirred, and he looked over. Unexpectedly, the little fire hydrant to his left also turned and stared at their joined hands.

The little fire hydrant asked, “Doesn’t it feel noisy when you hold his hand?”

Fu Rangyi frowned. “Noisy?”

The little fire hydrant nodded, turned back, and said softly to himself, “Tick-tock, tick-tock.”

Fu Rangyi didn’t understand what he meant. Just then, a spontaneous, collective gasp erupted from the audience.

Zhu Zhixi followed the sound and looked. It turned out that Liang Yi’en had come on stage.

The audience’s eyes lit up, their enthusiasm quickly ignited by this face. The few people who were about to leave all sat back down.

“No wonder the director was dead set on having him act,” Zhu Zhixi said, clapping with all his might.

The little fire hydrant also broke free and clapped enthusiastically along with him.

Fu Rangyi was sandwiched between them, half-dead, his ears about to explode.

“What’s there to clap about?” Yu Heng, on the side, rolled his eyes.

But Zhu Zhixi said, “That’s my junior. You should clap too.”

Yu Heng looked baffled. “Why should I…”

“Then spit out the red bean bread.”

Yu Heng looked completely bewildered.

Five seconds later, the four of them, with varying expressions but in perfect unison, began to clap, until Liang Yi’en on stage began to speak his lines.

To Zhu Zhixi’s surprise, the kid only had three lines back and forth—”I love you!”, “I won’t let you leave me,” and “But I love you!”

Just how rushed was the addition of this character?

Fu Rangyi, on the side, noticed that as soon as Liang Yi’en took the female lead’s hand and began to say those insipid lines, the little fire hydrant next to him couldn’t sit still, and his hand was getting hotter and hotter.

“What, are you about to catch on fire?” he asked.

The little fire hydrant slowly turned his face and stared at him like a little ghost.

Then Fu Rangyi also stared back sinisterly.

“Your hand is abnormally hot, isn’t it?” he asked.

The little fire hydrant pulled his hand back. “I’m hot.”

“That’s it?” Zhu Zhixi watched Liang Yi’en exit the stage, completely confused. “One scene and he’s gone?”

Yu Heng snorted. “Looks like your junior is just an insignificant minor character.”

Hearing his friend being spoken of like that, Zhu Zhixi was displeased. “You still owe me a red bean bread.”

He then lowered his head and sent a message to Liang Yi’en on his phone, praising his good acting, handsome looks, and how the audience screamed when he appeared.

Knowing he was busy, Zhu Zhixi didn’t expect a reply. Unexpectedly, just as the second act was about to end, Liang Yi’en actually replied.

[Xiao En: Senior, is Xiao Yu still next to you guys?]
 

[Senior Zhixi: He is. I let Professor Fu hold onto him. Professor Fu is very reliable.]
 

[Xiao En: That’s good… Just after I left the stage, the director pulled me aside again and wants to add more scenes for me.]

Zhu Zhixi was amused. Well, well, my more-scenes-please friend.

[Senior Zhixi: What kind of scenes?]
 

[Xiao En: …The actor playing the angel went to a stall to eat fried noodles before the show, got food poisoning, and is still squatting in the bathroom. The director is afraid he won’t be able to make it. And the male lead has a big power-up scene in the final act which requires a change into the angel costume. They’re afraid there won’t be enough time to transition, so they added a gunfight scene for me…]
 

[Senior Zhixi: A gunfight??? A romantic fairytale for the main couple gets rebooted into a street brawl drama for the second male lead?]

Zhu Zhixi was laughing so hard he could barely sit up straight. How could there be such a development?

[Xiao En: Anyway, I might get shot. They’re putting on the blood packs now. Xiao Yu is a bit… timid, and not very bright. He especially can’t stand seeing me get hurt. You guys have to watch him carefully. Don’t let the villain’s appearance trigger Xiao Yu, and don’t let him run off.]

Is it that exaggerated? That timid?

Zhu Zhixi replied with an “OK” gesture and turned to look. The fire hydrant was still sitting obediently in his seat.

Villain, gunfight, triggered? Zhu Zhixi suddenly felt a sense of mission. He repeated it several times in his mind, focused his attention on the stage, and saw someone raise a sign.

“ACT THREE—”

Here it comes, here it comes. The villain is coming too.

But the next second he was dumbfounded. Unlike the sparse stage from before, a whole crowd of people rushed on stage at the start of the third act, chattering away, too many to keep track of.

He was stumped. It’s an ensemble scene?

How am I supposed to know who the villain is?

He fixed his eyes on Liang Yi’en, who was squeezed into a corner and being frantically photographed by the front-row audience. He was also squinting, seemingly looking for him in the crowd, but the audience was dark, and they couldn’t make eye contact.

Zhu Zhixi wanted to stand up but was afraid the back row would complain. While hesitating, he suddenly noticed a character in the center of the stage reaching a hand into his clothes.

“A gun? He’s going to shoot!” he blurted out subconsciously and stood up, about to pull the little fire hydrant away. But the next second, that character pulled out a necklace.

Fu Rangyi pulled him back down and asked in a low voice, “What are you doing? Are you afraid of guns?”

Zhu Zhixi gave a wry smile. “I’m just afraid of this kind of fake-out.”

Liang Yi’en’s expression on stage was no better. He called out the female lead’s name and squeezed from the edge to the center. Zhu Zhixi’s gaze followed him closely.

Which one is the villain… Can everyone who isn’t the villain just leave the stage automatically…

Just then. Bang—

Why so sudden? Zhu Zhixi was even more flustered than Liang Yi’en, the one who got shot. His eyes darted around, searching everywhere for the person with the gun. Suddenly, he realized and nudged Fu Rangyi’s arm. “Quick, take Xiao Yu to the bathroom.”

As he spoke, he also stood up, ready to comfort the child. But only then did he realize that what was sitting in the seat was just the empty shell of the fire hydrant costume! The person was missing!

“Where’s Xiao Yu?!”

Fu Rangyi was also stunned for a second.

Zhu Zhixi turned his head and looked at Yu Heng on his right. Yu Heng also panicked inexplicably. “No way, are you going to blame me for a red bean bread for this too?”

“We’re screwed, we’re screwed.” Only then did Zhu Zhixi feel the real fire burning his eyebrows. “Quick, let’s go find him.”

Watching the two leave their seats, Yu Heng’s first reaction was also to stand up and follow them to find that strange child. But then he thought again, wait a minute, why am I constantly being ordered around by my love rival!

So he sat back down, but his eyes were still darting all over the place.

On stage, after the gunshot, the crowd of extras all “fled in terror.” The stage was left with only the villain holding the gun, the protected female lead, and the most helpless add-on character in history, Liang Yi’en. He stood in front of the female lead, but his eyes were looking down at the audience.

And below the stage, the two of them were searching for someone row by row in the dark aisle. Zhu Zhixi was in a hurry and nearly tripped. Luckily, Fu Rangyi was cautious and caught him in an embrace, then held his hand tightly.

“Be careful.”

On stage, the villain shouted, “She doesn’t love you at all, and she’s not going to live long anyway. I’ll just kill you both today, and that can be considered fulfilling your wish—”

He once again took out the fake prop gun and aimed it at Liang Yi’en.

A man in the front row suddenly spoke up, “No, what the hell is this play?”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud bang—

But it wasn’t a simulated gunshot.

It was the sound of wings.

Zhu Zhixi stood in the aisle, looking up, completely stunned. On the stage, an “angel,” completely snow-white with a handsome face, had suddenly appeared at the critical moment. He had long, silver-white hair that cascaded like a waterfall to his ankles, covering his whole body. He abruptly spread his huge wings, wrapping the “blood-spitting” Liang Yi’en in them, protecting him tightly. On stage, snow-like white feathers fluttered down, and there was even a strange golden light blooming and lingering.

“This is the male lead’s big power-up scene?” Zhu Zhixi was dumbfounded.

The female lead and the villain both fell to the ground in fright. The audience was silent, but two seconds later, thunderous applause erupted.

The angel’s wings opened slightly. Fu Rangyi was a little surprised to see that Liang Yi’en was the one being held like a princess. Isn’t he an Alpha?

“So the male lead and the second male lead got together?” His focus was completely off.

Zhu Zhixi’s gaze was completely captivated by the incredible costume and makeup. “Professor Fu, can your S University clubs get this much sponsorship? Such realistic costume and makeup? And isn’t the male lead’s costume a bit too exaggerated? Is this the same…”

He shut up before he could finish. Because from his angle, he could just see a corner of the curtain, where the sweaty director was desperately pushing the real male lead, with one high and one low chicken wing attached, back backstage, looking like a mother who had given birth to an ugly child and wished she could stuff it back in.

Zhu Zhixi’s gaze returned to the stage, his back covered in sweat. “Oh no, this is a real angel.”

---

Author’s Note:

 I was originally going to split this into two updates, but then I thought it was a bit troublesome and decided to post it all at once.
Oh right, I know you guys want to see the forum-style small theater. I’ll write it all together after the cultural festival is over!
 

The worldview of this book was never purely urban from the beginning; it has a fairytale color. The countdown itself is supernatural, so the reason for the countdown’s appearance and its background are also supernatural. The role of Xiao Yu in this book is mainly to reveal the reason for the countdown, but it won’t be a grand fantasy worldview. Overall, the main focus is still on the marriage-first-love-later plot + resolving the countdown. It’s normal to not be clear on the specifics right now; the truth hasn’t been revealed yet.

 There is no mpreg plot. If there were, I would have tagged it.