The More Tragic I Act, the Stronger I Get — My Fans Beg Me to Stop Killing Off My Roles-Chapter 45: Love-Struck Rhino

Jiang Ci squeezed his way through the crowd.

A red poster occupied the very center of the bulletin board, densely printed with black Song typeface characters.

His gaze swept quickly from top to bottom.

"Thunderstorm," "Teahouse," "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land"...

All were classic plays.

His vision soon fixed on one particular play.

Drama: "Rhinoceros in Love."

Director: Liu Nanzhi.

Then, he precisely found his own name in the cast list.

[Ma Lu…………Jiang Ci]

Jiang Ci's eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly.

Ma Lu?

That Ma Lu who was called "one of the most obsessive, passionate, and craziest male protagonists in contemporary theater history"?

That man who, for love, could cut himself open and sacrifice everything?

Classic lines from this character instantly surfaced in Jiang Ci's mind.

"Forgetting is the only thing ordinary people can do, but I've decided not to forget her."

"You are my warm gloves, my cold beer, my sun-scented shirt, my day after day dream."

Damn.

Jiang Ci inwardly exclaimed damn.

Wasn't this yet another standard "tragic male protagonist" template?

And it was stage drama too.

On the theater stage, there were no NG takes, no camera cuts - an actor's emotions had to remain consistent from start to finish, maintained at their highest intensity.

The acting requirements for this were much higher than for television dramas.

His gaze continued downward, landing on the female lead's name.

[Ming Ming…………Xia Meng]

Xia Meng.

Jiang Ci had some impression of this name.

She seemed to be a girl from their major, with excellent grades but extremely quiet, having almost no presence.

Just as he was pondering this, more excited discussions erupted around him.

"Found it! Here it is! Performance major senior, Jiang Ci!" a girl excitedly pointed at the name on the poster.

"It's really him! Oh my god, the master has been right beside us all along!"

"Ma Lu? He's going to play Ma Lu? That role is super difficult! That feeling of loving to the point of madness, ordinary people simply can't portray it!"

"Ordinary people? Sister, have you not seen the leaked footage? Brother Ci's line 'I'm waiting for someone to come home' completely destroyed me! Him playing Ma Lu - isn't that just type casting?"

"So true! He naturally has a face full of countless sad stories!"

"I'm already looking forward to it! I must get front row tickets for the public performance! I want to experience god-tier acting up close!"

Jiang Ci listened silently, feeling completely unperturbed inside.

He quietly retreated from the crowd, pulling his suitcase, preparing to return to his dorm.

He had only taken a few steps when a booming voice exploded from behind him.

"Holy shit! Isn't that Jiang Ci!"

Jiang Ci's footsteps halted.

The next second, two figures rushed over like the wind, flanking him on both sides.

"Brother Ci! You actually know how to come back!" A tall, dark-skinned guy slapped him on the back with force that felt like it could crack stone.

This was his roommate, Zhao Zhen, a sports scholarship student who transferred in, simple-minded with well-developed limbs.

The other, wearing glasses and looking scholarly, excitedly adjusted his glasses, staring intently at him.

"Brother Ci, you've blown up! Really blown up! Do you know? The school forum is practically exploding with posts about you!"

This was his other roommate, Chen Mo, an academic achiever and research fanatic.

Sandwiched between them, Jiang Ci felt like a captured rare animal.

"Let's go inside first," he said helplessly.

"Yes, yes! Back to the dorm! Back to the dorm for interrogation!"

Zhao Zhen snatched his suitcase and strode ahead to clear the path.

The three of them marched grandly toward the dormitory building.

After several months, pushing open the door to Room 404 again, a familiar smell mixed with instant noodles and youthful hormones washed over him.

The room wasn't large, with four beds, desks piled high with books and snacks, and posters of popular female celebrities still stuck on the walls.

Everything looked exactly the same as when he had left.

Jiang Ci plopped down into his own chair, feeling his entire body relax. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

During those months in the film crew, his mind had been constantly tense, either acting or calculating how to extend his life.

Only here did he feel like he had returned to being an ordinary student.

However, his roommates clearly had no intention of letting him remain ordinary.

"Talk! Confess honestly!" Zhao Zhen pulled up a chair and sat opposite him, adopting the posture of a three-court inquisition. "What's really going on with Qiao Xinran? Are those intimate stills online real?"

Chen Mo, meanwhile, pushed up his glasses, took out his phone, and opened a video.

"Brother Ci, based on my analysis, your turning and sleeve-brushing movement utilizes the 'cloud hands' and 'spreading wings' techniques from Peking Opera's martial male roles, but simplified to better suit the ethereal feel of xianxia dramas."

"And your line 'I'm waiting for someone to come home' - you lowered your voice by half a tone, with sustained breath and a barely detectable tremolo, perfectly interpreting five hundred years of solitude... Brother Ci, how did you do it?"

Jiang Ci: "..."

Looking at one roommate who resembled an entertainment magazine editor and another who seemed like a thesis defense advisor, he momentarily didn't know which question to answer first.

He chose silence.

He picked up someone's water cup from the table, took a sip, then used his perfected tragic drama obsessive persona that he had mastered on set, slowly uttering:

"Once you enter the role, it becomes hard to distinguish."

That single sentence contained explosive implications.

Zhao Zhen and Chen Mo exchanged glances, instantly imagining ten thousand words worth of plot developments.

What did he mean by hard to distinguish?

Could he not tell acting from reality? Or could he not tell whether his feelings for Qiao Xinran belonged to Chu Wuchen or to Jiang Ci?

Hiss!

Both of them gasped sharply.

Damn, Brother Ci had sacrificed himself for art and gotten himself trapped!

"Um... Brother Ci, are you okay?" Zhao Zhen's attitude immediately softened as he asked cautiously.

"Yeah, Brother Ci," Chen Mo also looked concerned, "Maybe you should... see a psychologist?"

Jiang Ci put down the water cup, gazing at them profoundly.

"My therapist is on the stage."

The two roommates were stunned once again.

Look! This is what you call artistic realm!

Other people treat heartbreak with time and new relationships.

Their Brother Ci treats it with the stage, with the next role!

"Oh right! The graduation play!" Zhao Zhen slapped his thigh, "Brother Ci, you saw the casting, right? You're playing Ma Lu, the male lead in 'Rhinoceros in Love'! And your partner is Xia Meng from our department!"

"Xia Meng?" Jiang Ci repeated the name.

"Yeah! That ice beauty Xia Meng!" Zhao Zhen's expression turned somewhat gloating, "The most difficult girl in our major, reportedly never speaking more than three sentences to any guy. You're in for it now - let's see how you're going to help her get into character!"

"When you reach the mountain, there will be a path; go with the flow."

Jiang Ci added faintly.