Masozi is very excited! He's also pretty confused about what exactly is happening here and why, but his best friend Wei Wuxian promised that it would be fun and interesting and so he's looking forward to it! 

...Oh, oh no, the mal-killing kid from New York is here. Masozi will make sure to sit as far away as he possibly can and look very boring and definitely not like he's trying to interact in any way! This is maybe going to be awkward if he spots any mals but he can...ask someone else to pass on a message? Except he can't ask Wen Ning because Wen Ning is monolingual in Mandarin and also scared of talking! 

Wen Ning might be scared that there's a person here he doesn't know? Masozi will beckon him over and offer him the seat next to him, which incidentally means he's a bit more hidden from the New York kid. 

Okay, so doing things because of the likelihood of amusing chaos is not a brilliant idea, but amusing chaos is its own reward.

The Shanghai freshmen are putting on a show. With very little prep. This is going to incredible. 

... Also Nie Huaisang made puppy dog eyes at him. He is simply obligated to go.

Wen Ning is happy to sit by his friend!

"Masozi, do you want to sit next to me?"

Processing... processing... yes probably this is fine. If a New Yorker wants to visit a Shanghai theatrical performance they should know that Masozi is welcome here.

Obviously Masozi does! But he also wants to make sure Wen Ning is okay and not scared and he also wants to avoid New York kid's attention! Fortunately the New York kid seems distracted, presumably by looking for mals. 

He nods. "Can I - sit with Wen Ning on the other side though?" 

"Of course. It's good to see you all getting along so well."

She's never had a play put on because of her before. Like, it's also being put on because of Masozi, she knows that, but she's never had any casual relationships to a theatrical production before. It's definitely warm fuzzy inducing-- Wei Wuxian likes her enough to go to that effort! To make sure she knows something that isn't even life or death!-- but also kind of embarrassing. All of this is happening because she hasn't watched a Disney movie. The literal spotlights are on other people, but she can sure feel an imaginary one following her around.

She gives a shy wave to Wei Wuxian as he sets up, and then goes to find the most corner-ish seat possible (This is definitely for the practical purpose for putting as many people between her and any greebly things, and has nothing to do with feeling shy and exposed. Definitely.)

"Your brothers are doing a really good job on the play!" he says to Yanli.

Yanli smiles. "Thank you!"

"We haven't done anything yet!" Jiang Cheng says irritably.

Aaaaaaa.

He flees.

If he DIES because SOME PEOPLE are putting on THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES instead of BUILDING MANA

Orion Lake is here. Why is Orion Lake here. She has questions about the entire enterprise honestly but that's the only one not answerable with 'yes, the Shanghai freshmen make absurd choices, this is known, you cannot fight it you can only work with it.' 

...she picks a chair nearish Wen Ning.

"Showtime!" Wei Wuxian announces in Mandarin. "Normally this is the point where I'd say something like 'no flash photography' but there's no flash photography in the entire Scholomance so you guys have escaped! If you're not fluent in English, make sure you pick up one of the translations of the song lyrics, Wen Ning worked hard on those and built us all a bunch of mana."

"Showtime!" Wei Wuxian announces in English. "I sure hope you're all studying Mandarin or at least would like to be but it's too late now!"

Orion ignores all the Chinese and is slightly bemused by the suggestion that he should be studying Mandarin. He's pretty sure he didn't hear anything. Though he will have to walk out if they are planning to perform Beauty and the Beast in Chinese.

Wei Wuxian says, each sentence in English and then in Mandarin except when he goes on a tangent and forgets: "Anciently, there was a prince, and he was a real spoiled brat. Like, he had everything he wanted, but he was just a dick to everyone all the time constantly. And then this old lady was like 'I'm going to give you a rose if you let me stay inside your castle because it's really cold out here.' And the prince was like 'lmao fuck you I have SO many goddamn roses, lady, you think your rose is good? I have a goddamn greenhouse.' And she was like 'don't be deceived by appearances, true beauty is found within.' You guys gotta remember that, it's like, the moral of the goddamn story. True beauty is found within."

Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng (playing the prince) and Lan Wangji (with a rose and a sign that says OLD WOMAN) mime what Wei Wuxian says. 

"Except then! It turned out the old lady was a WITCH! And she cursed him to be a HORRIBLE BEAST."

Jiang Cheng very dramatically puts on a pair of cat ears.

"And she also turned all the servants into household objects for some reason? Like, come on lady, it's not the servants' fault. They were just doing what they were told. This witch needs some Marxist class analysis. Anyway, he decides to lock himself into his castle forever and only look at the world through his magic mirror. And it turns out the rose was magic! If he could learn to love another and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for al time. You know, if I were him, I would adopt a cat? Cats don't care if you look like a beast as long as you feed them regularly. Or maybe one of the servants, since he has an entire house full of magic-object servants anyway. But, no, this is Disney, so it's going to be romantic love. Sorry about the spoiler, Chu Chu, Zaizai, they're gonna kiss at the end. Where was I. Doomed to remain a beast for all time. And he thought there was no hope, because who could ever learn to love a beast? Other than, obviously, cats."

"Cats aren't capable of love."

"Says you."

"Hello??? Song??? It is time for my dramatic entrance???"

"Oh right."

(This is really good language practice! Masozi is not nearly as drawn into the story yet as he was by Lan Xichen's story about the rabbit, but at least he's getting to test his Mandarin comprehension here. 

How does Wen Ning seem to be doing? Does he want an arm around his shoulder?)

Awwww!! Snuggles. ^_^