Chapter 33: A Beauty Descends from Heaven

Wu Yuchen wanted to submit *Car 44* for awards, but not just for the sake of fame; his primary goal was the money.

In his past life, Jia Zhangke crowdfunded over 20,000 yuan from the film group and eventually brought back 50,000 yuan in prize money to distribute among everyone.

If he, a reincarnator, crowdfunded 30,000 yuan and couldn't bring back a single cent, wouldn't he be doing worse than Old Jia? That would truly be a disgrace to all reincarnators!

Although the Berlin Short Film Award had no cash prize, it had prestige and gathered many film merchants. As long as he could win, he could sell the screening rights.

Short films aren't sold for theatrical screening rights, but for television rights, which could fetch at least 10,000 to 20,000 USD. If he could win a major award, it would certainly be more.

Of course, Wu Yuchen hoped even more to sell the film adaptation rights, which were more valuable than television rights. However, he didn't dare to hold high hopes for now; it would depend on whether any company took an interest. For the time being, he had to let things take their course.

Instead of returning to the Tao Jingying Academy, he headed toward the Central Academy of Drama.

Last night, Sun Honglei had dragged Duan Long to find him, saying they hoped the crew could bring *Car 44* to the Central Academy of Drama for a screening.

Wu Yuchen naturally understood what the two were thinking. After making a good film, they wanted to go back and show it off to gain some face at school.

Returning home in glory, after all!

Wu Yuchen had no objections to this. He let the excited Old Jia lead the team, and they had already taken the copy over early this morning.

The Central Academy of Drama was Duan Long and Sun Honglei's home turf, so they should be the ones taking the lead. Wu Yuchen didn't intend to go over and steal their thunder; he only planned to go check on the situation after finishing his business with his teachers.

After getting off the bus, Wu Yuchen walked leisurely. As he neared the Central Academy of Drama, he saw a bookstore nearby and turned in to buy a bottle of water.

In 1995, the most common soda in Beijing was still Arctic Ocean; it was cheap and delicious, and even Coca-Cola and Qi Baishi couldn't beat it. Unfortunately, after Qi Baishi entered a commercial joint venture, it was shelved the following year. A national brand with decades of history stopped production just like that, and it wasn't until 2011 that it was reclaimed from Qi Baishi.

However, Wu Yuchen still bought a bottle of Coca-Cola because all these domestic sodas were canned or in glass bottles, which were truly inconvenient to carry!

Just as Wu Yuchen took the cola from the owner and prepared to leave, a crisp female voice rang out beside him:

"Boss, how much for these three books in total?"

Wu Yuchen looked over subconsciously and met the gaze of the woman walking toward him.

She wore a white autumn jacket, her long legs were slender and straight in light blue jeans, and her thick, newly grown hair rested casually on her shoulders.

Seeing that face, an impression surfaced in Wu Yuchen's mind: a face like a lotus, bright and moving!

It wasn't the kind of beauty that was delicate or gentle like water, meant to be savored slowly, but a bright and grand beauty—the kind that hits you right in the face, so dazzling that Wu Yuchen couldn't look away.

Wu Yuchen muttered to himself, no wonder Bao Jianfeng called her "the beauty of the century at the Central Academy of Drama" in his past life, and why she was the school belle in Liu Ye's eyes, and the most beautiful girl in the school in the eyes of Qin Hailu and Zhang Tong. So, Zeng Li was truly that beautiful!

In his past life, Wu Yuchen had never worked with Zeng Li; he had only seen her photos online.

To be honest, Zeng Li's beauty was highly controversial. Many people didn't think she was good-looking at all, and the biggest reason was that they thought her face was too long.

Now that Wu Yuchen saw her in person, he could immediately judge the reason for this controversy: she wasn't photogenic.

He had studied art as a child and later majored in photography. In both these arts, teachers taught a basic principle for drawing or photographing a human face:

Only when the "three sections and five eyes" are correct is it a human face; if the proportions are wrong, no matter how you draw it, it will look ugly.

The "three sections" refers to dividing the face into three equal parts by length: the upper, middle, and lower sections. The "five eyes" refers to dividing the width of the face into five equal parts, which should be exactly the length of five eyes.

And the great beauty before him, Zeng Li, had a middle and lower section that were slightly long, which directly led to her not being photogenic; as soon as she was on camera, her face appeared long.

Because whether it's art or photography, it is essentially a flat art; even dynamic images are composed of flat planes, and it is quite particular about aesthetic proportions.

But reality is not like that. The human eye receives three-dimensional information, so these so-called aesthetic flaws do not apply.

The 170cm-tall beauty before him, with her bright features and long legs—in Beijing slang, she was "perfect from head to toe"! A definite, undeniable great beauty to the naked eye!

Zeng Li walked to the checkout counter, met the gaze of the boy standing there, and then looked away. She was thinking that the Central Academy of Drama really did train actors; even someone she bumped into at a bookstore looked this handsome.

Just as she handed the books to the owner to pay, she heard the boy next to her speak:

"Excuse me, classmate, may I ask if you are preparing for the Central Academy of Drama exams?"

Zeng Li was stunned after hearing this, then smiled and said, "Yes, how did you know?"

Wu Yuchen pointed to the books in her hand and said gently:

"I can tell from these books. But I don't think your selection is very suitable. Wait a moment."

After Wu Yuchen finished speaking, he turned to the bookshelf inside, picked out two books, and walked back:

"These two, plus the red-covered one in your hand—these three should be enough for you to handle the exams."

At this time, the bookstore owner also smiled and said:

"Young lady, this young man is right. You can tell he's from the school."

Zeng Li took the two books Wu Yuchen handed her, then smiled with her eyes curving:

"Thank you~ My name is Zeng Li."

Wu Yuchen took the initiative to reach out his hand to Zeng Li, openly and generously:

"My name is Wu Yuchen, a freshman at the Tao Jingying Academy."

Zeng Li shook hands with Wu Yuchen and asked in surprise, "Aren't you from the Central Academy of Drama?"

Wu Yuchen shook his head with a smile:

"No, I just came here to find a friend. But the exam process for the Tao Jingying Academy and the Central Academy of Drama is similar. If there's anything you're unclear about, I can provide some experience."

"Then thank you so much! I was just feeling a bit lost~"

Zeng Li carried the packed books and walked out of the bookstore side-by-side with Wu Yuchen, chatting as they walked.

"Is there no written test?"

"There really isn't. The first round at the Central Academy of Drama is recitation and group performance; it's highly likely they'll have you all improvise a skit together."

"But you can't ignore these books on acting knowledge. In the third round, there's an oral test. The teachers will randomly ask you some basic knowledge about literature and film. If you can't answer, it might affect your mindset."

Wu Yuchen introduced this to Zeng Li.

It was 1995, and art schools had great autonomy in admissions, and there was no such thing as a unified art entrance exam, so whether there was a written test was entirely up to the schools.

But this meant different schools would organize written tests at different times. From December onwards, candidates would have to spend months running between various schools and couldn't do anything else.

Therefore, in 1998, the Ministry of Education issued a reform document for art exams, and the unified art entrance exam was born. Candidates only needed to take one unified written test, and if they passed, they only needed to choose the schools they wanted to apply to and attend the school interviews. ===== CHAPTER 34 =====