Chapter 35: Challenging the Turf

At the bus stop, waving goodbye to Zeng Li through the bus window and watching the bus drive away, Wu Yuchen sighed. He had met a girl he was somewhat interested in, but she was about to return to her hometown, and he estimated she wouldn't be back in Beijing until after the New Year.

It wasn't like a dozen years later; let alone mobile phones, even making a phone call wasn't convenient.

However, he felt that Zeng Li should have a pretty good impression of him, as she had taken the initiative to ask for his phone number.

Wu Yuchen shook his head lightly again. Self-satisfaction is not good.

Forget it, forget it, let's just treat her as a potential candidate for now.

Afterwards, he turned and walked toward the Central Academy of Drama. At this moment, he missed shared bikes a bit; this distance of about 1 kilometer was a bit awkward.

When Wu Yuchen finally rushed to the screening hall of the Central Academy of Drama, he saw that it was packed with people, and even the aisles were crowded. Wu Yuchen was a bit surprised.

Because the decision to bring *Car 44* to the Central Academy of Drama was only made temporarily last night, and there was no promotion at all. Wu Yuchen estimated that it would be good if half the people showed up for the screening, but he didn't expect so many.

"Damn, this film is really awesome!"

Hearing this exclamation from the side, Wu Yuchen leaned over and asked:

"Hey, buddy, what's going on? Why are there so many people today?"

The boy turned his head when he heard this and said very familiarly:

"Hey, did you just return to school? Didn't you see it just now? That's really a pity!"

"Early this morning, I don't know who ran to the dormitory building shouting that the Tao Jingying Academy was coming to our Central Academy of Drama to challenge the turf, clamoring that they had made a film that would drop people's jaws, and welcoming all students of the Central Academy of Drama to judge it!"

"You say, people have already come to our doorstep to make trouble, who can endure it?"

"By the time I crawled out of bed and arrived, it was already full, all here to pick faults."

"But who knew their film was so awesome? It left everyone stunned!"

"Sigh, if only they had asked me to be the lead!"

When Wu Yuchen heard this, it turned out to be the case. He didn't know who in the crew had come up with such an idea; no wonder it brought all the students of the Central Academy of Drama here at once.

Then he saw the boy's face clearly and patted him on the shoulder:

"Brother, I guess the crew couldn't afford you!"

"Hey, you know me!" Xia Yu said, pretending to be surprised.

But Wu Yuchen could clearly see seven parts of smugness, two parts of pride, and one part of arrogance in the smile on his face.

"Ma Xiaojun, right? Venice Film Festival Best Actor, famous!" Wu Yuchen smiled and gave a thumbs up.

Xia Yu's smile grew wider. He hadn't taken it seriously after filming *In the Heat of the Sun* and had returned to middle school to study.

Even when news came back later that he had won the Venice Best Actor award and the film had won a major award, he was still a bit confused. At the time, he just turned his head and went back to wash his clothes after hearing his father talk about the award.

But this year, *In the Heat of the Sun* was released domestically, and after he entered his freshman year, he suddenly became a big celebrity. Only then did he realize he was so awesome and completely immersed himself in these praises.

Look, he just bumped into a handsome guy he didn't know at school, and he gave him a thumbs up!

Xia Yu waved his hand, pretending not to care:

"Hi, that's all in the past, don't mention it!"

"I'm telling you, if this film came to me, I would definitely give them a discount!"

"One-third, oh no, one-fifth of the salary, I would take it!"

Wu Yuchen found it funny looking at Xia Yu's slightly smug appearance, but he also completely understood his mindset. After all, he was the youngest Venice Best Actor and Golden Horse Best Actor!

Someone else might have been much crazier than him now. Being smug for a bit really wasn't a big deal; he probably needed a year or a year and a half to adjust.

Wu Yuchen smiled and said to Xia Yu: "You're too expensive!"

Then he didn't care about Xia Yu's reaction and walked inside.

When he reached the edge of the stage, he didn't go up, just watched the crew members answering questions one by one.

Theoretically, it was Duan Long and Sun Honglei's home turf at the Central Academy of Drama, but Duan Long had a shy personality and couldn't squeeze out a few words when facing so many people on stage. Sun Honglei was a bandit, and not many people asked him questions. As a result, the scene ended up with Old Jia fighting against the crowd alone.

Don't look at his honest appearance and bitter face; he wasn't timid at all when facing such a big scene.

He had participated in the entire production of *Car 44* and had seen Wu Yuchen answer various questions several times before, so he had already prepared a draft in his heart. He answered questions one by one in an orderly manner, leaving the students of the Central Academy of Drama speechless.

After a long time, the students of the Central Academy of Drama left the venue, some excited, some sighing, some listless. Today, the Tao Jingying Academy's challenge to the turf really made them submit. Although they were a bit unwilling, they had to admit it when others filmed well. The only comfort in their hearts was that among the three main actors, two were from their Central Academy of Drama.

Only then did Wu Yuchen walk over with a smile: "Really capable, Old Jia!"

Old Jia had just shown off in front of the students of the Central Academy of Drama and was feeling happy at this moment. Seeing Wu Yuchen, he was also happy, but still humbly said:

"It's all what you've answered before. I just followed it exactly."

"Old Jia, whose idea was it to challenge the turf?" Wu Yuchen asked curiously.

Old Jia smiled honestly: "I saw that Duan Long and the others couldn't call many people, so I just ran to their dormitory building and shouted on every floor."

Wu Yuchen smiled and punched him in the chest, then gave a thumbs up.

This was really something Old Jia could do. When he filmed *Xiao Shan Going Home* in his past life, the screening at the Tao Jingying Academy failed, the effect was extremely poor, and the whole crew was extremely disappointed, feeling that they had filmed a piece of shit, and everyone left.

His assistant director directly locked the videotape in a drawer, saying he would never take it out to embarrass himself again in his life.

As a result, Old Jia refused to give up, took the videotape to contact screenings at major universities all over Beijing one by one. Just think about how much mockery and setbacks he suffered. Finally, he gained recognition at Beijing University. Afterwards, he was recommended to participate in the Hong Kong Short Film Festival, which led to Old Jia's future.

On the other side, Duan Long was being surrounded by a group of his classmates.

Yin Xiaotian directly hooked Duan Long's neck:

"Brother Long, I didn't expect you to be so quiet usually, but you gave us a stunning performance!"

"Exactly, Duan Long, you filmed such a good film and didn't tell us! Are we brothers or not!"

"Go away, go away~" Little Xiao Taohong came up and patted several classmates who were laughing and joking with Duan Long.

"Hey, Sister Tao is here!"

Little Xiao Taohong, the class monitor, took good care of Duan Long, and the classmates in the class saw it, but there was still no lack of jokes usually.

"Duan Long has always had good grades in class and is the most serious in acting class. What's so strange about acting well?"

After Little Xiao Taohong finished speaking, she also gave Duan Long a bright smile and encouraged: "Duan Long, you're really great!"

Duan Long felt like he was going to be dazzled by Little Xiao Taohong's smile and stood there foolishly laughing. ===== CHAPTER 36 =====