Chapter 35

At the bus stop, Wu Yuchen waved goodbye through the glass, watching the bus pull away with Ceng Li inside, and sighed—he’d met a girl he liked, only for her to be heading straight back to her hometown, likely not returning to Jingcheng until after the New Year.

This wasn’t ten years from now; not even mobile phones existed, and landlines were hard to use.

Still, he felt Ceng Li had a good impression of him—she’d even asked for his phone number.

Wu Yuchen shook his head lightly again; self-delusion was dangerous.

Whatever, he’d just treat her as a potential prospect for now.

He turned and headed toward CEA, wishing he had a shared bike—this one-kilometer walk felt awkward.

When Wu Yuchen finally arrived at the CEA screening hall, he found it packed—every seat taken, the aisles crowded too—and he was startled.

The screening of “Car 44” at CEA had only been decided last night, with zero promotion; Wu Yuchen had expected half the audience at best, yet here were so many.

“Fuck, this movie’s insane!”

Hearing the exclamation beside him, Wu Yuchen leaned over and asked:

“Hey, bro, what’s going on? Why’s everyone here today?”

The guy turned around, instantly friendly:

“Hey, you just got back to campus? Didn’t see it earlier? You missed out big time!

This morning, someone ran through the dorms yelling that Jingying was coming to CEA to challenge us, boasting they’d made a movie that’d blow our minds and inviting every CEA student to judge it!

You think we could let them come to our doorstep and stir up trouble? Who’d stand for that?

By the time I got out of bed and rushed over, the place was already full—everyone came to pick fights.

But who knew their movie was this good? It left everyone stunned!

Man, if only they’d asked me to be the lead!”

Wu Yuchen realized what had happened—someone in the crew had come up with this idea, no wonder every CEA student showed up.

He looked closer at the guy’s face, then slapped his shoulder:

“Bro, I bet the crew can’t afford you.”

“Hey, you know me?” Xia Yu feigned surprise.

But Wu Yuchen clearly saw seven parts smugness, two parts pride, and one part arrogance in his grin.

“Ma Xiaojun! Venice Film Festival Best Actor, world-famous!” Wu Yuchen grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.

Xia Yu’s smile widened—he hadn’t taken his win in “In the Heat of the Sun” seriously after filming, just gone back to high school.

Even when news came that he’d won Venice and the film had won major awards, he’d still been dazed; after his father told him, he’d just turned around and went back to washing clothes.

But this year, when “In the Heat of the Sun” premiered domestically, he became a big name the moment he entered college, finally realizing how awesome he was, drowning in praise.

Now, even random handsome guys on campus gave him thumbs-up!

Xia Yu waved it off, feigning indifference:

“Bah, that’s all old news, forget it!

I’ll tell you—if they came to me for this movie, I’d give them a discount!

One-third? No, one-fifth of the fee—I’d take it!”

Wu Yuchen found Xia Yu’s slightly boastful demeanor amusing, but he completely understood—he was the youngest Venice Best Actor and Golden Horse Best Actor ever!

Someone else might be even more out of control; a little showing off was nothing—he’d probably need a year or two to calm down.

Wu Yuchen smiled at Xia Yu: “You’re too expensive!”

Then he walked past without waiting for a reply.

He reached the stage edge but didn’t climb up—just watched the crew members answering questions one by one.

Logically, this should’ve been Duan Long and Sun Honglei’s stage, but Duan Long was shy—he couldn’t speak a few words in front of so many people—and Sun Honglei, a robber, drew few questions; so the entire session became Jia’s one-man debate against the whole student body.

Despite his plain, earnest face and perpetually weary expression, he wasn’t the least bit intimidated by the crowd.

He’d been involved in every stage of “Car 44”’s production and had seen Wu Yuchen handle Q&As before, so he’d already prepared his answers—each response delivered calmly and clearly, leaving the CEA students speechless.

After a long while, the CEA students filed out—some excited, some sighing, some disheartened; Jingying’s challenge had truly won them over. Though reluctant, they had to admit: the film was good. The only comfort? Two of the three leads were from CEA.

Only then did Wu Yuchen walk over and smile: “You’re amazing, Jia!”

Jia had just put on a show for the CEA students and was feeling great—he beamed at Wu Yuchen, yet still downplayed it:

“I just repeated what you already answered.”

“Jia, who came up with this challenge idea?” Wu Yuchen asked curiously.

Jia grinned sheepishly: “I saw Duan Long and the others couldn’t even get half the campus to show up, so I just ran through every dorm floor, yelling at the top of my lungs.”

Wu Yuchen punched him lightly on the chest and gave him a thumbs-up.

That was exactly the kind of thing Jia would do—back in his past life, when he finished “Little Mountain Goes Home,” the screening at Jingying failed miserably, the whole crew thought they’d made shit, and everyone left.

His assistant director locked the tape in a drawer, swearing he’d never show it again to avoid shame.

But Jia refused to give up—he carried the tape to every university in Beijing, begging for screenings, enduring endless mockery and rejection, until finally, Peking University recognized it. Later, recommended to the Hong Kong Short Film Festival, that’s how Jia’s future began.

Meanwhile, Duan Long was surrounded by his classmates.

Yin Xiaotian slung an arm around Duan Long’s neck:

“Big Brother Duan, who knew you, quiet as you are, just pulled off a stunning move!”

“Yeah! Duan Long, you made such a great film and didn’t even tell us! Are you even a brother?”

“Get out of the way, get out of the way~” Xiao Taohong pushed through, tapping the classmates who were clowning around with Duan Long.

“Oh, Big Sister Tao’s here!”

Xiao Taohong, as class monitor, always looked out for Duan Long—everyone noticed, but they still teased him.

“Duan Long’s always been top of the class, takes acting lessons most seriously—of course he’s good!”

After speaking, Xiao Taohong beamed at Duan Long: “Duan Long, you’re amazing!”

Duan Long felt like he was about to faint from her smile, standing there dumbly grinning.