Chapter 8: Male Lead

After walking out of Huang Lei's office, Wu Yuchen's mood was quite good.

The most basic goal of his trip was the camera; without this thing, he couldn't shoot a fart. At the same time, being able to settle the post-production equipment solved another problem.

Even if Huang Lei didn't come to be the male lead, it didn't matter; there were plenty of good actors in this day and age!

Not to mention anything else, both the Tao Jingying Academy and the Central Academy of Drama were full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

Regarding the candidate for the male lead, he had some candidates in his heart.

The first choice was Fu Dalong from the 94th class of the Tao Jingying Academy.

Fu Dalong had four Best Actor trophies, and his acting skills were far greater than his fame. From the films *Purple Sunset* and *Dog* to the TV dramas *Crossing the Xikou* and *The Qin Empire*, as long as the script quality was up to par, Fu Dalong's performance would never disappoint you.

He was a sophomore this year, a child star, and had participated in many film and television works before enrolling, so he already had a lot of acting experience.

And he was a famous "acting maniac"; as long as your script was good, he was willing to act even if there was no money.

And Wu Yuchen happened to have a lot of confidence in the script of *Bus 44*!

Fu Dalong's dormitory.

"You're looking for Dalong? That's really a coincidence; he went out to shoot a film."

Wu Yuchen's eyebrows twisted upon hearing this, then he continued to ask: "May I ask senior, when will Senior Fu be back?"

"I'm not too sure about that."

At this time, another young man sitting on the bed interjected:

"Half a month; I went with him when he went to ask the teacher for leave.

Envious; Dalong actually has people inviting him while in school!"

"Hehe, Dalong has acted as the young Marshal Peng; he brushed through youth acting awards when he was a child. Can we compare?" another person in the room also followed with self-deprecation.

Wu Yuchen heard a bit of sourness in these words, but he didn't care about these people's thoughts; he couldn't wait for half a month.

It wasn't that he couldn't wait, but the camera couldn't wait; who knew when Huang Lei would borrow the camera for him?

If he borrowed it tomorrow or the day after, it would only be for a week; how could he just wait?

At this time, the boy who had just spoken to him looked at Wu Yuchen's handsome appearance and couldn't help but ask:

"Are you a junior from the acting department who just entered this year? How should I address you?"

"Wu Yuchen, but I'm not from the acting department; I'm from the directing department. Senior, see you later~"

Wu Yuchen smiled and didn't stay any longer; he had to hurry to the next target.

"Damn, someone from the directing department looks this handsome..." the boy complained at Wu Yuchen's departing back.

As the saying goes, the Tao Jingying Academy produces directors, and the Central Academy of Drama produces actors.

Fu Dalong's side didn't work out, so Wu Yuchen went straight to the Central Academy of Drama.

Even if he, Wu Yuchen, was from the Tao Jingying Academy now, he had to admit that the good actors produced by the Central Academy of Drama were indeed more than those from the Tao Jingying Academy.

Classroom, Duan Long was reading the script of the play to be studied in class tomorrow, hearing his classmate Yin Xiaotian shout at the door:

"Duan Long, someone is looking for you!"

Duan Long silently put down the script and walked out with his head slightly hunched.

After coming to Beijing from Xinjiang, he was shocked by the prosperity of the big city and deeply stimulated by the dress and appearance of his classmates, becoming very inferior and somewhat silent.

Duan Long walked to the door of the classroom and saw a boy over 1.8 meters tall standing there, dressed very cleanly, smiling warmly at him. He didn't know who this person was; was he looking for him? Did he make a mistake?

Wu Yuchen looked at the somewhat earthy and still green face before him, secretly thinking that he finally hadn't missed him; the person before his eyes later had a name: Duan Yihong.

Duan Long was silent and didn't know how to speak, but Wu Yuchen wouldn't let the atmosphere freeze, immediately reaching out and saying with a smile:

"Hello, Senior Duan Long; I'm from the directing department of the Tao Jingying Academy, named Wu Yuchen."

Duan Long reached out somewhat awkwardly and shook hands with the other party, his brain a bit confused; why did someone from the Tao Jingying Academy come to find him?

"Here, this is my student ID." Wu Yuchen used this to increase credibility.

Then he said: "Senior, we plan to shoot a short film and want to find you to play the male lead."

"Me, the male lead?"

This time, Duan Long was really shocked, stunned on the spot, his mouth open, not knowing what to say.

Duan Long had been studying in Beijing for more than a year, and he had always been a marginal existence in their class. Someone suddenly coming to find him to be the male lead made him somewhat at a loss, and his heart was also very confused.

Wu Yuchen knew it was somewhat abrupt, but he believed he could still persuade Duan Long.

"Right, the male lead. It can be finished in 3 days; the pay is 500 yuan. You just need to take out a weekend and then ask for one day off. I have the script here; why don't you take a look first?"

Wu Yuchen was clear about Duan Long's situation; an inferior poor student would definitely be very eager for this 500 yuan delivered to his door.

This was 500 yuan in 1995!

Sure enough, Duan Long's eyes brightened slightly upon hearing this; he looked at Wu Yuchen and didn't feel like a bad person, so he was about to take the script.

At this time, a hand reached over and directly pinched Wu Yuchen's script.

Duan Long turned his head and couldn't help but blurt out: "Class monitor!"

"What are you two doing? Duan Long, what's the situation? Is this person your friend?"

Wu Yuchen looked in the direction of the hand; a girl with a ponytail was looking at him with a scrutinizing gaze.

He recognized her at a glance: Little Xiao Taohong!

"Class monitor, he's looking for me to shoot a film..." Duan Long's voice lowered a degree subconsciously when he saw Little Xiao Taohong.

"Is that so? What crew are you? Is it formal?"

Little Xiao Taohong blocked slightly in front of Duan Long, like a mother hen protecting her chicks, fully embodying what a class monitor with a sense of responsibility was like.

Wu Yuchen hurriedly introduced himself: "Senior sister, my name is Wu Yuchen, from the Tao Jingying Academy..."

He handed the student ID to Little Xiao Taohong again.

Little Xiao Taohong looked carefully at the student ID in her hand, comparing it with Wu Yuchen's appearance; it was the same person.

However, there were quite a few fake IDs in this day and age, and she still had doubts in her heart.

And Little Xiao Taohong's mother had taught her since she was a child that the better-looking a man was, the more he would lie; by this standard, the handsome guy before her was undoubtedly highly dangerous.

Returning the student ID to Wu Yuchen, Little Xiao Taohong then asked:

"You're only a freshman; you want to shoot a short film not two months after entering school?"

"Senior sister, the script I wrote was fortunately valued by our interest group, and everyone scraped together money to shoot it; if you don't believe me, you can go to our school to ask."

Looking at Wu Yuchen's sincere gaze, Little Xiao Taohong believed him a few points more after hearing his words; after all, there was quite a lot of contact between students of the two schools, and it wasn't difficult to ask about something.

She was mainly worried about Duan Long being cheated; after all, he was an honest boy who ran over from the Northwest, and his economic condition was the worst in the class. As a class monitor, she would take care of him more when she could.

Duan Long, behind Little Xiao Taohong, occasionally aimed at Little Xiao Taohong, not even realizing the silly smile on his face made him look like a fool.

Wu Yuchen looked at this scene before him, secretly thinking that sure enough, he had a crush on her at this time. ===== CHAPTER 9 =====