[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-playboy-of-huayu-how-did-a-celestial-immorta":3,"chapter-the-playboy-of-huayu-how-did-a-celestial-immorta-the-playboy-of-huayu-how-did-a-celestial-immorta-chapter-35":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Playboy of Huayu: How Did a Celestial Immortal Transform Me?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2297661,4495,"Chapter 35: Art Exam (1)","the-playboy-of-huayu-how-did-a-celestial-immorta-chapter-35",35,"\u003Cp>For Lu Kuan, the 2002 Spring Festival was extremely bland and tasteless, making him miss the glitz, glamour, and vibrant life from before his rebirth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had a long phone call with Mei Yanfang on New Year's Eve, and her treatment progress had already been scheduled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon learning that her severe illness could be cured while preserving her fertility, this daughter of Xiangjiang burst into tears once again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Kuan politely declined her invitation to spend the holiday in Xiangjiang, purely because he did not want to see that moronic mother and her two sons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some things are like chocolate; they make people feel good when eaten, but make dogs feel miserable. Lu Kuan’s methods had brought them to heel, and also created a peaceful environment for Mei Yanfang to recover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The phone rang incessantly on New Year's Eve; text messages for New Year greetings were not yet very popular at this time, and it wouldn't be until May of this year that China Mobile and China Unicom would be able to achieve interoperability of information.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, he still received calls from Zhou Xun, Zhang Jizhong, Mei Yanfang, Wang Minhui, Zhang Songwen, Li Yang, Fan Bingbing, and others; even Baoqiang, who didn't have money to buy a mobile phone, borrowed one to send his blessings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Less than half a year after his rebirth, the young Daoist priest had also unknowingly accumulated some connections in the entertainment industry, just waiting for the day he would achieve success through steady accumulation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the first step of that steady accumulation was the fourth round of the Beijing Film Academy art exam on March 20th.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Kuan had already achieved high scores in the first three rounds—comprehensive knowledge, free statement, and analysis of art and photography works—and now he had to compete with more than 20 other candidates for the only 6 admission spots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The exam location was set at the Beijing Film Academy standard screening room. (Note 1)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The atmosphere in the exam hall was solemn and grave; when Lu Kuan entered, many teachers and students cast their gaze upon him because his performance in the first three rounds had been too outstanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More than twenty people sat down according to the time and exam hall order, and began the first two items of the art exam process: performance presentation and narrative essay writing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The former was to examine the students' hypothetical cognition as directors, including the handling of stage space and the hypothetical nature of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, as a director, you must first convince yourself to accept this virtual way of performing before you can better guide the actors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Kuan’s group had 10 people in total, and the topic they drew was \"Station.\" Everyone played a group of people waiting for a bus at a station at will, without a detailed script, all based on free improvisation from an outline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Due to his excellent performance and high scores in the previous three rounds of interviews, everyone in the group trusted him very much and unanimously agreed that Lu Kuan should allocate and plan the performance scheme.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only one black sheep seemed so out of place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I disagree!\" The speaker was a young man with a sinister look and a side-part hairstyle, probably only eighteen or nineteen years old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Liu Zeyu, if you don't want to do it, then withdraw from the exam. From the moment we started, you've been nitpicking—what a pain!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Kuan looked with amusement at the big fatty who was reprimanding the young man; this was the only familiar face among the group of candidates, He Yanjiang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was older than the other students in the group, born in '79, and had participated in the screenwriting work for the Zhou Runfa version of *Confucius*, the Chen Baoguo version of *Han Wu Da Di*, and *Qiaojiada Academy*.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, he went to work for China Film Group and eventually became the Vice President of Xiangjiang Asia Television, responsible for program planning and directing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Damn it! What did you say!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coming from a family of officials and with his family currently in power, how could Liu Zeyu endure this kind of insult!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had come to take the art exam just for fun, to see if he could get the title of a directing student to play with young girls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that everyone was glaring at him, he stopped provoking public anger and chose silent resistance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Let you be proud during this round of performance presentation; let's see how you die in the next round of creative discussion!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Kuan didn't take him seriously, and the group allocated the plan and began their respective preparations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The invigilator seat was occupied by the Director of the Directing Department, Xie Xiaojin, the soon-to-be-appointed Tian Zhuangzhuang, lead instructors Jiang Wei and Zhang Jiandong, and the Deputy Director of the Acting Department, Wang Jingsong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I didn't expect these kids in the Directing Department to have such a decent discussion.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the evaluation given by Director Wang from an acting perspective, which was also the reason he was sitting in the invigilator seat today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jiandong stroked his chin and said, \"Director Wang, look at that candidate in the black top; he has been assigning character roles and guiding the rhythm of the performance.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xie Xiaojin nodded secretly; this was a director's organizational ability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Similar to group discussions in interviews of later generations, this part of the process also incidentally examined the candidates' organizational and coordinating abilities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who were the general material, who were the commander material, and who were the dregs could still be roughly distinguished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How is it going, everyone?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several invigilators hurriedly stood up; it was the President, Zhang Huijun, coming for a routine inspection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He signaled for everyone to sit still and not disturb the candidates who were doing their final preparations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The teachers looked over and saw that following Zhang Huijun into the room quietly were the well-known domestic fifth-generation director Zhang Yimou, actor Chen Daoming, Jiang Zhiqiang from Edko Films, and a relatively unfamiliar face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Huijun smiled and said, \"Let me introduce everyone: Chairman Jiang of Edko Films and Director Zhang Jianting of Emperor Group are guests invited by the school to attend next week's forum.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tian Zhuangzhuang joked, \"Yimou, you, our senior from Beijing Film Academy, are here to inspect? Why don't I give you my seat and you can do the grading today?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Forget it, Old Tian, just stay put and don't pick on me as soon as we meet.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Huijun, Zhang Yimou, and Tian Zhuangzhuang were all classmates from the '78 class of Beijing Film Academy, with very good relationships, and they were quite casual when chatting and joking on weekdays.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jianting searched for his target on the stage, met eyes with Liu Zeyu, and nodded to give a hint; he had come on this trip with a mission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hey, President Zhang, I heard that the final round of the Beijing Film Academy Directing Department art exam is a creative discussion. I have a suggestion, I don't know if it's appropriate.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Huijun was stunned; he didn't really like this director whose stance was problematic, but he had to give face to Emperor Group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Director Zhang, please speak.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Chairman Jiang is currently discussing their next script, *Ren Zai Jiang Hu*, with Director Yimou. I think, why not use this semi-finished script for the final round topic?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jianting adjusted his thick lenses and gave Jiang Zhiqiang a wink.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Zhiqiang smiled noncommittally, but threw the question to Zhang Yimou: \"Yimou, what do you think?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the parties involved were not worried about the script leaking, then there was no substantial obstacle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Yimou didn't know why this Xiangjiang director had suddenly had a whim, and his face crinkled with a smile: \"I'm fine with it, if President Zhang thinks it's appropriate...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although he felt it was strange, he was also open to this suggestion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The so-called *Ren Zai Jiang Hu* was actually the first version of *House of Flying Daggers*, but at this time, it was just a story prototype.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his past life, Zhang Yimou had also invited more than a dozen domestic screenwriters to hold a discussion meeting to communicate about script creation during the script creation stage; there was no issue of premature leakage for a script at this stage of progress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Note 1: The fourth-round process of the Beijing Film Academy in this chapter has been magically modified; under the standard process, the fourth round lasts for three days. The first day is for writing narrative essays, the second day is for creative discussion, and the third day is for performance presentation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In addition, the current annual enrollment of the Beijing Film Academy Directing Department is about 18-20 people; in the early 2000s, it was basically single digits because the faculty could not handle so many students. In 2002, excluding international students, the actual number of admitted students was only 6.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The fourth-round process has been modified here to end in one day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1511,"2026-06-20T06:05:17.358Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","65f2a2911d2749df246cce334c6c86e4fa61e7e2b565121b3897864c8613b154","the-playboy-of-huayu-how-did-a-celestial-immorta-chapter-36","the-playboy-of-huayu-how-did-a-celestial-immorta-chapter-34",343,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-playboy-of-huayu-how-did-a-celestial-immorta-cover.jpg"]