Huayu: Reborn in 97, transferring to the Central Academy of Drama's star-studded class

The likes and loves we had in our youth were always unspoken, but time waits for no one.

The students of Class 96 continued to be tormented by the Great Demon King. Perhaps many years later, they will realize that it was a time when they were divinely aided.

Now, perhaps because the holiday is over and they haven't adjusted yet, or perhaps because they've seen the TV series that Mei Ting filmed after dropping out of school air.

The entire Class 96 became extremely lax, and everyone felt restless and agitated.

Teacher Chang Li detected the signs and tried to suppress them forcefully, but it was still to no avail.

Several people privately took on small jobs such as shooting male characters, including Zhang Ziyi.

Teacher Chang Li called them out one by one during class and criticized them individually.

Some people protested, "Why didn't you say anything about Jiang Lai when he went to film a movie?"

Teacher Chang Li sneered and said, "The actor is acting alongside Ge You, the director is Feng Xiaogang, and the production company is Beijing Film Studio. If you could get a role like this without taking up your school time, I would let you go too."

The man fell silent.

But Jiang Lai felt uneasy, believing that his performance in the film "The Dream Factory" was worthy of the Central Academy of Drama's reputation.

Fortunately, the person who was unconvinced was still the same small-eyed guy, and the few guys he was on good terms with were still the same simpletons.

Although the matter is over, what is youth? Youth is someone who always has a rebellious heart.

Instead of calming down after the incident, this rebellious heart became even more restless.

Finally, after the National Day holiday, Class 96 received a notice.

Classes suspended for rectification.

This was announced to the entire school.

Teacher Chang Li walked into the classroom looking tired, picked up the notice and read aloud:

"Since the beginning of this semester, the students of Class 96 in the Acting Department have relapsed into their old illnesses and ignored the department's rule that 'acting students must practice early morning exercises.' After repeated attempts by the department leaders to persuade them failed, the department has decided, after deliberation, to suspend the following courses for the entire class starting from October 9th: diction, physical training, and vocal music. During the suspension period, it will be considered as truancy. This is hereby announced."

After reading it aloud, Teacher Chang Li stared at the paper in silence for a long while before finally saying:

That's fine.

He then turned and left.

Those four words pierced everyone's heart like a knife.

They weren't afraid of Teacher Chang Li's wrath; everyone knew that it was precisely this high-pressure environment that motivated them to make such great progress in their profession.

But now, Teacher Chang Li's calm tone made everyone panic. They were all afraid of being abandoned, and they were all unwilling to be abandoned.

That restlessness disappeared, replaced by a determination to strive for excellence.

Jiang Lai suppressed the pride he had been hiding after finishing a movie and readjusted his attitude towards acting.

Just as everyone in Class 96 was working hard, Jiang Lai received a phone call.

The call came from Jia Kezhang, who invited him to dinner, but the implication was that he was just a middleman and the person who was actually inviting him was someone else.

West of the city, Da Sanyuan Hotel.

This restaurant opened in 1983 and, after years of development, has been hailed as "the number one Cantonese restaurant in Beijing." Together with two other Cantonese restaurants, it is known as one of the "Three Knives" by the people of Beijing.

Why is it called "Three Knives"? Eating at these restaurants is like having your flesh cut open, each cut drawing blood. In short, it's just two words.

Extremely expensive.

Back when ordinary people earned only a few hundred yuan a month, a plate of stir-fried beef noodles here cost fifty yuan.

Jia Kezhang pushed open the door to the private room in the Peony Hall of the restaurant. Inside sat a man and a woman. The man's name was Lou Ye, and the woman's name was Nai An.

"You've arrived?" The two men smiled and stood up to greet them.

Lou Ye watched as Jia Kezhang closed the door and asked anxiously, "The investors aren't coming?"

Jia Kezhang smiled, pulled Lou Ye to sit down and said, "Don't rush, he's still a student, of course he has to come from school. Hey, Nai'an, speaking of which, he's still your junior, just from the Central Academy of Drama's acting department."

Nai An's eyes lit up, and he smiled, "Really? Then I'll have to have a good chat with my junior later."

Lou Ye became even more uneasy. He had experienced too much of this kind of investment solicitation. It was common for investors to withdraw their investments at the last minute after the initial agreement was reached, let alone when the other party was a student.

He hesitated before asking, "Are you sure it's reliable?"

With a look that said, "You believe me," Jia Kezhang said, "You've heard about the project that General Manager Han of Beijing Film Studio was promoting this year, right? This guy also invested in it, and he put in this much money right away."

Jia Kezhang held up two fingers, looking quite pleased with himself.

"Two million? That's quite a lot." Lou Ye nodded blankly.

Jia Kezhang then held up three fingers, "The same number they gave me for the movie I just made, without hesitation."

Lou Ye was stunned and exclaimed in surprise, "Three million?! Your movie actually cost three million to make?!"

"Hehe, thirty."

Lou Ye: "..."

This interruption eased Lou Ye's tension considerably.

He came here to raise investment for his new movie.

By this time, Lou Ye had already gained some fame, having directed two feature films. His first film won Best Director at a foreign film festival, though it was a small film festival that even the media didn't bother to report on.

But this immediately caught the attention of some foreign production companies. He now has foreign funding for the films he wants to finance, but it's still not enough, so he contacted Naian.

The two met in the 1980s. Since they were both directors, they had countless common topics. They were also good friends with Wang Xiaoshuai. The group often got into fights when they were in college.

Yes, a gang fight—you can imagine how fierce this woman, Nai'an, is, and you can also imagine how rebellious these so-called sixth generation members were when they were young.

Nai An became famous earlier than Lou Ye and came from a good family. This woman particularly admired Lou Ye, and she dared to invest 800,000 yuan as the producer for his first film. She also contributed money to Lou Ye's new film.

In this era, making a good film requires a lot of money. Jia Kezhang's film is an exception; if he were pushed to the limit, he would just grab a DV camera and start making a film.

However, Lou Ye has foreign investment, so he still has to work hard to make a good film. He and Nai An did the math and found that even at the lowest standard, they were still short by several hundred thousand.

He heard that his junior schoolmate Jia Kezhang had successfully completed filming a movie, so he asked about the investors, which led to today's incident.

Since the client hadn't arrived yet, the three of them chatted idly in the private room, from the silent film era to the groundbreaking masterpieces of the 1980s film history.

These people had ample opportunities to watch movies while in school, and they had special privileges within the school, allowing them to watch many original foreign films without editing or subtitles.

For directors before them, watching foreign films was not an easy thing when they were young.

The reasons for this will not be elaborated upon here, but it can be said that the Sixth Generation was basically the generation most deeply influenced by Western film innovation.

"Sorry I'm late, it's quite difficult to find parking here."

A man pushed open the door to the private room and walked in; it was Jiang Lai.

The three people in the private room stood up abruptly and quickly came to greet them.

"Mr. Jiang, let me introduce you. This is Lou Ye, and this is Nai An," Jia Kezhang said.

Jiang shook hands with each of them, smiling as he said, "I've told you so many times, just call me Xiao Jiang. Since you two are Lao Jia's friends, you're my friends too, so there's no need to be so polite."

Seeing how easygoing Jiang was, Lou Ye and Nai An relaxed considerably. Lou Ye led Jiang to the main seat, while Nai An went outside the room to instruct the waiter to serve the dishes.

After everyone was seated, they started chatting. Lou Ye was probably a bit shy, so he mainly talked about Nai'an and pulled Jiang to chat about interesting things at school.

Jiang Lai had a good impression of this generous and mature woman, and he chatted and laughed along with her.

Soon, the first dish was served, called Lucky Roast Suckling Pig.

Nai An smiled and said, "President Jiang, this first dish is 'Good Fortune'! Wishing you academic success and all the best!"

Jiang Lai shook his head and laughed, "Sister An, I've already called you 'sister,' why are you still calling me 'President Jiang'?"

"Alright! Little brother, then I won't beat around the bush. I brought a bottle of good wine with me today, let's have a drink together."

Nai An reached out and patted Lou Ye, who then realized what was happening and took the wine from the cabinet.

Jiang Lai looked up and saw, wow, a thatched hut.

The prototypes of Maotai, Wuliangye, and Jiannanchun were already emerging in this era. A bottle of these could cost several hundred yuan and was mainly used for formal banquets.

Jiang Lai looked at the dishes that were being served one after another: shark fin soup with three main ingredients, steamed grouper, and appetizers—all expensive and hearty dishes.

Thinking about the restaurant's name and the private room's name, Jiang Lai instantly understood what this meal was for.