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

"Sorry, Sister An, I can't drink alcohol. It's not that I'm being disrespectful, please don't overthink it, I really can't drink." Jiang Lai waved his hand in refusal.

Nai An glanced at Jia Kezhang without showing any emotion. When he nodded, she smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll go get you some drinks."

As she stood up, she patted Lou Ye on the shoulder and walked out the door.

Chinese people like to talk business after a few rounds of drinks. Since we're not drinking now, let's get straight to the point.

Lou Ye took out two documents from his bag and said very frankly, "President Jiang, I invited you here today to raise investment for my new movie. Here is the script and budget. Please take a look."

Jiang Lai knew the real main course was about to begin, so he took the documents and said, "Um, Director Lou, you really don't need to be so polite. I'll take a look at the script first."

Lou Ye smiled shyly and nodded.

Jiang Lai tossed the budget aside and picked up the script to read.

After watching for a while, he was a little confused. One moment it was "I", the next it was Mada, then it was Mudan, and then Mudan turned into Meimei. He felt that the relationships between the characters were too confusing.

It wasn't until he finished reading it that he roughly understood what kind of story it was.

It's probably, maybe, perhaps it's a love story?

Jiang Lai was puzzled.

Because he doesn't believe that normal love stories involve kidnapping, jumping into rivers, or even sleeping together just because a stranger tells a story.

Although he disliked the strange logic in the script, he was still drawn to the melancholy atmosphere of the story, that decadent and psychedelic feeling rooted in reality yet detached from it.

Admittedly, although most people dislike the affected sentimentality of the artsy type, they still can't help but indulge in a bit of artsiness occasionally.

Moreover, Jiang Lai strongly agrees with a statement made at the Central Academy of Drama:

Theater is freedom.

Jiang Lai put down the script with satisfaction and said, "I won't look at the budget. Just tell me how much this film costs in total."

Lou Ye's face lit up with surprise, and he said excitedly, "Uh, it needs a total of two million, and we're still short..."

"I'll put all two million on it!" Jiang Lai interrupted. "I won't worry about the funds you already have. I'll invest an extra two million on top of that. All you have to do is make a good movie."

Lou Ye was so shocked he couldn't speak. He never imagined he would be so overwhelmed by a sugar daddy.

Jia Kezhang was also happy for his old friend and was even more looking forward to his next film, but before that, he had to prove himself to his good sponsor.

"Well, I have a question about your movie."

"Can I act?"

......

When Nai An returned to the room carrying a large bottle of cola and juice, this was the scene he saw.

Lou Ye stood up silently, expressionless, and slowly put the two documents into his briefcase.

Nai An knew those were the script and budget, and was wondering why the other party had put them away.

Lou Ye picked up his handbag, nodded slightly to Jiang Lai, and then strode past Nai An and walked straight out of the room.

He remained silent throughout the entire process, yet exuded an air of refinement and civility.

Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events.

Jiang Lai pointed blankly at the door and said, "What's going on here?"

"Maybe they just didn't want you to act in it," Jia Kezhang responded.

When Jiang asked him, "Can I act?", he knew things were going to go wrong, and sure enough, they were.

Jiang Lai's lips twitched. The use of the word "also" was quite clever. He quickly said, "If he can't, he can't. I didn't say I wouldn't invest if he didn't act. Hurry up and win him back."

After a few words, Nai'an roughly understood what had happened. She quickly put down her drink and said, "I'll go after him. You guys keep eating."

After saying that, he ran out of the room.

A few minutes later, Nai An pulled Lou Ye back.

Lou Ye looked at Jiang Lai with an embarrassed expression and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Jiang, well, anyway, I'm just sorry."

Jia Kezhang smiled and pulled Lou Ye back to his seat. "You know, it's good that you're familiar with our President Jiang. He even wanted to act in my play back then, but I told him directly that it wasn't suitable and rejected him on the spot."

Jiang Lai also laughed and recounted the funny stories from back then, and the atmosphere eased again.

Lou Ye then explained, "It's not that I think you're unsuitable, it's just that I already have someone in mind for the male lead, so I'm truly sorry, Mr. Jiang."

Jiang Lai pointed to the table full of dishes and said, "Alright, don't be shy, let's eat. We haven't touched any of this food yet, we've been waiting for you to come back."

At this moment, Nai An held up the menu and said with a smile, "Come on, little brother, we only ordered seven dishes. We need to order one more for good luck. Take a look."

Jiang Lai took it with surprise, realizing that this banquet must have been arranged by this woman. Lou Ye probably didn't know anything about such things. He glanced at it briefly, pointed to a dish, and said:

"Let's go with this one, Sister An, it's a triple crown of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall."

Nai An had a plan in mind, and she glanced at Lou Ye with a smile that was truly captivating.

Jiang Lai clicked his tongue inwardly.

During the meal, Jiang Lai ate heartily. Seeing his uncouth eating habits, the others immediately realized that he wasn't faking it when he said not to be polite, and they all relaxed as well.

Lou Ye was in a good mood, so he invited Jia Kezhang and Nai An to have a few drinks, since they couldn't waste the wine.

Jiang Lai sipped his cola and casually picked up the script to start flipping through it.

The play is called "Suzhou River".

After the dinner ended, Jiang returned home and, as always, left the matter to Lao Li and washed his hands of it.

Old Li was having a real headache. His young master always made investments on a whim but never took responsibility, leaving Old Li to run around taking care of everything.

A perfectly capable chief eunuch has done the work of a prime minister.

Fortunately, his master only had one son, so he didn't have to worry about the struggle for the heir.

Old Li figured that since his young master had already entered the entertainment industry, there would be a lot of business dealings in the future, so it was time to find him a qualified agent.

I wonder how my granddaughter is doing in her studies abroad.

Old Li was secretly making plans in his heart.

After a brief interlude, Lou Ye's movie still needed several months of preparation before filming could begin, while Jiang Lai and his classmates continued to rack their brains about how to win back Teacher Chang Li's heart.

"How about we do what we did last time and buy something to apologize to the teacher?"

The students from Class 96 sat in a circle on the floor in the rehearsal room. With the classes on lines, physical expression, and vocal music suspended, Teacher Chang Li simply stopped the acting class as well, which made the students particularly anxious.

"I don't think it's a good idea. Doing it again would seem perfunctory and insincere." Niu Qingfeng rejected Dang Hao's suggestion and continued to frown and think.

"This won't work, that won't work, so what should we do? We've been going to morning practice earlier than usual these past few days, but the school hasn't said when classes will resume."

Liu Ye wore a bitter face. The trio had finally gotten back to normal, and then this happened. It was exhausting.

"How about this!" Dang Hao slapped his forehead. "In ancient times, people shaved their heads to show their determination. How about our Class of '96 collectively shave our heads to show our resolve?"

"Huh? Do we girls have to shave our heads too?" Hu Jing pointed to herself, her face contorting at the thought of her bald head.

"So what? I think it's great. Let's shave our heads tomorrow!" Liu Ye grinned and agreed.

"Alright, let's get serious," the class monitor said, and the others stopped joking around.

At this moment, Zhang Tong raised his hand, "I have an idea."

Everyone's attention turned to her, but she remained silent.

"Say it, Squad Leader Zhang."

"Yeah, just say what you think."

Zhang Tong shrank back and smiled shyly, "I'm not the class monitor anymore, so please don't call me that. My idea is that we put on a play together, based on our own abilities, and then invite the teachers to watch. I think if the teachers see how hard we've worked, they might forgive us."

After thinking it over, everyone felt that this was more reliable, so they started discussing it.

Someone shouted, "Why don't we just make a movie?"

The students' emotions were instantly ignited.

"That's great! Making a movie is much better than staging a stage play!"

"That's right, we'll all appear on camera so the teachers can see that we can act too."

Everyone responded with excitement, just like a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger. No one expected that making a movie would be so difficult.

I contacted people in the directing department on the spot, but they all declined. Some kind people did remind me where the camera and film came from.

For a moment, everyone in Class 96 was a little dejected.

Not knowing who would be the first, everyone silently focused their attention on Jiang Lai.

Jiang Lai was being pulled aside by Liu Ye, Dang Hao, and a few others to discuss shaving his head when he looked up and saw that everyone was staring at him.

Thinking back to the topic they had just discussed, he immediately realized that he was the only one among those present who could find a director and equipment.

But what should he film? After a moment's thought, he realized there was actually a movie that would be quite suitable for the class's situation.

That movie was acted by someone who loved to smoke, drink, and get perms.

It's called "Hello, Teacher".