I entered Huayu Entertainment in 2016.

One by one, the classmates started urging Wang Zi'an to take the exam; maybe he could even get into a film academy and become a big star in the future.

He initially just smiled and didn't say anything, but one day, his homeroom teacher, who had a good relationship with his students, also started making a fuss during evening self-study.

With a smile, he said, "Zi'an, I think you should give it a try. Young people shouldn't hurt to travel and see more of the world."

The whole class burst into laughter.

Wang Zian raised his head and glanced at his old teacher.

He nodded and replied with a smile, "Okay, I'll think about it."

He thought that was the end of it.

As a result, his best friend secretly registered him for the provincial civil service exam, then slammed the admission ticket on his desk and said matter-of-factly, "You write so many novels, and now there are TV dramas adapted from them. Wouldn't it be a shame if you didn't go and watch them?"

"Besides, the provincial exams coincide with the monthly exams, and Lao Wang has already approved your leave. It would be a shame if you didn't go and have some fun!"

After news of the art exam registration spread, the uproar started again.

Wang Zian has always been an excellent student, to an absurd degree, and his academic performance has remained consistently high.

Moreover, he is very opinionated and spends his time either reading or solving problems in class.

Handsome and obedient, he is easy to manage and requires little attention; he is the favorite of all teachers.

He applied to stop taking exams like monthly exams, which don't require participation in multi-school rankings, starting from the second semester of his first year of high school.

Not many people knew about his novel writing; besides his best friends, his homeroom teacher, who had been with him for three years, were the only ones who knew about it.

The provincial exam happened to fall during the same period as the monthly exams, so he didn't have to take the monthly exams and went to relax; anyway, there was no harm in taking a look around.

As a result, he went and passed.

Then, two weeks ago, he took the joint exam of four provinces and achieved extremely high scores.

Wang Zian's name was at the top of the list, separated from the second place by a despairing number of points.

The homeroom teacher was drinking tea in the office when he said to the other teachers, "If this child had wanted to skip a grade, he would have been in college long ago."

When the entrance exams for the Beijing Film Academy started, his best friend encouraged him to go and take a look.

Wang Zian thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

The exam was secondary; the main concern was the capital city, which he had never visited before.

Moreover, they can bring back some local specialties from the capital, such as roast duck, to satisfy their classmates' cravings.

···

Wang Zian just arrived in Beijing yesterday and checked into a hotel near the Beijing Film Academy.

It's no wonder it's the capital city; the cheapest standard room starts at 300 yuan, and the closer to the university area, the more expensive it is. The prices around Beijing Film Academy are even more than double.

After settling in, Wang Zian, being a good student, even though he hadn't planned to come, was prepared to go and check out the Beijing Film Academy's examination venue.

I encountered many students on the way who were also going to check out the exam venue.

He was shoved with a stack of exam materials as soon as he arrived at the entrance of the Beijing Film Academy, ranging from "must-memorize passages for the preliminary exam" to "quick physical training," and so on.

Only then did he realize what the preliminary test would cover.

···

Following the crowd to the outside of the examination hall, I found that it was much warmer inside than outside.

The room smelled of disinfectant and wood floor wax, with a faint scent of various perfumes in the air.

The walls on both sides of the corridor are decorated with photos of outstanding graduates from previous years, in black and white and in color, each face bearing an expression that is somewhere between naivety and ambition.

The candidates gathered in groups, some talking in hushed tones, some reciting their scripts to the wall, and some repeatedly adjusting their collars and hair.

Tension, like an invisible gas, permeated the entire space.

He stood quietly next to his group, hands in his pockets, back straight.

Soon, all ten people in his group arrived.

Wang Zian looked down at the exam number in his hand—6666.

This number is almost too good.

Then he looked up and met a pair of almond-shaped eyes.

Zhou Ye was standing right next to him. Coincidentally, their exam numbers were next to each other, and they were in the same group.

She clearly recognized him too, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, but it was quickly swallowed up by nervousness.

She clutched a printed sheet of paper in her hand, its edges crumpled from being pinched, and her lips moved rapidly, like a sparrow pecking at food in winter.

Her naturally beautiful face really stands out in a crowd.

No wonder I was able to get into Beijing Film Academy in my past life!

"To the Oak Tree..."

Wang Zian caught those three words in his ears, and he almost couldn't hold back his smile.

Why not just give it to the oak tree? Can't you change it?

He listened to the people around him and found that the complaints online were absolutely true; at least half of the ten test takers were reciting "To the Oak Tree".

It seems now that the oak tree remains constant while the art students come and go.

Before Wang Zian could even wipe the smile from his lips, Zhou Ye suddenly raised his head.

Her movement was so sudden that her ponytail swung in the air in a small arc.

The moment their eyes met, Wang Zian reacted as quickly as a conditioned reflex.

His gaze slid to the side and casually landed on the still of Liu Yifei on the wall.

My heart skipped a beat.

It wasn't because I was attracted to her, it was purely because of the embarrassment of being caught.

Fortunately, a staff member pushed open the door at that moment and shouted, "Group Six, get ready to enter!" Everyone perked up, and the tense atmosphere surged back like a tide, instantly drowning out the little incident from before.

The examination room was a standard medium-sized classroom converted into an interview room.

A long table was set up in front of them, and five examiners, three men and two women, sat behind it. Each of them had a stack of application forms and scoring sheets spread out in front of them.

Cameras were set up in the four corners of the room, their black lenses like four silent eyes, watching the small open space in the center of the examination room from different angles.

The light from the fluorescent tubes was so bright it was almost blinding, reflecting a thin halo of light onto the light yellow wooden floor.

Wang Zian's gaze swept across the faces of the five examiners.

He had never seen four of them before, but the old man on the far left, with gray hair, a thin face, and gold-rimmed glasses, looked familiar.

It felt like I'd seen it in a movie, or maybe in a picture from an entertainment news article.

He thought for two seconds and then gave up trying to recall.

unimportant.

Wang Zian sat obediently in the waiting area, watching one student after another come forward to introduce themselves and showcase their talents.

Each of them walked to the brightest spot in the center of the examination room, like a specimen placed under a spotlight, with every expression on their face magnified and scrutinized.

Some people's voices trembled when they introduced themselves, and some people used too many gestures when reciting, as if they were doing calisthenics.

However, after each student finished their performance, they would look nervously at the proctor, hoping to see a glimmer of hope in the teacher's expression that they had passed.

Unfortunately, these teachers are all seasoned veterans; how could they possibly provide any information?

His face was expressionless.

It's not indifference, but a well-trained blankness.

Soon it was the boy in front of Wang Zian's turn to go up.

After a brief introduction, the recitation began, and the passage sounded like Zhou Ping's monologue in a thunderstorm.

It has to be said that the Zhou family's story is quite dramatic.