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2.19% Hitting the Entertainment News Spotlight / Chapter 15: Suggestion

Chapter 15: Suggestion

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lu Baobao turned to look at Jiang Se. "What about you?"

Jiang Se could not free herself from Lu Baobao's grip. She could only stuff her backpack under her desk. The student on duty had written the day's schedule on the blackboard.

While she took out the books required for the first period, she did not reply to Lu Baobao.

After she returned home during the weekend, Zhou Hui had a talk with her in her room. Then, the Du family had given her the cold shoulder. Du Changqun treated her as an invisible person when he returned, refusing to speak to her. Nobody even called her when it was time to eat.

Lu Baobao wanted to say something when their classmate in front turned around excitedly. She had heard them mention Shen Villa, so she asked, "Lu Baobao, did the two of you go to Shen Villa?"

Lu Baobao was instantly invigorated. She looked up and affirmed, "Yes, we went. Why?"

When Jiang Se saw that she was distracted, she extracted her arm from her palm. Lu Baobao no longer pulled on her arm because the classmate in front of them had spoken again, "I heard that 'Rescue Mission', which is directed by Zhang Jingan, will be filmed in Shen Villa. Many celebrities will be there as well. When did the two of you go?"

Seeming smug, Lu Baobao straightened up and instinctively reached for her cellphone, but her fingers found nothing. Regret filled her face, but it was quickly replaced by her animated expression.

"Oh, do you want to talk about that?" Although she covered her mouth, she could not hide her intention to show off in her chuckle. "Sese and I heard about that long ago. We went to Shen Villa on Saturday and even took part in the filming. That's not all. We even saw the best actor, Liu Ye!"

Those words of hers earned her an envious look from the classmate. Several of their other classmates were also attracted by her story. While they gathered around their desks, some of them even exclaimed in surprise, "Wow? For real?"

"Of course!" Lu Baobao lifted her chin. "I had some photos on my phone, but my dad said that he'll only return my phone after the National College Entrance Examination, so I'm sorry, but I can't show you right now."

She was having the time of her life talking while being surrounded by her classmates, "You can also choose to wait until it comes to the cinemas and watch it for yourselves."

Some of their classmates wanted to get the inside scoop about "Rescue Mission" from Jiang Se as well. However, she merely gave them noncommittal replies, hence they pestered Lu Baobao instead.

After having her vanity satisfied, Lu Baobao no longer whined about the absence of her phone.

The group's discussion shifted from the "Rescue Mission" crew to the celebrities in the cast. Then, from the topic of celebrities, they somehow ended up discussing Zhao Ruoyun, a celebrity Lu Baobao had mentioned before.

"Recently, Zhao Ruoyun has gotten famous. I saw the news lately. Other than starring in 'Rescue Mission', Gu Jiaer had nothing but praise for her during the interview with Entertainment News two days ago. He said that Zhao Ruoyun has got the looks and is a professional actress. He might be hinting at his intention of giving her a helping hand."

Jiang Se was not very interested in the gossip, but then she heard someone say, "I think Gu Jiaer will be filming 'Pretense to Reality' soon. I was scrolling through Weibo the other day and there's a source claiming that he's planning on naming Zhao Ruoyun the female lead."

When this came up, more of their classmates gathered around. Everyone contributed their opinions. Just as some of them admired Zhao Ruoyun, there naturally would be haters. A small group of girls had a heated argument with pink faces, and Jiang Se was having a slight headache from all the bickering.

"In any case, there's must be a reason if Zhao Ruoyun does manage to end up as the female lead." Zhao Ruoyun's fans stood firmly on her side.

"You're right. Perhaps it's an unspoken rule," someone on the other side said.

This statement made the little fan's face flush. She shouted with contempt, "Even if it is, it just goes to show that she's pretty enough to get all the attention."

"How beautiful is she? I think Jiang Se's much prettier."

Just like that, the line of fire shifted to Jiang Se.

Her female classmates shifted their gaze onto Jiang Se. Although there were some who were still unwilling to give up, nobody made any retorts.

Jiang Se was beautiful indeed. She was even prettier than the popular female actresses of the era.

"It's useless even if she's beautiful. At least, Zhao Ruoyun is the female lead now. Jiang Se isn't," someone muttered.

Lu Baobao was not happy to hear this, and she forgot that she had been praising Zhao Ruoyun highly before this. She said with contempt, "It's just that Sese doesn't have the opportunity to join a cast. If she could, there's no telling who'll end up as the female lead."

Her voice had barely faded when the classmate before them seemed to have remembered something. "By the way, I heard that the production team is intending to recruit actors from the Imperial Capital Film Academy."

Jiang Se was having a slight headache from all the arguing. She was about to tell them to stop their bickering when she heard this revelation. "I came across the news last night. It said that Gu Jiaer is intending to head to the Imperial Capital Film Academy to recruit some members for the cast."

"Gu Jiaer is known for his pure romance films. I absolutely love his style! I enjoy some of his previous works like 'Love in the Eastern Capital', 'Unrequited Love'…" The person gushing was familiar with the subject matter as many of Gu Jiaer's films were mentioned. "He's known for featuring new actors and actresses. His works are also aesthetic."

"We're not that far from the Imperial Capital Film Academy. Why don't we head over and have a look?" Lu Baobao suggested after thinking for a while. "Who knows? We might just get noticed by a famous director."

It was clear that she could not get enough of the glam after how smoothly things went in Shen Villa.

The dazzling entertainment industry and the various celebrities attracted her. The experience of being an extra had inspired an interest in her. She sounded slightly excited when she asked, "Ma Jingjing, did the news say when Gu Jiaer's heading to the Imperial Capital Film Academy to recruit the cast?"

When Ma Jingjing heard the question directed at her, she hesitated. "The news didn't say."

Lu Baobao seemed slightly disappointed. Jiang Se, however, seemed to be considering something.

Based on their trip to Shen Villa last Saturday, she could tell that ordinary people looked forward to meeting celebrities. Not even the smallest of leaks could escape the eyes of the media and the fans.

If the whereabouts of the cast or crew were leaked, many people would flock toward the location. There had been a huge gathering outside the "Rescue Mission" filming site the other day as everyone was trying their best to get onto the set.

It remained to be ascertained if Gu Jiaer's crew of "Pretense to Reality", the one Ma Jingjing mentioned, would go to the Imperial Capital Film Academy for the casting as the news had said. Even if it was true, the actual time would not be announced.

However, Lu Baobao would not be herself if she gave up this easily. "We should go there together. We might be able to pick something up," she said loudly.

Although some of their classmates felt excited at her suggestion, the writings on the upper-left corner of the blackboard seemed to be screaming in protest. "Countdown to the National College Entrance Examination: 4 days left!"

"Forget it. The exams are around the corner. If I flunk this, I'll be dead."


Chapter 16: Information

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

When the others heard this, they backed down from the suggestion as well.

"You're right."

After all, the National College Entrance Examination was around the corner. Even if they wasted their time to go to the film academy and the production team was casting for the upcoming movie, they might not be selected in the end.

On the other hand, the National College Entrance Examination involved their future. When they thought about it this way, the others gradually calmed down.

When the bell for the morning self-study period rang, the others returned to their respective seats. Lu Baobao wrinkled her nose and pulled Jiang Se's hand, refusing to give up. "Even if they're not going, we should go." 

In truth, Jiang Se was also tempted to go.

Zhou Hui had been clear about her view on this. If she wanted to go to college, she would have to pay for her own tuition.

However, Jiang Se was at a loss as to the kind of job that would earn her enough money to cover her tuition and accommodation fees within two months. It would be great if she had more opportunities to earn more money.

However, Jiang Se shot Lu Baobao a look and reminded her, "The National College Entrance Examination is just around the corner. Didn't you say that your parents will kill you if you flunk it?"

When Lu Baobao mentioned this earlier, she had seemed sullen. At this moment, however, she waved her hand in dismissal. "It was just a figure of speech. Moreover, my parents know me. They don't expect me to get into a first-tier university. After all, our results are similar."

Her results were average, and she chose the arts stream. She could still manage the languages, but she was behind in her English and mathematics. All she could do was to burn the midnight oil and memorize some knowledge about politics, history, and geography to salvage some points.

"Our school isn't far from the film academy. The subway is near as well. There are only five or six stations between here and there, so we can head over after school at night. We'll just be there to see if we can find out about anything. It won't take long," Lu Baobao pleaded, "Let's go, shall we?"

When Jiang Se nodded, Lu Baobao shot up and made a victorious gesture. "Yes!"

The teacher-in-charge came in carrying a pile of objects at this moment. Her face darkened when she saw the scene.

"Lu Baobao!"

Having seen the teacher coming from a long way off, the other students in the class had already taken out their books and pretended to study. Because Lu Baobao had been talking to Jiang Se just now, she did not notice the situation at the door. When her name was called, she flinched.

The teacher walked into the classroom with heavy footsteps and dropped the items she was carrying onto her desk with a loud bang. The students did not even dare to breathe.

"It's only a few days away to the National College Entrance Examination, and you're still in this playful mood! I was under the impression that you're a good English speaker, but your results aren't satisfactory in the recent test. Out of a total of 150 marks, you've only scored 68! You had more than half of the vocabulary, listening, and multiple-choice questions wrong!"

She grew more agitated as she droned on. Lu Baobao looked pitiful being scolded like that, but she dared not make a sound.

The English teacher, who bore the surname Lin, was a strict and responsible person. She was on a roll now. She rummaged through the answer sheets and found the one with Lu Baobao's name on it.

"Look at this. There are 50 questions on this answer sheet, and you got more than half of them wrong! English is an important subject. What will you do in the National College Entrance Examination if you keep this up?"

Not a single squeak could be heard from the class. Everyone was feeling sympathetic toward Lu Baobao whose face was now red from being told off by Teacher Lin.

Lu Baobao had been caught talking during lessons by Teacher Lin several times before. This had displeased this English teacher greatly. After giving her a round of scolding, she suppressed her anger.

"You'll stay back after school and write ten lines for every vocabulary you've gotten wrong. You can go back once you can memorize all of them."

When Teacher Lin said that, Lu Baobao looked as if she had nothing left to live for.

She had made an appointment with Jiang Se to try their luck at the Imperial Capital Film Academy after school and see if they could run into the casting call for "Pretense to Reality" or get some inside scoop.

However, she did not expect to have such rotten luck. Jiang Se had literally just agreed to go when she was caught by Teacher Lin.

Lessons were over at 5 p.m. while the students were to do their revision from 8 to 9 a.m.

However, due to the sheer amount of homework of the 12th graders, the teachers would usually drag the lessons on until it was well past 5.30 p.m. despite the school having set the timetable until 5 p.m. Lu Baobao had intended to slip away after 5.30 p.m. with Jiang Se. However, if she was forced to stay back, she would surely not make it to the Imperial Capital Film Academy that day.

When she thought about this, Lu Baobao appeared glum. She glanced at Jiang Se but dared not say anything before Teacher Lin.

Now that Teacher Lin had released all her steam, she began commenting on the trial examination results, "This time, some of you didn't do well while some of you exceeded expectations."

As she said this, Teacher Lin's gaze seemed to sweep past Jiang Se.

"Especially Jiang Se. Her language and mathematics have improved greatly compared to before. She's even more outstanding in English this time. It's clear that she's made the effort."

The original Jiang Se's results were rather poor, especially since her heart had not been in the right place for studies. When she was reborn, the current Jiang Se did not dare perform too well after finding out about the original Jiang Se's character.

Even so, Teacher Lin was already showering her with praises. Even her expression, which had turned sour because of Lu Baobao, softened considerably.

If Lu Baobao was detained, she naturally would not be able to go out of the school at night. When Jiang Se left at night, Lu Baobao was teary-eyed. She clearly wanted to go with her but did not dare.

"I'll go have a look and familiarize myself with the journey. Even if Ma Jingjing says that this was on the news, it's not certain that the tryouts will take place today."

Jiang Se tried to comfort her, "There are four days to the National College Entrance Examination. You'd better focus on that for now."

She was different from Lu Baobao. When she sat for the National College Entrance Examination the last time, she managed to get into the best university in the imperial capital with her outstanding results.

Even though it had been some years ago, after having gone through the mock exam, she knew what she could expect from the actual examination this time. She did not have a problem with the three main subjects and had always planned her actions. Two weeks ago, she had already highlighted the important points for history, geography, and the other subjects.

Even if she could not perform as well as when she had been Feng Nan, she was confident that she could still manage to earn a spot in the best university without much difficulty.

Therefore, her worries were not her results but the tuition fees.

The best university would offer certain financial assistance to students with outstanding achievements, but her time as Jiang Se was too short. Despite her current performance, the chances of her getting the aid were too slim, so she would have to work hard about it herself.

Jiang Se had heard about the Imperial Capital Film Academy before.

Every year, hordes of handsome boys and beautiful girls would be enrolled here. Many childhood stars were already famous during their youth here.

There was a rule in the academy. The first-years were not allowed to be involved in any films, whereas the third-years were, hence the academy was not in short supply of stars.

When it was enrollment season, reporters would swarm to the academy. At that time, almost every news outlet would be reporting the situation at the Imperial Capital Film Academy. If one was lucky, they would even be caught on camera and be featured on the news.

Many students went in and out of the school. Compared to high school, things were much more relaxed here.


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