The students here all had dreams of making it into the entertainment industry and becoming stars. Needless to say, there were many handsome and beautiful people. Jiang Se stood there for a moment before adjusting her backpack straps and walking into the academy.
She did not hurry about to ask if the "Pretense to Reality" crew was here to do their casting call in the film academy. Instead, she walked around the campus to familiarize herself with the surroundings.
After finding out about the rough locations of the various faculties, she felt slightly tired. From the corner of her eye, she saw a marble fountain nearby.
The fountain was beautifully crafted. Jiang Se walked up to it, removed her backpack, and sat at the edge. Then, she took out a bottle of mineral water that she had bought and drank it.
The fountain behind her was spouting water into the air and a few drops of water occasionally splashed on her face. It provided her with some cool relief on this hot night.
While she took a paper towel and wiped the sweat from her forehead, she caught a fragrant scent in the air. Someone had sat beside her. Soon after that, she felt something sting her nose.
She turned to look. A girl in a short red dress sat a meter away from her. Her long, fair legs were especially eye-catching in contrast to her red dress.
With an open bottle of nail polish beside her, the girl had her legs crossed. She was painting her toenails.
"Oh, is the smell bothering you?"
Jiang Se's gaze seemed to have caught the girl's attention. After she finished painting her big toe, she looked up and revealed her delicately made-up face which had been half-covered by her wavy auburn hair moments ago.
Her eyebrows were raised, but she did not stop painting her toenails.
Jiang Se looked at her for a long while. The girl snorted before reinserting the brush into the bottle to get some fresh nail polish and was about to paint her other toe when Jiang Se spoke, "I can see your black undergarments."
As the girl's hand jolted, the red nail polish splattered onto her toes. She hastily returned the brush into the bottle and retrieved some tissue paper from her bag.
Jiang Se took two pieces of her own tissue paper and extended them toward her. The girl hastily took them and started wiping off the nail polish without thanking her.
"We're both girls. It's nothing."
The girl finished cleaning her toes, but she did not close her legs. Instead, she leaned forward, causing her already-short dress to slide further upward. She teased Jiang Se, "Would you like to have another look?"
"No, thanks. I don't swing that way."
Jiang Se stuffed her pack of tissues back into her backpack, clearly unfazed by the teasing.
Her reaction made the girl burst out in laughter. She then screwed the cap for the nail polish on and inched closer to Jiang Se.
"Hey, which faculty are you from?" When the girl asked her question, she reached up and tucked her long hair behind her right ear. "You're from the Performing Arts Faculty, aren't you? You're pretty. In fact, you look much prettier than that Liu Yuchun who just joined the department this year."
That name rang a bell in Jiang Se's mind.
"I heard that there's a casting call here, so I came to have a look."
The girl's hand paused halfway through her own hair. Shortly after that, she said with a smile, "As expected of the powerful media. Everybody knows about it now that it's on the news."
She inched closer, her heavy perfume assaulting Jiang Se's nostrils.
"But I'm afraid that you've come all the way for nothing," she sneered, "You're talking about Gu Jiaer's 'Pretense to Reality', aren't you?"
Jiang Se nodded.
"The academy has a partnership with the crew. There won't be an opportunity for you to land an important role. The teachers are the ones who will be suggesting names for the tryouts." As she ran her fingers through her hair again, she turned and wanted to lean on Jiang Se.
"Do you have a backer? Do you have a sugar daddy? Do you have money?"
Every time she asked a question, Jiang Se would shake her head. In the end, the girl rolled her eyes.
"Yet, you want to make it into the entertainment industry? You must be out of your mind from all the dreaming about becoming a star!"
The girl's body was soft and well-rounded with the peaks on her chest towering over the rest of her body. Jiang Se seemed young and inexperienced in comparison.
Although the girl seemed to be a born socializer, Jiang Se was not used to being this close to other people, so she gently pushed the girl so that she was sitting upright and moved further away from her.
"I just want to be an extra."
Unlike the original Jiang Se, she had no ambitions of making it big in the entertainment industry.
Feng Zhongliang's disregard for actors had influenced her somewhat. At the moment, she merely wanted to land a role to cope with her current predicament.
If this was her life from now on, she would have to be more responsible about it, at the very least.
"An extra?"
When Jiang Se pushed her away the first time, the girl had stubbornly leaned back onto Jiang Se, not wanting to be pushed away.
However, when Jiang Se expressed her interest to be an extra, she was stunned and straightened up on her own. "Did you come all the way just to be an extra?"
She gave Jiang Se an appraising look, seeming puzzled. "Are you out of your mind? Do you know how much extras get paid daily and how much you can get by being a supporting actor with lines?"
Jiang Se shouldered her backpack and stood up. She had walked around the academy today and familiarized herself with the locations of the different faculties. She also noticed that there were no signs of enhanced security which would have accompanied the presence of the production team.
The Imperial Capital Film Academy had an open-door concept, so it was easy to go in and out of the campus.
If the production team was here, the reporters would have used everything in their arsenals to slip in and keep an eye out.
She felt that she had made this trip for nothing. This girl's words merely confirmed her guesses.
Since she gained nothing and had her revision waiting for her at night, she decided to head back.
The girl was holding the tissue with which she had wiped the spilled nail polish off her toes. She looked at Jiang Se and frowned.
"Do you have…"
She seemed to want to say something but appeared gloomy in the end. She ran her fingers through her auburn curls as she thought about something and lowered her hand.
"Forget it. There are no auditions on campus. The teachers will recommend students and direct them to the casting call location." She licked her lips and reached for her satchel to take out a small mirror. "I heard that it'll be on the 12th of June on level 13 of the Yijing Building in the outer circle of the imperial capital. You can go and try your luck then."
The girl looked at her own reflection in the mirror. Then, she took out her lipstick and patched her makeup. "But I'll have to warn you that the roles of the lead and important supporting characters have already been determined. Even if you make it, you'll only be an extra, at best."
Jiang Se committed the address she said to memory and thanked her.
"There's no need to thank me. I just don't like owing other people favors." She waved the tissues in her hand and did not continue chatting with Jiang Se after that. She lowered her head, unscrewed the nail polish bottle, and began painting her nails again.
Jiang Se reminded her again before she left, "You're exposing yourself again."
The girl kept a straight face and ignored her. When Jiang Se was some distance away, she closed her legs and could not help but laugh.
When Jiang Se returned to the school, Lu Baobao was still copying the English words.
Upon seeing Jiang Se, she flung her arms with a forlorn expression on her face as she asked nervously, "Sese, have you been to the film academy? Did you see Xu Xiaoying? Did you see Zhou Jingxuan?"
Lu Baobao mentioned a few names in rapid succession. Jiang Se did not even have the time to eat while commuting to the academy and back. When Lu Baobao grabbed her hand and swung it, she felt slightly dizzy.
"No."
She looked at the open English textbook before Lu Baobao. "Aren't you done yet?"
"I've copied them a few times already. Teacher Lin is doing this on purpose." Lu Baobao tossed her pen away in irritation and held onto Jiang Se's hand with both of hers. "She said that I'm not using my brain while writing from memory."
She had been left alone to copy the English vocabulary in the classroom. Her mind had traveled elsewhere long ago, so she naturally could not continue.
Despite having copied them for half a day, she did not remember even a single one, thus she made several mistakes during the dictation test.
Teacher Lin was furious at this. She would only allow her to leave when she passed the dictation test.
"Tell me about the film academy," she inquired about the trip that she did not make with Jiang Se, seeming as if she was wronged. "I wanted to go as well."
"I didn't see any stars. I just when there and looked around. I don't think it's possible for me to casually bump into celebrities on campus."
The National College Entrance Examination was just around the corner, yet this young girl was still thinking about meeting celebrities. Jiang Se thought about it and decided to not tell Lu Baobao about the casting call in the Yijing Building at the outer circle of the imperial capital on the 12th in case she would be distracted from the looming exams.
She decided to tell her about it after the exams and go with her.
She gave her no hints about this and ended her chat with Lu Baobao. Then, she took out her books and started revising.
Because she could not switch on the lights as she liked back at home, she could only make full use of the night revision times at school to cram the contents of the books into her head. Beside her, Lu Baobao was still trying to find out about the film academy. However, she noticed Jiang Se memorizing the books in silence. After pestering her for some time to no avail, she felt bored and turned to annoy someone else.
When it was time for the National College Entrance Examination, Jiang Se was well prepared. After the final paper on the morning of the ninth, many of the students lingered outside and were reluctant to part.
Jiang Se packed her things and went out, but someone poked her back with a pen.
She turned to look and saw a boy blush under her gaze. There was a hopeful look in his eyes as if he wanted to get a response. He stammered, "H-hi, do you remember what your answer was for the question 5(c)?"
After the exams, many of the students compared their answers the moment they got out. When he asked this, some other students moved closer as well.
"I don't remember," Jiang Se rejected them directly.
As she shook her head, the boy behind her turned a bright shade of red. He merely looked on as she walked down the stairs, not daring to give chase.
When she returned home, Zhou Hui was still clearing the table. She did not ask how Jiang Se did in her exams. Instead, she demanded, "When will you get your graduation certificate?"
After she asked her question, she added an explanation, "It'll be easier for you to land a job if you have a high school certificate. I heard from your Uncle Du that even factory salespeople need to have high school certificates now…"
Jiang Se paused halfway through her drink. When she saw that Zhou Hui wanted to continue, she made a gesture to stop her. "I told you that I don't want to give up on my studies to find work in the factory."
Zhou Hui paused halfway while she was wiping the table. There was an accusing look in her eyes. "Your results are bad. You'll only be wasting your time in college. Moreover…"
"I have some confidence in my results this time. As for the tuition fees, I'll find something to do during the summer holidays. I'll think of a way to earn money. You and Uncle Du won't have to bear the cost."
Zhou Hui clearly did not believe her. However, it was difficult to put a rein on her daughter once she was grown up.
After her second marriage, the centers of her life were her new family and children. She could barely help neglecting her eldest daughter. She wanted to give her a lesson now, but she realized that when she met Jiang Se's eyes, she could not say a word.
When she mentioned this to Du Changqun that night, he merely said coldly, "If she has the ability to earn her tuition fees, then let her study all she wants. In any case, I won't spend even a single penny on her."
He did not speak softly, so Jiang Se could hear the entirety of his statement clearly from the lower compartment.
"I found a sales job in the factory for her, but she doesn't appreciate it. I've done my part. Since she's graduated from high school, she'll have to pay if she wants to continue living under this roof…"
The remainder of his words were drowned out by thumping footsteps. Zhou Hui blindly agreed to him, "I'll talk to her tomorrow."
The couple spoke no more. Jiang Se heaved a long sigh.
Fortunately, Du Changqun did not insist on forbidding her from furthering her studies. However, his words were filled with disdain and he was very upset with her.
She had to earn some money as quickly as possible. It would be best if she could live independently.
The girl she had met in the Imperial Capital Film Academy the other day had said that the "Pretense to Reality" crew would be holding an audition for the cast on the 12th, so Jiang Se went to Lu Baobao's house the next morning.
When she reached the Lu residence, she found that Lu Baobao had been grounded.
Lu Baobao looked sullen at the door, dressed in her pink pajamas and she had not even bothered to tidy her hair. When she saw Jiang Se, she pouted and pointed into the house.
"I'm dead!" The first sentence she uttered when she saw Jiang Se was a sort of wail.
"My dad told me to repeat Grade 12 for doing badly in my National College Entrance Examination." Tears were welling up in her eyes while she looked sickly and her usual smile was nowhere to be seen. "I've compared answers with the others after the exams and I got most of them wrong."
A few days before the exams, she had still been busy paying attention to the celebrities. Naturally, her results were not too satisfactory.
Her parents were eyeing her like hungry tigers glaring at their prey. They asked, "Who's there at the door?"
"My classmate," she turned and answered. She turned back to Jiang Se and admitted sadly, "My parents forbid me from going out with you. They're still nagging me about returning late from Shen Villa the last time."
In Lu Baobao's parent's eyes, the beautiful Jiang Se was like the devil who had taught their daughter to become wild, thus they did not like her. Jiang Se had been standing at the door for a long time now, yet they did not invite her in.
Lu Baobao turned and swept her gaze across the inside of her house before asking Jiang Se, "By the way, what brings you here?"
Jiang Se could see that she was flustered as she replied, "When I went to the film academy the other day, I met one of the students there and learned about the audition for the 'Pretense to Reality' cast.
When Lu Baobao heard this, her eyes brightened first. Shortly after that, she stomped her feet and asked, "For real?"
Jiang Se nodded. "She said that there's an audition tomorrow in the outer circle of the imperial capital on level 13 of the Yijing Building."
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
When Lu Baobao heard that it was the next day, she was so exasperated that she almost cried. "Tomorrow's impossible. My dad's forcing me to compare my answers with the other students. I won't be able to go anywhere tomorrow." When she finished, she grumbled again, "Now that you came here to meet me, my dad will raise his guard even higher and keep a closer eye on me. Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
She harped on, "If you'd told me this sooner, I might've been able to think of something."
"We were sitting for the National College Entrance Examination a few days ago. How was I supposed to tell you? Was I supposed to distract you?" Jiang Se frowned whilst Lu Baobao appeared to be at a loss for words.
"Anyway, I told you the time and address. If you have the time, just go. If you don't, forget it."
Lu Baobao mumbled, "How can I let this opportunity slip past me?"
Soon, Father Lu called her name from inside the house, and Jiang Se took a step back.
"Your father's calling you. I'll head back now."
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