Huayu: Serious director, who's eavesdropping on your thoughts?

Chapter 1: Beijing Film Academy 2002

The first snow of the year has not yet arrived.

September, Yanjing (Beijing).

The late summer heat lingered, refusing to leave, and there wasn't even a breath of wind.

Beijing Film Academy, in the large lecture hall.

More than three hundred people were crammed together, with five large ceiling fans humming overhead.

Today is the first day of school for new students.

Zhao Huaiyuan sat in the last row, twirling a ballpoint pen in his hand, his expression strange.

"Damn...that's amazing..."

In fact.

He has been in this world for three days.

I reluctantly accepted the fact that I, a nearly starving assistant director in 2026, had suddenly become a freshman in the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy in 02!

"02..."

Zhao Huaiyuan was somewhat moved.

This is the best time.

It was hailed as the eve of a blockbuster era for Chinese cinema.

Just three months ago, the country implemented reforms to the cinema chain system, and private capital is pouring in.

Zhang Yimou, along with Tony Leung and Zhang Manyu, were busy making a big splash in Hengdian, while Feng Xiaogang had just finished filming "Big Shot's Funeral," and director Jiang Wen... well, let's not talk about that.

As for the 85-generation actresses who will one day stir up a storm across the vast land and gain countless fans, at this moment they are just a group of young girls in camouflage uniforms who have just finished military training.

Of course, this is also the worst of times.

Because he only had three hundred yuan in his pocket.

"Thump, thump".

On the podium, a professor wearing an old man's shirt and with a stubble tapped the microphone.

Tian Zhuangzhuang is a graduate advisor and head of the directing department.

As an outlier among the fifth generation of directors, his ten-year ban on making films has just ended.

He will be teaching the new students today.

"For this first lesson, we won't use the book."

Tian Zhuangzhuang's gaze swept across the audience like a loving father's, and he smiled gently:

"Most of you kids will be making a living in the film industry in the future."

Whether you're a director, an actor, or a scriptwriter, I just want to ask everyone: do you even know how to watch a movie?

These words were spoken.

The entire audience erupted in uproar, causing a commotion.

See a movie?

Isn't it enough to just have eyes?

at this time.

Professor Tian had already pressed the switch on the projector.

A black and white video began playing on the white screen.

Hitchcock's "Psycho".

This is a famous scene in film history—the bathroom murder case.

on the screen.

Steam filled the air as the protagonist, Janet Leigh, was taking a shower when suddenly a dark figure appeared from behind the shower curtain, and a sharp blade swung down.

Even though most of the hundreds of students already knew the plot, they couldn't help but hold their breath and watch intently.

Some of the more timid girls had already covered their eyes.

One minute later, the image froze on the deceased's dilated pupils, and the lights came on.

Professor Tian scanned the room: "Who can tell me why this scene is a classic?"

Several active boys in the front row immediately raised their hands.

In the first row, a bespectacled literature major answered first.

"Professor Tian, I think it's thanks to the editing. The book says that this scene used a very fast editing technique, cutting 78 times in 45 seconds. This fragmented visual impact created an extreme sense of oppression."

After saying that, he was a little smug. What does it mean to be a top student? This is what it means to be a professional!

A handsome young man next to her, who bore a striking resemblance to Zhu Yawen, scratched his head and chimed in:

"I think it's the background music; the sound is a bit creepy, it gave me goosebumps."

"Is it light and shadow?" someone else asked.

Professor Tian remained expressionless, neither nodding nor shaking his head, only a hint of disappointment flashing in his eyes.

They were all test points that required rote memorization, lacking any of the unique flair that young people should possess.

"Has anyone else answered?"

An awkward silence fell over the classroom.

"It is strong and resolute."

A calm voice suddenly came from the last row.

The whole class turned around at once, eager to see which genius had uttered such outrageous words.

Some of the girls blushed with embarrassment.

Zhao Huaiyuan slowly stood up, ignoring the strange looks around him.

"Student, watch your words!" Professor Tian frowned, but his eyes clearly showed interest.

"I mean, in this clip, Hitchcock delivers a powerful audiovisual performance to the audience," Zhao Huaiyuan said calmly.

A murmur immediately broke out among the people around them.

"Trying to attract attention?"

"Looking for attention?"

This was the reaction of most people present.

After all, normal people shouldn't talk such nonsense.

Ignoring the whispers around him, Zhao Huaiyuan left his seat and walked down the steps.

He walked up to the literature major and stopped.

"Hey kid, you just said you got 78 cuts, so let me ask you, why is your head so pointy...?"

Oops, I made a mistake, let's start over.

"Then let me ask you, in these 78 shots, did you see even once, a scene of a knife tip piercing the skin and blood spurting out?"

The boy was stunned. "I don't know. That's what the book says."

Actually, he hadn't been paying much attention to the video; he was just staring at the pretty female classmate next to him.

When someone asks a question, he's used to raising his hand to answer by reciting from memory; it's become muscle memory for him.

"I think so," he said hesitantly, sounding somewhat uncertain.

No, you didn't.

Zhao Huaiyuan held up a finger and gently waved it in front of him.

"Visual deception."

The entire room erupted in uproar; everyone had just witnessed an extremely brutal scene of murder in the bathroom.

Zhao Huaiyuan walked up to the podium, nodded to Professor Tian, picked up a piece of chalk, drew a large circle on the blackboard, and then dotted an eye in it.

Professor Tian did not stop him, but stood aside with great interest, wanting to see what he was going to do.

"That's Hitchcock's brilliance, and also his insidious nature."

Zhao Huaiyuan turned around and looked at the hundreds of students below the stage.

"The director only shot three main shots during the entire murder case."

The imagery of a knife swing, a woman screaming, and a blood-soaked bathtub doesn't directly depict the act of killing.

"But why would the audience assume that a killing is already complete? Where was the killing carried out?"

In the audience, a boy in a plaid shirt muttered under his breath, "Just trying to be mysterious. It'll be in the movie, where else could it be? Pshaw."

Several female classmates around him rolled their eyes and quietly moved further away.

Stay away from this idiot.

Lower-class man!

Those who can get into the Beijing Film Academy, if not exceptional individuals, at the very least cannot be this kind of person.

Although they didn't quite understand what the person on stage was saying, they vaguely sensed something in their hearts.

"murder!"

"It's all done in your heads; it's never actually shown in the film."

"Hitchcock forcibly invaded your imagination, forcing your brains to automatically conjure up the image of a knife piercing the body."

For humans, the fear imagined, the unknown, far surpasses any directly presented ketchup.

"That's why I say it's a tough fight; it forces the audience's brains, making them accomplices to the murderer, and helping them commit a murder together."

The classroom was completely silent.

A few seconds later, Professor Tian suddenly smiled, his usually stern face relaxing.

"Clap clap clap!"

He led the applause.

"Wonderful!"

"An extension of the Kuleshov effect? Good. What's your name?"

"Directing Department, Zhao Huaiyuan."

"Okay, Zhao Huaiyuan, I'll remember you. Go back to your seat."

Amidst a chorus of admiration, astonishment, and a mix of complex emotions, Zhao Huaiyuan stepped down from the podium.

Small matter...stay calm.

As he passed the middle rows, he suddenly slowed down.

Among the rows of beautiful performing arts students vying for attention, there was one girl who stood out from the crowd.

She sat in the very corner.

Wearing military training camouflage uniform, with snow-white skin and clear eyes that revealed a naive innocence, she...

She was completely different from the women around her who practically wore their desire to become famous on their sleeves.

This is Liu Yifei.

Her face still had that obvious baby fat, chubby and plump, making people want to pinch it.

She doesn't yet have the aloofness she had later acquired under the halo of the "Fairy Sister" image.

Liu Yifei was looking at Zhao Huaiyuan with a curious gaze.

The two looked at each other.

Liu Yifei quickly looked away and lowered his head.

Zhao Huaiyuan smiled slightly. At this time, Tianxian should have just returned from the United States.

If I remember correctly, the production team of "The Story of a Noble Family" had already started filming back in June.

She probably took leave to come back.

A thought crossed my mind.

next second.

[Target: Liu Yifei]

[Current Favorability: 33 (Stranger, Passerby)]

[Review: You caught my eye, I'm a bit curious, I think you're kind of handsome and I'm impressed but don't quite understand why]

[Inner monologue: ? (Unlocked at 60 affection points)]

"Only 33 points...?"

Zhao Huaiyuan thought to himself.

That makes sense. Reality isn't a novel; there's no such thing as a tiger suddenly exuding an aura of dominance and beautiful women blindly throwing themselves at him.

His remarks were brilliant, but that was all that made him seem impressive.

Zhao Huaiyuan withdrew his gaze, ignoring it, and went straight back to his seat.

"Dude, you're awesome!"

A boy in the front row turned around and gave Zhao Huaiyuan a thumbs up.

"Luck, luck," Zhao Huaiyuan said with a smile, offering a perfunctory reply.

Before the boy could even turn around...

Another wave of perfume wafted over.

"Hello, Zhao Huaiyuan, it's a pleasure to meet you. You were absolutely amazing just now!"

A girl with her hair in a bun leaned out from the side, blinking her big eyes with an expression of admiration.

"Professor Tian was really impressed by you just now. How did you come up with that idea? Could you teach me more in the future?"

The girl was charming and cute, with a sweet and soothing voice, completely like a devoted fangirl.

This attracted the attention of some boys around Zhao Huaiyuan, who immediately looked at him with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

This guy.

Not only did he make an appearance in front of all the new students, but now he has beautiful young female admirers rushing to him, directly winning the right to spring in the next few years. He is really quite lucky!

Zhao Huaiyuan glanced at it.

[Low Score Red Alert]

[Target: Jiang Yan]

Current favorability rating: 8 (Hate, loathing)

[Comment: I think you're pretentious, a show-off, an obvious attempt to curry favor with the teacher]

[Inner thoughts: ?]

Zhao Huaiyuan smiled.

He stretched casually and quickly glanced around.

He noticed that several girls who had just been clapping enthusiastically and giving him friendly smiles now all had similar red warning signs above their heads.

Despite her radiant smile, her likeability rating was ridiculously low.

Human nature is complex.

Zhao Huaiyuan felt a surge of emotions.

In a place like the Beijing Film Academy, where fame and fortune are fiercely competitive, standing out means showing off, grabbing the professors' attention, and becoming a potential competitor.

If it weren't for Zhao Huaiyuan in his current state, any other hot-blooded young man would probably have been fooled by Jiang Yan's innocent and harmless appearance.

There are so many people like that. He couldn't help but think of another old friend, and his eyes gradually turned cold.

last life.

At twenty-seven, despite his exceptional talent and prestigious background at the Beijing Film Academy, his reserved personality and poor communication skills, coupled with his limited family connections, meant that even after many years of graduation, he remained a struggling assistant director on set in Hengdian World Studios.

At that time, she was just an extra squatting by the roadside eating a boxed lunch, without a single line.

It could be lust at first sight, or it could be love at first sight.

There seemed to be a purity in her eyes that he had never seen before, and he went mad.

He used his limited authority to arrange extras and special guests to force her into becoming a minor supporting actress who could get screen time.

But what truly led him to his doom was a script.

He painstakingly crafted a truly stunning script, not just a story, but also a storyboard.

His plan was to first take the script to attract investment, then direct it himself and cast her as the female lead.

He found the investors, but they only said one sentence:

"The script is good, but you're the one who gets to film it? Who do you think you are? You're just an assistant director, how are you supposed to control a budget of tens of millions? Who's going to compensate if it loses money?"

The other party offered two conditions: either buy out the script for tens of thousands of dollars, or find a famous director to film it.

There is no solution.

If he sells the script, he will lose his say, and his unknown girlfriend will never be able to play the lead role in a big director's film, since they all bring their own crew.

After much deliberation, Zhao Huaiyuan made the craziest and most foolish decision.

He handed the script over to her entirely, instructing her to impersonate a brilliant and beautiful screenwriter and use the script as leverage to knock on the doors of those nouveau riche investors.

In this industry, a down-on-his-luck assistant director with a good script isn't very attractive, but a pure and beautiful woman with a genius screenwriter is definitely a potential gem.

He would do anything to make her famous.

"Huaiyuan, you're so kind. As long as the investors approve of me and let me play the lead role, plus your script, I'm sure I'll become famous. Don't worry, once I'm famous first, I'll help you become famous too. From now on, you can direct all my films, so you can direct to your heart's content!"

The movie was a hit.

She became an overnight sensation!

She rose to fame as a talented screenwriter and lead actress, and also gained the appreciation of several bigwigs in Beijing's entertainment circle.

Then came a lawyer's letter and an industry-wide ban.

She colluded with investors to smear him with accusations of plagiarism, harassment on set, unspoken rules, and extortion, completely ruining his reputation in the industry.

Of course, there are some people around him who believe in him, but they are insignificant and their voices carry little weight. Faced with the opponent's powerful financial PR and endless online army, they can't make a ripple at all.

She became incredibly famous, and her popularity only continued to soar. Even in 2026, her face will be visible on the largest LED screen in any first- or second-tier city.

She is already one of the most popular actresses in all of China, and even in all of Asia.

...

"Handsome guy? Handsome guy? Why are you spacing out? Why aren't you saying anything?" Jiang Yan called out in confusion when she saw him lost in thought.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something happy." Zhao Huaiyuan snapped out of his reverie, turned around, grinned at her, revealing a set of bright white teeth.

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Huaiyuan chuckled, then waved his hand, too lazy to bother with him anymore.

Jiang Yan was stunned.

I greeted you warmly, and what do you mean by this? Putting on airs? Well, how dare you treat me like this? Just you wait!

A hint of annoyance flashed in her eyes, but her smile remained unchanged: "Well... alright then, I won't bother you anymore, you great talent, hehe."

The instant he turned around.

The smile on her face vanished abruptly.

At the same time, Zhao Huaiyuan saw her favorability rating jump slightly.

[Favorability 8→3]

Zhao Huaiyuan remained completely unmoved, even wanting to laugh a little. He didn't care about this kind of person.

"Simps deserve to die a horrible death!"

He rested one hand on his head, tapped his fingers lightly on the table, shook off distracting thoughts, and began to review the situation.

I have to admit that what I did on stage just now was a bit pretentious, and extremely brainless.

But no way.

He has to show his face; he has to fight for it!

Zhao Huaiyuan now has a clear plan for the future.

As for Liu Yifei…