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

The next day, the sun rises three poles.

Zhao Huaiyuan was abruptly awakened by the urge to urinate.

The moment I opened my eyes, my head felt like it had been hit on the head with a club, and I was completely dizzy.

Damn, I drank too much last night.

Yesterday, to celebrate the perfect conclusion of the film festival, Zhu Yawen, Cao Yu, and others insisted on dragging Zhao Huaiyuan along to celebrate.

The group didn't go to any fancy places; they just had barbecue at Jimen Bridge near the entrance of Beijing Film Academy.

Of course, this place is also known as the third canteen of Beijing Film Academy.

It has a strong local flavor; countless future movie stars have eaten skewers and boasted in this restaurant back in the day.

Besides Cao Yu, Zhu Yawen, and Zhu Yawen's girlfriend, Wang Luodan also unexpectedly showed up.

She's just shameless; she insisted on coming because she heard there was a celebration banquet.

At the dinner table, Wang Luodan's face turned red from drinking, and she started shouting:

"Director Zhao, I'm so sorry! I spent eleven bills to support you, boohoo! Now everyone knows about it. So, do you think you have to treat us tonight? No way, you have to pay! I'm going to eat my 1,100 yuan back!"

Zhao Huaiyuan was also in a good mood, having reaped a rich harvest this time. He waved his hand generously:

"No problem, you absolutely must!"

"You said it! Pinky promise!" Wang Luodan was overjoyed.

The group ate and drank heartily at the barbecue stall, piling up beer bottles high. Although Wang Luodan was just a girl, she could drink as much as two people, and soon she had Zhu Yawen and Cao Yu drunk.

After finishing their first round of drinks, the group felt unsatisfied and headed to the nearby Melody KTV.

The scene was... simply incredible.

But Zhao Huaiyuan embarrassed himself, almost ruining the image he had built up over this period of time.

The rendition of "Farewell My Concubine" was a wailing, off-key... no, not a single word was in tune.

He had been partying all night and couldn't even remember how he got back to his dorm.

All I remember is that Yao Chen came by halfway through.

It seems like the other party carried him and Cao Yu back?

call!

He suddenly remembered the clumsy Captain Ma, a strong man!

..

Zhao Huaiyuan sat up from the shop, and after a moment of stunned silence, he came to his senses.

The dormitory was quiet.

At this time normally, my roommate Zhou Chuan would already be yelling and shouting about rushing to the cafeteria to grab food.

But today...

Zhou Chuan was sitting at the table reading a book, but it was unclear what had triggered him.

I heard a noise.

Zhou Chuan turned around, his face beaming with a smile, tinged with a hint of ingratiation:

"You're awake? There's soy milk and fried dough sticks on the table. I just brought them for you, they're still warm. I didn't dare wake you because you were sleeping so soundly."

Zhao Huaiyuan was taken aback for a moment, then rolled out of bed: "Thanks, Brother Zhou, why are you being so polite? It's kind of creepy."

"That won't do."

Zhou Chuan scratched his head and handed over a cup of hot water.

"Now that you're famous, all of us freshmen in the directing department will probably be counting on your name. Um... Huaiyuan, for the sake of our roommate, if you ever make a feature film and the crew needs an assistant director or script supervisor, you'd better think of your brother."

Although it was a joke, there was an inexplicable sense of estrangement and distance in the tone.

Zhao Huaiyuan was somewhat moved.

Runtu and the master?

He didn't want to be a master, and he certainly wouldn't mistake his former acquaintance for Runtu. He only knew one principle.

When you haven't succeeded, you're surrounded by thorns; when you succeed, you're surrounded by smiling faces.

..

After washing up, Zhao Huaiyuan went out.

He has to go to the finance office in the administration building to collect his bonus.

This is a good thing.

If trophies are all just empty titles, then this is the only real value!

In late autumn, the campus was covered with ginkgo leaves, a beautiful golden carpet.

With nothing to do.

Zhao Huaiyuan, feeling playful, activated his mind-reading ability.

moment.

In his field of vision, data frames floated above the heads of each passing girl.

He remembered that in his previous life, when he was unknown, these arrogant girls wouldn't even glance at him, let alone show him any affection.

But now...

A girl with long, straight black hair walked towards them, carrying several books. When she saw Zhao Huaiyuan's blank stare, she blushed.

[Target: Li Mei]

Current favorability rating: 63

[Thoughts: ...So handsome...This is...the director...If only I could have him...]

Go forward again.

A girl dressed in a cute outfit was playfully fighting with her best friend. When she saw Zhao Huaiyuan, she immediately stopped what she was doing, put on a ladylike demeanor, and even flipped her hair.

[Target: Chen Lu]

Current favorability rating: 61

[Inner thoughts: ...A trainer...wants to act...but I don't know if it's possible...]

"Xiao Zhao, heading out?" The dormitory supervisor greeted Zhao Huaiyuan as she passed by, her face kind and amiable.

[Target: Wang Cuilan]

Current favorability rating: 66

[Thoughts: ...Handsome young man...so promising...If he were a few years younger...he would be...]

Zhao Huaiyuan fled in disarray!

In short, he scanned the girls as he went, and all of them had a positive impression of him of over 60.

Zhao Huaiyuan severed the mind-reading ability and smiled.

really.

When you are outstanding, you may be envied by others. He recalled the scene in the first class for freshmen, where all the lines were red.

When you are so outstanding that others cannot catch up, all that remains is goodwill.

..

We arrived at the finance office.

The procedures went very smoothly.

"The ISFVF Gold Award is worth 8,000, other awards combined are worth 2,000, and the school's special talent award is worth 5,000."

The finance teacher opened a drawer, counted out a stack of brand-new hundred-yuan bills, and handed them to him.

"It's 15,000 in total, let's count it in person."

"Thank you, teacher." Zhao Huaiyuan accepted the money, thanked him politely, and then left.

He found a quiet spot, sat down on a bench, and began to review the events.

This is a good habit he developed after his rebirth.

The sage also said, "Examine yourself three times a day."

When he first arrived, he was penniless, with only 300 yuan for living expenses.

Later, the ticket was sold to Wang Luodan, and she made 1000 yuan.

Including the 5000 yuan bonus from the scalper, plus the 15000 yuan bonus I received today.

Total: 21300 yuan.

On the expenditure side:

I gave my sister 5000 yuan a couple of days ago. Last night I treated her to dinner and karaoke, which cost 1200 yuan. My food and drink expenses during this period totaled 1100 yuan.

"There are 14000 yuan left."

This amount of money was indeed a huge sum for a student in 2002, but it would be difficult to live a carefree life in Yanjing. Even though he could use his precognitive advantage from his rebirth, he couldn't do anything significant.

Buy a house?

Don't be ridiculous. Although housing prices in Yanjing haven't skyrocketed yet, they're still around 4,000 to 5,000 yuan per square meter near the Third Ring Road.

This 14,000 yuan wasn't even enough for a down payment on a toilet, and these days loan procedures were very complicated, not to mention the campus loans that later plagued universities across the country.

Buying stocks?

The domestic A-shares market is currently in a bear market. There are a few speculative stocks that haven't reached their breakout period yet. If you get in, you'll just be a sucker.

As for US stocks.

Net worth is indeed dirt cheap now, and buying it would bring huge returns. But it's 2002 now, there's no Tufu Niu Niu, and no convenient cross-border transfers. Buying US stocks in China is a bit of a hurdle, and the little money he has isn't even enough to cover the transaction fees.

Food coupons? Never mind, those who know, know…

"Looks like it's not the right time to snowball yet. Oh well, I'll go buy a phone and a computer first."

During this time, he also experienced what it means to be out of touch without a mobile phone, which is really inconvenient.

Having made up his mind, Zhao Huaiyuan left the school gate, hailed a car, and headed straight for Zhongguancun.

..

Zhongguancun Hailong Electronics City.

In 2002, this was the largest electronic slaughterhouse in all of China. If you didn't know anything about it and didn't have an experienced person to guide you, you were guaranteed to be slaughtered until you were left with nothing.

A shop with an IBM sign.

"Hey buddy, wanna look at some notebooks?" The shop owner came over, his enthusiasm almost excessive.

That look in his eyes was like a big bad wolf seeing a little lamb!

"A college student, huh? Check out this T23, top-of-the-line. It can run CS and Red Alert without any lag. We're having a promotion right now, so I'm giving you a really good price: 18,000 RMB, how about that?"

Zhao Huaiyuan glanced at the prototype.

The IB ThinkPad T23 was indeed a legendary machine, but after looking at the configuration list, he laughed in exasperation.

This configuration is just a low-end version; the memory stick has obviously been downgraded, and there are scratches on the edges of the screen, so it looks like a refurbished product.

"Eighteen thousand?"

"Boss, is the laptop case made of gold, or are the memory sticks inside made of gold?"

The shop owner was taken aback. "Young man, how can you talk like that? This is a Thinkpad, a black one! A big brand! This brand is worth this price, and I'm already selling it for a low price."

Zhao Huaiyuan looked around and said, "Look at this place, where is there a new T23? I think these are all refurbished... oh no, refurbished goods. You think they're cheap, but I think they're expensive."

"Hey, are you here to cause trouble? Do you want to or not?" the shop owner said in an unfriendly tone.

"You're selling a Tualatin P3 processor as a P4? You're telling me it's top-of-the-line with only 128MB of RAM? And look at the hard drive's power-on time, it's been thousands of hours. If you can find me a brand new, unopened one, I'll pay right away."

The shop owner was taken aback.

Holy crap, I've met an expert.

You should have said so earlier. Isn't this just a waste of your feelings?

Why didn't you say so sooner?

"Alright, we've found someone who knows what they're doing. Let's skip the small talk. Give me a price, and we'll consider this a friendly gesture." The shopkeeper changed his tune and offered her a cigarette.

"A brand new T23, I want it in its original, unopened packaging. Upgrade the memory to 512MB. It'll cost 12,000. If it costs even a penny more, I'll turn left and find another shop."

"Well... alright, consider it our opening day."

Finally, Zhao Huaiyuan bought it for 12,000 yuan. After wandering around the city a couple more times, he bought a brand new Nokia 8250 for a little over 2,000 yuan at a counter. It was the classic blue-screen butterfly phone, and it felt really cool to hold in his hand.

With a Nokia phone on his belt and an IBM laptop in his hand, he would have been a true success story in 2002!

..

Go back to dorms.

Zhao Huaiyuan couldn't wait to open the computer, plug in the network cable, connect the modem, and the network connection was successful.

He opened the Tianxia Forum and entered his account and password.

ID: Big Blue Sky.