Entertainment Era: My Good Sister Is All Over the World

The full moon rose over her gable wall that night.

It fell back through her window again.

I lay down in the water that was placed on the table.

—Seamus Heaney, "Drinking Water," from the poetry collection *Fieldwork*, 1979

……

"snort!"

Feeling humiliated, Chen Kaige snorted coldly at Huang Wenbin and turned to leave.

"Hey, Kaige, where are you going?" Tian Erzhuang immediately shouted and followed.

Several other minor characters, who were still unnamed, followed behind the two.

In the end, all the students from the directing department followed Chen Kaige.

The main reason is that Chen Kaige's personal charm is indeed stronger than Huang Wenbin's, and he is also the son of a famous director, so he will have resources to utilize sooner or later.

Huang Wenbin has no real connections in Yanjing; he's just a screenwriter.

He's not even twenty years old yet, and he probably doesn't have much real power in the film crew. Only someone with a brain like a donkey would abandon Kai Ge and follow him.

Zhang Yimou hesitated for a moment, but he chose to stand on Huang Wenbin's side.

"You really can bring Yi Mou into the crew?" Zhang Lai's eyes widened, looking at Huang Wenbin with some skepticism. "That's a film by Director Chen, are you sure you can pull it off?"

Huang Wenbin said in a relaxed tone, "If you want to go, Brother Lai, that's fine too."

"Really? From now on, I'll call you brother!"

Zhang Lai stared at Huang Wenbin for a while, then suddenly cupped his hands in a very chivalrous manner: "You are my Brother Wen, Brother Wen, please take care of me."

"I can't accept that!" Huang Wenbin waved his hands repeatedly.

"We deserve it!" Zhang Lai said excitedly, "Being able to join Director Chen's film crew is a huge help to us. With this experience, we should be able to get assigned to a better place after graduation."

Zhang Yimou deeply agreed with this sentiment. They came from small towns and had studied photography. If they were assigned to remote areas, they would never be able to make it in their lives.

"We're all classmates, there's no need for this!" Huang Wenbin said earnestly. "After graduation, we'll all be working in this industry, so we'll definitely need to help each other and progress together."

"Brother Wen's words are quite something!" Zhang Lai blurted out, already used to calling him Brother Wen.

Zhang Yimou was ten years older than Huang Wenbin, so he certainly wouldn't be as shameless as Zhang Lai, but he still expressed his gratitude: "Ah Bin, thank you!"

"You're welcome." Huang Wenbin waved his hand. "There's an audition at 2:30 this afternoon in the main conference room of the Beijing Film Studio. Please arrive early."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely be there early!" Zhang Lai nodded with a smile.

After Huang Wenbin finished explaining things to them, he went back to his dormitory to retrieve some manuscripts he had copied down before, and then returned to the Beijing Film Studio.

……

Beijing Film Studio.

A tall, thin man in a white shirt with a short beard paced back and forth in front of the door.

His brows were furrowed, and his eyes kept glancing towards the Beijing Film Studio.

Each time I got close to the guard post, I would feel timid and back out.

This repeated offense had already alerted the guards, who were about to step forward and subdue the young man.

"Hey, what are you doing going back and forth like that?"

Just then, a chubby young man with glasses rode up to the man on a bicycle and shouted, "You're not a spy here to gather intelligence, are you?!"

The tall, thin man was startled and quickly shook his head and waved his hands: "No, no, how could I be a spy? I'm an actor from the Chengdu Railway Art Troupe."

"Chengdu?"

"Railway Cultural District Delegation?"

The chubby young man narrowed his small eyes slightly, a look of doubt on his face: "You? Are you kidding me? You look like a weasel, you're obviously a spy!"

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, many countries and regions sent agents and spies to their countries.

Last year, several spies and agents were arrested, among whom Li Hongshu and Tu Rixin were the most famous.

Both men had legendary experiences. The former was a Soviet spy who redeemed himself through meritorious service and survived under a different name. The latter was a Kuomintang agent who was arrested for espionage and ultimately sentenced to death.

The tall, thin young man quickly retorted, "How could that be? I'm quite handsome, and I have absolutely nothing to do with being a weasel-faced person."

"You say you're from the Chengdu Railway Art Troupe, so what are you doing in Yanjing?"

The young, overweight man's gaze remained scrutinizing. "He's still pacing back and forth outside the Beijing Film Studio, peeking inside!"

The tall, thin young man frowned slightly, looking aggrieved: "I was invited by the Beijing Film Studio to come here for an audition."

"You? Auditioning?" The chubby young man burst into laughter, waving his hand at the other man. "You're quite humorous. The Beijing Film Studio doesn't have enough actors, so they need to bring in people from Chengdu? And someone like you? Are you more handsome than Tang Guoqiang, or more famous than Zhang Lianwen?"

The tall, thin young man sensed the sarcasm in the words and became somewhat indignant: "I may not be as good as them, but I'm not entirely useless, otherwise the Beijing Film Studio wouldn't have sent me an audition invitation!"

"You really accepted the invitation?" The chubby young man sensed the sincerity in his voice. "Then let me see the letter of introduction."

The tall, thin young man immediately wilted and sighed, "I just arrived at the train station and my bag was stolen. My letter of introduction and several dozen yuan were all gone! That's why I've been pacing around outside, afraid to go in. I walked all the way from the train station, and I haven't eaten anything this morning or at noon."

"Your things were stolen? Then call the police!" The chubby young man was getting a little anxious now. Putting aside all his doubts, he became enthusiastic: "Why didn't you say you hadn't eaten? Come on, come on, I'll treat you to a bowl of noodles! We can talk about it after we've filled our stomachs."

"Thank you!" The tall, thin young man was a little embarrassed, but he was too hungry to eat anything. In fact, he hadn't eaten anything since boarding the train, as he didn't want to spend money and had only drunk water.

The chubby young man laughed it off, pulling the tall, thin young man to a noodle shop nearby: "Waiter, two bowls of five-ounce leek noodles, please."

After thinking for a moment, he instructed, "Add a poached egg to his bowl!"

"No, no, noodles are enough." The tall, thin young man quickly waved his hand to stop him.

"What are you saying!" The fat young man glared at him angrily. "Where is this place? The capital, the most virtuous city! How can we let good people go hungry! Besides, you were robbed, so it's only right."

The tall, thin young man could only force a smile, unsure of what to say.

"I don't know your name yet." The chubby young man pointed to himself with his plump finger. "My name is Wang Gang, an announcer at China National Radio. What's your name?"

The tall, thin young man replied, "My name is Zhang Guoli, I'm from Tianjin. I actually spent some time in Beijing when I was a child, and I was an actor in the Railway Art Troupe, as I just mentioned. I was invited to come to the Beijing Film Studio this time."

Wang Gang nodded as if suddenly realizing something: "Then I think I know why you were invited here."

"Why?" Zhang Guoli was still a little confused.

When he received the call from Beijing Film Studio, he thought they were joking.

After all, he had been staying in Chengdu and hadn't been back to Beijing much, so why did the Beijing Film Studio ask him to audition?

But no matter what, being able to return to Yanjing is a good thing, so he quickly packed his things and came over.

Who knew that my bag would be stolen as soon as I got off the train.

I was thinking of calling the police, but then I realized that if I did, it would take up most of the day, and my audition at the Beijing Film Studio might be canceled.

So he decided to come to the Beijing Film Studio first, but unfortunately, without a letter of introduction, the guards wouldn't let him in.

"Because I'm here to audition too," Wang Gang said with a smile, his hands clasped together on the table.

"Aren't you a broadcaster?" Now it was Zhang Guoli's turn to be surprised.

Wang Gang said with no small amount of pride, "Maybe the director thought I was as handsome and charming as Tang Guoqiang, so he asked me to audition."

"That director's taste is really terrible," Zhang Guoli couldn't help but mutter under his breath.

Wang Gang immediately became displeased, glaring at Zhang Guoli: "I treated you to noodles, couldn't you at least nod and agree with me for the sake of the noodles?"

"I am deeply grateful for your help. I will definitely repay you in the future!" Zhang Guoli shook his head firmly and said, "However, my conscience cannot be bought off with a bowl of noodles."

Wang Gang reminded him, "There are also fried eggs!"

"That's still not enough!" Zhang Guoli shook his head.

"Waiter, add some shredded meat for him!" Wang Gang turned to the noodle shop waiter and said.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Guoli's eyes immediately lit up. Chong Wanggang gave him a thumbs up: "Brave! You're truly generous! From now on, you're my sworn brother. You're much more handsome than Tang Guoqiang!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Gang burst into laughter, pointing at Zhang Guoli and saying, "You, you're quite something. We'll go to the Beijing Film Studio together later. I'll vouch for you; everything should be fine. Once you pass the audition, you can get a letter of introduction from the Beijing Film Studio, and then you can stay at the guesthouse."

Zhang Guoli asked, "What if you don't pass the audition?"

"Everyone go home and find their own mothers, what else can we do!" Wang Gang said irritably. "Are you going to cling to me now?!"