In the entertainment industry, the silly system claims it's the immortal realm.

Chapter 101 The Little Shura Field Between Xiao Mu and Xiao Yang

July 12th, Hong Kong Island.

Around noon, Wei Yi was woken up by his phone vibrating.

Last night, we played mahjong at the princess's house until almost dawn. That eagle had an uncanny luck, winning seven consecutive rounds and emptying his wallet.

My mind is still foggy, and my temples are throbbing.

He groped around on the bedside table for a long time with his eyes closed, finally finding the Nokia phone. He squinted at the caller ID.

Tian Erzhuang.

"Hey, teacher—"

"You're in Hong Kong Island now, right?"

Tian Erzhuang's voice was strong and clear, without any hint of small talk. "I called your film crew. I heard you have two days off?"

Wei Yi sat up in bed and scratched his hair.

"Yes. Third Master insisted that I come to the Asian New Directors Forum to represent young directors from mainland China, so I came."

"We've already had two days off, let's add two more."

Tian Erzhuang's tone left no room for argument: "There's no exam this cycle yet; tomorrow's the first day. Do you even remember you're a student?"

Wei Yi was stunned.

take an exam?

Final exam.

He hadn't heard that word in almost six months.

The entire school year is almost over, and he has only spent about a month at school in total.

"Teacher, I'm in Bangkok—"

"I don't care," Tian Erzhuang interrupted him. "The exam only lasts three days. You got a perfect score on the college entrance exam, but if you fail the final exam, you'll be disgracing the entire directing department. You figure it out yourself."

The phone hangs up.

Wei Yi stared at his phone screen for several seconds.

He knew perfectly well that Lao Tian's phone call was just a formality.

With his current achievements, "One Shot" has grossed 380 million yuan, setting a new record for domestic films.

Even if he failed the course, the school would never fail him, let alone fail him.

Who would dare to make a directing student who has made history in the domestic film market repeat a year?

If word gets out, it won't be Wei Yi who loses face, it will be the Beijing Film Academy.

Even if we don't consider this.

Old Tian and his classmates dared not and could not allow themselves to fail the course.

If word got out that the top scorer in the college entrance exam failed his first year at the Beijing Film Academy...

The one who looks bad isn't him, but the Beijing Film Academy, and Tian Erzhuang and his group.

But alas—

[Detection indicates that the host's sect is about to hold its internal grand competition. As a prodigy of the sect, the host must win the competition to demonstrate their abilities. This is the most important trial for all disciples of the sect each year; absence will be considered a disregard for the sect's ironclad rules.]

Wei Yi silently asked himself: What would happen if I didn't go back?

[If a sect's prodigy doesn't participate in the sect's grand competition, the sect disciples will question their sincerity in cultivating immortality. At that time, the host's reputation within the sect will plummet, and the passive talent effect of "Sect Prodigy" will be halved, lasting until the next sect grand competition.]

Halved?

He can now domineeringly move around in the industry, half of which is due to his own extraordinary abilities, and the other half is due to his passive talent of being the "crown prince" of the Beijing Film Academy.

The old guys at the Beijing Film Academy treated him with utmost sincerity. While his own abilities certainly played a part, the boost from "The Prodigy of the Sect" was absolutely indispensable.

If the effect is halved, the loss will be huge.

Then I'll go back and take the exam.

It's only three days anyway.

In Bangkok, Chen Acai was asked to shoot some establishing shots and scenes with extras first, so the progress wouldn't be delayed too much.

Just consider it a break for myself, come back to see what the school looks like, and see the classmates I haven't seen for a semester.

He sighed and sent Chen Acai a text message, asking the crew to give them two more days off.

Then I booked the next available flight to Yanjing.

Six o'clock in the evening.

Terminal 2 of Beijing Capital International Airport.

Summers in Yanjing are much drier than in Hong Kong, and the setting sun paints the runway a golden-red hue.

Wei Yi was only carrying a backpack when he came out of the arrival gate and saw Li Hua's old Volkswagen parked on the side of the road.

"Junior brother!" Li Hua leaned out of the car window. "You're really pushing yourself too hard, flying all the way back from Hong Kong Island for the exam?"

"You think I want to?" Wei Yi opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat. "Old Tian called; I have to come back."

"Teacher Tian is doing this for your own good."

Li Hua started the car. "By the way, have you reviewed? Tomorrow's first subject is Professor Xie's 'Storyboard Creation.' That old man is notoriously strict; last year, a third of the students failed."

"I didn't review."

"and you----"

"I got a perfect score on the college entrance exam."

Li Hua shut up. There's no way to talk to someone like that.

July 13th. First day of final exams at Beijing Film Academy.

When Wei Yi appeared at the entrance of the teaching building, the entire corridor fell silent.

"Holy crap, is that Wei Yi?"

"Isn't he filming in Thailand?"

"Back to take the exam??"

"Why would he come back for exams? He barely attended classes all semester—"

"Yeah, even if he doesn't come back to take the exam, no one will dare to say anything, right? The box office record of 'One Shot' speaks for itself."

""

"Maybe he's afraid of failing his courses? After all, he's still a student."

"Fail? Are you kidding me? If he fails, Tian Erzhuang will be the first to object. What will become of the entire directing department's reputation?"

Wearing the iconic "Yanjing Film Academy" T-shirt and white sneakers, Wei Yi walked through the crowd, found the examination room, and sat down in a corner.

All the students around him were looking at him.

Some admired, some were curious, and some were just waiting to see what would happen.

After all, this young master of the Beijing Film Academy is usually elusive, and it's harder to catch a glimpse of him in the classroom than to see the principal.

The first gate in the morning.

Xie Xiaojin's "Storyboard Creation".

Xie Xiaojin walked into the classroom as the school bell rang.

He stood on the podium and scanned the room. His gaze lingered for a moment on the figure in the white T-shirt in the corner. He raised an eyebrow slightly, as if he were somewhat surprised, or as if he had expected it.

Then he began reading the exam questions.

The exam question was a script, only two pages long.

A middle-aged couple was arguing in the kitchen. The husband wanted a divorce, while the wife remained silent, repeatedly wiping a grease stain on the stove.

The task is simple, but you are required to draw three sets of shots within half an hour, with each set containing at least eight shots, and you need to mark the camera position, focal length, lighting position, and character movement.

The classroom was filled with the rustling sound of drawing as everyone was engrossed in their work.

Storyboard creation is the most core and also the most difficult course in directing.

The same script can be presented in vastly different storyboards by different directors.

Some people are used to using a lot of close-ups to build up emotions, some prefer long shots and wide shots, some focus on the staging of characters, and some pay more attention to the atmosphere of light and shadow.

Xie Xiaojin has been teaching this course for twenty years and has seen all kinds of assignments. To get a high score from him, simply using a template is not enough.

Wei Yi picked up the pen, closed his eyes, and silently recited a phrase.

"Drawing Symbols in the Void" is activated.

Three thousand six hundred camera positions unfolded in my mind.

Each set of plans comes with detailed light position diagrams, focal length markers, and arrows indicating the movement of the characters, densely packed like a precise map.

The system is also very intelligent; it can search for the most suitable results according to his requirements.

He just needs to copy it.

The first group used a fixed camera position. The camera was positioned outside the kitchen door, with the door frame used as a foreground obstruction. The entire process was recorded objectively, without any pushing or pulling, relying on negative space in the frame to create a sense of distance between the two people.

The second set of shots was handheld, following the wife's hands as she wiped the stove. The husband's face was never in the frame, only his voice was heard. All the emotions were hidden in those mechanical, repetitive movements.

The third group uses extreme perspectives. At the beginning, the husband is standing and the wife is sitting, with the camera shooting from above and below, clearly showing the power dynamic. During the climax of the argument, the wife suddenly stands up, and the camera instantly cuts to eye-level, eliminating the height difference and reversing the power dynamic.

He selected the three most suitable sets and wrote them down with great speed.

Fifteen minutes, hand in the paper.

Xie Xiaojin was drinking tea on the podium.

The enamel mug was filled with broken tea leaves, with tea dust floating on the surface. He blew on it twice, preparing to drink.

He frowned when he saw Wei Yi stand up.

"Don't you know how to do it?"

His tone clearly conveyed displeasure.

In previous years, even the fastest student to finish the final exam had to wait at least an hour.

Fifteen minutes is absolutely impossible unless the paper is blank.

But if Wei Yi submits a blank paper, it won't just be him who loses face.

"I'm done." Wei Yi placed the test paper on the podium.

The classroom fell silent once more.

A few students in the front rows who were writing furiously looked up, their eyes filled with disbelief. Someone in the back row muttered, "Drawing three sets of shots in fifteen minutes? Are you kidding me?"

Xie Xiaojin put down the enamel mug, took the paper, and began to read it on the spot.

Page 1. A fixed camera position, the use of the door frame for the foreground, a 50mm fixed-focus eye-level perspective, and clean, crisp arrows depicting the figures. His expression remains largely unchanged. This approach is conventional, steady but unremarkable.

He turned to the second page. The handheld tracking shot depicted the wife's hand locked in place, with the husband's voice rendered off-screen. His page-turning speed noticeably slowed. This scheme required an extremely strong control over emotional rhythm; even most graduate students wouldn't dare to draw it this way. But Wei Yi's storyboard clearly marked the duration of each shot and the rhythmic changes in every hand gesture.

Xie Xiaojin's brows furrowed even deeper.

Turn to page three. The extreme tilt scheme opens with a shot of the wife from above and the husband from below, transitioning to eye level in the climax, using top lighting and shadow to reversal the power dynamic. Every tilt angle, every focal length transition, and every adjustment of the lighting is rendered with precision.

He read the third page several times before the furrows on his brow finally relaxed.

After turning the last page, he looked up at Wei Yi with a complicated expression.

Someone mentioned it at the end-of-term meeting the day before yesterday.

They said that Wei Yi hadn't attended many classes throughout the semester, and according to school regulations, he should be disqualified from taking the exam.

Xie Xiaojin said at the time that it didn't matter whether the kid came back to take the exam or not.

Not to mention that the school would never let him fail, the talent he has shown in the film industry, his practical experience and artistic intuition, are simply things that cannot be taught in the classroom.

Even if he doesn't attend classes much, he can still dominate the entire school with his eyes closed.

But some people still insisted that he come back to take the exam.

Rules are rules, and no exceptions can be made for one person.

Finally, Lao Tian slammed his fist on the table and said, "Fine, I'll let him come back and take the exam. You can see for yourselves after the exam."

Look, now they're back to take the exam.

But—is it really necessary?

"Your storyboard is so good, you could just shoot it directly."

Xie Xiaojin put the test paper on the table. "It's nothing serious. Get lost, don't disturb the other students."

When Xie Xiaojin said "It's not a big problem," it was practically a perfect score.

He had taught for twenty years and had never praised a student in the examination hall before. This was the first time.

Wei Yi smiled as he left the examination hall.

Several students were squatting in the corridor waiting for news; some were from the same year, and others were sophomores or juniors.

They all came specifically to watch the spectacle after hearing that the Crown Prince had returned to take the exam.

When they saw him come out, they all surrounded him.

"Junior brother! What did Professor Xie say?"

"Was the test difficult? How come you came up with the answer so quickly!"

"Did Professor Xie go easy on us?"

"Junior, could you give me a chance to intern at your company?"

Before Wei Yi could answer, a familiar loud voice came from the stairwell.

"Wei Yi!"

Mu Deyuan strode over, clutching an exam schedule in his hand.

He was wearing the photography department's signature gray vest, and his face held the expression of a hunter spotting his prey, somewhere between excitement and nervousness.

"This afternoon is the practical photography exam, a studio portrait shoot. If you dare to mess up, I'll never forgive you!"

Wei Yi: "Teacher Mu, I just came back to take an exam—"

"What do you mean, 'just taking an exam'?"

Mu Deyuan glared at him. "Old Tian said you have to get first place in every course. If you don't get first place in the photography practical exam, he'll make trouble for you."

Wei Yi blinked: "Did Teacher Tian really say that?"

Mu Deyuan coughed, looked around, and lowered his voice: "I made it up. But the doors of the photography department are always open for you."

Wei Yi: "...

'

It's been a year already. Ever since he shot that VOGUE cover featuring Gong Li, Mu Deyuan has never given up on the idea of ​​recruiting him into the photography department.

First, they tried to persuade him face-to-face, then they challenged Tian Erzhuang to a duel, then they asked director Zhang Li to pass on their message, and now they're even targeting final exams.

Old Mu's unwavering devotion, if placed in a cultivation novel, would probably be described as the obsession of a sword fanatic driven to madness.

Afternoon, at the photography studio.

The final practical exam for the photography department is different from that of other departments.

While other departments had students sitting in classrooms taking exams, the photography department had students shooting real photos in a studio.

Students from the photography department and some of the directing students who had taken the course were all present.

Dozens of people crowded around the area outside the tent, and even people from the neighboring performing arts department came to watch the spectacle.

The exam questions were posted on the bulletin board outside the shed: a lamp, a black cloth, and a plaster statue.

The requirement is to produce the highest quality photos using the least amount of equipment.

No restrictions on focal length or post-processing, but the shooting time is limited to thirty minutes.

It looks simple, but the simpler the conditions, the more they test your basic skills.

A single lamp means you can't create complex lighting ratios; a black cloth means you have to handle the background and light absorption yourself; a plaster statue means the subject is static, so you can't capture anything fancy.

The only variable is the photographer's aesthetic sense and skills.

The other students were still busy setting up lights, adjusting parameters, changing lenses, and setting up reflectors.

Some brought in three fill lights, but the teaching assistant stopped them, saying they could only use one.

Some tried to fold the black cloth into various shapes to create a background design, but after ten minutes of fiddling, they still couldn't turn it on.

Some people took more than a dozen photos of the plaster statue, and each one was almost identical, making them sweat profusely with anxiety.

Wei Yi walked over, hung the black cloth behind the plaster statue, and placed the lamp on the left.

A lamp, a piece of cloth, a plaster statue.

There were no reflectors, no fill lights, and no softboxes.

The light bulb in the table lamp is a very common tungsten filament bulb, with a warm yellow color and low wattage.

He placed the lamp slightly behind and to the left of the plaster statue, so that the light came from the side and rear, leaving a very thin outline light on the front of the plaster statue.

Then I picked up the camera, adjusted the settings, and took a picture.

The whole process took less than thirty seconds.

The other students, who were still fiddling with the reflector, stared in disbelief. "That's it?"

"Isn't he going to adjust the lighting?"

"That light is positioned way too far to the side; the whole front of it is dark—"

Mu Deyuan watched the finished film in front of the monitor.

He was silent at first, then took off his glasses, wiped them, put them back on, and looked at them again.

Then he turned to the teaching assistant next to him and said, "Write this down, full marks."

The teaching assistant was taken aback.

This teaching assistant, a graduate student from Yunnan, had eaten mushrooms she brought from her hometown at the cafeteria for lunch and was still a little dazed: "Teacher, a perfect score requires the department head's signature—"

"Xiao Liu, did you eat mushrooms again? I'm the department head."

Mu Deyuan pushed the teaching assistant aside and strode up to Wei Yi.

The expression on his face was so striking that even Tian Erzhuang would avoid him.

That's the expression on Columbus's face when he saw the New World, the expression on Bill Gates' face when he saw a high school student write an operating system that was better than Microsoft's, and the expression on a wine lover's face when he saw a bottle of fifty-year-old vintage wine.

"Xiao Wei, photography is a better fit for you than directing."

His tone was incredibly serious. "A student like you is hard to find again in a lifetime. What kind of spell did that old geezer Tian Erzhuang cast on you? What's so great about the directing department? All you do is argue with the actors, argue with the script, argue with the budget. The cinematography department is so pure; you just press the shutter. Why don't you reconsider switching jobs?"

Wei Yi put away the machine: "Teacher Mu, I'm afraid Teacher Tian will hit me."

"He dares? I'll fight him one-on-one!"

Wei Yi silently decided that he would try to avoid appearing near the photography studio as much as possible in the future.

The exam lasted three days.

On the evening of the third day.

After finishing his last exam, "Basic Film and Television Laws," Wei Yi came out of the exam room and stretched.

Summer evenings in Yanjing are very pleasant. The evening breeze blows from the playground, and the willow leaves rustle.

These three days were actually quite interesting.

Although he was forced to return to take the exam, he had a very special feeling walking on the campus of Beijing Film Academy.

Last September, when he first walked through the school gates, the whole school was watching him, watching this top scorer in the college entrance examination who chose to study at an art school instead of going to Tsinghua or Peking University.

At that time, most people viewed him as a news hotspot, a controversial figure, and a young man who might soon regret his actions.

Now, when I walk around campus, although people still gather around to watch, their gazes are noticeably different.

What started as a spectacle has now become a legend.

The opinion shifted from "Is this person an idiot?" to "This person is really amazing."

Especially after he broke the box office record for "One Shot," students from the Beijing Film Academy walked out with a bit more confidence.

I used to argue with people from the Central Academy of Drama and the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and they said that the Beijing Film Academy's academic subjects were not good. Now I just retort that we have perfect scores on the college entrance exam, do you have any?

He returned to the teachers' dormitory, ready to read the daily report from the film crew that Li Hua had sent him.

There was a knock on the door.

Wei Yi looked up and saw Yang Mi standing at the door holding a thermos, her eyes crinkling with laughter.

She wore a light blue short-sleeved shirt today, her hair was tied in a ponytail, and she wore light makeup.

It's clear she dressed up carefully, but in a restrained way, without being too deliberate, just enough to make her look good.

"Director Wei, try this soup I made. It's a slow-cooked, delicious soup, the kind that people from eastern Guangdong love to drink."

She came in, placed the thermos on the table, and unscrewed the lid.

A rich aroma of chicken soup wafted out; the soup was clear and bright, with a few red dates and goji berries floating on top.

It's obvious that a lot of time and effort went into cooking it.

Wei Yi put down his phone, about to speak.

Another person walked in from outside.

Mu Tingting.

She was wearing a simple white T-shirt and jeans, and carrying a bag of fruit.

She had no makeup on, her hair was casually tied in a ponytail, and she looked travel-worn, clearly having just arrived from Hengdian.

Seeing Yang Mi standing at the door, he paused for a moment.

Then she smiled, "Mimi's here too."

"Sister Tingting." Yang Mi's smile froze for a moment, then quickly returned to normal. "Aren't you filming in Hengdian? Senior Brother Li said that 'Palace' is at a crucial stage in its filming."

"It's exam week, so I asked Senior Brother Li for leave. No matter how important filming is, I can't neglect my exams. After all, I'm still a student, and Mimi—didn't you also take leave and come back?"

Mu Tingting walked into the dormitory, placed the fruit on the table, and naturally took the thermos from Yang Mi's hand. "Thank you, Mimi, for bringing him soup from so far away. I'll feed him. How did your exams go?"

"It's alright, I guess."

Yang Mi looked at the insulated bucket that had been taken away, her smile remaining unchanged.

Mu Tingting unscrewed the thermos, and the aroma of chicken soup wafted out.

She scooped up a spoonful, blew on it, and held it to Wei Yi's lips.

"Drink it."

Wei Yi looked at the spoonful of chicken soup in front of him.

She glanced again at Mu Tingting's gentle smile, then at Yang Mi's stiff expression standing at the door.

He decided to play dead.

He lowered his head and drank his soup. He said nothing.

There was an aura in the air that only the person involved could feel.

"Director Wei, please enjoy your drink. I'll be going now."

Yang Mi turned and went out, her steps light and quick, her heels clicking a few times in the corridor before fading into the distance.

The smile on her face finally vanished the moment her figure disappeared at the top of the stairs.

The dormitory fell silent.

Mu Tingting fed him soup spoonful by spoonful without saying a word.

The soup was delicious; the chicken was stewed until very tender, and the sweetness of the red dates and the aroma of the goji berries were infused into the soup.

Yang Mi's soup-making skills are indeed excellent.

Of course.

More likely, she actually bought it or hired someone else to cook it.

Wei Yi finished the last sip and looked up at her.

"You were filming in Hengdian, why did you come back?"

Mu Tingting closed the thermos lid, her tone as calm as if she were remarking on the nice weather: "It's an exam. I'm a regular student, unlike you. If I don't come back to take the exam, I'll fail. Besides, if I don't come back soon, some people will take advantage of my absence and end up taking care of you in bed."

Wei Yi didn't respond.

He acted immediately. He stood up and swept her up in his arms, startling Mu Tingting so much that she let out a small scream and almost dropped the thermos in her hands.

Then she giggled, wrapped her arms around his neck, and clung to him.

"Have you missed me?" she asked.

"think."

"That's too perfunctory. What were you thinking?"

I miss your long legs.

"Anything else?"

I miss your cute, perky butt.

"I knew you'd never say anything nice!" She punched him lightly, buried her face in his neck, and said in a muffled voice, "I miss you too. I miss you when I'm filming, I miss you when I'm sleeping, and every day after work in Hengdian I want to call you, but I'm afraid of disturbing your filming—"

A few hours later.

Wei Yi was woken up by a phone call.

Mu Tingting was still fast asleep in his arms, a faint smile on her lips, her breathing even and long.

It was already dark outside, and the streetlights were on, casting a small patch of dim yellow light on the wall through the gaps in the curtains.

He reached for his phone on the bedside table, glanced at the caller ID, and pressed the answer button.

"Hahahaha!"

Laughter came through the receiver, startling him so much that he held the phone away from him.

Fan Binbin's laughter was so powerful that he was afraid of waking Mu Tingting.

"Mu Tingting traveled all the way back from Hengdian just to avoid Yang Mi? That's hilarious!"

After laughing enough, Fan Binbin, panting, said, "She really sees Yang Mi as a threat. Is a young girl who hasn't even graduated yet worth all this trouble? Tsk, I really want to see how you react when you put her next to Gao Yuanyuan. I wonder if she'll get so angry that she'll break up with you."

Fan Binbin's tone was clearly gloating, "If they break up, that would be really great."

Wei Yi lowered his voice: "Can't you have a little compassion?"

"No. By the way, I need to tell Gao Yuanyuan about this. She'll definitely find it funny too."

Fan Binbin promptly hung up the phone.

That's just how she is; she loves watching a good show, especially when it comes to Mu Tingting.

Less than half an hour later, Gao Yuanyuan called again.

Her voice remained unhurried, as if she would never be in a hurry: "I heard Xiao Mu rushed back from Hengdian to make you soup? And she even ran into Yang Mi?"

"—Did Fan Xiaopang tell you that?"

"Yes. She also said that Yang Mi brought you soup, but Mu Tingting saw it."

Gao Yuanyuan's tone carried a hint of amusement, "Just thinking about it makes me laugh. That scene must be so much fun; I wish I could be there too."

She paused, then her tone suddenly became serious, as if she had thought it through carefully: "Wei Yi, how about I get to know Xiao Mu first? I can be honest with her myself, so you won't have trouble handling this later."

Wei Yi recalled the forced smile Mu Tingting gave Yang Mi.

He recalled how Fan Binbin had wanted to scratch Gao Yuanyuan's face when they first met.

He recalled the chaotic scene when the system repeatedly popped up red warnings while he was surrounded by women on both sides.

"No thanks," he said. "I'm afraid you'll drive her crazy."

At least Fan Binbin can argue, make a scene, and argue back; at least his emotions are outwardly expressed.

Gao Yuanyuan is different. She doesn't make a fuss, she just speaks in a calm and gentle tone, but every word she says hits the nail on the head.

You could say she did it on purpose.

Not like.

Let's say she didn't do it on purpose.

But that's too sarcastic.

Mu Tingting, with her meticulous and thoughtful nature, would probably be speechless with anger when she encounters Gao Yuanyuan, whose thought process is so peculiar.

Fan Binbin was almost internally injured by her anger, let alone Mu Tingting.

Gao Yuanyuan laughed on the other end of the phone, a soft and short laugh, just like her personality.

"Then you decide what to do. By the way, my sisters said they want to visit the set in Bangkok in a few days. That includes Princess, Na Ying, and Sister Fei Hong."

Wei Yi thought for a moment and said, "Okay."

As a superstar and a famous actress, her presence on set can provide at least a million dollars worth of publicity.