38: Beijing Film Academy starts school

"Mom, Chang Chang, we're leaving." Liu Yifei sat in Li Xiuwu's car and waved to the two people who had seen them to the door.

"Study hard at school." Liu Xiaoli instructed her.

"Mm-hmm." Liu Yifei nodded, though she was a little impatient, and said to Li Xiuwu, "Let's go quickly, we're going to be late."

"Don't worry, Auntie, we'll be back tonight." Li Xiuwu waved and drove out of the Courtyard House.

"Do you think our classmates still remember us?" Liu Yifei couldn't help asking in the car.

Like Li Xiuwu, she had met everyone on the first day of school but hadn't attended any classes since.

"They should remember us, but it'll definitely be hard to fit in with everyone," Li Xiuwu said.

He turned his head to look at Liu Yifei: "Even if someone tries to get close to you, they're definitely just buttering you up, wanting to use the resources you have."

Liu Yifei nodded, half-understanding. She was three or four years younger than her classmates and wouldn't think of such sordid things.

"I'm not familiar with anyone yet." Liu Yifei's tone was a bit downcast.

"If you develop well, you'll be the center of attention; it doesn't matter if you're familiar with them or not. There's no friendship in the entertainment industry," Li Xiuwu said indifferently.

He had never taken those classmates in his class to heart.

This wasn't Tsinghua or Peking University. In those kinds of schools, if a big shot emerged in the class, everyone could build connections and complement each other's resources.

In the entertainment industry, it's hard for classmates to complement each other's resources.

Two classmates of the same gender, similar in age, neither ugly, with basically the same amount of screen time—they'd be too busy guarding against each other to do anything else.

The Courtyard House was very close to Beijing Film Academy. After a five-minute drive, they arrived at Beijing Film Academy.

Li Xiuwu had arranged for a parking permit for his car in advance, so he drove directly into the school.

"Where was our classroom again?" Liu Yifei asked Li Xiuwu.

"Let's go to Teacher Wang's office first." Li Xiuwu took Liu Yifei to find Wang Jinsong to check in.

"Teacher Wang." The two stood in front of Wang Jinsong.

"Two big stars. I almost forgot that I had you two as students in my class." Wang Jinsong joked as he looked at them.

Liu Yifei lowered her head, looking at her toes. She naturally felt some pressure around teachers.

Li Xiuwu didn't care: "We were out bringing glory to our teacher. Look at the broadcast of Xianxian's TV series; who doesn't know that Beijing Film Academy has a genius beautiful girl?"

Wang Jinsong waved his hand. He was certainly happy when students achieved success, but as for Liu Yifei's The Story of a Noble Family, well, never mind that.

"It would be good enough if you two just improved your acting skills. Have you studied the courses I sent you?"

"We both studied them." Liu Yifei answered quickly.

"Perform this scene." Wang Jinsong handed over a segment of a story, not knowing which script it was from.

Li Xiuwu looked at it; it was a scene of a young brother and sister arguing.

He read it for a while. The lines were very simple, feeling a bit unreasonable. He pondered the character's psychology.

"Are you ready?" After about five minutes, Wang Jinsong asked them.

The two looked at each other: "No problem, Teacher."

"Begin."

Li Xiuwu immediately turned and looked at Liu Yifei: "Wang Nana, did you steal my basketball? You even drew a pig's head on it."

He stretched out his hand, performing without props, as if holding a basketball.

"I did not." Liu Yifei turned her head away.

"Who would be bored enough to draw a pig's head on your basketball?"

"If it wasn't you, then who? It was you, it was you!" Li Xiuwu shouted, feeling a bit awkward inside.

"It wasn't me." She shook her head.

"Cut." Wang Jinsong called out.

He watched their performance and gave Li Xiuwu an appreciative look. Although it lacked a sense of conviction and they hadn't fully entered the roles, it was generally not bad.

His gaze fell upon Liu Yifei.

"Your basic skills are insufficient. Your lines, body language, and expressions are all off. Your performance lacks conviction, and you have mental baggage." Wang Jinsong listed several of Liu Yifei's shortcomings in a row.

"Teacher, I understand." Liu Yifei lowered her head.

Wang Jinsong paused and sighed: "Alright, follow me."

The two followed behind Wang Jinsong, heading to the classroom.

Li Xiuwu turned his head to exchange glances with Liu Yifei; he was feeling a bit smug.

Liu Yifei understood the meaning in his eyes and glared at him in annoyance. Seeing that Teacher Wang wasn't looking back, she quickly punched Li Xiuwu.

Li Xiuwu reacted quickly and grabbed Liu Yifei's fist. She struggled, trying to pull her hand back, but Li Xiuwu wouldn't let go.

The two followed behind Wang Jinsong, constantly making small movements.

The classroom was a bit noisy; everyone had only just come to report today. Upon seeing Wang Jinsong approach, they immediately quieted down.

They also saw Li Xiuwu and Liu Yifei behind Wang Jinsong. The guy was handsome and the girl was beautiful, instantly making the eyes of the whole class light up.

After recognizing the two of them, the class immediately became restless again.

"You two, find a seat and sit down yourselves." Wang Jinsong turned and said to them.

"Alright, Teacher." Li Xiuwu and Liu Yifei walked into the classroom amid everyone's gaze and sat down in a spot further back.

Everyone's gaze followed the two of them, subconsciously watching them.

"Alright, due to special reasons this year, the start of school is relatively late. In addition, according to the school's considerations, the summer vacation will be shortened by one month."

"Ah." Everyone was very reluctant when they heard they would have to attend classes during the summer vacation.

"You all take a look at the curriculum first. Zhu Yawen, Liu Zhang... you few, come with me to move the textbooks."

After Wang Jinsong left, everyone looked at Li Xiuwu and Liu Yifei.

"Hello everyone. I don't think we need to introduce ourselves, right?" Li Xiuwu stood up generously and said to everyone.

"Li Xiuwu, long time no see." Zhang Lu walked over.

"Yeah, it's been almost a year since we last parted." Since school started last year, they had met in the classroom, then he went to the demi-gods and semi-devils crew. After returning, pandemic restrictions began, and after the New Year, school didn't open because of the pandemic, right up until now.

Zhang Lu sighed inwardly. His original thought was correct; he and Li Xiuwu couldn't become good friends.

"Hello, my name is Yuan Li. What was it like on the demi-gods and semi-devils crew?" A girl leaned over, asking about things on the filming set.

"I heard that during demi-gods and semi-devils, Big Beard Zhang was bitten by a rat. Is that true?"

Big Beard Zhang being bitten by a rat had made the newspapers. Beijing Film Academy students were practically half-members of the entertainment industry, so they paid quite a bit of attention to entertainment news.

"It happened in the middle of the night. By the time we got up, he had already gone to the hospital. We didn't see him afterwards, so I'm not sure what happened." Li Xiuwu replied.

"Hello, you probably don't remember me, right?" Standing in front of Li Xiuwu was a high-quality classmate.

Li Xiuwu was a bit surprised. He remembered that when they first met, her favorability was over forty, but now it had actually dropped to over thirty.

"How could that be? Your name is Jiang Yiyan, right? How could I not remember a great beauty like you?" Li Xiuwu said with a smile.

Jiang Yiyan's eyes lit up. Being called a beauty made her involuntarily happy, and her favorability rating shot up by ten points.

"You two came to school late; if you need anything, let me know." After chatting with Li Xiuwu and Liu Yifei for a bit and expressing her goodwill, she sat back in her seat.

By the end of the day, everyone's curiosity had been satisfied, and they no longer crowded around them.

"Are neither of you living on campus?" Towards the end of the school day in the afternoon, Zhang Lu suddenly asked.

"Yeah, Xianxian and I live off-campus together." Li Xiuwu said.

"Ah." Everyone looked at them in surprise, a bit unable to believe it, but seeing that Liu Yifei didn't refute it, they understood that what Li Xiuwu said was true.

Several gazes dimmed, filled with jealousy.

Li Xiuwu looked over and saw both men and women; it seemed there were quite a few people who had designs on the two of them.

Hearing Li Xiuwu's words, Jiang Yiyan also felt surprised, and her favorability rating dropped instantly.

After class, Li Xiuwu said goodbye to everyone and drove away together.

Quite a few classmates saw this and completely believed that Li Xiuwu and Liu Yifei lived together.

"Wow, is that a BMW? They're actually that rich?" A classmate saw Li Xiuwu's car and exclaimed.

"At such a young age, they've already been kept."

A classmate said subconsciously.