40: Another top scholar

Huang Bin left with a phone number; he needed to contact Xu Muyang to sign the agent contract.

"Younger schoolmate, did you make an appointment with me?" Ning Hao arrived at the cafe, looked around for a moment, saw Li Xiuwu, and walked over with a bit of hesitation.

"Yes." Li Xiuwu was also sizing up Ning Hao.

"Did you look for me because you want to invest in my film?"

"I wanted to see the 'Newcomer Village Bully' for myself."

"..." Ning Hao stared at Li Xiuwu, speechless.

"I heard you were looking for investment?" Li Xiuwu put aside his joking mood.

Ning Hao nodded. He sized up Li Xiuwu; this younger schoolmate wanted to invest, but he didn't look like someone who could afford to invest.

"May I see the script?"

Ning Hao took a script he was carrying and placed it in front of Li Xiuwu.

"*Green Grassland*." Li Xiuwu looked at the title of the script, flipped through it, and felt a bit disappointed; it wasn't the one he wanted to see.

"Is this your script? Are you trying to win awards overseas?"

"Yes." Ning Hao nodded.

"I'm not very interested." Li Xiuwu shook his head and pushed the script back.

"If you have other types of scripts and can't find investment, you can contact me." Li Xiuwu gave him a phone number.

"Younger schoolmate, my script has profound connotations." Seeing Li Xiuwu stand up, Ning Hao explained subconsciously.

Li Xiuwu smiled: "Senior, there are already many directors on the 'cursing' track. Your script doesn't curse thoroughly enough. To be honest, I don't think you'll get anywhere on this path."

Ning Hao felt like he had been played, but Li Xiuwu's mention of "cursing" made his expression very ugly.

"Is this cursing? This is art. He doesn't even understand art."

He looked down at the *Green Grassland* script, his face sullen.

In July, summer arrived. The Courtyard House was cool, completely free from the sweltering heat outside.

Several people were sitting on the attic of the front courtyard, enjoying the scenery of the West Sea.

"Did Chang Chang receive another invitation from a film crew?" Li Xiuwu asked Shu Chang.

"Mm." Shu Chang nodded.

"It's the script for *Teenage Imperial Envoy*, a historical dramatization."

"What do you think? Do you want to take it?" Huang Bin had already taken over Shu Chang's agency affairs. He received the role and notified Xu Muyang, who then told Li Xiuwu.

"I think it's fine; this role is pretty good." Shu Chang didn't dislike acting. Her previous resistance to *The Chef Official* wasn't because she disliked acting, but because she was focused on preparing for the Gaokao at the time.

"If you want to take it, then take it." Li Xiuwu nodded; since Shu Chang liked it, there was no harm in taking it.

"I envy Chang Chang." Liu Yifei looked at Shu Chang with envious eyes.

"Why can't I get invitations from film crews?"

"That's because you're too picky; otherwise, what roles couldn't you get?" *the story of a noble family*, which starred Liu Yifei, had aired, and she had already gained a certain degree of fame; it wasn't as if she hadn't received any invitations.

But since *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils*, the strategy Red Star House formulated for her was to only play female leads. After *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils*, she hadn't found any good opportunities.

In his memory, she should have gone to the other side to film a movie this year, but because of Li Xiuwu's involvement, she didn't know Jimmy Lin, and thus had no opportunity to participate in that film.

Li Xiuwu was somewhat similar to Liu Yifei; he didn't put much effort into looking, and he hadn't taken a fancy to some of the scripts he was invited for.

He came to the entertainment industry purely for fun; if he liked something, he would film it, and if he wasn't interested, he would reject it directly.

"Good works aren't easy to find." Liu Xiaoli shook her head. Even though Liu Yonghui was Liu Yifei's agent and had quite extensive connections in the industry, he still couldn't find very good works.

There were only a few hit TV dramas a year; it wasn't that easy to encounter them.

They didn't dwell on this topic; everyone had their own choices.

As long as there was an invitation and the script was decent, Shu Chang was willing to take it; she didn't care if it was the female lead or not.

Liu Yifei's plan was that she must play the female lead.

Li Xiuwu was completely laid-back; if he encountered something he liked, it didn't matter if he was the male lead or not.

"Chang Chang's Gaokao results should be out soon, right?"

"In three more days, I think." Shu Chang said. She was also looking forward to her results. The school had obtained this year's Gaokao papers and conducted an estimation; she felt her results should be good.

The phone rang with a *ring-ring-ring* sound.

Shu Chang saw it was an unknown number, but she answered it anyway.

"Student Shu Chang, we are admissions officers from Peking University. May I ask where you are? We would like to meet with you."

Shu Chang was a bit dazed and looked up at everyone. Everyone's gaze fell on Shu Chang's face.

"Ask for the score." Li Xiuwu, having experience, reacted immediately and whispered to her.

"Teacher, may I ask, what score did I get?" Shu Chang reacted immediately.

She had heard Li Xiuwu brag many times about the various maneuvers Tsinghua and Peking University made to recruit him when his Gaokao results came out last year.

"We aren't too sure about that either. We at Peking University find your grades excellent and would like to admit you in advance. We saw that your application preference is Beijing Film Academy; did you fill it out wrong? We can help you change it."

There were still a few days until the results were released; revealing the score at this time was against the rules.

These top institutions had channels to obtain scores before the official release, but that doesn't mean they can go telling people.

"No rush then. I'll ask the teacher from Tsinghua later." After saying that, Shu Chang hung up the phone.

"Wait, you scored 742 points! You are this year's liberal arts top scholar in the Beijing area. Liberal arts is most suitable for our Peking University." The Peking University teacher had a stress reaction upon hearing "Tsinghua" and blurted out Shu Chang's total score.

"Thank you, teacher." Hearing her score, Shu Chang thanked him excitedly and hung up.

"I scored 742 points." Her face was filled with excitement and thrill.

"Congratulations, Chang Chang." Liu Yifei ran over and hugged Shu Chang's arm, happy for her.

Liu Xiaoli was just envious; such a good child, if only she were her own.

Seeing Liu Yifei, she immediately felt disdain. There were three children here, two were being fought over by Tsinghua and Peking University, while her own daughter's grades in North America were just so-so.

Liu Yifei felt a chill down her spine. She turned around, but besides her mother, there was nothing. She turned back and continued to hug the silly, happy Shu Chang.

The phone Shu Chang had just hung up rang again; it was the same number.

"Student Shu Chang, can we meet up, or would you like to come to Peking University to take a look?"

When Tsinghua and Peking University fought over people, the first step was to see the person, take them away, and make sure the other side couldn't find them.

But the problem now was that the Peking University teacher had already gone to Shu Chang's home but couldn't find her.

"Teacher, I'm filming with a crew, I can't go back for now." Shu Chang made up an excuse.

Just at this moment, Li Xiuwu's phone rang. Li Xiuwu saw it was a call from Shu Chang's uncle.

"Xiuwu, is Chang Chang with you? The admissions officers from Tsinghua and Peking University are both at home, and I can't get through to her phone." Shu Chang's uncle's tone was excited; Tsinghua and Peking University had come to their home in person.

"Chang Chang is on the phone with an admissions officer from Peking University."

The phone was taken by someone else.

"I am an admissions officer from Tsinghua. Who are you to Shu Chang? Can you let Shu Chang answer the phone?"

"Hello teacher, I am Li Xiuwu. Chang Chang is on the phone with a teacher from Peking University."

"Li Xiuwu?" The admissions officer felt a strange sense of familiarity with this name.

"Teacher, your voice sounds quite familiar to me too. You were the one who called me last year, right?"

"Beijing Film Academy, Li Xiuwu, last year's perfect-score top scholar?" The Tsinghua admissions officer immediately remembered.

Last year's Gaokao perfect-score top scholar had applied to Beijing Film Academy; neither Tsinghua nor Peking University had managed to snatch him up.

Shu Chang was actually with Li Xiuwu, and since Shu Chang was already an actress, he had a bad premonition.