Smack!
Li Changxiong slammed his hand down on the desk, looking at Zhang Tiancheng with a mix of fury and bitter disappointment as he scolded, "Zhang Tiancheng, what on earth is wrong with you? You haven't even graduated yet, and you've already lost a director's pure heart—you actually went off to make a commercial film! What do you think you're doing? Do you want to imitate those commercial hacks and look at everything through the lens of money?"
Zhang Tiancheng had anticipated that Li Changxiong would fly into a rage upon discovering he was making a commercial movie, and he had no intention of arguing back. People of Li's generation had lived through immense hardship; their values were forged in survival and had sustained them for the better part of their lives. Changing their mindset was simply impossible.
Zhang Tiancheng lowered his head slightly, leaving Li Changxiong to vent.
"Commercial directors are not worth emulating, Zhang Tiancheng. Don't sacrifice a director's pure soul for the sake of money."
"You have genuine talent, so don't stray onto the wrong path. Take a page out of Zhang Yimou's book, make proper films, and strive to win an award at one of Europe's top three film festivals."
With his head bowed, Zhang Tiancheng almost laughed out loud. Follow Zhang Yimou to make art-house films? Professor, just you wait. In a couple of years, when Zhang Yimou rolls out *Hero* and kicks off the blockbuster craze in China, let's see what you have to say then.
"Tiancheng, next year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of our Central Academy of Drama. Do you realize that in all these fifty years, our film and television directing program has never produced a single renowned director? Forget about competing with the Beijing Film Academy; even the acting department here produced Jiang Wen. Our directing program can't even hold a candle to the acting department."
Li Changxiong let out a long sigh and said earnestly, "I've been teaching at the Central Academy of Drama for sixteen years now. Once I finish guiding your cohort, I'll be retiring. My lifelong regret is that our directing program has never produced a prominent director. Tiancheng, you have a fine talent for directing and an active mind. It's a bit of selfishness on my part, but I hope you will be the one to make up for my regret."
This was the first time Zhang Tiancheng had heard about this. He slowly raised his head and said solemnly, "Teacher, I will definitely make sure your regret is put to rest."
Thinking that Zhang Tiancheng had changed his mind, Li Changxiong wore a look of satisfied relief, but the next second, his smile froze.
"Teacher, once I finish shooting this commercial film and make some money, I'll go make art-house movies. Don't worry, I will definitely make it to Europe's top three film festivals and clear the name of our directing program at the Central Academy of Drama!"
Li Changxiong's chest heaved violently with anger.
He picked up his teacup and took a small sip. Then his demeanor abruptly changed. Setting the cup back down, he waved a hand in utter dejection. "Never mind. A teacher's only job is to impart knowledge; you must choose your own path."
At a single glance, Zhang Tiancheng could tell that Li Changxiong thought his ambitions were utterly absurd—the old man was disheartened and had given up on him. He didn't bother trying to explain; the box office results would speak for themselves soon enough.
"Go on then. As for your leave of absence, have your parents call the office whenever they have a moment."
"Understood, Teacher. I'll be leaving now."
Leaving the office, Zhang Tiancheng headed back to his dorm.
There were no specialized classes scheduled for the day, but none of his three roommates were around. Zhang Tiancheng pulled out the script he had left unfinished the previous night and set to work.
By a little past seven in the evening, the snow had stopped. Heavy snow had started falling around five in the afternoon, and now the world outside was a blanket of white.
Wrapped in a black windcoat, Zhang Tiancheng strode into Tianxiang Garden, located in the alley directly across the left side of the school.
Tianxiang Garden was a modest restaurant with reasonable prices, averaging around a dozen yuan per person. As soon as he stepped inside, Zhang Tiancheng spotted Liu Ye, Zeng Li, and Qin Hailu. They were spread across three tables near the wall at the back.
Zhang Tiancheng walked over to the table where Zeng Li and the other girls were sitting and moved to take a seat beside Zeng Li. "Hey, Tiancheng, this table is for the girls. Go join Liu Ye's table."
Zhang Tiancheng looked over at the loud-voiced Qin Hailu.
Qin Hailu widened her eyes and chuckled, "Tiancheng, unless you consider yourself a woman, you'd better move."
"Ha-ha!" "Ha-ha!"...
Yuan Quan and the rest of the girls, including Zeng Li, burst into giggles. With not a single person offering to help him out, Zhang Tiancheng had no choice but to trudge over to Liu Ye's table.
Sitting down next to Liu Ye, Zhang Tiancheng picked up his chopsticks and began to devour the food voraciously, muttering through a mouthful, "You guys are something else. The person hosting hasn't even arrived yet, and you've already started eating without me."
"You can't blame us for that. Your girlfriend said she was hungry, so we started eating without waiting for you," Liu Ye said with a laugh.
That left Zhang Tiancheng with nothing to say.
As they ate, the conversation naturally turned to Liu Ye and the others asking for advice on acting.
By the time they finished dinner, it was nearly ten o'clock, and the streets were practically deserted. Emerging from Tianxiang Garden, the group parted ways—those heading back to the dorms went back to school, and those meeting up with their partners went off to find them.
Zhang Tiancheng and Zeng Li walked side by side to a nearby supermarket, bought a few things, and headed for a nearby hotel.
A shower, a round of exercise, and by the time everything settled down, it was nearly midnight.
Her face flushed a rosy red, Zeng Li rested her head against Zhang Tiancheng's chest and quickly drifted off to sleep.
Zhang Tiancheng stretched out an arm to switch off the lamp, closed his eyes, and plunged his consciousness into the system panel within his mind.
Host: Zhang Tiancheng
Age: 22
Skills: Level 4 Director (Available for study), Level 8 Acting (Available for study), Level 2 Cinematography (Available for study), Level 2 Editing (Available for study)...
Rewards: Naxin Lithography Technology Company (Locked), Wantong Chips Technology Company (Locked), Mili Mobile Technology Company (Locked)......
Looking at the string of companies listed under the rewards section, Zhang Tiancheng felt a deep sense of sorrow. The rewards were incredible, but far too difficult to obtain.
Zhang Tiancheng had originally lived in the twenty-first century. Two years ago, his soul had transmigrated into the body of someone who shared his exact name, accompanied by this system panel.
Aside from heavily reinforcing his physical body when he first arrived, the system panel had only two functions. First, he could enter the system once a day to study directing or directing-related skills. Second, it offered tech companies as rewards.
Two years of daily study, combined with what he learned at school, had made him Li Changxiong's prized pupil, yet the system still rated him only as a Level 4 director.
Acting was also classified as a directing-related skill. At first, Zhang Tiancheng had found this strange—wasn't acting an actor's job? But on second thought, it made sense: a director might not need to act, but they had to understand acting, otherwise how could they direct actors?
The reason his acting skill was ridiculously high at Level 8 was due to his transmigration; he could control every single muscle and even blood vessels in his body. Muscle control meant absolute mastery over body language, and body language was the cornerstone of acting. After just a little casual study, his acting had hit Level 7. Over the past two years, by auditing Chang Li's classes, it had advanced to Level 8.
The rewarded tech companies made Zhang Tiancheng's mouth water with envy, but there was no helping it—he had to reach Level 5 as a director before the first company's reward conditions would unlock. Only by knowing the conditions could he figure out how to claim the rewards.
Yet, half a year ago, his director level had hit a bottleneck at Level 4.
He had been so stressed he was nearly losing hair. A few days ago, it suddenly occurred to him that he had spent all his time studying without any practical execution; he probably needed to actually direct a film. That was why he had asked Li Changxiong for leave to make a movie.
After casting another yearning look at the lineup of companies at the bottom of the reward list, Zhang Tiancheng pulled back his focus and used his mind to click on the "Available for study" option next to Level 4 Director.
In an instant, Zhang Tiancheng found himself standing inside a classroom.