Chapter 132: University Students’ Film Festival
Yun Xiangxiang quickly flipped the calendar after she hung up. The Lunar New Year was on the 28th of January. She should be able to hurry back to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
“The King’s Plan” should be wrapping up during mid-January. Her finals would start from the 13th of January. It seemed like she still had to apply for leave.
The finals inched closer following the close of filming. Yun Xiangxiang concentrated even more on filming as well as seizing every opportunity to revise.
The knowledge that they came into contact with during their freshman year wasn’t too hard. Yun Xiangxiang didn’t know the other students’ situations either.
Yun Xiangxiang didn’t dare to be arrogant since she needed to be one of the top ten in her course where top students congregated.
Yun Xiangxiang had some scenes that she didn’t manage to film on the eleventh. It was something Wu Zhao added at the last minute. That was why Yun Xiangxiang could only apply for leave.
Wu Zhao naturally approved of it since they had already agreed on it before the filming started.
Yun Xiangxiang flew nonstop from Hubei to Beijing. She slept in her home before entering the exam hall the next day.
Tao Manni, whose face was getting green leaned against Yun Xiangxiang after the morning exam ended, “It’s so hard. It’s so hard. I think I might fail.”
“I think it’s still okay. The lecturers did emphasize everything that would appear in the exam,” Yun Xiangxiang felt that she did decently.
Ma Linlin pushed her glasses, “I think I may be able to pass.”
“Aiya, the exam is done and over with. Why are you guys still talking about it? We still have another paper this afternoon. Let’s go grab a bite first,” Feng Xiaolu felt that her stomach was getting empty after one paper. She was starving.
Their group went to the cafeteria. The reappearance of the goddess after a long while naturally attracted some huge following.
“Why do I feel like they’re looking at me like how they did during our first day?” Yun Xiangxiang felt that they shouldn’t be like this even if they did separate for a long time.
“Man, my memory is bad,” Zhu Yuan slapped her forehead. “Xiangxiang, next year’s university students’ film festival is held in our school!”
Even though Beijing’s university students’ film festival wasn’t internationally acclaimed, it was a heavyweight in the nation. It was the leader of the university students’ film festival for the whole of China. There would be a lot of people from the film industry taking part in it. There would also be a plethora of awards waiting for them.
It was authoritative and acknowledged by people in the film industry. It was said to be China’s greatest event in the film industry which had international standards.
The main venue for the film festival would be set in one of the three prestigious universities in Beijing: Normal University, Qingdao University, or Beijing University. The event would air the participating clips in more than twenty prestigious universities in Beijing at the same time. The judges would also be the top students from various prestigious schools.
“It will be at the start of the semester. The student council, which is us, needs to stay back on campus to start our work on decoration over the course of this winter break,” Chu Ting added. “We will support Xiangxiang!”
“Will my work be in this event?” Yun Xiangxiang didn’t know of it herself.
“We don’t know it for now. However, “University Dream” can take part. We are the home team after all!” Feng Xiaolu said excitedly while she was eating. “You must be the biggest winner, the most eye-catching main protagonist!”
This wasn’t Feng Xiaolu being biased. Yun Xiangxiang was sure to be the one who had the most university student fans in the entertainment industry. Not to mention that she was a top student in a famous institution.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that two-thirds of Beijing’s top universities’ students were Yun Xiangxiang’s fans. Lots of people came to their university to see her on the pretext of an academic tour.
At least half of the judges were Yun Xiangxiang’s fans. Was there any need to guess the results?
Of course, they weren’t partial just because of that. Yun Xiangxiang’s works were really great. Nobody could be nitpicky about it.
“You just concentrate on filming. Leave the rest to us,” Ma Linlin winked at Yun Xiangxiang.
There were now the core members of Yun Xiangxiang’s fan club. They could be said to be the leaders of Yun Xiangxiang’s fan club. Eight out of ten of them were from Qingdao University. The remaining two were either from Beijing University, Renmin University of China, or Communication University of China…
Yun Xiangxiang was the one who treated them well on most days. The day finally came when they could be of use.
Yun Xiangxiang smiled when she saw the five of them being so fired up, “Just handle what you’re supposed to. My stuff isn’t important. Our school’s reputation is more crucial.”
Since they would be the host this time, then they must display Qingdao University’s grandeur. They couldn’t afford to be missing the generosity of a host.
“They’re all important!” Zhu Yuan emphasized. “Don’t you worry. We will work together on this. You don’t know that Yang Qi and the other guys were howling with excitement.”
When the guys heard that the film festival would be held at their school, they put in furious efforts in their discussion and labor until they went home. They would hurry back and continue as soon as the Lunar New Year holiday ended.
Yun Xiangxiang was touched by having these enthusiastic friends, “Alright, I’ll do my best. I won’t let you guys down.”
They chatted jovially in the afternoon. They had many things to say after three months of not seeing each other. They went back to their own homes after they finished their afternoon paper.
Their break would start on the 16th of January and would end on the 8th of February. Twenty-odd days of break wasn’t short, but it wasn’t long either.
Yun Xiangxiang also wanted to gather with them after their exam was done. However, her filming wasn’t done. Yun Xiangxiang could only fly to Hubei immediately so as to not delay the schedule on the 22nd. It snowed heavily.
The last scene was when King Wen of Chu died in his path of conquest. He regretted not fulfilling his ambition and not having the one he loved by his side when he took his last breath.
He thought about his massive empire. Finally, his gaze settled upon the illusion of his wife whom he longed for. He almost saw her dancing in the snow in his blurry consciousness. It was gentle and graceful. He finally closed his eyes with a smile.
Yun Xiangxiang wore a very thin dress and danced in the actual snow.
She didn’t feel cold at all when she had Song Mian’s warm patches and insoles. The whole dance flowed fluidly and merged with nature, engrossing whoever was watching it.
Everyone cheered when Wu Zhao shouted “Cut”. They finally finished this piece of work.
Sun Qiluo couldn’t wait to leave at the next second when she was filming. However, she nearly cried when it was actually time to part ways.
“I filmed a lot of movies. This is the first time that I feel so reluctant to leave.”
Everyone else also felt sad. Wu Zhao finally wasn’t stingy. He treated them to the best feast in the biggest hotel.
Since it was nearly Lunar New Year, Wu Zhao, Cao Chi, and Xong Ao even pooled together some money to give the extras who were still there a red packet.
“The ad will be shot in Italy after the Lunar New Year holiday is done. It’s on the 18th of February,” Lu Jing and Yun Xiangxiang boarded the same flight since they were both going back to Beijing. Coincidentally, they sat next to each other.
Lu Jing was talking about the advertisement for the sports car. He Wei had talked about it in detail with Lu Jing’s agent when he came to sign the contract. He Wei agreed to it after that.
“Okay. I understand,” He Wei must have arranged the time prior to this. She only needed to apply for a leave.
The school would have started for ten days when it was the 18th of February. Applying for leave would be easy as long as her results were okay.
It would only be a few days’ work for advertisement shooting. She could take away two days from her application since it was also around the weekend.
Yun Xiangxiang called her parents to inform them about her still having something to do when she returned to Beijing. She could only return home before the Lunar New Year. She asked Song Qian to send Yun Lin back first to reunite with them.
She then called Song Mian, “I’ll go to the Big Apple [1]. When are you coming back?”
“When are you going?”
“The day after tomorrow. I’ll be back around the 25th or 26th,” Yun Xiangxiang had already planned it out.
“I’ll pick you up there and we’ll go home together.”