Chapter 40: Taking the Beijing Film Academy Entrance Exam

Chapter 40: Participating in the Beijing Film School Entrance Exam

Everyone was somewhat surprised, including Li Jingkun himself.

But on second thought, it made sense—after all, he was fairly well-known at the moment. His main audience consisted mostly of middle and high school students; his earlier novels likely attracted more male readers. However, with "The Heartless Sorcerer," the readership was probably more evenly split between genders.

As for why he hadn't wanted to reveal his identity as a writer back in high school, it was simply because it served no practical purpose—only to show off. Now, however, he introduced himself willingly, of course, to gain extra points, to have more bargaining chips!

With over a thousand applicants competing for just a dozen spots, he couldn't be certain of winning; he had to bring out all his strengths.

"How so? Has anyone here read his novels?" one of the three examiners noticed something unusual and asked. The one in the middle, named Su Zhijun, spoke up.

Yang Hailong was a bit curious too. He never read youth fiction, finding it unnutritious and preferring classics instead. So, he hadn't heard of Li Jingkun.

But someone had actually read his novels? Was he that famous?

"Actually..." a male student said, "I'm a fan of his. I've followed him since 'The Qingming Illusion River.' His novels are quite popular. The two volumes of 'The Qingming Illusion River' sold at least 600,000 copies combined. The previous one, 'The Heartless Sorcerer,' sold over 300,000 copies."

Everyone was a bit shocked. Nearly a million copies sold—that definitely qualified him as a well-known author.

Li Jingkun was both surprised and pleased to find there were readers among them, true fans who had taken the time to learn about his work.

He glanced at the boy again—probably also a first-time candidate, about his age.

"What did you say your novel was called again? I'll have to look it up," Su Zhijun said, pulling out a pen to jot down the title. Li Jingkun repeated the name.

But since he was already a recognized author, why was he applying to the directing department?

One of the examiners posed the question. Li Jingkun had already answered: he loved audiovisual language and storytelling through images and had already made two short films.

"You made two short films back in high school?"

"Impressive. Really multi-talented."

"Did you bring the works with you?"

There were many surprises today; the examiners were clearly interested. Many candidates brought their own works, but it was rare for someone to have prepared since high school—especially a teenage writer.

Of course, he had brought them.

What was the interview for? To meet the candidate and understand them better.

Since he had works to show, those were important credentials, so naturally, they wanted to review them.

Li Jingkun pulled out three USB drives and distributed one to each examiner.

"Isn't one enough?" Su Zhijun asked.

"No problem, I brought over a dozen," Li Jingkun replied.

Everyone was a bit speechless but understood his determination.

The other candidates felt somewhat uneasy, as Li Jingkun seemed far superior in comparison...

***

Li Jingkun was a small surprise in their group, so they chatted a bit more. Many candidates applying to directing were quite talented.

Yang Hailong had already passed the school exam before, and his professional skills were stronger than most.

Of the six candidates in their group, two ultimately passed: Li Jingkun and Yang Hailong.

After leaving the exam room, Li Jingkun naturally chatted briefly with his fan, who still found it hard to believe he was "Li Tangwang."

***

Those who didn't pass the re-examination had to pack up and go home; Li Jingkun stayed in Beijing.

If one passed all rounds, they needed to stay for six or seven days.

The third test involved art appreciation, music appreciation, and story conception.

Thanks to his unique advantage, the last two were his strengths, and art appreciation was more subjective, without a standard answer. He passed all three smoothly.

The fourth test was themed creation, creative discussion, and performance.

The challenge for him was the performance, as it required cooperation with others and was less controllable.

Groups of 8 to 10 people were each given a theme to create and perform a skit together.

Honestly, hardly any performances were outstanding.

But the examiners didn’t expect top-notch shows; their main goal was to observe everyone's creativity, communication, and teamwork. They also assessed stress resistance—each group had a teacher guiding them, who secretly observed all candidates.

Directors are essentially the leaders of a film crew, responsible for daily decisions and handling unexpected situations, so strong character was crucial.

***

A few days later, the directing department exams concluded, and the teachers assigned a task.

Still, they occasionally chatted with the passing students.

"Has Yang Hailong come for the third time?"

"Yeah, he's been repeating for two years."

"I remember he was pretty good; didn't he pass last time?"

"Seems like his college entrance exam scores didn't meet the cutoff."

"He’ll have to study hard this time after so many years of retaking."

Though many candidates attended, after days of face-to-face interaction, most had become familiar with each other, especially repeat candidates like Yang Hailong.

"Li Jingkun is pretty good too, solid fundamentals. I think he has great potential," Su Zhijun said, expressing his fondness for Li Jingkun’s demeanor, appearance, and performance over the days.

"Yes, his overall abilities are impressive," another teacher added; he was in charge of the performance group that included Li Jingkun. "He’s quick-witted, has personal ideas, and his storytelling is strong, which earns others’ recognition."

Su Zhijun nodded. "His performance skills are decent as well."

"I heard he’s a teenage writer?"

"Right. I checked online last time; he even has his own page under his pen name. His works have sold over a million copies."

"Really? This kid is that talented? Then why haven’t the media mentioned him when he came to take our school exam?"

"...How many people really pay attention to the directing department’s exam?"

"True, everyone only cares about the acting department."

"But the most important thing is his two short films; they’re pretty good. Have you seen them?"

"Yes, their quality is solid, and the stories are complete."

"With solid fundamentals, the shorts are enjoyable."

***

"So you... passed all at once?"

The school exam had over a thousand candidates, and about twenty passed all four tests.

Both Yang Hailong and Li Jingkun were among them.

It wasn’t unheard of to pass all at once, but Yang Hailong, having taken the exam three times, felt a bit uneasy seeing others succeed immediately.

"There’s still the college entrance exam; we can’t relax yet," Li Jingkun said.

Yang Hailong had passed the school exam before, showing good overall ability, but missed the cutoff due to lower final scores.

Typically, the directing department’s cutoff is about 70% of the top tier—a reasonably high bar.

"How are your scores?" Yang Hailong asked.

"Cultural scores?" Li Jingkun replied.

"Of course."

Li Jingkun recalled Su Zhijun had asked him the same question, clearly worried he might not pass the college exam. He answered, "If I perform normally, passing the first batch of undergraduates shouldn’t be a problem."

"..."

What kind of answer was that?

Yang Hailong cursed silently and decided not to press further.

He had to focus on studying now—no more setbacks this time.

***

After passing the school exam, Li Jingkun refocused on the college entrance exam. In May, a devastating national earthquake struck the Sichuan region.

Li Jingkun decided to donate a sum under the name "Li Tangwang."

He contributed 200,000 yuan—not a huge amount, but a small effort. Some things simply couldn’t be changed by one person alone, especially since he was still a high school student.

From then on, every year he tried to set aside some money for charity, focusing mainly on education, such as school donations, aside from disaster relief.

***

After the school exam, it was time to review the past six months.

In April, "The Heartless Sorcerer 2" was released with an initial print run of 300,000 copies. Adding the profits from the previous book, minus the 200,000 yuan donation and funds reserved for home renovations, his net worth was around 1.4 million yuan.

Their song "Queen" was performed at the New Year’s Gala, recorded on video, later recorded in the studio, and uploaded online.

Perhaps the song was better, or maybe they already had a small fanbase; the song needed little promotion yet received hundreds of comments and over a thousand plays initially, rising to over 3,000 plays within a few months.

Even without paid promotion, plays increased steadily. Someone even offered to buy the song at a high price, but Li Jingkun ignored the offer.

Of course, they were still far from becoming viral sensations like "Two Butterflies" or "Mouse Loves Rice."

Good wine needs no bush.

Professional singers find it hard to promote a single song; let alone wild amateurs who don’t seek money.

In summary, they had three original songs: "Ten Thousand Sorrows," "Remaining Summer," and "Queen."

***

After passing the school exam, there was naturally a celebration.

Initially, they planned to invite the Aurora Band, Song Hairong, Zhu Miaotong, and others.

But when Song Hairong returned to the dorm, his roommate—who was also Li Jingkun’s former roommate—wanted to come too.

Inviting Zhu Miaotong meant her deskmate and Wang Yajing would also come.

So in the end, it was a large group.

Maybe because everyone was familiar with each other, or the intense atmosphere of senior year, they had a wild time, even bringing guitars to sing karaoke.

(The End of the Chapter)