novellhall Chapter 30: Celebrity Dormitory
Chapter 30: Celebrity Dormitory
Noon.
Beijing Film Academy cafeteria.
Several crooked lines formed in front of the window, and the aunties serving the food clattered their spoons against the metal trays.
The smells of cooking oil, food, and voices mingled together.
In the corner, Yang Mi put her plate on the table and started speaking before she had even settled into her seat.
"Have you heard? Director Mu from the photography department almost got into a fight with Professor Xie, the vice dean of the directing department!"
"They were practically about to take action." Zhang Xuan shoveled the braised pork onto her rice. "A senior from the photography department I know was in that classroom, and he said he saw it with his own eyes. Director Mu rushed in and yelled, 'Wei Yi, what are you wasting your time in the directing department for?' Professor Xie's face turned green."
Zhang Xiaofei ate her rice in small bites, her voice soft and gentle: "I've heard about it too. His storyboard assignment even impressed Professor Xie. Professor Xie said that of all the classic cases he's discussed over the past ten years, Wei Yi's answer came in second."
"And first place?"
Professor Xie said there's no first place yet.
Hearing such detailed inside information for the first time, Yuan Shanshan's chopsticks hovered in mid-air, her eyes wide with disbelief: "Really? He's only a freshman!"
"Otherwise, why do you think Gong Li would choose him to shoot a cover?"
Yang Mi stuffed a piece of potato into her mouth and mumbled, "I was browsing the forums this morning, and the posts about the VOGUE photo set almost crashed the school's intranet. Apparently, the magazine is sold out, and even LV has approached them."
"LV?" Yuan Shanshan exclaimed softly, "You mean LV?"
"Besides that LV, which other LV is there?"
Just as Zhang Xuan was about to reply, her chopsticks suddenly stopped, and her gaze went past Yang Mi's shoulder, landing directly on the cafeteria entrance.
"Isn't that Wei Yi?"
All four of them turned their heads at the same time.
At the entrance of the cafeteria, Wei Yi was carrying a plate of set meal, with a burly man in his thirties beside him, who was none other than Li Hua.
The two, carrying their trays, scanned the crowded aisles of the cafeteria, clearly looking for a seat.
"Sisters, this is your chance!"
Yang Mi jumped up, raised her hand and waved, her voice crisp like the tapping of a porcelain bowl: "Wei Yi! There's an empty seat here!"
At least a hundred people in the entire cafeteria looked up at the same time.
Zhang Xiaofei blushed and shrank back half an inch under the table.
Yuan Shanshan almost dropped her chopsticks.
Zhang Xuan remained unfazed, even shifting her position slightly to make room for two people.
Li Hua first saw the direction of the waving, his eyes lit up, and he nudged Wei Yi with his elbow: "Junior brother, over there. Four of them, all quite pretty."
Wei Yi looked in that direction, a slight smile playing on his lips: "Senior, those are from our school's 05 undergraduate acting class."
How did you know?
"Of course I know."
Wei Yi carried the tray over, with Li Hua following behind, his face full of "I love watching the show."
"Thank you, classmate."
Wei Yi put down his plate and naturally sat down opposite Yang Mi.
Li Hua sat down next to him, his gaze sweeping over the four girls' faces, silently giving his junior brother a thumbs up.
"Yang Mi, Zhang Xiaofei, Zhang Xuan—" Wei Yi's gaze finally landed on Yuan Shanshan, pausing for a second, "Yuan Shanshan. You're all in the same dorm, right?"
All four girls were stunned.
"How did you know?" Zhang Xuan blurted out, her tone genuinely surprised.
"I saw it on the school forum." Wei Yi picked up a piece of braised pork and stuffed it into his mouth. "They said you guys are the prettiest in our year of performing arts."
What he didn't say was that all four of them had become stars in their past lives.
It was considered a star dormitory among their year's performing arts students.
Yang Mi goes without saying, Zhang Xiaofei later became a movie star, Zhang Xuan is doing very well in the TV drama circle, and even Yuan Shanshan, the least famous actress, has played many leading roles.
Yang Mi's eyes lit up, and she couldn't suppress the smile on her lips.
Wei Yi not only knows who I am, but also knows their entire dormitory? And he even praised their good conditions?
This...this means they secretly inquired about us, didn't they?!
Zhang Xuan laughed heartily: "Finally, I've seen you alive! I spent the whole morning waiting for you on the first day of school, but I didn't even catch a glimpse of you. Later I found out the dean picked you up early. Well, so what if you got a perfect score on the college entrance exam?"
"Truly remarkable," Li Hua added casually from the side.
The six of them burst into laughter.
Yang Mi's cunning nature was fully unleashed amidst laughter; she put down her chopsticks and immediately started trying to get information out of Wei Yi: "Wei Yi, the forum says you're planning to make a movie?"
"We do have this plan."
"How much should I invest?"
"Around ten million."
Ten million.
The four girls were silent for half a second.
In 2005, an investment of ten million was an astronomical figure for a freshman performing arts student.
"Has the female lead been decided?" Yang Mi pressed, her smile growing even brighter.
"not yet."
"None of us freshmen in the acting department have ever acted in a role yet," Yang Mi leaned forward slightly, her tone slightly coquettish. "Have you considered amateurs? Or rather—newcomers? You know, we're in the same year, we're such good classmates!"
Zhang Xiaofei tugged at her sleeve under the table.
Yang Mi was completely unaware.
Wei Yi smiled but didn't reply. He picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork rib and slowly ate it.
Li Hua watched from the side and couldn't help but laugh, thinking to himself that this junior sister was really something else.
He picked up the soup bowl, took a sip, and glanced at Wei Yi's face, wanting to see how he would respond.
Just then, Zhang Xuan suddenly blurted out, "Wei Yi, do you like football?"
Wei Yi was taken aback: "I only look at it occasionally, what's wrong?"
Zhang Xiaofei rubbed his forehead and whispered to Yang Mi, "She's here again."
Sure enough. Zhang Xuan's eyes instantly lit up like two searchlights. He straightened up, slammed his chopsticks on the table, and unleashed a torrent of words: "Did you watch the Champions League last night? Liverpool vs. Chelsea! That offside call was absolutely outrageous! Was the referee blind? And Benitez's substitutions in the second half, taking the winger off and replacing him with a defensive midfielder, completely switching the formation from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2—the effect was immediate!"
Wei Yi opened his mouth, but found he only had time to say two words: "Didn't see it."
"It's okay if you haven't seen it! Let me tell you—"
Zhang Xuan discussed everything from the offside rule to formation changes, from the pace of the Premier League to the defensive counter-attacks in Serie A, and also interspersed technical analyses of several popular stars.
The speed of the speech and the density of knowledge points were comparable to a final review session for an undergraduate football theory course.
Wei Yi's initial polite nods gradually turned into blank stares.
Li Hua laughed so hard his shoulders shook.
Yang Mi finally couldn't stand it anymore. She slammed her hand on the table and cut Zhang Xuan off, "Zhang Xuan, we're here to get to know people, not to select football players."
Zhang Xuan looked completely innocent: "Oh, I thought he liked football too. Don't all boys like football?"
"Well, it's alright. I check it occasionally."
"Okay, okay..."
Wei Yi shook his head, picked up the soup bowl and was about to drink when his chopsticks suddenly stopped in mid-air.
A familiar notification sound rang in my mind.
[Ding-dong—We've detected that the attention you've garnered from excellent furnaces has exceeded the threshold.]
[Scanning for spiritual energy fluctuations of female cultivators within the current area...]
[Scan complete.]
[Top-tier cultivation vessel - Yang Mi: Inner disciple of the Joyful Union Sect, overall rating: Upper A. It is recommended that the host befriend her for future dual cultivation.]
[Zhang Xiaofei, an excellent cultivation vessel: Inner disciple of the Hehuan Sect, overall rating: Upper B.]
[Zhang Xuan, an excellent cultivation vessel: Inner disciple of the Hehuan Sect, overall rating: Upper B.]
[Excellent Furnace - Yuan Shanshan: Inner disciple of the Hehuan Sect, overall rating: Upper B.]
Wei Yi's chopsticks hovered above the soup bowl, and the smile on his face froze for a moment.
Again.
This ridiculous system is constantly adding bricks and tiles to his "immortal cultivation career".
He subconsciously glanced at the four people opposite him.
Yang Mi happened to be looking at him too.
Their eyes met, and she neither flinched nor avoided them, a smile curving her lips.
Generous and open-minded.
With a touch of undisguised inquiry and ideas.
No wonder she's been popular for so long.