Chapter 65: The Beijing Film Academy Begins Poaching Talent...

"Damn, that was close!"
"Thank goodness I contacted Bao Jingjing right away and intercepted the copyright!"

Chen Jin genuinely had no idea that Teng Huatao would reach out to Bao Jingjing so early, even inquiring about purchasing the adaptation rights for *Love Is Not Blind*.

After all, the book had been published for less than two months.

He had assumed Teng Huatao wouldn't come knocking for at least a few months, since the film adaptation of *Love Is Not Blind* wasn't scheduled for release until the end of next year.

He had no inkling that Teng Huatao had been eyeing it for a long time.

While Douban posts also established copyright ownership, Bao Jingjing hadn't finished serializing it back then, and Teng Huatao was busy preparing *Dwelling Narrowness*, so he hadn't given it much thought.

It wasn't until the publication of *Love Is Not Blind* that he suddenly noticed the book. After reading it from cover to cover, he realized the potential for a screen adaptation.

Yet, he was still a step too late.

Chen Jin's anxiety had indeed been well-founded.

This blind, accidental move of his completely shattered Teng Huatao's original calculations.

...

"Junior, I've given him all your contact information. He should be getting in touch with you soon!"

Bao Jingjing told Chen Jin over the phone.

Being a young woman in her early twenties, she obviously had not yet learned the treacherous ways of the industry. After Zhao Zhao contacted her and revealed his identity, her very first thought was that with Chen Jin collaborating with Teng Huatao, the screen adaptation of her work would be even more secure.

From her perspective, with Chen Jin backed by Zhang Yimou, he would definitely be in a strong negotiating position with Teng Huatao.

Chen Jin, however, appeared much calmer.

"Alright, then I'll wait for his call!"

If Teng Huatao contacted him, Chen Jin would sit down and have a proper discussion with him; if he didn't, Chen Jin was in no particular hurry.

The anxious one right now had to be Director Teng.

If he had any desire to adapt *Love Is Not Blind* for the screen, he simply couldn't bypass Chen Jin.

"Great, keep in touch if there's any news!"

Bao Jingjing was genuinely excited. She had never imagined her work could be adapted so quickly.

When Chen Jin had approached her earlier, she still harbored some doubts, but now that Teng Huatao had come looking for her, she truly felt the project was going to happen.

She was going to become a real film screenwriter!

At this thought, one can easily imagine Bao Jingjing's state of mind; she wasn't thinking about anything else at all.

"Alright, if worst comes to worst, the three of us can sit down and have a proper chat then!"

Chen Jin's idea was actually quite simple: invest a bit of money himself, take the male lead role, and get this movie made.

If things really went that smoothly.

"It probably won't be that easy. Never mind, I'll wait until they contact me..."

Chen Jin hung up the phone without dwelling on it too much. Nothing was set in stone yet; at the very least, they would need to meet and talk before anything could be known, so he didn't take the matter to heart.

In the afternoon, Fu Lulu packed Chen Jin off.

He still needed to prepare well for the third round of the Central Academy of Drama exams tomorrow.

This wasn't Chen Jin's idea, but Fu Lulu's. Right now, the entire Zhang Yimou Studio seemed to place a huge emphasis on his artistic entrance exams.

Chen Jin returned to his hotel room to continue studying his system.

Su Wanyu, however, had gone out to play again.

In a couple of days, when the Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama announced the results of the third round, she would have to head back. Primary schools were opening one after another, and she had only taken half a month of leave.

***

In the evening, at the examination hall for the Beijing Film Academy's third round.

After nearly a full day, the 2010 Beijing Film Academy performance department entrance exams finally came to a close.

Examinees and parents left one after another, while the chief examiners and teachers in charge of the exams didn't leave at all, all staying behind for a meeting.

"Where is Teacher Cui?"

Chen Yi took a roll call of the people present and noticed that only Cui Xinqin was missing.

Wang Jingsong immediately spoke up, "She took a phone call. Looks like her phone's been ringing a few times."

"Ah, then let's wait a moment!"

The post-exam meeting was an annual tradition for the Beijing Film Academy's performance department.

The main purpose was to summarize the exams and discuss outstanding students from the examinations, some of whom required the teachers to personally recruit.

After all, once the third round ended, the dynamic would completely reverse.

The entrance exams were the school testing the students, but passing the third round meant the students choosing the school.

Which school didn't want outstanding students?!

Some students might even join the new performance class group chat of the Beijing Film Academy, only to ultimately choose the Central Academy of Drama instead.

Rong Zishan, who later gained fame for playing Zhu Chaoyang in *The Bad Kids*, ranked first in the artistic entrance exams for both the Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama. The Beijing Film Academy teachers managed to pull him into their student chat group, yet he was still poached by the Central Academy of Drama in the end.

Who could you reason with about that?

They could only grumble to the media and try to thoroughly ruin that student's reputation.

That really wasn't a very honorable way to behave.

You couldn't try to have your cake and eat it too, using the school as a bargaining chip for resource exchanges; of course, in the middle of all this, talent agencies were the primary culprits, and actors were sometimes quite helpless themselves.

To maximize their profits, doing this seemed to them... "completely understandable"!

Creak!

The door to the exam room was pushed open, and Cui Xinqin hurried in, saying, "I'm so sorry, I truly am!"

"No worries!"

Seeing that all the teachers had arrived, Chen Yi said, "For this round of exams, we probably don't need a show of hands to decide who the most outstanding candidate is, right?"

"Old Wang, how was Chen Jin's oral exam?"

"Quite exceptional. His grasp of theory is very solid, he understands a lot of cultural common knowledge, and he possesses a composure that far exceeds his age..."

"You could actually tell as early as the first and second rounds. Before performing, he would think and brew his emotions first, making him a cut above the other candidates in maturity..."

Wang Jingsong remarked.

Cui Xinqin also nodded in agreement. "That's right. The candidate Chen Jin has an extraordinary talent for performance!"

"We definitely need to have a good talk with this student!"

"Mm!"

Chen Yi looked at a pretty female examiner sitting nearby, smiled, and said, "Teacher Sui, you're taking on a class this year. Please make the effort to secure this candidate; we need to find out what's on his mind, regardless of whether he applied to other schools!"

"It's best if he hasn't applied anywhere else, but if he has, we still need to pull out all the stops to win him over!"

"Understood, Dean!"

Sui Lan was the head teacher for Class 1 of the 2010 performance department, belonging to the same cohort as Yao Chen and Yang Zhigang.

Her acting career hadn't been entirely smooth, so she ultimately stayed at the school to become a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy.

She had previously served as the head teacher for the higher vocational classes and was later transferred to work in the Student Affairs Office. This year was her first time taking on the duties of a head teacher for an undergraduate class.

The mere thought of Chen Jin becoming her student—alongside Yang Zi and Zhang Yishan—stirred up some ambitious ideas of her own.

She had witnessed Chen Jin's performance today with her own eyes; he was definitely timber for a future leading man.

While achieving fame in an acting career is what everyone desires, when that path hits a dead end, producing a few highly famous students—much like Cui Xinqin—might just turn out to be a wonderful alternative path.

It was beneficial for promotions and career advancements.

Look at Cui Xinqin and Wang Jingsong; they had both become vice deans, and Xu Xiaodan beside them would become a department head next year. The students of these three all currently enjoyed massive fame in the country.

Zhao Wei, Huang Xiaoming, and Chen Kun were Wang Jingsong's students, while Liu Yifei was Wang Jingsong's, and Yang Mi was Xu Xiaodan's.

"Alright, that's all for now!"

"Meeting adjourned!"

After outlining some goals and plans for the performance department this year, Chen Yi concluded the brief meeting.

Meanwhile, Teng Huatao's secretary, Zhao Zhao, knocked on the door of his office.

In less than a day, she had already dug up almost everything there was to know about Chen Jin's background!