TL: Hua

Chapter 117: Second update

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, midsummer turned to late autumn.

When the paths on campus were covered in golden plane tree leaves, the filming of “Becoming an Older Brother Again” finally wrapped.

On the day of the wrap-up, everyone in the crew stood together for a group photo, every face overflowing with a brilliant smile and eyes full of anticipation for the future.

The usually stingy director finally splurged for once tonight, paying out of his own pocket to treat everyone to a sumptuous dinner.

During the meal, the director, who used to hate the sight of alcohol because he’d seen too much of it while chasing investments, picked up a glass to drink freely with everyone.

He was toasted many times tonight and got quite tipsy; finally, as he was about to leave the table, he walked over to Lin Yanran, the corners of his eyes a bit red.

“Thank you, Yanran, thank you…”

He kept saying thank you to Lin Yanran, as if he could never say it enough.

Lin Yanran waved it off many times, saying there was no need for thanks, but the director remained insistent.

Because he knew very well that without Lin Yanran joining, this crew would never have started filming, let alone have this day to celebrate the wrap-up.

But at the same time, he also understood that his small, shabby film crew had “temporarily” tarnished the other party’s illustrious resume.

As a director, he certainly had great confidence in his work.

But his confidence was useless.

Currently, aside from the crew, netizens and industry insiders generally have a poor outlook on them.

The current trend online was that ever since people dug up the movie’s registration and learned Lin Yanran had joined this impoverished crew, many people online had been mocking him.

Some said he was short-sighted, actually lowering his own status to take a low-budget movie.

Some said his popularity was hollow, glamorous on the surface, but in reality, he couldn’t even land a good script.

There were even those who brought up the recasting of “Sparrow Feather,” mocking him for not being able to make it into big productions with heavy investment, so he could only desperately take any role he could get…

All sorts of claims rose and fell, never once stopping.

Of course, the internet wasn’t entirely made of these voices; there were also those who felt Lin Yanran was clear-headed and wouldn’t be so reckless in taking a role, suggesting he must have his own considerations.

Furthermore, his fans were very supportive and had always trusted his judgment.

However, the movie had only just finished filming, and whether it could successfully be released was still a question mark.

Even if it were fortunate enough to be released, its final box office performance and whether it will be publicly condemned remain unknown.

Therefore, before the movie’s release, the crew was very careful to avoid bringing too much negative trouble to Lin Yanran; the official accounts were cautious, intentionally avoiding posting behind-the-scenes clips or promotional materials related to him.

Because a previous incident had taught them a lesson.

Liang Zhishi hadn’t been careful and had very happily posted a photo on Weibo of Lin Yanran tutoring him on his homework.

As a result, it immediately drew many haters to attack Lin Yanran for putting on a show.

They said that with his educational background, it was impossible for him to tutor high school subjects, calling the crew disgusting for hyping him up this way.

Then they attacked Liang Zhishi, saying that if he were truly so focused on studying and preparing for the exams, it would be impossible for him to skip school and do homework on set, calling him pretentious.

In short, everyone now viewed everything related to this crew through a negative lens; no matter what they did, it was wrong.

The crew was well aware of this situation, so they tried to minimize their presence as much as possible, refusing to draw attention to themselves in order to protect the actors.

After “Becoming an Older Brother Again” wrapped, the focus of the haters shifted slightly.

Aside from their daily mockery of Lin Yanran being useless and having hollow popularity, they began to track his next moves.

Then they discovered that Lin Yanran’s upcoming schedule only included one musical and a remaining album that had been planned in the first half of the year but not yet released. Aside from these two things, he wasn’t taking any other assignments.

Siyu was different from Lin Yanran’s previous company.

Rather than just making money, they were more supportive of their artists’ self-improvement in all aspects, including education.

Therefore, because Lin Yanran needed to review lessons for the college entrance exam, the company had originally intended not to book any jobs for him at all.

All the remaining time was to be reserved for his studies.

However, Lin Yanran was very interested in the musical. Feeling that he still had energy to spare while reviewing, he wanted to take it on.

Hong Huixue was shocked at the time.

Although she knew Lin Yanran was smart and by no means the good-for-nothing the public perceived him to be, balancing the college entrance exam and work seemed risky.

“How about… we just focus on the college entrance exam? If you get into a good university, it’ll make this sister of yours proud.”

Lin Yanran nodded; he certainly intended to revise thoroughly, but he had his own considerations.

“This musical is mainly in the second half of next year. It won’t take up much time in the first half. In terms of scheduling and academic progress, I feel I can completely handle it.”

Although in the eyes of outsiders his education stopped at high school, the knowledge he had learned in the past was already stored in his mind.

Lin Yanran hadn’t told anyone in this world yet that in his previous life, he had attended a university ranked in the top three globally.

Combined with his consistently excellent memory, the college entrance exam wasn’t actually a particularly difficult task for him.

Lin Yanran was always very independent. Hong Huixue knew he wasn’t someone without a sense of proportion, and seeing he had made his decision, she said no more.

The college entrance exam is a major event after all.

To reduce outside interference and criticism, the company and his team did not announce that he was preparing for the exam.

Consequently, after seeing that his work plan for the next six months or so was almost a blank slate, even the haters couldn’t stand it.

As a result, Lin Yanran’s Weibo was flooded with “greetings” again.

[Being your hater is embarrassing; this is just too little career ambition…]

[Do you really think you’re a top-tier star like Gu Siye? Is your foundation as thick as his? Can you afford a hiatus this long?]

[Siyu, you guys are too useless… Do you really think Yanran is a superstar?]

Seeing that even the haters had more career ambition than they did, Lin Yanran’s fans, who had been tempered into a Zen state where they only cared if their baby was happy, were confused: ??

Do we as fans need to reflect on ourselves?

In the following months, Lin Yanran rehearsed for the musical while revising his lessons and completing the rest of the album.

The countdown to the college entrance exam drew closer. Once “Becoming an Older Brother Again” was finished, the production began fighting for screening slots in theaters.

Because it was a youth film involving themes of the entrance exam and high school students, the crew originally wanted to release it in June after the exam as a gift to the students.

However, due to post-production delays, they missed that window and had to fight for a summer release.

Everyone knows that the summer and Spring Festival slots are the most profitable. Therefore, the golden slot in July was naturally the focus of a fierce battle between various films.

How could a shabby little production like “Becoming an Older Brother Again” compete with big-budget films, comedies, and the animated movies children love?

Finally, the distributors exhausted every means possible and secured a release date of August 17th.

Though it was the tail end of the summer season, it could still catch the last of the holiday heat.

For the small crew, this was considered a good outcome.

Unfortunately, just as the date was set, “Sparrow Feather,” which had started filming around the same time, also announced its release date.

It was also August 17th.

This news took everyone by surprise.

Originally, everyone thought this film would aim for the high-traffic National Day or Spring Festival slots…

But they chose to jump in and fight for the end of the summer season instead…

Once this date was set, it meant that the small-budget film “Becoming an Older Brother Again,” which had lost at the starting line since birth, would have to go head-to-head with the wealthy, massive production of “Sparrow Feather.”

Theaters had originally allocated 5% of screenings to “Becoming an Older Brother Again.” Now, because “Sparrow Feather” had suddenly intervened, while the total number of screenings for “Becoming an Older Brother Again” didn’t decrease, their prime time slots were cut to zero.

The theater screenings were basically concentrated at 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM, and after 9:00 PM.

These are the times when foot traffic in cinemas is relatively at its lowest.

The film crew was extremely worried when they found out.

While the crew was fretting over this, the college entrance exam arrived as scheduled.

A few days before the exam, Gu Siye rented an apartment right next to the exam venue.

He did nothing else during those days but accompany Lin Yanran for the exam.

To ensure Lin Yanran’s health and avoid any accidents, he personally took charge of every breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The day before the exam, Lin Yanran was casually going through math problems.

Gu Siye brought a cup of warmed milk to him.

“Open up.”

Lin Yanran held his pen, turning to look at Gu Siye.

The other man was actually holding the milk with one hand, feeding it directly to his lips.

Lin Yanran took a small sip, then put down his pen and took the cup from Gu Siye’s hand.

A sip for romance was one thing, but he couldn’t bring himself to drink the whole thing like that.

Gu Siye rubbed his head and then began checking his stationery and admission ticket.

Looking at the person meticulously checking these things, Lin Yanran couldn’t help but laugh. “Teacher Gu, you look just like an old father accompanying his child for the exam.”

Gu Siye didn’t even look up, replying naturally, “Just adapting in advance, so I won’t lack experience when our child takes the exam in the future.”

Lin Yanran was amused by him and asked with a smile, “Child? Where are you getting a child from?”

Gu Siye zipped up Lin Yanran’s pencil case, stepped in front of him, leaned down, and raised an eyebrow.

He said in a suggestive, breathy voice, “If you want one, we can make one right now.”

Having said that, he tilted Lin Yanran’s chin up and bit his lip.

The faint taste of milk was exchanged between their teeth.

After a long kiss, Gu Siye finally let go of Lin Yanran.

“Just joking. Go back to your study.”

Gu Siye’s mouth was full of smooth talk, but during this critical period, he didn’t dare to actually do anything.

Lin Yanran licked his reddened lips.

Actually, whether he revised or not had no impact on him.

Just as Lin Yanran was thinking this, his phone rang; it was a call from his mother.

After connecting, Lin Yanran saw all his family members sitting together.

Each of their expressions looked somewhat nervous.

Yet what they said was, “Baby, don’t be nervous. Good luck!”

Lin Yanran smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’m not nervous.”

Seeing Lin Yanran’s smile, Grandma patted his mother. “Talk about something else. What’s all this nervous talk? You’re going to make him nervous even if he wasn’t.”

Lin Yanran gave his grandmother a thumbs-up in agreement.

Of course, he wasn’t just praising her words; he simply didn’t want his family to worry too much.

The college entrance exam is a significant event for a family. When a child participates, there’s no way for parents to feel nothing at all.

Xie Roufei and the others actually desperately wanted to go to the site to accompany him.

But Lin Yanran had told them previously that it wasn’t necessary; he was an adult and could take care of himself.

At this critical moment, his parents didn’t want to go against his wishes, so they could only call to cheer him on.

In truth, for their family, the success of the exam wasn’t important.

If their son wanted to go to university, given their family’s wealth and background, donating to get a spot at a prestigious foreign university wouldn’t be a problem at all.

But they knew Lin Yanran was proud and independent.

He had his own ideas and didn’t want to rely on family connections.

From the moment he was recognized and brought home until now, he had basically never relied on the family for anything.

Even regarding the ups and downs of the entertainment industry, he had said many times that they should not intervene and that he could handle it himself.

Out of respect, trust, and guilt for their child, they listened to him; their support was always silent.

When the last subject was finished, Lin Yanran spotted his parents in the crowd.

His mother held a bouquet of flowers in her arms.

As she placed them in Lin Yanran’s hands, she also gave him a hug.

Lin Yanran’s participation in the college entrance exam had been kept very low-profile.

Initially, when some candidates leaked that they had encountered him at the testing center, many people online didn’t believe it, thinking it was impossible.

It wasn’t until after the last exam, when a candidate posted a photo of Lin Yanran entering the testing center, that the matter was fully exposed.

Netizens were collectively astonished.

Only then did they realize why his schedule had only included a musical recently.

It turned out he had gone to prepare for the college entrance exam!!

Once this news broke, netizens, who were bored to death because there hadn’t been any explosive entertainment news lately, started discussing it fiercely.

The focus of the discussion was very simple.

One side didn’t understand why he would bother taking the exam.

The other side just wanted to eat melons and see exactly what his score would be.

Only his fans and some well-intended passersby, upon learning this, were happy and moved by his courage to pick up his dreams again.

On Weibo, people offered their blessings one after another, wishing him success on the exam.

Lin Yanran didn’t pay attention to the public opinion; he went straight on vacation with his family.

By the time he returned, it was almost time to check the exam results.

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