Chapter 20: Time to Unleash the Ultimate!

"Xiao Jin, is the food not to your liking?"

Su Wanyu looked at Chen Jin, who was staring blankly at the fried dough ring (jiaoquan) in front of him, assuming he wasn't accustomed to breakfast in the capital. That shouldn't be right, though; they hadn't ordered fermented bean juice, so it should have been fine.

"No, I'm just thinking about something!"

Chen Jin forced the food down, feeling as though he were chewing wax. The experience of the role was still casting a shadow over his mind.

"Is the lingering effect of the dream that strong?"

Su Wanyu realized it was still the aftermath of that nightmare. But everyone knows dreams aren't real, right? Chen Jin really wanted to say that this dream was different from his usual ones. Normally, when he woke up from a dream, he might feel some fear, but it would soon fade; it’s hard for people to remember the details of their dreams. However, this dream—this role experience—felt as real as if he had lived it himself, and the memories were exceptionally vivid. Never mind fading away; he doubted he would ever have an experience like this again in his lifetime.

It was too intense. Facing corpses every day for years in that profession—and the strange thing was, it all took place over the span of a single night. Chen Jin felt his mindset had matured significantly. His mental age had grown by several years overnight because, within that dream, he had actually lived through several years.

"Are you still eating?"

"Let's pack it up. The exam time is almost here, and it’ll take us over ten minutes to get there!"

Su Wanyu wiped her mouth. Chen Jin shook his head. "Never mind, Mom, let's go!"

"Alright!"

Su Wanyu grabbed her bag, settled the bill, hailed a taxi, and they headed toward the Dongcheng campus of the Central Academy of Drama. More than ten minutes later, Chen Jin arrived at the long-awaited National Academy of Drama. In his memories, this institution was a future obsession of his—the performance arts university he yearned for most. Unfortunately, he had taken the exam many times but never passed the preliminary round.

The two arrived at the building housing the Acting Department. Since it was winter break, many students had yet to arrive, but the number of students and parents milling about for the arts exams was even more spectacular than at the Beijing Film Academy yesterday.

Dilraba was indeed scheduled for the same exam room and time as Chen Jin. As they reached the entrance, Chen Jin spotted her and her father immediately. Su Wanyu politely greeted the other party. Dilimulati smiled, prompting Dilraba to glance at Chen Jin.

"Are we in the same room?"

Dilraba actually took the initiative to speak to Chen Jin. She wasn't nearly as cold or aloof as she appeared; her voice sounded like that of a fairly extroverted girl.

"I don't know. My exam number is 925, how about you?"

Chen Jin, having nothing to be embarrassed about, held up his admission ticket.

"924..." Dilraba stuck out her tongue. "That means they’re arranged in the order we signed up!"

"Probably!"

The two chatted aimlessly. Dilimulati didn't interfere, as the conversation was focused on the arts exams. Su Wanyu, however, watched them talk and, for the first time, felt that her son wasn't so bad after all. He was actually quite good at talking to girls. He seemed so natural—had he dated in high school? As a mother, her inner gossip spirit began to burn. She thought of the bumbling way Chen Jin's father, Chen Xianqi, had behaved when courting her, and felt that her son might take after her, being quite adept at striking up conversations with girls. That was a merit, at least; an overly honest child would be at a disadvantage in love. At least he wouldn't have to worry about finding a wife.

If Chen Jin knew that his mother had already leaped from this brief conversation to thoughts of marriage and grandchildren, he would have wanted to drag her away immediately. He only talked to Dilraba for the sake of future networking; it had nothing to do with coveting her beauty. Well, in his future autobiographical film, she would be one of the top celebrities, so establishing a relationship early would make things easier.

From what Dilraba said, she really yearned for the Central Academy of Drama. She wanted to get in, but Chen Jin wondered why she ended up at the Shanghai Theatre Academy—he guessed she likely didn't pass the third round of the Central Academy of Drama's exams.

And this girl was much more aggressive than the current Chen Jin. While Chen Jin had only applied to the Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama, Dilraba had left herself a backup plan; besides the Central and Shanghai academies, she had also applied to the Central Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. If she couldn't be an actress, could she be a musician?

"I only applied to the Shanghai Theatre Academy because a classmate dragged me there. Originally, I had only signed up for the two music conservatories!"

"Later, I thought since I had applied to the Shanghai one, I might as well try the Central Academy of Drama too, since I had to come to the capital for the Conservatory's preliminary exam anyway!"

Dilraba chatted enthusiastically. Girls in arts departments were indeed more open. If a female classmate of Chen Jin's had talked to him like this, his first thought would have been that she liked him. But it was clear that Dilraba was just making casual conversation.

"Did you apply to any other schools besides the Central Academy of Drama? My dad said your voice and physique are quite good!"

"Oh? Your dad talked about me?"

Chen Jin glanced at Dilimulati, who was standing behind her, busy texting on his phone and clearly having no time for them.

"Yeah, just a casual comment after we registered that day!"

"He said your poetry recitation should be good. Do you practice martial arts or dance?"

Dilraba blinked her beautiful eyes as the door to the exam room suddenly opened. The previous group had finished, and it was their turn to enter.

"Just playing around, I know a few moves!"

This was Chen Jin gilding his own lily; after all, with the physical skills rewarded by the system, people wouldn't believe him if he said he hadn't practiced. But to Dilraba, it sounded like: Oh, this guy has been practicing martial arts since he was a kid. No wonder his posture is so good.

"Numbers 921 to 940!"

The teacher shouted. Dilimulati finally snapped back to reality and said to Dilraba, "Nöwetsizge keldimu?"

It was a long string of... a dialect? If Uyghur counted as a dialect.

Dilraba and her father chatted in Uyghur. Su Wanyu guessed they were likely words of encouragement for the exam, so she quickly said to her son, "Son, relax, good luck!"

"Mmhmm, wait for my good news!"

Chen Jin waved his hand slightly and walked toward the exam room. The room was much larger than the one at the Beijing Film Academy, and the process was similar, with five teachers present. Chen Jin looked at the examiner sitting in the middle, his eyes widening slightly. "Damn, it's the same examiner!"

Jiang Wenli!

In the future autobiographical film, she was the examiner for his first preliminary exam at the Central Academy of Drama. He hadn't expected that even coming here with his mother, the examiner would still be her.

"Doesn't that mean the theme for the group improvisation could be the same as in the film?"

At that thought, Chen Jin immediately found a seat and recalled the theme of that performance: [Use your acting to prove what kind of place this is.]

"Damn, then this experience card was used at the right time!"

Chen Jin instantly thought of an excellent location—a funeral home! For no other reason than that he was an expert at it! He had spent the entire night "dreaming" of that place, living there for years, so he had to vent it somehow.

At that moment, a familiar, unique fragrance wafted past his nose. It was the scent he had just smelled on Dilraba. She was wearing tight jeans, her long legs crossed as she sat down next to Chen Jin. Those long legs were very prominent.

Their eyes met, and she winked at him slightly. With her long eyelashes fluttering, Chen Jin smiled back. It wasn't because he was happy to have a beauty sitting next to him, but because this time—he was about to go all out!