Chapter 20 The end of the semester
From the first snow in early December to now in January, the capital has had several snowfalls.

Liu Zhou has now adapted to the cold winter in the capital. Young people are full of energy and can still overcome the cold.

It was already January of 1997. Liu Zhou had already finished his final exams, and many of his classmates had already gone home.

However, Liu Zhou bought a flight ticket for tomorrow, so he needs to stay in school for another day.

It just so happened that Liu Ye had just finished his final exams today, so he made an appointment with Liu Zhou to have a farewell dinner tonight.

Thinking of Liu Ye, Liu Zhou couldn't help but laugh.

He also didn't expect that when he had the chance to do it again, the person he played best with was Liu Ye, a classmate in the acting class.

In fact, Liu Zhou actually got along better with the people in the acting class, and his relationship with his classmates was still the same as in his previous life, perhaps just nodding acquaintances.

Even with Wang Qingshan, with whom Liu Zhou had a good relationship in the previous life, their relationship is only average now because Liu Zhou is often busy and spends more time with the people in the acting class.

Liu Zhou didn't feel sad about this. It seemed that it would be difficult for Wang Qingshan to keep up with him in the future. Since they couldn't maintain this friendship, it would be better not to start at all and just be ordinary classmates.

After one semester of study and life, Liu Zhou found that he had changed quite a lot.

I changed my lazy character from my previous life, developed a habit of self-discipline, and now I have a goal in mind and have regained the long-lost passion for struggle.

The only thing that made Liu Zhou a little depressed was that he found that he didn't seem to have much talent in directing.

That day, when he and Yan Danchen were having dinner in the cafeteria, he learned that the short film shot by Jia Zhangke had won an award in Hong Kong. At that time, Liu Zhou was wondering when he could go and watch it.

Unexpectedly, when I went to Beijing Film Academy for class the next day, the teacher showed us this movie in class.

It seems that Beijing Film Academy still attaches great importance to Jia Zhangke and has high expectations for him.

Liu Zhou watched Jia Zhangke's Virgo very carefully. It was shot with a video recorder and the picture was very rough.

However, Jia Zhangke's future documentary shooting style has already been reflected at this point. The long shaking tracking shots, the unpretentious presentation of space, amateur actors, the anti-smooth editing, and the collage of sounds all challenge the previous rules.

From this film we can see Jia Zhangke's characteristics and ideas as a director. All famous directors have their own characteristics.

This made Liu Zhou a little frustrated, because he had never considered how to make a movie, nor had he ever thought about what his own characteristics were. He only knew how to absorb knowledge about being a director.

Liu Zhou also asked his teacher for advice on this issue.

In response, the teacher just smiled and said, "You are only a freshman now, don't think too much."

Liu Zhou felt much better after hearing this, but the teacher added that being a director also requires talent, which made him feel depressed again.

Liu Zhou also understood the meaning of the teacher's words. Wasn't it implying that he was very talented in directing?

To be honest, if Liu Zhou didn't have the chance to start over and his family had no money, his performance as a director would probably be similar to that as a screenwriter in his previous life.

Even if I had a golden finger now, it would be difficult for me to make an award-winning film.

After all, the same script and the same actors, but made by different directors, may result in two different movies.

For example, even if all the configurations of "Farewell My Concubine" were prepared for Liu Zhou, he would not be able to shoot to the level of poet Chen.

In other words, there is a high probability that I will not be able to star in art films in the future.

Maybe when I make more movies in the future and have more insights, I can try art films.

But even making commercial films is not bad. The film environment for Chinese films will get better and better in the future, and everyone will judge a hero by his box office performance.

But as an academic, how could it be possible not to have a literary and artistic dream in my heart?

Even Feng Dapao, a self-taught director who claimed that he would not make art films, ended up making art films.

Liu Zhou was not discouraged by the result that he might not be very talented, and he still listened to the lectures seriously as usual.

If I don't lay a solid foundation, I may not be able to make commercial films well in the future.

When thinking of Beijing Film Academy, a beautiful figure emerged in Liu Zhou's mind.

The weekend after Liu Zhou lent his notes to Yan Danchen, when Liu Zhou came to Beijing Film Academy for class again, he found that she was looking at him angrily.

It turned out that he went to the Literature Department of Beijing Film Academy to look for me, but found that there was no such person as me, and thought I had deceived him.

Liu Zhou had no choice but to confess to her that he was from the Central Academy of Drama.

This made Liu Zhou feel quite embarrassed. He also felt that Yan Danchen treated him as a friend. In his heart, Liu Zhou also acknowledged her as a friend. It was indeed not good to lie to someone.

In order to calm her down, he treated her to three meals. I don't know if he has passed the basic directing course this semester.

In fact, after one semester, not only Liu Zhou has changed a lot, but Liu Ye has also changed a lot.

Later generations, Liu Zhou remembered that he said in a public interview that when he and Zhang Ziyi were freshmen, their grades were always among the lowest and they were almost expelled.

But now I don’t know if it was the skit that opened up his Ren and Du meridians, his professional performance is among the best and he is often praised by teacher Chang Li.

He showed off in front of Liu Zhou several times.

Moreover, after one semester, Liu Ye's Northeastern accent had disappeared.

In the beginning, he couldn't tell the difference between the Northeastern accent and Mandarin, but now, in addition to speaking the lines standardly, he can also begin to speak Beijing dialect.

Time slowly came to the afternoon. After finishing the exam, Liu Ye immediately rushed back to the dormitory, still as busy as ever.

"Lao Liu, let's go. I also called the rat."

"Let's go then."

After saying that, the three of them immediately walked out of the school. The whistling cold wind could not stop them at all.

Arriving at the school gate, Liu Ye said:

"Where shall we eat?"

"Why don't we go to Donglaishun? The mutton there is really delicious."

"I've been there several times, let's go to another one."

The three of them stood at the school gate and felt the cold wind for a while. Liu Zhou suggested:
"Why don't we go to Guijie? I heard from Ziyi that it's very lively there, and there's a lot to eat."

"go!"

"go!"

Gui (guǐ) is an ancient food container with a round mouth and two handles.

At first, Liu Zhou didn't even know how to pronounce this word, so he looked it up in the dictionary.

Guijie, as the name suggests, is a street dedicated to food.

Every city should have its own Guijie Street. The Guijie Street in Beijing is located inside Dongzhimen, on the west section of the Dongzhimen Interchange on the Second Ring Road, and extends west to the eastern end of Jiaodaokou East Street.

There are many embassies and hospitals around here, and the flow of people is extremely dense.

The National Academy of Chinese Opera is one of the few universities located within the Second Ring Road. It is located on the east side of Nanluoguxiang and is surrounded by Dongmianhua Hutong and Beibingmasi Hutong.

It only takes ten minutes to get from the Central Academy of Drama to Guijie Street by bus, and the entire journey is from Jiaodaokou East Street to Dongzhimen Inner Street.

Guijie Street is indeed very lively. It is not dark yet and at a glance, there are dozens of shops on the entire street, and the flow of people is really shoulder to shoulder.

Such a lively food street is of course a favorite for college students.

Liu Zhou and his companions first walked up and down the whole street. There were all kinds of snacks you can imagine here. If they didn't have to go out for dinner, they would have almost filled themselves up after eating these snacks.

After getting a general understanding of this food street, the three of them also found a Northeastern Chinese restaurant that was well decorated.

Tonight Liu Zhou also broke his rules and opened a bottle of beer for himself.

"Come, let's have a drink to celebrate our acquaintance and become good friends."

After the three of them finished their cups, Liu Ye filled their glasses and said:

"Let's have another drink. I hope Lao Liu will become a great director and Haozi and I will become big stars."

Liu Zhou drank two glasses of beer in a row and couldn't stand it any longer. Seeing that Liu Ye was about to pour more, he quickly stopped him and said:
"Take it easy and eat some food."

The three of them spent more than two hours eating this meal. Liu Ye and Qin Hao were already drunk. If Liu Zhou had a good alcohol tolerance, he would have been drunk by them.

Looking at the two guys he was supporting on both sides, although Liu Zhou felt a little helpless, he felt very comfortable in his heart.

Including the days in his previous life, Liu Zhou hadn't had a good meal and drink with friends for a long time.

It feels really good to be able to chat and drink with friends.

(End of this chapter)