Play bone

The end of January is the Lunar New Year.

Although there is no thick snow on the plains in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the atmosphere of Chinese New Year is still sincere and strong.

Lu Li followed his mother back to the provincial capital. A large family and relatives gathered together, and the small living room was crowded with steam.

There are two layers of meat and vegetable dishes, and the aroma of stir-fry is still wafting from the kitchen.Lu Li and his cousins ​​were huddled around a small round table in the study, and the crackling of fireworks and firecrackers could be heard intermittently outside the window.

I can't remember when was the last such lively Spring Festival.Last year and the year before last, I was filming in the crew; the year before last, I was in the hospital, facing the slow drip and the fireworks on the tall buildings in the distance.

If you think about it further, it becomes even more blurred.

Lu Li's thoughts were recalled by the peers beside him.His peers are all girls. They used to think he was too fat and didn't want to talk too much; now they have turned their sex 180 degrees, and they all chase him for advice on how to lose weight.

Among them, his only cousin is a groupie, especially Shen Xingxuan.Lu Li had been to her house before, and there were all kinds of posters and magazines in the room, probably more complete than the one in Shen Xingze's studio.

It was from this little cousin that Lu Li heard that Shen Xingxuan had returned to China last month and announced that he would soon join a new crew.

Lu Li actually felt a little sour in his heart: If the car accident half a year ago hadn't happened, maybe he already had a new drama to shoot.However, he thought about it again, so what about the chance of losing a play, after all, he has ten years more youth than Shen Xing, and this is the most precious thing.

With the dimming of the fireworks, the Spring Festival is also coming to an end.After returning home to celebrate the Lantern Festival, Lu Li began to prepare to go north to take the school exam.

Before leaving, he stood in front of the full-length mirror to look at his new self again—after six months of extreme training, he managed to control his weight to around 75 kilograms.At this moment, the young man in the mirror is slender and well-proportioned. His once round face has first shown its edges and corners, and the corners of his eyes and brows are all youthful and handsome.

It wasn't until this moment that Lu Li was sure that he had fully adapted to this young body and had adjusted it to the best condition.The next thing, he has already done it more than ten years ago, and he will definitely be able to do it now—even better.

At nine o'clock in the evening on February 8th, the provincial capital.

After persuading his mother to stay at home and wait for the good news, Lu Li boarded the sleeper train bound for Beijing alone.

China Film and Television University is located in the most prosperous tourist area of ​​old Beijing.East, west, north, south, all are surrounded by alleys layer by layer.Just two steps away, there are former residences of celebrities, and to the west is Shichahai.Even in the off-season, the surrounding area is still full of traffic.Like a natural theater, the most authentic sitcoms are being staged every day.

Calculated, Lu Li has not been back to his alma mater for nearly four years.However, time seems to slow down as it passes by here.

The locust tree on the corner of the street is still strong, and the windows on the street are still full of advertisements for art test training, makeup and art school admissions.On the snow-covered road, young and beautiful boys and girls can be seen dragging their suitcases walking by from time to time.

Lu Li slowed down, walking slowly amidst the warm winter sun and the sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes.In the end, he stood in front of the school gate that was not considered grand, not even spacious.

"I am back."

He looked at the bleak campus, at the ivy that was drying up in the wind but was accumulating unlimited potential, waiting for the spring to revive.The white air slowly exhaled from his mouth, as if he had passed through the gate instead of his soul, and returned in advance.

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Although tomorrow is the first day of the preliminary exam, the decent hotels near the school have already been booked out.Based on his memory, Lu Li found a cotton mill guest house in the alley near the back door.

On the eve of Halloween nine years ago, he once followed his classmates from the directing department to shoot exterior scenes here.Back then, the dilapidated place was like a haunted house, but now it seems more like falling into the gap of time and space, completely out of touch with society.

In order to save money, Lu Li simply chose the Datong bunk room for four people, 50 yuan per bed per day.The room is on the fourth floor, passing through the creaking wooden corridor, and when the door is opened, a musty smell hits the face.

When I entered the room, I saw a big hole in the wall next to the cabinet, and the wall above the head hung down piece by piece like stalactites.The tiles in the bathroom were probably falling off and the toilet seat was chipped.There are only two rings left on the shower curtain, barely covering the yellow to red ceramic bathtub.

Fortunately, Lu Li was not allowed to have a cleanliness obsession due to the hard experience of joining the filming group in these years.The big deal is to just make do with all your clothes and make plans after the preliminary exam is over and the number of candidates has been greatly reduced.

But this house is not useless - there is a balcony on the east side of the room, the height of the fourth floor is high enough to overlook a nearby low alley and the China Film Campus not far away.

However, what really attracted Lu Li was a courtyard house across an alley to the north.

There are many former residences of celebrities near China Film Group, and this is the only courtyard house that has been developed into a high-end hotel.More than ten years ago, when Lu Li went to Beijing to take the exam, he rented a flat in this courtyard.At that time, from the first test all the way to the third test, the accommodation fee alone cost [-] to [-] yuan, which is equivalent to the tuition fee of China Film Group for two years.

Looking from a distance, the snow on the tiled roof of the courtyard has not disappeared, and the wintersweet tree in the yard is golden, and everything is still the same as it was back then.

Just as Lu Li was sighing, he saw a young man in a sky-blue down jacket walking out of the room he lived in. His height, appearance and even his clothes were somewhat similar to himself back then.

He couldn't help rubbing his eyes, but it was obvious that it was just another kid from a rich family who was dreaming of China Film Academy.

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At 10 a.m. on February [-]th, the early morning smog in Beijing hadn't completely cleared away, and the alley in front of the China Film Group was already bustling.

Tens of thousands of candidates and their parents gathered from all directions to both ends of the hutong.The dark crowd began to shrink towards the same point.Those who lined the road were policemen and security guards, as well as media people carrying long guns and short cannons.

Lu Li was among the turbulent crowd, slowly moving forward with the push of his descendants.Human heat surrounded him, so close that he could almost smell each other's dreams.

When they finally arrived at the gate of China Film Group, all parents were blocked outside the closed gate, and could only shout out their unfinished instructions to their children; students with admission tickets walked in a hurry, passed the turnstiles, and entered the campus one by one.

Perhaps because of nervousness and unfamiliarity, or knowing that most people will not have the chance to see each other again, candidates do not communicate with each other, and they are busy looking for their respective teams immediately after entering the school.

There were quite a few teachers and students of China Film Group who were in charge of examination affairs standing on campus, and the young faces were all unfamiliar to Lu Li.Walking to the front of the main building, a familiar face finally jumped out of the crowd.

It was Mr. Li from the student office. He was only 27 or [-] years old at the time. He was famous for his good temper. He often played basketball with students after work.After more than ten years, Xiao Li has become Lao Li, but he is still close to the people.Noticing that Lu Li was looking towards him, he smiled at him and pointed in the direction of the queue.

In the initial test of China Film Group, every 24 people were organized into a group, and the group was divided into three eight-person teams.It takes about an hour and a half to finish a set of exams.There are a total of six examination rooms in the Acting Department, and Lu Li was assigned to the seventh group. It is calculated that he still has at least one hour to spend freely.

While others were in a hurry, he paced around the campus leisurely.Go from the main building to the cafeteria, then walk from the cafeteria to the stadium, then walk through the path full of paulownia trees, and go west through the Film Museum.The small building shared by the acting department and the directing department is hidden deep in Lin Yi.The dark gray brick walls are covered with ivy with fallen leaves, like iron wires, interweaving the intricate future of every student in this small building.

Compared with comprehensive universities, China Film Academy is not that big, but for Lu Li, there are precious memories everywhere.He stopped and walked, and before he knew it, more than half an hour passed, and the phone rang regularly.

On the playground, the seventh to twelfth groups have already begun to gather.He quickly found his own team, took out his admission ticket and confirmed the standing order with the candidates around him.

Not long after, a group of bright sky blue came from the left.Lu Li took a closer look, and it turned out to be the boy from the courtyard that he saw yesterday.

Taking a closer look, this child is indeed a bit similar to Lu Li from back then: a sunny, cheerful, handsome boy with clear and bright eyes.And the famous brand from head to toe, one can tell that it is loved by the whole family.

The blue-clothed boy walked up to Lu Li in a blink of an eye. He was about to ask about the order of the queue, and at the same time he went to take out his admission ticket.But when he picked it up, his expression became stiff.

"Where's my admission ticket...it's clearly in my pocket!"

The pockets of the clothes and trousers were searched, and the backpack was also turned upside down.That little piece of paper seemed to have disappeared, and I couldn't find it anywhere.

There were a few candidates who were close to each other, and when they saw this, they either walked away silently, or gloated under the cover of their scarves and masks.With less than 10 minutes before the start of the exam, eliminating a competitor for no reason should be regarded as a good thing in the eyes of many people.

Seeing the boy in blue's facial features wrinkled into a ball, Lu Li sighed.

"Come on, come with me."

He led the bewildered boys to find Teacher Li wearing a red armband.Seeing this kind of situation a lot, Lao Li immediately asked the boy in blue to follow him to reissue a temporary admission ticket.

After finishing the good deed, Lu Li returned to the team and prepared to enter the arena. Five minutes later, the boy in blue came back with a smile on his face, holding the crumpled and greasy old examination admission ticket in his hand.

It turned out that a quarter of an hour ago, he threw this poor piece of paper into the trash can together with the repeat card that someone else stuffed in.Fortunately, he was not the first candidate to be confused. The experienced Lao Li asked a few questions, and a thunderbolt flashed in his head, and he suddenly recalled it.

The examination staff began to lead the seventh group into the arena, and the boys in blue hurriedly lined up in front of Lu Li, then turned around and extended a hand of friendship.

"Hello, my name is Mamon, from S Province. Thank you just now!"

"Land from."

At the time of shaking hands, the team entered the Biaodao Xiaolou.The exams of the previous group were not all over yet, so everyone stood in the corridor and waited, rubbing against the heater by the way, and moving their hands and feet that were frozen.

Ma Meng wanted to mutter something to Lu Li, but Lu Li stopped him by raising a finger.

Two beautiful seniors came over and began to distribute makeup remover wipes.Most of the wet wipes are girls.However, when he walked up to Lu Li, a senior sister stared at him, looked left and right, and even raised her hand to give him a card.

Lu Li took it and wiped it on his face, and then spread it out for the senior sister to check.Of course, the result is not important, what is important is that this is a good sign - he and his classmates also did similar examination work back then, and it was their "privilege" to chat up good-looking elementary school girls.

The whole group passed the makeup removal inspection, and the front and rear doors of the examination room were also opened at the same time.Candidates who finished the test left quietly, and candidates from the seventh group entered in single file.

The first battle without gunpowder is about to start.