Chapter 5
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Life for a senior high school student is undoubtedly super dull and boring. Even though it’s the ’90s, everyone’s enthusiasm remains the same, filled with all kinds of determination and effort. However, Lin Hao has encountered difficulties in his studies: everyone says that when people are anxious, they can achieve anything, but for some reason, he just can’t seem to solve math problems!
In mathematics, whether it’s asking him to find the area of quadrilateral BCDE, derive the general term formula for Sn, compute the sum of the first n terms, prove that BC ⊥ AD, or find the equation of ellipse C, there are so many things he simply cannot get right!
What a pain! He never expected that as an adult, he would still have to endure such suffering.
“Solution…” Lin Hao wrote a solution to the penultimate problem but then was completely stumped. Why don’t you just solve it? Did you think that if you just wrote a solution, the math teacher would still give you some credit for trying or something?
Deeply trapped in the dual influence of “I can’t solve high school problems” and not wanting to disappoint his past teachers who viewed him as a top student, Lin Hao became withdrawn.
But life must go on, and besides math, he also struggled with the integrated arts, language arts… except for English, where he excelled, a skill developed from the strict English requirements back then and his later love for watching American dramas.
Aside from that, he was focused on his major courses. He never relaxed on his major courses, studying with utmost seriousness because he understood the significance of being accepted into the drama school this year. Thus, he studied everything from improvisation to dance, from recitation to vocal performance.
Although he didn’t attend classes, he still had a daily workload comparable to that of a regular student and had to complete the assignments given by his teachers, or else he would have to spend the next day purely listening to lectures. This was akin to attending lectures from Zhang Yu during exam preparations:
Draw a little person, ah, this is Lagrange, great! If you do this in class, just give up on the idea of taking the exam!
So he continued to work hard.
If he wanted to do well in this, he had to put in effort.
Oh, right, and financial resources.
It must be mentioned that the specially hired teachers for training were all from the drama school and senior students, and while the students were somewhat manageable, the teachers were indeed quite costly, especially since Lin Hao required one-on-one sessions.
Only someone like Lin Hao, who comes from a genuinely wealthy family and spends the money himself, could afford this.
…
Once school started, there wasn’t much time for socializing.
By December, Lin Hao’s skills in his major had greatly improved, and surprisingly, his academic performance had not declined either. This pleased his homeroom teacher, as a single underperforming student could drag down the average class score by one or two points, which would not be good.
Lin Hao wouldn’t act coy and attribute all of this to Zhang Yue.
In fact, it was really thanks to her; her daily class notes and explanations were incredibly helpful for Lin Hao. This was quite rare because, you know, many high achievers are unwilling to share such information: after all, it’s a competitive relationship, fearing that others might surpass them. Don’t think this kind of behavior is uncommon; it happens all the time.
In this context, Zhang Yue was able to assist him so much, besides later learning that she was the homeroom teacher’s daughter, Lin Hao guessed it might be his own face… um, his own experiences that elicited her sympathy.
But putting this aside for now, the art exams were about to start. One advantage of being reborn in this year is that there aren’t as many students taking the art exams as in later years.
At this time, let’s not mention that many parents were unaware of the need to study the arts; studying this subject was indeed very expensive. Lin Hao, for instance, spent a solid amount learning the bamboo flute for six months.
This could be forgiven since he was doing well with the bamboo flute, but when it came to dance, it was both costly and he hadn’t learned it. However, he didn’t want to imagine that if he became famous later on, someone would dig up a video of him doing aerobics at the art exam; that would be quite embarrassing. So, he gritted his teeth and continued learning Tibetan dance.
…
Everything was finally in place as the art exams were about to begin.
Lin Hao felt somewhat confident; after all, he had spent a lot of money on training with teachers and students from the drama school for so long, and his learning was decent, which naturally gave him a small boost. He had also met some teachers from the drama school. Of course, more depended on his own abilities; Lin Hao had a bit of confidence in his skills.
But it seemed like it wasn’t that strong.
In any case, the day before the exam, Lin Hao packed his things and headed out, thinking about checking the location or something. Regardless, he felt a little anxious as the exam approached. This was a lingering effect of years of exam-oriented education in Huaguo, something that couldn’t be changed, so he just accepted it.
Riding his bike with a backpack, Lin Hao arrived at the examination site. Once at the school, the seniors had already been waiting for a while. From a distance, he saw Wang Qianyuan and Liu Mintao guarding the entrance, waiting for him.
“Hey, what a warm welcome from you two seniors!”
Both were from the 1993 drama class, truly the senior students. This time, he was accompanied by these two academic stars from the performance department: one senior had the highest score in the performance class, and the other was the top student in the 1993 drama class.
“Don’t mention it.”
Liu Mintao knew very well what this kid was like. As a good girl, she had been rendered speechless by Lin Hao. She could only say irritably, “Let’s go; I’ll take you around to relax.”
“Okay, thank you, seniors.”
Lin Hao felt a bit embarrassed; he hadn’t meant to trouble anyone, but since he had mentioned he was a bit nervous earlier, they had offered to take him around to ease his mind and also brief him on the exam highlights for the next day.
To put it plainly, it wasn’t much. Lin Hao’s quality was beyond reproach. Especially since he was only 17, he already had his own thoughts about performing.
But the problem was he had no idea where he learned all those miscellaneous acting styles; it took the teachers and seniors a long time to eliminate those habits from him. To be frank, the acting class mainly focused on correcting his small movements.
…
The drama school was not large… well, okay, it was a small piece of land, and it didn’t take long to stroll around. This had been ridiculed by rival schools, leading to the construction of a large campus in the suburbs later on, but like all new campuses, everyone always yearned for the old campus in the city center.
Living in Changping, you might truly not feel like you live in the capital.
Not that it matters; in any case, having been admitted, he had to live here. The teachers had already rehearsed the process for him many times, so it was basically just about helping him relax. After a while, before Lin Hao had finished touring, Wang Qianyuan mysteriously said he needed to step out for a moment.
When he returned, he brought a girl with him. She had a small face, fair skin, and big eyes, looking somewhat like a mixed-race person.
Wow! This beauty was stunning, truly not fake.
“Let me introduce, this is Hu Jing, also preparing to take the exam for the drama school this year,” Wang Qianyuan said, rubbing his hands.
“Hello, I’m Lin Hao.”
Lin Hao was quite generous and extended his hand.
“Hello.” However, Hu Jing blushed before she could even speak, almost wanting to hide behind her senior brother, so naturally, she didn’t shake hands. Oops, forget that this happened in ’95; encounters like Zhao Yue are purely accidental.
But this girl was quite shy.
Once you enter the drama academy, can you really be so open?
“Uh, cough cough.”
Wang Qianyuan also had his own troubles; Hu Jing was a friend he was asked to look after. Seeing that Lin Hao was mature and composed in all aspects, he had no choice but to ask for a favor:
“This senior brother has a small request; could you help out with Hu Jing tomorrow? The seniors have other commitments and can’t accompany you.”
“Sure, if you need anything tomorrow, feel free to find me,” Lin Hao smiled. He hadn’t even started school yet and had already met one of the “Eight Great Golden Hairpins,” which was quite interesting. But speaking of which, would he meet more future superstars tomorrow?