Chapter 8: The Autumn Excursion (Part 1)

The money originally planned for a trip was used by He Tianran to buy classes—directing classes.

Art training schools all offer similar pre-exam tutoring sessions: two classes of basic directing per week on weekends. They do not delve deeply into the art of directing or cinema; rather, they are crash courses that exist purely for the sake of the arts exams. The fees are low, and they are not as professional as the training classes Wen Liang attends, but they are very well-suited for someone like He Tianran who is cramming at the last minute and has no prior exposure to the field.

With just over four months to prepare, wanting to suddenly pass the entrance exam for the Hongcheng Film Academy is something the training school teachers told He Tianran was not entirely impossible. However, it would require enrolling in a monthly ten-thousand-yuan intensive art crash course, training intensively for several months, while the final exam would still ultimately depend on one's own hard work and talent.

Therefore, He Tianran signed up for the cheapest option: four months for four thousand yuan. He even barged and negotiated the price.

Because of this, almost all the lectures in this training class were theoretical, much the same as what he could learn online, and sometimes even less polished than online courses. Yet He Tianran felt that being able to find someone in the real world to consult about his confusion was far more efficient than studying blindly on his own online.

To make up for his shortcomings, the content he viewed most on his phone was no longer related to ACG (Anime, Comic, and Games), but rather electronic books on directing and screenwriting. Regardless of whether he understood them or not, he would glance through them whenever he had a free moment. He also dug up numerous ranking lists like "A Hundred Masterpieces You Must See in Your Lifetime," gritting his teeth as he watched obscure, pixelated resources all the way through.

This was a long-term endeavor, but He Tianran had a very solid foundation in this area and a high level of comprehension. At the very least, the professional terminology he occasionally dropped now could leave his school teachers and classmates completely bewildered.

No one knew why He Tianran had suddenly started studying this, just as no one knew why this homebody had suddenly changed so drastically.

As November arrived, the autumn weather gradually turned cooler. After school on that day, head teacher Chen Mei smiled and said to the class:

"It has been over two months since the semester started. November is when autumn is about to end and winter is approaching. Most of you have adapted to the rhythm and life of the senior year. To prevent everyone from being too tightly wound up, the school leadership has decided to help you relax a bit. This Saturday, we will hold an autumn outing to Quanling Mountain. This is an activity that only you seniors get to enjoy, and everyone is required to attend."

As soon as these words were spoken, murmurs of complaint arose from the audience.

The students of Hongcheng High School always headed to Quanling Mountain whenever there was an outdoor activity. Although the scenery there was quite pleasant, going once or twice a year meant it truly lacked any sense of novelty. Besides, setting off on a Saturday made staying home seem much better than going.

"What do you say? Shall we skip it? With this time, wouldn't it be better to do something else? It's going to mess up my martial arts practice."

Xue Yong urged He Tianran from the side, but the latter shook his head and said:

"Forget it. Last year when you didn't go, the teacher was furious during the headcount and almost called the police. Did you forget about that?"

"Oh, come on, what's so fun about Quanling Mountain anyway? You can't even tell if people are watching the monkeys or the monkeys are watching the people. We spend a whole day eating vegetarian food at the temple, bowing to Buddha, and finally watching the sunset before the day is over. It's the same old routine..."

Listening to the head teacher's clichéd list of outing instructions, Xue Yong complained. He glanced sideways at He Tianran and, seeing him engrossed in a book, couldn't help asking:

"What are you reading?"

He Tianran inserted his finger into the gutter of the book and closed it casually, revealing the cover—

Joseph Campbell, *The Hero with a Thousand Faces*.

"Is this a web novel? Just looking at the title makes me not want to click on it."

Xue Yong made a disparaging remark. Seeing that He Tianran ignored him, he continued:

"Junior brother, you've been reading quite a few extracurricular books lately. You haven't given up on your studies like me, have you?"

He Tianran finally lost patience with this chatterbox. He didn't want to talk about this because discussing literature or art with Xue Yong was simply like playing a lute to a cow. He changed the subject instead:

"I heard that the fortune sticks at Quanling Temple are very accurate, only the school never used to let students draw them."

"Right, I know about that, especially the love fortune sticks. A senior sister of mine drew one and hooked up with a rich second-generation heir the very next day! They're married now, and she even went back to fulfill her vow a while ago."

Mentioning this perked Xue Yong up. His eyes rolled, and he said:

"Hey, speaking of which... have you been in contact with Cao Aiqing lately?"

He Tianran was stunned. He hadn't thought of that name at all throughout the entire month. Although he still saw her in class every day, it amounted to no more than a couple of polite greetings. The lovesick yearning and secretive, delusional fantasies of the past were definitely gone for good.

"Why would you suddenly bring that up?"

"I was the one who helped you get her contact information, you know. Shouldn't I care?"

"We're not in contact anymore," He Tianran said indifferently.

"Because of that little girlfriend of yours?" Xue Yong guessed.

He Tianran hadn't mentioned Jiang Xixi to anyone. After that day of confession, the two of them had returned to an ordinary status. Under this state, the young girl would still often come to chat with He Tianran, so ordinary people could not see through their relationship.

"Xixi and I are good friends now," He Tianran said with a straight face.

"You can still be friends after breaking up?" Xue Yong processed the amount of information in this sentence rapidly and said in an exaggerated tone.

"Perhaps we got the order wrong. Let's take it slow; I'm not forcing anything."

Xue Yong gave a thumbs-up. "Such a fine phrase, 'not forcing anything.' It has almost the exact same marvelous resonance as 'not refusing.' Utterly scummy, I love it!"

"That's enough out of you. Change the subject."

"I'll show you a photo."

"What photo?"

"Remember that PE class last time? We had it together with a few classes of freshmen. A few guys from their class were secretly taking pictures of Cao Aiqing, I caught them, and then confiscated their loot."

"Secretly taking pictures?" He Tianran knitted his brows.

"Oh, not the kind of creepy voyeurism you're thinking of, just simple candid snaps. After the photos were posted, some of the younger boys went crazy, unanimously agreeing that with Wen Liang absent, there is only ever one campus belle at Hongcheng High, and that is our Aiqing."

He Tianran agreed. "Isn't she always the campus belle? Though for that kind of influence to last three years is truly impressive."

"Right? Here, take a look."

Xue Yong handed over his phone. He Tianran leaned in to look: in the photo, Cao Aiqing was sitting on the grass, wearing her blue-and-white school uniform jacket backward, her long hair swaying slightly in the breeze. The sunlight illuminated her fair, pure face, making her look like a resting white rabbit in the early morning, so serene that one would hesitate to disturb the peace.

...

...

Early Saturday morning, He Tianran came to the steamed bun shop at the entrance to grab some breakfast. After all, the bus ride from the school to Quanling Mountain would take about an hour and a half.

"Boss, one steamer of small soup dumplings, two flower rolls, and two cups of soy milk, to go."

Looking at the text message Xue Yong had sent earlier saying he hadn't eaten yet, He Tianran decided to pick up some extra food on the way.

"Coming right up~" the shop owner acknowledged, efficiently packing up the items. At that moment, a voice came from inside the shop—

"Boss, you're out of white sugar..."

"Wait a moment, student, I'll get you a new bag."

The owner handed the buns to He Tianran and then turned to retrieve a bag of white granulated sugar from beneath the counter. He walked into the shop area, and following his movement, the boy looked inside to see that Cao Aiqing was also there.

The owner quickly filled the sugar jar on the table, and He Tianran walked in as well, sitting down across from Cao Aiqing. He asked naturally:

"Having porridge?"

"Yeah."

Cao Aiqing nodded and scooped a spoonful of sugar into her bowl. She had intended to add more, but noticing that He Tianran was sitting right across from her, she suddenly felt a bit self-conscious and put the spoon down.