"Old Gu, have you arrived at the university yet? Hurry up, today's freshman registration day, the school's entrance is already like a full-blown flower show."
Gu Bai was driving while listening to Deng Bo's urgings on the phone.
Over a year before rebirth, plus more than a month after rebirth, Gu Bai hadn't seen those sandy-eyed roommates for almost a year and a half, and his foot couldn't help but press the accelerator a bit harder. The Night Shadow sped along the roads of Shanghai.
"Alright, stop rushing me. Can't you have some healthy thoughts in your head? Like the core socialist values, instead of thinking about girls all day? You can look at a hundred girls, and not one of them will be yours, but if you read a book a hundred times, knowledge will be yours. Our goal is to serve the motherland!"
"Speak normally."
"Is there any girl out there that can make me give up serving the country?"
"None at the moment."
"..."
At this moment, at the gate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
Luxury cars were everywhere; Mercedes, BMW, and Audi were only considered middle-class, while Maserati and Porsche could be called luxury cars in this setting.
When Gu Bai drove the Night Shadow from afar, all eyes around him were drawn to it.
After all, even ignoring the prestige of the Lamborghini brand, the cool appearance of his Night Shadow was enough to cause a stir.
Not far away, a man dressed as a reporter hurriedly said to his colleague beside him, "Write this down, on the first day of Shanghai Theatre Academy, there's a luxury car worth tens of millions!"
With that said, he intended to get closer, aiming to capture a close-up of the car owner.
As an arts school on par with Central Academy of Drama and Beijing Film Academy, the opening day of Shanghai Theatre Academy definitely attracted significant media presence.
Earlier, when Central Academy of Drama and Beijing Film Academy started, there was a similar scene. It's just that Shanghai Theatre Academy started quite late, their opening was after Central and Beijing had nearly finished military training.
Over the phone, Gu Bai asked, "Where are you?"
Deng Bo: "Right at the school entrance, the main gate."
Gu Bai finally spotted Deng Bo's greasy face through the car window.
The Night Shadow maneuvered through the crowd, slowly heading towards Deng Bo, only stopping when it reached his side.
As a student from the Department of Performance at Shanghai Theatre Academy, Deng Bo's looks were definitely above average. Although he wasn't as enchanting as Gu Bai, he could still be considered quite handsome.
At that moment, he was standing on the roadside by the school gate, observing something, his short hair heavily gelled into an exaggerated style, dressed flamboyantly. Overall, he exuded two words.
Greasy.
Gu Bai scanned his attributes through the car window.
"Name: Deng Bo
Appearance: 84
Physique: 82
Favorability: 85"
A favorability of 85 didn't surprise Gu Bai at all, since in his past life, Deng Bo was the only one in their dorm with whom he had the best relationship.
As the car window slowly rolled down, it revealed Gu Bai's face, which could be considered godly in looks.
"Who are you waiting for?"
Deng Bo initially thought it was some pretentious guy who parked at the school gate, but when he saw Gu Bai's face inside the window, his mouth hung open, and he took a moment before uttering a "Damn."
"Is this car yours?"
Gu Bai didn't answer his question.
"I'll find a place to park first, I'll explain later."
"Open the door and let me in first!"
Seeing Deng Bo's eyes shining, Gu Bai helplessly opened the passenger door. The cool scissor doors raised slowly, drawing more envious glances from the crowd around.
Once Deng Bo got in, Gu Bai slowly drove into the school's gates.
"Damn, White Pieces, what's going on? In just over two months, you turned into a rich second generation? This car isn't cheap, is it?"
As soon as he got in, Deng Bo started shouting and yelling.
Trying to show off in front of a buddy was a first for Gu Bai, but it felt pretty good so far.
A smile tugged at Gu Bai's lips as he said in a lightly pretentious tone, "It's only about ten million or so."
"Damn, damn, damn!
Quick, tell me what's going on."
"There's really nothing going on, I just turned 20 this year, and my family bought me a car, that's all."
"A car that costs ten million just because you turned 20? Has the world changed?"
Deng Bo was a local from Shanghai, whose family owned a small company, having a house and car in Shanghai categorized them as affluent. Even so, after a year of knowing Gu Bai, who had always kept a low profile, suddenly revealing himself as a super rich second-generation driving such a luxury car... it took Deng Bo a while to process it.
Seeing Gu Bai trying not to laugh, Deng Bo could only accept the fact.
"I think it must be like those online novels, you got reborn, then bought a lottery ticket and hit the jackpot. When your parents dropped you off at school before, they didn't seem like big shots."
Their relationship was good, so Deng Bo spoke freely, not at all worried about Gu Bai getting upset.
Gu Bai didn't expect Deng Bo's casual joke would hit so close to the mark, but he didn't care to continue this topic, so he asked, "Where are Wen Cunming and Lou Xun?"
"I called them earlier, they're on their way, should be here soon."
"Alright, I'll go park the car first."
There were too many people at the school. Gu Bai searched for a while before finally finding a parking spot. Just as he got out of the car, a reporter with a cameraman and accompanying staff came huffing and puffing towards him.
The visitor was the same reporter who was planning to secretly photograph Gu Bai at the school gate, but after thinking about it, he decided it was better to do a direct interview. So, he chased Gu Bai's supercar all the way here. Luckily, there were a lot of cars today, so Gu Bai couldn't drive too fast. Otherwise, with this journalist's dedication to chasing a supercar on foot, he could soon become one of the top reporters in the country.
The reporter adjusted his breath slightly and directly approached Gu Bai.
"Hello, student, I'm a reporter from Pear Video. Can I borrow a few minutes of your time for an interview?"
Gu Bai glanced at him and was about to refuse when Deng Bo quickly shouted from the other side of the car door, "Sure, sure!"
Gu Bai rolled his eyes helplessly in his direction, then turned back with an indifferent look and told the reporter, "Make it quick."
It wasn't that Gu Bai was acting arrogant; if it were a formal interview, he wouldn't mind. But since this reporter claimed to be from Pear Video, who knows what kind of tabloid media that is. When the interview ends, who knows how the video will be edited and what identity will be assigned to him.
Hearing Gu Bai agree, the reporter quickly smiled with excitement.
These small media reporters came to Shanghai Theatre Academy today to capitalize on the buzz of the school opening. Now being able to directly interview a student driving a top-notch supercar is definitely better than interviewing the average student.
The camera was on, and the reporter raised the microphone in his hand, asking Gu Bai, "Can I have your name, please?"
"Gu Bai."
The reporter was waiting for Gu Bai to say more, but he stopped right after stating his name, showing no intention of continuing, leaving the reporter awkwardly smiling.
"I guess Gu is usually a man of few words."
Gu Bai chuckled noncommittally.
"So, Gu, are you a new student at Shanghai Theatre Academy reporting in today?"
Before Gu Bai could answer, Deng Bo jumped in from the side.
"No, no, we're both second-year students. I'm Deng Bo, a student from the 2016 acting class of Shanghai Theatre Academy."
After speaking, he struck a particularly flamboyant pose in front of the camera.
The reporter could only helplessly smile again, "It seems Deng is quite lively."
"As for this guy here, some people might know him. He's our Shanghai Theatre Academy's 2016 entry student, the only one to join the directing department with a perfect score on the art exam!"
The reporter's eyes lit up.
"So, Gu is a well-known figure at Shanghai Theatre Academy."
"Absolutely!"
Deng Bo took it upon himself to boast all about Gu Bai.
"I noticed that Gu drove a supercar to school earlier, suggesting quite a good family background. Is there a particular reason why Gu applied to Shanghai Theatre Academy? I mean, Gu is quite handsome; I doubt many would expect such a good-looking guy to be in the directing department, right?"
Gu Bai shrugged, as if answering the first part of his question.
"Why apply to Shanghai Theatre Academy? Of course, to study. What else would you go to school for if not for studying?"
The reporter felt the conversation with Gu Bai was dying fast, so he quickly changed the topic.
"Most people apply to Shanghai Theatre Academy because they have an idol. Do you have any idols, Gu?"
"Idol?"
No.
If I had to name one, I quite admire Hu Ge. After all, as a male actor with more male fans than female in the entertainment industry, in terms of both acting skills and personality, Hu Ge is undoubtedly top-notch. He's much better than most of the expressionless actors."
As soon as Gu Bai finished speaking, the reporter instantly caught onto the headline!
This student's words could only be described with one word.
Bold!
Unlike the freshmen he typically interviews, who are always careful about what they say, worried about offending someone in the industry since their goal is to enter the entertainment circle.
But Gu Bai seemed to have no such concerns. He spoke boldly and even used the word "admire" for one of the top actors, Hu Ge, while launching a broadside calling most of them expressionless actors.
Seeing the reporter's barely concealed excitement, Gu Bai already had an inkling of what he was thinking.
However, he wasn't the least bit worried, not taking it seriously at all.
In his past life, saying something like this would mean his entertainment career would be half over once broadcast, as publicly criticizing like this could offend most of the entertainment circle.
But in this lifetime, even if Gu Bai steps into the entertainment world, it'd be as a big shot with capital.
In the entertainment circle, what is capital?
Capital is the king.
Who has ever seen the king speak politely to his subjects?
Deng Bo had already sensed something was off and hurriedly pulled Gu Bai away, ending the interview.
Though the reporter would have liked to get a few more explosive quotes from Gu, it seemed impossible now.
But no matter, he told the cameraman, "Keep the entire interview, don't cut any of the footage. We'll package it as a video and upload it to Weibo once we get back.
Call the video 'Shanghai Theatre Academy's Boldest Student'!"
He had a feeling this video would go viral. In today's world, the wildest people are the fans chasing stars. Everyone knows who the expressionless actors are. Gu Bai openly criticized them, and those fans won't take it lying down. Now, he's just waiting to see the reaction once the video is released.