At around five o’clock in the morning, Tao Mu, who didn’t even sleep much, received a call from his brother Xiao Qi, telling him that Da Hui was already waiting at the door in the seven-seater SUV and that Tao Mu should get up quickly.

“In such a big Beijing city, you won’t be able to finish seeing everything if you don’t get up early. Even if you get up early, you have to plan for avoiding morning and evening peaks, or else you would spend half the day stuck in traffic jams.” As an authentic Beijing native, Wen Bao had a lot of say on this matter: “So, people who make commercial blockbusters in Hollywood like to have street racing scenes but why do we rarely have such scenes in Chinese movies? It’s very simple. Unless you can drive at high speed in one second, otherwise you won’t be able to race your car at all. It is simply not realistic!”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Tao Mu chuckled lightly. The traffic in the city of Beijing was actually pretty mild now. At most, the 2nd Ring and the 3rd Ring experienced traffic jams. But ten years later, traffic jams could stretch from the 2nd Ring to the 5th Ring, and even into the neighboring province. On the highway during National Day, one could bring a tent and camp out or even have a party!

Du Kang, who would have a lot of achievements in the field of directing in the future, suddenly said: “Hey, you say, a scene like that would be great in a comedy movie. That is, having the male protagonist and villain try to imitate the Hollywood blockbuster street racing chase scenes in the 2nd Ring of Beijing, only to be directly blocked by the thousands of people stuck in traffic. And then a traffic cop rides in on a little electric motorcycle to come over to enforce the law, and they both get arrested and taken to the local police station…..”

Tao Mu had on a weird expression. He remembered the comedy movie that Du Kang won an award for in later years, and it seemed to have such a plot. Unexpectedly, this idea actually existed ten years ago.

Tao Mu thought this while taking a quick shower in the bathroom. In order to save time, he didn’t even do any hair styling, just put on a baseball cap and led the three roommates to the door to meet Da Hui. They then went to the hotel to meet uncle Chu and aunt Chu.

When non-natives came to Beijing, there were always so many scenic spots and activities they would want to visit and do. The Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square to watch the flag raising, visit Prince Gong’s Mansion, eat Peking roast duck…..

Uncle Chu and aunt Chu were no exception. So everyone’s first stop was to watch the flag raising.

At 5:30 in the morning, the group of people drove to Tiananmen Square, and already there was a large crowd of people gathered around. The street lights in the square were still on. The boys guarded Chu Sui’an’s parents as they squeezed to and fro in the crowd, and finally squeezed to a good spot with a very wide view.

At 5:37, the flag-raising ceremony officially began. Watching the rising five-star red flag and hearing tens of thousands of people singing the national anthem, the solemn atmosphere continued until the end of the ceremony. Father Chu and mother Chu looked up at the national flag flying in the air, satisfied.

Wen Bao smiled and said: “It’s okay now. But if uncle and aunt come over on National Day, now that’s a magnificent sight. There will be at least 100,000 people watching the flag raising together. There is also a live accompaniment of the military band, which is also spectacular.”

Chu Sui’an looked at the soldiers wearing the honor guard uniforms with envy, and said sincerely: “It’s so handsome! Wonder when I will be able to wear military uniforms.”

Du Kang suddenly laughed: “That’s easy. We are students of Beijing Film, and you can just pick up two military dramas if you want to dress in military uniform.”

Wen Bao echoed: “Oh, wearing military uniforms. Likely all boys have this dream.”

Tao Mu’s heart moved, and he suddenly remembered that during the National Day in a certain year in his previous life, netizens from all over the country took photos of themselves in military uniforms together. And this year’s National Day was soon!

Putting aside Tao Mu’s thoughts, after that, everyone went to visit famous attractions such as the Forbidden City, Prince Gong’s Mansion, Wangfujing, etc. They then had roast duck for lunch, and finally climbed the Great Wall in the evening where they watched the sunset. In the end, Da Hui dropped off the very tired father Chu and mother Chu at their hotel to rest. The boys were then sent back to school.

The three roommates who had been walking around for a whole day went to bed and thoroughly passed out.

Only Tao Mu persisted on putting in some coding work in front of the computer.

Deeply influenced by his previous life, Tao Mu’s plan for the website was divided into two modes: a web version and an APP version.

The front-end language of the web version was HTML, and the back-end was PHP. Since it was 2008 now, the domestic programming environment was not as convenient as later years, and Tao Mu needed to implement a simple WEB server in C language that could support dynamic analysis of PHP programs. In addition, Tao Mu also needed an algorithm to support this function because he wanted to imitate the photo rating function of a certain foreign social software.

The mobile APP version required the development of Android applications. So the Android interface part used xml, and the application part used Java. The communication part also used jni, while the underlying code was still implemented through C language and C.

Because there was too much specialized knowledge involved, Tao Mu, who only had a basic understanding of programming, had to learn it all by himself while also practicing on actual implementation. At the same time, he also had to think about the marketing plan after the website went online in advance, in order to strive for rapid development and growth in the shortest time. In addition, he could not yet relax his vigilance on the international oil futures side…..

There were too many things to do. Fortunately, after rebirth, Tao Mu had a better memory, more concentration, and more energy, otherwise he really wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Even so, Tao Mu could barely handle it anymore!

“Mu’er! Mu! Mu Mu! Get up! Get up quickly! The sun is shining on your butt!”

Early in the morning, Tao Mu’s ears were suddenly pierced by a demonic voice, harassing him in the form of 3D surround sound.

Tao Mu, who had only just gone to bed early in the morning, buried his head in the pillow in a particularly pained way, trying to block out the demonic voice. As a result, his quilt was also tugged away from him.

“I say, Mu! Get up quickly. The wake-up call rang twice. You’re really gonna be late!” Du Kang stepped on the ladder, pushing Tao Mu in a crazy husky-like manner: “What time did you go to sleep last night! Are you staying up again? Woah, you actually have two laptops on at the same time. It’s not cool to show off your wealth like this. And also, just how much radiation is this, do you still want your handsome face!”

“Ah——” Tao Mu sat up with a broken expression. He had pale, chapped lips, messy hair like a chicken nest, and two huge dark circles under his eyes, the kind of eye-catching that was absolutely comparable to that of the national treasure. (TN: panda=national treasure)

For half a year nonstop, he had stayed up past midnight every day before going to bed. Even with Tao Mu’s godly looks, even he couldn’t hold up anymore.

“I didn’t go to bed until four o’clock this morning.” Tao Mu scratched his head and tried to keep his eyes wide open. He looked blankly at the three roommates around his bed. He half leaned against the head of the bed, as if his body was hollowed out: “What time is it?”

“Six o’clock.” Wen Bao was leaning on the bedside railing on tiptoes. He was wearing the military training camouflage uniform they had all received that day, and with his closely buzzed short hair and round face, he looked a bit like a veteran soldier. When talking to Tao Mu, he imitated the tone of the recruit squad leader in a popular military drama: “Get up quickly. It’s time to assemble. On the first day as a soldier, you can’t go around all muddleheaded. You can’t be late, you must act like a soldier.”

Tao Mu: “…..”

Chu Sui’an also pitched in: “This matter is very important, I hesitated whether to wake you up. I originally wanted you to sleep for five more minutes. After all, you don’t have much time.”

Tao Mu: “…..” Why did this line sound so familiar? Which drama was it taken from?

Du Kang cleared his throat and said solemnly: “Comrade Tao Mu, the situation now is very urgent. From now on, you must stay awake at all times.”

Tao Mu: “…..”

He finally knew why these three roommates had the ability to become film emperors in his previous life. It would seem they were usually a bunch of drama kings in everyday life. Life was like a play!

The three roommates looked at Tao Mu expectantly: “Don’t you want to say something to match the formation?”

“!” Tao Mu took a deep breath, only feeling dizzy. He slowly climbed out of the bed like a patient with Myers syndrome and floated into the bathroom all the way. There he took out his facial cleanser, washed his face, and then applied a face mask, pat on moisturizing serum, face cream, then under eye concealer, and finally finished with sunscreen.

All the movements were smooth and flowing. Ten minutes later, Tao Mu was again the top handsome guy who could win the hearts of all the Beijing Film girls with just his face alone.

The three roommates were like bumpkins who had never seen the world, watching on in the classic posture of a farmer with hands tucked into their sleeves outside the bathroom door. They looked up at Tao Mu’s actions in the way the non-tech savvy looked up at tech masters. Their eyes wandered over the dazzling array of skin care products on the shelves.

Wen Bao couldn’t help asking: “Uh, Tao Mu, what are you doing?”

“Putting on foundation, and then sunscreen!” Tao Mu’s eyes were still drooped like a pair of dead fish eyes, and he appeared to still be not fully awake. He subconsciously responded: “What’s the matter!”

The three roommates looked at each other. Du Kang carefully confirmed: “You wear makeup?”

Did this count as makeup?

Tao Mu was silent for a while, and his eyes swept across the three roommates who just washed their faces with soap after getting up in the morning——it probably counted!

“Don’t we have military training? We have to stand outside for many days in such strong sunlight. If you don’t put on sunscreen, the sunburns will be very painful after a while!”

Tao Mu still remembered that when he was running around in H Town, because there were no conditions, he basically exposed his bare face to the sky every day, using his human flesh to resist the brutal ultraviolet rays during the heat of summer. It was so bad layers of skin began to peel and his cheeks were so painful. Whenever it was nighttime, he was like a snake going through skin shedding.

It could not be more miserable.

Tao Mu, who had transitioned from Internet superstar to a film emperor in his previous life, knew the value of his face very well. Therefore, he would always work hard to maintain it. Although he wanted to let his acting chops speak for themselves, that didn’t mean he should give up the dignity of an idol star.

While talking, Tao Mu sat down at the desk, picked up the hairdryer and blew it over his hair. By the time it was dry, it was also styled as well. During this period, he also turned on the computer to listen to the morning news, particularly focusing on the news trends in international finance.

The three roommates watched Tao Mu sit in front of the mirror and simply use a hair dryer to blow his hair into a perfectly styled look. They were shocked once again.

They had long known that Tao Mu’s idol baggage was very serious. However, they didn’t expect that not only was the baggage heavy, but this skill repertoire was also very comprehensive——just his aura while sitting in front of the mirror and blowing his hair was more powerful than those famous makeup artists and stylists.

But this was no wonder. It was still 2008 and it was estimated that most girls did not have Tao Mu’s habit of doing skin care, let alone boys. Especially this group of little naive amateurs who had just left a simple high school life and hadn’t had time to switch to a career professional——they probably never even heard of such things as concealers. So of course their vision and skills could not compare to Tao Mu, who was deeply edified by the later years. At his peak as a Golden Crow film emperor, he made the rounds on five major fashion magazines each year, endorsed several international luxury brands, and had a personal styling team with more than 20 people.

Although Tao Mu just put on sunscreen and blew a simple hairstyle at this moment. But his aura was just too confident and impressive! This posture of one who had seen the best so the rest was not worthwhile, dominating jianghu and never being defeated——it could KO a bunch of stylists in seconds.

After simply styling himself, Tao Mu saw that there was more than enough time, and the three roommates squatting next to him were shocked and puzzled as they picked up the skin care products on the table and looked at them carefully. So, he felt that it was necessary to give his roommates for the next four years a good tutorial on the importance of men’s maintenance.

“Come, let me apply a facial on you guys.” Tao Mu took out a square box from the bookshelf and pushed the three roommates into chairs one by one.

“I, I don’t want it. I’m a man, I don’t need this!” Wen Bao’s face suddenly reddened into a tomato, extremely embarrassed as he tried to get away from Tao Mu: “I can’t do this. This——”

“Sit down!” Tao Mu slapped him back on the chair, not taking no for an answer. This was no longer the time when these three could overpower and stuff his shoes with sanitary napkins.

“I’m telling you that there is a prejudice in your thinking, do you know? What are we majoring in? The Drama Department of Beijing Film Academy. Does this face belong to us? It belongs. But at the same time it belongs to your fans, movie fans and the audience members. You must have professional ethics and protect your money making tool. The so-called workman must first sharpen his tools in order to do the work well. This is a truth that even our ancestors know.” While Tao Mu imparted skewed reasoning, at the same time he also began to put the face mask on Wen Bao’s face.

Wen Bao widened his innocent crescent eyes, and he said in a particularly confident manner: “I am going to let my acting chops speak for themselves, I don’t rely on face.”

Tao Mu believed this. So he was silent for a while, and then strolled over to Du Kang to apply a facial mask to the future award winning director——it was a pity that Du Kang was a big boned guy, and everything was proportionately big as well. Tao Mu looked at the facial mask that barely covered all of Du Kang’s face, and no matter how much he stretched it, it was still not enough.

Wen Bao glanced at Du Kang out of the corner of his eye and he became amused: “Your face is a bit big, and the mask actually can’t even cover it.”

Du Kang: “…..”

The future award winning director said with great embarrassment: “En. I ate really well since I was young, so I ended up growing big everywhere. I even have to buy underwear two sizes larger than the average person.”

The other three people: “…..”

When he arrived at Chu Sui’an, the style became much more normal.

After all, he was Mr. TV emperor, who was hailed as the “most exquisite man” by the media in the future. Chu Sui’an carefully patted the wet mask on his face: “Hey, this mask feels really refreshing. It’s quite comfortable.” The degree of acceptance was quite high.

“My facial masks can repair sun damage on skin.” Tao Mu looked at the three big white faces and said with emotion: “Beijing has a bad climate. It is too dry in autumn. The wind is also particularly strong. So one must do maintenance. Say, you are all in the drama department. In the future, you will have your faces on large and small screens and show it to the people of the whole country. If you are acting in a documentary film, then there’s no problem. But if you take on an idol drama or something, how can you not feel ashamed of poisoning the audience with your rough and weather beaten face? Let me tell you, when you’re young, it is very important to maintain it, otherwise even photoshop will not save you.”

While talking, Tao Mu took the time to tap out a couple hundred lines of code, waiting the ten minutes before having everyone tear off the masks.

The three roommates absolutely approved of Tao Mu’s exquisite attitude towards life. But they didn’t agree with Tao Mu’s argument: “How can us Beijing Film students act in idol dramas? Do you think this is Yan Film or something! The directors of idol dramas wouldn’t come looking for us.”

“That’s right! First of all, the style is not quite right.” The term style was also learned from Tao Mu. They all felt that the terms that popped out from Tao Mu’s mouth from time to time were particularly interesting.

Tao Mu smiled but did not say anything. He couldn’t tell them directly that in the next ten years, three of the four of them actually acted in idol dramas. Especially the biggest and loudest guy among them, who actually took on the role of the number one most beautiful man of the three realms despite his rough face. And then needing to have his face PS-ed to the extent even his own mother wouldn’t recognize him during the editing stage of the drama. Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about you!

——After the TV drama was released, it was ridiculed by the entire Internet. And as a result of the wave of doubts from the public, he was kicked out of the competition for the award he had been nominated for by the award ceremony organizers. In the end, he once again failed in taking back an award. This vexed him so much he retired from being an actor and became a director instead!

Tao Mu looked at classmate Du Kang and smiled meaningfully. The smile caused Du Kang to feel inexplicably nervous and wanting to go to the toilet.

It was already half past six when the four people in dormitory 301 arrived in the cafeteria.

Four exquisite boys who had meticulously gone through facial care and put on sunscreen appeared in front of a large group of rough face dudes. The sharp contrast was definitely not as simple as two plus two equals four.

Especially Tao Mu, who was originally very good-looking and had the addition of the superstar aura accumulated over ten years in his previous life. So even if he wore the most common military training camouflage uniform, people could still pick him out from the large crowd at a glance.

There was a sudden hush in the noisy cafeteria, followed by excited and suppressed whispers by many girls.

“How handsome!”

“Freshman?”

“What an impressive aura.”

“Wonder which class?”

“Must be from the drama department, right?”

“I know him, his name is Tao Mu, a freshman in the 2008 drama department, a native of Beijing, and he lives in dorm 301. I showed him around when he came to report to school.”

“I showed him around too!”

“I also showed him around, and helped with the luggage!”

“I took him to the tuition office!”

“…..”

Unlike the reactions of the girls who were simply gushing over how handsome he was, the other boys had more complicated opinions.

“Isn’t this too exaggerated?”

“It’s not exaggeration, it’s arrogance.”

“What’s the fuss! He just has a pretty face.”

“That’s right. If I didn’t know better I would have thought a big celebrity came to visit!”

“Even if a superstar came, it wouldn’t be like this. This is Beijing Film after all.”

Wen Bao and the others stood beside Tao Mu and said with a smile: “I say Mu’er, you seem to have provoked the mob. I can guarantee that after today, you will be the public enemy of all the boys in Beijing Film!”

“No.” Tao Mu smiled confidently: “Did you forget my ace? Everyone will like me.”

What kind of ace? The three roommates were stunned when they heard this, and immediately reacted: “You mean your half-baked website?”

“Using just a single website to deflect the hostility of hundreds of Beijing Film male students? Are you serious?”

Tao Mu smiled but remained silent. They walked to the ordering window to make their orders.

Tao Mu often stayed up late these days so he ordered a bowl of refined rice and red date porridge with rock sugar, a box of red bean buns, a stack of pork skin jelly, and a bottle of yogurt made by the Beijing Film Canteen.

The three roommates couldn’t stand Tao Mu’s breakfast choices, and they kept complaining: “Why do you have such sissy tastes? It’s all sweet?”

Yes! Exactly!

The crowd of boys listened with their ears perked, and seconded secretly in their hearts. He looked sissy and he also ate like a sissy.

The girls widened their eyes and looked excited: “So cute~”

“A boy who like sweets~~”

“A handsome boy who likes to eat sweets~~~”

“Mu Mu likes to eat red bean buns. I really want to give him my red bean buns~”

A 200 pound fatty sat in the corner of the cafeteria and looked down at the red date porridge, custard buns and yogurt in front of him. He remembered the whispers of a group of senior sisters when he went to order just now: “Wow, so fat.”

“Beijing Film actually has such a fat student.”

“He’s so fat and yet he still eats so many sweets…..”

“The main point is that it’s a guy who likes sweets. He took the last custard bun which is my favorite. So hateful…..”

This was simply a large-scale double-standard site.

The 200 pound fatty sniffled his nose with a sad look, lowered his head with a pained expression, and then demolished his entire tray of sweets.

At 6:40, all the freshmen gathered in the sports field. Tao Mu noticed that Du Kang was walking funny: “What’s wrong?”

“My shoes are a bit big.” Du Kang squatted down and tightened his laces: “Didn’t we put the pads inside. I specially changed for boots that are one size larger. But now the fit is a bit loose.”

Ah, he actually stuffed that thing in his shoes? Tao Mu looked at Du Kang in disbelief. This kid really didn’t want any idol baggage at all it seemed: “Then what are you going to do? How about you go change your shoes?”

“No need.” Du Kang waved his hand and straightened up: “I just need to tighten my shoelaces. It’s already time to gather and who would I change with? I’ll see about it after the lunch break.”

The key was that this matter had to be brought to the teacher in their school who was responsible for issuing military training combat uniforms. Du Kang was unwilling to go to the trouble and was also too lazy to do so. As a result, an accident happened.

That was the morning of the first day of military training, when all the teams had just finished doing the military standing posture for an hour and were practicing their marching steps.

Just as the instructor of a team shouted the signal, all the students kicked their right legs in unison, and then everyone saw a 45 size black military boot drawing a beautiful arc in the air, and finally landing directly in the middle of the sports field. At the same time, a little pink angel also floated out from the shoe, flipping mischievously in the air, and finally landing two meters in the opposite direction of the shoe.

The entire sports field suddenly fell silent. Then there was a tsunami wave of laughter. Even the birds around the sports field were startled into the air.

The instructor of their team suppressed a smile and said solemnly: “Whose shoe is this, put it back on quickly.”

Du Kang was still frozen in his kicking position, his eyes closed and face lifted up to the sky. He refused to admit that the shoe belonged to him.

However, his bare feet had already completely betrayed him.

The classmate standing next to Du Kang laughed madly. Without waiting for Du Kang to speak, he shouted: “Reporting to the instructor, the shoe is Du Kang’s!”

There was a stinky boy with a stomach full of bad water who emphasized with schadenfreude delight: “The sanitary napkins that flew out are also Du Kang’s!”

All the girls frantically inquired: “Who?”

“They actually put that kind of stuff in their shoes, this group of boys is disgusting.”

“The sanitary napkin boy is called Du Kang? Which class is he from?”

“What a pervert!”

So on the first day of military training, classmate Du Kang, who had been thinking about “being famous as early as possible”, really did become famous throughout Beijing Film in an unexpected way.

Also because of the particularity of this incident, in order to commemorate this incident, the boys and girls gave Du Kang a nickname that would follow him throughout his acting career——Sanitary Napkin Boy, or Pad for short!

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

Du Kang tucked in his chin so low that it was almost buried in his strong chest muscles, simply wanting to die from embarrassment.

The other three of 301 also kept their heads down. It was foreseeable that with Du Kang making his hot debut at Beijing Film in this way, the rest of 301 dorm would surely ascend along with Du Kang as he seized the C (center) position of the freshmen.

Although, towards this “ascension” method, the other three “chickens and dogs” might not be all too happy about it_(:з)∠)_ (TN: from expression ‘chickens and dogs ascend to Heaven’ which refers to riding on somebody else’s success)

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