Chapter 617
Jiang Yang, this trending topic of yours is absolutely amazing!
It's impossible to talk things out over a phone; we need to meet in person.
They knew the other party was interested in his status and the high popularity of the college entrance examination season, so they asked him to be their spokesperson.
Jiang Yang typed: ["Could you endorse our company's artists together? We'll offer a package deal."]
Received a reply.
The other party's words were brief but clearly explained the reasoning: ["Zhou Ye, Tian Xiwei, and Liu Haochun are all promising young actors with outstanding acting skills, wide range, and likable public image. They definitely have a bright future. But as you know, Mr. Jiang Yang, Youxuepai is an education company, and our core audience is parents and students. This time, the most important factor in our endorsement is academic performance."]
The wording is quite euphemistic.
To put it bluntly, Zhou Ye, Xi Wei, and Hao Chun's grades are not good.
Another message came from the other party:
"While the other teachers' academic achievements weren't particularly outstanding, your status as a double top scorer, coupled with the buzz surrounding the Beijing Film Academy, makes your commercial value unique. This is why we've been so persistent in seeking a collaboration with you."
Jiang Yang, shamelessly typing, asked: "[What about Chaoyue?]"
The other party replied almost instantly: "[Yang Chaoyue?]"
"Yes, Chaoyue's college entrance exam results this year were also outstanding. She's quite popular online now, and she's the top female student in my company."
"Teacher Jiang Yang, please don't mess with us!"
Jiang Yang smiled.
When it comes to brand endorsements for educational institutions, popularity isn't the primary factor; academic performance is.
No matter how good Zhou Ye and the other two actors' acting skills are, their academic performance is mediocre, so they can't live up to the hype of being the same as the top scorer.
Needless to say, Yang Chaoyue is another story.
This year's college entrance exam score didn't even reach the junior college cutoff. If we were to bring her in, her parents would be the first to object, and the brand's reputation would be ruined.
Jiang Yang then typed: [“Just kidding, don’t take it seriously.”]
"Teacher Jiang Yang, you're so humorous."
The Youxuepai group quickly sent another message.
Not daring to joke with Jiang Yang, she sent a long explanation: ["Teacher Chaoyue has a likable personality and high popularity. His song 'Calorie' is very popular and has a strong appeal among young fans, which we fully acknowledge! However, this endorsement really has to meet the hard standard of academic performance. After all, it's an endorsement for a learning machine, and parents need to feel that choosing this product will lead to good grades. You are a genuine top scorer, and Teacher Chaoyue's college entrance examination score this year did not meet the brand's endorsement threshold. If we force it, it's easy for parents to question it, which would damage the brand's reputation. We really can't afford that risk."]
"How about this? We remember Teacher Chaoyue. If her grades improve significantly next year and meet the brand's academic standards, we'll contact you immediately to discuss a collaboration. For other brand collaborations suitable for young artists, we'll prioritize her and Teacher Zhou Ye. This time, we really can only base our endorsement decision on your academic performance. We hope you can understand!"
[“No problem, I’ll agree on Chaoyue’s behalf.”] Jiang Yang typed.
The other party sent a message: [“Teacher Jiang Yang, are you still in your hometown of Chongqing? We need to discuss the details in person. You don’t need to come over; we’ll go to your place.”]
Jiang Yang replied: ["Come on, thanks for your hard work, Tongliang from Fog City."]
I sent my location.
I don't know why, but I always feel sleepy after breakfast.
The steam, mixed with the spicy aroma of Chongqing noodles, wafted into my nose.
The old man drove his Mercedes-Benz S-Class to the supermarket early in the morning.
The mother muttered, "Jiang Yang, you've already become the top scorer in the exam, and you don't spend much time at home. Why don't you tutor your younger sister? She's terrible at studying."
Teaching my younger sister?
I get a headache every time I see Jiang Yueyue.
They can start arguing over just a few words.
The key issue is that his younger sister doesn't listen to him at all, so how can he teach her?
Jiang Yueyue said defiantly, "Mom, don't blame my brother. He taught me."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yang was somewhat surprised.
Suddenly, I felt that Jiang Yueyue had grown up and knew how to speak up for him.
"What did your brother teach you?" Mom asked.
Jiang Yueyue said, "Teach me how to dye my hair and chat in Martian language..."
Jiang Yang was so angry that he smacked Jiang Yueyue on the back of the head: "Why did you copy all of my stuff!"
The conversation turned to the topic of studying.
Jiang Yang casually pulled a Chinese test paper from his sister's schoolbag to check.
It was last night's homework.
As I looked through them, I noticed that several questions were left blank: "Why aren't these answered?"
“If you want to use your brain, but you’re too lazy to write, just copy your classmates’ work when you get to school,” Jiang Yueyue said.
As soon as my mom started packing to leave, she yelled, "Copy, copy, copy! All you ever do is copy!"
Jiang Yueyue reluctantly took out her pen only after her mother scolded her and told her to finish writing now.
Jiang Yang glanced at the question, which read: Why did Fan Jin go mad after passing the imperial examination?
Jiang Yueyue muttered, "How would I know why Fan Jin went crazy after passing the imperial examination? It's just passing the examination, why would he go mad? Brother, teach me!"
"Think for yourself."
“You teach Chaoyue so carefully, but I’m your own sister and you don’t teach me. I’ll tell your father.”
"Sue me all you want."
Jiang Yang ignored Jiang Yueyue.
He taught the leap technique very carefully, mainly because it allowed him to exploit attribute bonuses.
When you teach Jiang Yueyue, she'll turn around and say that she figured it all out herself and that it has nothing to do with her brother.
He picks up his bowl to eat, then puts it down and curses his brother.
The key point is that the leapfrog development also gives back to the grass.
Jiang Yueyue then said, "Then I'll sue the old woman."
"Fine, fine, I'll teach you," Jiang Yang said impatiently.
"Old man" is "dad" and "old woman" is "mom"—that's how it's called in our hometown dialect.
However, he dares to call his father "old man".
If I call someone "old woman" in front of my mom, she'll explode.
The brother and sister only dared to bully honest people.
"I really look down on Fan Jin. He went crazy just because he passed the imperial examination. He wasn't even the top scholar," Jiang Yueyue muttered.
Upon hearing this...
Jiang Yang understood why Jiang Yueyue would have such thoughts; she was just a little kid.
Like Zhou Ye, he comes from a wealthy family.
They weren't as wealthy as Ruth's family, and their allowance was strictly controlled by their parents, but at least their food, clothing, and daily necessities were better than what Chaoyue has now, something that families like Xiwei's couldn't afford.
He hadn't been beaten down by society. Unlike Zhou Ye, who is now a delivery rider, he wouldn't stoop down to visit ordinary families.
"Yueyue, in ancient times, Fan Jin, who passed the imperial examination and became a Juren, was equivalent to a third-rank official."
"A third-rank official?"
Jiang Yueyue asked, "What official position would that be equivalent to today?"
"Pretty much, the director of the provincial education department."
Jiang Yueyue was stunned.
Every time there's a family dinner, I hear the elders talking about these things. I know that the director of the Education Department is someone even the principal of her school has to curry favor with.
"Your cousins, and some of your distant relatives who graduated from university, are all taking civil service exams or postgraduate entrance exams, you know?"
"Yes, I know. I often hear my parents say that."
Jiang Yueyue's expression became more serious.
"It's like they passed the exam for the position of director of the provincial education department in one go."
"Holy crap, Fan Jin is that awesome!"
Jiang Yueyue suddenly realized: "If it were me, I would go crazy too. Now that you put it that way, I understand. Hey, brother, how did you think of all this?"
"I'm an actor, so I play some ancient roles. I have to bring out the character's emotions, but I'm not an ancient person. How am I supposed to know what that character is thinking? So I'll change the ancient person's identity to a modern one, and it'll be easier to understand. That's how I teach some actors on set. It's very useful for emergencies."
"And what about Kong Yiji? What is he equivalent to in modern times?"
Jiang Yang thought for a moment.
Try to come up with a suitable analogy that your younger sister can understand.
Back in my previous life, before the arts and sciences were separated, I wrote on the geography exam paper: "The advantage of this place lies in its abundant and cheap labor force."
After graduating from university, I was very stubborn and insisted on not relying on my family. I made a name for myself and drifted around for a few years. When I got home from get off work and examined myself, I suddenly felt like a bullet had hit me right between the eyebrows.
Back then, I was like Kong Yiji, the man my sister is asking me about now.
"Kong Yiji is like a college student, the kind who didn't do so well," Jiang Yang explained, referring to his past self. "He couldn't bring himself to do anything else, so he was stuck in a rut, unable to find a satisfactory job..."
Jiang Yang patiently explained.
In my previous life, after entering society, I increasingly felt that many texts in the Chinese textbook were simply not suitable for reading in the classroom.
Because students who haven't left school yet only listen to teachers and haven't experienced it themselves, how can they understand the core of the concepts?
It's just something to use to pass exams.
By the time you truly understand, it's too late to go back to school.
Education has both immediacy and lag.
I only truly understood "Fan Jin's Success in the Imperial Examination" after preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam.
I only truly understood "Kong Yiji" when I was looking for a job.
You only truly understand "The Ballad of the Peasant" when you're in love.
When discussing marriage, understand "The Peacock Flies Southeast".
Years later, the bullseye and the center of the forehead marked the completion of a closed loop in education.
No... there are exceptions. After being beaten down by society, Chaoyue went back to school.
Why is Chaoyue Chinese still getting such low scores?
Understood!
Did Chaoyue write all of these on his Chinese exam paper? You're mistaken! These are real-life answers, not standard answers; writing them out won't get you any points.
When words are freed from the shackles of exams, true emotions begin to emerge.
When Chaoyue was young, she thought she was Xun Ge (a character from a popular TV series), but later she found out she was Runtu (another character from a popular TV series). Finally, she went to the factory and accepted her fate, only then realizing that at that time she was actually Xianglin's wife, and could only live optimistically like Ah Q.
It was only after my father took me to the bus station that I truly understood Zhu Ziqing's "The Back View".
When filming "A Little Reunion" before, Huang Lei talked about this topic on set. Huang Lei had read "Hurry" many times and felt sad again and again. Huang Duoduo, on the other hand, hoped that time would pass faster and that she would grow up quickly.
"Where's Xiangzi?" Jiang Yueyue then asked.
"Xiangzi was like the kind of person who believed that as long as he kept working hard, he would eventually own his own rickshaw. But Xiangzi wasn't that miserable. He had a Beijing household registration and bought his rickshaw outright, making him equivalent to a taxi driver in Beijing today."
"I see..."
Jiang Yueyue flipped through her Chinese textbook.
Thoughtful.
She also realized that her brother's status as the top scholar was indeed genuine.
From this perspective, many texts become easy to understand immediately.
In the novel "My Old Home," Runtu calls out to his best childhood friend, "Hometown." If you were Runtu, would you call out to Xun Ge, who is from a different social class, in the same way?
If teachers taught like my brother, it would be so much more interesting, and no one would be distracted in class.
In the [Battle of the Girls 4] group, Bai Lu sent a message: ["Jiang Yang, you're trending! This trending topic is absolutely amazing! I bet a lot of people will call you crazy, but I'll start by saying, 'The reputation of Beijing Film Academy isn't nearly as prestigious as Tsinghua or Peking University. Is the boss out of his mind?'"]
Jiang Yang knew he would be trending on social media.
Zhang Jun had spoken with him that morning.
I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
Clicking on the trending topics list, his name appeared as the tenth trending topic, clearly stating:
#Jiang Yang, a double top scorer, rejects Tsinghua and Peking Universities and chooses Beijing Film Academy instead# (End of Chapter)