Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years

In April, the singer Sang passed away.

Qi Hao didn't really like the artists from Taiwan.

Most of the courageous people there died in battles with the Japanese, leaving behind mostly useless ones.

However, Sang, who sang "Loneliness is Singing" and "Always Quiet," left this world at a not-so-old age, which was quite a regret.

"Always Quiet" was also an insert song for "Chinese Paladin 1."

Meanwhile, Fang Long's "Xinsu Incident" was released in Xiangjiang, its content was bloody and violent, it didn't pass the mainland's censorship, and Xiangjiang didn't buy it, leading to disastrous box office results.

The start of April felt somewhat gloomy with these two events.

One was the impermanence of life, the other was the unpredictability of the world.

Who would have thought that Fang Long, who was once famous worldwide and had unmatched influence among Chinese stars, would face repeated failures one day.

First with "King of Kung Fu" with Li Lianjie, then with this "Xinsu Incident."

Although the commercial value of the Big Brother isn't affected by one or two movies, if he keeps making movies that all fail, capital and the market will surely choose to abandon him.

This also made Qi Hao feel a sense of crisis.

He's indeed very popular now, but not as popular as Brother Fang Long.

As for the financial side, he hasn't achieved any notable success yet, so there's no room for complacency.

However, not everything was bad.

The thing that cheered Qi Hao up the most was seeing Penguin's stock continuously rise over these two months.

It went up from the forties at the end of last year to fifty Hong Kong dollars at the beginning of this year.

After the financial report was released in late March, the upward trend became more evident.

Currently, it has risen to over sixty Hong Kong dollars.

Moreover, this momentum is still growing, seemingly heading towards a hundred Hong Kong dollars.

The rise in stock prices doesn't have much to do with Qi Hao, but it's not completely unrelated either.

At least when the media reported that he was holding 6.6 million shares of Penguin's stock and that he used all the dividends he received this year to buy more Penguin stock, quite a few people followed suit.

Some were Qi Hao's fans, the individual amount might not be large, since there's a threshold in the Hong Kong stock market, but they have a huge fan base.

Another part of the investors thought Qi Hao had good fortune and bought some stocks just to try it out.

As soon as they bought, the prices started rising, inevitably leading to connections with mysticism.

Moreover, there was an urban myth that whoever got rumored with Qi Hao would become popular due to his Fortunate Wife's Destiny.

Qi Hao virtually became their lucky charm.

But anyway, these people made money and naturally thanked Qi Hao in various ways.

Some even expressed they would book out cinemas to watch Qi Hao's new film.

Speaking of which, that kind of gratitude is truly practical, Qi Hao would only wish they could book out "Steel Piano" as much as possible, since Feiyang Media doesn't own much of "Wait and See."

Well, if they could book both, that would be even better.

Even Penguin reached out, offering to help market Qi Hao's new film at a low price.

Penguin has a massive user base; if they're willing to help with marketing, it would be really easy.

Believe it or not, they could simply send a QQ popup for you.

This shows that there's no business without superstition.

Even internet companies showcase icons like fortune cats, gold toads, and Guan Gong as part of mystical worship.

Actually, Penguin's stock price rise is well-founded.

In 2008, Penguin launched "CrossFire" (CF), which became a game rivaling the then-popular first-person shooter game "Counter-Strike" (CS).

Despite many saying CF was a copy of CS, so what? Just like QQ copied MSN, in China, after the market test, CF undeniably became the leader.

Thus, the market recognized this product, and Penguin started to release valuation dividends.

With the launch of Miguo's QE and the clearing of financial crisis risks, US stocks reversed in March, leading Penguin to experience the first wave of valuation-driven rise.

Which, honestly, had very little to do with Qi Hao himself.

However, there's no harm in taking advantage of a good opportunity if it's presented, and as long as Penguin dares to give, Qi Hao dares to take.

With this good mood, Qi Hao entered the self-study exam venue at the Beijing Film Academy.

He registered in February and took the exam in April.

The cycle was indeed a bit rushed, but as long as he paid the fees and met the requirements, there was no reason for them to turn him away.

The proctor looked seemingly relaxed and indifferent, not too concerned about exam discipline.

However, the difficulty level of the self-study exams was relatively high, with a pass rate generally around 10%-30%.

The main challenge of self-study exams lies in complete reliance on self-study, without teacher guidance, requiring exam-takers to have a strong foundational knowledge and in-depth understanding ability.

Self-study... everyone gets it.

With a teacher present, some still don't study, so where's the confidence to believe one can self-study?

Moreover, many of those taking the self-study exams are employed.

They spend all day dealing with work and superiors, come home exhausted, and even after washing up and picking up a book, they might not last twenty minutes before they start snoring.

If you haven't studied at all, you wouldn't be able to find the answers, even if you had the book in front of you.

Of course, self-study exams are closed-book, even if the proctor isn't strict, if you openly take out a book to find answers, or glance around, you might still get kicked out of the exam room.

The most cost-effective way to cheat is making a cheat sheet, hiding some important points on yourself.

Qi Hao didn't need it.

He had already read through all the textbooks and memorized them.

Of course, when he registered earlier, only the Beijing Film Academy knew about it. Now that he was taking the exam, he would naturally be recognized.

You can't wrap yourself up all tight during an exam.

So, the few candidates there quickly shifted their attention from the test to their classmate Qi Hao.

If it weren't for the serious exam atmosphere, these people would have surely gossiped with Qi Hao.

Being watched like a monkey didn't feel good.

Qi Hao decided to make it quick.

Seeing Qi Hao stop writing after a while, the invigilator thought Qi Hao wasn't well-prepared.

Unexpectedly, Qi Hao soon checked his work, handed it in, and walked out.

The invigilator looked at his paper and found that Qi Hao had filled it completely.

The handwriting was excellent, clearly practiced, and as for the answers... it seemed he got almost all of them right!

In the following exams, Qi Hao also demonstrated his "quick gun" skills.

Fast and efficient.

Meanwhile, online discussions had already started.

In this age of the internet, smartphones were becoming ubiquitous, making mobile browsing a choice for many young people and the working class.

Many shared interesting events on forums or blogs.

A few self-study candidates had found the top idol star Qi Hao at the exam hall, an occurrence as rare as spotting Liu Dehua at a Lanzhou Noodle House.

They naturally wouldn't miss the chance to boast.

Thus, Qi Hao's participation in the self-study exam was no longer a secret.

Holy Fire Meow Meow Meow Sect: Wow, it's true, this time there's photographic evidence.

The End of Boredom is Boredom: Can't say for sure if the prodigal son has returned, but Qi Hao is genuinely working hard now.

Upright and Honorable Fat Rong: Why does this feel like it's part of the master's task?

High塞妹甜: You have such a dirty mind.

Controller: Handing in every paper first, someone tell me, is this awesome or just sloppy?

Lei Ruoxuan: He's an esteemed actor, coming for self-study exams, you guys don't seriously think he's just fooling around, right? Early submission obviously means he finished everything.

Huhu3: You don't necessarily have to answer everything for self-study exams, as long as you get 60 points.

Count Dracula: Being able to control your score is even cooler, you know?

Ah BILL: I never expected, Qi Hao, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, that you'd betray our middle schooler alliance.

Empty Xiaohuai: For Qi Hao to resort to self-study exams despite his acting skills, it indicates there are indeed problems with our education system.

Yi Yifei: Enough said, everyone should study hard. Even someone as wealthy as Qi Hao is taking self-study exams now, so those claiming studying is useless should quiet down.

Qingfeng Yiwoge Ren Hongchen: Agreed, in the short term, education remains the most likely way to achieve class mobility.

Aside from some occasional sarcasm, the public opinion regarding Qi Hao's self-study exams was very positive.

On one hand, they praised "the sea of learning is boundless," and emphasized that studying leads to progress.

This time, Qi Hao Studio didn't say "education isn't equal to knowledge," but used a different narrative.

Our Qi Hao simply loves learning.

They hope many celebrities will actively embody the spirit of being role models, providing positive guiding values for fans.

On the other hand...

This was more reflective of Zhanqi Laiden's style.

He actually found the self-study office and organized a big joint effort with the officials, providing everyone with much information about self-study exams, and together with the officials, advocated for continuous self-improvement.

For professionals, self-study exams are also a way to enhance oneself.

One has to admit, Zhanqi Laiden is really skilled. His slick move not only brought Qi Hao positive attention but also silenced many voices intending to mock Qi Hao for only taking self-study exams.

No matter what, don't go against national policy.

Subsequently, the self-study office announced Qi Hao's results; this year, he took four subjects and scored over ninety in all of them.

This was very convincing.

Many celebrities, despite applying to three major colleges, couldn't graduate normally in the end.

Either they backed influential figures and quietly graduated by managing things on the school side.

Or they blurred the concept of graduation, never obtaining the so-called diploma.

Schools would certainly protect students, not issuing announcements on delayed graduation.

Graduation could be delayed, usually up to 6 years for undergraduates, but based on the student's situation or with a professor's proof, this time could be further extended, though not indefinitely.

Over time, graduation became equivalent to completion.

The moment Qi Hao received his self-study results, he received a task completion notification.

Just as he had expected.

This type of task only required reaching a certain stage for the system to acknowledge completion.

Generally speaking, having passed four self-study subjects.

The remaining two self-study exams naturally shouldn't be abandoned midway, whether or not the system required it, Qi Hao would continue to take them.

Not to mention that now he was caught up in public opinion, he had to complete them whether he wanted to or not.