After the completion of "[Autumn's Concerto]" Jiang Cheng and Hu Ge returned to their campus and resumed their studies. To forge iron, one must be strong. Without a solid foundation and profound accumulation, how could one have substantial skills?
During the process of filming the TV series, Jiang Cheng had already discovered significant areas of improvement in himself. Although he made rapid progress and seemed to have outstanding acting skills in the eyes of others, he knew that this alone was not enough.
His ability to excel in acting this time was partly due to his role as the writer of the series, which gave him the highest level of understanding and control over all the characters. On the other hand, his past life experiences had enabled him to effortlessly portray characters with demanding acting requirements. However, if he were to play a role that he hadn't written and which had equally high acting demands, he wouldn't find it as easy.
In essence, he found himself in an awkward position now, where he was better than some but not as good as others in terms of acting. The root cause was his lack of solid and systematic foundational knowledge. Therefore, upon returning to campus, he started to focus on studying the basics of acting to strengthen and consolidate his acting skills.
As for Hu Ge, after experiencing TV series acting once, he finally had a clear understanding of his own role. He undeniably possessed a talent for acting, but this alone couldn't make him complacent. Especially after witnessing the intense performances of Jiang Cheng, Vic Chou, Dee Hsu and Barbie Hsu on set, he realized that he still had a long way to go and needed to put in more effort. So, the typically easygoing Hu Ge, after returning, made a "painful transformation" and became extremely serious. He no longer engaged in silly antics during class and proactively completed all the assignments given by the teachers, which significantly changed the impression many teachers had of him.
In fact, Cai Yinong initially wanted them to participate in more entertainment variety shows and promotional events for "[Autumn's Concerto]" to gain more attention for the series. However, upon learning that both of them wanted to return to school to further their education, Cai Yinong understood and agreed. She didn't arrange any more work for them recently, allowing them to focus on improving themselves at the university.
Their fellow students, who had expected them to return after filming as more arrogant and proud, were surprised to find Jiang Cheng and Hu Ge both very low-key and introverted. Even Hu Ge, who used to be more extroverted, became much quieter. For a while, people couldn't understand and thought they had experienced some kind of trauma during their time away.
Only their roommates, Yuan Hong and Sun Xiao, knew the real reason: these two were not satisfied with their current acting skills and were determined to improve.
This reason was shocking to Yuan Hong and especially to him. Yuan Hong was also a natural talent in acting. He had always secretly harbored a desire to compete with Jiang Cheng and Hu Ge in the entertainment industry, but he couldn't express these feelings openly. Initially, like everyone else, he thought that when they returned, they would become more difficult to get along with than before. However, he didn't expect that after their experiences, they would realize their shortcomings, return, and start working harder. This made Yuan Hong, who was usually quite proud, feel uncomfortable.
When they had just entered the school, they were all on an equal footing. While Jiang Cheng might have been slightly better than them, the gap between them had now widened significantly. Jiang Cheng and Hu Ge had already left them far behind, and they seemed to be living in two different worlds. Their perspectives on the industry had also changed. While others were striving to become famous and successful in the entertainment industry, Jiang Cheng and Hu Ge were already focusing on further improving themselves to achieve higher positions in the industry.
Although Jiang Cheng and Hu Ge didn't display any sense of superiority, being around them made Yuan Hong feel immense pressure. He knew it was because he subconsciously felt inferior to them, which was difficult for him to accept.
However, since he couldn't enter the entertainment industry and compete with them right away, he decided to work even harder to narrow the gap between them. Thinking this way, Yuan Hong also began putting in more effort.
As for Sun Xiao, despite his somewhat carefree personality and a sense of being less sharp than Yuan Hong, he realized that something was wrong when he saw that even Yuan Hong had become as serious as Jiang Cheng and Hu Ge. Among the four of them, he was the one who had initially wanted to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry as an actor. However, now he found himself falling far behind his dorm mates. Even if he was easygoing, he couldn't bear such a blow. So, Sun Xiao also became more serious than before.
For a while, the four of them became a peculiar group within the school. They rarely participated in activities organized by their classmates and were single-mindedly focused on communicating with their teachers and continuously seeking guidance on their questions. Their improving grades in acting class far exceeded those of their classmates.
Some people who couldn't understand why they acted this way thought that they were looking down on others and had no respect for their peers. However, a few perceptive individuals began to realize their true intentions and couldn't help but be impressed.
All these things were observed by their instructors, who had taught many batches of students and understood how challenging the entertainment industry could be. Among the numerous students who had graduated, only a few with both opportunity and talent could achieve fame, while the rest either continued to work diligently in anonymity or lost confidence and left the entertainment industry. However, no matter what, opportunities were always reserved for those who were consistently prepared.