Huayu: I Have a Doraemon

Chapter 38 Unexpected Changes

Late at night, on the second floor of the convenience store.

Lin An sat cross-legged on the ground, arms crossed, eyes glued to the screen.

A dazzling array of props scrolled slowly across the screen, each one radiating an alluring glow.

Current points: 2053

"Not the best, but not the worst either..." Lin An muttered to himself.

If the number were even slightly higher, he would have unhesitatingly added the [Opposite Sex Attraction Badge] to his collection, but it was just over two thousand.

If I buy it, I'll use up all my points, and the upgrade in privileges will be meaningless; if I don't buy it, I feel like I'm missing out, and if the product gets taken off the shelves, it'll be a disaster.

"What exactly are you struggling with?"

Doraemon walked into the room and said speechlessly, "Why not just buy something? It's already 2 a.m.

Lin An rolled his eyes and said irritably, "You make it sound so easy. It's not like you're the one earning these points."

"I helped you earn money too."

Doraemon pouted and said, "That radio from last time, and that rice cooker from the time before that..."

"How dare you bring that up!"

Lin An interrupted angrily, "If I had known you were selling things to exchange for cat food, I wouldn't have lent you the store in the first place!"

God knows how devastated he was when he saw Doraemon exchanging a bunch of appliances for points, just to redeem a box of high-protein cat food.

You know, if those machines were sold, they could make at least five hundred yuan in profit!

Doraemon opened his mouth, his round face shifting from confident to guilty, finally lowering his head and muttering a wronged remark:

"...This is my shop."

Lin An choked instantly.

Doraemon secretly glanced at him, and seeing that he wasn't angry, he said ingratiatingly:

"Alright, alright, I won't rush you anymore. I'm just reminding you to get some rest; you have class tomorrow."

Lin An hummed in agreement, the shame he felt almost driving him to the brink of collapse.

After Doraemon left, he took about seven or eight seconds to regain his mobility.

He swiped his finger across the screen a few times and added the "Automatic Screwdriver" to his shopping cart.

After thinking about it, I found the "Premium Animal Food" and selected 10 servings.

"Consider it a birthday present for Doraemon... even though his birthday just passed recently."

Lin An muttered something to himself and clicked "Redeem".

800 points vanished instantly, reducing your current points to 1253.

The next second, a familiar blue beam shot out from the projection port at the top of the machine, and several white light orbs gradually solidified.

The ball of light slowly descended, its radiance gradually fading to reveal what lay within:

A screwdriver with a simple design, featuring a light blue indicator light ring around the handle.

Next to it were ten cans of food, with various animals printed on the packaging.

At that moment, the screen of the [Future Store] suddenly emitted a crisp notification sound.

Lin An turned his head to look.

A new pop-up window slowly appeared on the screen:

[Permission Upgrade: LV1 → LV2]

Please wait...

A progress bar appears below the pop-up window. The blue progress bar starts from 0% and climbs to the right step by step.

"It still needs updating? This is rubbish..." Lin An pouted in dissatisfaction, stared at the slowly climbing progress bar for a while, and realized that it wouldn't be finished anytime soon. He could only put away his items, turn off the lights, and go to sleep.

I hope for a good outcome.

……

……

The next morning.

Lin An, carrying his schoolbag, walked into the west gate of Beijing Film Academy and headed towards the office building along the main road.

After more than half a month of campus life, he had figured out the basic structure of the school and gradually become familiar with the sometimes tense and sometimes relaxed learning rhythm.

"Lin An!"

A familiar voice came from behind me.

Lin An turned around and saw Su Xiao jogging up to him, carrying a plastic bag containing two meat buns.

"Why are you up so early today?" Lin An raised an eyebrow.

Students in continuing education programs do not have dormitory quotas, and most of them have to rent apartments off-campus. Lucky ones like him who live near the Beijing Film Academy are only a minority.

Whether it was because she lived far away or simply because she liked to sleep, Su Xiao used to arrive at the classroom right on time.

Su Xiao took a breath and said helplessly, "I haven't finished writing the character biographies yet. I thought I'd come early to see yours and find some inspiration."

"To describe copying homework in such an artistic way is truly outrageous..." Lin An remarked, pointing to the office building.

"Professor Zhang Hua needs to speak with me. You should talk to Shao Heng and Zhuang Liqun instead."

Su Xiao wasn't angry upon hearing this. A complex look flashed in her eyes. After a brief hesitation, she said:

"I came to see you just to tell you that you are still young and there is no need to get stuck on something."

"Huh?" Lin An looked completely bewildered.

Su Xiao didn't say anything more, patted his shoulder, and turned to leave.

"Playing tricks..."

Lin An muttered something to himself and was about to walk into the office building when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that several students passing by seemed to be watching him with amused expressions.

His brows furrowed immediately, realizing that something had happened.

Before I could think about it, a familiar figure appeared at the entrance of the building.

Lin Cong, wearing a black windbreaker and carrying a briefcase, was walking down the stairs.

Upon seeing Lin An, she paused, her expression becoming subtle, her eyes filled with guilt and self-reproach.

"Lin An," Lin Cong greeted him.

Lin An's unease grew stronger, and he nodded.

"Director Lin, what are you doing here?"

Lin Cong did not respond, standing still, his lips moving slightly as if he was considering his words.

The hallway was quiet for a few seconds.

A gentle breeze blew in through the door, carrying the coolness unique to an early autumn morning.

"What happened?" Lin An asked again.

Lin Cong opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then swallowed it back.

Her eyes darted away for a moment, then she finally sighed, her voice a few decibels lower than usual:

"There's a problem with your screenwriting credits."

The hallway fell silent.

Lin An stood at the bottom of the steps, looking up at her. His expression didn't change much, but the fingers gripping the backpack strap tightened unconsciously.

……

……

Gray office building by the Wanquan River.

At the far end of the third floor, the door to a medium-sized conference room was ajar.

The meeting has ended.

The long table was a mess: an open script, a half-empty water bottle, an overturned ashtray, several ballpoint pens rolled to the edge of the table... The air was thick with the smell of smoke and the bitterness of coffee.

The crowd dispersed.

Ji Tao walked the fastest, the sound of his leather shoes tapping on the ground echoing rapidly in the corridor, gradually fading into the distance.

Yu Baimei, Wang Shaoxiong, and Ning Caishen followed behind, silent and each lost in their own thoughts.

Lü Xiaopin did not leave.

He sat in the middle of the long table, leaning slightly forward with his hands crossed on the table.

"Do we really have to do this?"

He looked at Yingda at the head of the long table, his expression complex, and said:

"Even if we don't care about the monk, we should still care about the Buddha. After all, he is Teacher Zhang Hua's student, and Lin Cong seems to think highly of him as well."

Yingda waved his hand: "He's just a young upstart. I need the resources of the Beijing circle more."

Lü Xiaopin opened his mouth, but was speechless for a moment.

Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; no matter how weak the Beijing elite circle may be, the connections behind it are still beyond imagination.

Seeing his expression, Yingda raised an eyebrow and asked, "Is there a problem?"

Lü Xiaopin shook his head and said in a somber tone:

"I just don't understand why they had to go to this extent. Director Ye, after all, is right..."

He couldn't finish his sentence.

Yingda also thought that someone's eating manners were a bit unsightly, but he didn't think it was a big deal.

If there's a huge gap in status, offending someone is just that—offending someone. This is basically an unspoken rule in the industry.

Besides, how can the stray dogs in the training class compare to the red directors? Even if the Beijing Film Academy knew about this, they might not say anything.