Chapter 27: Rotten Scorers, Rotten Writers
Yu Wei looked back at the small dwelling. The few days of shared renting made him somewhat reluctant to leave before departing…
Of course, he didn’t like having his life spied on. What he liked was just the feeling created by the program—a group of young people with diverse personalities living together, never boring no matter what.
This was a feeling that Yu Wei, who had lived alone renting in his previous life, had never experienced.
“Teacher Zhong, my rent.”
Teacher Zhong Qing was a veteran artist of both virtue and art, originally a stage actor, who had devoted herself to film art since the last century, never married, and had dedicated her life to the domestic entertainment industry.
Because Yu Wei sang his new song on the program, the program team offered quite high remuneration—fully five game coins.
The rent was even just two, leaving the remaining three as a souvenir for him.
Of course, this was just the remuneration in the program process. The specific business cooperation was only starting today, and Sister Liu was probably going to be busy.
“Mm, got it.”
The old lady Zhong took the game coins, squinting her eyes as she looked up and down at the young man before her. So similar, really so similar…
She had been present during last night’s sudden situation and naturally listened to Yu Wei’s entire song afterward. On him, Zhong Qing saw the shadow of someone she had once met.
That guy was also overflowing with talent, unshakably confident, especially his composure in the face of dilemmas—it was as if they were carved from the same mold.
“Teacher, you…”
Even if Yu Wei was slow on the uptake, he could sense something was off with Teacher Zhong. Her gaze seemed to look back at history across countless years, murky and unclear.
“I remembered someone.”
Zhong Qing didn’t keep him in suspense and gave a slightly apologetic bitter smile: “More than forty years ago, there was also a person as confident and capable as you. Really nostalgic…”
Yu Wei probably knew who she was talking about.
This person was someone he had looked up on his first day—a man who changed the worldline by his own power, and also the culprit who set the entertainment industry on a parallel track.
Teacher Zhong’s murky eyes clearly held undissipated amusement, harboring too many words she couldn’t voice, lonely yet unable to suppress her feelings.
Encountering such a person in one’s best years—how could “stunning” two words suffice?
Yu Wei saw it in her eyes but really didn’t feel right asking. For a veteran artist of both virtue and art, inquiring about such romantic matters would be somewhat overstepping.
He didn’t know what relationship Teacher Zhong had with that one…
“When you’re old, it’s easy to get lost in these memories. Sigh.”
Zhong Qing sighed, noticing Yu Wei’s growing curiosity, then smiled faintly: “Those two little girls in the house, weren’t they once like this old lady?”
This statement was very direct, but Yu Wei found it hard to handle. That was still different, right? Even if one day he could stand shoulder to shoulder with that one, Tong Yulu and Chi Leying wouldn’t…
Zhong Qing had no intention of continuing to chat, just waving goodbye to Yu Wei with a softened gaze.
The person is gone, yet the shadow lingers.
The program’s recording came to a complete end here. Yu Wei glanced again at the small dwelling’s direction, his intuition telling him he would meet these people again.
…
“Told you to change your mind. Now look, the peach was picked by someone else?”
Wu Qi paced angrily in front of Qi Yuan, still unable to figure out why he had suddenly backed out then—not only offending the program team but also failing to please the company.
Just now, she heard that the invitation for the program they gave up had been taken by Yu Wei. She didn’t want to benefit anyone, let alone Yu Wei!
If he really rose up, wouldn’t it be even harder to rely on favors and relationships?
Besides, Wu Qi did have a bit of not wanting others to do well. It was human nature; after all, she had long looked down on that kid Yu Wei.
“Your teammate only cares about getting ahead himself, not even looking at you…”
“Enough!”
Qi Yuan finally couldn’t tolerate it and interrupted her. Normally, a young idol like him wouldn’t dare speak this way to an agent with seniority.
But Wu Qi was truly startled by Qi Yuan’s shout and stood obediently to the side, closing her mouth.
No way around it; she didn’t dare provoke this one’s background…
Qi Yuan let out a breath and sat on the sofa without speaking further. He didn’t regret giving up the variety show; he just hadn’t expected the successor to be Yu Wei.
Wasn’t he the type focused solely on creation? Why would he go to a fame-and-fortune place like a variety show program?
This wasn’t what he had imagined!
Could it be that he wrote a song and got cocky?
This thought flashed by, but soon Qi Yuan’s eyes showed deep, unquestioning pity. What a pity.
If he could continue delving deeply into creation with focus, he would definitely be a very formidable rival, but now…
He had to persuade Yu Wei to find his original intention. Such a talented person couldn’t get lost.
…
“Achoo.”
Yu Wei had just returned home and hadn’t steadied himself when a sudden sneeze caught him off guard. Infected by Zhou Mumu?
No way, right? Fei Hong hadn’t been infected—how was it appropriate for him to be?
Fortunately, Yu Wei didn’t feel any discomfort in his body. It was probably just an itchy nose or someone speaking ill of him.
“Time to write!”
Yu Wei eagerly opened the computer. Just now, he had a bold idea.
In theory, he could perfectly master any Earth entertainment works appearing in the novel. Songs were like that, so what about film and television dramas?
If he wrote a movie, what would perfect mastery mean? Would it mean perfectly comprehending the script and performance?
Yu Wei couldn’t wait to try it.
In the entertainment novel plot, going to make a film after two songs was a bit too fast, but he really couldn’t suppress his curiosity.
Failure is like that—acting on whims.
Treat it as an experiment. As for the novel, readers were mostly gossiping now anyway; probably not many cared about the plot.
“Which play to write?”
Yu Wei, the entertainment plagiarist, had seen plenty. Besides overdone ones like Legend of Sword and Fairy, there were quite a few starting with low-cost like Buried.
He had also seen the protagonist team as a makeshift team directly filming Fraudsters, which was reasonable and quite innovative.
“Wei Yu is just a stinker for scores; what does he know about filming?”
Yu Wei rubbed his brow. Even in writing a novel, he couldn’t skip steps. The protagonist shouting about making movies or film and television dramas right after singing two songs—how could it be that easy?
He was just a stinky writer; what did he know about film?
Even if he produced a script and self-wrote, self-directed, self-acted, wouldn’t investment promotion and finding other actors take time and effort?
Entertainment novels were too naive. As Teacher Na Ying said well, different trades are worlds apart. The protagonist had to prove himself to convince the crowd.
Was there any short film, preferably one with suspenseful twists that grabbed attention, and not hard to shoot…
There really was. Yu Wei instantly thought of one: Sound Mixer, fourteen minutes, which even won the best short film at an international film festival.
The later movie was adapted by an Indian from this short film and also won Asia’s best movie award.
One fish, two meals. Just write this.
