After that came the Goryeo delegation's arrival in the city, followed by a sudden ambush by a group of mysterious black-clad assassins.
In the end, though, everything was resolved without incident, and the Goryeo Envoy took up residence at Laiyi Pavilion.
At the banquet Luzhou Prefecture had prepared for the Goryeo Envoy, the Goryeo Crown Prince openly sneered at the Song dynasty's civil and military prowess, provoking widespread indignation throughout Luzhou.
Bao Zheng stepped forward to challenge the Goryeo Crown Prince. In front of everyone, the Crown Prince posed a couplet, saying that if anyone present could come up with a matching second line within the time it took one incense stick to burn, he would take back his earlier insulting remarks.
The first line was:
"Ten mouths, one heart: thoughts of home, thoughts of country, thoughts of the realm."
It was a character-splitting couplet: combine the character for "ten" with "mouth" and "heart," and you got the character for "thought."
"It's a tough one, so take your time. Someone, light the incense!" said the Goryeo Crown Prince.
"No need!" Bao Zheng and Gongsun Ce said in unison.
Gongsun Ce immediately supplied a line:
"Eight eyes, still admiring: admiring flowers, admiring the moon, admiring the Mid-Autumn Festival."
Bao Zheng followed with his own:
"Eight eyes, adding congratulations: congratulating the year, congratulating the month, congratulating peace and prosperity."
Gong Xiaoxue looked at Luo Xiaobo, puzzled. "Honey, ten plus mouth plus heart makes 'thought,' but how does eight eyes plus 'still' make 'admiring'? And how does eight eyes plus 'adding' make 'congratulations'?"
Luo Xiaobo ruffled his girlfriend's hair. "You silly goose, they're talking about traditional characters!"
As he spoke, Luo Xiaobo picked up a pen and wrote an eight, then added "eye" above it, followed by "still." Together, they formed the traditional character for "admiring." Then he wrote another eight, added "eye," and finally added "adding," forming the traditional character for "congratulations."
Gong Xiaoxue suddenly understood and smiled. "You're so clever, honey!"
"What's clever about me? They've already given us the answers. The people who came up with those couplets are the truly clever ones! If I count as clever, then the people who came up with those couplets and character riddles must be geniuses!"
At that, Luo Xiaobo suddenly fell thoughtful.
He remembered the lavish praise from Teacher Chen Minghao that had rubbed him the wrong way.
"The script for Young Bao Qingtian is the most astonishing one I've seen in twenty years. Its screenwriter is the most talented I've encountered in years—without exception!"
The first episode ended before they knew it, and his girlfriend, Gong Xiaoxue, hadn't yawned once, unlike when they'd watched The Haunted Manor earlier.
Luo Xiaobo clicked on the second episode, and the first thing that appeared was an ad for a used-car dealership.
"Damn it, ads are so annoying. Honey, let's get a membership!"
His usually gentle girlfriend suddenly let out a curse.
The story continued.
The Goryeo Crown Prince was so arrogant and tyrannical that when he saw him assault Xiao Ai, Gong Xiaoxue instinctively clenched her fists. Feeling her tension and anger, Luo Xiaobo reached out and drew her into his arms.
"The actors playing the Goryeo Crown Prince and Xiao Ai are completely unknown. Even I, someone who follows the entertainment industry so closely, don't recognize either of them. But honestly, their acting in this scene is astonishing!"
When Xiao Ai was rescued and someone threw lime powder in the Goryeo Crown Prince's face, Gong Xiaoxue cursed him with satisfaction. "Serves him right!"
Then the Goryeo Crown Prince was murdered at Laiyi Pavilion.
The murder of the Goryeo Crown Prince at Laiyi Pavilion was strange in every way. Before dying, he had written a mysterious bloody cross. All the doors and windows in his room were locked from the inside, and when the incident came to light, Gongsun Ce and the others had to break in from outside to discover that the Crown Prince was dead. So how had the killer murdered him, and how had they escaped the scene?
When the other Goryeo envoys staying at Laiyi Pavilion were questioned, every one of them had an alibi.
"So who was the murderer? How did they kill him? And how did they leave afterward?"
"And why were there no footprints at all around the sand dunes where Xiao Ai appeared?"
"Could there really be a female ghost?"
"That's impossible. This is a suspense drama, not a ghost story!"
One mystery after another finally drew Luo Xiaobo completely into the story.
The Goryeo Crown Prince had been murdered on Song territory, and Goryeo could side with Great Liao at any moment. One major reason Great Liao had hesitated to invade Song was its wariness of Goryeo to the rear; it feared Song and Goryeo might join forces and attack it from both sides.
The murder of the Goryeo Crown Prince affected the fate of countless people in Song, Great Liao, and Goryeo.
At this point in the drama, Zhang Binghua as Grand Tutor Pang, Chen Minghao as the Eighth Prince, and Zhong Yuan as the emperor all made their appearances.
The story had entered its main plot, with two central threads: Bao Zheng, Gongsun Ce, and the others solving the case, and the court struggle between the Eighth Prince, Grand Tutor Pang, and the emperor.
Before they knew it, it was nine in the evening. The two episodes of Young Bao Qingtian that had been released were over.
The ads came on.
But Luo Xiaobo was still immersed in the story.
"Everyone in the Laiyi Pavilion murder case has an alibi, but someone has to be lying. Who could it be?"
"The seventh Goryeo prince?"
"No. He was drinking at Spring Breeze Full Moon Tower and got into an altercation. There were plenty of witnesses."
"Minister Cui?"
"He was practicing swordsmanship in his room. The drama even gave him a close-up for it."
"That Goryeo general?"
"Not him either. He was stationed outside the city and only came in after the murder!"
"Then who could it be?"
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.
Then Luo Xiaobo finally realized:
"Why don't I write a review of Young Bao Qingtian? Just like I did for The Coroner a few months ago?"
There was so much to write about in Young Bao Qingtian, and so many angles he could take.
Luo Xiaobo felt that if he started writing a review now, the words would pour out of him.
Just like two months ago.
Luo Xiaobo's hand began to tremble slightly.
He'd felt this same surge of emotion two months earlier, right after watching The Coroner. That time, it had brought him both fame and fortune, and even helped him find a beautiful girlfriend.
Now that feeling had returned—and somehow, it felt even stronger than before.
And before writing the review, he'd searched the web for those astonishing couplets and character riddles.
At nine in the evening on the 25th, at the iQIYI Video data monitoring center.
Xu Jun sat in his chair, watching the figures on the big screen with a huge grin.
Xu Jun was the manager and chief producer of iQIYI Video's Qifeng Drama Studio.
Unlike Penguin Video, where the in-house drama division handled all original productions, iQIYI Video assigned its original productions to five separate studios, which competed against one another.
This year, Xu Jun's Qifeng Drama Studio had produced the costume suspense series The Coroner. Its runaway success had dramatically improved the studio's standing, which had previously ranked last among iQIYI Video's five studios. Rumors were already circulating around the company that Xu Jun might be appointed vice president of iQIYI Video next year.
Watching The Haunted Manor's viewership numbers climb higher and higher on the big screen, Xu Jun couldn't help humming a little tune.
When making The Coroner, his influence had been limited, so he'd only secured 1.6 million per episode. But when they made The Haunted Manor, the budget had soared to 3.2 million per episode!
He'd never dreamed that his Qifeng studio would one day get to produce an S-Class series!
The real-time figure was 25 million views!
Looking at the number, Xu Jun felt his excitement swell. He remembered that on The Coroner's first day, it had received only 10 million views. By the time its finale aired, its daily viewership had topped 50 million.
The Haunted Manor had far exceeded expectations on its first day. As soon as it went live, it had claimed the top spot on iQIYI Video's TV drama chart and held on tight.
The second-place show had only 10 million views. The 2.5-to-1 gap made Xu Jun feel as if he'd scaled the highest peak and could look down on all the mountains below.
"Lonely at the top!"
Xu Jun looked at his executive producer and said cheerfully, "By the way, Jian Xue, Gua Video's I Was a Detective in Ancient Times and Penguin Video's Young Bao Qingtian premiered alongside ours, right? I Was a Detective in Ancient Times supposedly cost over three million per episode too. It's an S-Class production, just like ours. Check their numbers—especially I Was a Detective in Ancient Times."
"Sure thing, Manager."
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