The story of the second arc of Young Bao Qingtian was called "The Blood Altar." It took place at Tianhong Academy, where Bao Zheng, Gongsun Ce, and the others studied.
Zhan Zhao's older brother, Zhan Jun, was found dead in his room. He had died a gruesome death, his chest crushed by a heavy hammer. Gongsun Ce had a history of conflict with Zhan Jun and, as it happened, no alibi, so he was suspected of being the murderer. Gongsun Ce's father, Gongsun Zhen, personally visited Bao Zheng to ask him to clear his son's name.
While investigating the case, they discovered a cave in the hills behind the academy. Inside was a blood altar belonging to the Kuayi Tribe.
There were five stone statues at the altar, each depicting a different horrifying death.
One of the statues even depicted a death identical to Zhan Jun's: someone had crushed the victim's chest with a heavy hammer. All the students who had entered the cave together were left dumbfounded with horror.
That afternoon, after lunch, Li Xun began concentrating on the script for the second arc of Young Bao Qingtian, "The Blood Altar."
"The Blood Altar" was one of Li Xun's childhood nightmares.
Meng Fang had been beheaded; Commander Mu had appeared before everyone on horseback, holding his own severed head; in Bao Zheng's dream, he followed an old man from the Kuayi Tribe in search of the tribe, only for the old man to suddenly turn around and reveal himself as a skeleton.
Though many years had passed, Li Xun still remembered those scenes vividly.
At six that evening, Li Xun finished the script for the first episode, went out to have dinner, then came back and continued writing the second episode.
Episodes three and four of Young Bao Qingtian would go online that night. He had already watched them countless times, so naturally he wasn't going to sit in front of his computer and watch them again. He planned to finish the script for the second episode of "The Blood Altar" that night.
Before long, it was 7:30 p.m. The third and fourth episodes of three online dramas—The Funeral Parlor, Young Bao Qingtian, and I Was a Detective in Ancient Times—were about to go online simultaneously.
IQIYI Video Data Monitoring Center.
Xu Jun was no longer as smug as he had been the day before.
The Funeral Parlor had racked up 32 million views in its first 24 hours. That was a very good result. Xu Jun had initially estimated that 30 million views in the first 24 hours would count as a resounding success.
Now its 24-hour tally was two million above that benchmark. By rights, it was the kind of result that should have him grinning in his sleep. But Young Bao Qingtian's numbers were even more outrageous.
Thirty-nine million views in 24 hours!
The figure was so absurd that when Xu Jun saw it, the corners of his mouth kept twitching uncontrollably.
"Jian Xue, do you think The Funeral Parlor can make a comeback tonight?" Xu Jun asked.
Li Jianxue was the executive producer of The Funeral Parlor, so he had considerable say in the show's overall quality.
He hesitated for a moment, then replied, "Manager, to be honest, I'm confident! I believe The Funeral Parlor will ultimately outperform Young Bao Qingtian!"
Xu Jun perked up. "Why do you say that? What's your reasoning? On its first day online, The Funeral Parlor had a full seven million fewer views than Young Bao Qingtian! Do you know what seven million means? Nine out of ten online dramas barely get more than seven million views in a single day."
Li Jianxue smiled. "Manager, after I got home last night, I watched Young Bao Qingtian carefully. I can say that the quality is indeed quite good. But what impressed viewers most wasn't the usual strength of a mystery drama—the way the cases were constructed. It was how brilliant the couplets in the show were."
Xu Jun nodded at that.
After getting home last night, hadn't he also forced himself to stay awake and watch the first two episodes of Young Bao Qingtian?
When he saw those two couplets, he had indeed been impressed, but that was all.
Like most people, his first thought had been that the screenwriter had borrowed works by some historical genius. It was only when he read the online comments that he learned those couplets and riddles—so clever that no ordinary person could have come up with them at a glance—were actually original creations by the drama's screenwriter.
"This unfamiliar screenwriter is certainly not to be underestimated!"
That was his first reaction after watching the first two episodes of Young Bao Qingtian.
Li Jianxue continued, "I anonymously asked a lot of people online why they thought Young Bao Qingtian was better than The Funeral Parlor. The answer I got most often was those couplets and riddles."
"Manager, do you think the screenwriter of Young Bao Qingtian can come up with one or two couplets of that caliber in every episode?"
Xu Jun gave a slight shake of his head.
Li Jianxue went on, "Even if the screenwriter can, is this supposed to be a crime drama or some old-fashioned romance about a gifted scholar and a beautiful woman? Seeing one or two clever couplets feels fresh and impressive. But if every episode really has a scene of people composing couplets, won't the audience get annoyed?"
Xu Jun nodded again.
Li Jianxue continued, "Ultimately, what matters in a mystery drama is how the cases are constructed and how the twists unfold. Once the truth is revealed, can it feel both logical and surprising to the audience? Those are the real keys! And when it comes to that, are we really afraid that our The Funeral Parlor can't match Young Bao Qingtian?"
"Yesterday, Young Bao Qingtian overtook us because our first two episodes were still laying the groundwork and planting clues, while Young Bao Qingtian came out swinging with a killer hook! Those two or three dazzling couplets instantly grabbed the audience's attention."
"But starting with episodes three and four, The Funeral Parlor will get into the main storyline. The carefully designed clues will begin to surface in these two episodes. When that happens, our show will leave the audience stunned—and wanting more!"
"By contrast, Young Bao Qingtian did have cases in its first two episodes, but one was about a pig being tried, and the other was a case about a lord murdering his wife. The cases had a few bright spots, but overall they were a little simple. Compared with the twists in our third and fourth episodes, they really won't hold up."
"So I can say for certain: tonight, The Funeral Parlor will stage a stunning comeback!"
Listening to his subordinate's well-reasoned analysis, Xu Jun gradually felt better. The pressure on his shoulders eased, too.
The Funeral Parlor had cost an astonishing 3.2 million per episode to film. If it failed to deliver results that satisfied the company's board of directors, then forget about his bid for the position of vice president at iQIYI Video—he might not even be able to keep his current job as general manager of Qifeng Drama Studio.
"Since Young Bao Qingtian is already online, we might as well put it on now and see for ourselves how good it is," Xu Jun said, glancing at the time.
Two hours later, Li Jianxue stared motionlessly at the computer screen, which had automatically paused after the episode ended, as if lost in thought.
Sweat covered Xu Jun's forehead.
The plot went from suspecting the Female Ghost of murder to suspecting the Seventh Prince, from exposing the flaws in the prince's alibi to the prince's sudden murder, then from exposing Minister Cui's lies to Bao Zheng concluding that Minister Cui still wasn't the real mastermind. One twist followed another, and one mystery led straight into the next.
Li Jianxue had said Young Bao Qingtian opened with a killer hook, and Xu Jun agreed. But after watching episodes three and four, how could anyone call this a weak hand?
One moment, Xu Jun thought the cases in Young Bao Qingtian might be even better and more impressive than those in The Funeral Parlor, which he had been so proud of. The next, he thought The Funeral Parlor's suspense was just as cleverly constructed.
"It's not like we're definitely going to lose to Young Bao Qingtian, right?" Xu Jun couldn't help thinking.
He looked up at the big screen.
The Funeral Parlor's numbers were even more impressive than yesterday's. It looked like it might even break 40 million views in a single day.
Li Jianxue had said the story would get more and more exciting starting with episodes three and four. It seemed he had been absolutely right.
Just then, Li Jianxue took out his phone. It looked like he was logging in to Hawkeye Data to check Young Bao Qingtian's numbers.
Xu Jun suddenly grew extremely tense. His mind was filled with scenes from Young Bao Qingtian, which he had just watched.
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