On the evening of December 27, countless mystery fans were buzzing with excitement. Everyone was waiting for the first arc of Young Bao Qingtian to reach its finale.
Most online drama fans no longer had any doubts about the show's quality. They were convinced that tonight's finale would give them an extraordinary viewing experience.
Before 5:30 p.m., they had already prepared snacks, soda, and pillows. They'd made an early trip to the bathroom and taken care of their not-so-urgent business. They wanted to be in the best possible state to watch the online drama that had been occupying their thoughts day and night.
"I can't chat anymore. I'm going to watch Bao Qingtian!"
Excited voice messages like that were everywhere in people's friend circles.
But some of the more level-headed online drama fans couldn't help feeling a little worried about tonight's finale.
The case of the Goryeo delegation's murder wasn't an ordinary criminal matter. It was a major diplomatic incident that would affect peace and war among Great Song, Great Liao, and Goryeo!
Great Song was weak in military affairs, Great Liao was pressing aggressively, and Goryeo's allegiance was crucial. Once Bao Zheng broke Minister Cui's alibi and uncovered his motive for murder, almost every more level-headed drama fan would think that the perfect ending would be for the murderer to be Goryeo's own minister.
Only if the Goryeo Envoy had been killed in an internal feud would Goryeo refrain from blaming Great Song. And only then would Goryeo avoid turning to Great Liao in a fit of anger, leaving Great Liao free to invade the south without worries.
Even Great Song's Eighth Prince was demanding that Bao Zheng stop investigating. But Bao Zheng refused to listen and insisted on continuing to pursue the real murderer.
Quite a few online drama fans actually agreed more with the Eighth Prince's worldview. Even if Goryeo's Minister Cui was being framed, so what? Better for one person to weep than for everyone to weep!
"Bao Zheng, Bao Zheng. If the real murderer turns out to be a Song person, how are you going to resolve this major criminal and diplomatic incident involving Great Song, Great Liao, and Goryeo?"
That was what many of the more level-headed drama fans were thinking.
When they saw Bao Zheng decipher the cross-shaped murder clue, when everyone heard a scream and immediately rushed outside to find Madam Bao, when they all mistakenly thought Madam Bao had just screamed, and when Ling Chuchu stepped forward to say that she had actually been the one to scream, everyone suddenly understood.
"Exactly!"
"How can you tell who screamed based on the sound of a single scream?"
"So the scream everyone heard on the night the two princes were murdered was actually the killer trying to confuse them!"
"Brilliant! How did I not think of that?"
"That explains it! Now everything makes sense!"
Then another question immediately presented itself.
"If the person who screamed was the murderer, everyone rushed into the room as soon as the scream rang out. The murderer should still have been inside at the time, so how did he escape the scene?"
By then, quite a few people were already thinking furiously, each hoping to figure out the key to the mystery before the protagonist revealed the truth.
Unfortunately, almost no one succeeded.
Another cross-shaped murder clue was solved. As it turned out, the murderer was a constable in official uniform!
When everyone had rushed into the crime scene, the murderer had been wearing a constable's uniform. In their panic and confusion, no one noticed that the number of people who had rushed in didn't match the number already inside. No one had even realized that the killer had somehow transformed into one of the constables investigating the murder!
By this point, most online drama fans were cheering about how thrilling it was. But the people who had been worried from the start about how the case could possibly be resolved were now even more concerned.
"The murderer was a Song constable assigned to protect the Goryeo Envoy! Great. If the King of Goryeo turns to Great Liao in a fit of anger, Bao Zheng, how are you going to resolve this?!"
Then Bao Zheng exposed the real murderer.
It was Shen Liang!
The moment the murderer was revealed, countless people froze.
They could hardly believe their eyes.
"Shen Liang cried so bitterly when Xiao Ai died! How could it be him?"
"Don't tell me Shen Liang killed Xiao Ai with his own hands?!"
"I absolutely refuse to accept this ending!"
That was what countless people were thinking!
"Xiao Ai and Shen Liang were clearly deeply in love. How could Shen Liang be the one who killed Xiao Ai?"
Was Shen Liang's grief when Xiao Ai died all fake? I cried watching the scene where he was so grief-stricken in the bamboo grove after her death that he nearly went mad!
Then Bao Zheng figured out from the way Shen Liang drank water by the river that Shen Liang was actually a Liao man who had infiltrated Song territory.
He had gone to such lengths to kill the Goryeo Envoy to stir up conflict between Great Song and Goryeo, clearing a major obstacle for Great Liao's invasion of the south.
"So Shen Liang's real name was Yelü Liangcai—the eldest son of Yelü Chuxiong, Great Liao's Great General!"
By this point in the story, the people who had been worried from the beginning about how the case would be resolved finally felt the weight lift from their hearts.
Everything that followed unfolded just as it should.
The final two episodes of Young Bao Qingtian: Famous Throughout the World hadn't let anyone down!
Canceling dinner plans, dates, and chats tonight had all been worth it!
But just when everyone thought there would be no more twists in the story, Shen Liang's memories of teaching Xiao Ai to write appeared on screen. The warmth of the scene made their hearts ache. Then, when Shen Liang took out a strip of white cloth and strangled Xiao Ai, and when they saw the look in her eyes as he choked her, countless drama fans burst into tears.
They hadn't expected the story to make so many of them cry right at the very end.
"Men really are all a bunch of jerks!"
Countless sentimental young women wiped away their tears as they cursed.
Shen Liang died. Ling Chuchu left behind a letter, then departed as well.
And with that, Young Bao Qingtian: Famous Throughout the World officially came to an end!
To see what happened next, they would have to wait until next month.
At that moment, countless people sat staring at their paused computer screens, while countless others lay in bed, blankly gazing at their phones after the episode had ended. Every one of them felt an emptiness inside.
That night, Young Bao Qingtian's online viewing figures kept reaching new heights.
The record set by The Coroner was easily broken, as was its astonishing record of 60 million views in a single day.
That night, Young Bao Qingtian's Zhan Yin popularity score surpassed 20 million; its Weibo interactions exceeded 1 million, and its Weibo topic discussions surpassed 2 million. There were over 400,000 comments that night, and more than 2 million comments in total. That night, the number of bullet comments surpassed 90,000, with more than 400,000 in total.
Industry peers who had been keeping a close eye on Young Bao Qingtian's performance were stunned!
All these figures told everyone, both inside and outside the industry, the same thing.
Young Bao Qingtian had become a hit—not just a minor one, but a huge one!
That night, a phenomenon-level mystery drama was born. It was none other than Young Bao Qingtian, the show that no one had expected much from!
That night, even Wang Qiong, who played Xiao Ai, and He Dongzhi, who played Shen Liang, gained hundreds of thousands of followers on Weibo.
A residential complex in Shaohe City, Hunan Province.
A middle-aged man handed two train tickets to his wife and asked, "Are you sure we shouldn't tell our daughter in advance about something as big as our trip to the capital?"
The middle-aged woman shot her husband a look. "We're using my poor health as an excuse to go to a big hospital in Beijing for an examination. Why tell our daughter so early? She won't know what's actually going on with my health, and she'll only worry! We can tell her once we see her. By then, we'll be standing right in front of her, looking perfectly fine. She'll see that there's nothing seriously wrong with us, and she'll have a lot less to worry about!"
The middle-aged man chuckled. "You really have thought of everything."
There don't seem to be many recommendation tickets. If you have any, please remember to give the book two. Puming thanks you in advance.
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