History

At 11:30 AM, Li Xun rubbed his sore wrist, saved the document, and leaned back in his chair to rest.

In less than half a day, he had already finished the script for the first episode of Young Bao Qingtian, which included thousands of words for the synopsis, outline, and character backstories.

For Li Xun, Young Bao Qingtian was an old drama from 20 years ago. He was very young when it first aired, only vaguely remembering that it was classic, terrifying, and popular. Today, because he needed to analyze the script, he rewatched the series in his mind. Unexpectedly, this rewatch revealed many details he had completely missed as a child, or rather, details he had seen but completely misunderstood.

For example, the couplet Gongsun Ce recited when accepting a challenge at Spring Breeze Full Moon Tower:

"The sounds of wind, rain, and reading enter the ears, each and every sound."

To which the response was:

"The affairs of the family, the nation, and the world, each and every one concerns us."

Isn't this the couplet from the Donglin Academy in the Ming Dynasty?

And then there was the calligraphy whose answer was the top scholar of Xīnwèi year. Isn't this clearly the same couplet Zhu Ziliu used to test Huang Rong in The Legend of the Condor Heroes?

The earlier source also seems to be from a Ming Dynasty book?

In fact, it's quite normal for film and television dramas to use this kind of "borrowing" technique to showcase a character's talent. After all, it's asking a bit much for the screenwriter to create world-shattering riddles and couplets on their own. It's just that when he watched this drama as a child, he didn't understand any of this. He just thought it was amazing, that the couplet was divine, and Gongsun Ce was so brilliant!

And now, looking back, "Oh! So it was borrowed from so-and-so's work!"

The divine drama in his heart seemed less divine. Could it even compare to The Coroner's sister series, Mortuary?

Why not take a look at the quality of The Coroner first?

Li Xun typed The Coroner into the search engine, clicked the play button, and put on his headphones.

The screen faded in, and the narration began:

In the year 1380 AD, the 18th year of Emperor Taizu of Han's reign, Jiangnan...

Li Xun immediately hit the pause button.

He rubbed his face. The information from two timelines was bombarding his brain, giving him a headache.

In this timeline, history had taken a different path at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The ultimate victor of the great war among the Yuan Dynasty rebels was no longer the cowherd Zhu Yuanzhang, but the fisherman Chen Youliang.

After composing himself, Li Xun continued watching.

After a general overview of the first episode, a question arose in his mind.

"That's it?!"

"It went viral online???"

At 11:50 AM, Wang Hai saved his script and stretched with a big yawn.

He had written about 2,000 words of plot that morning. His state today was pretty good.

He turned his chair and saw that the newcomer, Li Xun, was watching The Coroner. This made him curl his lips into a smile.

He thought this young man would take at least two or three days to suddenly realize his own writing wasn't that good. He didn't expect that it hadn't even been half a day, and his confidence was already wavering.

If his confidence hadn't wavered, why would he be watching The Coroner to learn from it?

"Hey, Little Li, why are you watching The Coroner?" Wang Hai asked, thinking he had figured it all out.

Li Xun looked back at Wang Hai and said with a smile, "Isn't our project benchmarking against The Coroner's sister series? I'm just trying to know ourselves and our enemy."

"You've been writing for a morning, how do you feel about it?" Wang Hai asked again.

Li Xun told the truth, "I thought it was great before writing it, but after writing it, I realized it doesn't seem as good as my memory of it."

This was the truth. The drama from 20 years ago did have the bonus of childhood impressions. Looking back now, it really wasn't as divine as he remembered.

Wang Hai showed a knowing smile, stood up, placed his hand on Li Xun's shoulder, and chuckled, "That's very normal. Actually, every screenwriter goes through this stage. By the way, watching you type so fast on the keyboard, how many words did you write this morning?"

Li Xun pondered for a moment and replied, "About 12,000 words."

Wang Hai choked slightly, but then he thought that the 2,000 words he wrote today were basically finalized, while 99.9% of the other person's 12,000 words would be scrapped. He felt a sense of balance.

Li Xun added, "Including the story synopsis, outline, and character backstories, it's about 14,000 words in total."

"Cough cough!"

Wang Hai coughed twice, no longer dwelling on the topic. He patted Li Xun's shoulder and said, "It's time, let's go eat."

The cafeteria was on the twelfth floor, so they had to take the elevator. Since the first elevator was full, the two of them took the second one.

Entering the cafeteria, Wang Hai pointed Li Xun to the public cutlery area, then told him to get whatever he wanted to eat. He had some matters to discuss with other colleagues and asked Li Xun to find a seat by himself.

Li Xun took a stainless steel tray. The cafeteria was large, and the food selection was abundant. He got scrambled eggs with tomatoes, shredded potatoes with pickled peppers, braised pork ribs, a braised egg, and some green vegetables. Then he found a random seat and began to eat.

Eating alone felt a little desolate.

Han Qiaoling and Zhou Hongsu, also newcomers, were sitting not far away, chatting and laughing, clearly having already become acquainted.

After lunch, they returned to their workstations for a nap before continuing to write the script in the afternoon.

Although he became more proficient at analyzing scripts and his writing speed increased, he still couldn't finish writing the third episode by the end of the workday. He copied the script content onto a portable USB drive, planning to continue writing at home that evening.

When it was time to leave work, he said goodbye to Wang Hai and exited the Penguin Innovation Building. He walked directly to the subway, took a 40-minute ride, and then walked for over half an hour before finally arriving at his home—a basement room less than 10 square meters, with no sunlight but a private bathroom.

The predecessor lived here for a full 7 years.

Once the copyright transfer fee for Predestination comes through, he'll have the chance to move out of this cramped and damp environment, and he'll even be able to send some money to his parents.

The original host had struggled in Jing City for 7 years, yet never sent a single cent home. This was something the original host couldn't let go of until the day he died.

It wasn't that he hadn't earned money during those 7 years; most of it had gone to his ex-girlfriend.

The original host's ex-girlfriend was named Xia Qing. Their families were neighbors, and they had played together since they were toddlers. After growing up, they were inseparable.

Xia Qing's family wasn't well-off to begin with. When she was very young, her father injured his back while working away from home, leaving him bedridden. All his daily needs had to be taken care of by her mother. The family instantly lost most of their income and could only barely survive on what her mother managed to grow on their small plot of land.

Xia Qing naturally dropped out of school. At the time, the original host had just started developing romantic feelings. He couldn't bear to let his childhood sweetheart go into the city to work alone at such a young age. So, he begged his parents to also cover Xia Qing's tuition. Although the original host's family was much better off than the Xia family, they were by no means wealthy, and his parents were naturally unwilling.

Then, one night, it was raining heavily. Xia Qing, without an umbrella, braved the rain and burst into the Li family's house like a drowned rat. The original host's family was eating dinner at the time. Seeing Xia Qing's disheveled state, they thought something urgent had happened at her home and were all startled. To their surprise, Xia Qing immediately knelt down after entering the house and began kowtowing to the original host's parents.

This truly shocked the original host's entire family.

While the original host's family stared in stunned silence, Xia Qing wiped the rain and tears from her face and cried, "Uncle, Auntie, can you afford to send both me and Li Xun to school? I'll marry Li Xun and be your daughter-in-law to repay you, okay?"

At that moment, the original host felt a rush of blood to his head. He immediately knelt down before his parents as well, shouting, "If you don't send Xia Qing, I won't go to school either!"

Xia Qing glanced at the original host kneeling beside her and then said, "Uncle, Auntie, if you're afraid I'll go back on my word, I can have my mother put her handprint on a document, and we can find a village official to be a witness. Would that work?"

Li Xun could still see the scene from the predecessor's fragmented memories: a girl of thirteen or fourteen, completely soaked, rainwater dripping from her hair onto her face, mixing with her tears as they fell to the ground. She wouldn't get up until the original host's parents agreed.

And so, the original host's family supported Xia Qing all the way until she graduated from university.

In high school, Xia Qing had already shown strong talent in acting and singing. Many teachers advised her to try for Beijing Film Academy or the Central Academy of Drama. Her schooling expenses were covered by the Li family, so she had no say in the matter herself. The original host knew Xia Qing aspired to enter the entertainment industry, so he personally worked on convincing his parents. His parents, of course, were unwilling. They earnestly told their son:

"Child, Xia Qing has too high aspirations. If she doesn't become a star, your father and I worry you won't be able to keep her. If she truly becomes a star, how could she be content being our Li family's daughter-in-law?"

The original host, naturally, wouldn't listen to his parents' advice. Coupled with his failure in the college entrance examination, he decided not to pursue his own studies and came to Jing City with Xia Qing, starting his life as a delivery driver in the city. Since his family was against it, he decided to earn money himself to support her. Therefore, most of the money he earned over the years, after covering his most basic expenses, was given to Xia Qing.

Seeing their son was determined, the original host's parents stopped trying to persuade him. To ensure their son wouldn't have too hard a time in Jing City, they began sending him money periodically.

Although Xia Qing was admitted to Beijing Film Academy, with so many students admitted each year, how many actually became stars?

As a result, Xia Qing had virtually no income for the first two years after graduation, and the bulk of her living expenses still fell on the original host's shoulders.

The original host had always felt this was only natural.

It wasn't until a year ago that Xia Qing participated in a singing competition and suddenly became a huge hit.

It's said that in just this past year, she earned tens of millions for the agency she signed with.

The two were worlds apart, and breaking up became a natural course of events.

Finally, one night, the original host, who couldn't drink at all, downed an entire bottle of baijiu in one go. The next day, this Li Xun became that Li Xun.