"Chen's Directing-and-Screenwriting Principles"

Article Nine of "Chen's Directing-and-Screenwriting Principles"—

When creating and developing a plot, the key lay in setting up contradictions and conflicts. If the story's inherent sense of conflict was weak or not gripping enough, then create a "misunderstanding" to drive the plot forward.

Several principles Chen Ling had secretly summarized during his past life as a director and screenwriter flashed through his mind, and a trace of amusement appeared in his eyes.

[Audience Anticipation +3]

[Current Anticipation: 32%]

The instant he saw those two lines flash across the soy milk, Chen Ling knew he had guessed right.

Uncle Zhao's expression visibly stiffened.

He stared at Chen Ling in astonishment. First he was confused, then shocked, and finally he fell into deathly silence...

"Uncle Zhao, I promised Xiao Yi I'd keep it a secret... but he's your only son. You must be hoping he can carry on the family line... and he's always hanging around with another boy. It really does affect his studies."

Chen Ling sighed. "Today, I even saw him sitting in the back seat of that boy's vehicle, smiling like he couldn't have been happier..."

Uncle Zhao's body began to tremble slightly. His hands clenched into fists involuntarily, and his breathing grew heavier and heavier.

"Alright... Uncle understands." Uncle Zhao forced a smile onto his face, one that looked somewhat chilling. "Thanks, A-Ling."

"Oh, right, Uncle. I promised Xiao Yi I'd keep this secret, so you absolutely can't tell him I was the one who told you..."

"Don't worry. Uncle understands."

After finishing the last sip of soy milk, Chen Ling said goodbye to Uncle Zhao and left the shop.

But Uncle Zhao seemed not to have heard him. He kept his head down as he searched around the room. A few minutes later, he pulled a stick as thick as a fist from a corner and slowly sat down on the bench outside the shop.

A gust of cold wind swept down the street, lifting Uncle Zhao's few remaining strands of hair and the sweat-soaked towel wrapped around his forehead.

He sat there silently, propping the stick against the ground with one hand. His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the end of the street, making him look exactly like a great general with killing intent surging around him!

Chen Ling seemed to have left the street, but he had actually slipped back through an alley. Standing beneath the shade of a tree in the corner, he had a perfect view of the entire shop.

A few minutes later, a tricycle came wobbling over from the end of the road.

Zhao Yi sat sideways on the edge of the vehicle with one leg crossed over the other. The two buckets of salt behind him had already been scattered clean, and he played with the copper coins he had just earned, grinning so widely that the corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears.

"Heh, making money isn't that hard after all."

"Brother Yi, of course it's easy for you! I'm the one who's been pedaling all day!" The boy in front stood up and stomped hard on the pedals as he panted.

"We're brothers. Why bother separating yours from mine?"

Zhao Yi took out two copper coins and stuffed them into the boy's pocket. "Here, these are yours."

Not far away, Uncle Zhao's eyelid twitched when he saw Zhao Yi reach for the boy's waist of his own accord.

"Brother Yi, I pedaled for you all day, and you're only giving me two?" The boy's eyes widened. "Didn't you collect twenty from the Road Management Bureau?!"

"Pedaling is manual labor. Spreading salt is skilled work. Of course I get a bigger share."

Zhao Yi answered lazily, then leaped down from the tricycle. Squinting with a smile, he waved at the boy. "I'll wait for you at the usual place tomorrow... If you dare not show up, I'll beat you every time I see you. Got it?"

With that, he clenched the remaining eighteen copper coins in his hand and strode toward his family's shop with his head held high.

The boy pedaling the tricycle glared at him angrily, but Zhao Yi shot him a vicious look in return. He immediately lost his nerve and could only lower his head dejectedly, continuing to pedal home alone.

Zhao Yi, the young bully of Frost Street, was someone almost no one among the younger generation dared to provoke. The boy had been exploited for an entire day, yet he could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger.

"Dad, I'm back!!"

Zhao Yi strode forward with eighteen copper coins in hand. He had never come home with such confidence before.

But for some reason, the moment he reached the shop entrance, he felt a chill rush at him.

The figure holding the wooden stick slowly rose to his feet. The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point. Uncle Zhao's furious eyes locked onto Zhao Yi as he advanced menacingly, like a general wielding a spear.

"D-Dad?" Seeing the stick, Zhao Yi subconsciously took a step back.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Uncle Zhao pointed at the boy pedaling away in the distance, his hand shaking with rage. "You little bastard! You don't study properly, and you secretly go around doing this?!"

"If you were seriously dating a girl, that would be one thing, but you had to go find a man?"

"Can a man bear you children?! Can he carry on the Zhao family line?!"

"Are you trying to end your old man's bloodline?!"

Uncle Zhao cursed furiously as he chased Zhao Yi down with the stick. Zhao Yi yelped miserably whenever he was struck.

Hearing Uncle Zhao's furious curses, the neighbors on half the street perked up their ears.

They gathered nearby in curiosity and began pointing at Zhao Yi as he was chased around. No one knew what they whispered to each other, but looks of shock appeared on all their faces.

[Audience Anticipation +1... +1... +1...]

As Zhao Yi howled from the beating, the numbers before Chen Ling's eyes began jumping nonstop.

If he could enter the Theater in his mind again, he would see those densely packed shadowy "Audience" watching this scene with great interest, subtle smiles at the corners of their mouths.

"The conflict is right... but there still aren't enough characters involved." Chen Ling's gaze fell on the tricycle in the distance.

"Xiao Liu."

Hearing Chen Ling call out to him, the boy who had been blankly watching the spectacle turned around.

"Brother A-Ling, you're here too?"

"You went out to melt snow today. How much did Xiao Yi give you?"

"...Two coins." At the mention of this, resentment appeared on the boy's face. "He went back on his word. He said I'd pedal and he'd give me the bigger share after we made money, but in the end he only gave me this much. He even threatened me, saying I had to keep working for him tomorrow..."

"Do you want revenge?" Chen Ling looked into his eyes. "Or rather, do you want him to never dare bully you again, to even avoid you whenever he sees you?"

"Yes!!"

"Then I'll teach you..."

While the two whispered to each other, Zhao Yi had already been chased to the point of exhaustion.

"Dad, Dad, stop hitting me! I'm really not into men!" Zhao Yi finally understood what was happening and desperately tried to explain. "I swear, I, Zhao Yi, have always only liked women! Especially the curvy, mature kind..."

The mouths of the Audience opened slightly as they fell into thoughtful silence.

Uncle Zhao froze, and his pace immediately slowed.

"Then what kind of relationship do you have with that boy who pedals?"

"We're just ordinary friends!"

"You're telling the truth?"

"Of course I'm tell—"

"Brother Xiao Yi!" A boy shoved through the crowd and charged toward Zhao Yi like he had gone mad. He spread his arms and threw himself around Zhao Yi, using his back to shield him from the wooden stick.

Zhao Yi froze.

Uncle Zhao froze too.

"You..." Zhao Yi's mind went completely blank.

Before Zhao Yi could speak, the boy raised his red-rimmed eyes and shouted at Uncle Zhao:

"If you want to hit someone, hit me! Don't hit my Brother Xiao Yi!!!"

The atmosphere instantly fell into dead silence!

[Audience Anticipation +2... +2... +2... +2...]