The Beginning

Screenwriter Bai's heart lurched, but he gave nothing away. Either he had nerves of steel, or he thought there was no chance anyone would find out.

Beside him, Xia Luan looked up at Ye Qing when he heard that.

"Xiaoqing, you can eat whatever you like, but you can't say whatever you like. Say something like that, and my reputation will be ruined."

[Wow. What a thick skin.]

"Sorry, Screenwriter Bai. I shouldn't have said that."

Screenwriter Bai chuckled. "It's fine. Young people say the wrong thing sometimes."

To anyone watching, he seemed remarkably forgiving.

Ye Qing hadn't expected one remark to accomplish much. He only wanted to plant a seed of doubt in the others' minds.

Over the next few days, Ye Qing kept asking questions. Eventually, Screenwriter Bai told Xia Luan to answer him instead.

If Xia Luan answered well, Screenwriter Bai could even take credit for mentoring him. He had planned that nicely.

But it also made Ye Qing's plan easier.

Ye Qing kept asking questions as usual. Every conversation took place in front of Screenwriter Bai, who was so reluctant to let Xia Luan out of his sight that he took him almost everywhere.

Later, when Screenwriter Bai saw that the two were only discussing the script, and remembered that Xia Luan's mother gave him leverage over Xia Luan, he stopped watching them quite so closely.

At last, Ye Qing managed to bring Xia Luan into Gu Ze's dressing room. He had no choice; he wasn't yet important enough to have one of his own.

Gu Ze knew what they were about to do inside. Without drawing attention to it, he quietly had everyone stay away from his dressing room.

At first, the two of them discussed the plot in earnest. Xia Luan might have hated Screenwriter Bai, but he cared deeply about his script and answered nearly every question Ye Qing asked.

"I know you wrote this script. Do you want everyone else to know?" Ye Qing asked out of the blue.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Perhaps because of what he had been through, Xia Luan was always wary of people. He didn't trust anyone easily.

This had happened before. Every time, the people who approached him had turned out to be sent by Screenwriter Bai to test him.

"No, I really can help you."

"And I really do know you wrote this script. Why let him take the credit for your work?"

Ye Qing sounded so indignant that Xia Luan found himself caught up in it.

He needed this chance. He didn't want to give his work away to someone else again.

But he still had one worry: his mother...

"How can you guarantee you'll succeed? He's so famous now, and why would the production allow something like this to come out?"

Suddenly having to call on his family's influence made Ye Qing oddly bashful. "Well, to be honest, my family has some connections. We can handle him."

That surprised Xia Luan. To be fair, nothing about Ye Qing's behavior on set had given it away.

"As for the production..." Ye Qing picked up his phone and sent a message.

A moment later, Gu Ze came in.

Xia Luan was startled, but he remembered Ye Qing's instructions and said nothing.

Ye Qing turned to Gu Ze with an astonished expression. "Brother Gu, I found out something huge today."

Though Gu Ze already knew what it was, he pretended to be interested. "What is it?"

"I'm telling you, I only just found out that Screenwriter Bai is a scumbag who steals other people's work."

"It turns out Xia Luan wrote all those scripts of his."

Xia Luan could barely watch Ye Qing's clumsy performance. At least try to make it convincing. Even he could tell Ye Qing wasn't putting much effort into it. Who would believe him?

Gu Ze's face grew grave. "Xiaoqing, is what you're saying true?"

"It is. Absolutely true."

"Then how will you prove it?"

"I'll find a way."

"All right. If you can prove it, the production will deal with the matter."

After listening to their exchange, Xia Luan thought with a blank expression, Oh. Emperor Gu believed him.

Then he began to doubt himself. Was Ye Qing's acting so convincing that even Emperor Gu couldn't see through it? Was I the one who couldn't appreciate it?

Ye Qing knew his acting hadn't been very good, either. But he had simply felt that Gu Ze would believe him. It was a trust he couldn't explain.

With Emperor Gu's assurance, Xia Luan looked more at ease. He even told them about his mother.

"I have a place I don't use often. Your mother could stay there," Gu Ze said.

"Do you have any evidence that you wrote those scripts?" Ye Qing asked.

"No." That was another problem. Screenwriter Bai was too careful. Every time Xia Luan finished a draft, Screenwriter Bai took it for himself.

Ye Qing thought for a moment. "That's all right. I'll get you a listening device. Put it on something he uses often. Sooner or later, he'll let something slip."

Xia Luan might have seemed aloof, but he had never done anything like that. "Could that get us into trouble?"

"We'll do it quietly. We won't listen to anything else, just check whether he lets it slip."

"Actually, never mind. He's bound to call you. Let's livestream the call instead."

Once they had settled on a plan, they parted ways.

After Ye Qing told Xia Luan that his mother was somewhere safe, Xia Luan went live without hesitation and told the whole story. He also posted a recording so people who missed the livestream could see what had happened.

Viewers poured in.

"No way. Did Screenwriter Bai really steal his work?"

"I believe Screenwriter Bai. I don't think he's that kind of person."

"Maybe, maybe not. It wouldn't be the first time someone in the industry did this."

"That guy's pretty handsome. I like him."

Xia Zhe kept a close eye on the rising trending topic. Before this, he hadn't even had a chance to post a video. Every time he tried, the other side somehow found out and went after his mother.

But now, because of Ye Qing, major sites were carrying his video. He watched the topic climb the trending lists.

Opinions online were divided, and Screenwriter Bai's response came late.

Screenwriter Bai: The truth speaks for itself. Below is a list of the support I've given Xia Luan's family.

Screenwriter Bai didn't address the accusation directly. But when some people saw the list of financial support beneath his post, they assumed Xia Luan was trying to extort money from him.

Gradually, public opinion began to turn against Xia Luan.

Then a message containing his mother's address arrived on his phone. Xia Luan's strength seemed to drain away.

When Ye Qing saw the message, he told Xia Luan not to worry. Screenwriter Bai's people would never get inside.

This was the closest Xia Luan had ever come to succeeding. He didn't want to give up now.

Since Screenwriter Bai had used the help he'd given Xia Luan's family to fight back, Xia Luan posted the records showing he had paid back every cent.

But he hadn't expected that the person who would plunge him into despair wasn't Screenwriter Bai. It was his own mother.