Translator: Ink Hub

Editor: Yoog

To be precise, Lin Ji wasn’t actually staring at Li Weiran. His thoughts were simply drifting, and he had unconsciously focused his gaze in one direction.

It wasn’t just Lin Ji who was dissatisfied with Li Weiran’s performance; Director Sun Zhounan wasn’t happy either. It wasn’t that her acting was bad, but something about it felt off.

Sun Zhounan thought for a moment before calling Li Weiran over to perform the scene again. She complied, but Sun Zhounan still frowned. He looked at Lin Ji. “Screenwriter Lin, what do you think…”

Sun Zhounan whispered in Lin Ji’s ear for a while. Lin Ji nodded slightly. Afterward, the director went to Li Weiran and whispered to her as well.

When she attempted the scene again, Li Weiran was clearly much more immersed than before.

“What did you say to her?” Hua Tai asked curiously.

As the director of Qinglan TV, Hua Tai had attended the crank-up ceremony. He didn’t necessarily need to stay for the first scene, but he personally placed great importance on this series and had stayed behind.

Sun Zhounan blinked. “I just told her that Lin Ji doesn’t like to scold people, and he doesn’t hold grudges against actors he’s worked with.”

Hua Tai paused. “…That actually seems to be true.”

Public opinion described Lin Ji like some sort of the great demon king, but in Hua Tai’s eyes, he was far easier to get along with than those talentless screenwriters in the industry.

Take Gu Lenian’s circle of screenwriters as an example. It was rare for a talented writer to emerge in the industry, yet they found every reason to be displeased, using their past achievements to nitpick and criticize.

It would be one thing if that group had simply lost their market value, but whenever a satellite station approached them for a collaboration, they would invariably demand exorbitant fees and treatment. Yet, the quality of the scripts they produced fell far short of the station’s expectations.

To make matters worse, that group loved to form cliques and praise each other. Whenever one of them wrote a new drama, the others would inevitably write several lengthy columns to hype it up.

Hua Tai found it depressing. As the party paying the bills, who would be happy about losing money?

As for Lin Ji, Hua Tai had never seen his peers praise him.

However, it was common knowledge that the screenwriting circle was full of pretentious, mediocre literati. There was only one reason why Lin Ji wasn’t being praised by his colleagues: they were green with envy.

At the very least, during this collaboration between Qinglan TV and Lin Ji, the writer’s demands were so minimal that it actually gave Hua Tai a sense of crisis, making him feel like the other party might scrap the contract and run away at any moment.

In this industry, there were truly too few normal people.

Although Lin Ji was famous for being vengeful, at most, he was just kicking a dog that was already down. Hua Tai even felt that Lin Ji was quite easy to talk to. After all, he had clearly rejected Records of the Bai’s Return once. If Lin Ji were truly as petty as the rumors suggested, he would have demanded several times the usual salary for this project. Hua Tai had been prepared to bleed money before they reached an agreement.

But in reality, nothing of the sort happened.

For the sake of this collaboration, Hua Tai had even gone to Chu Tianzhou for advice, but he hadn’t heard a single word of dissatisfaction regarding Lin Ji from him either.

Satellite station directors were indeed all sly foxes, but Hua Tai and Chu Tianzhou were so familiar that he could read the subtext in the other man’s expressions just from a blink or a furrowed brow.

When Chu Tianzhou mentioned Lin Ji, his expression was bright and cheerful, without a hint of resentment.

While Hua Tai was sighing with such sentiment, his assistant whispered from the side, “That was a 4.5% viewership rating, though. What is there to be dissatisfied about?”

Hua Tai went silent. He was choked up by the remark.

On second thought, it was true.

Never mind a bottom-tier A-list station like Xingzhou TV; even at Qinglan TV, there weren’t many dramas in a year that could exceed a 4.5% rating.

With a single Records of the Bai’s Return, Xingzhou TV had won the ratings war and swept every honor a satellite station could possibly achieve. Hua Tai had personally attended the seminars and study sessions for the drama, and he still remembered Chu Tianzhou’s smug, triumphant face.

With a god of wealth like Lin Ji, which station would be blind enough to provoke him?

Maple Leaf TV had indeed done so before, and the result was that they had directly replaced their director.

Hua Tai vaguely remembered that the former director of Maple Leaf TV hadn’t been in the position for long, probably less than two years. Yet, because of the strategic failure regarding Stormy Romance, he was fired by the station.

Offending a famous screenwriter was clearly the most unwise move possible.

If Lin Ji had possessed his current fame and status during the broadcast of Snow in Early May, there was a high probability that Hua Tai would have been fired by Qinglan TV as well.

It wasn’t that Maple Leaf TV feared Lin Ji, but rather, offending Lin Ji was equivalent to handing ammunition to their rivals.

The fact that Records of the Bai’s Return and Stormy Romance aired in the same time slot was just a coincidence, not Lin Ji’s intentional doing. Nevertheless, Stormy Romance, which Maple Leaf TV had bought at a high price, still collapsed, failing to achieve the prestige and attention the station wanted.

What if Lin Ji decided to specifically target Maple Leaf TV in the future?

What if he produced another Code 11 or Records of the Bai’s Return specifically to fight Maple Leaf TV?

No matter how wealthy and powerful Maple Leaf TV was, they wouldn’t be able to handle it. In the long run, if a pattern emerged, would other production crews start intentionally selling their works to Maple Leaf TV at inflated prices?

Anything was possible.

Hua Tai summarized his thoughts and couldn’t help but sigh. “Screenwriter Lin is truly a good person.”

Thinking carefully, Hua Tai didn’t mind if Lin Ji’s reputation for being vengeful spread even further. That way, others wouldn’t dare to work with him, and then he could…

Heh heh heh…

The vice president of Future Entertainment, who had just arrived at the Qinglan TV building to discuss a collaboration, felt a chill. What kind of crazy talk is this?

* * *

Regardless, after Sun Zhounan’s reminder, Li Weiran’s state finally returned to normal. Her personal talent and aura slowly began to show.

There was a reason Li Weiran had been chosen to play Wen Yiwan. Her image and temperament were gentle, and when she portrayed the Wen Yiwan who had just entered the palace, she possessed a sense of innocent, romantic girlishness.

Emperor Jing loved girls who were lively and spirited. He disliked those like the empress, the Virtuous Consort, and Consort He, who were overly dignified and strictly followed etiquette. Because Wen Yiwan had refused the overtures of both the empress and the Noble Consort, Emperor Jing appreciated her refusal to take sides and granted her a bit more favor.

In the palace, the emperor’s favor was the ultimate compass. Whichever consort gained favor, even the imperial kitchen would be willing to send over a few extra dishes.

The thing that suddenly woke Wen Yiwan up like a bucket of cold water was the death of Consort Zheng.

Consort Zheng was glamorous and had been one of the most famous beauties in the capital before entering the palace. When Wen Yiwan was young, her father had just entered the capital to take his post as the provincial administration commissioner, and he had been fortunate enough to see Consort Zheng once.

Consort Zheng was domineering, as everyone in the palace knew. But even the eunuchs who swept the floors understood that her current personality had been spoiled into existence by Emperor Jing.

When Consort Zheng was at the height of his favor, Emperor Jing had cast the entire harem to the back of his mind. He didn’t even like going to Noble Consort Liu’s quarters, staying in Consort Zheng’s palace every single day.

But now, Consort Zheng had been framed for having an affair with a guard. Even someone like Wen Yiwan, who had entered the palace late, could see the absurdity of the claim. Yet Emperor Jing didn’t even ask a single question. With a simple “Bury her,” he dismissed everything concerning Consort Zheng.

Witnessing this scene, Wen Yiwan felt a chill through her entire body. She fell ill upon returning to her quarters.

Thunder and rain, all were the emperor’s grace. The lives of the women in the harem were like blades of grass, controlled entirely by the emperor’s whims.

Li Weiran’s acting gradually put Lin Ji’s mind at ease. At the very least, her emotional transition during the scene of Consort Zheng’s death was flawless.

Lin Ji’s biggest concern was that Li Weiran wouldn’t be able to digest the character of Wen Yiwan. Wen Yiwan wasn’t like Bai Mei, where the youth and old age were played by different actors. This character had to be played from the beginning of the series to the very end, and her white-to-black transformation was an ongoing process.

If Li Weiran only had one style of acting, she clearly wouldn’t be able to handle the role.

In the script, Lin Ji didn’t just describe Wen Yiwan’s fate. He also wrote the fates of the other candidates who entered the palace at the same time: Ji Surang, Zhao Yulan, and Xu Huanchun.

Some were blinded by wealth and lost their lives after straying from the path. Others shouted, So what if I was born lowly? I refuse to believe in this fate!

Lin Ji had put a great deal of effort into writing these characters. As the script progressed, he appeared less and less frequently on set. Although he stayed in the same hotel as Fan Yongfang and Sun Zhounan, he spent the vast majority of his time in his room writing.

Toward the end, the plot became increasingly taxing on his brain cells. Although Lin Ji had determined the characters’ endings from the start, he still had to arrange a logical path for each of them to reach their destination.

From joining the crew to finishing the entire story’s conclusion, Lin Ji spent exactly three months. The moment he handed over the script, he felt the burden on his shoulders suddenly lift.

Although—

“Screenwriter Lin! You are my god!!

“How fortunate am I to be the first to appreciate such a divine drama!”

Lin Ji: “…Stop being a freak.”

Hua Tai couldn’t share his excitement with anyone else. After all, he was a station director and had to maintain his professional image in front of outsiders.

But he really, really, really loved this script!

It was practically tailor-made for Qinglan TV by Lin Ji!

Not only was the storytelling explosive, but the amount of information provided was enough for the audience to scrutinize for a long time. The clashes between the actors were enough to keep the drama’s buzz at a maximum. Add to that the helpless fate of characters being pushed along by circumstances…

Hua Tai had a strong premonition: this drama would definitely stir up a massive storm.

It might even be enough to take on Dajiang TV single-handedly.

“Screenwriter Lin, do you still have plans to write a transmigration drama? Actually, our station has plenty of funds. As long as you’re willing to write, we’re willing to film. What do you plan to write for your next-next drama? Why don’t we sit down and discuss it?”

The corner of Lin Ji’s mouth curved. “I’ll give Chu Tianzhou a call.”

“Screenwriter Lin! I’ll stop!” Hua Tai waved his hand. “A romance between two people doesn’t need a third party.”

Lin Ji: “…”

“I’ll think about it,” Lin Ji could only say. “We’ll talk after this drama airs.”

The drama was still filming. Lin Ji hadn’t been to the set in a long time, so he went to watch for a bit.

Sun Zhounan was still guarding the monitor with boundless energy. Compared to when they first started, many actors had already finished their scenes and left the crew.

The two actresses, Peng Fangfang and Qian Yuzhu, were still with the crew. The empress and the Noble Consort exited the story late and hadn’t been written out yet. In the script, their exit times were quite close, almost one after the other. Sun Zhounan was relieved by this. He had been very afraid that Peng Fangfang and Qian Yuzhu would start a physical fight on set.

In fact, both actresses had perfect professional ethics and top-tier acting skills. It was just that neither would submit to the other. When they engaged in a battle of acting, it had a kind of beauty that disregarded the survival of everyone else.

But it had to be said that with these two main characters present, the other actors in the crew were all motivated, especially when these two got so carried away with their acting that they were forced to NG because of their own mistakes.

Who could understand?

Although Peng Fangfang and Qian Yuzhu looked like they wanted to tear each other’s throats out, the other actors deeply suspected that before they could kill each other, everyone else would probably be caught in the crossfire first.

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