Translator: Ink Hub

Editor: Yoog

At the end of The Harem, Wen Yiwan became the sole winner of the palace intrigue. The faces of her former enemies—Zheng Su, Liu Qingmei, Lu Jing’an, and Xu Huanchun—flashed through her mind.

By this point, Wen Yiwan no longer felt any hatred toward them, only an endless sense of emptiness remaining.

When she first entered the palace, she had felt a modicum of love for Emperor Jing. But she slowly realized that Emperor Jing was the source of every woman’s misfortune in the palace. Every woman suffered in her own way, but the woman who fell in love with Emperor Jing suffered the most.

To actually pray for the love of an emperor… Hah.

When the two large words “The Finale” appeared on the screen, the desolate female voice of the theme song rang out once more. For this episode, the ending credits music was replaced by the opening theme, perfectly fitting the tone that permeated the entire series of The Harem: a vast white expanse of land, truly clean.

Nie Ou let out a deep sigh.

When The Harem first began airing, she and her friends had spent every day in their group chat discussing the “108 Ways a Consort Can Die.” They marveled at how well Lin Ji could spin a tale: from musk, safflower, and oleander to poison arrows and upas trees, to heartbroken grass and nux vomica, killing with a borrowed knife, seeing shadows of bows as snakes, and hiding a dagger behind a smile. As they discussed, they threw out idioms left and right, feeling like their literary talent was finally approaching the level they had back in high school.

But now that she had actually seen the finale, Nie Ou only felt a heavy weight in her chest.

Her friends weren’t as active in their discussions as before. Although Wen Yiwan was the final winner, she had lost just as much: friendship, love, innocence, and her youthful spirit.

In the beginning, Wen Yiwan could confide in her sisters, sharing the bitterness and sorrow of the palace and supporting each other as they walked forward. But by the end, Wen Yiwan would obsessively overthink every word anyone said, dissecting the hidden meanings within.

A big V drama critic posted again: “I thought the entire series of The Harem was filled with ‘satisfaction’ and was a typical story of a harem career advancement. But it wasn’t until the finale that I realized this is a story about the alienation of human nature by the harem.

“Xu Huanchun’s death was certainly of her own making. But watching Wen Yiwan go from fighting alongside her against bullies to a life-and-death struggle where Wen Yiwan had to end her life with her own hands… I can only feel the deeper meaning Lin Ji was trying to convey through The Harem.

“This is a great drama. Although the ending isn’t exactly happy, when Wen Yiwan sits alone in the most prestigious position in the harem, she surely remembers the slight warmth she once possessed in her youth.”

The finale of The Harem triggered a heated discussion across the entire internet. The viewership figures were even more eye-popping—9.67%!

Qinglan TV posted the results in the most conspicuous font possible!

Hua Tai was in high spirits as if he had experienced a great personal joy. No matter who called him, his response was always: “Hmm? How did you know our ratings reached 9.67%?”

His competitors, led by Chu Tianzhou, felt a strong urge to punch that fat face of his.

But that 9.67% rating… unless Lin Ji himself broke it, it likely wouldn’t be surpassed in the short term.

The Harem possessed storytelling, watchability, and buzz. From the plot and soundtrack to the characters and visuals, there wasn’t a single weakness. When the drama first aired, the industry wondered where that hundred million yuan had gone. But after the show finished, the industry only had one question: Did The Harem make a billion yuan for Qinglan TV?

“I heard… the advertising fees for the finale of The Harem were an astronomical figure.”

“Just look at the closing credits and you’ll know. I’ve lived this long and I’ve never seen such a long list of thank-yous. Did Qinglan TV pull in every advertiser in the country?”

“9.67%? I’m stunned. But when my house was playing the theme song for The Harem, it sounded like the neighbors next door and upstairs were playing the same music LOL.”

“Does this count as Little Lin paying back the debt from Snow in Early May?”

Even though The Harem had reached its finale, the discussion surrounding the drama continued. Whether it was the subject matter, casting, dialogue, makeup, or sets, there were simply too many things worth talking about.

Besides that, there were the second-run broadcasting rights for The Harem.

Although Qinglan TV hadn’t disclosed anything, industry insiders claimed that almost all B-tier satellite stations were interested in fighting for the second-run rights.

There were even satellite stations currently scrambling to find screenwriters to film a brand-new palace intrigue project.

Regarding the success of The Harem, some screenwriters believed it was because the palace intrigue genre was a blue ocean. Since no screenwriter had explored it yet, Lin Ji naturally stood out.

“Little Lin is truly amazing. To be honest, I still can’t quite accept that God of War Returns Home and The Harem were written by the same person. The dialogue in God of War was so tacky it was practically falling apart.”

“The judgment poems in The Harem… ‘A heart higher than the sky, a fate thinner than paper.’ Sigh, once you enter the palace, of course everyone wants to fight for a spot.”

“After finishing The Harem, I probably won’t want to watch any other dramas for half a year. I can’t get over it. Sigh.”

During the airing of The Harem, the invitations sent to Lin Ji never stopped. To be precise, after Lin Ji finished the scripts for Code 11 and Records of the Bai’s Return, the major satellite stations had been chasing him. It was just that now, the pursuit had become many times more passionate.

The transmigration drama Lin Ji had mentioned in passing before was recently being discussed by various satellite stations, with many saying they were “interested in investing in a transmigration script.”

“Hilarious. They don’t even know what a transmigration drama is and they dare to invest? Aren’t they just waiting for our Little Lin to write it?”

“Where are the experts who criticized palace intrigue and transmigration dramas as Little Lin’s nonsense? Why aren’t they coming out to say anything now?”

“I really feel like Little Lin has single-handedly changed the landscape of the screenwriting world. Have you noticed? Young screenwriters are being chased by the industry much more now.”

* * *

One day, Lin Ji woke up and found himself pulled into a WeChat group.

He was very familiar with the group members; they were all his former classmates from the National Film Academy.

“Lin Ji, everyone was immature back then. You’re a big person with a big heart, so don’t dwell on those small things. You are the light of the National Film Academy!”

“Exactly. Now that The Harem is so popular, everyone is happy for you.”

“Do you remember He Jiawei from the acting department? Our school beauty back then? She contacted me before, saying she wanted a chance to collaborate with you.”

Lin Ji blinked. Don’t talk nonsense. I am the disgrace of the National Film Academy.

Just as the classmates in the group were about to say something, they saw Lin Ji send a flurry of screenshots. They were all records of them mocking him in the group chat before, as well as internet photos of his classmates pretending to be netizens to mock him.

The group went silent instantly. After a long time, one person finally replied, “Lin Ji, that’s all in the past. Is it necessary to hold such a grudge? Everyone is sincerely congratulating you.”

“Exactly. There’s no need to be like this, right?”

Lin Ji sent a smiling emoji. “My broad-mindedness is famous in the industry.

“Additionally, I don’t mind having a word with the TV stations. I may not have many skills, but I can still manage to get the stations to cancel their collaborations with you.”

Lin Ji typed out a long, eloquent sentence. Once he finished, the group became even more silent.

Everyone was a screenwriter working in the same circle. Although their relationship with Lin Ji was poor, if any of them mentioned to a production crew that they were Lin Ji’s classmate, the crew would always give them more respect.

With the massive success of The Harem, they finally couldn’t hold back and wanted to rebuild a class group to pull Lin Ji in. In their view, as long as they sincerely apologized to Lin Ji, there was no reason for him not to accept. Although Lin Ji was famous enough now, making one more friend would ultimately provide a bit more convenience.

But they hadn’t expected Lin Ji to be so unwilling to give them face.

After Lin Ji left the group, the group of people finally couldn’t stop their sour remarks.

“Look at that arrogant mug of his. Does he think he’s the only screenwriter in the world?”

“I want to see how long he can stay this arrogant.”

“He’s just riding high because The Harem just blew up. It might not be the case in the future.”

The screenwriters based in C City didn’t dare to offend Lin Ji too harshly, so they just made a few passive-aggressive remarks. However, screenwriters outside the city didn’t have as many scruples.

Lou Yangyang’s relationship with Lin Ji was already terrible. Whenever Lin Ji achieved even a minor success, he would be so jealous he couldn’t sleep. With Lin Ji producing one hit drama after another, he simply couldn’t suppress the fire of envy in his heart.

When they first graduated, Lin Ji’s life was difficult, and the drama he was credited for, Snow in Early May, was a disastrous flop. Lou Yangyang was beyond happy when he heard that piece of news.

But now, Lin Ji actually dared to speak to them with such a high-and-mighty attitude!

Lou Yangyang immediately found a marketing account and sent over the screenshots of Lin Ji’s remarks in the group.

The Harem was currently the hottest thing around, and marketing accounts were desperate for any material on Lin Ji. They immediately came up with a title like “The Private Face of a Popular Screenwriter” and posted it online.

Lou Yangyang fervently hoped that netizens would resonate with him and drag Lin Ji’s reputation through the mud.

At first, things went as Lou Yangyang expected. There were indeed people cursing Lin Ji along with him, but gradually, the tone of the comment section changed.

“Wait, isn’t Lin Ji himself exactly like this?”

“I can testify: broad-minded + doesn’t hold grudges + can definitely make a TV station cancel a collaboration with a certain screenwriter.”

“Otherwise? How do you think ‘No Future Entertainment’ came about?”

“Even so, there are rumors in the industry about what happened between Little Lin and the National Film Academy. You can’t say it was all Little Lin’s fault, right?”

“Don’t just take half a screenshot. Why not post what was said before that too?”

“Lin Ji’s words are indeed a bit much, but this is how he is in public. Isn’t it normal for him to have this face in private?”

Lou Yangyang was nearly driven mad with anger. He suspected these people were Lin Ji’s brain-dead fans or a water army. Otherwise, why would they keep speaking up for Lin Ji?

He couldn’t help but jump in to argue, labeling the netizens as Lin Ji’s brain-dead fans and calling them “Lin Ji’s dogs.”

Lou Yangyang usually acted quite arrogantly and was very influential back in his hometown. He had never been afraid of anyone.

He actually looked down on those classmates working in C City, feeling that they were becoming more cowardly as they worked, even fearing Lin Ji’s threats.

When a netizen cursed him, he immediately fired back.

But Lou Yangyang forgot that he wasn’t using a burner account. Usually, Lou Yangyang loved to share his daily life of buying cars and bags on Weibo. Although he didn’t mention much about his scripts winning awards, he had posted about his experience attending the National Film Academy anniversary.

The netizen arguing with him was so angry that he flipped through Lou Yangyang’s homepage. As he scrolled, he noticed something was off. Looking further down, he found screenwriters from the same year as Lin Ji in Lou Yangyang’s following list—and more than one. Coupled with the fact that Lou Yangyang had participated in screenwriting competitions during university, the records were still there. Now that he was developing in his hometown prefecture, the name and IP address all matched up.

Naturally, this piece of gossip transformed from “The Private Face of a Popular Screenwriter” into “Lin Ji’s Classmate Suffers a Mental Breakdown Because Netizens Defend Lin Ji.”

Netizens now had a good idea of who had exposed the group records.

Besides that, the awards Lou Yangyang had won after returning to his hometown were also dug up one by one by netizens.

“[Smiling emoji] So, he’s Lou Yangyang? Someone with the same IP here. On my day off, my boss actually called me in to watch that crappy award-winning drama of his. They’re all just pheasant awards. I was wondering at the time, what kind of brain-dead person wrote that script?”

“+1. Incredible. Is there really such a huge grudge between him and Lin Ji? Does anyone want to see Lou Yangyang’s drama? I have a copy on hand.”

“What a low-class person. He’s been passive-aggressive about The Harem and Code 11 on his homepage many times. Can someone please do something about him?”

“…If his classmates are all this kind of person, I really understand why Lin Ji doesn’t want to associate with them. I still remember someone saying Lin Ji was the disgrace of the National Film Academy before.”

Lou Yangyang hadn’t expected to be exposed so quickly.

He knew the quality of those award-winning dramas of his; they were indeed unwatchable. He could show off his awards and money in his friend circle, but he had never imagined his dramas would be seen by a crowd of netizens!

Now he didn’t even dare to open Weibo. The comment section was filled with “Lin Ji’s dog reporting for duty,” overwhelming and packed, ranging from “Lin Ji’s Dog No. 1” to “Lin Ji’s Dog No. 3982.”

Are they insane?!

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