Chapter 51: Here, Take the Pen and You Write It

Never try to write on an airplane, and don't ask Yu Wei how he knows that...

High concentration easily brings on dizziness and blurred vision. He wasn't hit that severely, though; he just experienced a slight ringing in his ears during the flight, and after several hours, he hadn't managed to write much.

In his novel, the "Singer-Songwriter" competition was still ongoing. After writing two more rounds to enter the second half of the season, the protagonist could move on to a fresh storyline arc and return only for the grand finale.

Yu Wei intended to maintain his daily updates, trying his best to finish the plot for these two songs during the recording period of "Beyond the Class," and then exchange them in advance to store them up.

Writing and using chapters on the fly was still too rigid; having a few extra trump cards up his sleeve never hurt.

As for the competition topics for this show, he planned to decide when he was actually recording. Whoever he encountered, he would write about them. Greeting them on the spot would also save a lot of trouble.

He refused to believe that none of the guests participating in the show had ever sung a song.

The shooting location for "Beyond the Class" was at a film and television base in the capital, which was also a gathering place for many aspiring background actors trying to make it in the city. Yu Wei had read quite a few entertainment industry novels that started right here.

Opening: Extra. Climax: Number one in film history. Ending: Reaching the global summit.

Unlike other reality shows, this variety program had no so-called welcoming segment. Every episode featured four different film crews, and interested actors could go to auditions on their own.

The guest introduction segment was also brushed over quickly; the main attractions were the crew's casting process and the mentors' critiques.

Few of the young idols and washed-up veterans invited to this show actually knew how to act. What the program captured was their cringe-worthy acting skills and the mentors' unbearable-to-watch expressions, resulting in plenty of iconic moments.

The production team was undoubtedly thrilled that Yu Wei could come. His popularity had been soaring recently, allowing him to grab headlines and show his face every now and again—he was an absolute traffic-generating machine.

With him joining the cast, one could only imagine the buzz this episode would generate.

"Teacher Yu, we can head over to Director Qi's side first. The trainees are mostly gathered there. You can get acquainted with everyone first and take it from there."

"Sure, but please, seriously stop calling me Teacher."

It was one thing for peers to flatter him, but this cameraman looked like he was in his forties or fifties. Hearing him repeatedly address him as "Teacher"—could anyone actually handle that?

Sending him straight to Qi Yunming as his very first stop made it hard not to suspect the production team did it on purpose. After all, his live broadcast with Qi Yuan had been quite popular, setting the platform's viewership record for the month.

Were they trying to stir up some off-screen drama?

Qi Yunming was shooting an indoor scene. The set was simple and the character traits were distinct, making it a relatively easy type of scene to film.

Coupled with the fact that this director was quite laid-back and rarely criticized anyone, trainees had made this place their primary target.

The competition was fierce...

From afar, Yu Wei spotted a group of eager artists lingering around the set. Some were already teaming up to rehearse their audition pieces, while the vast majority were still standing by and observing.

Mainly, things were just too cutthroat here. Picking three out of a dozen candidates meant the trial-and-error cost was a bit high, and they hadn't made up their minds yet.

There was even a bed scene?

This wasn't some corpse sequence he had arranged for Zhang Lingye, but a genuine being-caught-in-bed-with-an-affair scene, though it wouldn't involve many details.

After learning about the relevant plot points, Yu Wei finally walked over to greet several of the trainees.

Although they couldn't figure out why Yu Wei had come to study acting, his fame and capability were solid, so they behaved more enthusiastically than one another.

Teacher Yu, look at me a little more!

Amidst the chorus of flattering "Teacher" addresses, he actually bumped into a familiar face. Chi Leying was standing in a corner, clutching her script and clearly memorizing her lines.

Come to think of it, "Hello Roommate" should have wrapped up filming not long ago. The fact that she could seamlessly transition into a new variety show showed just how good her resource backing was.

She truly was the industry's favored princess.

Seeing him, Chi Leying didn't look particularly surprised. She merely nodded at him from afar and then took the initiative to walk over and strike up a conversation.

Even though only a little over a month had passed, in Chi Leying's eyes, Yu Wei had completely changed—especially with the appearance of that book, which had completely shattered her illusion of him.

Last time, she had always thought Yu Wei was an artist with a vast sea of stars hidden in his heart. As it turned out, what was hidden inside were chapters upon chapters of cheesy, sensationalist little plots.

It wasn't to say there was anything wrong with it; it was just... deeply contrasting.

She could no longer read this person at all, so she simply stopped trying to play any clever games. Since she couldn't guess his motives anyway, she might as well treat him normally.

"Are you trying to break into the film and television industry?"

Chi Leying's question was actually what many people wanted to ask. After all, Yu Wei had only just made a name for himself in music; there was absolutely no need for him to learn a new track-switching skill at a time like this.

Even without any acting skills, once he became popular, people would naturally come looking for him to star in things. Why go the long way around?

"I'm here to gather material."

For others, crossing over into a new field was difficult because of insufficient energy and talent, but Yu Wei was different. He had a cheat code; not squeezing every drop of utility out of it would be a waste.

Being a web novel author was great—anything could be explained away as "going out to gather material."

"It seems you really love writing novels."

Chi Leying had actually glanced at this book a few times in the beginning, but she found it hard to work up any real interest, so she had only cherry-picked a few key chapters to read.

In the center of the set, Qi Yunming was explaining the scene to a young actor trying out for a role, but progress was painfully slow.

The standard of this batch of young actors was simply too poor nowadays. They couldn't even deliver their lines properly, either reading them mechanically like recitation or speaking too colloquially. Their fundamentals weren't up to par, let alone their comprehension.

However, he couldn't be bothered to explain things in detail either. It was just a reality show; good enough was good enough.

Regardless of whether he was dedicated or not, his pay wouldn't change. Being too harsh would only offend people; why waste that kind of effort?

Qi Yunming had noticed the newly arrived Yu Wei long ago. Actually, he quite admired this young man, but there was no need to deliberately go out of his way to get acquainted.

There were plenty of impressive people in this world; just knowing such a person existed was enough.

Yu Wei was currently looking at the script in Chi Leying's hands. This scene was actually very simple: the male lead and his mistress were having an affair, only to be caught in bed by the female lead, resulting in a huge blowout after which the female lead leaves in despair and indignation.

The only difficulty lay in the emotional explosion upon discovering the husband's infidelity, and Chi Leying wanted to give this a shot.

"I get all that, but how come the mistress isn't wearing the female lead's clothes?"

Wasn't this just the classic "You're so slutty" scene?

However, this fragment of the scene came from the romantic film "Unfaithful," which focused primarily on the female lead's emotional struggle rather than revenge.

To everyone else, this remark sounded extremely bizarre. Why on earth would a mistress wear the female lead's clothes? What kind of logic was that? Just for the thrill?

It certainly added a thrill!

Though the speaker meant nothing by it, to the listener, the remark carried weight. In Qi Yunming's ears, this small tweak was fascinating.

Clothes served as a symbol of identity. A mistress wearing the female lead's clothes signified her attempt to completely replace the female lead's position within the household, reflecting a warped competitive psychology and a severe lack of morals.

For the male lead to commit adultery while fully aware these were his wife's clothes showed that he was consciously degenerating, having long since cast the so-called legal wife aside, making him appear all the more hypocritical.

At the same time, the female lead's clothes became an extension of her own dignity and personhood, foreshadowing the utter despair and disillusionment that would follow.

This kid had potential.

As expected of a novelist, his understanding of characters and plot was thorough to this degree—he was lightyears ahead of many of the hack screenwriters he had encountered.

Earlier, when Qi Yunming had listened to Yu Wei's songs, he had been puzzled: why would someone with such talent write such bizarre, inexplicable novels? So it turned out to be a way to hone his storytelling abilities.

With a tiny modification, he could heighten the tension of the scene. Moreover, doing so allowed them to cut out a massive amount of dialogue piled high with heavy emotions, streamlining the script significantly.

With fewer lines, this group of youngsters would find it easier to handle, and guiding them himself would become much less of a hassle. It was a win-win.

A professional wordsmith was simply different.

"Here's the pen. You do it."