Chapter 495 A Flame Rises Layer by Layer (7,000-word update!)

"Lu Yanhe has written another script!"

"I finished writing a script in one night. Now I finally understand why Lu Yanhe is so prolific."

"He did in one night what a screenwriter does in a year."

"I don't know if it's a movie script or a TV series script."

"Upstairs, even a human-shaped typing machine couldn't finish writing a TV drama script in one night."

"Lu Yanhe is truly a savior sent from heaven to the Chinese entertainment industry. From now on, when I criticize this damned Chinese entertainment industry, I really can't condemn it all with one blow."

...

Lu Yanhe slept fitfully. When he woke up, he felt as if he was about to die suddenly. His head felt as heavy as lead, and he didn't have the satisfaction of stretching in the sun after a good night's sleep.

He lay sprawled on the bed like a dead fish, and it took him almost ten minutes to regain his senses before he finally managed to get up.

What does it mean to be a walking corpse? Lu Yanhe doesn't even need to look in a mirror to say it; he can say it directly: he is the very embodiment of a walking corpse right now.

"Oh, you're awake?" Li Zhibai was sitting at the coffee table in the living room eating something; he was all alone.

Lu Yanhe felt that his eyes were swollen.

Where is Yan Liang?

“Zhou Ping’an went to the company to see him,” Li Zhibai said. “However, I think it’s just an excuse.”

"What's wrong?" Lu Yanhe asked, puzzled. "Is there a problem?"

As he spoke, he let out a long yawn.

Li Zhibai said calmly, "Go check Weibo."

Lu Yanhe was immediately shocked awake.

"What's wrong with Yan Liang that's trending on social media? Your reaction is quite alarming, what happened?"

Li Zhibai glanced at him and smiled.

Lu Yanhe was even more puzzled.

He saw a hint of mockery in Li Zhibai's smile just now.

Lu Yanhe didn't even bother going to the toilet anymore. He turned around and went back to his room to get his phone. When he looked at it, he saw a photo of himself sleeping soundly.

"..."

Of course, many people praised him, felt sorry for him, and said all sorts of nice things.

But Lu Yanhe saw that the top-rated comment in the comments section was from Li Zhibai: "You made him look too much like a sleepy pig."

The accompanying picture is a comparison of Lu Yanhe sleeping and a pink pig sleeping, with the two even sharing the exact same sleeping posture...

Lu Yanhe: "..."

He threw his phone onto the bed and then lay down again.

He muttered under his breath, "Not a single one of them is any good!"

Li Zhibai walked over.

"Are you going to sleep again?" he asked, standing in the doorway with one hand propped against the door panel.

Lu Yanhe said weakly, "Get out of here right now, or I'll throw my slippers right in your face."

Li Zhibai: "Yan Liang said he's back from the company and will be there in about twenty minutes. He asked if you were up yet, and if so, we could go out for dinner together."

Lu Yanhe: "You haven't had lunch yet?"

"Brother, it's already four o'clock in the afternoon, and it's almost time for dinner," Li Zhibai said speechlessly.

Lu Yanhe sat up in disbelief.

"What?" He suddenly noticed the time. "I slept for so long!"

Nearly nine hours.

Li Zhibai: "Try to avoid staying up late."

Lu Yanhe sighed deeply, "So tired."

Li Zhibai crossed his arms and said, "Stop babbling, get up quickly, brush your teeth and wash your face. Yan Liang will be here soon."

"Isn't he supposed to be in another twenty minutes?" Lu Yanhe lay back down.

Li Zhibai: "Can you go out without washing this bird's nest?"

"Put on a hat, I'll sleep for another ten minutes, then wake me up." Lu Yanhe really felt sleepy and tired.

-

Forty minutes later, the three of them were sitting in a private room on the third floor of a riverside restaurant that specialized in fish. The room was by the window overlooking the river, with a somber white and black landscape outside.

There was no sunset, and night was about to fall.

Lu Yanhe really didn't have much life experience with this kind of situation where it gets dark soon after you open your eyes.

He took off his hat, revealing a head full of bird feathers, and still looked dazed.

"You haven't recovered yet, are you sick?" Li Zhi asked.

Lu Yanhe: "No, I don't feel uncomfortable. It's probably because I finished writing the script in one go last night, which drained all my energy."

Li Zhibai clicked his tongue twice, "It's all fake."

Yan Liang laughed and said, "You're exaggerating. You wrote a script in just one night."

"I've had the story in mind for a long time, but I just haven't written it down yet," Lu Yanhe said.

Li Zhi asked a hundred questions: "Are there any roles we can play?"

“Uh…” Lu Yanhe thought for a moment, “There is only one eunuch role that is suitable for your age.”

Li Zhibai immediately glanced at Lu Yanhe and said, "Go act it yourself."

Yan Liang asked in surprise, "You actually wrote a period drama?"

Before this, Lu Yanhe had only written one period drama, "My Own Swordsman," but this drama was not actually a period drama in the traditional sense; it was mainly positioned as a comedy.

Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "It's a martial arts film."

"Huh? A martial arts film?" Yan Liang was somewhat surprised. "You actually wrote one."

“Yes, I told you, I do have a lot of martial arts stories I want to write,” Lu Yanhe said.

-

For Chinese people, almost everyone has a martial arts dream when they are young.

Even if Jin Yong and Gu Long didn't exist in this world, martial arts films and television dramas would still be an integral part of everyone's childhood.

In this world, the meaning of the word "wuxia" is no less significant than that of the time and space in which Jin Yong and Gu Long lived.

Just like that world, after entering the new century, martial arts stories—not just in film and television dramas—are slowly declining.

It is no longer mainstream.

It seems that fewer and fewer people are interested in this subject.

But still, every year or two, like a cultural renaissance, one or two martial arts works emerge that catch everyone's eye and spark widespread discussion.

Just like Ning Zhiyuan's film "Nine Yin," which grossed 700 million yuan at the box office.

Just like the world before Lu Yanhe traveled to, there was "Reign of Assassins" in 2010, "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" in 2011, "The Grandmaster" in 2013, "Brotherhood of Blades" and "Kung Fu Jungle" in 2014, and "Hidden Man" in 2018.

Whether they are big-name directors, famous directors, or unknown small directors, everyone harbors a martial arts dream in their hearts.

Of course, decline is decline.

Lu Yanhe has been an actor for so long, and he has reached the top position for his age. However, he can hardly get one or two martial arts film scripts a year.

“However, there are indeed very few martial arts films and television dramas nowadays,” Yan Liang said. “Yan He, perhaps after your ‘My Own Swordsman’ airs, people will turn their attention back to the martial arts genre.”

Lu Yanhe shook his head and said, "That's not necessarily true. 'My Own Swordsman' is mainly a comedy. The audience that likes it may overlap with the audience that likes 'Friends.' It also tells the story of a group of people living in one place, using many short episodes to allude to the past and present. Martial arts is just a shell."

He said, "However, regardless of whether people in this industry will turn their attention back to the martial arts genre, I will continue to write."

Yan Liang: "Then when will you write the script that we can act in?"

Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "I'll get a feel for it, and then I will."

He was waiting for a moment like last night, a moment that seemed divinely inspired.

A story lingers in your mind for a long time; it's not a story you created yourself, you just know it. If you were to write it down, there would be hundreds or thousands of ways to write it.

If you can't truly capture the feeling of that moment and just force it into writing, the story is still good, but it's still lacking something.

Wuxia (martial arts chivalry) is never just about swords and shadows; it's about the love, hate, and grudges within that world of swords and shadows. It's about fate, the diverse characters within that world, the spirit of "serving the country and its people, the greatest of heroes" in the face of external threats, and the unwavering determination to "force things" in the face of love. The people there are deeply emotional, chivalrous, and tender-hearted. They might say, "A'Zhu is A'Zhu. Across the four seas and through the ages, there is only one A'Zhu." Therefore, wuxia is never just about martial arts; it's a world of chivalry for millions, and also a world in the hearts of millions in another world.

Lu Yanhe laughed and said, "The main problem is that we're all too young right now. Let's wait until we're a few years older and then film 'Chinese Paladin' first."

-

"Have you heard? Lu Yanhe has written a script for a martial arts movie."

This news spread like wildfire throughout the entertainment industry.

"He really likes the martial arts genre," someone said. "After filming 'My Own Swordsman,' he also wrote a script."

"Aren't there hardly any people watching martial arts novels these days?"

"Have you forgotten about 'Nine Yin'? It grossed 700 million at the box office last summer!"

"That's only 700 million. Look how high the ceiling for movie box office is now."

"I don't know what to say. You're calling 700 million a mere figure."

...

The news of Lu Yanhe's new script has attracted much attention.

Many people came looking for us.

Because so many people were contacting him, Lu Yanhe had to post a message on his WeChat Moments, stating that the movie script was only a first draft and had not yet been finalized, so it would not be released to the public for the time being.

Chen Ziyan was one of the very few people who saw the script.

Lu Yanhe asked Chen Ziyan, "What do you think?"

Chen Ziyan smiled, shook her head, and said, "Every time I finish reading your script, there's something that annoys me."

"What is it?" Lu Yanhe asked.

Chen Ziyan said, "Why are there so few roles in your scripts that are suitable for you to play? Moreover, they are all roles that are older than you. I am absolutely right. There is an old soul living in your body. You are mature beyond your years."

Lu Yanhe thought to himself, no, it's not that there's an old soul living in his body, but rather that there are many old souls living in his body.

However, Lu Yanhe also understood Chen Ziyan's meaning.

Indeed, there are many good scripts that he might be able to act in eight or nine years from now, but right now, he is too old to be in them.

Just like the reason he gave up acting in "Rouge".

For an actor to portray a character, certain basic conditions must always be met.

Chen Ziyan said, "However, when I read this script, I really couldn't find any actors in the entertainment industry who could play these characters right away."

These characters are viewed through a lens of guile in Lu Yanhe's mind.

Therefore, when Lu Yanhe wrote it, he also poured a lot of his own preferences into it.

Especially gold-inlaid jade.

This is Lu Yanhe's favorite character in the story of "Dragon Inn", and also one of the most representative characters in the martial arts world in Lu Yanhe's mind.

Many innkeepers in the martial arts world afterward referenced this character.

Lu Yanhe said, "Let's leave the script here for now and find the actors gradually."

He believed that a suitable actor would eventually be found. It all depends on fate.

“Male actors and female actors are really different,” Chen Ziyan said. “Male actors are at their best after the age of thirty, because the best roles are concentrated in the age range of thirty to fifty. But female actors are at their best before the age of thirty-five. If you can’t come out before the age of thirty-five, it’s basically very difficult.”

"Why are you suddenly so sentimental?" Lu Yanhe asked. "Has something happened to Wen Minglan?"

"No," Chen Ziyan shook her head, "It's just that I've been looking at the company's list of artists to be signed recently, and this is very prominent."

Lu Yanhe thought for a moment, "The main reason is that in the market, most of the truly leading female roles are in TV dramas. There aren't many truly significant female leads in movies. Apart from Sister Bige, who always gets the lead role in every film, other actresses, including Sister Yuqian, even had a male lead role in the movie 'After the Golden Robe' that she took on. I read an article before that said most of the female leads in domestic films are just supporting roles, and it was a very insightful observation."

“Hmm.” Chen Ziyan nodded. “So, I quite enjoy watching the plays you write. Your plays are great in terms of ensemble casts. Even in plays like ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Rouge,’ which are clearly male-centric and female-centric, the other main character’s role is equally significant, not just a supporting role.”

Lu Yanhe: "Aside from certain specific themes, I really enjoy writing about different people. Different people can create different stories and spark new ideas."

Chen Ziyan: "That's only because of you. Many screenwriters in China simply can't write scripts according to their own ideas. You don't even know how many people will want to get involved. In the end, a good story that started out becomes a hodgepodge."

Lu Yanhe nodded. "Many people have told me this. Actually, Bai Jingnian also told me before that when I wrote the script for 'Friends,' the show was used by Beijing TV as an experiment, so the script for the first season was basically not written by anyone from Beijing TV. It was filmed exactly as I wrote it. By the time of the second season, I was no longer there, and countless people gave their opinions on the script, but he couldn't make any decisions. I was very surprised. If a director can't make decisions, then who can?"

Chen Ziyan smiled.

"The current situation is that anyone can make decisions."

Lu Yanhe: "That's so bizarre."

Chen Ziyan nodded, "If it weren't for these bizarre things, there wouldn't be so many bad dramas. Fortunately, things are improving now, especially since several of the dramas you wrote as a screenwriter have become huge hits, making many people realize the importance of a good script. Perhaps influenced by you, Li Zhibai and Yan Liang have also publicly mentioned several times that when choosing projects, the script is always their top priority. This public opinion has played a significant role in making everyone value scripts."

"Can a few of us talking really have a big impact?" Lu Yanhe was surprised.

“In this industry, whoever succeeds gets to speak,” Chen Ziyan laughed. “There’s a particular superstition surrounding success. Of course, everyone knows the script is important, but what’s scary isn’t that nobody knows the script is important, but that everyone thinks their opinion can make the script better. You guys have said in many interviews that you would never casually offer suggestions for changing the script; you either refuse to accept them, or if you do, it means you definitely think it’s good. Especially your description of it as a hybrid, it really resonated with people; many people said your description was spot on.”

"I thought this was a consensus among everyone."

"Consensus is one thing, but being a good person and not causing trouble for others is also a consensus," Chen Ziyan said. "Don't think that consensus means everyone will follow the rules. Consensus is just consensus. There are gods watching over us, and no one cares about the gods when it comes to committing crimes."

"..."

Chen Ziyan's language skills sometimes also reflect her strong personal style.

-

On the twelfth day, "The Squid Game" came to its finale, and at the same time, it also marked its broadcast date on the Maxine platform.

Maxine gave it ample space, featuring it prominently on the website's homepage, and also leveraged their connections to recruit a large group of celebrities across Asia for promotional purposes.

vigorous.

This level of prestige is unprecedented in Chinese-language dramas.

The reason is simple: the three characters "Lu Yanhe" appearing in the center of the promotional image are what allowed Maxine to give it such prominence.

After all, Lu Yanhe's "Friends" is one of the shows with the strongest long-tail effect on Maxine.

Overseas, the promotional keywords for "The Squid Game" also highlight it as another masterpiece by Lu Yanhe, the screenwriter of "Friends".

Unlike other media outlets in China, when reporting on this drama, major media outlets habitually listed Lu Yanhe's past representative screenwriting works and the honors he had received.

Thus, Lu Yanhe's screenwriting works finally received widespread and concentrated publicity, beyond his identity as an actor.

The sitcom Friends has been the most popular sitcom in Asia over the past three years.

The film "Rouge" won the Audience Choice Award at the José International Film Festival, one of the four major international film festivals, and remakes have been confirmed in South Korea and Thailand.

The movie "Lost in Thailand" has grossed over $130 million worldwide.

His latest screenplay, "The Squid Game," has broken numerous viewing records in mainland China and is one of the most popular dramas in the country this year.

Lu Yanhe accepted an exclusive interview with Maxine.

Speaking about his role as a screenwriter, he said, "I will continue to write. In fact, I have several screenwriting projects in progress. I can give you a heads-up: the film 'Love Letter,' which I wrote and directed, has finished filming the summer portion and will soon begin filming the winter portion. In addition, the film 'Telephone,' starring Jiang Yuqian and Wang Jing, the two actresses from 'Squid Game,' is currently in pre-production. The martial arts film 'Dragon Inn' has completed its script and is currently undergoing revisions. There is also a fantasy drama series, 'Chinese Paladin,' starring myself, Li Zhibai, and Yan Liang, which has already completed the script for eleven episodes. Oh, and there are a few other completed scripts that I haven't announced yet because I'm looking for partners."

After Lu Yanhe finished explaining his projects one by one, the eyes of Chaina, the Thai actress who had been specially invited by Maxine to be the host, were shining.

“Although I know I shouldn’t recommend myself to you today, since I’m the host, I still want to say that I’m also an actress,” Caina said with a smile. “I’m quite popular in Thailand.”

Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "I know, Miss Cai Na, you are very popular in China, and many people like you."

He wasn't flattering Cai Na.

Caina is indeed one of the few Thai actresses with a high level of recognition in China.

She's somewhat similar to the Thai actress from another timeline, affectionately known as "Xiao Shui" by Chinese fans, who rose to fame with the film *First Love*. Chaena also gained popularity across Asia through a Thai youth romance film. However, her international journey has been rather bumpy. While she maintained her popularity in Thailand with a series of Thai dramas, she hasn't yet produced another work that achieved widespread Asian acclaim.

It's an interview, and although Cai Na is the host and Lu Yanhe is the interviewee, a little mutual flattery is definitely not a bad thing in this kind of setting.

Sure enough, Cai Na's eyes lit up, and she gently covered her shy smile with her hands. "Really? I have a lot of fans in China too?"

“Of course.” Lu Yanhe nodded.

Cai Na: "I really hope that one day I will have the opportunity to act in a work you wrote, and I hope even more that I can act with you."

For Cai Na, Lu Yanhe's current international fame and status are far beyond what Cai Na, who debuted earlier, can compare to. She also keeps a humble attitude and has been praising Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe actually quite liked Cai Na. Unlike many actresses, she possessed a kind of girl-next-door beauty. This quality was extremely rare in the entertainment industry. Even Zhang Ruozhi, whom he had found from among ordinary people, didn't have this girl-next-door charm.

Perhaps, we could add a Thai female character to "The Squid Game"?

In any case, in the world of "The Squid Game," the appearance of a foreigner wouldn't be out of place, just like the Indian guy in the first season.

Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "There will definitely be an opportunity."

-

Lu Yanhe really wanted to see what kind of results "Squid Game" could achieve on the Maxine platform, and whether it could replicate the global success of the original.

One of the advantages of using a streaming platform like Maxine is that you can see its data at any time.

No need to wait.

The number of viewers and the number of people interested in this show have been quantified into specific numbers on the front page.

Within an hour of its release, "Squid Game" had over one million viewers (those who watched for more than two minutes).

It was only at this time that the influence of "Squid Game" slowly spread on social media.

After watching the first episode, the first batch of viewers, who were already used to sharing everything online, all posted their thoughts on the show.

Besides the audience, Lu Yanhe also has a group of media professionals and film critics who pay close attention to him.

Lu Yanhe's other works may be released in mainland China for a period of time before going overseas. It is not necessarily a simultaneous global release. Different countries and regions may have different release times due to different publishers.

However, "Squid Game" was launched on Maxine at the same time worldwide.

This allows everyone to watch the show at the same time.

What kind of drama did Lu Yanhe write?

-

The fact that "The Squid Game" has been reported by media outlets in various countries has surprised many people.

Even Maxine herself didn't expect the show to receive so much media attention.

Why is it said that every film and television production needs popularity?

After so many years of development in film and television, major companies have come to understand that no matter how famous a person is, how many fans they have, or how loyal they are, it is still far less than the general public's reach.

In this era, there will always be more people who don't follow celebrities than those who do.

However, because most people don't speak out, many people mistakenly believe that data can represent everything.

How many films have flopped at the box office, how many blockbusters have been completely destroyed? Yet, despite all this, it must be acknowledged that no film, given the availability of stars, would choose not to use them. This is not an era where "good wine needs no bush"; every work needs to be seen first before it can reach a wider audience.

You want to be a secluded orchid in a remote valley, waiting to be discovered.

You might wait until your beautiful, secluded orchid withers away, and still no one will come to you.

Therefore, popularity means the opportunity to be known and seen by more people, and it means that it can reach a wider range of casual viewers, thus increasing the audience base of the work.

The same principle applies to media, specifically to a film or television drama.

It influences the popularity of a film or television series.

Regardless of how many people criticize film critics for taking money to speak, or how few people care, or how sarcastic remarks like "How many people still read those media magazines these days?", those in this industry know that while film critics and media magazines may have a small direct audience, in the context of the internet where information spreads from person to person, the power that these people who can start a discussion can wield is immense.

Everything you like, criticize, satirize, or look down on in this era is actually created by individuals.

The same applies to online discussions. You might think you no longer read media and magazines, but the question is, how many of those discussions, topics, and opinions about movies and TV shows are truly generated naturally, rather than originating from traditional media and magazine circles?

The first wave of buzz surrounding "The Squid Game" on social media came from the first group of viewers and media outlets.

The world's largest and most influential rating websites released their ratings within a day of their launch, and all of them received mostly positive reviews.

Some media outlets have commented that the plot of this drama is simple and lacks much intellectual value. Compared to works like "Rouge," it is somewhat superficial and doesn't even resonate as strongly with young people as "Friends."

However, many other media outlets simply commented on the viewing experience as "good-looking, exciting, and enjoyable".

You might walk past a restaurant and just walk on. But if you hear someone say, "This restaurant was praised as delicious by XXX," you might stop and go in to try it.

That's the role that media commentary plays.

If more people go there and say it's delicious, then it goes from being "delicious" in the eyes of a professional to being "delicious" by word of mouth.

That's how "Squid Game" became popular, layer by layer.

-

I'm asking for monthly votes and recommending the old book, "I Became the Scandalous Woman Overnight".

Because I've been writing "Choose Your Day to Become Famous" for a long time, after writing so many words for a story, I often fall into a state of exhaustion and anxiety about self-repetition, but I can't solve it. So, in order to adjust my mood while writing, I casually wrote the beginning of a story, which was originally intended to be serialized on my public account (without affecting the updates of "Choose Your Day to Become Famous"), called "He Wants to Become the God of Love".

As a result, probably because of the huge success of "Black Myth: Wukong", Qidian suddenly launched a mythology writing contest today - well, my story just happened to be on the edge of Qidian, which made me a little tempted to submit it.

Everyone should check it out, and I'd also like to hear your suggestions.

(End of this chapter)