Chapter 142, the original version, went from robot to water sprite.

Shangguan Jieyou did not disturb Qi Baozhu, who was happily living her life. Instead, she used the money from selling wild game to rent a house near the Qi family and decided to help the little girl's parents through their ordeal. The little girl with a round face and bright eyes should be the precious pearl in her parents' hands for the rest of her life.

While Wei Sijie was reading the novel, Yao Xiaoyu was also rushing to finish her manuscript. "Liaozhai: The Record of Changing Fate" was an infinite flow novel that Yao Xiaoyu finally submitted in order after being pushed back and forth. However, due to the repeated delays in the publication order of the work, the whole story had little to do with the original concept.

Normally, given her writing habits, she wouldn't have to worry about running out of manuscripts even if she started writing new stories without interruption. However, this book has been fraught with difficulties since its inception, with even the outline for the second part being revised several times.

It's impossible to pinpoint exactly when the infinite flow genre originated, but in modern times, the work that is generally considered to have brought infinite flow stories into the public eye is "Infinite Terror." Taskers, gene locks, and egg gods became standard features of infinite flow stories for a long time.

Yao Xiaoyu initially planned to use these classic settings, even the subplots were based on classic Western films like Mary Shaw and Nightmare on Elm Street. But one day, she suddenly realized that these didn't fit the current Shanghai market, so she naturally changed her source of inspiration.

Compared to the straightforward sensory stimulation of gore and flesh, the East is more likely to appreciate the layered sensory stimulation of embroidered shoes, but Yao Xiaoyu realized this and did not think of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. She only designed some common challenges for ghost brides. With a huge market of 1.4 billion people, any branch has enough audience. Horror and horror have long been explored in many ways.

Having undergone more than a decade of training in modern times, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Yao Xiaoyu didn't find the description of the clash between weddings and funerals in the middle of the night particularly frightening. It wasn't that she wasn't afraid; it was mainly because this scenario was almost a staple of folk novels, and every angle had been thoroughly explored. Without a truly detailed description, she didn't feel any psychological pressure.

Yao Xiaoyu even regretted not researching these kinds of materials earlier, which resulted in her being able to write some classic but common stories for her copy. It wasn't until she unintentionally mentioned these inspirations to Pi Xiukang and saw the man's pale face that Yao Xiaoyu belatedly realized that these copies might be a little too stimulating for people of this era.

To confirm that Pi Xiukang was not an isolated case, Yao Xiaoyu expanded the investigation to the entire editorial department, published some short clips at her own expense to obtain feedback, and finally paid for market research in various parts of Shanghai. After everything was over, she quietly downgraded the horror of the infinite flow novel to a mild level and began to consider the possibility of using a shell.

Unfortunately, although there are plenty of inhumane people in this era, their ability to accept written language, especially stories like the "infinite flow" genre, is surprisingly poor. If Yao Xiaoyu were to present her original writing, it would be like a Jiangxi chef cooking in Guangdong—the writing is good but can be broken, yet it still won't have a large market.

Yao Xiaoyu has a great deal of freedom in her writing because every book she writes becomes a hit. She knows her greatest asset and doesn't intend to break out of her comfort zone with the pseudonym "Little Fish." After determining that most readers wouldn't be able to accept the initial setup, Yao Xiaoyu decisively chose to proceed gradually, letting readers get used to the spiciness of braised beef noodles.

But for some reason, no matter how many times she revised it, Yao Xiaoyu's outline was always a little different from the line that readers could accept. Although it was not unreadable, Yao Xiaoyu's author intuition told her that the setting did not hit the mark she wanted.

Yao Xiaoyu was troubled by this matter for a long time. Until Yang Shunxin submitted his last manuscript, she still took Tao Xiaoxiao out for a big meal as usual. Then, while taking a walk to digest their food in the nice weather, she saw a vendor making a bet with someone.

Yao Xiaoyu, who always loved gossip, immediately squeezed in and spoke a few words with the kind-looking aunties and uncles. She then found out what had happened: the vendor was a braised pig offal seller who somehow offended this thug. The thug came to his door but didn't beat or scold him. He just said that if he could let Master Situ eat a whole pig intestine, the two would be done with it.

Some bystanders thought the thug wasn't causing any trouble, but an insider quietly revealed the truth: This Master Situ came from a wealthy family and has never been able to eat offal like intestines since he was a child. He said that just thinking about what it used to contain makes him want to vomit. His family once hired a famous chef from Shandong to make braised pork intestines, but he still couldn't bring himself to touch it. Now that his family has fallen on hard times, he only eats whole meat and refuses to touch any other meat.

Some people thought it was unlucky for Old Master Situ, that he was forced to suffer inexplicable strife because of his son's taboo, but the streets and alleys were never short of people in the know, and someone immediately sneered—

"What bad luck! He came to me on his own initiative. He'd do anything to earn money for a puff of opium. Let alone just eating pig intestines, he might even eat dog's antlers if he was paid!" [1]

People at the time elegantly referred to the recycled grains as "dog's tip".

Yao Xiaoyu had initially felt some pity for this old man Situ, but after hearing these words and seeing his face covered in soot, she lost all sympathy. She could only hope that the vendor could find a way to break the deadlock—the bet had been placed three days ago, but was only being officially carried out today.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the vendor calmly pulled out a dark brown intestine, neatly cut it in half, chopped one piece into small pieces, placed it on a lotus leaf, and handed it over. The old man, Situ, stretched out his arm to take it, picked up a piece with a bamboo skewer, brought it to his lips, hesitated for a long time, and finally threw it into his mouth with a grim expression, swallowing it down without even chewing.

Using this trick of swallowing without chewing, Master Situ managed to eat most of the large intestine. Just as his face turned pale and victory was in sight, a bystander pointed out that Situ was holding his breath. The thug felt embarrassed and made Situ chew the rest of the large intestine a few times before swallowing it.

Situ's face was as ugly as a dead man's, but he still agreed in the end. The thug thought he was sure to win, but after Situ chewed a few times with a grimacing expression, his face gradually relaxed, and even his eating movements became much more natural. In the end, he could even breathe normally again—he was gradually getting used to the taste!

The thug who lost the bet stormed off, and the crowd curiously asked the vendor what trick he had used. The vendor laughed and didn't hide anything—Master Situ couldn't eat pig intestines, mainly because he felt that they had been used as dog antlers before. No matter how delicious the pig intestines were, he couldn't taste them just thinking about that scene.

The vendor couldn't control Grandpa Sikong's mind, but he could adjust the smell of the large intestine. There are many kinds of stench, and the vendor cleverly used a method to graft the taste of stinky tofu onto it, making Grandpa Sikong immediately think of eating fragrant stinky tofu. Once he got over that mental hurdle, he naturally wouldn't feel like vomiting.

"When we go to an unfamiliar place, we still need to rely on acquaintances to guide us. It's the same with food. It's useless to tell someone who has never eaten an apple how delicious it is. You have to tell them that it's as soft as a white steamed bun and as sweet as sugar before they know what an apple tastes like."

Yao Xiaoyu, who was listening nearby, suddenly had a flash of inspiration—wasn't that exactly what her novels were like?!

The infinite flow stories are too new for many people. They can't find anything familiar, so they naturally won't feel any sense of immersion. What Yao Xiaoyu wants to do is, like using stinky tofu to connect intestines, to put some familiar elements on her novels, which is commonly known as "shelling" them!

With a new idea for her book in mind, Yao Xiaoyu spotted a particularly pleasing vendor and bought a persimmon pancake from the vendor next to her.

...It's not her fault; the food looks really appetizing: a thick dough, almost the size of a human head, is rolled into a round pancake on a griddle, and the remaining dough is tossed back into the container. When the pancake is baked until the four sides are slightly curled up, a ripe persimmon is placed on it, crushed with a bamboo stick, spread out, and the pancake takes on a nice yellow color and exudes the sweet aroma of persimmon.

The freshly made pancakes were stuffed directly into their hands; they were crispy, sweet, and hot. By the time Yao Xiaoyu and Tao Xiaoxiao had stuffed their stomachs full again, the vendor had already sold out all the braised food and packed up to go home.

...

With a single thought, the world expands.

Once Yao Xiaoyu had an idea, she found a suitable bottle to hold her new story within two days: "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio"!

This book was not particularly famous in its time, but it was highly praised in later generations—its writing about ghosts and demons was superior, and its satire of greed and cruelty was penetrating! [2]

The more than 400 stories in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio are full of gods, immortals, demons and ghosts, and countless strange tales. Yao Xiaoyu can find a suitable prototype in it for whatever kind of dungeon she wants to design. Yao Xiaoyu almost started rewriting part of the outline after looking at the table of contents, and then began to write furiously: there are only three days left to submit the manuscript, and the progress of the new book is still only up to the point before Shangguan Jieyou kicks the bucket!

Yao Xiaoyu was also fortunate that although the role of Shangguan Jieyou changed several times, it was still able to match the role in the end, otherwise her pressure to meet the deadline would have been even greater. In the beginning, she set the protagonist of this book as a robot. After all, it would be a pity not to focus on the era of intelligent machines in the infinite flow and cyberpunk genres. Moreover, because of their data thinking, robots have their own character arc no matter which direction they develop in, and they also have the uncanny valley effect.

However, the revised outline did not match the character, so she had to regretfully give up and change it to a water spirit in the deep mountains—water has the property of a mirror, reflecting whatever it reflects. But because it is a product of nature, it has never seen a person and will not be troubled by human nature. It is also convenient to do tasks and its growth is eye-catching enough.

Monsters come with magical buffs. When doing tasks that bring about change, all you need to do is switch roles. The various conflicts brought about by the change of perspective are exciting enough: for example, the woman who was forced to marry a godmother and then perform the sacrifice becomes a seriously ill queen, while the one who was originally lying in bed waiting to voluntarily offer herself becomes the one who is willing to be sacrificed. Just thinking about it makes Yao Xiaoyu's lips curl up in a crazy smile.

However, after several revisions to the outline, which became slightly scary, the water fairy no longer matched the story. The final protagonist of the new book is a girl who grows up in an environment overflowing with worldly love, with a happy family, lasting friendships, a thriving career, and both cats and dogs in her house.

Because Yao Xiaoyu hadn't revealed the character settings for the next book beforehand, Pi Xiukang had no objections to Shangguan Jieyou, but he was somewhat puzzled as to why Yao Xiaoyu hadn't used the phrase "Zi Bu Yu" (a classical Chinese text). Yao Xiaoyu simply smiled—

Before finding *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio*, Yao Xiaoyu's first choice was *Zi Bu Yu*, but she wasn't afraid to compare. If we compare readers to Cantonese people, Yao Xiaoyu's final story outline was like spicy chicken noodles, *Zi Bu Yu* was like Sichuan pepper beef noodles, and *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* was like braised beef noodles. Which one to choose...?

-----------------------

Author's note: [1] Dog tip: a parody of "When a dog eats poop, it should eat the tip".

[2] His writing about ghosts and demons is unparalleled, and his satire of greed and cruelty is penetrating: Guo Moruo's inscription for Pu Songling's former residence in Pujiazhuang, Zichuan District, Zibo City, Shandong Province in 1962.

[3] Guangdong people: Stereotype, Guangdong people find the spiciness of braised beef noodles very satisfying, not meant to start a fight.

————

————