Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Zheng Yinping, a girl from a family of farmers and scholars, encountered an unusually disastrous year when she was fifteen years old.
The imperial court was weak, and the enemy raided southwards, not only stealing the last bit of food from the family, but also killing Zheng's parents who tried to stop them. The servants of the Zheng family took the opportunity to snatch back the indenture and ran away, leaving Zheng Yinping and her two sisters behind.
The drought then turned into an insect plague, which eventually led to a plague.
Zheng Yinping went out to work to support her younger siblings, but was first harassed by the restaurant owner, and then kidnapped by thugs who wanted to sell her to a brothel because of her outstanding looks.
Fortunately, Zheng Yinping was quick-witted and had been helping with farming at home, so she was physically strong and used the dagger she carried with her to slash the thug and escape home.
After much effort, they got nothing in return, and Zheng Yinping and her younger siblings burst into tears.
They had no other way out.
Zheng Yinping realized that she only had her own flesh and blood.
Just as Zheng Yinping was about to sell herself, she overheard a richly dressed old woman at a brokerage saying that her son and daughter-in-law had been childless for many years and she wanted to find a literate concubine for her son.
Zheng Yinping went all out and deliberately bumped into the noblewoman's car. She pretended to faint in front of her, woke up, and begged the old lady for a bite to eat. She then thanked the old lady for the meal and expressed her desire to stay by the old lady's side to repay her kindness.
The noblewoman, seeing that Zheng Yinping was dignified and beautiful and spoke elegantly, inquired about her family background and felt that she could control this young girl. Finally, she revealed that she was the mother of the local county magistrate and asked Zheng Yinping to become her son's concubine.
This request was exactly what Zheng Yinping wanted, giving her a chance to both protect herself and help her younger siblings survive.
The old county magistrate, over forty years old and still without a concubine or maid, fell in love at first sight with the young and beautiful Zheng Yinping. Even when conducting official business in his study, he would bring her along for company. Although Zheng Yinping did not like this old man, the wealthy and extravagant lifestyle made her suppress her deep discomfort.
Zheng Yinping soon became pregnant, and her face showed a touch of spoiled arrogance.
But this peaceful period was soon shattered when the county magistrate's wife, who had been deemed infertile, was found to be pregnant.
The magistrate's wife had been able to keep him from taking two women all these years because of her high social standing; the magistrate's current position was entirely due to the support of his wife's family. When the magistrate's wife's mother came to visit her daughter, she discovered another pregnant woman by the magistrate's side and flew into a rage. She demanded that Zheng Yinping abort the pregnancy.
Zheng Yinping finally managed to escape and found the county magistrate, only to discover that the magistrate was the mastermind behind the suggestion to his mother-in-law. He personally brought her the abortion medicine, grabbed her by the neck, and forced her to swallow it.
After taking a bowl of abortifacient medicine, Zheng Yinping lost her child, and afterwards she bled profusely.
In the end, it was the magistrate's wife who took pity on Zheng Yinping and asked a doctor to treat her, thus saving her life.
Zheng Yinping finally came to her senses and realized that using her beauty to please others would not end well. She was moved to the lady's room to watch how the lady did accounting and managing the household, and to read and paint with her. The lady taught Zheng Yinping many profound principles found only in books on the imperial examinations, and shared with her her treasured nautical charts, telling her about her childhood dream of going to sea.
The soul buried by a life of wealth is reshaped by another woman.
However, the lady did not survive the advanced age of childbirth and died on the delivery bed along with her unborn child.
Faced with the county magistrate's relaxed expression and promise to restore her honor and favor, Zheng Yinping felt nothing but disgust.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to perform a Taoist ritual for his wife, Yinping took the savings she had accumulated over the years and ran home, intending to escape with her younger siblings. However, her younger siblings, greedy for wealth and luxury, wanted to capture Zheng Yinping and send her back to the magistrate's mansion.
Zheng Yinping thus completely severed ties with her younger siblings, and resolutely left with the nautical chart in her arms.
Disguised as a man, she traveled south. When she saw the sea, she was so moved that she shed tears. She took out the stolen nautical chart from her bosom and called out the lady's name, saying that she had seen the sea on her behalf.
A sudden gust of wind swept Zheng Yinping into the sea...
This is the first third of "The Tale in the Bottle," which is the part in which Jiang Mingyue will participate.
The rest of the story is about Zheng Yinping getting to know the sea monsters, helping them solve problems, fighting sea monsters, becoming friends with them, and eventually having the opportunity to go with the monsters to pay homage to the Dragon King and return to land. However, they encounter a drought and recall the hardships they have suffered. They want to save thousands of children who may have suffered the same fate, so they return to the sea to ask the Dragon King for rain to save the people.
Upon reading it a second time, Jiang Mingyue marked each plot point on the original book according to the timeline, and then recorded them on several sheets of white paper.
She thought regretfully that while the adventure and fantasy parts were certainly exciting, the earlier parts, where Zheng Yinping had no special abilities and simply struggled as a "person" to grow and mature, offered more room for development.
Jiang Mingyue couldn't help but imagine in her mind how she should portray Zheng Yinping's performance in facing life and death several times.
She tapped the table lightly, judging from her years of experience in various popular dramas: "It's a pity, the earlier plot will probably be heavily cut, because nowadays most viewers only verbally support stories about female growth."
No matter how much online public opinion promotes the image of strong women, words can lie, but the data from TV dramas after de-emphasis on content doesn't—in reality, dramas featuring older women or less attractive female leads have very poor ratings.
Audiences only like to see innocent young girls or stunning beauties; otherwise, so many actresses over thirty wouldn't have to release press releases every day emphasizing their youthful appearance.
However, Jiang Mingyue knows she needs to be grateful for the audience's "honest expression of liking beautiful women." Because the audience has this hobby, even though her reputation is not good, she still has a good audience appeal and can continue to get acting roles without having to worry about making a living.
Jiang Mingyue pressed her hand to her chest, suppressing all her excess emotions.
She tapped the table with her pen and muttered to herself, "According to Fu Xiachuan, I only need to play the part from when Xiao Yinping enters the mansion until she completely severs ties with her family, and then embarks on her journey to pursue her dreams. So, in keeping with the screenwriters' usual style, what kind of changes will they make to the plot?"
Jiang Mingyue first determined that the plot of "abandoning her husband and brother" did not conform to public order and good morals, and therefore could not pass the censorship.
The mainstream will not accept a storyline where a woman can sever blood ties and not be a "good older sister." Therefore, the storyline where a woman has to abandon her husband and younger siblings who still need to be raised in order to pursue herself will definitely have to be changed.
Jiang Mingyue readily crossed out this plot point in her notebook.
The magistrate's wife tutored Zheng Yinping, giving her a second education. This plot point serves to broaden the female lead's horizons and is unlikely to be cut.
However, Zheng Yinping, without any lingering feelings for the man, quickly regains her senses and accepts the help and guidance of her rival...
Jiang Mingyue reopened the original novel, quickly found the relevant plot according to the plot progress tags, and after reading it again, she indeed found the original text.
Watching the baby move in her belly was like seeing a child who never had the chance to come into the world; losing the child seemed to punish her for her vanity. The magistrate's decision to take her to study wasn't out of love, but rather out of a scholar's obsession with the pleasures of having a beautiful woman by his side.
The magistrate explains the books to Zheng Yinping to show his superiority over her, while the magistrate's wife answers Zheng Yinping's questions while reading, simply out of a kind purpose of "imparting knowledge, teaching skills, and resolving doubts." This is a contrast in the plot.
"...Yes, so this plot needs to be viewed in comparison. It's too deep, so it definitely needs to be revised."
However, as a crucial character in shaping Zheng Yinping's character in the early stages, the death of the magistrate's wife is an unchangeable event.
Only after the magistrate's wife dies can Zheng Yinping inherit her last wish, make a firm decision to leave the magistrate's mansion, and fulfill the magistrate's wife's dreams and regrets of "seeing the sea" and "reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles".
Having sorted out her assigned part of the storyline, Jiang Mingyue left the film studio with satisfaction and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, just as dawn broke, Liang Shuanglan quietly got up and started cooking millet porridge.
The bubbling sound from the pot, accompanied by the aroma of millet porridge, awakened Jiang Mingyue's senses. She nuzzled against her pillow and opened her eyes. She glanced at the time on her phone, then decisively got up, tidied up the two beds, and began exercising in the limited space.
Jiang Mingyue has over ten years of dance experience. She looks slender and slim, but her body is actually full of strong muscles, which is why she can maintain her current weight despite her height. She never misses the opportunity to do cardio on an empty stomach in the morning to boost her metabolism throughout the day.
After finishing her exercise, Jiang Mingyue went into the bathroom to take a shower and wash her clothes.
When she came out of the bathroom, rubbing her hair with a towel, and hung the clothes to dry, there was millet porridge, boiled eggs, some freshly mixed pickled vegetables, and freshly fried spring rolls on the table.
"Eat up, it'll take you a long time to walk to school after you finish eating." Liang Shuanglan cracked the egg on the table, skillfully peeled off the shell, put the clean egg into her daughter's bowl, and then pushed the spring roll towards her.
These were all small things, but in the more than ten years since Liang Shuanglan passed away, Jiang Mingyue no longer enjoyed her mother's meticulous care.
Her eyes were a little red, so she quickly turned her face away, took a deep breath, and composed herself.
Once she calmed down, she ate her meal while clinking her bowl, saying, "Mom, you're still sick. These are minor things; I can handle them."
"If you know it's a small matter, don't argue with me. I have nothing to do all day except go to the doctor, I'm so bored. You go to work and earn money, and I can easily do this little bit of housework."
"Mom—!" Jiang Mingyue drawled out her dissatisfaction.
Liang Shuanglan had no choice but to give in: "Alright, alright, I'll let you wash the dishes later, okay?" Even so, her daughter was so thoughtful and sensible that a satisfied smile was already on her face.
After finishing the housework, Jiang Mingyue hugged her mother and went to school.
The relationships between university classmates are very loose. All notices are sent to the grade group and class group via QQ, so there is no need to maintain close relationships with classmates.
Jiang Mingyue had all her books in her dormitory. The first thing she did upon returning to school was to go back to her dormitory to get her textbooks.
Jiang Mingyue's roommates were taking their time with their washing and skincare routines when they noticed her pause. The girl closest to the door spoke up, "Jiang Mingyue, the counselor did a room check yesterday, and you weren't there. He wants you to go see him today and explain the situation."
"Okay, I understand." Jiang Mingyue paused for a moment before explaining, "I might go back to take care of my mom from time to time in the future. I'll explain it to the counselor, but it might affect my dorm discipline points. I'm really sorry if it affects your scholarship applications."
Your mother's illness is in the newspapers, and you're going home to take care of her. What can we say?
The girls in the dormitory had different expressions, but they all said in unison, "It's okay, go home, it won't affect anything."
Jiang Mingyue stuffed all the textbooks for the semester into her backpack, checked the time, and saw that there was still more than half an hour before class. She decided not to waste any time and went directly to the counselor's office to try her luck.
*
The counselor's office doors were open, and when Jiang Mingyue arrived, the counselor was getting hot water to make tea.
Upon seeing her, the counselor immediately smiled and greeted her warmly: "Jiang Mingyue, come here quickly. The film company sent you an audition notice, but unfortunately you had no classes and went out. That's why I came to see you yesterday."
Do the staff at Xingying, a company under the Fu Group, never get any sleep? Their efficiency is unbelievable!
Jiang Mingyue was surprised.
"It's an audition for GIGABYTE Media. They've got their eye on you and they're saying you can cry. Don't miss this opportunity. Contact them right away."
It wasn't Starshadow, but Gigabyte.
Gigabyte...
What kind of job opportunities would they offer them?
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