Chapter 43
When Xu Ying left, she intended to leave the clothes Lin Zhongxu had given her at the hotel temporarily, since she would be back in a few days anyway.
But Lin Zhongxu said she could wear it directly, so it wouldn't take up space in her suitcase.
Looking at his expectant eyes, Xu Ying couldn't bear to refuse him, so she left the coat she had originally planned to wear at the hotel.
The weather was bad the day I went home.
The car drove north, and the sky remained overcast the whole way.
It took Xu Ying more than four hours to get to her destination. As soon as she got off the train and stood on the empty, open platform, she felt a bone-chilling cold. Her hometown was obviously colder than Shanghai.
It seems that wearing the down jacket Lin Zhongxu gave her was the right decision; her own jacket was much lighter and thinner.
Xu Ying wrapped her scarf tighter and took a taxi home after exiting the station.
Grandma Wang knew she was coming back, so she specially prepared a big table of dishes in advance to wait for her. As soon as she entered the door, she could eat a hot meal.
"It's so warm!"
With underfloor heating in the house, Xu Ying was immediately greeted by the aroma of food and a warm, cozy feeling as soon as she entered.
She took off her coat and hung it by the door, and pulled her suitcase to the corner of the living room before sitting down at the dining table to eat at Grandma Wang's invitation.
"You must be starving after the journey. Come and eat. It's been so cold back home these past few days. I forgot to tell you yesterday to bring back a couple of warm clothes..."
Grandma Wang was very happy and kept talking throughout the meal.
Xu Ying went along with what she said.
When they had almost finished eating, Xu Ying put down her chopsticks and said, "Oh, right, Grandma, Lin Zhongxu bought some things for you. I brought them with me. They're in my suitcase. I'll take them out and show them to you right away."
As she spoke, she got up and pulled her suitcase to the middle of the living room.
Grandma Wang smiled even more broadly upon hearing this: "Oh, really? This child, who rarely calls, I didn't expect her to remember to buy us things!"
“He’s been thinking about you all the time. He said he bought these clothes a while ago and was just waiting to send them to you for the New Year,” Xu Ying said as she opened her suitcase. “Now that I’m back, he was thinking of sending the clothes to you as soon as possible.”
Grandma Wang and Grandpa Li stood around the suitcase. Xu Ying handed them the clothes, and the two of them took them and were about to go back to their bedroom to try them on.
"Alright, you can go ahead."
After packing her suitcase, Xu Ying sat in the living room waiting for them to come out.
The two men came out with smiles all over their faces, clearly very happy in the new clothes their grandson had bought for them. Xu Ying was infected by their smiles and laughed along with them.
......
The main story of "The Great Tang Female Painter" has ended, but many side stories are still being released.
This concludes Chapter Three.
"Oh my god," Li Qinqin exclaimed, covering her mouth.
Returning to her high school days, she finally understood the meaning of the novel's title.
She had a feeling that the real story was just beginning here, and the first two chapters were merely a prelude.
The female protagonist has returned to the past. She is about to make up for her regrets and have a brand new life. Just thinking about this makes Li Qinqin tremble.
The female lead also mentioned that the first thing she wanted to change was the scene of her friend's death, which gave her goosebumps.
This was the first time she had ever seen this type of film, and she was now trembling slightly with excitement.
After playing around with her dog for a while to calm down a bit, Li Qinqin picked up her phone again. This book was so good that she wanted to recommend it to others.
This is a novel you'll definitely regret not reading!
*
When Xu Ying woke up, she saw 99+ messages in the group chat on her phone.
In their clinical medicine graduation group chat, the counselor posted a message last night, informing all members to gather at the library entrance at 7:00 AM on June 9th to take a graduation group photo.
She spent the whole afternoon typing yesterday, and by evening she was exhausted, so she turned off the lights and went to bed early and didn't see the notification message in the group chat in time.
Most of the students replied that they had received the message, and Xu Ying followed suit and replied before getting up to wash up.
After washing up, she sat down at the computer.
She had just woken up and wasn't hungry yet. She planned to use this time to write as much as she could, and then eat when she got hungry.
The thought that she currently has less than two thousand yuan in assets fills her with motivation to write.
Not to mention that last night when she went to the cafeteria for dinner, she found that she only had 2.7 yuan left on her card, so she impulsively recharged it with 300 yuan.
Three hundred yuan, that's three hundred yuan! Her net worth instantly dropped by one-sixth.
With this in mind, Xu Ying typed with much more enthusiasm.
Yesterday I wrote about the female protagonist's rebirth.
Today, it's time to describe the female protagonist's high school life in detail, comparing her past and present lives, the same circumstances but different mindsets and choices... She believes that such a plot will definitely be welcomed by readers.
Xu Ying didn't need to think much; inspiration for writing just kept flowing. She quickly finished writing over three thousand words. She glanced at the time in the lower right corner of her computer; only a little over an hour had passed.
Well done.
Silently praising herself for her speed, Xu Ying opened the Feihong Novel Network backend and uploaded the freshly completed fourth chapter.
That's today's update.
After uploading the new chapter, Xu Ying checked her article data again.
She had only been writing for less than a day, so she probably hadn't made much of a splash. However, the collection data gave her a pleasant surprise: seventy-three collections.
That's really unexpected.
If this number of collections were in her previous life when she was already successful, it wouldn't be anything special, and it would even be considered rather poor. But in the present, for a complete newbie who has only been writing for less than 24 hours, it's something to be happy about.
With good results, Xu Ying's mood improved considerably.
Thinking of the contract application she sent last night, she checked her private messages one last time before logging out. There were no replies, which was normal; editors need time to review and approve applications.
I'm a little hungry.
Xu Ying closed her laptop, took her meal card, and went out the door.
*
University lecture hall.
The professor was reading from the PowerPoint presentation on the podium, while Mo Yun, sitting in the last row of the audience, listened with dark circles under her eyes, looking completely dazed.
She stayed up all night playing cards with her roommates in the dorm last night, and almost couldn't get up at 8 a.m. this morning.
She didn't really want to attend these easy classes.
But I can't not come!
Mo Yun sighed. This teacher Luo loved to take roll call unexpectedly. Not only did she have to come, but she also had to stay for the full three periods before she dared to leave, otherwise who knew if he would suddenly take roll call halfway through the class.
"So sleepy," Mo Yun yawned.
Worried that she might fall asleep and slump over, she quietly took her phone out of her bag. She didn't play games on it, but just scrolled through it briefly to stay awake.
That's right.
With that thought in mind, her finger had already tapped into the Feihong Novel app.
She's been having a reading slump lately and hasn't browsed for books in a while. Taking advantage of this moment of boredom, she decided to gather a few good books and put them on her bookshelf for later reading.
Imagination is wonderful.
However, when Mo Yun clicked on the list and looked at the novel titles, she had absolutely no desire to read them.
Please, she's in college now, can't these novels be a little more original? How come they're still exactly the same as the ones she read when she got hooked on them in middle school?!
While she was secretly complaining, Mo Yun suddenly saw a unique title: "Back to High School".
Um?
This name is unusual.
Looking at the title, she found it hard to imagine what the book was about. Was it about a Cinderella and a domineering CEO who started dating in high school?
After a moment of wild speculation, Mo Yun clicked on the link anyway.
Once she went in, she was completely trapped and couldn't get out.
This book was so special that Mo Yun covered her mouth the whole time she read it, afraid that she would scream if she didn't.
She was truly energized now; not only energized, she was even a little excited, quickly leaving comments, giving rewards, and adding the story to her favorites. Only then did Mo Yun begin to savor the plot again.
It's so beautiful, she has to watch it again carefully from beginning to end.
The four chapters were too short, so Mo Yun quickly finished reading them.
She felt a little reluctant; how could it be gone so quickly? But it was truly beautiful.
She was inwardly marveling at how the author of this book must be a genius. She actually came up with the idea of having the protagonist go back in time to change his life—something so many people dream of!
This setup is brilliant; it perfectly hits her sweet spot.
How can there be such a talented writer!
Mo Yun couldn't help but click into February Sky's homepage. With such a talented writer, her other works must be very good. She had to be the first to read them.
As a result, when Mo Yun clicked into February Sky's homepage...
"What?!"
February Sky's author homepage is empty, with only one serialized novel of less than 20,000 words, which she has just read twice: "Back to High School Days".
!!! !!! !
In other words, DaDa is still a newbie.
OMG!
Mo Yun was even more excited that a complete newcomer had written such a creative and engaging concept.
Despite the fact that it was still class time, she directly messaged her best friend in a private chat window.
Silence is golden: Aa ...
Silence is Golden: I've discovered an absolutely amazing novel, "Back to High School," you have to read it right now, it's seriously incredibly, unbelievably, and super good!!!
Silence is golden: Can you believe that this author is still a complete newbie? For a newbie to write such a good first book is really risky!
Silence is Golden: It's so good, I can't find any meal replacements at all, waaaaaah!
Silence is golden: You absolutely must watch this, you'll regret it if you don't!!!
The lamb loves to eat grass: [scratching head][scratching head]
Little Lamb Loves to Eat Grass: Really? I just woke up, I'm going to check it out right now.
Yang Hui and Mo Yun were in the same school but different departments. They had been friends since high school, and their relationship became even better when they went to university.
Both of them enjoyed reading novels. Yang Hui knew that Mo Yun had high standards, so after hearing her recommendation, she was also tempted. She turned over in bed and started searching for novels to read.
Ten minutes later.
Little Lamb Loves Grass: Damn it, don't you know the rules of our line of work? You dare to push into such a shallow hole?!
Silence is golden: Just tell me if it looks good or not [smoking cigarette]
The lamb loves to eat grass: It looks nice...
But what will she do in the future?
She hates following serialized stories the most. No matter how good the story is, her enthusiasm will disappear as she follows it. But she is also the kind of person who has to finish reading it once she starts.
So she often suffers while trying to keep up with the updates, spending money while being too lazy to watch.
She's sick, she admits it.
Mo Yun clearly understood her reading style.
Silence is golden: Why don't you just bear with it and not read the later updates?
Little Lamb Loves to Eat Grass: ...Why didn't you think of this sooner?! I can't resist now!!!
The plot of "Back to High School" is at a crucial moment.
Xu Jiayue was reborn into the classroom, and was called to the office by the homeroom teacher as soon as get out of class ended.
The reason was that the cover of her English workbook had the words "An An" written on it, and the homeroom teacher's name happened to be Li Ping'an, so he thought that the student was deliberately provoking him.
Xu Jiayue was then severely criticized.
From her family background to her academic achievements and character, she was belittled in front of so many teachers in the office.
She's an adult now, so of course she won't be hurt by a few words from her teacher.
But the same thing happened in my past life.
At the time, she was just a teenage girl, already insecure and sensitive. Being belittled in front of so many people made her feel utterly ashamed.
What was her reaction at the time?
She was heartbroken and furious.
Because the words weren't written by her; Xiaoxing wrote them when they were playing around during recess.
The two had a disagreement for a while because of two words on the homework.
Xiaoxing kept apologizing to her, but she was reluctant to make up.
During that time, she didn't eat with Xiaoxingxing or walk home from school with her. It was also during that time that Xiaoxingxing encountered bad people on her way home alone after evening self-study and was brutally murdered.
The murderer has escaped.
Such a heinous murder case caused a great sensation in their small county town back then.
She has always regretted that if she hadn't been so proud, if she had walked with her at night, would the outcome have been different?
She cut out the news about the murder of a high school girl from the newspaper and read it over and over again, but it wasn't until she grew up and got together with Fu Yun Shen that she was able to find the murderer and bring him to justice with his help.
She couldn't wait that long in her lifetime.
Now that she knows who the murderer is, she is determined to stop this accident and make the perpetrator pay the price.
......
At such a crucial moment, how could Yang Hui possibly resist watching? She was waiting for the female lead to save her friend and punish the villains.
So, let's wait a little longer.
She'll stop once she's finished reading this little storyline.
A note from the author:
The first few chapters of the extra chapters are all about the sweet daily life of the female lead and Prince Wu, which made netizens smile like doting aunts. The last two chapters are dedicated to describing the past of the Second Miss Wang in Prince Gong's Mansion, which also helped everyone to better understand the Second Miss Wang.
There's only one last bonus chapter left, and everyone's curious about who the main character will be.
- It should still be the female lead, right? The novel's ending definitely needs the female lead, hehe.
- Maybe it's about the love story between the female lead's father and mother. Their interactions are really heartwarming. I hope the author can write more about it.
-The emperor, I feel like he appears quite a lot.
- According to this logic, all twenty-four meritorious officials of Lingyan Pavilion should be included.
......
The comments section was full of all sorts of guesses, but no one expected that the last chapter would actually be a side story about Li Zhi.
It's important to know that Li Zhi never actually appears in the main text. He mainly exists only in the words of the emperor and his court officials. From these indirect descriptions, readers only have a vague impression of him as kind, weak, filial, and virtuous.
However, this short extra chapter completely overturned everyone's beautiful imagination of him.
Wasn't he always very filial to his father? How come he fell in love with Consort Wu, who was in charge of attending to Emperor Taizong, when Emperor Taizong was seriously ill? Is this right?!
The readers were shocked.
-I knew Li Zhi was no ordinary guy.
- Yes, after all, he is the crown prince. He can't be as blindly filial and kind as described in the main text. He doesn't seem honest either.
-Is he hooking up with his stepmother? That's so exciting!
......
This chapter was deliberately added by Xu Ying to give a sneak peek at the TV series.
However, so far, it seems that no one has noticed this. After all, Wu Zetian has always been referred to as Wu Cairen in the side stories, so it is normal that people have not associated her with the female lead of the TV series.
Xu Ying wasn't in a hurry. This was an Easter egg she had planted for the readers. Since it was an Easter egg, it would be more interesting for the readers to discover it themselves.
*
The novel "The Great Tang Female Painter" officially ended on the third day after Xu Ying returned to her hometown. After the ending, some different voices gradually emerged online.
After all, its ending was completely unexpected. No one expected that the female lead was actually a wolf in sheep's clothing. They thought that Wang Ergu was using her, but they didn't expect that she would actually use Wang Ergu.
This unprecedented portrayal of a flawless, innocent, and pitiful female protagonist immediately won over a large number of fans, while also drawing criticism from many others.
-So it was the female lead who gradually turned the King of Wu into this state?
-The female lead is truly despicable. To be with Prince Wu, she ruined people's reputations and power. It's utterly morally reprehensible.
-Don't give unsolicited advice if you haven't read the book. The female lead was trying to save the male lead, and the higher the male lead's power and prestige, the more dangerous it was for him!
- I felt something was off from her very first book. The female protagonist in the high school book was reborn, but she still wouldn't let go of her husband from her previous life, and wouldn't stop until she caused his family to be destroyed.
-I'm fed up with you saints. You'd be happy if you ever ended up with someone like Fu Yun Shen, right?
Don't worry, even someone like them wouldn't be a match for Fu Yun Shen.
......
The current situation is that February Sky's reputation is polarized; those who like her really like her, while those who hate her genuinely dislike her.
The victim-blaming theory is still prevalent in the current online novel market. Even if the female protagonist is hurt, she cannot fight back, let alone actively scheme or use others, otherwise she is wrong and deserves it.
Xu Ying scoffed at such remarks.
She has only written two books so far, and the female protagonists in both books are independent and strong, with no intention of harming others, yet she is still being criticized.
Since that's the case, she felt she could let loose and show them what real scheming and cruelty were.
That's right, even while reading these outrageous remarks, she had already come up with the topic for her next book.
Palace intrigue novel.
It must be a palace intrigue novel.
This is a world where women can be ruthless enough to kill even an emperor, and she felt it was necessary to show everyone the charm of a woman's ruthlessness.
It's often said that a man's mental act of patricide is thrilling, but she says that a woman's mental act of patricide is equally chilling.
Having decided on a theme, Xu Ying was itching to write. She hadn't touched her computer for several days, and the extra chapters of "The Great Tang Female Painter" that she updated recently were all automatically uploaded from her drafts.
Unfortunately, when she went back to her hometown, she thought that since the novel was already finished, she didn't bring her computer back. Since she couldn't type, Xu Ying could only record her inspirations in her notes.
When it comes to palace intrigue, Xu Ying immediately thought of the Qing Dynasty, a background that is perfect for palace intrigue.
Whether it was Huang Taiji, Kangxi, Yongzheng, or Qianlong, the harems of each emperor were fascinating, and almost any one of them could be a leading character.
Wait a minute, who should be the main character?
Xu Ying paused in her typing, then put her phone away. If she couldn't think of anything right away, she would stop thinking about it. Her previous book had just finished, and she still had time to think about it slowly.
Just then, her driving instructor contacted her and asked her to come in that afternoon to take the test.
Xu Ying went there after finishing lunch.
She passed the test smoothly, which shocked the instructor who was driving alongside her. If he remembered correctly, had this student never even come to practice driving before? How come she acted like a seasoned driver?!
Driving school exams in this world are quite easy. There are no separate subjects (one, two, three, and four) like in her previous life. Xu Ying only had to take one full exam to get her driver's license.
It's no wonder the coach was surprised; very few beginners pass on their first try. Most people are considered lucky if they pass on their second or third attempt.
Xu Ying didn't have time to care what the instructor thought; she got her driver's license and rode off on her car.
She didn't plan to stay in her hometown for too long. Now that she had her driver's license, she was going to return to Shanghai, where the film crew was still shooting. It was normal for the plot to be slightly adjusted during filming due to various reasons such as location, so she and the director had to communicate frequently.
Fortunately, she met an easy-going director. Otherwise, having a bossy screenwriter around all the time, with the director having to consult her about even the smallest plot changes, would be annoying for anyone.
Xu Ying can't shake her habit of protecting the script; she just hopes to work with this director more often in the future.
*
When Xu Ying returned to Shanghai, Lin Zhongxu came to pick her up.
She told him there was no need to pick him up, why bother going back and forth in such cold weather, but he said that school was on holiday and he would be going home in a couple of days, so this was a good opportunity for the two of them to meet and have a meal.
"Why in two days?"
Since you're on holiday, why don't you go home early?
Lin Zhongxu shrugged and said casually, "I just don't want to go back too early."
Xu Ying only realized after asking that Lin Zhongxu's relationship with his family was not very harmonious, and he would probably argue with them when he went back.
She sighed softly, "Fine, if you don't want to go home, then don't. I'll treat you to dinner today. What do you want to eat? Oh, and do you want to go to the film set later? Du Jing asked me the other day why he never sees me on set, hahaha!"
Du Jing still believes that Lin Zhongxu is a legitimate employee.
Lin Zhongxu laughed: "Sure, I'm on vacation and I'm just wondering what to do. How about I go to the film set and be your assistant? It would be even better if I could learn a thing or two from the director while I'm at it."
"There's no need for all that trouble. I'll just talk to the director and it'll be much easier for you to be his assistant..."
The two chatted and laughed all the way, which overshadowed Lin Zhongxu's unpleasant family matters.
They said they would go to the film set after dinner, but in reality, the two of them were a bit tired after the meal. In addition, Xu Ying was carrying her suitcase back and forth, which was quite troublesome, so they went back to the hotel first.
After resting at the hotel for a while, the two set off for the film set.
The cast and crew of "Empress Wu Zetian".
Zhang Botian is directing a film. He is a very peaceful person. He doesn't have the typical director's strong desire to control the crew or the autocratic style of wanting to make all the decisions.
His attitude is simply that he's only interested in getting paid.
He does whatever the producer pays him.
The producer this time is a young woman. She's very straightforward and generous with the pay. The screenwriter, although a newcomer, is quite capable; her script clearly demonstrates her solid foundation.
In addition, the actors in the crew had excellent acting skills, and there were no messy incidents such as people being forced to fill seats or stealing scenes, so he had a very comfortable time filming this movie.
Therefore, when Xu Ying went there, she offered to take care of him personally, and he immediately agreed.
Zhang Botian thought Lin Zhongxu was Xu Ying's relative. He stared at the other man's face and praised him, "Young man, you're quite handsome. Why don't you consider trying to be an actor?"
The young man has good bone structure and a cool temperament. If someone with such good looks and a distinctive personality became an actor, he might not become a huge star, but he would at least gain a group of die-hard fans who like this type of person.
"I'm not interested in acting; I prefer directing."
Lin Zhongxu spoke in a rigid and cold manner. Xu Ying didn't feel anything when she was with him normally, but now that he was talking to a stranger, he immediately seemed cold and aloof.
Xu Ying added subtly, "He's a single-minded kid; he's always longed to be a director since he was little."
"Haha, alright, since that's the case, you can stay by my side for now," Zhang Botian joked with Xu Ying. "But little Xu, you can't bear to see him suffer, can you?"
"Don't worry, Director. Just give him orders. He only came because he knows you're capable. The more you can boss him around, the happier he'll be!"
The director's eyes immediately lit up with a smile: "Good, good, good."
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