Chapter 85
With daily updates, the reputation of "Starting with a Bowl" on the Taxue Forum has been declining, but this has not stopped the number of people collecting it from increasing.
It has to be said that sometimes people really enjoy watching a spectacle.
When someone strongly recommends a novel to others, they may dismiss it with disdain. But if you say it's terribly bad, some people might actually rebel and want to try it out for themselves.
After trying it, I found that it was actually not bad!
It's not as bad as the forums are saying.
-Am I just imagining things? I find the protagonist's begging process rather funny, a mix of humor and heartbreak.
-Our little bowl isn't as ugly as the forum says, sob sob sob.
Click here to see a large-scale wilderness survival scene from the Yuan Dynasty.
Book fans are used to being mocked, and now they've learned to amuse themselves, even jokingly calling the male protagonist an ancient, chaotic version of wilderness survival in the comments section.
When Xu Ying saw this description of surviving in the wilderness during a chaotic world, she felt that the book fans' metaphors were very vivid and apt.
The male protagonist is supposed to be surviving in the wilderness, right? His hometown suffers from a severe drought, locust plague, and epidemic. What follows is the death of his parents and the separation of his brothers. He doesn't have time to grieve, because he has to become a monk at Huangjue Temple in order to survive.
However, life wasn't easy for monks either.
The male protagonist spends his days washing clothes, cooking, sweeping the floor, burning incense, ringing bells and drums, and never has a moment to spare. Even so, he still has to face the old monk's occasional scolding, which makes people want to shed a tear for him.
The male lead is so pitiful.
Whenever such sentiments are expressed in the comments section, it doesn't take long before everyone discovers that the male protagonist's situation can get even worse.
-As someone who's been there, being a monk is already quite respectable; the protagonist ended up becoming a beggar later on. [facepalm]
Sometimes I can't even beg for food. [facepalm]
-[Facepalm]
Yes, at the end of Chapter 3, the protagonist is about to leave the temple to beg because a famine has struck and the temple is not receiving any alms.
Xu Ying knew that people might not really like watching the begging part.
However, as a long and exciting novel, if the protagonist's background and experiences in the early stages are not sufficiently established, how can his later rise to become emperor be convincing?
To enhance the reading experience for readers, she has condensed and simplified this part of the plot as much as possible.
However, even if condensed, it still needs to be at least a dozen chapters.
So, two days before "Starting with a Bowl" was released, Xu Ying finally wrote that the male protagonist received a letter from his childhood friend Tang He, and it was this letter that changed the male protagonist's life.
Tang He was a member of the rebel army.
He wrote to the protagonist, urging him to join the uprising. The protagonist originally planned to burn the letter to protect himself, but he was betrayed and had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to join the uprising.
This marks the beginning of a turning point in the protagonist's life; he was twenty-five years old that year.
-Great! Chongba no longer has to beg on the streets.
-What begging? That's called alms-begging!
- The author finally treated our male lead nicely for once.
......
Readers who saw this chapter in the comments section were overjoyed and almost cried.
That's so touching.
Being a soldier is better than being a beggar, no matter what.
The situation was much more optimistic than readers had expected. After the protagonist Zhu Chongba joined the rebel army, he quickly gained the appreciation of the leader Guo Zixing. Guo Zixing not only transferred him to his side and changed his name to Zhu Yuanzhang, but also intended to marry his goddaughter to him.
This combo was incredibly satisfying for the readers.
What happened? Did Da Da suddenly remember that Xiao Wan is also her child and decide to treat it well?
Xu Ying was both amused and exasperated upon seeing the comments.
Do you really think she's a stepmother? She's not just making things up for the sake of making things cruel, as some people on the forums say. She clearly wrote it strictly based on the real experiences of the Ming Dynasty's founding emperor.
*
As soon as summer vacation started, the staff at Xilaiduo got busy.
Because "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" has started airing.
"Legend of the Qing Dynasty" is their platform's trump card for this year, and the TV series immediately topped the popularity charts of the four major platforms as soon as it was broadcast.
It felt like summer vacation two years ago was repeating itself. The marketing department received calls from brands every day, saying they wanted to insert advertisements into the TV series. The variety show department was also busy, preparing interviews and recording variety shows for the actors in advance.
The TV series clearly has potential, so we should take advantage of the fact that the actors haven't become too famous yet to conduct more interviews. When the series is released later in the series, it will attract a wave of popularity.
"The TV series is about to air, Yunyun, come here quickly!"
Mo Yun's mother shouted from the living room, and Mo Yun, who was in the bedroom, yelled and quickly slipped on her slippers and went out.
"They're here! They're here!"
Mo Yun originally watched "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" on the big screen every night after dinner, but her mother became obsessed with it after watching an episode with her a couple of days ago.
After watching the two episodes that day, her mother immediately asked her to find the first episode of the show so she could watch it from beginning to end.
Mo Yun was naturally more than happy to oblige.
She likes to recommend her favorite novels and TV series to others, but her mother's tastes have always been very different from hers. This time, she really didn't expect her mother to like "Legend of the Qing Dynasty".
She immediately pulled up the first episode and watched it with her mother from the first episode all the way to the latest one.
Although she had already seen it, the fun of watching with her mother was in observing other people's reactions. She found her mother's reaction very interesting, even more so than when she watched TV on her own.
From then on, she made a pact with her mother to watch two episodes of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" together every day.
"Today, the female lead should become a concubine."
"Pretty much, it should be able to be broadcast," Mo Yun said, somewhat uncertainly.
According to the novel's plot, the female lead should indeed be officially entering the harem, but it's unclear how the TV series will change that.
Mo Yun doesn't object to TV dramas adapting plots. After all, TV dramas are different from novels, and necessary deletions and changes are reasonable for enriching the plot.
"The female lead is so beautiful, she's a beauty just standing there," said Mo Yun's mother, who is her age and likes this kind of elegant and gentle appearance. She finds it so pleasing to the eye!
Mo Yun chimed in, "She is quite pretty."
At first, she didn't think the female lead was that pretty. There were so many beautiful actresses in the show, and the female lead was just average-looking among them.
But for some reason, the more I watched the TV series, the more beautiful the female lead became.
It's really strange. Mo Yun wondered if she had developed a "protagonist filter" for this actress named Li Tingyu.
She told her mother this, but her mother disagreed, saying, "What filter? She's just the kind of person who grows on you and gets better the more you look at her!"
This oval face, big eyes, and high nose bridge will never be considered ugly, no matter what.
“Okay, okay, you’re right, she’s just good-looking,” Mo Yun was laughing so hard. Her mother was now defending the female lead with the same fervor she used to show for those two-dimensional characters; no one could say a bad word about her.
Hahahaha!
"How dare you! How can you neglect your duties in the Hall of Mental Cultivation!"
The angry shouts coming from the TV series interrupted their conversation, and both of them turned their attention to the screen.
At this point on the screen, the female lead has become the emperor's personal maid.
When she was serving in the main hall, her eyes were half-closed, and she looked like she was dozing off.
The concubines who came to visit the emperor at the Hall of Mental Cultivation already disliked her because of her beauty. Now that they had the opportunity to make her lazy in public, they immediately took the chance to vent their anger in front of the emperor.
"This servant knows his crime and begs Your Majesty and Your Excellency to punish him."
The female protagonist is unaware that she is pregnant and only thinks that she is feeling unwell.
Seeing that she was pale, the emperor naturally did not punish her, and even told her that she should rest well when she was sick.
Because of the emperor's words, the noblewoman beside him looked at the female lead with even more hostility.
......
Mo Yun and her mother were so engrossed in the story that neither of them spoke for a moment.
It wasn't until the female protagonist came out of the main hall to see the imperial physician and get medicine that she learned from him that she was pregnant. Only then did the two of them excitedly start discussing it with each other again.
"Malu is pregnant?!"
Mo Yun was alright; she had already read the novel, so even if she was excited, she was mentally prepared. But her mother was different. She hadn't read the novel and didn't know about this kind of plot. When she saw that the female lead was pregnant, she was genuinely surprised.
"That's great! The female lead is pregnant, so she should be able to become a concubine, right?"
Mo Yun's mother was determined to make the female lead a formal concubine, believing that once she became a formal concubine, the female lead would no longer be bullied.
Actually, what the female lead is encountering now is just a small case; the women in the harem are much more terrifying, Mo Yun thought to herself.
However, she mischievously kept quiet about it.
*
Just after the first two episodes of "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" ended, the hashtag #PrincessMalu# suddenly appeared on the top trending searches. In the second episode, which aired tonight, the female lead successfully rose to power by virtue of her pregnancy.
-Sprinkling flowers, sprinkling flowers.
-Great news! The female lead has finally become a benefactor.
- Look at that Consort Ning, still so arrogant! One day she was calling the female lead a servant, and the next day the female lead is on the same level as her, hahaha, so satisfying!!!
- As a noble princess, her food, clothing, and daily necessities are comparable to those of a concubine. Judging from the emperor's decree, she is indeed the female lead; her treatment is indeed different.
-After all, she is the female lead, so only by bestowing a reward beyond her rank can the emperor's favor be shown to her.
Two episodes a day are simply not enough! I strongly urge Xilai to release more episodes, even if it means paying me!
-Please add more updates.
- I never imagined that one day I would have money in my hands but wouldn't be able to spend it.
......
The comments section is very active under the trending search terms, with messages being covered up almost every time the page is refreshed.
Everyone had just finished watching the TV series and was feeling excited and eager to talk. A ready-made entry provided an opportunity for everyone to exchange ideas, and a group of people immediately gathered around and started chatting happily.
Other passersby who stumbled upon the trending topic clicked in and were surprised to see such a lively discussion late at night. They wondered what TV series was so good. Curious, they asked the question and were immediately bombarded with recommendations from the group.
Investing in "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" is a sure win.
- It's the popular summer drama "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" from Xilaiduo, which tells the story of the female lead's journey from a lowly palace maid to the Empress Dowager.
......
While it's interesting to talk about the people in the "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" drama circle, explaining it to outsiders is a completely different experience.
The passerby was surprised that his casual question had instantly garnered dozens, even hundreds, of comments. The enthusiasm of the fans took him by surprise, and he repeatedly assured them he would definitely watch the show before they finally left, satisfied.
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