Chapter 91
Xu Ying registered a studio.
She wasn't joking with Liu Mingchun. After making the call that day, she started preparing all the necessary materials. Now that the studio is officially established, she can sign contracts with any interested employees on the spot.
"Okay, Xiao Xu, you're quick on the uptake. But they can't go over yet. 'Code Name: Dodder' is about to air, and there's still some work that needs to be done by them. But if you're willing to wait..."
The unspoken words are clear to everyone.
Xu Ying laughed over the phone, "What are you saying? I've already taken a liking to the talents under your command, so of course I'll prioritize your needs. I'm just giving you a definite answer: I mean what I say, and if I say I welcome them, I really mean it!"
"Okay, okay, don't worry, Xiao Xu. I've already asked around for you, and quite a few people have expressed their willingness to work for you."
Liu Mingchun still cares a lot about the employees in his own studio.
He could tell that Xu Ying had a bright future, so he took every opportunity to talk to his employees about it, though some listened and some didn't.
"Sigh, everyone has their own plans. The path I suggest to them may not satisfy them. Now, about 30% of them give me a definite answer."
Thirty percent is already quite a lot.
Xu Ying wasn't greedy enough to take everything.
Even if we force those who don't want to come, they might not be willing to work hard. It's good that they've come willingly.
"Director Liu is right. Everyone has their own plans. You must not force them. No matter what we do, it should be based on mutual consent, right?"
"I know, since they've already decided where they're going, I don't need to worry about it. I'm too lazy to get involved in these things!"
Liu Mingchun still harbored some resentment.
He helped these employees find jobs, even if it wasn't with Xu Ying but somewhere else, he could guarantee their legal rights. But these people didn't trust him and secretly found other jobs on their own. Since that's the case, he wouldn't care if they got into trouble later.
*
"Starting with a Bowl" is coming to an end. Xu Ying informed her readers a few days in advance, and as always, the readers expressed their reluctance to say goodbye.
Author, please don't end it so soon! I feel like there's still so much more to write!
-Yeah, I love how the male lead does infrastructure construction.
Me too. I never imagined I'd be so engrossed in reading about a group of people farming in a novel.
- A war-torn and impoverished country gradually becomes whole and powerful under the protagonist's guidance. It gave me a great sense of accomplishment and was really satisfying, even more so than male-oriented wish-fulfillment novels.
Please write more, author! Didn't the male lead establish the Yi Luan Division? It seems like such a cool department! Please write more about it!
The Yiluan Division was the predecessor of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and Xu Ying did indeed mention it briefly in the novel.
She didn't know if the Embroidered Uniform Guard would ever appear in her novels again. She simply tried her best to include as much as possible within the context of the writing scenario, so that readers could see another world in her heart.
The novel's end is irreversible.
Xu Ying clicked the mouse and published the last five chapters in one go.
In fact, she hesitated for a long time when writing these last few chapters. After Zhu Yuanzhang came to power, he did implement many measures that benefited the people, but it is undeniable that he also had a ruthless side.
The Hu Weiyong case implicated over 30,000 people, while the Lan Yu case alone recorded over 15,000 people implicated. So many lives lost...
Xu Ying fiddled with the keyboard, but ultimately didn't write these things in. These underhanded tactics could be written about later in the side stories.
If, at this moment when readers are so enthusiastic, she suddenly pulls off a scene where the male protagonist slaughters meritorious officials and implicates thousands of others, the readers would probably want to fry or boil her alive.
After posting the new chapter, Xu Ying waited in the comments section for a while. Sure enough, it was the right decision not to cause trouble. Now the comments were all filled with congratulations and well wishes—how harmonious!
Xu Ying hummed a song as she went to the kitchen and made herself a sumptuous dinner.
However, her joy did not last long.
A week later, when she released the extra chapter titled "The Hu Weiyong Case, One of the Four Great Cases of the Early Ming Dynasty," the readers in the comments section still went wild.
- Hu Weiyong deserved his punishment, but what was the point of implicating so many people behind him?
-The male lead is really ruthless.
- To punish people simply by exchanging letters with Hu Weiyong, killing officials and neighbors alike, is this the behavior of a wise ruler? [scratching head]
- Li Shanchang was truly tragic. He diligently followed Zhu Yuanzhang in conquering the country, only to have his entire family executed when he was over seventy years old.
Author, I'm begging you, you've completely ruined your persona, you know? I urge you to delete this chapter immediately, and I'll pretend I didn't see anything!!!
Did you notice the title of this chapter? It's one of the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty. Does that mean there are three more cases waiting for us...?
-This is terrifying to think about. [Screaming face]
-Holy crap, don't scare me!!!
February Sky's will did not waver despite the readers' pleas, and the extra chapter was updated on time the following day. The title of this chapter is 'The Lan Yu Case, one of the four major cases in the early Ming Dynasty'.
The Lan Yu case also implicated a wide range of people.
- Lan Yu is arrogant and domineering, and he kills innocent people indiscriminately. I have no objection to killing him, but as I said before, what's the point of involving more than 10,000 people?!
-Are you alright, sir? Have you been possessed?
Please stop, author! The male lead worked so hard to build this empire, and you've almost wiped it all out! Waaah, I feel even more sorry for these tens of thousands of people than for the male lead. Whose people are they anyway?!
......
On the third day, the extra chapter of "Starting with a Bowl" was updated as usual. This chapter was titled "The Case of Guo Heng, One of the Four Great Cases in the Early Ming Dynasty".
Guo Heng was the Vice Minister of Revenue under Zhu Yuanzhang. Taking advantage of his position, he colluded with officials from various provinces to resell government grain, embezzle taxes, and steal more than seven million taels of silver, which was an unforgivable crime.
Zhu Yuanzhang was furious, and tens of thousands of officials from the twelve provincial administrations and the six ministries below the rank of vice minister were killed.
Excuse me, could you please tell me exactly how many tens of thousands of people this is? [curious]
- Destroy it.
- Daily question: Has the boss stopped today?
- February Sky, you dare to say something? Can't you see the comments? I'm not kidding, if you keep writing this nonsense, I'm really going to unfollow you!!!
- Hahaha, an outsider here to join in the fun. I heard your boss has gone crazy and is killing people everywhere.
-Me too! I wasn't interested in this book even though TK kept marketing it as good. But as soon as I heard the author was crazy, I rushed over, hehe!
-Eat melon seeds, eat melon seeds.
I haven't read this book, but I can imagine that if I followed the whole thing and the author suddenly fed me garbage at the end, I would probably be completely devastated.
The plot of "Starting with a Bowl" was promising from the start, and just when everyone thought the book was about to come to a perfect end, Er Yuetian suddenly went crazy for no reason, seemingly preparing to take everyone by storm.
In the past few days, both TK short videos and Dayan accounts have been filled with readers of "Starting with a Bowl" breaking down in tears and expressing their frustration.
"February Sky, are you possessed by a ghost? How could you portray me, the Hongwu Emperor, with such lofty ambitions, as a ruthless and bloodthirsty demon in the end? Did you sense something was off when you wrote it?!"
"February Sky, I beg you, please delete the extra chapters! Give me back my wise and mighty Father Zhu!!!!"
"@￥%#￥&……February Sky, refund my money!!!!!!!!!!"
Netizens love to see others break down.
They couldn't possibly miss out on such a hilarious show as "Starting with a Bowl".
As a result, a group of people who were not originally interested in the novel started reading the extra chapters and their comments just to join in the fun, and even spent money to subscribe to the entire book.
Then Yueyin opened the backend and was surprised to find that despite being heavily criticized, February Sky's revenue had actually surged.
Tsukikage: "......"
February's enviable career luck makes her useless worries seem especially laughable.
Xu Ying never expected things to develop this way.
She had actually tried her best to consider the feelings of her book fans. Because she was worried that they wouldn't be able to accept it, she didn't update immediately after the novel ended. Instead, she gave them enough time to wait for their enthusiasm to fade.
To everyone's surprise, even a week later, readers who saw the bonus chapter were still furious.
Sigh, if she had known they would be angry either way, she would have been better off updating every day. At least she could have gotten the perfect attendance bonus this month, Xu Ying thought dejectedly.
The outrage of readers made Xu Ying think she had lost her perfect attendance bonus and was about to lose subscriptions. But then, an outsider suddenly stepped in, which actually increased her overall earnings instead of decreasing them. It was truly unpredictable.
Xu Ying shook her head and released the fourth chapter of the extra chapter on time. The "Four Great Cases of the Early Ming Dynasty: The Empty Seal Case" thus entered the eyes of millions of readers.
The blank seal case was actually a result of the irrationality of the system at the time.
During the Ming Dynasty, the provincial administration commissions and their subordinate prefectures and counties sent auditors to the capital to verify the accounts of the money, military supplies, and other expenses that their respective yamens were required to pay that year.
Because of inconvenient transportation, some officials would carry blank ledgers with seals in advance to prevent errors in the accounts from requiring repeated revisions and stampings.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang saw this as evidence of collusion among officials, and in a fit of rage, he ordered the punishment of all the officials involved.
-Thank goodness, not too many people will be killed this time.
-Are everyone's standards this low now? Sisters, don't forget our goal is to demand that the author revise the side stories and bring back the male lead's character!!!
- A blank ledger with a stamp—just think about it, there are so many ways to manipulate it. If you were an employee, you might find it convenient, but if you were the boss, you would definitely be like the protagonist, unable to sleep at night.
-If you think about it from the emperor's perspective, it's normal for him to be worried.
-What do you mean it's normal? I know Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu did a lot of bad things, but to say they had the intention to rebel is impossible. The male protagonist just found an excuse to get rid of them.
-Thirty-four founding heroes, good heavens, he killed all thirty of them! This is no wise ruler, he is clearly a butcher!
-The description of "butcher" is very apt.
- From now on, stop calling the male protagonist Emperor Hongwu. I hereby declare that from this day forward, he shall be called Butcher Zhu Yuanzhang!
- Zhu Yuanzhang is too fancy. In my opinion, since the male lead is going to be a butcher, it would be more appropriate to call him Zhu Chongba. Butcher Zhu Chongba sounds just as fitting.
- The readers in the comments section are really sarcastic.
-This is hilarious! I definitely didn't waste my money on the full subscription! Hahahaha!
- Please refrain from trivializing suffering. Thank you.
- Please refrain from trivializing suffering. Thank you.
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