“A super-popular marketing account? I think you’re a super-annoying marketing account.”
Su Manwen also found it amusing. There was actually someone who, just to win an argument, had edited a nearly twenty-minute drama commentary video?
“I’m just providing a well-reasoned analysis to prove that the negative comments about ‘Calm Seas, Clear Rivers’ aren’t just bots talking nonsense.”
Ying Shi felt that the viewers who spent money to watch the drama were the ones who suffered the most. They paid their money, watched the show, and couldn’t even leave a single negative review without being attacked by a celebrity’s fans.
After all, Ying Shi was also someone who paid to watch dramas. The early plot of “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers” was decent, but the later half made her feel like a fool for being tricked into the pit!
She had already decided to quietly drop the drama, but Fang Kaiyun’s fans just had to walk right into her line of fire.
Su Manwen knew that Ying Shi had a habit of following dramas, and she also understood the frustration of being burned by a show’s later development, so she didn’t bring it up again. “Are you planning to start a new project?”
“Yes!” Ying Shi picked up the folder beside her and handed it to Su Manwen.
Opening the folder and looking at the printed proposal, Su Manwen was a bit surprised. “A screenwriting competition?”
“This is the fastest way I can think of to collect scripts,” Ying Shi explained. “Also, the entry requirement for this competition is that participants must be screenwriters with less than three years of work experience. They haven’t been constrained by the ingrained screenwriting mindset of the industry yet, so they have a lot of potential for growth.”
Once she selected good scripts, she wouldn’t just provide prize money—she would also sign collaboration contracts with the writers and turn those excellent scripts into dramas to expand Wanshi TV’s library.
As for the hidden gems that didn’t make it this time, she could leave them for future discovery. Right now, she needed scripts with a sense of “youthful vigor and ambition.”
“You’ll be in charge of the event details.” Ever since she had gradually come to understand Su Manwen’s work capabilities, Ying Shi had become more and more fond of being a hands-off boss.
Su Manwen took the assignment and left. Ying Shi picked up her backpack and planned to head back to the university.
With her junior year coming to an end, her campus life would also be over.
This trip to school was also something she had previously arranged with her roommates.
Wen Jiming and Jiang Nian would continue staying in City B for their internships. Xu Jinxi had come back to pick up some materials, and since they had all left some belongings in the dormitory, they agreed to meet on the final deadline to clear everything out.
At the same time, they would also have a meal together on that day.
Since she was going back to school, Ying Shi didn’t use the company car. She wasn’t a celebrity. Even with some online popularity, she wouldn’t be surrounded and stared at everywhere she went like a star.
She took a bus, transferred once along the way, and soon arrived at the university.
The campus during summer break was a bit quiet. Under the scorching sun, the thick green tree shades cast shadows on the paths.
Ying Shi took her student ID card, registered at the security office, then followed the shadows, dodging the sun, and headed toward the dormitory.
…
[Wuwuwu, why can’t “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” be a hundred episodes long?]
[When I saw the ending—Sanxiu refusing the heavenly court’s appointment edict and choosing to remain in the mortal world to wander—I felt a mix of sadness and joy all at once.]
[Sanxiu is a deity who belongs to the mortal world!]
[When the drama first started filming, I was complaining about another “goddess” story. Who knew she would be a true goddess!]
[A true goddess! A goddess sister who isn’t love-obsessed and focuses on her calling! I am your believer!]
[The plague demon also accumulated merit. The heavenly court revoked its arrest warrant. One day, it might even be able to cultivate and become an immortal…]
[So… it would be a plague god now?]
[To the person above, I’m trying to build up some emotion here—don’t make me laugh!]
[I’m being serious. I’m not trying to make you laugh.]
[Miss Zelan also became a renowned medicine merchant. She poured out her family fortune to hold down the price of medicine and even received a plaque bestowed by the emperor…]
[It’s a pity Lin Jinyao couldn’t pick up medicine again…]
[Lin Jinyao is like Wang Yan, isn’t she? Wang Yan once saved an evil person, which led to his entire family being killed. After his death, he abandoned medicine and also gave up his philosophy of saving people, becoming a numb ghostly messenger. Watching Sanxiu grow step by step, he slowly let go of his obsessions. But after being a ghostly messenger for so many years, it wouldn’t be realistic for him to become a doctor again. His state of mind has changed—how could he go back to square one?]
[I also think their obsessions were just a kind of “letting go” at the time. That “letting go” back then was either forced or carried resentment. It was because of Sanxiu that they were able to slowly see through their confusion. In fact, this can also be considered a form of liberation.]
[Wuwuwu, I want to see the story of Sanxiu traveling the four seas afterward QAQ]
[@Procrastinating Drama Watcher, is it really impossible to make a sequel?]
This comment actually received a reply
—[Procrastinating Drama Watcher v: The current ending is already the best ending. Sanxiu is in the mortal world, still healing the sick and saving lives. She has never left. Although the drama may end, Sanxiu’s story will never end.]
[#Sanxiu’sStoryNeverEnds#]
[#Sanxiu’sStoryNeverEnds#]
[#……#]
Soon, the topic “Sanxiu’s Story Never Ends” was pushed to the trending list.
At the same time, “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers,” which had also reached its fortieth episode, found itself in an awkward position.
Because the plot had started falling apart after the twentieth episode, by the fortieth episode, all of the male lead’s connections and power had been gained through taking advantage of others’ opportunities and “showering everyone with saintly radiance,” along with the support of his romantic interests. The audience found it very unconvincing—how could such a person ascend the throne?
In short, viewers were finding the whole thing increasingly incomprehensible.
Then, a document claiming to be the “original script of Calm Seas, Clear Rivers” began spreading online.
In fact, when the drama had reached its thirtieth episode, this script was already spreading wildly online. But Fang Kaiyun’s fans kept trying to silence the discussion, claiming it was a fake script made up by rival fans to smear their idol.
Fang Kaiyun’s company and the production team likely also got involved. Under the assault of paid bots, many casual netizens genuinely came to believe it was a fake script.
But now, with the release of subsequent episodes, people compared the “fake script” to the actual show and found that there were indeed points of alignment. Even many of the plot threads in the drama suggested that the story should have developed according to the content of the “fake script” for it not to feel abrupt.
And every place where the plot felt off was related to the male lead!
This drama had been established and started filming earlier than “The Legend of Medicine Maiden.” That meant that at the time, the blame for randomly changing the plot still had to be shared among multiple parties.
By the time “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” began filming, “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers” was also nearing completion. At the same time, the issue of arbitrarily changing the script for “For Your Sake” was brought up again.
Netizens transformed into cyber detectives, meticulously examining the timeline of “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers,” and ultimately reached a conclusion—Fang Kaiyun had also tampered with the script on the set of “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers”!
Perhaps because Fang Kaiyun himself had invested in the drama, he didn’t mind losing some money. Or perhaps by the time the script-altering controversy resurfaced, most of the plot for “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers” had already been filmed, and there wasn’t enough time to fix it.
Some netizens even with conspiracy theories pointed out that Xiao Yi, the producer of “Calm Seas, Clear Rivers,” had started making snide remarks back when “The Legend of Medicine Maiden” was casting. This was because he felt guilty about changing the script and wanted to shift the blame for the altered script onto others, using the normal plot of the first twenty episodes to trick the audience into watching.
When it came to gossip, once netizens picked one melon, it meant countless more melons would be dug up afterward.
Fang Kaiyun’s previous works were all carefully analyzed. Netizens pointed out that while the issues weren’t obvious in his early works, there were already hints of plot tendencies like “two women fighting over one man” and “three women fighting over one man.”
Later, as his fans and popularity grew, his “everyone loves me” persona became increasingly apparent.
But back then, the productions weren’t big-budget projects, so everyone just assumed that was how the characters were written. Add to that Fang Kaiyun’s fans brainwashing people with the narrative of his “ancient costume heartthrob” image—which was still intact at the time—and his own looks being fairly decent, and the audience was fooled into not noticing anything wrong.
Now looking back, Fang Kaiyun truly only loved the “everyone loves me” character setting. No matter who it was, once they entered his drama, they had to fall in love with him first.
[Seems like the Eldest Miss Qiao Cheng is the impressive one 👍. She worked with him and still managed to shine on her own!]
[Haha, when I watched “For Your Sake” back then, I felt that the female lead didn’t really love the male lead. So that was the issue!]
[It’s clearly Qiao Cheng being unprofessional. As the male lead’s designated romantic partner, she could still change it to this extent. She’s practically ruining the script!]
[To the person above, maybe hide your fan badge first? FKY fans dare to talk about ruining scripts? Your idol already has so many people in love with him—he won’t miss the female lead. Let her not love him, and give the audience some untainted ground.]
[Although I also think adapting the story to break up the official couple is a bit absurd, when it comes to this matter, wasn’t FKY the one who broke up the CP first? It was clearly a story about two people, but he had to add a whole bunch of others. It’s only natural the female lead doesn’t want to love him anymore (eating melon).]
[If he loves having a harem so much, why not just play an emperor? Oh, with the way he acts, the female lead would probably poison him in the ending (dog head).]
[Does he have some kind of inferiority complex? Why else is he so obsessed with the “everyone loves me” persona?]
[Or maybe he’s just too narcissistic and genuinely believes that all girls love him…]
[Check the trending search! Fang Kaiyun’s relationship is suspected to have been exposed!]
[What? What?]
[I saw it. I just want to say—rich lady sister, don’t be too strict about gender QAQ]
[Yeah, she’s young, pretty, and rich. How did she end up with a guy like him?]
[Aside from his obsession with adding the “everyone loves me” persona, Fang Kaiyun doesn’t have any truly morally reprehensible scandals, right? And even if he’s fallen out of the “ancient costume heartthrob” ranks, he’s still better-looking than those ugly entertainment industry guys who have connections and resources.]
[To the person above, if you’re already a rich woman, could you please not have such low standards…]
[Isn’t changing the script morally wrong? An actor’s job is to present a story to the audience. That’s his work!!! For his own personal preferences, he ruins a work project and makes the audience who paid to watch the drama bear the consequences. How is that any different from those unscrupulous merchants who deceive customers with defective goods?]
[Exactly. It’s unprofessional! If he were filming this just for himself to watch, who would care what kind of mess he made? But he made a mess and still expects me to spend money to fill in the gaps for his fantasies?]
[The rich lady replied. She said she and Fang Kaiyun broke up a long time ago, and the photos are from last year. She doesn’t know why they’re being dug up now!]
[Someone asked her why they broke up, and she replied with two words: “Heh heh”?]
[There’s more! Dig deeper! Report more!]
Everyone gradually became immersed in this melon-eating frenzy.