Regarding the film and TV adaptation of “Contract Marriage”, Huanyu had given Yu Mian, the author, unprecedented high authority and freedom, and his opinions were extremely important.
Even though “Contract Marriage” clearly involved significant interests and its adaptation could potentially catapult several actors to stardom, Huanyu was cautious not to let relationships or capital meddle in the process.
After all, the principle was as simple as the saying from Earth: “If a woman wants to be famous, act in a Qiong Yao drama; if a man wants to be famous, act in a Jin Yong adaptation.”
*Qiong Yao and Jin Yong are two legendary Chinese authors whose works have had a profound influence on Chinese books, television, and film. Qiong Yao’s works often revolve around star-crossed lovers, family conflicts, and tragic or bittersweet endings. Jin Yong was renowned for his wuxia (martial arts) novels usually on loyalty, honor and the blurred line between good and evil.
A work with such high popularity was undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime chance for countless actors to achieve stardom.
If any interference triggered the author’s dissatisfaction, or worse, a collective protest from readers, it would only lead to endless trouble.
[Wow, they all look pretty good!]
The little system was also curious and eagerly started looking with Yu Mian.
After all, who would have thought that the host didn’t go on to become a star, but instead wrote a book that provided a script for a film adaptation?
However, just at the moment when the two of them eagerly flipped through the materials, a new task was unexpectedly triggered!
[Ding!]
[Side task detected: Popularity Points]
[Task content loading…]
When the electronic voice prompt sounded, the little system, which had been stunned at first, suddenly became excited after loading all the information.
[Host, this work must be adapted properly.]
“Hmm?”
[The backend just indicated that if this additional side task is completed successfully, your debut work’s popularity points will receive a huge bonus!]
“A huge bonus to popularity points?”
Yu Mian didn’t expect such a thing to happen.
[Yes, after the last update, the backend showed that the popularity points for your debut work, “Contract Marriage”, had reached 73%. But if this side task is successfully completed, it might trigger a 100% perfect completion reward immediately.]
“What’s the reward for triggering the perfect completion?”
Yu Mian hadn’t expected to receive additional rewards for completing a work.
‘By the way, could this 73% be the overall completion rate determined after the serialization of “Contract Marriage” had reached this point and was approaching its end?’
[Of course, the perfect completion reward for a debut work would be the full version of the “Mermaid Song” buff. However, this was originally a reward for your singing path and would make your voice have special effects.]
[Unfortunately, now that you’ve switched to writing novels, I’m not sure what will happen, but theoretically, there should already be a preliminary buff effect.]
“But I don’t feel like I have any buff effects.”
‘Based on the name of this reward, could it be that my singing became better?’
However, as soon as Yu Mian tried to sing a few lines, he immediately stopped upon noticing the system’s stunned silence.
He always knew he was tone-deaf, but he hadn’t realized just how bad it was.
While other stars sang for money, his singing seemed more like a threat to human life.
“Okay, maybe it’s because I didn’t follow your original path, so the reward was voided?”
Yu Mian initially felt a bit regretful, but then thought it didn’t matter.
After all, he preferred writing novels over singing.
No reward, fine, he didn’t really care!
However, just as Yu Mian had given up on the reward and continued to flip through the materials on the adaptation of “Contract Marriage”, he was unaware that his novel had unknowingly caught the attention of a mysterious group.
“Cook, your discovery was indeed correct. The words in these books do have a certain soothing effect on mental power…”
The middle-aged man in military uniform looked at Cook, a young doctor assigned to the military department, with a somewhat awkward expression.
“But the soldiers who were called in for the experiment have been having a hard time reading these books in the past few days!”
Cook was a top student under Professor Mori, who was famous in the field of mental power research. This time, he was assigned to their Sixth Legion for half a year, and everyone attached great importance to him.
So even though everyone was skeptical when Cook came over with several novels and proposed the fantastic-sounding experiment of “reading novels to sooth your mental power”, they still did the experiment out of respect for Professor Mori’s proud student.
The first batch of soldiers who participated in the experiment were surprised to discover that, during their reading, their long-tense mental power due to training and combat was indeed slightly relieved.
However, the romantic fantasy themes of “Contract Marriage” and “Eternal Night Rose” made it awkward for a group of big men over 1.8 meters to immerse themselves in them day after day. It felt like macho men binge-watching love dramas.
“Uh, sorry, I didn’t consider this.”
Cook scratched his head, realizing this might indeed be a bit too much to ask.
Although when he and his fellow juniors first read “Contract Marriage” and “Eternal Night Rose”, they were completely amazed and quickly became hooked.
However, it seemed somewhat inappropriate to directly give these books to the soldiers in the legion.
“But the soldiers under your command did experience a soothing effect in their mental power, right?”
“That’s indeed the case. Although it’s not much, there was some effect.”
Faced with Cook’s confirmation, the person in charge nodded honestly.
In fact, when Cook first got hooked on the novels, he didn’t notice anything unusual. He just thought the works by this author, Fish Soup Noodles, were so fresh and captivating that he couldn’t wait for the next update.
It wasn’t until one routine lab test that Cook accidentally discovered something strange—that his mental power, which had already stopped developing since becoming an adult, showed slight improvement.
Cook keenly sensed that this might not be a coincidence…
So, after eliminating variables through various methods and conducting several tests on himself, Cook was stunned to find that it seemed unrelated to anything else.
Instead, every time he snuck away to read novels in the lab when Professor Mori wasn’t around, his mental power felt significantly relaxed, as if he’d undergone a mental massage.
After making this discovery, the first group that came to Cook’s mind for large-scale application was undoubtedly the soldiers, a high-risk group for mental power strain.
“Why don’t you submit these results to the military department? After all, no matter what, it really seems to have an effect.”
In the end, Cook suggested this to the person in charge with some embarrassment.
The person in charge, however, once again looked anxious.
He was really afraid that if the higher-ups found out this was effective, they would force everyone to read. What would they do then?
This would be so embarrassing!
Why couldn’t this author write on some other topics!? [Frustrated]
In fact, if Yu Mian had known, he would have definitely shouted, “I’m innocent!”
After all, when he originally created “Contract Marriage” and “Eternal Night Rose”, the target audience he had in mind was the largest group among online readers—young people.
Preferably young students who romanticized life and believed in love. That was the perfect audience.
As for adult men like Kane, with their domineering exteriors and soft, romantic hearts, it was natural that they couldn’t stop reading either.
But who would have thought that a bunch of burly, tough soldiers would come over to the romance genre section to read novels?
You guys are in the wrong genre!
Regardless, when the routine military department meeting was about to be held a week later, Huo Ting, one of the legion commanders, naturally received this familiar book once again.
And it turned out that, after some time, this author had released a new book.
In addition to “Contract Marriage”, which had already captivated the Bart clan, there was now “Eternal Night Rose”.
“Huo Ting, we’re all old fossils and don’t understand these books of young people. You’re the only young one here. What’s your opinion? Do you think this research has value?”
Just as Huo Ting found himself in an unexpectedly complex mood, the silver-haired chairman of the military council suddenly threw the issue at him.
In fact, the commanders of the six major legions in the Federation were no longer young. Huo Ting was the only anomaly, having reached his position in his twenties.
Of course, this was not because Huo Ting had the identity of being the son of the Federal hero Huo Ying, who had sacrificed himself in the interstellar war.
It was because, after Huo Ting turned eighteen, his grieving grandfather, who had lost his eldest son, personally sent him to the frontlines. The strength he displayed made him unanimously approved for this position at the age of 23.
As the youngest commander, and one whom the other commanders had watched grow up, Huo Ting held a unique position among them. Many even saw in him faint traces of their late comrade, Huo Ying.
Therefore, Huo Ting held an extremely special position among the commanders, he was more like a junior that everyone had high hopes for and personally trained.
“…?”
However, even Huo Ting didn’t expect that he would be asked to speak and judge the value of this proposal.
In the past, Huo Ting would have immediately thought this was nonsense.
But now, as he looked at these books, he suddenly remembered the cheerful and lively tone of “I’m a writer”.
What Yu Mian didn’t know was that, at the moment he introduced himself as a writer to Secretary Hals, Huo Ting had been quietly watching him.
However, Yu Mian never dared to turn his head to look at Huo Ting, afraid that he might remember something, so he only gave him a cold profile throughout the entire interaction.
“You can observe, there’s no need to don’t directly reject it.”
Huo Ting’s calm response surprised everyone present.
After all, most of the attendees hadn’t taken this proposal too seriously.
Could it really be valuable?
“Then this task will be handed to you. Take this opportunity to rest during your vacation and see if this issue has merit. It’s an important task too,” the chairman said with a smile, slyly assigning the task to the younger Huo Ting.
Huo Ting:?
Seeing Huo Ting’s rare, stunned expression, many of the other commanders laughed good-naturedly.
It seemed more like a vacation-type task, which seemed rather appropriate.
Once this brief interlude before the meeting ended, the military department’s meeting returned to its usual solemnity.
Only Huo Ting lingered after the session, staring at the materials in his hand with hesitation.
He knew a writer.
But the other party seemed indifferent and cold toward him and got along better with the lively Secretary Hals.
Huo Ting, who was always aware of his less likable personality, didn’t mind it, if not for that subtle emotion inside.
“What? But isn’t it strange for me to ask for his help on your behalf?”
Upon hearing Huo Ting’s instructions, Secretary Hals couldn’t help but respond with a bewildered expression.
“Doesn’t that writer often appear near the library? Next time we can just go together and take a look. Maybe we can bump into him.” Secretary Hals finally made a better option.
Meanwhile, Yu Mian had no idea any of this was happening and he was completely unaware that someone was planning to stake out the library to find him.
These days, he was completely consumed and excited when writing updates for “Eternal Night Rose”, so much so that he was practically grinning from ear to ear.
Maybe people really do get tired of the old and love the new. Once he started the new book, he couldn’t help but write more.
As a result, the readers following “Eternal Night Rose” quickly noticed that, while they only got weekly updates compared to the daily ones for “Contract Marriage”, the word count of each chapter was brimming with sincerity.
As a result, the resentment in my heart was strangely alleviated to some extent.
[It’s just so strange! Can anyone explain it? The moment he’s even a little kind to me, I brainwash myself into forgiving him. I even stop caring that he updates weekly!?]
[This must be what it feels like to meet a sweet-talking scumbag. [Crying] I’m even worried that Fish Soup Noodles might be overworking himself. I’m hopeless—completely hopeless!]
[Despair, anger, bitter laughter, facepalm, forgiveness! And then I eagerly await the next update. This is my emotional rollercoaster every single week!]
