[Theoretically, this would definitely count. It’s equivalent to writing a completed novel first and then adapting it into an animated series. Plus, there might even be a bonus for genre diversity and popularity points.]
After careful analysis, the little system ultimately confirmed this idea on the spot.
[The only issue is that you’ve never stepped into the screenwriting industry before, so this would be quite a bold attempt. And isn’t this type of subject matter unprecedented in the interstellar era?]
Although in his previous life, there had been many cases of novelists transitioning to screenwriting, and in some ways, the two industries did have common ground.
“I’m still considering it. If I participate in the script collection, can I just submit my script along with the rest? There’s no need to emphasize my pen name’s influence. After all, this is my first time writing a script, and I may not be better than many professional screenwriters.”
What Yu Mian was most concerned about was that if Xinggui Media strongly recommended him due to personal connections, combined with the fan influence of his “Fish Soup Noodles” pen name, Lightyear Pictures might feel pressured to accept his script even if they didn’t find it particularly suitable.
Such a backdoor entry wouldn’t be fair to the existing screenwriters, especially if there was only one available slot in this selection.
“You’re being too modest. To be honest, even without my personal recommendation, I believe your work would still make it to the final round.”
Hearing Yu Mian’s response, Camberley’s smile became even more sincere.
In fact, even if he personally vouched for Yu Mian’s script, it wouldn’t be considered unfair. After all, connections were a form of strength in this industry.
“Let the scripts compete fairly. That would be best. And thank you for telling me about this today.”
Yu Mian responded politely.
Even if his script wasn’t ultimately selected for adaptation into an animation, he felt it would still be suitable for serialization in magazines as standalone chapters. There was no need to forcefully seize this opportunity.
“Magic?”
The two little ones, who had been secretly listening to their father’s conversation with Yu Mian, now looked at him with a mix of understanding and confusion.
After all, when discussing his script concept, he had mentioned many ideas about girl’s magical transformations.
“Yes, and there will also be lots of beautiful clothes, just like Isabelle’s dress. The magical powers can even drive away evil villains.”
Looking at these two little cuties, Yu Mian’s hands itched to ruffle their hair. After all, the look of a chubby-faced kid holding the Da Xi doll was just too cute.
For a moment, he couldn’t tell whether the Da Xi dolls were cuter or the two little ones were. Why were his little readers so adorable?
But with their father standing right there, Yu Mian felt too embarrassed to reach out and ruffle their hair directly.
Camberley was surprised to find that his daughters, who were normally shy around strangers, had hesitantly shuffled closer to Yu Mian for the first time in front of everyone.
“We like Isabelle and Nemo. And we want to see a princess.”
“Yes, and she has to defeat the villains in a really cool way.”
“There will be all of that, and it will be a lot of fun.”
Yu Mian crouched slightly and reached out to gently pat their pigtails, smiling warmly. To the two little ones, his smile was practically a critical hit.
Even without revealing his mermaid tail, the aura around him made it impossible to look away. Not to mention that these little ones already couldn’t move their feet when they saw the handsome big brother.
If they could, they would have immediately invited Yu Mian home to play.
“Be careful, don’t trip.”
Seeing that Yu Mian was surrounded as expected, Huo Ting simply gave a calm reminder from behind.
Yu Mian’s irresistible appeal to children was something Huo Ting had already noticed from Huo Yan’s case.
“Oh no, it looks like we won’t get a turn. What should we do?”
“Who’s going to try first?”
On the other side, as Yu Mian and Camberley, the chairman of Xinggui Media, were chatting, the others had been waiting for their conversation to end so they could introduce themselves and exchange a few words with “Fish Soup Noodle”.
Some had even managed to procure physical books at the last minute, hoping to get an autograph.
But now, their beloved author had been completely “claimed” by the chairman’s twin daughters. Competing with two little kids felt a bit inappropriate, but..they really wanted to talk to him too! TwT
“Teacher Fish Soup Noodles, could you please sign an autograph for me?”
Finally, someone gathered the courage to step forward and politely ask in a low voice under the gaze of the crowd.
The etiquette of this formal social gathering kept the scene from turning chaotic, but when Yu Mian stood up with the two little girls in tow, he suddenly realized that quite a few people had unknowingly gathered around him.
Some he recognized, like Ernis, but most were unfamiliar faces… However, they all seemed genuinely friendly.
Yu Mian then noticed something even stranger…he could vaguely sense the favorability of the people around him.
[That’s right! The serialization reward from “God of Cooking” has been activated. This time, it’s the “Heart of the Ocean,” which allows you to gauge the favorability of those around you!]
The little system quickly explained.
[Originally, this was meant to help you distinguish between good and bad people while upgrading on the path to become a superstar. But since you decided to stay home and write novels, you never really interacted with enough people to trigger it until now.]
Because Yu Mian’s route for earning popularity points had changed, the rewards from what was originally a “Superstar Popularity System” had also taken some unexpected turns. Even the system itself sometimes struggled to predict them.
“So, if people around me are very friendly, the crystal ball interface will glow faintly when I focus my mental power?”
Yu Mian found this new reward quite interesting. If he concentrated his mental power, he could get a detailed reading, but even without doing so, he could still instinctively sense a vague impression.
For example, chatting with Ernis always felt naturally easy. Without even checking, he knew the level of Ernis’ favorability toward him was high.
“It’s okay, I can sign for you.”
While conversing with the system in his mind, Yu Mian also looked up at the guest in front of him. As expected, the person’s favorability level visibly jumped the moment he agreed to sign.
Huh, this reward was actually pretty fun.
“That’s great! You have no idea, I’ve been following your works for so long, and I never expected to run into you here! Let me introduce myself, I’m Maresa…”
The guest introduced himself excitedly. It turned out that Maresa, who had also been officially invited to the event, was a diplomat stationed away from the Federation Star.
Whenever he was deployed to remote outposts on an outer star system, he often struggled with unstable star network connections. But after discovering Fish Soup Noodles’ novels, he always made sure to bring a stack of physical books with him to pass the time whenever he was stationed away.
The once-lonely and homesick nights had become warm and comforting, thanks to the vivid and enchanting words on those pages.
“And my favorite are your romance novels! Especially the couple in “Reborn”, every time I read it, my heart races! Ahem, but I really hope you can finish the extra chapters before my next mission. That would be the best thing ever.”
Clutching his freshly signed book, Maresa stammered through his words before finally blurting out a tiny request for updates. His face was so flushed with excitement that it practically radiated heat.
“About the extra chapters, uh… ahem, I’m working on them, really, I am…”
Caught off guard by a reader ambushing him for an update, Yu Mian suddenly felt beads of sweat forming, especially since Huo Ting was standing right there beside him.
He was really worried that the next question would be: “Where’s the extra chapter with driving?!”
Fortunately, after glancing at Yu Mian and then at Huo Ting, who had been standing beside him the whole time, the person scratched his head, blushed, hugged his book, and left after saying thank you.
Originally, he had wanted to shake hands with Teacher Fish Soup Noodles before leaving.
But how should he put it? The real person was just too good-looking. Even saying those words had taken a lot of effort, and he suddenly felt embarrassed to ask.
“I’d like to get your autograph too!”
“Me too! But I didn’t bring a book. Does anyone have an extra? I’m willing to pay a high price for it…”
As soon as the first warrior successfully got an autograph, the people around immediately grew eager, with some even trying to buy books on the spot at high prices.
Many guests who weren’t very familiar with novels looked over in surprise.
At first, there was still some small talk, but soon Yu Mian could only focus on signing. Fortunately, with an elder like Camberley and Huo Ting helping to keep things in order, the atmosphere remained well-organized.
“My hand is getting a little sore…”
As Yu Mian followed Huo Ting out of the banquet hall, he subconsciously shook his wrist.
Fortunately, there weren’t too many invited guests, and most of them were well-mannered. After a brief social interaction, they politely took their leave.
“Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Huo Ting, who was helping to carry the gifts and flowers, turned to look at Yu Mian.
Technically, they could have ended things early, but Yu Mian was worried that the people waiting would be disappointed, and had made sure to sign for everyone.
“It’s not uncomfortable… It’s just that everyone seems to really love the stories I write.”
Thinking about the favorability level detection reward he had just received, Yu Mian still found it a bit unbelievable. Everyone who had surrounded him had shown a high level of favorability toward him.
Or rather, being wrapped in this warm goodwill didn’t trigger his social anxiety. Instead, it gave him a sense of joy from being recognized.
“But, wait a moment.”
Under the moonlight by the fountain pavilion outside the banquet hall, Yu Mian suddenly stopped as if something had come to mind and turned to Huo Ting.
Huo Ting: ?
“Give me your hand for a handshake.”
Because Yu Mian suddenly realized…if his new reward allowed him to see people’s favorability toward him, didn’t that mean he could also see Huo Ting’s?
Suddenly he was very curious and wanted to try it.
Without understanding the reason, Huo Ting extended his hand, allowing Yu Mian to grasp his palm. He lowered his gaze and watched Yu Mian close his eyes as if concentrating.
Bathed in moonlight, his long eyelashes trembled slightly, casting small shadows.
The porcelain-white face appeared strangely enchanting under the moon’s glow.
Huo Ting suddenly wondered, if Yu Mian, as a mermaid, hadn’t ended up in the study but instead lived in the deep sea as legends described, would he also appear on some reef under the full moon, gazing at the shimmering moonlight on the ocean?
Although Huo Ting was very aware that Yu Mian, a mermaid, could not sing at all.
But a mermaid good at writing might not be suited for deep sea life anyway. After all, seawater would always threaten to soak those precious manuscripts filled with stories.
“…Eh?”
While Huo Ting’s thoughts inexplicably drifted away, Yu Mian tried multiple times before reluctantly opening his eyes. His reward seemed to have no effect on Huo Ting?
That didn’t make sense. Why couldn’t he check the level of Huo Ting’s favorability!?
“What’s wrong?”
“Ahem, nothing.”
Faced with Huo Ting’s inquiry, Yu Mian quickly masked his expression and continued walking. But there was no way Huo Ting had no favorability toward him, right?
Impossible.
They got along so well, there was no way there was no favorability!
It must have malfunctioned.
[Or maybe it’s because “God of Cooking” isn’t finished yet, the popularity value of the single book has not been fully collected, so the reward function hasn’t been fully activated?]
Hearing Yu Mian’s frustration, the system analyzed the situation.
That actually sounded more reasonable.
Huo Ting observed Yu Mian’s slightly troubled expression but, for once, had no clue what was causing it.
It was just a handshake, why did his mood suddenly change?
Everything had been fine before.
After Yu Mian thought about it for a long time and couldn’t figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it for the time being.
“Forget it.”
“I want to continue looking at houses soon. I like the ones that Ernis recommended earlier.”
Recalling the houses Ernis had shown him earlier, Yu Mian brought up the topic again.
“…No more live broadcasting in the kitchen?”
After a brief pause, Huo Ting asked, and Yu Mian pondered before answering.
“Because once “God of Cooking” ends, I still need a house. Otherwise, continuing to stay as a guest feels like too much of a disturbance.”
Especially since buying and renovating a house had been difficult before. But now, with several royalty payments coming in, even if it was a small villa with the best area and environment, he had the financial ability to pay for it in full.
And he also wanted to build some water features for mermaid-friendly activities!
Huo Ting, who had been silent for most of the way home, finally turned to Yu Mian after they reached home and got out of the car.
“Then I’ll go with you to look at houses.”
Yu Mian suddenly became aware of something and narrowed his eyes slightly.
“Are you a little unhappy that I can buy a house now?”
“Am I?”
Just as Huo Ting was about to cover it up with an indifferent tone, Yu Mian’s eyes widened slightly and he looked him up and down.
“No, you are!”
The previously empty crystal ball suddenly flickered and dimmed slightly.
“…No, I’m not.”
Caught off guard, Huo Ting immediately turned and walked toward the house. Yu Mian, however, reacted as if discovering a new world and eagerly chased after him.
This was way too fun…was this a new type of lie detector?
It turns out that Huo Ting is a man who says one thing but means another!
