“Are you sure it’s fine to give answers like that?” Master Bao asked nervously.
Feng Bujue shrugged and answered, “Of course it is fine, my editor won’t mind it. Regarding the broadcast station… since the broadcasting standards are not as strict as before, you can say anything you want. Furthermore, the audience will most likely think that I was making a joke.
“But you can see from the editing that there was an empty space after I spoke. That’s because Oscar did not know what to say in response.”
“I was curious. What did the other writers think of you after this episode was over?” Xiao Tan asked. By then, Arthas had already climbed onto Xiao Tan’s knees. It used its furry paw to steal the food on Xiao Tan’s plate, but the latter did not seem like he was going to stop it.
“Actually, we chatted before and after the shoot,” Feng Bujue said. “Even though my fame, influence, and price is far below the other six, we honestly did enjoy each other’s company. It was not the perfunctory kind. We did have a lively chat with each other.”
“But in your line of work, aren’t your colleagues your biggest competition?” Master Bao questioned.
“That really depends on the situation… Ol’ Bao, you’re in the government, and you face many different kinds of people. You should know that in every kind of industry, there will be some rotten apples,” Feng Bujue said directly. “These people have no talent and refuse to work hard. They are normally collected at the lower level of the industry. They rely on underhanded tactics to succeed. They act one way before others and another way behind others. They like to gloat before the newcomers and think they’re better than anyone else.
“For those, they always envy others who are doing better than them in the same industry, and that causes their emotions to become unbalanced. They do not try their best to catch up to others but commit to these petty schemes or blame god for not blessing them.
“These kinds of people are like a stain at the edge of a pipe. They are unable to stop the water from flowing, but they will try their best to pollute the water. It is very hard to clean them fully away. It is because of this bunch of people that most industries have a bad reputation. Under their influence, many people who are strict followers of the rules become influenced by them, and certain illegal things become unsaid rules. Those who refuse to follow them will only be at a disadvantage.”
When men started to talk about business, they did not know when to stop. It was the same for Feng Bujue. “So… in many industries where the competition is direct or heated, people from the same industry become enemies.
“But the six that were invited are at the top of the field. When you reach their level, you won’t face that kind of conflict anymore. Since they could reach the top, there must be something extraordinary about the each of them. It’s unfortunate that others only see the weakness or bad side of the people who have achieved success, but they never see the effort that they have placed into their craft. Of these six, there are already three who are worth more than a million, and everyone is from the traditional industry. Even if there is a direct conflict under certain circumstances, they will deal with it the way an author would. Scolding each other in open, public places is beneath them. It’s shameful.”
“Haha… But the fans of these six will be scolding each other non-stop when they are watching the show, right?” Master Bao said.
“In our business, that is the fan culture. What can you do about it?” Feng Bujue said. “These few authors probably came to the show with a playful and carefree attitude, but the fans took it way too seriously. Then again, that’s the nature of the show. If there was no competition, how are they going to tell who is the best?
“According to my prediction, no matter who won the final, it would not be a good thing. They would be lampooned by the fans of the other writers no matter what. Therefore I do not want to get myself involved in the return show. What if I get seventh place on the online voting—wouldn’t the fans of the person who got eighth place come for me?”
“With the way that you have acted on the show, and the fact that you have shown the negative side of the industry, I don’t believe you’re afraid that people might come for you.” Xiao Tan picked up Arthas and used the cat to block his way when he said that. It looked like it was Arthas who said that.
“Put my cat down,” Feng Bujue warned. “It’s shameful to act cute like that.”
When the three chatted, the show had moved onto the last segment.
Oscar walked to the front of the camera again, and the stage dimmed as the contestants and audience faded into the background. A spotlight shone down from above, and Oscar stood alone in the pillar of light.
“We have come to the time we all have been waiting for—the third round and final duel of the day will begin soon.” He extended one arm to reach toward the camera. “Welcome to the final round—Finishing Touches.”
Following that, the rules of the third round appeared on the screen.
“This time will take the longest amount of time, and the rules are quite complicated,” Oscar explained. “In this round, each contestant will be given a random incomplete story—what is commonly referred to as an eunuched novel.
“The authors of these stories, due to certain reasons, are unable to give the stories a rightful ending, and the plot stopped right in the middle of development. The role of our seven contestants is to provide a perfect ending for these unfinished stories.”
Then, the camera angle changed, and Oscar turned his face expertly around to face the next camera. “The stories picked during this round are selected by our three main editors and our many staff. They have read through numerous incomplete stories, and through stages of elimination and discussion, they came up with these seven novels. You can imagine how heavy the workload was. Let’s give a round of applause for these heroes behind the scenes.”
The set director signaled for a thunderous applause from the audience.
“Now, I have with me the seven printed version of these stories.” As Oscar spoke, several members of staff walked to the contestants’ area and handed each contestant an envelope with a number on it. “Each of our seven contestants will be given an envelope, and inside each envelope will be a set of stapled A4 paper. The papers will have about 100,000 words of an unfinished story.
“Of course, it is impossible to expect that our contestants will be able to finish the whole book within the given amount of time. Therefore, there is another special document inside the envelope, where the summary of the story is given. The summaries are written by the editors of I Am a Writer. In the summaries, there will be a character relationship map and a general elaboration of the plot. The word count is about three thousand words.”
Oscar waved his hand to point at the large screen. “You have ninety minutes for this round!”
He snapped his fingers, and a timer for ninety minutes appeared on the large screen.
“When I announce that the game has started, each contestant will open the envelope. You need to come up with a final chapter for the story that you have been given in ninety minutes. The final chapter will be appended to the last page of the current book.”
The camera showed the face of each contestant before giving Oscar another close-up.
“In this round, the audience at the studio will be given a glimpse of the summary of each book and use that to decide whether the contestants’ final chapter matches the flow of the rest of the story. However… the standard used for this round is only limited to the last chapter that the contestants wrote—do not judge the rest of the book.
“In other words, the audience only needs to make a comparative judgement between the final chapters written by the seven contestants. On this basis, please select… the final chapter that you believe is the best, and then give in your vote.
“As I have said before, the points for this final round will be forty percent of the total points. But of this forty percent, the voting of the audience will only take up two thirds. The other third will come from our professional team of judges.”
He pointed at the first row of the audience. “The three main editors for our show, fourteen editors, and three special guests from the writer’s association will make up this jury of twenty. Their votes will be changed into… one third of the points available for the contestants to garner during the last round.
“The twenty professional judges we have with us have already read all seven books before the start of the show, and most of them were involved in the writing of the summaries, but before the competition, no one knew which contestant would be paired with which book.”
His tone was meant to create this nervous and mysterious atmosphere. “Naturally, the standard yielded by the professionals will be far stricter. They will view the final chapters written by the contestants from the continuity with the rest of the book, the style change, the rationality of the plot, and many different elements.
“Alright, I believe everyone has been waiting for a long time for this. And now… the third round, Finishing Touches… officially begins!”
With the order from Oscar, the timer on the big screen ticked down to 89:59. Then it started to dwindle second by second, and the sound of clock ticking came from the screen as well.
“The audience before the TV does not need to wait for an actual ninety minutes, right?” Xiao Tan groaned.
“Of course not,” Feng Bujue replied. “This part should be shortened down to only ten minutes or so. The content will mostly be filled in with post show editing and interviews. It will also add in interviews with the audience. As well as lucky draw segment from that specific episode, the rest naturally will be commercials.”
He suddenly was reminded of something. “Oh, by the way, the ticking sound is not present at the studio. The strange sound effect is probably added during the editing process.”
“Sheesh… I say, ninety minutes is not enough for something like this, right? A story about 100,000 words, even if you just read the beginning and the end and skip the middle, relying on the summary… you will need at least half an hour to understand the plot and start writing the ending, right?” Master Bao asked.
“Of course,” Feng Bujue said. “With the two writing styles provided and writing on the spot, if one can write two thousand words in one hour while retaining the quality, they’re true professionals.”
He picked up the drink on the coffee table to take a sip. “And I feel like something like the ending… is actually very hard to write. Furthermore, these kinds of eunuched books have many loopholes. The audience members might not know this, but the professional judges will give out points according to how much they feel the plot holes have been filled. It is best if you can mimic the writer’s style when you write so that the readers will not feel too clearly that this is a group project.”
“From the sound of it, this seems very hard,” Xiao Tan said.
Feng Bujue stretched lazily. “I don’t think it’s that bad. When we were shooting this part, most of the audience and staff went to rest. Only four fixed cameras and two moveable camera crew were left to follow up on the recording. During this period, I took some time off to go and chat with Oscar, who was reapplying his make-up, and went to use the bathroom.”
“Hey… didn’t you say there is not enough time? How come you have time to leave your seat to go chat with others?” Master Bao gasped in shock.
“Haha… wait for the results and you’ll see for yourself,” Feng Bujue answered. Since it was just a first cut, the ten minutes segment was swiftly skipped over, and it soon reached the part for the announcement of the results. Following Oscar’s countdown, a series of the authors’ close ups appeared, and the music became more intense. Finally, when the timer on the big screen counted down to zero, Oscar screamed at the top of his lungs, “Time’s up!”
He wiped away the sweat and let out a long sigh.
“Phew… finally, it is time to see the results, but first, I wish to ask a question…” Oscar turned to the contestants’ panel. “Everyone… you had enough time, right?”
“Not enough time…” the writers answered in unison.
They were like kindergarten kids who were asked a question by the teacher, and they answered together. For example, if the teacher asked what the kids wanted to be when they grew up, all of the kids would answer in a long, dragged out tone, “Scientists…”
Feng Bujue did not speak or join in with the rest. Therefore, Oscar walked forward to ask him, “I noticed that Contestant Bujue did not say anything. Looks like you had enough time to finish the assignment.”
“Yes, I have finished reading the whole book,” Feng Bujue answered.
“In ninety minutes?” Oscar widened his eyes.
“Yes,” Feng Bujue confirmed.
“Wow, does Contestant Bujue have what they called the legendary ability to read ten rows in one glance?” Oscar asked. “Then, if I may, what is your opinion after finishing reading the book?”
“It is quite well written,” Feng Bujue answered expressionlessly.
Oscar made another funny face at the camera. “How come it feels like that is a comment that you can give after reading the book for only five minutes?”
Laughter echoed around the studio.
“Alright, following the tradition, we will announce the writing from the first contestant.” Oscar led the topic back to the right path and walked to Xuan Tianzong’s panel. “Xuan Tian, you got selected as contestant number one today. Do you feel under a lot of pressure?”
“Hmm…” Xuan Tianzong thought about it before replying. “Actually… it was alright. It is like going to the hospital to get a shot when you were small. I’d rather the pain be over soon than have it dragged out. I think it’s not so bad to be the first.
“If any of you get the first spot next week, feel free to come swap with me.”
At this point of the recording, the contestants felt quite relaxed around each other, and they would joke with each other. After all, the creative writing part had already finished. The remaining voice and interviews were comparatively less stressful.
“Alright, let us see the ending that Xuan Tianzong has written,” Oscar said.
Xuan Tianzong’s paragraph appeared on the big screen immediately. The final chapter was about 1,700 words. If one was a fast reader, they could finish reading it under four minutes. It was not easy for Oscar to host something like this. He had to read the content alongside the audience members and the judges. Furthermore, he had to read faster than most because after reading it, he had to give some reasonable comments. Of course, it was not that they did not give Oscar anything to prepare. The main summary would be shown on the side screen about one hour ago, and Oscar had interviewed a few of the audience members and the judges, so he had a basic understanding of the seven books. When he saw the proposed ending, he would not be in the dark.
With regards to the interview, there was a clear difference between the normal audience members and the professional judges. Generally speaking, most of the audience thought the easiest finale to write was a web novel that Mo Buxiang had drawn, and the hardest was a wuxia story that had been given to Vegetable Fruit. However, the professional jury had the opinion that Vegetable Fruit had the simplest story to give an ending to, and the most difficult one was the ghost story that Onto the Field had gotten.
Several minutes later, Oscar said, “Okay, the final chapter that Xuan Tianzong wrote has already been shown on the screen for everyone. I believe that everyone, like me, has been stunned by the content that is shown on screen.”
Then, he walked voluntarily to Feng Bujue. “Bujue, what do you think of this ending?”
“Why did you come to ask me?” Feng Bujue asked in confusion.
“Just speak your mind. We also wish to hear your opinion,” Soda, who sat closest to him, said with a laugh. All the other contestants turned his way and tossed him anticipatory looks.
“Fine… how shall I put this? When I read this chapter, it feels like I have just started a new season of a TV series, but when I finish watching the first episode, I think, ’Have I missed a whole season? How come it feels like this is actually the last episode?’” Feng Bujue answered.
“Hmm… can you give us an example?” Oscar asked.
“Sure, I can. It is like My Little Monster,” Feng Bujue replied.
“Hmm… okay,” Oscar nodded. “I think I get it now…”
Then Ba Shan Pin, Vegetable Fruit, and Mo Buxiang showed their writing one after another. Each of the writers showed great quality. Their final chapter followed the original author’s style to the certain degree and gave a strong sense of completion. Even if they did not read the summary, just from this one chapter, people would think that this was a good and memorable ending. The book that the judges thought was the most difficult, the one that Onto the Field got, had a less than favorable outcome. The ending written by Brother Field confused a lot of people, and the judges praised him for managing that much.
After the six writers got their result, Vegetable Fruit and Soda’s final chapters had the best reaction. The former had the most support from the audience while the latter was loved by the professionals.
“Alright, we have come to the last of the last.” After hosting this whole episode, Oscar felt like he had exhausted plenty of physical and mental energy. He walked to Feng Bujue’s side. “I have no doubt that Contestant Bujue will give us another surprise this round.”
Feng Bujue laughed drily. “Er… I guess, in a way, you are not wrong.”
Oscar waved his hands. “Now let’s see… the final chapter that Contestant Bujue wrote.”
Several seconds later, on the screen, nothing showed…
“Er…” Oscar whispered into the earpiece, “Director, is there something wrong with the equipment?”
“There is nothing wrong with the equipment. I did not write anything.” Feng Bujue represented Pei Ran to answer this question.
Oscar was baffled. “Contestant Bujue… but didn’t you say…”
“Yes, there was enough time for me to finish the whole book. Objectively speaking, I think the original writer did quite well, but I personally do not like this story. In fact, you can say that I detest it. I have my reasons.” He held his chin with one hand and spoke into the mic. “There is little common ground between me and the author, so I do not feel like writing even a word to continue this story.”