Chapter 6: Chen's Directing Principles
Article Nine of Chen's Directing Principles—
To create and develop a plot, the core lies in setting up conflict. If the story itself lacks tension or isn't gripping enough, then manufacture "misunderstandings" to drive the narrative forward.
Chen Ling recalled several principles he had secretly summarized during his past life as a director. A hint of amusement flashed in his eyes.
[Audience Expectation +3]
[Current Expectation: 32%]
The moment those two lines flickered across his soy milk, Chen Ling knew he'd guessed right.
Uncle Zhao's expression stiffened visibly.
He stared at Chen Ling in shock. First came bewilderment, then astonishment, and finally, a death-like silence...
"Uncle Zhao, I promised Xiao Yi I'd keep his secret... But you only have one son, so you must be thinking about him carrying on the family line... And he's always hanging out with that other boy; it really affects his studies."
Chen Ling sighed. "Today, I even saw him sitting in the back seat of that boy's vehicle, smiling so happily..."
Uncle Zhao's body trembled slightly. His hands clenched into fists involuntarily, and his breathing grew heavier.
"Good... Uncle knows." Uncle Zhao forced a smile onto his face, which looked rather eerie. "Thanks, Ah Ling."
"Oh, by the way, Uncle, I promised Xiao Yi I'd keep this quiet, so please don't let him know I told you..."
"Don't worry, Uncle understands."
Chen Ling finished the last sip of soy milk, bid farewell to Uncle Zhao, and left the shop.
But Uncle Zhao seemed not to hear him. He kept his head down, rummaging through the room. A few minutes later, he pulled out a fist-thick stick from a corner and slowly sat on the bench outside the shop entrance.
A cold wind swept across the street, blowing up the few remaining strands of hair on Uncle Zhao's head and the sweat-soaked towel wrapped around his forehead.
He sat there quietly, propping himself up with one hand on the stick, his bloodshot eyes fixed intently on the end of the street. He looked exactly like a general radiating killing intent!
Chen Ling appeared to leave the street but actually circled back through an alley. He stood under the shade of a tree in the corner, where he could see the entire shop clearly.
A few minutes later, a tricycle wobbled its way down from the end of the road.
Zhao Yi sat on the edge of the cart with his legs crossed. The two buckets of salt behind him were completely empty. He toyed with the few copper coins he had just earned, grinning so widely that the corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears.
"Heh, making money isn't that hard after all."
"Brother Yi, of course it's not hard for you. I'm the one who pedaled all day!" The boy in front stood up, pedaling the tricycle vigorously while panting heavily.
"We're brothers, what's there to divide between us?"
Zhao Yi took two copper coins from his palm and stuffed them into the boy's pocket. "Here, for you."
From a distance, Uncle Zhao, who saw Zhao Yi deliberately touch the boy's waist, couldn't help but twitch his eyelid.
"Brother Yi, I rode the bike for you all day, and you give me just two coins??" The boy's eyes widened. "Didn't you get twenty from the Road Management Bureau!"
"Peddling is physical labor; spreading salt is skilled work. Of course, I should take more."
Zhao Yi replied lazily. Then he leaped off the tricycle, squinting and waving at the boy with a smile. "I'll wait for you at the usual spot tomorrow... If you dare not show up, I'll beat you every time I see you, understood?"
Having said this, he clutched the remaining eighteen copper coins tightly, walked proudly toward his family's shop.
The boy riding the tricycle glared at him angrily. But when Zhao Yi shot back a fierce glare, the boy immediately cowered, hanging his head dejectedly as he continued to pedal home alone.
Zhao Yi, the young bully of Frost Street, was someone almost no one in the younger generation dared to provoke. Even though the boy had been exploited for free labor all day, he could only grit his teeth and swallow the anger.
"Dad, I'm home!!"
Zhao Yi strode in, clutching the eighteen copper coins. He had never felt so confident coming home before.
But for some reason, the moment he reached the shop entrance, a chill hit him in the face.
The figure holding the wooden stick slowly stood up. The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point. Uncle Zhao's furious eyes locked onto Zhao Yi. Like a general wielding a spear, he marched aggressively toward him.
"D-Dad?" Zhao Yi saw the stick and instinctively took a step back.
"Is it him?" Uncle Zhao pointed at the boy pedaling away in the distance, trembling with rage. "You little bastard! You won't study properly, so you sneak around doing this kind of thing?!"
"If you were dating a girl normally, I'd let it slide, but you find a man?"
"Can a man give you children?! Can he carry on our Zhao family lineage?!"
"Do you want to cut off your old man's seed?!"
Uncle Zhao cursed loudly while chasing Zhao Yi with the stick, swinging wildly. Zhao Yi yelped in pain as he got beaten.
Hearing Uncle Zhao's angry shouts, neighbors half a street away pricked up their ears.
They gathered around curiously, pointing and whispering about the fleeing Zhao Yi. No one knew exactly what they said to each other, but faces simultaneously lit up with shock.
[Audience Expectation +1... +1... +1...]
As Zhao Yi screamed in pain while being beaten, the numbers before Chen Ling's eyes jumped continuously.
If he could enter the theater in his mind again, he would see those dense black shadows—the "Audience"—watching this scene with great interest, subtle smiles playing on their lips.
"The conflict is right... but there aren't enough characters involved." Chen Ling's gaze fell on the distant tricycle.
"Xiao Liu."
Hearing Chen Ling's call, the boy riding the tricycle, who had been watching the drama unfold in confusion, turned his head.
"Brother Ling, you're here too?"
"You went to melt snow today. How much did Xiao Yi pay you?"
"...Two coins." Mentioning this, resentment surfaced on the boy's face. "He broke his promise. Originally, he said if I drove, we'd split the earnings, giving me the larger share. In the end, he gave me so little and threatened me to continue working as his slave tomorrow..."
"Do you want revenge?" Chen Ling stared into his eyes. "Or do you want him to never bully you again, to the point where he avoids you whenever he sees you?"
"Yes!!"
"Then I'll teach you..."
Just as the two whispered to each other, Zhao Yi had already been chased until he was exhausted.
"Dad, Dad, stop hitting me! I'm really not gay!" Zhao Yi finally reacted, desperately explaining. "I swear, I, Zhao Yi, have always only liked women! Especially the plump and charming ones..."
The mouths of the surrounding audience opened slightly, deep in thought.
Uncle Zhao froze, his pace slowing down immediately.
"So what is your relationship with that boy on the bike?"
"We're just ordinary friends!"
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Of course it's true..."
"Brother Yi!" A boy's figure pushed through the crowd, rushing frantically to Zhao Yi's side. He spread his arms wide, hugging Zhao Yi's body and using his back to shield him from the wooden stick.
Zhao Yi was stunned.
Uncle Zhao was also stunned.
"You..." Zhao Yi felt his mind go blank.
Before Zhao Yi could speak, the boy, eyes red-rimmed, shouted loudly at Uncle Zhao:
"Hit me instead! Don't hit my Brother Yi!!!"
The atmosphere suddenly fell into dead silence!
[Audience Expectation +2... +2... +2... +2...]