Chapter 14 A Little Interlude

After that "little interlude" between Feng Bujue and Ye Zhihuo, Oscar made some small talk, forcibly changing the subject and carrying on with the show with a brave face…

So, according to the numbers that popped up on the big screen, each contestant gave their outline.

Unsurprisingly, the second person to appear was Soda… The director had indeed kept him a sufficient distance from Ye Zhihuo, and even had him go on second, a truly painstaking effort.

However, Soda's story was still brilliant. He expanded on a section about brotherhood in the martial world, and it was quite touching.

The third to appear was Uncle Da Di. The story he designed was a rare social topic, implicitly referring to real-world issues such as the destruction of the ecological environment… This kind of subject matter was already difficult to get people interested in, coupled with a slightly lengthy outline, making the audience want to doze off.

Although his intention and courage to create such a story on the show was admirable, there was no doubt that… it would be difficult to get a high score.

The fourth to announce the answer was General Fei. The outline he came up with was also a wuxia story. But… as the saying goes, you're not afraid of not knowing the goods, but you're afraid of comparing goods. It could only be considered bad luck for him to have thought of almost the same plot as Soda.

Rose appeared fifth. She actually wrote a fanfic with yaoi elements… The time spanned from dusk to night, the process was full of *yandere* (obsessive) attributes, and the ending was a double suicide…

After listening to this, the audience's reactions were polarized. Oscar also found it difficult to comment, so he casually dealt with it and jumped to the next person…

Yamucha was the second to last to appear. When his number popped up on the big screen, Jue-ge's prediction had already been verified… Ye Zhihuo had indeed gained the advantage of appearing last, and the quality of the outlines given by the two people who narrated before him… posed no threat to him.

However… an unexpected situation still occurred.

Perhaps due to the conflict with Jue-ge, Ye Zhihuo's emotions showed obvious fluctuations, leading to his performance being somewhat abnormal…

Although Ye Zhihuo's original strength could not be considered a first-rate writer, he was at least stronger than those who were not in the flow. If he didn't even have this level, then he wouldn't have become popular.

Unfortunately, his performance at this moment was really too bad, and even his fans found it difficult to be satisfied with his story.

Without even waiting for the scores, Ye Zhihuo knew… that he had failed this round. Moreover, he had painfully lost a good game while occupying all kinds of favorable conditions, which made him even more regretful.

"Okay, the narrations of all seven contestants have ended, so… let's enter the tense scoring stage." After Ye Zhihuo's answer was announced, Oscar rambled a bit and then continued, "Here I want to explain… the scoring criteria for this episode of Divine Inspiration are also different from the past." He paused for a second, "First of all, in this round, our seven hundred audience friends on the scene still only hold one first-choice vote, and there is no second-choice vote. Secondly… our expert judging panel will also participate in the judging in this round. Their opinions will account for 30% of the weight."

"Oh… there's this trick too…" Feng Bujue thought to himself, "They really do work in this industry, they've already thought of all the possible situations. In this way, even if Ye Zhihuo's victory at the end causes controversy, it can't be verified from the number of votes…"

Not only Jue-ge, but the other writers also noticed something from these scoring criteria… However, among the seven people sitting here, only Ye Zhihuo was quite persistent about the finals. The other five writers either didn't care or felt powerless to qualify, so they didn't have too much expectation. So no one expressed dissatisfaction with this sudden change of rules.

"Now, please, audience friends on the scene, cast your crucial vote through the screen in front of you." Oscar said immediately.

As his monologue ended, the second round of voting began.

The on-site DJ and the cameramen at each position were also busy… The imposing and tense background music; the lens that shook like epilepsy and constantly switched angles… would undoubtedly become a nightmare for the post-production editors. Of course, these were Fei Ran and the editors' problems…

About three minutes later, Oscar spoke again: "We have thirty seconds left for the voting time, please be sure to cast your vote to the writer who you are most satisfied with in the 'Divine Inspiration' segment before this time." He looked at the audience and said solemnly, "If you fail to vote after the time expires, you will be deemed to have abstained."

In fact, he was just saying hello, basically… 90% of the audience (not including those who had been angered and left by Feng Bujue) had made a decision in the first minute. By this time, more than six hundred audience members on the scene had cast their votes without exception.

"Voting time is up!" Thirty seconds later, Oscar still professionally announced the end of the time, and then continued, "But…" He drew out the words, "... our judges behind the scenes still need some time to deliberate, so..." He turned around and walked towards the contestant seats, "Before the results of the second round are announced, let's move on to… the card question time!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already reached into his suit pocket and took out a card.

Oscar took a deep breath and looked at the contestants and said, "Today, our question session is also different…"

Ding—a strange sound effect, similar to a collision, rang out on the stage, as if to express… that the contestants' hearts sank immediately.

"In the past, the three editors of our program team would select three questions from the online message board of *I Am a Writer* and give them to our seven writers to answer. But today, I only have one question in my hand." Oscar paused for about five seconds at this point, and then continued, "But after I ask this question…"

That weird sound effect rang again, and cameraman Xiao Wu also carried the camera and walked quickly to the front of the contestant seats.

"... each of our writers can also ask another writer of their choice a question." As Oscar said these words, cold sweat was flowing down his temples, because the thought of what might happen next made him feel a lot of pressure…

"Hehe… of course, these questions and answers are not related to the scores." Oscar continued with a forced smile, "Everyone should try to relax a little when answering."

Although that's what he said… everyone understood that this seemingly unimportant link was actually the most important.

This segment was of great help to the writers in increasing their popularity. Those who were quick-witted and responded freely could give themselves extra points in the third round through the question-and-answer session.

"Okay… without further ado, let us…" Oscar paused maliciously, "... first, an ad!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he moved a few steps to the side, wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief in his pocket, and then changed his expression and looked at the camera again and said, "Welcome back! You are watching *I Am a Writer*—Resurrection Night."

"Now, it's our popular card question time." Oscar said to the contestants in a cheerful tone, "Today's first question is…" He brought the card in his hand to his eyes and read, "I would like to ask all the writer teachers, you usually come up with so many powerful names in your novels, what names will you give your children in the future? PS: Boys."

After reading the card, Oscar said with a smile: "Haha… this netizen really asked a very interesting question." He walked to Soda, "Soda, let's hear what you have to say."

"Huh?" Soda was stunned, "This… this…" He was really dumbfounded, "My son is two years old this year, and his name has already been chosen."

"Oh, oh, can you reveal your son's name?" Oscar said with a smile.

"Uh…" Soda replied, "It's… it's not good for me to say it without permission. My wife doesn't want the family's situation to be made public."

"Hmm… indeed, for people with families, this question seems to involve privacy." Oscar said while giving the director a wink offstage.

Fei Ran immediately issued an instruction through the headset.

Oscar understood and continued: "... How about this, those of you sitting here who have sons can choose not to answer." As he spoke, he had already arrived in front of contestant seat number two, and said to Yamucha with a gloating smile, "Yamucha, you're not going to say you're already a dad, are you?"

"How could I be…" Yamucha actually blushed. It seemed that this nineteen-year-old boy was quite shy, "But… it's not easy for you to suddenly ask me to think of a name. The son's name is not something that I can decide alone."

"Just say one casually, just treat it as naming a character in a novel." Oscar continued, "It's just a casual mention, no one stipulates that you must use this in the future."

"Oh… is that so…" Yamucha hesitated for a few seconds, "Then call him Ah Qiang."

"Hey! That's too perfunctory!" Oscar's complaining time had arrived, "Is this your own son!"

A burst of laughter came from the audience, and the DJ also inserted a vulgar funny sound effect at the right time.

"Let's ask Brother Da Di." Oscar then walked towards contestant seat number three.

As a result, before he could get close, Uncle Da Di interrupted, "My son is already in junior high school, so don't cause him any trouble…"

Oscar's movements froze, and he made a face at the camera, causing another burst of laughter in the audience.

"Okay, then…" Oscar walked to contestant seat number four, "... Rose, as the only female contestant in this game, I think everyone must be looking forward to your answer."

Rose didn't answer immediately. She silently lit another cigarette for herself, gently raised her head back, and moved the bangs from her forehead away.

After a brief silence, she finally spoke: "Fuu—Edward. Antonio. Mason. Cullen."

"Heh… hehe…" Oscar said with a twitching mouth, "Isn't this…"

"Yes, this is a vampire's name." Rose interrupted, "Do you have any objections?"

"No… absolutely not…" Oscar really didn't want to get into any disputes with this girl about *Twilight*, otherwise the security guards would really have to come on stage.

"Let's hear General Fei's answer." Oscar fled to contestant seat number five and said, "General Fei, the characters in your works all have very catchy names. I wonder… what kind of good name are you going to give your own child in the future?"

"Son… just a single character, Fei." General Fei replied.

"Oh… soaring high, flying to the sky, that is indeed a good character." Oscar quickly praised him a few times. He was also quite helpless… Among the first four contestants, two passed, and the other two were full of flaws, so he really couldn't praise them.

"Actually…" General Fei explained again, "If I think about it a little more, I should be able to think of a better name."

"Yes, this question is indeed a bit difficult to answer." Oscar said, "But, this is the resurrection match, so we have to pick a difficult question and give a sudden attack, haha…"

His smile had vanished as he walked from contestant seat number five to contestant seat number six.

A few short steps and a few seconds of time made Oscar's spirit highly concentrated…

"Bujue, what's your answer…" Oscar asked nervously.

"Hmm…" Feng Bujue pondered, "As you walked all the way over, I have already thought of several…"

"Oh?" Oscar's expression relaxed, "If possible, please say them all."

"Oh." Jue-ge responded, "It just comes to my mind… like Shinichi, Takumi, Gohan, Ryoma, Gon…"

"This guy is completely crazy…" Oscar thought, "He's even pulling hatred in the card question session! He's taking his son's name from somewhere else! Even if he just said Yong or Ping, it would be more sincere than this!"

"Boo—" The booing from the audience came again, like a tsunami. This was a situation that had never happened before in the question-and-answer session.

"Ah, sorry…" Suddenly, Feng Bujue interrupted his nonsense and apologized.

At that moment, everyone in the audience thought that he was going to say "I was just kidding" and then say a serious name.

Unexpectedly…

"... Sorry, my phone vibrated, it seems like there's a text message, let me take a look." As Jue-ge said this, he actually took out his phone from the back pocket of his pants, touched the touch screen a few times, and looked at the content of the text message.

Three seconds later, he said "Tch…" and then showed a rather subtle smile, shook his head gently, and put the phone back.

Others naturally wouldn't know that Feng Bujue had received a text message from Li Ruoyu, and the content was: "Sounds awful!"

"Hehe… sorry." Jue-ge said calmly, "I forgot to turn it off, cut this part out."

…………

Due to the serious dissatisfaction of the audience, after Ye Zhihuo answered the question, Fei Ran suspended the recording of the program and announced a fifteen-minute break for everyone.

During this break, Ye Zhihuo was invited aside by Fei Ran to discuss some topics about backroom operations.

Director Fei was a smart man. He knew that if he continued to leave Ye Zhihuo in the contestant seats… he would definitely have a conflict with Feng Bujue. Anyway, Ye Zhihuo's popularity wasn't good, so he might as well call him to his side.

As for the contestant seats… the remaining six contestants gathered around Jue-ge, chatting casually.

"Bujue, I seem to know what you're doing." General Fei sat in his seat and said to Jue-ge next to him, "I thought you were a pretty arrogant person, but I didn't expect you to be so arrogant… Are you planning to use this method to mess up the situation and let Ye Zhihuo and you die together?"

"Heh…" Feng Bujue smiled without saying a word.

"Bujue is not that kind of person." Soda said to General Fei, "There must be a reason for him to do this…"

"Fuu—" Rose spat out a mouthful of smoke and said to Jue-ge, "I'm quite envious of you…" She had a very superior look on her face, "Actually, I also think this show is quite boring, but my fans are crying and begging me to come, so I have no choice." She took another puff, "Ah… too bad… my fans are not like yours. Even if I do all the things you just did, they won't leave."

"This girl, if you really want to reduce the number of fans, I can provide you with a very simple method." Feng Bujue turned his head, raised three fingers, "This method only requires three steps, namely… one, open social media and log in to your homepage; two, remove your makeup; three, upload the photos." After he finished speaking, he put his hand down and shrugged, "I call this method… the three-hit combo to lose fans."

"Fuu… do you believe that I'll write you into my next book and kill you…" Rose squinted her eyes and replied in a very unhappy tone.

Uncle Da Di smiled and said, "Bujue, don't be too mean when talking to girls, you'll be disliked." He paused, "By the way, I think you're twenty-four or five years old this year, right? Do you have a girlfriend? I have a distant relative…"

"Yes!" Feng Bujue quickly stopped Uncle Da Di. Jue-ge's landlady, Aunt Liu, had already talked to him about similar topics many times, and he didn't want to hear this.

"Jue-ge! Please sign my autograph." Yamucha didn't know where he got paper and a pen, and handed them to Feng Bujue, "I'm your fan!"

"Okay." Feng Bujue smiled and took the paper and pen, "Just a signature?"

"Um… it would be even better if you could write a few words to me." Yamucha replied.

"Oh…" Feng Bujue thought for a few seconds, then looked up at Yamucha, "You're… not even twenty years old this year, are you?"

"Yes, I'm nineteen." Yamucha nodded in response.

"In the future… are you planning to write books full-time?" Jue-ge said again.

"Yes." A serious expression appeared on Yamucha's childish face, "I will keep writing, working hard with all of you seniors as examples!"

Feng Bujue was calm, and when he heard this, he began to write.

"In the future… you will encounter many difficulties, many temptations, and many choices…" Feng Bujue said as he wrote, "When you are confused, remember to look back and think about… the original intention that drove you forward." As he spoke, he had finished writing.

Yamucha took the paper that Jue-ge handed back. In addition to the signature, there was indeed… a lyric written for him: "When you have tasted the coldness of human relationships, when you decide to burn for your ideals, ask yourself, which is more important, the pressure of life or the dignity of life?"