Chapter 88: A Short Drama
"I've got nothing... no ideas at all!"
Inside a small apartment in Shanghai.
A middle-aged man with a scruffy beard and thick eyebrows sat frozen in front of his computer.
He was a video creator active across multiple platforms. His online name was Liang Lege Liang, while his real name was Liang Ye, the eldest member and leader of his studio.
As a creator known for short comedy skits, he had accumulated quite a following over the years.
But recently...
He had been losing followers at an alarming rate.
The studio had hit a creative bottleneck. The essence of short skits was creativity, yet he had completely run out of inspiration.
His account hadn't uploaded a new video for over a month.
The last update had been an unbearably cringeworthy sponsored advertisement.
No sponsorships.
No good ideas.
The studio was barely surviving.
Meanwhile, dozens of employees were still waiting for him to pay their salaries.
It was becoming impossible to keep things going.
"How can there be so many people in the studio, yet not a single one can come up with a usable idea?"
Liang Ye sighed in frustration.
They really had too many freeloaders.
Hardly anyone was capable of carrying the team.
"...Guess I'll just scroll through some videos for inspiration."
If you wanted to make good videos, you had to watch plenty of them and keep up with what audiences were interested in.
He casually opened a short-video app and began mindlessly scrolling.
"Dancing girls... dancing girls everywhere? Damn you, recommendation algorithm!"
He couldn't understand it.
Had he really watched that many pretty girls before?
He refreshed the feed.
This time, a blurry video with only eight likes appeared.
The footage looked completely random, as if someone had accidentally recorded it.
"What kind of garbage is this recommendation..."
He was just about to swipe away when the boy in the video began confessing his feelings.
"A confession during school days?"
His interest was instantly piqued.
Although he now looked like an unkempt loser, he had once been an innocent romantic himself.
Who hadn't experienced an unrequited love during their youth?
He decided to keep watching.
The more he watched, the stranger it became.
The confession clearly involved a boy and a girl...
So why was there a third person standing nearby?
What the heck?
A cliché love triangle?
Soon he realized that wasn't the case.
The boy in the corner had simply wandered into the scene by accident.
And...
He looked oddly familiar.
The video quality was terrible, but the audio had been recorded surprisingly clearly.
The chatter from the onlookers occasionally made it into the recording.
Liang Ye vaguely heard someone mutter,
"Isn't that Pu Tong?"
Pu Tong?
As a content creator who made a living on the internet, he paid close attention to trending topics.
After all, riding trending waves was part of the job.
Even through the blurry footage, the young man's handsome appearance and distinctive figure were impossible to hide.
Liang Ye quickly confirmed that the accidental bystander really was Pu Tong.
Pu Tong had been making headlines nonstop lately.
First, he had been caught in dating rumors with a top young actress.
Then he wrote songs for both a popular actress and a Best Actress winner.
If Liang Ye didn't recognize him, that would be far stranger.
The rest of the video unfolded completely differently from what he'd expected.
The awkward stalemate during the confession...
Pu Tong stepping in...
And finally—
"The highest form of loving someone is letting them go."
The entire story was elevated to another level.
From:
"I don't like you, but you can hold my hand and leave the crowd."
To:
"She didn't just reject that boy. She also rejected every other girl on his behalf."
And finally the decisive conclusion.
Pu Tong delivered one memorable line after another throughout the video.
It was genuinely impressive.
"I've got it!"
Liang Ye slapped his thigh.
"This would be an amazing short drama!"
What a fantastic idea!
The story had humor...
It had trending topics...
It had emotional depth...
If adapted into a short skit, it would definitely go viral!
He could even credit the original video and add a note:
'Dialogue adapted from Pu Tong.'
Transforming it into a derivative work was perfectly normal.
At the same time, he could ride Pu Tong's popularity while building goodwill with such a talented young man.
A win-win-win situation.
"Let's start filming immediately!"
"...Achoo!"
Pu Tong rubbed his nose.
A strange chill suddenly ran down his spine.
"What's wrong? It's this hot outside and you're still catching a cold?"
Yu Wanwan frowned as she stretched her wrist.
Holding the umbrella sideways for so long was exhausting.
Pu Tong was unbelievably stubborn.
He refused to share an umbrella with her no matter what, saying it would be too awkward.
So she'd been adjusting the angle herself...
And had been holding it like that for over half an hour.
"I'm fine."
Pu Tong glanced toward the track.
"The boys' 1000-meter race is about to start, right?
It's my turn."
"If you're the one competing..."
"No one's going to write a cheering message for you."
The encouragement message for Lin Yuxi earlier had actually been written by Pu Tong.
However, since it might look inappropriate for him to openly write one for her, Yu Wanwan's name had been signed instead.
As far as Yu Wanwan was concerned...
Whether it was written by him or signed by her made no difference.
"It's okay."
"I don't need that."
Pu Tong stretched lazily.
"I just want to run and loosen up a bit."
Besides...
He got along fairly well with his classmates.
He was also representing the class.
Surely someone from his class would cheer for him.
"By the way..."
"Have you noticed that after your encouragement message was broadcast..."
"They've been reading fewer and fewer messages?"
The three girls exchanged glances.
They honestly didn't know how to comment.
Although it wasn't as literary as his love poems...
That encouragement message had been so well-written that it completely overshadowed everyone else's.
After that, every new submission became increasingly poetic.
Everyone seemed determined to outdo Pu Tong's masterpiece.
Someone on the school forum had even started a ridiculously over-the-top discussion titled:
"The Encouragement Letter Tournament Arc."
Naturally...
No one had managed to surpass him yet.
"..."
Pu Tong was speechless.
That message wasn't even his own original masterpiece.
It had merely been adapted from Han Han's review of the movie Flipped, with two extra sentences awkwardly tacked on by him.
"The First-Year Boys' 1000-Meter Race will begin shortly. All participants, please report to the registration area on the west side of the track to receive your bib numbers."
"Time to go."
Pu Tong stood up and headed toward the starting area together with Gan Hengxu.
Honestly...
The boys in their class were unbelievably lazy.
Not a single one had volunteered for the 1000-meter race.
"If I remember correctly..."
"You're a trained opera performer, right?"
Pu Tong took the initiative to chat with him.
He naturally respected artists who possessed genuine skills.
"That's right!"
Gan Hengxu immediately brightened.
"Since ancient times, one must master at least one craft in life. As those who pursue this profession, we must devote ourselves wholeheartedly. If we are to become famous throughout the land one day, the foundation must be built while we're young..."
"Okay, okay! That's enough!"
Although Pu Tong was actually interested in hearing the entire traditional training speech...
Now clearly wasn't the right time.
The two continued chatting casually for a while.
To Pu Tong's surprise, they got along rather well.
Both disliked unnecessary trouble.
The difference was that Pu Tong preferred staying hidden whenever possible.
Gan Hengxu, on the other hand, simply went with the flow.
Meanwhile...
The cameraman assigned to film Gan Hengxu was in a difficult position.
The director had repeatedly emphasized one rule:
Never film Pu Tong.
But filming one person while the two were talking face-to-face looked incredibly awkward.
In the end...
They simply gave up filming altogether.
"Even though you're better than me at songwriting and studying..."
"You won't beat me in running."
Gan Hengxu proudly patted his chest.
"My stamina is excellent!"
Pu Tong certainly didn't underestimate someone professionally trained in stage performance.
He was simply here to experience a high school sports festival.
There was no need to compete seriously.
Soon...
Their heat of the 1000-meter race began.
Gan Hengxu immediately sprinted into the lead, leaving most of the runners far behind.
Pu Tong stayed with the leading pack, maintaining his rhythm as he adjusted his pace.
"Go, Pu Tong!"
Whether he knew them or not...
Girls along the track kept cheering for him.
The other boys competing in the race immediately became consumed with envy.
They were all running the same 1000 meters.
So why was the treatment so different?
Gan Hengxu crossed the finish line first.
Soon afterward, the leading pack—including Pu Tong—arrived.
Pu Tong ultimately finished fifth, missing the prize positions.
Gan Hengxu turned around.
Seeing Pu Tong panting heavily and looking completely exhausted...
He proudly nodded at him.
He had won.
Pu Tong ignored him completely.
Instead, he walked straight toward the three girls waiting at the finish line.
"Here, drink some water!"
"You must be exhausted. Take a rest."
"You actually ran pretty fast!"
The three girls immediately surrounded him, fussing over him with concern.
The sight left countless boys watching nearby burning with jealousy.
Looking at the three beautiful girls surrounding Pu Tong...
Many of them nearly ground their molars to dust.
"Damn it..."
Gan Hengxu stared at the "opponent" he had just defeated.
Despite winning...
He suddenly felt as though he'd bitten into an entire lemon under the blazing summer sun.
He had won.
But somehow...
He felt absolutely miserable.
(End of Chapter)
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