By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 133 Mulan Transmigrates to Empress Xing [6.3 words!]

Li Younan hit the target twice in a row, and both times while the arrows were in motion, in an extremely difficult manner.

There were many people busy at the horse farm at the time, and most of them did not notice this scene, but some people happened to catch a glimpse of it and exclaimed in surprise, "Great!"

Those closer to Lan Yiyi and the others felt it most directly.

Of the three, Chen Rui was the least remarkable.

After all, she didn't know much about Li Younan before, and more importantly, she didn't know much about the sport of horseback archery. Naturally, she thought Li Younan was very cool, but she couldn't perceive the true value of Li Younan's moves.

In contrast, Lan Yiyi herself often plays archery on horseback. Her archery is basically random; she has no aim at all when she's on horseback.

Li Younan, the wind gently blowing through his hair, Lan Yiyi gazed at him, silent.

He seemed to have given up shooting, gradually bringing his horse to a stop, gripping the bow in his hand, and adopting a thoughtful expression.

Overall, the two arrows just now basically achieved the expected results, but there are still some things I'm not entirely satisfied with.

The bow's draw weight is too low, and the distance between the archer and the target is relatively small in mounted archery. So, from the perspective of aiming, it's not that difficult. The difficulty lies in maintaining body balance and simultaneously firing arrows continuously.

The bow in his hand didn't have a high draw weight, which was obviously for ease of shooting.

If it's too stiff, it's not easy to draw, and when shooting from a distance, you don't need to shoot too far. Such a bow won't be very accurate at a slightly longer distance.

Because the bow's draw weight is too low, at longer distances, it can only be used for projectile shooting and cannot be aimed precisely.

Although Li Younan would only need to get used to it for a while before he could quickly master the bow's temperament, compared to other bows, a stiffer one would shoot straighter and more powerfully, which would be more satisfying.

Li Younan couldn't help but think of ancient times, when the Mongol Empire conquered vast swathes of land with these mounted archers.

Even if you can't shoot that far while riding on horseback, you can still use your superior mobility to make those infantry targets.

After experiencing the charm of mounted archery, Li Younan felt this even more.

After Li Younan finished experiencing horseback riding and archery, Lan Yiyi had two more horses brought over, and Chen Rui continued riding the red horse, taking them for a walk in the vicinity.

After the experience, Chen Rui was no longer so scared.

As Lan Yiyi said, that red horse was the most docile one here.

As Chen Rui rode on it, she gradually became less nervous. After a while, she even became bolder and happily swung her legs.

No matter how much Chen Rui struggled on horseback, the horse remained calm and relaxed.

The three horses were not in a hurry; they walked side by side, strolling slowly forward.

Overall, the scenery around here is quite nice. As far as the eye can see, it is a vast landscape that has been recolored by the seasons—the once rolling green waves have been replaced by pale yellow, and in many places there is a thin layer of snow, with heavy, low-hanging clouds in the distance.

At first, Lan Yiyi explained things about Xilinhot to Li Younan and the other person very seriously, such as the important breeding bases here, which horse racing festivals are famous, and the Naadam.

As a grand event with unique characteristics in Inner Mongolia, Lan Yiyi became quite talkative when talking about Naadam, explaining the three skills of men: wrestling, horseback riding, and archery.

It is also said that the Naadam Festival in Xilinhot is held in mid-July, and people from their horse farm participate every year.

Li Younan and Chen Rui listened attentively, occasionally throwing out two or three questions for Lan Yiyi to answer.

The angles are naturally quite strange. For example, when participating in the Naadam festival, is it permissible to wear the sponsor's clothes? Or, if a tourist wins the Naadam championship, will Princess Huazheng keep him there and force him to become her husband?

Overall, the Naadam Festival is a very rich event, featuring not only competitive events but also a variety of cultural performances, such as the morin khuur (horsehead fiddle) and throat singing that Li Younan and his friends are familiar with.

The questions were mostly asked by Chen Rui, but the conversation soon veered off-topic and somehow started talking about acting.

Lan Yiyi vividly recounted some of the dark secrets of the entertainment industry to Chen Rui and Li Younan, as well as some little-known truths she knew with reliable sources.

Even Li Younan was somewhat surprised, while Chen Rui looked shocked, occasionally frowning or slightly opening her mouth, as if she couldn't digest the information at all.

Seeing the two people's surprised expressions, Lan Yiyi was very happy.

After traveling for a long time, they came to a river. Li Younan turned his horse around, preparing to turn back, and said to Lan Yiyi, "You're acting like a third party who has nothing to do with the entertainment industry. Isn't this a form of discrediting the entertainment industry?"

Lan Yiyi thought for a moment: "Does the entertainment industry need me to criticize it?"

Li Younan thought about it and realized that made sense.

Chen Rui asked curiously, "Then why did you still want to go in?"

This was also what Li Younan was curious about. Logically speaking, Lan Yiyi's family was so well-off, she didn't lack money, and she liked things related to freedom like horseback riding. Li Younan remembered when he first met Lan Yiyi, she was scolded by the director. What was she after...?

At this point, Lan Yiyi's face showed a little embarrassment. After hesitating for a moment, she said shyly, "I have a dream of being a female general..."

"The kind of heroine..."

She glanced at Li Younan furtively, wondering if he would laugh at her if he heard her thoughts.

However, Li Younan's expression only showed a slight surprise before becoming somewhat serious.

Lan Yiyi felt inexplicably happy. She lowered her head and continued, "When I was little, I watched a TV series called 'The Heroines of the Yang Family,' and I thought those female generals in it were so cool..."

"And what they can do, I can do too. I can ride horses and shoot arrows, though I'm not very accurate..."

"When I was little, every time I rode a horse, I would grab a wooden stick and wave it around, pretending to be a female general, anyway..."

Lan Yiyi scratched her head a little embarrassedly, "I... I'm not very good at expressing myself, I'm not good at describing that feeling, do you understand? It's just... it's that feeling."

Li Younan blinked and smiled, "Oh, I think I understand..."

Lan Yiyi sighed softly and said, "But my favorite is still Mulan, which is why I started to get involved in the film and television industry."

She let out a long sigh, "But being an actor is too difficult, and it's even more difficult to play Mulan. The closest I've ever been was when the Americans were casting for Mulan globally, and Liu Yifei snatched the role from me by a narrow margin... It's such a pity."

Chen Rui and Li Younan's expressions became somewhat complicated upon hearing this.

Lan Yiyi chuckled and said, "Just kidding! But I'm not that obsessed with it anymore. Playing Mulan isn't easy, and even playing a palace maid is quite difficult without resources in this industry..."

"The last drama was the one where we met by chance. It was the closest I got to the role. Although it was only a short part of the story, with a scene where I rode a horse, and I was a supporting actress who died not long after, it was still half a dream come true."

“Filming is too expensive for me. Others make money, but I lose money… I can’t keep wasting my dad’s money like this. People say that once you’re in this industry, you have to work hard yourself. I’m lazy, I don’t know how to socialize, and I can’t bring myself to do it. My dad isn’t in this industry either; his connections are all fake…”

"I want to take a break for a while. If I get tired or weary, I'll quit."

Chen Rui thought for a moment and said, "But you haven't played Mulan yet, aren't you disappointed?"

Lan Yiyi said nonchalantly, "Life is only complete if there are a few regrets... Too much perfection is itself a regret."

Suddenly Chen Rui said, "But there's a problem."

"what is the problem?"

"Whether you want to play Mulan or some cool female general, does it have to be in a TV series or a movie?"

Lan Yiyi paused for a moment, then subconsciously asked, "What else?"

Chen Rui looked at Li Younan next to her with a strange expression, then laughed and said, "A short drama."

"Short drama?"

"Of course, what era are we living in now!"

"Look at you, you have horses at home, and so many people who can be brought in as extras. You can ride horses yourself and have acting experience. You can say you have more than half of the necessary qualifications. All you need now is a script tailored to this show, a suitable director, and a set of filming equipment to make your dream come true... Why make it so complicated?"

Li Younan raised an eyebrow slightly, then looked at Lan Yiyi, who was completely stunned. "Huh?"

Li Younan looked at Lan Yiyi with amusement and found that she had fallen into deep thought. He was amused and surprised at the same time. He looked at Chen Rui next to him and did not expect that Chen Rui would give Lan Yiyi such great inspiration in just a few words.

Lan Yiyi remained silent until they reached the vicinity of the horse farm, where her eyes gradually brightened as she began to construct her beautiful dream: "You're right. If it's a short drama, even if we shoot eight or ten episodes, it would only be about seventy or eighty minutes long. I could play Mulan, or let me think... Mulan is already a popular female protagonist in wish-fulfillment novels, but for a web drama... how about this, Mulan transmigrates into Consort Hua? What do you think of this setting?"

Chen Rui's expression froze for a moment, then she stroked her chin and pondered seriously: "The time-travel setting is quite interesting, but who is Consort Hua?"

"You don't know Consort Hua? Consort Hua is... Consort Hua is Jiang Xin! Haven't you watched 'Empresses in the Palace'?"

"I was still young when 'Empresses in the Palace' was shown on TV..."

Listening to their conversation, Li Younan found it amusing.

He looked at the desolate grasslands surrounding the horse farm, his expression suddenly turning serious. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly blurted out, "Mulan reincarnated as...Xing Bingyi!"

The two girls turned around together: "Who is Xing Bingyi?"

Li Younan wasn't surprised at all that the two girls didn't know Xing Bingyi. In fact, most boys who weren't particularly interested in Song Dynasty history probably hadn't even heard of him.

He stroked his chin and said, "You know Zhao Gou, right?"

"I know, I know, the main character in 'Shao Song'..."

"Uh……"

Chen Rui, standing to the side, said earnestly, "Zhao Gou of the Southern Song Dynasty, the humiliating Jingkang Incident..."

Li Younan nodded: "Everyone knows about the Jingkang Incident."

"The Jin army captured Bianjing (Kaifeng), the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and abducted Emperor Huizong and Emperor Qinzong, along with thousands of members of the imperial family, palace women, ministers, artisans, and others. They also looted a large amount of gold, silver, jewels, ritual objects, and books..."

"Anyway, it's a humiliating chapter in the history of the Han people." After a pause, Li Younan said, "And Xing Bingyi was Zhao Gou's first wife."

"During the Jingkang Incident, she was captured by the Jurchens along with Consort Wei, Zhao Gou's birth mother, and others, and taken north. She suffered humiliation in Wuguo City and died without being able to return south. Zhao Gou remotely bestowed upon her the title of Empress."

"She came from a prestigious family and married Zhao Gou when he was Prince Kang. In ancient times, women were usually quite young when they married, around eighteen or nineteen years old." Chen Rui and Lan Yiyi were deeply moved. They couldn't imagine the humiliation a young lady from a prominent family would suffer if she were abducted to such a place in that era...

Li Younan sighed softly. Talking about history always brings a sense of melancholy: "This woman was one of the symbolic figures of the great national humiliation in the early Southern Song Dynasty, and her fate was extremely tragic."

Then Li Younan looked at Chen Rui and Lan Yiyi and said, "What if Mulan transmigrated into Xing Bingyi..."

"This will be a story like this..."

"The story begins with the return of a warrior who survives against all odds. She transforms from a captured, powerless woman into Mulan, a woman with exceptional skills, mastery of battle formations, and an unyielding will. It's a winning start."

"Next, Mulan will become the leader of the anti-Jin resistance in the north. She will be reborn in the captured troops or after arriving in the north. She can use her strength, military command ability and tenacity to organize the captured Song people to secretly resist or escape."

“When conditions permit, they might even raise a small militia to cause trouble for the Jurchens in the north and become a thorn in their side.”

"Using our understanding of the internal situation of the Jurchens, we transmitted intelligence to the South."

"To protect the captured members of the royal family and the people, and to become their spiritual support and practical protector."

"Her interactions with the Southern Song regime, her existence and actions would greatly influence the Southern Song court and Zhao Gou. Pro-war figures like Yue Fei might gain stronger evidence and support, and Zhao Gou's attitude would be very complicated."

Li Younan became increasingly excited as she spoke, her eyes lighting up: "This will be the ultimate interpretation of a heroine. In the darkest abyss, she fought her way out with iron and blood, protected her compatriots, and avenged the country... Tragic, passionate, and triumphant, this feeling... I'm trembling all over."

"Not the kind of woman who relies on men, but a true heroine..."

After listening to Li Younan's story, the two girls remained silent for a long time, looking at each other as if they were processing it.

Li Younan touched his nose. This reaction... isn't he excited at all?

Then the two girls belatedly became excited, with Lan Yiyi muttering to herself, "Xing Bingyi. Xing Bingyi, Empress Xing, this story is really... so cool!"

Chen Rui nodded with a serious expression: "Just hearing the synopsis of this story makes me feel excited."

Lan Yiyi nodded earnestly: "Finally, we'll go back... and reunite with my husband!"

"Huh? Zhao Gou, it would be better not to have him at all..." Chen Rui had a lot of opinions about Zhao Gou.

Li Younan's expression stiffened slightly.

Okay, so in the end we still have to come back to the topic of love, right?
……

Li Younan immediately excited the two girls, their faces flushed and their hearts pounding with excitement.

They went off to chatter and discuss the plot.

Chen Rui is, after all, a girl with a science-oriented mindset, and she has a natural advantage in conceiving scripts due to her rigorous logic.

Based on the outline of the story Li Younan had just described, a number of ideas popped into her mind.

She originally majored in directing and screenwriting, so she has a lot of experience in how to create a script that can be filmed.

Since Lan Yiyi is an actress, the two naturally create a wonderful chemistry during their discussions, sparking inspiration, brainstorming, and generating creativity everywhere.

After they dismounted, the two of them didn't stop, completely ignoring Li Younan.

Seeing this, Li Younan was speechless.

Meanwhile, at the horse farm, most of the supplies had been unloaded, and it was time to go in and see the horses.

A staff member came over to call Lan Yiyi, and she reluctantly ended her discussion with Chen Rui.

At this moment, Li Younan also realized that Lan Yiyi and Chen Rui had completely broken the ice and become good friends.

The idea they just shared about Mulan traveling through time to become Empress Xing was a sudden inspiration that popped into their heads after they came up with the absurd premise of Mulan traveling through time to become Consort Hua. It was an impromptu idea that combined the perspective of a grand male epic, and they didn't think about it any other way when they talked about it.

But judging from their posture, they seemed quite determined to create this story.

Things are getting interesting...

Hmm, Lan Yiyi plays Mulan, who transmigrates into Xing Bingyi's body... it's quite exciting.

……

In the afternoon, Lan Yiyi took Li Younan to see the batch of foals.

Li Younan finally saw the adorable little horse that theoretically belonged to him.

The moment Li Younan saw the little guy, he knew he had fallen in love with him.

The moment he saw him, Xiao Ma came over and curiously looked him over.

The mare wasn't around, but the little thing didn't seem very shy at all, and quite lively, letting Li Younan play with it.

Li Younan nodded with satisfaction: "I like this guy!"

Lan Yiyi was quite satisfied with the result.

However, she was no longer so concerned about Li Younan at this moment, and said to Li Younan, "Then you can play with it here for a while, and if you don't understand anything, just tell Uncle Zhang." Uncle Zhang was an uncle who was in charge of managing the stables.

After saying that, Lan Yiyi pulled Chen Rui outside to continue discussing the story.

Li Younan was speechless.

……

We ate lunch at the horse farm.

The guest room and kitchen served hearty grassland-style dishes, including milk tea and roasted lamb.

However, today's main dish is rice, because Lan Yiyi knows that Li Younan and Chen Rui are both from Sichuan, and they prefer rice to noodles.

We also cooked two other dishes, but overall the meal was quite simple. However, this made it feel less formal and more natural.

At the dinner table, the two girls continued to discuss the plot.

Chen Rui somehow got hold of a laptop and started writing down important things as they discussed the topic.

Li Younan stood to the side, secretly admiring the two girls' efficiency.

This story seems to be gradually taking shape, even though only a few hours have passed.

This also confirms a conclusion: creative works are not necessarily better the slower they are written. When inspiration strikes, the faster you write, the better the quality of your work tends to be.

The two girls were in this state at the moment, with sparks of inspiration constantly popping out. The stories they came up with seemed to happen very quickly, but they were full of explosive and exciting moments.

However, it will take some time to carefully polish this story into a script that can actually be filmed.

Li Younan became a little curious. Were the two of them really planning to start making and filming right away?
He looked out the window at the meadow outside and, to be fair, thought that this place would be quite suitable for filming the scene of Empress Xing being abducted.

The two began their discussion by moving from the plot to some key points of filming.

"We also need a male lead, and the male lead must be handsome."

"You don't want Zhao Gou anymore?"

"You're right. Zhao Gou was such a useless man that he couldn't even protect his own wife. Anyway, it's a wish-fulfillment novel. Empress Xing will become an empress in the future, so the male protagonist has to be... a handsome guy!"

"It's hard to find someone like that on short notice..."

“No, isn’t that him?” Lan Yiyi quickly pointed at Li Younan.

The atmosphere suddenly paused for half a second.

Chen Rui blinked, but Li Younan ignored them both.

The chat then continued.

"Then I felt that if this short drama was too short, it definitely wouldn't be able to be filmed."

"It's okay, just like the current trend of dividing things by seasons."

Li Younan interjected, "The first season can be filmed; they've just been kidnapped, and the organization's former members are rebelling..."

"Find a way to assemble a cavalry force of two or three hundred men."

"Mulan was originally from the Northern Wei Dynasty. She was extremely familiar with the northern lands and knew everything about the tactics of cavalry and nomadic peoples. The Jin people never expected that after breaking through the encirclement, they would not head south but instead go in the opposite direction, invading the heart of the Jin Dynasty and treating their people the way the Jin Dynasty treated the Southern Song Dynasty..."

"They waged guerrilla warfare and gradually expanded their strength... The Jurchens were shocked all the way."

“You can write the framework like this. Of course, you are better at handling things like emotions and character development.”

Chen Rui said admiringly, "Men are better at grasping the big picture of military and political affairs. Let's start by brainstorming like this. And then, how should this handsome guy you mentioned... play his role?"

Li Younan listened to their discussion for a while, and then arranged some more necessary roles for the play.

Then they encountered their first tricky problem: the final boss designed for the first season, and they didn't have a suitable person to play him.

While the two of them were chatting, Li Younan picked up his phone because someone had sent him a message.

He looked up and saw it was Batur, a big, burly man with a fierce face.

"Brother, we've arrived in Xilinhot! Where are you?"

(End of this chapter)