The younger generation, starting from where the wind blows...

Chapter 276: A Low-Class Version of "Inception"—A Terrifying Speed ​​of Copycat Adaptations
Xie Zhiyao was completely fooled by Hao Yi and ended up crippled.

While Hao Yi invited everyone to sit down and drink, Gu Xiaobai secretly gave Yang Muye a wink, signaling him to speak privately.

The two of them went to sit down in the booth area next door.

"I've read the script outline you sent me, and I have a small, albeit immature, suggestion—"

“Since it’s not mature enough, there’s no need to say anything,” Yang Muye interrupted.

what?
Gu Xiaobai was completely stunned.

Yang Muye smiled:
"I was just kidding, go ahead and tell me."

Gu Xiaobai carefully considered his wording:
"Everyone says that the core of comedy is tragedy, but the ending of 'Goodbye Mr. Loser' is happy. I know this is to cater to the market, but—"

"Who told you the ending was happy?" Yang Muye interrupted again.

Gu Xiaobai stood there, stunned.

Wasn't it the outline you sent me where Xia Luo wakes up from his dream in the finale, repents, and reconciles with Ma Dongmei?
Yang Muye immediately corrected himself, explaining that he had only written in the plot outline that Xia Luo and Ma Dongmei reconciled, but not that Xia Luo had truly reformed himself.

"Think about it, if Charlotte wakes up from the dream and truly understands, what is the most important thing he should do?"

"Cherish Ma Dongmei?"

"Wrong, it's about taking on the responsibilities of a man, not returning to Ma Dongmei's arms like a giant baby and continuing to comfortably live off her."

Gu Xiaobai seemed to be deep in thought:
"You mean, after experiencing the farce of the wedding in reality, Xia Luo had a dream of rebirth under the guidance of his subconscious. In the dream, he seemed to have grown, but in reality, it was just a form of self-hypnosis to escape his responsibilities in reality and continue to live off Ma Dongmei without a care in the world?"

The mentality of a loser is that when faced with a problem, instead of thinking about how to solve it, they just lie down wherever they fall.

Charlotte had a dream, but when she woke up she was still a loser. Isn't that a complete tragedy?
I had indeed underestimated Yang Muye's script design.

Gu Xiaobai was feeling guilty and annoyed when Yang Muye's voice continued to ring out.

"Actually, you can be even bolder. What if Xia Luo's rebirth is a dream, and after he wakes up, he suddenly realizes his mistakes and reconciles with Ma Dongmei? Could that also just be a dream?"

Gu Xiaobai suddenly raised his head, his face filled with horror.

Rebirth is a dream, and waking up and reconciling with Ma Dongmei is also a dream.

Does that mean Charlotte has been in a dream and hasn't woken up?

Yang Muye sighed.

Judging from Gu Xiaobai's current state, it's clear he hasn't been reading the script outline carefully.

"Didn't you notice that after Charlotte woke up from that dream of rebirth, the plot didn't quite connect with what happened before?"

Before he dreamt, Xia Luo was chased and slashed by Ma Dongmei with a knife, and he hid in the bathroom.

When Charlotte woke up, she pushed open the door and found that everything seemed to have been meticulously arranged. Everyone, including Uncle Hat who was present, was waiting for her to apologize to Ma Dongmei.

This is not realistic at all; it's more like a loser's fantasy of reconciliation.

Essentially, this is still a continuation of the previous dream of rebirth.

This leads to a chilling thought.

Charlotte's consciousness remained immersed in the dream and he did not awaken; what about his physical body in reality—

"He jumped off a building and became a vegetable." Yang Muye gave the answer directly.

what?
Although Gu Xiaobai emphasized the tragic core of comedy, he never imagined that Xia Luo's ending would be so tragic.

Shocked, Gu Xiaobai thought of another question.

Wasn't Charlotte's suicide in that dream of rebirth?
How come people are jumping off buildings in real life too?
"So when you read the script outline, didn't you find it strange? Why did Charlotte fall so hard after jumping off the building, but she didn't wake up from the dream?"

Gu Xiaobai was taken aback by Yang Muye's words.

He initially thought it was a plot hole, since it was a dream and it was normal for someone to survive jumping off a building.

It's a bit hard to believe that he didn't wake up after jumping off the building.

"Throughout the story, Charlotte's dream is divided into three layers. I call the first layer the shallow dream. The biggest feature of this layer is that it has a strong interaction with reality. You can also understand it as an illusion based on reality."

"The first layer of the dream begins when Charlotte opens the bathroom door. He thinks he is dreaming of returning to his senior year classroom, but in reality he is just back at the wedding."

"He pinched Ma Dongmei's face, forcibly kissed the bride Qiuya, beat up Teacher Wang, set fire to the wedding venue, and then jumped out of the window, resulting in him becoming a vegetable."

This is also why Charlotte couldn't wake up from her dream.

Because he will never wake up again.

"As for the second layer of the dream, it's easy to explain. After Xia Luo became a vegetable, he began to enter the second layer of the dream. This layer of the dream is basically detached from reality, so it was fabricated that after being reborn, Xia Luo became a pop star by copying songs, married the school beauty, and reached the pinnacle of life."

"Then another illogical setting appeared in the second layer of the dream. As the timeline in the dream got closer and closer to the timeline before Xia Luo's rebirth, Xia Luo actually started to worry: what if he has no songs to copy in the future?"

At this point in Yang Muye's speech, Gu Xiaobai couldn't help but interrupt:

"I think this is quite reasonable."

The more successful a person is, the more afraid they are of running out of ideas.

Yang Muye glared at Gu Xiaobai with annoyance.

Are you a reborn person or am I a reborn person?
Nobody in this world understands rebirth better than me, okay?

There's a widely circulated saying by Yang Muyi: "The only thing I haven't let down the post-80s generation is music."

After 2000, the Chinese music scene ushered in a decade of outstanding works and fierce competition among top artists.

In the dream world of rebirth, if Xia Luo simply copies all these songs, any one of them could become a lifelong source of retirement income.

Charlotte has dozens, even hundreds, of such songs.

Even if I never write new songs again, these copyrights alone are enough to squander for ten lifetimes.

Moreover, Charlotte knew that housing prices would skyrocket and Moutai stock would surge.

With a few simple investments, you can have enough for a lifetime.

Why would Charlotte be anxious in this situation?
Not to mention doing something like assaulting Jay Chou on "The Voice of China" out of jealousy and fear.

Shouldn't a normal reborn person try every means to win over Jay Chou, sign him to their company, and have Jay Chou work for them?
"This is actually a plot foreshadowing, suggesting that Charlotte's second dream is also gradually being disturbed by reality. In fact, after a series of treatments, his body began to show signs of waking up from a vegetative state, which is why he started to feel anxious in his dream."

"In fact, Charlotte's anxiety was not that he had run out of ideas and could no longer plagiarize songs, but that he would wake up from this dream of rebirth."

"So, under the interference of reality, Charlotte began to change in his dream. He remembered how good Ma Dongmei was, but because the interference of reality became stronger and stronger, the beautiful dream eventually turned into a nightmare."

"So after waking up from the second layer of the dream, Xia Luo continued into the third layer of the dream, where he suddenly realized his mistakes, reconciled with Ma Dongmei, and clung to her like a giant baby all day long."

"This also reflects Charlotte's situation in reality. Even if he wakes up from his vegetative state, he has lost the ability to take care of himself and can only rely on Ma Dongmei to take care of him."

The concept of a triple dream world completely fooled Gu Xiaobai.

What a genius!

That's it!
When Yang Muyi hinted that the movie's ending was actually a tragedy, Gu Xiaobai felt like a frog in a well looking at the moon in the sky.

Now that this mind-bending triple dream concept has been revealed, Gu Xiaobai truly feels like a mayfly seeing the blue sky.

I admire you so much that I'm completely in awe!

I feel so honored to be able to ghostwrite for such a work.

"Think about it again yourself. Of course, just follow the outline I gave you for the script. After all, movies are for the general public, so there's no need to make them too profound."

After saying that, Yang Muye got up and left.

When Hao Yi saw Yang Muye return and drink with everyone, he picked up a bottle of wine, stood up, and walked over to Gu Xiaobai.

Hey, what are you daydreaming about?

Hao Yi waved his hand in front of Gu Xiaobai's eyes.

Gu Xiaobai came to her senses and told Hao Yi about the three layers of dreams that Yang Muye had mentioned.

Hao Yi was also stunned after hearing this.

Despite his shock, Hao Yi had a strange feeling in his heart.

How come Yang Muyi's description of the three layers of dreams is so similar to how he used Chen Haonan to fool Xie Zhiyao?

They're all talking nonsense with a straight face.

After pushing the thought out of his mind, Hao Yi patted Gu Xiaobai on the shoulder:

"Alright, stop thinking about it. Once this is over, I'll take you and Geng Hao to catch the real second half and relax."

In some ways, Hao Yi never mistreats his "brothers"!
-

A bar in Yanjing.

Xie Wanghe and his entourage were led by a waiter to a table and sat down.

We had originally planned to go to a karaoke bar, but after dinner, Na Wei and Shen Lin had to leave first.

Shen Lei disliked noisy environments, so he followed along.

Adding Xie Zhiyao and Yao Wei, who left with Yang Muyi earlier, there are now only five people left.

Seeing that Xie Wanghe was in a low mood, Zhou Haikuo suggested that they go to a bar to sit down.

Just as the five of them sat down, two resident singers dressed in the same stage outfits as Michael Jackson walked onto the stage.

Their appearance caused quite a stir among the bar patrons. The reason was that their clothes were exactly the same as those worn by Cheng Dabao and Wu Xiaoshuai from "Old Boys" when they participated in "The Voice of China".

Wearing the same clothes could be interpreted as an imitation or tribute to Michael Jackson.

But when the two men stood in front of the microphone and introduced themselves, Xie Wang and the other five were all stunned.

"Hello everyone, I am Zhou Yiming."

"I am Jia Kuan."

"We are the Three-Person Band from Yenching University of Economics and Business!"

As soon as he finished speaking, some guests in the audience started to jeer.

"A group of three, why are only two of them on stage?"

Zhou Yiming brought his mouth close to the microphone:
"One of our members is too busy, so it's usually just the two of us performing. And judging from our outfits today, I'm sure you can guess what song we're going to sing next."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Jia Kuan immediately followed up:
"I believe everyone has seen the short film 'Old Boys' on Youku, right? Next, we're going to perform the theme song of the same name for you."

The movie was released online last night, and live cover performances have already started today.

This rapid adoption of the trend also indirectly confirms the current popularity of "Old Boys".

Amidst enthusiastic applause from the guests, the Three Men Band performed "Old Boys".

Then he sang another song, "The Lone Warrior".

The atmosphere in the bar gradually heated up, and then a customer shouted from below the stage, asking the two to sing "Little Apple".

This time, it wasn't just the two of them performing; there were also several hot girls in hot pants and tank tops, and their dance moves were a complete copy of the performance by Sisters Who Make Waves at the Yanjing University of Economics and Business welcome party.

After a lively performance of songs and dances, the atmosphere in the bar reached its peak.

After the performance, Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan bowed and left the stage.

Backstage, after receiving three thousand yuan in performance fees from the bar owner, the two left through the back door without even changing their clothes.

Riding the wave of popularity from the short film "Old Boys," they have three more events to attend tonight.

In one night, each person easily earned six thousand yuan.

On the roadside, Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan waved down a taxi and got into the back seat.

Just as I was about to tell the driver the address of the bar where the next performance was taking place, someone suddenly opened the passenger door and got in.

"Sir, I'm sorry, I already have a passenger in my car. Please take another car."

As soon as the driver finished speaking, Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan in the back seat heard a familiar voice.

"It's alright, I'm with them. Driver, please take us to Yenching University of Economics and Business."

It's Lin Shaotao.

He had secretly followed Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan to the bar, and then followed them out after their performance.

Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan were so engrossed in making money that they were completely unaware that they were being followed.

"Shaotao, what brings you here?" Jia Kuan's voice was clearly flustered.

At the same time, Zhou Yiming saw the driver press the meter and prepare to start the car, and hurriedly stopped him.

"Master, let's not go to Yanjingmao, let's go to Lantian Bar."

The driver turned around:
"You weren't together?"

"We're together, but we're not going to the same place."

Zhou Yiming was trying his best to explain.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Lin Shaotao took out a hundred-yuan bill and handed it to the driver.

"Driver, don't use the meter, I'm in a hurry, let's get going."

Seeing that the driver was still hesitant, Lin Shaotao added another hundred yuan.

With the help of his money, the driver immediately decided to take Lin Shaotao first.

Before setting off, the driver specifically asked Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan in the back seat for their opinions.

If they're in a hurry, they can get off the bus now.

If I'm not in a hurry, I'll drop Lin Shaotao off first, and then take the two of them to Blue Sky Bar.

Zhou Yiming didn't want to argue with Lin Shaotao in the car, so he immediately prepared to open the door and get out.

Jia Kuan pulled Zhou Yiming aside, signaling him to talk things out.

Zhou Yiming took a deep breath and finally agreed that the driver should take Lin Shaotao first.

After the car started moving, Lin Shaotao, Zhou Yiming, and Jia Kuan remained silent.

It was the driver who couldn't hold back any longer.

He glanced at Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan's attire and the guitars in their hands through the rearview mirror.

"You guys are imitating the Old Boys band, aren't you? You know what, at first glance, they really do look a bit alike."

“We’re imitating MJ!” Zhou Yiming insisted.

Before the driver could reply, Lin Shaotao, sitting in the passenger seat, snorted coldly.

“MJ could not sing ‘The Lone Warrior’ or ‘Little Apple’.”

Zhou Yiming suddenly became famous.

"Lin Shaotao, what do you mean?"

Lin Shaotao turned his head from his seat.

"Literal meaning! Look at yourselves now, your clothes and hairstyles, aren't you imitating Old Boys in every way? I think you two might as well just get plastic surgery to look like Cheng Feng and Wu Di."

Zhou Yiming's face instantly darkened, and he was about to retort.

The driver, thinking the three were just joking and teasing each other, inappropriately chimed in:
"Isn't the 'Old Boys' a student from your Yanjingmao University? Do you know each other?"

"do not know!"

Zhou Yiming replied in an icy tone.

Only then did the driver realize that the three of them weren't joking, but were actually arguing.

Alright, I'd better just shut my mouth.

The driver stopped talking, and Lin Shaotao and the other two also fell silent.

Everyone remained silent all the way to their destination.

After the taxi stopped in front of Yanjingmao School, Lin Shaotao immediately unbuckled his seatbelt, but did not get out of the car right away.

He turned to look at Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan.

"The thing I regret most now is that I suggested forming a band in the first place. Take my advice and don't go out there to perform for money. I know you guys can make a lot of money in one night, but have you considered the consequences?"

His eyes were sincere, and his words were earnest.

Jia Kuan hesitated before speaking:
"Shao Tao, Yi Ming and I just went out to earn some extra money, it's not as serious as you're making it out to be, is it?"

Lin Shaotao looked at the two of them with a defiant and helpless expression:

"Should I explain copyright law and what constitutes a commercial performance to you again?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhou Yiming retorted in a muffled voice:
"How many bar singers have bought the copyright? If we don't sing, others will. Even if Old Boys wants to sue, can they win?"

Lin Shaotao snorted coldly.

"Yes, resident singers usually don't have copyrights, and singers and copyright companies don't do anything to them, but you two are different."

“We’re all from the same school. You’re doing this so blatantly right under their noses, it’s like you have ‘Come and sue me’ written all over your face. If you were Oldboy and their company, what would you do?”

Hearing this, Jia Kuan was already starting to have second thoughts.

But Zhou Yiming looked disdainful.

"Precisely because we are from the same school, they have even less reason to sue us."

"Do you remember what you said? On the internet, people only sympathize with the weak. When an egg hits a rock, they always side with the egg. The Old Boys are so popular online now. Suing us, low-level singers, who are even alumni, is completely a losing proposition for them, okay?"

"I am weak, therefore I am right"—a classic case of moral blackmail!
Jia Kuan was originally a fence-sitter, and upon hearing Zhou Yiming's words, he immediately felt that Lin Shaotao's words were indeed a bit alarmist.

The consequences shouldn't be that serious.

Lin Shaotao looked at the two of them with disappointment, and finally got out of the car without saying a word.

"Oh!"

The car door was slammed shut.

Jia Kuan didn't want to strain his relationship with Lin Shaotao, and was about to advise Zhou Yiming not to sing at the other three bars tonight.

Just as he was about to speak, Zhou Yiming's firm voice rang out.

"Driver, to Blue Sky Bar! Please drive faster, we're in a hurry!"

(End of this chapter)