You were asked to write a political intrigue drama, but you wrote "Da Ming 1566".

Chapter 34: Explosive Popularity! Chen Yu Achieves Godhood! What's Next?

Normally, viewers would have been thrilled by the intricate power struggles and plot twists, flooding the screen with comments expressing their incomprehension and lamenting that their intelligence couldn't keep up.

But right now, in the live stream's chat, the vast majority of people are still arguing fiercely about the right and wrong of converting rice paddies into mulberry fields. Everyone has their own reasons, and no one can convince the other.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of viewers came from various online communities and forums to join the debate.

The popularity of Chen Yu's live stream had already broken the historical record since the start of the "Creator Competition" program. After a slight decline, the popularity surged again thanks to this wave of online discussion, climbing all the way up as if there was no end in sight!

The staff of the Creator Competition were staring intently at the real-time data in the backend. They saw the line graph representing the popularity of the competition soaring almost vertically upwards!

"It's 1.2x! 1.3x! It's already reached 1.5x!"

"It's already 1.6 times the peak popularity of our previous two seasons! And it's still rising!"

"Holy crap! We've struck gold! We've really hit the jackpot this season!"

Backstage, the entire production crew, from the director and assistant directors to the ordinary stagehands and operations staff, were all excitedly shouting and hugging each other. For them, the quality and depth of the script weren't the most important things; the show's popularity was the only real indicator. This record-breaking surge in popularity was enough to make them all incredibly wealthy, guaranteeing promotions and raises!

But in the next second.

The audience members, who had just been divided into two factions, arguing heatedly and almost coming to blows over the issue of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields, suddenly fell into a deathly silence, as if someone had pressed the mute button.

The barrage of comments that had been scrolling wildly in the live stream suddenly stopped, and a brief blank space appeared on the screen.

Even the trending popularity curve in the backend data paused abruptly at that moment.

The entire production team of "Creator Competition" was stunned and looked at each other in bewilderment.

"What happened?"

Their gazes, almost simultaneously, turned to the main screen of the live stream, eager to know what had happened to cause such an instant silence across the entire internet.

But when their gaze fell on the screen as Chen Yu finished typing the last part of the tenth scene, everyone in the production team seemed to be frozen in place, their bodies stiff and unable to breathe.

Yan Shifan's face remained expressionless, his eyes as cold as ice, as he meticulously formulated his wicked plan, word by word.

[Immediately send a letter to Zheng Bichang and He Maocai in Zhejiang, telling them to disregard Hu Zongxian's ban and just go ahead and do their work.]

[Taking advantage of the rising water levels during the Dragon Boat Festival flood season, directly breach the sluice gates and dikes along the Xin'an River, flooding all the farmland in the nine counties along the river! Then, have those major silk producers prepare grain, waiting to buy land at low prices. Once the land is acquired, immediately plant mulberry seedlings in it all; I want to see raw silk stored up this year!]

A glint of ruthlessness and anticipation flashed in Luo Longwen's eyes. He immediately bowed and replied, "Understood, subordinate."

[The Ming Dynasty, Act Ten, The End.]

The next second, everyone—the judges and guests sitting on the stage, the representatives of major film and television companies in the audience, the hundreds of millions of viewers in the studio and in front of the screen, the jaw-dropping "Creator Competition" program team, and the other contestants waiting backstage to see if Chen Yu could produce another surprise—all gasped in unison. It was as if a thousand thunderbolts were exploding in their minds at the same time, leaving them completely blank.

"The dike was destroyed and the fields were flooded—it was actually the dike that was destroyed and the fields were flooded—"

"I always thought that a natural disaster had caused the dikes to break and the famine to occur."

"But who could have imagined that this was such a vicious scheme devised by the Yan faction to promote the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields!"

"Not a natural disaster, but a man-made catastrophe from beginning to end?"

"So—this is the real reason behind the breached dikes and flooding of the fields?"

"They're insane! These people are completely ruthless, utterly insane!"

After being shocked for a long time by the terrifying plan of "destroying the dikes and flooding the fields".

The graph representing the popularity of the "Creator Competition" program, displayed backstage, suddenly jumped upwards, so steep it seemed to be heading straight for the sky.

At this moment, the total popularity calculated by the entire program team based on factors such as bullet comments, discussions, and the number of participants has reached more than three times that of the day of the first season's championship competition!

And this is something that no one on the entire internet can match right now! Such popularity immediately demonstrated its power. In Chen Yu's live stream room number 8, the barrage of comments was dense, and the density of the text created a viscous feeling, like a surging tide engulfing everything.

Countless exclamation marks, question marks, gasps of amazement, and angry curses erupted in the live stream. The barrage of comments overlapped so much that it was impossible to read a single word. Even the visuals were completely obscured, making it impossible to see Chen Yu's still-excited expression. Meanwhile, on various platforms' trending topics lists, from first to tenth place, and then up to the top twenty and thirty, the live stream was abuzz with excitement.

A blood-red word keeps appearing: "Dike breach and flooding!"

Before Chen Yu wrote Yan Shifan's lines, no audience member possessed the imagination or audacity to reach such heights. Destroying dikes and flooding fields, submerging nine counties, all to force farmers to sell their land at rock-bottom prices to wealthy silk merchants. This wasn't a natural disaster, but a complete man-made catastrophe. "Malignant" doesn't even begin to describe it!

All the controversy surrounding how Yan Shifan's faction planned to convert rice paddies to mulberry fields vanished in an instant. "Yan Shifan is a damn beast!"

"Nine counties, even in the Ming Dynasty, those nine counties must have at least a million people, right?" "Disregarding the lives of a million people just to convert rice paddies to mulberry fields? They're not human, even the underworld wouldn't tolerate such people."

The audience went wild, as did the judges on stage, the film industry representatives in the audience, and even the other contestants in the competition room.

On stage, Professor Shuping stood up, his face flushed, the shock in his eyes almost tangible. As a leading figure in the screenwriting world, he had seen countless brilliant scripts, including those of top-tier screenwriters.

But this was the first time that Mr. Shuping had seen such a bold, ingenious, yet naturally executed script. He was so overwhelmed that he couldn't even utter a comment. In his excitement, he could only cough repeatedly, which startled the judges and staff next to him, who quickly helped him off the stage.

Yan Ning, the reigning champion, was watching this segment when she sat there in a daze.

After a long while, she gave a bitter smile, took down the ancient political intrigue book that she had carefully polished for half a year and previously shelved, and threw it into the shredder.

"These ten acts of 'The Ming Dynasty' are enough to make any historical drama/political intrigue script pale in comparison." "I, Yan Ning, want to become the best screenwriter, but the field of historical drama/political intrigue... I won't touch it." "The highest mountain has already stood, insurmountable." "With just ten acts, Chen Yu can already be considered a god."

The film industry representatives, especially the one who had been speaking out and claiming that the plot of "Ming Dynasty" was about to experience a precipitous decline, looked utterly disgusted.

Qin Lan from Xiangyu Pictures, after her initial shock, abandoned all decorum and let out a silvery laugh.

She made the right bet!

She originally gambled on Chen Yu and "The Ming Dynasty" because she was betting on Chen Yu's future. But now she realizes that Chen Yu is already dazzling enough!

Mr. Li, the ambitious CEO of Encounter Pictures, was completely dumbfounded. Wasn't it widely acknowledged in the industry that "Da Ming Dynasty" was going to flop? What was going to flop?

This is absolutely out of control!

Just then, he received a call from the florist.

"Hello Mr. Li, the celebratory flower baskets and banners you ordered have been completed. Would you like to see some pictures?" Mr. Li said somberly.

"No, I can't back down now." The florist was taken aback.

"Huh? Do you have a problem with your cervical spine?" Mr. Li looked up at the sky.

"If you bow your head, the clown's red nose will fall off." "I discussed this in a meeting today, and I think I'd better not take this CEO position. You can send the flower baskets to some circus to make use of the waste; the atmosphere there seems more suitable."

At this point, the dense exclamation marks in the exclamation mark array finally thinned out a bit.

The audience, recovering slightly from their initial shock, began a heated discussion in the live chat and comment sections. "After listening to Professor Yan Ning and the others' analyses, I really thought it would be a plot involving a coup d'état."

"I never dreamed that the plot would be about land consolidation, even involving destroying dikes and flooding fields." "Only a god could have predicted this!" "It seems that destroying dikes and flooding fields is the main direction of the plot going forward. Both sides will likely focus on this conspiracy, until finally, after overcoming numerous difficulties, the righteous side stops the destruction of dikes and flooding fields."

"Yes, yes, it's very clear now. It's definitely about how to stop this horrifying conspiracy of destroying the dikes and flooding the fields."

The members of Ma Ningyuan's Baidu Tieba forum were now in an unprecedented state of excitement.

"I understand now. Prefect Ma Ningyuan must have gained favor while thwarting the plot to destroy the dikes and flood the fields, and eventually climbed the ranks to enter the cabinet!"

"This makes perfect sense, and it fits the logic of the script and the character arc." "Having Ma Ningyuan, a bureaucratic machine who only knows how to carry out tasks when he first appears, eventually have a change of heart and thwart the horrific conspiracy to destroy the dikes and flood the fields, makes the character instantly more human and relatable, doesn't it?"

"Damn, awesome! No matter what the factional struggles are like above, it seems that our Prefect Ma is the one who will have the last laugh!" "Brothers, let's take Prefect Ma as our role model and learn from him!" The audience discussed excitedly, as if they had finally understood the main plot of the sequel to "The Ming Dynasty".

In their view, a shocking conspiracy like destroying dikes and flooding fields, which could displace millions of people, would definitely be the biggest event running through the entire story in other dramas, and such a conspiracy would certainly not succeed.

But what they didn't know was that while other dramas were like this, "The Ming Dynasty" was no ordinary drama. Not only did the breached dikes flood the fields, but the very next scene was also flooded!

They thought Ma Ningyuan, the prefect, would have the last laugh, but he turned out to be a pawn and was beheaded in less than two episodes.

Even at this point, the true protagonist of "The Ming Dynasty"—Hai Rui—had not yet made his appearance! Thinking of Hai Rui, Chen Yu took a deep breath, his eyes filled with reverence.

Regardless of historical accuracy, Hai Rui in this TV series "Ming Dynasty" is arguably the only character who transcends the established framework. His policies of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields, destroying dikes to flood farmland, and the many other problems plaguing the Ming Dynasty are merely superficial. What lies beneath the surface?

It was the Jiajing Emperor, a cancerous tumor who neglected court affairs for twenty years, manipulated power, and wantonly amassed wealth!

Of course, from a historical perspective, it's a systemic issue. But as a character confined to history, Hai Rui did his utmost. He spoke frankly about the most egregious memorial in history! He argued with the Jiajing Emperor in prison, driving the emperor to the brink of madness, causing him to bleed from his nose! That was the true climax of the drama "Da Ming Dynasty"!

Chen Yu's eyes were bright, and his excitement and anticipation did not diminish at all; on the contrary, they grew stronger. He typed out two scenes of the script in one go, but he did not feel any soreness in his fingers or neck. Instead, he felt a sense of exhilaration.

But that's not enough, not enough at all!

The next moment, while everyone was still immersed in the shock of the conspiracy to destroy the dikes and flood the fields, and discussing how the two sides would fight over the destruction of the dikes and flood the fields, the clattering of keyboards made the dense barrage of comments suddenly thin out.

Countless gazes, some in astonishment and others in surprise, turned to Chen Yu, who was finally no longer obscured by the barrage of comments, and watched his fingers dance like the wind.

"???"

"Chen Yu... he's still going to write?"

"Holy crap, what day is it today, like Chinese New Year? This is way better than Chinese New Year!" The audience erupted again, the live stream's popularity showing no signs of abating, only rising higher and higher. Meanwhile, the contestants' faces were practically green. "Chen Yu, you..." "How can you still write?"

"Brother, can I call you brother? Brother Yu, please stop writing, okay?" "Give us a way out, please stop your magic!" But Chen Yu naturally couldn't hear the wails of these contestants, and even if he did, he couldn't be bothered to pay attention.

Who are you sending it to?

Chen Yu's only thought now was to finish writing this part of the story in a vivid and compelling way. His fingers danced across the keyboard, typing out the title for the next scene: 【The Ming Dynasty, Scene Eleven—The Breach of the Dike!】

The line of text Chen Yu typed out in a flurry of clicks left the audience somewhat incredulous. "This scene, like the tenth, has a title." "What's the title? 'Decision,' 'Breach'?"