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

The appearance of this line of text finally seemed to break some kind of boundary.

Andrew, the proud and arrogant contestant number 6, a foreign screenwriter who achieved fame early in his career, angrily slammed his pen on the ground. "Screw you, keep writing!"

"Competing on the same stage as this freak?" "Creator Competition production team, are you kidding me? If I had that kind of talent, would I need to use it to piggyback on your show's viewership?!"

Andrew had been waiting for the plot of "Ming Dynasty" to fall apart, but before that happened, his own mentality collapsed.

Looking at Chen Yu, Andrew felt a sense of dread. This young screenwriter from China was simply inhuman!

How can someone write several scenes of such high quality in such a short period of time?

He has worked with many top Hollywood screenwriters, and they spend a long time meticulously crafting each scene. How could anyone be like Chen Yu?

He's a monster!

The representative from Huaying Film Company couldn't help but relay the news back to the company. He specifically mentioned that he hoped the company would pay attention to the matter of "Da Ming Dynasty." Otherwise, the script created by those top screenwriters might not be selected by the system as a training script as planned; there was still a chance of change.

When this warning from the representative reached Huaying Company and eventually those top screenwriters, they were first taken aback, and then they all scoffed.

"The 'Creator Competition' program?"

"This show is just for entertainment, to promote a few newcomers."

"I admit there are some good newcomers here, like last year's champion Yan Ning, who's already reached the threshold of a top-tier screenwriter." "But even she's still too inexperienced, far from it." "Now you're telling me that a newcomer who hasn't even officially debuted can come up with a script that's a threat to all of us working together during the seven days of this show?"

"Stop talking nonsense. I haven't read the script for 'The Ming Dynasty,' but don't even try to associate yourself with us. What kind of company are you to dare write historical dramas and political intrigues like we do?"

After their initial sneer, the top screenwriters put the matter out of their minds.

After all, nothing is more important than getting the script roughly finalized and submitting it to the leadership for review. As for "The Ming Dynasty"?

They genuinely didn't care; they weren't even interested in taking a look.

At this moment, the fourteenth act, filled with famous scenes and lines, officially begins in Chen Yu's writing. It's the same familiar formula, the same familiar flavor.

All the minor details in the middle are left blank. At the end of the previous scene, Zheng Bichang, He Maocai, and Yang Jinshui were forced by Hu Zongxian to submit a memorial requesting a three-year postponement of the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields.

At the very beginning of this scene, the memorial had already reached the capital and fallen into the hands of Yan Song's faction. When Yan Song saw the letter, he was truly struck dumb, almost suffering a stroke on the spot.

As mentioned earlier, converting rice paddies to mulberry fields was arguably the last lifeline for Yan Xishan's faction. Without making up for the deficit and continuing to enrich the Jiajing Emperor, Yan Xishan's faction would be rendered useless. A useless Yan Xishan faction would simply perish, and new, capable individuals would rise to serve the Jiajing Emperor and enrich himself. Prince Yu and the Qingliu faction wouldn't let them off the hook either.

As for the suggestion in Hu Zongxian and others' memorial to postpone the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields for three years? One year would be enough to kill them, let alone three years? By then, the grass on their graves would be three feet tall!

While comforting the agitated Yan Song, Yan Maoqing sighed.

"Human hearts are truly fickle; it's completely unexpected that Hu Ruzhen would come to this." Yan Song murmured after calming down from his excitement.

[Water flows downhill, but people's hearts always want to be higher!] When this line came out, although the audience deeply abhorred the Yan Party's plan to destroy the dikes and flood the fields, their praise for this line was also genuine.

"That's absolutely right."

"The human heart is never satisfied, always full of desires." Even among the audience, those big shots who have already achieved some success in their careers, or even those who have reached positions that ordinary people dare not even dream of, sighed softly upon seeing this sentence, thinking of their past selves.

"Before, my dream was to become a department head at a listed company."

"But once I became a department head, I set my sights on the VP position, feeling that this was my life goal and the only way to truly become a senior executive in the company."

"He climbed to the VP position, but he's still not satisfied."

"When you don't have real power, you feel inferior to other VPs, and you constantly fight for power and resources, trying to make yourself superior to them."

"Once they gained the respect of other VPs, they became dissatisfied and wanted to become CEO, feeling that it was within their reach."

"In the blink of an eye, twenty years have passed. Now I am the president, but I am still not satisfied. I am not satisfied with the board of directors meddling in my affairs, I am not satisfied with having to bow and scrape to those directors, and I am not willing to let the board of directors control my position."

"Grand Secretary Yan's words perfectly encapsulate a lifetime of struggle in the workplace and officialdom. Brilliant, truly brilliant!" Before their exclamation had even subsided, new famous lines followed one after another.

While Yan Song was furious that Yan Shifan and his group had secretly carried out the plan to destroy the dikes and flood the fields, Luo Longwen, while trying to appease Yan Song, also sincerely said something.

The saying, "Your Excellency, the people can be made to follow orders, but they cannot be made to understand them," has multiple meanings, with different punctuations leading to various interpretations and much debate. However, in the context of officialdom, Luo Longwen's words convey the same message: The people can be made to obey orders, but they cannot be made to understand why they are doing so. Because once the people begin to think and use their brains, things become difficult. Obedient, or even blindly obedient, people are the best people for the ruling class and the bureaucrats! Luo Longwen then added a further explanation.

[Anyway, the seedlings in those nine provinces will have to be replaced with mulberry seedlings this year, whether they are flooded or not.] This statement serves as an explanation for Luo Longwen's previous sentence.

It was even quite obvious that he felt flooding was actually better for implementing the national policy of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields. When the fields weren't flooded, the people would always be asking questions and having all sorts of concerns.

Why couldn't the policy of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields be implemented? It's because ordinary people have too many choices and too many ideas. Once people know the pros and cons and start to consider them, things become difficult.

But now that the fields are flooded, the people can only accept it and leave it to fate. Isn't that much easier to handle? Luo Longwen even added.

【The common people don't understand the court's difficulties, so we had no choice but to do this.】 In short, this makes the heinous plot of destroying dikes and flooding fields sound like it was forced upon us by the common people. The crime is the common people's; they are completely innocent.

The style of Yan Dang, or rather, the style of feudal bureaucrats, is truly on full display! Even viewers outside the script feel a chill run down their spines. "Is this something a human being could say?"

"Without letting the people know, they directly destroyed the dikes and flooded the fields, leaving the people with no choice but to accept it." "And it's all the same whether they flood or not, why don't they just flood your ancestral graves?" "Damn it, with just a few words, it's as if all the blame falls on the people. Is it that the people don't understand your difficulties? You live in luxury, do you have any difficulties at all?"

Some viewers within the system, such as Director Zhao, who was responsible for selecting scripts for internal study, were deeply shaken. The lines Chen Yu wrote, seemingly from the script, were actually... not impossible to find in reality!

From what Director Zhao has heard, this is how some departments treat ordinary people. They don't care whether the people know or understand; as long as you do what they say, everything will be fine. As long as the targets are met, everything will be alright.

If ordinary people hinder the completion of performance targets, no matter what difficulties they face, these officials will say that the people are ignorant and do not understand their difficulties.

Some people, in order to achieve their goals, take actions that, while not as extreme as destroying dikes and flooding fields, are no better in nature.

If such situations hadn't been reported repeatedly this year, the higher-ups wouldn't have been so furious and demanded that all departments strengthen their ideological study.

They even wanted to commission a script specifically for this purpose, using the relatively novel medium of film and television to enhance the learning effect. Now, in retrospect, isn't the script of "Da Ming Dynasty" far more natural and deeply moving than a deliberately crafted, didactic script?

Thinking of this, Director Zhao gritted his teeth, wrote another report, and submitted it to the internal system, hoping that the higher authorities would reconsider the script for "The Ming Dynasty".

Meanwhile, the plot of Act Fourteen continues.

After a series of meaningful lines, Yan Song entered the palace, intending to report the matter to the Jiajing Emperor and persuade him to continue his firm commitment to converting rice paddies to mulberry fields.

Soon after, another memorable scene unfolded.

The Jiajing Emperor paced slowly, seemingly sighing, yet also puzzled. The saying, "When the government is muddled and confused, the people are honest and simple; when the government is meticulous and strict, the people are cunning and unsophisticated," means that when policies are unclear and ambiguous, the people are often kind, honest, and live relatively well.

However, when policies are very strict and detailed, the common people become cunning and petty. This is a saying from the Tao Te Ching, but when the Jiajing Emperor said it here, he was not trying to discuss metaphysics, but rather his words were subtly pointed at Yan Song, who was present.

Zhejiang was alright before, but now you're supposed to convert rice paddies to mulberry fields to make up for the deficit, how did it turn out like this? Then came another sentence.

"Grand Secretary Yan, Lü Fang, what's going on?" The Jiajing Emperor's gaze was icy as he glanced at Yan Song, then at Lü Fang. Yan Song, drenched in cold sweat, slowly knelt down, followed by Lü Fang. Yan Song said slowly, "The mistakes of leniency and severity are our faults. Hu Zongxian is naturally the most knowledgeable about the situation in Zhejiang. I believe we should immediately summon Hu Zongxian to the capital so we can discuss a proper solution together."

[Jiajing then said, "A deity has descended to earth to consult the local earth god. Let's invite the earth god here."] [There are two more people; invite them as well.]

[These two men, one surnamed Yang, named Jinshui, is Eunuch Lü's man; the other surnamed Tan, named Lun, courtesy name Zili, is Prince Yu's man.] [Together with Grand Secretary Yan, that Hu Zongxian...] [The three princes, the mountain gods and the land gods, come together!] While writing this passage, Chen Yu felt a surge of emotion.

Few people noticed this part in the previous life, but it actually almost explicitly states that Jiajing was fully aware of what was happening in Zhejiang.

He probably even knew a little about the inside story of the breaching of the dikes and flooding of the fields.

Yan Song wanted to summon only Hu Zongxian to the capital for an audience with the emperor, since Hu Zongxian was his student and, no matter what, he could still exert influence over him.

This way, they might be able to conceal the truth about the breaching of the dikes and flooding of the fields from Jiajing. This matter, once weighed, is incredibly serious!

However, the Jiajing Emperor directly named two key figures from the other two factions involved in the rice-to-mulberry conversion project: Tan Lun and Yang Jinshui, ordering them to come to the capital together. Such was the art of imperial maneuvering.

The line, "The three feudal lords, the mountain gods and the land gods, all come together," concealed a deadly intent! If any faction harbored any improper thoughts during their journey to the capital to meet the emperor, they would face the emperor's wrath! Only after Chen Yu finished writing this passage did he heavily type the words, "The Fourteenth Act of the Ming Dynasty, End." The audience hadn't even reacted yet.

There are just too many famous lines and scenes in this scene! The lines from Yan Dang alone were enough to shake them and make them savor them for a long time.

The scene depicting Jiajing's death was so packed with information that they genuinely couldn't process it all. And when they finally finished watching it, the audience was utterly shocked as they looked at Chen Yu. "Is Chen Yu going crazy?" "I thought the previous scenes were already quite good, but this one is absolutely insane."

"Just reading the script, several lines sound absolutely brilliant." "If this were made into a TV series, it would be full of iconic scenes!"

"Other dramas are lucky to have two or three memorable scenes in their entire script, and that's enough to make them popular. How many memorable scenes does 'Da Ming Dynasty' have just this one?"

"There are so many iconic scenes, I can't even keep up with them all. I would never have dared to imagine this before. This is a complete game-changer!" The representative from Huaying Company gritted his teeth and extracted some clips from this scene that were almost destined to become iconic. He then sent them to the top screenwriters at Huaying Company, hoping to get their attention.

The top screenwriters glanced at the message casually, a strange look flashing in their eyes. "Water flows downhill, but people always want more."

"The people can be made to follow a course, but they cannot be made to understand it. Since the common people do not understand the difficulties of the court, we have no choice but to do this." "...But after a moment, none of them showed any change in expression.

"It's just a few lines that are not bad and have some meaning, nothing special." "As top screenwriters, we've written countless scripts, and I've come up with at least eighty or a hundred of these so-called famous scenes."

"The script we co-wrote is even less of a threat; with just these few lines, it's laughable that they think they can pose a threat to us."

"Even if you say that this newcomer named Chen Yu has written several such famous scenes in a row, that at most it can only mean that he is in good form today."

"Who hasn't had a burst of inspiration like that?" "Writing a famous scene isn't difficult, writing several famous scenes in a day isn't difficult either, but for Chen Yu's 'Ming Dynasty' to overcome these mountains, haha, unless he has the ability to make every scene a famous scene."

"Do you think this is possible?" Then, the group stopped paying attention and focused entirely on their scripts.

Upon hearing this reply, the representative from Huaying Company at the scene let out a sigh of relief and self-consolation, then looked at Chen Yu on the screen.

"Yes, what am I worried about?"

"No matter how talented Chen Yu is, he can't possibly have every scene a masterpiece, right?" But seeing Chen Yu's still excited expression, his heart skipped a beat, a sense of foreboding washing over him. It was only because Chen Yu was unaware of the conversation between the Huaying Company representative and those top screenwriters that he could have remarked, "What a coincidence."

"How do you know that every scene from now on will be a classic?" Chen Yu asked with a hint of anticipation. The lines in the fourteenth scene were indeed memorable. However, there were many more explosive scenes in *The Ming Dynasty*. Especially the fifteenth scene—it was absolutely heavyweight!

Lu Fang's line, "One or two counties are nothing, His Majesty's heart holds the entire nation," is truly a landmark scene! This scene also includes one of the young Grand Secretary's most memorable moments, "I'll hurt your mother's head!" This scene will completely tear away the hypocritical masks of those who claim to be upright and dedicated to the country and its people. The next scene is absolutely a peak, befitting its appearance in the fifteenth scene—another high point after the flooding, a truly divine scene!

Immediately, Chen Yu typed out the title of Act Fifteen.

[The Ming Dynasty, Act XV - The Vast Land!]