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

The five chief eunuchs in the Directorate of Ceremonial appeared to be on good terms, but in reality, each harbored their own ulterior motives and were far from being as united as outsiders perceived them.

To unravel the undercurrents between Lü Fang and Chen Hong, we must first examine the power division between the Grand Eunuch and the Chief Eunuch.

According to the old practices of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty, the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard should have been under the supervision of the chief eunuch.

Logically, the head eunuch of the Eastern Depot was Chen Hong's direct subordinate, and should call Chen Hong his godfather and the chief eunuch Lü Fang his godfather. But this generation was different—Lü Fang's power in the inner court was at its zenith, suppressing the other eunuchs.

Feng Bao, who was originally under Chen Hong's jurisdiction, now only calls Lü Fang his godfather, without mentioning Chen Hong's godfather title at all.

Feng Bao's rise to the position of Director of the Eastern Depot was certainly due to his own hard work, but it was also inseparable from Lü Fang's secret guidance.

His relationship with Lü Fang was much closer than his relationship with Chen Hong. That's why Lü Fang was the first to reprimand Feng Bao, appearing cold and aloof on the surface but actually harboring a protective heart—if the other chief eunuchs didn't interfere, the matter might be easily swept under the rug.

The other three chief eunuchs kept their mouths shut, none of them wanting to confront Lü Fang head-on. But Chen Hong quickly added, "It's time for us to move up a rank," and with those words, the matter was irreversible. Feng Bao's future in the inner court was effectively over, which was clear evidence of Chen Hong's desire to bring down Lü Fang.

When this analysis was presented, the audience's eyes widened in astonishment.

"what?"

"Holy crap?"

"So there was more than one detail we overlooked?"

"Lu Fangxun and Feng Bao were protecting him, but Chen Hongxun was the one who wanted him dead?"

"Does Chen Hong want to oust Lü Fang and take over?"

"Good heavens, if Chen Yu hadn't written it down, who would have figured out this trick?"

"Everyone guessed Lü Fang was the main villain before, but now it seems... he's not such a bad guy? He's even protecting Feng Bao?"

"It's ostensibly a reprimand, but in reality, it's protection!"

"I remember the time I caused trouble at the company last year—my direct supervisor berated me severely in front of the entire department. I thought I was going to be fired, but I didn't even get a reprimand."

"Now I understand. The reason my boss scolded me in front of others was because he couldn't scold them back if he did; they wouldn't really punish me out of respect for him. Tomorrow I'll give him a pack of good cigarettes!"

Some audience members looked at each other in bewilderment.

"So all that guessing was wrong again?"

"Lü Fang isn't a villain? Even though he's a eunuch, he might be a positive character who protects his own people?"

"Then the villain leader can only be Chen Hong!"

"This chief eunuch, who wants to overthrow Lü Fang and take his place, is becoming more and more sinister the more you look at him; he's definitely the main villain!"

After watching Chen Yu's "Explanation of the Second Act of the Ming Dynasty," the audience was deeply impressed. Numerous experts in the live stream offered their analyses, each providing sound reasoning and evidence.

What kind of drama can withstand such in-depth discussion? Even the winning works of the first two seasons of "The Creators Challenge" had already given viewers a pretty good idea of ​​the characters and plot. But "Da Ming Dynasty" defies expectations—the more you watch, the more baffling it becomes.

You can't guess it, you absolutely can't guess it!

At first, I thought Feng Bao was a top villain, but he was crushed in one scene; I thought Lü Fang was the biggest villain, but after Chen Yu's analysis, I found that he was actually a warm-hearted character who protected people.

If I hadn't read those analyses, I probably would never have imagined that Chen Hong wasn't the second villain, but the number one villain!

Everyone originally thought that Lü Fang and Chen Hong must be accomplices since they both reprimanded Feng Bao, but who would have thought that Chen Hong had ulterior motives!

This is so shocking, absolutely shocking! It's really not easy to identify the villain. This script was tailor-made for an intellectual theme, and the plot twists and turns are truly endless!

If any other contestant had written it this way, I would have thought they were deliberately trying to be mysterious, but Chen Yu's script, I am truly impressed, completely impressed!

So far, it seems that both the historical background and the dialogue between the characters are natural and smooth, and the atmosphere is just right, completely restoring the tension of the cutthroat world in officialdom.

No way! Even though there are only two acts so far, in my opinion, this script is already destined to be a masterpiece. It's as good as it gets. I have to strongly recommend it and forcefully recommend it to everyone!

Soon after Chen Yu's explanation and analysis of the second act were released, both the audience and social media began to frantically share this astonishing turn of events.

In a group chat, a member was sharing videos related to the TV series "Ming Dynasty" for the third time today, leaving other members completely bewildered: "Seriously? How many times has this happened today? This isn't how you promote something!"

"Besides, how many times have you mentioned the plot twist in 'Ming Dynasty' today?" "This script has only been written for one day, and it's already this amazing? Is this some kind of forced plot twist?"

Faced with skepticism, the group members who recommended "The Ming Dynasty" remained confident: "You'll see how amazing and incredible it is once you watch it!" "And if you still think our recommendation is unreasonable after watching it, I'll call you 'Dad'!"

With the stakes already so high, the remaining group members were naturally curious about what made these people so confident. As they clicked into Chen Yu's live stream and read the lines of text, their breathing gradually became rapid.

Coming back to their senses, they returned to the group chat and could only exclaim, "The Ming Dynasty is truly amazing! I would recommend it to everyone too!"

"Seriously, putting everything else aside, if you haven't seen it yet, go watch it now! If you don't like it, I'll call you guys 'Dad'!" "You'll never guess the relationships between the characters and the deeper meanings behind their words and actions. It's too deep, really too deep!"

With such word-of-mouth recommendations from netizens, the popularity of "Da Ming Dynasty" soared once again, and the trending lists of major platforms were almost entirely dominated by this script with only two acts.

Character names such as Feng Bao, Lü Fang, Chen Hong, and Jiajing, along with various plot-related terms, are frequently seen on the trending search list, and their popularity continues to rise.

Meanwhile, in a film studio, a young woman exuding a scholarly air was explaining a script to several well-known directors and actors in the film industry: "My script is a historical drama about political intrigue. Each character has a lot of depth. You can take a closer look."

As she explained the script, the directors and actors flipped through it, praising it highly: "Teacher Yan Ning truly deserves her title as the champion of the second season of the 'Creators Competition.' This script is impeccable, absolutely flawless!"

"The characters are well-developed, their arcs are complete, and the political intrigue is intricately linked..."

"This script is truly exceptional, possessing depth and quality; it seems destined to be a phenomenal drama this year!"

Yan Ning smiled slightly, not being overly modest.

She really put a lot of effort into this script.

If it can really be made into a TV series, she is confident that it deserves the title of "masterpiece".

Just as the director and actors were sitting around discussing the details of the script, Yan Ning suddenly had a thought.

"I spent the whole day making final revisions to the script and giving acting instructions to the director and actors. I almost forgot—today is the first round of the top eight competition in the Creators Competition."

"If it weren't for this show, my life trajectory would probably be very different."

"I wonder what amazing scripts will emerge this year?"

After saying that, Yan Ning took out her phone, which had been almost forgotten on the corner of the table, and began to search for information about the "Creator Competition".

Upon seeing this, she was completely stunned.

It turns out that the internet is flooded with trending topics about the "Creators Competition," and almost all of them are pointing to a contestant named Chen Yu—his script for "The Ming Dynasty."

Yan Ning was a little confused, and even doubted whether she had remembered the start time of the match wrong.

Is the competition not starting today, but already on its second or third day?

On the first day of previous competitions, most contestants hadn't even finished setting up their scripts, and apart from a few contestants with built-in fan bases, there was hardly any activity on the trending topics list.

Why is this year's class so unusual?

She had heard of Chen Yu before; he was a somewhat well-known online writer.

But with his limited popularity, how could he possibly sustain such a high level of attention?

"Da Ming Dynasty" - just from the name you know it's a historical drama, and most dramas with "dynasty" in their name are political intrigue dramas.

This piqued Yan Ning's interest, and a smile unconsciously crept onto her lips.

No one knew that this seemingly gentle and scholarly girl was actually very ambitious in private—she was determined to surpass all the top screenwriters and stand at the pinnacle of screenwriting.

Coincidentally, the new script she just finished is a historical drama about power struggles.

Let this season's champion teach this junior a lesson!

With this confidence, Yan Ning clicked on Chen Yu's live stream, ready to thoroughly "appreciate" the script of "The Ming Dynasty".

Five minutes later.

Suddenly, a low sob could be heard on set.

Several directors and actors looked at Yan Ning, who was silently shedding tears, in surprise.

"Teacher Yan, what's wrong? What's wrong?"

Yan Ning wiped away her tears and said in a sobbing voice, "Waaah..."

My dream... is shattered...

Everyone present was taken aback upon hearing Yan Ning's words.

Dreams shattered?

What's wrong with Teacher Yan?

So artsy and artsy?

At this moment, Yan Ning's shock was beyond words.

She originally thought that as the champion of the previous "Creator Competition", and after a year of reflection and refinement, her skills had already reached a new level, enough to surpass most senior screenwriters.

Moreover, she consulted a vast amount of materials for this historical political intrigue script, putting in tremendous effort.

In this situation, is there anything wrong with her confidently "instructing" and "evaluating" a junior who has not yet debuted?

However, when she saw the first two acts of Chen Yu's "The Ming Dynasty", her confidence was instantly shattered.

Is this really a newcomer who hasn't even debuted yet?

Are all newcomers these days such "monsters"?

The character portrayal, the foreshadowing, the sense of oppression...

It completely shattered her script!

What was even more disheartening for Yan Ning was that she hadn't even grasped half the deeper meaning of those two scenes in the script at first—and that was without reading any explanations.

It wasn't until she read Chen Yu's analysis that she realized how many details she had missed.

For a talented woman who aspires to surpass all screenwriters, the fact that she can't even understand other people's scripts in the field she has poured her heart and soul into is a heavy blow!

Then, to the astonishment of the director and actors, Yan Ning simply took back the script she had been given out.

One of the directors exclaimed in surprise, "Teacher Yan, this... we haven't finished watching it yet."

Yan Ning waved her hand dismissively and said, "What's there to see? What's there to see? Before 'The Ming Dynasty' came out, there was something to watch; but after it came out—in front of Chen Yu's script, my so-called historical intrigue is nothing but a childish game of make-believe." After saying that, she put her script away and refused to even look at it again.

This move sent shockwaves through the minds of the directors and actors present.

Who exactly is Chen Yu to make Yan Ning say such things? And what kind of divine script is "The Ming Dynasty"? They hurriedly took out their phones to search, only to find out that "The Ming Dynasty" was actually a script created today on the "Creators Competition" program, and it only had two acts.

"A mere two-act script was enough to make last year's champion, Yan Ning, discard her meticulously crafted script?"

Someone gasped, "Wow—this Chen Yu is a monster!"

At this point, the expert judges were full of praise for Chen Yu's second act script.

Teacher Shuping praised Chen Yu repeatedly, saying, "Chen Yu's portrayal of the character's identity, psychology, and relationships is truly masterful!"

But then, a look of curiosity appeared on his face: "But I can't say for sure right now—what exactly will the main plot of this script be? Could it be a power struggle story about Chen Hong overthrowing Lü Fang to take power, only to be overthrown by loyal ministers? While that has depth, it's somewhat different from the title 'The Ming Dynasty.' Perhaps 'Scarlet Heart' would be a more fitting name?"

He paused, then added, "In any case, I'm very curious about how Chen Yu's story will unfold next."

The audience nodded in agreement: "As expected of Teacher Shuping, he hit the nail on the head!" Someone chimed in: "If we follow the timeline of Chen Hong's rise to power and fall, this drama should be called 'Scarlet Heart'."

Some people laughed and said, "That's normal. Many scripts become unsuitable for their titles as they're being written. They can just be changed before the deadline."

The crowd buzzed with discussion, speculating about how Chen Hong would defeat the more cunning Lü Fang: "This process absolutely cannot falter, otherwise such excellent character development would be a waste!"

As they were discussing, Yan Ning's expression shifted slightly, and she typed a line in the live stream: "Teacher Shuping's comments are as insightful as ever, but this time, he might misjudge Chen Yu."

As soon as it was posted, some viewers immediately criticized it: "Professor Shuping has already spoken, what gives you the right to question him?" Some even cursed: "Who do you think you are?"

But when they saw Yan Ning's certifications as "Champion of the Second Season of the Creator Competition" and "Well-known Screenwriter," the viewers who had just criticized her immediately added: "Yan Ning, you talented woman, it's alright, it's alright—you gods are fighting, we mortals won't get involved."

The production team noticed Yan Ning's remarks, a figure who has received much attention and has a deep connection with the production team, and immediately informed Teacher Shuping.

Teacher Shuping showed no embarrassment at being refuted; instead, she asked with interest and curiosity, "Oh? What insightful opinion does Yan Ning have? I'd like to hear it."

"You said I might have misjudged Chen Yu, could you elaborate?"