I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

Things outside the instance seem to have little impact on the instance itself.

A strange thing has happened in Songjiang County recently.

A monster is causing trouble at Master Hu's house.

This Mr. Hu was a wealthy man who moved to Songjiang County more than ten years ago. He had some surplus wealth and was known for his philanthropy, often distributing porridge to relieve poverty. As a result, everyone in Songjiang County knew about his family.

Hu, a wealthy man, and his wife were deeply in love. They had seven beautiful daughters who were now of marriageable age.

It is said that the seven Miss Hu were all exceptionally beautiful, like goddesses descended from a painting.

But in recent months, strange things have been happening frequently in Hu Yuanwai's home.

First, the families living nearby were disturbed every night, with chickens running wild and dogs barking, making it impossible for them to sleep.

Then one night, at the third watch, the night watchman struck his gong near the Hu family's house and saw a large ghost circling around the house, seemingly about to break in—

According to the watchman's description, the giant demon was over four zhang long, with pustules on its forehead, bluish-purple skin, and was completely naked except for a piece of animal skin. A string of human heads the size of millstones hung on its chest, and it breathed fire while loudly cursing Master Hu.

The seven beautiful young ladies of the poor Hu family lived in constant fear and could not eat or drink.

There was much discussion in Songjiang County. Some said that it was the vengeful ghost of the enemy that Master Hu had killed before, coming to seek revenge.

Some say it's a mountain spirit that has taken a fancy to Miss Hu and wants to force him to become her father-in-law...

Hu, the wealthy man, was so troubled that he asked the local government to post a notice seeking a Taoist priest or monk who could exorcise the ghost.

Unfortunately, in the past few months, many "demon hunters" have come to the door to cheat people out of food and drink—but none of them have the ability to subdue the ghost. They were all torn apart, skinned, and devoured by the ghost.

……

……

……

"Look, look! Master Hu has posted another notice! This time, the reward for catching the ghost is a full hundred taels of silver!"

"Wow! One hundred taels? That's enough to buy a grand house and several acres of good land! I've never seen Master Hu buy land or houses; it seems like he has an endless supply of money—"

"Master Hu's family is quite wealthy, and they also own a medicinal herb shop. I've heard that his family often goes into the mountains to collect herbs. Wasn't that old ginseng that flowed from our Songjiang County to the capital last year from his family's shop?"

"That old ginseng? I heard it's shaped like an infant's arm, with all its facial features intact, almost like it's become a spirit!"

In front of the government office in the market town, yamen runners posted red paper.

The villagers, eager to see what was happening, quickly gathered around, begging someone who could read to read the words aloud:

"Hey, hey, Scholar Qian, come and see what's written here! Your house is right next to Master Hu's, didn't you really see that evil ghost knocking on the door?"

The person who was stopped was a down-on-his-luck scholar, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, wearing a long robe that had been washed until it was almost white, and he was standing on tiptoe in the crowd looking at the words on the list.

This man's name was Qian Zifu. His ancestors were once wealthy, but his father gambled away most of the family fortune.

Qian Zifu aspired to study hard and become an official, and his monthly expenses on writing implements alone far exceeded those of ordinary families—

But he failed repeatedly, and despite his repeated attempts, he has only just passed the county examination and is now a minor "student" (童生), not even a scholar (秀才).

Seeing his widowed mother mending clothes for others every day to make a living for him, while he spent his days eating and drinking with his cronies in restaurants, he even called it "visiting friends to have fun and being inspired to write poetry."

— Others couldn't help but look down on him.

Therefore, many people deliberately call him "Qian Xiucai" (a play on words, implying a mocking or sarcastic tone).

……

……

"When scholars read the books of sages and worthies, a righteous spirit remains in their hearts, and evil spirits dare not invade."

Hearing someone call him "scholar," a hint of embarrassment flashed in Qian Zifu's eyes, but he said in a firm voice:

"That Hu family is clearly quite wealthy, yet they do not give back to their hometown, do not support the county school, and do not respect the sages. It is only natural that they would attract evil spirits."

Upon hearing this, several passersby who had previously benefited from the Hu family's low-priced medicinal herbs were outraged and began to mock them.

"Bullshit! You're just resentful that they wouldn't marry their precious daughter to you, aren't you?"

"Hahaha, 'Scholar Qian,' plays always say that young ladies love scholars, but you write nothing but pretentious poems every day and don't even have a title. If I were Master Hu, I wouldn't marry my daughter to you!"

"I saw him at the bookstore yesterday, begging the owner to give him two coins on credit! A poor, penniless scholar trying to marry someone's daughter? Bah!"

"..."

Qian Zifu's face turned ashen, and he fled in anger, covering his face. As he turned around, he bumped into a group of people. Just as he was about to start cursing, he noticed that the woman leading the group was robust and dressed in strange clothes.

Behind her were several companions, all with ruddy complexions and burly builds. They immediately swallowed their insults, glared at the woman, and slunk away into the crowd.

"Shameless to show your face in public!"

……

……

……

"Did that guy just insult me?"

Zhao Weilai frowned, turned around and asked Deng Ziwen next to her. Behind her stood Su Ya, Ding Feifan, and three other new players.

"It seems so. Luckily he ran fast, otherwise I would have beaten him to death—why is this instance location so big? It feels like a real county town."

Deng Ziwen bumped his fists together, then looked around and found that apart from them, all the "living people" around him were dressed in ancient clothes.

However, unlike in movies and TV dramas where everyone is dressed in bright colors, most people are wearing coarse linen clothes, and you can hardly see any bright colors in the sky.

……

"Has this town been hit by a disaster? Why is there not a single fat person here? Everyone looks pale and thin."

Suya whispered a hint: "There's nothing wrong with these buildings; they're not paper houses."

Her profession is [architect].

As the team leader, Zhao Weilai quickly figured out the reason after thinking about it:

"There wasn't a disaster. This is just the physique of an ordinary resident in ancient times. The scenes in TV dramas are all beautified—"

Although modern time-travel novels are very popular, in real ancient times, the only living people with decent features and acceptable hygiene were nobles.

Firstly, due to low productivity in ancient times, ordinary people rarely ate three meals a day, mostly eating two meals a day. Moreover, it was difficult to eat finely milled rice, and their staple foods were beans, millet, wheat, and wild vegetables.

This results in even naturally handsome men having deformed teeth and bones due to long-term chewing of hard foods and not getting enough to eat, and thus not looking very good overall.

Furthermore, there is the issue of hygiene. Among the "firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea," firewood is placed first because firewood for starting a fire costs money.

There's no such thing as going into a mountain near a town to casually cut firewood, hunt pheasants, or kill wild boars to supplement your family's income—the mountain might belong to some powerful family, and if you get caught, you not only have to return the prey, but you might also be prosecuted.

Therefore, even in towns with excellent economic conditions, you won't see ordinary people taking baths every day.

This made Zhao Weilai and his group of seven stand out like cranes among chickens.

First, fair skin – the "fair" skin that has been nurtured indoors for many years without working in the fields.

Secondly, there are the teeth—clean, each tooth is intact and white, which, in the eyes of ordinary people, is the result of daily care with salt.

Then there's their physique—robust, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted—of course, this is an exaggerated comparison; regardless of gender, none of them showed any signs of hunger.

The clothes came last.

In ancient times, dyes were scarce, and all the dyes used to color clothes were natural. Even though people like Zhao Weilai wore brightly colored clothes (sports clothes, windbreakers), the fabrics were visibly of high quality...

They're almost certainly someone with a prestigious background!

Just like Moses parting the sea, the crowd that had been watching the spectacle scattered with a "whoosh," their eyes lowered, afraid of getting into trouble.

If you're unlucky enough to get involved with some powerful family scion, you might as well be eaten by a ghost.

……

……