Film and Television: The Villain's Life Begins with Joy of Life

This isn't a joke, it's a recommendation for the treasure book "Film and Television: The Villain's Life Begins with Joy of Life":

Li Yunrui was destined to be disappointed.

The banquet at the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests cemented Fan Xian's reputation as the "Poet Immortal".

The once brilliant scholar He has now entered the palace for further studies and been transferred to the position of eunuch scribe.

He and seven or eight other colleagues sat at the table, their wrists moving rapidly, barely managing to keep up with Fan Xian's pace of reciting poetry.

The ink meanders across the rice paper; before a single character is finished, the next sentence has already slipped out.

After half a day, Fan Xian finally came to an end.

He Zongwei endured the soreness in his wrist, lowered his head, and stared intently at the figure in the center of the hall.

Fan Xian.

Under the spotlight, he drunkenly recited poetry, full of vigor and high spirits.

This scene existed only in his past fantasies.

How he longed to be the one standing in the center of the hall now.

But everything he had was destroyed by Zhou Cheng.

He was now just a low-ranking eunuch, not even qualified to look directly at the nobles in the palace.

If he raises his head even an inch, it is considered utter disrespect, transgression, and usurpation.

He gritted his teeth, swallowing back the overwhelming hatred bit by bit, which transformed into even deeper resentment.

Her hatred for Zhou Cheng intensified.

After reciting the last poem, Fan Xian walked unsteadily to Zhuang Mohan's seat.

He stretched out his hand, pointed at Zhuang Mohan's nose, grinned, and reeked of alcohol:

"Master Zhuang, if we're talking about annotating poetry and prose, or becoming a literary giant, I'm not as good as you. But when it comes to reciting poetry and being a good person—"

He let out a burp.

"You are not as good as me."

After saying that, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto the mat, unconscious.

Zhuang Mohan sat there, his face turning pale then white, then red again.

Overwhelmed with shame, he vomited blood and fainted on the spot.

An uproar erupted inside the hall.

A banquet turned into a farce. A potential literary sage was ruined, but a "true" poet was added.

At this moment, Li Yunrui was clearly seething with hatred in his heart, but he still had to put on a look of surprise on his face.

Regardless of where Fan Xian's poems came from, the long-weak literary world of the Qing Kingdom needs Fan Xian's poems, and needs Fan Xian, the poetic genius.

She cannot question it, nor is she able to question it.

No matter how much she hated it, she could only force a smile.

Wang Qinian helped the completely drunk Fan Xian as they stumbled away from the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

Emperor Qing granted special permission for Eunuch Hou to personally accompany Fan Xian back to the Fan residence.

At the Fan residence, Eunuch Hou told Fan Jian and Liu Ruyu about Fan Xian's display of national power at the banquet. Fan Jian was filled with pride, while Liu Ruyu, in addition to her pride, busied herself with arranging for Fan Xian to sober up.

Wang Qinian helped the person into the bedroom to lie down, and Fan Ruoruo volunteered to stay and take care of him, persuading everyone else to leave.

The moment the door closed, Fan Xian, who had been dead drunk just a second ago, opened his eyes the next.

He quickly took out a small porcelain bottle from his sleeve, poured out two hangover pills, and swallowed them directly.

The medication took effect quickly, and he felt a churning in his stomach. He suddenly rolled out of bed, ran to the spittoon in the corner, and vomited violently.

Only when his stomach was completely empty did Fan Xian straighten up and wipe his mouth with his sleeve.

"Brother, are you alright?" Fan Ruoruo asked him with concern.

Fan Xian waved his hand, took a few deep breaths, and was already seven or eight parts sober.

He strode to the wardrobe, took out the night clothes he had prepared, and put them on in a few quick movements.

"Ruoruo, you stay in the room and pretend I'm still here. If anyone comes to visit, just say I'm so drunk I can't see anyone."

Fan Ruoruo nodded without even asking, "Brother, be careful."

Fan Xian patted her shoulder, turned around and climbed out of the back window, disappearing into the night in a few leaps.

Outside the back door, a dark figure leaned against the wall, the moonlight outlining the mask on the person's face.

Fan Xian let out a long sigh of relief, quickly moved closer, and lowered his voice:

"Great Sage, you saw the lantern but didn't even send a message beforehand? I thought you weren't coming!"

Zhou Cheng glanced at him sideways, too lazy to say anything.

Fan Xian, feeling awkward, pursed his lips and said no more. The two of them sped along the alley towards the palace, one after the other.

……

Outside the palace, a figure had been waiting for a long time.

The man was dressed in a black robe, his eyes were covered with a black cloth, and he was leaning against the shadows in the corner of the wall. If you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't notice that there was anyone there.

Fan Xian strode forward, about to speak, but Wu Zhu had already turned his head, his "gaze" falling on Zhou Cheng.

"On the day you killed Lin Gong," Wu Zhu placed his hand on the iron shovel behind him, his voice flat and emotionless, "why did you leave Fan Xian's name behind?"

Zhou Cheng paused and looked at Wu Zhu.

Under the moonlight, the two men in black robes stared at each other, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

Fan Xian was taken aback, not expecting Wu Zhu to ask this at this moment.

He glanced at Wu Zhu, then at Zhou Cheng, trying to ease the tension, but he opened his mouth and didn't utter a sound.

Zhou Cheng did not deny it.

"It was I who left Fan Xian's name. However—"

He paused.

"Does anyone suspect Fan Xian is the murderer? Has anyone come to Fan Xian's door to cause trouble?"

Wu Zhu remained silent.

Zhou Cheng continued, "There's a saying, 'Go against the grain.' At the time, Fan Xian had the biggest conflict with Lin Gong, and he was also the one with the motive to kill. By leaving Fan Xian's name, I actually helped clear him of suspicion."

Wu Zhu remained silent, his face beneath the black cloth revealing no expression, but his hand slowly withdrew from the iron shovel.

Fan Xian, however, was thinking about much more at this moment.

He said uncertainly:

"Great Sage, back then... were you really doing it for my own good? Or were you really going against the grain?"

Zhou Cheng turned his head and looked at him.

Under the moonlight, the monkey face on the mask seemed to have a half-smile on its face.

"Of course not."

"I just thought it was fun."

Fan Xian: "..."

The expression on his face was priceless.

He stared at Zhou Cheng for a long time, wanting to ask him what was so fun about messing with his fellow villager!

But as he looked at him, he suddenly realized that this fellow villager might have mental problems.

The other party had mentioned that breaking through to the Grandmaster level requires making choices.

He increasingly suspected that this guy had abandoned some crucial emotion, obsession, or feeling in order to break through back then, and then turned into a lunatic.

He really wanted to know the answer.

But the words stuck in his throat.

Never mind, I didn't answer before, and I probably won't now either.

We still need him tonight.

Don't provoke people!

Fan Xian took a deep breath, forced a smile that looked worse than a grimace, and gave a thumbs up.

"Okay, you're good."

……

Having moved on from the previous topic, the three of them stopped wasting time and quickly agreed on their division of labor.

Soon, Wu Zhu was the first to scale the palace walls and sneak into the inner palace.

His movements were like a ghost, silent and stealthy. But soon, he deliberately walked to the center of the palace path, into the moonlight. He hadn't gone far when a sharp aura locked onto him from afar.

"Who goes there!"

With a low shout, a figure darted out from the darkness and stood in front of Wu Zhu.

The man was dressed as an eunuch, with a thin face and piercing eyes.

Hong Sixiang.

The stand-in who was dismissed by Emperor Qing.

The Grandmaster as speculated by the world.

Wu Zhu looked at him,

"We took the wrong turn."

After saying that, he turned and ran.

Hong Sixiang was not about to give up. He flashed away and gave chase. The two figures, one after the other, quickly disappeared into the night.

Wu Zhu lured Hong Sixiang away.

Zhou Cheng then entered the inner palace, while Fan Xian kept a distance behind him.

Zhou Cheng's movements were lighter and more natural than Wu Zhu's, as if he had blended into the night.

After sneaking around for a while, he deliberately made a noise on the rooftop—

"Click."

A tile made a soft sound.

"who!"

With a sharp shout, another figure leaped up from below and landed on the palace roof.

The man was dressed in black armor, held a longbow, and had eyes as sharp as a hawk's.

Commander of the Imperial Guards, Yan Xiaoyi.

Zhou Cheng glanced at him, then turned and left.

Yan Xiaoyi sneered and chased after him without hesitation.

Once Yan Xiaoyi's figure disappeared from sight, Fan Xian emerged from the darkness and, following the map drawn by Lin Wan'er, made his way towards the Empress Dowager's palace.

He stayed close to the wall, taking each step carefully, avoiding the patrolling imperial guards and bypassing both visible and hidden sentry posts.

......

Zhou Cheng moved slowly and leisurely across the rooftop.

He deliberately controlled his speed, suppressing it to around the ninth rank, maintaining a distance that was neither too close nor too far from Yan Xiaoyi—so that Yan Xiaoyi could see him, yet couldn't catch up for a while.

Yan Xiaoyi followed closely behind, his gaze fixed on Zhou Cheng.

As a ninth-rank archer, Yan Xiaoyi is a unique figure among ninth-rank archers.

Normally, as long as he keeps his distance, Yan Xiaoyi has the ability to kill any ninth-rank opponent with his arrows.

There are even rumors that Yan Xiaoyi's arrows can injure a Grandmaster.

Quite a few people believe it.

Of course, Zhou Cheng knew that was just nonsense.

Unless a Grandmaster doesn't dodge or evade and doesn't use their true energy for defense, a ninth-rank archer simply cannot break through a Grandmaster's defense.

Yan Xiaoyi only had a bow and arrows in his hand, not a Barrett.

Barrett bullets travel at nearly three times the speed of sound, so even a Grandmaster wouldn't be able to react in time unless they were prepared.

Barrett's ability to kill Grandmasters isn't solely due to its power. Welcome to the boundless fantasy continent, the entrance is here: p