Chapter 229 I Am a Writer 1

Chapter 229 I Am a Writer 1

On Saturday, April 19th, at Feng Bujue’s home, Xiao Tan, Master Bao, and Brother Jue were seated on the sofa in the living room, staring at the television. The table before them was filled with take-out, bought with the fee that Brother Jue had earned from his writing and TV appearance. Feng Bujue had already connected a video file on his laptop onto the television, so he could watch it directly from the TV. The content of this video was the episode for ’I Am a Writer’ that he had recorded one week earlier.

"The episode will be aired next Friday, and this is... an hour long precut version. During the actual showing, it will be cut down to forty-five minutes." Feng Bujue raised the remote and said before pressing the button, "Are you sure you want to watch this?"

"Stop wasting time," Master Bao urged. "Hurry up. My wife is waiting for me at home for dinner."

Xiao Tan was also excited. "Quick, this is the first time someone I know has been on TV."

"Alright... fine." Feng Bujue pressed the button. Strange images from horror movies appeared on the screen, but this only continued for one or two seconds. This was probably a file problem. After all, this was not the final version, so it was normal for there to be problems. The video started for real. The camera panned from above, pulling closer to the center of the stage. Over the years, the lighting managers for variety shows appeared to have lost their mind. They did not seem satisfied until they blinded the eyes of all the viewers, and that was also the case with this show. The spotlights on the stage flickered, and the camera moved with them.

The contestants’ corner was dim. Seven contestants sat next to each other with one meter between them, and each of them had a panel before them. The light hit them from a strange angle so that the audience could see their outline clearly but not their faces. As the music began, a host walked onto the stage. Compared to a certain fatty from the Death Quiz, this host was more believable. He was dressed in a casual tux and had an earpiece in. He walked steadily to the middle of the stage. After he stood still, he raised his arms. The spotlights stopped and gathered on him. The host bowed lightly and said, "Welcome to I Am a Writer. I am your host, Oscar."

Two seconds later, the lights lit up the whole stage and the audience, but the contestants’ corner was still dim, like they were shooting a horror movie. Oscar was obviously just a stage name. Nowadays, people could accept any stage name as long as it was not Jin Fugui.

"Alright, audience members, I bet everyone has been waiting a long time for this..." Oscar turned to raise his arm at the contestants. "We have seven contestants with us today, and we have met six of them already. I believe the audience will be able to tell who they are from their shadows..."

"How come the second thing out of the host’s lips is ’everyone has been waiting a long time for this’?" Xiao Tan asked.

"Because in the official version, before Oscar said that, he had to go through a long list of sponsors," Feng Bujue explained. "In today’s variety shows, most of the segments are recorded separately. Due to intonation and time-handling, there have to be multiple takes.

"After each break for advertisement, the host has to slip in certain advertisement slogans from the sponsors. Some of them can be quite long. These won’t be recorded live but added later."

"Is that so?" Xiao Tan sighed. "It’s not easy to be a host."

"Shush, it’s time to introduce the contestants," Master Bai reminded him.

In the image, the lights near the first contestant lit up. It was male youth with spectacles. He was around thirty, slightly rotund, and dressed casually. Oscar took out the question cards from his pocket and started to make the introduction. Of course, he was introducing everyone by their penname. "Contestant Number 1, Xuan Tianzong, a famous online author. Even though he is only thirty-two, he has about ten books with more than two million words. His works are very popular and have been adapted into games, movies, dramas, and so on... It’s one of the few authors whose income can go above ten million RMB. Here’s the comment from our main editor—smooth writing style, great characterization, fulfilling plot, the best Xuanhuan[1] writer we have today."

In the camera, Oscar waited for the audience to finish before speaking again. "Oh, our seventh contestant looks very young."

Even though he had chatted with Feng Bujue before the recording, he still acted like this was the first time that they had met. "I believe some people in our audience have recognized him already. Some might have read his books but have not seen him in person. Well, who is it?"

This had dragged out long enough. It was time to give the answer. Oscar pulled out the cue card to read. "Seventh contestant, Bujue, known detective novel writer. He has published twelve detective novels and has serials on the internet, in newspapers, and in magazines. His style is often humorous and unique. Be it long or short novels, the plot will always surprise the readers."

Oscar put down the card to say, "Contestant Bujue, you are recommended by all three of our main editors. They are all your fans."

"Is that so?" Feng Bujue answered casually.

"Main editor’s comment," Oscar continued, "if you’re good enough but you can’t shine, make sure you are irreplaceable."

"Ha ha..." Feng Bujue’s lips twitched.

"Based on our show’s habit, every episode we will allow the newcomer to set the episode’s theme." He walked to Feng Bujue’s podium. "Contestant Bujue, you have three minutes to consider. In the meantime, we will enter the commercials."

"What did you set?" Xiao Tan asked.

Feng Bujue did not answer and pointed at the screen. This version did not have commercials, so after a quick change of scene, it was time to reveal the answer. Oscar moved to stand beside Feng Bujue and saw the words that he had written on the panel. Then, his expression shifted slightly as he sneaked a look at Feng Bujue with a strange color in his eyes.

"Alright, let’s take a look. The theme that Bujue has given us this week on I Am a Writer is..."

Oscar was a professional host. As ridiculous as what Feng Bujue had written was, Oscar appeared calm on the surface.

As the host raised his hand, what Feng Bujue had written down appeared on the large screen.

"Feel free to roast."

[1] Xuanhuan is a sub-genre of Chinese fantasy fiction.

[2] Xianxia is another sub-genre of Chinese fantasy fiction.