Chapter 6: The Chen Family Directing Rules

The Chen Family Directing Rules, Rule Number Nine—

Creating and developing a plot core lies in setting up conflict. If the conflict of the story itself isn't strong or engaging enough, then create a 'misunderstanding' to drive the plot forward.

A few rules Chen Ling had secretly summarized while working as a director in his previous life flashed through his mind, and a smile flickered in his eyes.

[Audience Expectation +3]

[Current Expectation: 32%]

The moment he saw those two lines of text flash in the soy milk, Chen Ling knew he had guessed correctly.

Uncle Zhao's expression stiffened visibly.

He looked at Chen Ling in shock, his whole person going from bewildered to stunned, and finally falling into a deathly silence...

"Uncle Zhao, I promised little Yi I'd keep it a secret... but you only have one son, little Yi, and you must be hoping he can carry on the family line... and he's always hanging out with another boy, it really will affect his studies."

Chen Ling sighed, "Today I even saw him sitting in the back seat of that boy's vehicle, laughing so happily..."

Uncle Zhao's body began to tremble slightly, his hands clenching into fists, his breathing becoming heavier.

"Okay... Uncle knows." Uncle Zhao forced a smile onto his face, which looked somewhat creepy, "Thank you, A-Ling."

"By the way, Uncle, I promised little Yi I'd keep this a secret, so you absolutely cannot tell him that I was the one who told you..."

"Don't worry, Uncle knows."

Chen Ling finished the last of his soy milk, said goodbye to Uncle Zhao, and left the stall.

Uncle Zhao, however, acted as if he hadn't heard. He searched around the shop with his head down. A few minutes later, he pulled a club as thick as a fist from the corner and sat slowly on a stool at the shop entrance.

A gust of cold wind swept through the street, blowing Uncle Zhao's few remaining hairs and the sweat-soaked towel on his forehead.

He sat there quietly, one hand propping the club against the ground, his bloodshot eyes staring fixedly at the end of the street, looking exactly like a great general filled with murderous intent!

Chen Ling appeared to have left the street, but in reality, he had secretly circled back through an alley. He stood in the shade of a tree in a corner, where he could see the entire shop.

A few minutes later, a tricycle came swaying from the end of the road.

Zhao Yi sat on the side of the vehicle with his legs crossed. The two buckets of salt behind him were completely empty. He played with the few copper coins he had just earned, his mouth grinning almost to his ears.

"Heh, making money isn't that hard after all."

"Brother Yi, of course it's not hard for you, I'm the one who pedaled all day!" The boy in front stood up and pedaled the tricycle hard, panting.

"We're brothers, why distinguish between you and me?"

Zhao Yi took two copper coins from his palm and stuffed them into the boy's pocket, "Here, for you."

Not far away, Uncle Zhao, who saw Zhao Yi actively touching the boy's waist, couldn't help but twitch his eyelids.

"Brother Yi, I pedaled for you all day, and you only give me two??" The boy's eyes widened, "Didn't you get twenty from the Road Management Bureau!"

"Pedaling is physical labor, scattering salt is technical work, of course I get the bigger share."

Zhao Yi replied lazily, then jumped off the tricycle, squinting and waving at the boy with a smile, "I'll wait for you at the usual spot tomorrow... if you dare not to come, I'll beat you every time I see you, understand?"

After saying that, he gripped the remaining eighteen copper coins in his hand and walked toward his shop with his head held high.

The boy pedaling the tricycle looked at him with anger, but as Zhao Yi glared back with a fierce look, he immediately cowered and could only pedal away dejectedly to go home alone.

Zhao Yi, the teenage bully of Frost Street, was someone almost no one in the younger generation dared to provoke. The boy who pedaled for him had been taken advantage of all day, but he could only swallow his anger.

"Dad, I'm home!!"

Zhao Yi strode forward, clutching eighteen copper coins. He had never felt so confident coming home.

But for some reason, the moment he reached the shop entrance, he felt a chill wash over him.

The figure holding the club stood up slowly. The atmosphere dropped to freezing point instantly. Uncle Zhao's angry eyes locked onto Zhao Yi, and he walked toward him aggressively, like a general holding a long spear.

"D-Dad?" Zhao Yi saw the club and instinctively took a step back.

"Is it him, right?" Uncle Zhao pointed at the boy pedaling away in the distance, his hand trembling with rage, "You little bastard! You don't study properly, and you're secretly doing this kind of stuff?!"

"If you were properly dating a girl, that would be one thing, but you're fucking finding a boy?"

"Can a boy give you children?! Can he carry on the Zhao family line!!"

"You want to end your father's bloodline!!"

Uncle Zhao cursed while chasing Zhao Yi with the club, the latter howling in pain as he was hit.

Hearing Uncle Zhao's angry curses, the neighbors on half the street pricked up their ears.

They gathered around curiously, pointing at the fleeing Zhao Yi. They whispered to each other, and looks of shock appeared on their faces simultaneously.

[Audience Expectation +1... +1... +1...]

As Zhao Yi howled in pain, the numbers before Chen Ling's eyes kept jumping.

If he could enter the theater in his mind again, he would see the dense mass of shadow "audience members" watching this scene with great interest, subtle smiles on their faces.

"The conflict is right... but there aren't enough characters." Chen Ling's gaze fell on the tricycle in the distance.

"Xiao Liu."

Hearing Chen Ling's call, the boy who was mindlessly watching the drama turned his head.

"Brother A-Ling, you're here too?"

"You went to melt snow today, how much did Zhao Yi give you?"

"...Two coins." Mentioning this, resentment appeared on the boy's face, "He went back on his word. He originally said I could pedal and he'd give me the bigger share, but he only gave me that much, and he threatened to make me his slave again tomorrow..."

"Do you want to take revenge on him?" Chen Ling looked into his eyes, "Or rather, do you want him to never dare to bully you again, and even walk around you when he sees you?"

"I do!!"

"Then I'll teach you..."

Just as the two were whispering, Zhao Yi was already exhausted from being chased.

"Dad, Dad, stop hitting me! I'm really not gay!" Zhao Yi finally reacted and explained desperately, "I swear, I, Zhao Yi, have always only liked women! Especially the plump and curvy kind..."

The mouths of the onlookers opened slightly, deep in thought.

Uncle Zhao paused, his pace slowing down,

"Then what is your relationship with that boy who pedaled for you?"

"We're just ordinary friends!"

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course it's the tr—"

"Brother Yi!" A boy's figure pushed through the crowd and rushed to Zhao Yi's side like a madman, opening his arms to hug Zhao Yi's body, using his back to block the club.

Zhao Yi froze.

Uncle Zhao froze too.

"You..." Zhao Yi felt his mind go blank.

Before Zhao Yi could speak, the boy looked at Uncle Zhao with red eyes and shouted loudly:

"If you want to hit someone, hit me! Don't you dare hit my Brother Yi!!!"

The atmosphere fell into dead silence!

[Audience Expectation +2... +2... +2... +2...]