Chapter 12: Liu Fengqing
The Ins and Outs
The next afternoon, Director Xu told Yuan An about what had transpired during the court hearing.
In court, Liu Fengqing looked haggard and utterly lacked any desire to defend himself, numbly confessing to the entire sequence of his plagiarism.
Three years ago, Liu Fengqing was still just an obscure, nameless screenwriter.
The movies and television dramas produced from his scripts were permanent fixtures on the roast lists of major film and TV commentary channels. Netizens could only describe them with four words: “brainless melodrama,” even going so far as to ask whether the directors and screenwriters could interact with “normal people” a bit more.
Aside from that, the online ratings for those movies and TV series were mostly below four points out of ten. The only one that managed to score higher than five points was purely because the lead actor’s fans were dedicated and worked hard to flood it with positive reviews.
However, what made Liu Fengqing feel even more dejected was that the audience didn’t actually pay any attention at all to who the screenwriter of these “melodramatic dramas” was.
Whenever those melodramatic dramas were mentioned, the first things that came to the audience’s minds were the director, the actors, or the production company—not him, the screenwriter Liu Fengqing. Even though his scripts were trash, they hadn’t even left enough of an impression on the audience to be remembered as trash.
Liu Fengqing began to reflect on whether it was truly because his own abilities were lacking, or because the investors always forced him to arbitrarily alter the plot, leaving his scripts completely unrecognizable.
Utterly distracted and vexed, he simply decided to put down his pen for a year.
It wasn’t until two years ago that Lu Suichu added his contact information under the pretext of admiring him.
In the beginning, Liu Fengqing thought Lu Suichu’s “admiration” was a form of mockery. But after chatting with him a few times, the impression Lu Suichu left on him was that of an innocent young master who knew nothing of the world.
He began to believe that perhaps Lu Suichu truly thought he was highly talented.
One day, Lu Suichu sent him a file, saying it was a script titled Han Dao written by his younger brother, and that he wanted him to offer some guidance.
Lu Suichu’s humble words greatly satisfied Liu Fengqing’s self-esteem. He opened the file dismissively, but as he read on, his eyes couldn’t help but light up.
The logic of the story in Han Dao was incredibly meticulous, the character designs of the male and female leads were brimming with tension, and the camaraderie between them—both as mentors and friends—moved him deeply.
Consequently, Liu Fengqing fished for information about Yuan An from Lu Suichu.
Initially, he had merely thought of buying the script from Yuan An to put his own name on it. But upon learning that Yuan An was a newcomer who had never sold a single script before, Liu Fengqing abandoned that idea.
Harboring a stroke of opportunism, he secretly “borrowed” from Han Dao and wrote Jiang Shang Yue.
Unfortunately, however, because Yuan An hadn’t written the ending of Han Dao at that time, Liu Fengqing ran out of a source of inspiration. He could only rack his brains to write an ending that he personally deemed magnificent.
Afterwards, Jiang Shang Yue fetched a good price, and the production crew’s lineup also attracted many investors. With ample funding, the television drama was filmed in just four short months, and it went online for broadcast less than half a year later.
Shortly after Jiang Shang Yue began broadcasting, netizens flooded it with rave reviews, recommending it to everyone they met. Even those film and TV commentators who had roasted his past works praised it as a dark horse.
Gradually, netizens noticed the screenwriter’s name. After digging up Liu Fengqing’s past works, they felt that during the year he stopped writing, he must have studied very hard to make such massive progress. Some drama fans even claimed he was a “growth-type screenwriter.”
Therefore, even though the ending of Jiang Shang Yue was ultimately unsatisfying and felt a bit like a trainwreck compared to the early plot, the fans felt it was forgivable after discovering Liu Fengqing’s past track record. They encouraged him, hoping his next work would be even better.
Liu Fengqing immersed himself in the joy of receiving praise, gradually becoming conceited and lightheaded.
At this time, he learned from an acquaintance that a newcomer wanted to sell a self-written script, and the plot of that script was highly similar to his Jiang Shang Yue.
Liu Fengqing paled with fright. Upon further investigation, he discovered it was Yuan An who was selling Han Dao.
Terrified that the fact that Jiang Shang Yue‘s source of inspiration was Han Dao would be exposed, he secretly probed Lu Suichu about the software Yuan An used to store his scripts.
Then, he utilized an army of internet trolls to slap the label of plagiarism onto Yuan An, and tricked Lu Suichu into helping him hire a hacker to completely wipe out all of Yuan An’s script records.
After doing all this, fearing that Yuan An would react, he hurriedly made a statement online, saying he hoped Yuan An would lay down his pen. In reality, he wanted to wait until this storm blew over to turn Yuan An into his ghostwriter, helping him write even better stories.
After recounting all of this to Yuan An, Director Xu spat in disdain.
“What a piece of work! If he had spent all that mental energy on actually writing stories, perhaps he really could have produced some remarkable masterpieces.”
Yuan An smiled and asked, “Did Lu Suichu appear in court?”
Director Xu let out another “tsk” and said, “He put on quite an air. He just sent his legal representative directly, and whatever amount the judge ordered for compensation later, the representative accepted it immediately without a word. Truly worthy of a young master of the Lu family—filthy rich and ostentatious.”
Yuan An nodded, agreeing, “Mm, as expected of the Lu family.”
After all, Lu Shengheng was someone who could easily bring out ten million yuan. The few tens of thousands his younger brother needed to pay in compensation was something the Lu family completely didn’t care about.
Director Xu burst out laughing after Yuan An finished speaking, but then he realized something was amiss. “Wait, that’s not right. If you are Lu Suichu’s younger brother, doesn’t that make you a member of the Lu family as well?! But your surname isn’t Lu?”
It was as if he had discovered a new continent; by the time he reached the end of his sentence, his voice rose by several decibels.
Yuan An said in a flat tone, “I’m not.”
Yet Director Xu picked up a trace of strangeness from his flat tone.
With the Lu family’s power, this plagiarism storm surrounding Yuan An could have been quieted down by merely lifting a pinky finger; there was absolutely no way they would have let Yuan An be abused online for several days for nothing.
Yet the Lu family had not only completely failed to take action, but they hadn’t even spent a dime to help suppress the hot searches for Yuan An.
Coupled with the realization that the one who transferred out Yuan An’s script files was a young master surnamed Lu…
Director Xu felt that he understood.
He let out a sigh and said, “It’s for the best that you aren’t. With such a partial and biased family, what’s wrong with being complete strangers?”
He just hadn’t expected that favoritism could actually run this deep—it was simply mind-boggling.
To prevent Yuan An from recalling painful memories, Director Xu hurriedly shifted the topic: “Did you know? I was just notified by some industry insiders yesterday that Liu Fengqing has been thoroughly blacklisted. From now on, no one will be willing to spend money to buy any script he writes. Word is that the boss of a major enterprise in Jingshi personally spoke up. I don’t know who it is, but they’re incredibly overbearing.”
Yuan An laughed softly and said, “Liu Fengqing called me yesterday. He actually thought I was the one who blacklisted him.”
“Hahaha, he’s clutching at straws at this point! I also heard that all those corporate bosses he used to know are completely ignoring him now. Serves him right, if you ask me!”
Yuan An laughed along with Director Xu for a moment, then said, “Thank you, Director Xu, and thank Lawyer Li as well. I’ll treat you both to a meal after I’m discharged.”
Director Xu let out a chuckle and said, “Alright then, it’s a deal!”
“Mm!”
Once their agreement was set, Yuan An hung up the phone.
Subsequently, he browsed through some property listings on a rental app. After bookmarking a few favorite options, he received another phone call from Liu Fengqing.
Yuan An didn’t know why the man was calling him again. Just as he was about to reject it, he thought it over and answered.
“Hello, An Yuan,” Liu Fengqing’s exhausted voice came through the receiver.
Yuan An remained silent, listening quietly.
“Rest assured, I’m not here today to beg you to stop blacklisting me,” Liu Fengqing said with a bitter laugh. “I wanted to ask you, are you truly Lu Suichu’s biological younger brother?”
Yuan An fell silent for a moment before asking, “Why are you asking this?”
“Why would your own biological brother treat you like this? He was the one who sent me the file. After he found out I ‘borrowed’ from it, he was also the one who forgave me on your behalf. Even the subsequent internet trolls and trending hot searches were bought by him, and he was the one who hired the hacker. Why on earth would… Could it be that you two brothers joined forces to use me just to hype you up as a newcomer?!”
He hadn’t voiced these things in court because he lacked evidence. But now, when he thought about how Lu Suichu ultimately only bore the single fault of transferring out a file, the more he thought about it, the more suffocated and furious he felt.
Yuan An frowned. “You are overthinking it.”
Liu Fengqing let out a self-deprecating laugh, then said, “Perhaps I am overthinking it. But I don’t understand. He clearly guaranteed to me that you would never have the opportunity to come forward and clarify things, so why in the end…”
Hearing Liu Fengqing’s increasingly frenzied tone, Yuan An simply executed a smooth sequence of hanging up and blocking the number.
Liu Fengqing was likely not in his right mind right now; continuing to chat with him would probably just amount to listening to him vent his fury.
However, Liu Fengqing’s words plunged him into brief reflection.
What exactly had Lu Suichu done to guarantee to Liu Fengqing that he would never be able to clarify the situation?
Yuan An couldn’t figure it out for the moment, so he simply set it aside.
After blocking Liu Fengqing’s contact information, Yuan An felt the world become a whole lot quieter.
He contacted the agents for two property listings he liked very much, scheduling appointments to view the apartments tomorrow morning.
Early the next morning, Qin Sixing delivered a meal to Yuan An before heading to work.
Song Chucheng came along as well; he was responsible for taking the lunch box back later and keeping Yuan An entertained to ease his boredom. However, he had stayed up late playing video games last night, so he was currently exhausted, wanting to doze off the moment he sat on the chair.
Taking the bowls and chopsticks Qin Sixing handed over, Yuan An thought of speeding up to finish the food. Just as he took his first bite, Qin Sixing reminded him gently, “Eat slowly. It’s a bit hot, which isn’t good for your stomach.”
Being stared at by him, Yuan An couldn’t help but slow down his movements.
Once the meal was finished, Yuan An helped Qin Sixing pack away the utensils while saying to Song Chucheng, “You can go back and rest early today, and you don’t need to deliver a meal at noon. I’m going to Linjiang Garden to view some apartments, and I’ll probably grab a bite to eat nearby afterwards.”
Qin Sixing asked, “Are you going all by yourself?”
The moment Song Chucheng heard what the two were saying, his energy instantly returned.
“I’ll go with you.” After speaking, Song Chucheng couldn’t help but cast a glance at Qin Sixing.
The concern in his cousin’s eyes was practically overflowing.
However, Yuan An didn’t notice the look in Qin Sixing’s eyes. He shook his head and said, “You look a bit exhausted. You should go back and rest early.”
Song Chucheng shook his head, widening his large eyes as he said, “I’m not tired. I’m not tired at all.”
Yuan An couldn’t help but laugh. “Hahaha, you were almost fast asleep sitting there just now. Drowsy driving isn’t safe either—you should call a taxi to go back.”
Qin Sixing pondered for a short moment, then agreed, “It indeed isn’t safe. My company is quite close to Linjiang Garden. How about I drop you off on my way there?”
Hearing this, Yuan An didn’t decline either, nodding his head. “Alright.”
With the two having reached an agreement, Song Chucheng breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to take the lunch box.
He left ahead of them to take a taxi home, while Qin Sixing led Yuan An to the hospital parking lot, where the driver, Uncle Yang, had been waiting all along.
Once the two got into the vehicle, Uncle Yang started the engine.
Along the way, Yuan An quietly glanced at Uncle Yang several times and asked, “Uncle Yang, how many years have you been driving?”
“At least ten years,” Uncle Yang replied with a smile.
Yuan An nodded. “Then your driving must be very steady. It’s just that it’s been raining heavily in Hejiang City lately, so you still need to be careful.”
He recalled once again the car accident Qin Sixing had suffered in April during his previous life. Now, there were only two days left before April came to an end, and he was deeply afraid that some accident might occur during these remaining two days.
Uncle Yang didn’t mind that Yuan An’an’s words might carry a hint of doubt toward his driving skills. He nodded and said, “I know, thank you for your concern.”
Their conversation ended there, and only then did Yuan An let out a reassured smile.
Qin Sixing, on the other hand, watched Yuan An with unreadable eyes.
He suddenly remembered how, on the very first day he met Yuan An, the boy had urgently told him to watch out for car accidents.
With Yuan An still remaining obsessed with this now, it seemed it wasn’t simply a matter of showing concern because he saw that his leg was injured.
Could it be that a car accident had left some psychological trauma on the boy, causing him to be habitually worried about car accidents occurring?
At this thought, Qin Sixing knit his brows unconsciously.
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