A widower's entertainment

Lin Youcheng wasn't in a hurry about the script for "Our Millionaire," as the story needed careful adaptation, especially the later issues and the ending, particularly how Xiaoyu and Xu Qingshan separated after Xiaoyu was released from prison, despite her suspended sentence.

Xu Qingshan's participation in the program was accidental, but he actually wanted to find Xiaoyu. So, did Xiaoyu feel that after being released from prison, she could no longer be with Li Qingshan, and thus chose to cut off contact and not know where she went?

As a result, Xu Qingshan kept trying to find Xiaoyu, but he couldn't contact her at all and there was no news. It was at this time that Xu Qingshan saw this quiz show and decided to sign up to participate. Unexpectedly, he was selected.

This seemed to be fate. The next question didn't have any backstory; it was deduced directly. In the next question, the host gave the wrong answer, and the protagonist chose a different answer.

But how should the last question be designed? After all, Xu Qingshan went on the show to find Xiaoyu. This story may have to wait until later to be filmed. It is still difficult to ask the audience for help right now, since not everyone has a phone at home, not to mention expensive items like mobile phones. Of course, a phone might be a little easier, but even so, how can the protagonist Xu Qingshan just happen to be able to call Xiaoyu?

Why would Xiaoyu receive this call? Unless Xiaoyu and Xu Qingshan had said something like this before, it's a particularly meaningful phone number. Coincidentally, Xiaoyu also learned from news reports that the protagonist, Xu Qingshan, participated in a quiz show and was about to win a big prize. However, news also spread that Xu Qingshan had been taken to the police station. Newspapers and television also reported that Xu Qingshan had appeared on the show and was likely to become the first person to win a million-dollar prize.

The news that he was taken to the police station for investigation was naturally very sensational.

However, isn't this million-dollar prize a bit too much?

Lin Youcheng is also thinking about this issue. Of course, in two years, this number may be just okay.

Regardless, Xu Qingshan might continue to challenge for one million, or he might choose to give up answering the questions and take away 500,000 directly. The whole country was watching. At this time, Xiaoyu, who was back in her hometown, would naturally see Xu Qingshan participating in the program on TV. She might also be watching the program in a shop in town. Or perhaps Xu Qingshan had accompanied Xiaoyu to call that shop in their hometown more than once to send some messages to her family. Over time, Xu Qingshan remembered that number.

The script could have included a phone call first, followed by a meal and a casual conversation about becoming a millionaire through a quiz show. This would have seemed more reasonable. Coincidentally, just as Xiaoyu learned that Xu Qingshan was participating in the show, she returned to her hometown and went to that shop. Everything seemed predestined.

The most crucial question is the last one, which is also the climax of the entire movie. After all, if the male protagonist can answer it correctly again, he can win the entire prize money. That's why the very first question on the movie screen appears: How did the protagonist manage to do all this?

Was it because he was lucky, or because he was a genius, or was it all a preordained arrangement?

After all, at this point, the protagonist's memories could no longer provide him with any help, and he was a poor young man who had not received much education. He only had one last way to seek help: to make an off-site phone call.

So he called the shop, though he didn't have high hopes. But the call went through. At that very moment, while he was making the call on the show, the phone in the shop rang. Everyone else was watching the tense show on TV, and at that moment Xiaoyu suddenly realized that the call was Xu Qingshan's plea for help from outside the studio. In that instant, Xiaoyu ran over and answered the phone.

Then, on the other end of the phone, Xu Qingshan heard Xiaoyu's voice. The two of them finally made contact, as if it were destined.

So, how should the last question be designed? Xu Qingshan didn't know the answer, and neither did Xiaoyu, but the answer should be vaguely related to both of them.

Otherwise, on the day Xiaoyu attempted murder, she and Xu Qingshan had originally planned to go see a movie together after get off work. Xu Qingshan had already bought the tickets and was waiting for Xiaoyu to get off work so they could go see the movie together. But no one expected that because of the attempted murder, Xiaoyu was taken away. As a result, the two of them naturally didn't get to see the movie, and the two movie tickets were left on the ground.

The movie was supposed to be seen, but I didn't get to see it. Now the problem is about the movie itself. This movie could even be a real foreshadowing. It's not a movie that has already been released, but a movie that hasn't appeared in the real world yet, like a mystery in the movie.

Just like the "Wind Message" in "Human Tales", we can wait until many years after "Our Millionaire" is released before Lin Youcheng writes that movie script.

It doesn't matter what the movie is, because the story has already been told: neither Xu Qingshan nor Xiaoyu watched the movie.

Lin Youcheng naturally thought of a movie, also about ordinary people – "The Nameless".

The story of "The Unknown" is also quite wonderful. It unfolds with two parallel storylines and is composed of multiple short stories. It tells the story of a pair of low-level robbers, a down-on-his-luck security guard, a physically disabled but fierce woman, and a series of other small characters living on different paths in society. On an ordinary day, they are connected by a lost old gun and a farcical robbery in the city that day, which leads to a series of absurd and hilarious stories.

Hu Guangsheng and Ma Jiaqi, who are deeply in love, are together for the sake of dignity. One is a sharp-tongued, disabled woman who wants to die, and the other is a simple-minded robber who wants to live. Most of their conversations consist of mutual insults, but in the end, the two actually spark a romance.

If the last question of the program is—

What did Hu Guangsheng leave for Ma Jiaqi in the movie "The Nameless"?
Therefore, among the four answers, there will naturally be the correct answer: A. A painting.

The last thing Hu Guangsheng left for Ma Jiaqi was a painting. It was a painting he made himself, depicting two people holding hands as they crossed a bridge, with the words: "I want to walk the rest of the bridge with you."

Lin Youcheng thought this movie seemed very suitable, because the movie itself was also about a group of ordinary people, a group of nameless people. Most importantly, the issue was also about love. The relationship between Hu Guangsheng and Ma Jiaqi was just like that painting, that line of text, which was full of love.

This is quite fitting. Xu Qingshan and Xiaoyu can appear in the end credits of the movie "Our Millionaire" to show this Easter egg, which is the scene in "The Nameless" where Ma Jiaqi is wearing headphones and seems to be listening to music while sleeping. He is lying on a chair and is awakened by fireworks. When he opens his eyes, he sees the painting. At that moment, the camera keeps zooming in and zooming out until it lands on that simple painting.

The painting, though simple, is deeply moving. It's about ordinary people and about love.

Lin Youcheng thought that this design for the last question seemed feasible. Perhaps a long time later, he could make "The Nameless" again, and by then everyone would know that this was just a foreshadowing, not a simple fictional movie, but an Easter egg that Lin Youcheng had hidden at the end.

Of course, this Easter egg isn't the main point. The main point is that Xu Qingshan guessed the answer correctly in the end, even though neither he nor Xiaoyu had seen the movie. He was destined to choose the correct answer A.

Thus, the entire program was filled with cheers at the end of the movie, because Xu Qingshan won the grand prize under the watchful eyes of the national audience, truly becoming a millionaire, which was a real national sensation.

Lin Youcheng thought that after the show, Xu Qingshan, the main character who had finished recording the show, would stand in front of the cinema, holding two warm movie tickets in his fingertips, waiting for someone.

There's no need to go into too much detail about how Xu Qingshan and Xiaoyu will contact each other again. Just go back to the movie theater entrance and watch the movie they didn't have time to see. Everything will be clear. Xu Qingshan will naturally continue to contact Xiaoyu after the show.

Lin Youcheng seemed to have already figured out how to write and film the final scene of the movie. It would be a scene of bustling crowds on the street, with soft background music playing gently. In this quiet waiting, a familiar figure would emerge from the throng and walk towards Xu Qingshan—it was Xiaoyu. The instant their eyes met, smiles would bloom in both of their eyes, without a word. Then, Xu Qingshan would walk towards Xiaoyu. As he walked, the camera would naturally flash back to the past, initiating a reverse time rewind, with fragments of the past rushing back like a tide—

Xu Qingshan and Xiaoyu squatted by the roadside eating together; Xu Qingshan stood up on the bus to try to save the female driver; Xu Qingshan ran desperately through the dark mine, trying to escape; and Xu Qingshan as a child handed a letter he was going to send to that woman to the postman. These past life experiences flashed through his mind at this moment. Finally, Xu Qingshan walked up to Xiaoyu. The two didn't need to hug or kiss. They just looked at each other. Xu Qingshan handed the movie ticket to Xiaoyu, and they both smiled.

Maybe we can kiss here.

Then, naturally, comes the question that should appear at the very beginning of the movie: the question that appeared at the beginning reappears, but this time, there is only one answer—D. It is destined, because the script of fate has already been written, and this is destiny.

In Lin Youcheng's view, although "Our Millionaire" has many colors, love is also a dazzling color. After all, the reason why the protagonist participated in the quiz show was to find Xiaoyu. It can be said that for Xu Qingshan, the last question is, where are you?

Xu Qingshan witnessed and experienced some truly terrifying things throughout his life, but without a doubt, his ending was good. Because of his kindness and destiny, he eventually ended up with Xiaoyu.

Thinking this way, Lin Youcheng felt that the "we" in "Our Millionaire" was very good and did not need to be changed, because we were just nobodys.

Like many others, yet different, how could we all be the same? Every individual is vibrant, and everyone's story is poignant for themselves. The seemingly unbelievable competition experience unravels a tortuous and arduous personal growth story. The story may seem distant, but it is not impossible for it to be distant in real life, after all, the hardships of life are real.

Lin Youcheng felt that once he had clarified the overall plot of the story, he could then refine and adapt it further to improve the story.

Of course, during the adaptation process, Lin Youcheng would naturally communicate and discuss with Xie Shuhua.

Because Lin Youcheng's general account of the plot had already deeply moved Xie Shuhua, she naturally cared a great deal about the story. In Xie Shuhua's view, the story conceived by Lin Youcheng was more like a social and humanistic film.

Xie Shuhua was well aware of Lin Youcheng's concept. If the story were to be rewritten, the first half would be filled with the harsh realities of life, while the second half, where the correct answer and the love story ultimately ended in a happy ending, would be too beautiful, even like a fairy tale. But even so, she didn't find it abrupt, because this was the script of fate.

"The last question is about 'The Unknown'?"

Xie Shuhua naturally didn't know the story of "The Unknown". Although she didn't quite understand why such a question was specially designed, she could understand that the movie title "The Unknown" was to fit the "us" in "Our Millionaire".

As for the painting left by Hu Guangsheng and Ma Jiaqi, there are doubts about that.

"And there's also Ma Jiaqi and Hu Guangsheng; that painting is also about love?"

Lin Youcheng nodded and said with a smile, "I plan to create a foreshadowing for another movie."

When Xie Shuhua heard Lin Youcheng's words, she was naturally surprised and curious. She knew that the foreshadowing that Lin Youcheng had planted in "Strange Tales of the Human World" was not easy to notice, but it had been mentioned by readers all along. When it was discovered, it was really quite amazing.

Now that Lin Youcheng has designed such a foreshadowing again, it means that Lin Youcheng also has ideas for the story of "The Nameless".

Clearly, Xie Shuhua was also completely stunned by Lin Youcheng's story, just as astonished as when she discovered foreshadowing in "Strange Tales of the Human World".

Xie Shuhua could even imagine that if the film were actually shot according to Lin Youcheng's plan, and the story of "The Nameless" were to reappear, it would surely shock everyone else as well. (End of Chapter)