Age of Legends

Chapter 312 Follow-up
Zhao Qin, a third-year student, moved to a shared apartment near Rongcheng Normal University this semester. The apartment has three bedrooms and a living room, and is rented to three people: herself, another girl named Wang Wanyu, and a young couple named Li Wei and Liu Xin.

Her room was very simple: a Simmons mattress on the floor, a table and chair, and a simple wardrobe—that was all the furniture she had. She had already started her internship, and renting a place outside would be more convenient.

The color TV left by the landlord in the living room, along with the secondhand DVD player they bought themselves, became a great pastime for the young men and women who were doing internships in the shared apartment when they had meals together.

Today, everyone agreed to have a late-night hot pot dinner after returning from their internships. Zhao Qin's cousin will also bring some food and drinks to join them. Outside, the city lights illuminate the city. The four men and women, who had just returned from their busy work, prepared the dishes, set up the induction cooker and the pot, opened the beer and drinks, and began their short enjoyment.

The TV was turned on. Everyone had originally planned to put on a movie on a disc, but the current cheerful and relaxing atmosphere was clearly not suitable for a horror movie. So they randomly turned on a channel, which happened to be a new program from the provincial satellite TV station.

"What's so interesting about the provincial TV programs..." the boy named Li Wei said casually with a smile.

“Yes, the only good domestic TV show is ‘Happy Camp’!” his girlfriend Liu Xin said.

"Yeah, that was hilarious! It's on par with Taiwanese variety shows..."

At first, no one took it seriously and just treated the TV as a background.

The scene then shifts to a lively hot pot meal in the rented room, but as the scene unfolds, the noise from everyone chatting gradually subsides.

That's a completely different visual quality.

It's clearer and smoother than any variety show I've ever seen on domestic TV, and the picture quality even has a bit of a "cinematic feel."

The camera zooms in on the faces of ordinary young people, and their smiles, confusion, and loneliness appear exceptionally genuine.

"Huh, this is different."

"Hey, isn't this a variety show? Why does it sound like a documentary?"

Wang Wanyu leaned forward, her eyes fixed on the television.

The usually playful young couple fell silent. The pot was bubbling, but no one was fighting over the food anymore; everyone's attention was completely drawn to the television.

Zhao Qin was also watching, but she still had time to lighten the mood. She tapped Wang Wanyu's bowl, which she had been holding for a long time, with her chopsticks, and Wang Wanyu finally realized what was happening and quickly picked up some food.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. Zhao Qin's cousin arrived, bringing some cooked food and drinks. Everyone greeted him and invited him to sit down. Then they saw the television and her cousin Zhang Wei laughed, "You guys are watching TV? What's this?"

The group said, "Cousin, it's alright, take a look and have some."

"This picture quality doesn't look like it was shot with a regular DV camera." Zhang Wei sat down to eat. He worked in an advertising company and had a very discerning eye for video production. He didn't like watching domestic TV, but instead often rented National Geographic documentaries or American variety shows to watch, boasting that he had very sophisticated tastes.

He once believed that the level of domestic programs was far from meeting the standards of developed countries in Europe and America, and even compared with variety shows from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, there was still much to learn, and the level of Japan and South Korea was far superior.

However, the level of presentation he had originally expected was presented by a domestically produced TV station that he usually looked down upon, and it was even a provincial station!?
Doesn't he know the level of the provincial TV station? But even though they bought the copyright, the cinematography is still amazing!
The show, called "Seven-Day Promise," was refreshing from the very beginning by choosing to film ordinary people from their perspective.

In the alleyway, amidst the old buildings with antennas overhead, Chen Xingrui, a young man who has just finished work, sits under the streetlights. He's new to the workforce and facing various anxieties as he enters society. In the quiet of the night, he longs for someone with whom he can have a soul-to-soul conversation and confide, hoping to find a kindred spirit. The most creative element is the sudden appearance of speech bubble effects and subtitles, which completely replace the characters' words but precisely capture their inner feelings.

For example, in the scene where Chen Xingrui looks at the silhouette of an antenna outside the window, a translucent, ripple-like bubble slowly rises from the side of his head. The surface of the bubble shimmers like the static on an old television, while inside is a complex reflection of the antenna. The subtitle appears: "This city is like a giant net..."

His gaze returned to the densely packed document on the computer screen. Suddenly, a bubble resembling a WeChat chat window popped up, flashed violently a few times, and displayed a glaring red exclamation mark against a background.

The subtitles reappeared: "It's due tomorrow, can you really finish it?" He put down his phone and sighed softly. A soft, fluffy, cloud-like bubble floated out from the depths of his heart. This bubble emitted a gentle halo, a stark contrast to the previous cold special effects.

The subtitles appeared: "If only there were someone to talk to..."

"Can we find... someone who matches our frequency?"

Then the camera zooms out, this time observing the lights of the small house from the outside, with Xiao Chen's silhouette inside, and the subtitles gradually appear below—"The noisiest city hides the quietest loneliness."

These captions, combined with vivid special effects and expressions, and a unique cinematic narrative style, immediately grab the viewer's attention.

The camera then shifts, suddenly brightening the scene to reveal a sophisticated, urban woman. This is clearly an introduction to another female character.

And the first thing she said was her personal monologue: "My name is Yang Xiaole. I am a host at a program production company. Um, I am an intern host."

"I received another task from my boss today..."

Then a portly leader launched into a tirade about the program to a bowing and scraping Yang Xiaole. Yang Xiaole's inner monologue bubbled up again: "Seriously, officer?? It's me again??"

My girls' get-together is ruined!!

"A seven-day date? That sounds so awkward..."

Then there's the scene where she's making all sorts of faces when the boss can't see her, but in the end, when she faces the boss and says, "Do you understand? This is to cultivate you!" her voice suddenly returns, and the rich expressions on her face freeze, then stop, and she slams her head down hard, like a resigned worker.

The subtitles appeared: "No problem, boss! I guarantee to complete the task and uncover the most touching story!" Unlike the previous male subtitle, the subtitles were in a formal regular script, which seemed a bit "fake." Combined with her personality, it completely conveyed her miserable acceptance, making people unable to help but laugh.

A sense of familiarity washed over him. The storytelling and the desire to express himself were filmed like a big-budget production. He seemed to have seen something similar recently—that's right, it was the promotional video for Fuzhou, "Food in Fuzhou." The cinematic quality of that video had impressed him. And now, he saw it again in the background shots of the characters.

"Could this have been made by the same team?" Zhang Wei wondered. He felt like there were bubble effects above his head.

The thief brainwashed them.

Then the hot pot in front of the table started to boil, and everyone sat down to watch the show. Before they knew it, they were engrossed in it and watched as four men and women from different places finally moved into the single apartment and had their first late-night chat.

During this late-night conversation, the taciturn Chen Xingrui and Yang Xiaole met, and surprisingly, they seemed like a perfect match.

Because of the paper wall, the two couples couldn't see each other, but their conversations alone were already quite entertaining and full of witty banter.

In particular, Yang Xiaole and Chen Xingrui, who had attracted each other's attention, received close-ups when the director announced that they were going back to their rooms, with the caption: "What does she (he) actually look like?"

The hook was thrown, and that was the end of the first episode.

However, the group of people looked at each other in bewilderment as the program ended, still wanting more.

"Wow, this show is great!"

"It's so good! I really want to know when they meet the next day! I'm going to watch the next episode!"

　School's finally in session! Here's an update for everyone.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)