"Isn't it still possible? Can't you pass the trial?"
At 6:30 p.m., in an old house in Lin'an District, Rongcheng, the young man's originally full of expectant eyes gradually dimmed.
The middle-aged man sitting across the table slowly put down the manuscript in his hand and looked at the young man with complicated eyes, "Yang Xiao, your script is very good, but there's still that problem. The market doesn't need purely supernatural books. You should understand the current environment, so..."
"I understand, thank you, Brother Zhao." Yang Xiao tried his best to smile. He knew that the other party also tried his best.
"By the way, Brother Zhao, I'll refund the deposit to you. I'm really sorry for delaying you for so long." Yang Xiao took the phone.
"No, no, no, I'm sorry. You keep the deposit. I think... I think there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future. This can be considered as the deposit for next time."
After saying that, the middle-aged man didn’t give Yang Xiao a chance to refuse. He turned around and walked out. The sky was gray and it was still raining. The middle-aged man held up a black umbrella and stood at the door of the unit when he saw the card that the landlord had posted in advance. Rent-seeking revelation, after hesitating for a moment, he turned around, "Xiao Yang, listen to Brother Zhao's advice and find a class first. People have to live in the present. You have to find a job to support yourself first, right?"
"I'm already looking. I went to interview with two companies this morning." Yang Xiao showed a reassuring smile. He knew that Brother Zhao was a good person and didn't want him to worry.
After sighing softly, the middle-aged man didn't know what to say. He shook his head, held up a black umbrella and walked into the rain.
When the middle-aged man's figure disappeared completely, Yang Xiao turned around and walked back to the room step by step, his steps much heavier.
This is an old community. The dark and cramped corridors are filled with small advertisements for unlocking doors and drains. The railings and handrails are also rusty. Respectable people would not live here. But even in such an unseemly place, Now it has become a luxury that Yang Xiao cannot reach.
He will move out next month, and he doesn't know where he will go. The landlord has notified him in advance, and a rent-seeking notice has been posted outside the unit door.
Closing the door and looking at the manuscript on the table, Yang Xiao felt a little dazed for a moment. Unlike other students who were busy looking for jobs as soon as they graduated, Yang Xiao chose to become a script creator after graduating from university. That year, script sales exploded. , the market demand is huge, which allows Yang Xiao to see business opportunities and the opportunity to realize his dream.
In the past two years, he has also created several works with good reputation and sales. He is an author who specializes in supernatural suspense. The highly praised scripts in the industry such as Huang Family Mansion and Rainy Night Murderer were written by him.
But the good times didn't last long. With a piece of approval, the winter of script-killing industry suddenly came, the supernatural sector was completely wiped out, and all the familiar script agencies no longer accepted supernatural manuscripts. This was not only for Yang Xiao, It ruined his job and almost crushed all his hopes.
He also tried to change and write some novels about love, family and game plots, but unfortunately he was too biased and had not been influenced by love and family. He even had few friends, and no script agency was willing to take the risk to sign him. .
After half a year of going around and around, he finally decided to return to the supernatural world. Hearing that the rumors were less serious now, he took the time to carefully polish the first draft and then found the boss of the script agency, Brother Zhao, who had the best relationship with him, but the result was already obvious. .
He doesn't blame Brother Zhao. Brother Zhao is a good person and takes good care of himself. However, he is in his early 40s and has seniors and juniors. The whole family relies on him for food. He needs to make money to support his family and cannot tolerate the slightest risk. .
Dreams cannot be used as food, let alone firewood, rice, oil and salt. It is time to think about what to do next.
But before that, he still had one important thing to do. He turned on his phone and clicked on a group chat called Nightmare Family. There were not many people in it, but the chat was lively.
This is his drama friend group, which is full of friends who have always supported him. The topic of conversation is also about his new script. Everyone is looking forward to it. In some aspects, they are even more conscientious than him as the author, but this also makes Yang Xiaoyu Feel ashamed.
The new script was stranded, and the future was far away. He had to stand up and explain. Taking courage, Yang Xiao slowly typed a line. But when he saw someone in the group suddenly asking the author if the new script could be released today, Yang Xiao My defense was broken, I deleted the pale excuse I hadn't sent yet, threw away my phone, leaned back in my chair and gasped for air.
When he came to his senses after a long time, it was completely dark outside. He went to the bathroom and flushed his face with cold water. The top priority now was to find a class. Although he still had some savings left, he would soon be there if there was no further income. He is going to live on the street, and the drama fans definitely don’t want to see him like this.
Just as he was racking his brains to think of what jobs he could do, suddenly there was a knock on the door.
The knock on the door was very slow, with a heavy tone, like an old man with only his last breath, but the pressure it brought to Yang Xiao was unprecedented. He immediately realized that the landlady was outside the door, because he saw the light in the room. The light came to him.
Shrinking his neck, Yang Xiao didn't dare to move until the knocking on the door stopped and the corridor was quiet.
After waiting like this for another 10 minutes, after confirming that the landlady had left, Yang Xiaocai tiptoed to the door and opened it a crack. After all, his umbrella was still outside the door, which was also his asset.
But when the voice-activated light came on, Yang Xiao frowned and saw an extra express box on the ground outside the door.
After confirming that no one was around, Yang Xiao opened the door and picked up the express box. The box was very light. After shaking slightly for a few times, Yang Xiao immediately determined that the thing inside was a script box.
It is impossible for the landlord to help him pick up the express delivery, only the courier boy. But when did the couriers in the community become so dedicated?
I went back to the room and opened the express box, and it turned out to be a script box inside. The box had a painting-like texture of a village shrouded in moonlight. The doors and windows of every house were closed, and there were no lights. It was like a pool of stagnant water, lifeless. In the distance, There is a faint towering black shadow in the background, which seems to confirm that the village is located deep in the mountains.
In the upper right corner of the script box, four words in blood separate the strange harmony of the whole picture, and this is also the name of the script - Fengmen Ghost Play.
This name, this composition, and this weird atmosphere can't help but make Yang Xiao, a profound supernatural author, shine. There are not many script writers who dare to write like this. This may be a master-level work.
Immediately grabbing his phone, Yang Xiao eagerly wanted to know which script agency this script came from, which gave him hope.
But he checked through his friend list, and no one sent him a script. In addition to being the original author of the script, Yang Xiao also occasionally took on some private work, revising or evaluating scripts for some familiar script agencies, helping to improve the story plot, and at the same time making money. Get a little reward.
But in today's general environment, it has been a long time since the script agency contacted me.
If it's not a script club that I'm familiar with, then who sent the script?
Picking up the express box again, Yang Xiao noticed that the sender's information was blurred, as if it had been soaked in water. He walked under the lamp, and through the light, he finally managed to recognize the last few words in the address:
No. 144, Fengmen Town.
