Chapter 17 - Running for Village Chief! Tazhai, the Drug Village! The Judges Are Shocked!

Chapter 17: Running for Village Chief! Tazhai, the Drug Village! The Judges Are Shocked!

Seeing Chen Sicheng at a loss for words, Yan Gelin’s lips curled into a slight smirk. As a judge, it was normal to have opinions on a contestant’s work. But Chen Sicheng’s attitude towards Lu Chen clearly went beyond just the work itself. That was where he went wrong.

So, seeing Chen Sicheng embarrassed, Yan Gelin felt a sense of satisfaction inside. At that moment, the usually silent Liu Heping spoke again, “Regardless of whether this design was intentional or not, the design itself has a certain brilliance.”

“I agree!” Xuping and Yan Gelin both nodded in unison.

Chen Sicheng, feeling the pressure, didn’t dare to continue with the topic. His face turned awkwardly dark, perhaps frustrated by the hit to his pride.

He quickly shifted the conversation.

“But now that the story has reached this point, Lin Yao Dong is definitely beyond redemption. Even if you try to redeem him, this story has already seriously violated the program’s rules!

Liu Heping, Xuping, Yan Gelin—I suggest we issue a warning to Lu Chen!

No matter how much he claims his story is positive, at this point, this is clearly a sensational story built on creative landmines. It’s all just to attract attention!

We have to give him a warning!

Otherwise, the audience might think we’re shielding or favoring Lu Chen!” Chen Sicheng spoke with certainty.

After all, Lu Chen had already locked in the storyline of Lin Yaodong turning to drug production!

Chen Sicheng wasn’t worried about where the story went from here. The purpose of the warning, in his mind, was to suppress the other contestant while salvaging his own image. After all, Yan Gelin had already publicly criticized him twice.

Three strikes and you’re out,

Chen Sicheng thought to himself.

He wasn’t a pushover. Liu Heping and the others felt that Chen Sicheng’s moods were too volatile, and wondered if his success as a billion-dollar director had gone to his head.

“Alright, let’s issue the warning,” Liu Heping nodded, agreeing to Chen Sicheng’s suggestion.

After all, Liu Heping had been the one who supported Lu Chen earlier, so it was up to him to make the first move. It was just a warning, after all. It wasn’t at the point of disqualifying him just yet.

Seeing Liu Heping give the go-ahead, Xuping and Yan Gelin naturally had no objections.

Xiao Sa nodded.

“Okay, I’ll do as the judges suggested.”

With that, he picked up the remote…

_____

In the room, Lu Chen was deeply immersed in his writing when trouble unexpectedly struck.

“Lu Chen, contestant, hello, this is Xiao Sa.”

The voice of Xiao Sa came through the monitor.

Lu Chen’s heart sank. He turned to look at the camera behind him. Damn, the moment had finally come!

“Given that your creation clearly violates Rule 4 of this competition, we are issuing a warning! If your future work continues in this direction, we will disqualify you from the competition!

Please remember to create within the bounds of reason and legality!”

Xiao Sa’s voice was firm.

Then, the sound of the call being disconnected echoed through the monitor.

Lu Chen let out a silent sigh of relief.

“At least it’s just a warning. If they disqualified me on the spot, that would’ve been disastrous!”

Now that the program had given him a warning, he decided to take extra precautions.

He quickly typed out an explanation.

[Teacher Xiao Sa, and dear judges, please be patient for just a little while longer. I promise this story is positive in nature and won’t violate any rules. I just need a little more time to clear things up!].

“Alright!”

Xiao Sa’s voice came back through the monitor.

Lu Chen took a deep breath and turned back to his work.

Looks like I’ll have to speed up!

Otherwise, before I even get to the drug-busting part, the competition will be over… and then it’s really game over.

At that moment, Lu Chen’s writing speed picked up dramatically.

[With various small favors, Lin Yaodong quickly gained unmatched prestige in Tazhai!

He successfully used his influence to be collectively elected as the new village secretary of Tazhai by the villagers. The leadership team of Tazhai Village was divided into three factions–The first faction, led by Lin Yaodong, was the main faction. Lin Yaodong was the head of the main faction and the village head of Tazhai.

The second faction was headed by Lin Yaohua, the deputy village head of Tazhai, who led the second faction.

The third faction, led by Lin Zonghui (set as Lin Yaodong’s cousin), was the head of the third faction.

All the big and small matters in the village were decided by the three faction heads. However, Lin Yaohua had followed Lin Yaodong since childhood. From selling goods at markets to later running the ice-making business, he had always been Lin Yaodong’s right-hand man. Therefore, Lin Yaodong’s words were always taken as orders.

Thus, the first and second factions were closely tied together. But the third faction… well, let’s say their relationship wasn’t as close.

After all, Lin Zonghui was Lin Yaodong’s cousin. The bond between the two cousins could never be as deep as that between Lin Yaodong and Lin Yaohua.

At the same time, Lin Zonghui was somewhat stubborn and, in certain ways, very much like Lin Yaodong. He was a man of character. He wasn’t aware of the full extent of Lin Yaodong’s background.

Nor did he know that Lin Yaodong had returned to Tazhai with the intention of setting up a drug production base. But Lin Yaodong knew Lin Zonghui very well. He understood that Lin Zonghui had great influence among the younger generation in the village. So, Lin Yaodong was somewhat wary of him.

After all, the third faction alone consisted of several thousand people. If he wanted to set up a drug production operation in the village—and even lead the entire village into drug production—he first had to deal with Lin Zonghui!

Otherwise, even if Lin Zonghui didn’t interfere and tacitly accepted his ice-making business, it would eventually become a huge threat!

Lin Yaodong absolutely could not allow such a hidden danger to exist close to him!].

______

[Holy crap! He’s really going to lead the whole village into drug production!].

[I thought he was just secretly setting up a small base, but turns out Uncle Dong has much bigger ambitions! Thousands of families in Tazhai, tens of thousands of people producing drugs together! The scale must be insane! Truly terrifying!].

[I thought leading the village into smuggling was the peak! But Uncle Dong’s ambitions are far greater! Now it’s drug production for the whole village!].

[Explosive! This is beyond extreme!!!].

[Whoever said Lu Chen would kneel and call him “father” if Uncle Dong leads the village into smuggling, well, I guess you can now call him “ancestor”! His vision is much bigger—no smuggling, but drug production instead! The whole village producing drugs!].

[Not just “father” anymore—call him “ancestor”!].

[Could Uncle Dong end up having to kill Lin Zonghui?].

[It looks possible! If Lin Zonghui doesn’t cooperate, he’ll probably end up dead!].

[This is getting intense! If this were adapted into a drama, it would be absolutely gripping!].

_____

In the Judges’ Room, the judges couldn’t help but gasp in amazement.

“Lin Yaodong actually wants to lead Tazhai to produce drugs?”

Xuping took a sharp breath.

Honestly, if he were writing this story.

He wouldn’t dare to write it. He wouldn’t even be able to think of such a plot. It was truly bold!

How did this guy come up with this?

In such a short time, he created such a bizarre, yet reasonable, plot!

“Lin Yaodong, Lin Yaodong!”

Yan Gelin sighed.

At this point in the story, Lu Chen had clearly made Lin Yaodong a character with no way out.

“Let’s see how he’s going to create a plot twist next.”

“Don’t get your hopes up too high, Teacher Yan. The higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment!” Chen Sicheng said with a smirk.

To be honest, he was impressed that Lu Chen had taken the plot to this extreme. He couldn’t believe that a contestant in this show would choose to ‘commit narrative suicide’!

Impressive!

Chen Sicheng was ready to give Lu Chen a thumbs up for taking such risks!

Among the four judges, only Liu Heping remained unfazed. But there was a certain special glint in his eyes, suggesting he was deep in thought.

______

In the Room, Lu Chen paused for a moment before continuing his writing.

[So, in order to successfully push his plan forward, Lin Yaodong, after becoming the village head, decided it was time to have a serious conversation with Lin Zonghui!

That evening, at the Lin family ancestral hall,

the two brothers sat face to face. Lin Yaodong looked at Lin Zonghui in front of him.

He chose to lay his cards on the table and revealed the truth about his involvement in drug trafficking…]