Chapter 1

1999, New Year's Day.

The weather in the capital city was peculiar. In December, just as winter began, there was very little snow. But by New Year's Day, it always snowed.

Wang Yu rented a red brick building, which, from its appearance, was clearly quite old. Some of these buildings didn't even have private bathrooms, and the kitchen was just a corridor with a gas cylinder. Fortunately, his place had a bathroom and was on the coveted second floor.

At that moment, he was sitting by the table, looking out the window at the snow.

The wind was gentle, and the snowflakes, like goose feathers, fell slowly. The gray sky seemed like a virtuous wife, gently covering her husband, the earth, with a blanket.

Thinking this, two words popped into Wang Yu's mind.

"Day sky."

No, no, this was completely inappropriate, turning a decent personification and the harmonious atmosphere it created into something vulgar.

Wang Yu was actually waiting for someone. When people wait, they often let their minds wander.

Moreover, as an ordinary time traveler, he had even more thoughts.

If he hadn't forgotten, it had been 181 days since he traveled from the magical year 2020 to the present.

How did he travel? Was there any scientific basis?

Wang Yu still hadn't figured it out. Given that most time travelers also couldn't explain it, he was just an ordinary one.

However, he remembered the events before the time travel quite clearly.

In 2020, Wang Yu was a YouTuber, and he was quite passionate about his job. Moreover, he had his own style:

"Spray!"

What did he spray?

Wang Yu's famous online quote was:

"2020, once again, is a year when our Chinese audience is fed garbage by the film industry."

The year number could be changed to 2019, 2018, etc.

His online nickname was "Wang the Great Sprayer."

Being a sprayer YouTuber actually had its own set of rules. Simply put, if you sprayed well and hit the mark, the audience would like it, give you a triple click, and your fan base and income would grow.

So, the key to this job was still the content.

When introducing himself to strangers, Wang Yu would say, "Provider of excellent online content."

See, this gave a different vibe, similar to "High-temperature acid and alkali resistant material displacement engineer."

In fact, spraying also required skill. For example, many period dramas often had small flaws.

At the end of 2020, a picture of a certain talented scholar made the internet cats break down, and there was actually an important detail in that picture.

A little lamb.

A lamb, in a certain religion, has significant meaning, and the term "scapegoat" is actually a borrowed term.

So, once you understand this, whenever "scapegoat" appears in a period drama, if it doesn't match the time it was introduced, you can spray.

Doesn't that sound simple?

In 2020, if you don't have a wealth of knowledge, how can you be a YouTuber?

Wang Yu was quite passionate about his job. He liked to research and spray, and he believed that adaptation shouldn't be random, and neither should spraying.

Young people might not follow the rules, but young sprayers must follow "spray ethics."

Speaking of 2020...

Just as he was thinking about this, a touch of green appeared in the white world outside the window.

Green has many meanings. Sometimes it symbolizes health, sometimes it symbolizes the neighbor's Mr. Wang, and sometimes it symbolizes hope.

Wang Yu saw the green of the postal bike, which he had been waiting for.

"Wang Yu! You have a letter."

"Coming!"

Wang Yu put on his black down jacket and rushed out of the rental, trotting down the stairs.

One minute later...

Wang Yu, with his elbow on the table and his hands in his hair, had a blank look.

Directly in front of him, a thick envelope lay alone.

"Grass!" He muttered a plant name.

His manuscript had been rejected again.

If he were still in 2020, the best thing Wang Yu could do now would be to open his computer, go to a certain website, and post a question:

"What is it like to have all your manuscripts rejected after 181 days of writing?"

Unfortunately, it was New Year's Day in 1999, and Wang Yu could only bear it alone, unable to share his despair.

As the saying goes, there is no hate without cause, and no love without cause.

The reason Wang Yu was so determined to write scripts was, of course, for a reason, but this story had to start from 2020.

That year, some said it was magical, others said it was the hardest year, but no matter what, after the pandemic, the Chinese people saw many things clearly.

The chaos abroad was truly remarkable, especially with the "Understanding King," who brought us much joy.

Just take the case of a certain company, where even Martians had surrendered, but what happened?

The Understanding King forgot about it.

That year, the Chinese people really broadened their horizons. As for what the "Sleeping King" would do, Wang Yu didn't see it, as he had already time-traveled.

These events led Wang Yu, who originally sprayed films and TV shows, to also involve himself in international politics, from the pandemic abroad to a certain country's election, from the ban on a certain company to the breakdown of a certain country.

Of course, there were also many points to spray in the film and TV industry. Although there were indeed many high-quality domestic films and TV shows that year, there were even more bad ones.

Didn't you see that a certain director with an average score of 4.2 still had the nerve to give advice?

Didn't you see the Eight Route Army living in villas and mansions with greasy hair and makeup? It wasn't until the incident became big that the original author was found to be part of the production team.

Didn't you see that when "Monkey Little Treasure" came out, even Teacher Liu felt a great threat, and Hollywood no longer wanted to co-produce with him. What could be done?

Martial arts dramas, anti-Japanese dramas, movies, and even variety shows—there were many bad ones, and thus many points to spray. Despite the significant economic downturn, Wang Yu's sprayer career was on the rise.

He considered it a small contribution to the country, and he wasn't proud.

But, he never expected that just as he was about to continue spraying, becoming more famous and earning more money, and living a better life...

Someone challenged him.

"You spray others so easily, but what about your own level?"

"Can you be a screenwriter? Dare to try?"

He didn't know which fan he had offended, but Wang Yu wasn't a pushover.

He retorted: "Try it, I will! If I become a screenwriter, I will definitely produce high-quality work!"

He thought, "What online people say has no impact on my real life," so he didn't take it seriously.

But when he woke up, he found himself back in 1998, as the young Wang Yu who was still in school.

This was probably what they called "trying and dying."

Considering such a magical year, time travel seemed like a small matter.

The current Wang Yu wasn't reborn; he was certain he had time-traveled, as he was different from before.

Wang Yu, a student at the Beijing Film Academy's Screenwriting Department, was 21 years old, 178 cm tall, and weighed 70 kg. He was neither fat nor thin, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and could be considered somewhat handsome. He had a side part hairstyle and wore glasses, adding a literary air.

Since he had come to this era, and this time travel might be related to the "challenge," he felt a sense of determination.

He was now a legitimate student, and the original Wang Yu's memories were still intact. Combined with his own sprayer experience, he had a deep understanding of many films and TV shows.

Wasn't this like a king playing against bronze?

Write!

It's just a screenwriter, I'll do it!

He was in his third year, and he had chosen to take a leave of absence. In the past 181 days, Wang Yu had written several scripts.

The most recent one was sent to the Beijing Film Studio five days ago. He had high hopes for this script and believed it would succeed.

But the result...

The former king, perfectly integrated into the segments.

Wang Yu pulled his hands out of his hair, propped up his cheeks, and glanced around the room.

The room was bare, fitting the idiom "penniless." Wait, that's not right.

This wasn't his home; it was a rental.

The only thing he owned in the entire house was the chair under his buttocks.

Truly, he was at the end of his rope.

Was Wang Yu, the great sprayer, destined to live like this forever...

At that moment, he felt a tingling in his waist.

BB! BB!

Someone was calling him. This device was called a beeper or a pager, and the most popular phrase of the time was:

"If you need me, call me."

This time, the call...

Wang Yu looked at the number and knew it wasn't good.

Bang! Bang!

Suddenly, his door was knocked on. Wang Yu's reaction was very strange. He ignored the knocking and just kept organizing the letter.

The person outside couldn't wait and started knocking and shouting.

"Wang Yu! You're home, I heard your beeper! Open the door!"

This person was quite smart. The call was to check if anyone was home, showing some investigative skills.

Could it be a debt collector?

However, the voice was pleasant, and it was a woman. He didn't know if she was attractive.

"Wang Yu! What are you doing? Why aren't you opening the door?" The knocking became more urgent.

Wang Yu knew that the person outside was even more dangerous than a debt collector. In a panic, he blurted out:

"I'm pooping!"