After returning from Mount Longhu, the tail end of summer vacation is over.
September slowly arrived, and Peace University welcomed a new batch of students. This year was not much different from previous years, except that Jian Jing's name appeared in the "Famous Alumni" column in the recruitment brochure.
The Chinese Department's building has been newly renovated, and photos of celebrities are hung on the painted walls.
The front row naturally has well-known industry figures, but at the end of the corridor, Jian Jing, holding the Dream Pen trophy, is the youngest and most beautiful person in the photos.
In this regard, Jian Jing expressed... a little shame.
She hasn't graduated yet.
Every time I pass this corridor and see my face, I feel strange for some reason.
But she had to come on the first day of school. Although her tutor seldom contacted her after her thesis was published, it was unacceptable for her not to show up for the new semester.
In the new year, there are two more junior sisters.
The first thing the instructor said when he saw her was, "Hey, come and sign autographs for your two junior sisters. You've been waiting for me for quite some time."
Jian Jing: “…”
Today is a novel that is forced to open for business.
I signed autographs for my junior schoolmates, talked to my mentor about his latest book, promised to get Jiang Baiyan's autograph for my teacher's daughter, and donated some books to the literature club (led by my mentor).
The instructor was very satisfied and tentatively made one last request: "You won the AT Award. Do you know Doreen from the United States? The school wants to find some foreigners to give lectures."
Coincidentally, none of the other AT Award winners knew each other, and only Doreen exchanged contact information.
Jian Jing agreed immediately and sent an email to Doreen when she got back.
Doreen accepted the invitation without much hesitation. Her domestic publishing matters were signed to Jinwu, and she was very happy to have the opportunity to come to China.
Of course, since she chose to help the school, Jian Jing had to treat everyone to a meal and act as a tour guide for a few days.
Kang Mucheng made a special phone call to report the matter.
She wondered, "What's wrong?"
"Don't go on a long trip with Duolin alone." Kang Mucheng reminded her, "It's okay to just wander around. If you really want to travel, I'll arrange for someone to take her."
Jian Jing: "What?"
Kang Mucheng: "Her sexual orientation is a minority."
Jian Jing: “…”
It would have been fine if she hadn't reminded him, but after Kang Mucheng said that, Jian Jing always felt something was strange when she met Duolin.
"Hi, dear." Sister Doreen came up and gave me a hug. "Long time no see. Thank you for inviting me."
Jane quietly broke away, "I'm glad you came."
Doreen was very talkative and told many stories about China that her grandmother told her along the way, half of which were stereotypes, and unsurprisingly, she liked Bruce Lee.
Without the impetus of the case, Jian Jing felt a little tired of socializing. She forced herself to cope with it for a long time and then quickly took her to a restaurant for dinner.
Duo Lin praised the dishes, then turned on her phone, took some photos, and sat next to Jian Jing affectionately, putting her arm around her shoulders: "Let's take a photo together."
Jian Jing quickly activated her acting card.
Click, click, after several consecutive shots, Doreen let her go with satisfaction and posted the photo on Instagram after adding filters.
"Jane, you don't know how popular you are," she said. "'The Devil Doctor' is selling like crazy. A lot of TV shows want to invite you to participate, but unfortunately they can't contact you."
Jian Jing thought that she just complimented him and responded with a smile.
"I'm not lying." Doreen blinked, her rosy red eyes becoming brighter. "You were ranked 18th in the Asian celebrity voting before."
Jian Jing: What the hell? There is such a list
"Wow, look, there are already hundreds of likes." Doreen showed her the computer screen, with comments one after another under the new status.
[Is it Jian Jing, the master of the devil?]
[She is so beautiful]
[Doreen, you went to Japan?]
[It should be Korea, the dish on the table is Korean kimchi]
[It is China, and simplicity and tranquility are China.]
Jian Jing: "Ins? I'll go register an account right away!"
She downloaded the app, registered, uploaded her avatar, and posted a series of posters of the Demon series. Then she switched to Twitter and also posted a lot of promotional materials.
All of them were written in Chinese: "Hello, I am Jian Jing from China."
Soon, it received a lot of comments.
Fans from all over the world welcomed her to join them and asked when the English version of "Devil 4" would be released. Jian Jing regretfully told him that "Devil 4 turned into a pigeon".
There was a group of black people with black faces below.
Not only are she a fan of the book, she actually has quite a few variety show fans as well. They are looking forward to seeing when she will shoot a haunted house variety show and what will happen next.
But Jian Jing has lost interest in the haunted house series.
Robert's scenery is considered world-class and extremely realistic, but it is still not even one-tenth of that of Dusk Town.
Real fear is deeply rooted in people's hearts, while fake fear makes people lose interest.
This is probably another way of saying it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.
She replied: [If the situation is suitable, I will consider it]
The fans were very sorry.
[It would be nice if I could participate in a few more shows]
[You can still have an adventure without going to a haunted house]
[I hope to participate in "The King of Reasoning", then I will subscribe to it]
[I will support you even if I charge you]
[Can I participate in xxx's strip show?]
[I am the director of the xx program and would like to interview you]
All kinds of comments came flooding in, including programs, media, internet celebrities... countless names were thrown at me, making me dizzy. Who would pay attention to the name of a variety show
Jian Jing glanced at it and didn't remember "The King of Mystery" at all.
This was her first time "encountering" this show.
Then, the second time came quickly.
A few days later, Doreen returned to the United States. Before leaving, she asked her, "Will you participate in "The King of Mystery"
Jian Jing felt that the term sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where it was, so she answered casually, "I don't think so. I wasn't invited."
While answering, she was thinking, what is "The King of Mystery"? A magazine? No, she remembered that the most famous mystery magazine was called "eqmm", which is also translated as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
Could it be exclusive to a parallel world
But Doreen knew that she was sorry because The King of Mystery was so popular in the United States. "It's such a pity. I'm sure they will invite you."
Jian Jing didn't care. If she wasn't invited, then she wasn't invited. It wasn't like she was losing any meat.
"Next time, maybe next time," Doreen comforted her.
Jian Jing smiled politely: "Thank you for your good wishes."
Doreen hugged her and turned to get on the plane.
Jian Jing watched her go through the security check, breathed a sigh of relief, and called Kang Mucheng: "Duolin is gone."
Kang Mucheng said: "I didn't do anything to make you uncomfortable, did I?"
"No, you think too much. People don't have that kind of intention towards me at all." Jian Jing complained, "It's all your fault. You made me suspicious."
Kang Mucheng was helpless: "I'm afraid you don't know the truth and you don't even know you've suffered a loss."
"What harm can I suffer?" she muttered.
Kang Mucheng habitually ignored this: "I'm glad you're fine. I don't have to work overtime today, come over for dinner?"
"Come."
"Then I'll bring your manuscript back." He said, "Some parts need to be revised, as well as the cover. I asked them to draw a few drafts, and I'll pick one later."
Jian Jing: “…” So this doesn’t count as overtime
"Um?"
"I want to have a midnight snack." She said unhappily.
Kang Mucheng couldn't help but chuckle: "Okay."
Jian Jing went to work overtime in a depressed mood.
Fortunately, there were not many places in the manuscript that needed to be revised. Some of them involved the previous and subsequent plots, and after discussing with Kang Mucheng for a while, they came up with a plan. As for the cover illustration, she chose a set of watercolors.
The pink girl’s back, the bright red crime scene, the azure white-clothed boy, the dark purple phantom, the overlapping of multiple colors create a dreamy and blurry tone.
Kang Mucheng: "Yes."
"Yeah, getting off work." Jian Jing threw away the manuscript, happily crossed her legs and started playing with the video camera.
"The King of Reasoning" made its presence felt for the third time.
“Huh.” She checked her Twitter feed. “What Doreen said was true. They actually invited me.”
Kang Mucheng asked casually: "Who?"
"An account called "The King of Mystery". Wow, so many followers. What is this, a magazine?" she asked.
"The King of Mystery?" Kang Mucheng frowned, leaned in and took a closer look at the account ID, then said, "It's not a magazine, it's a mystery show."
Jian Jing immediately lost interest: "Is it a script kill?"
"No, it's a reality show." Kang Mucheng said, "It's said to be the show with the highest IQ in human history."
Jian Jing: “Ah?” The kind of level-breaking questions from The Brain
"A group of people are gathered in a closed environment to discover one or several murders and successfully find the murderer. Those who voted correctly can get a prize. If no one can find the murderer, the prize goes to the murderer."
Speaking of this, Kang Mucheng paused slightly, his expression subtle: "It's hard to say whether it has the highest IQ, but this is the most popular reality show in the United States."
Jian Jing curled her lips: "I don't want to go to the United States to participate in the show."
"It depends." He shook his head. "Maybe they will film the Asian version."
Jian Jing: “???”
She quickly searched for information about "The King of Reasoning" on her own.
It turns out that this program was produced by a team called "Gate of Wisdom" and sold to the largest media broadcasting platform in the United States. It has been filmed to its fifth season.
The first three seasons were all set in North America, and the show featured not only famous hosts, actors, and models in the industry, but also retired professionals from the FBI and CIA, as well as graduates from Ivy League schools such as Harvard and MIT. Due to its excellent production and exciting plot, the show has caused a craze since its first season, and each season has been better and more profitable than the previous one.
Some people were just ordinary retired special police officers who made a name for themselves by investigating extramarital affairs before participating in the program. However, after the filming, they became household names, received constant program invitations, and even published professional books.
But if that were all, it would just be an ordinary show with high ratings.
"The King of Mystery" ended. After they finished filming the third season, they felt that the United States was no longer fun, so they flew to Europe in a big way and started the European special.
What is the difference between a special and a regular episode
First of all, ordinary dramas are filmed in the United States, with one episode lasting 80 minutes and four episodes per season. The guests take 10-12 hours to shoot, and the series is edited later, so the audience only sees the results.
But the special episode is live.
That’s right, when filming the European episode, the production crew wanted to make it a big deal and directly made it a three-day and two-night live broadcast. The audience can follow the perspectives of different guests, explore clues, listen to questions, and reason synchronously throughout the whole process.
In this way, it is impossible not to have a strong sense of participation.
In 2019, "The King of Mystery: Europe" became a global hit. During the live broadcast, Twitter, YouTube and even Weibo were all discussing who the murderer was, successfully bringing an American program to every corner of the earth.
2020, Season 4, 2021, Season 5.
On August 22, 2022, "The King of Mystery" announced that it would go to Asia to shoot a special episode. At the same time, a vote for the Asian celebrity list appeared on the official website.
Although the ranking does not represent whether an invitation will be given, it can at least provide the program team with something to refer to.
Jian Jing ranks 18th on the list.
She herself didn't know why so many people voted for her, and the top ones were all the top stars and idols in Asia. However, it was hard to say whether they received the invitation or not, but Jian Jing had already received the news from the program team.
Kang Mucheng asked: "How is it?"
Jian Jing: slightly moving.