Chapter 19: Mythology?

"Take a look at your bank card."

Old Zhao looked at the others, signaling them to keep it a secret.

Everyone present nodded in understanding.

Jiang Zhe looked around and found that everyone had a mysterious smile on their faces.

"My bank card? Has it been frozen?"

Half-doubting, he took out his Huawei phone and opened the banking app.

He remembered that the original owner of this body used a six-digit password to protect a two-digit balance.

He entered his gesture password.

It would have been fine if he hadn't looked, but once he did, he was dumbfounded.

"A balance of three million?"

Jiang Zhe suddenly looked up. "Leader Zhao, what's going on?"

Old Zhao didn't say a word, followed by thunderous applause from everyone present as they all chimed in at once.

"Congratulations, Teacher Jiang, on selling your ideas! Three million has been deposited!"

"That three million is from Old Qian, an old acquaintance of Professor Feng from Kyoto. He's a famous screenwriter who took a liking to your two ideas and decided to buy the copyrights."

"Copyrights?"

He remembered that there was no such thing as copyright for ideas in this world.

How could three million arrive all at once?

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that just a moment ago, he was a destitute, struggling university graduate.

Who would have thought that two hours later, he would become a wealthy man.

This was too unrealistic!

Xiao Shiyi said with a smile, "Congratulations, Teacher Jiang! You have to treat us to a big feast when you have the time!"

Wang Lin chimed in, "We were supposed to be celebrating Teacher Jiang joining the Television Station, but who knew you'd be so amazing? Your debut was immediately scouted by a gold-medal screenwriter from the Authors' Association. It's no exaggeration to say, Teacher Jiang, that you won't have to worry about money from now on."

Wang Guosheng explained while clapping, "If your future ideas are good enough, Old Qian will likely collaborate with you a second or third time. You two will be working together for a long time to come!"

So that was it!

Jiang Zhe realized what was happening and nodded quickly. "Of course. But this three million surely isn't just for one idea, right?"

"That's right!" Old Zhao said. "Open your Weibo now. Our operations department took over your Weibo account earlier, and the staff were going to finish it for you, but I thought about it and decided you should do it yourself."

"Post an announcement on Weibo: authorize the rights to Old Qian."

Hearing all this, Jiang Zhe finally understood.

A gold-medal screenwriter had taken an interest in his ideas.

No, it was more like the other party wanted a long-term collaboration—he would provide the ideas, and the other party would contribute to the film and television industry.

After all, very few people in this world could solve the ten great paradoxes.

If even one was solved, it could be successfully adapted into a film or series and would definitely be a Hu Ge hit!

Thinking this, he asked Old Zhao for Old Qian's number and called him personally.

"Hello, I am Jiang Zhe, a host at Suzhou TV Station."

The groggy voice on the other end instantly became alert upon hearing it was Jiang Zhe.

"Oh, I'm flattered! Little Teacher Jiang isn't asleep yet? I assume you're calling about that three million."

"Yes, Teacher Qian. I'll post the Weibo announcement in a moment."

"You're too kind. It's only three million. Your ideas are unprecedented. I'm not lying to you—if you wrote the script yourself and pitched it to Hollywood, you'd make at least a million US dollars."

"It's fine, I don't care about that. As long as it's enough to use. On the other hand, it's also a contribution to the country."

"I thank you on behalf of the Film and Television Association!"

"You're welcome. By the way, have you set a tone for the script yet? If not, I can give you an oral outline."

"This..."

Hearing this, Old Qian immediately got out of bed, rushed to his study, and grabbed his laptop.

"Go ahead, Little Teacher Jiang!"

"The Myth, based on the Bootstrap Paradox, divided into two parts."

Jiang Zhe searched his mind and found that there was no "The Myth" TV series or movie in this world.

And the theme and content of "The Myth" perfectly matched the 'Bootstrap Paradox'.

"Please continue!"

"The main plot is: a top modern-day student and his girlfriend's brother are fighting over a time-travel box when they accidentally travel back to the Qin Dynasty."

At this point, Jiang Zhe thought for a moment. The version of "The Myth" from his previous life felt a bit awkward.

He decided to change it on the spot!

"In this world-building, Qin Shi Huang is a tyrant."

"The protagonist and his girlfriend's brother travel there."

"The protagonist takes the brother and first befriends Xiang Yu and Xiang Liang. Later, they become disciples to learn martial arts, and once they've mastered them, they set out to roam the world."

"Later, they meet Liu Bang and are tricked by him into forced labor on the Great Wall. To avoid the labor..."

"The two work together, using local materials to create simple grenades and lead a group of laborers in a rebellion."

Upon hearing this, Old Qian on the other end was stunned. "What? Rebellion? You can't just say that!"

"Yes, in my understanding, a feudal dynasty must be overthrown; even the Qin Dynasty is no exception. After all, the timeline is after the unification of the six kingdoms."

"If you travel through time and don't rebel, it's a wasted trip!"

As he finished, the other end gasped. "What spirit! The investment will likely be Hu Ge, and the scale will be grand!"

Jiang Zhe then spoke the main plot and characters fluently.

"In the end, one becomes a scholar and the other a warrior. They defeat the Xiongnu at Mount Han... they cross the grasslands, wipe out the Xiongnu, conquer Japan, conquer Goryeo, and destroy the Roman Empire..."

"Let the flag of the new world be planted across the entire planet!"

"After unifying the globe, they take an elixir of immortality and live in seclusion, surviving for 2,000 years until the modern era."

"When the protagonist reaches 2,000 years later, he finds himself becoming transparent. To avoid being erased from time and space, the protagonist decides to travel back to the Qin Dynasty alone once more."

"This time, the perspective shifts to the elderly protagonist; acting as a secluded immortal, taking a supporting role."

"..."

To be worthy of the three million yuan, Jiang Zhe spent nearly ten minutes telling Old Qian the optimized version of the story's direction from his mind.

As Jiang Zhe finished his series of outlines, everyone on the other end of the phone and in the room was stunned.

Anyone with eyes could see—this was the essence of the Bootstrap Paradox: a loop!

Jiang Zhe had proposed the "Bootstrap Paradox" one moment and used it to conceive a perfect television series the next.

At this moment, the perception of Jiang Zhe by Old Zhao, Wang Guosheng, Xiao Shiyi, Wang Lin, and all the other hosts reached a new level.

"Genius! A genius!"

"A pure genius, he's a natural-born host!"

"This logical thinking and improvisational ability are truly unprecedented."

"The way he tells it, I even want to watch this TV series now."

"..."

The other end of the phone was silent, with only the sound of heavy breathing.

If Jiang Zhe hadn't known the situation, he would have almost thought Old Qian was doing something naughty with his wife...

A moment later, Old Qian's excited voice came through.

"Incredible, simply incredible!"

"Your ideas, your plot, and your story are at the absolute peak of our industry!"

"Heavens, I'm almost ready to kneel to you!"

"Three million isn't enough, it's too little. Just based on your outline's direction, I'm adding another two million!"

"By the way, Teacher Jiang, do you have any actors in mind for the lead roles?"

"I do!"

Jiang Zhe smiled. "The main lead should be Hu Ge, and the other lead is from Taiwan..."

"Good, I promise to satisfy your requests. I can see with my own eyes that this series will be a massive hit!"

"I'll stop talking for now; I have to stay up all night to write the outline. Let's stay in touch."

At this point, a woman's dissatisfied voice came from the other side. "You old geezer, which vixen are you talking to so late at night?"

"What vixen? It's Little Teacher Jiang, the host from Su City."

"Ah? Little Teacher Jiang? The one you were just watching on TV? That handsome young man speaks so well; this auntie really likes him."

"You crazy woman, you're over fifty and still calling yourself an auntie? I'm starting to feel like my head is turning green."

"..."

Hearing this, Jiang Zhe's mouth twitched. He had made a phone call only to be mistaken for a vixen by an old man's wife, and her tone made it sound like she was genuinely interested in him.

If he kept talking, he'd probably have bad dreams tonight.

With that, Jiang Zhe hung up the phone.

He turned around to look at the people present, and everyone looked like they had seen a ghost.

Every face was filled with shock and speechlessness.

"What's wrong, everyone?"

"You're asking us what's wrong? Do you know you're a genius sent from heaven to save the entertainment and science industries?" Old Zhao jokingly scolded him before taking out a contract and handing it to Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe gave a sheepish smile, scanned it to make sure there were no issues, and signed it directly.

"It's not that exaggerated. I need to fulfill my duties now."

Then he sat back on the sofa, took out his phone, and opened Weibo.

The originally empty message list had instantly become 99+.

He checked his follower count; it had already exceeded 200,000.

"Two hours ago, I had 9 followers. Two hours later, it's 200,000!"

"I feel like I could start doing live-stream sales."

He secretly complained to himself and then edited a message.

[The decryption of the Grandfather Paradox and the creative authorization for the Bootstrap Paradox have been granted to Teacher Qian Youde of the Kyoto Authors' Association.]

[The legal team of Suzhou TV Station will pursue anyone else who plagiarizes these ideas!]

[By the way, congratulations to myself for getting a permanent position and becoming the host of the evening science popularization and decryption program!]

[The broadcasting time is to be determined!]

[I am your old friend: Jiang Zhe, (finger heart)!]

He finished editing and hit send.

As soon as the message was sent, the comments section began to fill up rapidly.