I Do

Zhang Tan secured the anniversary project for Pujiang Television, and the head of the Animation Department immediately supervised the establishment of a project team. Director Li Liang, who accompanied him, took charge of the entire project, with Zhang Tan serving as the screenwriter. Two major tasks lay immediately ahead: first, selecting the members and building the team; second, getting the script moving quickly.

The script submitted by Zhang Tan consisted of the story outline, character designs, and the plot for the first five episodes, while the rest remained unwritten.

Now that "Bad Bad Bear" had been officially selected, the subsequent scripts needed to be finalized as soon as possible, otherwise the entire project could not function.

Unlike "Under Tianyu Mountain" and "The Lamp Lighter"—where the former had Luo Ming as the chief writer and the latter was adapted from a manga—"Bad Bad Bear" had Zhang Tan as its chief writer, and the content was entirely original.

When writing "Bad Bad Bear," Zhang Tan drew inspiration from the version he had seen in his past life, but he did not remember the specific plots at all. He only knew that such a story concept existed, so the subsequent plots had to be entirely created by himself.

The head of screenwriting instructed Zhang Tan to assemble a writing team as soon as possible, allowing him to pick anyone as long as he could persuade them to join.

Upon returning to his office, Zhang Tan was summoned by Feng Dong. Feng Dong's stance was that members must be preferentially chosen from Screenwriting Group Three, adhering to the principle of keeping valuable resources within one's own team.

"Bad Bad Bear" was a skit-style animation where the plot of each episode was relatively independent, without deep connections between them. They were simply fragmented little stories strung together by the unfortunate bear.

To ensure the humor of every episode, Zhang Tan definitely needed assistants; it was impossible to accomplish everything by racking his own brain alone.

"I want to find four people, and I'd like to invite Xu Jian as one of them," Zhang Tan said.

Xu Jian did not belong to Screenwriting Group Three, which did not align with the group leader's requirement.

"I'll pick the other three from our own group."

Feng Dong looked at him in surprise and asked, "Wasn't Xu Jian the one competing against you this time? You both went to the television station—will he agree to join you?"

Zhang Tan replied, "I'll give it a try."

Although the style of "Qiqi is Truly Wonderful," written by Xu Jian, was completely different from "Bad Bad Bear," they shared one common trait: both followed a comedic route.

Zhang Tan had read his script, which was very humorous and entertaining, so there would be no problem with him writing for "Bad Bad Bear."

After thinking for a moment, Feng Dong agreed.

"As long as you can convince him."

Emerging from the group leader's office, Zhang Tan discovered that Luo Ming had returned and was flipping through the script of "Bad Bad Bear." Seeing Zhang Tan back, Luo Ming said happily, "I just heard the news. Congratulations, Zhang Tan! I didn't expect you to progress so quickly."

He previously had no idea that Zhang Tan had participated in the television station's project competition. When the news spread at noon that Zhang Tan, a newcomer from Screenwriting Group Three, had won a key company project, someone mentioned he was Luo Ming's assistant. Only then did Luo Ming find out, rushing back to the office to understand the situation.

"You've been away these past few days, so I didn't mention it. I had no confidence myself and thought I was just making up the numbers, but I never expected to win," Zhang Tan explained.

Luo Ming laughed and said, "You should have confidence in yourself. I'm just happy. I knew you would make it, I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. I share in this glory as well."

Seeing his former project assistant becoming increasingly outstanding brought glory to him too.

"I never knew you were also skilled at writing humorous scripts. It's very different from the you I know."

Zhang Tan smiled. "They say everyone has a goofy side deep down in their hearts. Writing 'Bad Bad Bear' is also fulfilling a wish of mine."

"You need to form a writing team, right? Writing such a long story alone is exhausting, and your ideas will run out first. Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang the master mind—you need people. You need to be bold and ask the group leader for staff."

"The team formation has already been approved. It will include five people, counting me."

"Oh? That's great. Do you have any candidates in mind?"

"Not yet. Any recommendations?"

Zhang Tan had been there for too short a time. Furthermore, these screenwriters frequently followed production crews and did not share an office, so he still hadn't fully recognized all the writers in Group Three, let alone knowing their characteristics.

Luo Ming thought for a moment and said, "Stylistically, there are a few candidates. Liu Si and Jia Yulin are quite suitable. You can ask them."

Zhang Tan quickly recalled these two individuals in his mind. Liu Si was also a young man who had entered the Pujiang Film Studio three years ago, while Jia Yulin was older, in his thirties, and had been working there for over a decade as a veteran screenwriter.

He had not interacted with either of them, but that did not matter.

Luo Ming chatted with Zhang Tan for a long time until someone called him away.

Just as Zhang Tan sat down, Liu Dawen arrived. With no other business in mind, having heard that Zhang Tan had won a major company project, he came to offer his congratulations.

"I originally wanted to ask you to write a background story for Sister Feng, but now it seems you definitely don't have time. Never mind, I'll do it myself. Having stayed with you screenwriters for so long and being influenced by what I constantly saw and heard, I've improved too. By the way, let me show you a new collectible figure today, Sister Feng's younger sister..."

Liu Dawen was obsessed with female collectible dolls. Zhang Tan even harbored the malicious suspicion that he must have owned an inflatable doll.

After seeing Liu Dawen off, Zhang Tan took the stairs up to the eighth floor to find Old Liu, the head of the Script Evaluation Group.

Old Liu was shrewd and experienced. Seeing him arrive, he smiled and said first, "Here to poach someone? Who have you set your eyes on?"

Zhang Tan placed a tin of tea leaves on Old Liu's desk and smiled. "Newly picked fresh tea from this year, Lushan Cloud and Mist. Have a taste."

Old Liu loved drinking tea.

"Goodness! A tin of tea for a person—go ahead and pick one."

"I want Jiang Rong."

"As expected..."

Jiang Rong had a lively and bouncy personality with plenty of quirky ideas, making her very suitable for joining the screenwriting team of "Bad Bad Bear."

Old Liu picked up the telephone on his desk, then put it back down. "Forget it, I'll go call her myself."

He stood up, pulled open the office door, and shouted outward, "Jiang Rong, come here."

Jiang Rong's voice rang out from not far away: "Coming~~~~"

She quickly pushed the door open and entered.

"Boss, what are your instructions? Oh? Zhang Tan? Why are you here too?"

Old Liu was busy trying out the Lushan Cloud and Mist tea brought by Zhang Tan right on the spot, telling Zhang Tan to speak with Jiang Rong himself.

"I'm willing! Zhang Tan, I'm willing."

Upon hearing Zhang Tan's words, Jiang Rong didn't hesitate at all; her response was prompt and decisive, her gaze extraordinarily firm, giving the impression that the next step would be exchanging rings.

Hearing this, Old Liu helplessly shook his head. These youngsters were each more eager than the last to sprout wings and fly away from here, which put him, the group leader, in an awkward position. At least they could have played hard to get for a bit so he could have earned another tin of tea.

Stepping out of Old Liu's office, Zhang Tan was startled to find a large crowd gathered outside.

"What is all this about?"

Everyone chimed in all at once.

"Zhang Tan, I heard you secured the television station project?"

"Is this true?"

"That's amazing!"

"What's the title of the script?"

...

After work, Jiang Rong treated everyone to dinner, saying she wanted to express her gratitude to Zhang Tan for recognizing her talent. Upon learning that Zhang Tan had claimed her with just a tin of tea, she threatened to fight him to the death to demand an explanation.

He Chao and others also accompanied them. After dinner, the group went to karaoke. Jiang Rong finally got her wish, having invited Zhang Tan to sing several times previously without success.

Jiang Rong actually sang quite well, and Zhang Tan was no slouch either. Amid the instigation of the crowd, the two of them sang a duet titled "Hey You."

A designated driver drove them back to Little Red Horse Kindergarten. Along the bustling and noisy West Chang'an Street, this place was tranquil.

Little Red Horse Kindergarten was brightly lit. No one knew how many cicadas were hiding in the large tree in the courtyard, singing in the lingering warmth. In the corners beneath the tree, nameless little insects were also unwilling to remain lonely.

All of this made the kindergarten appear even more serene, bringing peace to the heart.

The night was deep. Past 10 o'clock, the little ones had concluded their evening activities and obediently returned to their dormitories to prepare for sleep.

Just as Zhang Tan was about to go upstairs, he saw Xiaobai standing at the classroom doorway, holding a picture book in one hand and waving at him with the other like a beckoning cat. Using her distinct Sichuan accent, she called out:

"Hey~~ Uncle, come here quickly, let's chat and gossip."