Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 118

The dusk light was somewhat ambiguous, and An Yinong was dazzled for a moment, but he quickly reacted: “It’s you? Mr. Xie?”

“So I was seeing things?” An Yinong thought, but at that moment, he really felt that the master had come, it was an almost instinctive intuition.

“Nice to meet you again. My last name is Xie, Xie Yu.” The neighbor smiled, hiding all his thoughts with a polite smile.

“Which Yu?” An Yinong asked reflexively.

The neighbor didn’t understand his urgency, but still answered: “From the driving skills from the six arts of a gentleman.”

What a coincidence? An Yinong’s heart skipped a beat. He suppressed the incredible guess in his heart and asked in a calm voice, “Why is Mr. Xie here?”

“I live nearby and was passing by here. Who knew I heard the sound of a sword, so I came here to check. Have you learned sword?”

“I just learned a little bit randomly.” An Yinong replied.

“As graceful as a startled swan, as graceful as a dragon, it is unforgettable.”

Mr. Xie unconsciously revealed a bit of his genuine appreciation and love for him. An Yinong was stunned again: Mr. Xie also once commented on his swordsmanship in this way.

How did he answer at that time? He answered: This is used to describe the graceful and light figure of a woman, how can it be used to describe a man like me?

“Sorry, I forgot this is used to describe a girl’s slender figure and is not suitable for boys.” Mr. Xie expressed his apology.

Hearing these familiar words, An Yinong looked at him in a daze, almost asking: Who are you?

“Do you know ‘Yinong’?”

Mr. Xie hesitated: “A new cartoonist?”

“Maybe it’s just a coincidence? There really is no such good thing in this world.” An Yinong was a little disappointed and unwilling.

Feeling really embarrassed, An Yinong made up an excuse and said he had something else to do.

“Sorry for disturbing you.”

Mr. Xie left very considerately. After leaving Anyinong’s gate, Xie Yu went to the back door and entered his own villa. There was no training room in his villa, but there were long swords placed in the house as decoration. Xie Yu drew out his sword, looked at it for a while, and suddenly made a casual move, which was faster and heavier than An Yinong’s, but without that light feeling.

“Sir?” He put away his sword and frowned: He seemed to have recognized the wrong person just now. Who did he think was me?

When he called me “sir”, his eyes lit up, as if he had finally seen an oasis in the wilderness. His voice was filled with joy, and his expression was soft and amiable, which made people curious, and yet… a little unhappy. He seems to be an important person, but why has he never been mentioned?

He came to the study, took out the cut piece of paper, opened it, picked up the pen and wrote the first word “today”, but the pen was suspended in mid-air and he didn’t write the second word for a long time.

After a while, he picked up the small piece of paper, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it into the trash can.

“Really.” He slapped his forehead, “It’s like a young person in love.”

That was a boy who was more than ten years younger than him. He must have been too busy lately and was overwhelmed.

Perhaps it was because he found the feeling during this sword practice, An Yinong was inspired like a spring in the days that followed.

He not only drew at home, but also secretly drew at school. In less than a week, he finished the final battle and subsequent stories of “Desert Heroes: Devil City”, and the final episode was soon published in “Huayou” magazine.

“Heroes of the Desert” has been a popular comic recently. Not to mention the painting style that combines masculine power and feminine soft beauty, not to mention the eye-catching large-scale background depictions from time to time, the plot that blended classical and modern elements very well was enough to attract many fans of martial arts comics.

But no one expected that when the final episode of “Heroes of the Desert” was released in “Huayou” magazine, its sales volume actually increased by about 30% on the basis of the great sales. Colleagues who had previously not taken this newcomer seriously were stunned: the sales of the first book by a new cartoonist were actually close to those of the top cartoonists. Where did this monster come from?

They bought the magazine and read it. The more they read, the more nervous they became: “This man’s hands are so steady. He must have a solid foundation in classical figure sketching. The lines of the clothes are smooth and flowing, and you can even see a little shadow of Dunhuang art. The characters in the book are all fairy-like when they move.”

Looking at those scene paintings again, they were vivid like painted versions of ancient frontier poems, such as “The desert is filled with solitary smoke, the long river is setting in the round sun” and “Have you not seen the horses galloping along the edge of the snowy sea, the vast yellow sand reaching into the sky?” Even the figures in the painting fit in perfectly with the background, standing or walking, and the figures were both prominent and harmonious. The composition of the painter was amazing.

With real scenes and imagery, coupled with a caravan in the wind and sand or a general on horseback holding a sword, it was simply a visual poem. They even suspected that this was someone who already had a certain reputation in the classical painting circle and concealed his identity to try his hand in the comics circle.

At the same time, some comic magazines finally made up their minds.

Not only was the update speed so stable, the plot also kept getting better and better, and the ending was concise and powerful. The final battle was so visually stunning that it directly elevated “Heroes of the Desert” from “good looking” to “classic”.

“Who is Yinong? Find him out and dig him away!”

The president also called to report the sales of the final chapter and mentioned the possibility of publishing a separate volume of The Desert Heroes. However, he was also a little worried: “After this, there is no suitable comic to take over.”

If there were no new comics to retain these attracted readers, their magazine will go back to the old ways.

“Have you contacted other famous cartoonists?”

“Those magazines keep a close eye on these people, and it’s hard to persuade them to come to our Huayou.”

To put it bluntly, Huayou was only growing because of Da Mo, and it was hard to say how it will perform in the future. Other cartoonists will not easily move here, as the risk was too high.

“If you can’t find those well-known cartoonists for the time being, then look for them among the new submissions. The style and work of the cartoonist are the secondary criteria. The most important thing for a cartoon is that it is interesting and attractive.”

“Okay boss.”

At the same time, Editor Qian, who shouldered the heavy responsibility of the editorial department, stepped into An Yinong’s villa for the first time. She came to discuss the publication of the single volume and the second part of “The Legend of the Desert Heroes”.

Granny Lian knew that she was the editor of Huayou and thought she was an employee coming to see the boss. She brought tea and snacks and said, “Young Master will be down soon.”

An Yinong did come down very quickly and brought a stack of comic drafts with him.

“Is this the second volume of ‘Heroes of the Desert’?” Editor Qian asked in surprise.

“No, it’s new.”

He sat down and pushed the manuscript in front of Editor Qian: “Would you like to take a look?”

“Sorry.” Editor Qian took it and straightened it, “Huh?” Her expression was a little strange. Why was the style of this painting different from The Legend of the Desert Heroes?

“Is it also a martial arts theme?” Editor Qian was confused when he saw the beautiful woman in ancient costume and the girl in modern clothes beside her.

“It’s a modern adventure with a female protagonist.” An Yinong took a sip of tea.

“Pfft, cough cough cough.” Editor Qian wiped the coffee table with a tissue and looked at his boss and responsible author in shock. “You mean, girls’ comics?”

“According to the previous sales records of Huayou, female customers accounted for about 30%. I believe that comics with female themes have great potential in the market. If Huayou can take the first piece of meat in this market, it will have more opportunities and possibilities than other publishing houses in the future.”

His style of doing things was to love what he does, so he wanted to be a great cartoonist and his magazine will become a famous one.

An Yinong took out a questionnaire and analyzed it with Editor Qian. Editor Qian couldn’t help but raise his head and chest and listen to his boss’s instructions.

“In our neighboring country of Sakura, comics with female themes have begun to emerge, which shows that it is necessary and feasible to develop the female reader market. Now, due to some reasons, comics from neighboring countries cannot enter Hong Kong for the time being, which is our opportunity.”

He pushed the draft in his hand and said, “So I’ll give this one to you as well.”

“Should we still use the name ‘Yinong’?” Editor Qian was very nervous. She was worried that readers would revolt.

Everyone thought that Yinong, the artist of “Heroes of the Desert”, was a man in his late twenties, almost thirty, mature, experienced, talented, outstanding in painting skills, and elegant. He suddenly started to draw girls’ comics. This…

“Let’s use the name Gu Pan,” An Yinong said. “For comics with male themes, use ‘Yinong’, and for comics with female themes, use ‘Gu Pan’.”

Editor Qian breathed a sigh of relief, and then An Yinong brought up the next topic: “The second season of The Desert is already in preparation. You can’t give me the newcomer price for the second season, right? How much are you prepared to give me?”

“…” Editor Qian silently took two sips of tea to calm herself: Young Master, the entire publishing house is yours, do you really have to quibble over whether it’s five or six dollars a page? These rich people have really weird hobbies…

Although Editor Qian was complaining in her heart, she still conveyed the editorial department’s intention to An Yinong: “Eight dollars per page, the royalty for the first edition of the single volume is increased to 8%.”

This was a decision made after discussion with their publishing house. Although their contract required that the comics could only be serialized in this magazine for five years, the penalty for breach of contract was not too high, and they wanted to use the money to retain this author who seemed to have great potential.

“You’re worrying too much. The boss is drawing the comics himself for the magazine, so what are you worrying about?” Editor Qian was sometimes secretly excited. She was the only one who knew about this kind of thing. When she thought about it, it was really… She really wanted to say it out loud!

But the rising prices of goods and housing stopped her from doing anything stupid. In order to keep her job, it was better for her to keep her mouth shut.

An Yinong was quite satisfied with the price. He asked about the issue of single-volume books: “Are you trying to seize the summer vacation market?”

Summer vacation was coming in a few days, and a large number of students would have free time. This period was also often the best selling time for comics, novels, and film.

“Yes. The editor-in-chief hopes to print the book and put it on the market as soon as possible. The previous serialized magazine sold so well, so there is no need to worry about the single volumes.”

For most cartoonists, single volumes were the main source of income. The manuscript fee was fixed, but the royalties from single volumes were not fixed. And single volumes could test the true level of a cartoonist. Only after the tide goes out do you know who is swimming naked; publishing a book was just such a ‘receding’ process.

“After printing, send a thousand copies over. I will write my autograph on them and mix them in with the unsigned comics. In addition, I have contacted a factory that makes fine resin toys. I can customize the figures inside, which are divided into Q version and collector’s version. I will ship them over and put them on the shelves together.

“Of course, I will contact your president in the name of the director and discuss these matters.”

An Yinong, who was both the boss and the employee, said a lot, much of which was his sales experience from later generations. Editor Qian didn’t understand why he was impressed and just nodded, forgetting even to drink his tea.

She returned dazed and holding the new draft and the contract with her name on it: “Yinong agreed, and immediately began preparing for proofreading and printing.”

A colleague passing by looked at the signature on the contract and laughed: “What a coincidence, it’s the same name as our boss’s.”

Editor Qian, who knew everything, lowered his head silently and opened the draft of “The Imperial Spirit Girl”.

“Young boss, your martial arts comics are so good, why do you suddenly want to draw girls’ comics? The audiences of these two genres are completely different.” She sighed, not holding out much hope.

It’s an indescribable feeling for a man to write a novel about women, let alone draw comics. This cartoonist prefers to draw martial arts novels, which was even more disastrous.

“It’s definitely not going to get approved by the editor-in-chief. How am I going to explain this to the young boss in a tactful way?”

She turned to the first page: “Hmm?”

A large picture of a young girl standing on the top of a tall building and looking down at the earth caught her attention.

The girl’s back was very small, her long hair dancing in the wind. For a moment, she was a little worried that she would be blown away by the wind. In front of this small back were layers of human buildings, which were also human society, like a honeycomb. The densely packed sesame seeds were people.

The vastness of the universe and the insignificance of human beings was highlighted through this strong contrast.

Another amazing thing was the huge sunset with a blurry eye-like pattern on it. If you look closely at the sunset, you will have the illusion of being sucked into the vortex. The idea of just taking a look disappeared at this moment. She wanted to continue looking at it. This large picture aroused her curiosity.

Editor Qian did not expect that she would read for half a day and was so fascinated that she could not stop. She even forgot to eat lunch, fearing that eating would delay her reading of the comics. Finally, she read the last page, and everyone started packing up and getting ready to go off work.

“Editor-in-Chief!” Editor Qian grabbed the door handle of the editor-in-chief’s office, her cheeks flushed with excitement, “Please take a close look at this comic!”