Chapter 126 Second Update

Chapter 126 Second Update

After Shen Shaoyuan's storyboard draft passed the review, the publishing house had not contacted him about the publication. However, this was not surprising as the publishing house had been largely inactive before and now that it had resumed operations, it would naturally take some time.

A few days ago, Shen Shaoyuan called the publishing house to change his contact address to the small courtyard where he was staying.

The person who answered the phone was a young man. Shen Shaoyuan didn't know who he was, but since the young man said he would inform the editor in charge, Shen Shaoyuan didn't think much of it.

Unexpectedly, Editor Li Qingguo came directly to his home.

"I wrote to your previous address and called your former workplace. They said you had come to the capital. I thought you would contact me once you arrived, but it's been so long after the New Year, and I haven't heard from you. I've been really worried lately."

Li Qingguo took a sip of tea to soothe his dry throat: "It just so happened. When you called the other day, we were in a meeting. The person who answered the phone was a temp we hired after the New Year. The young man wrote your address on a note and left it on my desk, but forgot to tell me about it."

"My desk is always cluttered, so I didn't notice it. It was only this morning when I was organizing the manuscripts that I found it, and I rushed over right away."

Shen Shaoyuan refilled his tea and asked, "Didn't you say there are many procedures for official publication?"

Li Qingguo quickly drank another cup of tea: "There are indeed many procedures, but it should move faster than we initially thought. Now that the relevant policies have been relaxed, many processes have been simplified."

He paused and said, "Most importantly, Teacher Shen, you haven't sent us the second half of the illustrated manuscript."

Shen Shaoyuan raised an eyebrow: "Sorry, this is my first time publishing an illustrated story. I figured I just needed to hand it over to you before the official publication."

He thought that since he was coming to the capital anyway, he could just ride a bicycle to deliver the manuscript to the publishing house when they were ready, so he never thought to send the second half of the manuscript.

Li Qingguo had never encountered such a situation before.

Before the political campaign, he had been an editor for many years. He had seen many authors who would frequently call the publishing house to push for progress after their initial draft was approved, but it was the first time he had seen someone like Shen Shaoyuan who didn't care at all.

Li Qingguo had no idea that Shen Shaoyuan was not short of money. Especially after coming to the capital, he found that gold and silver were much easier to exchange than in Jiangbei County, and his son-in-law's family was not poor either. Therefore, Shen Shaoyuan's previous thoughts of working hard to earn money to support the family vanished as soon as he arrived in the capital.

He had always lived a carefree life since childhood. During his years in Yangliu Production Brigade, he had to work hard because of the situation. Now that he suddenly realized he could live comfortably without working hard, he naturally lost the desire to work.

As Liu Yingshuang said, working for a long time makes one smell of the office.

Although Shen Shaoyuan didn't quite understand, he could grasp the general idea.

Working a job was indeed not suitable for him, and working hard was not suitable for him either. He still preferred to be a layabout without doing any productive work.

So it didn't matter much when the illustrated story would be published. Since he wasn't waiting for advance payments, he didn't care when they published it.

Li Qingguo: "Teacher Shen, we discussed during our meeting that your illustrated story will be one of the first batch of books published by our publishing house, so the timeline is actually quite tight now. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come to your home directly."

Hearing this, Shen Shaoyuan was quite pleased. His illustrated story was already finished, and it would be great to have it printed earlier.

"Ping'an, go and get my manuscript. It's on the desk in my room."

Zhou Ping'an responded and went to Shen Shaoyuan's room to fetch the manuscript.

Li Qingguo carefully flipped through the manuscript, praising as he went: "The craftsmanship is exquisite, and the concept is ingenious. Teacher Shen, I have a feeling that your illustrated story will be very popular!"

Shen Shaoyuan nodded with a smile: "I think so too."

No wonder emperors favored sycophants; everyone enjoys hearing praise.

"By the way, Teacher Shen, when we corresponded before, I asked if you would like to come to the publishing house as an illustration editor. You said you would think about it. Have you made a decision yet?"

Seeing such a fine painting, Li Qingguo was reminded of the previous invitation.

Shen Shaoyuan had considered the art editor position before, but as he said, his son-in-law's family was not in financial difficulty, and he himself was quite well-off, so he lost the motivation to strive. The job was tiring and didn’t offer much freedom, and he didn't want to go anymore.

Shen Shaoyuan declined, "Forget it, my granddaughter is still young, and her parents are too busy with their studies to take care of her. I need to look after her."

Li Qingguo: "..."

As he flipped through the pages, he suddenly came across a portrait of a baby.

Shen Shaoyuan's comic books were in black and white, with simple black strokes outlining the characters, somewhat resembling ink wash paintings in style. However, this baby portrait was in color, vividly lifelike, exuding a vibrant vitality.

"This painting..."

Shen Shaoyuan glanced at it, "Oh, this is a painting of my little granddaughter. It must have been accidentally included."

Shen Shaoyuan reached out to take the painting back, but Li Qingguo quickly dodged, holding onto it tightly.

"Teacher Shen, this painting is amazing. Look, could this be used as an illustration for one of our children's literature?" Li Qingguo held onto the painting as if it were a gold brick, completely unwilling to let go.

Unexpectedly, Shen Shaoyuan flatly refused, "No."

He was actually relieved that he hadn't agreed to become an art editor at the publishing house, as it would have been hard to refuse if they later asked him to use Liang Liang's image for illustrations.

Li Qingguo anxiously asked, "Why?"

He tried to persuade Shen Shaoyuan, "Teacher Shen, don't worry, I will apply to the company for the highest possible payment for you."

Shen Shaoyuan shook his head, "It's not about the payment. How can our little Liang Liang be printed in a book and exposed to the public? No, no, it's not appropriate."

Li Qingguo: "..."

But she's just a little child, what's inappropriate about being printed in a children's literature? And what kind of propriety does a baby have?!

But no matter how much he tried to persuade, Shen Shaoyuan wouldn't agree. After getting a headache from the annoyance, Shen Shaoyuan even threatened to delay the publication of the comic books or find another publisher, which finally made Li Qingguo give up.

After setting the next meeting time, Li Qingguo got up to leave. Just then, Liang Liang woke up and was carried out by Fu Mingze.

Li Qingguo was about to go over and play with the child, but Shen Shaoyuan immediately had Fu Mingze take the child back inside, looking at Li Qingguo with a scrutinizing and wary expression.

Li Qingguo was taken aback, then understood and couldn't help but laugh, quickly explaining, "Teacher Shen, don't worry, I won't mention the illustration again, nor will I harm your granddaughter. I just thought the child was cute and wanted to play with her."

Shen Shaoyuan coldly opened the door to see him out, "It's okay, she has plenty of people to play with."

Li Qingguo: "..."

Shaking his head and smiling, he had seen many doting on their grandsons, but it was the first time he saw someone so protective of a granddaughter.

Well, it's not good to be greedy, wanting more when you already have enough. It's better to focus on doing the comic books well first.

*

The next day, Shen Moer got up early. After breakfast, Fu Mingze took her to school on his bicycle.

The bicycle was a brand-new Phoenix model that Fu Mingze had brought from home. It was originally his father's commuter bike, and it was unclear how his father would commute after Fu Mingze took it.

They hadn't explored the campus without a purpose; at least they had familiarized themselves with the academic buildings and cafeterias of various departments. So today, they didn't go to the dorm. Fu Mingze took Shen Moer straight to the Economics Department building, then turned the handlebars and rode to the Physics Department.

Shen Moer entered the classroom on the west side of the third floor, and the room went quiet all of a sudden. Everyone in the classroom turned to look at her.

Most of them were boarders and had come to the classroom early in the morning, sitting in groups, chatting away. Shen Moer was the only one who arrived so late, and with her good looks and distinctive presence, she naturally attracted attention.

Having served as a factory manager, Shen Moer naturally wasn't afraid of others' gazes. She walked calmly into the classroom, scanning the room with her eyes. Only one seat remained on the right side at the back. She walked over and took a seat.

The classroom soon filled with chatter again, though many couldn't help but glance at her. Some whispered to each other, "Who is that female classmate? Does anyone know her?"

"Don't you think she looks, I don't know, kind of authoritative? Honestly, I almost mistook her for a teacher and was about to greet her."

"Is she from Capital University? Look at her clothes, the style is so fashionable. Girls from Capital University are indeed different; they just have this outstanding aura."

Suddenly, two voices spoke up simultaneously:

"She's not from Capital University. She said it herself, she came from the southern province."

"What do you mean she's from Capital University? She's from a small village in a remote county in our southern province."

Shen Moer found these voices somewhat familiar. She looked up and saw that the first speaker was probably Feng Manni, who then lowered her head to read a book, not looking at anyone, as if she just couldn't help but clarify the facts.

The other person, however, surprised Shen Moer slightly.

It was Zhang Jiaojiao.

Shen Moer had known beforehand that Zhang Jiaojiao was in the economics department at Capital University, making them classmates in the same department. She had guessed she might bump into Zhang Jiaojiao on campus, but she hadn't expected Zhang Jiaojiao to be in the same class.

She glanced at Zhang Jiaojiao and saw that she was full of life. It seemed the human traffickers' drugs hadn't done her much harm.