Chapter 34: Zheng Fei's Conditions

As soon as she spoke, Zheng Fei knew he had encountered a peer. It was highly likely that this young woman, whose name was Xu Sansui, was also deeply interested in comics.

After she fired off a series of questions, the middle-aged man cleared his throat twice, causing her to realize her lack of composure. Glancing at a small mirror in the office and seeing her own disheveled reflection, she flushed a deep red and scurried back to her own office.

Editor-in-Chief Mo was speechless. "She finally realizes how sloppy she looks. With that appearance, who would ever dare to marry her?"

Zheng Fei looked around the publishing house and couldn't help but ask, "Editor-in-Chief, you don't only have two people here, do you?"

The middle-aged man immediately straightened up. "Including the old gentleman at the entrance, there are eight of us in total. The other five have taken leave to travel out of town."

Mo Changshan wouldn't tell him that the other five had decided to take long-term leave and wouldn't be coming back, as they saw no future at the firm.

About seven or eight minutes later, a young woman with attractive features appeared before Zheng Fei. Honestly, if it weren't for those thick glasses, Zheng Fei would have barely recognized her. She hadn't even applied makeup, just tidied herself up a bit, yet it felt like she was a completely different person. Her hair was no longer frizzy, her face had a healthy glow, and she had swapped her bulky cotton-padded coat for professional work attire.

"I’m sorry. Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Xu Sansui; you can just call me Suisui."

Next, the young woman began to carefully review Zheng Fei’s original comic manuscript. She had initially expected it to be just "well-drawn," but she hadn't anticipated the story itself to be so brilliant. She had loved martial arts stories since she was a child, especially Gu Long’s *The Peerless Twins* and *The Legend of Chu Liuxiang*, though her absolute favorite was *The Sentimental Swordswoman, Ruthless Sword*.

Later in life, by a stroke of luck, she encountered comics and fell madly in love with this "small picture book" genre from abroad. For the past two years, she had been trying to teach herself how to draw comics, but her teachers didn't understand the medium at all, and the established traditional painters looked down upon it. After fumbling through it for a year or two, she had remained at a beginner’s level, and she truly hadn't expected someone to come in today to submit a manuscript—let alone one of such high quality.

As she read, Xu Sansui became completely absorbed. This was far more captivating than standard picture books, and the plot was incredibly compelling. Without realizing it, she leaned closer to Zheng Fei and said excitedly, "Teacher... after Huo Jingjue changes his name to Bu Jingyun, how does the story develop? Does he go undercover? Or does he truly accept the murderer as his father and walk the path of darkness to the end?"

As the young woman leaned in, Zheng Fei caught a faint scent of snow-cream vanishing cream. He really wanted to tell her she was standing a bit too close.

Editor-in-Chief Mo coughed from the side and said in a serious tone, "Suisui, what do you think of Teacher Zheng’s comic? Does it meet our publishing house's requirements?"

"What requirements could we possibly have? Even my picture books are allowed to be published. Teacher Zheng’s work is so excellent, it absolutely deserves to be released as a standalone volume."

Editor-in-Chief Mo felt his spirit wither. He looked at the most capable woman in his firm with a mixture of resentment and helplessness, thinking, *Can’t you at least leave us some dignity?*

Mo gathered his thoughts and said earnestly, "Teacher Zheng, our publishing house may be humble, but we still have our rules. The 'triple-review' system is something we cannot take lightly."

Before Zheng Fei could refuse, he had already gathered the manuscript and said with a smile, "How about this: we will keep your original draft for now. We will convene a meeting to study it, and once we confirm there are no issues, we will apply to the higher authorities for publication. How does that sound?"

Zheng Fei pondered for a moment. He felt a bit like he had boarded a pirate ship, but for him, it seemed he had no other choice. The Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House had already rejected him, proving that many people were still unwilling to accept the concept of "comics." Most formal publishing houses were run by older men, and Zheng Fei was well aware of the political climate for those currently in power. People like his father, who had been outspoken, had likely turned into shrinking turtles after suffering through the hardships.

This advanced, joint-operated publishing house might very well be his last resort. If he rejected them and still wanted to pursue comics, he would likely have to head to Hong Kong. But if he did that, it wouldn't mean much; the domestic comic industry would continue to stagnate, and in the future, it might still turn out to be garbage.

Fortunately, there was talent right in front of him. The presence of Xu Sansui was the fundamental reason Zheng Fei was willing to cooperate with this firm. If there was an opening, he had to seize it.

However, he couldn't just hand over *Wind and Cloud* that easily. Zheng Fei suddenly took a firm tone: "I can give you the manuscript, but I have a few conditions."

Seeing that Zheng Fei had agreed to cooperate, Mo Changshan remained outwardly steady, but inside, he was ecstatic. "If you have conditions, just name them. As long as it’s within our power, we will do our best to satisfy you, Teacher Zheng."

Having lived two lives, Zheng Fei naturally understood much more than others. He spoke up immediately:

"If *Wind and Cloud* passes the review and is published, I hope the first print run will be no fewer than 5,000 copies. Also, I must provide the cover art myself. Furthermore, once the review is passed, both parties must sign a publishing contract that clearly defines copyright ownership. Finally, I would like the publishing house to assign me an assistant."

Facing such a list of demands, Editor-in-Chief Mo frowned. He looked at the young man, who appeared harmless, yet seemed more like an old fox. In truth, he wasn't entirely confident that the comic would pass the review. He had planned to use this project to plead poverty to his superiors—after all, they were treated like lab rats, and even a stepchild deserved a bit of milk, didn't they?

Before he could respond, Xu Sansui said earnestly, "Teacher Zheng, may I be your assistant? I have a foundation in both traditional Chinese painting and sketching, and I’ve self-studied comics—I just never found a master to teach me. If you are willing to take me on as an apprentice..."

Before she could finish, Editor-in-Chief Mo interrupted, "We'll talk about that later." *Are you kidding me?* Suisui was the backbone of this publishing house, shouldering the workload of several people. If she became someone’s assistant, who would buy his cigarettes? The nearest shop was hundreds of meters away!

However, Xu Sansui ignored him and invited Zheng Fei into her office. Her office was small, but it contained a drawing table, and the bookshelves were filled with titles. There were not only picture books but also martial arts novels from Hong Kong, plenty of comics, and even *Doraemon* and *Gundam*.

Zheng Fei asked in confusion, "Comrade Xu, where did you get all these?"

Xu Sansui pushed up her glasses and whispered, "Editors at publishing houses, in order to broaden our international horizons and improve our standards, are allowed to apply through official channels to purchase foreign reading materials."

Zheng Fei suddenly realized it was true. Some employees at film studios often secretly watched movies that couldn't be screened domestically. They called it "studying." There was even a department whose job was to watch a large volume of special "action" films every day—and that was called "auditing."