Chapter 42: The Genius Manga Assistant

After leaving the Xinhua Bookstore, Zheng Fei escorted Zheng Shuyao home and explicitly instructed her to focus on her studies.

"While I'm away, you are only allowed to play around the alleyway. You must study hard; I will check your schoolwork when I return. Do you understand?"

Although the term "delinquent" wasn't common in those days, incidents of women being abducted had become frequent following the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy. Tanziwan was close to the train station, a place where all sorts of people mingled. Zheng Fei felt uneasy leaving his little sister home alone.

"By the way, there’s a guy named Zhu Xiaotao who keeps trying to get close to you. Do not pay him any mind. He’s a loafer and no good."

"And there’s also one named Wang Qiusheng. He smells awful. Don’t let his honest appearance fool you; he’s actually full of malice."

"I understand, brother."

...

After giving his instructions, Zheng Fei boarded a trolleybus to the Advanced Publishing House. He truly hated squeezing into public buses, especially when carrying his artwork, fearing the drawings would be crushed. Looking at the sea of "Phoenix" brand bicycles on the streets, Zheng Fei decided he needed to get one for himself.

However, purchasing one required a ration coupon, which were generally only issued to work units. On the black market, a bicycle coupon could sell for eighty to one hundred yuan, and as the Lunar New Year approached, the price would only rise. Buying a coupon on the black market seemed unreasonable, and he quickly convinced himself that a bicycle wasn't strictly necessary.

Zheng Fei had always hated being taken advantage of. In his previous life, he had planned to buy a river-view apartment in Shanghai in full, but the sales agent demanded an additional two million in "extra fees" and the mandatory purchase of two parking spots. Upon hearing about the extra charges, Zheng Fei immediately blacklisted the agent. Fortunately, this temperament saved him from losing millions. Less than a year later, the price of those properties plummeted, wiping out down payments, and those who had paid the extra fees saw their investments lose nearly half their value.

Zheng Fei pondered... the Advanced Publishing House was a legitimate organization; perhaps Editor-in-Chief Mo had a bicycle coupon.

...

He had twenty days to complete the remaining fifty-plus pages, which meant averaging three pages a day. Even in his previous life, this workload would be considered top-tier drudgery. Zheng Fei brought a few drafts to the publishing house. As the lead artist, once he had an assistant, he only needed to provide the storyboard and rough sketches. The remaining tasks—backgrounds, inking, lettering, and screentones—could be left to the assistant. To earn more money, some lead artists would handle two serialized projects a week, managing four or five assistants.

But being a comic assistant wasn't something anyone could just walk into. Although Xu Sansui had some exposure to comics, she didn't necessarily understand the craft.

Upon arriving at the publishing house, Editor-in-Chief Mo had indeed cleared out a studio for him. It wasn't large, less than ten square meters, but it featured a decent-sized workbench and two sturdy wooden chairs.

Xu Sansui was her usual unkempt self, wearing a padded jacket to work, her hair a frizzy mess, looking as if she hadn't woken up. The reason was that Editor-in-Chief Mo had told her yesterday that Zheng Fei intended to make her his assistant and would be interviewing her today. To impress "Teacher Zheng," Xu Sansui hadn't slept all night, tirelessly practicing her drawing skills.

Since time was already tight, Zheng Fei handed her the drafts and said, "Help me ink this piece, and follow the pencil marks I've made to fill in the black areas. These arrows indicate the direction of the light..."

Zheng Fei had expected it to take some time for an assistant to get the hang of things. By that afternoon, however, he realized his worries were entirely unnecessary. If there was a genius in this room, it was undoubtedly this comrade named Xu Sansui. Unlike Zheng Fei, she had no professional mentor; she had simply figured things out through passion, yet she was already capable of handling the work of a comic assistant.

In less than two hours, she had finished the inking and shading Zheng Fei had assigned her. What shocked him even more was her next move. She held up a comic book and asked, "Teacher Zheng, may I ask how these background grids are drawn?"

Seeing the dense dot patterns, Zheng Fei replied, "They aren't drawn by hand. In Japan, they use specialized screentone sheets. You stick them on and trim off the excess."

"So that's how it is! I was wondering; if one had to draw all that by hand, one would be worked to death." Following this, Xu Sansui produced a drawing she had done herself.

Looking at her hand-drawn comic page, Zheng Fei didn't know what to say. He could only conclude that this girl was incredibly talented; she had hand-drawn details that usually required screentone sheets. With an assistant like this, Zheng Fei felt confident he could finish the third chapter of *Wind and Cloud* within twenty days.

Later, Zheng Fei asked Editor-in-Chief Mo, "I live quite far away, and coming here every day is a bit troublesome. If the publishing house doesn't provide meals, do you have any bicycle coupons? I intend to buy a bike."

Mo Changshan put on an awkward expression and fell back on his usual rhetoric: "Our publishing house is still in the startup phase. In the future..."

He wouldn't tell Zheng Fei that the publishing house had originally been allocated two bicycle coupons, but he had sold them to keep the house afloat. As the Lunar New Year approached, the city grew colder, and it even began to snow. Many cyclists on the road slipped and fell, while those without bikes stood by and laughed—Zheng Fei was among them.

On the day of the snowfall, the neighbor, Grandma Huang, and her family had already finished packing their clothes and luggage, leaving behind various household items and furniture they couldn't take, all of which they gave to Zheng Fei. Before leaving, she returned fourteen yuan and fifty cents, saying the original thirty yuan he had given them hadn't been fully spent.

Zheng Fei helped carry their belongings to the train station. Hong Xiaoyun was devastated to leave, crying until her face was a mess. When she refused to move, her mother simply scooped her up and squeezed into the station.

Hong Xiaoyun wailed, "I will miss you so much! Please come visit me when you have time!"

Zheng Fei called out, "I will! If I have the chance, I’ll come to see you."

Before parting, Zheng Fei spoke to Brother Hong: "I will try to find a way to keep this room for you. If you want to return, write me a letter, and I will clear it out for you."

Hong Laisheng smiled and said, "When your comic book is published, remember to send us a copy so I can show it off to my relatives back home."

"Of course, no problem."

...

About fifteen days before the Lunar New Year, Zheng Fei finally finished the third chapter of *Wind and Cloud*. Mo Changshan rushed the manuscript to Editor-in-Chief Chen, only to be scolded the moment he entered the room.

"Sansui's mother complains to me every day that not only is Sansui not coming home, she's sleeping at the publishing house!"

Knowing he was in the wrong, Mo Changshan quickly changed the subject: "Editor-in-Chief Chen, half of this *Wind and Cloud* comic was drawn by your granddaughter, and she designed the cover herself. Her growth over this past month has been immense."

Although Chen was still angry, he glanced at the comic and hummed, "Passable. The style is a bit bold, but young people will likely enjoy it."

Mo Changshan smiled, "And the payment for the manuscript..."

"Go see Section Chief Wang in the publishing department. I've already spoken with him. Your comic will be prioritized for publication. Once he signs off on it, the payment will be released to your house."