CHAPTER 371: CHAPTER 361: CHEN RUI WANTS TO CHALLENGE THE RULES

"People live their lives, some cultivate their surface, some nurture their substance..."

On TV, Master Zhao was expounding his grand principles, while Qin Guanglin and He Fang were snuggled on the couch, with baby Anya sleeping soundly in the stroller beside them.

A three-month-old baby’s life is all about eating, sleeping, and the occasional cry—annoying at first, but once you get used to it, they’re surprisingly easy to take care of.

Not like adults, who want too much, think too much.

"Sigh..."

Qin Guanglin, with his arm around He Fang, running his hand through her hair, suddenly sighed.

"What are you sighing for?" He Fang glanced at him.

"Do we count as people who nurtured substance?"

"You a big-time artist, talking about substance?"

"That’s all just a virtual reputation online; who would recognize me on the street... A crappy car worth barely over two hundred thousand, a small three-bedroom apartment, living a simple life, almost like being unemployed."

"Unemployed middle-aged," corrected He Fang. "Is that bad?"

"It’s good, our modest life is certainly good... That’s exactly why I sighed, pursuing appearances is too exhausting."

Qin Guanglin happened to think of Sun Wen, who, since college, had been determined to lead an impressive life, constantly striving to stand out from the crowd.

They hadn’t seen each other since the wedding and only occasionally caught a glimpse of his social media posts, unsure of how he was doing now.

"Right, Xiao Yu is coming over in a bit. Go fix your hair, it looks like a bird’s nest, aren’t you afraid of being laughed at..."

"I’m not going to; I’ll be heading back to my bedroom for confinement. You just don’t answer the door."

"Who does confinement for three months... You’ve gotten so lazy."

Before the TV show ended, the WeChat notification had already sounded, and Qin Guanglin stood up to go downstairs to greet his visitor. He Fang, with her bedhead hair unattended, scratched her head and crawled back into the bedroom, nestling into the blankets, just like how one feels when relatives suddenly show up at a recluse’s home.

"Where’s your daughter? Let me see her, see her." As Xiao Yu entered, he started looking around. Guanglin’s prized daughter had been born but had yet to see the light of day, Xiao Yu hadn’t caught a glimpse of her, "You didn’t even throw a full moon party, what’s with that..."

"See what, put your mask on properly, sit there, and don’t fidget."

Qin Guanglin was in a no-nonsense mood, "Things outside haven’t settled yet, letting you in is already risky, don’t move... I’ll go find a paper cup."

"Jeez... you..." Xiao Yu was exasperated, "I see people out shopping already, no need to be so cautious... Holy crap, how long has it been since you went out? Even your face has rounded out!"

"Isn’t it normal to gain weight over the New Year? Not like you, still all dry and lanky, haven’t made any progress."

"Are you calling getting fat progress?"

"Don’t know jack, this is called sturdy, not fat."

Qin Guanglin chattered away while he fetched a paper cup to pour water for him, sat on the couch, and pushed the cup over, "How have the past few months been? Didn’t you say you were editing videos for somebody? Hope it hasn’t been too shabby."

"Oh, don’t even mention it. These few months I’ve been ghostwriting papers, editing videos, raising click counts... scraping together whatever money I can. Zhou Nan is barely making ends meet writing ad copy and stuff."

Fishing Man, besides fishing, seemed to know how to do a bit of everything. During these idle months, he’d done quite a bit of work but nothing stable. Occasionally, he’d get scammed—fortunately, he was sharp enough not to lose money, but getting exploited for his hard work without earning a dime was infuriating.

"I’ve been telling you to pick up the pen again, but you wouldn’t listen. Feeling regretful now, huh?"

Qin Guanglin grinned, got up, and went to the study to fetch his laptop. On the other side, Xiao Yu pulled out a stack of papers from his bag and, waiting for him to emerge, pushed them over, "I dug out my equipment last night, rushed to finish this draft overnight, I based it on your comic. Take a look and tell me if it’s good enough to make a living."

As Xiao Yu spoke, he settled deeper into the couch and let out a long sigh, "If it’s no good, I’ll just have to draw some doujinshi and upload it to that..."

"Hold it, aren’t you afraid of getting caught?"

"As long as it’s just skirting the line, I’m not worried... But I have to keep it from Zhou Nan, so exhausting."

"And you’d have to hide it from your son too."

A thirty-year-old man, living by ghs, too embarrassing, unless he really had no choice, Xiao Yu definitely wouldn’t want to do it.

Just as they were talking, Qin Guanglin’s phone rang. He glanced at the unfamiliar number, thought for a moment, and stepped onto the balcony to answer.

"Hello, good day."

"Good day, is this Mr. Qin Guanglin?"

"It is, who’s this?"

"I am from Penguin Kuaiman..."

Xiao Yu used Qin Guanglin’s computer to flip through Chen Rui’s company platform webpage, looking at the displayed welfare system and signing standards. After a moment, when he saw Qin Guanglin return from the balcony, he asked offhandedly, "What is it?"

"Somebody’s trying to poach me." Qin Guanglin seemed to just catch on, scratched his head thoughtfully, and suddenly smiled, "You keep looking, I’ll make another call."

He found Chen Rui’s number in his phone and dialed it, then turned back to the balcony, leaning on the railing as he waited for him to pick up.

"What’s up? Calling me so suddenly..." Chen Rui’s voice sounded like he was still sleepy, it was already afternoon, probably had pulled an all-nighter again.

"Just now someone called me, claiming to be from Penguin Kuaiman, said they wanted to talk about this comic I’m working on."

"What?!"

Chen Rui suddenly became alert, then hesitated, "What did they say?"

"Don’t get nervous, not much was said, just a brief chat. They said the comic has a lot of potential... Wasn’t it them who were eyeing the rights to the novel before?" Qin Guanglin asked.

He Fang’s comic adaptation of the novel started serialization from New Year’s Day, and it’s only been three months until now. With the popularity left by the previous work "Wife," and the original novel’s fans, it managed to gain quite a bit of popularity from the start. But with a thousand people, there are a thousand versions of the protagonist. The novel purists didn’t all like this comic adaptation—the ratings weren’t as high as "Wife," and some of the fans drawn by the original story were disappointed, including those with effusive critiques. Compared to the reputation of "Wife," the difference was significant.

Fortunately, over the New Year, someone revealed that both the novel author and the comic artist were a married couple—and that the content of "Wife" was mostly based on their daily lives. This calmed down many of the novel purists, and with a change of heart, they found it surprisingly enjoyable.

Their reputation improved a lot. Sometimes when the new novel purists felt that the protagonist in the comic did not fit their imagined image, their comments would be met with enlightenment from others: these are the characters from the author’s pen. The married couple—you can bet that his wife gave pointers while he was drawing. Sister Hua wouldn’t let him draw nonsense.

Plus, with Chen Rui intentionally tilting resources their way, and recommendations never stopping, the young sprout in just three months had the momentum to become a big hit. That caught the attention of Penguin Kuaiman, who couldn’t hold back any longer.

"They said there are seven parts to the original novel, so I could divide it into many seasons. Now, switching platforms isn’t possible, but they hope to discuss the next season, saying conditions are negotiable." Qin Guanglin couldn’t help but laugh; this was the first time he had experienced someone trying to poach him.

What did that mean? It meant he had value!

Not just some fat, unpopular cartoonist—he had skills.

"They were the ones who originally set their sights on the rights," Chen Rui sighed, his voice somber, "You know all about their resources without me saying."

"Of course, the whole platform pushes you, wow, instant godhood." Qin Guanglin held the phone to his ear, glanced out at the lush locust tree in the community, the breeze rustling the leaves, and heard no more from Chen Rui on the line, only his breathing.

"Why the silence?"

"...What do you think?" Chen Rui asked.

"What’s there to think about? I have drawn so much, can I switch companies midway?" Qin Guanglin laughed.

Becoming a god... With his current popularity and the high reputation of "Wife" under his belt, if he were to switch to an industry giant and produce another high-quality, well-received comic, a full-channel promotion could likely make him an instant sensation—even if it didn’t reach that level, the enormous revenue wouldn’t be something Chen Rui’s platform could match.

But his relationship with Chen Rui was more than just a partnership.

"As for money, enough is enough. Over the New Year, my wife even got me to donate some, thank goodness for the tax exemption policy, or my heart would break... Don’t worry, this comic has to be completed on your platform, we had an agreement."

"Thank you," Chen Rui said on the other end, pausing to reflect before speaking again, "But... it might get tough in the future. You should be prepared."

"Prepared for what?"

"Our company has been growing fast, even now I’ve deliberately slowed it down to stabilize... With the welfare system we started, they won’t just sit by and watch us grow."

He paused, "This incident is a signal."

There’s only so much meat in the pot; some get more, some get less, and others might only get to drink the soup.

Now he’s taking the meat out for the cartoonists to share—it’s obvious what consequences that would bring.