CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF POISONING

The most important aspect of a short comic is the storytelling; no matter how exquisite the drawing, it’s just gilding the lily. Even if it’s just simple stick figures, as long as the story is well-told, it’s a good comic.

Qin Guanglin began to understand as he looked at the four-panel comic he had tried to draw on his tablet.

He was naturally talented in drawing. Some things he could figure out about seventy to eighty percent on his own without needing others to explain.

Drawings that emphasize story structure may become cumbersome if they’re too detailed. They could distract the reader and detract from the story itself.

"Boss is boss, he draws it once and it’s directly usable." Jiang Lingling on the side took the drawing out, placing it onto the scanner, and transferred it onto the computer.

She was the fluffy pink big-pocketed girl, with only a bit of a foundation in drawing. She had joined the company because she liked comics and, like Yu Le, she was working as an assistant.

"You can draw these too, right?" Qin Guanglin felt this was too simple.

"I can, but not as quickly as you, and sometimes I need to revise them." Jiang Lingling pointed at the draft as an example. "Like with this story, I would have to think for a long time about their actions and positions, and if it still doesn’t convey the right feeling after drawing it, I’d have to redraw it."

These stories were either conceived by the editors or sourced from the internet. They comprised interesting, realistic, and satirical tales. The assistants would organize and print them out, then think about how to turn these stories into comics.

Like that four-panel comic circulating on a certain forum, A: "Does it bite?" B: "No, but it will hurt you in another way." Dog: "You don’t have a girlfriend."

Yeah, that kind of thing.

"Hmm... Let’s take a look at this one." Qin Guanglin set aside the draft of the four-panel comic and picked up a longer one to read.

Cultural differences between the north and the south, this style might work better with some exaggeration...

After reading through it all, Qin Guanglin had a rough picture in his head and casually sketched two character designs on paper.

"This is something the editor collected and came up with himself; it looks quite interesting." Jiang Lingling commented from the side, as she too sketched a character, albeit a cute and clumsy one.

Feeling a bit embarrassed after finishing, she tore the paper out and was about to crumple it up and throw it away.

"Seems not bad." Qin Guanglin had already looked at it and drew an even uglier one on his tablet.

"You did that on purpose, didn’t you?!" Jiang Lingling just felt it was ugly, not seeing how it was good in any way.

"..."

Qin Guanglin ignored her, seriously considering the feasibility of this cute and clumsy style.

Squid nose, stubble, tank top, slippers, and boxer shorts, with the addition of wispy bangs.

Perfect.

A character image leaped onto the paper, looking exactly like an old gatekeeper from a bathhouse.

"How about this?" Qin Guanglin asked.

"Ugly."

"Have you seen it before?"

"I seem to have seen this style of comic before, but they were all parodies." Jiang Lingling pondered, what was that comic called again?

Qin Guanglin drew two more characters with different appearances but similar styles. "Wait till I draw a segment to see the effect."

Using the three characters as templates, Qin Guanglin started to sketch lines on the paper.

This work was completely different from his previous drawing style, relaxed and easy-going; after all, the story was there. As long as the style and image were set, he just needed to follow along and draw.

Even if he messed up, it didn’t matter; it was his first day at work, and he might as well get familiar with everything by casually drawing and playing around.

Time quickly reached noon. Sun Wen came over, saw the drawings on Qin Guanglin’s desk, choked on his saliva, and began to cough frenziedly. "You... cough cough cough... what... cough cough... what is this?"

Could this guy actually draw such ugly things?

He must be messing around!

This company was full of young people who loved comics from the anime culture, always creating aesthetically beautiful works. Even their four-panel comics were of a minimalist style, not parody style.

"Just for fun, isn’t it interesting?" Qin Guanglin put down his pen, feeling quite satisfied with it; looking at it made him happy.

"Alright, alright, stop that," Sun Wen had always tried hard to draw beautifully and was inherently averse to this style.

"Fine then."

Qin Guanglin checked the time and tossed his pen aside, "Time for lunch?"

"Yeah, should we go out or order in?"

"Let’s go out." Qin Guanglin looked around; everyone else was heading out, with only one or two sitting at their desks motionless.

"Yu Le, let’s go," Sun Wen called out, leading Qin Guanglin and Yu Le towards the company exit.

The place was remote, but at noon, it was still crowded. They had to wait for two full elevators before Qin Guanglin, bored, took out his phone to play a couple of rounds of Dou Dizhu.

He still owed someone a hundred thousand beans.

"You still play this?" Sun Wen asked, thinking it was a game preferred by women.

"It’s fun," Qin Guanglin replied, logging in with the account name and password He Fang had sent him.

"Yeah, this does sound pretty fun, it exercises your memory," Yu Le agreed. He also had Dou Dizhu on his phone, and was about to play but then reconsidered after seeing his battery life.

"Exercises your memory?" Sun Wen turned to look at Yu Le.

"Mm-hm, don’t you count cards?" Qin Guanglin asked as if it were obvious.

"Who counts cards in this kind of game?" Sun Wen said with distaste. Even if there were no card counting tools available, he’d be too lazy to remember the cards.

"If you don’t count cards, what’s the point of playing the landlord? There’s no fun in that," Qin Guanglin looked up, disdainfully judging him. People who were physically strong really were too lazy to use their brains.

"The fun in playing the landlord is all about counting cards," Yu Le said, agreeing with the perspective.

"That’s just because you have too much free time," Sun Wen shook his head. "I don’t match well with you guys."

"That’s right, too much free time," Qin Guanglin started his game on a bad note, getting hit with a spring and having only a little over a thousand left from the three thousand free beans he just received.

A hundred thousand... Keep it up! As long as he won a hundred thousand, he could meet his father-in-law!

Thinking about visiting someone’s house to meet their parents made Qin Guanglin involuntarily smile.

"I’ve never seen someone who can lose at Dou Dizhu and still smile at their screen," Sun Wen frowned. "Are you under so much pressure that you’ve developed a problem?"

"No, I just thought of something happy," Qin Guanglin didn’t even bother lifting his head, too lazy to explain the relationship between beans and a father-in-law.

After waiting another ten minutes or so, the elevator finally had some space, and the three of them went downstairs together, letting Sun Wen lead them to a fast-food restaurant nearby.

The place was busy, with only a few seats left. They might not have gotten a table if they were any later.

"Duck leg rice," Yu Le ordered as soon as he walked in, clearly familiar with the menu.

Stir-fried potato, eggplant, and green pepper rice," Qin Guanglin glanced over the menu on the wall and made his decision.

Sun Wen hesitated for a moment with a frown before he said, "Just potato shreds on rice."

"Aren’t you the one who says no meat, no joy? How come you’re eating vegetarian now?" Qin Guanglin paid and took his meal card to an empty seat.

"I’m broke, man. I’ve got to economize for at least a month," Sun Wen shook his head. "I had a big splurge yesterday."

"Yesterday? Where did you take your girlfriend?" Qin Guanglin remembered him showing photos in the group chat, thinking about learning something.

"Where else would I go? The mall, damn Valentine’s Day," Sun Wen said gloomily. "A Donkey brand bag costs several thousand yuan. I don’t know what’s so good about it."

Qin Guanglin was startled, "Wow, you really went all out!"

"I’ve been talking about it for a long time, I had to buy it," Sun Wen was still pained over the several thousand yuan. "What about you? Didn’t you spend yesterday with your girlfriend?"

"We were together, but we didn’t go to the mall."

"You must have given her a gift though. What did you get her, and how much did it cost?" Sun Wen felt that this kid must be loaded, and he wanted some comparison to feel better himself.

"A hair tie..." Qin Guanglin felt ashamed, his gift was nothing compared to Sun Wen’s. "It was just ten yuan."

"..."

Sun Wen fell silent, looking at him.

Qin Guanglin thought for a moment and added an explanation: "I didn’t think of gifts in the first place. It was just a filler, I definitely need to make it up with something nicer."

"Weird guy, how did you even find a girlfriend?" Sun Wen looked skeptical. "You should at least give something like a Yves Saint Laurent, right?"

"What’s that?" Qin Guanglin was clueless.

"Lipstick!" Sun Wen looked at him with contempt. Dumb straight guys, he had no idea how they managed to get into a relationship.

Yu Le quietly played with his phone, sitting to the side. As a single dog, he had to protect himself. This was not the time to speak up.

"Oh~"

Qin Guanglin thought for a moment. He Fang didn’t seem to wear lipstick, just some lip balm.

Her lips were red without lipstick, so there was no need to give her any. If she did use it, he would end up eating it...

What if he got poisoned, huh?