Chapter 30

Wang Mengmei sent Qian Ping to the bus back home.

After being away from her hometown for two months, Qian Ping felt a bit dazed when she got off the bus.

Two months wasn’t a long time, but it felt like she had been to another place.

“Qian Ping! It really is you; I thought it was you when I saw you at the street corner.”

Qian Ping recalled the person’s name from her memory: “Yang Qing… you didn’t go to school?”

Yang Qing had short hair, and her face was slim. She grinned and replied, “Go to school? I’m not going anymore.”

Qian Ping was surprised: “You’re not going? Didn’t you get into a school?”

Yang Qing was her classmate from the repeat class, and Qian Ping clearly remembered her name being on the honor roll.

Yang Qing seemed like she hadn’t talked to anyone in a while, and she started chatting with Qian Ping about her situation.

“Got into what? Just a farming diploma in another city. My parents said it’s useless. I’m a girl, how embarrassing would it be to go and learn to raise pigs? I think so too. Nowadays, even a bachelor’s degree doesn’t guarantee a job. In a few years, when I graduate, I might not even find work. My parents want me to help at home, cook, and take care of my younger brother…”

Yang Qing kept talking, getting more animated, staring at Qian Ping with wide eyes: “I heard your mom say you were going abroad, but later I didn’t hear anything. Where are you working now?”

Qian Ping switched the bag to her other hand: “I’m not working.”

Yang Qing quickly replied: “Then what are you studying? My mom wanted me to learn to be a seamstress, but it’s hard to find a mentor.”

To learn a craft nowadays, you need to come from a family in the industry. Otherwise, a mentor won’t teach properly.

Qian Ping: “I didn’t learn a craft; I’m repeating the year.”

Yang Qing said, “Oh,” and let go of Qian Ping’s arm, becoming silent.

Suddenly, she became sharp again: “You’re repeating the year, will your parents agree to that? You’ve already repeated once, what if you fail again?”

Qian Ping closed her eyes: “If I fail, I fail.”

What can be done?

Her class teacher had said that the most important part of repeating a year is your mindset. If you keep thinking you’re not good enough, you really won’t be.

“I know many people in our class who’ve repeated two or three times. You remember, things that seem like big problems now, tomorrow will look different, in three years, it will look different again, and in ten years, it will be yet another story. Before we’re in the grave, it’ll look different again.”

“Your parents paid for your schooling so you can study, not to sit here worrying. Take the time you spend worrying and use it to study, or if it’s too much, sleep. Focus on your health and well-being so you don’t fail again in the college entrance exam.”

For the first time, Qian Ping heard such words from a teacher, and she thought, instead of worrying about failing, it’s better to find joy in hardship. If she fails again, she’ll work with her aunt.

All roads lead to Rome, right?

Hearing Qian Ping say that Yang Qing widened her eyes: “Don’t you feel embarrassed?”

If she fails again, that would be three times.

“You’ve spent so much money on your education…”

Qian Ping suddenly interrupted Yang Qing’s nagging.

She suddenly felt that the classmate she had gotten along with well during the repeat year now seemed unrelatable.

“I’m going home.”

She was soft-hearted and couldn’t bring herself to say anything harsh.

Yang Qing shouted behind her: “You’ll definitely regret it!”

Qian Ping thought to herself, whether she regrets it or not, what’s it to you?

Yang Qing stood in the sun. Even though it wasn’t winter yet, she felt like winter was everywhere.

Her mom threw a basin of water outside the door, spat, and shouted, “Hurry up, your brother is crying again!”

Yang Qing’s younger brother was born in June.

The tuition that should have been for her was now spent on her brother’s overbirth fine.

Yang Qing moved like a puppet, went inside, and closed the door.

—-

The furniture at Qian Ping’s home had a thin layer of dust.

She couldn’t really describe her feelings.

If it were before, Qian Ping wouldn’t have felt so lost. But after staying at her aunt’s house for so long, seeing how her aunt and uncle discussed everything together, how her aunt sometimes had a quick temper, but her uncle would always smile helplessly at her, she felt like that was what a real home looked like.

Her cousin would act silly, and when the child got in a bad mood, she’d argue with her aunt and uncle.

Qian Ping felt that was the kind of home she wanted.

Perhaps because of her longing for such a family, Qian Ping purposely came back for this trip.

Her aunt had called ahead, but when Qian Ping got home, she was still facing an empty house.

Qian Ping smiled a bitter smile and started tidying up the house.

Halfway through, Wang Menglan came back.

Wang Menglan was riding a tricycle, with various waste materials piled on it. Many of these waste materials from the construction site were casually taken by people who collected recyclables, but Wang Menglan was frugal. Every time, she would use the tricycle to bring them back. There was a recycling station in the town, where she could sell them for a few bucks.

When Wang Menglan saw Qian Ping, she only said, “You’re back.”

Qian Ping wanted to ask why she had lost weight, but Wang Menglan didn’t give her that chance.

Wang Menglan took out a thick blanket and a dusty bag, which seemed to be full of something.

“I’m busy today. Once you finish tidying up, you can leave.”

Qian Ping: “… Okay.”

“There’s three hundred yuan on the table. Take it, buy whatever you need. Don’t keep asking me to bring it to you, I’m busy.”

“Also, at your aunt’s house, pay attention, help your aunt out a bit, and keep an eye on Xiao Li.”

“Your tuition fees for this year have already been paid. If you don’t make it, don’t blame anyone else, just blame yourself.”

After leaving these words, Wang Menglan hurriedly hopped onto the tricycle and left.

After she left, Qian Ping opened the dull, gray bag, and inside were two thick pairs of cotton pants.

They weren’t pretty, but they were warm.

—-

After the parent-teacher meeting, Jian Li discovered a troublesome issue.

That was, Xu Yanan’s “surveillance” of her had intensified.

Before, Xu Yanan had only been stopping her from chatting with Xia Liu, but now, every time Jian Li made any small move, Xu Yanan’s eyes would dart over.

The meaning was clear — “I will keep watching you.”

Xia Liu angrily passed a note to Jian Li.

“She’s really annoying!”

Jian Li empathized deeply and wrote back on the paper, “You’re right.”

With someone like this keeping watch, Jian Li’s comic took over a month to complete.

Jian Li flipped through the first issue of her comic submission, satisfied.

She thought about it for a while and chose to go with a “classic theme.”

A grand fantasy epic about three lives and three worlds.

Choosing this theme, Jian Li had thought long and hard. She noticed that most comics in the market were action-packed, and while there were comics aimed at young girls, for some reason, many of the once-popular Japanese girl comics weren’t widely read now.

Jian Li was keen on launching a girl-style comic, so after much deliberation, she decided to go with a melodramatic theme.

What could be more clichéd and melodramatic than a love story involving gods and mortal beings?

Although it was a genre that had been worn out in the past and no longer popular, at a time when the fantasy world hadn’t been fully constructed, this theme was still a game-changer.

Most importantly, Jian Li felt that this genre’s style was more challenging.

Even later, China’s fantasy web novels still had a loyal following and audience abroad.

The magnificent fantasy world, the immortal system based on traditional culture, and the love story of a Mary Sue with a fresh twist.

From a product manager’s perspective, Jian Li felt that this project had a high chance of success.

Once she had decided on the theme, Jian Li began planning the story.

First, she gave the male lead an identity — the son of the demon world.

Just this background was enough to suggest a host of love and hate entanglements behind the character.

The female lead was a young apprentice from the immortal realm, cute and ordinary, but with a huge secret behind her lineage.

—–

Jian Li got more and more excited, giving the main characters names and began writing their first encounter.

The two met on the female lead’s first day as an apprentice. She, an orphan, was tested for spiritual roots and became an outer disciple of the largest sect in the world.

The male lead, however, was a master yet to awaken his demon bloodline.

Yes, in the first life, Jian Li planned to write a teacher-student romance.

In the first chapter, the female lead, as an outer disciple, was assigned to care for spiritual pets, and she ended up taking care of the male lead’s mount.

The great male lead, a demon world supreme, had chosen a… parrot.

It wasn’t quite right to call it a parrot, but Jian Li tried to stick to the “Shan Hai Jing” (Classic of Mountains and Seas) and described it as a Bi Fang (a mythical bird).

The female lead, in front of the Bi Fang, could say anything, and as a result, the bird learned human speech and caused quite a few embarrassing moments at a banquet hosted by the male lead.

The male lead, both amused and helpless, cast a silence spell on his mount and had the female lead brought to him.

The first chapter ended there.

Jian Li added many side characters to the plot and gave a small role to the kind-hearted second male lead.

She titled the first volume “The Parting of Lovers.”

After finishing it, she checked the comic once more before sending it out.

Then began the long wait.

Jian Li had a thousand reasons to convince herself that her chances were high, but there was also a voice inside telling her:

What if it doesn’t work?

Because both literature and comics are inevitably influenced to some degree by social development.

Take the popular “Qiong Yao” style, for example. In an era when marriages are often not very free, encouraging people to pursue true love and break free from shackles was in line with the social progress of the time.

Once people have financial stability and no longer view marriage solely through the lens of love, it becomes inevitable for people to return to reality, urging them to keep their eyes open.

When Jian Li was designing the characters, she tried to stay true to the times.

But she still retained the story she wanted to tell.

In the three lives and three worlds, the female lead had a clear growth arc. From entering the sect to establishing her foundation, from golden core to divine transformation.

Jian Li sketched the story she wanted on her drafts.

Then she waited for half a month, but still no news.

Just when she thought her submission had been rejected, in an office far away in the capital city, a heated discussion was taking place.

The editor-in-chief of “Mei Hua” magazine was watching her subordinates almost about to fight.

A young girl with glasses held up the manuscript excitedly: “Editor-in-chief, I’m confident this comic will be a hit! If we miss it, it will be our regret.”

Another editor in charge of serials interrupted, “You make it sound easy. I worked hard to arrange this submission, and now you want to publish a no-name artist’s work. How are you going to explain this to Mr. Wang?”

“But her drawings are really good! Look at her style, it’s unlike anyone else’s in the country, this kind of style…”

“Jiang Rou! I’m in charge of the serialization section, not you,” the editor said, his face darkening. “You’re just the one who helped with the initial draft!”

He regretted a bit. Those submissions should have been reviewed by him, but he had taken a shortcut and let the new editor, Jiang Rou, go through them. As a result, she bypassed him and went straight to the chief editor, claiming she had discovered a genius.

He flipped through the work and thought there were some merits to the artist’s style, but what kind of audience would this type of comic attract?

“Romantic stuff, who would want to read that!”

Jiang Rou stared back with a serious expression. “I would! If I were still in high school, I would definitely buy it.”

Such a unique story, and just from the beginning, it made her curious about how the rest would unfold.

Would the male lead ever meet the female lead? What else lies beyond the level of Qi training? Why does the second male lead know there’s a cave on the back mountain?

Jiang Rou said loudly, “I would definitely buy it! And I promise, if this piece is on the cover, many people will buy it!”