Chapter 433

Yanjing.

Lu Xiaoyan had already gone to sleep, but Wei Ping'an, looking at the two gift boxes on the bedside table, found it hard to fall asleep.

Giving such valuable gifts—what was his mindset? A compensatory mindset?

But what on earth was this supposed to mean? Wei Ping'an now wished he could rush to Hong Kong right now to ask clearly.

Who exactly am I to you?

Also unable to sleep were Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaoning, who had settled down in Hong Kong.

Zhang Yimou glanced at the bustling, brightly lit scene downstairs: "It's already ten o'clock. Don't people in Hong Kong need to sleep?"

Feng Xiaoning was looking at the "Madman" comics that Liang Zi had brought them: "Maybe it's still a lighting issue. If all the lights were turned off, maybe everyone would be asleep."

"Dong dong dong." Someone knocked on the door.

Zhang Yimou asked, and hearing it was Liang Zi, he opened it. It turned out Liang Zi had seen their lights on from the balcony, so he had gone downstairs to buy them some late-night snacks. He lived right next door.

Feng Xiaoning asked: "You don't sleep at this hour usually?"

"I just drew a few pages of comics and watched TV for a while."

Zhang Yimou asked: "You still have to work when you get home?"

"That's right. Besides the basic salary, other income is calculated based on the number of pages drawn. The more you work, the more you earn."

Feng Xiaoning pointed to the comic magazine in his hand and said: "Are there any you drew in here?"

Liang Zi pointed and said: "The frontispiece is mine, this short story is also mine, and this segment in "The Legend of Qin" is also mainly mine. Now Brother Long is focusing on cultivating me, wanting me to take over as the lead writer for "The Legend of Qin" in the future. This is the hottest comic in Hong Kong right now; the stand-alone volumes are selling like crazy, and they are about to launch character figures soon. Even Jin Yong is chasing the updates."

There were some things the two didn't understand, but they could all see that Liang Zi was now riding high on success.

Feng Xiaoning finally couldn't hold back that question: "Liang Zi, you must be earning quite a lot a month now, right?"

Liang Zi didn't shy away from his income: "Just a few thousand, I guess. There was that one time at the end of the year when it broke ten thousand."

"A few thousand? Ten thousand!"

Although there was an official three-to-one exchange rate between the Hong Kong dollar and the Renminbi, they also knew that in reality, one Hong Kong dollar was more useful than one Renminbi. This was also the case in the black market on the mainland, and Liang Zi's monthly income was what they would need to earn ten years of wages to get!

Seeing how badly hit they were, Liang Zi laughed again: "Don't just look at how much I earn. Things in Hong Kong are expensive. You earn money in Hong Kong and spend it in Hong Kong. I'm a bit better off than the average working class, but buying a house is still a distant prospect. I might consider buying a car for commuting in a while."

"You still want to buy a car? Like those small sedans on the road?!"

"That's right. Several of the younger brothers in our company have already bought cars."

Liang Zi was also afraid of hitting these two too hard. If they were stranded in Hong Kong and didn't want to go back, it would cause trouble for Wei Ming, so he added: "Don't worry, if you work hard, you will definitely have houses and cars too. I believe the mainland will develop better and better. Now Wei Laoshi's factory has already started building a factory in Shenzhen. There will definitely be more and more factories built on the mainland in the future."

"What, Wei Laoshi also has a factory?"

"Oh, a toy factory. It's really amazing. Our comic company is also his. Brother Long is just a small boss; he is the big boss." Liang Zi said with a look of worship.

Old Zhang and his companion listened, dumbfounded. The mainland might have development, but following Wei Laoshi would definitely be especially promising. It's a pity he wasn't the director of the film studio.

Although they slept late, they got up early, waiting for Wei Ming's summons early in the morning.

It was Liang Zi who came to call them: "Let's go, eat, and then go to the company."

"Hmm, sorry to trouble you, Liang Zi."

Today, Wei Ming requisitioned Old Gui's car, brought Xiao Hong along, and went downstairs to pick up Mao Mao Amin.

"Ah Ming, Hong, Sister Hong." Zhou Huimin greeted them, then waved goodbye to her mother.

The car started, and music played. Wei Ming heard it was Zhang Mingmin's voice.

Zhou Huimin said: "This is Brother Mingmin's new album "The Chinese Nation". They are all patriotic songs, seemingly to boycott the island nation."

"Is it about that textbook incident?"

Zhou Huimin nodded. This incident aroused the dissatisfaction of patriotic youth across Hong Kong.

Wei Ming hummed. He felt that at a time when force could not be used against them, the best punishment was to earn their money, and furthermore, to use their own things to earn their money!

Wei Ming had just arrived at Madman Comics when Zhang Yimou upstairs spotted him. He saw Wei Ming get out of the car, and besides Wei Hong, there was an even prettier girl.

The three went upstairs. The otaku in the company saw Zhou Huimin, and one by one, their faces turned red. Most didn't dare to look directly at her. How did a fairy descend to the mortal world?

Even the girls didn't feel the hostility they felt when seeing Li Zhi.

A few people saw her face clearly and muttered in their hearts: "Eh, is this the 'First Love Goddess'?"

Because she became famous for singing "First Love", Zhou Huimin got this title among some fans, but she hadn't been on TV shows, only having a few photos of her face exposed in newspapers at the beginning of the year, belonging to the category of the song being popular but the person being slightly popular.

Wei Ming had things to discuss, so he let the female colleague at the front desk take Mao Mao Amin and Xiao Hong to tour the place.

Mao Mao Amin was a loyal reader of "Madman Comics", especially liking "The Legend of Qin" and "Happy Ghost", and was very curious about the comic production process.

Wei Ming first gave instructions to Zhang Yimou and his companion. He took out a picture he had drawn: "Find an architectural scene similar to the one in the picture. This will be our main filming location."

These were two buildings separated by a road, both over a dozen stories high, facing each other, with various light signs hanging on the outward-facing sides.

Such a place shouldn't be hard to find in Hong Kong; after all, the original background was actually Hong Kong. However, Old Zhang and the others were unfamiliar with the place, so Wei Ming let Liang Zi borrow Niu Lao's car to take them to find it. Niu Lao was very willing to help.

Although "Transformers" was a commissioned creation and the profit-sharing ratio was even lower, he had been invited to visit the Transformers toy production workshop and felt that this thing would be even more popular than the historical meow.

Wei Ming said: "Take photos, and I'll choose. Alright, you go get busy."

Then Wei Ming entered Ah Long's office.

"You came and went in a hurry yesterday; you didn't even feel that the office area had become bigger, did you?" Ah Long asked with a smile.

"I still felt it. I felt there were more people, but I didn't feel crowded. You rented the unit next door too?" Wei Ming asked.

"That's right, and we recruited ten new employees. There are four comic artists, two of whom have already started creating long-form works. They are original works by themselves or the company's screenwriters, but there is no room for them in the magazine, so they can only save them up. Once enough new works are saved, they can be converted into a weekly magazine!"

Including Li Zhiqing's "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", they had already drawn several chapters, revised countless times, and kept striving for excellence, never letting it be serialized, also to prepare for the weekly magazine.

Wei Ming reviewed the manuscripts of the two newcomers. The drawing skills weren't bad, and could even be said to be comparable to Ma Rongcheng, the best under Ah Long. As for the stories, they could only be said to be passable and needed to be tested by the market. If the market didn't accept them, they should be cut.

Many of these comic artists had previously fought on their own, but now they chose to join Madman also to enjoy the shade under a big tree.

Or they were looking forward to being able to draw books created by Wei Ming.

"For example, this young man, English name William. He is a student studying in the UK and was selected through our comic competition. He is a good hand at drawing science fiction. Now he is helping Niu Lao, but he is a rich second generation, and his temper doesn't quite match Niu Lao's."

Wei Ming said: "You can let him adapt "District 9"."

"Haha, actually I thought so too. I was originally going to write you a letter to ask for instructions, but since you are here, let's settle it."

Ah Long focused on the wall-corner dug from Yulang International.

"Zhang Wanyou is one of Huang Yulang's most valued disciples. Previously, he was the lead writer for "Wild Wolf Legend". This time, leaving Yulang International is also for better development, to be able to have a fame-making work like "Storm Riders". He specializes in martial arts and is also the strongest among the four newcomers."

This Zhang Wanyou was indeed very valued by Huang Yulang, having participated in "Dragon Tiger Gate" and later served as the editor-in-chief of "Chinese Hero". If it weren't for Huang Yulang frequently launching attacks on "Madman Comics", Liu Rulong wouldn't have been able to dig his disciple.

"Are you sure he wasn't sent by Huang Yulang to scout for enemy intelligence?" Wei Ming joked.

"This is really not certain, but if you can come up with a work to tie him down, I believe he should be willing to defect." Ah Long had his own way of managing subordinates and didn't care whether his subordinates were loyal or not. As long as there were interest ties, loyalty could be fluid.

Wei Ming took a notebook out of his bag: "What you said makes sense. Then it seems the story I prepared before will have to be handed to him."

Ah Long's lenses immediately flashed a glimmer: "This, this is the Journey to the West theme you mentioned! For me?"

Wei Ming: "Better give it to Zhang Wanyou. Retaining talent is the most important thing."

"No, no, no. You can let him draw Jin Yong's martial arts novels. You can't let Li Zhiqing draw the Condor Trilogy alone. That would probably mean he won't be able to draw anything else within ten years. I've decided: let him draw "The Return of the Condor Heroes". Hurry and let me see."

Wei Ming had prepared this work quite sufficiently, but because it was too important, it still needed to be further perfected, striving to straighten out the plot of the first volume for Ah Long before he left.

Liu Rulong saw that the first page was first a cartoon character drawn by Wei Ming, with his character settings next to it.

"Sun Wukong?" Ah Long looked at this child image again. Besides having a tail, where did he look like Sun Wukong? And he was even cross-eyed.

Fortunately, Ah Long had also lived in Hong Kong for a year. If it were a mainlander, they would probably think it was nonsense and insulting to the ancestors. However, he felt it was okay. Hong Kong people's adaptations of some traditional stories were even more outrageous, so such an adaptation might be able to hit the preferences of Hong Kong people.

Ah Long continued to look at his character settings next to it: 12 years old. What, he is still an alien? From Planet Vegeta, a violent and warlike Saiyan.

Because his combat power was too weak, he was exiled to Earth. He was originally carrying the mission of ruling Earth, but lost his memory and was picked up and adopted by a martial artist named Sun Qiafan, who named him Sun Wukong.