Chapter 27 Xiao Jian's Side Hustle

"What are the conditions?" Jian Zhen asked eagerly.

“I need you to oversee a small subplot in ‘The Hundred Demon Records’.” Xu Weisheng watched as Jian Zhen deflated like a punctured balloon and gave a listless “Oh.”

"Do you know what the 'Hundred Demon Records' is about?" Xu Weisheng asked curiously.

"I don't know," Jian Zhen said curtly.

"This is a large-scale RPG game that Xunyou has been planning since the year before last. It features a combination of fictional storylines and realistic art. The game map includes East Asia, Europe, and South America. The last time I met You Yu in London, he was there to collect scenes."

"Oh." Jian Zhen thought to herself, it's the project team that Zixin switched to. She had told her several times that the things the team did were "inhuman," and she wasn't interested, so she hadn't listened carefully.

"The workload is huge, and game companies alone cannot handle every detail. Therefore, we have a lot of outsourcing collaborations. Of course, outsourcing companies, for the sake of profit, generally only consider vertical collaborations. Many companies are unwilling to take on small, fragmented side projects, especially image review."

"Aren't there independent artists?" Jian Zhen rarely played online games, and she had neither a high opinion of nor any interest in this completely unfamiliar field.

"Indeed, but Yang Damei recommended you to me."

"Who?" Jian Zhen was standing on the balcony drinking mineral water when she heard the voice and choked on her water, soaking the Monstera deliciosa plant on the balcony.

She coughed incessantly, and Xu Weisheng took the tissue box from Manager Li, held it in mid-air, and said with a smile, "Wipe it off."

After returning home from her new apartment complex, Jian Zhen thought it over and over again, but still couldn't help but call Yang Damei. Director Yang was traveling in Beihai with her child, and when she received Jian Zhen's call, she was not in a hurry. She first asked her daughter to come up and wish her a belated Happy New Year.

Then Yang Damei closed the door, as if she had known it all along: "Xu Weisheng is looking for you?"

Jian Zhen's words caught in her throat, unable to come out or come down. After holding it in for a long time, she finally let out a soft, hoarse "Ah~".

"It was him and I who recommended you," Yang Damei said frankly. "Didn't Lao Le give you all the leave? And 'Migu' isn't busy right now. Why don't you try doing some side jobs since you have time?"

"But Director Yang, I've never worked on game graphics before..."

"It might be a little different from what you imagine. I have project blueprints, some planning scripts, and finished product demonstrations here. Shall I send them to you?"

"Wait a minute, Director—" Before Jian Zhen could refuse, her email notification went off. She looked at the laptop on the table in shock, suspecting that Yang Damei had already put the email in the drafts folder, just waiting for her to speak.

This is forced buying and selling.

“It’s okay, take a look first. If you’re really not interested, I’ll consider other options.” Yang Damei cleverly used a retreat-to-advance tactic: “This snake demon side story is set a thousand years ago, and the filming locations are based on the mountainous areas of southern Zhejiang. It’s still in its early stages. If you’re interested, we can go there at the end of the month.”

Jian Zhen raised an eyebrow, seizing the key phrase: "Snake demon?"

"Yes, it's a minor side story. Previously, due to slow progress and the fact that it didn't affect the main plot, there were many voices in the project team wanting to cut it. I felt it was a pity, so I asked Xu Weisheng for help."

Jian Zhen frowned in confusion and joked, "But Director, you could have come to me yourself. Do you think Xu Weisheng has more influence than you?"

Yang Damei said "Oh," and then continued, "Really? I originally only planned to ask him to approve some funding, but after chatting for a bit, when he heard that I wanted to talk to you, he immediately volunteered. I thought you two..."

Yang Damei shook her head and chuckled on the other end of the phone: "That kid."

Jian Zhen sensed an intentional or unintentional matchmaking from Director Yang's words, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up. Even Yang Damei thought she and Xu Weisheng were a good match? Holding the phone, she started to daydream. What did "immediately recommend yourself" mean?

This person really loves to beat around the bush: when he wanted to introduce her to a good house, he insisted that he had set conditions; when he wanted to give her an opportunity to develop a side business, he insisted that it was Yang Damei's idea.

Jian Zhen lay on the chair staring at the ceiling, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing. She thought to herself that someone was playing hard to get with her. If that was the case, then she would try it and see who would surrender first in this cat-and-mouse game.

Having promised Yang Damei, Jian Zhen brewed a cup of Silver Needle tea she had brought back from home and began downloading attachments while drinking it.

As night deepened, Jian Zhen's teacup emptied and was refilled repeatedly, the only source of white noise in the room being the sound of the printer on the table. Eventually, she lost even the will to refill her teacup, and instead sat cross-legged on the floor, revising her design drafts and annotating the plot.

The next morning, she was awakened by the sunlight streaming into her bedroom. She glanced at the time and saw it was just past 6 a.m. She had only slept for less than four hours, but now she was wide awake. She propped herself up and sat up abruptly, facing the pile of A4 papers on the floor.

Thank goodness, I almost thought everything about the snake demon was just a dream.

Jian Zhen ignored everything, first getting out of bed barefoot to pick up and tidy up the manuscript papers scattered all over the floor, then taking a shower and going on the parade in casual clothes.

When Zixin saw Jian Zhen downstairs, she was shocked, then excitedly rushed up to her: "Sister Xiaozhen, you changed jobs too?"

"No." Jian Zhen had just asked Lao Le for leave and turned to say seriously, "I'm developing a side business."

"Oh, a side hustle?"

Jian Zhen was too lazy to explain, so she put her arm around Zi Xin's shoulder and asked, "Where's Director Yang? Go and announce that a distinguished guest has arrived."

"Director Yang doesn't start work until after 10 o'clock. Please sit for a while while I heat up some breakfast."

Zixin led her to sit down in the reception room. Jianzhen only realized on the way here that Xunyou was indeed a business owned by a rich second generation. They were damn rich!

The average workstation area per employee is twice that of Qili, and the work area even has its own green area, which directly results in the air here smelling better than in Qili. She sat on the sofa in the meeting room and found that the sofa had good resilience, unlike the small, broken sofa at the entrance on the ninth floor of Qili, where the seams were all worn.

Yang Damei arrived half an hour late. The first thing Jian Zhen noticed when she knocked on the door and came in was that her complexion was much rosier than before. Those who didn't know her thought she had changed jobs and that she had found love again!

"Director Yang." Jian Zhen looked up at her and smiled.

"As expected of a distinguished guest." Yang Damei closed the conference room door and, before even sitting down, got straight to the point: "Have you finished reading 'The Hundred Demon Records'?"

“Yes.” Jian Zhen smiled subtly.

"Well, tell me the result first." Yang Damei took off her coat and sat down. She took out two White Rabbit milk candies from her pocket, gave one to Jian Zhen, and laughed, "Kids always like to put snacks in my pockets."

"Rotten." Jian Zhen chewed on her milk candy and went straight to the point. After hearing this one-word comment, Yang Damei not only didn't lose her temper, but instead looked at her with a smile, signaling her to continue.

"First of all, there's a problem with the script. It's understandable that the little snake demon Pingping finds humans novel and interesting when she first sees them, and that she teases and imitates them. But what does it mean that she suddenly falls in love with a human and wants to marry him?"

Jian Zhen handed Yang Damei a printed sheet covered with correction marks, pushed up her glasses, and continued, "The main task of this side quest is to obtain Pingping's venom as one of the ingredients for refining the antidote, but the setting regarding whether the venom can be extracted without injury is completely unclear."

As she spoke, she explained her perspective to Yang Damei: "Since it's a side quest, I don't think it's necessary to design a necessary conflict between the player and the NPC. Also, it's not very clever to deceive a snake demon with false love. The snake demon is just ignorant, not stupid."

Yang Damei flipped through the manuscript papers handed to her one after another. As she read further, she began to feel uneasy. Could it be that Jian Zhen came here specifically to settle scores with her and criticize the snake demon side quest as a hopeless pile of garbage?

She raised her eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly, and looked at Jian Zhen, saying, "So, in the current storyline about Pingping, is there anything you think is worthwhile?"

"Sigh." Jian Zhen sighed, paused for a while, and then pulled out a few sheets from the bottom of the stack of manuscripts, lining them up on the table.

“These prototype designs,” Jian Zhen exclaimed, panting, “are so cute.”

Yang Damei's tense shoulders relaxed, and her heart settled back into her stomach: "This is... Xu Weisheng's revision."

Jian Zhen frowned slightly, stroking her chin, and said, "No wonder the style felt so familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He's imitating Lin Sheng, isn't he..."

Yang Damei exclaimed, her expression changing several times: "This, this."

"Director Yang," Jian Zhen suddenly asked with a righteous air, pressing one hand on the table, "Can I change the plot?"

"It depends on how you want to change it. You'll have to discuss it with Xu Weisheng. As long as you can get him to agree, there won't be any problems." Yang Damei glanced at the message on her phone and said with a sigh of relief, "Perfect timing, he's here."