Han Jing frowned, he knew that Pei Manning had submitted her drawings to Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House.

She was a good painter. He saw it when she was drawing the portrait. She could draw people so vividly, and their expressions and eyes were captured very well. She must have worked hard to learn painting in the past, so it was not surprising that she was seconded here for a few days.

But didn't she grow up in the mountains? How dare she come to a big city like Shanghai alone?

Jiang Ye said, "Brother Chen? Should we go see Pei Zhi when we have a break? Pei Zhi is so eye-catching, weak, and can't speak Shanghainese. He looks young and easy to bully. She's staying here alone. What if she gets cheated by someone she doesn't know?"

Han Jing's frown deepened: "Let's talk about it when it's time to rest."

They still have missions to perform and cannot leave the base at will. However, flying at night every day is very exhausting, so they will take a break every few days.

…

Pei Manning had been in the publishing house for a long time and was familiar with several editors there. Except for Lin Yu who was relatively young, the 30-year-old woman in the Zhongshan suit was surnamed Xu, and the other two 40-year-old men, one surnamed Zhang and the other surnamed Ke, were all veterans in the editorial department.

Because she was so young, about the same age as their children, they all took good care of her.

"You young people are more active in thinking. You know what children like and have your own ideas. We, the old ones, are becoming more and more rigid in our thinking," Editor Liu said with a smile.

In recent years, they have published many stories about heroes in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and have also highlighted individual deeds in recent years, such as someone who overcame numerous difficulties and adjusted the machine production efficiency to a higher level under the condition of foreign technology blockade.

In this general environment, everyone has a positive revolutionary spirit and takes pride in sacrifice, dedication, hard work and diligence.

But it’s always the same old stuff, and after seeing it for too long, it’s inevitable that it becomes monotonous. If there is any innovative content, I’m afraid it won’t pass the review.

Pei Manning's subject matter is relatively safe. It is just interesting pictures that teach children some simple knowledge, making it both educational and entertaining.

"How about this, Xiao Pei Zhi, go back tomorrow and think about the cover of this series. We want to make the cover in color. After all, this is your work, and we need to refer to your opinion."

"Okay, Editor Liu."

Pei Manning walked out of the publishing house before 12 p.m. It was still a little cold and cloudy in Shanghai, so she bought a map from the bookstore next door and walked around to have a look.

The things sold in Shanghai are richer than in other places. For example, the colors and styles of khakis are more than in other places, including light blue, white, black, dark gray and turmeric.

There were also many people wearing cashmere sweaters on the street. The dark red sweaters showed the collar of their white shirts, which made them stand out in the gloomy crowd.

Pei Manning walked along the street to Lane 918, Huaixing Middle Road, and saw a relatively large fruit shop next to it, "Huaixing Fruit Cooperative" with a string of pinyin below it.

Baskets of fruit were placed at the door, with the names and prices written on yellow cardboard. The prices of each fruit were not low, and no receipts were required. After all, they were not food, so the prices were expensive and not many people bought them.

Pei Manning found that several kinds of fruits were not available in the Sumijie. Without paying attention to the price, she asked the salesperson a few questions and bought a little of each, including cherries, strawberries, mangoes, lychees, cantaloupes and pineapples.

The salesperson was talking to the person next to her. She didn't speak Shanghainese and seemed a bit indifferent.

"Bouzhi? I want all of these." Pei Manning said.

The salesperson turned around and saw that Pei Manning did not look like a country girl. She was fair-skinned, beautiful, and a vixen. She had a scholarly air and a bit of a rich look. The salesperson was undecided for a moment, so she pouted and weighed the items for her.

After shopping, it was getting late, so Pei Manning didn't dare to wander around any more. She followed the map and walked towards Yan'an East Road.

The publishing house arranged for her to stay in the guesthouse for ten days and gave her some food coupons and money to eat breakfast and dinner. At noon, she would eat in the cafeteria with everyone else in the publishing house.

Pei Manning carried the fruits back to the guesthouse, locked the doors and windows, and then went back to Xumijie to rest.

During this period of time, many changes also took place in the Sumi world.

She planted many varieties of vegetables, and harvested a little every day, but the accumulation added up to a lot, and the cellar was almost full.

Pei Manning no longer planted vegetables, but instead planted grains on the air. Rouge rice, green glutinous rice, and pearl rice were all for her own consumption because they tasted good but had low yields. The rest were all ordinary rice and wheat, which were all preserved after harvest.

Even ordinary rice and wheat are much sweeter than those sold outside, with each grain full and shiny and full of fragrance.

In addition, the hen has hatched more than 30 chicks. Pei Manning is not stingy and spends a lot of food every day feeding the chickens and ducks. These chicks have begun to enter a period of rapid growth, with a different growth every few days.

She thought that in the future, she should control the number to more than 20 and try to sell the rest, otherwise her orchard would be crowded with chickens and ducks one day.

Now those fruit trees have grown to a height of one person, and many fruits have already borne fruit. Han Jingchen and his friends bought her the apples when she was in Anxian Hospital, and she secretly planted them in the trees.

Others, such as peaches, pears, plums, persimmons, pomegranates, tangerines, and longans, were all collected and planted by her in the past. At that time, she felt that planting trees took up too much space, but now that she has planted them more densely, they are actually growing well.

She picked the ripe fruits and piled them in the cellar. When she had no place to store them, she followed the Pei family's preservation method and brewed various fruit wines.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to go to Shanghai, Pei Manning wanted to sell some of the things in her cellar, otherwise, she would have nowhere to store her things.

However, this is a risky business.

As she had just arrived, she did not dare to act rashly and could only observe the situation first.

With the income from the publishing house, she didn't need to rush to make money now, otherwise she would put herself in danger and lose more than she gained.

Therefore, Pei Manning took the attitude of selling if possible, and forgetting if there is no opportunity. She first wanted to learn more about Shanghai. Who knows, maybe one day she will be able to go there?

After walking around for a few hours in the afternoon, she found that the atmosphere in Shanghai was more relaxed than in other places. It was also true that at this time, the whole country was ensuring the supply of Shanghai, and even the meat coupons were more than in other places.

Moreover, there are many people here who are willing to spend money, and you can tell some clues from their clothes, leather shoes, watches and bicycles.

After having dinner and some fruit in the Xumi Realm and planting the fruit cores in the orchard, Pei Manning began to draw the front and back covers according to the sample album.

She continued to paint for a long time until her hands became sore, and then she stopped to rest.

The next day, Pei Manning got up early and had breakfast at a nearby state-owned hotel. He had a fried dough stick for 10 yuan, a bowl of light soy milk for 3 yuan, and a sesame cake for 3 yuan. He spent 10 cents and 3 taels of grain coupons.

After breakfast, she followed the same route to the publishing house.

"Little Pei Zhi, why are you here so early? Have you had breakfast?" Liu Bian just poured a teacup of boiling water.

Pei Manning politely said hello: "I've eaten, Editor Liu."

Editor Liu walked back to his seat and sat down, waving for her to come in and sit down: "That's good, don't come so early next time, you can just arrive at 8:30, you are still growing up since you are still young."

Pei Manning: “…Okay.”

"By the way, Xiao Pei Zhi, we discussed it yesterday. There is no problem with the first three volumes. Once they are approved by the higher-ups, they should be ready for publication." Liu Ren told her the good news, "The last volume needs some minor changes."

Pei Manning handed over the finished cover and said, "Editor Liu, this is the cover I drew yesterday. I drew two as backup."

"Oh? So fast?" Editor Liu took over and looked at them. "Well, not bad! They are all good! I don't know which one to choose."

Unfortunately, Pei Zhi's registered residence is not in Shanghai, so they can't transfer her to work here. At most, they can only second her for a few days.

Secondment is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it is not advisable to do it too frequently.

"How about this, Xiao Pei Zhi, you list the general framework and outline of the entire series in the next few days. If there are any problems, we can communicate and solve them in time. This way, when you go home, everyone can save a lot of trouble."

Editor Liu took into consideration that this was Pei Manning's first time in Shanghai, so he didn't assign her much work, allowing her more time to explore Shanghai.

At about 3:00 p.m., after finishing the day's work schedule, he said with a smile, "Okay, I know that when you female journalists come to Shanghai, you will inevitably go to department stores to buy clothes and vanishing cream. Go now while they are still open."

Editor Liu also had good intentions. After all, Pei Manning was not a formal employee. After completing her work, she could arrange her time freely.

…

After Pei Manning left the publishing house, she went to a nearby department store to see what was sold there.

Department stores in Shanghai do have a richer range of goods, including Friendship, Hongmei, and Yashuang brand vanishing creams, Butterfly brand shampoo, and Roman, Rolex, Tissot, Plum and Longines watches.

Pei Manning stared at her watch outside the counter for a while. Including the two new sketches, she only had a total of 88 yuan, and she spent some of it. She would keep the rest to return one to Han Jingchen.

Moreover, she didn't have a watch or ticket, so she could only take a few glances and planned to buy it after she got the money and tickets.

Pei Manning went to other counters and looked at the prices at each counter. She had a rough idea of ​​the price and bought a pair of leather boots, which she didn't have in her world.

"Eight yuan." The salesperson opened the door and collected the money without even looking up.

Pei Manning gave her a big reunion directly.

The salesperson took the money and slid it onto the wire rope together with the ticket. After stamping and giving change, he gave her the shoes together with the ticket.

"Wait a minute." Pei Manning had just walked out of the department store and reached the entrance of an alley when someone grabbed her sleeve from behind.