At the end of June and the beginning of July, Chu Li signed her contract to become a regular employee of Yuanyue Company. Her salary soared to over 3,000 yuan, and the weather in G City gradually became hotter. Every day at 7 or 8 o'clock, the sun rose like a maximum-power electric oven, baking the city. It became a painful thing to squeeze into the bus every day to go to work. Sometimes, she would squeeze in between the uncles and aunts who were coming back from morning exercises and taking the bus to the vegetable market. When Chu Li got off the bus, she would always feel that she had gone bad.
When he went out in the morning, he was still a sweet and fresh young man.
The weather seemed to be particularly hot that day, and Chu Li rushed to the editorial office like a salted vegetable... As soon as she stepped into the editorial office, she looked up and saw the person she least wanted to see in this salted vegetable mode: Chu Chuan.
Chu Li stood at the door with her bag, opened her mouth and pointed at Zhuchuan.
The man who was playing with her desk toys raised his eyelids and glanced at her, "What are you pointing at? Do you have any manners?"
Chu Li quickly retracted his hand: "Teacher Chu Chuan, why are you here..."
It's nine o'clock in the morning. According to international custom, you should be lying in bed with the air conditioner on, living a life of drunkenness and dreaming, which is enviable.
Zhao Chuan glanced at her and said, "I'm flying to City B this afternoon and won't be back until mid-July. Before I leave, I'll come and take a look at the progress of "The Divine Book of Luo River"..." Zhao Chuan gestured with his eyes as he spoke, indicating that he wanted to see it himself and did not trust her, the editor-in-chief who only knew how to do the magic brush Ma Liang stuff.
"Going to City B?"
"Looking for that old bastard Jiang Yucheng."
"You are not allowed to say that about Teacher Jiang Yucheng."
"What are you not allowed to do? Do you have the guts to say it again?"
"………………Teacher, why did you go to City B to see Teacher Jiang Yucheng?"
Chu Li came closer, put down her bag, and did not rush Zhichuan to get up from her seat. She just bent down and turned on the computer under the man's eyes. The man stared at the person in front of him. She was wearing a simple white T-shirt, a dark blue pleated skirt and black leather shoes. Maybe it was a little hot outside. Her face was flushed and her hair was slightly messy. When she bent down to turn on the computer, she brought a gust of wind, mixed with the sun, fruity shower gel and a faint smell of sweat...
Smells good.
It’s the taste of summer.
Zhuo Chuan lowered his eyes, and when she squatted down to turn on the computer, he saw a section of her collarbone exposed at the edge of her crooked collar, and below that was a piece of white skin...
At this moment, Chu Li suddenly raised his head and looked at him strangely with his clean black eyes. The two of them looked at each other unexpectedly. The man's eyes darkened and he spoke in a very cold tone: "Going out to play, what else can you do... Why do you smell so sweaty? Did you just go to the construction site to move bricks?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the slightly rosy face in front of him suddenly turn red. The girl suddenly lowered her head and sniffed her body left and right. She looked exactly like when she let Ergouzi curl up his legs and smell her little cock... Then she left Zhuchuan behind and ran towards the bathroom.
As she looked back in panic, the man raised the corners of his lips.
At this time, the editor-in-chief Yu Yao, who was sitting in his seat, raised his head and said, "Teacher Zhechuan, Teacher Xia just gave a reply, saying that the review of "Luohe Divine Book" has been completed and we can prepare to move forward with the cover design... Also, you can't talk to girls like you just did."
Yu Yao and Zhe Chuan were of similar age, and Yu Yao was not an ordinary editor either. Zhe Chuan was relatively polite to her, saying "Oh" and nodding, looking lazy and not really interested...
Ten minutes later, Chu Li came back.
It was obvious that she had combed her hair and put on some makeup.
He walked in and stood in front of Chu Chuan: "Does it still smell?"
Zhuo Chuan: "Actually, there was nothing just now. I lied to you."
Chu Li's face twitched, but before she could say anything, Zhuo Chuan patted the non-existent dust on his legs and stretched out his legs: "Your boss said that the design work of the Luohe Divine Book can be started..."
Chu Li bent over the man standing in front of her like a door panel and looked at Yu Yao. Yu Yao smiled and nodded: "Take Zhechuan to the work library to see if he has any ideas about the color and style of the cover..."
Zhuochuan kicked his long legs and stood up.
Just like that, Chu Li came to the office under the scorching sun and didn't even have time to drink a sip of water before he hurried to take Zha Chuan to the work library to see if there were any design styles he liked among the works published by Yuanyue Publishing House... Before leaving the editorial department, when passing by the artist's desk, Chu Li also introduced Zha Chuan to the art editor A Xiang, and told Zha Chuan that "The Divine Book of Luo River" was probably designed by A Xiang, and if he liked the style, he could tell her.
Ah Xiang had his signature silly smile on his face and stood up to greet Zhuochuan.
Zhuochuan: "I want a fresh and ancient style with a Western look."
Ah Xiang: “…”
The smile on Ah Xiang's face disappeared.
Chu Li looked at Ah Xiang with a sympathetic expression, as if to say "Welcome to my world". Then he said to Zhu Chuan, "Teacher, it is impossible to be both fresh and fashionable at the same time."
Zhuo Chuan: "How is that impossible? You are not a graphic designer, what do you know..."
I don't understand, but I have eyes. Look at the confused face of the art designer in front of you. When you proposed the eight words "Western style, ancient style, fresh and elegant", it instantly turned into a pool of stagnant water. Isn't that enough to explain everything? !
Afraid that Ah Xiang would not be able to bear the next greeting, Chu Li grabbed Zhechuan's sleeve and dragged him away. The two of them came to the work library on another floor - which displayed all the publications of Yuanyue Society in the past few decades, classified and displayed one by one according to the year of publication and the type of work.
Zhuo Chuan casually pulled out a book, took a look at it, and turned to show it to Chu Li.
Chu Li: "Listening to the Rain, a spy war theme in the Republic of China, is ten times less than Dream of the Red Chamber in your oriental fantasy."
Zhuochuan put the book back, took out another one, turned around and showed it to Chuli.
Chu Li: "Douglas's Goodnight Diary, a classic Western documentary literature, is ten copies of Harry Potter away from your Eastern fantasy."
Zhuo Chuan frowned, took out a book for the third time, turned around and showed it to Chu Li.
Chu Li: "Battlefield Sunset, tearing the Japanese apart with bare hands, it's not in line with your oriental fantasy... Teacher, can you please look carefully and don't just reach out and grab the book you want? I'm telling you, if you move a little further from the shelf in front of you, you can still pull out Ci Hai—"
"Does it matter what the cover looks like? What matters is the content of the book."
"Then I'll ask someone to draw two cute animals for you, and use colorful jelly fonts for the fonts... After all, the content of a book is the key point. Do you like Boonie Bears?"
"You dare."
"Boonie Bears is very popular, do you look down on it? It is very popular among children under three years old, and everyone watches it."
"shut up."
Zhuchuan's voice sounded very calm. He stuffed the book in his hand back onto the bookshelf, dusted off his hands, and suddenly changed the subject, "I read your June issue of the magazine... The front page of the final volume project was given to Jiang Yucheng."
Chu Li didn't expect him to say this. She was standing on tiptoe to take the book when she paused. She turned around to talk to him. At this moment, the man appeared behind her. He took the book down for her and put it in her hand. He lowered his head to look into her eyes and said calmly, "What do you think?"
Chu Li looked down at the book in his hand. It was a book that recorded ancient food, customs and human nature. It had a double cover. The outer cover was made of yellowish retro paper with a hollowing process. The inner cover had bright red peonies, lotus roots and wolfberries. The colors were vibrant...
She lifted it up and showed it to Zhuchuan, and leaned out from the side of the book: "What do you mean?"
The man stood beside the bookshelf, one hand resting on it, looking at the little girl sandwiched between him and the bookshelf - she held the book in her hand high up, half of her face was hidden behind the book and half of her face was exposed, her soft black short hair drew a beautiful arc beside her ears...
The hand that was resting on the bookshelf slid down slightly without making any sound.
Until the girl in front of him was completely covered by his shadow, the man lowered his head and asked, "How long did it take Jiang Yucheng from agreeing to write for you to handing in the manuscript?"
"It seems so," Chu Li thought for a moment, "Twenty minutes?"
"...Twenty minutes."
The man sneered and repeated it with a playful tone. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Do you think Jiang Yucheng wrote that story for you on the spot? It only took him a short time to write such a complete story?"
Chu Li was stunned: "What do you mean?"
Zhuo Chuan did not answer. He raised his hand from the bookshelf and took the book from Chu Li's hand. He said in a vague way, "Don't think too highly of others. You don't even know you've been sold out. There is no such thing as a free lunch. An author of Jiang Yucheng's level can't be a good person... Be prepared. Don't cry when the time comes. No one can save you."
Why am I crying?
How do you know I cried?
And you sound like you saved me from a dire situation?
Chu Li looked puzzled, watching the man casually flip through the books in his hands with his slender fingertips, then turned around and randomly picked a few books and put them in her arms: "These are it, they look okay..."
Very perfunctory look.
It seems that they are not prepared to continue the previous topic about Jiang Yucheng.
Chu Li held the books and registered them one by one with the library manager. When she walked out of the library, she found that Zha Chuan was gone. When she returned to the editorial department, Yu Yao told her that Zha Chuan had already gone back and he had not yet packed his luggage for the afternoon flight.
Chu Li was a little confused: "What on earth is he doing here?"
Ah Xiang: "Are you here to make some unbelievable requests to the art editor?"
Chu Li put down the books in his hands and said, "Ignore him. Follow the designs in these books to find your direction—"
Ah Xiang: "What if the teacher thinks my design is not fashionable enough..."
Chu Li: "How can a straight man like him know what Western style is?"
Ah Xiang: “…”
It seems so.
…
Zhechuan came by in the morning and left some confusing words. Chu Li had no idea what he was talking about, but she always felt a little uneasy... She was absent-minded for the rest of the day. Yu Yao called her twice but she didn't respond, and Lao Miao even mocked her for this.
I couldn't help but complain to Mr. L in the afternoon, but for some reason, Mr. L seemed to be away.
It was Friday after work, and Chu Li didn't have to go to work the next day. He was thinking about watching a play in the evening to relax. But just after dinner, he was lying on the sofa with a bulging belly to digest the food, when something happened.
Chu Li was watching an American TV series on her phone at the time. As she was watching, a message from the work WeChat group popped up on the top of the screen. It was Lao Miao @ing her, asking her to hurry out... Chu Li was a little confused. Ever since she won two comeback battles, Lao Miao could just not talk to her. Now he took the initiative to @ her -
I'm afraid it's not a good thing.
[The monkey’s hired navy: What’s going on? What’s going on? What happened? ]
【Meow Meow: Haha, something big has happened. Just read Jiang Yucheng’s Weibo.】
Chu Li's heart skipped a beat at that moment.
I quickly logged into Weibo, and when I refreshed my page, I saw Jiang Yucheng's latest Weibo post, which was posted 20 minutes ago. It was a preview of a new article of his. The new article is a series of his masterpiece "The Disappearing Zoo", and is called "The Disappearing Amusement Park". According to Jiang Yucheng's Weibo post, the entire article had been drafted half a year ago.
Twenty minutes after the prologue was released, it had been forwarded over ten thousand times and received over eight thousand comments...
When I saw the title of this article, I felt that something was not right.
After clicking in and reading the comments, her guess was confirmed.
【The master finally published a new article! 】
[Aaaaaah so happy!!! It's still so well written, the prologue feels so similar to "The Vanishing Zoo"!! We've been waiting for you for a year! ]
[Hey, isn’t this a detailed and expanded version of the joke that was written in the front matter of the June issue of Moonlight magazine? hhhhhhhhhh At that time, I was still thinking, how great it would be if such a good joke could be an article! ]
[The Lost Zoo series! Cheers! In my lifetime!]
【Ahhhhh, this is really the first volume project of "Moonlight", I look forward to it! 】
[I followed the author's Weibo because I saw it on Moonlight. I was waiting for you to have a change of heart and write a follow-up. Now you tell me that this is actually the preface of an article. What a surprise! ]
…
There are countless comments like the above.
Chu Li read through them one by one, until the cold sweat on her palms made her hands slip and she couldn't hold the phone anymore. All she could think about was what Zhu Chuan had asked her that morning -
[Do you think Jiang Yucheng wrote that paragraph for you on the spot? ]
[It only took a short time to write such a complete paragraph? ]
[Don’t think too highly of others. You may be betrayed without knowing it…]
[There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. How can an author of Jiang Yucheng's level be a good person? ]
Chu Li: "..."
Jiang Yucheng?
That frontispiece he gave her was the prologue to his new book?!
He used the frontispiece of Moonlight as free advertising for his new article???
He stared blankly at his phone, Lao Miao's questions still popping out one by one -
【Meow Meow: Is this the rescue you found?】
【Meow Meow: What kind of Hope Project magazine is "Moonlight"? 80,000 copies printed, 40,000 reprints, 120,000 copies distributed, free advertising? ?】
[Meow Meow: Are you just doing this for free? You’re just warming up for his new book???]
[Meow Meow: The most ridiculous thing is that we were so grateful to him before this? 】
【Meow meow: ???】
【Meow Meow: Jiang Yucheng played such a trick on me. My colleagues must have laughed their heads off... No one like us in Moonlight is good at charity.】
[Meow Meow: Really, wait for the Monday meeting and send someone down to personally confront us. Thanks to you, Yu Yao and I can't escape this time.]
Lao Miao kept yelling for more than twenty times until Yu Yao jumped out and told him to shut up.
Chu Li numbly watched the messages on her WeChat group chat flashing quickly. She really wanted to ask "why", but at this moment she didn't even know who to ask...
The whole person is in a mess.