afternoon.

Chu Li was immersed in proofreading Ah Gui's "Hearings", deleting here and reducing there until she was dizzy. The Q avatar she had been looking forward to for a whole day finally started shaking. She threw away the proofreading book and clicked it impatiently. Sure enough, the other party sent her a composition draft -

Before clicking, Chu Li glanced at the time on the lower right corner of the computer. The time was exactly right, ten minutes before getting off work, which theoretically couldn't be more accurate than "before getting off work."

“…”

Chu Li clicked on the "draft" and was surprised to find that the draft was so complete that it could no longer be described as a "draft". I originally thought that the so-called "draft composition" should only be some messy lines, with the outline of the characters, postures and general composition positions.

But what was sent out was obviously a line drawing that was almost completed——

As expected of Empress Xu, the characters in her paintings are reassuring. The figure in the painting is tall and handsome, with his head slightly lowered and long hair loose, sharp eyebrows and a nose like a hanging gallbladder. He is sitting on a huge rock, slightly leaning to one side, probably wiping his sword, with a few strands of hair hanging down from the edge of his handsome face...

Chu Li heaved a sigh of relief, but then became annoyed again: We agreed on a double page spread, but here there is only one person? And it’s not a draft, but a line drawing. What should I do if I need to change it later?

[The Monkey's Navy: How come the completion rate is so high? ]

[Breaking the Cocoon: I just kept drawing when I felt like it. Hey! ]

Chu Li:………………I’m not complimenting you, am I?

[The Monkey’s hired sailors: The completion is so high, it might be troublesome if the composition needs to be changed? ]

[Po織: Huh? ]

Chu Li: What? Don’t you want to change?

[Po繭: It’s not that I don’t want to change the picture. First of all, I have read “Luohe Divine Book” and this picture has existed in my mind for a long time. Secondly, according to the character design and scene picture given by Mr. Zhaochuan, the posture and expression I want to draw now are very consistent and very touching... If I want to change it, it may not be as good as it is now. 】

[The navy hired by the monkey: …]

[The Monkey’s hired trolls: Okay, let’s put aside the question of whether to change it or not. Let’s first confirm it. Wasn’t it agreed that day that it would be a two-person spread? Why is there only one person? And another person? ]

[Po繭: You also said that the line drawing of this character alone is very complete, so you didn’t have time to draw the other person. He should be standing behind him... Can I circle it for you? How can you draw so many in one afternoon? ]

Chu Li: "..."

So I'm the one forcing you to finish your manuscript?

If you are drawing a rough draft, you will definitely have time, my friend!

What we say is good is just a draft - the kind of draft that can be changed directly if it is not suitable!

Of course, it's too late to finish it directly after finishing it...

Chu Li had no choice but to call Ah Xiang, who was packing up next door and preparing to go home after get off work. Ah Xiang herself was also a graduate of fine arts. Although she no longer paints, she still has the basic knowledge. So when the artists hand in the drafts, she will check the colors, composition, perspective, proportions, and the illustrations for the books she is responsible for designing, and Yu Yao will give them to her for full approval...

Ah Xiang came over and took a look at the draft: "The perspective is correct, and the characters are also beautiful, which is what I am good at drawing. There is nothing wrong with the characters. But why is there only one person? Wasn't it a two-person spread? And isn't this a draft? How come we can start coloring the line drawings after some tidying up?"

"...The teacher told me in a tone that 'artists' inspiration is hard to come by, you know nothing about it', and he started drawing lines while he was happy," Chu Li paused and continued, "Also, he said he didn't have time to draw the other head, which should be the position behind him: the specific position, you can fill in the blanks yourself."

Ah Xiang was silent.

After thinking for a while, he said slowly: "Let her draw two heads for you to see. I see that this person is facing the left in a "＞" symbol folded shape... Generally, this kind of person orientation will result in the title of the book being placed on the left, which is very bad: because when books enter newsstands or some bookstores, they will be stacked to the right. If your book title is placed on the left, what do you think will happen?"

Chu Li thought about the scenes when he passed by the newsstand every day, hesitated for a moment, and suddenly realized: "It will cause the name of the book to be blocked by other books stacked on it - ah, how can that be done?!"

Ah Xiang nodded: "So the art editor will place the book title in the center or on the right by default - you have to make it clear to Xun that it must be like this. If she doesn't want to revise the manuscript, then we have to flip the entire picture horizontally: It's possible, but the works of painters who are not skilled enough will be ugly after horizontal flipping, and there will also be bugs in the character's hairstyle, clothing and dominant hand..."

Chu Li raised his head and looked at Ah Xiang, who was talking so much for the first time. He spoke in a flat and steady voice about the knowledge he had accumulated over the years of design... It was the first time that he felt that Ah Xiang's image was so tall!

She nodded and said "OK, OK" while turning around to tell Xun all the precautions Ah Xiang had mentioned. After finally typing out the words and sending them out, she looked up again and found that Xun's avatar had turned black.

It’s not offline;

It is invisible to them online.

Chu Li rolled her eyes and left a detailed message to the black and white portrait that looked like it was in a mourning hall, stating the reasons for the change and the precautions to be taken. After that, she closed QQ and prepared to go home after get off work: because according to historical experience, if she wanted to get a formal answer from Xun, she would probably have to go through another long round of waiting.

On the way home from get off work, Chu Li asked, "If the final draft is not good enough, can we change people?"

Ah Xiang: "It's too late. Open the official Weibo and take a look."

Chu Li used her mobile phone to log into the official Weibo account of Moonlight and found that the official account had already posted the draft that the goddess taught in the afternoon with a thin mosaic, and added the words: [Guess, this male god is——]

Below are a bunch of "Waju Dada", "Waluo River God Book", "Waju is going to draw the cover for Zhuchuan? Looking forward to it"...

As the long-term controller of the official Weibo account, Chu Li was confused: "Who did it?"

Ah Xiang: "Teacher Xia is the general commander, and Lao Miao is doing the actual operation, which is euphemistically called a warm-up."

Chu Li: “…………………………………………What’s the warm-up for? Didn’t anyone think of notifying me, the editor-in-chief, before the warm-up?”

Chu Li: “Did no one think to inform me, the poor editor who may not be able to get the manuscript and thinks the artist may be replaced???!!!”

Ah Xiang: “No.”

Chu Li: "..."

…

An hour later.

Chu Li returned home, opened the gate with the key, and looked up to see a man and a dog saying goodbye silently under the eaves. The man was dragging a suitcase in his hand, and he was still dressed in black and wearing sunglasses...

Chu Li silently raised his head to look at the setting sun that was almost sinking behind the mountain, then silently retracted his gaze, forcing himself not to say in a surprised tone: "The teacher is getting ready to go to the airport, it's almost dark..."

What the hell are you doing wearing sunglasses?

You’ve never held a signing event and you refuse to post photos on Weibo. Who knows you? Why are you being so mysterious? You’re not Hu Ge!

Zhuo Chuan touched Er Gouzi's head, raised his head and glanced at Chu Li from behind his sunglasses. He said "hmm" and didn't know if he understood what Chu Li said. He just reminded himself: "When I'm not at home, you and Er Gouzi should be honest, eat and sleep on time, and don't go around having fun."

Chu Li: "..."

How can you have fun by holding Ergou to pee on your pillow?

As Chu Li watched in silence, Zhuo Chuan came out carrying a box and said in a low voice, "If you don't have enough canned dog food, call me or buy some first and I'll reimburse you when I get back. Bring Er Gou to have the dressing changed and the stitches removed on Friday. When I'm not around, the [30 Tenant Rules] are still in effect. No bipedal male creatures are allowed to be brought home—not even roosters. Shut up, how dare you argue?"

“…”

Just shut up.

Chu Li closed her mouth and nodded, swallowing the barb that was about to come out of her mouth to show that she didn't want to waste words to refute him... At this time, the man walked to her side and stopped, took off his sunglasses, stared at her with his brown eyes, and after a moment, he suddenly said without beginning or ending: "...I saw the message this morning."

Chu Li: "...I'm just complaining..."

"I told you not to use the cocoon a long time ago. An artist with bad character will naturally have many problems. Do you still expect a hypocritical person who randomly pairs up couples for popularity and scolds his fans to be respectful to the editor? I told you and you still didn't believe it. Now you know you are wrong - you deserve it."

Chu Li remembered that when she was a child, she refused to wear autumn pants in winter when she went to school, and ended up catching a cold. At that time, her mother forced her to take medicine while scolding her in this tone... Changing the key words is exactly the same, as if she had traveled through time.

Chu Li: “…………………………………You took off your sunglasses just to say this?”

Chu Chuan: "I took off my sunglasses to see the regret on your face. Yes, it's this expression right now. It's very standard: regret."

Chu Li raised his hand and touched his expressionless face: "Teacher, take care, here are your wallet and cell phone keys."

Zhuo Chuan said disdainfully: "You are not a three-year-old child."

Chu Li: "Identity card."

The disdain on Zhuchuan's face paused for a moment, and was replaced by emptiness three seconds later. Three seconds later, he stuffed the suitcase in Chuli's hand, turned around and hurried into the room... Chuli stretched his neck and looked at him in silence for a while, closed the gate, handed the suitcase to Ergou, walked back to the room, put on the ugly pair of plush slippers, and shouted into the room: "Teacher, did you find it?"

"If I found it, would I still stay in the house and lay eggs?!"

"..." Look at you, you're so angry. It's not me who hid your ID card... Chu Li put down her bag and walked towards the study room in her slippers. "You didn't put something as important as your ID card in your wallet, where did you put it? How can you put anything in there——"

"Instead of taking the time to mock others, why don't you help me look for it?" A disdainful voice came from the next room.

Chu Li entered the study and glanced at the desk. A laptop, an ashtray, a newly opened pack of cigarettes, a lighter, a handwritten manuscript draft, a pen, and an ink bottle were scattered all over the desk... Chu Li sighed, and while cleaning the desk, he rummaged through the mess that looked like a garbage dump. He glanced at the draft paper, on which were written some things that were probably the setting of the novel -

...New article?

Chu Li picked it up and took a look. She immediately discovered that this time, it seemed that Zhu Chuan was not just writing about oriental fantasy. It seemed that he was writing about oriental fantasy romance for the first time. There was even a heroine in this article. The heroine's name was "Lu Kui", but there was only one name. Next to the name was a very ancient-style thing that looked like a sword box...

Chu Li was afraid that Zhuchuan would make a fuss and look for these drafts later, so she didn't dare to throw them around. She put them on the table and tidied up the desktop. Finally, she picked up all the reference books on the table one by one and shook them. Finally, when she shook a thick dictionary, she heard a "click" sound and a small square piece of plastic fell out...

Chuli: “????”

Who would use their ID card as a bookmark in a dictionary?

He picked up the ID card and hurried out of the study, calling out the master who was still rummaging through the drawers in the room. The man's eyes lit up when he saw the ID card in Chu Li's hand, and he took it and said, "Thank you."

Chu Li nodded perfunctorily: "Perform well in front of Grandpa and Grandma."

The man put on his sunglasses again, and this time he went out in a hurry. He walked to the gate of the yard, pushed it open, and then stopped for some reason. He turned around and looked at the little girl who was leaning against the door at this moment, wearing the furry slippers he bought, and watching him leave with her arms folded. Suddenly, he felt something in his heart...

He raised his eyebrows, and without thinking, he used two fingers to pinch the ID card and ticked it, saying, "I owe you a favor."

Chu Li was stunned.

Then he waved his hand and said, "Forget it, just go on."

The man showed an insincere expression: "Wait for me to come back."

Chu Li leaned his head against the door frame and finally smiled: "Don't come back."

The man sneered and pushed the box towards the garage, Er Gouzi followed closely behind him with his tail wagging. The man and the dog walked into the underground garage. Chu Li vaguely heard the rare gentle voice of Zhu Chuan amid the barking of Er Gouzi, saying something like "I'll be back next week" and "Don't talk nonsense"... A few minutes later, the sound of a sports car starting up rang out in the underground garage. After a while of chaos, the yard became quiet.

The dog used his nose to push the door open, slipped into the house, kicked the door shut with his hind legs, rubbed his paws on the doormat, then entered the house, jumped onto the sofa, closed his eyes and fell asleep peacefully: he didn't seem to be at all uncomfortable with the fact that his owner was about to go away.

Chu Li: "..."

The dogs raised by actors are all the best dogs.

…

That night, Chu Chuan flew to the neighboring province to attend the Writers Association Conference. After a hasty search for his ID card, the man's words "I owe you a favor" were just ignored by Chu Li.

What she didn't expect was that this was not just a passing note, but a huge flag.

On the first day after Zhuochuan left, there was almost no news from Empress Xu.

The day after Zhuochuan left, Empress Xun could not find any trace of him.

On the third day after Zhuo Chuan left, there was no news of the goddess. Yu Yao asked where the cover of the Luohe Divine Book had gone.

On the fourth day after Zhuo Chuan left, Niangniang disappeared from the human world. Editor-in-Chief Xia personally added Chu Li's QQ and asked about the progress of the cover design of "Luohe Divine Book". Chu Li said "the progress is zero", but he didn't know whether he should say it or not.

On the fifth day after Zhuochuan left, after Ah Xiang reminded him that "you will never get the manuscript no matter how gently you ask for it", Chu Li lost his temper and frantically @繭娘娘30 times in the group. Finally, 繭娘娘 was exposed. 繭娘娘 said as if nothing had happened -

【Po筭: Sorry I was not on QQ a few days ago because I was busy】

Chu Li: "..."

What do you want? Is there another Yottu guy blocking your door with a kitchen knife? This is the only one I believe.

[Po筭: Wait a minute, there are some final details that need to be revised. I will do it now and send it to you tonight. ]

[The monkey’s hired navy: Teacher, you finally showed up. Good, good!]

Ah Xiang, who had been watching everything, said: "I bet a cart of bananas that she won't show up tonight."

Chu Li: "Don't be like that, be optimistic."

At this point, Chu Li, who was still able to be optimistic, breathed a sigh of relief and spent the whole day in the naivety of thinking that she could finally face Editor-in-Chief Xia... She went home in the evening, cooked for Er Gou, fed him, cooked for herself, and took a bath. When she came out of the bathroom, she looked up and found that it was already half past ten in the evening.

Chu Li was silent for a while, feeling as if she had forgotten something. She went on Weibo and saw that the goddess of the moon said affectionately to her fans, "Going to bed, good night." She finally remembered what she had forgotten.

I thought about it and realized that my phone hadn’t received any unread messages tonight. I had a bad feeling and opened QQ in disbelief. As expected, QQ was as quiet as a chicken.

Lady Xu?

Does not exist.

Chu Li was almost choking and threw her phone out of the window. At this moment, she really knew what it meant to be in a dilemma. In her anxiety, she climbed up to the attic window and sat on it to bask in the moonlight, hoping to collect the essence of the sun and the moon and ascend to heaven as soon as possible to leave this mortal world full of idiots and people who could kill normal people...

Sitting by the window, enjoying the summer breeze, the fragrance of the night-blooming cereus grown by someone gave her a headache.

Her eyes wandered and finally stopped at the courtyard door at her feet. Chu Li paused and sat up straight. She suddenly remembered that five days ago, there was a handsome, tall, mighty and handsome man standing there, smiling and saying to her: I owe you a favor.

Chuli: “…………………………”

…

then.

Thirty minutes later.

In the distant city A, in a villa surrounded by mountains, rivers and lakes, a man was sitting at the dining table, staring blankly at a bowl full of red dates, peach gum, white fungus and bird's nest syrup in front of him, when suddenly his cell phone vibrated.

He shuddered, raised his head, and silently looked at the fifty-year-old woman sitting on his right, who was staring at him lovingly and urgingly. After a long while, he grabbed the phone as if relieved, and said lightly: "Mom, it seems to be the editor of Yuanyue Society calling."

The woman smiled and nodded: "Go and pick him up. Your father will be back soon. You can wait for him to drink sugar water together."

“…”

The man grabbed his phone and ran away.

He walked back to the room on the second floor, closed the door, and sat on the bed. Moonlight poured in from outside, and half of the man's body was swallowed up in the darkness... He looked down at the vibrating mobile phone in his hand, swiped it, put it to his ear, and said "Hello". He was about to ask "Banana Man, what are you doing" -

However, before he could say another word, a familiar voice on the other end of the phone started roaring -

"The Queen is really trying to kill me! She actually set me up! I was wrong, Teacher Chuan, now you have to pay me back for the trouble of finding my ID card at the cost of sacrificing your body!! Now!! Immediately!!! Immediately!! NOW!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!"

Zhuchuan: “…”

Pulling the phone away from his ear, the man stared at the buzzing phone like a monster for a while: I wonder if it’s too late to hang up the phone and pretend that he never picked up the phone?