Chapter 46 The Little Painter in the Attic
At the outset, the biggest shortage at Touxue was actually people. Both Jian Zhen and Xu Weisheng were aiming to create high-quality works, so naturally they needed to assemble a strong creative team. Logically speaking, one of them had been working in the industry for many years, and the other had just left the industry's "Whampoa Military Academy," so they should have no shortage of contact information for outstanding talents.
But sometimes reality is just that unreasonable. They each exhausted their connections, but the number of people they managed to cobble together was still far from enough.
Unfortunately, everyone politely declined when they heard that the studio wouldn't be profitable for the first two years.
Xu Weisheng said with a sheepish look on his face, "I only said that starting out in the snow industry doesn't make much money, not that we won't pay them salaries. Have you all misunderstood the point?"
Jian Zhen tried to comfort him from the perspective of a working-class person: "Fundamentally, people don't believe that anyone can continuously invest in a money-losing project for two or three years, even if that person is a rich second generation. Alas, it's also because there are fewer and fewer rich second generations who don't know how to think things through these days."
Xu Weisheng sighed, and after a couple of seconds it took him to realize what she meant. He squatted down by the roadside, looked up at her, and said, "You're insulting me?"
"I just realized that your brain isn't working very well." Jian Zhen smiled, her eyes crinkling. The iced lemon tea in her hand underwent a violent energy exchange with the hot air, quickly condensing into water droplets around the cup wall, which then dripped down like raindrops onto the ground.
"You're quite clever. May I ask, Grand Strategist Jian, do you have any good ideas on how to recruit talents from all over the world?" Xu Weisheng stepped aside to avoid her "localized rainfall."
“Actually… there really is one.” Jian Zhen jumped onto the cylindrical marble slab, pulled up her trouser leg, squatted down, and looked down at him slightly.
While listening attentively, Xu Weisheng was quite surprised—the top area of this cylinder wasn't much larger than a McDonald's hamburger (before it shrank), so how could she squat so steadily?
"With our current manpower, making movies is impossible, but making short TV episodes is possible." Jian Zhen spoke with her head tilted to the side, elbows resting on her knees, her posture youthful and carefree, a stark contrast to the rational content of her speech: "If TV shows can be broadcast on online media, the cost is low, and the word-of-mouth is good, then releasing recruitment information through TV channels at the right time can accurately deliver the needs to the right people."
"What a brilliant move to get the ball rolling." Xu Weisheng stared at her and gave her a thumbs up.
Jian Zhen put the straw back in her mouth, raised the corners of her mouth and smiled, "That's called a marketing strategy, you bumpkin."
Xu Weisheng automatically filtered out the last two words, frowning as he pondered the matter of setting up the TV project's organizational structure. Given the current manpower situation, no matter how you look at it, there would be a shortage of original animators.
He suddenly stood up from the ground, crushing the mineral water bottle in his hand with a snap: "I understand!"
Jian Zhen was startled and almost lost her balance, but managed to regain her footing. She scolded him, "What are you doing? Why are you so jumpy!"
Xu Weisheng rubbed his temples and stretched out his hand: "Ouch, I got up too fast, I'm dizzy—"
Jian Zhen quickly slid down from the stone pillar and reached out to help him up: "Are you alright?"
Xu Weisheng decided to stay unconscious for a while longer, pretending to be quite convincing, and forcefully maintained the image of a stubborn person who was worried sick about his career, weakly saying, "I have someone in mind, who is particularly suitable to be the original animator for TV."
"Who?" Jian Zhen asked impatiently.
"Jiang Yuan..."
"Get lost!" Jian Zhen shoved his shoulder away and rolled her eyes. Dean Jiang, even if he wanted to come because of his reputation, they couldn't afford to pay his salary. Isn't this just ridiculous?
Xu Weisheng was still engrossed in playing the role of a "delicate willow in the breeze" when Jian Zhen pushed him, and he swayed and "barely managed to stand up." Then he finally got out of character, held his stomach and laughed for a long time. He strode to catch up with Jian Zhen, put his elbow on her shoulder, and said with a smile, "I'm serious, but let me finish! I mean I have someone saved at Jiang Yuan's place."
How can a person deposit and withdraw money in installments? It turns out there's quite a history behind it.
Jian Zhen only learned after hearing this that when she first met Xu Weisheng in the Rolls-Royce at the school gate, he had gone to beg Dean Jiang for this person's sake.
What surprised her even more was that the other person was very young. Even though she had worked at the original Touxue Studio for two years and then spent a year working under Dean Jiang in Beijing, she was still not even twenty years old.
The two set off immediately, taking an early flight back to Beijing the next day. Following the address provided by Dean Jiang, they eventually found a small shop specializing in stone materials.
The shop is hidden inside a flower, bird, fish and insect market. It's not big, only about ten square meters, and it's next to a pet shop, sharing the scent of pets' excrement.
Jian Zhen stood at the shop entrance, sniffing the unpleasant smell in the air. Her stomach churned, and she asked in a low voice with a furrowed brow, "Are you sure Youjia lives in a place like this?"
"It should be right." In fact, Xu Weisheng was also wondering, as this place didn't look like a habitable place at all.
"She doesn't have any relatives in Beijing?" Jian Zhen asked incredulously. She couldn't imagine how a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl would survive if she had no relatives or friends in Beijing.
“She ran away from home.” Xu Weisheng then introduced the girl’s background. Youjia’s surname is He. She was quiet and reserved when she was young. Her parents once thought she had autism. Later, she got lost at the train station and was abducted to Guangdong by human traffickers. She escaped from the traffickers by a bit of luck and then lived a pitiful life like Sanmao’s wandering story.
She roamed the streets, befriending homeless people, scavengers, and stray cats and dogs. She lived like this for several years before being sent to an orphanage by the police. Keep in mind that she was already eight or nine years old at that time. Normally, children of that age would be memorizing multiplication tables and reciting simple poems from their textbooks backwards, but she... couldn't read yet.
She started learning very late, which naturally made her expressive abilities different from others – painting was her native language.
When Hsu Wei-sheng first founded Touxue, she was recommended to apply for the job. Hsu Wei-sheng asked her to draw a picture on the spot. When she finished, he was utterly astonished—the ability to make the image bypass language and directly convey information and emotions was truly a terrifying talent. Hsu Wei-sheng himself was already considered one of the best among geniuses, but when faced with her painting, he still couldn't help but be amazed by her talent.
"Huh? You mean—she's an orphan?" Jian Zhen exclaimed in surprise after hearing Xu Weisheng's introduction.
The shop owner, who was dozing off, was woken up by her. He put away his carving tools, took a sip of water, and came out to greet her with a smile: "What would you two like to buy? We just got a really beautiful piece of pigeon blood red jade. Would you like to take a look?"
"No, boss, we're looking for someone. Is He Youjia here?"
"Oh, you're asking about Xiao He!" The shop owner took two steps into the store, looked up at the ceiling, and shouted, "Xiao He! Someone's looking for you!"
Jian Zhen and Xu Weisheng then noticed that in the innermost corner of the shop, there was a ladder against the wall. The top of the ladder was a hollow ceiling, and looking further up, it was all dark.
Then the ceiling shook, and someone moved, falling out of the dark mass of air and landing on the ladder. As they climbed down, they squinted at the newcomer: "Who is it?"
Jian Zhen's understanding was refreshed. She turned to look at the stamp shop owner, her tone revealing a hint of resentment: "You're just going to let her live in the attic?"
The boss felt wronged: "I gave her a free place to sleep! If I hadn't taken her in to work at the shop, providing her with food and lodging, she'd still be sleeping under a bridge!"
Just then, He Youjia, dressed in tattered pajamas, approached. She recognized Xu Weisheng, her former boss, and her pupils dilated instantly. Overjoyed, she rushed over and shouted, "Old Xu!"
In the blink of an eye, Jian Zhen grabbed Xu Weisheng's arm and pulled him half a step to the side to prevent him from falling directly into her arms.
Xu Weisheng stumbled on the spot, looked down at Jian Zhen and smiled, "What's wrong?"
"Didn't you see she wasn't wearing a bra? I'm afraid you'll slander her!" Jian Zhen glared at him, then her expression changed. She smiled and went to greet him, extending her hand and saying, "Hello Youjia, I'm Jian Zhen. May I see your paintings?"
He Youjia instinctively felt nervous in front of strangers. She awkwardly smoothed the messy strands of hair hanging down her temples, her eyes darting around. Looking at the instep of her feet, she shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, I don't paint anymore."
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