Chapter 40 040 A cartoonist? Is that even possible?
My cousin's daughter is very lively and cute. In terms of learning ability, she is not as clever as Song Xiaoli, as the family had hoped. From elementary school to junior high school, she was never at the bottom of her class, but she only maintained a middle-class level.
"Auntie Lili," the little girl liked to call out, "why are my parents so good at grades since I was little, and my uncle is a professor in the mathematics department at Tsinghua University, but I'm so stupid?"
Song Xiaoli is on vacation and is staying at her older cousin's house for a few days to help the busy couple take care of their child.
The little girl still cared about saving face in front of her parents, so she waited until they went to work before pulling Song Xiaoli aside and telling her her troubles with a slightly aggrieved expression.
“My homeroom teacher is my dad’s former classmate. He cares about me a lot. If I have any questions, he will stay after class or work to explain them to me carefully. I understood them at the time, but the next time I encounter a similar question, I can’t quite grasp it.”
The little girl was extremely upset. "I've tried my best to do my homework. If the test questions are the same as the original ones, I'm fine. But if they're different, I'm not so good at it."
Song Xiaoli patted the little girl's head. "Everyone has different strengths. Feel your head. Is it this big? My head is only this big too. Different areas of the brain are responsible for handling different problems. The part that's good at thinking and solving math problems is probably this one," she tapped a section of her computer. "This little head manages so many things. When we eat and drink every day, it's not just providing nutrition to the body, but also to the brain. The brain is so sophisticated that when it's running at full capacity, normal eating and drinking can't keep up with its demands. So, the brain is very smart. It chooses to prioritize supplying certain areas. After this habitual supply relationship is formed over a long period, the area that is most active is most likely to be what you're best at and most intelligent about."
The brain is complex, not as simple as Song Xiaoli makes it out to be, but my niece is so young, it's easier to understand if I explain it in simpler terms.
"You're not good at math, but you must be good at other things."
The little girl scratched her head in confusion, unable to figure it out. "I don't feel like I'm particularly good at anything."
If she were simply bad at math, and with all her hard work she consistently scored above average on math tests, she wouldn't have remained in the middle of the pack throughout her life. Her other subjects were only average to above average; none of them were particularly outstanding.
Song Xiaoli smiled and said, "What you are learning now is the part that adults are required to learn. It is compulsory education, which is to let you learn a little bit of everything so that you won't become illiterate in the future and be easily deceived in life, medical treatment, travel and so on."
"The world is so big, and there are so many industries. How could a junior high school student like you possibly come into contact with them all?"
"Even if someone has the worst grades, they might be exceptionally good at handling interpersonal relationships, have a lot of friends who enjoy hanging out with them and helping them out. Such people would thrive in jobs that don't require specialized knowledge and get promoted very quickly. And some people are very good at talking, so they're perfect for sales."
The little girl seemed to be deep in thought; there were indeed classmates like that in her class.
"So, is there anything you're really interested in right now?" Song Xiaoli quite liked the girl and didn't want her to get stuck on things too often, so she decided to take advantage of the conversation to ask her more questions.
"Hmm... if it's me..." the little girl frowned, thinking for a long time, "...would drawing count?"
The school her parents chose was carefully selected, focusing more on core subjects and neglecting music, art, and physical education. While these subjects weren't entirely taken over by core subject teachers, they only had one or two classes a week, essentially reserved for the parents to relax, and weren't taught with much seriousness. For example, their art teacher taught three grades simultaneously, which was quite outrageous.
"What do you like to draw?" Song Xiaoli asked.
The little girl was a bit shy, so she ran into her bedroom and brought out a few thick-covered notebooks.
"Here, sometimes when I can't do my homework and I'm in a bad mood, I draw something and then I feel much better when I try to write it."
Song Xiaoli opened the notebook, raised an eyebrow. This was a special drawing notebook, and judging by the feel of it, it wasn't cheap. Her older cousin and his family had been too busy these past two years to pick out something like this for their daughter; she probably bought it with her own saved allowance.
The fact that she's willing to spend a lot of money on this proves that she really enjoys doing it.
and……
The drawing is pretty good?
"Oh, it's a continuous storyline?" Song Xiaoli returned to the first page of the notebook and flipped through it from front to back. "City sprites that only children can see?"
After finishing one book, Song Xiaoli went to flip through others.
The little girl's face was flushed as she stood close to Song Xiaoli and whispered, "The others were drawn earlier, and they're basically the same content. Only this one is one I reorganized and redrawn entirely this year."
Despite her words, Song Xiaoli still finished reading every single one of them.
"Didn't anyone teach you?"
"Well, I did ask my art teacher how to draw a person's overall appearance, face, hands, feet, and other details, because when I first started drawing, it often didn't look quite right."
However, the art teacher is responsible for too many classes and doesn't have much free time to deal with the children. She usually leaves as soon as get out of class is over. The little girl can only ask questions during class and then practice and try more on her own. In the past year or so, her parents have been too busy and the computer at home has been idle, so she also searches for information online from time to time.
I learned almost entirely on my own.
Song Xiaoli sighed, "Your parents seem to have overlooked your talent in this area."
The latest book, if it weren't for the slightly chaotic paneling, the visuals and the story itself would have reached the level of a serialized comic.
Song Xiaoli thought for a moment, "My friend's family seems to be in publishing, they have some kind of comic magazine, do you want to try submitting your work?"
The little girl's eyes widened, and she even forgot to breathe. After a while, she finally managed to catch her breath, her face turning red. "Submit...submit a piece? Me?"
She was a little excited, a little insecure, and extremely nervous.
"Yes, your story is very good. I'll have a friend connect you with an editor. They're professionals and should be able to guide you in creating the storyboard. Once the storyboard is done well, the comic will be more visually appealing, and readers will find it easier to understand the story."
"Want to give it a try?"
"I...I want it!"
Song Xiaoli didn't like to procrastinate, so she immediately used her cousin's phone to call her friend and finalize the matter.
Her grand plan to "influence the world" has now reached a plateau, much like a person losing weight—once you reach a certain point, you just can't get any further. That's why she took a break from the lab to rest for a few days and see if there are any other angles to explore.
Since I'm just idling around anyway, I might as well do some chores for the kids.
Thinking this way, Song Xiaoli took her niece's matter quite seriously, keeping a close eye on it from beginning to end, and even extended her vacation by half a month before finally getting everything arranged.
"There's a long-running comic series coming to an end next month, and your story picks up where it left off. In the early stages, you'll just need to redraw the storyboards and redraw the illustrations. You won't have to put much thought into the story, so serialization shouldn't be a problem. But in the later stages, you'll have to come up with ideas and draw on the spot to ensure the serialization continues, and you also have to make sure your grades don't fall too far behind. Can you do that?"
The little girl didn't like to make grand pronouncements. After thinking for a moment, she simply replied, "I will try my best."
She said that hard work really meant hard work, pushing herself to the point of being a workaholic, as busy as her parents. When Song Xiaoli went back to see her in her spare time, she found a large clump of hair on her pillow.
Song Xiaoli: ...
Fearing that she might overwork herself, Song Xiaoli asked her grandmother for help, suggesting that her grandmother stay at her older cousin's house to take care of this quiet but capable little girl.
With adults watching over her, things were much better. Reassured, Song Xiaoli returned to the capital, intending to continue her research. Even though the influence of science and technology was gradually declining, she herself loved science, and the experiments had to continue.
By the time she finishes a small research project, it will be the end of the year again.
"Sigh, it's that time of year again when everyone's pressuring her to get married." Song Xiaoli sighed. She's in her early thirties now and still doesn't have a boyfriend. Her family is getting really anxious. They're usually too busy with work to take care of her, but every year around the New Year, everyone from the oldest to the youngest is urging her to get married.
Song Xiaoli made sure she was mentally prepared before returning to her hometown.
Surprisingly, this year's protagonist is not her, but her little niece.
Because of Song Xiaoli's interference, the little girl began to diligently serialize her comics. In just over three months, she became a huge hit. If the magazine hadn't protected the information of underage authors, those nosy reporters would have chased her all the way to her school.
However, with fame comes inevitable difficulties, and the young girl explained the situation to her busy parents. So, during the Chinese New Year this year, everyone was discussing how to handle the fact that this middle school girl had already become incredibly famous for her paintings and was about to make a fortune.
Song Xiaoli scratched her head and glanced at the influence progress she hadn't checked in a long time. Sure enough, it started to move.
Ah, besides technology, entertainment also has an impact on humanity.
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