Chapter 130: The Manga Artist and His a.s.sistant
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
Ding ding ding.
“Hey, Wu Tong.”
The phone line was quick to go through. She gave Meng Fan a look, meeting his gaze. “I told Meng Fan about my trip to Hong Kong. He told me you’re his mother. Is this true?”
“Yes.”
“So you’re saying you knew Meng Fan likes me?”
“I did. His sister told me. So I knew you were going to Hong Kong, so I poached you from Hu to be my a.s.sistant to see what kind of girl are you.”
“And asking me to be your G.o.ddaughter?”
“That has nothing to do with Fan. After interacting with you for a few days, I liked you from the bottom of my heart and wanted us to have a mother-daughter relations.h.i.+p, so I asked you to be my G.o.ddaughter. At the time, I didn’t even think of Fan’s existence.”
Meng Fan could hear everything Liang Qing was saying over the phone. When he got to that part, the sweat on his sweat began to seep out. Thinking back, the few days Liang Qing had been in Hong Kong just happened to be when he was wearing the presence masking hat and touring Xizi lake.
If at that point in time, he just happened to have his hat on, then… did that count as masochism?
“Then?” Wu Tong asked.
“Then I thought about it. You’re too good, and I have no faith in my son. I wanted to use him for you to call me mom, but that seemed impossible, so I had to fight for you myself. If you become my daughter-in-law or not, that’s up to Fan. But I earned this G.o.ddaughter. You don’t want to break our relations.h.i.+p because you found out I’m Fan’s mom right?”
“No, I just wanted to confirm who I was to you.”
“Silly child, do you have no faith in me or no faith in yourself?” Realizing that Wu Tong no longer spoke with formalities, Liang Qing smiled. “Anything else?”
“I’m okay for now G.o.dmother. I’ll hang up now. When you come back, let me know; my parents want to invite you to dinner.”
“Alright, great!”
Wu Tong hung up the phone and turned to Meng Fan. “All settled.”
“What?”
Meng Fan had heard their entire conversation. Once again, he felt like this entire situation had nothing to do with him.
“No no no.” Meng Fan shook his head hard. “What do you mean it’s solved? How is it resolved? Your method of dealing with it was just to confirm with my mom that your relations.h.i.+p has nothing to do with me?”
“Yep.” Wu Tong nodded. “Your mom is my idol. During our time together in Hong Kong, she gained my admiration even more, and we became close. If she wants me to be her G.o.ddaughter, I am a thousand times willing to do so. Now that I’ve confirmed that she likes me for me and not for you, of course, everything is resolved.”
Meng Fan pointed to himself. “Then what about me?”
Wu Tong suddenly realized something and smiled. “Do me and your mom have any blood relations or legal relations? Then I have no blood relations.h.i.+p or legal relations.h.i.+p to you! Will this still affect our relations.h.i.+p then?”
“But…”
“But what? What decade are your thoughts coming from!? Besides, you haven’t even successfully attained me yet, why are you thinking so far ahead?”
“What?”
“I’ll treat you this time.”
Wu Tong stood up and paid the bill before heading out.
“What?”
Meng Fan remained seated and stunned for a long time.
In the past, Meng Fan felt that his thoughts were on par with Wu Tong’s. But now he understood that this kind of deja vu was from interacting with his own mother.
…
Dubai.
Liang Qing hung up the phone and looked at Meng Chuan, who was watching her conversation. Smiling, she said, “Didn’t I say so? Everything is under control.”
“It is very a.s.sertive and self-confident. Normal girls would doubt themselves and end their relations.h.i.+p with you or cling onto you for their life. This girl is calm.” Meng Chuan smiled then sighed. “Only Fan…”
“Fan is like you; he’s tough.” Said Liang Qing.
…
Meng Fan left the restaurant in a heavy mood. He wasn’t angry nor frustrated. More like he had experienced a disaster which ended in a farce. After a strong wind, it seemed only his heart was a bit messy and everywhere else had stayed the same.
Everything appeared to be normal. He had confessed to Wu Tong, which she did not accept. However, she didn’t refuse it either.
“She says that she will like the best version of me… She says she deserves to have the best version of me…”
The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t help but smile.
“Why are you laughing so dumbly!”
Chen Da Qiang, who was on his way to tutoring, saw Meng Fan smirking as he was headed for the school gate. He couldn’t help but laugh and walk over to give Meng Fan a pound. “Pigeon said you went to pick up Wu Tong. Seeing you smiling like that, it must be because of her right?”
Meng Fan chuckled and said, “Where are you going?”
“To tutoring of course.” Chen Da Qiang said.
Meng Fan nodded and said a few lines before suddenly turning and stopping Chen Da Qiang. “I almost forgot to tell you. I accepted Mr. Sleepy’s adaptation for his novel, right? I need an a.s.sistant. Would you be willing to give me a hand?”
Chen Da Qiang quietly stuck his hand out.
“Are you a psycho!?”
Slap. Meng Fan still hit it then smiled again. “If you’re interested, in addition to your tutoring job, you shouldn’t take on any more students. There will be a lot of work.”
“Got it.”
Chen Da Qiang nodded and left the school.
After accepting Mr.Sleepy’s manga adaption, he began to consider the prospects of an a.s.sistant. His hand speed was faster, but there was a lot to do in a day. Plus, he had to do the ill.u.s.trations for “Guide to Campus RoMANce” and some other novel ill.u.s.trations.
Even if the updates for “Guide to Campus RoMANce” dropped only once every three days or twice a week, he no longer took any ill.u.s.trator jobs. Time was still tight, so he needed an a.s.sistant.
The work of an artist’s a.s.sistant usually included but was not limited to, outlining, shading, scanning, task dialogue, backgrounds, special effects, etc.
As for the core contents of the plots, it would have nothing to do with them.
Being an a.s.sistant to a manga artist was a rather c.u.mbersome and boring task. It was not an exaggeration to say that it had to be forced. When Meng Fan thought about searching for an a.s.sistant, Chen Da Qiang was the first person that came to mind.
Chen Da Qiang was the kind of person who could focus his mind and work hard on his task. He was diligent, conscientious and patient. He was very suitable for tutoring. Of course, he was also very suitable to be an a.s.sistant to Meng Fan.
He felt comfortable giving the job to Da Qiang.
At least out of the entire cla.s.s, and among all the art students he knows, Chen Da Qiang was the most suitable.
As for Xing Ta Ge and Zhang Zhou Wei, he did not have to consider them. One was lazy, the other could find a thousand excuses to be lazy.
Also, Chen Da Qiang’s drawing skills were also very solid.
Of course, Chen Da Qiang would be different from a regular a.s.sistant if he worked with Meng Fan. Aside from all the regular duties of an a.s.sistant, Meng Fan would discuss the storyline with him and allow him to partic.i.p.ate in the entire creation and adaptation process of the manga.
It was not that his brother’s future days were going to be crushed with work since Meng Fan knew that Chen Da Qiang also had the heart to become a manga artist. At this time, he would not only receive a ma.n.u.script fee, but he would also receive credits on the publication as well.