Chapter 1: Workaholic Devil — To get rid of anxiety, be super rich
The first rays of dawn filtered through the gaps in the window curtains to shine upon the wooden floor and Jian Yan as her pen made its last stroke, finally finishing the ma.n.u.script.
“Finished——” She leaned back into her chair, looking up at the ceiling as she did a large stretch. A loose, worn sleeping mask fell from the top of her head down to the floor because of her movement, but she didn’t pay the slightest attention to it.
Her two a.s.sistants heard her words and looked as if they had been dragged back from the brink of death. A trace of vitality appeared within their eyes. “Chief is finally finished…”
Heavens knew they had already been pulling all-nighters one after another all month. They feared if they had to do this for one more day, they would faint at any minute.
“I’ll go wash my face, you guys can check it again. Wait a moment, Lin Zhen will come back with breakfast.”
“Alright, teacher.”
The two a.s.sistants waited for her to leave the hotel room before they both collapsed onto the table. Neither of them wanted to look at all the rough sketches again.
“G.o.d! Teacher Tang Zhi is simply a workaholic demon. Why did I choose to work with her back then,” the first a.s.sistant softly complained.
“Me too…” The second a.s.sistant only had a single breath of life within her as she agreed. “Two magazine ma.n.u.scripts handed at once. Is there a need to be in such a hurry to have these done this cycle?”
“I heard Chief Lin say that she was going to prepare for new works.”
“Ha??” The second a.s.sistant simply didn’t dare to believe her ears. “Is she a robot? Does she not need rest?? Why is she running herself into the ground?!”
“To make money, why else,” the first a.s.sistant replied unenthusiastically.
“Does she not make enough of a profit? Selling the rights to make 《 Satisfactory 》into a movie, tv show, and animation, her author’s remuneration these past years, the book royalties… from these alone, she has earned several tens of millions, and it’s still not enough?”
“Ah, but who dislikes more money…”
Jian Yan returned and just happened to hear her two a.s.sistants complaining about her.
“Teacher doesn’t have a boyfriend, so it doesn’t matter to her, but I have a boyfriend! I stayed here for half a month, and now my boyfriend wants to break up!”
“Me too! Yesterday, I even had an argument with him. I’m already exhausted from working overtime, but he still wanted to provoke me.”
“Say, teacher is so beautiful, so why doesn’t she have a boyfriend? If she had a boyfriend, maybe she wouldn’t work as if her life depended on it.”
“G.o.d knows. Although she shuts herself in her room drawing everyday, she still dresses up so prettily every time. Don’t tell me that it’s for us to look at??”
“Hahaha, right? In addition, her clothes are all super-expensive…”
Jian Yan heard those words and raised her hand to rap on the door before walking in. “What are you two chatting about that makes you so lively?”
The two a.s.sistants stiffened. The second a.s.sistant quickly reacted and laughed insincerely. “We’re talking about today’s headline news! The paparazzi had a scoop about Starlight General Merchandise’s Master He being w.a.n.g Xin Yuan’s boyfriend!”
“w.a.n.g Xin Yuan? That female celebrity?”
“Yes, that’s her!”
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Jian Yan lightly raised her eyebrow. “Last I heard, Dai Xiao was also Master He’s girlfriend.”
As the first a.s.sistant was Master He’s fangirl, she had an obligation to defend him at this time.
“Everyday, Master He is someone else’s boyfriend. This is already the ninth… the paparazzi is lucky that our Master He is so good-natured. If those articles switched their focus to Song Nanchuan, CEO Song, they would be forced to file for bankruptcy in a minute.”
Jian Yan nodded absently, as if this gossip was completely uninteresting. “You two should also go wash your faces first.”
The two a.s.sistants made sounds of agreement. “Okay.” They rapidly left.
Jian Yan sat back in front of her computer and began to sort through her manhua ma.n.u.scripts. Lin Zhen returned with a piping hot breakfast ten minutes later. When the two a.s.sistants saw her, they threw themselves at her like hungry wolves. “Chief Lin, you’re here!”
“Slow down, slow down. It’s scalding hot, ha.” Lin Zhen placed the food on the table before she brought out a pitcher of warm milk and a bowl of century egg and lean pork congee, handing these to Jian Yan. “You should eat a bit.”
“Mn.” Jian Yan ate the congee with one hand while she handed Lin Zhen her tablet computer with the other. “The ma.n.u.scripts are all saved inside. You can take a look, and if there are no problems, send them to the editor. Tell them to hurry so it can be printed.”
Lin Zhen took the tablet and sat down on the sofa. She opened it and began looking over the works. There were 56 pages altogether. This 3.5 year-long serialized work was finally meeting its grand ending.
“Ah! For a split second, I didn’t know what to sigh about first…” Lin Zhen choked for a moment before choking out another sentence. “This chapter’s clothes are all beautiful™!”
Jian Yan’s work had stunningly beautiful characters and fashionably beautiful clothes with remarkably distinctive features, which attracted a large quant.i.ty of female readers. At the same time, the story brimmed with a young lady’s heart and the boundless charm of the male lead, which made the readers unable to stop themselves from reading.
The second a.s.sitant heard Lin Zhen and choked down her mouthful of congee, unable to attend to the scalding hot food. “Yes, yes! We were also stupefied when we saw them! It’s a good thing that Teacher Tang Zhi graduated from college with a fashion design degree!” Although they inevitably complained about the exhausting work, they extremely admired and appreciated Jian Yan’s work.
Jian Yan unperturbedly said, “Okay, stop the flattering. After you finish eating, you can quickly return home to sleep.”
Lin Zhen listened to this and nodded repeatedly. “Everyone has worked really hard on this chapter this time, so quickly go home and rest.”
The two a.s.sistants finished eating, packed their things, and left. Lin Zhen was still sitting on the sofa, looking through the ma.n.u.script that Jian Yan gave her. “This chapter’s colored cover will be the cover of this magazine issue, very suitable.”
Jian Yan beat back a yawn and merely said, “If you don’t have anything else to do, quickly go back home. I’m also planning to go to sleep.”
Lin Zhen said, “I don’t know why, but when I heard that you want to go to sleep, I unexpectedly felt touched.”
Jian Yan: “…”
Lin Zhen placed the tablet down and walked towards her work desk. “Today I saw the news …”
“Master He once again has a girlfriend?”
“…” Lin Zhen was silent for a moment before she asked, “Where did you hear that?”
Jian Yan blinked before giving her an ‘ask’ gesture. “Continue.”
Lin Zhen searched her memory for a moment before she remembered what she wanted to say just a moment ago. “Today I saw on the news that another person died from overwork, such a tragedy.”
“…So?”
“So you need to rest. Take advantage of《 Satisfactory 》 having just finished and go travel. I’m giving you a vacation.”
Jian Yan smiled and said, “How do I have time for a trip? I still need to prepare for the new work.”
Lin Zhen said with a deadpan face, “The new work isn’t needed urgently. The readers won’t forget about you that quickly.”
Jian Yan didn’t respond. Lin Zhen thus continued, “You said you would follow me, but have you even rested once these past five years? You are like a spinning top that won’t stop spinning. Go abroad! Look at fashion circuits! When you have finished traveling and seeing the sights, then you can return and continue drawing. Can’t you also conveniently go abroad and just have fun?”
“If I had the time for fun, I could draw many more ma.n.u.scripts.”
Although Lin Zhen was her boss, facing a workaholic like Jian Yan, even her kindness was worn out. “Even if you don’t rest, your a.s.sistants also need rest. Take a look. They joined as two girls that were full of life, and now look at how you have ruined them.”
Jian Yan recalled the complaints those two had about her just a moment ago. She frowned slightly and said, “Then just give me another a.s.sistant. When it’s busy, they can switch shifts and rest.”
Lin Zhen: “…”
She gaped at her, still not making a sound. Jian Yan interrupted her. “Okay, it’s not like you don’t know my situation. I’m going to take a shower first.”
She finished speaking and got up to enter the bathroom. Warm water streamed down her back, cleansing her body and slightly relieving the fatigue that had been acc.u.mulating for a long time.
Jian Yan sighed lightly. The memories of how she and Lin Zhen met came to the front of her mind.
That year, she had just graduated university and posted a short manhua strip on Weibo.1 She had then gone back to give it a special, second name: 《 Magical Garden of Eden 》.
This manhua strip was merely a doodle of hers. The drawings were also a few small stories she had scribbled during study periods at university. She didn’t expect that Lin Zhen would take a fancy to it. Weibo back then was still far from equal to her popularity right now. Jian Yuan felt that it was like a destined day where fate brought them together.
That time, Lin Zhen had still been a manhua magazine editor. She had wanted Jian Yan’s story to be transferred and enlarged on paper, so they had tried publishing it in their magazine issue. Jian Yan had a ‘let’s give it a try’ att.i.tude when submitting it for publication back then. She hadn’t expected that after her work had been published, the main character, who had wanted to become a famous designer, became the idol of little girls. It was unexpectedly well-received.
Jian Yan had won instant success like this. Those ‘little girls’ didn’t become designers in the end; instead, they became manhua artists.
《 Magical Garden of Eden 》 was published as a serial in the magazine for over a year. During that time, Lin Zhen had quit her job at that magazine publication because of all kinds of reasons. She had opened her own studio and attracted several shrimp soldiers and crab generals, including Jian Yan.2
The studio, when it had first begun, had a very difficult time. Jian Yan had just begun drawing 《 Satisfactory 》 at that time. It could be said that this had been the masterpiece that the studio opened with.
In the blink of an eye, five years had already pa.s.sed. Jian Yan looked back on these five years of her life and realized that she had only done one thing all this time.
Make money.
Playing with her life to make money.
She also felt tired, but she couldn’t stop no matter what. She didn’t dare to stop.
Exiting the bathroom, Jian Yan walked over to her closet. She had an excessively large closet. Every time she picked out her clothes, it was her happiest moment.
Maggie, Dorothea, Bunny, Lily&Sa… Her gaze swept across each and every one of these expensive brand names. Jian Yan felt as though her soul had reached a higher level.
Sure enough, to get rid of anxiety, be super rich.
She currently wore a fashionable school uniform-like velvet hoodie and bootcut pants as she descended the stairs. Lin Zhen unexpectedly hadn’t left yet.
When Lin Zhen caught sight of her clothes, Lin Zhen couldn’t help but click her tongue. “Every day, you don’t leave home, so who are you wearing such good-looking clothes for?”
Jian Yan said, “Can’t I dress well for myself? Regardless of my bitter and exhausting life, I still want to be the most beautiful.”
Lin Zhen: “…”
“Furthermore, these are my pajamas. I’m intending to go to bed, so why haven’t you left yet?”
Lin Zhen said, “Oh, before you leave, I saw the news that you said about Master He’s girlfriend. It’s the headline news of today’s entertainment paper!”
Jian Yan shrugged and picked up the milk that was beginning to cool down, drinking it in one gulp.
Lin Zhen still continued to single-mindedly read the news. “How is it that every time the paparazzi reports about Master He, you’re not fed up with it? Anyway, Master He is handsome. Why don’t you come take a look?”
“No, I’m allergic to men.”
Lin Zhen mumbled something to herself before she raised up an old topic. “Right, I told you to take a month vacation. Please, get some rest.”
“My two a.s.sistants can rest, but I still have other things to do.”
“What do you have to do?” Lin Zhen’s brows furrowed. Don’t tell me she’s prepared to not use a.s.sistants and just draw by herself?
Jian Yan looked at her and blinked somewhat charmingly. “I want to go to Starlight General Merchandise and sell clothes.”