Chapter 17

Hearing that Xiaobai’s aunt was coming to take her home, Zhang Tan didn’t bother to care anymore. She could sleep or not, cause a commotion, he could turn a blind eye. If she dared to damage public property, he would make the little girl pay.

The little girl, Baitonghua, immediately rolled over and briskly came to the staircase, just in time to see Xiaoqian’s father coming to pick up Xiaoqian. She hurriedly ran over to wave goodbye.

After seeing Xiaoqian off, she slipped back to the dormitory, picked up a stuffed puppy from someone’s bed—anyway, it wasn’t hers—and stood at the door, specifically to say goodbye to the parents and children returning home.

"Bye, see you later."

"See you tomorrow."

"Bye-bye~"

...

What a night owl, full of energy and enthusiasm.

When almost no one was left, her aunt arrived.

"Why didn’t anyone say goodbye to me?"

Teacher Xiaoliu waved kindly: "Bye, Xiaobai, see you tomorrow."

Xiaobai happily turned and waved: "Bye~~"

Xiaobai’s home was in a village in the city, a ten-minute walk.

On the way home, Xiaobai’s aunt, Malanhua, asked her: "I heard a new teacher joined your school?"

"What teacher? It’s an uncle."

"What does he do?"

"I think he’s weird."

"Why do you think he’s weird?"

"…I don’t know."

"But you said it yourself!"

"I was just talking casually."

"You little brat! So naughty."

"Why do you say I’m naughty?"

"Because you are."

"I’m not naughty, I’m so angry."

"A little kid like you, getting angry."

"Your butt is so big, how did it get so big?"

"Stop it, are you itchy?"

"I need to poop."

"At night you want to poop! What were you doing earlier?"

"I’m going to fart."

"Stay away from me, you little fart."

"Ha ha ha... Aunt, Aunt, I’m scared, hold my hand."

"Get away! Don’t touch me, you stink."

"Ha ha ha..."

---

The next morning, Zhang Tan was still woken up by a group of birds. He had slept too late last night, so he sat on the bed for a while to recover before getting up. He pushed open the window and found a group of white-faced mountain sparrows on the mulberry tree. They perched on the branches, singing with varied tunes and sweet voices, much better than an alarm clock, waking people up without causing any grumpiness.

After washing up, he went downstairs and happened to see Teacher Xiaoliu in her pajamas.

Zhang Tan was taken aback for a moment, nodded, and said, "Good morning, Teacher Xiaoliu."

Teacher Xiaoliu had just woken up, still dazed and not fully awake. Seeing someone greet her, she subconsciously replied, "Good morning," with a lazy, weak voice.

After Zhang Tan passed by her and walked a bit, she suddenly realized, turned around, and saw Zhang Tan’s back as he went to work. She touched her face, feeling the dried saliva, looked at her messy hair, and then at her unattractive pajamas and greasy flip-flops. She screamed in frustration, ran back to her room like the wind, slammed the door, and stood in front of the mirror, feeling sad.

Hearing Teacher Xiaoliu’s scream, Zhang Tan’s lips curled up, finding it amusing.

Teacher Xiaoliu stayed overnight to take care of Xiaomi. She and the other teachers took turns, one week each, and this week was hers.

"Have you eaten?" The security guard, Old Li, saw him coming and stuck his head out of the window to greet him warmly.

"I’ll eat on the street." Zhang Tan left the courtyard, suddenly remembered something, and turned back to ask Old Li, "When did Xiaobai leave last night? Do you remember?"

"After midnight, the last one to leave."

"Oh, so late." Zhang Tan asked again, "Did her aunt come to pick her up?"

"Yes, her aunt came, usually her, her uncle rarely comes."

"Okay, thanks, I’m going to work."

The original artists for the "Tianyu Mountain" project were two young women, not much older than Zhang Tan. When he arrived at the office, he made a pot of tea and waited for Luo Ming. After Luo Ming introduced him, he joined the project team and met the two female original artists.

Luo Ming said, "You chat," and left, leaving Zhang Tan there.

"Are you Zhang Tan?" One of the fair-skinned female artists asked, "I heard you drew an original art piece yourself?"

Zhang Tan handed them the folder he brought, saying, "I drew three, very simple, take a look."

"Let me see."

The other female artist put down her work and took one of the drawings.

"Have you studied art?"

Zhang Tan: "I self-studied sketching."

"Is this the new Zouwu?"

"This is a very powerful but also very cute and proud mythical beast."

"The tail is so beautiful, like a rainbow."

"The tail is made up of seven colors..."

They discussed in the studio for the whole morning. When it was time for lunch, the fair-skinned female artist said, "Let’s have lunch together? Thank you for giving us so many suggestions, saving us a lot of trouble."

"Not at all."

"Don’t be polite, it’s the canteen anyway."

The studio had its own canteen, outsourced, with one vegetable, two side dishes, and two meat dishes, a total of five dishes. The three of them got their food and sat down. Zhang Tan suddenly heard a heavy sigh behind him, ignored it, then heard another, even heavier, and couldn’t help but turn around.

Emmmm~~~ Luo Ming!

Luo Ming seemed to be focused on eating, not noticing him, which made Zhang Tan unsure if he had just sighed, but there was no one else around.

The female artists sitting across from Zhang Tan smiled and asked, "Why are you sighing while eating, Teacher Luo?"

Luo Ming then looked up, seeing Zhang Tan, with a surprised expression.

"Zhang Tan, you’re here. I was worried you didn’t have food, so I went to the studio to look for you, but didn’t expect you to be having lunch with our beautiful artists."

Zhang Tan understood that Luo Ming had deliberately sighed because he was sitting in front of him but didn’t notice him, seemingly only seeing the two beautiful artists, a typical case of being distracted by beauty.

"We’ll discuss the next five episodes in the afternoon," Luo Ming said, picked up his tray, and left.

"Is Teacher Luo upset that we kept you all morning?"

"No, how could that be, the morning schedule was to discuss the storyboards," Zhang Tan said.

"I think I know what Teacher Luo means."

"What do you mean?"

"He’s jealous, ha ha."

After lunch, back in the office, Luo Ming was gone, and Zhang Tan sat in front of the computer, opening the video script he wrote last night, and continued writing during his break.

After a while...

"What are you writing so seriously?"

Luo Ming was back.

"I’m writing a movie review," Zhang Tan said.

"Oh, then continue, I’ll take a nap."

Luo Ming brought out a folding recliner, opened it in the office, and lay down for a nap.

Zhang Tan turned off the office lights. Luo Ming closed his eyes, motionless, and said, "I’m fine, you can turn the lights on."

"It’s fine."

Zhang Tan continued typing, trying to reduce the noise.

In the evening, after returning home, he revised the script and started exploring video production.

He studied directing, which involved using video software and editing, so he wasn’t unfamiliar with it. After quickly getting familiar, he started recording.

He had prepared a camera, but decided not to use it, opting for a voice-only recording with the video being the movie.

He needed to edit "The Chaser" into small fragments to analyze and dissect, while also refuting the views that overly praised the director.

The movie was very popular, the first box office hit of the summer, and everyone praised it, not allowing any negative comments, which is why Zhang Tan faced a lot of criticism.

Making the video was time-consuming and labor-intensive. If it was just to counter the criticism, Zhang Tan wouldn’t have the time or interest.

He wanted to use this opportunity to start a public account dedicated to movie analysis.

The reason was that this field had a good future.

To make money from a public account, there were mainly two ways: selling products and taking ads.

For example, a UP main with 1 million followers could generate over 10 million in annual sales by selling hotpot base and spicy sticks.

However, selling products was not feasible for most people due to the high barriers of capital, supply chain, product selection, logistics, warehousing, and after-sales service.

So, the more convenient way was to take ads.

Zhang Tan knew that the Xilixi video website had the best ad monetization capabilities among platforms.

According to the latest UP main ad quotes:

For followers over 2 million, custom ads range from 100,000 to 600,000 yuan;

For followers between 1 million and 2 million, most charge 100,000 to 200,000 yuan;

Some with high-quality content and strong fan loyalty can charge 400,000 yuan;

A UP main with around 50,000 followers can quote 10,000 to 30,000 yuan.

The one who criticized him, "London Bridge," had 1.23 million followers on Xilixi and his annual ad income last year exceeded 10 million yuan!

If managed well, a public account could be a gold mine, generating a steady cash flow.