Chapter 46 of 100

Chapter 46

13 min read3,258 words

Chapter 2: Japanese Visitor

The young female teacher, named Chen Rong, was a graduate of Fengyuan Normal College from the previous year and had been assigned to teach at the Qinxī Yāyán Equipment Factory Middle School. She was in her early twenties, with an above-average appearance, but due to her gentle personality and cheerful demeanor, she appeared quite like an older sister to Fang Mingyuan. She had gotten along well with the students in this class over the past few days.

The young boy following her was about 1.5 meters tall, standing out among the first-year junior high students. His face was rather handsome, but a scar on his cheek was quite noticeable. His carefree and somewhat rebellious expression always reminded Fang Mingyuan of the troublemakers he had seen in his previous life. As for the girl... Fang Mingyuan was greatly surprised, not because of her beauty, but because he recognized her!

Li Yuxin, in his previous life, had transferred to the Qinxī Yāyán Equipment Factory Primary School in the third grade, becoming Fang Mingyuan's strongest rival in primary school. Fang Mingyuan still remembered that during a science class, when the teacher asked the students whether a pound of iron or a pound of cotton was heavier, only he and Li Yuxin insisted they were the same weight, while the rest of the class was misled into shouting that iron was heavier. Over the next two years, they were both fierce competitors in their studies and good friends in private. However, when they reached the fifth grade, Li Yuxin's family moved to Weinan. After entering the first year of junior high, Fang Mingyuan also transferred to the capital, and he never heard any news about her again. It was only much later that he vaguely heard from friends who stayed in Haizhuang Town that Li Yuxin had apparently been admitted to a university in the capital.

In this life, Fang Mingyuan had once looked forward to her arrival in the third grade, but unfortunately, he never saw her until the end of the third-grade final exams. He felt a bit disappointed and marveled at how powerful the butterfly effect of his actions had been. He never expected that she would reappear in front of him two years later. As for Cao Hu, he was an unexpected addition, as Fang Mingyuan had never had such a classmate in his previous life.

"Everyone, please quiet down. We have two new transfer students today. One is Cao Hu, and the other is Li Yuxin. From today on, they will be studying with us. Let's welcome our new classmates!" Chen Rong smiled.

"Clap, clap, clap..." The first-year junior high students were still quite obedient, much easier to manage than the rebellious students in the third year of junior high and high school.

"Um..." Chen Rong looked at the empty seats in the classroom and pointed, "Cao Hu, you sit there. Liu Yong, move back two seats. Li Yuxin, you sit in Liu Yong's seat."

The arrival of Cao Hu and Li Yuxin caused a few ripples in Fang Mingyuan's life, but only a few.

Liu Yong still rushed to Fang Mingyuan's backpack after class, determined not to stop until he found two Saint Seiya or Doraemon comics. In this era of scarcity, these vibrant and entertaining comic books quickly won the hearts of the youth. Now, in Fang Mingyuan's lending library, comics had become the most popular books among children and teenagers, bringing the Fang family substantial profits. In fact, in his previous life, Fang Mingyuan's favorite comic was City Hunter, the lecherous yet highly skilled private detective who was once an idol for a generation of young people. However, Fang Mingyuan understood that if he didn't want to cause trouble, his small lending library should avoid it. After all, it contained too many suggestive scenes, even in the abridged version. Haizhuang Town was not like the capital; everyone knew everyone else, and the town's ability to accept new things was far less than that of the city. If City Hunter were to land in his lending library, the trouble would outweigh the profit.

Of course, this also included Ranma 1/2, a comic that would soon become popular in China. Although it was a hit, the many borderline scenes would also bring a lot of trouble to his small shop. Although Fang Mingyuan knew that it was even more attractive to the young generation than Saint Seiya, with its gender-bending Ranma, directionally challenged Ryoga, and myopic Shampoo, the humorous and entangled love stories were like magnets attracting them.

There was also Dragon Ball, a comic that had already become a sensation in Japan and would later have a large fan base in China. The ten-year-long serialization of Dragon Ball set a record for the highest sales of manga volumes worldwide, with over 360 million copies sold (42 volumes in the original series, 34 volumes in the complete edition), and it was adapted into an anime that aired in over 60 countries (33 languages), with over 20 theatrical releases (currently 23). The record it set remained unmatched until Fang Mingyuan's death in his previous life, earning it the title of "National Manga" in Japan. Whether in comics, anime, games, or merchandise, Dragon Ball generated enormous profits globally.

Fang Mingyuan had once considered plagiarizing Dragon Ball, thinking that it would be a waste not to make money from the Japanese. He had no moral qualms about plagiarizing Japanese works. However, in 1984, it was likely that Akira Toriyama had already completed some of the manuscripts and submitted them to the publisher. Getting involved would only cause a lot of trouble, and it wouldn't be worth it if he ended up in a mess. Additionally, how to submit manuscripts from China to a Japanese publisher was a problem. Most importantly, Fang Mingyuan's drawing skills were barely passable, and his drawing speed was far from sufficient. China at that time did not have the same well-established team collaboration system as Japan. The publication speed of Japanese publishers would have exhausted Fang Mingyuan at his drawing table.

So, Fang Mingyuan ultimately gave up on the idea. After all, he had read enough Japanese comics and anime in his previous life. If he couldn't plagiarize Dragon Ball, there were still other options, such as Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter.

Fang Mingyuan was very busy. Over the past four years, although he didn't need to spend much time on primary school courses, he had been reviewing his English and Japanese. His English was better, as he had passed the CET-4 in his previous life and could watch English movies in their original language. His Japanese, however, was weaker. In his previous life, he had learned Japanese purely out of necessity for playing Japanese video games. Unfortunately, he could only read and write, not speak, making it a "mute" foreign language. Therefore, he asked his family to find a Japanese-speaking teacher at the factory, and after four years of study, he was now proficient enough to meet daily communication needs, according to his teacher.

"Fang Mingyuan! Fang Mingyuan! Teacher Chen is calling you!" Liu Yong's voice suddenly broke through his thoughts, and Fang Mingyuan snapped back to reality.

"Ah? Teacher Chen, what is it?"

Chen Rong found it somewhat amusing. Fang Mingyuan's daydreaming in class had become a habit. It would be strange if he didn't daydream. "There was a phone call for you just now. I told them to call the office after this class. Remember to come with me after class."

"Ah, thank you, Teacher Chen." Fang Mingyuan nodded. Who could be calling? Why would they call the school?

The caller was Bai Lin. He brought Fang Mingyuan some good news—three months ago, the Yu Yu Hakusho manuscript he had entrusted to Bai Lin had been accepted by a Japanese publisher, and they were soon sending someone to Qinxi Province to discuss the publication details!

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