Chapter 54

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Translator: Cheese

Came to visit

The Didu City Police Department vehicle personally drove Su Tian and her mother to the doors of the hotel, scaring the doorman into thinking something had happened with them.

Because they had run into those three annoyances, they were delayed a long time, so on the road Liu Kaiyan and the others sent several text messages asking about the situation. Su Tian had already briefly explained to them, telling everyone not to worry.

But how could they not worry?

In the room, You Pinyan had already ‘greeted’ the villains who dared to bully Tiantian all the way to their eighteenth generation of ancestors1. She secretly decided that next time, no matter where Tiantian went, she had to tag along and help Tiantian vent her anger by angering those bitches to death.

Xi Yun was also seething on the side, gripping a pen and scribbling on a piece of paper, planning who knew what. Later, he ran to Liu Kaiyan, telling him that if Liu Kaiyan drew those villains into his comic, he wouldn’t fuss over the time Liu Kaiyan had eaten sixty yuan’s worth of skewers off his money.

Liu Kaiyan: “…”

Finally, the two happily struck a deal.

After their transaction, Liu Kaiyan silently facepalmed.

Why did he feel like his IQ had been lowered to the level of an elementary school student?

But that wasn’t the only thing the kids in the hotel did.

When Su Tian came back, the three of them circled around her and He Qingwan, scanning them up and down. After confirming that neither of them had any major issues, You Pinyan prodded Liu Kaiyan to speak. Xi Yun cupped his face, smiling mysteriously at Su Tian.

Su Tian blinked, wondering what good things everyone had been doing secretively.

Liu Kaiyan coughed. “In the morning we went out to look for a publishing company. The other party provided editing, proofreading, printing, and other services. They’ll send the electronic manuscript in a few days.”

Su Tian: “Wow, so fast?”

You Pinyan nodded proudly.

Xi Yun also stretched out a hand for compliments. “After we receive the electronic manuscript, we’ll see if it was done well, then decide whether to go ahead or not.”

Su Tian bobbed her head. “Smart.”

Xi Yun: “Hehehe.”

He Qingwan was also happy for them. To celebrate, she took everyone out to a seafood buffet. It was the first time Xi Yun was eating seafood. He was curious about everything and constantly asked Liu Kaiyan to draw it in his comic.

Liu Kaiyan: “…”

Ever since the stinky little brat stopped making a fuss about the sixty yuan, he practically hounded Liu Kaiyan to death.

After the nth time he held a sea snail2 and asked if it could be drawn in the comic, Bigshot Liu opened his mouth–

“Let’s just say I still owe you sixty yuan.”

Xi Yun: “Why?”

Liu Kaiyan: “You’re too noisy.”

Xi Yun was taken aback for a moment before reacting, becoming so angry he blew up like a pufferfish. Pouncing into Su Tian’s arms, he pointed his butt at Liu Kaiyan.

The others watched the show on the side.

Hmph! This person was really too annoying. So reluctant to share jiejie with him. Don’t even think about saying another word to jiejie in the future.

Mr. Ultrarich did as he said, and sure enough, on their way back, Liu Kaiyan couldn’t even say a word to Su Tian before he was completely interrupted by a certain someone’s malice.

After returning to Luocheng, Su Tian gave the little piggy bracelet to Wang Haoxue.

Wang Haoxue was overjoyed as she hugged Su Tian and bounced around for a long time.

She didn’t know if it was a psychological thing, but she felt that this bracelet, which was cheaper than the 180,000 yuan one, was super cute. Moreover, it suited her very well.

She should start saving money. On Su Tian’s birthday, she was going to give her the most beautiful gift, the kind that she could wear for a lifetime!

Immediately afterwards, the police station informed Su Tian to bring Xi Yun to provide a statement.

Xi Yun did not see Xi Zhiqiang. He followed what Su Tian said and covered up the part about Xi Zhiqiang making him steal things, cleanly extricating himself.

While Xi Yun was giving his statement inside, Su Tian was talking with Liu Jingguan outside.

Liu Jingguan had abundant experience, so he could nearly completely guess Su Tian’s purpose. After closing the office door and pouring tea, he broke down the situation:

“At first, Xi Zhiqiang insisted that Xi Yun stole the key. Later, after being given a scare by the guys, he softened up and admitted to the theft. According to the amount of money, he’ll probably be sentenced to several years.”

Su Tian: “And Xi Yun’s guardianship rights?”

Didn’t he say Xi Yun’s mother had showed up some time ago?

Liu Jingguan: “We’ve already reached out to other police stations and asked them to contact Xi Yun’s mother. If we can get in touch with her, Xi Yun’s guardianship rights will most likely be handed to his mother. If not, then based on procedure, priority will be given to his relatives, then finally to you.”

Su Tian was aware of this point. She actually hoped that Xi Yun could live with his mother.

Maternal love couldn’t be replaced by any other person’s care.

After some time, they finally received the electronic version of the manuscript from the publishing house.

Su Tian had a computer at home, so after school, everyone huddled around the computer, watching Su Tian open the email and download the manuscript.

The first thing they saw was the cover.

The internet connection was poor at this time, and it took a long time for the image to load. Everyone held their breaths as they watched the page slowly crawl from the top of the page.

The first thing revealed was a line of white mixed with bright golden light. Su Tian had a deep impression of this stroke of white. It only appeared at the end of the comic, when Kaka chose to stay in the city.

The warm white light slowly transitioned into a light burgundy. There were also the characters from the circus: the lion, the tiger, the clown… The red grew deeper and deeper, and the images of the characters from the circus grew even more animated until finally, there was only the deep red of the circus and the circus owner holding a whip.

Kaka was in the center of the cover, running from the red to the warm white light.

Next to the cover was the title in cartoon font.

–《The Adventures of Kaka》

Then there were other lines of text, such as author, publisher, book number, and so on.

Everyone carefully looked over it for a long time. The composition was beautiful and had an extremely strong impact. The colors made it pop out on a book stand, and the designer took into account the age of the readers and added lots of interesting content on the cover, making people unable to look away.

Su Tian liked this cover very, very much.

The designer had definitely carefully studied 《Kaka》’s deeper meaning before drawing it out.

Su Tian asked, “Do all of you like this cover?”

Three heads nodded in unison.

Next was the contents. After a read through, they couldn’t pick out any faults.

Whether it was the typography or the design, everything looked amazing. It was practically unlike the work that could be achieved by an ordinary publishing house.

You Pinyan even wondered whether Grandpa You secretly made a move to help them. She called him on the spot, but the old man denied it in complete confusion, falling just short of swearing.

You Pinyan and her grandpa’s personalities were almost carved from the same mold; if he had helped, he definitely wouldn’t hide it. Since he said he didn’t, he must not have lent a hand.

As for other people, nobody could think of anyone who would help them.

And so everyone happily accepted their good fortune in just happening to find an amazing cover designer.

But the four of them didn’t represent the whole. Whether the readers liked it or not depended on the market.

Su Tian downloaded the manuscript, deleted the title 《The Adventures of Kaka》, took it to the copy shop, and spent some money on a color copy. After a simple binding, she handed it to Xi Yun.

Time for our future Mr. Ultrarich to take the stage again!

When Xi Yun went to school, he brought the untitled copy of 《The Adventures of Kaka》 and several other comics that were currently popular. When class ended, he took out a few comics and simply placed them on his desk where all the surrounding students could see.

Deskmate Zhang Xiaoqiang: “Wow! Xi Yun, didn’t you say you don’t read Robots? But you’re still selling Robots comics… huh? What’s this book?”

Before Zhang Xiaoqiang could pick up the copy of Robots, his eyes were drawn to the red comic book below it. He placed down his beloved Robots and picked up the new comic.

The cover looked nice, he thought. A circus and a puppy. Could it be… Kaka?

Just as he wanted to ask, Xi Yun covered his mouth.

Xi Yun: “Be quiet.”

Zhang Xiaoqiang nodded repeatedly.

When Xi Yun moved his hand away, he mysteriously leaned in, asking, “Is it Kaka? Is it Kaka?”

Xi Yun hushed him. “Which cover do you like more?”

Zhang Xiaoqiang looked at Robots, then at Kaka, and pointed to Kaka without any hesitation.

He liked Robots, don’t get him wrong, but it was obvious Kaka’s cover looked better! He’d been drawn to it when he picked up Robots.

Xi Yun: “Don’t say anything. I’ll show it to you after I finish the experiment.”

Zhang Xiaoqiang nodded repeatedly.

Xi Yun brought a few covers to the podium and knocked on the blackboard like a miniature adult. When all the students looked over, he announced, “I bought a few comic books and want to trade with everyone. Has everyone brought their comic books?”

Comic books were finished quickly, and their prices weren’t cheap, so everyone liked to buy one book per person, then read in rotations. When they heard Xi Yun’s question, they naturally asked what he bought.

Xi Yun placed down a few volumes.

Thanks to the distance, Kaka’s cover was more eye-catching. Everyone could see it with just a glance.

A few boys ran up and asked, “What’s this? Why is there no title?”

Xi Yun pointed to the books and asked, “Which one do you choose?”

The boy was tormented over the decision. There were a few comics he’d heard of, but this cover…

Xi Yun didn’t need to hear his answer, because all the other students had already surrounded them in curiosity. Everyone started chattering at once. Why is there no title? Is it Kaka? The cover looks nice, blah blah blah…

As for the other comics, very few people cared about them.

Xi Yun quietly smiled.

Great, he’d be able to sell dolls to make money soon!

Su Tian was also satisfied with the elementary school students’ responses. She called the publishing house and shared some of her opinions.

In today’s market for comics, the main consumer group was preschool age children. The animations were all targeted to young children, and all of them were similar to cartoons like 《Little Tadpoles Looking for Their Mommy3》. Even if there were occasionally ones that weren’t for a preschool audience, they were still targeted to younger elementary school students.

But Su Tian knew that comics could be targeted to all age groups.

Truly excellent comics should be read by people of all ages, all with different perspectives.

《Kaka》 already had this potential.

Su Tian told them that currently their demographic was mainly elementary school students in the upper grades, with lower grade children taken into account. When distributing goods, one had to have a direction.

The publisher expressed their understanding.

When initially designing the cover, the style was not very childish.

The comic began to officially enter production.

One day, Su Tian and Liu Kaiyan were helping Ms. He in the store when they got a call from Liu Jingguan.

“Tiantian, remember what Uncle Liu told you before about the Ministry of Public Security broadcasting a special report on the Luocheng counterfeit money case? Some colleagues from Didu City Police Department will be coming to interview you. Check to see when you’re free, I’ll have people arrange it.”

Su Tian: “…”

Ji Shaoheng was coming so soon!

She answered, “As long as I’m not in school, I can do it anytime.”

Liu Jingguan: “Okay, I understand.”

Su Tian asked, “When will they arrive?”

Liu Jingguan: “The message said tomorrow morning. If there are no unexpected events, that shouldn’t change.”

Su Tian: “So fast.”

Liu Jingguan: “They’re from Didu, after all. Their work efficiency is sure to be better in a small county town like ours.”

Su Tian laughed dryly.

In terms of slacking, Didu’s government branches were no better than those elsewhere. As for why it was so fast this time, umm…

After a few pleasantries, Su Tian hung up the phone and immediately turned to say to He Qingwan: “Mom, Uncle Ji is coming tomorrow.”

He Qingwan was taken aback and blurted out, “So fast.”

Su Tian: “We’ve all been back for so long. I’m guessing this special report is going to be broadcasted during the new year to sing praises about the Department of Public Security. If the shooting goes well, but the post-production runs into trouble, they won’t be able to screen it if they don’t start before the new year.

The Su family had also mixed within political circles, so He Qingwan could understand it after some thought. It was already November; filming really couldn’t be delayed any longer.

He Qingwan: “Then we should invite Chief Ji to dinner, to thank him for helping us so many times.”

Su Tian: “Of course.”

While Su Tian and He Qingwan talked, Liu Kaiyan stood to the side, quietly listening. He recalled the scarce few times Ji Shaoheng and He Qingwan came into contact with each other. That obvious interest…

When Su Tian finished talking, she turned her head and saw Liu Kaiyan looking at her. She blinked at him, signaling him to not spill the beans.

Liu Kaiyan smiled and blinked back, expressing that he understood and wouldn’t say it.

In this world, if the first person he was thankful to was Su Tian, then the second person was He Qingwan.

Auntie He was such a warm and kind person; she naturally deserved only the best man.

That Chief Ji… at the moment, he didn’t seem too bad. It was just that he didn’t know about the future.

Bigshot Liu didn’t have the thought of paving the way for his fellow man. After all–

Men were very fickle.

Early the next morning, Luocheng police and the Luocheng County government employees lined up at the police station to welcome their comrades from Didu.

The Luocheng counterfeit money case was a major and important case uncovered by Luocheng police, even making the leaders overseeing the team look good. And if it was made into a special feature film, the impact would be even more far-reaching, and everyone would pay even more attention to it.

Soon, a line of cars got off the highway. In the lead were police cars, with media vans in the back.

The car in front stopped first, and a man in uniform came out of the car and enthusiastically shook hands with the local government employees and police officers.

When it was Liu Jingguan’s turn, Ji Shaoheng remarked, “We meet again.”

Liu Jingguan: “When I went to Didu, it was you4 who conferred the medal. Thank you, Chief Ji.”

Ji Shaoheng smiled. “You’ve already thanked me.”

Practical actions were more valuable than verbal thanks.

[1] A way of saying she was insulting/cursing the family of three lol

[2] 海螺: sea snail? The ones I’m used to seeing are pretty small, and you pick out the meat using a toothpick. There’s sometimes a sauce to dip the meat into before eating.

[3] A children’s story about–you guessed it–baby tadpoles looking for their mom. There are a lot of versions of the story, but here’s the first one you can find on Youtube.

[4] Polite you

Cheese: sorry, i couldn’t tell at first whether 刘警官 was supposed to be Officer Liu or Liu Jingguan because 警官 literally means police officer, but I think it’s supposed to be a name LOL i might not go back to change the previous chapters because I’m lazy af but just letting you know (also i feel like i might have said this before bc i’m getting some major deja vu vibes)

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