Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

The sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the first day after the Lantern Festival.

The festive atmosphere still lingers in the streets and alleys of Beijing.

Zhang Dabiao rode his sidecar motorcycle, carrying Mu Wanqing and He Yushui, all the way to school in style. He dropped the girls off at school in a grand manner before riding his motorcycle back to his own Beijing Arts and Crafts School.

Of course, you have to show off if you own a motorcycle!

Upon returning to school, Zhang Dabiao noticed that the atmosphere in his class was a bit off.

The students—those little brats—were huddled together whispering amongst themselves.

Upon seeing Zhang Dabiao enter, everyone stiffened slightly, revealing an indescribable sense of awe.

During the Spring Festival, news of Zhang Dabiao's fight at Shichahai had spread. People on the streets didn't dare to mess with him, the alleyway folks didn't dare to mess with him, the factory security guards couldn't beat him, and even the college students couldn't be arrogant in front of him.

This time, even the children of high-ranking officials didn't dare to touch him. It's a joke; if they touched one, they'd be sent to Saihanba. Who could stand that?

To these little brats, Brother Da Biao is the god of war of Nanluoguxiang, and even Dongcheng District!

That punch, with the power to shatter the ice of a skating rink after 20 years, who the hell could withstand that?!

The homeroom teacher walked to the podium and tapped the blackboard eraser.

"Students, our arts and crafts school has received a task from above."

"The publishing house has received a huge order!"

"They've asked our school to organize a team to create a large-scale comic strip!"

The audience below the stage erupted in chaos.

Zhang Dabiao raised an eyebrow.

Drawing comic strips?

He finally remembered that his major was fine arts.

Comic books are possible, but—

What themes were depicted in comic books at that time? Who finalized the designs?

The audience below the podium was chattering noisily.

The little rascals in the class were so excited that their faces turned red. Being selected to participate in the production would be a great honor.

Comic books were incredibly popular in the 60s, and 62 was the peak of their "golden age," with annual sales of hundreds of millions of copies nationwide, making them the largest mass cultural product.

Covering workers, peasants, soldiers, students, and merchants, from cities to rural areas, almost every family owned a comic book, its influence far exceeding that of any cultural product today. Moreover, overseas distribution of comic books was a channel for earning foreign exchange. In the 60s, large quantities of Chinese comic books were exported to SHIBOR countries.

For example, the comic book "The Red Guards of Honghu Lake" is based on the 1961 film "The Red Guards of Honghu Lake," which became popular throughout the country. It was adapted by Sun Qing and published by China Film Publishing House in November 1961. It has 181 pages and is richly illustrated.

Subsequently, a creative craze for "The Red Guards of Honghu Lake" arose in the comic book industry, resulting in more than a dozen versions of comic books on the theme.

Zhang Dabiao bought this too. The artist's paintings are really good. Zhang Dabiao saw it when he passed by the bookstore and bought it. Since the artist is both a colleague and a senior, of course he had to support him.

This has nothing to do with whether or not you collect it.

Moreover, according to the homeroom teacher, Ms. Zhou, this was a task assigned by the publishing house, mainly for senior students, and these first-year vocational school students were of little use.

However, this is an internal school competition – simply put, whoever draws the best gets to participate, and you can also work together. Everyone is welcome to sign up and give it a try.

If you get selected, you might not become famous, but you'll get paid, and the pay is quite generous. It's an honor, isn't it?

For example, in 59, students from the Affiliated High School of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts collaborated to create a comic strip about the history of the Qishuyan Locomotive Factory called "Ode to the Locomotive." Such things were common in those days. Art school students were an important creative force, and creating comic strips for popular literary works was a common task.

The collaboration between schools and factories was very close. Tasks like "Ode to the Locomotive," which involved creating factory histories for specific organizations, were a very typical form of social practice at the time. Generally, there were three types:

1. Classroom-assigned creative activities: Creating comic strips based on stories of imperial decrees and heroic deeds given by the teacher is an important part of the teaching. The teacher will provide the written script, and students will be responsible for the illustrations.

2. Rural field trips for creative writing: Students go to rural areas and factories to "experience life" and create comic strips based on their observations as the results of their research.

3. Graduation Project: A comic strip must be completed before graduation.

Zhang Dabiao wasn't very interested in this because there was no such thing as royalties in the 60s, only manuscript fees. He had previously considered drawing comic strips, but gave up after learning more about it.

To put it bluntly, it's just laziness.

Tang Dingdong, the class monitor, was walking back and forth in the aisle with a small notebook in his hand.

Anyone who wants to sign up must first register with him.

The students all joined in the fun, and a few of them got together to discuss drawing a heroic story about fighting against the M and aiding C.

Zhang Dabiao sat in the last row by the window, resting his chin on his hand, looking at the bare tree branches outside. Tang Dingdong came over and asked him if he wanted to participate in the selection, but Zhang Dabiao waved his hand to indicate that he didn't want to.

He had absolutely no interest in this matter.

In his previous life, during his freshman and sophomore years of college, he took on many freelance jobs illustrating children's books and commercial illustrations to earn a living.

The fear of being dominated by the client back then is still vivid in my mind.

"The colors aren't vibrant enough!"

"The composition isn't lively enough!"

"Make this character's expression more exaggerated, yes, yes, bigger!"

"Make sure your eyes are huge! Half the size of your face, whatever, just like the ones in Sailor Moon!"

Zhang Dabiao — [...]

"I want a Japanese style, cute and pretty with a touch of ecchi! It has to be sultry! No traditional Chinese style! I just want good looks, you know? I only want good looks!"

Zhang Dabiao — [?!]

"Yes, include Digimon too, and they need to be gender-swapped!"

Zhang Dabiao — [?! !!!]

Later, Zhang Dabiao simply quit, refusing to collect the owed royalties and instead filing a complaint.

Zhang Dabiao shuddered as he recalled those days and nights of revising manuscripts.

In my past life, I drew so many things, but in the end, I could only become a miserable concept artist, doing some illustrations and comics on the side. Every day, I just stayed up all night drawing, and then—I died suddenly and transmigrated.

I've achieved financial freedom in this lifetime. I have tens of thousands of RMB in the bank, properties in Hong Kong, and tens of thousands of antiques in my warehouse.

He has money, houses, land, businesses, antiques, and girls...

Am I still here drawing comic books stroke by stroke?

Can't I take a break?

Moreover, these days there are no royalties for drawing comic books.

In 60, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved the "Report on Abolishing the Royalty System and Thoroughly Reforming the Remuneration System," officially abolishing the royalty system based on the number of print runs and replacing it with a one-time payment based on the number of words, the number of paintings, and the quality of the work, with no further payment for reprints.

No royalties!

There were no royalties, just a few dozen yuan for a painting, no different from the hard work I did in later generations to paint and illustrate.

Why would I draw it?!