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

A single black-and-white text page is priced at 14, 10, and 6 yuan respectively, depending on whether it's high, medium, or low quality. A typical thick book contains around 200 pages, though some are divided into upper, middle, and lower volumes, or even 1, 2, or 3 volumes. The standards vary by publisher. Add to that two cover illustrations, each costing between 80 and 30 yuan. In total, a comic book with 200 pages can earn a maximum of 1230-2880 yuan in royalties. Color comics are slightly more expensive, but they are generally inaccessible to the average person; publishers won't commission color comics from anyone who isn't a renowned artist.

Two thousand yuan is indeed a huge sum of money in this era.

But for Zhang Dabiao, it wasn't even enough to fill a tooth gap.

It's not even as much as the interest he would earn if he deposited that money in the bank for a month.

To work for half a year for such a small amount of money is simply insane.

Just as Zhang Dabiao was planning what groceries to buy in the afternoon and whether to make hot pot, Teacher Zhou tapped the blackboard on the podium.

"Zhang Dabiao, everyone in the class has signed up, why don't you sign up and give it a try?"

Teacher Zhou Muyi treated Da Biao quite well, as both a teacher and a friend. This was mainly because Da Biao's "unorthodox" sketching techniques were incredibly expressive. If Zhang Da Biao needed to ask for leave, he only needed to let Zhou Muyi know, so Zhang Da Biao was very respectful to his teacher.

Da Biao smiled and said, "Teacher Zhou, you know I have a lot of things to do, so I might not be able to handle this."

"If it were just one or two pages, that would be fine, but comic books often have one or two hundred pages. What if there's a mission in one book, and they have to change the director at the last minute? That wouldn't be good for the project or the school's reputation, would it?"

Da Biao's reasons were quite valid, but Teacher Zhou frowned—of course, he could tell that although the reasons were valid, Da Biao was just being lazy.

"Come to my office."

The classroom fell silent instantly.

All eyes turned to Zhang Dabiao.

Zhang Dabiao sighed, slowly stood up, put his hands in his pockets, and followed Teacher Zhou out of the classroom.

A small coal stove was burning in the office, with a kettle sitting on it, spewing out hot steam.

Teacher Zhou pulled out a chair and sat down, then pointed to the stool opposite him, inviting Zhang Dabiao to sit down as well.

Zhang Dabiao didn't stand on ceremony. He sat down with an air of authority, picked up a match from the table, lit a cigarette, and offered one to Teacher Zhou.

Zhang Dabiao was the first person to dare to smoke in a teacher's office, especially since he had just grabbed one of the teacher's cigarettes.

Teacher Zhou shook her head: "You're quite self-disciplined."

Zhang Dabiao chuckled.

"Da Biao, you've been stirring things up at the Beijing Conservatory of Music, and several of your songs have been included in national and school textbooks."

Teacher Zhou picked up his teacup, blew on the tea leaves, and spoke earnestly.

"You've made quite a few inventions in industrial product design, and Director Zhao has praised you to me quite a bit."

"But you're an art student at our school."

Teacher Zhou slammed the teacup down on the table with a loud "bang".

"Shouldn't you at least achieve something in the field of art?"

"You have to make me look good too, right?"

Zhang Dabiao scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed.

After thinking about it carefully, I realized that I might have been neglecting my duties.

The main problem is that after I traveled here in 1960, I spent all my time fighting with those beasts in the courtyard. As for my studies and professional matters, I was busy skipping grades in elementary and junior high school and ended up in a vocational school. I didn't consider my future career path.

What are you considering?

With the knowledge in their heads or the ever-refreshing resources in their "little nest," getting rich is inevitable. Why bother working like a beast of burden anymore?

However, I applied to a school of arts and crafts, but after enrolling, I ended up either doing music, industrial product design, or dealing in antiques.

He hadn't attended many proper art classes, although he was certainly qualified to graduate, but—

Such days seem a bit too boring, and it would be a disservice to the days I spent in the pre-exam class in my later life.

"Teacher, this comic strip is time-consuming and laborious. We have to follow someone else's script, which is too restrictive."

Zhang Dabiao still tried to decline, saying that doing art was fine, and bringing honor to the teacher and the school was also acceptable, but this comic book was indeed too time-consuming.

Teacher Zhou waved her hand, leaned forward, and lowered her voice.

"Da Biao, I'll give you a heads-up."

"Next year, in 1963, the first National Comic Strip Creation Award will be held."

Teacher Zhou's tone was somewhat agitated.

"This is a golden opportunity to become famous overnight!"

"I've seen the style of your drawing during your entrance aptitude test."

"Although it's a bit...unorthodox, it's extremely spiritual!"

"If you can get a ranking in this award, you'll be able to do whatever you want in the art world!"

Zhang Dabiao even forgot to flick his cigarette ash.

The First National Comic Strip Creation Award?

That's certainly a prestigious title.

Although he didn't care about the royalties, in this era, fame is sometimes more useful than money.

With this title as cover, it will be easier for him to do whatever he wants in the future.

And with this title, wouldn't that mean I've entered the literary and artistic world? I can write books and establish my own opinions!

A scholar's dream!

The really impressive ones even boast about having a mountain of writings.

Consider it fulfilling a dream I had for so many years in my past life, a dream that never came true.

To put it simply, in the courtyard now, Zhang Dabiao, Liu Guangqi, Tian Liugen, and He Yushui are all considered cultured people and intellectuals by the Third Uncle Yan Bugui.

Because they were either vocational school graduates or university students.

In Yan Bugui's eyes, who was a teacher, these were intellectuals of the same status as himself.

But if Zhang Dabiao were to publish a comic book with the title "Compiled, Illustrated, Written by Zhang Dabiao"—then Zhang Dabiao would be incredibly awesome!

Zhang Dabiao was a "literati" of a higher rank than Yan Bugui!

Of course, if Zhang Dabiao were to reveal his works published under pseudonyms in Hong Kong, such as "Liancheng Jue," "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils," and "Harry Potter," Yan Bugui might be so frightened that he would kowtow and become his disciple.

Imagining that scene, Zhang Dabiao chuckled mischievously. He figured he might as well try his luck and win an award...

It doesn't seem to work either.

"Okay, teacher, I'll take this job."

"However, I won't work with those children's educational comic books published by publishing houses."

"I'll draw it myself, and then you can help me contact a publisher to see if it can be published."

Zhang Dabiao readily agreed.

Just as Teacher Zhou smiled, Zhang Dabiao added another sentence.

"However, I have conditions."

"What are the conditions?" Teacher Zhou was taken aback.

"I wouldn't even dare to think about royalties; there are regulations from above, and I understand."

Zhang Dabiao held up one finger.

"But I demand that the adaptation rights to the work be retained."

Teacher Zhou was completely confused.

"What adaptation rights?"

"It includes, but is not limited to, adaptation rights for movies, TV series, animated films, and other types of content."

Zhang Dabiao patiently explained.

"Simply put, I have no say in how the publisher releases this comic book."

"If any film studio wants to make a movie or animation based on my comics in the future, they will have to come to me for authorization."

"You have to pay me a licensing fee, or I can film it myself."

Teacher Zhou was completely baffled.

Who makes such a request these days?

And who are you anyway?